Much of the hoopla that passes for “war” coverage is being diverted (i.e., "He did it, he did it, maaaaa") by liberal politicians (both Republican and Democrat), agenda-driven media, et al, to insure that the Islamic terrorist/murderers are once again free to bring their war to our soil.
(If you’re so naïve as to think that won’t happen, put a .38 in your mouth now because your choices will be getting decapitated, having a building fall down with you in it, having to choose to leap out of a 100-story building or burn to death, crashing a plane or getting blown up in a bus. The jihadists want us dead stupid. Oh! Of course! Duh. They'll go back to be peaceloving sheep fornicators as soon as we leave Iraq. How silly of me.)
Argh. Anyway ...
We've a bigger problem popping up … and a real one that WILL affect the war.
Since the United States NEVER maintains sufficient military minus an immediate threat – thanks to the aforementioned interest groups – we’ve gone into wars lately with less than enough materiel and men.
And the strain on both is starting to show.
A USA Today report dated November 25 -- http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-11-24-war-strain_x.htm?csp=N009 -- highlights the problems and they are many, they're scary and they're real.
The left may have already lost us these wars. And the repercussions are NOT going to be fun.
30 November 2005
PAYING TO PRINT …
Big to-do over the government paying Iraq newspapers to print positive stories about the troops and their successes in Iraq.
All the media have picked it up and the hue and cry is, er, colorful and noisy.
It would be another non-issue if the media coverage of Iraq actually was true journalism – defined as “the discipline of collecting, analyzing, validating and presenting information gathered” – rather than the agenda driven, biased, oft-moronic ramblings of people who get paid to write lots of words.
But then people might actually get “news” rather than “editorial.”
All the media have picked it up and the hue and cry is, er, colorful and noisy.
It would be another non-issue if the media coverage of Iraq actually was true journalism – defined as “the discipline of collecting, analyzing, validating and presenting information gathered” – rather than the agenda driven, biased, oft-moronic ramblings of people who get paid to write lots of words.
But then people might actually get “news” rather than “editorial.”
29 November 2005
DON'T MISS THIS!
An article by Brigitte Gabriel, the Lebanese Christian commentator who KNOWS what's happening in the Mideast and isn't afraid to tell it like it REALLY is.
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/2005/11/appeasement_nev.php
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/2005/11/appeasement_nev.php
KATRINA UPDATE ... I'M WRONG
I received an e-mail accompanied by a few dozen photos of the Mississippi area. The images and the short tale related come first hand from a guy - I'd say he's a buddy, but he's actually the publisher of some magazines for which I work - who put his money where his mouth is. He spent the Thanksgiving holiday in the MS area with some other like minded individuals, helping out doing whatever he could do. No noise, no fan fare, just helping out where he could.
Not wanting to embarass him, I told him that what he'd done waas pretty stand up and asked why he thought the area was still a mess.
"It's destroyed and fixing it is like eating an elephant one bite at a time," was pretty much his answer. He added that essentially - regadrless of color, creed, economic level, etc - the place has been flattened and in desparate need of assistance at every level.
I've been pretty skeptical about this hurricane stuff, but it looks like I've been more wrong than right.
Regardless, all I was doing was what I criticize the media for ... shooting off my mouth ...unlike those who actually do something.
Kudos to him, his crew and the people like them.
Not wanting to embarass him, I told him that what he'd done waas pretty stand up and asked why he thought the area was still a mess.
"It's destroyed and fixing it is like eating an elephant one bite at a time," was pretty much his answer. He added that essentially - regadrless of color, creed, economic level, etc - the place has been flattened and in desparate need of assistance at every level.
I've been pretty skeptical about this hurricane stuff, but it looks like I've been more wrong than right.
Regardless, all I was doing was what I criticize the media for ... shooting off my mouth ...unlike those who actually do something.
Kudos to him, his crew and the people like them.
BETTER DEAD THAN …
Groups I think could use some of the title.
Human Rights Watch.
This New York-based organization is trying to insure Saddam Hussein gets a fair trial. Among his complaints: he had to walk up four flights of stairs. Here is a guy who ran a savage dictatorship, used WMDs against his own people, committed genocide against his own people and ... he doesn’t like to walk up stairs. They’re also not sure whether it’s okay for us to interrogate POWs. Okay, we’ll stop. We’ll just video the decapitations we’re performing.
American Civil Liberties Union … and its Supporters.
Let me get this straight. It’s okay for kids over 13 to have sex with anyone they want? It’s NOT okay to register sex offenders or tell neighbors where they live? You’re defending the rights of an organization who think sex between men and pubescent boys is okay? You consider it a civil rights violation to check people’s bags as they enter New York subways?
You kiss your children with your mouths, every night?
When your children are raped what’s your reply to them? When they’re blown to mush in a subway bombing what do you say then?
God save us from the ACLU; one of the most dangerous organizations to have outlived its usefulness in the past half century. Talk about out of touch with American jurisprudence, ethics and morality! And let’s NOT forget the judges who agree with their incredibly illogical - and increasingly scary - briefs.
Christian Peacemaker Teams
The latest kidnap victims. In Iraq since October 2002, the four abductees are said to be from Canada, Germany, the UK and America, and were working with detainees and “training others in nonviolent intervention and human rights documentation.”
Does anyone but me think this is, well, ironic? How about funny? And what the hell is non violent intervention as it applies to Iraq?
Knock, knock, hello, McFly. These bad guys are animals. And not exactly bright bulbs, either. Most failed War Marketing 101.
Oh. The organization “does not advocate the use of violent force to save our lives should we be kidnapped, held hostage, or caught in the middle of a conflict situation."
Well, all rightee then.
Iran
Even if Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been given an okay by the White House to start talks with the Iranis about stabilizing the region, do you really think they WANT a stabilized region?
Blow ‘em up now – don’t take ground, just blow them up. Let them keep whatever the hell it is they have they think we want – or blow ‘em up later, but blow ‘em up, because THAT they’ll understand.
Libya’s Mohamar Khadafi is turning out to be the smartest (former?) terrorist in North Africa. We only had to try and kill him once. Let’s do to the Iranis what we should have done to them back in 1979. If we’d done it then we wouldn’t have lost all our North African apparatus nor had all our operatives slaughtered and wouldn’t be in Iraq today.
But, nooooo. Thanks, for all that help President Carter.
San Francisco
Voters in one time Sodom on the Pacific approved Proposition 1, a non-binding resolution that claims the city opposes allowing U.S. military recruiters in their public schools.
Legally, it doesn't mean anything but it's a nice slap in the face to our men and women in harms way.
They deserve - at least - another Big One.
Human Rights Watch.
This New York-based organization is trying to insure Saddam Hussein gets a fair trial. Among his complaints: he had to walk up four flights of stairs. Here is a guy who ran a savage dictatorship, used WMDs against his own people, committed genocide against his own people and ... he doesn’t like to walk up stairs. They’re also not sure whether it’s okay for us to interrogate POWs. Okay, we’ll stop. We’ll just video the decapitations we’re performing.
American Civil Liberties Union … and its Supporters.
Let me get this straight. It’s okay for kids over 13 to have sex with anyone they want? It’s NOT okay to register sex offenders or tell neighbors where they live? You’re defending the rights of an organization who think sex between men and pubescent boys is okay? You consider it a civil rights violation to check people’s bags as they enter New York subways?
You kiss your children with your mouths, every night?
When your children are raped what’s your reply to them? When they’re blown to mush in a subway bombing what do you say then?
God save us from the ACLU; one of the most dangerous organizations to have outlived its usefulness in the past half century. Talk about out of touch with American jurisprudence, ethics and morality! And let’s NOT forget the judges who agree with their incredibly illogical - and increasingly scary - briefs.
Christian Peacemaker Teams
The latest kidnap victims. In Iraq since October 2002, the four abductees are said to be from Canada, Germany, the UK and America, and were working with detainees and “training others in nonviolent intervention and human rights documentation.”
Does anyone but me think this is, well, ironic? How about funny? And what the hell is non violent intervention as it applies to Iraq?
Knock, knock, hello, McFly. These bad guys are animals. And not exactly bright bulbs, either. Most failed War Marketing 101.
Oh. The organization “does not advocate the use of violent force to save our lives should we be kidnapped, held hostage, or caught in the middle of a conflict situation."
Well, all rightee then.
Iran
Even if Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been given an okay by the White House to start talks with the Iranis about stabilizing the region, do you really think they WANT a stabilized region?
Blow ‘em up now – don’t take ground, just blow them up. Let them keep whatever the hell it is they have they think we want – or blow ‘em up later, but blow ‘em up, because THAT they’ll understand.
Libya’s Mohamar Khadafi is turning out to be the smartest (former?) terrorist in North Africa. We only had to try and kill him once. Let’s do to the Iranis what we should have done to them back in 1979. If we’d done it then we wouldn’t have lost all our North African apparatus nor had all our operatives slaughtered and wouldn’t be in Iraq today.
But, nooooo. Thanks, for all that help President Carter.
San Francisco
Voters in one time Sodom on the Pacific approved Proposition 1, a non-binding resolution that claims the city opposes allowing U.S. military recruiters in their public schools.
Legally, it doesn't mean anything but it's a nice slap in the face to our men and women in harms way.
They deserve - at least - another Big One.
28 November 2005
WE'RE LOOKING INTO IT ... (WINK, WINK)
The European Union (EU) is still pressing on whether there are/were CIA interrogation centers in eastern Europe. The EU has threatened a sort of excommunication from the Old World conglomeration if it is found that any EU member had the centers. The premise for the excommunication is that the EU was founded with human rights as a core policy.
Oh, pul-lease.
This all goes back to reports that appeared in The Washington Post in early November. Thanks again for all the help in the war on terrorism, guys.
LRRP’s World Says: We HOPE there are/were CIA interrogation centers and we HOPE there still are American-run interrogation centers on old USSR military bases, and we HOPE the CIA will lie like a rug about them to everybody.
And we mean EVERYbody.
Oh, pul-lease.
This all goes back to reports that appeared in The Washington Post in early November. Thanks again for all the help in the war on terrorism, guys.
LRRP’s World Says: We HOPE there are/were CIA interrogation centers and we HOPE there still are American-run interrogation centers on old USSR military bases, and we HOPE the CIA will lie like a rug about them to everybody.
And we mean EVERYbody.
HONEST, IT’S NOT A CORPORATE PHILOSOPHY!
A caller complaining about an “X” that appeared, ostensibly “accidentally,” over a picture of Vice President Dick Cheney, was greeted by a CNN phone operator who told the caller (I paraphrase): tough, it’s free speech.
Laurie Goldberg, Senior Vice President for Public Relations with CNN, said in a press release: "A Turner switchboard operator was fired today after we were alerted to a conversation the operator had with a caller in which the operator lost his temper and expressed his personal views – behavior that was totally inappropriate. His comments did not reflect the views of CNN. We are reaching out to the caller and expressing our deep regret to her and apologizing that she did not get the courtesy entitled to her."
Guess we’ll have to ask ol’ TT for a clarification. After all, CNN couldn’t POSSIBLY have an agenda, could it?
Just think of the media coverage if a White House operator had told a caller that demanding the troops be pulled out of the Middle East immediately was treasonous! Yeah, that would be buried on a back page, my ass.
Laurie Goldberg, Senior Vice President for Public Relations with CNN, said in a press release: "A Turner switchboard operator was fired today after we were alerted to a conversation the operator had with a caller in which the operator lost his temper and expressed his personal views – behavior that was totally inappropriate. His comments did not reflect the views of CNN. We are reaching out to the caller and expressing our deep regret to her and apologizing that she did not get the courtesy entitled to her."
Guess we’ll have to ask ol’ TT for a clarification. After all, CNN couldn’t POSSIBLY have an agenda, could it?
Just think of the media coverage if a White House operator had told a caller that demanding the troops be pulled out of the Middle East immediately was treasonous! Yeah, that would be buried on a back page, my ass.
27 November 2005
AH, THE ANTI (GI) WAR MOVEMENT!
Ann Coulter’s most recent column deals with the left’s continued war against our troops in Iraq. She brings up a quote from a man named Bui Tin who fought against the Americans in Viet Nam. Tin served as a colonel in the Viet Minh and later as vice chief editor of the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam among other publications. He left Viet Nam after becoming disillusioned with corruption and the isolation of his country in 1990 and now lives in Paris, France.
In August 3, 1995, he was interviewed in The Wall Street Journal. In the interview Tin called the American peace movement "essential" to the North Vietnamese victory.
"Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American anti-war movement," he said. "Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses."
Thanks for all your help Cindy. I’m sure your son appreciates all you’re doing for his buddies.
I’m sure they’ll remember you with as much fondness as Viet vets remember Hanoi Jane.
In August 3, 1995, he was interviewed in The Wall Street Journal. In the interview Tin called the American peace movement "essential" to the North Vietnamese victory.
"Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American anti-war movement," he said. "Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses."
Thanks for all your help Cindy. I’m sure your son appreciates all you’re doing for his buddies.
I’m sure they’ll remember you with as much fondness as Viet vets remember Hanoi Jane.
26 November 2005
THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WAR
Kenya Next?
Although the cultural, tribal, and colonial wars (communist-inspired and otherwise) of mid, eastern and southern Africa have kept generations of mercenaries if not rolling in dough, certainly rolling in bloodshed, it looks like one of the countries most synonymous with both African wars AND peace, Kenya, may be again a target of Islamic thugs, but for a different reason this time.
Once home to Jomo Kenyata’s Russian-financed Mau Mau uprising against the British, the East African country’s insurrection gained independence from Britain in 1963, eventually going on to become one of the most stable areas on the continent.
Last Tuesday, the predominantly Christian country overwhelmingly voted down a proposal to lend legitimacy to Islamic courts by having them be considered “lower courts,” as they applied to judicial questions relating to followers of Islam. This was a blip in Kenya’s laws that was a remnant of its 1963 constitution. Some 57 percent of the populace voted against the proposal.
This vote came on top of the country’s recent vote of “no confidence” in President Mwai Kibaki’s government and rule.
Islamic murderers blew up the US Embassy in Nairobi in August 2001, but there has been little or no noise from that faction in that country since.
Watch for a change now.
Although the cultural, tribal, and colonial wars (communist-inspired and otherwise) of mid, eastern and southern Africa have kept generations of mercenaries if not rolling in dough, certainly rolling in bloodshed, it looks like one of the countries most synonymous with both African wars AND peace, Kenya, may be again a target of Islamic thugs, but for a different reason this time.
Once home to Jomo Kenyata’s Russian-financed Mau Mau uprising against the British, the East African country’s insurrection gained independence from Britain in 1963, eventually going on to become one of the most stable areas on the continent.
Last Tuesday, the predominantly Christian country overwhelmingly voted down a proposal to lend legitimacy to Islamic courts by having them be considered “lower courts,” as they applied to judicial questions relating to followers of Islam. This was a blip in Kenya’s laws that was a remnant of its 1963 constitution. Some 57 percent of the populace voted against the proposal.
This vote came on top of the country’s recent vote of “no confidence” in President Mwai Kibaki’s government and rule.
Islamic murderers blew up the US Embassy in Nairobi in August 2001, but there has been little or no noise from that faction in that country since.
Watch for a change now.
25 November 2005
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
With our media trying to make an isolated peace protest look like a peace movement – and since the media has as much originality as replicating paramecium – one thing we haven’t heard anything about is some typical, everyday, we-hate-each-other-as-much-as-we-hate-you factional friction in Iraq.
It seems the Turkish government has opened up its hospital facilities to treat some seriously wounded Turkmen civilians. Turkmen are yet another tribal group in Iraq; in this case Iraqis who speak Turkish. They are further divided into Sunni and Shiite sects and those are the ones blowing each other up right now in northern Iraq.
These aren’t Kurds, who Iraqis don’t like either (Kurds are the people Saddam Hussein used WMDs – that he “didn’t” have – against), but a separate ethno-religious group.
Naturally, the action happened at a mosque, and it was back in September. But you’ll never hear about it unless you read Arabic or Turkish. Or you can check the English language pages of Aljazeera.
It seems the Turkish government has opened up its hospital facilities to treat some seriously wounded Turkmen civilians. Turkmen are yet another tribal group in Iraq; in this case Iraqis who speak Turkish. They are further divided into Sunni and Shiite sects and those are the ones blowing each other up right now in northern Iraq.
These aren’t Kurds, who Iraqis don’t like either (Kurds are the people Saddam Hussein used WMDs – that he “didn’t” have – against), but a separate ethno-religious group.
Naturally, the action happened at a mosque, and it was back in September. But you’ll never hear about it unless you read Arabic or Turkish. Or you can check the English language pages of Aljazeera.
HOW SOPHISTICATED IS THE ENEMY ?
Don’t ever discount the murderous mutts we have to fight.
A training manual found during a raid in Manchester, UK, several months ago gives excellent insight to operational methods that don’t vary far from the general spycraft practiced by any of the game’s players.
One thing I found unusual was a political sophistication that is far beyond any simplistic donkey and camel philosophy. The opening of the manual starts thusly:
“The confrontation that we are calling for with the apostate regimes does not know Socratic debates …. Platonic ideals … nor Aristotelian diplomacy. But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and destruction and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine gun.”
That, folks, comes from intelligent killers who definitely aren’t sitting down at any table with anybody to have a chat. That is the philosophy of people who only understand a single outcome … and Americans better get used to being on the still-standing side of that outcome.
A training manual found during a raid in Manchester, UK, several months ago gives excellent insight to operational methods that don’t vary far from the general spycraft practiced by any of the game’s players.
One thing I found unusual was a political sophistication that is far beyond any simplistic donkey and camel philosophy. The opening of the manual starts thusly:
“The confrontation that we are calling for with the apostate regimes does not know Socratic debates …. Platonic ideals … nor Aristotelian diplomacy. But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and destruction and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine gun.”
