This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Politics

  • Washington Post’s Gang of 12 – the other shoe

    Yesterday, the Washington Post headlined the paper with news that operations in Iraq were working and it seemed that our goals there attainable. That “al Qaeda in Iraq Reported Crippled“. Thinking it odd that Washington post would allow such a thing to be published in their pages, let alone on the front page, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop – and it turns out it was twelve pairs of combat boots.

    This morning we’re greeted on the pages of the Washington Post by the headline “The Real Iraq We Knew” written by 12 former Army Captains. They’re names and times of service in Iraq;

    This column was written by 12 former Army captains: Jason Blindauer served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Elizabeth Bostwick served in Salah Ad Din and An Najaf in 2004. Jeffrey Bouldin served in Al Anbar, Baghdad and Ninevah in 2006. Jason Bugajski served in Diyala in 2004. Anton Kemps served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Kristy (Luken) McCormick served in Ninevah in 2003. Luis Carlos Montalván served in Anbar, Baghdad and Nineveh in 2003 and 2005. William Murphy served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Josh Rizzo served in Baghdad in 2006. William “Jamie” Ruehl served in Nineveh in 2004. Gregg Tharp served in Babil and Baghdad in 2003 and 2005. Gary Williams served in Baghdad in 2003.

    I don’t intend to disparage their service, but I will point out that none have been there since the “surge” started – the latest service listed as “2006” – the “surge” didn’t even begin until November 2006 when troops began arriving and operations didn’t begin until late February 2007.

    The 12 former captains write;

    Against this backdrop, the U.S. military has been trying in vain to hold the country together. Even with “the surge,” we simply do not have enough soldiers and marines to meet the professed goals of clearing areas from insurgent control, holding them securely and building sustainable institutions. Though temporary reinforcing operations in places like Fallujah, An Najaf, Tal Afar, and now Baghdad may brief well on PowerPoint presentations, in practice they just push insurgents to another spot on the map and often strengthen the insurgents’ cause by harassing locals to a point of swayed allegiances. Millions of Iraqis correctly recognize these actions for what they are and vote with their feet — moving within Iraq or leaving the country entirely. Still, our colonels and generals keep holding on to flawed concepts.

    How do they know? They haven’t been there since the surge began – they haven’t heard (apparently) that the Washington Post declared yesterday that al Qaeda is “crippled” and the Mahdi Army has all but disbanded. The “flawed concepts” have all changed since last year – with a new strategy and a new commander.

    Iraq’s institutional infrastructure, too, is sorely wanting. Even if the Iraqis wanted to work together and accept the national identity foisted upon them in 1920s, the ministries do not have enough trained administrators or technicians to coordinate themselves. At the local level, most communities are still controlled by the same autocratic sheiks that ruled under Saddam. There is no reliable postal system. No effective banking system. No registration system to monitor the population and its needs.

    They write that the infrastructure of Iraq is in bad shape – none of that could have improved significantly over the last year? The sheiks are joining the US forces in battling their common enemy al Qaeda – that’s all changed in the last six months.

    If this letter was written a year ago, it might have been more significant – but now, it’s just a recitation of conditions long-ago passed. If this letter were written by 12 Captains currently serving in Iraq, it might be more significant – but these are all FORMER captains, none of whom have been in Iraq for more than a year.

    The main reason conditions were so bad in Iraq last year was because of ill-considered actions by people like the latest “gang of 12” and Congress who’ve been threatening to pull the troops out of Iraq – why should Iraqis commit to a cause when their main protectors (we’re the ones with the guns and the only people they can really trust right now) are always on the verge of abandoning them – especially since we have a history of abandoning people to evil doers around the world in the last half-century.

    President Bush proved, last November, that the Iraqis have his guarentee we’re not going to withdraw during his tenure – despite what the media and the Democrats say. That’s why the Iraqis are suddenly on our side, too. Like I said, this letter is nothing more than 12 former military people vying for jobs with political think tanks – and the left is a more attractive place to find think tank jobs – because you don’t have to think.

    They end their letter calling for a draft as our only way to win. Anyone currently serving on active duty doesn’t want draftees in their units. Period. Who needs a bunch of smelly ex-hippies trying to dodge work and patrols? But, then that should be apparent – given the source of this letter.

