Ramblin'

Apologies folks, I'll be traveling and unable to update this blog for a couple of weeks. Please enjoy this Ramones video in the meantime and check out some links on the sidebar. So long and thanks for all the fish everybody!

Final Words From the Emerald City

This deployment has certainly been more interesting than the last two (albeit a lot longer). Primarily because I had access to the internet, and I worked on a staff with many senior officers, which allowed me to fly low on the radar with my relative unimportance. Although, important people frequently counted on me for various pieces of the puzzle in their decision making, and I'll miss that aspect of my existence having a purpose. I also worked with some wonderful people both civilian and military and I wish them the best in their future endeavors. Since I don't have a girlfriend, wife/kids, or any of that other bullshit, I thought it would be interesting to spend all of my free time frantically engaging in an experiment of how America was going about its business while a war went on in Iraq. The blogosphere seemed like the logical place to accomplish this. Iraq has become the most divisive issue of the 21st century in America, and the media and politics of it all can certainly be baffling. However, dissecting all the pieces on a daily basis of our modern world can make all that information less cumbersome to comprehend, and can even be humorous at times. At times in this place, I honestly thought I was going to get killed or seriously injured. Having an interest in something larger than yourself can provide that necessary distraction to focus your mind on other matters. And, of course, just as the blogosphere is more important than just one blog, civilization and humanity as a whole is more important than just one person. The fact that I was able to live a double-life with the U.S. mission in Iraq and some hate-filled blogger helped me get through the days here.

To The Iraqis: I wish you the best for your country. I can't imagine what it's like to have a genocidal dictator like Saddam followed by 5 years of chaos and confusion in post-invasion Iraq. Please know that those in the coalition only want to help you, but some egregious decisions were made in 2003 (de-ba'athification, disbanding the Army, etc.). I hope our current mission has helped kick out the Takfiris and weakened the militia thugs. While my words may ring hallow, please know that I hope your country becomes prosperous and you have a better life.

To The Troops: You guys are by far the best our generation has to offer. We count on you to do America's most dangerous work. Please keep your experience in your heart, and consider entering a profession that will influence society after you transition from military service. I see a lot of problems with what America has become, and you may be our last hope to fix that. For the fallen and injured, we will never forget you.

To The Lefty Pundits: While I understand that you may not like BushCo and his war, please consider that your frequent highlighting of the failures in Iraq may have a devastating psychological effect on those trying to make Iraq better. I am a huge cynic, but I think the current plan is on the right track (at least for Iraq).

To The Right-winger Pundits: While Iran is certainly a troublemaker, you have to ask yourself if an all-out military conflict is really the solution to Hezbollah, EFPs, and a possible nuke. If it is, then you have to take into consideration the huge amount of life that will be lost as well as the fact that we will need a no-joke draft. Are you ready to make that sacrifice?

To The People Reading This: Thanks so much! I've loved each and one of your comments, both supportive and nasty. This has been a unique experience and I appreciate all the feedback and good times. I'll be continuing blogging once I get back to WA state assuming I don't get too damn drunk all the time. While my blog posts have been hate-filled and offensive at times, you have to understand that I'm not a professional writer or intelligent, so being obnoxious is a good way to compensate for that. Please drop me a line if you're in the Puget Sound area, as I'm not a total asshole in person.

Since Kath accused me of being a woman for some reason, I've enclosed a picture of myself plus my one-dollar briefcase my roommate purchased for me at a thrift store, which clearly symbolizes that I'm leaving town.

In the words of the Ramones, Adios Amigos!

LT Nixon Sux

The Sniper Makes an Ass out of Obama

Go check out The Sniper talking about Obama, who neglected to mention military service in his "you ought to serve your country" Wesleyan graduation speech. Do it or else TSO will beat me up and/or give me a wedgie.

Jeff Peckman: The Man, The Myth, and The Legend

An Ode to Jeff Peckman:

• Who has a petition to recognize the importance of U.F.O.-ET Realities in the state of Colorado
• Who encourages folks in the community to Think Intergalactically, but Act Locally at his homepage
• Who still shows respect for his parents by living with them at age 54 according to a comment left by Psyoperator
• Who assures us that he has video footage of an alien popping his head into a window
• Who has doubled traffic to this blog today with incoming hits from Google searches for the legendary "Jeff Peckman"
• Who has shown his humanitarian side by saying that even though the universe is big, we humans must learn to get along with aliens from other galaxies
  

God bless you, sir!

You Handsome Devil!

Michelle Malkin Flips Out Over Dumb Shit

This might piss off some of my right-of-center readership, but I have to side with GI Kate, Exnicios, and Reason and say that Michelle Malkin's outrage at a keffiyeh in a Dunkin Donuts commercial is pretty damn stupid. Is there any reason to believe that Rachel Ray is a terrorist-sympathizer...no. Beside, this is what hipsters do. They wear things like keffiyehs, skinny jeans, and Ralph Nader buttons because they know it will generate outrage among culture warrior squares from the suburbs. I find it best to ignore these latte-sipping twentysomethings, and mock them for their crappy taste in music.

Well no sooner than Dunkin Donuts nixed the keffiyeh commercial has Malkin flipped out over a Lenin statue in Jersey. She also mentions the monster sized Lenin statue in Seattle's Freemont district as a sign of civilization's impending collapse. C'mon, the cold war has been over for more than 20 years. Let's just settle down now.

Freemont Lenin to Squash American Imperialists

Harvard Troublemakers Hassle Recruiters in Maine

Don't Ask Don't Tell was a policy instituted for the military during the early years of the Clinton administration, which didn't allow gays to serve openly, but prevented the chain of command from questioning someone's sexual orientation. Prior to this policy, homosexuals were not allowed into the military at all. Of course, there are no secrets in the military due to0 the close proximity of living quarters and conversation being the number one way to help pass the time. Everyone knew if someone was gay, and no one really gave a shit. The law is archaic and should probably be repealed. Admiral Mullen even suggested that Congress should consider getting rid of the policy earlier this month, but he made it clear that it was in the hands of elected lawmakers. So why are these know-it-all, self-righteous pukes at Harvard protesting military recruiting stations instead of Washington lawmakers? Politico explains:

“I wouldn’t be able to be completely honest about such an important part of who I am,” he said. “I’m prevented from serving my country in the most open and sincere way.” On May 24, Harvard students — regardless of sexual orientation or desire to serve in the military — will embark on a weeklong coalition-sponsored trip around the east coast to protest the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. At these cities’ military recruiting centers, one openly gay or lesbian student will attempt to enlist for military service. If the student is turned away, volunteers from the group will refuse to leave the recruiting center.

Do these brainiacs at Harvard really want to serve their country or change the system? Please. Harvard has no love for the military, and it booted their ROTC program off campus in 1969 like it was a deranged, smelly homeless man at a wine n' cheese party. The real answer lies in 4 of the protesters being rightfully arrested for makin' trouble. They call it a "badge of honor", which shows that they are just looking for some attention and self-martyrdom. The real losers here are these kids parents who are shelling out 47 grand a year for tuition and board for these ungrateful young punks.

Get a Job, You Fancy Lads! (photo from Harvard Crimson)

Jeff Peckman Promises Real Alien Footage

Colorado's favorite nut who lives with his parents at age 54, Jeff Peckman, is back in the news again. To enable the Denver city council to go along with his Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission, which would provide a framework of laws to deal with hazmat produced from crashed alien spaceships, he reportedly has a videotape of an authentic alien. Rocky Mountain News explains:

Peckman, 54, said the video was among the reasons he was "compelled" to launch the proposed ballot initiative, which has generated news coverage as far as South Africa. "It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said this month. In a statement, Peckman said "other related credible evidence" proving aliens exist will be shown at Friday's news conference, too.



Let's hope that this alien is from a planet that likes to party (like the aliens in Heavy Metal), and not a planet destined to enslave humanity (like the Psychlos in Battlefield Earth).

(h/t Kath)

Iraq News (29 May)

The Good

• ABC News has cited Maliki's "Midas Touch" as Sadr City's markets are opened back up again after a huge Iraqi Army offensive.
• Another surge brigade of U.S. forces (~4000 troops) is being redeployed with no replacement, as U.S. force structure decreases to 15 Brigade Combat Teams.
• FIFA has lifted the ban on the Iraqi Football Association so that Iraq can play in the World Cup qualifying match.
• U.S. forces killed 10 IED-emplacers just outside Sadr City, and Iraqi troops have made huge cache finds in Sadr City.
• Recommended reading from AFP: Now that Al-Qaeda has fled Mosul, the citizens are allowed to drink and smoke again. I don't know how the Iraqis could have gone without smoking. Almost every Iraqi male I know smokes. One gentleman mentioned he could open up his ice factory again. Ice was banned by Al-Qaeda, because it didn't exist in the time of Prophet Mohammed.

The Bad

• A suicide bomber has killed at least 16 in the Sinjar district of Ninawa province (West of Mosul).
• The Iraqi Accordance Front says the Maliki government is hindering its return to the cabinet. Iraqi politics as usual, and it's going very, very slow.

The Ugly

• A militia commander in Sadr City says "duh, we was duped!" in regards to the cease-fire.
• There's a big conference in Sweden on reviewing the International Compact for Iraq. Iraq is asking for debt forgiveness, but Al-Jazeera says there is low expectations abound for this conference. Maybe everyone just wanted to go to Stockholm check out the Swedish babes.

Iraq Soccer Lives

Weed Stash Goes Missing at Narita Airport

And you thought our airport security was wonked up. Security officials at Narita airport in Tokyo secretly placed a bag of weed in a Hong Kong traveler's luggage for the purposes of a training exercise for Customs. Unfortunately, the guy who had the stash disappeared. Reuters explains:

Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official said he had used passengers' suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported. "The dogs have always been able to find it before," NHK quoted him as saying. "I became overconfident that it would work." Anyone who finds the package should contact Tokyo customs as soon as possible, the spokeswoman said.

I don't think they're going to have much like finding the dope. Some Hong Kong businessman is probably stoned out of his gourd doing karaoke to "Dark Side of the Moon" as we speak.

Cheech N' Chong Working Airport Security in Tokyo

Cornball "Gas Giveaway" Campaign Stunt Results in Anger, Malaise

Sleazy politicians often try to portray "Big Oil" as a bunch of waspy old geezers in wingtips, who are living large in their golden castles, while the rest of us schmoes shell out our hard-earned cash on gas to pay for their snotty kid's trust fund. Politicians employ this "Scrooge McDuck" narrative to win populist support amongst the rubes who think the government should provide them with dollar-a-gallon gas, tighter abs, and endless hours of reality TV to consume their vapid lives. Unfortunately, reckless government spending is most likely the culprit for our high oil prices due to the Bush Administration cranking out the funny money at the Fed. PJs explains:

With all this in mind, I’d like to propose what I believe is the correct answer — the real culprit lurking in the shadows — of today’s high and rising energy prices. The Bush White House did it, in the Cabinet Room with 1) the printing press from the Treasury Department that printed far too much money to cover out-of-control government spending after 9/11 and 2) a pair of Federal Reserve scissors that started cutting interest rates from 6% down to 1% in a little less than a year back in 2002, under the tutelage of Alan Greenspan. Together these two weapons — a printing press and pair of scissors — acted like a double-barrel sawed-off shotgun in annihilating the value of our dollar in short order.

While America doesn't have some sort of right to cheap energy, the reckless spending that the federal government (both Dems and Repubs) has wrought sure isn't helping matters any. That's why I took sadistic pleasure when Dan Seals, a Democrat running for Congress, made an jackass out of himself trying to have some gas giveaway stunt to give the appearance that congressmen are modern-day Robin Hoods. Chicago Tribune explains (h/t Politico):

"We're not asking people to vote for me," said Seals, who had campaign workers passing out campaign bumper stickers to motorists as they waited for fill ups. "We're holding this open to anyone who wants to come."

Come they did, causing a lunchtime traffic nightmare that left Lincolnshire Police Chief Randy Melvin fuming. He had almost half of his 25-officer staff directing traffic, which nearly came to a standstill."We have cars trying to come in from every direction," Melvin said during the event. "We've probably had fist fights. Cars are lined up for at least 1.5 miles. I'd say there's a couple hundred easy."Melvin said that what particularly irked him was no one from the Seals campaign alerted him about the event until just before it started. By that time, traffic was a mess, and it remained snarled even after the scheduled 1 p.m. finishing time.

