Rebuilding the Iraqi Air Force

Posted By Pinch

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a DoD-sponsored Blogger's Roundtable with U.S. Air Force Col. Michael Wobbema, Chief of Staff for the Coalition Air Force Transition Team. His job? Help rebuild the Iraqi Air Force.

With the recent MQ-9 Reaper kill that I briefly talked about over on Defense Tech, my first question was if UAVs were going to be included in the the future Iraqi Air Force. With ISR assets (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) such a large part of any operation, I was curious if the success of any Coalition UAV ISR program is in the cards. COL Wobbema's reply:

I do not think that we have any kind of unmanned vehicle program established in the long-term planning. Basically what we're doing is we're using a manned form of the same type of intelligence-gathering equipment in the form of a Caravan, a Cessna Caravan, that we've put an ISR suite on, which is operated by a sensor operator that's actually flying in the aircraft.

My next question centered around what sort of aircraft the Iraqi Air Force can be expected to be flying in the near future:

Well, in the future, of course, you know, I've been a fighter guy my whole career, and a lot of the Iraqi air force pilots are all former fighter pilots.  And, of course, if they had an unlimited budget and didn't want to worry about anything else, we'd be buying F-16s, F-18s for them. Or they would be buying them for themselves. That's what they'd be wanting to do.

But we have to walk before we can run, and right now we've got some C-130 aircraft on the ground that they're operating. There are some MI-17 for the rotary-wing side. They've got a few Hueys. And then we've got this Cessna Caravan. The Cessna Caravan will also become -- there will be an armed variant of that that will come online. And then they'll move into -- the next iteration will be a light- attack aircraft of some sort, probably a propeller-driven kind of light-attack aircraft that can take care of their most immediate need, and that is to deal with the insurgency that's taking place inside their own borders.

From there, then, it will migrate to being able to develop an air defense capability to protect their borders from outside influence. And then, from there, you know, who knows? At some point in time I suspect that they will ultimately migrate to becoming a fully integrated part of the world community.

Thinking back to the air order of battle that existed in Iraq 17 years ago, those days are far in the future. Currently any external threat that may require a robust air defense capability can and will be handled by coalition aircraft that remain in theater or are operating offshore from carrier strike groups. Same goes for Close Air Support (CAS), either on-call from a CAS-stack or some form of alert launch, in support of ground operations. Self-determination from a military aviation perspective is in in the cards, but not for a while. COL Wobbema has a number of other fascinating things to pass on in this interview and you can read the article from DefenseLink News here or read the transcript of the roundtable here.

Crossposted at Defense Tech

What the Hell is Wrong with Nickelodeon?

Posted By Blackfive
[screen shot of video playing on Nickelodeon TV and web site about troops torturing prisoners and efforts to impeach the President]

Time to get into high gear on this one.  ArmyWifeToddlerMom has the scoop:

Nickelodeon is trying to brainwash your children in the morning, or a leftist primer

<...>
Please watch this, in its entirety. It is imperative that you SEE what Nickelodeon is showing at 5:00am.

NICKELODEON IS BRAINWASHING YOUR CHILD

<...>

Pay particular attention to the second and fourth stories. 

This Nickelodeon "news" program, is not a news program, it is a but this show was a primer on how to be a "left-wing radical REBEL".

I am not a blind follower of our Government, and I also think that Government should be watched by it's citizens. It is our civic duty.

However this program led by Ellerby, is anti-war, anti- GWOT, anti-military. 

<...>

She shows a group, of "tweenagers" walking around in orange jumpsuits, hooded and yelling from a bullhorn. "We are not ok, with people being tortured by American soldiers!" "Are cooperation's priority over human lives?"

There is also a call for the impeachment of the President in the second segment of the video, "democracy is at stake because of the President violating the Constitution"...

I went and watched the clip and it's even worse that AWTM says it is.  To say that I'm shocked by this kind of propaganda on a children's tv station is an understatement.

Read A-dub's entire post.  At the end, she provides email addresses of Nick, Viacom, and an advertiser, Hasbro:

...You can drop a line to the folks at Nickelodeon here

I would love for you to write a note to Viacom HERE

And PLEASE contact Hasbro here, make sure they know what Nickelodeon really thinks of corporations and Nerf guns.

Let them know what you think about Nickelodeon's foray into leftist politics.           

[H/T to MilBlogs]   

Why it sucks to write for a dead tree mag

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Poor Mark Kukis, Time writer in Baghdad. He has a deadline to get his copy in so Time can kill a few hundred thousand trees spreading lies and defeatism. But he catches a lucky break when the news of 20 lovely decapitated bodies comes in. Oh Bliss, his editor will love this and it ties in with the overall Time stylebook requirement that any positive accomplishments in Iraq, must be offset by 4 times as many reports on bad news, real or fake but accurate. "Just follow the narrative son, you'll be fine."

Has the surge reached it's limits?

He punches the reader right in the guts with his highly edited and fact-checked reporting in this opening paragraph.

The horrible discovery in Diyala province Monday was disturbing even by the standards of Iraq's running sectarian violence. Iraqi police said they found 20 decapitated bodies dumped near a police station west of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province.

That would be horrible if it had actually happened, you maroon. Just another terrorist press release printed in full and given the MSM seal of approval.

It is kinda fun watching the MSM do a beautiful slow motion sinking, kinda like the Titanic. I can't wait until Leo slips under the water.

