Embarrassed Patriots

A liberal professor takes to task those on the left who are ashamed to be Americans:

The United States is living in a state of emergency, one that has developed into an intellectual crisis in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Columbia University journalism and sociology professor Todd Gitlin said Tuesday at a Davenport College Master's Tea.Gitlin spoke to a group of approximately 20 students about his recently released book, "The Intellectuals and the Flag," which discusses what he characterized as the political left's strategic failure in addressing contemporary national issues. He elaborated on his feeling of frustration concerning what he views as liberals' voluntary estrangement from the rest of the nation, citing their alleged rejection of patriotism as an example of this alienation."I think that the upshot is that patriotism is experienced by many people on the left as something of an embarrassment," Gitlin said.

The left sees itself as standing outside a country that does bad," Gitlin said. "However, it is strategically disastrous to take this position as outsiders, since it is a concession to people who are not entitled to be the spokespersons of patriotism. It is a move against public life, public domain, public virtue and public-mindedness."

I think the left, and very many Democrats have abondoned patriotism beginning in the 1960's when they fell for the idea that America is what's wrong with the world today.

Many thanks to Opinion Journal!

Former Foes

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin (CG 65) and the Russian Navy Udaloy-class destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov (DDGHM 543) sail in formation during a joint Russian-U.S. Navy exercise. The Russian Federation Navy made the first visit of a Russian Navy vessel to the U.S. territory of Guam in order to participate in a joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Nathanael T. Miller (RELEASED)

Enigma Machine on Ebay

And Hitler can't bid, though the Navy can. From The Age:

Bidders in an internet auction are offering over 13,000 euro ($A22,174.84) for a wartime German encoding machine, similar to ones whose messages were cracked by British code breakers in World War Two.
The portable Enigma encryption machine made in 1941 has a keyboard and a series of rotors designed to scramble messages.
It is up for sale on internet auction site, eBay.
"We've had it inspected by an expert who said that due to its good condition it looks very likely to have been in German state ownership at the time," said Alexander Urff of Sales Service, the Munich-based company selling the device.

This is about amazing history and how the allies won the war. Today liberals would call it "evesdropping".

Mushroom Cloud Over Vegas

Not from a nuclear attack, but from a 700 ton super-explosive:

The test, code-named Divine Strake, will take place in June in the western U.S. state of Nevada. The military will detonate a 700-ton explosive at a test site in the Nevada desert located about 145 kilometers northwest of Las Vegas.
The weapon consists of a special explosive which will pack the equivalent of more than 500 tons of TNT when it is detonated. It will create a mushroom shaped dust cloud that could reach as high as three kilometers into the air.

Absolute Border Control

This is what Newt Gingrich is calling for and I agree:

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich says the United States needs absolute border control and to ensure new immigrants learn to be American.
Speaking in Oklahoma City on a book promotion trip, Gingrich said a guest worker program needs to ensure immigrants pay taxes, get driver's licenses, buy auto insurance and abide by the law, reports The Oklahoman.
"We have to have absolute control of the border because you have national security reasons," Gingrich said as he signed copies of his book, "Winning the Future."
"You want legal temporary workers who have background checks and sign a contract that they will obey the law, pay taxes and who can be removed from the U.S. in 48 hours if they break the contract," he said.

But what we do within our borders won't matter if the borders themselves aren't secured first.

Dems Tout National Security

Yesterday the Democratic Party released their own plans for Anerica's future security:

Democrats yesterday stood with representatives of firefighter, police and veterans groups in a rally in which party leaders outlined their national security agenda. Congressional Democrats said their plan would help rebuild the military and National Guard, help fight terrorism, promote increased use of alternative fuels, and fully fund veterans benefits as well as training and equipment for first responders.

Republicans yesterday were dismissive of Democrats' rhetoric. "I'm surprised that after months of searching for an agenda, Democrats have finally rallied around the Republican plan for success in the war on terror," said first-term Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican.

Actually, I think the Dems have been pretty consistent on National Security. They've tried to kill the Patriot Act. Spoke against terrorist survellience, tried to censure our President during wartime, called the troops "Nazis" and baby killers and accused them of comitting torture. They initially led the drumbeat to war in Iraq, and them blamed it all on the President when things went bad. Problem is, they seem to be helping America's enemies and hindering the war effort.

Canada's Deadliest Battle

In 32 years. Our friends from up north are learning insurgency warfare the hard way in Afghanistan:

At 10 p.m. Tuesday, on a cool, cloudless night in Afghanistan, Pte. Robert Costall and 30 fellow soldiers on Canada's quick reaction force were scrambled into action and whisked by helicopter from Kandahar Airfield to the lawless wastes of Sangin district, a difficult corner of a dangerous land.
Five hours later, Pte. Costall was dead, and his mates were in the midst of the most serious and deadly battle faced by Canadian soldiers in 32 years.
Not since the death of two Canadian "peacekeepers" in 1974 -- killed defending Nicosia airport in Cyprus -- has a Canadian soldier been killed in action during a firefight with enemy troops. "Pte. Robert Costall died defending his fellow soldiers," Canadian Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, commander of all coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, said yesterday. "We will not forget his sacrifice."

Please read the whole article of this brilliant combined air/land operation led by the Canucks. Well done fellows, and sorry for your loss.

UN Gives Iran 30 Days

Or they will scold them harshly (OK, mildly). From NewsMax:

The 15-nation council unanimously approved a statement that will ask the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to report back in 30 days on Iran's compliance with demands to stop enriching uranium.
Diplomats portrayed the statement, which is not legally binding, as a first, modest step toward compelling Iran to make clear that its program is for peaceful purposes. The Security Council could eventually impose economic sanctions, though Russia and China say they oppose such tough measures
The document was adopted by consensus and without a vote after a flurry of negotiations among the five veto-wielding council members. In the end, Britain, France and the United States made several concessions to China and Russia, Iran's allies, who wanted as mild a statement as possible.

Of course, kindness has always been the right approach for dealing with evil dictators, correct Neville Chamberlain?

So Long Cap

A great leader and American passed away on the 28th, former Reagan Defense Sec. Caspar Weinberger:

Weinberger took office Jan. 21, 1981, and served until Nov. 23, 1987, making him the longest-serving defense secretary to date. He died at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor from pneumonia. The former secretary lived on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the men and women of DoD mourn Weinberger's passing. "Cap Weinberger was a friend. His extensive career in public service, his support for the men and women in uniform and his central role in helping to win the Cold War leave a lasting legacy," Rumsfeld said during a Pentagon news conference today. "He left the United States armed forces stronger, our country safer and the world more free."

He will be missed, as we still miss his boss!

Supreme Court on Military Trials

Currently before the high court is the federal government's right to military tribunals. The decision will have repurcussions on wether we will win the War on Terror:

The Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in a case that could make or break the government's military commissions process for terror war detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
At issue in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is the legality of the military commissions set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The court also is deciding a question on its own jurisdiction in the case.
The government, represented here by Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, filed a brief with the court that argued the case on six separate legal issues. Government attorneys contend the president has constitutional and congressional authority to establish such war crimes courts outside the U.S. judiciary system and that al Qaeda detainees don't fall under the tenets of the Geneva Conventions.
"For centuries, this Nation has invoked military commissions to try and punish captured enemy combatants for offenses against the law of war," Clement wrote in introducing his brief.

Return of the U-boat

Check out my new article at The American Thinker.

A More Peaceful World

Not just in the future, but right now, says Thomas Barnett:

Our world today is more crowded than it's ever been, and yet we've never had a smaller percentage of humanity either engaging in or preparing for mass violence. We're not entering an age of perpetual war, as some would have it. Instead, we're moving into the century that will feature more peace than any before it.

