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

Category: Support the troops

  • What I’m reading today

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    Stolen from The Jungle Hut

    I must be getting old – I’m only reading other people’s brilliant thoughts today from the blogs that link here.

    People like Van at Kesher Talk who is convinced that McCain will tap Lieberman for VP.

    People like my friend Kamangir the Archer – the most visible moderate Iranian I know – who rationally opposes Wilder’s Fitna. As opposed to the irrational Dutch moonbats who apologize for Fitna as reported by Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers. If you’re like the two or three people on the planet who haven’t see it yet, Moonbattery and Say Anything have it up on their servers. The Jawa Report writes that the Islamic Republic has summoned the Dutch ambassador – I wonder what they want now?

    Folks like my buddy Skye from Midnight Blue who climbed back up on the horse yesterday after being attacked last weekend by an irrational moonbat in Chester County.

    I got an email tip from the Milblogs this morning about the upcoming Bad Voodoo’s War from PBS and Andi’s got the teaser video.

    If you’re wondering what I think about the recent uptick in violence in Iraq, it’s best described at Neptunus Lex. The Iranians are trying to upend our elections with total disregard for Iraqi lives. al Sadr finally realized it this morning. Rick Moran at the Right Wing Nut House questions Maliki’s judgement. McQ at Q&O dissects the events leading up to the Basra battle and provides links. Haystack at Redstate catches the LA Times painting al Sadr as a poor victim in the latest flare up. The Lonely Sandpiper blames the Brits. I think it’s just Maliki’s version of the Whiskey Rebellion.
    The only woman with whom I agree all of the time (except my wife and my Mom), Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy posts John McCain’s first national campaign ad.

    Marooned in Marin (who is actually marooned in Northern Virginia these days) examines the rumor that while super-delegates decide between two candidates, the Democrats are plotting to throw all of the primary voters under the bus and just pick their favorite loser of all time. So much for the democratic part of their party. Mike Tippet at Wake Up America is thankful for the democrats’ biggest loser.

    Bob Parks at Outside the Wire examines a survey that declares there’s no indoctrination at our schools.

    In case anyone is wondering, Snapped Shot is still behaving himself.

    Solomon reviews and dissects the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” at Solomonia.

    Spanish Pundit writes that Palestinian Christians are being harrassed by a fundamentalist Islamic mafia in the Holy Land.

    Wordsmith at Sparks From the Anvil writes about an Iraqi translator who was denied resident alien status.

    The Avid Editor claims (and rightly so) that we’re already at war with Iran.

    Wolf Howling has more links to other blogs for something different.

    Chicagoan Marathon Pundit, who seems to have something against an Obama Presidency, writes about Obama’s latest embellishment.

    And just go visit The Jungle Hut and Don Surber because they both exhibited exceptionally clear judgment by adding me to their blogrolls last night.

  • Why the PhD won’t vote McCain

    Doing my evening patrolling around the internet, I stumbled over a post by Deebow at Blackfive entitled “One Reason I Will Vote For McCain“. Deebow links to an opinion piece on Military.com entitled “Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain“, written by Phillip Butler, a former Naval Academy classmate and fellow POW of John McCain’s.

    Now, Deebow did an admirable job critiquing Mr. Butler’s piece, but I’d like to pile on – seein’s how I’ve recently become a “Blog for McCain“.

    Mr. Butler begins by telling us what a piss-poor student and cadet John McCain was. I’m sure he wasn’t the first and as an ROTC instructor, I can tell you he wasn’t the last. The worst story he could recite was the time McCain took Butler, an underclassman, off of the campus grounds to a bar seven miles away and wouldn’t let Butler have a beer. GASP!

    Now Butler goes on to say “I could tell many other midshipman stories about John that year…” but he doesn’t, because that’s the worst one he could tell – if he had worse stories to tell he certainly would have given the title of his article. (Emphasis is my own throughout)

    Then Butler writes;

    [H]e barely managed to graduate, standing 5th from the bottom of his 800 man graduating class. I and many others have speculated that the main reason he did graduate was because his father was an Admiral, and also his grandfather, both U.S. Naval Academy graduates.