UK band greets Saudi King with Vader's theme

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Go ahead and watch the vid so you can join me in giggling your ass off. (h/t the Corner)

Readers might remember that after 9/11, the military band at Buckingham Palace broke with tradition and played the Stars and Stripes. Yesterday, as king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia arrived to meet Her Majesty the Queen, they played a somewhat different tune to greet the visiting monarch's arrival: Darth Vader's theme music.

For the B5 Old-timers...

Posted By Blackfive

FYI - The Questing Cat is now safe and sound in Germany...just thought you'd want to know.

That is all.

Just Wrong

Posted By Subsunk

The next time someone tells you the American "regime" is immoral or dishonest and needs to be overthrown, ask them why this regime shouldn't go first.

Here's a story of what life is like to grow up in a prison camp from birth. How complete isolation from the real world can make the human mind believe anything, including that it is natural for children to pay for a parent's "sins".

The first two days of torture started with threatening questions about his family's conspiracy. Shin Dong-Hyuk had no answers because at age 14, he was required to live in the dormitory with other teenagers in North Korea's notorious political prison camp No.14, north of Pyongyang. He had not seen his parents and brother for weeks.

The next morning, Shin was hung upside down with his ankles cuffed, all day long. He wondered why his mother and brother tried to escape, if what the authorities claimed was true. Surely, they should have known that anything short of being out of place in this camp is punished by death.

On the fourth day Shin was dragged into cell No.7, the secret underground torture chamber. Completely stripped, legs cuffed, hands tied with rope, his legs and hands were hung from the ceiling. The torturers lit up a charcoal fire under his back. He struggled. But they pierced a steel hook near Shin's groin to keep him from writhing. Amid the sounds and smells of flesh burning, Shin then blacked out.

Continue reading "Just Wrong"

Halloween

Posted By Blackfive

Hey Zoomies, Squids/Coasties, and Jarheads!

Look at me!

Now, help our wounded troops and donate to Project Valour-IT and help our wounded soldiers stay connected to their family and friends.

Project Valour-IT 2007 Fund Raiser kick off post is here.

Halloweens Past...

Posted By Blackfive

I went through a training course with Mat.  As junior officers, the environment was very competitive and Mat and I were always at the top in terms of scores and class rank.  Eventually, he was  #2 and I was #3 in the class.  He was such a great guy that I didn't mind in the least being ranked behind him (except that he was a Packers fan - I'm from Chicago). We were good friends and I ran into him quite a few times during my career.

I never posted my favorite Mat Schram story.

I visited him a Fort Lee, VA, many years ago.  Schrambo and I went to a Halloween Party at the Officer's Club (one of the better ones in the Army).  I was dressed up as a prisoner (real Cook County jail uniform) complete with shackles for the legs and wrists and he had this fake muscle Rambo thing on.

We were went to the cemetary on Ft. Lee to continue the Halloween party that started at the Officers Club.  The Cemetary closes at 10pm (and is off-limits to all), and Mat and I brought some ladies with us.  It was just before midnight and we started telling ghost stories while having an adult beverage.

Sure enough, as soon as the ghost stories were getting good (we were in the haunted part of the cemetery - civil war ghosts – the best kind), MPs spotted our vehicles and decided to see who was in the cemetary.

They turn on their spotlight and use their speaker to tell to us come out.  Mat says to me, "Matty, you can talk your way out of anything.  You go talk to the MPs."

Knowing Mat, I should have recognized the twinkle in his eye.

Bastard.

So, seeing one of the MPs had his hand on his sidearm, and me, still wearing my orange jumpsuit/convict outfit - shackles and all (one of the girls convinced me to keep them on) - I come stumbling out of the darkness and into the MP spotlight yelling "Don't shoot!"

The MP behind the light did a double take, and I swear the MPs thought they caught an escaped convict.  I heard Mat fall over in the darkness behind me laughing his ass off.

After the MPs decided NOT to shoot me and heard our stories, they laughed so hard they let us off without any trouble.

That's how I like to remember Mat...from that Halloween night. 

Bastard.

I miss him.

Hank Reinhart, RIP

Posted By Laughing_Wolf

If you know edged weapons, and you know historical weapons, then you know Hank Reinhart. He may have been best known to the larger public for his previous work with Museum Replicas and Atlanta Cutlery, but there was much more to the man and his work with that. Hank taught knife and edged weapons to the military and law enforcement, as well as to those who showed they were willing and ready to learn. I don't have details, but have been informed that he passed away this morning. I have paid a small tribute to him at my blog and I am glad for knowing him in a small way. Hank, it was a pleasure. I keep, and ask you to keep, his wife Toni Weisskopf, his children, and his many friends in your thoughts in the days ahead.

LW

My increasing support of waterboarding

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

You all know how much I love it when the left hates on me. I giggle like a schoolgirl and the fact that I am unashamed infuriates them even more. The current raison d' hate is my firm support of waterboarding, the Halliburton of coercive interrogation. I don't believe that it constitutes torture and that makes me the purest kind of an evil police statist. Sadly, No.

And speaking of some of my biggest fans, they had the quote below as the reference to me in their post about what a reprehensible reprobate I am.

I especially like the screenshot they took from one of the Freeflys for a picture. The caption read "Uncle Jimbo and his best friend". Funny how they had to crop Kev out of the freakin' picture to make the lame ass insult. Plus I damn sure don't drink Vodka and Coke FFS! My best friend that night was Bacardi Anejo.