Here are the facts from the "Human Security Report 2005," prepared by University of British Columbia:

Armed conflicts decreased by more than 40 percent since the early 1990s.

Genocide and politically inspired murders have dropped by roughly 80 percent since the late 1980s, with only the Middle East suffering an increase.

International crises have decreased to the point where today we suffer roughly one-quarter the number we routinely endured just a generation ago.

Secessionist movements and resulting civil wars are at their lowest levels since the mid-1970s.
Military coups have steadily decreased over the past four decades, from 25 in 1963 to just 10 in 2004 — and each of those 10 attempts failed.

Global defense spending and arms sales peaked in the late 1980s and now sit at roughly one-half of those levels — except in "fear factor" America, of course.

Global troop levels are likewise down significantly since the late 1980s, and war-related deaths have decreased to a stunning degree: 50 years ago, the average war killed 38,000 troops, while today's wars average 600 combat casualties.

Similarly, global refugees from conflicts dropped by almost half since 1992.

Finally, more than 60 dictatorships have disappeared over the past 30 years, which helps explain why human rights abuses are down across the planet.

Part of the problem, which Barnett didn't mention, is that we are constantly bombarded by a 24 hr-sensation seeking news media, which makes things seem worse than they are, and likes it that way.

Congress Questions Lockheed

They're always questioning something these days, but who questions Congress? From Reuters:

Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-22 and F-35 fighter jet programs -- valued at $320 billion together -- faced tough scrutiny by congressional investigators and Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday.
McCain held a hearing of a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where witnesses questioned the Pentagon's plan to change the way it buys the last 60 radar-evading F-22 "Raptors," and whether the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is being rushed into testing before adequate flight testing is done.
McCain also raised concerns about the Bush administration's decision to cancel a second engine for the F-35 next to the one being built by United Technologies Corp. UTX.N unit Pratt & Whitney, saying competition historically helped lower costs.

Though I happen to agree that our major defense industries are corrupt and inefficient, I wonder if Congress and McCain are apart of the problem rather than the solution.

Militant Rascism

Michelle Malkin on the giant immigration protests in the west:

An estimated 500,000 to 2 million people, untold numbers of them here illegally, took to the streets of Los Angeles to protest strict immigration enforcement and demand blanket amnesty for border violators, visa overstayers, deportation fugitives, immigration document fraud artists and other lawbreakers. Mexican flags and signs advocating ethnic separatism and supremacy filled the landscape. Demonstrators gleefully defaced posters of President Bush and urged supporters to "Stop the Nazis!" Los Angeles talk show host Tammy Bruce reported that protesters burned American flags and waved placards of the North American continent with America crossed out.
Bet you didn't see that on television.

Says the Mexican's want their former south west territories back:

Aztlan is a long-held notion among Mexico's intellectual elite and political class, which asserts that the American Southwest rightly belongs to Mexico. Advocates believe the reclamation (or reconquista) of Aztlan will occur through sheer demographic force. If the rallies across the country are any indication, reconquista is already complete.
Lest you think these ideas are moldy-oldy 1960s leftovers that no one subscribes to today, listen to Sandra Molina, 16, a junior from L.A.'s Downtown Magnet High School, who complained to the supportive Los Angeles Times: "This is unjust. This land used to belong to us and now they're trying to kick us out."

Out of the mouth of babes. This isn't immigration, this is invasion!

Also at Expose the Left, Lou Dobbs defends his position against illegal immigration, and in the NYT.

Marines Deliver Wheelchair

This touching story is from CentCom:

An Iraqi family just set the noon meal on the table when some unexpected American visitors knocked on their front door.

Marines from Company I, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment delivered a brand new pediatric wheelchair to the family of a disabled little girl in the town of Al Hasa, March 16. They are on duty in Iraq with Regimental Combat Team 5.

“We knew we had to help out in some way,” said Staff Sgt. Charles Evers, a platoon commander for Company I. “We don’t have a miracle cure, but we can at least give her a new wheelchair.”

The girl’s condition came to the company’s attention in January, during a routine patrol of the area. When her family brought her outside, Marines saw she had an old, rusty wheelchair, built for an adult.

“The girl was injured in a car accident two years ago,” said Evers, 27, from Lewiston, Idaho. “When we were there the first time, her father showed us x-rays of her spine. It’s actually separated.”

The girl’s parents, brothers and sisters greeted the returning Marines with smiles and hello’s even before they presented the new wheelchair.

“They seemed pretty happy about it,” said Cpl. Matthew Rivera, a squad leader. “When we first came in they looked surprised. Then we brought in the chair and their faces lit up.”

Moments after the Marines presented the gift, the girl’s father lifted her out of the old chair, placed her in the new one, shook the platoon commander’s hand, and said “Thank you.” He was so overjoyed, he repeated twice more.

Media Attacks War Hero

The Boston Globe criticizes and questions why Bush keeps mentioning Col HR McMaster, lauded in this blog before the President did. It seems the Old media is uncomfortable with success stories from Iraq:

Colonel becomes Bush poster boy
By Nina J. Easton, Globe Staff March 26, 2006
In the brutal world of Washington politics, it pays to keep your friends close -- and your potential critics even closer. Was that President Bush's strategy last week when he repeatedly lauded the work of Colonel H. R. McMaster of the Third Armored Calvary Regiment?

...McMaster also happens to be the author of the award-winning book ''Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam," published in 1997 and still widely read among Pentagon brass. As the title suggests, McMaster's book is a searing account of official deception behind the Vietnam War.
McMaster's position at the heart of the Iraq war begs the question: Does he hold views that will wind up in a similarly critical account of President Bush's war? ''As a trained historian, I'm reluctant to draw parallels," McMaster said in an interview Friday.

Not America's war, but Bush's war. Forget about the media's own poster boy, John Murtha. We must discuss the "President's poster boy". But they support the troops. (Not!)

Troops Didn't Enter Mosque

Contrary to media reports (this is getting redundant), from Multi-National Force, Iraq:

As reports from media continued to focus on an Iraqi Special Operations raid in Adhamiyah, Coalition Forces emphasized that no forces entered or damaged any mosque in the Sunday actions.
Soldiers from the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 1st Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade, conducted a coordinated operation in northeast Baghdad Sunday to capture and detain insurgents responsible for kidnapping and execution activities.
“The building complex that was attacked was blocks away from the Mustafa Mosque,” said Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commanding general, Multi-National Corps - Iraq . “This operation was led by Iraqis who confirmed that this was not a mosque, and at no time did they enter any mosque or damage a mosque in any way.”

Navy's Billion Dollar Email

Strategypage says its not working well:

The navy has spent over $8 billion to connect nearly 400,000 PCs into one large, and secure (all data is encrypted) Internet like network. This will provide high speed, hassle free communications for everyone involved. At least in theory...

...most users are not happy with NMCI. Users don't like the idea that they have lost some control over their PC (which now has a lot of network standards to conform to), and that their computers are slower now because of all the network software.

Including this congressman:

That would be Republican Mark Kirk of Illinois. He's a reserve officer, and he made public the "user unfriendly" nature of NMCI, and how sailors and marines use civilian Internet resources to avoid having to use the new navy network.

$8 billion on email. And they can't figure why the fleet gets smaller?

Learning from Vietnam

Dick Tunison uses some historical analogies, concluding that the military should always be willing to change when it comes to warfighting:

Wall Street Journal writer Greg Jaffe wrote recently that “A half dozen Vietnam histories — most of them highly critical of the U.S. military in Vietnam — are changing the military’s views on how to fight guerrilla wars.” This is an important change that must be made if we are to be successful in the immediate future. Those who have advocated increasing the numbers of our forces in Iraq are erroneously falling back into the old mold that seems not to apply in today’s situation. The new argument that the military must exercise restraint is a central element in the Army’s developing counter-insurgency doctrine. Jaffe wrote “It involves everything from strategy development to intelligence gathering.” We need to remind ourselves wars are variable and tactics and strategies for winning them should not be written in indelible ink.

