As we stagger off into the year of 2008 I’ll offer my very best wishes to all of you. May your health be better than in 2007. May happiness and comfort surround you and your loved ones. May you be able to hold onto your jobs in Mr Bu$h’s “booming” economy, and if you are fortunate enough to have health insurance, I hope you keep it, and that it will cover you and your family in time of need.
Finally I hope that we will be allowed to hold elections next November, and despite the desperate efforts of the republican Party to steal yet another election, I hope sufficient numbers of outraged patriots stand on the poll lines for the 6, 7, 8, or 9 hours necessary to overcome the republican voting machines and elect a Democrat to the White House, and enough real Democrats to Congress so that we may begin the process of removing the stain George Bu$h and his fellow conspirators have put on our nation.
Thank you, one and all, for reading Main and Central through this year.
To market, to market to buy a fat pig
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
To market, to market to buy a fat hog
Home again, home again, jiggety jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done.
This morning’s Gorilla’s Guides points up a thematic of irregular warfare espoused by Lt Col T E Lawrence, of the General Staff, Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Yes, that Lt Colonel Lawrence. Some of the picked out passage is quite apt to our shaky occupation of Iraq, and perhaps we should look to see if the dynamics of war in the desert of 1916-1918 are still viable today. (This will be a brief look because one could write a book about the topic. I see no reason to give it all to you for free when I might be able to score some beer money.) OK, I’m kidding about the beer money.
The piece was first published in Army Journal and Defence Quarterly, October, 1920 and is available on microfilm, I believe.
As I recall, most of Colonel Lawrence’s writings were not well received within the ranks of Britain’s small professional Army in great part because of institutional prejudice against a temporary officer who had “gone native” and served with irregular forces rather than with one of his country’s regiments. His very well known “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” was quite well-received throughout the world, but not in Britain. (cf: Matthew, 13:57, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country.)
It seemed that rebellion must have an unassailable base, something guarded not merely from attack, but from the fear of it: such a base as we had in the Red Sea Parts, the desert, or in the minds of the men we converted to our creed. It must have a sophisticated alien enemy, in the form of a disciplined army of occupation too small to fulfil the doctrine of acreage: too few to adjust number to space, in order to dominate the whole area effectively from fortified posts.1 It must have a friendly population, not actively friendly, but sympathetic to the point of not betraying rebel movements to the enemy.2 Rebellions can be made by 2 per cent. active in a striking force, and 98 per cent. passively sympathetic.3 The few active rebels must have the qualities of speed and endurance, ubiquity and independence of arteries of supply. 4 They must have the technical equipment to destroy or paralyse the enemy’s organized communications,5 for irregular war is fairly Willisen’s definition of strategy, “the study of communication” 6 in its extreme degree, of attack where the enemy is not. In fifty words: Granted mobility, security (in the form of denying targets to the enemy), time, and doctrine (the idea to convert every subject to friendliness), victory will rest with the insurgents, for the algebraical factors are in the end decisive, and against them perfections of means and spirit struggle quite in vain.[emph added]
1. Aware readers will recognize that some of Lawrence’s requirements exist in Iraq. The resistance has enjoyed freedom not only from attack but from fear of it only because the occupying US troops were unable to exert their technological superiority of intelligence-gathering and observation until, within the last year UAVs had been brought to bear monitoring group movements. Direct intelligence gathering has suffered due to a lack of qualified translators. This is due in part to a failure within the Armed Forces to perceive that the Russians would in fact not be coming through the Fulda Gap, and future strategic threats might evolve in other theaters, and to prepare accordingly. Additionally the failure to supply sufficient ground forces to carry out the occupation is directly attributable to the ideological insistence of the civilian leadership that the invasion and conquest of Iraq would be a “cakewalk” and their eagerness to seek advice from “yes-men.”
2. Until the application of UAVs the occupation was severely limited in obtaining real-time information regarding movements of resistance bands. Direct intelligence gathered from the populace was often prompted by motives of clan and sectarian revenge.
3. It has been estimated that the actual “resistance” never comprised more than about 45,000-60,000 fighters gathered from all sources, including disgruntled ex-Iraq Army officers and senior NCOs, Sunni tribesmen, principally from Anbar province, and some Shiite dissidents from the Badr Corps and Mahdi Army, both of which held some degree of loyalty to Iran, the principal wellspring of the Shia sect of Islam. There were also a small number of non-Iraqi fighters drawn to Iraq in opposition to the presence of US troops on “Arab soil.” It has been variously estimated that these fighters were about 65-75% Saudi. As you can see these forces total less than the 2% figure presented by Lawrence, (Iraq’s population being estimated at 25 million) yet were able to hold the occupation for almost four years and inflict grievous losses.
4. The rebels, having grown from youth in the hardpan of Iraq, with its brutal Summer temperatures, were well-adapted to urban combat in the country. US troops were at a considerable disadvantage because of environmental conditions and the necessity to weigh themselves down with a great deal of equipment, which slowed them down and forced them to slower movement on the ground. The resistance fighters were adapted to operating in small, semi-independent bands of 4-8, considered an optimum size for guerrilla warfare. Such small groups can more easily go to ground, disappearing among the populace, more readily than larger bands.
(This is a core point of guerrilla warfare: strike with overwhelming force where the enemy is weak, create casualties, and melt back into the populace.)
5. It’s important to understand that Lawrence uses “communications” here in the sense of unit communication on the ground, i.e. logistical (supply) and tactical support of nearby fraternal units, and not voice and date communications as enabled by the use of radio and data link. This reference to Willisen’s (Lt Gen Karl Wilhelm von Willisen) dictum about communications describes the need in early 19th century warfare to maneuver ground units – infantry battalions and artillery batteries – in close contact in order to maintain cohesion and deliver a killing blow at the schwerpunkt of the battle., where the enemy was weakest, and most vulnerable to a strong penetration of his defenses. When you lose contact with a neighboring unit and find enemy troops moving into the breach, a commander’s instinctive reaction is to withdraw.
6. Lawrence exploited this weakness well, moving rapidly into the Turkish Army’s rear areas, spreading destruction and panic. Nothing like this has occurred in Iraq, but the resistance has maintained a strategy of slow abrasion. The death of 10,000 cuts, wearing down soldiers weary from long days of patrolling and defensive watch at their bases. The overstretching of combat forces and the slow but steady attacks against the supply convoys that the occupation depended upon has been classic communication strategy as practiced by Lawrence. The prodigious use of military-quality explosives left unguarded during the invasion afforded the resistance access to generous supplies of the means to bleed the occupation.
Utilizing its technological superiority in intelligence gathering, a temporary combat superiority through massive infusion of troops, and utilizing the Israeli method of walling off districts into sectarian enclaves, the Occupation forces have managed to create a lessened level of violence in Baghdad. It has long been a military rule that control of a country’s capital is a primary strategic, tactical, and propaganda goal. Through these means the “surge” has apparently tamped down the violence in Baghdad, lending a veneer of control to the central government.
The occupation has adapted one of Lawrence’s rules to its own use. The co-option of native forces through the argument of self-interest has enabled them to create a large force of semi-trained, lightly armed auxiliaries in Anbar province. It should be noted that the Shiite central government has little interest in incorporating these units (estimated as high as 75,000 armed men) into the country’s security forces. Some have speculated that only the payment of monthly salaries by the US has kept these tribesmen calm.