    Ah! Speculation – not proof, just a bunch of post-pubescent boys making guesses about their elders’ judgement. Hardly evidence.

    Butler begins to veer off into the absurd;

    People often ask if I was a Prisoner of War with John McCain. My answer is always “No – John McCain was a POW with me.” The reason is I was there for 8 years and John got there 2 ½ years later, so he was a POW for 5 ½ years. And we have our own seniority system, based on time as a POW.

    More of the same crap I’ve run into from the VVAW and IVAW people recently – an intellectually vacant discussion over whose service has the most worth. Funny how they always slip into that mode of superiority. But Butler continues along that line of reasoning;

    Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care. Several hundred of us were captured much earlier. I got there April 20, 1965 so my bad treatment period lasted 4 1/2 years.

    I’m not demeaning Butler’s service, but splitting hairs like that is ridiculous. It borders on being a crybaby.

    But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.

    The media makes him out to be a hero, he hasn’t contributed to that not a whit. He’s always said he’s no different than from any other POW. His book is very clear on that point.

    John was badly injured when he was shot down. Both arms were broken and he had other wounds from his ejection. Unfortunately this was often the case….But it must be known that many POW’s suffered similarly, not just John.

    Who has said differently? I’ve never seen any media stories, books or movies that ever said McCain’s treatment and condition was different from anyone else’s.

    John was offered, and refused, “early release.” Many of us were given this offer.

    That’s not a reason to not vote for him, Mr. Butler.

    John certainly performed courageously and well. But it must be remembered that he was one hero among many – not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe.

    Again, no one has ever made that distinction.

    He was not an individual POW hero. He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did.

    McCain has admitted that thousands of times, so where is Butler going with this?

    We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost. So I believe John’s age (73) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for 4 or more years.

    So now Butler can see into the future? It’s the same thing they said about President Reagan in his 1984 campaign – not very original.

    I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate.

    I agree completely. If that was the only thing McCain was campaigning on as his experience I probably wouldn’t vote for him either. In fact, I voted against a guy in the 2004 election who campaigned solely on his medals and his three months in Vietnam. But John McCain isn’t even talking about his time as a POW during the campaign, is he? John Kerry, on the other hand ended each sentence with a reference to his three months service in Vietnam.

    I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.

    I’m known as a hothead, too, but see we hotheads know when to turn it off. The “finger next to that red button” was just scare mongering and hyperbole, wasn’t it, Mr. Butler?

    I’m disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican. On some issues he is a maverick. But his voting record is far to the right.

    I’ll bet Dennis Kuchinich is too far right for Mr. Butler. Now he’s completely outside his area of expertise since this whole thing is about how well he knows John McCain from their days in the Navy together.

    …he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers lately.

    “Some”? Or did Butler mean “one”? Please.

    I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man.

    How does Butler “know” John McCain hates President Bush? Did McCain tell Butler, or is this just more guesswork on his part?

    Senator John Sidney McCain, III is a remarkable man who has made enormous personal achievements. And he is a man that I am proud to call a fellow POW who “Returned With Honor.”[…]I think John Sidney McCain, III is a good man, but not someone I will vote for in the upcoming election to be our President of the United States.

    Those two sentences are at odds…well until you read Mr. Butler’s bio and get to the last line;

    He is now a peace and justice activist with Veterans for Peace.

    So all of the previous blather and speculation can all be boiled down to it’s essence; Mr. Butler won’t vote for a Republican president. Pure and simple. He could have saved us all the time and trouble if he’d just said that upfront.

  • 3d Anniversary Freep at Walter Reed

    A little over three years ago, the Code Pink freaks began a death vigil outside of Walter Reed Army Medical Center every Friday night to greet the weekly bus bringing in casualties from the war against terror. After their first Friday night a group of local people who frequent the Free Republic forums decided that Code Pink shouldn’t go unchallenged. They organized a weekly counter-demonstration.