The only things Dan Seals was able to provide was a wretched mess of traffic during the lunch-hour rush and some very pissed-off local policemen. What a man of the people! Lucky for Dan, this type of sheer incompetence is what the standard has become for Congress, and I'm sure he'll get elected to make dunderheaded decisions about how to waste money from the largest tax base in civilization.

Dems Attempting to Revive Long Gas Lines from the "Golden Age" of the Carter Administration

Remembering LT Ammon

Former colleague and partner in crime, Olegreydog7, brings us some sad news. A Navy Individual Augmentee and submariner has died in Afghanistan on 20 May from an IED. The submarine JO community is small, and while I didn't personally know LT Ammon, Olegreydog knew him well and served with him on the USS Alabama. He had this to say:

He was a friend of mine from the Bama. Awesome guy. I'm headed to Bangor next week for his memorial. He pinned on my boomer pin, JG bars, dolphins. He would have pinned me an LT, but he was in Thailand, a trip he stole from me. He had seen quite a bit of direct combat. A number of people from his PRT had been killed. He put out the fire that burned down the DFAC and Gym. They lived in tents and plywood buildings. Sometimes they slept on the Humvees. Extended for a year, had till the end of October left. He would only do that if he was making a difference. I think he was.

Daily Kos also had a nice writeup in memoriam which can be found here. Godspeed.

LT Ammon is the second Navy IA to be killed in action. A supply officer, CDR Murphy-Sweet, was killed by an IED in eastern Baghdad last year. He was a short-timer too.

LT Ammon (R.I.P.)

Iraq News (28 May)

The Good

• The Sarafiyah bridge in Baghdad has been reopened after a suicide truck bomber destroyed it in April 2007.
• The Jordanian King has called for more economic and political support in dealing with Iraqis. Some Arabic nations have been hesitant to have strong diplomatic ties with the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government.
• An oil smuggling gang in Basra has been detained.

The Bad

• Former U.S. counter terrorism czar, Richard Clarke, has said that having U.S. forces in Iraq "helps Al-Qaeda". I would agree with him that a long-term presence is not beneficial to counter-terrorism, but U.S. forces have been instrumental in crushing extremist elements in Iraq by utilizing COIN strategy.
• The Iraqi Accordance Front was supposed to end its boycott of nearly one year, but they have suspended negotiations. While security improvements have been tremendous in the last month, political progress has seriously lagged.

The Ugly

• Australian OIF/OEF vets are reportedly "ashamed" that they have been kept out of combat roles in Afghanistan and Iraq. I've served with a lot of Aussies, and they're all awesome, but some people have that mentality that they need to see action (I'm not one of those, but I'm thankful there are people like that).
• The State Department needs more of their Foreign Service Officers to volunteer for Iraq or they'll be "voluntold".
• Sadr has called for protests on Friday because of the Strategic Framework Agreement between the U.S. and Iraq to extend the military presence beyond the U.N. mandate (which expires at the end of 2008). Last time Sadr called for protests in April, they were cancelled. Let's see how this turns out before we start freaking out.

Possible Sadr Protest on Friday (photo from Al-Jazeera English)

Is The Military Becoming the Rodney Dangerfield of Modern Society?

The recent decline of violence in Iraq must have some elements of the blogosphere looking for new and improved tactics to slam the military. In light of this earlier post on Memorial Day slander, Suspect getting called a "rotten apple" of a soldier, and the Ygleisas thread where "Spike" suggests that soldiers lack the "critical thinking" skills for college, it can only be surmised that the military is getting no respect ala Rodney Dangerfield (h/t McClatchy Watch for this hilarious meme).

Since many of us are all about the self-deprecation, and Rodney Dangerfield is the king of hilarity (R.I.P.), here are a list of one-liners to employ in regards to getting no respect:

• I tried to file a TBI claim at the VA, they told me I was too crazy and threw me in a room with padded walls and a helmet
  
• I asked the bartender how much for a gin and tonic, he said 5 bucks, I told him I just got back from Iraq, then he said it'd be 10 and spit on me
  
• My girlfriend said I was lousy at sex, I said sorry and told her I had PTSD, she went and got checked for VD and then dumped me
• I went to go collect my GI Bill at school, they told me to get in the wrong line when I showed up at their office, the next thing you know I'm landing in Helmland province with an M-4 and IBA, how the hell did I end up there
  
• I went looking for a job downtown, the interviewer asked me what I did in the Navy, I said I worked in engineering, so they locked me in a dark room for 18 hours a day turning wrenches and paid me 3 bucks an hour, which is still better than being in the Navy
• I met this beautiful woman who worked as a news anchor, she said to take her out to dinner in my uniform, I showed up to the restaurant and the next thing you know I'm on CNN in the "War Crimes Trial of the Century" with cameras in my face, I get no respect around here

Mosul Citizens To Be Bestricken with Sub-Prime Mortgages

Now that the Iraqi Army offensive in Mosul, Operation Mother of Two Springs, has seen substantial success with over a thousand detained and Al-Qaeda on the run, the citizens are facing another problem: high housing prices. Azzaman English explains:

The sudden hike in property prices in the northern city of Mosul is seen as a sign that relative peace was finally returning to the restive city...Ahmad Azzam, a real state agent, described the surge in rents as “crazy”, claiming that one political faction offered to pay $100,000 a month for a spacious house in one of Mosul’s smart districts.

While this might lead to some levels of corruption and low-level intimidation, it is certainly heartening to hear that this type of problem is making the news. A few months ago, the only thing you heard from Mosul was which suicide bomber blew himself up or who got kidnapped. For the sake of the Iraqis in Mosul, let's hope the terrorists don't come back.

Hanging Out in Mosul (From AFP)

Netroots Slam the Troops on Memorial Day

While calling our military service members "war criminals" is nothing new to the left-leaning blogosphere, you'd think we'd get a day of respect on Memorial day. There couldn't be a better day for pundits and anonymous commenters to put aside their political slandering of the U.S. Armed Forces and honor the fallen. While most lefties didn't have overt disgust of the military on Memorial Day, there were a significant number that did. These low-class thugs are so blinded by their hatred of the current administration that they don't even comprehend the offensiveness towards those that give them freedom of speech (note: getting called "low class" on this blog is impressive, since my ultimate goal here is to get some rich lady to marry and then divorce me so I can cash in on palimony). My dumpster-diving through the liberalsphere unearthed more tastelessness than Sharon Stone saying a karma-quake killed a bunch of unsuspecting Chinese people. Below is a small sampling.

Abu Muqawama is a well-written blog that focuses on COIN, and Kip had a post about Americans needing to have more respect for what Memorial day is about. It didn't take long for some anonymous commando to liken modern day military members to the Nazis:

The last honorable war was World War II. Members of my family fought in that war and members of my family also died in the camps. The insurgents were the underground, the partisans and the resistance. COIN was Germany.You people are the army of mercs Westmoreland worried about. I have pity for today's recruits, but no respect for their leaders.

Notice how anonymous guy drops the hint that he has a relative who had served in the military. This gives him the moral authority and courage to make asinine comments that have no basis in reality.

Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars had a nice post of a girl in pigtails putting a flag in a fallen soldier's combat boots. Unfortunately, some of the commenters didn't see it that way:

The facts are out there, and if people volunteering for the military don’t bother to educate themselves on what THIS administration is going to do with them, what honor is there in serving? What honor is there in killing or being killed, for the enrichment of the oil industry, Halliburton, and the likes of Blackwater? Like I said: mixed feelings.

And:

Happy Memorial Day? Are you perhaps just a little careless with these hard word thingamabobs? Or do dead U.S. soldiers make you happy? Would more dead (wounded, maimed, PTSD-shattered) soldiers for Mr. Bush’s oil war make the day more happy? Or did you just speak a little poorly?

Yikes, and even more:

Can I ask how these futures are won when Pres Fudnut has made the world a more dangerous place AND shredded our Constitution to boot? I like dictatorship! And so do you, if you know what’s good for you! (Kos Link to a rambling, nonsensical diary about the military breaking into the author's house to steal his children was provided free of charge with this comment).

There seems to be some discrepancy on how the netroots are running their propaganda campaign against us. They can't decide if we are Nazis, sheisty mercenaries, armed sentries of the Bush dictatorship, or "damaged goods" as a commenter at Firedoglake points out. My advice to them is to stick with one phrase (e.g."warmongering shock troops of BushCheneyBurton") and use it repeatedly to increase the value of its jingoism in the groupthink echo chambers of places like Daily Kos and MyDD.

Since I understand that anonymous comments are not always a good barometer of the site's opinion, let's take a look at some front page posts that were served up with uber-class on Memorial Day. A Democratic Underground post shows a gentleman sporting the latest "Fuck The War" style T-shirt, the genre which is often found worn on liberal college campuses where students are heavy on the idealism but incredibly low on life experience. This youngster has a shirt depicting a veterans grave, which implies that if you sign up for the military to get help with college...you're gonna die! The shirt advertises the GI Rights Hotline, which is a cornball left-wing front group, evidenced by the aging hippie douchebags gracing us with their profile pictures on the "About Us" tab.

Of course, the site that gets me the most angry on a daily basis, had the most tasteless front page posts. The Huffington Post informs us that people join the military out of economic necessity and not so much patriotism.

We are, in fact, eternally indebted to all the men and women who choose to voluntarily serve our country because they: (a) believe it is their patriotic duty; (b) have limited economic opportunities; (c) cannot afford to attend college (see b); or, (d) all of the above. The fact is that financial necessity compels many of our soldiers to enlist as much as patriotism.

This ensures we can breathe a sigh of relief and not care for a young soldier who succumbed to his wounds in the battleground of Sadr City. He wasn't serving his country (despite the fact that the uniform actually says "U.S. Army" on it), but rather he was just some hick from the south looking to make a quick buck. Martha Burke perpetuates the myth on HuffPo that if you're a female soldier/marine, you will be raped repeatedly in the "macho" military world:

The Marine Corps is no doubt trying to attract women because it is stretched for recruits for George and Dick's war. All I can say to those women reading the new ads is: Buyer beware. On the same day recent stories about the new "woman friendly" pitch ran in newspapers, NBC Nightly News reported that the U.S. military is now so desperate it is accepting felons, some with convictions for sexual assault.

Instead of honoring our sisters in uniform and those who have fallen, Martha Burke has relegated them to a pathetic victim class subjected to a crass advertising scheme. Perhaps Martha should've taken the time to talk with female vets, instead of holding such ridiculous assumptions.

I wager that most of the netroots are actually supportive of veterans issues, but I fear that tune will eventually change. Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings offers a good model for humiliating offensive participants of the lefty blogosphere, but she is the exception and not the rule. Due to the inherent lack of criticism for bullshit on the left, the Leviathan of collective outrage will continue to grow and become more powerful. Soon, anyone who doesn't support a Stalin-like approach to health care and changing the Department of Defense to the Department of Re-education will be chastised as the incarnation of Josef Mengele (with poor spelling and tons of exclamation points included). You stay classy, guys.

The Leviathan of Military-Hatred Takes Over the Blogosphere

Tuesdaze Bloggin' Roundup of Iraq (27 May)

Robots are so sweet, and I want to be replaced by one. T minus three... Here's the goods the blogosphere has to offer on Iraq:

• Iraq: The Purgatorium is Headin' Back to the States
• Army of Dude recalls Memorial Day in Iraq, 2007
• Iraqi Mojo highlights Iraqi patriots
• Spencer Ackerman gives a shout out to those who care about Iraq
• Words From Warriors talks about how she supports the troops
• GI Kate, an Iraq vet, talks about Memorial Day
• Iraqpundit warns us if soccer meets demise in Iraq
• Michelle Malkin says the LA Times can't find any bad news about Iraq
• Small Wars Journal says reducing the mission is not the answer
• Gateway Pundit on Iran conducting psyops on the Iraqis
• Guidons Guidons Guidons talks about Sadr City and helicopters
• The Tension has photos from western Baghdad
• Inside Iraq not impressed with the Ministry of Education
• Navy Gal is bored senseless (she's not alone!)
• A Soldier's Perspective talks about General Petraeus and troop cuts in Iraq
• VetVoice on the phony patriot
• The Long War Journal discusses the Iraqi Army finding huge caches in Sadr City
• Talisman Gate hears rumors that many militia thugs are heading to Maysan province
• Hot Air talks about VFF slamming Obama
• The Captain's Journal discusses Jihad
• CI-Roller Dude reminisces on Fallujah
• Democracy Arsenal highlights Hillary Clinton questioning Petraeus
• False Motivation talks about switching from deployment mode to garrison mode
• Abu Muqawama talks about the Iraqi Army in Sadr City
• Yankee Sailor argues that Bin Laden has surrendered in Iraq

Iraq News (27 May)

The Good

• Muqtada al-Sadr might be trying to brush up on his studies and boost his theological credentials according to WaPo, but the LA Times reports that the Mahdi Army is losing popular support in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City due to its racketeering and thug-like tactics.
• The U.S. Presidential hopefuls may address the women in combat issue. Haha, silly politicians, military women are already in combat roles, get with the times!
• Reuters reports that major heads of the state-run oil industry have been replaced, which is most likely an attempt to curb the corruption that has plagued the Iraqi oil industry.
• Six young boys, who were being trained to be utilized as suicide bombers by a Saudi foreign fighter, have been rescued by Iraqi security forces in Mosul.
• The Long War Journal reports that a Special Groups commander has been detained in the Shula neighborhood.