That, folks, comes from intelligent killers who definitely aren’t sitting down at any table with anybody to have a chat. That is the philosophy of people who only understand a single outcome … and Americans better get used to being on the still-standing side of that outcome.
STUPIDITY BACK IN THE NEWS
Cindy Sheehan and CIA interrogation centers in Europe. Both ho-hum stories are sucking newsprint in the hopes of both the participants and the reporters covering the stories of becoming soooooooo much more than they are.
Oh well.
Oh well.
24 November 2005
TO THE WARRIORS
I’ve been writing quite a bit about Iraq, Afghanistan, war and the Warrior’s Code and I realized that – today on Thanksgiving – there are quite a few of you who don’t have any real idea what war is.
Oh, you’ve a conceptual idea and some have a tactical idea, but I’m talking about a down-in-the-mud idea.
My wife’s sleep-mumbling woke me, and the first thing I recalled on consciousness was standing up and firing a CAR-15 on semiautomatic. My eyelids slapped open with an almost visible noise as the recollection took shape.
It happened on November 16, 1968 – eight days and 37 years ago – and I saw it as clearly as I can see the red “2:22” on the bedside clock. That’s ay-em, Thanksgiving morning, 2005.
But that’s war.
It’s amazing how things stay with you. I’d thought much of what I recalled of that day was more an exaggerated memory or a conglomeration of memories, but I met one of my team members two years ago who told the story to a group of peers while I stood there unable to comment, other than to say, “yeah, yeah, that’s right.” How I remembered the event for some 30 years was how it transpired.
There were four of us and we ambushed 20-or-so of them. I was always afraid of being pinned down in one place in firefights, so I usually stood. Not an intelligent tactic, but I’m still here. I remembering saying “wait” in a whisper over and over, until I yelled “take ‘em,” and off we went. I remember firing semi and popping targets – humans – as if I was on a rifle range. That’s how we were taught, and the teaching worked.
I saw faces as I shifted targets, and I saw people firing back. The closest were about 15 feet, the long shots 50. The story my partner told was more about my actions than what we did, but combat -the event, not the dying - is perceptual, he was a new guy and that’s what he recalled. I recalled killing people, monsoon, mud, brush, and a Montagnyard-cut field.
I remember swapping out magazines, slapping the new one on my thigh as I shoved it in. I can feel the magazine’s edge on the front of my thigh muscle today.
Thirty-seven years and eight days later at 0222 on Thanksgiving Day morning a 56 year old, out-of-shape ex-LRRP remembers war as clear as if it happened earlier in the evening.
Clear enough to rise, grab a drink of tomato juice and write this.
Warriors pay the price for everyone else. The rest of us argue, discuss and debate the reasons why, how, where and when. Some of us support the warriors and some of us don’t. Thanks to the former and death to the latter.
It’s the warriors who carry the load, and who don’t get to sit down with their loved ones on Thanksgiving Day and debate esoterica.
Warriors are too busy staying alive.
Here’s to the warriors … and the rest of their lives.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Oh, you’ve a conceptual idea and some have a tactical idea, but I’m talking about a down-in-the-mud idea.
My wife’s sleep-mumbling woke me, and the first thing I recalled on consciousness was standing up and firing a CAR-15 on semiautomatic. My eyelids slapped open with an almost visible noise as the recollection took shape.
It happened on November 16, 1968 – eight days and 37 years ago – and I saw it as clearly as I can see the red “2:22” on the bedside clock. That’s ay-em, Thanksgiving morning, 2005.
But that’s war.
It’s amazing how things stay with you. I’d thought much of what I recalled of that day was more an exaggerated memory or a conglomeration of memories, but I met one of my team members two years ago who told the story to a group of peers while I stood there unable to comment, other than to say, “yeah, yeah, that’s right.” How I remembered the event for some 30 years was how it transpired.
There were four of us and we ambushed 20-or-so of them. I was always afraid of being pinned down in one place in firefights, so I usually stood. Not an intelligent tactic, but I’m still here. I remembering saying “wait” in a whisper over and over, until I yelled “take ‘em,” and off we went. I remember firing semi and popping targets – humans – as if I was on a rifle range. That’s how we were taught, and the teaching worked.
I saw faces as I shifted targets, and I saw people firing back. The closest were about 15 feet, the long shots 50. The story my partner told was more about my actions than what we did, but combat -the event, not the dying - is perceptual, he was a new guy and that’s what he recalled. I recalled killing people, monsoon, mud, brush, and a Montagnyard-cut field.
I remember swapping out magazines, slapping the new one on my thigh as I shoved it in. I can feel the magazine’s edge on the front of my thigh muscle today.
Thirty-seven years and eight days later at 0222 on Thanksgiving Day morning a 56 year old, out-of-shape ex-LRRP remembers war as clear as if it happened earlier in the evening.
Clear enough to rise, grab a drink of tomato juice and write this.
Warriors pay the price for everyone else. The rest of us argue, discuss and debate the reasons why, how, where and when. Some of us support the warriors and some of us don’t. Thanks to the former and death to the latter.
It’s the warriors who carry the load, and who don’t get to sit down with their loved ones on Thanksgiving Day and debate esoterica.
Warriors are too busy staying alive.
Here’s to the warriors … and the rest of their lives.
Happy Thanksgiving.
23 November 2005
DUH. DO YUH THINK?
London’s Daily Mirror has been making news the past few days with its news that during an April 2004 meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair talked President George W. Bush out of blowing up an Aljazeera office in Doha, Qatar.
Citing Section 5 of its Official Secrets Act (which in the UK is seriously no-nonsense), the UK government has ordered the paper to cease reporting on the purportedly leaked memo. And for something so “purported,” a British civil servant (or two) is under arrest for leaking the “purported” document to a “purported” friend in the office of a former anti-invasion “purported” PM (parliamentary member) … fair play, the latter gent turned the document back over to the British government.
As for US response to the “purportedness” of this memo: "We are not going to dignify something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Yeah, right. So George wanted to nuke a – lets call it less than friendly – news gathering office.
Who the hell cares?
Of course Aljazeera does and that’s understandable. Part of their statement noted: “If the report is correct then this would be both shocking and worrisome not only to Aljazeera but to media organisations [sic] across the world."
Being that Aljazeera has had a missile hit its non-occupied-at-the-time offices in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2001 (we thought it was a terrorist building) and had a reporter killed in a bombing of its Baghdad office in April 2003 (ditto), I’d say “shocking and worrisome … to Aljazeera …” is a rather appropriate stance for it and its staffers to have.
And maybe some other news organizations might want to consider the ramifications of accidental bombings, shooting, fraggings, etc., as well.
But I reiterate: who the hell cares?
I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this, but …
Do you think there’s a sand encrusted, hot, sweaty grunt that gives a damn what happens to some overpaid, overplayed, pick-and-choose reporters, past, present or future?
Citing Section 5 of its Official Secrets Act (which in the UK is seriously no-nonsense), the UK government has ordered the paper to cease reporting on the purportedly leaked memo. And for something so “purported,” a British civil servant (or two) is under arrest for leaking the “purported” document to a “purported” friend in the office of a former anti-invasion “purported” PM (parliamentary member) … fair play, the latter gent turned the document back over to the British government.
As for US response to the “purportedness” of this memo: "We are not going to dignify something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Yeah, right. So George wanted to nuke a – lets call it less than friendly – news gathering office.
Who the hell cares?
Of course Aljazeera does and that’s understandable. Part of their statement noted: “If the report is correct then this would be both shocking and worrisome not only to Aljazeera but to media organisations [sic] across the world."
Being that Aljazeera has had a missile hit its non-occupied-at-the-time offices in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2001 (we thought it was a terrorist building) and had a reporter killed in a bombing of its Baghdad office in April 2003 (ditto), I’d say “shocking and worrisome … to Aljazeera …” is a rather appropriate stance for it and its staffers to have.
And maybe some other news organizations might want to consider the ramifications of accidental bombings, shooting, fraggings, etc., as well.
But I reiterate: who the hell cares?
I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this, but …
Do you think there’s a sand encrusted, hot, sweaty grunt that gives a damn what happens to some overpaid, overplayed, pick-and-choose reporters, past, present or future?
TIRED OF SAYING HAPPY HOLIDAYS?
How tired are you of saying “happy holidays” to people because some group or the other might be offended by saying “Merry Christmas?”
(NOTE: Down in Florida, the land of palm trees, plywood, blue tarps and gators they start celebrating Christmas, it seems, just after Labor Day, and that may explain why this tale might seem a bit premature to the rest of you. Be that as it may …)
Christmas Land
My wife’s rather caustic yet appropriate observation that crowded civic events are places from which both “pets and vets” should be banned, set the tone for our evening at Naples, Florida’s “Evening of Lights” or some-such named annual festivity.
A street fair – musicians are a-playing, dancers a-dancing, ersatz snow spews from streetpole-mounted snow blowers, every storefront, and palm and monkey-puzzle tree is covered in white lights – upscale shopping mecca Third Street is closed to traffic.
The crowd is a combination of plastic-breasted elbow candy, elegantly attired Southwest Florida matrons, well-to-do Naple-ites with resigned Botox-engraved smiles, Rebel-flag wearing mud truckers, nouveau riche young couples with 1.2 children, and snowbirds and tourists of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds from far and wide. And, yes, there is a scattering of jumpy vets and pets, neither of which should be in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd. Everyone – with the exception of octogenarian bags of skin who seem to think they have the right of way based on age – have adapted to the crowd’s ebb and flow, though I hear one large local say, “Who are all these gah-damn people and what are they doing in my town?” If I lived here, I wouldn’t have said it better.
Getting To The Point
The first scene one comes across after walking past a relaxed motorcycle patrolman watching the crowd from a side-saddle, helmetless post atop his Harley, is a Nativity scene. No protestors from atheist groups, the ACLU or other religious sects, cults, et al, who feel affronted by this, the scene is a live diorama using local children in all the parts with a script copied verbatim from the Bible and broadcast via speakers for all to hear.
Christmas is the holiday, and while Channukah has been around since before Christmas, most Jews will readily admit it has no where near the religious associative importance of Christmas for Christians. The more recent, Kwanza, celebrates family and culture, occurs around the time of Christmas, but again has no historic religious association, being an agricultural fete. Ramadan happens in October (or the ninth month of the Muslim year) and atheists don’t celebrate anything religious, the nearest being Supreme Court decisions (which could bring up an entirely different rant, but I’ll demur in order to make my point).
No, Stupid, It’s Merry Christmas
So there I am, jumpy as a terrorist at a Jiffy Lube, watching a beautiful ceremony unfold in a public park, under a suspiciously Bethlehem-stable-looking cupola being repeated every half-hour or so with no complaints, no signs of protest and no ACLU lawyers stopping it mid-act.
They say that the real America lies west of the Hudson River and east of the San Andreas. I think maybe south of the Mason Dixon line ought to be added to that. All I gotta say after last night is, thank God for Naples, Florida.
Merry CHRISTMAS. To all.
(NOTE: Down in Florida, the land of palm trees, plywood, blue tarps and gators they start celebrating Christmas, it seems, just after Labor Day, and that may explain why this tale might seem a bit premature to the rest of you. Be that as it may …)
Christmas Land
My wife’s rather caustic yet appropriate observation that crowded civic events are places from which both “pets and vets” should be banned, set the tone for our evening at Naples, Florida’s “Evening of Lights” or some-such named annual festivity.
A street fair – musicians are a-playing, dancers a-dancing, ersatz snow spews from streetpole-mounted snow blowers, every storefront, and palm and monkey-puzzle tree is covered in white lights – upscale shopping mecca Third Street is closed to traffic.
The crowd is a combination of plastic-breasted elbow candy, elegantly attired Southwest Florida matrons, well-to-do Naple-ites with resigned Botox-engraved smiles, Rebel-flag wearing mud truckers, nouveau riche young couples with 1.2 children, and snowbirds and tourists of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds from far and wide. And, yes, there is a scattering of jumpy vets and pets, neither of which should be in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd. Everyone – with the exception of octogenarian bags of skin who seem to think they have the right of way based on age – have adapted to the crowd’s ebb and flow, though I hear one large local say, “Who are all these gah-damn people and what are they doing in my town?” If I lived here, I wouldn’t have said it better.
Getting To The Point
The first scene one comes across after walking past a relaxed motorcycle patrolman watching the crowd from a side-saddle, helmetless post atop his Harley, is a Nativity scene. No protestors from atheist groups, the ACLU or other religious sects, cults, et al, who feel affronted by this, the scene is a live diorama using local children in all the parts with a script copied verbatim from the Bible and broadcast via speakers for all to hear.
Christmas is the holiday, and while Channukah has been around since before Christmas, most Jews will readily admit it has no where near the religious associative importance of Christmas for Christians. The more recent, Kwanza, celebrates family and culture, occurs around the time of Christmas, but again has no historic religious association, being an agricultural fete. Ramadan happens in October (or the ninth month of the Muslim year) and atheists don’t celebrate anything religious, the nearest being Supreme Court decisions (which could bring up an entirely different rant, but I’ll demur in order to make my point).
No, Stupid, It’s Merry Christmas
So there I am, jumpy as a terrorist at a Jiffy Lube, watching a beautiful ceremony unfold in a public park, under a suspiciously Bethlehem-stable-looking cupola being repeated every half-hour or so with no complaints, no signs of protest and no ACLU lawyers stopping it mid-act.
They say that the real America lies west of the Hudson River and east of the San Andreas. I think maybe south of the Mason Dixon line ought to be added to that. All I gotta say after last night is, thank God for Naples, Florida.
Merry CHRISTMAS. To all.
22 November 2005
HEAR, HEAR!
"Such a retreat would convince the terrorists that free nations will change our politics, forsake our friends, abandon our interest whenever we are confronted with murder and blackmail."
Vice President Dick Cheney on any "immediate" withdrawal proposals.
Not much top be added to that.
Vice President Dick Cheney on any "immediate" withdrawal proposals.
Not much top be added to that.
21 November 2005
THE KIND OF STUFF YOU DON’T HEAR
Dated November 16. A verbatim release from the guys who knew him; read it to the second-to-last paragraph.
“An Army Special Forces Soldier died Nov. 15 in the vicinity of Lawara, Afghanistan of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Sgt. 1st Class James S. Ochsner, 36, a Special Forces intelligence sergeant assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, NC, was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Ochsner was in the process of distributing supplies to local nationals at the time of the attack.
A memorial service is scheduled for November 29, 1000 hrs at JFK Chapel on Fort Bragg.”
'Nuff said.
“An Army Special Forces Soldier died Nov. 15 in the vicinity of Lawara, Afghanistan of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
Sgt. 1st Class James S. Ochsner, 36, a Special Forces intelligence sergeant assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, NC, was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Ochsner was in the process of distributing supplies to local nationals at the time of the attack.
A memorial service is scheduled for November 29, 1000 hrs at JFK Chapel on Fort Bragg.”
'Nuff said.
WE SUPPORT THE TROOPS … MY ASS
Waffle, Waffled, Waffling
Okay, I’ve said this before. Saying you “support the troops” but are “against the war” is typical chicken shit liberal waffling … wanting it both ways and having neither the courage, cojones or gumption to take a stand on ANYthing other than the fence.
If you support the troops, you reserve the right to believe the troops should be removed, but you keep your mouth and opinion to yourself until our people are out of harm’s way.
Standing on a street corner and saying “we’re not mad at you, but we don’t really give a hoot if you get your ass shot off because Abdul As Shole thinks it will help get you out of there sooner” is unmitigated BS. You give lip service to this crap while our people are over there doing a hard-ass job, you ARE responsible for what befalls them.
Orate, blabber, blubber or otherwise rationalize as much as you want, but that’s the difference between supporting the troops or carrying responsibility (even liberal thinkers should know what the word responsibility means) for their dying.
Do one or the other. You're not allowed both.
Al Zarqawi Dead?
Maybe, maybe not. Iraq security forces say they think he was among eight members of a terrorist cell that was either killed or committed suicide. The former sexual predator’s (hey, that’s what his first arrest was for; in Jordan under his real name of Ahmed Fadheel Nazal Khalayleh) DNA is undergoing testing as we speak. US sources are taking an Alfred E. Neuman stance until further developments, er, develop.
The Khalayleh family and its tribe – 58 members worth – have publicly condemned and disassociated themselves from Zarqawi/Khalayleh as a result of the Amman bombings.
Hey, the only good Zarqawi is a dead one; even his people know that – and there won’t be any wailing in the Shiite community he has preyed upon either.
Hurricane Up Close
I’m down where Wilma came ashore and was cruising around the area this morning. Although the snowbirds are flocking in,traffic is building and restaurant waiting lines are getting longer (i.e., things are normal), there still seems to be a lot of trash to be picked up in different parts of the towns – mostly in the lower economic, or less tourist travelled, areas it would seem.
Nonetheless, I was driving down the road and came across a FEMA Hurricane Relief center: an open-air kitchen with piles of food on the tables. It didn’t seem too well attended and volunteers seemed to be as numerous as needy, but nonetheless, on November 21, three days before Thanksgiving, there’s still need. And this isn’t Katrina or Rita territory.
Okay, I’ve said this before. Saying you “support the troops” but are “against the war” is typical chicken shit liberal waffling … wanting it both ways and having neither the courage, cojones or gumption to take a stand on ANYthing other than the fence.
If you support the troops, you reserve the right to believe the troops should be removed, but you keep your mouth and opinion to yourself until our people are out of harm’s way.
Standing on a street corner and saying “we’re not mad at you, but we don’t really give a hoot if you get your ass shot off because Abdul As Shole thinks it will help get you out of there sooner” is unmitigated BS. You give lip service to this crap while our people are over there doing a hard-ass job, you ARE responsible for what befalls them.
Orate, blabber, blubber or otherwise rationalize as much as you want, but that’s the difference between supporting the troops or carrying responsibility (even liberal thinkers should know what the word responsibility means) for their dying.