Failure to replace these salaries with gainful employment will keep the restive West a tinderbox, and the tribes tied to the US by monthly stipend. The Shiite central government is resisting the idea of political reconciliation, which would have to include economic development of the tribal areas. The strength of tribal and religious enmity is too great to bring about reconciliation, it seems.
Maintaining peace on the ground will last only as long as the Occupation forces continue to pay off the tribesmen.
Greetings, visitors from the Group News Blog and from AlterNet. Thanks for stopping by. At the bottom of this article you will find links to 18 other articles I've written about the Army's search for a better armor design and its stubborn and loyal steadfastness to what is apparently a second best design, Point Blank's Interceptor. The entire series can be found in a topic guide in the left hand margin.
If you like what you read, please feel free to peruse some of our other topics.
The Body Armor debate is back in the news again. Stung by Congressional criticism, the Army has one again agreed to a side-by-side live fire comparison of the “controversial” Dragon Skin armor system and the currently issued Interceptor armor, worn by GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Army has opted to delay testing of new body armor designs that can stop powerful armor piercing bullets and vests that contain flexible plating much like the controversial Dragon Skin armor.
Citing industry requests, the Army's top gear buyer told Military.com the test firing on so-called "XSAPI" and "FSAPI" armor would be held off until March 2008.
"Some body armor manufacturers told us they needed a little more time to get long-lead materials and to test new designs before they could submit them to us," said Brig. Gen. Mark Brown, head of the Fort Belvoir, Va.-based Program Executive Office Soldier.
Brown said the new armor designs would likely be tested at Aberdeen Test Center, Md., beginning in March and finished up by June. Testing on the new designs was previously set to begin last fall.
A cynical fly on the wall would not have been surprised to have heard “some” armor manufacturer say, “Are you insane? We can’t stand up to a side-by-side test! We need to to build a better vest for the testing.”
The Army insists the Interceptor is the best armor available, and has in fact warned GIs that if they wear Dragon Skin and are injured or killed, they families will not be allowed to collect their SGLI benefits.
The Army was pressured into launching a new solicitation for body armor designs after lawmakers held hearings on Capitol Hill to delve into the debate surrounding Dragon Skin, which is made by Fresno, Calif.-based Pinnacle Armor. An NBC News investigative report in May claimed that the flexible Dragon Skin armor was far more protective than the current Interceptor system, which uses two rigid ceramic plates to stop armor-piercing bullets.
Who are you going to believe? NBC News or the Army? Decisions, decisions.
The Army came out swinging before the NBC report aired, claiming Dragon Skin had catastrophically failed several make-or-break tests it had conducted -- the same kinds of tests used to certify all body armor systems submitted to the Army for fielding.
So, the Army prefers the Interceptor, now improved, with side panels.
Apparently the Army has no problem with visiting Senators looking for photo ops wearing Dragon Skin armor.
They also have no problem with Sith Lords who visit Iraq for whatever dark purpose.
If any reader believes Whining Joe Lieberman and Dick “dick” Cheney aren’t wearing the very best armor money can buy, please contact me. I have a controlling interest in a bridge I’m prepared to sell you for a bargain price. After gaining approval from the Mayor of New York, and the Borough Presidents of Manhattan and Brooklyn you will be able to erect toll booths. It’s an income for life!
But that didn't stop some Dragon Skin advocates from claiming the fix was in, prompting a House Armed Services Committee hearing June 6 that pitted Pinnacle chief Murray Neal against the anti-Dragon Skin Army brass.
Nevertheless, the committee's ranking member, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., called for a side-by-side test of Dragon Skin and the Interceptor run by government engineers and overseen by both congressional and Pentagon auditors. That led to the Army's June 20 request to industry for both flexible armor designs like Dragon Skin -- which incorporates a series of interlocking ceramic disks rather than a single rigid plate -- and for a so-called "XSAPI" plate which could stop armor piercing rounds the current ESAPI can't.
Attentive readers will note that the Army agreed to the tests only after Representative Hunter – a republican – demanded them. Requests from soldiers, their families and survivors, press, and Democrats were ignored. I wouldn’t want you to labor under the misapprehension that today’s Army is the Army of all the citizens.
[BG Mark Brown, head of the Fort Belvoir, Va.-based Program Executive Office Soldier] said part of the delay in testing comes from industry's inability to create an XSAPI plate that comes in under the weight limit of about seven pounds for a size "large" plate, about a pound more than the current ESAPI.
"One thing troops in the field have told us is they don't want any more weight with a new armor system," Brown said, adding that preliminary submissions for XSAPI have been too heavy.
Pinnacle's [DragonSkin] [Murry] Neal says he plans to submit Dragon Skin samples for the upcoming test and is glad the Army is finally taking his technology seriously.
"The extensions, as we have been told by several Army personnel, are primarily for the current manufacturers to fix the plates that have been run through preliminary testing and that are not passing with enough percentage to guarantee passing the [final] testing," Neal said in a email to Military.com, adding he's only too eager to pit his flexible -- otherwise known as "scalar" -- system up against any comers.
If their vests weren’t ready in the Summer of 2007, and they needed more time to jigger improvements, then the Interceptor certainly wasn’t the best vest available.
I just want to point out that NBC filmed their side-by-side tests of the Interceptor and Dragon Skin vests. The Army either didn’t, or won’t release the films. Suspicions that the Mk II pencil was involved in the testing just might be valid.
Many well-qualified writers have poured copious amounts of ink, and untold billions of electrons, onto a continuing record of the assault by the Bu$h malAdministration upon the US Constitution, the foundation of our way of life, and I’ve tried to add my own small efforts to the total history.
The historical record is long, and exhausting to contemplate. I used to think “Someone should be keeping a record of all this, because one day, prosecutors and historians will need this.”
It seems someone might have been. Either that or markthshark has mad research skills.
By all means invest the time and patience to read the entire piece. Save your anger until the end, and then call or write your CongressCritters.
If you have nothing more left in you to say, just tell them that we’re watching them.
In a comment to the article “Pakistan Remains Troubled” reader and frequent commenter (and new Daddy!) Dubhaltach notes that Islam prescribes a 40 day period of mourning.
Ms Bhutto was killed on December 27th. If you’ve already bought your 2008 calendars and desk diaries, take a moment and circle February 5th on them. That ends the 40 days. There just might be some very interesting effects after that date.
Amaze your friends and family with your political prescience.
Gorilla’s Guides published a nice article yesterday about the Anbar Awakening, giving some toothy background details about the movement that Western readers had not read before.
"Our goal was always to drive off the U.S. occupiers from our country, but we and al-Qaida have different goals. We want to liberate our country … while al-Qaida wants to establish their own extremist Islamic State in Iraq," said Ahmad Hameed, 35, a member of a local Awakening Council-style group in the Ghazaliyah neighborhood of Baghdad.
"We decided to fight the al-Qaida militants because they started to assassinate fighters and leaders from the resistance groups. They tend to kill indiscriminately." said Hameed at the checkpoint at the neighborhood entrance with a pistol on the hip and an assault rifle in his hand. [emph added]
Americans who might have been living in Cloud Cuckoo Land would be wise to memorize the above paragraph. The Anbar Awakening was part of the resistance. They stopped killing Americans for two reasons: the a-Q interlopers (i.e. Saudis) were becoming a serious problem and had to be eliminated, and they are remaining quiet only because the US is paying them to stay quiet. You might think that one the Saudis and their colleagues in a-Q are finally disposed of, the tribes could very well become ”restive” again.