I agree with the above statement about cries for troop increases. When learning from old wars, we shouldn't attempt the mistakes of those conflicts.

Japan Unifies Military

The Japanese military has reformed its command structure to be more like the US DoD:

Japan placed its ground, air and sea forces under a new integrated chain of command Monday, hoping to improve efficiency in the face of threats from North Korea and terrorism. In a major change, the Self-Defense Force, which was set up in 1954 after a defeated Japan was forced to renounce war, abolished the separate commands for each service.
"Under the new system, the head of the three arms will directly serve the defense chief so that the chief can operate efficiently in a shorter time," said a spokesman for the Defense Agency.

The pacifist nation (at least since WW 2) is also considering a more agressive foreign policy:

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has proposed the first-ever revision of the US-imposed 1947 constitution that would state explicitly that Japan has a military, although the country would remain pacifist.

Islam the Greater Threat

So says this article from Townhall, than even marxism, nazism:

A far larger number of people believe in Islamic authoritarianism than ever believed in Marxism. Virtually no one living in Marxist countries believed in Marxism or communism. Likewise, far fewer people believed in Nazism, an ideology confined largely to one country for less than one generation. This is one enormous difference between the radical Islamic threat to our civilization and the two previous ones.
But there is yet a second difference that is at least as significant and at least as frightening: Nazis and Communists wanted to live and feared death; Islamic authoritarians love death and loathe life...

There is much less you can do against people who value dying more than living.
The existence of an unprecedentedly large number of people wishing to destroy decent civilization as we know it -- and who celebrate their own deaths -- poses a threat the likes of which no civilization in history has had to confront.

This means you liberals who liken our President to Hitler, still need to worry about terrorism.

Catholic Church Fueling Protests

What a shock. And we are packing the Supreme Court with Catholics. From the Washington Times:

The Catholic Church has played a key role in opposing legislation to restrict immigration and rallying protesters. "As we've been able to reach more and more people, they're waking up to the ills of the proposals made to date and seeing the need to be vocal about the kinds of reforms that would be more acceptable," said Mark D. Franken, executive director of migration and refugee services for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops conference in May began "Justice for Immigrants," a campaign focused on activating a network of grass-roots movements against punitive immigration-reform legislation.

Mr. Franken said all the nation's 197 Catholic dioceses are in some way backing the campaign, with more than 70 being particularly active. Disseminating pamphlets and networking, community-level groups tied to the campaign are operating "in churches and everywhere they can gain access," he said. Protest organizers also credit popular disc jockeys on Spanish-language radio stations for helping turnout, particularly in Los Angeles and Chicago.

My question is, are we a nation ruled by law or the crowd.

Challenges for Defense

The struggle to pay for war, new equipment, and social programs, from National Defense Mag.:

We have seen defense budgets grow consistently since 9/11. This was a necessary move to support expanding military commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the spending will have to level off at some point, if the nation is to get its financial house in order.
At the same time, the United States will need to somehow find a way to keep its military forces from “breaking,” as a result of repeated deployments, depleted stocks and worn-out equipment.

Though the US is spending less than 4% of its economy on defense, a huge chunk is going to non-military spending, causing a huge dent in the budget. And its getting worse:

Based on 2006 projections, by 2040 the entire U.S. federal budget barely will be enough to cover just Medicare and Social Security.

No Rights for Terrorists

Justice Scalia got it right when he was challenged by a neutral Swiss, from the Washington Post:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia reportedly told an overseas audience this month that the Constitution does not protect foreigners held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
He also told the audience at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland that he was "astounded" by the "hypocritical" reaction in Europe to the prison, this week's issue of Newsweek magazine reported...

"War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts," Newsweek quoted Scalia as saying. "Give me a break."

Amen! Need more common sense judges like this on the bench.

New Armor No Thanks

So say some Marines in Iraq, according to ABC:

Extra body armor the lack of which caused a political storm in the United States has flooded in to Iraq, but many Marines here promptly stuck it in lockers or under bunks. Too heavy and cumbersome, many say.
Marines already carry loads as heavy as 70 pounds when they patrol the dangerous streets in towns and villages in restive Anbar province. The new armor plates, while only about five pounds each, are not worth carrying for the additional safety they are said to provide, some say...

"We have to climb over walls and go through windows," said Sgt. Justin Shank of Greencastle, Pa. "I understand the more armor, the safer you are. But it makes you slower. People don't understand that this is combat and people are going to die."

But the media said they need more body armor, so these guys on the frontline must be wrong, right?

Graveyard of the UN

Opinion Journal describes "What a world without U.S. power looks like":

But Sudan President Omar al-Beshir quickly played to type and withdrew support for a U.N. force. He also threatened that "Darfur will become the graveyard for the United Nations and foreign intervention." And rather than stand up to such threats, U.N. envoy to Sudan Jan Pronk has wilted. He's now talking up intelligence about al Qaeda terrorists in Khartoum who could retaliate against U.N. peacekeepers. And he's warning against any NATO intervention without Security Council approval--as if that would be forthcoming. All of this is a repeat of the same feckless U.N. pattern we've seen in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.
So that leaves . . . guess who? The cowboy President, the American unilateralists, the Yankee imperialists--or, to put it another way, the only nation with the will and wallet to provide order in an otherwise Hobbesian world.

Some have said that Iraq will mean the "fall of US Imperialism". How about instead "a new birth of freedom" for those who never knew it.

A Knife in a Gun Fight

This is hilarious! John Burtis details the recent attack by Somali pirates on 2 US Navy warships, with tongue-in-cheek:

...like a motley crew of a Gilligan-esque load of swashbucklers, replete with the Somali version of "Arrr, Jim," - "Arrr, Mohammed" - hollered above the sweet song of the stolen Evinrude 250 outboard motors, which echoed off the other dhows floating at their slips in the basin, they set to sea looking for fresh ships to seize.
Steeped in the classical view of pirates, they looked the part. The captain, Muhammed, wore an eye patch and brandished both a dirk and a Walther PP. Kareem, the first mate, sported a faded blue bandanna and wore a short sword in addition to his Tokarev 9mm pistol, just as Anwar carried an AK-54, wore dirty white clam diggers and a t-shirt with a large skull and bones emblazoned across the chest.

Please read the whole thing. A hoot!

Old media on the Defense

USA Today has an article attempting to explain why the press is doing such a poor job reporting on Iraq, but they can't get pass this:

...high-profile critics are stepping up their complaints about the media's work. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, long critical of what he sees as overly negative reporting, told reporters this month: "From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation."

President Bush said Tuesday, "For every act of violence there is encouraging progress in Iraq that's hard to capture on the evening news."

Plus, another "high profile" critic:

At a town hall meeting Wednesday in West Virginia, Bush was asked by a woman why the "major TV networks don't portray the good" news from Iraq. Her question drew a standing ovation.

Wow! Its nice the press thinks us average Americans as "high profile", since most of us agree with Sec. Rumsfeld and the President.

