A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Obama Pitches Stimulus Plan - President-elect Barack Obama arrived on Capitol Hill yesterday and immediately set to work reassuring skeptical Republicans about his massive economic stimulus package -- part of a campaign that earned him praise for seeking their input but questions from those averse: (READ MORE)
Panetta Chosen As CIA Director - President-elect Barack Obama stunned the national intelligence community by selecting Clinton White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, a longtime Washington insider with little intelligence experience, to serve as the next head of the CIA. (READ MORE)
Kaine Says Top Priority This Year Is Va. Budget - RICHMOND, Jan. 4 -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Monday that his main focus this year will be working with Republicans in the General Assembly on the state's budget crisis, even as he pivots into his new additional role as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. (READ MORE)
Data Breaches Up Almost 50 Percent, Affecting Records of 35.7 Million People - Businesses, governments and educational institutions reported nearly 50 percent more data breaches last year than in 2007, exposing the personal records of at least 35.7 million Americans, according to a nonprofit group that works to prevent identity fraud. (READ MORE)
Details of Ivins' death released in police report - An intentional overdose of acetaminophen led to kidney and liver failure and eventually death for Bruce Ivins, according to an investigation by the Frederick Police Department. Ivins, 62, a Fort Detrick microbiologist and the FBI's prime suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks, was found unresponsive in his home around 1 a.m. July 27. (READ MORE)
What Congress Knew About 'Torture' - Barack Obama's choice of former Congressman Leon Panetta to lead the CIA at least puts a grownup, if also an intelligence rookie, in that crucial job. It also means that Mr. Panetta and Director of National Intelligence-designate Dennis Blair will soon have to decide if they want to join the left-wing crusade to purge their agencies of anyone who had anything to do with "torture." (READ MORE)
Feel Like a Trillion Bucks - Amid the Great Society spending boom of the 1960s, Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen famously quipped, "A billion here, a billion there -- pretty soon, you're talking real money." How quaint. In modern Washington, trillion is the new billion. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Lawhawk: Obama's Choice For Director of Central Intelligence: Leon Panetta?! - Of all the people that President elect Barack Obama could choose to be Director of Central Intelligence, he picked a guy who has absolutely no intelligence experience, no military experience, and is strictly a numbers guy: Leon Panetta. What does this say about Obama and the intel community from which he had choices? Admiral Dennis Blair was also named to be national intelligence director, according to officials. Panetta is qualified to be DCI why? How? What are his qualifications? Admiral Blair is more qualified to be DCI than Panetta. Then again, according to Blair's wiki, he's got himself a thing for not following orders and odd relationships with defense contractors. (READ MORE)
Richard Landes: Meditations on Moderation and Demopathy - One of the major themes in CNN and BBC early coverage of Operation Cast Lead, is the issue, will this conflict encourage Arab moderation as the Israelis say they hope will happen, or, instead, will it backfire on the Israelis and strengthen Arab solidarities around Hamas. Indeed, one might argue, this is one of the Palestinian talking points that the media has fully embraced (see next article). In order to understand what’s at stake here, I lay out some of the key issues involved in defining “moderation.” First let’s just sort out the difference between moderation and pragmatism: Moderation means taking a “reasonable” approach that renounces violence as anything but a last resort, a willingness to negotiate, to come to a positive-sum solution. Moderation depends on being able to treat one’s foe with reciprocity, to see their point of view and make compromises to reach a mutually agreeable solution to the hostility. (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Franken Gets Lead And Suddenly It Is Over - It happened in Minnesota just like it did in Washington. A Republican had a small lead at the end of election day and then during the recount a bunch of previously undiscovered and unsecured ballots from heavily Democratic areas were mysteriously found and miracle of all miracles they are votes for the Democrat who happens to suddenly gain the lead. The entire time the Republican leads we are cautioned that all votes must count and to wait and as soon as the Democrat goes ahead bam, the counting is over and he is declared the winner. This is how the low life maggots that infest the Democratic Party operate and Al Franken is just the latest to benefit from the mischief. Franken had been behind for most of the counting but then things that were deemed statistically impossible began to happen. Hundreds of ballots turned up and they were votes for Franken in disproportionate numbers. In other words, the found ballots favored Franken by much more than the vote on election day did. What are the odds. (READ MORE)
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross: The Superpower and Its Courts - In December, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. government, as part of an agreement it reached with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has terminated $6 billion in judgments against Libya. Though it has been called "the forgotten flight" because most attention focused on Pan Am Flight 103, the explosion of Union des Transports Aériens (UTA) Flight 772 back in 1989 killed 170 people from 17 different countries. The family members of American victims seemingly gained some closure in January 2008 when U.S. district court judge Henry H. Kennedy awarded 44 relatives $6 billion in damages against Libya, so they were justifiably livid when the U.S. government nullified their judgments. Anne Carey, whose mother died on Flight 772, told the Post: "We fought this fight. We stood up to terrorists who took our loved ones and we did so in federal court." She added, "We felt we accomplished something. For it to be dismissed is beyond comprehension." (READ MORE)
Noah Shachtman: Spooks Scratch Their Heads Over Obama CIA Pick (Updated) - The incoming Obama administration has named Leon Panetta, of all people, as its nominee for the Director of Central Intelligence. Some observers are confused, to put it mildly, about the pick. The guy -- a former White House chief of staff and House Budget Committee chairman -- has a reputation for being a tough, competent manager, they say. But can he really be an effective CIA chief, with experience in the cloak-and-dagger world? About what about those pledges, to keep the intelligence community out of politics? "I find the choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA a curious one," one well-connected former spy tells Danger Room. "On the one hand, if you are looking to pick a nation's top spook, it is generally a good idea to pick someone with more than a cursory exposure to the intelligence business. It is also more than a little annoying that we can't seem to find a CIA chief that hasn't spent all of their adult life playing politics." (READ MORE)
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay: Fitzgerald gets what he wants; extension granted - We knew this was going to happen when we first heard rumblings that Fitzgerald was going to be asking for an extension on the deadline to present his case to a grand jury for indicting Governor Rod Blagojevic on corruption charges. Fitzgerald has gotten his wish, and the deadline has been extended to 7 April, rather than expiring this coming Wednesday. The judge overseeing this case, James F. Holderman, claims that due to the complexity of the case, an indictment coming down at this juncture would be "unreasonable." Neither side argued with the judge,and agreed to his decision. Remember that the number one reason why Fitzgerald moved in on him was over the flak of "selling" Obama's Senate seat; an act that didn't occur, therefore if that's issued during grand jury testimony, Blagojevic's defense team can argue to have that struck from the list of charges because the deal never went down. (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Great American War Correspondent - Weighs in. Robert Kaplan pulls way back for some perspective on what the fight in Gaza is about, and counsels the destruction of Iran’s proxy army at the outer edge of the modern Persian empire. You’ll want to read the whole thing. Personally, I think Obama needs to do more than quietly root for Israel. He needs to plan out his ongoing assault on the Persian empire. To include a full range of measures across its sphere of influence, including pressure on the Russians who aid and abet it, pressure on Syria, pressure on Iran’s proxies and allies in Iraq, pressure on the skittish Gulfis and Saudis, and pressure in Afghanistan, and support for all those who choose the right side. The mullahs also need to be aware that he is willing to blow their nuke facilities to bits, or maybe will and won’t object if his Israeli pals do that for him. He can do all of this with a big Kumbayah smile on his face, but he needs to do it. (READ MORE)
Daniel Byman: Israel’s ghosts - The Israeli assault on Gaza is about more than ending the latest spate of rocket attacks from Gaza or even forcing Hamas to the negotiating table to renew the ceasefire it foolishly ended. Israeli is also trying to exorcise several ghosts in its fight against terrorism, some from the past and some it fears in the future. Israel’s 2006 debacle in Lebanon is the most recent specter haunting Israel. In the summer of 2006, the Lebanese terrorist and guerrilla group Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed several others, sparking a massive air assault and, eventually, a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Although Lebanon itself suffered tremendously, the war was widely perceived as an Israeli defeat. As is the case with Gaza today, Israel’s attacks did not stop Hezbollah rockets. Many Hezbollah fighters died facing the Israelis, but their effective resistance led the movement to be lionized throughout the Muslim world. (READ MORE)
Parrothead Jeff: I’m Not Alone! Flopping Aces Post Makes Me Even More Proud of U.S. Military - I found a wonderful post over at Flopping Aces via Lex that no sierra brought a tear to my eye. I’ve always been proud of the U.S. Armed Forces and a believer that they are due all the respect we can give them for having the strength, courage and conviction to see that the U.S. stays free, that our allies stay free, and also act as providers of comfort where disaster has struck. What I find to a nauseating degree around me lately is a throng of people who keep up the bit about supporting the troops, but not the war. They mimic Harry Reid with the “The war is lost - the surge has failed” line of utter filth. They complain endlessly about Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. They spew forth sewage copying John Kerry’s line of BS about “going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children.” That’s not the military I know. That’s 180 degrees from the men and women I know in the U.S. Armed Forces. (READ MORE)
McQ: New Taxes: Most likely Indirect and regressive - The government is hungry for money. And it is looking for innovative ways to get it. However, they don’t want to take it from you directly. You see that’s political suicide. So when we hear about the great 300 billion middle class tax cut that the Obama administration is so graciously planning on granting, we should realize that most of it will be recovered by indirect taxes. For instance: “Indirectly it could be considered a cheeseburger tax, but one of the suggestions offered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act is to levy a tax on livestock.” The plan? $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per beef cow, and $20 per hog. Now obviously a dairy farmer isn’t going to absorb that cost. And if all dairy farmers have to pay it, then it is a cost quite easily passed on to the middle class (and poor) consumer. Consequently this regressive tax will add 7 to 8 cents to a gallon of milk. And the same goes for beef and pork products. Consequently a nice little chunk of the promised 300 billion is recovered. (READ MORE)
The Redhunter: The Israeli War on Hamas and Personal Responsiblity - Once again, here goes another post on the Middle East in which I have to check the "Moral Clarity" category box as well. Of all the issues around the world, the Israeli-Palestine one is the absolutely most frustrating from this standpoint. It generates more moral confusion than any other. And let me be clear on this; I'm not talking about whether it was wise for Israel to attack Hamas, or Hezbollah in 2006. One can be morally clear on the issues and simply believe that there was another way to deal with the problem. Here is a typical news story, this one from the AP: “Israel ignored mounting international calls for a cease-fire Monday and said it won't stop its crippling 10-day assault until ‘peace and tranquility’ are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of Palestinian rocket fire.” They never call for a cease fire when it's only Israel getting hit. Nor do they call it a "crisis", a word you see all over the news now that Israel is shooting back. (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl: What's Wrong In Minnesota? - I haven't yet had much to say about the election stealing nearly complete in Minnesota. Nothing is more disastrous, nor more dangerous for our Republic than corrupting the integrity of our elections as partisan politics is now doing more and more. It's just as sad as it is anger producing. But with partisan hacks controlling elections in more and more of America, I'm not sure how the trend can change. Much of the so-called electorate doesn't even seem to care. But that isn't the only problem in Minnesota. This whole process doesn't say much for Norm Coleman either. If a sitting Senator doesn't have enough support to win an election, Third Party candidate, or not, clearly not enough Minnesotans were impressed with Coleman to care about his candidacy all that much. Frankly, I don't know much about him. And I certainly didn't want him, as a Republican, to lose. But then, what's a Republican anymore? (READ MORE)
Shrinkwrapped: Adolescence and Societies - Two of the developmental tasks required in order to make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood involve achieving final independence from the regressive pull to a lost idealized state of dependency and the abandonment of persistent fantasies of childhood omnipotence, often expressed through the concept of omnipotentiality. Allow some brief elaboration, with the customary disclaimers; there are many ways to become a fully functioning adult; what I am describing is just an aspect of the typical pathway: Psychological development occurs in the psychic tension between wishes to grow up (and become an adult, more powerful, more beautiful, etc) and the regressive pull back to a fantasied state of dependency where all one's needs are satisfied and life is blissful (the fantasy of childhood union with the all powerful early mother.) (READ MORE)
Melanie Phillips: The Hamas Broadcasting Corporation (ctd) - Last night’s BBC TV News at Ten featured a highly partisan report about Gaza by Jeremy Bowen. Making no mention of the direct hit yesterday by a Hamas rocket on a kindergarten in Ashdod (which was empty for fear of precisely such an occurrence) Bowen concentrated heavily on the growing civilian casualty toll among Palestinians, making no acknowledgement of any Hamas operatives among these figures. The piece de resistance of this item was a report from Gaza’s Shifa hospital by a Gazan BBC producer, Rushdi abu Alouf. He claimed that ‘hundreds of kids, women and children’ had been brought to the hospital for medical treatment. Undoubtedly there are many casualties -- tragically, including children -- and the hospital is obviously under pressure. This though may help explain some of that pressure: “Hamas has set up an independent hospital in the Gaza Strip to treat its operatives wounded in fighting with the IDF - and, according to Israeli estimates, it is pilfering a significant portion of the medicine allowed into the Strip.” (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU: Why Liberals Still Think Like The KKK - The Democrat-led KKK opposed the liberation of blacks. The “anti-war” Leftists of today oppose the liberation of everyone else: Anyone who spends time reading message boards related to online news articles today can see things that are readily self evident. One of these self evident truths is that today’s political and theological left still very much represent the racism they did when they initiated a secret society named the Ku Klux Klan. They do so in the policies they argue for and more importantly in the criticism they level against those who are brave enough to take action. Their anti-war extremism is one of the most telling signs. But don’t merely take my word for it. Here is a sample from the Jerusalem Post from an American named John Ash: “I never realized Israel and its supporters had so many people who cheer on killing and destruction. The enthusiasm for the ‘brave IDF’ is kind of weird when you consider that the air force is dropping bombs on defenseless people and the army is invading with tanks and artillery. The Gazans have not one airplane or tank, so where is the bravery in bombing and invading a defenseless area?” (READ MORE)
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred: Where Ideology, Theology And Islam Collide - ‘It is only the unsayable that is worth saying’- so goes a quote attributed to just about everybody who put pen to paper, starting with the cave dwellers. That idea has been the inspiration for more than one writer questioning the status quo, and it is that idea that serves as the basis for this essay. We strongly urge you to read Shame, The Arab Psyche And Islam, by Dr Sanity. It is an excellent essay that underscores and defines the nuances of the Arab psyche- and by extension, helps us to understand what comprises our own value system. We will discuss the differences between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. As a matter of preamble, we wish to say that we are discussing those three faiths, today. We are not looking to ’stack the deck’ by comparing apples with oranges, so to speak. Rather, we want to examine the realities as we- and everyone else, sees them today. We will discuss ideologies and theologies- where they meet and merge, and where they collide and careen off each other. (READ MORE)
Harmless Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Watching, Waiting, and Praying - My son, Sgt Devildog, and his unit are in training, getting ready to deploy...somewhere. Since his last deployment, he's moved up to a leadership position. This summer, he was meritoriously promoted after he won his Battalion's Corporals' board and he's now a squad leader for a Marine infantry unit. (Can you tell that I'm extremely proud of him?) It's that pride in his demonstrated leadership and his accomplishments that conflicts with my mother's instinct to protect him and keep him safe. Even though I want to protect him in any way I can, I know that he has chosen a dangerous career. I know that he loves what he does, and genuinely cares about "his" Marines and "his" mission. I know that he is a "Marine" through-and-through; even if I don't fully understand all that being a "Marine" entails. (I was a rear-echelon Air Force attorney, after all.) So as mom, I will support him while he's deployed, in any way I can. (READ MORE)