Do one or the other. You're not allowed both.
Al Zarqawi Dead?
Maybe, maybe not. Iraq security forces say they think he was among eight members of a terrorist cell that was either killed or committed suicide. The former sexual predator’s (hey, that’s what his first arrest was for; in Jordan under his real name of Ahmed Fadheel Nazal Khalayleh) DNA is undergoing testing as we speak. US sources are taking an Alfred E. Neuman stance until further developments, er, develop.
The Khalayleh family and its tribe – 58 members worth – have publicly condemned and disassociated themselves from Zarqawi/Khalayleh as a result of the Amman bombings.
Hey, the only good Zarqawi is a dead one; even his people know that – and there won’t be any wailing in the Shiite community he has preyed upon either.
Hurricane Up Close
I’m down where Wilma came ashore and was cruising around the area this morning. Although the snowbirds are flocking in,traffic is building and restaurant waiting lines are getting longer (i.e., things are normal), there still seems to be a lot of trash to be picked up in different parts of the towns – mostly in the lower economic, or less tourist travelled, areas it would seem.
Nonetheless, I was driving down the road and came across a FEMA Hurricane Relief center: an open-air kitchen with piles of food on the tables. It didn’t seem too well attended and volunteers seemed to be as numerous as needy, but nonetheless, on November 21, three days before Thanksgiving, there’s still need. And this isn’t Katrina or Rita territory.
20 November 2005
I STAND CORRECTED …
Moderate Muslims DO Get It
An op ed in the Los Angeles Times’ last week by a Muslim religious scholar named Reza Aslan, talks about a convocation of Islamic scholars, clerics and educators held in Amman, Jordan back on July 6 (2005) that resulted in the issuance of a fatwa (sort of similar to a decree by the Pope, only – unfortunately – there isn’t any representative head of Islam to compare to the Pope). The fatawa said – I’m paraphrasing – that the terrorists were after moderate Muslims, that terrorism “committed in the name of Islam” was wrong, etc., etc.
In Islamic circles this is also being credited as the reason Zarqawi's crew of thugs targeted Amman earlier this month.
With my slowly-getting-boring-inability-to-embed-links into my own fatawas and bulls, here’s the URL for the entire piece. It’s a quick, good read and provides a fair amount of insight for those of us who have little knowledge of Islam
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-aslan16nov16,0,4010709.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
An op ed in the Los Angeles Times’ last week by a Muslim religious scholar named Reza Aslan, talks about a convocation of Islamic scholars, clerics and educators held in Amman, Jordan back on July 6 (2005) that resulted in the issuance of a fatwa (sort of similar to a decree by the Pope, only – unfortunately – there isn’t any representative head of Islam to compare to the Pope). The fatawa said – I’m paraphrasing – that the terrorists were after moderate Muslims, that terrorism “committed in the name of Islam” was wrong, etc., etc.
In Islamic circles this is also being credited as the reason Zarqawi's crew of thugs targeted Amman earlier this month.
With my slowly-getting-boring-inability-to-embed-links into my own fatawas and bulls, here’s the URL for the entire piece. It’s a quick, good read and provides a fair amount of insight for those of us who have little knowledge of Islam
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-aslan16nov16,0,4010709.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
19 November 2005
UPDATES
Watergate or Something
Now that Carl Woodward’s name is involved with the Plame/Miller/Rove investigation, and Edwards is looking to empanel another grand jury, I guess we can figure the blowhard (Woodward in this case) will go the way of the Gray Lady’s (Jihadist Journal) Miller.
No?
Apparently, Terrorist Today (WaPo) noted in an op ed, that because editorial and op ed sections of the newspaper have no connection (Ah jeez, there goes my blood pressure. Do these mutts actually think we are so stupid as to believe this tripe?) it’s okay for Woodward to say what he wants, when he wants, and he shouldn’t have to reveal sources or providence.
Me? I’m not real sure about anything in this case, but all I know is that it MUST be bad for journalists, not because it’s making them give up sources but because there is so much media obfuscation going on. I mean, the “truth” might come out instead of the “slant.”
Never Take Sides Against the Family*
Heretofore stalwart supporter of the war in Iraq, Congressman John Murtha, a decorated ex-Marine from Pennsylvania, and more importantly, a Democrat who was considered a hawk regarding the war in Iraq, has come out saying that the troops need to be pulled now. Murtha earned the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the fourth highest award in the Corps, so I’ll let him have his opinion.
That said … wrong, wrong, wrong.
Jesus, Murtha, did you forget what it was like to be at war and have the media telling you that everyone wants you out? That what you’re doing is wrong?
Have you forgotten that statements like yours will (not may, will) result in people who just maybe wouldn’t have pulled a trigger, pulling it because they believe the people who are supporting the troops aren’t?
Are you so far away from your time as a Marine, that you’ve forgotten the Warrior’s Code and Ethic?
Damn, man.
*Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather- Part II.
Never Take Sides Against the Family, Part Two
In response to Murtha, the House voted on and defeated a proposal calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Democrats, never known for actually backing up anything they say, called the resolution facetious, treasonous, a slap in Murtha’s face, etc., etc., ad nauseam, et al, because – they say – the Republican majority in Congress didn’t really mean it and knew it wouldn’t pass.
Awwwww.
Islam Loves You. I Swear
Or so says mass murdering street thug boss Abu Musad al Zarqawi regarding the bombings in Jordan last week, which he says were sort of accidents and really didn’t kill any Muslims of faith. He also promised plenty more, because that’s what you get for hanging out in Western hotels.
There’s a $25 million bounty on this genocidal mutt, by the way.
The WSJ Knows Stress
The Wall Street Journal gets it in their op ed on Senator McCain and interrogation
"If Osama bin Laden is alive and looking for signs of flagging U.S. will to fight the war on terror, he need look no further than our national debate about interrogating his compatriots and others who would do us harm... [Senator] John McCain...has pushed an amendment through the Senate that would effectively bar all stressful interrogation techniques. The danger for American security is that this would telegraph to every terrorist in the world that he has absolutely nothing to fear from silence should he fall into U.S. hands."
As noted above on Murtha's stand, Senator McCain is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Now that Carl Woodward’s name is involved with the Plame/Miller/Rove investigation, and Edwards is looking to empanel another grand jury, I guess we can figure the blowhard (Woodward in this case) will go the way of the Gray Lady’s (Jihadist Journal) Miller.
No?
Apparently, Terrorist Today (WaPo) noted in an op ed, that because editorial and op ed sections of the newspaper have no connection (Ah jeez, there goes my blood pressure. Do these mutts actually think we are so stupid as to believe this tripe?) it’s okay for Woodward to say what he wants, when he wants, and he shouldn’t have to reveal sources or providence.
Me? I’m not real sure about anything in this case, but all I know is that it MUST be bad for journalists, not because it’s making them give up sources but because there is so much media obfuscation going on. I mean, the “truth” might come out instead of the “slant.”
Never Take Sides Against the Family*
Heretofore stalwart supporter of the war in Iraq, Congressman John Murtha, a decorated ex-Marine from Pennsylvania, and more importantly, a Democrat who was considered a hawk regarding the war in Iraq, has come out saying that the troops need to be pulled now. Murtha earned the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the fourth highest award in the Corps, so I’ll let him have his opinion.
That said … wrong, wrong, wrong.
Jesus, Murtha, did you forget what it was like to be at war and have the media telling you that everyone wants you out? That what you’re doing is wrong?
Have you forgotten that statements like yours will (not may, will) result in people who just maybe wouldn’t have pulled a trigger, pulling it because they believe the people who are supporting the troops aren’t?
Are you so far away from your time as a Marine, that you’ve forgotten the Warrior’s Code and Ethic?
Damn, man.
*Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather- Part II.
Never Take Sides Against the Family, Part Two
In response to Murtha, the House voted on and defeated a proposal calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Democrats, never known for actually backing up anything they say, called the resolution facetious, treasonous, a slap in Murtha’s face, etc., etc., ad nauseam, et al, because – they say – the Republican majority in Congress didn’t really mean it and knew it wouldn’t pass.
Awwwww.
Islam Loves You. I Swear
Or so says mass murdering street thug boss Abu Musad al Zarqawi regarding the bombings in Jordan last week, which he says were sort of accidents and really didn’t kill any Muslims of faith. He also promised plenty more, because that’s what you get for hanging out in Western hotels.
There’s a $25 million bounty on this genocidal mutt, by the way.
The WSJ Knows Stress
The Wall Street Journal gets it in their op ed on Senator McCain and interrogation
"If Osama bin Laden is alive and looking for signs of flagging U.S. will to fight the war on terror, he need look no further than our national debate about interrogating his compatriots and others who would do us harm... [Senator] John McCain...has pushed an amendment through the Senate that would effectively bar all stressful interrogation techniques. The danger for American security is that this would telegraph to every terrorist in the world that he has absolutely nothing to fear from silence should he fall into U.S. hands."
As noted above on Murtha's stand, Senator McCain is wrong, wrong, wrong.
18 November 2005
WILSON PICKETT, WILLIE PETE, ET AL
Okay folks. I'm in the land of the plywood window covering and working the bottom half of a fifth of Dewars when I stumble on CNN (I'm not sure of the cable channels yet) and become transfixed.
Knowing that I'm drinking and hoping to critique non-imaginary faux pas the media and those who believe them verbatim make, I take notes so I can't POSSIBLY think this happened in a dream or was delivered by a big white rabbit named Harvey.
Hangover gone, I read my notes.
Apparently, CNN has "discovered" (broadcast 11-16-05 on some little skinny guy's show) our military has been using white phosphorous. Since this stuff has been around since God knows how long, the words, "how dumb are you?" don't begin to express what I think about this "revelation."
This wasn't just a scroll across the bottom of the screen. Nooooooo. This was full five minute piece.
Whatever the hell CNN was talking about -- and they WILL try to make our use of this substance some kind of "US Flouts Geneva Convention" riff -- it had NOTHING to do with reality.
Now, those of us who have actually BEEN in combat know this stuff as WP, willie pete, Wilson Pickett (the Brothers were big on that version in Nam; don;t know about Iraq and Afghanistan), etc.
We -- myself as a LRRP and just about anyone else who has been under fire and in a tight spot -- love WP. In my day and situation we carried them in grenade form (at least two per four-man team) and when things went south -- which, with a four-man team was often -- WPs ALWAYS saved the day. Forward Air Controllers (FACs) used them to make targets for jets, artillery used them to market initial rounds for Forward Observers (FOs) to adjust from, and of course everyone used them to kill people.
You throw a WP grenade like a football rather than like the apropriately named baseball grenade, and everybody runs. I mean everybody and I mean run, 'cause you do NOT want this stuff on your skin. The chemical burns on exposure to oxygen. It can be underwater for months, and if you step on it and come out of the water, it'll activate again.
Unlike throwing frags (pull the pin, count one-two-three, then throw) throwing WP grenades was sort of oh shit, oh shit, pull the pin and throw the thing as far as possible. Not something you want to have thrown at you and explode close up if you can avoid it. You might get your frag returned if you don't short fuse it, but you'll NEVER get your willie pete back at ya.
I hope that CNN's discovery that those bad American soldiers are using a weapon (I actually heard something equating it with chemical weapons in this report, but whatever I heard made me drop my pen, so I can't swear it wasn't a stroke I was having) that will kill the hell out of the enemy in one of the more excruciatingly painful ways imaginable doesn't result in kneejerk complaints about Geneva Convention violations of the rights of enemy combatant by those illustrious people who "support the troops."
Just remember: There ain't NOTHING finer than having the only WP in a firefight.
Knowing that I'm drinking and hoping to critique non-imaginary faux pas the media and those who believe them verbatim make, I take notes so I can't POSSIBLY think this happened in a dream or was delivered by a big white rabbit named Harvey.
Hangover gone, I read my notes.
Apparently, CNN has "discovered" (broadcast 11-16-05 on some little skinny guy's show) our military has been using white phosphorous. Since this stuff has been around since God knows how long, the words, "how dumb are you?" don't begin to express what I think about this "revelation."
This wasn't just a scroll across the bottom of the screen. Nooooooo. This was full five minute piece.
Whatever the hell CNN was talking about -- and they WILL try to make our use of this substance some kind of "US Flouts Geneva Convention" riff -- it had NOTHING to do with reality.
Now, those of us who have actually BEEN in combat know this stuff as WP, willie pete, Wilson Pickett (the Brothers were big on that version in Nam; don;t know about Iraq and Afghanistan), etc.
We -- myself as a LRRP and just about anyone else who has been under fire and in a tight spot -- love WP. In my day and situation we carried them in grenade form (at least two per four-man team) and when things went south -- which, with a four-man team was often -- WPs ALWAYS saved the day. Forward Air Controllers (FACs) used them to make targets for jets, artillery used them to market initial rounds for Forward Observers (FOs) to adjust from, and of course everyone used them to kill people.
You throw a WP grenade like a football rather than like the apropriately named baseball grenade, and everybody runs. I mean everybody and I mean run, 'cause you do NOT want this stuff on your skin. The chemical burns on exposure to oxygen. It can be underwater for months, and if you step on it and come out of the water, it'll activate again.
Unlike throwing frags (pull the pin, count one-two-three, then throw) throwing WP grenades was sort of oh shit, oh shit, pull the pin and throw the thing as far as possible. Not something you want to have thrown at you and explode close up if you can avoid it. You might get your frag returned if you don't short fuse it, but you'll NEVER get your willie pete back at ya.
I hope that CNN's discovery that those bad American soldiers are using a weapon (I actually heard something equating it with chemical weapons in this report, but whatever I heard made me drop my pen, so I can't swear it wasn't a stroke I was having) that will kill the hell out of the enemy in one of the more excruciatingly painful ways imaginable doesn't result in kneejerk complaints about Geneva Convention violations of the rights of enemy combatant by those illustrious people who "support the troops."
Just remember: There ain't NOTHING finer than having the only WP in a firefight.
15 November 2005
I GOT YOUR EXIT STRATEGY RIGHT HERE
I THOUGHT I could hit the road peacefully, but nooooooooo ….
I don’t know if it’s possible to be made any more insane by politicians than I already am, but … Hey, you assholes want an exit strategy?
How about backing the troops without any parameters that will allow you to save your skinny white (by and large) asses come election time, give them the equipment to do the job – ALL of the equipment – and then let them kick the crap out of whomever they have to kick the crap out of without having to look over their shoulders for a “Senate/Congressional Investigation.”
We don’t want to hear about the poor prisoners in some hell-hole prison, or on some hell-hole island or anywhere else. We’re in this to win a war, so GET OVER YOUR NON-COMBATANT MORAL SERMONIZING.
And while we’re at it: let’s do a couple of weeks of Arclight strikes on Syria and Iran. SCREW world opinion and any and everybody else who doesn’t like it. And while we’re at THAT, why not pass some more plastique on to French Islamic terrorists and anybody else who has a jihadist movement going and didn’t help us when we needed them and say, oops. The French will be happy they won’t be speaking German. And screw the EU if they don’t like it.
Then close our borders to Arab-looking, sounding, maybe-they-are, maybe-they-ain’t racially-profiled immigrants (if you’re here we’ll give you a pass. We know a lot of you are good citizens, but it’s a war, so we’re sorry. Look at it this way; we learned what NOT to do when we interned the Japanese who lived in America during World War II. They got over it and so will you).
When everybody who’s supposed to be dead is – and yes we’re sorry about collateral damage, but we didn’t start this damn thing – then our people will go home, your people can go reorganize things the way they want and if anybody tries to use oil as a weapon against – or tries to fly planes into our buildings again – we’ll come back and do it all over again. Only this time we take off the gloves.
How’s THAT for an exit strategy?
I don’t know if it’s possible to be made any more insane by politicians than I already am, but … Hey, you assholes want an exit strategy?
How about backing the troops without any parameters that will allow you to save your skinny white (by and large) asses come election time, give them the equipment to do the job – ALL of the equipment – and then let them kick the crap out of whomever they have to kick the crap out of without having to look over their shoulders for a “Senate/Congressional Investigation.”
We don’t want to hear about the poor prisoners in some hell-hole prison, or on some hell-hole island or anywhere else. We’re in this to win a war, so GET OVER YOUR NON-COMBATANT MORAL SERMONIZING.
And while we’re at it: let’s do a couple of weeks of Arclight strikes on Syria and Iran. SCREW world opinion and any and everybody else who doesn’t like it. And while we’re at THAT, why not pass some more plastique on to French Islamic terrorists and anybody else who has a jihadist movement going and didn’t help us when we needed them and say, oops. The French will be happy they won’t be speaking German. And screw the EU if they don’t like it.
Then close our borders to Arab-looking, sounding, maybe-they-are, maybe-they-ain’t racially-profiled immigrants (if you’re here we’ll give you a pass. We know a lot of you are good citizens, but it’s a war, so we’re sorry. Look at it this way; we learned what NOT to do when we interned the Japanese who lived in America during World War II. They got over it and so will you).
When everybody who’s supposed to be dead is – and yes we’re sorry about collateral damage, but we didn’t start this damn thing – then our people will go home, your people can go reorganize things the way they want and if anybody tries to use oil as a weapon against – or tries to fly planes into our buildings again – we’ll come back and do it all over again. Only this time we take off the gloves.
How’s THAT for an exit strategy?
ON THE ROAD
I'm on the road for the next two weeks, so developments in LRRP's World may be sporadic, but please continue to check back in now and then.
I'll be posting and I hope to have some surprises.
Feel free to e-mail me with anything.
Gary
I'll be posting and I hope to have some surprises.
Feel free to e-mail me with anything.
Gary
NEWSDAY, SAVE MY CHILD
Long Island’s only daily newspaper, Newsday, started an eight-part series on the infrastructure of the Long Island volunteer fire departments on November 13. While the articles that have appeared in print so far don’t come out and say there is malfeasance in the expenditures of various fire districts, the articles I’ve read seem to imply that’s where the stories are/will be going. (Knowing journalism, a "good" story is ALWAYS about something bad!).