Bin Laden Contacted Saddam

This is being reported by ABC News from recently translated Iraq documents:

A newly released prewar Iraqi document indicates that an official representative of Saddam Hussein's government met with Osama bin Laden in Sudan on February 19, 1995, after receiving approval from Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden asked that Iraq broadcast the lectures of Suleiman al Ouda, a radical Saudi preacher, and suggested "carrying out joint operations against foreign forces" in Saudi Arabia. According to the document, Saddam's presidency was informed of the details of the meeting on March 4, 1995, and Saddam agreed to dedicate a program for them on the radio. The document states that further "development of the relationship and cooperation between the two parties to be left according to what's open [in the future] based on dialogue and agreement on other ways of cooperation." The Sudanese were informed about the agreement to dedicate the program on the radio.

And ABC adds a footnote:

...this document indicates the contacts were approved personally by Saddam Hussein.
It also indicates the discussions were substantive, in particular that bin Laden was proposing an operational relationship, and that the Iraqis were, at a minimum, interested in exploring a potential relationship and prepared to show good faith by broadcasting the speeches of al Ouda, the radical cleric who was also a bin Laden mentor.

ABC Wants to Know

Why do American's think the Old Media is bias and out of touch on its Iraq coverage? Here's your chance to let them know. ABC wants to hear from you via their online message board. I tried logging on but couldn't get in for some reason (you think they know about me and this blog???), anyway, here are my thoughts on the subject:

Yes, report the bad news, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of positive spin or even propaganda when it may encourage our troops or average Americans. Just look to the hey-day of news reporting during WW 2 when journalists like Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite were saying things like "England can take it" as they endured a merciless bombing campaign of their own, even as politicians like Joseph Kennedy ( father of John and Teddy) were saying Britain was finished and we should negotiate with Hitler. The bravery of US and Iraqi soldiers are clearly evident for everyone except the media. Life goes on in spite of the bombings and violence. After 3 years we are still there in spite of your doom and gloom coverage and liberal politicians obsessed with body counts. This is how you tell the news, don't lie, but always look toward the future and hope.

Watch Your Language

The slightest thing will set off the French these days. First sheer boredom seems to be the instigation of recent riots by youths, followed by a law which allows bosses to fire their employees. Now its using English in the presence of a French politician:

PRESIDENT CHIRAC stormed out of the first session of a European Union summit dominated by a row over French nationalism because a fellow Frenchman insisted on speaking English.

President Chirac and three of his ministers walked out of the room when Ernest-Antoine Seillière, the leader of the European business lobby UNICE, punctured Gallic pride by insisting on speaking the language of Shakespeare rather than that of Molière...

When M Seillière, who is an English-educated steel baron, started a presentation to all 25 EU leaders, President Chirac interrupted to ask why he was speaking in English. M Seillière explained: “I’m going to speak in English because that is the language of business.”

Later, it was reported that Chirac torched Seillière's car. (Not)

Pacifists With Bad Manners

This editorial is from a Canadian, whose troops also participted in the hostage rescue of some ungrateful anti-war activists:


"We believe," (said Christian Peacemakers Teams spokesman Doug Pritchard), "that the illegal occupation of Iraq by multi-national forces is the root cause of the insecurity of this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq today."
Commenting on Mr. Pritchard's comment might be viewed as painting the lily or gilding the gold. I'll note only that, despite Mr. Pritchard's sentiments, the ex-hostages didn't ask to rejoin their insurgent captors. For reasons best known to them, James Loney, 41, Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and Norman Kember, 74, elected to stay with the very multi-national forces that, according to their spokesman, are the root cause of kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. (What the dead hostage, 54-year-old Thomas Fox would have chosen, we'll never know.)

Michelle Malkin has further info.

UK Possible BMD Site

Maybe so, maybe not, from reading this article:

Interceptor missiles could be placed in the UK as part of the US "Star Wars" missile defence system, according to plans revealed by the Pentagon...

Lt Gen Trey Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, disclosed at a military conference in Washington this week that the US had formally selected Britain as possible site for the interceptors in Europe.
However, Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman, said on Wednesday that negotiations had not taken place on basing interceptors in the UK. "[There has been] no planning, no approach, no request, and no invitation."

Even so, some aren't happy:

Placing interceptors in the UK would raise the risk of Britain itself coming under attack, warns the British American Security Information Council (Basic), an independent defence watchdog.

So the best defense is not to defend yourself??? Hmmmm...

Swarmer All Wrapped Up

From Defenselink:

Operation Swarmer, a combined operation involving Iraqi soldiers and police commandos and coalition forces wrapped up yesterday without any casualties and all of the tactical objectives met, Multinational Force Iraq officials announced today.

Tons of enemy weaponry were captured, which could be used against coalition forces, including:


Six shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles;
More than 350 mortar rounds and three mortar systems;
26 artillery rounds;
A variety of bomb-making materials and other military items;
More than 120 rockets;
More than 3,200 rounds of small-arms ammunition;
86 rocket-propelled grenades and 28 launchers;
Six land mines;
12 hand grenades and 40 rifle grenades; and
34 rifles and machine guns of various types.

Job well done!

Bush, Blair on the Media

From a very forceful speech by Blair comes something that's concerning so many of us, Old Media's doom and gloom attitude to the War on Terror:

They (the terrorists) play our own media with a shrewdness that would be the envy of many a political party. Every act of carnage adds to the death toll.

And at a townhall meeting in West Virginia, comes this question/comment( followed by thunderous applause) to President Bush:

Q They (the Press) just want to focus on another car bomb, or they just want to focus on some more bloodshed, or they just want to focus on how they don't agree with you and what you're doing, when they don't even probably know how you're doing what you're doing anyway...

A One of the things that we've got to value is the fact that we do have a media, free media, that's able to do what they want to do...And one of the -- there's word of mouth, there's blogs, there's Internet, there's all kinds of ways to communicate which is literally changing the way people are getting their information. And so if you're concerned, I would suggest that you reach out to some of the groups that are supporting the troops, that have got Internet sites, and just keep the word -- keep the word moving. And that's one way to deal with an issue without suppressing a free press. We will never do that in America. I mean, the minute we start trying to suppress our press, we look like the Taliban.

Don't believe the media is bias? Read this.

Censure Jimmy Carter

Why do a group of military families want to censure an ex-US President? Here's why:

Since leaving office, President Jimmy Carter has repeatedly sought to undermine U.S. foreign policy, criticized the missions of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, as well as embracing known terrorists and terrorist organizations. Most recently, President Carter pressured the international community to provide funding for the terrorist organization Hamas. It's time for the leaders of Congress to offer their condemnation of Carter's harmful efforts to undermine U.S foreign policy and the interests of the American people by passing a resolution of Censure against former President Jimmy Carter.

To sing the petition, go here.

If we Lose

Perish the thought of a Vietnam style withdrawal from Iraq. The Opinion Journal weighs in:

• The U.S. would lose all credibility on weapons proliferation.
• Broader Mideast instability.
• We would lose all credibility with Muslim reformers.

And certainly not least:

• We would invite more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Osama bin Laden said many times that he saw the weak U.S. response to Somalia and the Khobar Towers and USS Cole bombings as evidence that we lacked the will for a long fight. The forceful response after 9/11 taught al Qaeda otherwise, but a retreat in Iraq would revive that reputation for American weakness.

Liberals would benefit from a "fortress America" which would be necessary if we withdrew from the Middle East, with the massive expansion of federal power, which they so fear from president Bush's policies. Just the opposite is occuring: he is preserving freedom.

Thanks for Nothing

A brilliant operation by Coalition troops saved the lives and bought freedom for Christian anti-war activists held hostage by terrorists:

U.S. and British troops Thursday freed three Christian peace activists in rural Iraq without firing a shot, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the U.S. military spokesman, said the hostages were being held by a "kidnapping cell" in a house, and the operation to free the Canadian and British captives was based on information from a man captured by U.S. forces only three hours earlier.
"They were bound, they were together, there were no kidnappers in the areas," Lynch told a news briefing.