I think I need a new tag line and while they are hatin' they do have some entertaining ways to refer to me.
Vote on your favorite or make up lovely new ways to insultingly name me in the comments.

Take famed right-wing milblogger Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive, for example; in his latest post on the virtues of a police state, he has this to say:

Famed eh? Sadly, not very. But I do enjoy being the representative of all that is evil with the neocon, global imperialist agenda. Some retro-commies had a fresh and tasty tag for me. I don't know if they are real or pseudo-lefties, but they definitely have a bone to pick with me.

But none stranger than this from the inimitable Unclue Jimbo at Blackfive:

I wrote a piece this weekend in response to a Wash Post story about "secret" CIA prisons and my support for them and most of the mean things we do to people in them. It was in the style of Grim's magnificent piece "On the virtues of killing children", and this may be a genre we should continue. Malcolm Nance wrote a piece for Small Wars Journal titled "Waterboarding is torture, period" and both went up late Sunday night. I hadn't read his piece until someone linked to it in the comments. Once I read it I added a link to it and stated that it was an excellent piece. I still think so, it was informative, definitive and persuasive. It just didn't and won't persuade me. I disagree on the judgment that the act of waterboarding fits the proper definition of torture or even the more restrictive definitions employed by human rights groups and the left.

Without going into the whys of that, let me pose a simple question.

If waterboarding is torture and torture is illegal, then didn't Congress break the law every year when they passed a military budget that contains funds specifically dedicated to conducting waterboarding as a matter of course?

Mr. Nance conducts waterboardings professionally or did, and yet he believes that the procedure is fine for our troops, but somehow not fit for our enemies? I have a very hard time wrapping my brain around that concept. Congress banned the use of torture in the Detainee Treatment act of 2005. So, if it is torture we shouldn't be doing it to ourselves, but if Congress authorizes the military to do it, then it can't be torture. Congress is not allowed to authorize money for patently illegal activities, therefore their knowing authorization explicitly says that waterboarding is not torture.

I will grant that the procedure is horrifying and repulsive, but that is part of it's effectiveness. The fact that it causes no lasting damage at all is another reason to favor it's use. But the number one reason to use it is because it works. It is the perfect answer to the lie that you cannot coerce useful information from bad guys. KSM broke very quickly and the info we got from him allowed us to scarf up dozens of AQ killers and saved countless lives. While other methods may have eventually procured this intelligence, the time spent doing so made it more likely his info would be out of date and we would miss the chance to capture or kill the terrorists. As awful as that makes me, I think that means we have an obligation to do it and I would consider it's banning a blow to our security.

One last tagline that is in play, from my devoted compadres at Crooks and Liars

Even the wild dude Jimbo, from the right wing site Black Five called the event “lame”

It is entertaining to enjoy this level of disapproval, I will ratchet things up a notch.

State St. Indian Summer linkage

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Man oh man, what a beautiful day here in the Mad City 68 degrees and the bluest skies. I headed to my local cafe with wi fi and voila. I'm at work. Yes the girl behind me is smokin' hot, model pretty, her friend too. Bliss.

Here is an email I got yesterday.

Listened to you this morning on Allman and Crane.  Love your site.  Check out www.myspace.com/marchalli when you have a second.  A song I wrote about our fallen troops overseas.  Enjoy.

Matt

His email indicates he works for the local NFL team in St. Louis, but I won't name them as I think they are having a bye year. Heh. Great song though.

Rocky sends a link to this cool way to, well Say Thanks to the troops.

Otto has a look at our efforts to buy the gear that stops us from getting blown up, kinda important eh?

And Herschel Smith continues his good work at Captain's Journal examining whether we can legally ventilate the Cole bombing terrorist the Yemenis just released. I vote we add him to the dead tango tally so  I can do the DT dance. Eugene Volokh is considering a similar dilemma regarding the targeting of military leaders during wartime.

What To Do When Attacked By Pirates

Posted By Subsunk

Since the times of Stephen Decatur, John O'Bannon, and Thomas Jefferson, pirates have come up against the United States Navy.... and been found wanting. (Sort of like the jihadists of their day). Today I came on a story too good to pass up.

Read it and laugh.

                        NAIROBI, Kenya - A U.S. Navy destroyer off the coast of Somalia helped sailors who retook control of their vessel Tuesday in a deadly battle with pirates who hijacked the North Korean-flagged ship, the American military said.

A helicopter flew from the USS James E. Williams to investigate a phoned-in tip of a hijacked vessel, and demanded by bridge-to-bridge radio that the pirates give [up] their weapons, the military said in a statement. The sailors then overwhelmed the hijackers, leaving two pirates dead, according to preliminary reports, and five captured, the military said.

Three seriously injured crew members were brought onboard the Williams, it said.

And there's more from the previous days events.

If you can't stand the heat, better stay out of the kitchen. Even if you feel lucky, it probably isn't wise to poke the Navy with a sharp stick. We've done pirates. Even better is that it was a North Korean vessel which was saved by the USS James E. Williams. Stats here (Of course the ones that count are Pirates 0, Williams 1) Imagine how old Kim Jong Il will handle that one. Can't wait to see what Jihad Gene does with that.

Subsunk out. (Laughing maniacally all the way)

Continue reading "What To Do When Attacked By Pirates"

Patrick Leahy needs to STFU

Posted By Deebow

Maybe this is going to have to be a regular feature from me. I have an extremely low tolerance for traitors, unpatriotic behavior and treasonous acts.  Senator Patrick Leahy is 3-0 on all of those.