I don’t doubt for a minute there are savings to be had should countywide fire districts be instituted (rather than community based ones), nor do I doubt there are abuses in the purchasing system (see: Roslyn School District), which if more closely watched, could result in savings to taxpayers.
However, I don’t think our volunteer fire departments deserve an eight-part investigative series on what they’re doing wrong.
No one wants to spend money on the military unless there’re wars to fight, no one wants to pay the real estate taxes we pay until they move away and find out you don’t get anything for nothing. Ditto with the local fire departments: the hue and cry will be heard far and wide, but when your house goes on fire, you have a heart attack or your child is in a car accident, and no one responds or the response is ineffectual who will you blame? Newsday?
The single biggest problem I have with the fire departments is that they suffer from a lack of volunteers. And if this trend continues, I don’t see an alternative but to go to a paid department. These people are VOLUNTEERS, and if you don’t know what they do, ask one what a “regular” day is like.
Are there bennies to being a vol? Damn, I hope so, but I don’t see what kind of bennies can make up for getting called out at 2 a.m. to pull a grapefruit-sectioned body out of a head-on or carry the third-degree burnt corpse of a child out of a house fire.
To my knowledge, fire district budgets are voted on, as are fire commissioners, equipment purchases, et al. If my increasingly collapsing memory of doing stories on local departments serves me … like, NOBODY votes in these elections except firefighters, other emergency service personnel and their families. If you don’t like what your department is spending its money on, vote or shut up.
As for Newsday … It’s easy to point out problems. Just once I’d like to see them offer solutions.
I don’t doubt for a minute there are savings to be had should countywide fire districts be instituted (rather than community based ones), nor do I doubt there are abuses in the purchasing system (see: Roslyn School District), which if more closely watched, could result in savings to taxpayers.
However, I don’t think our volunteer fire departments deserve an eight-part investigative series on what they’re doing wrong.
No one wants to spend money on the military unless there’re wars to fight, no one wants to pay the real estate taxes we pay until they move away and find out you don’t get anything for nothing. Ditto with the local fire departments: the hue and cry will be heard far and wide, but when your house goes on fire, you have a heart attack or your child is in a car accident, and no one responds or the response is ineffectual who will you blame? Newsday?
The single biggest problem I have with the fire departments is that they suffer from a lack of volunteers. And if this trend continues, I don’t see an alternative but to go to a paid department. These people are VOLUNTEERS, and if you don’t know what they do, ask one what a “regular” day is like.
Are there bennies to being a vol? Damn, I hope so, but I don’t see what kind of bennies can make up for getting called out at 2 a.m. to pull a grapefruit-sectioned body out of a head-on or carry the third-degree burnt corpse of a child out of a house fire.
To my knowledge, fire district budgets are voted on, as are fire commissioners, equipment purchases, et al. If my increasingly collapsing memory of doing stories on local departments serves me … like, NOBODY votes in these elections except firefighters, other emergency service personnel and their families. If you don’t like what your department is spending its money on, vote or shut up.
As for Newsday … It’s easy to point out problems. Just once I’d like to see them offer solutions.
14 November 2005
A DIFFERENT TAKE
Here’s a take on the war I don’t agree with, but I found to be one of the more erudite and better expressed opinions I’ve read. It’s from a buddy of mine and fellow writer, Dean Clarke, whose opinions I – generally – listen to if nothing else! He was responding to “From The Field – Iraq” posted below.
“Thanks. That was fascinating. I honestly don’t trust the media either. My problem is not that I don’t support our soldiers. Rather, I totally distrust the reason why we are fighting there at all. I am aware of the plan to reshape the Middle East (starting in Iraq) that was formulated more than 20 years ago by Rumsfeld, Diamond, Wolfowitz, Cheney and several others. This is about control of oil and nothing more. Just like Viet Nam, the reasoning behind the conflict was based in a lie, a hidden agenda. I hate our men being killed for some idiot’s power grab. If we were REALLY trying to knock out terrorism, we would have concentrated all of our manpower on both sides of the Pakistan/Afghanistan border and walked towards the middle until we found bin Laden and killed him. We wouldn’t be in Iraq at all.
“Thanks. That was fascinating. I honestly don’t trust the media either. My problem is not that I don’t support our soldiers. Rather, I totally distrust the reason why we are fighting there at all. I am aware of the plan to reshape the Middle East (starting in Iraq) that was formulated more than 20 years ago by Rumsfeld, Diamond, Wolfowitz, Cheney and several others. This is about control of oil and nothing more. Just like Viet Nam, the reasoning behind the conflict was based in a lie, a hidden agenda. I hate our men being killed for some idiot’s power grab. If we were REALLY trying to knock out terrorism, we would have concentrated all of our manpower on both sides of the Pakistan/Afghanistan border and walked towards the middle until we found bin Laden and killed him. We wouldn’t be in Iraq at all.
WAR ON TERROR - UPDATES
Killing Their Own
One of the bombers in the Jordanian hotel bombings, sister of Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, who was said to have been killed in Falujah while acting as a right-hand-man to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, calmly described on Jordanian television how her own explosive harness – RDX plastique (interesting tale how that designation evolved) and ball bearings – failed to ignite. Her husband’s didn’t and 28 Arab wedding guests died as a result (so much for the Koran). The televised interview ran for less than a minute and the 35-year old woman, who entered Jordan from Iraq, is in the hands of Jordanian security.
Jordan’s Dairat al Mukhabarat (General Intelligence Department or GID) is considered one of the best in the Middle East – especially at keeping Jordan safe – and also runs Al Jafr prison, nicknamed “Al Qaeda’s Desert Inn,” an “oasis” Sajida al-Rishawi will undoubtedly be visiting once her interrogation is finished.
The GID are said to be taking the bombings quite personally, according to … well, let’s just say they’re pretty ticked off about it.
Back On The Homefront Where There Are No Explosions
In a less than related issue … watch for media trying to blame the Jordanian bombings on inefficient American military/intelligence (in other words, George Bush). One of the bombers was stopped, held and later released by U.S. forces last year.
In a MORE than related issue Democrats are now saying the WMD intelligence that “started” the war was faulty and is …you guessed it … George Bush’s fault. (See below “It’s All George’s Fault – WMDs.”) Aside from getting most things wrong, they apparently have forgotten about those incidents when planes slammed into buildings.
Torture
Lots of coverage about torture, iconically culminating with Senator John McCain getting front-and-center face time on the cover of Newsweek. Now, I’ll listen to the senator and any other of our former POWs as well – their views and opinions on torture, having lived through it, are understandable, logical and with merit.
That said, our people in Iraq and Afghanistan KNOW that being taken alive by the enemy isn’t an option because they torture and then decapitate.
It’s easy to sit in America, not have fine-powdered sand grinding down your teeth, while irrational thugs try to blow you up because you’re trying to end – dare I say it? – a regime and way of life that uses torture as a means of keeping the citizenry in check, and say: “No, no, mustn’t try to stay alive. Torture’s immoral!”
Yeah, right. Check the morals of some of those advocating that our intelligence operation works with one hand behind its back.
I don’t advocate torture as a policy. That said: in war, well, you do what you gotta do as long as it keeps you and your buddies alive. If you don’t like that attitude, get out from in front of the computer and go to Iraq or Afghanistan and come up with another way.
Down Under
A less publicized incident in Australia – the arrest of 18 Islamic terrorist suspects – revealed that three of the men arrested had been stopped and questioned last December when they were found near Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear plant. At the time, police had discovered a gate had been forced at the plant. The terrorists have been charged with acquiring and attempting to acquire explosive-making material.
Elsewhere Down Under, the Brisbane transport system – bus and train – was halted for a half hour when unspecified phone threats were received.
On The Plus Side - 60 Minutes
I hate 60 Minutes, the CBS news program. That said, last night's (11/13/05) segment about 10 New York doctors and medics who took it upon themselves to go to the most remote areas of Pakistan - REAL Islamic terrorist territory - to deliver aid to victims of the massive earthquakes that shook the area three weeks ago (and disappeared from the media in about three minutes) was exceptional.
It was well done, with nary a trace of anti-Americanism, and showed a non-military way of winning the hearts and minds of the "real" people of Islam. Those of us who participated in the first hearts-and-minds campaign (i.e., Viet Nam) know that the military aren't the people to win hearts and minds. These medical people are, and the ones featured are every bit as exceptional as our military.
I never thought these words would come off my keyboard, but since the purpose of LRRPs World is to tell the truth, here goes: Great job 60 Minutes. And great job to the medical people you featured and the reporter and crew who produced the segment.
One of the bombers in the Jordanian hotel bombings, sister of Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, who was said to have been killed in Falujah while acting as a right-hand-man to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, calmly described on Jordanian television how her own explosive harness – RDX plastique (interesting tale how that designation evolved) and ball bearings – failed to ignite. Her husband’s didn’t and 28 Arab wedding guests died as a result (so much for the Koran). The televised interview ran for less than a minute and the 35-year old woman, who entered Jordan from Iraq, is in the hands of Jordanian security.
Jordan’s Dairat al Mukhabarat (General Intelligence Department or GID) is considered one of the best in the Middle East – especially at keeping Jordan safe – and also runs Al Jafr prison, nicknamed “Al Qaeda’s Desert Inn,” an “oasis” Sajida al-Rishawi will undoubtedly be visiting once her interrogation is finished.
The GID are said to be taking the bombings quite personally, according to … well, let’s just say they’re pretty ticked off about it.
Back On The Homefront Where There Are No Explosions
In a less than related issue … watch for media trying to blame the Jordanian bombings on inefficient American military/intelligence (in other words, George Bush). One of the bombers was stopped, held and later released by U.S. forces last year.
In a MORE than related issue Democrats are now saying the WMD intelligence that “started” the war was faulty and is …you guessed it … George Bush’s fault. (See below “It’s All George’s Fault – WMDs.”) Aside from getting most things wrong, they apparently have forgotten about those incidents when planes slammed into buildings.
Torture
Lots of coverage about torture, iconically culminating with Senator John McCain getting front-and-center face time on the cover of Newsweek. Now, I’ll listen to the senator and any other of our former POWs as well – their views and opinions on torture, having lived through it, are understandable, logical and with merit.
That said, our people in Iraq and Afghanistan KNOW that being taken alive by the enemy isn’t an option because they torture and then decapitate.
It’s easy to sit in America, not have fine-powdered sand grinding down your teeth, while irrational thugs try to blow you up because you’re trying to end – dare I say it? – a regime and way of life that uses torture as a means of keeping the citizenry in check, and say: “No, no, mustn’t try to stay alive. Torture’s immoral!”
Yeah, right. Check the morals of some of those advocating that our intelligence operation works with one hand behind its back.
I don’t advocate torture as a policy. That said: in war, well, you do what you gotta do as long as it keeps you and your buddies alive. If you don’t like that attitude, get out from in front of the computer and go to Iraq or Afghanistan and come up with another way.
Down Under
A less publicized incident in Australia – the arrest of 18 Islamic terrorist suspects – revealed that three of the men arrested had been stopped and questioned last December when they were found near Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear plant. At the time, police had discovered a gate had been forced at the plant. The terrorists have been charged with acquiring and attempting to acquire explosive-making material.
Elsewhere Down Under, the Brisbane transport system – bus and train – was halted for a half hour when unspecified phone threats were received.
On The Plus Side - 60 Minutes
I hate 60 Minutes, the CBS news program. That said, last night's (11/13/05) segment about 10 New York doctors and medics who took it upon themselves to go to the most remote areas of Pakistan - REAL Islamic terrorist territory - to deliver aid to victims of the massive earthquakes that shook the area three weeks ago (and disappeared from the media in about three minutes) was exceptional.
It was well done, with nary a trace of anti-Americanism, and showed a non-military way of winning the hearts and minds of the "real" people of Islam. Those of us who participated in the first hearts-and-minds campaign (i.e., Viet Nam) know that the military aren't the people to win hearts and minds. These medical people are, and the ones featured are every bit as exceptional as our military.
I never thought these words would come off my keyboard, but since the purpose of LRRPs World is to tell the truth, here goes: Great job 60 Minutes. And great job to the medical people you featured and the reporter and crew who produced the segment.
APROPOS OF NOTHING
I have no idea what I was looking for when I stumbled on this, but if you have any interest in the intelligent design/evolution (I hesitate to call it a debate, because that alludes logic, but ….) discussion, check out this editorial by Knight Ridder’s Leonard Pitts, Jr. It’s titled, “Rev. Ridiculous doesn’t speak well for intelligent design.”
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/features/3458132
I’ve never heard of Pitts, but this worked for me, so he goes on the good-guy list.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/features/3458132
I’ve never heard of Pitts, but this worked for me, so he goes on the good-guy list.
13 November 2005
WAR ON ISLAMIC TERORISM NEWS
Thanks For Keeping Your Promise
A British-educated bombmaker, Azahari bin Husin, believed to have masterminded the 2002 Bali tourist bar bombings, kept his promise when cornered by Indonesian Army D-88 forces. Detachment 88 is Indonesia’s terrorist hunters. Members of the anti-guerilla unit said his body was “in pieces but his face was recognizable,” after he detonated two explosions when the unit cornered him on November 8. Fingerprints later agreed with the ID.
Azahari was linked to the bombings in Jakarta in 2003, the Australian embassy last year, and last month’s suicide bombings in Bali; Scotland Yard has been investigating claims that the leader of London’s July 7 bombers visited Azahari in Malaysia in 2002 and 2003.
Azahari had boasted that he always wore a suicide vest, as he was determined never to be captured; we thank him for keeping his word. [from The Times Online (UK)]
A British-educated bombmaker, Azahari bin Husin, believed to have masterminded the 2002 Bali tourist bar bombings, kept his promise when cornered by Indonesian Army D-88 forces. Detachment 88 is Indonesia’s terrorist hunters. Members of the anti-guerilla unit said his body was “in pieces but his face was recognizable,” after he detonated two explosions when the unit cornered him on November 8. Fingerprints later agreed with the ID.
Azahari was linked to the bombings in Jakarta in 2003, the Australian embassy last year, and last month’s suicide bombings in Bali; Scotland Yard has been investigating claims that the leader of London’s July 7 bombers visited Azahari in Malaysia in 2002 and 2003.
Azahari had boasted that he always wore a suicide vest, as he was determined never to be captured; we thank him for keeping his word. [from The Times Online (UK)]
12 November 2005
IT’S ALL GEORGE’S FAULT – WMDs
[All citations are from the period 1993 to 2001. I'd like to thank the folks at The Federal Patriot for ALL of the following material. Feel free to pass it on. Their Website can be found by clicking on the second line of the “Links” section opposite.]
Bill Clinton: "If Saddam rejects peace, and we have to use force, our purpose is clear: We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
Madeleine Albright, Clinton Secretary of State: "We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and the security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction."
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Advisor and Classified Document Thief: "[Saddam will] use those weapons of mass destruction again as he has ten times since 1983."
Harry Reid: "The problem is not nuclear testing; it is nuclear weapons. ... The number of Third World countries with nuclear capabilities seems to grow daily. Saddam Hussein's near success with developing a nuclear weapon should be an eye-opener for us all."
Dick Durbin: "One of the most compelling threats we in this country face today is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Threat assessments regularly warn us of the possibility that...Iraq...may acquire or develop nuclear weapons."
John Kerry: "If you don't believe...Saddam Hussein is a threat with nuclear weapons, then you shouldn't vote for me."
John Edwards: "Serving on the Intelligence Committee and seeing day after day, week after week, briefings on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and his plans on using those weapons, he cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons, it's just that simple. The whole world changes if Saddam ever has nuclear weapons."
Nancy Pelosi: "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology, which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons-inspection process."
Senators Levin, Lieberman, Lautenberg, Dodd, Kerrey, Feinstein, Mikulski, Daschle, Breaux, Johnson, Inouye, Landrieu, Ford and Kerry in a letter to Bill Clinton: "We urge you, after consulting with Congress and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions, including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.
THEN ... IN THE WEEKS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE INVASION OF IRAQ
The self same politicians with access to the same intelligence that the White House had said:
Ted Kennedy: "We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
John Kerry: "I will be voting to give the president of the U.S. the authority to use force if necessary to disarm Saddam because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security. ... Without question we need to disarm Saddam Hussein."
Hillary Clinton: "In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock. His missile-delivery capability, his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists including al-Qa'ida members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
Carl Levin: "We begin with a common belief that Saddam Hussein...is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."
Al Gore: "We know that he has stored nuclear supplies, secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
Bob Graham: "We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has and has had for a number of years a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."
For the record: Here's a partial list of what didn't make it out of Iraq before the Operation Iraqi Freedom invasion: 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium, 1,700 gallons of chemical-weapon agents, chemical warheads containing the nerve agent cyclosarin, radioactive materials in powdered form designed for dispersal over population centers, artillery projectiles loaded with binary chemical agents, etc. Assuming Irag had no WMD because only small caches were recovered after began is perilously flawed logic. That, in no way, affirms what he spirited out through Iran and Syria before OIF.
SO. LET ME SEE IF I GET YOUR COMPLAINT CORRECTLY ... HMMMM ... NOPE, I DON'T
Oh well, I guess this is just the USUAL conservative bias in reportage!
Bill Clinton: "If Saddam rejects peace, and we have to use force, our purpose is clear: We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
Madeleine Albright, Clinton Secretary of State: "We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and the security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction."
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Advisor and Classified Document Thief: "[Saddam will] use those weapons of mass destruction again as he has ten times since 1983."
Harry Reid: "The problem is not nuclear testing; it is nuclear weapons. ... The number of Third World countries with nuclear capabilities seems to grow daily. Saddam Hussein's near success with developing a nuclear weapon should be an eye-opener for us all."