The Saudis apparently were not nice people:
Sa’ad al-Rawi, 27, accused al-Qaida terrorists of luring young Iraqis, even children, into planting bombs and killing them later when they refused to obey any longer.
"We saw al-Qaida doing terrible things. They were killing and displacing Sunnis, Shiites and Christians. We could not leave our houses and were afraid of snipers. Therefore we decided to fight them," said Rawi.
That comment about a-Q displacing people is interesting because it hints at ethnic cleansing which heretofore was considered a tactic employed only by the Shiite militias.
The middle-class East Ghazaliyah area houses about 5,000 residents. One of the two highways surrounding it leads to the Baghdad Airport and used to be the most dangerous road in the world for the U.S. troops.
Once a ghost town with bodies dumped in the streets, the neighborhood now is seeing a recovering as shops are open and people begin venturing out, with CLCs manning the checkpoints and searching vehicles seriously. The Iraqi security forces, who are predominately Shiites, guard only at the outer checkpoints.
Deeply frustrated by the failure of national reconciliation and slow buildup of a capable Iraqi security force, the U.S. seems pleased to jump at the windfall of the showdown to relieve the strained troops and is encouraging the growth of the CLCs by means like paying.
Omer Adnan, who dropped out of college last year to take care of his family following his father’s death in a car bombing, said he had just signed a new three-month CLC contract with the Americans but he complained that the pay of 350 U.S. dollars per month is not enough to support his family.
Great. Less than a year into our 21st century practice of paying off this version of the Barbary Pirates and we’re already looking at a pending demand for more tribute.
If you’re not familiar with the circumstances, there is a brief explanation of the Barbary Wars here.
The cost of tribute became unsupportable, and the US had to fight a long, painful, and expensive war to defeat the Barbary pirates.
A cynical observer might well conclude that bribing the people who were killing your soldiers just a short time ago might not work, long term, especially so if part of the bargain is to give them more and better armaments. It’s probably unfortunate that the ultimate beneficiaries of all this – Big Oil – won’t have to pay the price of tribute.
Coincidently, IraqSlogger (subs req) has an article today noting that the Shiite central government plans to absorb no more than 20% of these Sunni tribesmen into the security forces.
Also coincidently, IraqSlogger (subs req) has another article today detailing a memo sent our by GEN Petraeus to the troops of MNF-I, patting himself on the back for “significant progress” and warning them of future “unforeseen challenges.” The disappointment of only 20% of these tribesmen getting jobs might qualify as a “challenge.”
In the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan remains chaotic in many areas. As is often the case, Professor Juan Cole has an excellent detailing of the troubles. Pakistani citizens appear to be very outraged by Ms Bhutto’s death, and I get the impression that believe President Musharraf, or proxies of his, had a hand in her death.
Points of interest include reports from several sources that government security forces apparently withdrew shortly before the shooting and bomb explosion, and the muddled matter of the cause of her death. Josh Marshall was on this story all day yesterday and has a few posts about it. Key points include the fact that the Pakistan Government’s official position is that she was not killed by a bullet or a piece of bomb shrapnel, but rather by hitting her head against a piece of the car she was traveling in when she ducked in reaction to the shots or the explosion. This stands in direct contrast to statements by doctors describing a large wound in the side of her head caused by something hitting her. Several of Josh’s readers with medical qualifications have written in to offer a studied, professional “bullshit” to the government narrative.
Dr. Mussadiq Khan of Rawalpindi General Hospital, who treated Bhutto before she was declared dead, said she had "a big wound" on the side of her head "that usually occurs when something big, with a lot of speed, hits that area."
Ms Bhutto’s family refused permission for an autopsy, and had her buried quickly, which I believe is a religious requirement common to Islam and Judaism.
The Government’s story varied throughout the day, with some details changing several times. The apparent settling on the “official” narrative that she died when she ducked would seem to be in line with the supposition of Ken Reynolds, interviewed by CNN.
CNN national security analyst Ken Robinson, who worked in U.S. intelligence in Pakistan during the Clinton administration, said he suspects Bhutto's enemies are attempting to control her legacy by minimizing the attack's role in her demise.
"They're trying to deny her a martyr's death, and in Islam, that's pretty important," Robinson said.
Bhutto, he said, threatens to become more influential in death than she was in life. "Her torch burns bright now forever. She's forever young; she's forever brave, challenging against all odds the party in power and challenging the military and Islamic extremism."
This opinion emphasizes the desire of the Musharraf government to deny Ms Bhutto a place in legend, and to short-circuit the Pakistan Peoples Party the icon of a martyr killed in opposition to Musharraf.
The Pakistani government quickly blamed the killing on Al-Qaeda and a-Q in fact has claimed they are responsible for her death. Whether these two facts are coincidental or convenient you’d have to judge for yourself.
Professor Cole has noted that several US politicians have “called for” an independent investigation under the auspices of the UN, adding that the Pakistani military dictatorship’s credibility is “low.” A skeptical man might wonder whether President Musharraf would be eager to have such a body finger-walking through his country. Based solely upon recent observations it seems to me the only country in the world that believes itself above such independent international commissions is the US, although I can’t imagine why.
UPDATE: Reader Dubhaltach, from Gorilla's Guides notes that there is a prescribed 40 day period or mourning, and forecasts some serious domestic disturbances somewhere around February 5th, 2008. We can be certain this fact has escaped the fully-politicized Bu$hCo Department of State, but oxygen breathers should take notes.
I think just about everyone agrees our GIs have had their helmets and heads unscrewed by the Bu$h malAdministration and their necks have been toiletized by these evil criminals. I’m confident that everyone on the oxygen-breathing side of the universe believes that. Over there among the Bu$h Jugend they of course believe that Heaven’s gift to the Heimat can do no wrong. It‘s just a matter of Will, you know.
Suffering deaths and maiming because of inadequate armor, being sent into a combat zone with unarmored vehicles, given spoiled food and filthy water, attacked by patriotic Iraqis who resented the occupation of their country, dragged back to Iraq a third, fourth, and fifth time, their families shattered, divorce rife with children that don’t even recognize their fathers because they’ve spent more time with their platoons than with their families, our GIs have been through the mill.
Once more spitting in the faces of our soldiers, Mr Bu$h has vetoed a $555 Billion defense appropriation bill recently passed by Congress at his demand. The criminals in the White House don’t like a provision in the bill that might allow Americans or corporations suing the Iraq government to freeze Iraqi financial assets during any lawsuit.
The Iraqi government asked the USG to do something about this. Mr Bu$h did. He vetoed the bill.
A cynical man might think that if somehow Baghdad started looking like Saigon, 1975 in the near future the government of Iraq – you know – that “sovereign” entity that controls most of the Green Zone (except for the areas occupied by Backwater and the other Teflon mercenaries) – might have to suddenly shift the finds of that “sovereign” country to some other banking system in some other country with banking regulations a bit more opaque than in the US, if you get my drift and I think you do.
The veto threat startled Democratic congressional leaders, who believe Bush is bowing to pressure from the Iraqi government over a provision meant to help victims of state-sponsored terrorism. The veto is unexpected because there was no veto threat and the legislation passed both chambers of Congress overwhelmingly.