The Bad

• The law to allow Provincial elections later this year has been met with some serious foot-dragging in Iraqi parliament. Some of the Kurdish lawmakers stormed out of Parliament yesterday when the issue of Kirkuk came up.
• A suicide bomber killed 6 Sahwa members yesterday north of Baghdad.

The Ugly

• Many countries (including the U.S. and Iran) are set to meet at the upcoming Stockholm conference on Thursday to discuss Iraq's security. Not sure if it's going to be productive or not, and it sounds like more of a boondoggle. Condi is already ramping up the anti-Iranian rhetoric, and this thing might degenerate into a shouting match.
• As far as I can tell, Iraqis are nuts about soccer. The recent announcement that Iraq could be suspended from FIFA, thereby preventing Iraq from a shot at the World Cup, will result in some pissed off Iraqis. This shit needs to get resolved in a expeditious manner.

Iraqi Soccer Might Be in Trouble

The Great Colorado Sex-Out of 2009

Some bozo grad student in Colorado is proposing a "sex strike" for a period of one day on January 1, 2009 to protest the Iraq war. Apparently giving up nookie for a day is supposed to show "respect" and solidarity for military people. ABC Denver explains (h/t Moonbattery):

After an hour of arguing, Page got approval from the board to begin collecting signatures for the question to appear on the ballot. He will need to collect more than 76,000 signatures. Penk said the idea is a creative way to make a statement. "This is about respect for the families of our military," he told the Web site.

People don't want to turn off American Idol for two seconds to hear about Iraq on the news, so what makes this clown think his fellow citizens are going to give up boning for an entire day. Besides, isn't Jan. 1st when most people are not looking to get laid and are, instead, regretting the obese, hairy monstrosity they woke up next to after the New Year's Eve Party?

Military people can go months and even years without getting any, so this yahoo needs to get off his high horse. As for myself, I took a vow of celibacy when I chose to study engineering in college (the billboard below was really inspirational).

Destiny

Mankind is unique due to the capability of abstract thought, which has allowed us to progress from mere anomalies of the animal kingdom to our current modern civilization. As tribes of people began to congregate and unite under various banners throughout time, disputes have arisen. Various tribes were beholden to different ideologies and some were ruled by oppressors seeking to impose their harsh rule over their subjects. While leaders of these people often bickered with one another, a failure of diplomacy often led to hostile conflict. War could best be described as a crass, barbaric act, pitting man versus man in a struggle for survival. To the victor go the spoils. As people became more educated and allowed more freedom to express their opinion, many of these influential thinkers exposed the horrendous consequences of tyranny and its absolute power. The strength of a nation lied within the ideas and innovation inherent in all of its citizens, not one corrupted ideal of an all-powerful overseer.

A nation emerged, which was unique at the time, focusing on the rule of law and natural rights granted to all individuals. A courageous war against a terribly powerful foe was fought to ensure that the abstract concept of liberty could be enforced under a nation-state without the corruption imposed by a meddling outside authority. However, the implementation of equality and liberty did not come immediately to fruition, internal strife and hatred remained a norm in some aspects of society. Over time, these irreconcilable beliefs were exposed for the atrocities they were, and when things could not be resolved politically, war was imminent.

The last two centuries have been unique in that the extensive modernization and industrialization of our civilization have brought about the capability to shorten distance and communication between foreign nation-states. It has also allowed tyrants hell-bent on conquering land and resources the ability to conduct large-scale campaigns of genocide to purge society of elements they see as undesirable. This is a philosophically untenable solution as it is barbaric in its implementation, violating the very concept of natural rights to life and liberty which we collective arose from the ashes to secure. These horrific lunatics must be stopped in a modern society, as the collapse of even a small sector of our fragile civilization can have profound implications for our future existence.

Ironically, war has been a collective action necessary over time to prevent the destruction of the threads which binds our civilization together. The individual people who have so bravely sacrificed have not been a distinctive warrior class, but rather average citizens of our Republic who have performed extraordinary acts of courage. We choose to honor these men and women once a day on Memorial day, but we must carry in our hearts the high cost of their selfless sacrifice to orevent the destruction of our modern society as we progress on. Their death shall never be in vain, but rather is the highest cost to which we owe our modern existence.

Recommended Reads for Memorial Day:

• Merlin's Story on AP (R.I.P.)
• Flanders Fields Poem on Wired
• Reflection from Hot Air
• Photos from Miserable Donuts (in Iraq)
• Thanks from Jawa Report
• Sacrifice from Sandgram
• Awareness from Abu Muqawama
• Missive from The Sniper
• Remembrance from Angry American
• Rolling Thunder from This Ain't Hell

Word From The Libertarian Convention in Denver (Barr it is then)

Eric Dondero first broke the story that Barr won the nomination. My mother has been busy doing credentialing and the whole delegate thing at the Libertarian Party convention in Denver, but she had to time to fill me in via email last night. From the woman who put up with so much bullshit when I was growing up:

It was a pretty exciting day. Mary Ruwart and Bob Barr were running neck and neck. It was the "ideological" libertarians (Ruwart) vs. the "practical" libertarians (Barr). I voted for Barr because he is much better known and I think can raise a lot more money for us. Ruwart has more liberal appeal; but the liberals aren't going to desert Obama--they love him. The conservatives aren't satisfied with McCain, and so that's where we'll get our votes this year. I think a lot of people in the party are upset, and I hope this doesn't cause a schism alienating many long-time libertarians. But Bob Barr has put in time for the party and deserves a chance. I know him, and think he has sincerely changed his views on many issues, such as the defense of marriage act.

Anyway, we have one more day, where we'll pick our national chair. Then I'm hanging around and hope to see a little bit of Denver.

Long time Republicans are likely to get mad that Barr will swindle some votes from Senator McCain. But c'mon, the GOP has been a complete disgrace for quite some time. Foreign policy under Bush has been poor at best, and the so-called party of smaller government has seen government spending send our national debt to the moon (nearly $10 Trillion). Also, I'm not jumping on the Obama band-wagon anytime soon (for a long list of reasons), so it's decent to have a moderate middle-of-the-road guy like Barr to vote for in November.

The more radical faction of the Libertarian Party seemed quite upset that "neo-cons" were taking over the party according to David Weigel of Reason. While I may have held this "anti-authority" attitude in my younger days, my experiences have taught me to adopt a more practical approach to politics. Also, I would be a bit of a hypocrite as a military officer to say that authority and enforcement of the Rule of Law doesn't have its place. It is good news that Bob Barr has changed his tune from bringing "teh crazy" in '96 with the cultural conservative Defense of Marriage Act to an more libertarian outlook. Seriously, what business does the federal government have in regulating who you marry? I'm still curious as to Barr's views on foreign policy, but time will tell. I'd vote for him over McCain or Obama. What are your thoughts?

Mr. Rogers Nominated To Run For Prez on LP Ticket

Iraq News (26 May)

The Good: With Al-Qaeda on the run in northern Iraq and militia fighters lying low in Basra and Baghdad, violence in Iraq for the week ending Friday was at ~300 security incidents. This is the lowest in more than 4 years. You just can't argue with statistics. Washington Post has some photos from a place you never hear about in Iraq (primarily because there is little violence), Kurdistan. However, the Prime Minister of the autonomous region has warned against U.S. forces making a hasty withdrawal. Stars and Stripes has an article on U.S. forces attempting to jump start the Iraqi economy through micro-grants. Time has a report on Prime Minister Maliki and Ambassador Crocker meeting with Grand Ayatollah Sistani as Najaf seeks reconstruction aid. Also, McClatchy reports that Basra is seeing a renewal of culture.

The Bad: While there have been major security improvements in Iraq, the political arena has not been as kind. Voices of Iraq reports that talks are destined to collapse between the Iraqi Accordance Front (largest Sunni Bloc in Parliament) and Prime Minister Maliki. The IAF has been boycotting the cabinet for months, and they were supposed to return their ministers to the government. That has yet to happen. Also, a U.S. soldier was killed in Salah ad-Din.

The Ugly: Trouble for Iraqi soccer (er football) as FIFA makes a decision on whether to allow Iraq to play in the world cup qualifier. Japan is looking to end the air support it provides to coalition forces in Iraq by 2009.

Kids Happy To See The Iraqi Army Provide Food Rations in Sadr City (photo from LA Times)

WaPo Mad That Helo Pilots Are Killing the Enemy in Iraq

Prior to the launch of Operation Salam by the Iraqi Army into the northen two-thirds of Sadr City this month, rogue Special Groups thugs (code word for Shi'ite militants not loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr) were launching mortar and rocket attacks from Sadr City willy-nilly. Most of them were targeting the International Zone (often referred to as the Green Zone, home to the Government of Iraq and the many embassies), but they often missed and killed/wounded scores of Iraqi civilians in the process. To stop this violent activity, American helicopters and UAVs targeted these murderers while they were launching or setting up these vicious attacks. Unfortunately, the rocketeers often conduct their operations amidst hospitals, schools, and amongst civilians. While Abu Muqawama raises concern that hellfire strikes may be contradictory to COIN, these brave helo pilots have done everything they possibly can to avoid civilian casualties. Unfortunately, war is hell, and some civilians have been caught in the cross-fire. Iran has used their propaganda apparatus to exploit every one of these events which result in civilian deaths (see Press TV coverage here, here, and here), but it is necessary to kill/capture all of these Special Group rocket networks to ensure stability in Baghdad.

Obviously, it is a bit of a conundrum, but I didn't expect to see such rampant, one-sided yellow journalism from a reputable American media outlet like the Washington Post when portraying this aspect of the Iraq war. The article quotes some Sadr City residents who have some hateful things to say about America:

Relatives said she was wounded by a missile on April 20 at approximately 8 p.m. in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City. The U.S. military said it fired a Hellfire missile in Zahara's neighborhood at that time, targeting men who were seen loading rockets into a sedan. Her face drained of color and her legs scarred by shrapnel, Zahara spoke haltingly when asked what she thought of U.S. troops. "They kill people," she said. Lying in bed, she gasped for air before continuing. "They should leave Iraq now."

Sure, fair enough, journalism is all about getting both sides of the story, and I'm not going to deny that some Iraqis hate Americans. But take a look at what they have to say from the U.S. perspective:

At a sprawling air base on the outskirts of Baghdad, Edens, Katzenberger and their colleagues live in small trailers surrounded by blast walls, play volleyball on sand courts and eat at an outdoor food court. Many of the pilots are in their 20s. The pilots sometimes scrawl messages on the five-foot-long missiles strapped to their "birds." During a recent visit to the base, a reporter saw a missile addressed to "Haji," an honorific for people who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Many U.S. soldiers use it to refer dismissively to Iraqis and Arabs in general. Someone wrote "rock this thang" on another. The small, white trailers adjacent to the airfield where the pilots do paperwork have Christmas lights strung from the ceiling. Two bumper stickers on windows say: "I [heart] Sadr City."

Washington Post's journalism takes it one step further than Iranian propaganda by characterizing the helo pilots as a bunch of callous yahoos! This narrative conjures up images of that crazed Russian pilot that mercilessly shoots up the Afghan villagers in Rambo III.

Not one bit in the article about these operations targeting the militia networks who are responsible for most of the pain and suffering for Baghdad's citizens. Of course, a cynic could say I'm the guy with the "biased" perspective. Sitting in the Green Zone like an asshole, knowing that any time day or night I could be killed by that rocket with my name on it. Certainly it affects my psychological perspective on this contentious issue. I guess you could say I'm pretty supportive of these "gung-ho" pilot types. They're the difference from me coming home in a box or not, after all. I might even by them a beer if I see one of them around!