Dick Durbin: "One of the most compelling threats we in this country face today is the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Threat assessments regularly warn us of the possibility that...Iraq...may acquire or develop nuclear weapons."
John Kerry: "If you don't believe...Saddam Hussein is a threat with nuclear weapons, then you shouldn't vote for me."
John Edwards: "Serving on the Intelligence Committee and seeing day after day, week after week, briefings on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and his plans on using those weapons, he cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons, it's just that simple. The whole world changes if Saddam ever has nuclear weapons."
Nancy Pelosi: "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology, which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons-inspection process."
Senators Levin, Lieberman, Lautenberg, Dodd, Kerrey, Feinstein, Mikulski, Daschle, Breaux, Johnson, Inouye, Landrieu, Ford and Kerry in a letter to Bill Clinton: "We urge you, after consulting with Congress and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions, including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.
THEN ... IN THE WEEKS IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE INVASION OF IRAQ
The self same politicians with access to the same intelligence that the White House had said:
Ted Kennedy: "We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
John Kerry: "I will be voting to give the president of the U.S. the authority to use force if necessary to disarm Saddam because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security. ... Without question we need to disarm Saddam Hussein."
Hillary Clinton: "In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock. His missile-delivery capability, his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists including al-Qa'ida members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
Carl Levin: "We begin with a common belief that Saddam Hussein...is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."
Al Gore: "We know that he has stored nuclear supplies, secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
Bob Graham: "We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has and has had for a number of years a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."
For the record: Here's a partial list of what didn't make it out of Iraq before the Operation Iraqi Freedom invasion: 1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium, 1,700 gallons of chemical-weapon agents, chemical warheads containing the nerve agent cyclosarin, radioactive materials in powdered form designed for dispersal over population centers, artillery projectiles loaded with binary chemical agents, etc. Assuming Irag had no WMD because only small caches were recovered after began is perilously flawed logic. That, in no way, affirms what he spirited out through Iran and Syria before OIF.
SO. LET ME SEE IF I GET YOUR COMPLAINT CORRECTLY ... HMMMM ... NOPE, I DON'T
Oh well, I guess this is just the USUAL conservative bias in reportage!
GULF COAST REDUX
How Bad Are Things Along The Gulf Coast?
Depends on how you look at it.
According to The New York Times in a story that appeared yesterday (11-11-05), jobs are going begging, with companies like Burger King – and they are not alone by any means – offering a $6,000 (no, that is NOT a misprint) signing bonus if you’ll sign on for a year’s work in the New Orleans area.
The largest ship builder in the U.S., Bollinger, has a dozen or so operations spread across the area and, according to the report, had to turn away $700 million in already signed contracts because the company was 600 workers short.
The main reason? FEMA officials list the top three problems in the area as housing, housing and then housing… or more pointedly, a shortage thereof.
So, if you’re planning on heading for the Gulf area to make some money (and if you're young, you should be) … bring a tent AND your own living gear.
Depends on how you look at it.
According to The New York Times in a story that appeared yesterday (11-11-05), jobs are going begging, with companies like Burger King – and they are not alone by any means – offering a $6,000 (no, that is NOT a misprint) signing bonus if you’ll sign on for a year’s work in the New Orleans area.
The largest ship builder in the U.S., Bollinger, has a dozen or so operations spread across the area and, according to the report, had to turn away $700 million in already signed contracts because the company was 600 workers short.
The main reason? FEMA officials list the top three problems in the area as housing, housing and then housing… or more pointedly, a shortage thereof.
So, if you’re planning on heading for the Gulf area to make some money (and if you're young, you should be) … bring a tent AND your own living gear.
THIS WEEK IN MUSIC
[Courtesy of Musicians Friend, an Internet (http://www.musiciansfriend.com) and catalog retailer of ALL things musical.]
1955, Elvis Presley is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in Billboard's annual poll of disc jockeys ...
1957, Patsy Cline is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in this year's disc jockey poll by Billboard magazine ...
1960, The Shirelles release "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" with songwriter Carole King on drums ...
1963, "Louie Louie" is released by the Kingsmen ... one of the most-covered songs of all time (everyone from The Mothers of Invention to sultry Julie London), it is charged that the slurred lyrics are obscene ... the song is banned on some radio stations especially in Indiana where Governor Matthew Welch determines that the ditty is definitely dirty ... even the FBI gets caught up in the controversy though the Bureau ultimately wraps up its 31-month investigation inconclusively stating that they are "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record" ... in 2003, 754 guitarists play a 10-minute rendition of the song at Tacoma, Washington's, Cheney Stadium ... the event is thought to be the world's largest jam session ...
1967, Rolling Stone magazine hits the newstands for the first time ...
1970, Jim Morrison plays his last concert with The Doors in New Orleans ...
1972, riding his motorcycle in Macon, Georgia, Allman Brothers bass man Berry Oakley crashes into the side of a city bus only three blocks from where Duane met his demise in a motorcycle accident the previous year ... Oakley refuses treatment at the site and goes home only to die of a brain hemorrhage later that night in the hospital ...
Born November 12: Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby & The Romantics (1939), Brian Hyland (1943; Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini), Booker T. Jones of Booker T and The MGs (1944).
Remember the "Louie, Louie" controversy? I guess things WERE a lot simpler back in the day.
1955, Elvis Presley is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in Billboard's annual poll of disc jockeys ...
1957, Patsy Cline is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in this year's disc jockey poll by Billboard magazine ...
1960, The Shirelles release "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" with songwriter Carole King on drums ...
1963, "Louie Louie" is released by the Kingsmen ... one of the most-covered songs of all time (everyone from The Mothers of Invention to sultry Julie London), it is charged that the slurred lyrics are obscene ... the song is banned on some radio stations especially in Indiana where Governor Matthew Welch determines that the ditty is definitely dirty ... even the FBI gets caught up in the controversy though the Bureau ultimately wraps up its 31-month investigation inconclusively stating that they are "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record" ... in 2003, 754 guitarists play a 10-minute rendition of the song at Tacoma, Washington's, Cheney Stadium ... the event is thought to be the world's largest jam session ...
1967, Rolling Stone magazine hits the newstands for the first time ...
1970, Jim Morrison plays his last concert with The Doors in New Orleans ...
1972, riding his motorcycle in Macon, Georgia, Allman Brothers bass man Berry Oakley crashes into the side of a city bus only three blocks from where Duane met his demise in a motorcycle accident the previous year ... Oakley refuses treatment at the site and goes home only to die of a brain hemorrhage later that night in the hospital ...
Born November 12: Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby & The Romantics (1939), Brian Hyland (1943; Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini), Booker T. Jones of Booker T and The MGs (1944).
Remember the "Louie, Louie" controversy? I guess things WERE a lot simpler back in the day.
11 November 2005
VETERANS DAY
Since the American Revolution, nearly 1.2-million members serving in the military have died and 1.4 million have been wounded.
On 11 November 1921, an unknown American soldier from World War I was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in recognition of WWI veterans and in conjunction with the cessation of hostilities at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. This was President Warren Harding's request: "All... citizens... indulge in a period of silent thanks to God for these... valorous lives and of supplication for His Divine mercy... on our beloved country."
As good today as when it was said.
The prayers of all veterans go out for the men and women serving in harm’s way today.
On 11 November 1921, an unknown American soldier from World War I was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in recognition of WWI veterans and in conjunction with the cessation of hostilities at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. This was President Warren Harding's request: "All... citizens... indulge in a period of silent thanks to God for these... valorous lives and of supplication for His Divine mercy... on our beloved country."
As good today as when it was said.
The prayers of all veterans go out for the men and women serving in harm’s way today.
FROM THE FIELD - IRAQ
From a Marines Mouth To You
Being that today is the 230th Anniversary of The Corp, it's fitting that I received this from a Marine buddy who is friends with the letter writer. The entire letter is twice as long and the first half covers equipment and tactical issues I’ll be happy to share with anyone so interested; i.e., the M-16 sucks, the M-14 doesn’t, what’s new in IEDs, etc.
The remainder, copied here, provides some extraordinary insight on the war that we are NOT getting from ANY media.
Here goes …
Who are the bad guys?
Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly foreigners, non-Iraqi Sunni Arab jihadists from all over the Muslim world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.), and then travel down the at line which is the trail of towns along the Euphrates River that we've been hitting hard for the last few months. Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in sacrifice squads. Most, however, are hard core terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas , etc.) These are the guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters. (they have been fighting the Russians for years). In the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt., the police forces and the Army. They have had a massive spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80s. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long ago.
Bad Guy Tactics:
When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice 8-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing AKs and RPGs directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like grass every time. (see the M2 and M240 above). Jordan's base was hit like this often. When engaged, they have a tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that's the end of that more often than not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey Romeos (Allahs Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast movers, mostly Marine F-18s, are taking an ever-increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all. Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45-50 thousand. That is why were seeing less and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide bomber shit. The new strategy is simple: attrition.
The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian noncombatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties.
They will terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family members (especially children) is common to influence people they are trying to influence but can't reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.).
The first thing our guys are told is don't get captured. They know that if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. Zarqawi openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live American serviceman. This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don't give a shit about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped by common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight is to the death. Surrender is not an option.
The Iraqis are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren't worth a shit. Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawis use of suicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake. Many Iraqis were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces went up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in good Intel because the Iraqis are sick of the insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.
According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like “are we losing in Iraq” on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership.
Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just can’t stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there).
Anyway guys, that's it, hope you found it interesting, I sure did
Being that today is the 230th Anniversary of The Corp, it's fitting that I received this from a Marine buddy who is friends with the letter writer. The entire letter is twice as long and the first half covers equipment and tactical issues I’ll be happy to share with anyone so interested; i.e., the M-16 sucks, the M-14 doesn’t, what’s new in IEDs, etc.
The remainder, copied here, provides some extraordinary insight on the war that we are NOT getting from ANY media.
Here goes …
Who are the bad guys?
Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly foreigners, non-Iraqi Sunni Arab jihadists from all over the Muslim world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.), and then travel down the at line which is the trail of towns along the Euphrates River that we've been hitting hard for the last few months. Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in sacrifice squads. Most, however, are hard core terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas , etc.) These are the guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters. (they have been fighting the Russians for years). In the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt., the police forces and the Army. They have had a massive spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80s. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long ago.
Bad Guy Tactics:
When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice 8-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing AKs and RPGs directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like grass every time. (see the M2 and M240 above). Jordan's base was hit like this often. When engaged, they have a tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that's the end of that more often than not. These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey Romeos (Allahs Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast movers, mostly Marine F-18s, are taking an ever-increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all. Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45-50 thousand. That is why were seeing less and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide bomber shit. The new strategy is simple: attrition.
The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian noncombatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when engaged. They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties.
They will terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family members (especially children) is common to influence people they are trying to influence but can't reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.).
The first thing our guys are told is don't get captured. They know that if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. Zarqawi openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live American serviceman. This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don't give a shit about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped by common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight is to the death. Surrender is not an option.
The Iraqis are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren't worth a shit. Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting better. It is widely viewed that Zarqawis use of suicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake. Many Iraqis were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces went up, along with their motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in good Intel because the Iraqis are sick of the insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.
According to Jordan, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them. The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like “are we losing in Iraq” on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership.
Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren't enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just can’t stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there).
Anyway guys, that's it, hope you found it interesting, I sure did
THEY’RE FINALLY STARTING TO GET IT!
Even Terrorist Today (a.k.a. The Washington Post) is starting to get it. On page A24 of the November 11 edition an editorial proclaims that the homicide bombings have nothing to do with the war in Iraq and are having less to do with it everyday.
Duh. Ya think?
Yes, I’m too computer illiterate to figure out how to make links work. Here’s the URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001796.html
Duh. Ya think?
Yes, I’m too computer illiterate to figure out how to make links work. Here’s the URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001796.html
WHERE ARE THE REAL DEFENDERS OF ISLAM?
In direct opposition to what is written in their sacred, oft misinterpreted and oft-abused Koran, and in response to thousands of Jordanians who took to the streets to call for its leader and his street thugs to “burn in hell,” al-Qaeda took the rare step Thursday of trying to justify the triple homicide bombings that killed 56 people, most Arabs.
Released November 11, the statement, "explain[ed] for Muslims part of the reason holy warriors targeted these dens."
"Let all know that we have struck only after becoming confident that they are centers for launching war on Islam and support the crusaders' presence in Iraq and the Arab peninsula and the presence of the Jews on the land of Palestine," the group said.
The Koranic version of the Christian "golden rule" is that believers will never harm other believers.
I guess this (along with all the other bombings) is an "oops."
Will the real defenders of Islam EVER kick the crap out of these animals?
Released November 11, the statement, "explain[ed] for Muslims part of the reason holy warriors targeted these dens."
"Let all know that we have struck only after becoming confident that they are centers for launching war on Islam and support the crusaders' presence in Iraq and the Arab peninsula and the presence of the Jews on the land of Palestine," the group said.
The Koranic version of the Christian "golden rule" is that believers will never harm other believers.
I guess this (along with all the other bombings) is an "oops."
Will the real defenders of Islam EVER kick the crap out of these animals?
YOU’LL NEVER READ IT IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS
Here’s a good article about the war in Iraq – written by Associated Press writers ROBERT H. REID and SALLY BUZBEE and a few Iraqi stringers – that appeared in Great Britian's Guardian Unlimited. I’ve never wanted sugar-coated war news, just fair coverage.
Cut and paste the URL while I try to figure out how to make it point-and-click!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5407195,00.html
Cut and paste the URL while I try to figure out how to make it point-and-click!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5407195,00.html
10 November 2005
230 YEARS BUT WHO’S COUNTING
As any U.S. Army Infantryman – including this old paratrooper – will tell you, Marines suck.
That said, on the Corp’s 230th birthday, here is the resolution of the Continental Congress that established the Marine Corp, dated November 10, 1775. Punctuation, etc., all as original.
“Resolved, That two Battalions of marines be raised, consisting of one Colonel, two Lieutenant Colonels, two Majors and other officers as usual in other regiments; and that they consist of an equal number of privates with other battalions; that particular care be taken, that no person appointed to office, or enlisted into said Battalions, but such are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required; that they be enlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present war between Great Britain and the colonies, unless dismissed by an order if Congress; that they be distinguished by the names of the first and second battalions of American marines , and they be considered a part of the number which the continental Army before Boston is order to consist of.”
“This republic [the United States] was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it.” Elmer Davis, 1954.
He must have been talking about the Marines. Semper Fidelis.
That said, on the Corp’s 230th birthday, here is the resolution of the Continental Congress that established the Marine Corp, dated November 10, 1775. Punctuation, etc., all as original.
“Resolved, That two Battalions of marines be raised, consisting of one Colonel, two Lieutenant Colonels, two Majors and other officers as usual in other regiments; and that they consist of an equal number of privates with other battalions; that particular care be taken, that no person appointed to office, or enlisted into said Battalions, but such are good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea when required; that they be enlisted and commissioned to serve for and during the present war between Great Britain and the colonies, unless dismissed by an order if Congress; that they be distinguished by the names of the first and second battalions of American marines , and they be considered a part of the number which the continental Army before Boston is order to consist of.”
“This republic [the United States] was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it.” Elmer Davis, 1954.
He must have been talking about the Marines. Semper Fidelis.
09 November 2005
NEWS UPDATES
Where to start, where to start?
Terrorist Papers of Record
Terrorism Today, the Islamic terrorist’s and car bomb driver’s monthly trade magazine – known in America as The Washington Post, may be – like the Jihadist’s Journal (The New York Times) – getting a look-see from the Justice Department over where the “leaks” about CIA interrogation centers in Eastern Europe, denied by the Eastern European countries so named, originated.
If the paper’s anti-homeland security reports have merit (wink, wink) it quite possibly could result in a degradation of intelligence relating to people trying to blow Americans to smithereens. Thanks so VERY much to the journalists involved and their concern for Islamic terrorist’s rights and welfare.
PS: Stick political correctness where it doesn’t shine. These are MUSLIM or ISLAMIC terrorists. Not terrorists, not oppressed people, not North Africans, Arabs, etc. Use the proper descriptive language when discussing people who are trying to kill you.
Riots in France
The French prime minister has re-enacted curfew laws drawn up during the Algerian War 50 years ago. Although arson attacks and street clashes continued the violence appeared to be abating nationwide on its thirteenth day (Tuesday, November 8).
The number of communities hit by disturbances declined from 300 to 226, according to the director of the national police. The riot total in burnt cars – which may be good news for French automaker Renault if no one else – is said to be 5,900. Fire bombing incidents have popped up in Germany and Belgium as well.
Best quote to date about the entire event comes from CNN anchor Carol Lin: “It's been 11 days since two African-American teenagers were killed, electrocuted during a police chase, which prompted all of this.”
Hey, isn’t that racist as well as wrong?
God, but you gotta’ love this stuff.
Terrorist Papers of Record
Terrorism Today, the Islamic terrorist’s and car bomb driver’s monthly trade magazine – known in America as The Washington Post, may be – like the Jihadist’s Journal (The New York Times) – getting a look-see from the Justice Department over where the “leaks” about CIA interrogation centers in Eastern Europe, denied by the Eastern European countries so named, originated.
If the paper’s anti-homeland security reports have merit (wink, wink) it quite possibly could result in a degradation of intelligence relating to people trying to blow Americans to smithereens. Thanks so VERY much to the journalists involved and their concern for Islamic terrorist’s rights and welfare.
PS: Stick political correctness where it doesn’t shine. These are MUSLIM or ISLAMIC terrorists. Not terrorists, not oppressed people, not North Africans, Arabs, etc. Use the proper descriptive language when discussing people who are trying to kill you.
Riots in France
The French prime minister has re-enacted curfew laws drawn up during the Algerian War 50 years ago. Although arson attacks and street clashes continued the violence appeared to be abating nationwide on its thirteenth day (Tuesday, November 8).
