BlackFive

When I found out that Jamie McIntyre was going to be the guest with me on CNN I had to take a look to see if I had written anything particularly wicked about him. I assumed I had since he is CNN's Pentagon correspondent and they are my favorite target after the AP. Surprisingly nothing. I knew immediately who he was because he was one of Rummy's most frequent antagonists during press briefings, but somehow he had not forced me to lay a smackdown on him.

After the show I sent an email thanking him, the producer and host and kinda half apologizing for the sniper shot, but noting I have to take the open ones. Mr. McIntyre replied noting they had filmed a retort to my bearding of the lion in his den, but apparently decided not to air it. I would love to debate that point with him, certainly on CNN or anywhere else for that matter. I have fairly strong & well-supported thoughts that it amounted to airing enemy propaganda and would be interested in and will request a chance to make that point.

The reason I instantly knew who he was is his perfectly skeptical look. He used to lay this on Rumsfeld and you could see the burn. It looks like he has thrown his BS flag as soon as you start talking. It would have been a shame for him to be anything other than a reporter or maybe a defense attorney. I have come up with a name for a blog for him and I think it's spot on.

THE SKEPTICAL EYE(brow) by Jamie McIntyre

That look was right after I made the point about their aiding the bad guys by playing the sniper video. The CNN vids are here.

So here is my cry across the internets asking for a shot in the ring on the topic of US and other media and their role in enemy information operations and strategies.

a
a
CNN jihadi sniper video
AP's associated w/Sunni terrorists Bilal Hussein
Adnan Hajj Fauxtoshops and Hezbollah press control in Lebanon

To name a few, your suggestions are invited as always.

How to get a few winks when you're supposed to working on that "Honey Do!" list (the digital camo is THAT good):

Greyhawk has some results from the week while General Petraeus was discussing strategy with the democrats, house leadership, politicians who talk to state sponsors of terror but not our commander in the War on Terror, anybody who'll listen...

And Chuck Simmins writes of 136 Taliban who were properly ventilated in Western Afghanistan (hhhmmm, what country shares that border?)...

The 2007 Best Ranger Competition 2007 is the 24th anniversary of this grueling three day athletic competition. It featured the best athletes in the world; our United States Army RANGERS! The competition has evolved over the past twenty years from one that was originally created to salute the best two-man "buddy" team in the Ranger Department at Fort Benning, GA, to  a competition to determine the best two-man team from the entire United States Armed Forces. The Best Ranger Competition is held on Fort Benning and is open to the public.

Here's some of the highlights from this year's competition which wrapped up on April 22nd:

And the two winners, Master Sgt. Walt Zajkowski and Maj. Liam Collins, of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, interviewed on Fox and Friends:

Go here for more information, pictures, stories, and video.

All photos taken by Pfc. Robert Baumgartner of the 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs.

Australian Capt. Paul Manoel talks to an American Air Force C-130 aircraft while coordinating the airdrop of supplies. His soldiers watch and wait for the cargo to land before embarking on the recovery.

Australian Capt. Paul Manoel looks through his binocualars while he and his men wait for a cargo drop.

An Australian soldier watches as airdropped cargo comes down in the barren wasteland of the Iraqi desert.

Here's the link to Google Maps for the location of The Car Pool at 4000 Fairfax in Arlington (two blocks from the Ballston Metro).  The official web site of the Car Pool.  It is not a proper pub, but it will serve our purpose which is two-fold: (1) alcohol and (2) space.

I'll be there between 1630-1700 on Friday.  At 1930, we will hit the SP for the Cocktail Reception at the Westin Arlington Gateway (a few blocks away) which begins promptly at 2000.

So far, I think it will be a good crowd there.  Look for the guy in the fly mint green shirt.  That'll be LongTabSigO...

Just kidding.

I watched Operation Homecoming on PBS a few weeks ago.  I sent Colby an email telling him that he did a good job on camera (he did) and the producers did a decent job of portraying his work honestly. 