I saw an article today from the AP Wire (yeah I know, hard to trust, but they seem to be everywhere) and they had some news on the Blackwater USA shooting that took place in Baghdad.  And as Senate Judiciary Chairman, Senator Leahy that it wise to open his yap and say the following:

"In this administration, accountability goes by the boards," said Leahy. "That goes equally for misconduct and for incompetence. If you get caught, they will get you immunity. If you get convicted, they will commute your sentence."

Patrick Leahy needs to STFU, now.  If I was a US Attorney, I would make it my mission in life before I retired from Federal service to see him doing the perp-walk in an orange jumpsuit.  I wouldn't elect this ass-hat to be dog-catcher.

Among his notable accomplishments while in office:

Opposed U.S. military support for the Contras in their fight against the Marxist Sandinistas

Opposed the 1991 Persian Gulf War

Voted against funding the post-9/11 invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq

Voted against protecting U.S. military personnel from the International Criminal Court
Calls Guantanamo Bay detention center "an international embarrassment to our nation, to our ideals and it remains a festering threat to our security. . . . We're the country that tells people that we adhere to the rule of law. We want other countries to adhere to the rule of law. And in Guantanamo, we are not."

And as it is noted in DiscoverTheNetworks.org

According to a 1987 San Diego Union-Tribune report, in a 1985 television appearance Leahy disclosed classified information that one of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's telephone conversations had been intercepted. The information that Leahy revealed had been used in the operation to capture the Arab terrorists who had hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed American citizens, and the Union-Tribune claimed that Leahy's indiscretion may have cost the life of at least one of the Egyptian operatives involved in that operation. 

As well as...

In 1987, The Washington Times reported that Leahy had also leaked secret information about a 1986 covert operation planned by the Reagan administration to overthrow Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Leahy allegedly had said, "I thought [the operation] was probably the most ridiculous thing I had seen, and also the most irresponsible," and had threatened to expose the operation to CIA Director William Casey. A few weeks later, details of the plan appeared in The Washington Post, and the operation was canceled.

I could just go on, and on.... And I will...

Continue reading "Patrick Leahy needs to STFU"

J.R. Salzman on ESPN tonight!

Posted By Blackfive

For those of you who don't know JR Salzman, here are some background links:

RE: MilBlogger Down! (December 28, 2007)
RE: On a Happier Note (January 1. 2007)
RE: MilBlogger Down! (But Not Out) Update III (January 1, 2007)
RE: JR Salzman Update (January 13, 2007)
RE: JR Salzman's Blog of War (January 26, 2007)
RE: JR and Josie Salzman and John Kriesel (May 9, 2007)
RE: JR Salzman's Alive Day Memory (September 7, 2007)

JR Salzman (and his wonderful wife, Josie) will be the focus of an ESPN's "E:60" tonight at 7PM Easter/6PM Central:

“COMING HOME”

J.R. Salzman is a household name in the close-knit world of logrolling, a sport where he has won five world titles.  But in 2003, still shaken by the events of 9/11, Salzman made a life-altering choice, joining the National Guard.  His unit deployed to Iraq in March 2006. That December, as the unit patrolled in Humvees outside Baghdad, J.R. was struck by an improvised explosive device.  He lost his right arm and would ultimately undergo five surgeries.  E:60 correspondent Rachel Nichols follows J.R. through his recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and back to his home state of Wisconsin, where he attempts to restore normalcy to his life and return to the sport that is his first love.

 

About E:60

E:60 is ESPN’s first multi-subject, prime-time newsmagazine program offering a combination of investigative features, profiles of intriguing sports personalities, and cutting-edge stories on innovation in the sports world, including emerging sports and new technology. The series focuses on life stories that relate or have a basis in sports, melding its stories with a glimpse of the reporters’ experiences – discussing the story idea with producers, creating storylines and shooting the interviews. The show is produced and aired in high definition, a first for the newsmagazine genre. By turning the camera on the reporters, the program gives the viewer a unique behind-the-scenes look at television storytelling.

This week's broadcast of "E:60" will also focus on "the Lost Boys" (of the Sudan) and Mixed Martial Arts competitions.

Project Valour-IT: An Offer

Posted By Laughing_Wolf
[Contributed for Valour-IT by the most excellent Cox and Forkum]

"At that time I had no use of either hand. I know how humbling it is, how humiliating it feels. And I know how much better I felt, how amazingly more functional I felt, after Soldiers' Angels provided me with a laptop and a loyal reader provided me with the software. I can't wait to do the same, to give that feeling to another soldier at Walter Reed." - Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss at TC Override (wounded in Iraq)

A short time ago, on my way back from Iraq, I had the honor and privilege of being with Soldier's Angels at LRMC and at WRAMC.  My thoughts on that are yet to come; and, to be honest, it is one area where I am still processing the events and emotions.  Words can't convey how I felt to watch our wounded arrive in Germany, to witness those who refused to enter on a gurney or litter but rather insisted on walking in, and to spend time with those who are now further along the road of treatment.  To talk with those who face more surgeries with humor and determination, or those who -- despite their wounds -- are willing to go back to Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever the front may be. 

It was most humbling to be asked to be a part of something special one night, and to help present Valour-IT laptops to those who paid quite a price to receive them.  I said then, and repeat now, my offer.  For every recipient who writes in and shares what those laptops mean or have allowed them to do, I will make a donation to the fund.  The amount will depend on how many write in. 