…
"We understand that the president is bowing to the demands of the Iraqi government, which is threatening to withdraw billions of dollars invested in U.S. banks if this bill is signed," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), in a joint statement. “The administration should have raised its objections earlier, when this issue could have been addressed without a veto."
A White House spokesman said the veto would officially be delivered by Dec. 31. The dispute could be settled in late January when Congress returns if Democratic leaders agree to tweak the language before sending the bill back to the White House.
I wonder whether there really are any lawsuits that could endanger the bank accounts of the “sovereign” Iraq. A cynical man might wonder whether the US banking system could easily weather a sudden withdrawal of the Iraq money, following right on the heels of the subprime mortgage flim-flam meltdown. Is everyone up to speed with the idea that the banks are far more important that the troops?
At issue is a provision deep in the defense authorization bill, which would essentially allow victims of state sponsored terrorism to sue those countries for damages. The Iraqi government believes the provision, if applied to the regime of Saddam Hussein, could target up to $25 billion in Iraqi assets held in U.S. banks. Iraq has threatened to pull all of its money out of the U.S. banking system if the provision remains in the bill.
I know you will be surprised to learn that all Iraq funds were in fact frozen by President Clinton on February 16, 1993, by Executive Order 12722, and reinforced by Mr Bu$h in Executive Order 13303, as detailed in this Salon piece by Andrew Cockburn.
I haven’t been able to find any legal authority unlocking these funds, and would appreciate it if someone can point me to any such ruling or law.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the disputed provision "would permit plaintiffs’ lawyers immediately to freeze Iraqi funds and would expose Iraq to massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime. The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States."
So, if you were brutalized by Saddam Hussein’s government, and you thought you could get some justice by good old American revenge by cash, you’re just out of luck.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) was angered that the White House decided on a veto long after the bill passed both chambers of Congress.
"It is unfortunate that the administration failed to identify the concerns upon which this veto is based until after the bill had passed both houses on Congress and was sent to the President for signature," Levin said. "I am deeply disappointed that our troops and veterans may have to pay for their mistake and for the confusion and uncertainty caused by their snafu.”
The item in the defense authorization bill causing all the hubbub was inserted by Senator Frank Lautenburg (D-NJ) with 30 Senatorial co-sponsors.
Lautenberg contends that his provision is aimed at holding countries like Iran responsible for state sponsored terrorism, including the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beruit in 1983. The measure would allow plaintiffs to target hidden commercial assets owned by countries that sponsor terrorism, and the language is not aimed at Iraq specifically. The Lautenberg amendment has 30 cosponsors, including a handful of conservative Republicans like Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
“My language allows American victims of terror to hold perpetrators accountable — plain and simple,” Lautenberg said. “After months of negotiations over this bill, it is hard to understand why President Bush would suddenly veto this bipartisan proposal at the last minute. The President should be listening to the pleas of Americans victims of terror and their families and should help give them the justice they deserve.”
The problem was known about more than a week ago, and was mentioned in this ABC News piece dated December 19th.
Mr Bu$h could have avoided all this by mentioning the matter before the bill was passed. We all know he’s quick enough to shriek in front of cameras and threaten a veto of other bills he considers too kind to the “little people.”
Yet, surprisingly, he waited until the very last second, after the bill was passed overwhelmingly, and transmitted to our desk in the Oval Office he occupies, to complain.
Government by tantrum is no way to run a railroad, Mr Bu$h.
A tip of the Kevlar helmet to reader Neil O’C for shoving this story over the transom.
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto will keep the pundits busy for days if not weeks as they endlessly anal-ize (GI-speak for talking out of your fourth point of contact) the matter.
Unsurprisingly, the American Corporate Media are treating the story as if it’s all about them, which is to mean (breathlessly) how will this affect the Presidential horse race and Sophomore Class King or Queen of the Prom? Yesterday we were treated to ghoulish discussion among the bobbleheads about how Ms Bhutto’s death is good for Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. Or maybe it’s good for Mitt Romney. Or maybe for Barack Obama. Anyway, it’s got to be good for someone.
Parents will recognize this reaction. If you’ve raised children you’ve undoubtedly noted that 5 year olds consistently live in a centric universe. Everything revolves around them, and so it is with the children of our corporate media.
If Ms Bhutto’s assassination doesn’t impact the horse race then it means the children with the microphones are no longer important!
Frequent commenter Shanks opined that possibly the Pakistani security forces failed to discover the assassin with his pistol and bomb because there was a dark plan to slip a couple of “special weapons” to the evil Iranians in the ensuing chaos, but he knows that’s not realistic, and was just winding my watch stem to see what happened.
This assassination was intended to remove a domestic danger to the status quo in Pakistan. Whether the agent(s) of change were set in place by President Musharraf, the ISI or some other entity like a-Q may eventually be determined.
I will tell you this: a-Q tends to use the bomb for assassination. They attacked the World Trade Center in 1993 by bomb. They attacked the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam by bomb in 1998. The attacked the World Trade Center again in 2001with flying bombs. And you will remember that Ahmed Shah Masood, the “Lion of Afghanistan” was killed by a-Q proxies with a bomb concealed in a video camera on the same day the WTC was successfully destroyed. Of the almost 4,000 US troops killed in Iraq, the majority have died by bomb, either placed and fired off by a-Q or by the Iraqi resistance in imitation.
The gun is more a weapon favored by Westerners, but do not impute anything special to this fact because it has been used throughout the Arab world. The bomb is just more spectacular, and perhaps more certain.
Attaturk points out that there are many correlations between deaths in the Bhutto family and the Pakistani military, taking up a cut from a report from a McClatchy article this morning.
The assassination occurred in this garrison city housing the headquarters of the Pakistan army, an institution that has always seemed opposed to Bhutto. A couple of miles away across Rawalpindi, a previous military regime had executed her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister, in 1979, when she was 26.
Police officers had frisked the 3,000 to 4,000 people attending Thursday's rally when they entered the park, but as the speakers from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party droned on, the police abandoned many of their posts. As she drove out through the gate, her main protection appeared to be her own bodyguards, who wore their usual white T-shirts inscribed: "Willing to die for Benazir."[emph added]
To drive the point home, Attaturk adds,
When people just dismiss the anger of Pakistanis at Musharraf and the military regime in Pakistan over Bhutto's death, the lack of context is staggering. Not only because Benazir Bhutto's close relations were killed at the hands of the military; but because even if her death was not directly caused by the regime, it set in place the forces that probably did.
I certainly don’t know anything about political assassinations, because I will deny that’s a skill set the US Army teaches its soldiers. But if I wanted to take a very important political target I wouldn’t use just one hitter. I might have a gunman in close in case the opportunity presented itself, and I might back him up with a dedicated zealot willing to kill himself (and the target) with a bomb. (This would also ensure the gunman couldn’t talk later.) In case of failure I’d also have a couple of teams along the route of retreat, possibly with sophisticated anti-vehicle weapons, like RPGs. And I would need a spotter at middle distance to advise the cutoff teams whether the first attack failed, to alert them of the target’s approach.
I’m not saying anything. I‘m just saying eventually the truth will surface.