And here was the thank you:

"We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.“Today, in the face of this joyful news, our faith compels us to love our enemies even when they have committed acts which caused great hardship to our friends and sorrow to their families... “Throughout these difficult months, we have been heartened by messages of concern for our four colleagues from all over the world. We have been especially moved by the gracious outpouring of support from Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

How about the support from the courageous US Military for saving your ungrateful knecks???

Getting It Right on Iraq

Cal Thomas details two crucial speeches from this Tuesday concerning the Central Front of the War on Terror:

Perhaps it was only a coincidence, or maybe it was planned, but in choosing the same day, Tuesday, March 21, to speak about Iraq, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said some things that were needed reminders to the American and British people, many of whom are "going wobbly" over the war.

Bush said:

If Iraq is responsible for the recruitment of terrorists, what events led to terrorist recruitment going back more than 20 years and leading up to 9/11? These pre-9/11 attacks occurred before Saddam Hussein was ousted. The only way to end this war - in Iraq and everywhere else - is to destroy the will of the terrorists by neutralizing more of them.

And Blair stated:

This is not a clash between civilizations. It is a clash about civilization."
Blair called for a global interventionist approach to confront terrorism head-on and win a battle over values and ideas: " 'We' is not the West. 'We' are as much Muslim as Christian or Jew or Hindu. 'We' are those who believe in religious tolerance, openness to others, to democracy, liberty and human rights administered by secular courts."

Two determined and inspiring leaders defending the West from the new barbarism. Years ago I penned a tribute to them titled "A Real League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".

Afghan Women See Change

From CentCom:

U.S. Soldiers joined Afghan men, women and children at Khost University on March 9 to celebrate International Women’s Day and to promote human rights, including education for girls.

The shura, a formal gathering, included Gov. Merajudin Patan of Khost Province, his deputy and representatives from the Afghan government’s Directorate of Women’s Affairs.
Educating girls can help bring prosperity to Afghanistan, Patan said.

“All of our prophets are sons of women. We are equal in our responsibility to prosper as a culture,” he said, adding, “Half of our community is uneducated. Our only resolve is education for all.”

“If we do not implement these changes, who will? It must start here,” Patan said.

To think it took the military might of the US, and the courage of a Republican president to bring it about. Can't figure why the Left isn't behind this milestone in Women's Lib.

Reagan in the UAE

In defiance of Congress (not really, I just like saying that after they sabotaged the Ports Deal), the USS Ronald Reagan sailed into the tiny Arab state recently. From CentCom:

Sailors assigned to Carrier Strike Group Seven (CSG-7), including USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW-14), and Destroyer Squadron Seven (DESRON 7) arrived in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates March 15 for a scheduled port visit.
While in port, the 4,800 crew members will have a chance to tour, shop, and enjoy liberty. The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group is currently conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the Arabian Gulf as well as supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom . Reagan’s aircraft have been supporting ground troops in Iraq since arriving in the Fifth Fleet area of operations last month.
Rear Adm. Michael H. Miller, Commander of the Reagan Carrier Strike Group, said Sailors are excited about the visit to UAE because Reagan has been at sea for more than 30 consecutive days, and this would be the first port visit since the ship arrived in the region.

Here's the Reagan's homepage.

The Ultimate Precision Weapon

A long but important article by Ralph Peters on which future enemy we should prepare for:

The ultimate precision weapon, the suicide bomber simultaneously redefines the scope of "legitimate" targets. Delighted to kill our troops, this implacable enemy who regards death as a promotion is equally ready to slaughter men, women, and children of unknown identity who have done him no harm. His force of will towers over our own. He cannot win wars on the traditional battlefields we cherish, but his commitment and actions transcend such tidy limits. In the moment of his deed, the suicide bomber is truly larger than life. The world's a stage, and every suicide bomber is, at least briefly, a star.

...We praise Nathan Hale's willingness to die for his cause. Now imagine thousands of men anxious to die for theirs. The suicide bomber may be savage, brutal, callous, heartless, naive, psychotic, and, to us, despicable, but within his milieu he is also heroic.

And what we can expect in a war with China:

Given the comprehensive commitment and devastation required to defeat strategically and structurally weaker enemies such as Japan and Germany, how dare we pretend that we could drive China to sue for peace by fighting a well-mannered war with a small military whose shallow stocks of ammunition would be drained swiftly and could not be replaced in meaningful quantities? Would we try Shock and Awe, Part II, over Beijing, hoping to convince China's leaders to surrender at the sight of our special effects? Or would our quantitative incompetence soon force us onto the defensive?

Abazaid to Stay

The top Central Command head and deputy to Gen. Tommy Franks during the capture of Baghdad in 2003, Gen John Abazaid is staying on:

Army Gen. John Abizaid, who has overseen the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since shortly after U.S. forces invaded Iraq three years ago, will stay on for another year, defense officials said Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recently asked Abizaid to stay for a year beyond this summer, when he will have completed the normal three-year stint as commander, and he agreed, the officials said.

In my opinion he's done a wildly successful job of turning the old Cold War army into an effective counter-insurgency force:

A central feature of Abizaid's approach in Iraq has been forcing the Iraqis to take more responsibility for their security, arguing that the longer U.S. troops carry the heaviest load, the more dependent the Iraqis will become. Rumsfeld often makes the same argument, saying U.S. troops must put more Iraqis in the lead of the fight against the insurgents, even at the risk of seeing them falter or fail.

...Abizaid is generally credited with coining the phrase "Long War" to describe a global struggle against Islamic extremism — a fight that he says includes not only prevailing in Iraq and Afghanistan but also countering ideological support for terrorism globally.

What a relief to have such an far-seeing and effective military leader in charge over there. Remember earlier in the war, I predicted that Abazaid would stand in history as one of America's great post-Cold War captains. This is proof positive. Here's the general's bio.

Barnett on the DDX

One of America's best strategists ( and one of my favorite bloggers) weighs in on the navy's newest battleship, the DDX destroyer: ...the idea of the DD(X) as a guerrilla fighter makes him fume. Ships a third smaller and 500 times cheaper can drop off SEALs. And those big guns? With a maximum artillery range of 100 miles, the DD(X) couldn�t target an insurgent stronghold in Baghdad. �There are other ways to do this,� Barnett says. �Why not just launch an airplane?� Barnett sees the destroyer as a Cold War throwback. Today�s enemies defend themselves with speed, not armor. There are no Warsaw Pact-style headquarters to flatten. �So what�s the point,� Barnett asks, �of packing everything into big, concentrated assets--assets that provide a single point of failure--in a world where warfare seems to be going in the exact opposite direction?� I agree with this so much! The idea of pounding sand with new and very expensive extended range shells would be laughable if not sad. http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/weblog/archives2/003070.html

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Moussaoui Defense Targets FBI

This seems to be a distraction from bringing justice to an admitted terrorist. From the Washington Post: An FBI agent who interrogated Zacarias Moussaoui before Sept. 11, 2001, warned his supervisors more than 70 times that Moussaoui was a terrorist and spelled out his suspicions that the al-Qaeda operative was plotting to hijack an airplane, according to federal court testimony yesterday. ...The FBI's missteps have been examined in depth by congressional investigators and the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. Is the government on trial here or the terrorist? This is why US Civil Courts are not qualified to try America's enemies in this new war. This should be done by a military court. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032000240.html

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Message to the Troops

On the 3rd Anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Defense Sec. Rumsfeld sent this message to our soldiers on the frontline of the War on Terror:

...Throughout history, our military has fought to protect our people and our way of life, in battles the names of which echo through history: Bunker Hill and Gettysburg, Normandy and Midway, the Chosin Reservoir and the Ia Drang Valley.On September 11th, 2001, a new enemy -- extremists motivated by a twisted ideology -- believed that their vicious assault on our homeland would force our country into retreat. They were wrong. That day, the sight of smoke rising from Washington, New York and a field in Pennsylvania filled the American people not with fear, but with resolve...