The number of communities hit by disturbances declined from 300 to 226, according to the director of the national police. The riot total in burnt cars – which may be good news for French automaker Renault if no one else – is said to be 5,900. Fire bombing incidents have popped up in Germany and Belgium as well.
Best quote to date about the entire event comes from CNN anchor Carol Lin: “It's been 11 days since two African-American teenagers were killed, electrocuted during a police chase, which prompted all of this.”
Hey, isn’t that racist as well as wrong?
God, but you gotta’ love this stuff.
SILLY SEASON OVER
Riverhead
Our choice for Supervisor in Riverhead, Ed Densieski, was beaten by the incumbent Supervisor Phil Cardinale by some 1300 votes cast by the 47 percent of the population that cared. Ed remains a councilman, however, and now has new councilman John Dunleavy on board. Along with thinking-man George Bartunek, the voting balance – such as it is – will make for interesting decisions for Riverhead’s next go rounds. Barbara Blass retained her council seat as well. Mark Kwasna, Barbara Grattan and Laverne Tennenberg, the latter two unopposed, also were re-elected.
Da City
NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg romped and will keep liberal Democratic NYC in Republican hands for a total of 16 years (his new term ends 2009; Rudy was elected in 1994). This has nothing to do with party favoritism but is indicative of the fact that people tend to cross party lines to vote for who they think will serve them best … Bloomberg fits that description quite well, thank you.
Other Races of Interest
Other Suffolk races include those for the 18 county legislature seats. County boss Steve Levy, another man doing a fine job, gets a party majority of 10-8. Again defying the party system, Levy is a Dem, but residents in generally-GOP-Suffolk like what he’s doing and this is reflected in the legislature votes. Speaking of the county legislature: the North Fork (District 1) gets long-time county clerk Ed Romaine as its legislator.
In the Let’s-Try-ANYthing-New department: the supervisor’s slot in long-time GOP stronghold Brookhaven (a.k.a., Crookhaven) went to Dem and former county legislator Brian Foley.
Southold elected Scott Russell supervisor, while Southampton returned Skip Heaney; East Hampton, Bill McGintee; and Smithtown Pat Vecchio (yes, THE Pat Vecchio). Further up island, Frank Petrone received the supe nod in Huntington and Steve Bellone got it in Babylon. Lest we forget, Alfred Kilm beat Arthur Williams for Shelter Island supervisor. (You forgot about the Town of Shelter Island, didn't you?)
Our choice for Supervisor in Riverhead, Ed Densieski, was beaten by the incumbent Supervisor Phil Cardinale by some 1300 votes cast by the 47 percent of the population that cared. Ed remains a councilman, however, and now has new councilman John Dunleavy on board. Along with thinking-man George Bartunek, the voting balance – such as it is – will make for interesting decisions for Riverhead’s next go rounds. Barbara Blass retained her council seat as well. Mark Kwasna, Barbara Grattan and Laverne Tennenberg, the latter two unopposed, also were re-elected.
Da City
NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg romped and will keep liberal Democratic NYC in Republican hands for a total of 16 years (his new term ends 2009; Rudy was elected in 1994). This has nothing to do with party favoritism but is indicative of the fact that people tend to cross party lines to vote for who they think will serve them best … Bloomberg fits that description quite well, thank you.
Other Races of Interest
Other Suffolk races include those for the 18 county legislature seats. County boss Steve Levy, another man doing a fine job, gets a party majority of 10-8. Again defying the party system, Levy is a Dem, but residents in generally-GOP-Suffolk like what he’s doing and this is reflected in the legislature votes. Speaking of the county legislature: the North Fork (District 1) gets long-time county clerk Ed Romaine as its legislator.
In the Let’s-Try-ANYthing-New department: the supervisor’s slot in long-time GOP stronghold Brookhaven (a.k.a., Crookhaven) went to Dem and former county legislator Brian Foley.
Southold elected Scott Russell supervisor, while Southampton returned Skip Heaney; East Hampton, Bill McGintee; and Smithtown Pat Vecchio (yes, THE Pat Vecchio). Further up island, Frank Petrone received the supe nod in Huntington and Steve Bellone got it in Babylon. Lest we forget, Alfred Kilm beat Arthur Williams for Shelter Island supervisor. (You forgot about the Town of Shelter Island, didn't you?)
08 November 2005
ELECTION DAY – VOTE. PERIOD.
As for those of you in Riverhead who are undecided.
If you think the past two years of virtual non-activity have been beneficial to your pocketbook, the environment, downtown or your bank account, continue along the same path.
I voted for Ed Densieski for Supervisor because he has the BEST interest for Riverhead, he’s honest to a fault, he doesn’t care about anything except what’s best for the citizens of Riverhead, and he won’t cater to special interests. THOSE are facts.
Suffolk Life was the sole paper to endorse Densieski and, as usual the other locals got it wrong. The Times Review, obviated, again, its anti-Ed agenda, so you have to discount it and use your brains instead. As for the not-so-newcomer, The Independent Traveler Watchman: although they got it wrong for different reasons – NIMBYism and a certain endemic “La-La Land” outlook – I don’t think they’re going to have much time to pay attention to the North Fork in the future.
Now that the Shinnecock Tribe has been given federal recognition, they’ll be lucky if they can get to their offices. Can you say, “Ferry To the South Fork?” No? How about “Double Deck Sunrise Highway?” No, huh? What about “This Casino's On Sovereign Property White Man?”
Go Shinnecocks.
If you think the past two years of virtual non-activity have been beneficial to your pocketbook, the environment, downtown or your bank account, continue along the same path.
I voted for Ed Densieski for Supervisor because he has the BEST interest for Riverhead, he’s honest to a fault, he doesn’t care about anything except what’s best for the citizens of Riverhead, and he won’t cater to special interests. THOSE are facts.
Suffolk Life was the sole paper to endorse Densieski and, as usual the other locals got it wrong. The Times Review, obviated, again, its anti-Ed agenda, so you have to discount it and use your brains instead. As for the not-so-newcomer, The Independent Traveler Watchman: although they got it wrong for different reasons – NIMBYism and a certain endemic “La-La Land” outlook – I don’t think they’re going to have much time to pay attention to the North Fork in the future.
Now that the Shinnecock Tribe has been given federal recognition, they’ll be lucky if they can get to their offices. Can you say, “Ferry To the South Fork?” No? How about “Double Deck Sunrise Highway?” No, huh? What about “This Casino's On Sovereign Property White Man?”
Go Shinnecocks.
A COLD WAR ERA ENDS
I was privileged to attend the christening of the USS Nevada on August 16, 1986 at the Electric Boat Works in Groton, Connecticut (there’s a neat illustrative story that goes with this, but I’ll pass in light of my earlier comments about Frank Rich).
The Nevada was the eighth of the 18 Ohio-class FBM (fleet ballistic missile) subs built. Being able to get close to these behemoths – as big as they seem in the water, their size on the construction way is overwhelming and the thought that they can move underwater, incomprehensible – was a truly memorable day for my family and I.
While FBMs like the Nevada won’t start coming out of service until 2023 the world – thanks in part to these boats – has changed, and the Ohio-class, the mighty Trident missile submarines, are changing with it.
Historical Aside: The last Ohio-class boat decommissions in 2039. The 28 Los Angeles-class Fast Attack Subs are coming to the end of their 30-year service (first deployment: 11/13/1976) and being replaced by Improved Los Angeles-class, and Virginia-class attack subs.
The USS Alabama, the sixth Ohio-class “Boomer” commissioned, offloaded the last 24 of the potent C 4 Trident missiles at Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor, Washington last month bringing the “Run Silent, Run Deep” deterrent era to a close. In their time the armament carried by these subs provided the most survivable nuclear strike deterrent in the American arsenal.
The C4 replaced the Poseidon (which replaced the Polaris) missiles starting in 1974 and will, in turn, be replaced by Trident II D-5s – the Cold War may be over, but as the Gipper said, “… we are not going to tolerate attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich.”
Farewell, and a job well done, to the Trident D-4s; and continued Godspeed to the men (no women yet. Here’s a discussion: http://gmapalumni.org/chapomatic/?p=1271) serving aboard the firing platforms – the Ohio-class subs.
The Nevada was the eighth of the 18 Ohio-class FBM (fleet ballistic missile) subs built. Being able to get close to these behemoths – as big as they seem in the water, their size on the construction way is overwhelming and the thought that they can move underwater, incomprehensible – was a truly memorable day for my family and I.
While FBMs like the Nevada won’t start coming out of service until 2023 the world – thanks in part to these boats – has changed, and the Ohio-class, the mighty Trident missile submarines, are changing with it.
Historical Aside: The last Ohio-class boat decommissions in 2039. The 28 Los Angeles-class Fast Attack Subs are coming to the end of their 30-year service (first deployment: 11/13/1976) and being replaced by Improved Los Angeles-class, and Virginia-class attack subs.
The USS Alabama, the sixth Ohio-class “Boomer” commissioned, offloaded the last 24 of the potent C 4 Trident missiles at Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor, Washington last month bringing the “Run Silent, Run Deep” deterrent era to a close. In their time the armament carried by these subs provided the most survivable nuclear strike deterrent in the American arsenal.
The C4 replaced the Poseidon (which replaced the Polaris) missiles starting in 1974 and will, in turn, be replaced by Trident II D-5s – the Cold War may be over, but as the Gipper said, “… we are not going to tolerate attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, Looney Tunes and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich.”
Farewell, and a job well done, to the Trident D-4s; and continued Godspeed to the men (no women yet. Here’s a discussion: http://gmapalumni.org/chapomatic/?p=1271) serving aboard the firing platforms – the Ohio-class subs.
07 November 2005
AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
Ooh, ooh, ooh. A new – to me at least – concept I can get my head behind. And to top it off, it’s a belief I’ve had for quite some time. I stumbled on this while perusing today’s (11-7-05) The Federal Patriot newsletter. The author, Dennis Prager, is worth a Google; a mucho interesting and unusual background. Anyway, rather than opine myself, here’s Prager.
"The cultural civil war in which America is engaged is, in large measure, about AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM. Conservative America generally believes in the concept; liberal America generally finds it chauvinistic and dangerous.
What is American exceptionalism? THE BELIEF THAT AMERICA OFTEN KNOWS BETTER THAN THE WORLD WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG.
This belief drives most of the world's opinion-makers crazy. And it particularly infuriates the American Left, that part of America that trusts what is called 'world opinion' more than it trusts the American people. And from where does this belief in American exceptionalism derive? Mostly from the religious beliefs that underlie American values. That is a major reason the current culture war is about the place of Judeo-Christian values in American life. Those who believe that America must remain a Judeo-Christian nation (in terms of values) are far less respectful of international institutions than those who wish to make America a secular nation... For the Left, i.e., the opponents of American exceptionalism, law is the highest good; for the Right, especially the Judeo-Christian Right, morality is higher than law." —Dennis Prager
"The cultural civil war in which America is engaged is, in large measure, about AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM. Conservative America generally believes in the concept; liberal America generally finds it chauvinistic and dangerous.
What is American exceptionalism? THE BELIEF THAT AMERICA OFTEN KNOWS BETTER THAN THE WORLD WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG.
This belief drives most of the world's opinion-makers crazy. And it particularly infuriates the American Left, that part of America that trusts what is called 'world opinion' more than it trusts the American people. And from where does this belief in American exceptionalism derive? Mostly from the religious beliefs that underlie American values. That is a major reason the current culture war is about the place of Judeo-Christian values in American life. Those who believe that America must remain a Judeo-Christian nation (in terms of values) are far less respectful of international institutions than those who wish to make America a secular nation... For the Left, i.e., the opponents of American exceptionalism, law is the highest good; for the Right, especially the Judeo-Christian Right, morality is higher than law." —Dennis Prager
06 November 2005
HISSY FIT COMMENTARY
The premise of Frank Rich’s Op-Ed in the November 6 edition of The New York Times is pointed, pertinent and on-target. Unfortunately, like many writers – I include myself in this as well – he overreaches, trying to cover too much ground by indicting the present administration for everything save hurricanes, instead of sticking to the story.
In doing so, he demonstrates why people with a conservative viewpoint consider most liberals shrill shills of anti-Americanism. I can see Rich stamping the ground and pouting while he dictates to himself.
Rich’s op-ed concerns the disgusting manipulation of the combat death of former NFL player Pat Tillman by the Department of Defense. The buck stops somewhere (Rich has no conception of the chain of command) and so, the Commander-in-Chief has to accept blame for this event. Tillman, a member of 2nd Battalion 75th Rangers – Rich never bothers to mention his outfit, another indication of his lack of knowledge of the military ethos – was killed in Afghanistan and the DoD went on to exaggerate, overstate and lie outrightly about his death.
Although the op-ed is titled “The Mysterious Death of Pat Tillman,” Rich doesn’t get to Tillman for three long and wordy paragraphs, preferring to start off indicting Lewis Libby instead (and ignoring the Times’ own style manual along the way). Rich eventually goes off on a ramble about Tillman’s military career; this consumes an entire paragraph from NFL to death, quite a slight to Tillman.
Nonetheless, the remainder of this wordy essay tries to put forth a case for connecting this “cover up” with the Wilson/Plame/Miller case. Rich could have written “The Mysterious Case of Joseph Wilson” as well, but that would also require telling the truth about Wilson/Plame/Miller, et al, and THAT ain’t happening. In fact, Judith Miller doesn’t even get a mention.
Rich then goes on to connect Tillman’s death with coffin photos, body counts, the contractor hangings in Fallujah, 60 Minutes II, the report on the events of September 11, 2001, the “bad news for America and the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign” (still can’t get over that second term, eh Frank?), etc., etc. He also throws in the “Manchurian Candidate,” Jessica Lynch, the C-I-C’s “Mission Accomplished” carrier fly-in (still ain’t a Democrat around that can do that, eh, Frank?), Abu Ghraib (awwww. Frank, we REALLY don’t care about THAT), and on and on and on. He ends the op-ed hip shooting at Libby and the President’s approval rating.
I guess if you open a piece with Lewis Libby and close it with him, that means you’ve come full circle. I would think it would have helped if the title and the body of the piece had something to do with the open and close – or vice versa; or something – but I must be in error.
Anyway … Rich ends up writing a difficult-to-follow-the-point, unreadable, liberal hissy fit about almost anything but what/why/how/who/etc., happened to Pat Tillman, which would have made a damn good op-ed, because that WAS bullshit.
Frank Rich is considered one of the big boys in liberal commentary, but this piece misses the mark – like all rants – simply by not sticking to a point. ANY point.
In doing so, he demonstrates why people with a conservative viewpoint consider most liberals shrill shills of anti-Americanism. I can see Rich stamping the ground and pouting while he dictates to himself.
Rich’s op-ed concerns the disgusting manipulation of the combat death of former NFL player Pat Tillman by the Department of Defense. The buck stops somewhere (Rich has no conception of the chain of command) and so, the Commander-in-Chief has to accept blame for this event. Tillman, a member of 2nd Battalion 75th Rangers – Rich never bothers to mention his outfit, another indication of his lack of knowledge of the military ethos – was killed in Afghanistan and the DoD went on to exaggerate, overstate and lie outrightly about his death.
Although the op-ed is titled “The Mysterious Death of Pat Tillman,” Rich doesn’t get to Tillman for three long and wordy paragraphs, preferring to start off indicting Lewis Libby instead (and ignoring the Times’ own style manual along the way). Rich eventually goes off on a ramble about Tillman’s military career; this consumes an entire paragraph from NFL to death, quite a slight to Tillman.
Nonetheless, the remainder of this wordy essay tries to put forth a case for connecting this “cover up” with the Wilson/Plame/Miller case. Rich could have written “The Mysterious Case of Joseph Wilson” as well, but that would also require telling the truth about Wilson/Plame/Miller, et al, and THAT ain’t happening. In fact, Judith Miller doesn’t even get a mention.
Rich then goes on to connect Tillman’s death with coffin photos, body counts, the contractor hangings in Fallujah, 60 Minutes II, the report on the events of September 11, 2001, the “bad news for America and the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign” (still can’t get over that second term, eh Frank?), etc., etc. He also throws in the “Manchurian Candidate,” Jessica Lynch, the C-I-C’s “Mission Accomplished” carrier fly-in (still ain’t a Democrat around that can do that, eh, Frank?), Abu Ghraib (awwww. Frank, we REALLY don’t care about THAT), and on and on and on. He ends the op-ed hip shooting at Libby and the President’s approval rating.
I guess if you open a piece with Lewis Libby and close it with him, that means you’ve come full circle. I would think it would have helped if the title and the body of the piece had something to do with the open and close – or vice versa; or something – but I must be in error.
Anyway … Rich ends up writing a difficult-to-follow-the-point, unreadable, liberal hissy fit about almost anything but what/why/how/who/etc., happened to Pat Tillman, which would have made a damn good op-ed, because that WAS bullshit.
Frank Rich is considered one of the big boys in liberal commentary, but this piece misses the mark – like all rants – simply by not sticking to a point. ANY point.
05 November 2005
COMMENTARY BACK AT YA'
LRRP’s World is starting to generate a wee bit of commentary. As per the usual liberal agenda: since I refuse to spout “lofty” liberal opinion I’m out of touch and behind the times.
It must be wonderful to be right all the time, yet be – consistently – so terribly wrong when it comes to what we lowly conservative types believe in.
Ah, then, we are talking about people who still think Bill Clinton is the epitome of a president (pretty good for a guy who can’t figure out what “having sex” means) and who still consider Ted Kennedy a senior spokesperson (YOU kill someone in a car accident and run, and see if we’re listening to YOU 30 years later. Maybe if you’re in front of your parole board, but …). Oh well, I’m sure many think John Dean makes sense, as well.