Only Rambo Can Save the Villagers From the Evil American Helicopters

Update: Outlaw 13 over Guidons, Guidons, Guidons is a helo pilot who has flown missions over Sadr City, and he offers up his perspective. He wasn't too impressed with the armchair commenters over at WaPo making "war crime" accusations, and I'm not either.

Outrage in Japan! Kitties Forced into Slave Labor

Some might find it cute and silly that a cat named Tama is a "Super-Stationmaster" employed by Wakayama Electric Railway, who has delighted Japanese train-goers since 2006. But underneath the surface of feline employment belies a seedy underbelly of Dickensian-like serfdom. From Breitbart:

"Tama is the only stationmaster as we have to reduce personnel costs. You say you could ask for the cat's help, but she is actually bringing luck to us," Wakayama Electric spokeswoman Keiko Yamaki said. The company feeds her in lieu of salary....Those who want to greet her must be careful so as not to miss her. "She works nine to five and takes Sundays off," Yamaki said.

48 hours for a work week and only getting fed instead of a true "living wage" is an egregious violation of this cat's rights. These brave worker cats need to be unionized and someone needs to alert PETA.

In all seriousness, this article begs the eternal question I've puzzled over in my time in Japan with the Navy, why the hell are the Japanese so damn weird?

Tama the Stationmaster Cat Receives No Compensation For This Humiliating Outfit (from AFP)

Medal of Honor Recipients After 9/11

SPC McGinnis (heroism in Iraq)

Instead of going on hokey shopping sprees for Memorial Day, let's take a minute to give props to our Medal of Honor Recipients since 9/11 (all awarded post-humously). An important story of yesterday's troublemaker being today's hero is SPC Ross McGinnis. From Scripps:

At age 14, in eighth grade, Ross bought marijuana from a classmate and foolishly discussed the transaction at Keystone Junior-Senior High School. Staff members searched his locker, where they found a couple of knives, his father said.

Ross had no malicious intent, but this was less than two years after the mass murders at Columbine High in Colorado. School districts across the country no longer had patience for students holding weapons.

The school board expelled Ross and the district attorney prosecuted him in juvenile court. He spent a year on probation. During that time, he had to get permission from his probation officer to go out in the evening...

… Tom and Romayne McGinnis, parents of the fallen soldier, say it is difficult to think of their skinny, rambunctious son as a national hero.

"He'd remind you more of Bart Simpson than anything else -- you know, sort of an underachiever," said Tom McGinnis, 58. "But when it really meant something, he produced."

Other Medal of Honor Recipients are shown below:

Top-Left is LT Murphy (heroism in Afghanistan), and top to bottom, left to right is CPL Dunham, MA2 Monsoor, and SFC Smith (heroism in Iraq )

Iraq News (25 May)

The Good: Ambassador Crocker, not normally prone to optimistic neo-con banter, has said that AQI is close to defeat. This is in no doubt due to the successful Mosul operations which have detained over a 1,000 in the past two weeks, and there are even reports that life is getting back to normal in the city that was held hostage by terrorist thugs. Iraqi military leaders are announcing that Al-Qaeda has been cleared from Mosul. Violence in Iraq, as marked by number of attacks, is at the lowest level since March 2004. Reconstruction in the mostly Shi'ite southern Iraq is progressing according to WaPo, but security gains in northern Iraq must be cemented with reconstruction as well.

The Bad: The detention of many Sadrists has led to some nasty rhetoric emanating from the trouble-making cleric's followers. They have denounced the Iraqi government amidst these detentions in Baghdad, and also the reported break-up of Friday prayers in Basra supposedly instigated by the Iraqi police. There have been 14 "honor-killings" in the Kurdish region in the first 10 days in May. This barbaric practice against women is a serious human rights issue.

The Ugly: The story from the San Francisco Gate about veterans going to school is good news. Sure college is swell, but the fact that many employers don't want to hire vets because they're afraid they will have to incur the health care cost of PTSD puts vets at a serious disadvantage in the civilian world. USA Today has an article about injured vets having emotional problems due to the lack of a love life. Reminds me of Born on the 4th of July, and it's sad.

Cleanup Crew in Mosul (from the AFP)

Blogcest Makes For God-Awful Reading

Aw, Cute Bloggers Talk About Their Feelings....Shut the Fuck up!

Spencer Ackerman directs us to these two former Gawker bloggers that spill their melodramatic guts on the New York Times and New York Post respectively. Perhaps I'm a schtickler for crappy chick drama, because I read every word of both emotional articles front to back last night. Reading these monstrously long and boring articles is the equivalent of not scoring with some chick after watching "Sleepless in Seattle" followed by a couples reading of a Jane Austen novel, but whatever, my life sucks and I have nothing better to do for entertainment on a Friday Night in Iraq. What really got me angry was how these two people view bloggin'.

Emily Gould talks about her botched appearance on Larry King live where she made a moron out of herself and was hit up with some nasty comments:

I expected the miniature scandal to flare and fade quickly, but for a while it seemed as if it would never go away. The clip made its way to Yahoo’s front page, and a reporter called my parents for comment. After a week or so, the volume of angry e-mail and blog comments subsided, but they stayed under my skin. I decided to try to develop a steely, defiant numbness. I told myself that the strangers who’d taken the time to e-mail me their rants were wrong and crazy, that there was nothing so bad about what I’d done.

This is an example of how people my age can't handle any sort of constructive criticism. If your commenters say your post looks like shit, and that it smells like shit, then your post is probably a piece of shit! This holier than thou attitude developed by bloggers will lead to their inevitable demise, as they have no feedback mechanism with which to adjust their writing style to stay interesting. Blog snobs who have zero relationship with their readers are best suited to being a webmaster for schnooze-inducing reads like the Joey Lawrence fan site.

But, I'm willing to take it easy on Emily Gould because she is an attractive woman w/tattoos. Let's examine this other douche, Joshua Stein, in the NY Post:

There were omens, of course. One day not long after we had started dating, she let drop that she had told our boss about our relationship. Soon I found out she had told almost everyone we worked with. I was torn. I understood the warrior's code of the blogosphere: The conviction that the details of one's inner life are of interest to the larger world legitimized what both Emily and I spent our days doing. On the other hand, I was furious and more than a little scared that she would so unhesitatingly run roughshod over my desire for privacy.

I disagree with his statement about this Warrior Code business. Blogging is supposed to be about raising awareness for issues others might find important. In this blog's case that would be Iraq, veterans sisues, and the impending zombie apocalypse. Sure, you throw a few items of interest about your personal life once in awhile to give proper context and generate interest for a post. But the idea that anyone would care tremendously about your personal life besides your family and friends is a tad self-righteous (who is this guy anyways...Jesus?) .

The smartest thing I read in these extensively long ego-stroke session is the first comment on the Gould piece:

At first, I thought I was reading the sophomore page of the student newspaper at Harding High in Yokelville, Ohio. Then I realized that it was the New York Times. Just awful.

I'd like to buy that person a beer.

Alessandra Bosco Updates With Pic

Alessandra Bosco, who is working hard to improve troops' morale, has contacted me with this picture. This marks the first and probably last time (unfortunately) that an Italian model will talk to me on the innertubes.

Thanks, Alessandra!

Iraq News (24 May)

The Good: An injured female Iraq vet urges Michiganders to reflect on what Memorial Day really means. An LA Times correspondent visits Mosul and says the recent security offensive has brought about better stability, but it will need to be followed up by some serious reconstruction efforts (classic COIN doctrine). Basra's ports are much more productive now that the government is in control of them as opposed to militia thugs. Aswat al-Iraq refutes the AP article yesterday that suggested Sistani was moving towards jihad against America (h/t Gateway Pundit). According to the Sadr Trend, 300 "Sadrists" were detained in Baghdad by Iraqi Security Forces. Mr. Sadr's people aren't drawing a lot of water in this town right now, and these "Sadrists" were most likely militia. Operations are going so well in Sadr City, that the Iraqi soldiers are chillin' out by blasting Lebanese music. Of course, most Sadr City residents say that the trash needs to be collected and services need to be provided, posthaste. The Iraqi government really needs to push this aspect of the operation, or else the citizens will be sympathetic to the Mahdi Army for quite some time.

The Bad: Sunni Imams are still furious about the Qur'an as target practice incident, as reported from Friday's prayers. Damn, another attack in Fallujah...This time 6 Marines got injured and an interpreter was killed. One U.S. soldier was killed near Baghdad.

The Ugly: Joe Galloway of McClatchy says we need to help vets be able to go to college this Memorial Day, and coincidentally the War Funding/GI Bill just passed the Senate. Too bad that thing is probably DOA with a Presidential veto due to all the greedy pork and add-ons. Congress wants to shut down the military analyst program at the Pentagon due to the stink made last month by the NY Times. There's talk about splitting up the mega-KBR contract to cut in other corporations (DynCorp and Fluor) according to the NY Times. I thought this person's quote was pretty funny: "But what is KBR doing for all this money? They are slinging hash, washing laundry." I'd say KBR workers are, for the most part, just guys and gals trying to do their job, and I've been impressed with their service. But the way contracting is set up seems to favor a few richie-rich types back in Houston, and could provide justification to drag the Iraq war on endlessly. That and there is little oversight of the few bozos that commit crimes while serving in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan.

Hillary Dreams Up Assassination Scenario for Obama

Hillary's schemes to weasel her way into the White House are growing more Machiavellian and crazy by the day. Just yesterday, she announced that she is still carrying on with her failed campaign because Obama might get knocked off, RFK-style! The NY Post reports (h/t Reason):

Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama. “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

Hillary, I don't understand it either. Why can't America have a civilized election instead of these Banana Republic scenarios where everyone's political rivals are getting schwacked on a routine basis. While this blog frequently criticizes Obama and his kool aid-drinking followers, I certainly don't wish the poor guy dead. First, it was Huckabee (who was at least making a bad joke at an NRA speech) and now this latest bombshell from the Hillster. Apparently, Hillary will stop at nothing in her grandiose quest for power and influence, and I'm sure she's praying hard for that lone nut at the DNC to show up guns ablazin' come convention time.

Creepy!

The Libertarian Party, Not Just For Weirdos Anymore

I'm not sure if it was the whole rEVOLution thing, or just the fact that both the Democrats and Republicans equally suck, but the Libertarian Party appears to be getting some real attention this election cycle, especially Bob Barr. Lucky for me, I have someone near and dear to me at the Libertarian Convention in Denver, my mother (I'm actually serious about this). Best to ask her some questions to feed the blog machine and clear up some confusion. Dave Weigel at Reason has some good coverage here and here as well.

Moms,

Question #1: Mom, what are the candidates stances on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Do they have far-reaching plans for military intervention on Iran, or would diplomacy be a better option?

Question #2: Bob Barr got zinged by National Review today (h/t Eric Dondero) saying that a vote for Barr is essentially a vote for Obama? How does the LP respond to these nay-sayers in the conservative movement?

Question #3: Mom, David Weigel writes at Reason that there is a group called the "Libertarians For Justice" at the convention that appears to be a creepy 9/11 truther organization. The website talks a lot about Building 7 and "bringing the terrorists to justice". By the "terrorists" I assume they mean the government, which your son works for. How do you propose to distance the more moderate factions of the party from these yahoos?

Question #4: Did you ride in on the guy on the left's hog (he is a delegate, after all)?

(Stolen from Reason)

Does Dad know about this gentleman?

Question #5: Wonkette reports that Tucker Carlson has shown up to the convention. The snarky website also called him a loser. What's the story with that guy?

Question #6: Which group of delegates throw the most wild parties in the hotel?

Your Bestest Son,
LT Nixon

About Those Sistani Fatwas

A correction is in order from my post earlier today. Yesterday, the AP ran an article about Grand Ayatollah Sistani issuing religious edicts in Najaf about resisting the U.S. presence. While I respect the opinions and analysis of Juan Cole, Eric Martin, and Allahpundit, I'm more inclined to listen to people from the Middle East on religious matters of this sort. Iraqpundit and Talisman Gate offer up different analysis suggesting that Iraq's Shi'ite community will not be rising up against us American brutes in the near future. When one doesn't fully understand a culture, it's best to listen to people who hail from that culture. It's just common sense.