This is who it's about: our troops and not as Democrats and the Old Media would have you think, about the Bush Administration. God Bless our brave soldiers who are fighting them "over there" so they won't come "over here"!

Anti-War Protests Fizzle

Try as they may, the Media can't seem to stir people up these days:

Many of the weekend demonstrations across Australia, Asia and Europe drew smaller-than-anticipated crowds -- far short of the millions worldwide who protested the initial invasion in March 2003 and the first anniversary in 2004.

Meanwhile in Salt Lake City:

By the time the war protesters began their march Saturday morning in Salt Lake City, only about 50 people had gathered. Their numbers had swelled to about 200 by noon - and that was with a little high-tech help from a marcher who text-messaged friends to join him. The early low turnout was discouraging to some, such as Susan Westergard of Holladay. "There's just about more policemen here than people," said the Democratic candidate for the Utah House of Representatives in District 40, nodding to the squadron of eight motorcycle officers parked alongside 400 South. "I guess the longer the war goes on, the more people accept it."

...It was a scene repeated across the United States and the world Saturday as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to mark today's third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The protests, like those held to mark each of the two previous anniversaries of the March 2003 invasion, were vigorous and peaceful but far smaller than the large-scale marches that preceded the war, despite polls showing lower public support for the war than in years past and anemic approval ratings for President Bush, himself a focus of many of the protesters.

Casualties Down in Iraq

The is good news, at least for the US Military says USA Today:

U.S. military deaths during the past month have dropped to an average of about one a day, approaching the lowest level since the insurgency began two years ago, according to a USA TODAY analysis of U.S. military data.

But not so good for Iraqi civilians:

The decline in U.S. deaths comes as Iraqi casualties are the highest since the U.S. military began tracking them in 2004.
In the past month, nearly five times as many Iraqi forces and civilians were killed as troops in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, U.S. military data show.

Here is the cause of the decline, which is encouraging for the long haul:

The shift from spring 2004, when U.S. and Iraqi casualty rates were comparable, reflects an insurgency that increasingly targets Iraqis and the growing presence of Iraqi forces on the front lines.
"The Iraqi army is far bigger in number, far higher in training capability and far more willing to go where the fight is and take casualties," British Defense Secretary John Reid said in an interview.

And as the President repeatedly declares "as the Iraqi's stand up, we will stand down".

Back from Iraq

This writer at the American Enterprise is just back from Iraq and answering questions. Here's one:

John Kerry recently claimed U.S. soldiers are “terrorizing” Iraqis. The #2 Democrat in the Senate, Richard Durbin, compared American fighters to “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others—that had no concern for human beings.” Ted Kennedy suggested G.I.s torture like Saddam Hussein. What have you observed?

None of the above. I mostly see soldiers fighting with startling care and commitment. Take, for instance, Staff Sergeant Jamie McIntyre of Queens, New York, who recently had this to say:

“I look at faces and see fellow human beings, and I say, ‘O.K. This is the sacrifice I have to make to bring them freedom.’ That’s why I joined the military. Not for the college money, for doing what’s right. Fighting under our flag. That’s what our flag stands for. I believe in that stuff. Yeah, we might lose American soldiers, but they are going to lose a society, lose a people. You’ve got to look at the bigger picture. I’ve lost friends, and it hurts. It definitely hurts. But that’s even more reason why I say stay. It’s something that has to be done. If we don’t do it, who will?”

Talking patriotism and the flag to a liberal is like garlic to a vampire!

Operation Swarmer Update

From Defenselink:

Iraqi security forces and U.S. servicemembers participating in Operation Swarmer and other combined operations continued to capture hidden terrorist weapons caches, while detaining and processing terrorist suspects yesterday, military officials in Iraq reported.
Operation Swarmer, an ongoing, methodical search of a 10-mile-by-10-mile area in the Samarra region, has netted six weapons caches and roughly 50 terrorist suspects, officials said. The weapons caches included mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades, rockets, artillery rounds and a significant amount of other bomb-making materials for improvised explosive devices.
Seventeen of the roughly 50 detainees were released after questioning and the others remain in custody.
No casualties were reported among Iraqi security forces or coalition units, officials said.

Navy Battles Pirates

This story says a US Navy destroyer and cruiser exchange fire with Somali pirates this morning:

ABOARD USS CAPE ST. GEORGE, At sea (NNS) -- USS Cape St. George (CG 71) and USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) returned fire on a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean, killing one and wounding five, approximately 25 nautical miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia in international waters at 5:40 a.m. local time, March 18.Cape St. George, a guided-missile cruiser, and Gonzalez, a guided-missile destroyer, were conducting maritime security operations in the area as part of Combined Task Force 150, a maritime coalition task force currently led by Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore Hank Ort, when they spotted a suspect vessel towing two smaller skiffs heading west toward the coast. As Gonzalez’s boarding teams prepared to conduct a routine boarding of the suspect vessel, the two Norfolk, Va.-based Navy ships noticed the group of suspected pirates were brandishing what appeared to be rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers.

The Media Finally Noticed

The American Thinker weighs in on a point I made about media coverage of the ongoing "Operation Swarmer" in Iraq:

Don’t tell the antique media, but joint Iraqi-coalition forces Operations such as Swarmer have been ongoing, executed as part of the US strategy to kill and/or capture terrorists and their cells, especially those suspected of having anything to do with bomb making or bomb attacks. Let’s go back a year, to March 7, 2005, when a combined force of Iraqi police commandos, Public Order Battalion personnel and local Iraqi police conducted an operation near Samarra that netted 54 suspected terrorists, a large weapons cache and several vehicles. It was Day One of a 3-day anti-terrorist operation.

And they give many other examples. If the press would stop second guessing the President and just start doing their job of reporting facts, they could see things aren't as bad as it seems. But that would be the smart thing to do.

The Difference Between Them and Us

A reader responds to my latest article over at OpinionEditorials.com titled "Right and Left, Right and Wrong":

I am a Republican and my neighbor is a Democrat.

Last Patriots Day, I attended a morning service at my churchwhere we prayed for the safety of the troops protecting us, comfort for thesurvivors and relatives left behind by the acts of terrorism and for victoryand peace. I spent the afternoon helping to pack for rescue mission to New Orleans.

My neighbor slept late and spent the afternoon at Democraticfund raiser drinking beer and cursing President Bush.

We Need to Be in Iraq

So says this column from Townhall, and I agree. Here's just one very crucial reason:

The U.S. military is exquisitely equipped to fight last century's wars. We shed much blood teaching ourselves to overcome German tanks and Japanese kamikazes; we spent much treasure deterring Soviet nuclear missiles. Inconveniently, however, our enemies now fight with Improvised Explosive Devices, suicide bombers, butchers knives, lies and videotape. And they will use Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) should they get their hands on them....

If America's military fails to master the art and science of post-modern warfare in Iraq, there can be only two choices: Learn on the next battlefield (Jordan? Afghanistan? Lebanon?), or don't bother to learn at all; instead, get used to the taste of retreat and defeat.

Defeat is no alternative. Here's why:

America cannot afford to again embolden its enemies as it did in Beirut in 1983 and Somalia in 1993 and in other places at other times. American cannot afford to leave Iraq with Zarqawi in any condition to claim credit for the departure.

In my opinion, America's new "Greatest Generation" in Iraq is shedding off the shame and humiliation of past defeats and creating a new, less darker future for our children, and perhaps for the world.