    Code Pink had their group on the southwest corner of the main entrance into WRAMC, the Freepers got permits for the other three corners and it became a weekly stand-off. Code Pink coerced the unions into swelling their ranks for awhile and Freepers enjoyed sporadic reinforcement when Gathering of Eagles and Eagles Up folks came to town. Memorial Day weekend saw participation from Rolling Thunder folks. I don’t know how many times I’ve read other blog and read about bloggers who happened to be in town would just show up and join in. I remember last March, Michele Malkin wrote about the great time she had out there with the folks before the first Gathering of Eagles.

    Well, tonight marked the 3rd anniversary of the Walter Reed Freep – every Friday night, in rain, snow, sleet, blistering heat for three years, Code Pink has had to face counter-protesters. I was told tonight that Code Pink lost their permit for the front gate recently when Concrete Bob, a frequent visitor here and blogger at DC Protest Warrior kept a close eye on Code Pink’s permit and the day that it expired, he went down and secured their corner. Now Code Pink is exiled down at the end of the block and the Freepers own all four corners.

    Here’s a picture I took of the Code Pink protesters three years ago;

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    This is what Code Pink’s corner looks like tonight;

    Concrete Bob and Tom the Redhunter (also a frequent visitor here) invited me down tonight, so I stopped for awhile and took these pictures.

    The Freepers’ cars have signs that warn of the Code Pink folks ahead.

    The Freepers love telling the story of the night after the bus of wounded troops passed through the gate, it stopped and the door opened and one lone soldier, barely able to walk, limped back to the counter protesters and thanked them all for welcoming him home.

    The reaction from people passing the intersection surprised me, so I video’d it so you can experience, too (Editor’s note: OK, the videos are fixed now – thanks for being patient. There’s two of each video – I’m trying out Google video in case I run into problems with YouTube like I did last night);


    Those stalwart folks from Free Republic and Protest Warrior deserve our thanks for braving the elements for us.

    Welcome Free Republic readers – feel free to stay and look around. Especially the Protests/Counterprotests category – you’ll see some friends there.

    UPDATED 4-2-08; Tom the Redhunter put up an excellent post about the history of the FReep at Free Republic and at his blog The Redhunter.

  • Poor victimized IVAW member reinstated

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    Evan Knappenberger is seen above during the Wednesday, March 19, event organized by Ferndale High School students to protest the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, where Knappenberger was a guest speaker.

    Evan Knappenberger, the Iraq Veterans Against the War lunatic who threatened to blow up the Gathering of Eagles and issued a “fatwa” to assassinate Michele Malkin, then got suspended from the IVAW, gets resurrected in his local newspaper’s (the Bellingham Herald) blog;

    Evan Knappenberger, a local Iraq War veteran who did the Stop Loss Tower Guard vigil last summer and started the local Iraq Veterans Against the War chapter was suspended from the group, but reinstated after four days, for making threats online against pro-war activists two weeks ago.

    Knappenberger, who initially suffered an indefinite suspension, told me on the phone this morning that he had received an apology from the IVAW board for what he called their “arbitrary decision” to suspend him in the heat of the moment.

    Not only did the IVAW restore his membership, they apologized to him for suspending him. I wonder if they’re apologizing to Army Sergeant for the threats she gets from Knappenberger and his ilk. The blogger at the herald continues;

    “I’ve been getting death threats for quite awhile now,” Knappenberger told me today. “I just kind of boiled over. Yeah, I slipped up.”

    Knappenberger, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, said that the issue has been dead for two weeks and it’s not a big deal.

    Yeah, he’s been getting death threats. I wonder why.

    He said the IVAW is also “redefining” its terms of non-violence after the incident, with the recognition that they have soldiers in the group.

    What the Hell does that mean? Does it mean that IVAW is defining what Knappenberger engaged in as “non-violent”? I got news for you guys, there’s soldiers in every group and we all live under the same rules as the rest of civilized society. But the fun is only beginning;

    Because Knappenberger was not allowed at the Winter Soldier event, he offered up his testimony to them and he is also offering it up here. *Update* – Knappenberger has asked me to take the testimony down.