The Virtuous Republic: His Qualification for CIA? Gravitas - First, We in Hell had to look up gravitas. We figured it was a word bandied about by the same people who think Brie cheese and $100 bottles of vinegar like wine are all the rage. Then We saw the New York Times use it. Hell’s online dictionary describes gravitas as, “dignity, seriousness, or solemnity of manner.” The dictionary even gives an example of its proper use in an almost prophetic way: “a post for which he has the expertise and the gravitas.” Well maybe Panetta has gravitas, but he certainly lacks “expertise” to be the CIA Director. Two years as Clinton’s Chief of Staff and 16 years in Congress. Great. On the other hand, Obama’s recreation of the do little Clinton Administration is continuing. The only problem, this time, there is no Republican Party in opposition. (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: You Can't Put Your Children On The Front Line And Complain When They Get Killed - Isn't this kind of ironic coming from people who give their children military training, brainwash them from birth to support terrorism, and celebrate children who blow themselves up as martyrs? "Fighting intensified on the northern outskirts of Gaza City yesterday as a Hamas leader warned that the Islamists would kill Jewish children anywhere in the world in revenge for Israel's devastating assault. "They have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine," Mahmoud Zahar said in a televised broadcast recorded at a secret location. "They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people." Hate to sound hard hearted here, but the Palestinians voted Hamas into office. Hamas then -- and now -- openly supported waging a genocidal war against Israel, they believe in using children in that war: (READ MORE)
In From The Cold: The Wrong Choice - More than a few spooks, current and former, are shaking their heads over the appointment of Leon Panetta as the next CIA Director. Mr. Panetta is the consummate Washington insider who is best know as Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff during the Monica Lewinsky episode. Before that, he was Clinton's first Director of the Office of Management and Budget and a Democratic Congressman from California for 16 years, serving primarily on the Budget and Agriculture Committees. In the early days of his political life, Panetta was actually a Republican, working as an aide to California Senator Thomas Kuchel before joining the Nixon Administration. During his first stint in Washington, Panetta served as assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and later ran the Office for Civil Rights. He left the administration--and the GOP--in 1971, accusing the White House of being "soft" on enforcement of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. (READ MORE)
AJStrata: Obama Going To Govern A Lot Like Bush? - If current trends continue President-Elect Obama is going to really screw with the far left and far right in this country - and perhaps retain a strong centrist base from which to execute two terms in office. Right now Obama is really defying many of claims he will govern as an extreme liberal, defanging the far right as their dire predictions of pending doom fail to materialize and driving Obama’s far left base insane as they find another centrist democrat ignoring their risky policy schemes. So far Obama seems to on a pretty reasonable line with Iraq, keeping Secretary Gates on board and dumping any talk of a hasty and risky retreat. In Afghanistan he is promoting an increase in forces and investment to drive a security and policy wedge between the Taliban and the rest of the Muslim community there. And let’s not forget Obama voted to keep the NSA-FISA surveillance changes Bush put in place after 9-11. (READ MORE)
Cal Thomas: Pigs at the Trough - Like pigs waiting in line to get their snouts in the feeding trough, come many of the nation's governors -- on the heels of the mayors -- asking Washington for bailout money. Democratic governors from overspending states like New York, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Ohio are among those seeking financial deliverance. The governors want Washington to pony up $1 trillion for their absolutely-essential-non-negotiable-if-we-don't-get-the-money-people-will-starve programs. New York Governor David Paterson claims that, because tax revenues have plunged, 43 states now have budget deficits totaling around $100 billion. No, those states have deficits because when times were good and the money was rolling in they thought they could get away with endless new programs, while putting little or no money aside for the inevitable rainy day. Neither did they consider which programs were necessary and which ones were just politically beneficial. (READ MORE)
Chuck Norris: Invasion USA - The USA is being infiltrated by illegals, sold to foreign powers, and abandoned by its government. But are Americans enabling the dissolution of our economy and country, as well, by continuing to buy foreign goods? America literally is being sold out from underneath Americans. According to the 2008 Economic Report of the President: "The United States is both the single leading recipient and leading source of foreign direct investment in the world. In 2006, total cumulative FDI in the United States was almost $1.8 trillion, 15 percent of the world total." In 2006, foreign-owned assets in the U.S. totaled roughly $16 trillion. And where does all that foreign investment go? (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: The Economic "Stimulus" - Two centuries ago, when there were plans to create a huge fund of money to pay off Britain's national debt, the great classical economist David Ricardo objected on grounds that-- no matter what the money was said to be for-- politicians could spend it for whatever they wanted. Two centuries later, we have not yet caught up to that plain reality, even though the $700 billion that was supposed to be used to rescue financial institutions has already begun to be spent on other things. Regardless of what President Bush or Secretary of the Treasury Paulson may have had in mind when they promoted this huge bailout package, with all due respect to these gentlemen what they had in mind will not matter in the slightest after January 20th. All that money is just a gift to the Democrats to spend in whatever ways will advance the interests of their constituents and of the Democratic Party. (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: Are They All Democrats Now? - Barack Obama, itching to implement his gigantic stimulus package as soon as possible, is dangling the idea of combining his spending package with a tax cut in hopes of securing another kind of stimulus: Republican support for his package. Republicans should remember that when you polish manure, you still have manure. Obama went to Capitol Hill Monday to promote his stimulus plan of between $675 billion and $775 billion. An estimated 40 percent of the package (between $270 billion and $310 billion) would consist of tax cuts. Obama strategists say the proposed tax cuts are based on historical and empirical evidence of what works, not ideology. But despite his denials, Obama's intention to target the cuts to the "middle class" and exclude higher-income earners, whose stimulated activity has been shown to have the greatest economic impact, betrays his crippling bondage to ideology. (READ MORE)
Dennis Prager: A Question for My Friend Alan Dershowitz - Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz is that rare individual who is both a highly respected academic and well known to the general population. But in another regard he is even rarer. He regards himself as a man of the left, yet on one of the defining moral issues of our time, attitudes toward Israel, he has nothing in common with the left. He is not only one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, he spends much of his time defending Israel. He has written innumerable articles and four books defending Israel: “The Case against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace,” “The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved,” “The Case for Israel,” and “What Israel Means to Me: By 80 Prominent Writers, Performers, Scholars, Politicians, and Journalists.” This past week, Dershowitz wrote two eloquent columns defending Israel’s attack on Hamas in Gaza. (READ MORE)
Dan Gainor: Obama Comes Up With 'Create'-ive Solution to Jobs - What a difference a year makes. President-elect Barack Obama hasn’t even taken office and we’re experiencing climate change. Not the global warming variety that keeps bypassing the bone-chilling American winter. It’s change in D.C. Obama, who promised a government of “change” unveiled a switcheroo in his Jan. 2 radio address, also available on the Change.gov Web site. Obama is releasing details of his economic recovery plan that includes spending hundreds of billions of dollars. It also entails a major jobs component. “The No. 1 goal of my plan, which is to create 3 million new jobs, more than 80 percent of them in the private sector,” he says in the new video. That’s quite a goal for a new government that only recently was snowing the American public and the media on the very same issue. Call it the great snow job of 2009. It wasn’t the fluffy, light kind of precipitation reminiscent of Hallmark cards. (READ MORE)
Mike S. Adams: How Jesse Helms Helped Promote Diversity - Dear Mack: I wanted to take the time to respond to your rather harsh statements about the legacy of North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, who, like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, passed away on the Fourth of July. I regret that I did not have the time to respond sooner. I assume that you were serious when you said that having Jesse Helms as a North Carolina Senator once hurt the UNC system in its efforts to attract quality faculty from around the country. I further assume you weren’t exaggerating when you said that on more than one occasion (when you were a department Chairman) a job candidate declined a position, at least in part, because he did not want to live and work in “Helms country.” Actually, Mack, I would argue that Jesse Helms really helped us out in those job searches. But, before I make that argument, I’d like to enumerate the three reasons why I think Leftist academics hated the late Senator Helms. (READ MORE)
Harry R. Jackson, Jr.: Israel's Invasion: Should We Support This Action? - Israel’s ground invasion into northern Gaza last weekend was surprising for many people. Unfortunately, the ground war had to occur in light of Hamas’ failure to cease bombing Israeli citizens. Palestinian sympathizers are already depicting the struggle as a David vs. Goliath conflict. In a strange biblical reversal the Israelis are now being painted as Goliath because of their superior military power. In reality, the Palestinians have been the aggressors who hope to win the war for public approval and sympathy. As I have analyzed the situation, it seems to me that Israel’s recent escalation of the conflict is ironically the only way they can actually hope for peace. Israel’s goal is obviously to topple, impair, or reform the Palestinian government. They hope that a governing entity will emerge from this ground invasion with which someone can reason. (READ MORE)
Bret Stephens: An Endgame for Israel - Maybe this column would get a better reception if it were titled, "No Endgame for Israel." Because the quantity of commentary claiming that Israel cannot possibly achieve any kind of successful outcome in Gaza is already approaching presurge levels of Iraq defeatism. The argument that Israel's assault on Gaza is an exercise in futility has four main parts. First, say the critics, Israel cannot defeat Hamas by restricting its attacks to the relatively safe distance of airstrikes and a limited land incursion. Down that road lies a reprise of the failed 2006 war with Hezbollah. Next, they say, the human cost of taking physical control of Gaza will be too high in terms of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. Down that road lie memories of the 1982 siege of Beirut. Third, we are told that the only method by which Israel can prevent Hamas from regaining power is by resorting to another full-scale occupation. (READ MORE)
Natan Sharansky: How the U.N. Perpetuates the 'Refugee' Problem - Israel's assault on Hamas is just the latest in a long chain of military clashes, the scripts of which are always the same. On one side, there is the Israeli army. Technologically and militarily superior, its soldiers are motivated by a powerful commitment to their country's security. On the other, there are Palestinian terrorists whose aim is to kill as many innocent Israelis as possible by unleashing missiles and suicide bombers on civilian centers. Then, when Israel retaliates, they appeal to the world with gruesome images of Palestinian suffering as part of a global campaign to prevent Israel from defending itself. Sooner or later, the tactics of the Palestinian terrorists work. The voices of protest in response to Palestinian suffering grow louder until international pressure stays Israel's hand. Inevitably, some of these protests come from Israelis. (READ MORE)
Azadeh Moaveni: Iran's Nobel Laureate Has Become a Target of the Regime - The last time I saw Shirin Ebadi in Tehran, the government devoted at least perfunctory attention to her safety. Two state-appointed bodyguards stood watch outside her house, and even accompanied us to dinner. They carefully looked on as we ate under the stars, interrupted every few moments by effusive Iranians who recognized their country's 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner and paused to press her hands in thanks. That was back in 2005, on the eve of the fateful presidential election that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. Ms. Ebadi viewed his election with trepidation, nervous that he would reverse the state's tacit tolerance of her work -- the defense of women, children and political dissidents before the Islamic Republic's pitiless courts. Many considered her anxieties exaggerated. But, as in so many cases, her instincts were exactly right. (READ MORE)
Bert Ely: Banks Don't Need to Be Forced to Lend - Tomorrow, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing to "discuss priorities" for the Obama administration's use of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. Those priorities could include lending and other directives to financial institutions receiving TARP investments. These directives could be disastrous for taxpayers and the economy if they force banks to engage in unwise lending, or keep weak, troubled banks from being absorbed by stronger banks. TARP has two major shortcomings. The first is a lack of political support. Congress did not explicitly authorize capital investments in financial institutions when it created the $700 billion program three months ago. The Treasury originally was supposed to buy troubled assets of banks and other financial institutions. It quickly realized that this was unworkable due to challenges in determining asset prices. (READ MORE)
William McGurn: Like a Virgin: The Press Take On Teenage Sex - The chain reaction was something out of central casting. A medical journal starts it off by announcing a study comparing teens who take a pledge of virginity until marriage with those who don't. Lo and behold, when they crunch the numbers, they find not much difference between pledgers and nonpledgers: most do not make it to the marriage bed as virgins. Like a pack of randy 15-year-old boys, the press dives right in. "Virginity Pledges Don't Stop Teen Sex," screams CBS News. "Virginity pledges don't mean much," adds CNN. "Study questions virginity pledges," says the Chicago Tribune. "Premarital Abstinence Pledges Ineffective, Study Finds," heralds the Washington Post. "Virginity Pledges Fail to Trump Teen Lust in Look at Older Data," reports Bloomberg. And on it goes. In other words, teens will be teens, and moms or dads who believe that concepts such as restraint or morality have any application today are living in a dream world. (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
January 6, 2009
January 5, 2009
Web Reconnaissance for 01/05/2009
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
On the Web:
AJStrata: It’s Official: Liberal Media Is Pro Palestinian - Only someone who cannot distinguish terrorist states from democracies would equate Hamas to Israel. These are the people who ignore the targeted killings of hundreds, thousands or millions in order to find wrong doing when the west defends or liberates. And today the NY Times has come out of the closet and proclaimed their anti-semite support for terrorists: “Israel Strikes Before an Ally Departs - For nine days, as European and United Nations officials have called urgently for a cease-fire in Gaza, the Bush administration has squarely blamed the rocket attacks of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for Israel’s assault, maintaining to the end its eight-year record of stalwart support for Israel.” Just a note of clarity, since this is one extremely biased piece. Officials of the UN would include Iranians and Syrians. And most European Union nations back Israel. Anyway, more on this strange liberal bit of sick fantasy: (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson: The World Supports Hamas? Of Course, They Do! - The Hamas lobby - I got more than the usual nasty letters this week over voicing support for Israel. Here are some of the critics’ counter-arguments. 1. You talk big time of supporting democracy in the Middle East, but then turn on democratically-elected Hamas when it is convenient! Two points: (A) In summer 2007 Hamas eliminated the Palestinian Authority (i.e., erstwhile Fatah) opposition through intimidation, occasional summary execution and attacks on its party infrastructure. It then, following a Hitlerian 1930s paradigm, took over complete control of Gaza well beyond its parliamentary mandate, and began turning Gaza into an armed camp and veritable appendage of the Iranian terrorist apparatus. Then it soon began shelling Israel. (READ MORE)
In From The Cold: Getting Ready for the Urban Battle - Twenty-four hours into the ground campaign, Israeli forces have split the Gaza Strip in half, surrounding its largest city, and setting the stage for definitive battles that will follow. As the AP describes it: “On Sunday, Israeli soldiers fought primarily in open areas in the launching zones used by Gaza's militants to send rockets raining down on Israeli cities. As the troops in three brigade-size formations moved in, residents of those Israeli cities began cautiously emerging from bomb shelters in hopes that the rocket fire would taper off. Backing up the troops, mobile artillery units fired shells that exploded in veils of white smoke over Gaza's urban skyline. Tanks pushed south of Gaza City as deep as the abandoned settlement of Netzarim, which Israel left along with other communities when it pulled out of Gaza in 2005.” (READ MORE)
CJ: Respect and Admiration Not A Leftwing Trait - Flopping Aces has an excellent piece up that I challenge ALL my readers to read all the way through. I've posted about all the things that President Bush has done for this country, but he's done a lot for the world as a whole as well. And along the way to improving the lives of perhaps billions of people, he's made a few mistakes. Good for him. It means he's human. While our troops do not to deal with the level of ignorance shown during the Vietnam War, we still have to deal with ignorant baffoons who have made their life's goal to denigrate and minimize our contributions and accomplishments. Why is that? Because if they admit that the military has succeeded, they have to admit that our boss has succeeded. Scientists have not yet isolated a treatment for those suffering from BDS. Until the gene responsible for this refusal to accept and admit obvious successes, BDS will continue and our troops will remain without the public declaration of respect and admiration for their victory. (READ MORE)
J. D. Pendry: Happy 2009 - Entering 2009, we find that the centuries old battle between the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, continues. The children of Isaac have endured a relentless fight for their existence against the children of Ishmael, often alone, from the beginning of human history. Ishmael, led by fanatical Mullahs and because of them, will never reconcile with Isaac. Some of us, considered the weak minded by the all knowing elitists of our world, know the roots of this epic struggle and how it ends. We have called it by many names. The war on terror is just one of the misnomers we have given it. We rarely, however, want to accept what it truly is - the epic battle between Isaac and Ishmael playing for us as if it was another of Cecil B. Demille’s Biblical productions. Whether you accept that premise or not, you must decide during this new year behind which son of Abraham you stand. There is no alternative choice for you. The fight will not leave you alone. Events, history and ideology force you to one side or the other. (READ MORE)