In the meantime, let’s examine some of the consequences. The US plan to use Ms Bhutto as a moderating influence on President Musharraf is in tatters, just in case they were ever serious about letting the flowers of democracy blossom in Pakistan. That would be a first, by the way, because they haven’t shown any interest in democracy in Iraq or the US, but it did look good in newspapers.
The resultant civil unrest throughout Pakistan seems to require a harsh hand to clamp down right now. Perhaps fortunately, President Musharraf recently made some changes in the national Supreme Court, who will most likely endorse any suggestions he has for emergency measures to restore calm. And he’s no longer commander of the Army, so there’s that clear arms-length distance to ensure propriety if he declares martial law.
We’ve poured billions of dollars into Pakistan, claiming that it is a bulwark in the fight against the International War of Terror™ and for our troubles we’ve gotten A Q Khan giving nuclear reactor and weaponry information to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. Our best friend President Musharraf sentenced Mr Khan to house arrest after pardoning him.
The Taliban and a-Q have been proliferating in safety in the North West Provinces, specifically Waziristan. The Pakistani Army seems unable to deal with the G’s up there. There were plans to use American Special Ops personnel in the North West, starting in January in an effort to track down some of the G’s hiding places.
There was great play about Secretary of State Rice going to Pakistan in order to straighten out President Musharraf and his working arrangement with Ms Bhutto, thereby restoring some degree of domestic and international legitimacy to a strongman, and now that’s down the tubes.
A man blinking in dazzled despair might ask how many more ways can the Bu$h malAdministration screw the pooch in Pakistan?
Dec. 27, 2007 | The assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Thursday provoked rioting in Islamabad and Karachi, with her supporters blaming President Pervez Musharraf, while he pointed his finger at Muslim extremists. The renewed instability in Pakistan came as a grim reminder that the Bush administration has been pursuing a two-front war, neither of which has been going well. Bush's decision to put hundreds of billions of dollars into an Iraq imbroglio while slighting the effort to fight al-Qaida, rebuild Afghanistan, and move Pakistan toward democracy and a rule of law has been shown up as a desperate and unsuccessful gamble. The question is whether President Musharraf now most resembles the shah of Iran in 1978. That is, has his authority among the people collapsed irretrievably?
The article is well written, and quite authoritative, as Professor Cole’s work tends to be. If you’re unfamiliar with the entire history of Pakistan as the wellspring of charismatic Islamic fundamentalism, this would be a good quick primer. But to answer Professor Cole’s question,
The obvious answer is that the Bu$h malAdministration doesn’t do “Plan B’s,” as many will remember from the Iraq Study Group report of earlier this year.
Professor Cole continues:
Pakistan's future is now murky, and to the extent that this nation of 160 million buttresses the eastern flank of American security in the greater Middle East, its fate is profoundly intertwined with America's own. The money for the Sept. 11 attacks was wired to Florida from banks in Pakistan, and al-Qaida used the country for transit to Afghanistan. Instability in Pakistan may well spill over into Afghanistan, as well, endangering the some 26,000 U.S. troops and a similar number of NATO troops in that country. And it is not as if Afghanistan were stable to begin with. If Pakistani politics finds its footing, if a successor to Benazir Bhutto is elected in short order by the PPP and the party can remain united, and if elections are held soon, the crisis could pass.
Several observers have noted that the Bhutto family is the PPP, and apparently there is no nationally known politician waiting in the wings.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a political rival of Ms Bhutto, had returned from exile at the same time as Ms Bhutto, and he had also been the target of an unsuccessful sniper attack yesterday. He was ousted as Prime Minister when General Musharraf staged his coup in 1998. Since he was convicted of terrorism by the Supreme Court and blocked from participating in national politics for 21 years, it would seem he is barred from replacing Ms Bhutto as a candidate for Prime Minister. Since he is technically still under ban, its unlikely he will be able to run in the January elections.
The news of the successful attack against Benazir Bhutoo has been all over the news and everyone is wondering two things: Who did it and what will happen now?
The general suspicion is that ex-General and now-only President Musharref ordered the killing or at the least had knowledge that it would happen. This is probably wrong for several reasons. Bhutto was a political opponent of Musharraf, as was seen by the mass demonstrations of joy at her return. The USG put tremendous pressure on Musharraf to take off his uniform and theoretically divest himself of his Army connections. General Musharraf appointed his Best Uniformed Friend as his successor as head of the Army, and obviously that doesn’t pass the smell test, but if you look at it logically, is he required to appoint his worst enemy? If you take a look at Mr Bu$h, you never saw him appointing generals who didn’t toady up to him and say exactly what he wanted them to say.
(One shouldn’t take away from that last paragraph that I’m necessarily comparing the US with Pakistan, a country ruled by a madman who is despised and hated by the citizenry, beset by internal religious and political strife, housing religious fanatics, with a shaky hand at the button controlling nuclear weapons.)
However President Musharraf and Ms Bhutto had at least publicly committed themselves to some sort of power-sharing in order to quiet internal unrest, and her death will undoubtedly cause more domestic dissent.
The next most logical actor would be a takfiri jihadist. One reason for this would be the fact that a bomb was used. It was a pretty impressive bomb, since apparently about 25 other people were killed by the bomb. There has been a wave of bomb attacks recently in Pakistan, causing a number of deaths and somehow it seems eerily similar to what happened in Iraq.
The BBC is reporting that Ms Bhutto had just left a rally and was standing up in her car, waving through the sunroof of her car when the assassin stepped forward, and shot her in the neck and chest and then triggered his bomb. Chalk that up to a failure of the security services in failing to examine the cheering throngs for weapons.
I suppose.
The BBC is reporting a large number of spontaneous demonstrations in the region around Karachi, which is the home area of her greatest political support. There have been several reports of cars and buses set afire, and at least four people have been killed. There are also reports of unrest in Rawalpindi, Peshawar, and Islamabad.
Now we can start worrying about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, and what will happen to it if there is a major upheaval in the country.
On another negative note, this certainly puts paid to the Bu$h malAdministration’s attempt to rein in President Musharraf and get him to loosen up his internal harsh grip. The narrative has been that Washington has wanted to loosen up President Musharraf’s rule, provide a greater degree of democracy, and refocus his military attention from India towards what the US considers the real threat, the al Qaeda and Taliban supporters in Waziristan. The US has been pouring millions of dollars into Pakistan recently, with the money dedicated specifically to supporting the PK military forces engaged in controlling the wild tribes in the North West, and Waziristan in particular.
The US learned earlier this week that, disappointingly, these funds have not reached the military forces in the North West provinces. As Bernhard points out,
Short of an unlikely military coup against Musharraf, I currently see no way how the U.S. can again get the upper hand over him. The bribing of the tribes and planed [sic] operation of U.S. special forces in North Western Frontier may have ended before they really started.
Which means, I suppose, that the Eternal War Against Terror will continue, unendingly, right through the administration of whatever Democrat wins in November 2008, until the Twelfth of Never. Regrettably, it looks as if Mr Bu$h’s promise to get Osama bin-Forgotten has once again been foiled. The US military will require ever-larger sums of money to fund their growth, which will inevitably lead to a diminution of funding for programs that support the elderly, children and other helpless and unfortunate Americans.
A truly cynical man would understand that it is time to buy more Defense Industry stocks.
UPDATE: Juan Cole is associated with a second blog, Informed Comment: Global Affairs and it has linked to a series of Getty Imagesphotos taken during the rally before her death in the immediate aftermath of the assassination.