Veterans Grave Gets Restored in Texas

Several weeks ago, some very creepy-looking teenagers dug up a skull from an African-American veterans' grave to use as a bong. 2SBCT Mom, who has a son serving in Iraq, writes in that the local community has restored the cemetery just in time for Memorial Day (story is here). Kudos to them!

Congrats To the Academy Grads of 2008

Is this too demotivating?

Ah, yes. It's that time of the year for the graduation at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I extend my congrats to the newest Ensigns of the Navy and 2LTs of the USMC. Primarily because their willingness to serve allows disgruntled O-3s like me to get out of the Navy (which I'll be doing early next year). It also takes me back to 2002 when I was commissioned at OCS and I was so excited to be serving my country and doing "God's work". In the words of Chuck Palahniuk, "That's how dumb I was". Allow me to give you youngsters unsolicited advice on being an officer so you don't make so many goddamn mistakes and/or fuck over the people you will be in charge of:

1) Good job on graduating from the Academy! Please limit your conservation about the Navy football team, plebe summer, and that crazy night you got in a fight with the West Point guys to a minimum. People aren't very interested in that in the real Navy (especially if they didn't go to the Academy).

2) Don't get a DUI, because you'll end up kicked off your ship and have to do a year in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Gitmo. If you want to do a tour over here, then wait until your shore tour. Don't worry, these places aren't going away in the next 5 years.

3) Never tell the CO/XO/Department Head about a problem with the ship that the Chief can fix.

4) For the male Ensigns, when you first show up on the ship someone will most likely jokingly grab your ass. How you react to this is very important and will affect how people treat you the rest of your time onboard.

5) If you act like a douchebag to the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st classes while you are qualifying, you will find your life to be incredibly difficult. Being an Ensign entitles you to not know shit, and you never learn anything from the people who know things by being arrogant.

6) The first time you get a serious ass-chewing from the XO about a problem you know absolutely nothing about, congrats! You are now part of the team and a useful officer in the Navy. Expect more of these on a daily basis from then on.

7) The Navy is generally hard work and not very glamorous (that's why it's called military "service"). However, a port call anywhere is a recipe for a good time. Most people denigrate Guam by calling it "Ghetto Hawaii" or "Give Up And Masturbate", but even this tiny island has Jeff's Pirate Cove, the happiest place on earth.

8) Ensure your time in Thailand is filled with debauchery and lust. However, make sure you have mastered the covert "package check" on the lovely Thai girl talking to you at the bar, because it's very difficult to tell the difference between a "him" and a "her". Very, very difficult.

9) If you think that you have scammed your way out of work on the ship, just remember that some other JO probably had to do the job that you wouldn't do.

10) While sometimes you have to be the bad guy as an officer, just remember that it is no excuse to be a douchebag, and make sure you watch out for everyone, both officer and enlisted. Act like Bill N' Ted and be excellent to each other.

Congrats to our newly commissioned officers. Thanks for your service.

Iraq News (23 May)

The Good: The Egyptian online gazette is already discussing investment opportunities in Iraq now that Al-Qaeda is being badly defeated, while the Iraqi military continues the offensive against the despised terrorists in Mosul. General Petraeus appeared for his confirmation hearing for being appointed to head CENTCOM, and he mentioned that further troop cuts in Iraq will be likely this fall. The Prime Minister met with Sistani yesterday, and the Prime Minister said that Sistani approved of the Iraqi-led operation in Sadr City, which has met little resistance. ABC remarks on the "good news" about Iraq, since the offensives in Basra, Sadr City, and Mosul are all Iraqi-led. The Prez sez Iraq is seeing progress, but he probably should've avoided "going political" in front of the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg.

The Bad: A bombing has killed at least 6 civilians in the city of Fallujah. Anbar province was very calm for many months, but has seen an uptick in violence (most likely due to terrorists fleeing from the Mosul offensive, sounds like a bit of whack-a-mole). A NATO soldier has been killed in Afghanistan due to a protest that turned violent over the Qur'an shooting incident in Iraq. While Sistani supports the Iraqi-led operations, he may be silently issuing fatwas against the U.S. presence in Iraq. This has the potential to be disastrous for U.S. forces as Sistani is very influential and has been credited with keeping the peace. Juan Cole has more on this issue, in what Allahpundit calls "a turd in the progress punchbowl". U.S. forces announce that two children were killed in an air strike.

The Ugly: Soldiers aren't the only people who have trouble when coming back from Iraq to the states. Read about some NY Times journalists awkwardly re-adjusting to America. Also from the NY Times, a big, nasty article on how taxpayer money got misspent in Iraq (as if there was any doubt).

Did the reclusive Ayatollah declare jihad against the U.S.? (photo from AP)

Decline in Smoking Correlates With Decline in Coolness

A few busybodies in our fair country may say that the decline in adult smokers has contributed to better public health. But did these buzzkills ever stop to think about the effect smoking cessation would have on the overall coolness of our country? They certainly did not! The New York Times reports that more and more niche groups are abandoning smoking:

It was a time when the percentage of adult smokers in the United States fell to 21 percent from 45 percent. As the investigators watched the smokers and their social networks, they saw what they said was a striking effect — smokers had formed little social clusters and, as the years went by, entire clusters of smokers were stopping en masse. So were clusters of clusters that were only loosely connected.

It has been scientifically proven that smoking automatically elevates an individual's coolness factor. It would follow that a societal trend of declining smokers would lead to an overall drop in the worthiness of our culture and music scene. The graph below represents exhaustive research compiled by this blog for the purpose of this study:

(Note: All data compiled from the CDC and the author's perception of coolness)

1978 (34.1% Smoker Rate) - The Bitchin' Period: NYC sees the rise of punk rock with the musical simplicity of power chords and The Ramones. CBGB's becomes a mecca for coolness in light of the recent disco trend that has swept the nation. Los Angeles follows the new punk uprising with bands like Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, and The Germs. Smoking, pogoing, and face-punching were all in style. However, even if a person chose disco over punk, they were guaranteed to get laid at the inevitable swingers party that followed a night of dancing and cocaine.

1985 (30.1% Smoker Rate) - Awesome Times: Big hair and hot chicks were everywhere on the Sunset Strip as Motley Crue ushered in a new era of decadence and awesome. Of course, this scene didn't leave our middle American peers behind, as the parking lot at a Judas Priest show was all anyone needed to have a good time. Most people smoked, but everyone was getting shitfaced on Budweiser and trickle-down economics. Times were good.

1993 (25.0% Smoker Rate) - Meh, it was sorta cool: A new type of music disenfranchised with the ridiculous glamor of MTV began to emerge. Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Soundgarden all spoke to a cynical generation tired of mainstream fluff. Unfortunately, that music became "trendy" thereby defeating it's purpose, which culminated with Nirvana's appearance on MTV's Unplugged. The people who understood the irony of this madness smoked, and they were sorta cool.

2006 (20.8% Smoker Rate) - Welcome to Squaresville, population YOU: Music and culture has become so watered down that the youth are forced to watch hallow renditions of their generation appear on American Idol and make imbeciles of themselves. People take out small loans to go see a horrible concert of Jack Johnson where no alcohol is served, and the lone individual who dares to light up a cigarette is promptly escorted from the premise. This is your Orwellian reality.

Sure, our children may have a healthier future without the demon tobacco polluting their little lungs, but it's a future of lameness in which the the separation of cool vs. uncool is indistinguishable. All that is left a boring hallow middle, where the best they can hope for is an aging Metallica to do a reunion tour. Why do you non-smoker people hate the children anyways?

Put Down the Big Mac, Fatso

Farmers have got one of the toughest jobs in America, but Publius at Obsidian Wings is right in saying that the Farm Bill is a P.O.S. Although, some on the left seem to believe that the reason the bill is unnecessary stems not from the fact that the government has no business regulating what people farm, but rather it will be good for public health. Ezra Klein explains:

When meat is cheaper -- particularly when it's subsidized and passing all sorts of costs onto payers other than the consumer -- people eat more meat than they would otherwise. They eat more meat than fish, and more meat than fruits, and more meat than vegetables, and more meat than grains. If meat were pricier they'd swap in some of these other calorie sources. And these other calories sources are, by and large, healthier than meat -- they are less calorically dense, and have less saturated fat. If our diets were, by economic necessity, less meat-heavy, it would be better for our health.

This is the type of social engineering argument that sends libertarians running for the hills. If we are going to allow the government to regulate that we maintain a "healthy" diet of fish and Frescas, what the fuck else could they mandate (your choice of "healthy" reading material, engaging in "healthy" exercise, or "healthy" progressive political views). My lack of a utopian ideal and the understanding that I shouldn't force it onto others will ensure I never become a leftist. The only vision that this article stirs up is fighting amongst fellow Americans to get a Soylent Green ration because it was the only "organic" compound the state let Farmer Joe in Iowa "harvest".

Get in line for your Soylent Green ration, comrade

Gents, Caroline Needs Your Help

Caroline, who volunteers at the USO in Dallas and blogs at USO Girls, needs help finding a potential suitor online. To avoid running afoul of any bozos, creeps, or sex offenders in the Dallas area, she is requesting assistance on answering some questions for her eharmony profile. I'd leave a comment but my only standard for a woman is to ensure they weren't once a dude. That and a relationship with a woman would have to involve me sitting around on the internet all day, while the woman went and made enough money for the both of us (I am quite adamant about this). So all you gentleman with high standards, please go help Caroline out...right here.

Army Wife to Boost Morale With Babeness

Alessandra Bosco: Italian Model and Milspouse

Instead of screwing over the single military guys with extra duties and responsibilities so that their precious husband can take her and the kids to some stupid minature golf bullshit (yeah, I'm not bitter or anything), this military wife is seeking to actually improve the morale of singles deployed in defense of America. From Stars and Stripes:

A Germany-based Army spouse plans to show deployed U.S. soldiers the sexy side of military gear in a 2009 lingerie calendar. Alessandra Bosco, who’s married to Sgt. 1st Class Edward McCoy of the Katterbach-based 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, said the calendar includes 12 photographs of her wearing a mixture of lingerie and military items. The young Italian bikini model said she got the idea for the calendar from soldiers who e-mailed her after checking out her Web site.

SFC McCoy is a true NCO who is looking out for his soldiers, and Ms. Bosco should be commended for her compassion in assisting lovelorn folks on their deployment. I am most impressed with the Army's high standards in seeking soulmates. After 4 months out to sea and pulling in for 7-day maintenance period, most Navy guys would be satisfied with any of the 300 lbs. women found in the many islands of the Pacific (particularly Guam).

Addendum: To avoid the wrath of Ms. Kiyum, who is not a "milspouse" but the cool lady with a cool husband in the military, I don't despise all military wives. But I do harbor resentment towards some, and they know who they are.

After 4 months out at sea, these Island ladies are lookin' good!

Donkey Jailed For Political Beliefs in Mexico

Quick, someone alert Amnesty International! A donkey has been jailed in the Chiapas region of Mexico for sympathizing with the Zapatistas. The AP reports on this heinous violation of human rights:

Police said it took a half-dozen men to control the enraged burro. Chiapas police have thrown animals in the slammer before, including a bull that devoured corn crops and destroyed two wooden vending stands in March.

If we allow this type of thing to happen south of the border, how long will it be until the cats owned by Code Pink ladies in Berkeley are thrown into the clink? We need to arise in solidarity with our political activist burros.

Oh, wait. According to Breitbart turns out "Blacky" the donkey was released after three days in prison, because his owner paid a small fine and Blacky sobered up. My mistake.

Viva La Revolucion

Iraq News (22 May)

The Good: 11 militia thugs tried to take on U.S. forces near Sadr City...and they got dead. The temporary head of CENTCOM, LTG Dempsey, said Al-Qaeda in Iraq is at it's weakest due to the counter-insurgency strategy, the rise of the Sahwa councils, and improved Iraqi Security Forces. This comes at a time when attacks in Mosul are down a stunning 85% due to the recent Iraqi-led offensive. Also, Sadr City remains calm during the Iraqi-led Operation Salam. General Petraeus has called for diplomacy with Iran and utilizing the military as a "last resort" against the Islamic nation. This is certain to throw a monkey wrench into the McCain-Obama foreign policy square-off. The NY Times has a great write-up about the one and only Iraqi metal band, Acrassicauda. Is headbanging the best path towards reconciliation and an end to the bloodshed? I think so! The Prime Minister is meeting with the tremendously influential Grand Ayatollah Sistani in Najaf today.