Jamie Wearing Fool: 'They Have Controlled the Media by Using Money, Power and Their Lies' - I'm not sure which is more of a preposterous claim. That the U.S. military controls the media or the absurd notion that the Taliban have killed more than 5,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan in 2008. Where'd they get these numbers from, The Lancet? It'll be amusing to see if anyone actually reports this with a straight face. “The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its recent claim that it killed more than 5,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan last year may be the militia's most startling yet. The Taliban said last week on its Web site that it killed 5,220 U.S. and NATO troops in 2008 — an exaggerated figure nearly 20 times the official death toll. The insurgents also said they downed 31 aircraft last year. Its fighters destroyed 2,818 NATO and Afghan vehicles and killed 7,552 Afghan soldiers and police, according to a statement from a spokesman.” (READ MORE)
The Black Tygrrrr Express: Israeli Humans vs Palestinian Savages - Israelis are by and large human beings. Palestinians, exempting the 20% that do not support the tactics of Hamas, are savage barbarians. It is time for human beings to triumph over the savages. For those wondering why I have chosen to devalue the lives of people, it is because they have devalued their own lives. Any culture that endorses and promotes suicide bombings has violated the requirement necessary to be a member of the human species. The human culture is a culture that values human life. 80% of Palestinians have decided for whatever inexcusable and insufficient reason that human life does not matter. Therefore, those 80% no longer matter. They can be discarded as an afterthought the same way that one throws out an empty pizza box. (READ MORE)
SC&A: The Road To Perdition And The Road To Civilization - The Judeo-Christian world civilizes, the Islamic world of today, fanaticizes. The Judeo-Christian world builds, the Islamic world of today tears down. That hasn’t always been the case, of course, but is true today- and there is no amount of dancing, obfuscation or deceit that can hide that truth. The Judeo-Christian world, best exemplified by imperfect, but free societies, have far outpaced most of the very dysfunctional Islamic world. When you consider that the Islamic world had an real head start, that reality is even more pronounced. Islam, once home to great thought, discussion and ideas, has become inflexible, giving no quarter to those who want to engage in an kind of exchange. (READ MORE)
The Sniper: In Case Anyone Was Wondering Why Israel Went Into Gaza - They’re called rockets and unless you’ve had them fired at you, you really can’t appreciate just how much it sucks. They’re not just offensive weapons, they’re terror weapons. I know I hated having them fired at us in Afghanistan, I can only imagine how much it would suck to be a little Isreali kid subjected to the fear of incoming rockets at school every day. The rockets are random, lethal, and fired from civilian areas so Hamas can use human shields and then blame Israel when they eventually and inevitably retaliate. This has been going on every day for months and up until now Israel has shown remarkable restraint… so every douchebag with a pro-Hamas/anti-Israel protest sign or a "diplomacy now" sign or a "war is not the answer" placard can sit the hell down and shut the f*** up. And in case you think Israel is overreacting with their retaliatory strikes, here’s a little taste of a rocket attack on Southern Israel. (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: Firming up the narrative: Israel can’t win - The news media are falling all over themselves to conclude that no matter what happens, Israel loses. When I woke up to NPR this morning, the first thing I heard was (paraphrasing) “Israeli forces haven’t stopped the rocket fire into southern Israel, with more than 20 rockets being fired today.” CNN’s summary of their latest Israel piece: NEW: Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel persists despite 10-day campaign And the headline tells you the focus of the media: Gaza death toll rises as Israel pounds Hamas You see? No matter what Israel does, she loses. Might as well not even bother fighting. Hamas can’t be beaten. What a load of crap. Of course Hamas can be beaten. Israel had the terrorists on the rope before, but then they granted them a truce. Every time Hamas is seriously wounded, it sues for truce. And Israel grants it. (READ MORE)
Winds of Change: Gaza and the Law of Armed Conflict - While much of the world engages in hand-wringing, placard-waving, teeth-gnashing, and rocket-launching over Israel’s “disproportionate” response to Hamas attacks from Gaza, it’s worth looking at what the doctrines of “proportionality” actually say. Making the rounds is a two-year old quote from Lionel Beehner’s paper for the Council on Foreign Relations in which he summarizes the principle of proportionality as laid out by the 1907 Hague Conventions. “According to the doctrine, a state is legally allowed to unilaterally defend itself and right a wrong provided the response is proportional to the injury suffered. The response must also be immediate and necessary, refrain from targeting civilians, and require only enough force to reinstate the status quo ante.” The precise wording of the doctrine can be found in Article 51, not Article 49 as Beehner writes, of the Draft Articles of the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Murderers!!!! (Next up: Secondhand Drinking) - Whatever would we do without scientists? When they're not spending millions of our tax dollars to inform us of things we already know, they're discovering heretofore unsuspected dangers lurking in the very fibers of our clothing, just waiting to bite us all in the evolutionary ass: “Researchers have identified "third-hand smoke," an invisible evil that acts like a deadly Ghost of Cigarettes Past: Polluting the air, killing innocent babies and ottomans — even if they aren't present at the time.” As you can guess, this research is geared toward one end only: The banning of all smoking on private property — including your home. Never one to eschew intolerant, divisive fear mongering (even as it denounces intolerant, divisive fear mongerers who use fear and... well, fear as an argument for imposing their policy preferences on others), the New York Times doth not hesitate to wield its much renowned flexible urban viewpoint like the jackhammer of the Gods... (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU: A good day to be an Australian - It’s always a good day to be an Australian but some days feel better than others and the day just gone by was one of those. That thought came to me while I was reading the official transcript of a Prime Ministerial press conference. Anyone who reads government press releases probably belongs to the legion of the lost, if not the legion of the damned, so my only excuse is that I don’t do it very often. But with the situation in the Middle East being at such a turning point at the moment it makes all of us who admire and support the heroic nation of Israel (as heroic in restraint as they are in action) unusually anxious to monitor relevant events. And Australian Prime Ministers of both parties have a track record of firm support for Israel. Before I found the remarks of Prime Minister Rudd on Israel, however, I also found some other remarks by him in his press conference that also pleased me greatly. (READ MORE)
Melanie Phillips: An MP is shocked by al Beeb - Three cheers for Tory MP Michael Fabricant, who says he has been ‘horrified and angered’ by the BBC’s coverage of the Gaza conflict, and will be making a formal complaint to the Chairman of the BBC Trust about it: “While paying scant regard to the provocation of 10,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza over the last seven years, the BBC has chosen to broadcast 'human interest' stories reminiscent of salacious photos in the cheaper red top newspapers. Thus I heard a heart rending report from a Palestinian in Cyprus how he imagined - yes: IMAGINED! - Gaza's streets would be running with the blood of dead Arab children. After that, the BBC located individuals in Gaza who have taken the opportunity of repeating over the BBC what they have already said on Al Jazeera. No balance there then. And today I heard an ‘unbiased report from a British aid worker in Gaza, from Islamic Relief’.” (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: On the Ground in Gaza - (This was sent out by Professor Barry Rubin this morning and I am reproducing it in its entirety, with his permission. Some comments on the *special* treatment afforded Israel, and to lesser extent, the United States, in the current struggle with radical Islam will be forthcoming when I resume blogging next week.) Tel Aviv, Israel Israel didn't want to attack the Gaza Strip from the ground or from the air. Hamas, which had long broken the ceasefire, canceled it altogether. Then it began large-scale attacks on Israel. This is a war of defense. And it is being conducted just 30 miles from here, Israel's main city. According to the just-released Israeli government statement on the offensive: "The objective of this stage is to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas in the area of operation, while taking control of some of rocket launching area used by the Hamas, in order to greatly reduce the quantity of rockets fired at Israel and Israeli civilians.(READ MORE)
The Shield of Achilles : War breaks out, Hamas apologists answer the call - Israel is hitting Gaza in response to Hamas rocket attacks, and Arab activists are protesting all over the globe. I'm not going to echo the media here, but instead point out that some of Israel's critics are not telling you the whole story. Of course, the predictable Daily Kos, Juan Cole, and Richard Silverstein, and the Huffington Post, to name just a few, are all crying out in support of Palestinians and against the Israeli "aggressors". Professor Cole call's Israel's offensive a "war crime". His reasoning: “In 2001-2008, these rockets killed about 15 Israelis and injured 433, and they have damaged property. In the same period, Gazan mortar attacks on Israel have killed 8 Israelis.” The omissions in Cole's article are dishonest. He is comparing apples and oranges. It's true that relatively few Israelis have actually been killed by Hamas rockets. But he conveniently forgets that these are not the only weapons in Hamas' arsenal. (READ MORE)
Donald Sensing: Decision of diplomacy after decision of arms - Paul Reynolds, world affairs correspondent for BBC Online, says that the decisions of diplomacy to conclude the Gaza war will have to wait for Israel's decision of arms. “This conclusion is inevitable in the face of a determination by the Israeli government that it faces an unacceptable threat from Gaza that must be dealt with. By delaying ground operations for a week, it gave Hamas a chance to back down and call a halt to the firing of rockets into Israel. But Hamas chose confrontation, probably fearing that to do otherwise would be to show weakness. ... Much depends on whether Hamas has been able to recover from the shock it must have received eight days ago when the air assault began. On the other hand, a decisive Israeli ground intervention could leave the door open to negotiation - but only if Hamas chooses to walk through that door.” In February 2003, I published an essay at my old One Hand Clapping blog anticipating the coming Iraq campaign, entitled, "The coming American Holy War." This was not in invest the Iraq war with sacredness by any means, but to describe modern American war-making as drawing on both the Northern and Southern models of American history. (READ MORE)
Rightwing Nuthouse: IT’S JUST A LITTLE STAB IN THE BACK - What’s a little knife thrust between the shoulder blades among friends, huh? After all, it’s not like Israel’s enemies on the left want to plunge the blade up to the hilt, penetrating the heart and killing off the Jewish state. They would prefer someone else deliver the coup de grace. Instead, this is more like a “love thrust” – a little wound just to get Israel’s attention and maybe allow them to bleed a bit before calling 911. After all, it’s not like the left wants Israel to disappear – “wiped off the map” as that little elf in Tehran so colorfully puts it. They just want Israel to behave as if the left’s silly, stupid pretensions regarding the rules of diplomacy and conflict resolution (such as they are) actually mean something. It would prove that might doesn’t make right, that it is better to receive attacks without response than defend oneself, and that a few dead Jews are a small price to pay for giving it the old college try at the negotiating table with an enemy that wants to barter their very existence. (READ MORE)
McQ: The left - drawing false parallels - Peterr at FireDogLake points to a quote by Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land in which he likens the security wall Israel erected to the Berlin wall: Anyone who can liken a wall erected to keep oppressed citizens in with a wall erected to keep suicidal enemies out simply can’t be taken seriously. But this is a common tactic of the left - attempt to draw parallels between any totalitarian regime and Israel so its attempts at self-defense can then be compared to those oppressive regimes. Not a single mention of Hamas. Not a single mention of the fact that the West Bank is mostly peaceful. Or that since Israel has erected the wall, Hamas sponsored suicide bombers have largely been unsuccessful in blowing themselves up on buses and in pizza parlors (although they’ve certainly tried to sneak their martyrs through on numerous occasions). (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: No Fanfare - Roy Boehm passed into the clearing at the end of the path Tuesday night. He was 84 years old. Boehm had served his country in three wars, including service in the largest surface-only engagement of World War II, the Battle of Cape Esperance. His ship - the USS Duncan - took multiple hits from 6″ and 8″ guns before going under the waves. Although wounded by shrapnel in his head and body, he managed to save another shipmate before the ship went down. While in the ocean he was forced to fight sharks off for his own life. For 13 hours. Re-enlisting for the Korean War, his ship provided fires ashore in support of the Marine Corps’ amphibious assault on Inchon, and also covered the withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir. After his commissioning, he developed and implemented an unconventional warfare naval commando force known, respected and feared throughout the world: The US Navy SEALs. He was the first Officer-in-Charge of SEAL Team 2. He drove his team hard, and drove himself harder. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Ledeen: Iranian regime failing as proxies lose ground - Normally, Michael Ledeen wouldn’t qualify as an optimist, especially on Iran. That’s what makes his column today on the mullahcracy’s fortunes interesting reading, as Ledeen sees the regime teetering after its proxies have lost ground. But is Ledeen a little too hopeful? “First of all, the dramatic drop in oil prices is devastating to the mullahs, who had planned to be able to fund terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. Suddenly their bottom line is tinged with red, and this carries over onto their domestic balance sheets, which were already demonstrably shaky (they were forced to cancel proposed new taxes when the merchant class staged nation-wide protests). No wonder they seize on any international event to call for petroleum export reductions. Just today they called for a [2] drastic reduction of oil shipments to all countries that supported the Israeli military incursion into Gaza.” (READ MORE)
Phyllis Chesler: An Israeli Soldier’s Mother Waits. What’s At Stake in Gaza - I knew that Israel was going into Gaza with “boots on the ground” at least a day before they finally did so. Two Israeli mothers, who do not know one another, each have sons in the elite Golani and Givati Brigades. Both sons had been ordered to turn in their cell phones; there would be no more “haimishe” (comforting, familiar) contact with home. Another mother in Israel, Bonna Devora Haberman, who is a dear friend, a feminist professor, a religious woman, and the mother of five, emailed me last night. With her permission, I am sharing her words with you. Hers is the voice of a mother in Israel. “Our son finished his 17-month grueling training in an elite commando unit last Thursday night. On Friday, his unit prepared equipment, then returned home for Shabbat. He was called to report for service on Shabbat eve, before we had benched. This was the first time the phone had rung in our home on Shabbat that we can recall.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: 3 state option? - John Bolton wants to turn the clock to 1967. That’s a mistake. In an article in the Washington Post today, the former UN ambassador said the mess made by Hamas in the Gaza has shown that it is time to turn back the clock. “Let’s start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Hamas has killed the idea, and even the Holy Land is good for only one resurrection. Instead, we should look to a ‘three-state’ approach, where Gaza is returned to Egyptian control and the West Bank in some configuration reverts to Jordanian sovereignty. Among many anomalies, today’s conflict lies within the boundaries of three states nominally at peace. Having the two Arab states re-extend their prior political authority is an authentic way to extend the zone of peace and, more important, build on governments that are providing peace and stability in their own countries. (READ MORE)
Dafydd: One Side Fits All - Perhaps I just missed it... I read this story about the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU filing a lawsuit to overturn the will of the voters in that state (stop me if you've heard this before) to restrict adoption to married couples. I read all the way through it, all the arguments advanced by the plaintiffs in that and several other lawsuits, all the fulminations about how the new law is "unconstitutional." But nowhere, in the entire article, does the Associated Press even trouble to ask any supporter of the law why he thinks it's legitimate... a new citizens initiative that (stop me if you've heard this before) merely returns the law to the status quo ante, undoing the state Supreme Court decision that struck down the traditional understanding and ordered adoptions and fostering not to take into account the marital status of the new parents when awarding custody. In fact, the only time they even admit that anyone supports the law (which passed 57-43) is to introduce a couple of bare facts: (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Sending A Child To War - I’ve had the experience of sending my youngest son on a deployment to Kosovo, when that country was fairly stable. I’ve had the experience of sending Marty off to Iraq almost two years ago now. It wasn’t an easy thing to do in either circumstance. This weekend, I spent some time with yet another family member, prior to him deploying to Iraq. This time it was my sister’s son, who spent lots of time as he grew up with us. My sisters children are like my own children and visa versa and it was as difficult to know he’s going off to war, as it was my own son and Marty. Even though he’s an adult now, I still look at him and see that ornery child who spent as much time as possible with my sons. It’s hard to realize that he’s grown up and now a man and in the Navy. It seems like only yesterday, that his sister was telling their parents that she didn’t want a baby brother and that they should send him back where he came from. (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: More Palestinian Fauxtography? - It certainly looks that way. Try and get people to think that there are more children injured than there really are by getting the injured child to be carried by more than one person. Aussie Dave at Israellycool has the details (scroll down halfway into the post) The same child is being paraded around by different men. If the kid is truly injured, why all the photos since that would be getting in the way of the kid's medical care. Instead, they're parading the kid for the cameras. It's typical of the media in Gaza. They're milking the crisis for all its worth. We can tell it's the same child based on the clothes and the facial scars, which are common to both. (READ MORE)