Today is when Western nations traditionally mark the birth of a small child, born to parents in an occupied land. The family will soon be refugees when the land’s ruler learns of a prophecy that a child born in a particular city will bring about the destruction of the ruler’s realm.
The child grows to be a man, following in his father’s footsteps to become a carpenter, as was traditional in those days. History tells us little of his growing years other than that, sometime around his bar mitzbah, the traditional celebration of manhood, he astounded the priests in the temple with his knowledge of law and faith. Many today believe he was following in the footsteps of his other father, the creator and law-giver, and revere the words we are told he spoke as he taught his other father’s lessons.
When people write of this day they frequently use words like “hope,” “love,” and “compassion,” all concepts that are sadly lacking in this 21st century. As we stagger into 2008, CE, we see around us on every side war, oppression, cruelty, and hatred. Even those who grandly and publicly profess to be the most devout followers of this man seem to take great pride in turning their backs on his teachings. It is more than unseemly for religious leaders to advocate war, killing, torture, cruelty, and other barbarities. It is in fact obscene, but too many of today’s leaders have lost their way and use the veil of religion to hide the scars of political ambition and lust for power that have marked their souls for eternity.
In these days a nation conceived in the principles of Enlightenment liberalism is being dragged steadily and remorselessly into the pit of fascism.
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. Those successful revolutionaries who tore this country away from an oppressive and neglectful British crown thought so highly of these certain rights that had been ignored by the British king that they were specifically enumerated and added to the Constitution to enshrine their importance.
We have seen many of these rights summarily taken away from us under the pretense of “protecting” us when in fact we are less safe today than we were seven years ago. The actions of those who lied, cheated, and stole their way into positions of power have formed the basis for many dark theories of conspiracy.
Most of these “leaders” have shown distressing hints that they intend to make their time in office permanent, establishing a form of government that patriots died to reject over 200 years ago. Members of the Executive and Legislative bodies are feared and despised all over the world. Members of the Legislative branch recently took time out from their busy schedule of ignoring the wishes of the American people to strongly affirm their dedication to the man whose birth we celebrate today, and to his teachings. They did this even as they refused to take active steps to condemn, and stop, the torture of helpless prisoners.
The press, those whose duty in the defense of liberty is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, is rightly charged with the solemn obigation of safeguarding the freedom of the citizens, to ensure that the US Government does not trample upon them. But the press has been co-opted by forces more interested in profit than liberty, and great swathes of the Press has aligned itself with the ideologues now determined to transform this country into something more commonly seen in some corrupt third world backwater banana republic.
Our economy and financial system has been bastardized, turned into something resembling a street corner three-car monte con in which only the insiders can win. Wealth that was once evident in most families has been ripped from the pockets of the middle class and concentrated in the hands of a very small and fortunate minority. Jobs that once paid a decent wage, enough to allow a family to live with pride, have been sent overseas by multinational corporations, sacrificed on the altar of profit. With the connivance of our lawmakers, banks have become predators, sucking the very lifeblood of those desperately trying to stay afloat in an economy rigged against them.
We approach a national election to choose new leaders, unsure that those who direct our nation’s course in the affairs of the world will permit them to occur, and also unsure whether they will be fair elections, or rigged and stolen like the last few we’ve had.
Those politicians running for office are collectively a dim lot, a frightening shadow of our present rulers – a pack of mediocre authoritarians who seem unable to develop a new course for the country, and instead advocate more of what got us to the edge of the abyss we are presently teetering on.
But for one day let us put aside our dark present and the specter of an even darker future and celebrate the message of the day.
May this day bring you and your families the happiness, joy, love, and good will that was the primary teaching of that child that legend tells us was born on this day over 2000 year ago. May your children shout and cry out with happiness and glee. May your argumentative uncle for once shut his yap and pass out early – hopefully not into the mashed potatoes. May your table be overflowing with the bounty of the earth, and may the music be joyous and hopeful as befits the day.
Time enough to worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
As we count down the last few hours until midnight I want to wish each and every one of you a happy, healthy and safe Christmas and the same throughout the entire season.
If you are an observant Christian, may the spirit of Jesus Christ imbue you and yours throughout the year and may you take his real teachings to heart, remembering his message was to treat each of your fellow humans with the love and compassion he considered essential to enter into his father’s kingdom.
If Christmas is not your holiday, my wish would be for your life to be filled with the peace and love that is associated with this night, and let it guide your steps through the year to come.
Yesterday’s NY Times has an illuminating video report about the Awakening, describing it as facing an uncertain future after having helped calm one of the flashpoints of Iraq. There’s no URL for this report. It’s located on the front page, immediately below the slugged main stories.
As the video points out, Anbar has transitioned from being a textbook example of chaos and anarchy to a relatively calm and quiet area, despite ongoing sectarian tensions. Sunni Anbar distrusts the Shiite central government and wants nothing to do with it.
The Anbaris are fine about American money, however, as the report highlights an Imam happily sticking a fistful of bills into a plastic bag.
“…the Americans are handing out millions of dollars. Imams in Falluja like this man, whose mosque once blared anti-American screeds, now happily visit American bases to collect $15,000 grants.
If the American handouts stop or diminish will he still cooperate?”
Indeed, will they? It may be an exercise in jaw-banging to discuss what would happen if we left, because we aren’t leaving. The USG has invest billions of dollars in massive “enduring bases” and the fabled largest embassy in the world to support the planned American hegemony in the Middle East. The Democratic Party, which seized a Congressional majority on the promise of getting us out of Iraq, has been disgracefully unwilling or incompetent in keeping that promise.
A cynical man might wonder whether politicians like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Chuck Schumer were really serious.
The report points out that the issues surrounding the strength and persistence aren’t only about money. There is also the issue of sectarianism in Sunni Anbar. Sheikh Mahmoud Abeb Shabeeb sees the central government as his enemy, in much the same way that millions of Americans think about our overlords in Washington.
The sectarianism that shows itself in every part of life in Iraq even infests the need for improvement and rebuilding. There is a perceived competition for infrastructure repair and reconstruction.
A police commander in Ramadi:
“If Ramadi and Anbar tribes are not treated fairly, Baghdad is not safe.”
Nice.
The Shiite central government of course is fearful of the Awakening because they don’t want to think of a well-trained and well-armed group of Iraqis who say they are quite willing to do their own ethnic cleansing if they aren’t given a proper share of governing. As I pointed out here, the central government wants to disband the militias of the Anbar Awakening as soon as possible.
http://www.mainandcentral.org/archives/2007/12/differing_views.html
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's Shiite-led government declared Saturday that after restive areas are calmed it will disband Sunni groups battling Islamic extremists because it does not want them to become a separate military force. … The statement from Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi was the government's most explicit declaration yet of its intent to eventually dismantle the groups backed and funded by the United States as a vital tool for reducing violence.
The militias, more than 70,000 strong and often made up of former insurgents, are known as Awakening Councils, or Concerned Local Citizens.
Just in case you felt the video report was too grim, there’s also a nice little slideshow with text commentary about the attempts to bring the Awakening to Baghdad.
Our friends at Gorilla’s Guides posted a heart-rending article about an Iraqi child who lost her legs in a bombing incident. The actual source of the story is Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) a multinational non-governmental humanitarian aid group dedicated to relieving the agony of mankind resulting from the stupidity of man.