I would also like to ask our readers what you would like to get to donate even more?  Would you like to have me shave my head, have some form of auction for a photograph, or is there something else that I can provide that would get you to give more?  Make a suggestion, and those that are reasonable (not to mention anatomically possible) will be considered.  I am willing to put some item(s) of personal property and/or what little is left of my dignity up for donations to Team Army. 

The main thing is:  Give. 

LW

Previous Blackfive Valour-IT 07 Posts:
It's time...

See (more) BS and Scott Pelley

Posted By Deebow

No one likes to kill people who don't need killing.  It causes heartache and pain among the warriors and the population.  In order to help the Taliban (and this is the only help they are going to receive from me)I have a helpful tip for them and their foreign fighter buddies that they have invited to the dance.

Leave...Your...Family...Home...

If you already live in Afghanistan, and you think being part of the Taliban, or supporting the Taliban is for you, I suggest that you follow the rule of the dog; Do not take a dump where you eat.

The fact that Scott Pelley and his report (h/t Newsbusters) imply that we are as bad as the Taliban just sends me to the moon.  The following exchange sent me from there to f'ing Jupiter:

UNKNOWN MAN ( Translated ): During the Russian invasion, we haven't heard of ten members of one family being killed by Russians in one incident. But the Americans did that.

PELLEY: These Afghans, like many others, are trying to decide whether to support the U.S. backed government. We expected anger, but we didn't expect this. You can't be saying that the Soviets were kinder to your people than the Americans have been.

UNKNOWN MAN B( Translated ): We used to hate the Russians much more than Americans. But now when we see all this happening, I am telling you Russians behaved much better than the Americans.

PELLEY: Really, there's no comparison. The Soviets killed something like a million Afghans over ten years. But it's the kind of thing that Afghans are saying.  So far this year, 17 air strikes have killed more than 270 civilians, according to the humanitarian organization Human Rights Watch. It leaves Afghan President Hamid KARZAI explaining to his people why they're being killed by his allies. Why are so many Afghan civilians being killed by U.S. forces?

I will tell you why Scott, the terrorists are hiding behind civilians hoping that they will not be struck by the Fist of God.  They launch 107mm Rockets at us and they run and hide like little girls in a water balloon fight.  They are cowards who rarely stand and fight.  I have been rocketed more than a few times, and it is un-nerving as hell.  If the crew is good, they set them on timers and are drinking tea in their mud hut hours afterward, acting as if nothing ever happened.  If the crew is very good, they are able to adjust them some and hit what they aim at, but that requires them to actually be there. 

That was how we killed The Rocketeers outside our FOB one night last year....

Continue reading "See (more) BS and Scott Pelley"

Kitchen Errata & Down with TNR's Foer

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

A little Monday radio with Allman and Crane 97.1 KFTK St. Louis, fun as always, the intro explains the title. Funny the audio doesn't have the bit at the very end when Allman asked me about Halloween. I thought we were at break and it was just him and me, nope. All of St. Louis was treated to my letting him know I had a video up with shots of "All the hot chick's a**es". Oops. I was informed that all was well and it was funny so. I did shoot them walking toward as well as away, but the theme was unmistakable. I did pitch Valour IT even if I got all the team leaders wrong, mostly.

Bob Owens is kicking the last rib of the dead horse that used to be The New Republic. They have resisted all efforts to offer them a chance to come clean and they have failed to take them. I disagree with contacting the advertisers until we see that Can West which owns TNR will not fire Foer. So go read Bob's beat down and then contact the owners

Canwest MediaWorks, the Canadian company that owns The New Republic, does not have an obligation to decide the editorial policies of The New Republic, but it does have an obligation to discipline all editors who have refused to act ethically, who have misled readers, and who have attacked the military for defending itself from proven falsehoods and gross exaggerations (email Canwest Global CFO John McGuire at jmaguire@canwest.com, and be polite but firm)

Debbie Lee was on BlogTalkRadio recently which you can hear here.

1LT Fishman presents the weekly Surge Wrap

Violence in Iraq drops sharply: Ministry of Interior

Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:01pm EDT By Aseel Kami BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violence in Iraq has dropped by 70 percent since the end of June, when U.S. forces completed their build-up of 30,000 extra troops to stabilize the war-torn country, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. The ministry released the new figures as bomb blasts in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul killed five people and six gunmen died in clashes with police in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala south of the Iraqi capital.

Continue reading "Kitchen Errata & Down with TNR's Foer"

Feasting upon the grapes of wrath

Posted By Deebow

The wrathful gods of combat are smiling on the US Army Special Forces these days.

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Special Operations Soldiers, assigned to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan, arrive in a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicle at a staging area on an undisclosed forward operating base in Helmand Province as two CH47 Chinook helicopters fly overhead April 9. Coalition and ANA forces have killed more than 100 Taliban fighters over the past week.  (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Daniel Love)

Victory, thy name is Musa Qala

This is hot off the AP wire.  I know that we have not spoken much of Musa Qala in this forum, but it bears some discussion here.

But a string of recent battles around Musa Qala, won overwhelmingly by American Special Forces, signal a renewed U.S. focus on the symbolic Taliban stronghold.