    So that’s Knappenberger’s story – he would have offered up damning testimony at Winter Soldier, but since he couldn’t attend because of mean ol’ Army Sergeant jumping the gun, he’ll just give it to some fresh-faced journalist-type who couldn’t tell an IED from an IUD.

    Quietly reinstating Knappenberger says more about the IVAW than anything I could write about them.

    UPDATED April 2, 2008: Michele Malkin must be getting hits from the same story.

  • The Grim Milestone

    Just do a news search on any search engine this morning using the terms “grim+milestone” and see how may results you get. On Yahoo, I get 430 results at 7:30 Eastern Time. Of course, all of these “grim milestones” refer to the US casualties reaching the 4000 mark. It was the first thing I heard on radio this morning when my alarm went off at 5am, it was at the top of Drudge.

    Yesterday, the Associated Press pushed it’s “US casualties near 4,000 mark” headline across it’s web presence – it’s almost as if AP set the IED that took out the magic 4 troops this morning so they could have their story and headline.

    Yes, it’s a cryin’-ass shame that 4,000 US troops have died in Iraq – I really mean it. I take offense at the “pro-war” label that’s applied to me. I’m certainly not for war. I take offense that the Veterans for Peace imply that I’m a “veteran for war” because I won’t join their broke-dick organization.

    But, I’d take this “grim milestone” stuff a whole lot easier if only the Associated Press, the LA Times and Denver Post, the New York Times and Reuters, and all of the rest of these sorrowful news organizations which suddenly care about US casualties had been reporting the progress in Iraq all along.

    But the whole truth is this; if the news organizations AND the Veterans for Peace – and all of the rest of these pinhead anti-war-at-any-cost hadn’t been turning this country into a bunch of pansies over the last forty years, the war would have ended after the first three weeks. If the anti-war crowd, the anti-US media and the anti-Republican politicians in Congress had let us go to Baghdad in March 1991, before Mogadishu, before the Clinton aspirin factory bombings, the bombing of the USS Cole, the US embassy bombings in Africa, before the taliban, we wouldn’t have had to go to Afghanistan or Iraq in this century.

    The only reason we’ve lost 4,000 troops in Iraq is because the American Left is a pack of cowards who can’t summon the intestinal fortitude to deal with foreign policy problems as soon as they occur. They’re bound and determined to make the US a third world country.

    The most laughable comment I’ve heard today was on the ABC News broadcast on my radio this morning at 5 am when some pinhead newsreader tried to imply that US troops in Iraq are thinking seriously about voting for Obama because he’s consistently been against the war – and that we need change that Clinton and McCain don’t represent. I’d like ABC to show me those troops, currently engaged in Iraq, who think it’s a good idea to throw up their hands and leave Iraq.

    Show me or stfu.

    Jammie Wearing Fool noticed the same proliferation of the “grim milestone” nomenclature.

    Gateway Pundit reminds us of a milestone that the media could be reporting if they had an ounce of integrity left.

  • Counterprotest in Berkeley

    Eagles Up emailed me the link to pictures of yesterday’s counterprotest at the recruiting station in Berkeley at Protest Shooter.

    These are from Saturday, March 22nd, at the USMC Officer Selection Office in Berkeley. There was a massive pro-troop rally. Eagles Up paid for the permit (code pink has one for free from the city council), but there were members from a variety of organizations including Move America Forward, and the Patriot Guard Riders. There were also regulars, like a group of Berkeley High School students who come by regularly to support the troops, and local folks active on conservative forums like Free Republic.

    It looks like being an anti-war protester is losing it’s luster. Good job, folks.

    More photos and narrative at Melanie Morgan‘s blog. Michele Malkin calls it “The Counterinsurgency in Berkeley” . Skye at Midnight Blue is still holding back the hippie hordes in West Chester County, PA.

  • Walter Reed Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course grads

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    Click for full-sized picture

    I’m just unashamedly copying the post from Thus Spake Ortner at The Sniper;

    OK, in order to go from SGT (E5) to Staff Sergeant (E6), a soldier must attend and pass the Basic Non-commissioned officers course. For the first time ever, this is being offered to wounded troops currently at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. See pic above.