I’ll just highlight the beginning Mouna’s journey:
Episode 1 – One day, three years ago…
"She was playing in the garden with her cousin," said her uncle. " A bomb exploded right next to her, less than a meter away. The explosion threw her across the room tearing one of her legs off. Her other knee and ankle were also injured… Her father was killed during the same explosion." … … … "I’m going to get my false legs on soon. I think they’ll be easy to use," said Mouna. … … … The smile has come back to Mouna’s face - the doctors here in Jordan have given Mouna hope. Every week, she casts herself a little further in the future, imagining herself going back to school, of studying and becoming a doctor. But as we’ll see, it will be no easy task reaching that goal … it will be about 5 months before she can walk again.
The entire story is a tribute to the strength in man’s hearts that enables us to overcome incredible challenges.
And the beginning of the end of the story:
“Look! I just walked 7 floor tiles.”
At this time of year, when so many people celebrate the birth of a child born to a simple Jewish carpenter, it will warm your heart to read the story of another child and reflect upon the lessons.
There is a grid at the bottom of the article listing the nations that currently have Médecins Sans Frontières chapters. They would gladly accept any donations your hearts tell you are needed
“Rove’s Book Sold for Half of What He Expected - And Buyer Was Mary Matalin”
adds a great comment from there:
Now, this would actually be funny,if it wasn’t so pathetic. It’s bizarre how none of the “real” publishing houses want to touch this with a 100-foot pole. Maybe they think they’ll be somehow complicit in the lies and high crimes and felonies if they publish it. Matalan is such a stupid dope that she’s probably thinking she’s doing the world a favor. Blechhhhh, may they all rot in hell.
Maybe Mary Matalin is a shrew(d) businesswoman who expects book sales to soar when Rove hits death row.
Say, under some sort of community property rules, doesn’t that mean that half of the advance came out of the wallet of that staunch Liberal, James Carville?
And, with a lovely veronica followed by a perfect estocada kills that fucking bull with the sword.
Isn't there a 'Son of Sam' law that prevents criminals from cashin' in on their crimes? Doesn't look like there's gonna be much profit on this one in any case.
Note to Turdblossom: I'd like to see your life story of lies published posthumously by the Charmin folks so I could wipe my ass with it. Next week would be OK, but I'll wait until ya get the Texas needle as a reward for everything you've done to this country.
Ole! We award Gordo two greasy Turdblossom ears and a slimy tail for his efforts.
There’s been a great deal of discussion of this topic recently and it might be prudent to investigate the matter. Two of the better blogs who regularly discuss this topic are Mountain Runner and Swedish Meatballs. Both are good reads, although Meatballs has been accused of being NOT WORK FRIENDLY if you’re a corporate drone working in cubicleland or are employed by say, a fundamentalist christian church.
Despite what you might think, “public diplomacy” these days is not about the public talking with people in other countries. Instead, it means a government (and I do mean this here thing we’ve got across the back of our necks) outreaching to a public. What you call your basic “We care” message distributed to folks in other countries where we have need for their natural resources and don’t want them to get all upset when they find our hand in their pockets.
A good example was Karen Hughes when she was the Assistant Secretary of State for - I forget the exact title – maybe it was “Bullshitting the Third World” or something like that.
In Ms Hughes’ much ballyhooed tour through the Middle East the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs traveled through a number of countries speaking to women’s groups. The “listening tour” mainly consisted of Ms Hughes telling the various Muslim women’s groups how the United States intended to spread democracy in the region. The women were expected to listen, which was probably not what they expected, having thought Ms Hughes’ “listening tour” meant she would listen.
The Bu$h malAdministration has invested a lot of effort in public outreach in the US. When we see this sort of effort in dictatorships we call it “propaganda.” Umm. I may have made my point here.
Mountain Runner has a wealth of information about this topic, and explains what’s good and what isn’t.
Swedish Meatballs specializes in Information Operations and public outreach. You can learn a great deal there. Just put the kids to bed before you dial ‘em up, OK?
One of the best forms of public diplomacy was something I remember fondly – and vaguely, because it was a long time ago – that always happened on Christmas Eve. Way back in the dim mists of time, when the danger to our nation was outside the country, the intrepid airmen of NORAD kept watch 24 hours a day, ever on the alert for Soviet bombers, and later missiles. coming to get us with their dread thermonuclear bombs of socialism. NORAD operated a string of radar stations across the far north, always on watch.
We’d sit around the living room, listening to Christmas records on the radio, watching the tree, and I’d be fighting to stay awake because I wanted to see those lovely wrapped packages appear from Santa’s bag. Starting around 7:30 there would be an announcement on the radio from NORAD about unusual traffic around the North Pole and the game was on!
When you’re seven years old you didn’t consider the logistical difficulties of Santa visiting millions of homes in one evening; you just believed. And NORAD confirmed the truth!
NORAD doesn’t do those Christmas Eve alerts on radio or TV any more. We’re in the 21st century now and the intertubes are usually available.
But he’s still put there, braving the cold, flying through the skies at about a zillion miles an hour, making children’s wishes come true, I know it’s true because NORAD says so.
This, and the Marine Corps’ “Toys for Tots” are probably the best public diplomacy the US Armed Forces, and hence the USG, are still doing. So, thank you, gentlemen and ladies, for what you do. And may you all be home for Christmas next year.
A.E. writes from the security of his new blog Rethinking Security with a Christmas tag, which is sneaky. Hey, it’s second meme, because Mr Bu$h’s America in the 21st century is excessively sneaky!
Ok – I declare a political moratorium for the evening.
Da Rulez
1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share Christmas facts about yourself.
3. Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Welcome to the Christmas edition of "Getting to Know Your Friends."
1. Wrapping or gift bags?
Wrapped.
2. Real or artificial tree?
Artificial. Christmas lights on palm trees are silly.
3. When do you put up the tree?
It used to be two weeks before. I just don’t bother any more.
4. When do you take the tree down?
On hte twelfth of Never.
5. Do you like egg nog?
None for me thanks. It makes me do foolish things.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
In 1951 I was given a large blue plastic model of a Sikorsky S51 helicopter. As you pushed it along the carpet the rotor turned. It was best Christmas gift I ever had.
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
No..
8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Clothes! Ugh!
9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. Support the Post Office.
10. Favorite Christmas Movie?
A Miracle on 34th Street
11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
November
12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Turkey
13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored
14. Favorite Christmas song(s)?
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
15. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Stay home.
16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Mostly. Sometimes I forget Shirley.
17. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star.
18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
Morning.
19. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Holiday TV specials.
20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color?
No.
21. What do you leave for Santa?
Three ounces of neat rum and two aspirin
22. Least favorite holiday song?
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.
23. Favorite ornament?
A classic Tiffany egg, (I don’t say I have one, but that’s my favorite.)
24. Family tradition?
No alcohol until the turkey is in the oven.
25. Ever been to Midnight Mass or late-night Christmas Eve services?
Yes.
I will be passing this "tag" on to the following blogfriends:
I know sometimes it’s a bit difficult to keep all the varying sects, septs, tribes, political parties and pressure groups in Iraq separated in your mind. Hint: it’s an alien culture. Americans who have grown up in a more homogenized two-party system where religion and ethnic background don’t automatically lead to gunfire in the streets find a shattered Iraq confusing.