Musa Qala is the Anbar of Afghanistan.  For LLP and Mr. Sparkle, that means it is the traditional center of gravity of the Taliban, much like Hollyweird is for the libtards.  It is also a farming area that is rich in the proper soils, suns, and water to grow many things.  The Taliban wanted the farmers to grow poppies, cuz the decadent west and it's smack addicts will pay for their own destruction right?  And well, it keeps the farmer alive by appeasing the Taliban, and the foreign fighters who will kill them and their families if they don't.

Well, some fuzzy headed thinking went into creating the situation whereby we were able to score such a lopsided victory.

In late September 2006, a secret truce was allegedly made with the Taliban under which British troops would quietly move out of Musa Qala in return for the Taliban not attacking the region. The truce had the sanction of Mohammad Daud, the governor of Helmand province, and most tribal elders, who felt they could now exercise control over the Taliban themselves. It was also seen as a move to help integrate the Pashtuns on the side of the US-allied government.

Which led to the following successes in Musa Qala a little later....

On February 1, 2007, about a hundred (possibly two hundred) Taliban forces under Mullah Ghafoor captured the town, overran the district center and raised their trademark white flag. All tribal leaders who had arranged the truce with the British forces were jailed.  Some sources report the Taliban force numbered "several hundred".

This happened on the day that General David Richards was being relieved by Gen Dan McNeill from America.  General McNeill felt much differently about how to deal with the Taliban in Helmand Province and specifically, Musa Qala than General Richards did.

"come spring, an ISAF offensive, not a Taliban offensive, will set the conditions to defeat the insurgents again."

In fact, on the 4th of February, we responded with an air-strike, killing Mullah Abdul Ghafour in a truck with a bomb, which is not without a touch of irony.

Of course, Eurasianet found out that the victory without war lobby was right on top of this.

Officials in several European countries have quietly expressed concern about placing an American general in charge of the NATO force. Richards tried to create a less harsh, more economic-development-oriented identity for NATO in Afghanistan, as compared to the ‘‘kicking-down-doors’’ image that US forces have. Many local analysts expect NATO forces to embrace a more aggressive stance under McNeill, who is believed to oppose the type of local peace arrangements that Richards promoted. The danger at this point is that an overly aggressive NATO force in Afghanistan could alienate Afghans, and thus cause the Taliban’s support base to grow."

Continue reading "Feasting upon the grapes of wrath"

Christmas is Coming...

Posted By Blackfive

Click this link to see what one Marine in Anbar wants for Christmas...

Marines Helicopters Fighting California Fires

Posted By Blackfive

B-roll of Marines in a MH-60S Seahawk dropping water on wildfires in San Diego County, California. Scenes include aerial footage of the wildfires, water being dropped over the fires and refilling the water at a nearby lake.

In an effort to control and contain the fires on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., a CH-53 helicopter, stationed out of Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, fills a large water bowl at Lake Oneil, MCB Camp Pendleton. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo/Staff Sgt. Wayne Bitselle)

It's Time to Give Back to Our Wounded - Valour-IT Kick Off 2007!

Posted By Blackfive
[Contributed for Valour-IT by the most excellent Cox and Forkum]

"At that time I had no use of either hand. I know how humbling it is, how humiliating it feels. And I know how much better I felt, how amazingly more functional I felt, after Soldiers' Angels provided me with a laptop and a loyal reader provided me with the software. I can't wait to do the same, to give that feeling to another soldier at Walter Reed." - Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss at TC Override (wounded in Iraq)

Want to be part of something big?

Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss (Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss' father), provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at major military medical centers. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the 'Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse.

Valour-IT's online fundraising competition begins today! Let's see who can raise the most money to help reconnect our wounded warriors with the world!

WHAT: Friendly fundraising competition for Valour-IT.
WHEN: October 29th through Veterans Day, November 11th .
WHERE: Based in the blogosphere, spreading everywhere else.
WHY: Because giving wounded warriors with hand and arm injuries access to a computer supports their healing and puts them back in touch with the world.
HOW: Blogger teams will be divided along military branches, with civilians "up for grabs."

The lines are drawn by service rivalry:

Jarheads (Marines) will be led by Holly Aho
Zoomies (Air Force) will be led by Mrs. Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette
Squids (Navy) will be led by Chaotic Synaptic Activity.
Doggies (Army) led by Matt and Jim of Blackfive

Non-military bloggers should choose a branch the Army to support (they are called the Army's sister services for a reason).

Now, normally, I don't take part in the brutal gentle inter-service rivalry, especially during war.  But this is for a very important charity.  So, civilian bloggers, choose your branch.  Choose wisely...

Sign up for the Army team by enlisting at the Project Valour-IT site and click (under Army) "Join". We'll generate links, buzz, and get these heroes some Commo support!

What Valour-IT Needs From You:

• Blog and email regularly about Valour-IT and the competition
• Tell your friends, family and neighbors about Valour-IT
• We'll have flyers ready soon.

So all you bloggers sign up with your choice of service and get the word out.  Donate NOW!!!

It's a tax-deductible donation and eligible for matching funds from companies who do that sort of thing (see: IRS INFO for proof for the cautious).

The snail mail address for those who'd rather donate that way (be sure to put ARMY in big letters on the check):

Soldiers' Angels
Project Valour-IT Fund - ARMY TEAM
1792 E. Washington Blvd
Pasadena, Ca 91104

Let's be a part of something big.

Update:  You can see how the competition is shaping up with funds raised and which bloggers have joined each team.  (I noticed MoveOn.org joined the Navy/Coastie Team)...