Cassy Fiano: Will they be screaming about unfair, stolen elections now? - For the past eight years, liberals have screeched and moaned about how President Bush STOLE THE ELECTIONS!!! This, of course, is a load of crap, as President Bush actually did win the election. I'm sure that all those people were only concerned about making sure the voices of the people were heard, not anger over someone they disagree with winning office. And considering how much liberals love fairness and upholding democracy, shouldn't they be more concerned about a real, live, honest-to-God stolen election going on right now? I haven't commented much on the drama going on in Minnesota, with the race for the Senate between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. Why bother? I knew from the beginning what the outcome would be. No matter who the people actually voted for, Al Franken would be declared the winner. And that's exactly what will happen, because there is no other allowable outcome beyond a Franken victory. (READ MORE)
Bring the heat, Bring the Stupid: Here’s a war crime for you… - Israel, as a part of Operation Cast Lead (the current operation to suppress rocket attacks from Gaza) bombed a mosque. I’m sure some folks immediately pointed out that bombing a religious structure is a war crime in contravention with the Geneva Accords and all other sorts of arguments. But here’s the thing. Israel isn’t the one committing a war crime here. Hamas is. Watch the video. You clearly see the initial explosion, followed immediately by a massive secondary explosion and several smaller secondaries. That’s proof there were weapons stored there. Which is an act in violation of the law of war, and which act removed the mosque from its protected status. (READ MORE)
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On the Web:
AJStrata: It’s Official: Liberal Media Is Pro Palestinian - Only someone who cannot distinguish terrorist states from democracies would equate Hamas to Israel. These are the people who ignore the targeted killings of hundreds, thousands or millions in order to find wrong doing when the west defends or liberates. And today the NY Times has come out of the closet and proclaimed their anti-semite support for terrorists: “Israel Strikes Before an Ally Departs - For nine days, as European and United Nations officials have called urgently for a cease-fire in Gaza, the Bush administration has squarely blamed the rocket attacks of the Palestinian militant group Hamas for Israel’s assault, maintaining to the end its eight-year record of stalwart support for Israel.” Just a note of clarity, since this is one extremely biased piece. Officials of the UN would include Iranians and Syrians. And most European Union nations back Israel. Anyway, more on this strange liberal bit of sick fantasy: (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson: The World Supports Hamas? Of Course, They Do! - The Hamas lobby - I got more than the usual nasty letters this week over voicing support for Israel. Here are some of the critics’ counter-arguments. 1. You talk big time of supporting democracy in the Middle East, but then turn on democratically-elected Hamas when it is convenient! Two points: (A) In summer 2007 Hamas eliminated the Palestinian Authority (i.e., erstwhile Fatah) opposition through intimidation, occasional summary execution and attacks on its party infrastructure. It then, following a Hitlerian 1930s paradigm, took over complete control of Gaza well beyond its parliamentary mandate, and began turning Gaza into an armed camp and veritable appendage of the Iranian terrorist apparatus. Then it soon began shelling Israel. (READ MORE)
In From The Cold: Getting Ready for the Urban Battle - Twenty-four hours into the ground campaign, Israeli forces have split the Gaza Strip in half, surrounding its largest city, and setting the stage for definitive battles that will follow. As the AP describes it: “On Sunday, Israeli soldiers fought primarily in open areas in the launching zones used by Gaza's militants to send rockets raining down on Israeli cities. As the troops in three brigade-size formations moved in, residents of those Israeli cities began cautiously emerging from bomb shelters in hopes that the rocket fire would taper off. Backing up the troops, mobile artillery units fired shells that exploded in veils of white smoke over Gaza's urban skyline. Tanks pushed south of Gaza City as deep as the abandoned settlement of Netzarim, which Israel left along with other communities when it pulled out of Gaza in 2005.” (READ MORE)
CJ: Respect and Admiration Not A Leftwing Trait - Flopping Aces has an excellent piece up that I challenge ALL my readers to read all the way through. I've posted about all the things that President Bush has done for this country, but he's done a lot for the world as a whole as well. And along the way to improving the lives of perhaps billions of people, he's made a few mistakes. Good for him. It means he's human. While our troops do not to deal with the level of ignorance shown during the Vietnam War, we still have to deal with ignorant baffoons who have made their life's goal to denigrate and minimize our contributions and accomplishments. Why is that? Because if they admit that the military has succeeded, they have to admit that our boss has succeeded. Scientists have not yet isolated a treatment for those suffering from BDS. Until the gene responsible for this refusal to accept and admit obvious successes, BDS will continue and our troops will remain without the public declaration of respect and admiration for their victory. (READ MORE)
J. D. Pendry: Happy 2009 - Entering 2009, we find that the centuries old battle between the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, continues. The children of Isaac have endured a relentless fight for their existence against the children of Ishmael, often alone, from the beginning of human history. Ishmael, led by fanatical Mullahs and because of them, will never reconcile with Isaac. Some of us, considered the weak minded by the all knowing elitists of our world, know the roots of this epic struggle and how it ends. We have called it by many names. The war on terror is just one of the misnomers we have given it. We rarely, however, want to accept what it truly is - the epic battle between Isaac and Ishmael playing for us as if it was another of Cecil B. Demille’s Biblical productions. Whether you accept that premise or not, you must decide during this new year behind which son of Abraham you stand. There is no alternative choice for you. The fight will not leave you alone. Events, history and ideology force you to one side or the other. (READ MORE)
Jamie Wearing Fool: 'They Have Controlled the Media by Using Money, Power and Their Lies' - I'm not sure which is more of a preposterous claim. That the U.S. military controls the media or the absurd notion that the Taliban have killed more than 5,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan in 2008. Where'd they get these numbers from, The Lancet? It'll be amusing to see if anyone actually reports this with a straight face. “The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its recent claim that it killed more than 5,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan last year may be the militia's most startling yet. The Taliban said last week on its Web site that it killed 5,220 U.S. and NATO troops in 2008 — an exaggerated figure nearly 20 times the official death toll. The insurgents also said they downed 31 aircraft last year. Its fighters destroyed 2,818 NATO and Afghan vehicles and killed 7,552 Afghan soldiers and police, according to a statement from a spokesman.” (READ MORE)
The Black Tygrrrr Express: Israeli Humans vs Palestinian Savages - Israelis are by and large human beings. Palestinians, exempting the 20% that do not support the tactics of Hamas, are savage barbarians. It is time for human beings to triumph over the savages. For those wondering why I have chosen to devalue the lives of people, it is because they have devalued their own lives. Any culture that endorses and promotes suicide bombings has violated the requirement necessary to be a member of the human species. The human culture is a culture that values human life. 80% of Palestinians have decided for whatever inexcusable and insufficient reason that human life does not matter. Therefore, those 80% no longer matter. They can be discarded as an afterthought the same way that one throws out an empty pizza box. (READ MORE)
SC&A: The Road To Perdition And The Road To Civilization - The Judeo-Christian world civilizes, the Islamic world of today, fanaticizes. The Judeo-Christian world builds, the Islamic world of today tears down. That hasn’t always been the case, of course, but is true today- and there is no amount of dancing, obfuscation or deceit that can hide that truth. The Judeo-Christian world, best exemplified by imperfect, but free societies, have far outpaced most of the very dysfunctional Islamic world. When you consider that the Islamic world had an real head start, that reality is even more pronounced. Islam, once home to great thought, discussion and ideas, has become inflexible, giving no quarter to those who want to engage in an kind of exchange. (READ MORE)
The Sniper: In Case Anyone Was Wondering Why Israel Went Into Gaza - They’re called rockets and unless you’ve had them fired at you, you really can’t appreciate just how much it sucks. They’re not just offensive weapons, they’re terror weapons. I know I hated having them fired at us in Afghanistan, I can only imagine how much it would suck to be a little Isreali kid subjected to the fear of incoming rockets at school every day. The rockets are random, lethal, and fired from civilian areas so Hamas can use human shields and then blame Israel when they eventually and inevitably retaliate. This has been going on every day for months and up until now Israel has shown remarkable restraint… so every douchebag with a pro-Hamas/anti-Israel protest sign or a "diplomacy now" sign or a "war is not the answer" placard can sit the hell down and shut the f*** up. And in case you think Israel is overreacting with their retaliatory strikes, here’s a little taste of a rocket attack on Southern Israel. (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: Firming up the narrative: Israel can’t win - The news media are falling all over themselves to conclude that no matter what happens, Israel loses. When I woke up to NPR this morning, the first thing I heard was (paraphrasing) “Israeli forces haven’t stopped the rocket fire into southern Israel, with more than 20 rockets being fired today.” CNN’s summary of their latest Israel piece: NEW: Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel persists despite 10-day campaign And the headline tells you the focus of the media: Gaza death toll rises as Israel pounds Hamas You see? No matter what Israel does, she loses. Might as well not even bother fighting. Hamas can’t be beaten. What a load of crap. Of course Hamas can be beaten. Israel had the terrorists on the rope before, but then they granted them a truce. Every time Hamas is seriously wounded, it sues for truce. And Israel grants it. (READ MORE)
Winds of Change: Gaza and the Law of Armed Conflict - While much of the world engages in hand-wringing, placard-waving, teeth-gnashing, and rocket-launching over Israel’s “disproportionate” response to Hamas attacks from Gaza, it’s worth looking at what the doctrines of “proportionality” actually say. Making the rounds is a two-year old quote from Lionel Beehner’s paper for the Council on Foreign Relations in which he summarizes the principle of proportionality as laid out by the 1907 Hague Conventions. “According to the doctrine, a state is legally allowed to unilaterally defend itself and right a wrong provided the response is proportional to the injury suffered. The response must also be immediate and necessary, refrain from targeting civilians, and require only enough force to reinstate the status quo ante.” The precise wording of the doctrine can be found in Article 51, not Article 49 as Beehner writes, of the Draft Articles of the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Murderers!!!! (Next up: Secondhand Drinking) - Whatever would we do without scientists? When they're not spending millions of our tax dollars to inform us of things we already know, they're discovering heretofore unsuspected dangers lurking in the very fibers of our clothing, just waiting to bite us all in the evolutionary ass: “Researchers have identified "third-hand smoke," an invisible evil that acts like a deadly Ghost of Cigarettes Past: Polluting the air, killing innocent babies and ottomans — even if they aren't present at the time.” As you can guess, this research is geared toward one end only: The banning of all smoking on private property — including your home. Never one to eschew intolerant, divisive fear mongering (even as it denounces intolerant, divisive fear mongerers who use fear and... well, fear as an argument for imposing their policy preferences on others), the New York Times doth not hesitate to wield its much renowned flexible urban viewpoint like the jackhammer of the Gods... (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU: A good day to be an Australian - It’s always a good day to be an Australian but some days feel better than others and the day just gone by was one of those. That thought came to me while I was reading the official transcript of a Prime Ministerial press conference. Anyone who reads government press releases probably belongs to the legion of the lost, if not the legion of the damned, so my only excuse is that I don’t do it very often. But with the situation in the Middle East being at such a turning point at the moment it makes all of us who admire and support the heroic nation of Israel (as heroic in restraint as they are in action) unusually anxious to monitor relevant events. And Australian Prime Ministers of both parties have a track record of firm support for Israel. Before I found the remarks of Prime Minister Rudd on Israel, however, I also found some other remarks by him in his press conference that also pleased me greatly. (READ MORE)
Melanie Phillips: An MP is shocked by al Beeb - Three cheers for Tory MP Michael Fabricant, who says he has been ‘horrified and angered’ by the BBC’s coverage of the Gaza conflict, and will be making a formal complaint to the Chairman of the BBC Trust about it: “While paying scant regard to the provocation of 10,000 rockets fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza over the last seven years, the BBC has chosen to broadcast 'human interest' stories reminiscent of salacious photos in the cheaper red top newspapers. Thus I heard a heart rending report from a Palestinian in Cyprus how he imagined - yes: IMAGINED! - Gaza's streets would be running with the blood of dead Arab children. After that, the BBC located individuals in Gaza who have taken the opportunity of repeating over the BBC what they have already said on Al Jazeera. No balance there then. And today I heard an ‘unbiased report from a British aid worker in Gaza, from Islamic Relief’.” (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: On the Ground in Gaza - (This was sent out by Professor Barry Rubin this morning and I am reproducing it in its entirety, with his permission. Some comments on the *special* treatment afforded Israel, and to lesser extent, the United States, in the current struggle with radical Islam will be forthcoming when I resume blogging next week.) Tel Aviv, Israel Israel didn't want to attack the Gaza Strip from the ground or from the air. Hamas, which had long broken the ceasefire, canceled it altogether. Then it began large-scale attacks on Israel. This is a war of defense. And it is being conducted just 30 miles from here, Israel's main city. According to the just-released Israeli government statement on the offensive: "The objective of this stage is to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas in the area of operation, while taking control of some of rocket launching area used by the Hamas, in order to greatly reduce the quantity of rockets fired at Israel and Israeli civilians.(READ MORE)
The Shield of Achilles : War breaks out, Hamas apologists answer the call - Israel is hitting Gaza in response to Hamas rocket attacks, and Arab activists are protesting all over the globe. I'm not going to echo the media here, but instead point out that some of Israel's critics are not telling you the whole story. Of course, the predictable Daily Kos, Juan Cole, and Richard Silverstein, and the Huffington Post, to name just a few, are all crying out in support of Palestinians and against the Israeli "aggressors". Professor Cole call's Israel's offensive a "war crime". His reasoning: “In 2001-2008, these rockets killed about 15 Israelis and injured 433, and they have damaged property. In the same period, Gazan mortar attacks on Israel have killed 8 Israelis.” The omissions in Cole's article are dishonest. He is comparing apples and oranges. It's true that relatively few Israelis have actually been killed by Hamas rockets. But he conveniently forgets that these are not the only weapons in Hamas' arsenal. (READ MORE)
Donald Sensing: Decision of diplomacy after decision of arms - Paul Reynolds, world affairs correspondent for BBC Online, says that the decisions of diplomacy to conclude the Gaza war will have to wait for Israel's decision of arms. “This conclusion is inevitable in the face of a determination by the Israeli government that it faces an unacceptable threat from Gaza that must be dealt with. By delaying ground operations for a week, it gave Hamas a chance to back down and call a halt to the firing of rockets into Israel. But Hamas chose confrontation, probably fearing that to do otherwise would be to show weakness. ... Much depends on whether Hamas has been able to recover from the shock it must have received eight days ago when the air assault began. On the other hand, a decisive Israeli ground intervention could leave the door open to negotiation - but only if Hamas chooses to walk through that door.” In February 2003, I published an essay at my old One Hand Clapping blog anticipating the coming Iraq campaign, entitled, "The coming American Holy War." This was not in invest the Iraq war with sacredness by any means, but to describe modern American war-making as drawing on both the Northern and Southern models of American history. (READ MORE)
Rightwing Nuthouse: IT’S JUST A LITTLE STAB IN THE BACK - What’s a little knife thrust between the shoulder blades among friends, huh? After all, it’s not like Israel’s enemies on the left want to plunge the blade up to the hilt, penetrating the heart and killing off the Jewish state. They would prefer someone else deliver the coup de grace. Instead, this is more like a “love thrust” – a little wound just to get Israel’s attention and maybe allow them to bleed a bit before calling 911. After all, it’s not like the left wants Israel to disappear – “wiped off the map” as that little elf in Tehran so colorfully puts it. They just want Israel to behave as if the left’s silly, stupid pretensions regarding the rules of diplomacy and conflict resolution (such as they are) actually mean something. It would prove that might doesn’t make right, that it is better to receive attacks without response than defend oneself, and that a few dead Jews are a small price to pay for giving it the old college try at the negotiating table with an enemy that wants to barter their very existence. (READ MORE)
McQ: The left - drawing false parallels - Peterr at FireDogLake points to a quote by Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land in which he likens the security wall Israel erected to the Berlin wall: Anyone who can liken a wall erected to keep oppressed citizens in with a wall erected to keep suicidal enemies out simply can’t be taken seriously. But this is a common tactic of the left - attempt to draw parallels between any totalitarian regime and Israel so its attempts at self-defense can then be compared to those oppressive regimes. Not a single mention of Hamas. Not a single mention of the fact that the West Bank is mostly peaceful. Or that since Israel has erected the wall, Hamas sponsored suicide bombers have largely been unsuccessful in blowing themselves up on buses and in pizza parlors (although they’ve certainly tried to sneak their martyrs through on numerous occasions). (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: No Fanfare - Roy Boehm passed into the clearing at the end of the path Tuesday night. He was 84 years old. Boehm had served his country in three wars, including service in the largest surface-only engagement of World War II, the Battle of Cape Esperance. His ship - the USS Duncan - took multiple hits from 6″ and 8″ guns before going under the waves. Although wounded by shrapnel in his head and body, he managed to save another shipmate before the ship went down. While in the ocean he was forced to fight sharks off for his own life. For 13 hours. Re-enlisting for the Korean War, his ship provided fires ashore in support of the Marine Corps’ amphibious assault on Inchon, and also covered the withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir. After his commissioning, he developed and implemented an unconventional warfare naval commando force known, respected and feared throughout the world: The US Navy SEALs. He was the first Officer-in-Charge of SEAL Team 2. He drove his team hard, and drove himself harder. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Ledeen: Iranian regime failing as proxies lose ground - Normally, Michael Ledeen wouldn’t qualify as an optimist, especially on Iran. That’s what makes his column today on the mullahcracy’s fortunes interesting reading, as Ledeen sees the regime teetering after its proxies have lost ground. But is Ledeen a little too hopeful? “First of all, the dramatic drop in oil prices is devastating to the mullahs, who had planned to be able to fund terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. Suddenly their bottom line is tinged with red, and this carries over onto their domestic balance sheets, which were already demonstrably shaky (they were forced to cancel proposed new taxes when the merchant class staged nation-wide protests). No wonder they seize on any international event to call for petroleum export reductions. Just today they called for a [2] drastic reduction of oil shipments to all countries that supported the Israeli military incursion into Gaza.” (READ MORE)