The Bad: It's a sad day for the free press in Iraq as a sniper has killed an Afaq TV reporter in Baghdad, and a journalist for Al-Sharq newspaper was found in Diyala province with a gunshot wound to the head. 8 civilians have been killed in an apparent escalation of force incident involving a U.S. chopper near the oil city of Bayji.

The Ugly: The Washington Post reports that some vets are suffering breathing problems due to a fire at a sulfur mine in Mosul in 2003. The Boston Globe has an editorial from the Center for American Progress on why the US must leave Iraq, since it would enable leverage with the Iraqi government. I agree that the military should leave Iraq, just not at the dangerous and unrealistic pace at which the Democrats want.

Could Metal Save Iraq? (from NY Times)

McCainiacs To Be Unleashed in the Blogosphere

McCain's campaign people have the not-so-brilliant plan of utilizing a "point system" for bloggers who drop lame talking points on political blogs. This shameless sock puppet campaign will no doubt clutter up the blogosphere with sanitized and packaged comments about McCain's plan for the economy (yawn). From the McCain website (h/t Malkin):

Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known. Once you’ve commented on a post, video or news story, report the details of your comment by clicking the button below. After your comments are verified, you will be awarded points through the McCain Online Action Center.

The "points" are most likely to purchase crappy novelty items made in China like when they you trade in tickets from skeeball (Mom for McCain hat anyone?). Of course, if it could get me a date with McCain's daughter (even though I've emailed her 4 times a day and sent 50 dozen roses with NO reply). Maybe I should consider enlisting in the sockpuppet campaign, hmm...

McCain's Zombie Blog Horde Attacks the DKos Diaries

Boy's Motivated Haircut Gets Him in Trouble

When I was stationed in Hawaii, you would see a lot of the Marines rocking out with the High N' Tights. I'd often get my hair cut like that because it was funny and I hate shampoo. Not only will the stylish dew guarantee that you aren't getting laid that night, it will also get you kicked out of elementary school.

Microsoft CEO Gets Egged By Hungarian Bullies

In the wheel of life, nerds have to suffer the endless torment of wedgies, swirlies, and getting their houses TP'd by the football team. But it pays off in the future as the folks that spent prom night playing Dungeons & Dragons often end up being multi-billionares with more money than they know what to do with. However, some people may resent this paradox of the high-school rejects growing up to be big winners, and then they just start chucking eggs.

GI Bill Ridin' Dirty With Pork in the Senate

There's been a massive effort by politico veterans to try and get the Webb GI Bill passed along with the war-funding bill, but due to a bunch a skezebag Senators porkin' up the joint, this baby might be DOA when it gets to the Prez. The AP explains:

Senators are acting as if the war funding bill coming to the floor Tuesday is the last train leaving the station, and, as a result, have added billions of dollars for pet programs and hitched on several policy "riders" as well. Few if any other spending bills are likely to come before the Senate this election year, which makes the supplemental measure an even more attractive vehicle for carrying spending proposals that would stall otherwise.

Bah! I donn't want to talk too much about the new GI Bill and how great it would be for enlisted guys getting out, just because I might jinx it. So here's P.J. O' Rourke accurately describing politicians better than I ever could:

After all my time covering politics, I know a lot of politicians. They’re intelligent. They’re diligent. They’re talented. I like them. I count them as friends. But when these friends of mine take their intelligence, their diligence, and their talent and they put these into the service of politics, ladies and gentlemen, when they do that, they turn into leeches upon the commonwealth. They are dogs chasing the cat of freedom. They are cats tormenting the mouse of responsibility. They are mice gnawing on the insulated wiring of individualism. They are going to hell in a hand basket, and they stole that basket from you. They are the ditch carp in the great river of democracy. And this is what one of their friends says.

While these piggies might be cute and/or delicious, there's nothing good about pork!

The ACLU Jumps on the Political Bandwagon

As a classical liberal who believes that authoritarianism in the state has wrought the worst genocide in recent history, I actually support most of the ACLU's platform. I believe capital punishment should be outlawed due to the barbaric use of the practice in other nations, I believe in equal rights for minorities of all types, and I believe that we should stop using "enhanced interrogation" techniques (even though the people it was used on were pieces of shit). That's why I was mildly ecstatic in seeing that the ACLU launched the ACLU Blog of Rights (h/t Jules Crittenden).

Unfortunately, the blog is shameless political pandering to the left, as the initial guest post is from Glenn Greenwald, who's only concern is to make the Bush Administration look bad as evidenced by the title of his post "Growing Responsibility of the Bush Torture Regime". The outrage over waterboarding by the netroots conveniently came about after the media started realizing the surge strategy in Iraq was effectively reducing violence (around Fall 2007), and outrage at BushCo. was necessary to ensure the Republicans lost the election in 2008. The left has been an echo-chamber stroke fest ever since. While I admire gutter politics and often engage in it, the ACLU bills itself as a non-partisan defenders of civil liberties and should transcend this.

They also seem to be selectively cherry-picking topics, such as discussion of the U.N.'s investigation into racism in the American election. If the ACLU was serious about human rights, they'd be scolding the U.N. for wasting fucking time while there were ongoing humanitarian crises in Burma, China, and South Africa. The ACLU also don't support gun rights as they publicly state. It makes me wonder if they don't support the 3rd amendment, since I could start lounging on people's couches as an uninvited guest. It'd be nice if there was an institution that unconditionally supported all of the Bill of Rights and didn't play politics, because the ACLU just doesn't cut it.

Minuteman Gets Chucked Under the Bus By the ACLU

Fox News Encourages Genital Mutilation With the Franken-Vag!

Yvonne Fulbright, The Fox News "Sexpert", is pleasing on the eye, but her revolting writing is making me lose my lunch. She offers up a graphic and disturbing description of plastic surgery to improve and enhance a woman's privates. These procedures are dubbed "Labia Plasty, Vaginal Liposuction, Clitoral Hood Reduction, Vaginoplasty, and a G Shot". No details of the "Franken-Vag" will be provided on this family-oriented blog, but you can get all the nitty-gritty info in the link provided. In a free society, women should be able to do whatever the hell they want with their bodies, and I don't mean to imply that these procedures performed by a doctor are similar to the barbaric practice of genital mutilation that is still practiced in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. I merely intend to make a point that our society has completely misplaced priorities of focusing on youth and beauty instead of wisdom and experience. If you don't agree me, then please enjoy the company of the botox-injected horde of Frankensteins running rampant through the American landscape.

Women's Unmentionables To be Mangled by Plastic Surgeons

Iraq News (21 May)

The Good: So far so good with the Iraqi-led Operation Salam (Operation Peace) that is taking place in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Michael Gordon of the NY Times has the details from a tactical perspective, the LA Times has the perspective from the district's citizens (they were mostly welcoming of the Iraqi Army), and AFP states that the Sadrists in Najaf have okayed the operation. Iraqi media reports that 100 IEDs have been taken off the streets of Sadr City, and one of the concerns of the operation was that most of the main thoroughfares had been mined by the Mahdi Army. The trial of Tariq Aziz continues as he stands accused of ordering the execution of Iraqi merchants during the Saddam-regime.

The Bad: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer discusses the detention of minors in Afghanistan and Iraq and relates it to the imprisonment of juveniles in the U.S. (hint: it's all Bush's fault according to the Op-Ed). This Egyptian editorial in the Middle East calls the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government a "Frankenstein Monster". Iraq is DFL in the Global Peace Index for 2008.

The Ugly: The President has apologized for the bullet-riddled Qu'ran incident, which will have the unintended consequence of dragging it out in the media cycle. But that's more productive than the White House flipping out at NBC for an interview with the President. When did it become the job of the government to publicly express rage at the domestic media? Military public affairs would never do that, and I don't see why the White House would be any different over an issue like Iraq (note: I understand I frequently flip out on the media, but I don't pretend to speak for the DoD). Admiral Mullen warns Congress about Iran and says violence is on the rise in Afghanistan.

Regulators...mount up (From Al-Jazeera English)

Tasteless T-Shirt of the Day

Little Green Footballs directs our attention to this cute little Urban Outfitter ensemble that only costs $9.99. Since so many of us possess strong views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, it is probably a bad idea for hipsters to be wearing around something like this, which makes ongoing violence and turmoil look like a big joke. Just like the time I wore a "Hey Ladies, This Face Seats Five" t-shirt into a feminist convention, it's a really bad idea, unfunny, and guaranteed to piss off a lot of folks around you.

Old Media Sucks, We Need Videodrome

As if TV and Radio weren't bad enough because of all the ridiculous FCC regulations on free speech, Obama wants to take it a step further (h/t Reason):

Democrat Barack Obama said on Sunday he would pursue a vigorous antitrust policy if he becomes U.S. president and singled out the media industry as one area where government regulators would need to be watchful as consolidation increases.

As the old media gets regulated into a snooze fest of watered-down celebrity gossip, mindless sports events, and commercials for Rascals and oxygen tanks, the blogosphere is already getting regulated as well. Tim O' Reilly used a bunch of crazy lawyer speak last year to call for an end to hilarious comments because a few people might find them offensive. A monstrous firewall on information like China's Golden Shield Project is probably in the works for America so that we stay loyal and uninformed consumers going about our meaningless lives. And that's why we need Videodrome now more than ever.

For those who aren't into weird and creepy 80s movies, Videodrome was an excellent Cronenberg flick starring James Woods and Blondie's Deborah Harry. It involves watching ultraviolence on TV and thereby triggering massive hallucinations from the coded signals that get sent to the observer. Soon, you become immersed in a reality where you can't distinguish truth and the surreal.

Let's be honest here, reality is a serious drag. Nagging kids, girls that won't talk to you at the club, that asshole at work who dinged your car with his BMW. Who wouldn't pay for the Videodrome experience to permanently escape our depressing world? I'm signing up for Videodrome, and I might even get to see a 1983 Deborah Harry in the nude.

Long Live the New Flesh

Do Liberals Hate the Troops

Right Wing News offers up a fine list of douchebag liberals that have spoken ill of "The Troops", but is it fair to say that all liberals disdain the military? As a middle-of-the-road type supporting a gentleman who lives in his car for President, I feel compelled to over up my two-bit impartial analysis. There are some strong criticisms emanating from liberal coffers about the Pentagon being a propaganda monstrosity and the military being inherently misogynist and having a culture of rape towards women, but I've only seen hatred directed specifically at the troops from extreme fringe groups or gaffe-prone politicians. Mainstream pundits will avoid direct criticism of military personnel like the plague as evidenced by the latest Olbermann-Ingraham debacle.

One interesting tidbit is this scientific poll conducted by Mudville Gazette in a port-a-shitter in Iraq about who would you vote for prez. Even though it was last October, the results seem pretty evenly split amongst Democrats and Republicans. My own empirical evidence in the military suggests that things are kind of split politically as well, along with my own observation that the military employs a high number of Mormons for some reason (I never met anyone who hadn't seen a PG-13 movie before I joined the Navy). At this point in history, I don't think all liberals have a genuine disdain for the military, but the possibility for future resentment is definitely there. That's why it's probably best we have politically-minded vets on both sides of the aisle to influence the public.

A subtle but classy way to support the troops if you don't like the Iraq War

Tuesdaze Bloggin' Roundup of Iraq (20 May)

I guess Jesus doesn't like Hondas (from Patrick Fanning)

T-minus 11. Here's some blogs about Iraq that offer insight for your mind:

• Obsidian Wings on McCain not supporting Veterans benefits
• Iraq The Model discusses Mosul operations
• Crooks and Liars on Iran and the USSR
• Long War Journal says an Al-Qaeda emir has been detained in Ninawa province
• Chris LeJeune dissects the Iranian diplomats who got shot in Baghdad
• Adam Kokesh hangs out with the Iraqi Ambassador to the U.S.
• Jawa Report on the Chaldean Church not supporting the death penalty
• Jihadica analyzes the new Bin Laden message
• Spencer Ackerman talks about the IVAW's comments effect on veterans
• Alive in Baghdad says refugees are returning to Iraq, read it to find out why
• Abu Muqawama praises the U.S. response to the Qu'ran shooting incident
• Bad Voodoo platoon is redeploying
• Abu Aardvark has a detailed piece on the media of the Middle East
• Gateway Pundit blasts Sen. Harkin
• Inside Iraq on catastrophes in Iraq
• McClatchy Watch says Al-Qaeda in Iraq has admitted defeat
• This Ain't Hell slams the IVAW
• Mudville Gazette doesn't like IVAW either
• Talisman Gate is not a fan of CNN coverage of Iraq
• Blackfive with the Sisters of Fallujah
• Iraqpundit on Juan Cole being a neo-con
• Michael Totten reviews Michael Yon
• Tanker Brothers on WWE supporting the troops
• Matthew Ygleisas on checkpoints and occupation
• Harmless loves milblogs and awaits her son's return from Iraq
• Hot Chicks with Douchebags blasts douches with faux-military apparrel
• Reason on country stars and the Iraq war
• Concrete Ghost on money earned in a combat zone
• Soldier's Perspective on purple hearts for PTSD
• Boston Maggie and her Naval posse
• Last of Iraqis on human rights
• Active Duty Patriot talks about IVAW in DC
• Miserable Donuts with a tour of southern Iraq

Some things I wrote over at Vetvoice:

• Future of U.S. troop withdrawal
• Sex in Afghanistan

Cheers!