On the virtues of waterboarding & secret prisons

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

UPDATE: Malcolm Nance former Chief of Training at the Navy SERE school disconcurs with me and says Waterboarding is torture, period.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- On Sept. 6, 2006, President Bush announced that the CIA's overseas secret prisons had been temporarily emptied and 14 al-Qaeda leaders taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But since then, there has been no official accounting of what happened to about 30 other "ghost prisoners" who spent extended time in the custody of the CIA.

Some have been secretly transferred to their home countries, where they remain in detention and out of public view, according to interviews in Pakistan and Europe with government officials, human rights groups and lawyers for the detainees. Others have disappeared without a trace and may or may not still be under CIA control.

I find it comical that these folks toss out numbers like they have the faintest idea how many prisoners the CIA may have and where they are. They detail the paths of some people who may or may not have been detained or shuffled around by the CIA but in reality they are shining a flashlight in a dark cave and claiming they have diagrammed it's interior. But the fact that light is shining at all is wrong.

The CIA is supposed to be scarfing up bad guys and then asking them questions about their plans and who they hang out with. They are even supposed to make them very uncomfortable and fearful for their lives as this makes them more likely to tell us things. Sadly this is not an area of US policy that should ever get much if any oversight. No show trials in the Senate where Hillary and Obama can posture and trade our security for political points and no visits from the Red Cross or Human Rights Watch.

The people who get to experience this Rendition Express are evil and dangerous. We would be well and truly justified to simply shoot them and feed the bodies to sharks. But if there is any possibility we can learn something that will prevent future violence against innocent then we are duty bound to do so. The fact that unpleasant techniques must be used is the fault of the unpleasant people and is mitigated by the value of the lives saved. These operations and the facilities at Gitmo that house unrepentant jihadis are quite simply necessary and proper tools in a war against a global conspiracy to kill innocents. If we close Gitmo, where would the left have us put the avowed jihadis who say they will fight to kill infidels until they draw their last breath? Maybe a work release program in Manhattan?

The activities of those operating on the dark side are undertaken in the dark for two reasons. First so no one can see what is happening, and second no one can see what is happening. The reason that character is so important in choosing a President is that the Commander in Chief powers are almost unchecked. If our national security depends on it the President can do pretty much whatever he deems necessary. This must be so and it we need to know our leader is capable of taking the often harsh actions needed to keep us safe.

Anyone who advocates closing CIA's rendition and "ghost" prisoner operations is too naive to serve as Commander in Chief even if they can get elected President.

In Defense of Honor...

Posted By The Wolf

Time to call out the Cav- and take on the TNR where it hurts- in the pocketbook!

CONFEDERATE YANKEE is putting a call out on a boycott demand to retract the ads of those that advertise in the print and online editions of the New Republic.  If they don't want to honor journalistic integrity, and owe up to the horrid stories they perpetuated from Scott Beauchamp, then we want to draw attention to their dishonor by ensuring their ADVERTISERS know how little integrity there is at TNR.  C-Y details it all.

Advertising with The New Republic represents a tacit support of their on-going support of an obvious lie, a continuing, unapologetic assault on the reputation of an American Army unit presently deployed in combat.

Advertising in The New Republic sends a message that advertisers do not care about journalistic ethics, or what most would consider editorial fraud.

I would ask advertisers to pull all of their advertising from the print edition of The New Republic and tnr.com until the senior editors responsible for this debacle are terminated.

What the WSJ is doing advertising in such a rag, I'll personally never understand. 

We here at Blackfive endorse this call from C-Y.  We hope you will too.

-Wolf

Some of our TNR Posts:

Nail in the Cofin (Blackfive)

Challenge to Foer/TNR  (Laughing Wolf)

From Iraq (Laughing Wolf)

Scot Thomas Bull... (Laughing Wolf)

Bob Owens delivers Coup D' Grace... (Uncle Jimbo)

Mad City Freakfest- Halloween Booty Edition

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

This year was a pretty good show, with no violence and pretty sweet weather. That was helpful because one of the main attractions is the fine selection of scantily-clad ladies. You get every flavor of serving wenches, slutty cops, naughty maids and this year the theme was the booty, as in shake, shake, shake. All the skirts were short and the backfields were definitely in motion. If you want to see a truly heinous example it is at the very end, not for the weak of heart for sure. There was even a random B5 reader  actually a student from Purdue, who hollered at me as I was walking down the street. That's getting a little interesting. Anyhow, here is a look at the Halloween Booty. Language and an over-exposed hussy at the end.

Whither a military?

Posted By The Wolf

  H/T to Kate Pitrone for this- but over at No Left Turns, a discussion came up (O/T, BTW) in the comments section for a posting on the mom that sent the silly string over.  The comments (Read this string HERE ) are fairly interesting, but highly indicative of the COMPLETE mis-understanding of where we are today, how we got here, and WHY.

The question of the day- "WHY DO WE HAVE A LARGE MILITARY, AND SHOULD WE?  WHY DON'T WE JUST GET RID OF MOST OF THE ARMY AND MARINES AND JUST KEEP A 'CONSTITUTIONAL' NAVY AND AN AIR FORCE''?

There is more to this discussion than I could ever hope to post here, but I do think it is worth looking into.  Not being a constitutional scholar, I think I somewhat understand the point around a 'constitutional navy or army', in that it is a strict interpretation of the Constitution's language as written.  Never mind they would never have foreseen an Air Force.  Nor, for that matter, the type of foes we have faced in the 20th and 21st centuries.  But there have been people making an argument that we are in the spot we are precisely because our military is TOO BIG.