Phyllis Chesler: An Israeli Soldier’s Mother Waits. What’s At Stake in Gaza - I knew that Israel was going into Gaza with “boots on the ground” at least a day before they finally did so. Two Israeli mothers, who do not know one another, each have sons in the elite Golani and Givati Brigades. Both sons had been ordered to turn in their cell phones; there would be no more “haimishe” (comforting, familiar) contact with home. Another mother in Israel, Bonna Devora Haberman, who is a dear friend, a feminist professor, a religious woman, and the mother of five, emailed me last night. With her permission, I am sharing her words with you. Hers is the voice of a mother in Israel. “Our son finished his 17-month grueling training in an elite commando unit last Thursday night. On Friday, his unit prepared equipment, then returned home for Shabbat. He was called to report for service on Shabbat eve, before we had benched. This was the first time the phone had rung in our home on Shabbat that we can recall.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: 3 state option? - John Bolton wants to turn the clock to 1967. That’s a mistake. In an article in the Washington Post today, the former UN ambassador said the mess made by Hamas in the Gaza has shown that it is time to turn back the clock. “Let’s start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Hamas has killed the idea, and even the Holy Land is good for only one resurrection. Instead, we should look to a ‘three-state’ approach, where Gaza is returned to Egyptian control and the West Bank in some configuration reverts to Jordanian sovereignty. Among many anomalies, today’s conflict lies within the boundaries of three states nominally at peace. Having the two Arab states re-extend their prior political authority is an authentic way to extend the zone of peace and, more important, build on governments that are providing peace and stability in their own countries. (READ MORE)
Dafydd: One Side Fits All - Perhaps I just missed it... I read this story about the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU filing a lawsuit to overturn the will of the voters in that state (stop me if you've heard this before) to restrict adoption to married couples. I read all the way through it, all the arguments advanced by the plaintiffs in that and several other lawsuits, all the fulminations about how the new law is "unconstitutional." But nowhere, in the entire article, does the Associated Press even trouble to ask any supporter of the law why he thinks it's legitimate... a new citizens initiative that (stop me if you've heard this before) merely returns the law to the status quo ante, undoing the state Supreme Court decision that struck down the traditional understanding and ordered adoptions and fostering not to take into account the marital status of the new parents when awarding custody. In fact, the only time they even admit that anyone supports the law (which passed 57-43) is to introduce a couple of bare facts: (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Sending A Child To War - I’ve had the experience of sending my youngest son on a deployment to Kosovo, when that country was fairly stable. I’ve had the experience of sending Marty off to Iraq almost two years ago now. It wasn’t an easy thing to do in either circumstance. This weekend, I spent some time with yet another family member, prior to him deploying to Iraq. This time it was my sister’s son, who spent lots of time as he grew up with us. My sisters children are like my own children and visa versa and it was as difficult to know he’s going off to war, as it was my own son and Marty. Even though he’s an adult now, I still look at him and see that ornery child who spent as much time as possible with my sons. It’s hard to realize that he’s grown up and now a man and in the Navy. It seems like only yesterday, that his sister was telling their parents that she didn’t want a baby brother and that they should send him back where he came from. (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: More Palestinian Fauxtography? - It certainly looks that way. Try and get people to think that there are more children injured than there really are by getting the injured child to be carried by more than one person. Aussie Dave at Israellycool has the details (scroll down halfway into the post) The same child is being paraded around by different men. If the kid is truly injured, why all the photos since that would be getting in the way of the kid's medical care. Instead, they're parading the kid for the cameras. It's typical of the media in Gaza. They're milking the crisis for all its worth. We can tell it's the same child based on the clothes and the facial scars, which are common to both. (READ MORE)
Cassy Fiano: Will they be screaming about unfair, stolen elections now? - For the past eight years, liberals have screeched and moaned about how President Bush STOLE THE ELECTIONS!!! This, of course, is a load of crap, as President Bush actually did win the election. I'm sure that all those people were only concerned about making sure the voices of the people were heard, not anger over someone they disagree with winning office. And considering how much liberals love fairness and upholding democracy, shouldn't they be more concerned about a real, live, honest-to-God stolen election going on right now? I haven't commented much on the drama going on in Minnesota, with the race for the Senate between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. Why bother? I knew from the beginning what the outcome would be. No matter who the people actually voted for, Al Franken would be declared the winner. And that's exactly what will happen, because there is no other allowable outcome beyond a Franken victory. (READ MORE)
Bring the heat, Bring the Stupid: Here’s a war crime for you… - Israel, as a part of Operation Cast Lead (the current operation to suppress rocket attacks from Gaza) bombed a mosque. I’m sure some folks immediately pointed out that bombing a religious structure is a war crime in contravention with the Geneva Accords and all other sorts of arguments. But here’s the thing. Israel isn’t the one committing a war crime here. Hamas is. Watch the video. You clearly see the initial explosion, followed immediately by a massive secondary explosion and several smaller secondaries. That’s proof there were weapons stored there. Which is an act in violation of the law of war, and which act removed the mosque from its protected status. (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
January 4, 2009
There are many costs of Freedom
[Ed Note: Promoted from the comments]
There are many costs of Freedom:
Some leave homes and loved ones for long periods of time;
some come home so changed they can't re-adapt to what they left nor can some they left re-adapt to the one who came home;
some come him with serious physical wounds such as truamatic brain injury, missing limbs and other permanent disabilities that never heal;
some come home with PTSD and are haunted by images that never leave the screen of their brain;
some have family prosperity altered for a lifetime;
and for some, the cost of war is a lifetime of love.
proud dad SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 Aug 05 near Yusufiyah Iraq
There are many costs of Freedom:
Some leave homes and loved ones for long periods of time;
some come home so changed they can't re-adapt to what they left nor can some they left re-adapt to the one who came home;
some come him with serious physical wounds such as truamatic brain injury, missing limbs and other permanent disabilities that never heal;
some come home with PTSD and are haunted by images that never leave the screen of their brain;
some have family prosperity altered for a lifetime;
and for some, the cost of war is a lifetime of love.
proud dad SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 Aug 05 near Yusufiyah Iraq
January 3, 2009
Can You Feel the Love?! Valentine's Card Drive for Troops!
It's that time again, folks! Christmas is over with, New Year's celebrations are through (and hopefully recovered from!)... so now is the time to chase away those "after-holiday blahs" for our heroes! (Not to mention, the day-to-day "regular" blahs that come from being so far away from home!) Check out the info below to see how you can help -- and please do forward this on to others, post on your blogs, message boards, etc -- we need a lot of people working together to reach our goal by January 31! (We also have a nice, printable flyer that you can hand out to folks - just email us and we'll get it to you!) ~ Thanks for your support of our HEROES!
VALENTINE'S CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS
The Mission: To collect at least 3,000 Valentine's Day cards for troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the world. We are also collecting Hershey's Kisses and Hershey's Hugs – the more, the better!
The Reason: Being away from home and living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!
The Address: Send your signed, unsealed thank-you cards to the following address:
OPERATION LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052
ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2009.
(Sorry, no exceptions or extensions can be granted due to shipping time!)
The Guidelines:
- The cards can be handmade or store-bought. Even regular letters are fine. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church/house of worship and other civic organizations involved in doing something to tangibly show support for our troops.
- Please do not write the date on your cards.
- Keep the cards fun and light-hearted – this is not a dating service!
- Send in Valentine's candy if you are able to!
If you have any questions, please contact us at Kat@OperationLoveFromHome.org or info@operationlovefromhome.org
Check out our website: www.OperationLoveFromHome.org for more info, and join our Yahoo Group to stay in the loop - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome!
Postage costs are our biggest expense, and we are also in need of funds to file our 501(c)(3) application with the IRS. Donations towards postage and/or IRS filing fees are most gratefully accepted!
January 2, 2009
From the Front: 01/02/2009
News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
In their own words:
Bill and Bob's Excellent Adventure: Afghan Conundrum - In the last few posts I have reviewed a posting by "Afghanistan Shrugged" and the latest report on the ANP by the International Crisis Group. One notes how a higher commander can derail an honest effort by a subordinate in a dangerous situation, bringing failure to an operation on the verge of success, and the other details the current state of one of the two main pillars of Afghan security; the ANP (and with it the Ministry of Interior.) The second also touches on the Afghan Judiciary; the shadowy realm where criminal prosecution and corruption blend into a tie-dye of injustice that threatens the very viability of the Afghan government. These are not just my perceptions, but a thread that runs through the actions and decisions of hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, especially leaders. (READ MORE)
Bad Dogs and Such: Oh boy [hack hack]...it's 2009 - [blinks away dust] Yipee. Here's hoping y'all are enjoying a day on the couch, recovering from much fun and watching football. Of course, I understand that Bad Dog readers are much too wise to get wild and crazy on New Year's Eve...but if you did, I hope you had one for those of us who were wishing we could! (READ MORE)
Embrace the Suck: 27 Hours In A Sardine Can... - Wednesday, December 31, 2008 2139 hrs. - Yep, that's right 27 mother fucking hours. I wish I could come up with a better way of putting it, but in this case I do think that the profanity is warranted. So why don't I tell you all about my New Year's Eve this year. Now I am departing from the random bitching and moaning and the romantic sentiments expressed in my recent posts and I am getting back to my bread and butter of finding the humor in the most ridiculously fucked up situations that the Army can put together for me. Mostly because if I did not, I would promptly lose my mind. I mean more so than I already have. So we had a mission today. Obviously, I cannot share the particulars, but I can share the generalities. So suffice it to say that a shit ton of vehicles were moving from one place to another and we had to make sure that they got from point A to point B safely. (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: What Green Zone Transfer? - The U.S. formally transferred control of the Green Zone to Iraqi authorities today. So how do the media deal with this milestone? Call it insignificant and dismiss Iraq. Never mind this step towards sovereignty. Never mind the upcoming elections. This isn't a country of 20-something million people. They're savages who are being administered by Americans. And it's all Bush's fault. WaPo makes it sound like it's all talk: "Speaking privately, U.S. officials said they will try to make their presence in the Green Zone less conspicuous in coming days. But they will remain in charge of issuing badges that grant varying levels of access into the area. They said they will not immediately dismantle a vast security apparatus that includes hundreds of Peruvian and Ugandan guards, body-scanning machines, bomb-sniffing dogs and surveillance cameras." (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: The State of Jihad: 2008 - The past year has seen significant developments in the Long War. Pakistan teeters on a civil war and a potential war with India after Taliban gains and an attack launched on Mumbai from within Pakistan. India has emerged as a central battlefield in the war. Iraq has dealt major defeats to al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army, and is moving towards reconciliation. Afghanistan experienced the worst year since the US invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001. A “surge” in Afghanistan will take place this year. Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon, and the West has no plan to avert the crisis. Al Qaeda is poised to retake control of Somalia. Yemen remains an al Qaeda sanctuary. The battles continue in lesser known theaters. (READ MORE)
Notes From Iraq: Negligent Discharge Tragedy - A few days ago, an Iraqi Soldier was entering a HMMWV, leading with his rifle. He negligently discharged with weapon, shooting himself in the head and resulting in his death. Overall, our experience with the Iraqi Army tells us that they are not particularly concerned with muzzle or trigger discipline. These are the practices of keeping your finger off the trigger when not actively engaging a target and not pointing the muzzle of your weapon at yourself or others. Preferably, a weapon is kept at the 'low ready,' where it is pointed down to the ground with your finger beside the trigger well. Also, when Americans enter a base, we clear our weapons at clearing barrels. (READ MORE)
Notes From Iraq: 31DEC08--New Year's Celebration in Iraq - After getting back from mentoring the Iraqi Army, the team got together for some New Year's Eve Festivities. Sergeant Colon fired up the grill, and Lieutenant Jay Alaniz had our foosball table moved to the level spot near the grill. We ate steaks, burgers and ribs. Our new dog, Scarface ate well. We had both a darts and a spades tournament. The night was not all games, as the Iraqi Army planned how they would react to a recent attack. We all gathered a few minutes before the new year and counted down the seconds. Being away from our families and having no one to kiss is tough. For now we have each other. In the meantime, we know that at the close of 2009 that we will be with our loved ones. (READ MORE)
Pink's War: Another Damn New Year - So its another new year. In a way it feels like just yesterday I was writing my blog on New Year's 2008. This time last year I was exactly halfway through Basic Training, home for Christmas Exodus. This year I'm sitting in Iraq, miles upon miles away from home. Looking back on 2008, its amazing how much things can change and yet still stay the same. Its amazing how much you can accomplish in a year if you set your mind to it. And its even more amazing how much you can grow as a person in just a year. This time last year I wasn't in a very good spot, I still had some issues I had to work out with myself. I was still trying to figure out exactly who I was after getting away from the ex's control over me. (READ MORE)
Ramblings from a painter: Happy New Year - Happy New Year to you! I sincerely hope this next year turns out better than the last. What a strange, tough year it's been. During this past week, we've been sorta getting stuff done. We gradually got settled into our new office spaces, getting our stuff out of boxes and squirreled away on our desks, getting our computers to work, trying to find out where all the offices for our key contacts are, that sort of thing. I've still got some issues. Every other day, for example, my computer loses all my old email files and I have to spend some time chasing them down. They're supposed to be saved to the network, but my computer doesn't understand that. A bit annoying. Another thing: the Network Gods don't want me to change my computer's desktop image. They want me to keep the really boring State Department logo. I keep trying to change it over to pictures of my grandson, my wife, or my dogs - you know, things I care about - but NOOOoooooo ... (READ MORE)
Sorority Soldier: Leaving Home - It’s my last night in Shreveport, and the night I have to admit I’m leaving. Actually, last night was the night I really had to admit I’m going to be gone for a year - I said good-bye to Craig. He got on the road around 8:30 heading to Dallas to catch a plane to Colorado for a ski trip he’s had planned with his friends. We were at his parents house when he left and I stood outside crying a good 20 minutes, holding onto him and not wanting to watch him drive away. Today I’ve been lazy. My best friend, Amanda, spent the night and this morning we layed around with my mom and brothers watching home videos. After watching a span of about 5 years crammed into two VHS tapes, we concluded the following: I was starved for attention after my brother, Cade, came along AND I was born to be a journalist, evidenced by the constant interviews of relatives and anyone who would talk to my hand holding the invisible microphone. (READ MORE)
The Angry American: 2008 in Review - 2008 is behind us now. I started 2008 at FOB Rustamiyah, and if memory serves me well shortly after midnight there Garrison burst through my door in a thong that said "I love my Soldier" and jumped into my bed. The rest of the men were gathered outside snapping pictures. I don't know where those pictures went but they will probably resurface if any of those guys read this post. I was there for the first snow fall in Baghdad in roughly over 60 years. That was the same day we escorted a bunch of nuclear waste, that was a fun day let me tell you. A good man's body succumbed to injuries he had sustained 4 months earlier the day before his 20th birthday. Duncan Crookston the resident Charlie Company Genius will never be forgotten. (READ MORE)