Conservative facts are wrong, conservative thought is wrong, gun ownership is wrong,an non-interpertive Supreme Court is wrong, killing terrorists is wrong and no matter WHAT, it's George Bush's fault, etc., etc., ad nauseam.
Liberal thinkers: Just another oxymoron.
It must be wonderful to be right all the time, yet be – consistently – so terribly wrong when it comes to what we lowly conservative types believe in.
Ah, then, we are talking about people who still think Bill Clinton is the epitome of a president (pretty good for a guy who can’t figure out what “having sex” means) and who still consider Ted Kennedy a senior spokesperson (YOU kill someone in a car accident and run, and see if we’re listening to YOU 30 years later. Maybe if you’re in front of your parole board, but …). Oh well, I’m sure many think John Dean makes sense, as well.
Conservative facts are wrong, conservative thought is wrong, gun ownership is wrong,an non-interpertive Supreme Court is wrong, killing terrorists is wrong and no matter WHAT, it's George Bush's fault, etc., etc., ad nauseam.
Liberal thinkers: Just another oxymoron.
04 November 2005
FAIR AND BALANCED ... YEAH, RIGHT
You Mean There's Something Else Going On They Aren't Telling Us About? No!
The Media Research Center (www.mrc.org), a conservative media watchdog group in existence since 1996 recently released a review of over 1,300 news stories on Iraq from January through September that appeared on the three major (ABC, NBC and CBS) networks. Here’s a breakdown.
More than half of all stories (848, or 61 percent) focused on negative topics or presented a pessimistic analysis of the situation, versus 211 positive angled stories (15 percent).
In January and February, just over a fifth of the stories (21 percent) struck a hopeful note, while just over half presented a negative slant. By August and September, positive stories had fallen to a “measly” seven percent, while bad news stories swelled to 73 percent.
Terrorist attacks were the centerpiece of TV's war news. Two out of every five network evening news stories (564 stories) featured car bombings, assassinations, kidnappings or other attacks.
ONLY 17 STORIES FOCUSED ON THE HEROISM OR GENEROSITY OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS. Just eight recounted episodes of heroism by U.S. troops, while nine told about American soldiers helping individual Iraqis. In contrast, 79 stories focused on allegations of combat mistakes or outright misconduct on the part of U.S. military personnel.
The Media Research Center (www.mrc.org), a conservative media watchdog group in existence since 1996 recently released a review of over 1,300 news stories on Iraq from January through September that appeared on the three major (ABC, NBC and CBS) networks. Here’s a breakdown.
More than half of all stories (848, or 61 percent) focused on negative topics or presented a pessimistic analysis of the situation, versus 211 positive angled stories (15 percent).
In January and February, just over a fifth of the stories (21 percent) struck a hopeful note, while just over half presented a negative slant. By August and September, positive stories had fallen to a “measly” seven percent, while bad news stories swelled to 73 percent.
Terrorist attacks were the centerpiece of TV's war news. Two out of every five network evening news stories (564 stories) featured car bombings, assassinations, kidnappings or other attacks.
ONLY 17 STORIES FOCUSED ON THE HEROISM OR GENEROSITY OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS. Just eight recounted episodes of heroism by U.S. troops, while nine told about American soldiers helping individual Iraqis. In contrast, 79 stories focused on allegations of combat mistakes or outright misconduct on the part of U.S. military personnel.
FRANCE ROCKS ... AND RIOTS
When Bad Things Happen To …
I can’t help it … I love reading about any kind of trouble in France. If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest from the land that gave us the Statue of Liberty and aren't speaking German because of it, here’s a snapshot summary, paraphrased from AINA, the Assyrian International New Agency.
“Riots have now continued for eight days in and around Paris. Thursday night, November 3, Muslim rioters burned 315 cars. In the previous week, they torched 177 vehicles and burned numerous businesses, a post office, and two schools. They have rampaged through 20 towns and shot at police and firemen. In an episode that summed up the failure of France's efforts to create a domestic, domesticated Islam, when moderate Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur, head of the Paris mosque, tried to restore calm, his car was pelted with stones and he had to rush away.
The riots began on October 27 when two Muslim teenagers ran from police who were checking identification papers -- why they ran is as yet unclear. The police did not chase them, but evidently the teenagers thought they were being chased; they eventually hid in an electrical power sub-station, where they accidentally electrocuted themselves.” (You couldn’t make that up if you wanted!)
“Of course, all the news agencies have either omitted or mentioned only in passing that the rioters are Muslims at all. The casual reader would not be able to escape the impression that what is happening in France is all about economics – and race.” The article goes on to state that Muslims are the only poor ethno-religious group rioting.
Makes you feel all warm and cuddly, eh? Vive la France ... or as Samuel Clements once noted, "France has neither winter, nor summer, nor morals. France is miserable because it is filled with Frenchmen, and Frenchmen are miserable because they live in France."
I can’t help it … I love reading about any kind of trouble in France. If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest from the land that gave us the Statue of Liberty and aren't speaking German because of it, here’s a snapshot summary, paraphrased from AINA, the Assyrian International New Agency.
“Riots have now continued for eight days in and around Paris. Thursday night, November 3, Muslim rioters burned 315 cars. In the previous week, they torched 177 vehicles and burned numerous businesses, a post office, and two schools. They have rampaged through 20 towns and shot at police and firemen. In an episode that summed up the failure of France's efforts to create a domestic, domesticated Islam, when moderate Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur, head of the Paris mosque, tried to restore calm, his car was pelted with stones and he had to rush away.
The riots began on October 27 when two Muslim teenagers ran from police who were checking identification papers -- why they ran is as yet unclear. The police did not chase them, but evidently the teenagers thought they were being chased; they eventually hid in an electrical power sub-station, where they accidentally electrocuted themselves.” (You couldn’t make that up if you wanted!)
“Of course, all the news agencies have either omitted or mentioned only in passing that the rioters are Muslims at all. The casual reader would not be able to escape the impression that what is happening in France is all about economics – and race.” The article goes on to state that Muslims are the only poor ethno-religious group rioting.
Makes you feel all warm and cuddly, eh? Vive la France ... or as Samuel Clements once noted, "France has neither winter, nor summer, nor morals. France is miserable because it is filled with Frenchmen, and Frenchmen are miserable because they live in France."
CIA JAIL: UPDATE
Just Another Oops or ... They Can Flush Korans, Can’t They?
This time even the American hating/baiting Euro community isn’t buying what the Human Rights Watch (a U.S.-based outfit) reported in the good ol’ Washington Post (WAPO) and the Financial Times.
Both the Polish and Romanian governments rebutted a claim by the papers that there were CIA-run interrogation centers in their countries. The denials were accepted by the European Union commission looking into the charges.
In another unattributed WAPO report, Francisco Franco is still dead.
(Remember that old SNL routine? For those who don’t, ignore the above line; if you don’t know the SNL skit it loses far too much in the re-telling.)
Regardless … how many times can these “stars” of the media world get suckered into anti-Amercan reporting? I guess as long as it stays anti-American, there’ll be a “journalist” willing to write it. You would have thought the deaths – American and otherwise – caused by the flushing-the-Koran-at-Gitmo story in Newsweek would make “journalists” do some background research – like going to Poland or Romania – before reporting inflammatory material. But hey, why should THEY show any responsibility towards their craft.
Oh well.
Hey, maybe they’re lying and there really ARE interrogation centers for suspected terrorists in eastern Europe. Like, maybe, just maybe (he said hopefully) someone IS kicking the crap out of terrorists in CIA-run jails.
Ya think?
This time even the American hating/baiting Euro community isn’t buying what the Human Rights Watch (a U.S.-based outfit) reported in the good ol’ Washington Post (WAPO) and the Financial Times.
Both the Polish and Romanian governments rebutted a claim by the papers that there were CIA-run interrogation centers in their countries. The denials were accepted by the European Union commission looking into the charges.
In another unattributed WAPO report, Francisco Franco is still dead.
(Remember that old SNL routine? For those who don’t, ignore the above line; if you don’t know the SNL skit it loses far too much in the re-telling.)
Regardless … how many times can these “stars” of the media world get suckered into anti-Amercan reporting? I guess as long as it stays anti-American, there’ll be a “journalist” willing to write it. You would have thought the deaths – American and otherwise – caused by the flushing-the-Koran-at-Gitmo story in Newsweek would make “journalists” do some background research – like going to Poland or Romania – before reporting inflammatory material. But hey, why should THEY show any responsibility towards their craft.
Oh well.
Hey, maybe they’re lying and there really ARE interrogation centers for suspected terrorists in eastern Europe. Like, maybe, just maybe (he said hopefully) someone IS kicking the crap out of terrorists in CIA-run jails.
Ya think?
03 November 2005
CIA JAILS IN EASTERN EUROPE
Tsk Tsk
Several reports have surfaced that the CIA has set up interrogation centers in Eastern Europe, ostensibly in Poland and Romania, to gently question (he said with a smirk) suspected Al Qaida terrorist.
Human rights organizations and the general European community are aghast. The sounds of the tsk-tsking can be heard against the cacophonous historical echoes of the Crusades, the Inquisition, Gestapo, NKVD, STASI, DGSE, etc.
Naturally, American do-gooders are as appalled as their Euro trash counterparts.
LRRP’s World says: have you ever seen the Polish special operations people, GROM? Baaad dudes. Ask the SAS and our guys they fought alongside in Afghanistan, Iraq and, er, elsewhere.
As for Romania’s SIIAS, well, less is known about them than GROM, but you gotta figure …
And the CIA jails?
I’m tsking, I’m tsking. See, I’m even wringing my hands in consternation.
Several reports have surfaced that the CIA has set up interrogation centers in Eastern Europe, ostensibly in Poland and Romania, to gently question (he said with a smirk) suspected Al Qaida terrorist.
Human rights organizations and the general European community are aghast. The sounds of the tsk-tsking can be heard against the cacophonous historical echoes of the Crusades, the Inquisition, Gestapo, NKVD, STASI, DGSE, etc.
Naturally, American do-gooders are as appalled as their Euro trash counterparts.
LRRP’s World says: have you ever seen the Polish special operations people, GROM? Baaad dudes. Ask the SAS and our guys they fought alongside in Afghanistan, Iraq and, er, elsewhere.
As for Romania’s SIIAS, well, less is known about them than GROM, but you gotta figure …
And the CIA jails?
I’m tsking, I’m tsking. See, I’m even wringing my hands in consternation.
THE TRUTH ABOUT BROADWATER
LNG Facts
As usual there are facts and then there is what’s reported. Here are the ONLY facts we know about the planned LNG Terminal in Riverhead. Everything else is opinion or supposition.
LNG stands for Liquefied Natural Gas, and is natural gas sucked out of the ground and turned to liquid for more stable and safer transport.
Here are some FACTS about the proposed Broadwater LNG Terminal
•No LNG plant in the U.S. has ever blown up. There was an explosion in an electrical generator building in1979 at the Cove Point, Maryland terminal. The technology in 1979 has absolutely no bearing on today’s plants (the rules and regs were changed as a result of the Maryland explosion). There were two other explosions (1944 and 1973; again, technology and rules have changed).
The most recent LNG explosion was January 2004 in Algeria in a different type of plant. The Algerian plant can be likened to an oil refinery while the proposed Broadwater terminal, using the same analogy, is similar to a gas station.
The type of LNG terminal proposed for Long Island Sound REVAPORIZES LNG BACK INTO NATURAL GAS, DOES NOT REFRIGERATE NATURAL GAS INTO A LIQUID, AND DOES NOT REQUIRE THE HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM BOILERS that were the source of the Algerian explosion.
•LNG Tankers get some serious armed protection. Myself and six other writers, plus two crew, were nearly boarded and arrested for giving vacant looks to a member of the Boston Police Department Marine Bureau when we were ordered to move our boat to a dock as they and seven other machine-gun armed patrol boats escorted an LNG tanker into Boston Harbor.
•All commercial shipping entering New York Harbor Approaches, of which, Long Island Sound is one, are under the helm of licensed pilots, not the ship’s officers.
Everything else is opinion, and as we all know, class. Opinions are like ….
As usual there are facts and then there is what’s reported. Here are the ONLY facts we know about the planned LNG Terminal in Riverhead. Everything else is opinion or supposition.
LNG stands for Liquefied Natural Gas, and is natural gas sucked out of the ground and turned to liquid for more stable and safer transport.
Here are some FACTS about the proposed Broadwater LNG Terminal
•No LNG plant in the U.S. has ever blown up. There was an explosion in an electrical generator building in1979 at the Cove Point, Maryland terminal. The technology in 1979 has absolutely no bearing on today’s plants (the rules and regs were changed as a result of the Maryland explosion). There were two other explosions (1944 and 1973; again, technology and rules have changed).
The most recent LNG explosion was January 2004 in Algeria in a different type of plant. The Algerian plant can be likened to an oil refinery while the proposed Broadwater terminal, using the same analogy, is similar to a gas station.
The type of LNG terminal proposed for Long Island Sound REVAPORIZES LNG BACK INTO NATURAL GAS, DOES NOT REFRIGERATE NATURAL GAS INTO A LIQUID, AND DOES NOT REQUIRE THE HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM BOILERS that were the source of the Algerian explosion.
•LNG Tankers get some serious armed protection. Myself and six other writers, plus two crew, were nearly boarded and arrested for giving vacant looks to a member of the Boston Police Department Marine Bureau when we were ordered to move our boat to a dock as they and seven other machine-gun armed patrol boats escorted an LNG tanker into Boston Harbor.
•All commercial shipping entering New York Harbor Approaches, of which, Long Island Sound is one, are under the helm of licensed pilots, not the ship’s officers.
Everything else is opinion, and as we all know, class. Opinions are like ….
NORTH FORK ELECTIONS
Silly Season’s Big Day
As the Big Day (Election Day) and the end of Silly Season nears, it’s time to inject some background into the journalistic rhetoric that’s been going around. Let’s start off with who exactly is telling you what.
If you are casting your vote without having attended or watched a single debate or Q&A session, then you deserve however you’re going to vote and whatever that brings upon you.
Some of you – through good old blind dumb luck – will vote for the correct candidate and all will be well in your world and you can go back to Slumberland and wake up the next time around. Many of you won’t, because …
The News Ain’t …
For those of you who are relying on the quasi reportage of the press for information to form opinions, may I – as a one-time member and/or contributor to all of the local press – disabuse you of that notion.
Journalists as a group – and unfortunately, against the tenets of what a journalist is supposed to be – have axes to grind, opinions to opine, and personal agenda to itemize. They have a place to do this called editorial pages, but it is unfortunately rare when the “opinions” on the editorial page do not bleed over to the “facts” of the news page.
Show Me The Money
Now, while unadulterated facts may be in short supply, this is not necessarily a subversive plot. Newspapers are privately owned businesses even though they robe themselves in loftier cloth. They are businesses, and businesses are intended to make money.
Newspapers – none of them – “make” money being sold on newsstand or via subscription. Advertising makes publishers, if not wealthy, certainly comfortable. How much heft the club of advertising dollars wields against a paper’s editorial is subject to a wide range of assumption that only a forensic accountant could straighten out, but if you think it doesn’t exist or is minuscule at best you’re beyond naïve. And never, ever discount the personal political agenda of journalists. Any of us.
Who’s What Here … North Fork News Wars
We – a North Fork we – had four papers available. Two maligned each other; the former Traveler Watchman and the Times Review/Suffolk Times. Those three newspapers maligned the other two: the long-running Suffolk Life and the upstart Independent.
As “Seinfeld’s” George Costanza noted: shrinkage occurs, and thus the newspaper scene on the North Fork has contracted.
The Times Review (TR) and the Suffolk Times (ST) remain. The Independent (ITW … not to be confused with the ICW which is the Intracoastal Waterway) forays onto the North Fork anew and anon via purchase of The Traveler Watchman.
Only Suffolk Life (SL) blithely continues untouched, and suddenly becomes – by default – more important than it ever was.
You see, the TR/ST and the ITW both support the same candidates in the North Fork town races (Democrats. Now wasn’t THAT a surprise?). (
(An aside: Yes, I know two of the candidates endorsed by both papers are Republicans. Why, one of them is even endorsed by a party! Unfortunately, because of the endorsers' choices, no one noticed they were Republicans.)
Factual Reporting
If you want to get unemotional, factual information on political candidates the only place is Suffolk Life.
Two or three weeks before the election they publish the ENTIRE questionnaire submitted to all candidate’s and in box chart format publish their for or against answers on an extremely wide variety of topics affecting each town.
This comes unaccompanied by journalistic verbiage, editor’s/reporter’s views, slants, summations, condensations or explanations. It’s pure news, pure fact.
Think you’re making an informed decision on this year’s election? If you gleaned your information from any source other than first hand or Suffolk Life’s questionnaire, all you’re working off is someone ELSES opinion.
And we ALL know what they say about opinions, don’t we?
As the Big Day (Election Day) and the end of Silly Season nears, it’s time to inject some background into the journalistic rhetoric that’s been going around. Let’s start off with who exactly is telling you what.
If you are casting your vote without having attended or watched a single debate or Q&A session, then you deserve however you’re going to vote and whatever that brings upon you.
Some of you – through good old blind dumb luck – will vote for the correct candidate and all will be well in your world and you can go back to Slumberland and wake up the next time around. Many of you won’t, because …
The News Ain’t …
For those of you who are relying on the quasi reportage of the press for information to form opinions, may I – as a one-time member and/or contributor to all of the local press – disabuse you of that notion.
Journalists as a group – and unfortunately, against the tenets of what a journalist is supposed to be – have axes to grind, opinions to opine, and personal agenda to itemize. They have a place to do this called editorial pages, but it is unfortunately rare when the “opinions” on the editorial page do not bleed over to the “facts” of the news page.
Show Me The Money
Now, while unadulterated facts may be in short supply, this is not necessarily a subversive plot. Newspapers are privately owned businesses even though they robe themselves in loftier cloth. They are businesses, and businesses are intended to make money.