    I’ll bet a dollar to a donut, I get all kinds of hits today from those 12 former captains googling their own names. Anyone got a donut they want to lose?

    Uncle Jimbo of Blackfive weighs in, Greyhawk at the MilBlogs says that NCO write better op/eds than captains and the Left is waiting for us to call them “Phony soldiers”. Murdoc Online arrives at my conclusion on the “12 Captains” draft proposal. Confederate Yankee thanks the 12 captains for their history lesson. Curt at Flopping Aces calls the WaPo piece “the dirt which buries our victory”.

  • Bush blamed for Holocaust

    I’m attempting to track down the roots of this Armenian Genocide legislation because last night, Crotchety Old Bastard and I had an email exchange over it and we arrived at the same conclusion; this is nothing more than an attempt by the Democrats to defund the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yesterday, Ralph Peters arrived at that same conclusion in the New York Sun;

    That’s what the Democrats are aiming at. This resolution isn’t about justice for the Armenians. Not this time. It’s a stunningly devious attempt to impede our war effort in Iraq and force premature troop withdrawals.

    The Dems calculate that, without those flights and convoys, we won’t be able to keep our troops adequately supplied. Key intelligence and strike missions would disappear.

    The Pentagon might be able to improvise other options. But the loss of the base and those routes would definitely hurt our troops. Severely. And we’d be more reliant than ever on a single, vulnerable lifeline running from Kuwait.

    It’s a brilliant ploy – the Dems get to stab our troops in the back, but lay the blame off on the Turks. They pretend they’re responding to their Armenian-American constituents – while actually moving to placate MoveOn.org.

    The Guardian explains the importance of Turkey to our logistical support of our own troops in the Middle East;

    Turkey, which is a major cargo hub for US and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations and warned that there might be a cut in the logistical support to the US over the issue.

    About 70% of US air cargo headed for Iraq goes through Turkey as does about a third of the fuel used by the US military there. US bases also get water and other supplies carried in overland by Turkish truckers who cross into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.

    Despite the general’s strong words and the recalling of its ambassador, it is not clear just how far the Turkish side can go in expressing its dismay to Washington.

    Turkey suspended its military ties with France last year after the French parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would have made it a crime to deny that the Armenian killings constituted a genocide.

    To set the tone for the vote, Pelosi actually used a normally nonpartisan activity in the House to push the voting her way, according to USAToday;

    Yet with the House’s first order of business Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear that Turkey’s position was a hard sell. She introduced the Supreme Patriarch of all Armenians, Karekin II, to deliver the morning prayer — a daily ritual intended to be apolitical.

    “With the solemn burden of history, we remember the victims of the genocide of the Armenians,” Karekin said in the House. “Give peace and justice on their descendants.” 

    Sneaky and underhanded. Even California Democrat and Holocaust survivor Tom Lantos opposes pelosi’s latest dirt-dishing to the troops (USAToday);

    The Foreign Affairs Committee’s Chairman, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., warned of the potential fallout if the proposal passed. Lantos, a Hungarian-born survivor of the Holocaust, supported a similar resolution two years ago.

    “We have to weigh the desire to express our solidarity with the Armenian people … against the risk that it could cause young men and women in the uniform of the United States armed services to pay an even heavier price than they are currently paying,” Lantos said. 

    When Bill Clinton asked Dennis Hastart to cancel a similar bill in 2000, Hastert conceded that Clinton had primacy in foreign policy dealings for the United States by virtue of his office and deferred to Clinton’s judgement, according to CNN:

    House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, said the resolution had been pulled after President Bill Clinton said he was “deeply concerned” about the language in the document. Clinton and Hastert talked by telephone on Wednesday night about the legislation.

    Hastert said Clinton had warned of “possible far-reaching negative consequences for the United States” if the House voted on the legislation.

    Pelosi and Steny Hoyer even visited the Turkish Ambassador before he was recalled to discuss the issue and came away the pompous idiots they’ve always been;

    Pelosi and the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, met Wednesday with Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy but emerged from the meeting unswayed. Hoyer told reporters he expects a floor vote on the measure before the House adjourns for the year.

    Hoyer said he hoped that Turkey would realize it is not a condemnation of its current government but rather of “another government, at another time.”