My argument- it ain't big enough, in the right places.

Continue reading "Whither a military?"

Update on Iraq from BG Terry Wolff

Posted By The Wolf

The roundtable this week was an interesting one.  Uncle Jimbo and I joined in with bloggers from around the 'sphere, to get an update on what was going on in Iraq and elsewhere.

To say it was upbeat would be an understatement...

Continue reading "Update on Iraq from BG Terry Wolff "

COIN: Smart Soldiers (and Diplomats)

Posted By Grim

The Economist is thinking about COIN today (hat tip to our friend COL Maxwell).  It's a reasonable introductory piece, although most readers of this page will have dealt with the concepts at a higher level.  Still, if you are new to the subject -- or if you work for the State Department, and you don't understand why your bosses want you to go to Iraq -- you could do worse than to spend a few minutes with this piece.

A growing body of opinion, both in the Pentagon and outside, has concluded that insurrections are best fought indirectly, through local allies. “It is extremely difficult for Western powers to defeat insurgencies in foreign countries in modern times,” says Max Boot, author of “War Made New” (2006). “At the same time, there are very few instances of insurgencies overthrowing a local government. The problem is that Western armies lose the will to maintain imperial domination.” Western forces always have the option of going home; for local governments, though, fighting insurgents is a matter of survival.

A better model than Malaya, argues Mr Boot, is the end of the Marxist insurrection in El Salvador in 1992. American forces did not lead the fighting. Instead, a small contingent of under 100 advisers from America's special forces helped the democratising government reorganise its army and avoid the fate of nearby Nicaragua, which fell to the Sandinistas in 1979.

This is the "by, through and with" model, which is a model that has a lot of success to report for it.  It's the one that the Special Forces are designed to handle, but it's not a SF model only.  To work properly, you need at least three components:

1)  SF or other military forces, to turn social networks like tribes or families away from the insurgents, and then train them toward compatibility with government forces.

2)  PRTs, MiTTs, and USAID to apply benefits to "green" areas and deny them to red/yellow ones.  The yellow ones see the benefits the green areas are getting, and want them.  When they approach the government to ask for them, the government answers, "Yes, of course we'd love to do those things for you, because we care about helping people.  But first, we need you to commit to the following things:  controlling your youth, helping us find insurgents, and taking a public oath to stand with us." 

Then, when you get those things, you start to expand the "green" zone.  This is the so-called oilspot method of Counterinsurgency.

3)  State Department support at the highest levels, from the Ambassador down, who understand the mission and answer for it.  This is listed in spot #3, but it's ultimately just as important as getting it right on the ground.  State needs to be shepherding the local government in ways that will help defuse the insurgencies, and encourange stable settlements.

None of this is easy, to be sure.  There are serious challenges in terms of training, for example.  SF is designed for this; conventional forces aren't.  You can see in Iraq, though, that conventional forces can do it -- look at the so-called "Concerned Local Citizen" programs that have been stood up from Anbar to Wasit.  Mostly these have been developed by conventional fighting forces, Marines or Soldiers.

I've written here quite a bit about the PRTs and the role they are playing in Iraq.  That element is getting stronger all the time, and I'm proud of what they're doing.

State is still in transit at its upper levels.  This week's stories show that they aren't really there yet.  The stories also show, though, that they are starting to move in that direction.  We need them to get to where they are "doing" counterinsurgency as one of their main duties -- in places like Iraq, it is their main duty.

This is one of those places where the nation and its government continue to learn on foot.  Rumsfeld was right about one thing:  you go to war with the army you have, and the State department you have.  We've got to keep up the momentum, especially with State, because they do have a serious and important role to play in all this.  Perhaps Ambassador Kenney can do some "subject matter expert exchanges" with her colleagues at State.  She has done a great job down south, and we'd do well to have more like her.

Whoulda Thunk????

Posted By Subsunk

What if there were some catastrophe in a distant foreign land? Think tsunami, floods, earthquakes, fires, etc... and many hundreds of thousands of people were suffering through the circumstances of this act of Nature.  Who would you expect to be there with humanitarian aid, blankets, money, food?  The US military, correct? Correct.

Except it seems Coalition Military Assistance Training Teams are good for something else besides teaching professional warfare to our allies. How often have I said the US military is the finest ambassador of American values and interests ever? I think the last time we had a catastrophe of natural proportions here in the US, only the Japanese and Canadians and Australians chipped in to send support back down the pipeline the opposite way...towards the needy in the, wait for it,.... United States?????? Methinks the standards and values of our Men in the Training Teams are rubbing off on our new allies, doncha' think?

Rich Lowry (Marines in the Garden of Eden) posted on OPFOR today about an Iraqi Army battalion that sent its support to victims of the San Diego (a Navy town, I might add) fires. And our MSM didn't pick up a hint of this story. Not at all. Not even a whimper, whisper, or wet willie of a peep. Nada, nyet, nein, nothing. Such outstanding journalism. When you google Sgt Ist Class Charlene Sipperley, search engines come up with goose eggs. I guess to a google, or excite, or yahoo, or dogpile, jeeves or any other "so called objective" search engines out there, writing stories as an Army journalist doesn't merit inclusion in journalism.

Nimrods. But I repeat myself.

Read the story. It's a good'un.

Subsunk out.