    Anyway, they graduate on Friday, and the Senior Group Leader (Teacher) wants to get these soldiers the credit and media they deserve by getting some people at the graduation, and getting some positive stories out in the media about it. Hopefully we can do both.

    I know some will be there, like me, and Anon (Hey James, quit goosing Nicki). BNG is hoping to make it. We’ve also had good support from the Usual suspects, Gathering of Eagles, the Freepers etc. Blogs have chimed in and will do posts on these guys and gals. So, things are on track right now.

    Alas, I still do not have specifics, but hope to have them early next week. But, whoever can make it, awesome. My PLDC graduation was around noon, assuming this BNCOC graduation will be around same time frame. Stay tuned for more info as soon as I get it.

    This is a great idea – whoever thought it up should be commended. Why should an NCO fall behind their peers while they’re in a lengthy out-patient situation. I’ve always been a strong proponent of the NCODP – and this proves the Army’s commitment to  the professional development of their careerists. And a big “Hoo-ah” to the graduates.

    If you’re in the area, and you can get some time – please show up. I’ll warn everyone ahead of time that parking at WRAMC sucks. Car pool to Walter Reed (at least most of you can get to the ceremony while one drives around looking for parking) or take the Metro to Takoma station on the Red Line if you can.

  • A word about military service

    There’s a general theme running through a lot of the criticism I’ve encountered the last few days, that theme being that some military service has more “moral authority” in the discussion about this war against terror. That the voices of some veterans are more valuable than others.

    I admire people like Lt. Nixon at LT Nixon Rants – even though politically we’re miles apart, he’s able to successfully make a credible argument on the subject of the war without demeaning any veterans. Others, however, are unable to do that. One veteran who had not even served in any war, placed more value on his own opinion than mine because he’d served since I retired (in 1994, if anyone is interested and unable to click the “About” link above).

    I had a run-in with IVAW members yesterday and when I mentioned that I had trouble hearing them because I’d lost most of my hearing in a war, their response both times was “What war were you ever in?” as if only their experience has value.

    And the thing that got me to thinking about it happened back in November when I read Clifton Hicks’ letter to the Veterans for Freedom;

    How come nearly every single one of you people that I’ve seen or read about are Lieutenants and Sergeants? When I look at your little war pictures and read your poorly written bio’s my vision is overflowed with images of lazy, incompetent, cowardly Officers with a handful of brain-dead NCO’s to do their dirty work, as usual. I wonder where you boys all served?

    The implication is; if you aren’t Clifton Hicks, your service doesn’t count. (Ed. Note: Hey, Cliff, m’boy, we were two feet from each other at Winter Soldier, I didn’t say a word to you no matter what I thought of you or your service – that’s the kind of stand up guy I am)

    I had trouble dealing with a lot of the things I had to do in war when I first came back. I found solace in the strangest of places – in Civil War diaries. I discovered that all veterans of all wars have a common experience that others can’t understand. Not psychologists and certainly not some chic with hairy legs.

    Some wars were tougher than others, but the effect that wars have on people is always the same – whether your war was four years of slugging your way across the Pacific or 100 hours of slugging your way across Kuwait.

    Since my awakening, I have surrounded myself with war veterans – from across the spectrum of World War II veterans to veterans of our current war. From paratroopers who jumped into Normandy to meatcutters who went across Germany in the back of a deuce-and-half. From Huey crew chiefs in Vietnam to tunnel rats. Many times I discovered that I have more in common with warriors from previous wars than I do with people whom I’ve known my whole life but never left our hometown.

    Well, what I’m saying, I suppose, is that if these IVAW guys want to attract us to their point-of-view, the last thing they should be doing is demeaning our own experiences and that commonality in the experience of war that we share. Yeah, us older guys are out-of-shape at the moment, but in our day we kicked ass, on and off the battlefield. To judge our accomplishments on something as superficial as our current appearance borders on childishness. And it adds nothing to the discussion.