Two Brothers, Two Countries, One Army: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - Well, I apologize...I haven't written on here in some time. I could make excuses and give some good reasons...but..it wouldn't change much. I'm sorry. SO I'll try to make up for some lost time and tell what's been going on in my world.... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Christmas this year is one that I will probably never forget. I would love to tell you I won't forget it because I was 9,000 miles-ish away from home and being in Iraq was significant enough....well...I really wish that was the only reason why it will stick in my head for a very long time. Christmas morning was ok....Christmas evening my group and I enjoyed a nice dinner together at the DFAC and got our picture with Santa. Then we came back to the office and opened presents. I had some stockings made for everyone and they really enjoyed them. We all got the biggest kick out of it because they knew I had wrapped some small toys and put in the stockings...well...what I didn't know is that they wrapped a few gifts themselves and put in one stocking in particular. (READ MORE)
Big Tobacco: Talking Straight in a World So Queer - I wrote this while smoking a CAO Brazilia. It’s freezing cold, yet I am outside finishing a La Gloria Cubana. I’m not addicted, I just don’t want a $10 cigar to go to waste. As I huddle and puff, I see Staff Sergeant Goldie walk past the smoking area. SSG Goldie and I have met a couple times in the smoking area over cigars, but our schedules never seemed to jibe for an official off-the-FOB date. “Hey, Goldie!” I shout. She looks very happy to see me. She runs her fingers through her short blonde hair and grins, “Hey, BT! It’s your day off today right?” “Have you been stalking me?” I ask. She giggles like she is 14 again, “Naaaaaa.” “Is it my day off? What day is it?” “It’s Friday, BT. I’m off too.” I put on the phony Brooklyn accent. “Oy gavolt! They want me to work on Shabbas!” I’ve never even been to Brooklyn. She laughs. “Do you want to get together today?” This is the key. Always make it seem like it’s their idea. (READ MORE)
News from the Front:
Iraq:
Citizen’s tip leads IA, MND-B Soldiers to Baghdad weapons cache - BAGHDAD – Iraqi Army soldiers and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers seized weapons caches throughout the Baghdad area Dec. 31. While searching a house, Iraqi Army soldiers with 4th Battalion, 54th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, found a cache that contained a small amount of home-made explosives, detonation cord and a blasting cap at approximately 2 p.m. in Baghdad’s Ameriyah neighborhood. (READ MORE)
Airport transitions to civil authority in southern Iraqi province - BASRA – Iraqi authorities took control of the Basrah International Airport from Coalition supervision today in a ceremony in the southern city of Basra. This transfer of authority comes after four years of operation since it closed after the start of the war in 2003. On hand for the event was Basrah Governor Mohamad El Wa'ili, Basrah International Airport Director Abdul Ameer, Director General of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Administration Sebeeh Al Shebany and Multi-National Division-South East Commander British Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon, as well as other officials, members of Iraqi Security forces and Iraqi media. (READ MORE)
IA detains 5 after IDF attack near Kut - FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces detained five individuals after an indirect fire attack southwest of al Kut in Wasit province Dec. 31. The attack occurred between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Iraqi Army scouts from the 32nd Iraqi Army Brigade immediately investigated reports of suspicious individuals entering two separate houses. The detained individuals were found at those locations and were taken into custody by Iraqi forces. (READ MORE)
IA, MND-B Soldiers find weapons caches west of Baghdad - BAGHDAD – At approximately 10:46 a.m., IA Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 36th Brigade, 9th IA Division, along with Soldiers with Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, seized a large cache including 177 73 mm heat rockets, 19 73 mm projectiles, 119 rocket mortars, a 106 mm illumination mortar, an 82 mm mortar, three 40 mm projectile grenades, 20 120 mm mortar primers, six mortar fuses, 40 rocket point detonating fuses, 200 14.5 mm cartridges, a partially constructed improvised-explosive device, and a variety of bomb-making materials. (READ MORE)
ISF secure warrants, arrest 13 suspected criminals - BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces captured 13 suspected criminals Dec. 28-29 during separate operations throughout Iraq. During an operation Dec. 28 in central Iraq, Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured a suspected criminal Amir of the Andalus neighborhood of Baghdad. The individual is believed to have constructed vehicle-borne IEDs and conducted attacks targeting Coalition forces. (READ MORE)
ISF detain suspected criminals responsible for roadside bombing (Baghdad) - BAGHDAD – Iraqi Security Forces detained two suspected criminals Dec. 30 who were allegedly responsible for attacking a Sons of Iraq checkpoint in Baghdad’s Rashid district. At approximately 11:45 a.m., Iraqi National Police from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd NP Div., supported by Coalition forces, detained two suspected criminals in the Aamel community. Both detainees were allegedly involved in a recent roadside bomb attack against a Sons of Iraq checkpoint. (READ MORE)
Leaders meet to discuss SoI transition to GoI control - CAMP ECHO, Iraq – A spokesman for the government’s Sons of Iraq transition plan said during a meeting in Diwaniyah last month that approximately 20 percent of the SoI members are slotted to join the Iraqi Security Forces. Muzhir al-Mawla, a retired Iraqi Army general, spoke on the future structure of the SoI program at the 8th IA Division headquarters Dec. 24. (READ MORE)
82nd Paratroopers Prepare for Iraq Mission - FOB LOYALTY — Soldiers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, continue to transition with their 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division counterparts in Baghdad. The Soldiers will partner with the Iraqi Security Forces and local government officials during their 12-month deployment here. (READ MORE)
Camp Liberty Soldiers Ring in the New Year - CAMP LIBERTY — U.S. Soldiers gathered together inside the Stadium here to celebrate the arrival of the new year, Dec. 31. Being away from home doesn’t mean that Soldiers need to also be away from holiday celebration, and with the help of the Quarterback Club and the 4th Infantry Division Band, they didn’t miss a beat. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Commandos Learn Border Security - FOB DELTA — Iraqi commandos graduated a two-week training course on mounted and dismounted techniques, urban and close quarter combat, medical training and snap traffic control points at the Karmashiyah Border Fort, Dec. 29. “The training was really great, and my Soldiers were very grateful to get the experience and training from the American Soldiers,” said Maj. Satar Ebraheem Obed, Border Security Force battalion commander, Department of Border Enforcement. (READ MORE)
Air Force Surgeons Rotate Through Iraq - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE — Optimally managing the unique head and neck injury patterns seen in Iraq and Afghanistan has led to a successful initiative at Wilford Hall Medical Center here. Hospital officials have developed a program – the first for a military medical facility -- to send surgical fellows to a war zone for a surgical rotation. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Firefighter Apprentice Training Course Moved, Expanded - BAGHDAD — Iraqi firefighters are more than half-way through the firefighter apprentice course being taught for the first time in Baghdad’s International Zone. The class was previously conducted at Taji Military Base just north of Baghdad but the location lacked advanced live fire trainers and had a very limited capacity for students. (READ MORE)
Afghanistan:
A river, a bridge and a hope - Uruzgon Province in southern Afghanistan has been one of the most troublesome for U.S. and NATO troops. It's smack in the middle of the heroin-poppy region. Taliban leader Mullah Omar is from the province. U.S., Australian and Dutch troops have fought the Taliban here -- with much of the battle being to win support of the local populace. (READ MORE)
Coalition forces target road side bombers in Zabul - KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition forces killed eight armed Taliban militants and detained one suspected militant during an operation to disrupt the foreign fighter and roadside bomb network in Zabul Province, Wednesday. In Arghandad District, approximately 120km northeast of Kandahar City, Coalition forces targeted a Taliban sub-commander wanted for his ties to the roadside bombing network along Highway One and recent attacks against Coalition forces in Zabul Province. (READ MORE)
Afghan forces stop attack on Coalition airfield - KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan Security Guards (ASG) thwarted a daytime insurgent attack on Shindand airfield, Dec 29. The airfield is located in Herat province in the western area of Afghan. It is suspected that the insurgents were preparing to ambush incoming aircraft. The insurgents attacked the guards with small arms weapons. ASG successfully repelled the attack with the help of Afghan National Police (ANP). (READ MORE)
Coalition forces target terrorist network in Kabul - KABUL, Afghanistan – After the conclusion of the operation in Sorubi District, an allegation of civilian casualties was brought to the attention of Coalition forces. An initial review of the operational reports indicate only enemy forces were engaged during the operation. “Coalition forces deeply regrets when any harm comes to civilians,” said Col. Jerry O’Hara, a U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesperson. (READ MORE)
Coalition forces target Haqqani network in Paktiya - KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition forces detained eight suspected Haqqani militants, including the two targeted individuals, during an operation to disrupt the Haqqani foreign fighter and roadside bomb network in Paktiya province, Monday. In Shamul District, approximately 135 km south of Kabul City, Coalition forces apprehended two wanted Haqqani militants believed to traffic foreign fighters into Paktiya to conduct terrorist activities. (READ MORE)
16 Afghans dead, 58 Afghans wounded in Khowst province suicide attack Sunday - KABUL, Afghanistan – One of Public Affairs’ primary responsibilities is to ensure factual reporting of events to the public and to counter enemy propaganda. Sunday, Zabihollah Mojahed, a Taliban spokesperson, reported a martyrdom attack carried out in Khowst province. Mojahed claimed the attack killed 20 foreign soldiers, wounded dozens and destroyed an unknown number of tanks. (READ MORE)
In their own words:
Bill and Bob's Excellent Adventure: Afghan Conundrum - In the last few posts I have reviewed a posting by "Afghanistan Shrugged" and the latest report on the ANP by the International Crisis Group. One notes how a higher commander can derail an honest effort by a subordinate in a dangerous situation, bringing failure to an operation on the verge of success, and the other details the current state of one of the two main pillars of Afghan security; the ANP (and with it the Ministry of Interior.) The second also touches on the Afghan Judiciary; the shadowy realm where criminal prosecution and corruption blend into a tie-dye of injustice that threatens the very viability of the Afghan government. These are not just my perceptions, but a thread that runs through the actions and decisions of hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, especially leaders. (READ MORE)
Bad Dogs and Such: Oh boy [hack hack]...it's 2009 - [blinks away dust] Yipee. Here's hoping y'all are enjoying a day on the couch, recovering from much fun and watching football. Of course, I understand that Bad Dog readers are much too wise to get wild and crazy on New Year's Eve...but if you did, I hope you had one for those of us who were wishing we could! (READ MORE)
Embrace the Suck: 27 Hours In A Sardine Can... - Wednesday, December 31, 2008 2139 hrs. - Yep, that's right 27 mother fucking hours. I wish I could come up with a better way of putting it, but in this case I do think that the profanity is warranted. So why don't I tell you all about my New Year's Eve this year. Now I am departing from the random bitching and moaning and the romantic sentiments expressed in my recent posts and I am getting back to my bread and butter of finding the humor in the most ridiculously fucked up situations that the Army can put together for me. Mostly because if I did not, I would promptly lose my mind. I mean more so than I already have. So we had a mission today. Obviously, I cannot share the particulars, but I can share the generalities. So suffice it to say that a shit ton of vehicles were moving from one place to another and we had to make sure that they got from point A to point B safely. (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: What Green Zone Transfer? - The U.S. formally transferred control of the Green Zone to Iraqi authorities today. So how do the media deal with this milestone? Call it insignificant and dismiss Iraq. Never mind this step towards sovereignty. Never mind the upcoming elections. This isn't a country of 20-something million people. They're savages who are being administered by Americans. And it's all Bush's fault. WaPo makes it sound like it's all talk: "Speaking privately, U.S. officials said they will try to make their presence in the Green Zone less conspicuous in coming days. But they will remain in charge of issuing badges that grant varying levels of access into the area. They said they will not immediately dismantle a vast security apparatus that includes hundreds of Peruvian and Ugandan guards, body-scanning machines, bomb-sniffing dogs and surveillance cameras." (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: The State of Jihad: 2008 - The past year has seen significant developments in the Long War. Pakistan teeters on a civil war and a potential war with India after Taliban gains and an attack launched on Mumbai from within Pakistan. India has emerged as a central battlefield in the war. Iraq has dealt major defeats to al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army, and is moving towards reconciliation. Afghanistan experienced the worst year since the US invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001. A “surge” in Afghanistan will take place this year. Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon, and the West has no plan to avert the crisis. Al Qaeda is poised to retake control of Somalia. Yemen remains an al Qaeda sanctuary. The battles continue in lesser known theaters. (READ MORE)
Notes From Iraq: Negligent Discharge Tragedy - A few days ago, an Iraqi Soldier was entering a HMMWV, leading with his rifle. He negligently discharged with weapon, shooting himself in the head and resulting in his death. Overall, our experience with the Iraqi Army tells us that they are not particularly concerned with muzzle or trigger discipline. These are the practices of keeping your finger off the trigger when not actively engaging a target and not pointing the muzzle of your weapon at yourself or others. Preferably, a weapon is kept at the 'low ready,' where it is pointed down to the ground with your finger beside the trigger well. Also, when Americans enter a base, we clear our weapons at clearing barrels. (READ MORE)
Notes From Iraq: 31DEC08--New Year's Celebration in Iraq - After getting back from mentoring the Iraqi Army, the team got together for some New Year's Eve Festivities. Sergeant Colon fired up the grill, and Lieutenant Jay Alaniz had our foosball table moved to the level spot near the grill. We ate steaks, burgers and ribs. Our new dog, Scarface ate well. We had both a darts and a spades tournament. The night was not all games, as the Iraqi Army planned how they would react to a recent attack. We all gathered a few minutes before the new year and counted down the seconds. Being away from our families and having no one to kiss is tough. For now we have each other. In the meantime, we know that at the close of 2009 that we will be with our loved ones. (READ MORE)
Pink's War: Another Damn New Year - So its another new year. In a way it feels like just yesterday I was writing my blog on New Year's 2008. This time last year I was exactly halfway through Basic Training, home for Christmas Exodus. This year I'm sitting in Iraq, miles upon miles away from home. Looking back on 2008, its amazing how much things can change and yet still stay the same. Its amazing how much you can accomplish in a year if you set your mind to it. And its even more amazing how much you can grow as a person in just a year. This time last year I wasn't in a very good spot, I still had some issues I had to work out with myself. I was still trying to figure out exactly who I was after getting away from the ex's control over me. (READ MORE)
Ramblings from a painter: Happy New Year - Happy New Year to you! I sincerely hope this next year turns out better than the last. What a strange, tough year it's been. During this past week, we've been sorta getting stuff done. We gradually got settled into our new office spaces, getting our stuff out of boxes and squirreled away on our desks, getting our computers to work, trying to find out where all the offices for our key contacts are, that sort of thing. I've still got some issues. Every other day, for example, my computer loses all my old email files and I have to spend some time chasing them down. They're supposed to be saved to the network, but my computer doesn't understand that. A bit annoying. Another thing: the Network Gods don't want me to change my computer's desktop image. They want me to keep the really boring State Department logo. I keep trying to change it over to pictures of my grandson, my wife, or my dogs - you know, things I care about - but NOOOoooooo ... (READ MORE)
Sorority Soldier: Leaving Home - It’s my last night in Shreveport, and the night I have to admit I’m leaving. Actually, last night was the night I really had to admit I’m going to be gone for a year - I said good-bye to Craig. He got on the road around 8:30 heading to Dallas to catch a plane to Colorado for a ski trip he’s had planned with his friends. We were at his parents house when he left and I stood outside crying a good 20 minutes, holding onto him and not wanting to watch him drive away. Today I’ve been lazy. My best friend, Amanda, spent the night and this morning we layed around with my mom and brothers watching home videos. After watching a span of about 5 years crammed into two VHS tapes, we concluded the following: I was starved for attention after my brother, Cade, came along AND I was born to be a journalist, evidenced by the constant interviews of relatives and anyone who would talk to my hand holding the invisible microphone. (READ MORE)
The Angry American: 2008 in Review - 2008 is behind us now. I started 2008 at FOB Rustamiyah, and if memory serves me well shortly after midnight there Garrison burst through my door in a thong that said "I love my Soldier" and jumped into my bed. The rest of the men were gathered outside snapping pictures. I don't know where those pictures went but they will probably resurface if any of those guys read this post. I was there for the first snow fall in Baghdad in roughly over 60 years. That was the same day we escorted a bunch of nuclear waste, that was a fun day let me tell you. A good man's body succumbed to injuries he had sustained 4 months earlier the day before his 20th birthday. Duncan Crookston the resident Charlie Company Genius will never be forgotten. (READ MORE)
Two Brothers, Two Countries, One Army: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - Well, I apologize...I haven't written on here in some time. I could make excuses and give some good reasons...but..it wouldn't change much. I'm sorry. SO I'll try to make up for some lost time and tell what's been going on in my world.... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Christmas this year is one that I will probably never forget. I would love to tell you I won't forget it because I was 9,000 miles-ish away from home and being in Iraq was significant enough....well...I really wish that was the only reason why it will stick in my head for a very long time. Christmas morning was ok....Christmas evening my group and I enjoyed a nice dinner together at the DFAC and got our picture with Santa. Then we came back to the office and opened presents. I had some stockings made for everyone and they really enjoyed them. We all got the biggest kick out of it because they knew I had wrapped some small toys and put in the stockings...well...what I didn't know is that they wrapped a few gifts themselves and put in one stocking in particular. (READ MORE)