National Security Fact Sheet

The Washington Post has a fact sheet, summing up the main points of the President's new National Security Strategy. In my opinion it is a very bold and sweeping document, comparable to the long-term strategy taken to defeat the Soviets. This one statement sums up the whole idea for me:

The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

Great stuff. As I always say, "We make them more like us, or we become more like them" meaning the terrorists and the Third World.

Canada's Hero General

Our friends up north haven't produced many stand out military leaders of late, but Gen Rick Hillier is an exception, according to this:

A capital more comfortable with bland, bureaucratic generals is struggling to get its collective head around a chief of defence staff who is neither. The first top soldier in decades to become a household name, Gen. Rick Hillier is a hero to his troops, a mixed blessing for his political masters and a cannonball demolishing Canada's benign military self-image.
Determined, cocksure and media-savvy, Hillier is an endangered Ottawa species. He is a staff officer obsessed by operations, not process, and a civil servant who is a transformational leader.

In the mold of America's Don Rumsfeld, Hillier is a transformational and far-seeing leader:

Instead of muddling along in mediocrity, Hillier argued for a narrowly defined force with the equipment and capabilities to excel in international missions and domestic crises.
Essentially, Hiller argued for an end to log-rolling — the long-standing practice of keeping the brass equally unhappy by spreading too few resources across the military. Structurally and increasingly in its culture, national defence is being redesigned to do fewer things better.

Good luck General. May you have better success reforming your country's military than America has!

Congressman Says Bin Laden is Dead

But the war goes on. From NewsMax:

Rep. Curt Weldon, who broke the Able Danger story last year revealing that military intelligence had identified lead hijacker Mohammed Atta as a terrorist threat before the 9/11 attacks, now says that Osama bin Laden has died...

Weldon cited as his source an Iranian exile code-named Ali, telling the paper: "Ali's told me that Osama bin Laden is dead. He died in Iran."

Heard all this before, but we can only hope.

Terror Survellience Bill in Congress

The GOP has submitted this bill, according to Fox News:

One of the bill's chief sponsors, Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio, said the bill requires the president to go to court as soon as possible to get approval for wiretapping and other forms of monitoring.
"It does not ... give the president a blank check," DeWine said, while authorizing "a limited, but necessary, program."

Here is why I'm for it:

The proposal came under immediate criticism from advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU said in a statement that the bill would allow "Americans' phone calls and e-mails to be monitored for 45 days without any court oversight and makes court review after that period optional" — in violation of the Fourth Amendment's guarantees against unreasonable searches.

Leave it to the ACLU to protect terrorists from the "bad ole government".

The Most Evil People on the Face of the Earth"

Newly returned from Iraq, one of our heroes, HR McMaster of the 3 Armored Cavalry, describes the city of Tal Afar, before and after:

When the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment arrived at Tal Afar, Iraq, last summer, the city was in the grip of insurgents - schools were closed, businesses shuttered. Anyone seen cooperating with the beleaguered city government or U.S. forces was murdered, sometimes beheaded in gruesome public killings.
"These are some of the most evil people on the face of the earth," Col. H.R. McMaster, commander of the 3rd ACR, said Tuesday. "They used mass murder to terrorize the city, to make anyone afraid to cooperate with us or the city government."
McMaster, a shaved-head veteran of the first Gulf War as well as the invasion of Iraq, said the insurgents staked their claim to Tal Afar, a city of 250,000 people near the Syrian border. "They even had a Web site that said the Lions of Tal Afar would never give up the city," he explained.
The 3rd ACR returned home to Fort Carson last month, leaving behind a Tal Afar where kids were playing in the streets again, schools were reopened and the police now have 1,700 officers - a huge increase over the 80 that had been living under siege when McMaster's regiment arrived.

A must read story!

Save the Soldier

This site honors a fallen hero:

"Living just down the street I grew up in was an honorable hero waiting to serve and eventually die for our country. Deploying for Iraq in the middle of 2005 this soldier was in for a huge project dedicated to a 1 year long deployment. Not only had this soldier made a huge decision to protect his country but he also decided to dedicate his life in marriage to his high school sweet heart days before leaving on his mission. Serving his country and his beautiful wife this soldier died in an horrible accident caused by an IED in August 2005. His wife was mortified beyond belief by only being able to spend a few short days with her husband before he was killed in combat. This soldier's life didn't end when he died; his character, faith, and enjoyable personality lived on in those dearest to him. He would have been 24 in April and we would like to ask you for support in helping out his family. We aren't asking for much, just a few words, maybe a thank you so we can create a wonderful scrapbook for his family to remember this fallen hero."
If you would like to contribute to "Operation: Honor A Hero," please send emails of support to us through Savethesoldiers.com contact form. We will be collecting emails until April 2, 2006. The collection of emails will be arranged into a gift scrapbook, and given to the family. The creator of the scarpbook would like to remain anomynous until the gift has been created.
Thank you so much for your help! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.Thank you,
Noodlehead
Savethesoldiers.com

Hit Them before They Hit Us

Preventing another Pearl harbor, or worse, Bush defines his security policy:

In the strategy, President Bush says the national security policy is "idealistic" about some goals and how to reach them and "realistic" about others. The 49-page report reaffirms the policy of pre-emptive strike, an approach that was first introduced in 2002, when the National Security Strategy was last reflect the realities of a post Sept. 11, 2001, world...

"The president's strategy affirms that the doctrine of preemption remains sound and must remain an integral part of our national security strategy," (National Security Advisor Stephen)Hadley said. "If necessary, the strategy states, under longstanding principles of self defense, we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack."

Sounds good to me. Hear that Iran?

Operation Swarmer

The media is treating this operation as something unique, but readers of this blog , and Honest News, know this sort of stuff is occuring constantly by our greatMilitary in Iraq and elsewhere:

More than 1,500 Coalition troops and Iraqi security forces along with 200 tactical vehicles and 50 aircraft have launched the largest air assault operation since Operation Iraqi Freedom began in March 2003. Operation Swarmer began this morning in southern Salah Ad Din province to clear a suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra. Troops from the Iraqi Army’s 1st Bridgade, 4th Division and Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team and the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade began conducting a combined air and ground assault to isolate the objective area.

Central Command 2006 Posture Statement

Here's the link and the intro:

United States Central Command (CENTCOM) is in the middle of a fifth consecutive year of sustained warfare in its area of operations. The Command remains engaged in three principal activities: (1) defeating al Qaida and associated extremist networks throughout the region, (2) stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan, and (3) partnering with governments and their militaries in the region to help them develop the capabilities and institutions to defeat terrorists and extremists on their own. In addition, U.S. and Coalition military forces ensure the flow of global resources and deter hostile powers throughout the region. These activities are mutually reinforcing. Progress in one spurs momentum in others. CENTCOM forces are daily engaged in the full spectrum of military operations throughout a major theater of war. Counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, training of friendly forces, civil affairs and humanitarian operations are examples of the routine joint missions performed with great distinction by our young troops.

Military Transformation Links

A new column from Winds of Change:

Militaries around the world are moving to modernize and transform themselves to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Our mission is to bring you a cross-section of relevant, on-target stories, news, and analysis, with a necessarily greater but not exclusive focus on the US military. Stories are broken down by military category and presented as fast bullet points that orient you quickly, with accompanying links if you wish to pursue more in-depth treatments.

Looks good! Check it out.

Liberals Headed for Extinction

The weird thing is they're doing it to themselves, with their bias against the traditional home and family says this opinion article from USA Today:

It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more conservative future - one in which patriarchy and other traditional values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.
Today, fertility correlates strongly with a wide range of political, cultural and religious attitudes. In the USA, for example, 47% of people who attend church weekly say their ideal family size is three or more children. By contrast, 27% of those who seldom attend church want that many kids.