Then, Robert MacNeil comes on (the Crossroads after piece) and talks about bloggers and how they were the ones who let us know about Abu Ghraib.  He points to the screen and it's Acute Politics there.  I wasn't too happy about MacNeil portraying all milbloggers, let alone the Teflon Don's blog, as all about Abu Ghraib...that struck me as seriously disingenuous.

Here's the link to see "Men in Black", IMHO, done very well...

A reader sends this story about the United States Military Academy:

Lt. Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck is the Superintendent at the U.S. Military Academy and previously served as the Director of Personnel for the Army. “This is the best Army that America has ever had” he tells me. “The kids that sign up are extraordinary. Two out of three of the males in America today between the ages of 18 and 24 are not even qualified to walk through our recruiter’s door in any of our military services. Now maybe that’s an indictment on our society, perhaps so, maybe both, but about a third of those who are qualified, they are coming through the door at unprecedented rates, and I can't say enough good things about them."

There are also some young ladies coming through that door:

Deanna Comstock says she’s wanted to be a West Point cadet since her Dad brought her to the campus when she was six years old. Now she’s in her second year. “I was enamored from that point on. I bought a patch in the gift shop. It’s still on my desk now, and I'm 22 and so it’s been a long time,” she said.

Deanna’s already served as an MP in Iraq before starting her West Point stint. “I'd love to play video games and sit in my room, I just don't have time. Right now my country is at war, it suffered some pretty horrendous attacks and I'm from New York so that really hit home. I could be a part of this to advance freedom in the world, and I went for it, and decided that’s what I wanted to do.”

If you're of that age and you can meet the standards, there's little better that you can do with your life.

My guest shot on This Week at War went pretty well I thought, and I finally wrangled the video onto the internets. The topic was the hero-making around the Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman stories and CNN's Jamie McIntyre did my street cred no help by saying my take was pretty much on, especially since last time on CNN Arwa Damon and I were agreeing too. I would feel bad about that, even though he just agreed 'cuz I was right but then at the end the host teed one up and I whacked it.

The whole bit is embedded below, if you just want the propaganda/sniper vid exchange it is right here. I think Jamie McIntyre should have a blog called the Skeptical Eye(brow) eh? I love the look he gives me after. I emailed a thanks to him, the host and producer and Jamie shot back that he only agreed with me because I was right (true) and that he didn't agree that the sniper vid was propaganda. He said they filmed a rebuttal after I was done, but apparently didn't air it. Probably smart, more ammo.

FOREMAN: Let me ask you quickly, Jim, there's been a lot made of the media improvements by the insurgents, that they're doing a great job of getting their message out. What are we going to see from our military as we move forward against that press machine, when they try to balance it?

HANSON: You make a good point, You force me to point out you guys did put out a pretty heinous video of snipers, of the insurgents killing U.S. troops on CNN, so you guys to some extent helped them with their own propaganda.

One segment of the Friday Freefly was on this topic but the bulk was on Defeatist Dems, and the video channel is here to browse or subscribe. A transcript of the CNN show is after the jump.

OK the title was me indulging me. I used to love being in a Navy pilot bar and then starting to tell stories with the hands showing how I would get on their 6 and take 'em out in a 4 g negative dive, oh yeah did I mention we were inverted. Now eventually real pilots would start to get chafed so I would end by asking the ladies what their favorite part of Top Gun was. When they predictably answered "When Mav threw Goose's dog tags in the ocean" I would say yeah that was all right but, and then I would imitate Goose  mashing the canopy and hanging limp in the harness. A laugh riot I tell you. I am gonna burn in Hell huh?

Speaking of navy fighter pilots, what is wrong with John McCain? Every time I try to cut him some slack he pulls another "throw the other team a bone" stunts. Now he says he would close Gitmo and bring the detainees to say, Leavenworth. Why? That is the question here, why would we grant the left their bone of contention and offer them the argument that we closed it because it was somehow outside of the law. We gain nothing I can see other than proof to the left and the rest of the concerned world community that they can override US law, custom and even our Constitution if they wail and moan long enough.

I am working on the CNN video, I have it on a Tivo that won't give it to my computer. Pause to curse parasitic corporate subscription-based business models. I have posted the transcript after the end of this piece. I scored with the sniper video shot.