    Norman Markowitz takes the whole discussion one step further in Political Affairs Magazine – he blames Bush for the Holocaust of the 1930s and 40s;

    In 1931, Adolph Hitler, two years before the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship said “we intend to introduce a great resettlement policy….remember the extermination of the Armenians.” In 1939, in advocating a policy of mass killing in Poland to take the “Living Space” for Germans, he said privately to his officers, “who, after all speaks today, of the annihilation of the Armenians.

    Who does? Civilized people throughout the world for whom human rights aren’t an empty slogan. But not the Bush administration, its State Department, and its policy planners who have gone from one disaster after another in the Middle East and everywhere else.

    Hopefully, the U.S. Congress will remember.

    Remember? Historians will remember that the Democrat “leadership” (using the term loosely) are a traitorous bunch of double-dealing, back-stabbing punk-ass sissies who can’t summon the fortitude to stand up to a few squeakywheels on the internet. That’ll be their legacy.

    This isn’t my last word on this – I’ve got some interviews scheduled. 

  • Last letter from Al Qaida Chief: “We’re desperate”

    Quick! Someone send a copy to Harry “the war is lost” Reid: 

    BAGHDAD — The U.S. military is eliminating Al Qaida’s chain of command in Iraq. Officials said several leading aides to Al Qaida network chief Abu Ayoub Al Masri have been killed by the U.S.-led coalition. They said two out of the four foreign aides of Al Masri remain alive.

    On Sept. 25, the U.S. military killed an Al Qaida chief deemed responsible for transporting foreign operatives to Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. The Al Qaida commander, identified as Abu Osama Al Tunisi, was killed in a U.S. air strike as he met his colleagues in Musayib, about 60 kilometers south of Baghdad.

    Shortly before he died, Al Tunisi wrote a letter that warned of a threat to Al Qaida operations in Karkh. The lettter, found by the U.S. military, sought guidance from Al Qaida leaders amid coalition operations that hampered Al Tunisi’s network. “We are so desperate for your help,” the letter read.

    “This was a dangerous terrorist who is no longer a part of Al Qaida in Iraq,” U.S. Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, chief of staff of the Multinational Corps Iraq, said. “His death deals a significant blow to their operation. Abu Osama Al Tunisi was one of the most senior leaders within Al Qaida in Iraq.”

    Anderson said Al Tunisi and two other Al Qaida operatives were killed in the U.S. Air Force bombing mission. The brigadier told a Sept. 28 briefing that an F-16 multi-role fighter leveled the building where Al Tunisi had been meeting Al Qaida operatives.

    Al Tunisi was said to have been a leading adviser to Al Masri, officials said. They said Al Tunisi, a Tunisian national, might have been designated Al Masri’s successor.

    “The inner circle of leadership with Abu Ayoub Al Masri consists of foreigners, and Al Tunisi was in this top tier of leadership,” Anderson said.

    This was the second leading aide of Al Masri killed in less than a month. On Aug. 31, another member of Al Masri’s inner circle, Abou Yaakoub Al Masri, was killed near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad. Anderson said the two remaining foreign leaders of Al Masri’s inner circle remain at large.

    Al Tunisi was termed the emir, or commander, of foreign operatives in Iraq. Anderson said Al Tunisi was responsible for the arrival of Al Qaida recruits into Iraq and their placement in operational cells.

    Officials said more than 80 percent of suicide bombings have been by foreign operatives. They said most of the Al Qaida recruits arrive in Syria by air and continue overland into Iraq.

    http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/ss_iraq_09_30.asp

    Desperation aside, those borders have to be secured to cut off the ingress points of the Islamic terrorist scumbags traipsing across. Better yet, just bomb Damascus. Maybe then, Assad will get the point.

  • Washington Post; Al-Qaeda In Iraq Reported Crippled

    I know, it’s almost paralyzing, isn’t it? After a week of publishing old news on the front page of their newspaper, in the form of an expose on IEDs merely two weeks ago so they could avoid reporting the good news pouring out of Iraq, the Washington Post finally admits that the US-led coalition has made substantial headway;

    The U.S. military believes it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over the group, which the Bush administration has long described as the most lethal U.S. adversary in Iraq.