Newspapers – none of them – “make” money being sold on newsstand or via subscription. Advertising makes publishers, if not wealthy, certainly comfortable. How much heft the club of advertising dollars wields against a paper’s editorial is subject to a wide range of assumption that only a forensic accountant could straighten out, but if you think it doesn’t exist or is minuscule at best you’re beyond naïve. And never, ever discount the personal political agenda of journalists. Any of us.
Who’s What Here … North Fork News Wars
We – a North Fork we – had four papers available. Two maligned each other; the former Traveler Watchman and the Times Review/Suffolk Times. Those three newspapers maligned the other two: the long-running Suffolk Life and the upstart Independent.
As “Seinfeld’s” George Costanza noted: shrinkage occurs, and thus the newspaper scene on the North Fork has contracted.
The Times Review (TR) and the Suffolk Times (ST) remain. The Independent (ITW … not to be confused with the ICW which is the Intracoastal Waterway) forays onto the North Fork anew and anon via purchase of The Traveler Watchman.
Only Suffolk Life (SL) blithely continues untouched, and suddenly becomes – by default – more important than it ever was.
You see, the TR/ST and the ITW both support the same candidates in the North Fork town races (Democrats. Now wasn’t THAT a surprise?). (
(An aside: Yes, I know two of the candidates endorsed by both papers are Republicans. Why, one of them is even endorsed by a party! Unfortunately, because of the endorsers' choices, no one noticed they were Republicans.)
Factual Reporting
If you want to get unemotional, factual information on political candidates the only place is Suffolk Life.
Two or three weeks before the election they publish the ENTIRE questionnaire submitted to all candidate’s and in box chart format publish their for or against answers on an extremely wide variety of topics affecting each town.
This comes unaccompanied by journalistic verbiage, editor’s/reporter’s views, slants, summations, condensations or explanations. It’s pure news, pure fact.
Think you’re making an informed decision on this year’s election? If you gleaned your information from any source other than first hand or Suffolk Life’s questionnaire, all you’re working off is someone ELSES opinion.
And we ALL know what they say about opinions, don’t we?
02 November 2005
MILITARY MAILING DATES FOR CHRISTMAS
One thing I remember about spending three Christmases in a war zone was how important mail from home was. No matter how insignificant news wise, letters from “back in the World” meant a ton. The DoD released the following dates for the last days specific types of mail to specific APO and FPO addresses can be sent.
APO/FPO AE ZIP 093:
Express Mail Military Service: NA
First Class Mail Letters/Cards: Dec. 5
Priority Mail: Dec. 5
Parcel Airlift Mail: Dec. 3
Space Available Mail: Nov. 26
Parcel Post: Nov. 12
APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098
APO/FPO AA ZIPs 340
APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966
APO/FPO AE ZIPS 090-092:
Express Mail Military Service: Dec. 19
First Class Mail Letters/Cards: Dec. 10
Priority Mail: Dec. 10
Parcel Airlift Mail: Dec. 3
Space Available Mail: Nov. 26
Parcel Post: Nov. 12
APO/FPO AE ZIP 093:
Express Mail Military Service: NA
First Class Mail Letters/Cards: Dec. 5
Priority Mail: Dec. 5
Parcel Airlift Mail: Dec. 3
Space Available Mail: Nov. 26
Parcel Post: Nov. 12
APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098
APO/FPO AA ZIPs 340
APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966
APO/FPO AE ZIPS 090-092:
Express Mail Military Service: Dec. 19
First Class Mail Letters/Cards: Dec. 10
Priority Mail: Dec. 10
Parcel Airlift Mail: Dec. 3
Space Available Mail: Nov. 26
Parcel Post: Nov. 12
LIFE AFTER KATRINA
Gulf Coast Employers Seek Military and Military Dependents
Information about hundreds of hourly and salary positions available in the Gulf Coast was given out to military personnel and their families looking for employment at a job fair held at Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport (MS) on October 31.
Businesses represented at the job fair included: AutoZone; BE&K; Construct All; Cracker Barrel; Domino’s Pizza; Executive Protective Services; Gulfport Police; Hancock Bank; High Performance Solutions; Home Depot; O’Charley’s; Oreck; Love’s; R.S. Staffing; Morale, Welfare and Recreation; Mississippi Regional Housing Authority; Moses Electric/Upchurch Plumbing; Navy Exchange; Southeastern Door/Window; Security AKAL; Subway; University of Southern Mississippi; Waffle House; WIN Job Center; and 84 Lumber.
“I’m trying to fill 120 hourly positions and about 10 management positions at Waffle House,” David St. Hilaire, Mississippi Gulf Coast Waffle House division manager said as he arranged free giveaways on his table to attract prospective employers. “We lost seven restaurants, gone completely and we have nine restaurants where we’ve reopened after fixing damage but many of the associates haven’t been able to come back. We need people now!” St. Hilaire said.
(Courtesy of www.news.navy.mil)
Information about hundreds of hourly and salary positions available in the Gulf Coast was given out to military personnel and their families looking for employment at a job fair held at Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport (MS) on October 31.
Businesses represented at the job fair included: AutoZone; BE&K; Construct All; Cracker Barrel; Domino’s Pizza; Executive Protective Services; Gulfport Police; Hancock Bank; High Performance Solutions; Home Depot; O’Charley’s; Oreck; Love’s; R.S. Staffing; Morale, Welfare and Recreation; Mississippi Regional Housing Authority; Moses Electric/Upchurch Plumbing; Navy Exchange; Southeastern Door/Window; Security AKAL; Subway; University of Southern Mississippi; Waffle House; WIN Job Center; and 84 Lumber.
“I’m trying to fill 120 hourly positions and about 10 management positions at Waffle House,” David St. Hilaire, Mississippi Gulf Coast Waffle House division manager said as he arranged free giveaways on his table to attract prospective employers. “We lost seven restaurants, gone completely and we have nine restaurants where we’ve reopened after fixing damage but many of the associates haven’t been able to come back. We need people now!” St. Hilaire said.
(Courtesy of www.news.navy.mil)
GUN CONTROL: PART DEUX
Herr Schicklegruber Speaks
There seem to be quite a few quotes used by pro-gun lobbyist attributed to Adolph Hitler regarding gun control. None seem to make any sense either factually or historically, being variously attributed to times, places or situations that did not exist when the comment was supposedly voiced by Herr Hitler.
Nonetheless, There is one that can be completely providenced (April 11, 1942, quoted in “Hitlers Tischegesprache Im Fuhrerhauptquartier 1941-1942” [Hitler's Table-Talk at the Fuhrer's Headquarters 1941-1942], by Dr. Henry Picker, ed. Athenaum-Verlag, Bonn, 1951), and I thank the JPFO (Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership) for the citation. (Believe me, you’re gonna visit some of the reaaaalllllly different Web sites I travel to if you hang around in LRRP’s World long enough!):
“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.”
There seem to be quite a few quotes used by pro-gun lobbyist attributed to Adolph Hitler regarding gun control. None seem to make any sense either factually or historically, being variously attributed to times, places or situations that did not exist when the comment was supposedly voiced by Herr Hitler.
Nonetheless, There is one that can be completely providenced (April 11, 1942, quoted in “Hitlers Tischegesprache Im Fuhrerhauptquartier 1941-1942” [Hitler's Table-Talk at the Fuhrer's Headquarters 1941-1942], by Dr. Henry Picker, ed. Athenaum-Verlag, Bonn, 1951), and I thank the JPFO (Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership) for the citation. (Believe me, you’re gonna visit some of the reaaaalllllly different Web sites I travel to if you hang around in LRRP’s World long enough!):
“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.”
GUN CONTROL
Firearms Refresher Course
•A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
•Colt: The original point and click interface.
•If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
•If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words ... and spoons cause people to be fat.
•What part of “shall not be infringed” do you not understand?
•The Second Amendment is in place in case they ignore the others.
•64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
•Criminals love gun control – it makes their jobs safer.
•If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
•A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
•Colt: The original point and click interface.
•If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
•If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words ... and spoons cause people to be fat.
•What part of “shall not be infringed” do you not understand?
•The Second Amendment is in place in case they ignore the others.
•64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
•Criminals love gun control – it makes their jobs safer.
•If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
THE PERFECT CANDIDATE
“Al Pacino was honored for his career at a banquet in Beverly Hills Friday. He’s played a mobster, a mayor, a revolutionary, a cokehead, a sex addict and the devil. For thirty years the Democrat nomination for president has been his for the asking.” —Comedian Argus Hamilton – www.argushamilton.com/
GASOLINE PRICES
(Courtesy of The Federalist Patriot – federalistpatriot.us)
“So, Exxon Mobil broke corporate records last week, posting a $9 billion profit on $100 billion in revenue in the third quarter. Right on cue, Democrats demanded that Washington confiscate some of those profits. Are they predictable or what?... Want to know who is making a bigger windfall than oil companies are making from the prices paid by the poor gasoline consumer? It's good old Uncle Sam and his 51 little brothers. Refining costs and profits combined make up about 15 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Department. State and local taxes make up almost double that, about 27 percent. State and local gas tax collections exceed oil industry profits by a large margin, according to a Tax Foundation study released last week. Since 1977, consumers have paid $1.34 trillion in gas taxes—more than twice the profits of all major U.S. oil companies combined during that same period. Last year, state and federal gas taxes took in $58.4 billion. Major U.S. oil company profits last year totaled $42.6 billion.” —New Hampshire Union Leader
“So, Exxon Mobil broke corporate records last week, posting a $9 billion profit on $100 billion in revenue in the third quarter. Right on cue, Democrats demanded that Washington confiscate some of those profits. Are they predictable or what?... Want to know who is making a bigger windfall than oil companies are making from the prices paid by the poor gasoline consumer? It's good old Uncle Sam and his 51 little brothers. Refining costs and profits combined make up about 15 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Department. State and local taxes make up almost double that, about 27 percent. State and local gas tax collections exceed oil industry profits by a large margin, according to a Tax Foundation study released last week. Since 1977, consumers have paid $1.34 trillion in gas taxes—more than twice the profits of all major U.S. oil companies combined during that same period. Last year, state and federal gas taxes took in $58.4 billion. Major U.S. oil company profits last year totaled $42.6 billion.” —New Hampshire Union Leader
THE BARRACKS
Barracks are barracks worldwide. They’re usually cement floors (if they’re at all permanent) and made out of whatever a military contractor has available or a good supply sergeant can steal. They can be wood, canvas, aluminum, the same things with which people build houses, We (the military we) tend to call them hooches, base, camp, home. They’ve been known as firebases, landingzones, basecamps and more in the media, but to those who live there they are home.
In combat zones — that being areas outside the US where you can get killed — barracks are the place where you boost yourself up onto the top bunk or slide into the bottom bunk and for that first second forget about the day.
It may have been a day where you were out in the killing zone killing people. Not something you’d normally be doing before you went to bed, but there’s nothing normal about being a soldier in a combat zone. It may have been a day where you were humping the bodies of people you knew, know or would have met had they still been alive. But that’s not a normal day where you came from. It might have been a day when you were walking in a country where the normal means of debate consists of subverting a religion and making it something loathsome. It may have been a day when the only people you trust — besides your buddies — are 10,000 miles away and subjected to versions of what is happening that belie the reality of what you see, hear and experience.
But a barracks is home. In every war, every action, one thing that makes a barracks home is that it’s a place where you don’t have to do what you would normally have to do in a barracks stateside. Stateside military — at least to combat soldier — is known by one word. It may not be printable in a stateside newspaper that prints the most bizarre atrocities, because it uses a word that might — heart be still — disturb. The word is chickenshit. And while it is quite all right to talk about fetuses being torn from women’s bodies, it’s not all right to print chickenshit. But that’s what barracks life is to combat soldiers.
Now, to dispense with chickenshit, a soldier has to go to a combat zone. Going to a combat zone means that others — generally local civilians — have to deal with chickenshit. Soldiers are busy fighting or supporting those who are fighting, so someone has to clean the barracks, scrub the pots and pans (firefights have broken out over KP — kitchen police — duty), sweep the floor and generally keep things what, in the military, is called “strat.” Neat, clean and, well, military.
So. Abdul Igotnuthinelsetodo walks into a barracks — his pass is good, he’s been cleaning the place up for a few weeks, and he’s even made friends with the GIs who have undoubtedly given him things that they would otherwise toss to be used by his family. But Abdul decides to pull a string. The string is connected to a fuse. The fuse is connected to a flat plate of plastic explosives — your kindergarten-aged children would call it Play-Doh — covered in what civilians call bee-bee pellets.
Plastic explosives ignite at around 35,000 feet per second. Anything moving that fast (throw a match on some gasoline and see what happens) creates an explosion. Abdul has been indoctrinated to think he’s doing something worthwhile. Abdul has the average education of a three-year old and probably knows what Play-Doh is. Abdul has been indoctrinated by people who will never, in your wildest dreams, get close to plastic explosives. Abdul pulls the string and 22 Americans die and far too many are wounded while they are eating dinner. Just in time for Christmas.
I’ve been subject to this type of combat. Fortunately I was out in the field killing the people who do these types of things when it happened. Unfortunately some of my buddies weren’t and unfortunately a lot of guys in Iraq aren’t.
What I find amazing is what is reported. Instead of standing up for the people who are fighting, who die, who have died and who will die, the media continues to act as if our military has done something wrong. Instead of pointing out the abysmal foundation — the lack of any adherence to what Allah has ever said happened — they argue that the president, the secretary of defense, the generals, etc., should be replaced. This, the same media that gives pages of coverage to movies none of us have or will see while ignoring a movie about a man who represents half of the population of the world (admittedly an obscure reference to Mel Gibson’s Jesus flic. Personally I found it bordering on the obscene, but it was good film making.)
What is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan is war. And it’s as moral a war as WW II. It can only be considered otherwise by those who either did not suffer a loss on, or do not remember what happened on September 11, 2001.
We will win this war thanks to a real cowboy of a president. Our men and women will continue to die, the media will continue to find fault with all aspects of what we do, but there are those of our kind who will still go to war, will still kill, will still die, will still live in barracks served by indigents, and still be able to proudly stand and say that we remember.
In hard times like these, against hard targets like those in Iraq and Afhghanistan there is no other way to consider it.
In combat zones — that being areas outside the US where you can get killed — barracks are the place where you boost yourself up onto the top bunk or slide into the bottom bunk and for that first second forget about the day.
It may have been a day where you were out in the killing zone killing people. Not something you’d normally be doing before you went to bed, but there’s nothing normal about being a soldier in a combat zone. It may have been a day where you were humping the bodies of people you knew, know or would have met had they still been alive. But that’s not a normal day where you came from. It might have been a day when you were walking in a country where the normal means of debate consists of subverting a religion and making it something loathsome. It may have been a day when the only people you trust — besides your buddies — are 10,000 miles away and subjected to versions of what is happening that belie the reality of what you see, hear and experience.
But a barracks is home. In every war, every action, one thing that makes a barracks home is that it’s a place where you don’t have to do what you would normally have to do in a barracks stateside. Stateside military — at least to combat soldier — is known by one word. It may not be printable in a stateside newspaper that prints the most bizarre atrocities, because it uses a word that might — heart be still — disturb. The word is chickenshit. And while it is quite all right to talk about fetuses being torn from women’s bodies, it’s not all right to print chickenshit. But that’s what barracks life is to combat soldiers.
Now, to dispense with chickenshit, a soldier has to go to a combat zone. Going to a combat zone means that others — generally local civilians — have to deal with chickenshit. Soldiers are busy fighting or supporting those who are fighting, so someone has to clean the barracks, scrub the pots and pans (firefights have broken out over KP — kitchen police — duty), sweep the floor and generally keep things what, in the military, is called “strat.” Neat, clean and, well, military.
So. Abdul Igotnuthinelsetodo walks into a barracks — his pass is good, he’s been cleaning the place up for a few weeks, and he’s even made friends with the GIs who have undoubtedly given him things that they would otherwise toss to be used by his family. But Abdul decides to pull a string. The string is connected to a fuse. The fuse is connected to a flat plate of plastic explosives — your kindergarten-aged children would call it Play-Doh — covered in what civilians call bee-bee pellets.
Plastic explosives ignite at around 35,000 feet per second. Anything moving that fast (throw a match on some gasoline and see what happens) creates an explosion. Abdul has been indoctrinated to think he’s doing something worthwhile. Abdul has the average education of a three-year old and probably knows what Play-Doh is. Abdul has been indoctrinated by people who will never, in your wildest dreams, get close to plastic explosives. Abdul pulls the string and 22 Americans die and far too many are wounded while they are eating dinner. Just in time for Christmas.
I’ve been subject to this type of combat. Fortunately I was out in the field killing the people who do these types of things when it happened. Unfortunately some of my buddies weren’t and unfortunately a lot of guys in Iraq aren’t.
What I find amazing is what is reported. Instead of standing up for the people who are fighting, who die, who have died and who will die, the media continues to act as if our military has done something wrong. Instead of pointing out the abysmal foundation — the lack of any adherence to what Allah has ever said happened — they argue that the president, the secretary of defense, the generals, etc., should be replaced. This, the same media that gives pages of coverage to movies none of us have or will see while ignoring a movie about a man who represents half of the population of the world (admittedly an obscure reference to Mel Gibson’s Jesus flic. Personally I found it bordering on the obscene, but it was good film making.)
What is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan is war. And it’s as moral a war as WW II. It can only be considered otherwise by those who either did not suffer a loss on, or do not remember what happened on September 11, 2001.
We will win this war thanks to a real cowboy of a president. Our men and women will continue to die, the media will continue to find fault with all aspects of what we do, but there are those of our kind who will still go to war, will still kill, will still die, will still live in barracks served by indigents, and still be able to proudly stand and say that we remember.
In hard times like these, against hard targets like those in Iraq and Afhghanistan there is no other way to consider it.
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