Iraq News (20 May)

The Good: The Iraqi Army has launched Operation Peace in Sadr City to take control of security and provide services to the residents of the militia-controlled district. Despite the operation's hokey name, it has not met any resistance and the Sadrists support the operation (so far so good). The Chaldean Church is opposing the execution of the thug that kidnapped and killed their Archbishop Rahho, since the church is against the death penalty. USA Today has the story of a courageous Shi'ite cleric, Sada al-Lami, promoting reconciliation in Baghdad by visiting Sunni mosques in the Adhamiya district. He continues to promote peace despite being kidnapped for a brief period and being threatened by militia goons. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih has announced that the Iraqi economy is about to take off, and with the high price of oil, he's probably onto something. The Al-Qaeda emir of Mosul has been detained by Iraqi security forces as operations continue in northern Iraq. The head of the autonomous Kurdish region, President Barzani, pens a WSJ editorial about progress in Iraq. The Kurdish region is doing very well, and there is only a very small foreign military presence (that's probably why many haven't heard of it).

The Bad: An insurgent group has killed 11 Iraqi policemen near the Syrian border. The LA Times says the mostly Sunni "Sons of Iraq" are more like The Sopranos than freedom fighters. The awakening movement began in Anbar in 2006 as tribes who once despised the U.S. occupation became disillusioned and outraged with Al-Qaeda. The movement has spread to Baghdad, the rural areas south of Baghdad, and much of northern Iraq. The "Sons of Iraq" maintain security checkpoints and keep U.S. and Iraqi forces apprised of terrorist activity in the area, and they also get paid a few hundred bucks a month. They are attributed with much of the decline of violence in former insurgent strongholds. Also, a police chief was assassinated in Nasiriyah.

The Ugly: "We'll be over, we're coming over, and we won't be back till it's over over there" -WWI song "Over There". Pentagon announces 40,000 U.S. troops to head "over there" in the fall to both Iraq and Afghanistan to replace deployed forces. Iraq will remain at about 130,000 troops, while Afghanistan will have about 33,000. I wonder how many of them are on their third or fourth combat tours. There's a NY Times Op-Ed saying that America is playing russian roulette's with the troops lives.

KRG President Barzani asks Americans to give Iraq a chance

Tehran Hip-Hop?!?

Dutchmarbel sent me this and I thought it was pretty cool. Hip-hop in Farsi. I always thought the world would be untied through metal, but I guess I'm behind the times. Makes me re-think McCain's cold war-like mentality and rhetoric that'll translate into disastrous foreign policy for a lot of reasons.

75,000 Misguided Drones Celebrate the Leader in Portland

Just caught a slideshow on Youtube of Obama's zombie fest in Portland, and I honestly fear for humanity. Despite the fact that there were some babes in attendance with "Change" T-shirts, the whole event represents the false belief that a sheisty politician is going to save America from foreign threats, poverty, and the looming specter of death. The My Barack Obama page is an Orwellian maze of L. Ron Hubbardesque photos of Obama surrounded by happy youngsters celebrating their leader in a section called "Generation Obama". How can we be short-sighted?

This optimism reminds me of the creepy cult-like love for "The Leader" in the Movementarian Simpsons episode. We just need Obama's campaign people to teach the blue collar denizens the Leader chant to the tune of Batman. We allow government to exist and give it power to ensure that we don't end up in a Somalia-like state with ruling warlords terrorizing the citizens and hording all the resources. But somewhere down the road, we thought it would be a swell idea for the state to tell us where we needed to go to school, what we could watch on TV, and how our retirement fund was going to work so we could be part of a Ponzi scheme before we kicked the bucket. All of the worst genocides in the 20th century were perpetuated by totalitarian governments (Mao's China, Stalin's USSR, Hitler's Reich, and many others). Our list of presidents in the last 30 years have all been utter disgraces, frequently lying to the American public to hold onto power and suck at the bottomless troff of tax dollars and money funneled in from corporate interests. Why are people thinking anything will change?

Being skeptical of sleazy politicians is as American as apple pie, and an overabundance of zeal for a candidate coupled with the cult of self-help feel-goodism ravaging our nation will ensure that the powers that be can do whatever they want to us. Tax the shit out of us, enact disastrous foreign policies, continue on an unsustainable course of resource consumption, as long as we feel good about ourselves. Bullshit.

Keyboard Commando Schlussel To Win War in a Fortnight

While some bloggers are warning that the bullet-riddled Qu'ran found in Iraq may be the next Abu Ghraib (unlikely), perennial wingnut Debbie Schlussel says military commanders engaged in the complex counter-insurgency campaign are shameless ass-kissers:

Instead, there's a giant sound of American lips smooching Muslim butt; this giant line-up of high-ranking American military men waiting for their chance to get something brown put on the tip of their noses. The groveling is simply sickening.

Debbie Schlussel will hopefully strap on her Team America gear and start kicking Islamofascist ass in the streets of Baghdad! I'm hoping she carries the big Gatling gun ala Jesse Ventura in Predator. I'm sure Maj. Gen. Hammond's people could use the R&R.

Freedom Cost a Buck-Oh-Five!

Blogging Gets Blessed Off By A Three-Star

Lt. Gen. Caldwell, head of the Combined Armed Center and prior director of Strategic Effects in Iraq, has encouraged his soldiers to do more blogging to spread information on the internet according to Wired's Danger Room Blog. Obviously, this is a boon to military bloggers, as some in the Pentagon want us to go away, and Small Wars Journal reports that this will allow a healthy exchange of ideas.


Perusing the Combined Arms Center's blog, one finds a very motivational and patriotic post about "Why We Serve". For some reason, I don't think my posts of Thai Babes, angry rants against the younger generation, and celebrity-bashing are what the General had in mind of spreading intellectual ideas within senior military officer circles. Oh well. I can always repent on my death bed...that and I'm getting out of the Navy in less than a year.

LT Nixon the Penitent: "Sorry I Started All That Trouble in the Blogosphere, sir"

Xenophobic Thugs Massacre Zimbabweans

This sort of thing will make your stomach churn. Angry mobs of South Africans are on the prowl to kill immigrant Zimbabweans. From Breitbart:

Mobs roaming through poor townships around South Africa's economic capital have killed and beaten up immigrants over the past week, with Zimbabweans and other Africans reporting purges by armed locals looking for foreigners. Crowds of people gathered at community centres and police stations in affected parts of the Johannesburg area -- mainly the notorious central downtown area and slum areas to the east of the city.

22 have been killed in the violence and a disturbing photo of a man being burned alive is available at Al-Jazeera English that reminds one of the "necklacing" executions in the 80s. Gateway Pundit has more details on the violence.

Xenophobia is a not a new phenomenon to society, as it is seen in other modern Western nations such as Germany's treatment of Turkish immigrants. This results when a country's citizens compete for scarce resources offered from the teat of the all-powerful state. We Americans are fortunate that we have the closest thing resembling a free-market economy, and fellow citizens are viewed as creating wealth instead of being a burden to the state. However, as more Americans seek public services being provided from the government, our immigrant heritage could be in peril.

Real Life Teen Wolf Does Not Get The Chicks

Hollywood has lied to us once again! The pinnacle of Michael J. Fox's career, Teen Wolf, involved a socially awkward teenager figuring out he was werewolf, and then becoming a basketball-dribblin', car-surfin', babe-magnet party animal. It is a shame that this young boy in India, who suffers from a similar ailment, gets much shabbier treatment from his peers. From Fox News:

The boy said he rarely leaves his village because of the cruelty of strangers and he has been bullied throughout his childhood. "Why did God do this to us?" said Pruthviraj’s mother, Anita, 32. "He looks so odd and wherever we go people throng to see him."

Even his own mother doesn't recognize his inherent awesomeness. Young Pruthviraj should hire Styles as his PR agent.

Things Were Way Different In the 80s

Iraq News (19 May)

The Good: The interrogation of detainees from the Mosul offensive (Operation Mother of Two Springs) continues as Iraqi security forces seek to round up Al-Qaeda thugs. There are some reports that many terrorists have fled the Mosul area. The Chicago Tribune reports that much of the anger from Iraqis about the Qu'ran shooting incident has been alleviated due to Maj. Gen. Hammond's formal apology. The Al-Qaeda operative, that was responsible for the death of Chaldean Archbishop Rahho in Mosul two months ago, has been sentenced to the gallows by the Iraqi Central Criminal Court. Persecution against the Christian minority from extremist thugs has been an ongoing problem in Iraq, and this sentencing sends a message that Iraq's justice system is committed to protecting them (note: this is good in my mind, even though I don't support capital punishment).

The Bad: A U.S. soldier has been killed in Salah ad-Din province. Four people were killed in Sadr City despite the ceasefire and agreement for Iraqi forces to be allowed into the militia-controlled Shi'ite district. The AP is bringing up the ACLU's outrage against the 500 youth detainees in Camp Cropper (U.S.-run detention center in Baghdad), but I already mentioned why this was bullshit.

The Ugly: One of Saddam's henchman, Tariq Aziz, is scheduled for an Iraqi trial, but his lawyers still can't get into Iraq due to visa issues. Glad to see us low-level types aren't the only ones caught up with bureaucratic hassles. Tina Susman of the LA Times attempts to set the record straight about a blog item on Iranian weapons in Iraq. Keith Olbermann ran some story about how we shouldn't believe BushCheneyCo's lies about Iranian weapons and we would be better off believing his lies about extortion of money from the public to pay for socialist health programs, schools, and bicycle lanes (probably not an accurate depiction of KeithO, but that's how I see it!).

And Now For Something Silly...Iraqi Police Dancin' (from Al-Sumaria)

Courting the Rubes in 2008

Obsidian Wings directs our attention to this xenophobic abortion of an article by Kathleen Parker.

"A full-blooded American." That's how 24-year-old Josh Fry of West Virginia described his preference for John McCain over Barack Obama. His feelings aren't racist, he explained. He would just be more comfortable with "someone who is a full-blooded American as president."

This editorial is deliberately attempting to woo the proverbial "Angry White Male" vote into the McCain camp by saying that he's just like the rest of us. As an angry white guy, I find this insulting to my level of understanding of what the job of President entails! I'm not looking for a guy to go drink a beer with, or who went to the same school as me, or who likes to watch the crappy movies as me while sneaking a 6-pack into the theater. I'm a bit more concerned about our leadership strangling our economy with suckass social programs or getting us all killed in some unnecessary war against robots from another solar system due to their gross incompetence. Politics has reached new lows with clowns like Huckabee "rockin' out" on his guitar (who set back Gun Rights decades the other day), Obama having a speech in a pig pen in South Dakota, and McCain making wisecracks about his geezerdom on Saturday Night Live. If these shameless panderers wanted to impress me, they'd take me to a Thailand Go-Go bar in a rocket sled, but that wouldn't necessarily make them Presidential material.

All of our founding fathers were 33rd order masons that probably would look down their nose at most of us clods. But they received illuminated learning from the alien master race that built the pyramids in Egypt, and they used that knowledge to construct one of the most important documents in history...The Constitution. These assholes running for President should get up to speed on that component of the presidency, before they start boning up on the NASCAR trivia to win a few votes in Palookaville.

What is this, the circus?