    It doesn’t take long for the other shoe to drop, however;

    “I think it would be premature at this point,” a senior intelligence official said of a victory declaration over AQI, as the group is known. Despite recent U.S. gains, he said, AQI retains “the ability for surprise and for catastrophic attacks.” Earlier periods of optimism, such as immediately following the June 2006 death of AQI founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. air raid, not only proved unfounded but were followed by expanded operations by the militant organization.

    The article is also followed on the front page with the story of the Washington Post reporter, Salih Saif Aldin’s, death in Baghdad.

    The 32-year-old Iraqi reporter in The Washington Post’s Baghdad bureau was shot once in the forehead in the southwestern neighborhood of Sadiyah. He was the latest in a long line of reporters, most of them Iraqis, to be killed while covering the Iraq war. He was the first for The Washington Post.
     
    “The death of Salih Saif Aldin in the service of our readers is a tragedy for everyone at The Washington Post. He was a brave and valuable reporter who contributed much to our coverage of Iraq,” said Leonard Downie Jr., executive editor of The Post. “We are in his debt. We grieve with his family, friends, fellow journalists and everyone in our Baghdad bureau.

    Yes, it’s indeed sad, but if the Post had put even one article about a single soldier or sailor or marine or airman that had died on the front page, I wouldn’t be rolling my eyes this morning. In fact, did they run a front page story of Medal of Horor recipient SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy last week? Nope. Here’s the Post’s reportage on the page 11A column “Nation in Brief“;

    Navy Seal to Be Given Posthumous Honor

         

    GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — A Navy Seal who was killed while leading a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan will be given the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. Lt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue on Long Island is the first Medal of Honor recipient for combat in Afghanistan, the Navy said in a statement.

    That’s it – the whole thing. It’s not even the first item in the series. Yet a 32-year-old reporter gets the front page. So my excitement at a front page story of success in Iraq is tempered by my disdain for the elitist retards at the Washington Post.

    Deebow at Blackfive noticed the same poor reportage from NYT on Lt. Murphy. Linda SoG at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy goes off on the Associated Press for ignoring our heroes and naming several they should get to know.

    I’ll continue to get my news from the internet – like this news from Iraq and this from Afghanistan, both by RTO Trainer at Protein Wisdom (h/t Ace of Spades). And Victor Davis Hanson (by way of Curt at Flopping Aces and Michele Malkin). And from Gateway Pundit who has the numbers as well as the good news.

  • Democrat mental illness on SCHIP

    Just like the Defense bill that Congress rammed through the legislative process (without compromise) three times each ending with the same result (a Presidential veto), the Associated Press writes that they’ll continue the same process with the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP);

    House Democratic leaders said Sunday they were working to gather votes to override a veto on a popular children’s health program, but pledged to find a way to cover millions without insurance should their effort fail.

    At the same time, the White House sought to chide the Democratic-controlled Congress as the obstructionists in reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. It said Democrats were the ones who had shown unwillingness to compromise.

    President Bush is “more than willing to work with members of both parties from both Houses,” deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said.

    “[W]illing to work with…both parties” – why, that sounds like non-partisanship to me.

    In talk show interviews, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer did not dispute claims by Republican leaders that the GOP will have enough votes to sustain Bush’s veto when the House holds its override vote on Thursday.

    Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Hoyer promised to pass another bipartisan bill if needed.

    So instead of just hammering out some legislation on which both parties can agree, the Democrats would rather waste their time making a political statement to their base (the lunatics and crazies who think that a family with a $60,000 annual income needs free healthcare). How does that help even one American?

    “Isn’t that sad for America’s children?” said Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) when asked about the GOP’s assurances the override vote will fail. “It doesn’t mean we aren’t working hard throughout the country: governors, mayors, people who deal with children on a regular basis.

    “We’ll try very hard to override it. But one thing’s for sure: We won’t rest until those 10 million children have health care,” she said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

    Horseshit. You’re not going to override the veto, so why are you wasting your time? So they can blame Republicans – don’t be surprised when there’s still no bill by November next year.

    Mr. Hoyer (D-Md.) declined to predict Thursday’s vote.

    “This is a defining moment for the Republican Party, in my opinion,” Mr. Hoyer said, before adding later: The program is “not going to die. We’re going to go back and we’re going to pass another bill.”