If you’ve been reading internet blogs you are aware of what the Anbar Awakening is all about. These are Sunni religious sect groups and tribes, including ex-Iraqi Army officers and senior NCOs, and some Ba’ath Party officials, who molded the insurgency into a slightly more coherent resistance after the American conquest of Iraq.
After years of these folks killing Americans and their own Shiite opponents they were persuaded to take massive bribes of cash and weapons from the US to stop fighting us and take on the mythical al Qaeda in Iraq (or Mesopotamia) Saudi fighters who came to Iraq to continue the warfare against the US begun on 9/11.
Just in case you thought the Bu$h malAdministration was stepping back from guiding the Iraq process, consider these two news items:
BAGHDAD — Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has agreed to take over support of a U.S.-funded plan that has organized thousands of Iraqis — including former insurgents and their sympathizers — into local security groups.
The move is a long-awaited step toward national reconciliation, said Saad al-Muttalibi, an official at Iraq's Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation.
"It's now reassuring that the government of Iraq recognizes that this is a program that has worked in Anbar and is beginning to work elsewhere in the country," said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman.
Iraq intends to move the guards into training programs as quickly as possible, Muttalibi said. "It's not a good idea to have people with guns running around the streets," he said.
The movement toward local security began in predominantly Sunni Anbar province, where tribal leaders and their followers agreed to work with U.S. and Iraqi forces in fighting al-Qaeda. The program expanded rapidly elsewhere, including Baghdad.
This truce with MNF-I allows them to rebuild, re-arm, and strengthen their militias in relative safety. It was pretty easy for them to identify the Saudi interlopers and to kill them, or chase them off.
At first, Iraq's government eyed the groups warily and considered them a potential threat.
The new concept poses risks. Iraq's Interior and Defense ministries have often had difficulty paying soldiers and police consistently and providing logistical support for their forces. Government officials remain suspicious of the groups, and an effort to disband them quickly could anger Sunni leaders.
Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Iraq's government needs to integrate the groups into the nation's security forces carefully because al-Qaeda may have infiltrated their ranks.
The U.S. government has been urging Iraq's central government to take steps toward reconciliation. The Iraqi government has yet to pass major legislation, such as an oil-revenue-distribution law, designed to ease tensions between Sunnis and Shiites. [emph added]
A win-win for both the Bu$h malAdministration and the US, right? Not so much. Don’t ever think the Bu$hies and the American people have the same goals.
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's Shiite-led government declared Saturday that after restive areas are calmed it will disband Sunni groups battling Islamic extremists because it does not want them to become a separate military force.
…
The statement from Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi was the government's most explicit declaration yet of its intent to eventually dismantle the groups backed and funded by the United States as a vital tool for reducing violence.
The militias, more than 70,000 strong and often made up of former insurgents, are known as Awakening Councils, or Concerned Local Citizens.
“We completely, absolutely reject the Awakening becoming a third military organization,'' al-Obaidi said at a news conference.
He added that the groups would also not be allowed to have any infrastructure, such as a headquarters building, that would give them long-term legitimacy.
“We absolutely reject that,'' al-Obaidi said.
The central government is planning to remain in power, indefinitely, just like our republican Party. Rather than find a middle path to reconciliation, the Shiite central government seems determined to create their own national version of a shadow government just like Hezbollah in Iraq. Disbanding the Anbar militias will have just about the same effect that disbanding the Iraqi Army had.
A tip of the too-small Kevlar helmet to Cernig and Ranger for the news leads.
We hear a lot about IEDs, and not all of it.. shall we say “accurate”? (Deliberate understatement.) IEDs are mines. These devices have been the largest single cause of GI casualties in Iraq. Iraqi civilians have suffered even more than occupation troops.
Mine warfare is a delaying tactic; it forces an advancing enemy to slow his movements, and devote precious resources to detection and removal rather than pursuit. They are also defensive weapons, a good relatively inexpensive way to help defend a particular strongpoint. Minefields can also be used in the defense as obstacles to canalize an attacking force into a specific fire sack.
Besides being excellent tactical weapons, IEDs also serve as strategic weapons. The US has expended huge sums of money and effort to develop successful countermeasures to these mines, and the effort to defeat them continues year after year.
The counter to IEDs that is most popular with GIs (and hometown politicians) is the MRAP, a generic term for a heavily-armored vehicle built to withstand the IED explosion.
I’ve written a lot about MRAPs, and highlighted various types, but I haven’t paid much attention to the Husky, an MRAP designed to find IEDs. This is a pretty damned interesting job, because sometimes you find the mine when it explodes underneath the Husky.
UPI recently published a nice piece about the Husky and the soldiers who operate it in convoy defense.
AL ASAD, Iraq, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- IED, the acronym for improvised explosive device, is shorthand for terror in Iraq and with good cause. Since the capture of Baghdad in 2003 and the start of the insurgency, the jerry-rigged bombs have accounted for more than half of U.S. military deaths.
The number of Iraqis killed by the devices, whether planted along roads or packed into vehicles, is even higher.
No wonder, then, the U.S. military has fielded a number of high-tech and expensive countermeasures to the devices. But in the end, it all still comes down to anxious men who must seek them out and destroy them.
The armor on the Husky is all around the cab. You could probably say the wheels and suspension are expendable.
The Husky Metal Detecting and Marking Vehicle is part of a larger system called the Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector (VMMD). The VMMD is a mine protected, vehicle mounted mine detection and proofing system which is capable of finding and marking metallic explosive hazards. VMMD consists of two mine detection vehicles and three detonation trailers. Early versions of the VMMD consisted of a Meerkat and a Husky, while more recent procurements consist of two Husky vehicles.
The Husky a single occupant four-wheel drive vehicle designed for mine blast protection and rapid field reparability using a "redpack" of replacement items that travel with the VMMD. Husky acts as the prime mover for the full width mine proofing/detonation trailers and redpack. It can also serve as an alternate detection vehicle with two detector panels that raise and lower depending on terrain. Additional detection and protection improvements are being incorporated into the system in response to the changing threat and technology advances.
[Marine Pvt. Anthony "Chase"] Watson, 23, has a particularly dangerous role in the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion based at al-Asad. By choice, he drives a vehicle called a Husky, which looks like an outsized, armor-plated dune buggy, as a member of a route-clearance team.
Watson's job is to drive slowly along the sides of roads and through visual abilities and highly sensitive and adjustable electronic sensors find and mark mines for neutralizing by other team members, who do so through the use of a larger MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) vehicle that has a huge hydraulic arm that digs mines out and snips their wires or destroys their detonators.
Finding and marking means Watson rolls right up to them so a special sprayer on the elongated front end of the vehicle can mark the site with ink. A trailer is sometimes attached to the rear of the Husky to set off any mines the eyes and sensors missed.
If a Husky does set off a mine, it's designed so the front or rear portions of the vehicle absorb the blast and detach from the cab.
Watson has so far avoided the experience. He said a friend wasn't so lucky, but suffered no serious injury. "These hulls are designed to withstand a blast," he said.
This sounds like the second-least popular military job available.
The expenditure of treasure is nothing compared to the cost of lives. Every IED detected and disposed of safely is a life saved, a family back home spared the pain and agony of loss.
A tip of the too-small Kevlar helmet to Erdla of Gorilla's Guides, who not only has time to edit there and raise a family, but also finds a few moments to feed me news leads.