Big Tobacco: Talking Straight in a World So Queer - I wrote this while smoking a CAO Brazilia. It’s freezing cold, yet I am outside finishing a La Gloria Cubana. I’m not addicted, I just don’t want a $10 cigar to go to waste. As I huddle and puff, I see Staff Sergeant Goldie walk past the smoking area. SSG Goldie and I have met a couple times in the smoking area over cigars, but our schedules never seemed to jibe for an official off-the-FOB date. “Hey, Goldie!” I shout. She looks very happy to see me. She runs her fingers through her short blonde hair and grins, “Hey, BT! It’s your day off today right?” “Have you been stalking me?” I ask. She giggles like she is 14 again, “Naaaaaa.” “Is it my day off? What day is it?” “It’s Friday, BT. I’m off too.” I put on the phony Brooklyn accent. “Oy gavolt! They want me to work on Shabbas!” I’ve never even been to Brooklyn. She laughs. “Do you want to get together today?” This is the key. Always make it seem like it’s their idea. (READ MORE)
News from the Front:
Iraq:
Citizen’s tip leads IA, MND-B Soldiers to Baghdad weapons cache - BAGHDAD – Iraqi Army soldiers and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers seized weapons caches throughout the Baghdad area Dec. 31. While searching a house, Iraqi Army soldiers with 4th Battalion, 54th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, found a cache that contained a small amount of home-made explosives, detonation cord and a blasting cap at approximately 2 p.m. in Baghdad’s Ameriyah neighborhood. (READ MORE)
Airport transitions to civil authority in southern Iraqi province - BASRA – Iraqi authorities took control of the Basrah International Airport from Coalition supervision today in a ceremony in the southern city of Basra. This transfer of authority comes after four years of operation since it closed after the start of the war in 2003. On hand for the event was Basrah Governor Mohamad El Wa'ili, Basrah International Airport Director Abdul Ameer, Director General of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Administration Sebeeh Al Shebany and Multi-National Division-South East Commander British Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon, as well as other officials, members of Iraqi Security forces and Iraqi media. (READ MORE)
IA detains 5 after IDF attack near Kut - FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces detained five individuals after an indirect fire attack southwest of al Kut in Wasit province Dec. 31. The attack occurred between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Iraqi Army scouts from the 32nd Iraqi Army Brigade immediately investigated reports of suspicious individuals entering two separate houses. The detained individuals were found at those locations and were taken into custody by Iraqi forces. (READ MORE)
IA, MND-B Soldiers find weapons caches west of Baghdad - BAGHDAD – At approximately 10:46 a.m., IA Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 36th Brigade, 9th IA Division, along with Soldiers with Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, seized a large cache including 177 73 mm heat rockets, 19 73 mm projectiles, 119 rocket mortars, a 106 mm illumination mortar, an 82 mm mortar, three 40 mm projectile grenades, 20 120 mm mortar primers, six mortar fuses, 40 rocket point detonating fuses, 200 14.5 mm cartridges, a partially constructed improvised-explosive device, and a variety of bomb-making materials. (READ MORE)
ISF secure warrants, arrest 13 suspected criminals - BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces captured 13 suspected criminals Dec. 28-29 during separate operations throughout Iraq. During an operation Dec. 28 in central Iraq, Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured a suspected criminal Amir of the Andalus neighborhood of Baghdad. The individual is believed to have constructed vehicle-borne IEDs and conducted attacks targeting Coalition forces. (READ MORE)
ISF detain suspected criminals responsible for roadside bombing (Baghdad) - BAGHDAD – Iraqi Security Forces detained two suspected criminals Dec. 30 who were allegedly responsible for attacking a Sons of Iraq checkpoint in Baghdad’s Rashid district. At approximately 11:45 a.m., Iraqi National Police from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd NP Div., supported by Coalition forces, detained two suspected criminals in the Aamel community. Both detainees were allegedly involved in a recent roadside bomb attack against a Sons of Iraq checkpoint. (READ MORE)
Leaders meet to discuss SoI transition to GoI control - CAMP ECHO, Iraq – A spokesman for the government’s Sons of Iraq transition plan said during a meeting in Diwaniyah last month that approximately 20 percent of the SoI members are slotted to join the Iraqi Security Forces. Muzhir al-Mawla, a retired Iraqi Army general, spoke on the future structure of the SoI program at the 8th IA Division headquarters Dec. 24. (READ MORE)
82nd Paratroopers Prepare for Iraq Mission - FOB LOYALTY — Soldiers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, continue to transition with their 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division counterparts in Baghdad. The Soldiers will partner with the Iraqi Security Forces and local government officials during their 12-month deployment here. (READ MORE)
Camp Liberty Soldiers Ring in the New Year - CAMP LIBERTY — U.S. Soldiers gathered together inside the Stadium here to celebrate the arrival of the new year, Dec. 31. Being away from home doesn’t mean that Soldiers need to also be away from holiday celebration, and with the help of the Quarterback Club and the 4th Infantry Division Band, they didn’t miss a beat. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Commandos Learn Border Security - FOB DELTA — Iraqi commandos graduated a two-week training course on mounted and dismounted techniques, urban and close quarter combat, medical training and snap traffic control points at the Karmashiyah Border Fort, Dec. 29. “The training was really great, and my Soldiers were very grateful to get the experience and training from the American Soldiers,” said Maj. Satar Ebraheem Obed, Border Security Force battalion commander, Department of Border Enforcement. (READ MORE)
Air Force Surgeons Rotate Through Iraq - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE — Optimally managing the unique head and neck injury patterns seen in Iraq and Afghanistan has led to a successful initiative at Wilford Hall Medical Center here. Hospital officials have developed a program – the first for a military medical facility -- to send surgical fellows to a war zone for a surgical rotation. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Firefighter Apprentice Training Course Moved, Expanded - BAGHDAD — Iraqi firefighters are more than half-way through the firefighter apprentice course being taught for the first time in Baghdad’s International Zone. The class was previously conducted at Taji Military Base just north of Baghdad but the location lacked advanced live fire trainers and had a very limited capacity for students. (READ MORE)
Afghanistan:
A river, a bridge and a hope - Uruzgon Province in southern Afghanistan has been one of the most troublesome for U.S. and NATO troops. It's smack in the middle of the heroin-poppy region. Taliban leader Mullah Omar is from the province. U.S., Australian and Dutch troops have fought the Taliban here -- with much of the battle being to win support of the local populace. (READ MORE)
Coalition forces target road side bombers in Zabul - KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition forces killed eight armed Taliban militants and detained one suspected militant during an operation to disrupt the foreign fighter and roadside bomb network in Zabul Province, Wednesday. In Arghandad District, approximately 120km northeast of Kandahar City, Coalition forces targeted a Taliban sub-commander wanted for his ties to the roadside bombing network along Highway One and recent attacks against Coalition forces in Zabul Province. (READ MORE)
Afghan forces stop attack on Coalition airfield - KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan Security Guards (ASG) thwarted a daytime insurgent attack on Shindand airfield, Dec 29. The airfield is located in Herat province in the western area of Afghan. It is suspected that the insurgents were preparing to ambush incoming aircraft. The insurgents attacked the guards with small arms weapons. ASG successfully repelled the attack with the help of Afghan National Police (ANP). (READ MORE)
Coalition forces target terrorist network in Kabul - KABUL, Afghanistan – After the conclusion of the operation in Sorubi District, an allegation of civilian casualties was brought to the attention of Coalition forces. An initial review of the operational reports indicate only enemy forces were engaged during the operation. “Coalition forces deeply regrets when any harm comes to civilians,” said Col. Jerry O’Hara, a U.S. Forces Afghanistan spokesperson. (READ MORE)
Coalition forces target Haqqani network in Paktiya - KABUL, Afghanistan – Coalition forces detained eight suspected Haqqani militants, including the two targeted individuals, during an operation to disrupt the Haqqani foreign fighter and roadside bomb network in Paktiya province, Monday. In Shamul District, approximately 135 km south of Kabul City, Coalition forces apprehended two wanted Haqqani militants believed to traffic foreign fighters into Paktiya to conduct terrorist activities. (READ MORE)
16 Afghans dead, 58 Afghans wounded in Khowst province suicide attack Sunday - KABUL, Afghanistan – One of Public Affairs’ primary responsibilities is to ensure factual reporting of events to the public and to counter enemy propaganda. Sunday, Zabihollah Mojahed, a Taliban spokesperson, reported a martyrdom attack carried out in Khowst province. Mojahed claimed the attack killed 20 foreign soldiers, wounded dozens and destroyed an unknown number of tanks. (READ MORE)
January 1, 2009
European Culture Died in Auschwitz - Repost
This is a repost of a blog post from Janaury 2008 as a part of a Best of 2008 series
European Culture Died in Auschwitz -
Just moments ago I was sent this essay:
At first glance I can agree with a whole lot of it, but before you think of me as a xenophobe allow me to explain.
I was just thinking about a topic very similar to this, this morning on the way to work. If we look back in history the US has always been a great country not only because of what we accomplished but because of how we thought of ourselves. Sure we were the Ugly American that called a spade a spade, but at least you knew where you stood when dealing with us. On the other hand Europe especially after WWII felt it necessary to never offend another person. Whether this was a conscious decision or not we don't know but they slipped further and further towards a socialist society, where everyone is equal all in an effort to avoid another Hitler and the final solution. You see if we are all equal there is no one to blame and no scapegoat, unfortunately it hasn’t worked out quite that well.
As soon as Europe adopted this new belief structure those who realized they could use this new mindset to their advantage moved in, first in their own little enclaves and ghettos and then into government itself. The liberal socialist parties began to rail against the supposed inequalities in society and that life should be fair, an artificial utopia where everyone stays home and all is provided. But to accomplish this they first had to raise the revenue to pay for it so taxes rose and benefits were handed out like gifts for the masses. A modern day version of the famous Roman bread and circuses policies, keep them fed and entertained and no one will complain when you come to take for the rest of society.
And still the inequalities exist only now those of privilege are the politicians that suck up the fruits of those stupid enough to still be in the labor force and distribute it to their followers. And our problems are only beginning:
Add in the Radical Muslims who are so "secure" in their beliefs that they can not even stand to hear someone of another religion speak of their God in any manner. They who are so "secure" that their way is the only way that they will behead anyone who does not convert, or will even behead someone who leaves their Islamic traditions. Those who are so peace loving that they will threaten with murder those who dare question their beliefs. And as they moved into Europe the mindset of never offending anyone that can hurt you is taken to the extreme and we have large sections of European cities run by charismatic Muslim clerics imposing Sharia Law upon the residents, Muslim or not. Because of this we can see that the “disturbances” of France are only the tip of the iceberg. Not a symptom of the inequality and racism the rioters hide behind as their “cause celeb” but a function of their movement.
European Culture hides in the countryside in anachronistic fiefdoms and the “elite” who are so afraid of conflict throw money at the problem; money they plundered from those that built European culture with their own hands.
Look now towards the US and we can see the "enlightened" taking us down the same path. Christianity and Judaism are fair targets for punditry, hate and "art" but Islamic faith is sacrosanct. Do not even dare utter the name Mohammed or you can be accused of being intolerant. Even the President is forbidden from stating that it is Islamic radicals who are using our own insane laws against us in this fight for fear of offending the voting blocs. And don’t even get me started on Southern Culture and how it is now forbidden to acknowledge an antebellum South ever existed unless you are seeking reparations for a past that we as a Country abolished with a Constitutional Amendment.
Ask yourself why do the "elite" of this country really want us to be like Europe where racism still runs rampant? Where Socialism vies for supremacy and personal liberty is stripped away for the common good of not offending anyone? Where your thoughts can be considered a crime against humanity and your words cause for murder?
Upon further reflection I'd have to say that I agree 100% with this essay, maybe not every word or concept but definitely with the thesis. All of European glory and culture died in Auschwitz, not just with the murder and extermination of the Jews and other "undesirables" so deemed by the Nazi party but also within the hearts of Europeans. The Continent that gave us the Magna Charta, the Renaissance and Enlightenment has now given us a life devoid of responsibility and purpose where offense is a high crime and tolerance is the height of intolerance.
France and Germany proves that Europe is showing the signs of waking up from their 60 years of slumber and utopia searching and we can only hope that the rest of Europe follows suit. Hitler killed the Jews but Europe threw their Culture into the furnace with them and we are all suffering because of it.
Wake up Europe! Wake up Everyone!
European Culture Died in Auschwitz -
Just moments ago I was sent this essay:
ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ By Sebastian Vilar RodrigezI haven’t attempted to verify its authenticity but was simply asked: “What do you think of this? Do you agree?”
I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth -Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We
destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.
The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.
And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.
They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime.
Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.
We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for hoping for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.
What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe.
At first glance I can agree with a whole lot of it, but before you think of me as a xenophobe allow me to explain.
I was just thinking about a topic very similar to this, this morning on the way to work. If we look back in history the US has always been a great country not only because of what we accomplished but because of how we thought of ourselves. Sure we were the Ugly American that called a spade a spade, but at least you knew where you stood when dealing with us. On the other hand Europe especially after WWII felt it necessary to never offend another person. Whether this was a conscious decision or not we don't know but they slipped further and further towards a socialist society, where everyone is equal all in an effort to avoid another Hitler and the final solution. You see if we are all equal there is no one to blame and no scapegoat, unfortunately it hasn’t worked out quite that well.
As soon as Europe adopted this new belief structure those who realized they could use this new mindset to their advantage moved in, first in their own little enclaves and ghettos and then into government itself. The liberal socialist parties began to rail against the supposed inequalities in society and that life should be fair, an artificial utopia where everyone stays home and all is provided. But to accomplish this they first had to raise the revenue to pay for it so taxes rose and benefits were handed out like gifts for the masses. A modern day version of the famous Roman bread and circuses policies, keep them fed and entertained and no one will complain when you come to take for the rest of society.
And still the inequalities exist only now those of privilege are the politicians that suck up the fruits of those stupid enough to still be in the labor force and distribute it to their followers. And our problems are only beginning:
Add in the Radical Muslims who are so "secure" in their beliefs that they can not even stand to hear someone of another religion speak of their God in any manner. They who are so "secure" that their way is the only way that they will behead anyone who does not convert, or will even behead someone who leaves their Islamic traditions. Those who are so peace loving that they will threaten with murder those who dare question their beliefs. And as they moved into Europe the mindset of never offending anyone that can hurt you is taken to the extreme and we have large sections of European cities run by charismatic Muslim clerics imposing Sharia Law upon the residents, Muslim or not. Because of this we can see that the “disturbances” of France are only the tip of the iceberg. Not a symptom of the inequality and racism the rioters hide behind as their “cause celeb” but a function of their movement.
European Culture hides in the countryside in anachronistic fiefdoms and the “elite” who are so afraid of conflict throw money at the problem; money they plundered from those that built European culture with their own hands.
Look now towards the US and we can see the "enlightened" taking us down the same path. Christianity and Judaism are fair targets for punditry, hate and "art" but Islamic faith is sacrosanct. Do not even dare utter the name Mohammed or you can be accused of being intolerant. Even the President is forbidden from stating that it is Islamic radicals who are using our own insane laws against us in this fight for fear of offending the voting blocs. And don’t even get me started on Southern Culture and how it is now forbidden to acknowledge an antebellum South ever existed unless you are seeking reparations for a past that we as a Country abolished with a Constitutional Amendment.
Ask yourself why do the "elite" of this country really want us to be like Europe where racism still runs rampant? Where Socialism vies for supremacy and personal liberty is stripped away for the common good of not offending anyone? Where your thoughts can be considered a crime against humanity and your words cause for murder?
Upon further reflection I'd have to say that I agree 100% with this essay, maybe not every word or concept but definitely with the thesis. All of European glory and culture died in Auschwitz, not just with the murder and extermination of the Jews and other "undesirables" so deemed by the Nazi party but also within the hearts of Europeans. The Continent that gave us the Magna Charta, the Renaissance and Enlightenment has now given us a life devoid of responsibility and purpose where offense is a high crime and tolerance is the height of intolerance.
France and Germany proves that Europe is showing the signs of waking up from their 60 years of slumber and utopia searching and we can only hope that the rest of Europe follows suit. Hitler killed the Jews but Europe threw their Culture into the furnace with them and we are all suffering because of it.