    Well, you’re right, Mr. Hoyer, it is a defining moment for Republicans – will they hold line against this blatant pandering by the Democrats for the votes of the ignorant, or will they do what they always do in the face of bad publicity. Fold like a cheap lawn chair. Having watched the Republicans over the last few years, my money is on the latter.

    In other news, Teddy Kennedy underwent surgery yesterday;

    Sen. Edward M. Kennedy underwent surgery Friday to repair a partially blocked artery in his neck, which was discovered during an examination of a decades-old back injury.

    Mr. Kennedy, 75 years old, underwent the hourlong procedure on his left carotid artery — a major supplier of blood to the neck and head — at Massachusetts General Hospital, his office announced.

    I suspect they pulled a bottle of scotch out of his neck – or a canned ham. In this after-surgery photo, Kennedy seems in good humor;

  • Ron Paul wins Conservative Leadership Straw Poll

    Alright.
    Well, now, the only sane assumption is no one else showed up…

  • The Austrian RINO Screws us AGAIN

    Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill requiring new semi-automatic handgun MICROSTAMP identifying info on to shell casings. You know, basically outlawing any new handguns in the state. As with his earlier ban of .50 caliber rifles, none of which has EVER been used in a crime in California, this law does nothing to stop or prevent criminals from committing crimes. As is true with all “gun control” legislation, the only people harmed by this are the law-abiding.

  • How to undermine US foreign policy

    Since Nancy Pelosi’s attempt to undermine our foreign policy in the Middle East didn’t quite work when she went to Syria – and then the Israelis exposed Syria’s nuclear ambitions, she’s decided to attack our allies instead of cozying up to our enemies for a change. Perhaps that’ll work a little better to destroy our efforts in the region. So out of a clear blue sky, with no rhyme, no reason, Congress decides to condemn a ninety-year-old  genocide;

    President Bush has said the resolution is the wrong response to the Armenian deaths, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measure’s timing was important “because many of the survivors are very old.”

    “It is a statement made by 23 other countries. We would be the 24th country to make this statement. Genocide still exists, and we saw it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur,” she told ABC’s “This Week” in an interview broadcast Sunday.

    But Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the measure was “irresponsible.”

    “Listen, there’s no question that the suffering of the Armenian people some 90 years ago was extreme. But what happened 90 years ago ought to be a subject for historians to sort out, not politicians here in Washington,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”

    “…many are very old”, Nancy? I’ll bet none are under the age of 90 – that makes them ALL old. Although most probably look younger than you and John Murtha.

    Even a half-witted moron can see that the Democrats in Congress are trying to destroy our relations with Turkey – the same as Barack Obama threatened Pakistan. Does anyone think the Democrats might condemn Viet Nam, China or Iran for human rights abuses they’re engaged in at this moment? Nope, they rather drag up long-dead ghosts and jeopardize relations with allies – it’s much more politically popular.

    A condemnation of an event 90-years ago can serve no useful purpose – but that’s never stopped Democrats before. They’re accustomed to making empty gestures. They’re an empty party with empty ideas. The Turks are so angered, they’ve recalled their diplomat – if President Bush had provoked that reaction from China or Russia, the Dems would be screaming bloody murder.

    Although I agree that it was a horrible event and that Turkey should have the integrity to admit their culpability, I don’t think it’s so important at this late stage of our history to make a useless statement that could damage our relations with an important mostly-secular regional partner in the war against extreme Muslims in the Middle East.

    Blue Crab Boulevard quotes Ralph Peters on the same subject;

    Legislation similar to this has come up repeatedly in Congress, yet it’s always been defeated – in 2000, because of pressure from the Clinton administration. But if the resolution passes the House and Senate now, the Turks plan to evict us from Incirlik airbase in southeastern Turkey, to halt our military over-flight privileges and to shut down the supply routes into northern Iraq.

    That’s what the Democrats are aiming at. This resolution isn’t about justice for the Armenians. Not this time. It’s a stunningly devious attempt to impede our war effort in Iraq and force premature troop withdrawals.

    Devious isn’t a strong enough word, how about traitorous. It’s only an attempt to regain some credibility among their base at the expense of our ability to support soldiers in the field. That’s traitorous.Â