And they call Republicans dumb.

Navy Chief Blasts Industry

This over shipbuilders cost overruns and shoddy construction, specifically the new San Antonio amphibious ship:

Navy inspectors last year found the San Antonio was rife with shoddy workmanship — such as bad electrical wiring, corrosion and safety flaws throughout. Mullen said these problems have since been corrected.
"We have struggled at times with the contractor in terms of delivering ships on time and some of the quality of the work," Mullen said.
Congress initially approved $953 million for the USS San Antonio and $762 million for the second ship in the class, LPD-18, for a total of $1.7 billion for both ships.

This is the trouble with all our shipyards, yet Congress will fight tooth and nail to defend them, them complain why there aren't enough ships. If you ask me, Congress is the problem.

Sniff Support

Zeko, an explosive detection canine, takes a breather, after his handler puts his specially made balistic "doggles" on for his daily training at the newly built training course at Forward Operating Base McHenry, Iraq. Spc. Barbara Ospina

Click For Story

Seeing the Mission Through

Sec. Rumsfeld gives 3 reasons why we should continue the mssion in Iraq:


*Are the Iraqi people supporting their nation's democratic transformation?
*Are the Iraqi forces taking on responsibility for the security of their country?
*Are the coalition forces in Iraq helping to make the United States safer?

Rumsfeld answered all three questions with a clear "yes."

America Needs the Whole Story

This is the view of the chairman of the JCS, as he comments on the recent Dubia Ports debacle:

Speaking at the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs, Marine Gen. Peter Pace cited the firestorm of criticism that descended on the decision to allow a company from the United Arab Emirates to take over operations at six American ports. The company, based in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, has since given up that idea...

Pace said the dialogue in regard to the port decision was not complete. The citizens of the United States never "got to absorb the fact that the security of (the ports) is, has been and will always be the responsibility of the U.S. Coast Guard," he said.

He's says that we should first consider what we hear in the news before rushing to judgement:

"My point is that somehow before we all rush to a judgment either for or against, we ought to allow ourselves as a nation to have an open dialogue take the time necessary to inform ourselves, and then make a decision about which we can be proud."

The Good News from Iraq

The Iraqi Mayor of Tal Afar who posted messeges of praise to the legendary 3rd Armored Cav is still talking, and he's not happy with the Old Media: An Iraqi mayor says he was motivated to write a letter praising the performance of U.S. troops in his city because he believes the American public is not getting the full story about the "heroic" work they are doing. In an exclusive telephone interview with The Post, Tal' Afar Mayor Najim Abdullah Abid al-Jibouri said he wants American policymakers and the public to know there is real progress taking place in Iraq. "I'd like American citizens not to trust everything that is being said in the media because, unfortunately, most of the media is talking about negative things and about the problems," al-Jibouri said, speaking through a translator. Ditto. http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/60937.htm

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Defending Free Speech

Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite columnists weighs in on the tape recording of Lefty teachers by students, and the backlash thereof: Governor Bill Owens of Colorado has cut through the cant about "free speech" and come to the defense of a 16-year-old high school student who tape-recorded his geography teacher using class time to rant against President Bush and compare him to Hitler. The teacher's lawyer talks about First Amendment rights to free speech but free speech has never meant speech free of consequences. Even aside from laws against libel or extortion, you can insult your boss or your spouse only at your own risk... Only among "educators" is there such confusion that merely exposing what they are doing behind the backs of parents and taxpayers is regarded as a violation of their rights. Tenure is apparently supposed to confer carte blanche. The Colorado geography teacher is not unique. A professor at UCLA wrote an indignant article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, denouncing organized efforts of students to record lectures of professors who impose their politics in class instead of teaching the subject they were hired to teach. The Left thinks that speech should be free only when they're bashing America, not when you disaprove of their rantings. http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/thomassowell/2006/03/14/189664.html

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The Old Blame Game

Looks like this excuse is beginning to get old: Iran's clerical and business establishments, deeply concerned by what they see as reckless spending and needlessly aggressive foreign policies, are increasingly turning against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Within this context, many see the president's long-running confrontation with the United States and Europe over Tehran's nuclear program as an attempt to demonize the West and distract the Iranian public from pressing domestic problems. A relatively small group of extremists "at the top of the government around the president" are seeking to benefit from a crisis with the West, because "that way they will be able once again to blame the West for all of their problems," said Mousa Ghaninejad, the editor of Iran's best-selling economics daily newspaper, Dunya Al-Eqtisad. http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060314-125702-7713r

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Survey: Mainstream Media Out of Touch

Did we really need a survey to discover this? A new survey points to some disturbing findings regarding the state of the press in America. More and more, the so-called mainstream media continue to push an agenda-driven approach to news reporting which is out of touch with mainstream America. ...The survey found a values gap between the general public and the media. When asked whether a belief in God was necessary to be moral, only 6% of journalists surveyed agreed. This is compared with 58% of the general public. In addition, about 88 percent of the press, compared with 51 percent of the public, think society should accept homosexuality. Here at New Wars, we do not consider the Media as "mainstream", but Old and long past its prime. http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=238

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The New Iraq Army

This article details the slow but definate progress of the Iraq forces: The Iraqi army now consists of about 140,000 troops. They are organized into 113 combat battalions (91 infantry battalions, 5 mechanized infantry battalions, 4 armored battalions, 1 special-duty security battalion and twelve special intervention force battalions.) The infantry and armor battalions are organized into nine divisions. There are also four special intervention force brigades (each with three battalions.) ...The new army has proved competent in combat, and Iraqi troops who served in the old army have noticed the difference. The Iraqi troops admire the American, and other Western troops. Seeing these foreign troops operate has made an impression. The foreign trainers have demonstrated that the superiority of Western troops is not some kind of magic, but the result of good training and leadership. Some Iraqi units have made amazing progress in terms of effectiveness. But the main problem remains a shortage of trained officers and NCOs. This is a problem that will take several more years to fix. Specifically, here are the new divisions: 1st Division (counter-insurgency) Habbaniyah 2nd Infantry Division Al Kindi 3rd Infantry Division Al Kasik 4th Infantry Division Tikrit 5th Infantry Division KMTB (Kirkuk military training base) 6th Infantry Division Baghdad 7th Infantry Division Al Asad 8th Infantry Division Diwaniyah 9th Mechanized Infantry Division Taji 10th Infantry Division Basrah 1st Special Intervention Forces Brigade Baghdad International Airport http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htworld/articles/20060313.aspx

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Al Qaeda Wins on Ports Deal

This analysis is from Strategypage, who says the fallout has just begun: In the past three weeks, there has been a political firestorm caused by misreported facts about the purchase of P&O by Dubai Port Works, and scurrilous attacks on the UAE by pundits, which has led to the betrayal of America's most loyal and useful an ally in the Persian Gulf. The fallout from this betrayal will make it difficult to recruit future allies in the war on terror. The attacks on the UAE have the potential to do what Osama bin Laden has not been able to do with over a decade of bombings, the hijacked airliners, and fatwas. Recalling another ally America let down: It is also worth noting what happened the last time the United States screwed over an ally in the Persian Gulf. In 1979, the United States made a series of decisions that led to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi being losing power in Iran. The result of that decision included the takeover of the American embassy in Iran, along with 25 years of state-sponsored terrorism, and a grave threat to the stability of the Middle East. I don't believe the loss will be this great, but we should tread carefully when dealing with allies, in the Middle east and elswhere, though never at the expense of our security. http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htiw/articles/20060313.aspx

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