Wake up Europe! Wake up Everyone!
Has the Anti-War Crowd Gone Too Far? - Repost
This is a repost of a blog post from march 2008 as a part of a Best of 2008 series:
Has the Anti-War Crowd Gone Too Far? -
This morning at about 3:40 am an explosion occurred outside a recruiting station in Times Square NYC. While no report seems to link the current escalation of force by the anti-war / peace movement I will. First we saw Code-Pink in Berkeley, CA swarm around and set up a continual protest against the USMC. Then we have crowds invading a recruiting station in Washington DC. Now…a bombing of a recruiting station in NYC.
The New York Times describes the event thusly:
Blast Damages Times Square Recruiting Station
The New York City police just issued a statement describing the source of the explosion as an “improvised explosive device” and putting the time of the blast at 3:43 a.m. Subways and traffic are running normally through Times Square.
At first glance, the explosion seemed reminiscent, in its effects and timing, of two earlier blasts. At about 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2007, two dummy hand grenades that had been fashioned into crude bombs exploded outside the Mexican Consulate at 27 East 39th Street in Murray Hill, shattering windows. The building was not occupied and no one was hurt. At 3:55 a.m. on May 5, 2005, two crude but powerful explosive devices detonated outside the British Consulate at 845 Third Avenue in East Midtown, shattering windows and damaging a planter.
Just after 6:45 a.m., a handful of law enforcement officers knelt at the foundation of the recruiting station, smashing the carpet of glass shards with >long-handled mallets. Two men in hazardous-materials suits stood above them, among more than a dozen investigators from the city’s Police and Fire Departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Police vans and squad cars ringed the scene, with clusters of detectives on street corners, paging through notebooks and talking on cellphones.
And while a spokesperson for Homeland Security wouldn’t comment on whether this explosion was related to terrorism the act in itself was a terror attack…an attack in my opinion against those very people who defend us against terror, the U.S. Military.
The left is already in a tizzy over the event worried that it’s going to cause a backlash against them. In the words of Kos Diarist Cool Blue Reason: “Inevitably, we're going to start hearing about "left-wing terrorism" from the usual suspects in the media. And I'm guessing the drumbeat is going to be especially loud in this political environment.”
And you know what CBR, you are absolutely correct. Do you want to know why, the reason is because you are more than happy to surround your self and associate with those who openly hate and attack those who defend us. You support groups like Code Pink and MoveOn.org who call our soldier’s baby killers and murderers. You clap when “students” swarm and destroy recruiting stations and you support world leaders who actively call for the destruction of the very country that defends your right to do so.
Is this event going to be used to attack the left? You’re damn right its going to be used to attack the left, because the left has allowed and even welcomed the militant anti-American into their ranks, and you deserve all of the bad press that goes along with it.
How unhinged is the left over this they are even indicating that it was a right-wing attack against the recruiting station in order to drum up support to oppose the left. Can it get any crazier in the reality based community?
Has the Anti-War Crowd Gone Too Far? -
This morning at about 3:40 am an explosion occurred outside a recruiting station in Times Square NYC. While no report seems to link the current escalation of force by the anti-war / peace movement I will. First we saw Code-Pink in Berkeley, CA swarm around and set up a continual protest against the USMC. Then we have crowds invading a recruiting station in Washington DC. Now…a bombing of a recruiting station in NYC.
The New York Times describes the event thusly:
Blast Damages Times Square Recruiting Station
The New York City police just issued a statement describing the source of the explosion as an “improvised explosive device” and putting the time of the blast at 3:43 a.m. Subways and traffic are running normally through Times Square.
At first glance, the explosion seemed reminiscent, in its effects and timing, of two earlier blasts. At about 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2007, two dummy hand grenades that had been fashioned into crude bombs exploded outside the Mexican Consulate at 27 East 39th Street in Murray Hill, shattering windows. The building was not occupied and no one was hurt. At 3:55 a.m. on May 5, 2005, two crude but powerful explosive devices detonated outside the British Consulate at 845 Third Avenue in East Midtown, shattering windows and damaging a planter.
Just after 6:45 a.m., a handful of law enforcement officers knelt at the foundation of the recruiting station, smashing the carpet of glass shards with >long-handled mallets. Two men in hazardous-materials suits stood above them, among more than a dozen investigators from the city’s Police and Fire Departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Police vans and squad cars ringed the scene, with clusters of detectives on street corners, paging through notebooks and talking on cellphones.
And while a spokesperson for Homeland Security wouldn’t comment on whether this explosion was related to terrorism the act in itself was a terror attack…an attack in my opinion against those very people who defend us against terror, the U.S. Military.
The left is already in a tizzy over the event worried that it’s going to cause a backlash against them. In the words of Kos Diarist Cool Blue Reason: “Inevitably, we're going to start hearing about "left-wing terrorism" from the usual suspects in the media. And I'm guessing the drumbeat is going to be especially loud in this political environment.”
And you know what CBR, you are absolutely correct. Do you want to know why, the reason is because you are more than happy to surround your self and associate with those who openly hate and attack those who defend us. You support groups like Code Pink and MoveOn.org who call our soldier’s baby killers and murderers. You clap when “students” swarm and destroy recruiting stations and you support world leaders who actively call for the destruction of the very country that defends your right to do so.
Is this event going to be used to attack the left? You’re damn right its going to be used to attack the left, because the left has allowed and even welcomed the militant anti-American into their ranks, and you deserve all of the bad press that goes along with it.
How unhinged is the left over this they are even indicating that it was a right-wing attack against the recruiting station in order to drum up support to oppose the left. Can it get any crazier in the reality based community?
America’s Disconnect with War and the Need for War - Repost
This is a repost of a blog post from March 2008 as a part of a Best of 2008 series:
America’s Disconnect with War and the Need for War -
In today’s Web Recon I highlighted an article by Rebecca Hagelin entitled Paying the Price to Wipe Out the Enemy. She writes in part:
People forget that we’re not at war with Iraq -- we’re at war in Iraq. We’re not fighting a nation or a government with a designated leader. We’re fighting terrorists who scurry among Middle Eastern countries and hide out in caves.
Yes, they get cover and support from rogue dictators and are led by individuals we can identify. But you don’t negotiate with mass murderers like Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. These are fanatics who strap bombs on children, target civilians in neighborhood markets, and burst into universities and seminaries and blow people away. You don’t hunt them down to have a chat. You hunt them down so you can rid the world of them and their evil.
This is the major difference between “liberal” America and “conservative” America when it comes to war and prosecuting war. “Liberal” America believes that by talking and negotiating we can protect our country from future attacks and avoid war, whereas “conservatives” tend to believe that we must be willing to stand up and defend ourselves to ensure our own safety. The major flaw with liberal America’s theory as Ms Hagelin points out is that in this war there is no government to negotiate with, unlike the Cold War when we could open a line of communication with Moscow and see a noticeable result along the Berlin Wall, talking with Pakistan or Iraq or Saudi Arabia or any of the Middle Eastern Nations produces no end result as it pertains to Al Qaeda or the Taliban or any of the other numerous militia and terror groups operating around the world.
We can talk to the Middle East nations until the cows come home and at best we might be able to slow or cut off “official” funding for the insurgent groups but we can’t negotiate a peace settlement with a government that does not speak for them. We might as well discuss a peace agreement between the US and North Korea by calling up the Italian Embassy in London. It just isn’t going to get us any meaningful results, in liberal America though that would be considered a meaningful achievement though, because for them it’s more about the process than the results. Talking about “it”, is always good, doing something about “it” is bad. Why: because doing something might mean offending someone, and in liberal America we can’t offend anyone, well anyone that identifies themselves as a liberal that is.
The next reason liberal America can’t even discuss the need for war is because liberal America is so caught up in the PC Culture that it’s now impossible for them to even distinguish between necessary violence and senseless violence. Violence against women, violence against homosexuals, violence against the environment, violence against the homeless, everyone and everything is protected from some sort of violence. Nowhere in their world is it acceptable to engage in violence to enforce a rule or a law or to even protect yourself against violence - all violence is bad and war is the ultimate in violent acts so it must be the ultimate in badness. The populace must be disarmed so it can’t be violent and even the police have to adopt non lethal methods of subduing and eliminating threats. Liberal America has spent 40 years driving itself towards an utopian America that can never be achieved without the very institutions they hate and fear, and they can’t come to grips with their failure.
For them war and the military cost too much to be worth it. For the rest of America, the monetary cost is negligible based against the alternative. The US brought about peace in Europe not by talking alone but by also projecting an armored fist, an armored fist that by its presence returned a peace dividend in the form of a collapsed Soviet Union and an opening up of Eastern Europe. Liberal America wasted that peace dividend by gutting the military and now all the talk in the world can’t protect us from the evil that still resides.
America’s Disconnect with War and the Need for War -
In today’s Web Recon I highlighted an article by Rebecca Hagelin entitled Paying the Price to Wipe Out the Enemy. She writes in part:
People forget that we’re not at war with Iraq -- we’re at war in Iraq. We’re not fighting a nation or a government with a designated leader. We’re fighting terrorists who scurry among Middle Eastern countries and hide out in caves.
Yes, they get cover and support from rogue dictators and are led by individuals we can identify. But you don’t negotiate with mass murderers like Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. These are fanatics who strap bombs on children, target civilians in neighborhood markets, and burst into universities and seminaries and blow people away. You don’t hunt them down to have a chat. You hunt them down so you can rid the world of them and their evil.
This is the major difference between “liberal” America and “conservative” America when it comes to war and prosecuting war. “Liberal” America believes that by talking and negotiating we can protect our country from future attacks and avoid war, whereas “conservatives” tend to believe that we must be willing to stand up and defend ourselves to ensure our own safety. The major flaw with liberal America’s theory as Ms Hagelin points out is that in this war there is no government to negotiate with, unlike the Cold War when we could open a line of communication with Moscow and see a noticeable result along the Berlin Wall, talking with Pakistan or Iraq or Saudi Arabia or any of the Middle Eastern Nations produces no end result as it pertains to Al Qaeda or the Taliban or any of the other numerous militia and terror groups operating around the world.
We can talk to the Middle East nations until the cows come home and at best we might be able to slow or cut off “official” funding for the insurgent groups but we can’t negotiate a peace settlement with a government that does not speak for them. We might as well discuss a peace agreement between the US and North Korea by calling up the Italian Embassy in London. It just isn’t going to get us any meaningful results, in liberal America though that would be considered a meaningful achievement though, because for them it’s more about the process than the results. Talking about “it”, is always good, doing something about “it” is bad. Why: because doing something might mean offending someone, and in liberal America we can’t offend anyone, well anyone that identifies themselves as a liberal that is.
The next reason liberal America can’t even discuss the need for war is because liberal America is so caught up in the PC Culture that it’s now impossible for them to even distinguish between necessary violence and senseless violence. Violence against women, violence against homosexuals, violence against the environment, violence against the homeless, everyone and everything is protected from some sort of violence. Nowhere in their world is it acceptable to engage in violence to enforce a rule or a law or to even protect yourself against violence - all violence is bad and war is the ultimate in violent acts so it must be the ultimate in badness. The populace must be disarmed so it can’t be violent and even the police have to adopt non lethal methods of subduing and eliminating threats. Liberal America has spent 40 years driving itself towards an utopian America that can never be achieved without the very institutions they hate and fear, and they can’t come to grips with their failure.
For them war and the military cost too much to be worth it. For the rest of America, the monetary cost is negligible based against the alternative. The US brought about peace in Europe not by talking alone but by also projecting an armored fist, an armored fist that by its presence returned a peace dividend in the form of a collapsed Soviet Union and an opening up of Eastern Europe. Liberal America wasted that peace dividend by gutting the military and now all the talk in the world can’t protect us from the evil that still resides.
This Lousy Coffin? - Repost
This is a repost of a blog post from January 2008 as a part of a Best of series.
This Lousy Coffin? -
To the Editorial Board of the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Today, as I read the Sunday (December 30, 2007) edition of the AJC, and as I tried to turn past the two page spread you gave Mike Luckovich, my eye caught his distasteful use (again) of a Flag Draped Casket (year end recap / replay of July 17 cartoon). Worse yet, Mike Luckovich used these descriptive words "..THIS LOUSY COFFIN..." as he refers to the most visible, respectable, and grief evoking symbol of a fallen soldier. You may think me overly sensitive, but then you wouldn't think I was if you had met your fallen son's body as I did at an air cargo hanger at Hartsfield Airport on August 24, 2005. Perhaps you might understand better if you could have been there when the news broke at my home, as I walked in circles in my driveway trying to figure out how to tell my family, including my son's 13 year old sister who adored him. Try figuring out how to cope as a family day to day with the most incredible loss imaginable - the loss of a son and brother, or as some have, a daughter and sister. Try being a 20 year old bride to your high school sweetheart ten days before he went to war, only to be handed the flag off his casket three months later. Sit down and review my son's autopsy report and see for yourself why he was "non-viewable body". Then, perhaps, you and Mike Luckovich might have a glimpse why it is so insensitive and in such poor taste to use a Flag Draped Casket in the manner that Mike Luckovich has now done on two occasions.
The Flag Draped Casket is the last visible and demonstrative image so many of us have of our fallen loved ones. God spare you the pain those of us who have welcomed home a Flag Draped Casket have endured, for it is a pain which radiates from a special privilege of sacrifice which costs a life time of love. May you never have to open a paper and see something so dear to your broken heart being trifled with as Mike Luckovich does with the Flag Draped Casket.
There are many who profit off war, and in war, one man's loss is another's black ink bottom line. But, would your bottom line run red if you just left the Flag Draped Casket alone?
Robert Stokely
proudly remembering my son, SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 AUG 05 near Yusufiyah Iraq
USA E 108 CAV 48th BCT GAARNG
DUTY HONOR COUNTRY
p.s. - Note to file - Mike Luckovich used the word coffin but there is a significant difference between a coffin, which is contoured, being wider at the upper body and narrower at the legs versus a casket which has a uniform dimension.
[Ed Note 2: You can find Mr. Luckovich's "art" here the image in question is the first one, and here. You can also view his "best of" here the image to which Robert refers is number 5 ]
This Lousy Coffin? -
To the Editorial Board of the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Today, as I read the Sunday (December 30, 2007) edition of the AJC, and as I tried to turn past the two page spread you gave Mike Luckovich, my eye caught his distasteful use (again) of a Flag Draped Casket (year end recap / replay of July 17 cartoon). Worse yet, Mike Luckovich used these descriptive words "..THIS LOUSY COFFIN..." as he refers to the most visible, respectable, and grief evoking symbol of a fallen soldier. You may think me overly sensitive, but then you wouldn't think I was if you had met your fallen son's body as I did at an air cargo hanger at Hartsfield Airport on August 24, 2005. Perhaps you might understand better if you could have been there when the news broke at my home, as I walked in circles in my driveway trying to figure out how to tell my family, including my son's 13 year old sister who adored him. Try figuring out how to cope as a family day to day with the most incredible loss imaginable - the loss of a son and brother, or as some have, a daughter and sister. Try being a 20 year old bride to your high school sweetheart ten days before he went to war, only to be handed the flag off his casket three months later. Sit down and review my son's autopsy report and see for yourself why he was "non-viewable body". Then, perhaps, you and Mike Luckovich might have a glimpse why it is so insensitive and in such poor taste to use a Flag Draped Casket in the manner that Mike Luckovich has now done on two occasions.
The Flag Draped Casket is the last visible and demonstrative image so many of us have of our fallen loved ones. God spare you the pain those of us who have welcomed home a Flag Draped Casket have endured, for it is a pain which radiates from a special privilege of sacrifice which costs a life time of love. May you never have to open a paper and see something so dear to your broken heart being trifled with as Mike Luckovich does with the Flag Draped Casket.
There are many who profit off war, and in war, one man's loss is another's black ink bottom line. But, would your bottom line run red if you just left the Flag Draped Casket alone?
Robert Stokely
proudly remembering my son, SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 AUG 05 near Yusufiyah Iraq
USA E 108 CAV 48th BCT GAARNG
DUTY HONOR COUNTRY
p.s. - Note to file - Mike Luckovich used the word coffin but there is a significant difference between a coffin, which is contoured, being wider at the upper body and narrower at the legs versus a casket which has a uniform dimension.
[Ed Note 2: You can find Mr. Luckovich's "art" here the image in question is the first one, and here. You can also view his "best of" here the image to which Robert refers is number 5 ]
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