Thai Women with Guns

Probably Not Gonna Get Much Better Than This

Babes with guns in the Land of Smiles (that's Thailand) is about all you need to not lose total faith in humanity. The blog known as Asian Sweetheart has some pictures of them along with other pictures of Thai womens. The place is run by a blogger named "Asian Sweetheart" as well. Her English is excellent, she seems nice, and her occupation is "webmistress". Not sure what that means, but sounds like it's right up my alley. Her motivation is spelled out in her blogger profile:

What I bring you on this blog is a view into the realm of models, actresses, celebrities and every day girls of Thailand, with photos and plenty of commentary. It's a big realm full of gorgeous Thai ladies, and seems to receive little attention in the English speaking world.

Only a little attention from us farang types? I plan on visiting the site at least hourly to narrow this cultural divide.

Hey, I know that dude!

Interesting read in New York Magazine about a former Navy officer who was out in the International Zone when I first got here. He's got an exhibit of art created by Iraqis that he brought to NYC. Profits go to Iraqi artists and the show is on May 22 in Soho, just in case any of you cool kid New Yorkers want to swing by.

There's a bonus of a pissed off commenter named "Shipwack" at the bottom of the article. Can't have something on the internet without at least one person getting angry.

Nancy Pelosi Visits Iraq, Nobody Cares

?????

OPSEC prevents explanation of the details, but V.I.P. visits to Iraq generally require complex logistics and are very expensive to the American taxpayer. They usually serve one of three purposes: fact-finding, boosting troop morale, or diplomatic engagement. Since it doesn't look like Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) got around the country too much, that would only mean that the reason for her recent visit was for diplomatic purposes. But if that was the case, she certainly got a pretty chilly reception. Time reports (h/t Gateway Pundit):

Pelosi is something of a nonentity to average Iraqis. If they know who she is at all, she is generally seen as an antiwar caricature figure, someone whose views on U.S. troop withdrawals are widely considered unrealistic. Pelosi has said she wants to see most U.S. troops withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the 2008, a time frame virtually no Iraqi political leader sees as feasible. Not even Mahdi Army militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the fiercest advocate of a U.S. withdrawal on the scene, has called for such a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces. Rather, Sadr contends that the Americans should simply announce a reasonable timetable for the departure of U.S. forces. The lack of popularity of Pelosi's views was evident in the fact that her first day on the ground Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not make an effort to see her.

Most diplomatic visits are followed up with a joint press conference with their Iraqi counterparts, but Nancy Pelosi skedaddled just as soon as the news broke that she was in-country. There's no press release on her website about her trip as of this post, but she does have some colorful words for the Prez using the context of the Iraq war on her official site. It makes me wonder why she even bothered flying in. For a congresswoman who once called Iraq government a "failure", it's probably best her trip went unnoticed.

Pravda Offers International Hope To Poindexters Who Can't Get Laid

The former Soviet-propaganda gazette, Pravda, has certainly revamped it's image since the end of the cold war, and now closely resembles a Russian version of Fox News. It has silly but enjoyable stories such as Gerbena, the lovable pooch, that ate it's masters' leather coat at a dinner party. There is also a similarity between Pravda online and Fox News in it's reporting of notable political figures engaging in shenanigans as evidenced by the article about former-Premier Gobrachev selling Louis Vitton bags. The patriotic fever shared between Fox News and Pravda can be seen in their series about the USSR solely defeating the Nazis (c'mon, Russia, what about Normandy?) and their mockery of President Bush. However, the reason that Pravda has the leg up on Fox News is because they know how to market and keep hope alive for their target demographic who would visit an English-language website of Russian origin. That collective group of internet surfers would be single-male losers looking for information on possible Russian Brides, which is the reason I have taken an interest in the web site.

Fox News has a plethora of babe commentators such as Julie Banderas and Mary Katherine Ham. However, they are clearly off-limits as they are usually surrounded by frat-boyish Young Republican co-hosters. The majority of comic book aficionados, World of Warcraft gurus, Ron Paul supporters, Star Wars fan fiction creators, and bloggers like myself would never be allowed in the same zip code as these ladies. This can leave loyal viewers bitter and disenfranchised at their lack of fantasy becoming a realization, and this perpetual rejection from mainstream media was the reason the internet was invented in the first place (thanks DARPA!). Pravda online takes on a much more shrewd technique at convincing dateless males worldwide that they have a shot with a lovely Russian bride in the article World Must be More Attentive To Male Virgins. The article attempts to quell the stigma behind men being virgins in their adulthood, and even says that some Russian beauties may be looking for a guy with little experience in lovin':

In Russia, online forums provide evidence to prove that Russian women are attracted to sexually inexperienced men. Posts from women may run as follows: “I have always wanted to have a virgin boy just for a change”, or “I am an independent personality. I am 25. I run my own business; I own a flat and a car. But I am very fastidious about my love life. I don’t need a “used” man. I want to be sure that I am his first woman. My current boyfriend is good-looking and clever. But I found out that he’d had affaires before our relationship. I don’t know whether I can forgive him. I have lots of men to choose from…But now it feels as if I picked him in a second-hand shop.”

This clever tactic of outsourcing propaganda to an international audience would make Lenin himself proud. I'm going to have to visit this web site more often, as many like me can promise young Russian women a horrifically awkward sexual experience if that's what they are into.

Russian Babes may have a thing for 30-year olds who enjoy comic books (pic from Axetopia)

Iraq News (18 May)

The Good: U.S. forces have foiled a car bomb attempt in Mosul, while the Iraqi portion of the offensive continues with encouraging results as over a 1,000 have been detained. The buzz in the media seems to be that many of the senior Al-Qaeda leaders have fled Mosul, but these detentions will be a major blow to their propaganda, extortion, and car bomb networks. Violence in Sadr City has plummeted as most Mahdi Army members have laid down their arms, and the Iraqi Army has rolled into the heart of the Shi'ite slum dismantling IEDs on its main thoroughfares. Gulf Times reports that Iraq is still seeking more investment from multi-national petroleum corporations.

The Bad: Turns out a RAF Hercules, once regarded as some sort of accident, was actually shot down by the insurgency last year in Maysan province and was damaged beyond repair. Controversy is brewing about how the U.S. releases detainees after there has been a ruling from the Iraqi Judiciary. A suicide bomber targeted Sahwa members in Baqubah yesterday.

The Ugly: The clowns in charge of the Iranian regime are accusing the United States of being behind the Shiraz mosque bombing last month in Iran that killed 14 civilians. Iran should probably shelve their cornball propaganda campaign against the United States and realize that Al-Qaeda actively seeks their destruction and that terrorism doesn't have border restrictions. Some knucklehead of a Staff Sergeant used a Koran as target practice and scribbled "Fuck Yeah" on it. Unfortunately, the local Iraqis discovered this and, as you can imagine, they were pretty pissed. Maj. Gen. Hammond, commander of operations in Baghdad, made a formal and public apology to the tribal sheikhs and their people amidst an angry protest. This was the right thing to do (I guess that's why he's a General), instead of the Army initially denying the incident and launching some long-winded investigation, while the local community seethed with anger. The soldier has since been sent back to the states. Also, Pelosi did not get a warm welcome from the Iraqis, and more on that later.

Iraqi Army on the Streets of Sadr City (photo from AP)

On The Road Again

(Note: DFAC is Armyspeak for the place you eat)

My last two Navy buddies in Iraq are enroute to the states. I don't recognize any of these new faces around, and they seem to possess a certain bit of optimism and motivation worn across their face. I hate people like that. My superiors are asking me about how things used to be done last year, and I spent most of the day training the new guys. But that's good news in itself, because it is almost time to get the hell out of here.

While the need for anonymity is essential, I've posted pictures from the internet of the two Navy guys who are traveling and occassionally read this dumb blog, and also my own picture. They're close enough to the real thing, if you need to pick us out of the crowd. Please, take the time to fill us in on developments in America, as we've been gone for awhile. You know, any coups in Washington, new alien overlords, or what's the newest horror movie out that's worth seeing...shit like that.

Dave: Wardrobe solely consists of muscle tees and stone-washed/elastic-banded jeans

OleGreyDog: Enjoys post-modern literature, baby ruths

LT N: "Which one of you kids wants to help me bury the dead body?"

Iraq News (17 May)

The Good: The MSM has been mostly quiet about Mosul for whatever reason, but the Long War Journal has the info on over a 1,000 wanted men detained by the Iraqi Security Forces. Also, "just under 200" are supposedly Al-Qaeda members or foreign fighters. Iraqi media reports that the Mosul tribes are ready to send their Sahwa fighters to help the Iraqi Security Forces in the large-scale offensive. The purpose of the operation has extended from Mosul to the surrounding Ninawa province, which has the potential for huge security gains. An Illinois Guard unit has returned from Iraq with zero casualties.

The Bad: A female suicide bomber has blown herself up in Diyala province with at least 15 casualties. This one targeted the Awakening council's headquarters in Baqubah. There might be some backlash from the Mosul offensive here. A suicide bomber in a truck hit Fallujah with 7 fatalities, including an infant and 4 Iraqi policemen. CNN is reporting that a Reuters photographer got beat up at the scene by the police. The conventional wisdom about Fallujah is that it is a very secure city, and this brutality in a province that used to be incredibly violent, but got turned around, is truly sad.

The Ugly: The VA is suckin, Iran is making more baseless accusations about the US targeting diplomats, and Pelosi is in town. It's a perfect storm, I tell ya!

IVAW Gets U.S. Military Ready For The Firing Squad

The IVAW is testifying to Congress about atrocities committed during the Iraq war, the vileness of the Bush Administration, and their general angst towards the system. I can certainly sympathize with many of these vets, as war is an awful reality and leaves countless people physically and emotionally scarred due to its brutality. But the manner in which they are attempting to shake up the system will have extremely negative ramifications for veterans for quite some time in America.

Fellow vets Jonn Lilyea at This Ain't Hell and TSO at The Sniper call BS on this DC event, but the vile statements brought to light by these IVAW members have already wreaked havoc on, not just the Bush administration, but also service members themselves. Breitbart has the story of Matthis Chiroux saying "I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school...I was 'filet mignon' for recruiters", which perpetuates the meme that soldiers are irresponsible and incompetent imbeciles, only capable of robotically following orders. Spencer Ackerman talks about another vet, Goldsmith, who states that he joined the Army to "kill Muslims". In the comments, Spencer erroneously states that one guy's actions don't reflect on the entire military. Unfortunately, this is not quite accurate, because due to the cohesivene structure of the service and civilian perception, one member can have huge negative repercussions on the entire military organization (see Okinawa rape case). Finally, Matthew Yglesias discusses an escalation of force incident that got resulted in Iraqi civilians killed, and an angry commenter quips:

And people wonder why I sincerely desire that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Lieberman, both Clintons, and roughly 200,000 others, be tried as war criminals and, upon conviction, be hanged by the neck until DEAD DEAD DEAD? As far as I'm concerned, anyone who DOESN'T want that is a baby killing monster.

Ugh. I've heard of BushHalliburtonCheneyCo being tried for war crimes, but us military types going to the gallows is news to me. While I sympathize with the angst of the IVAW members, and in some cases their hearts may be in the right place, I strongly urge them to examine their tactics and how they are perceived by the civilian public. These comments can be easily exploited by many organizations of dubious merit to morally equate veterans with monsters...and that would be a disaster for all of us. Since it seems appropriate, here's a tune from the SubHumAns about the existenstial outlook of the firing squad:

I had a firing squad dream, I saw it all clearly

I heard the headless people scream, I saw it all clearly

I saw the holy man

Blood on his holy hands

I saw the justice of god

Police and priests and prophets all in one

The new order soldiers taking aim on holy orders

People bowing at the call

Rebels standing at the wall

It’s called the justice of god

I saw their justice

I saw the word of god

I saw their mercy

It was the firing squad

As Long As I Can Smoke That Last Cigarette

Crazy Lady at HuffPo Calls Obama "Boy"

Erica Jong, still livin' in the 60s...the 1860s

You'd think that we could shelve America's ugly history of racism in time for a 21st century presidential election to discuss the important shit (Iraq, Afghanistan, the economy, etc.). But sadly, no. I was willing to ignore that dickhead demagogue Reverend Wright, just because I thought the guy was getting more media attention than he deserved and didn't want to fuel the fire. I was also willing to give a pass on the Kos diary about "Uncle Tom" Obama, because most of the Kossacks called the diarist an asshole. Bu,t this latest P.O.S. from the Huffington Post was not made by some anonymous commenter, rather it was included in today's mailer and penned from the hate-filled mind of Erica Jong:

So here we go again. NARAL loves the new boy on the block -- even if HRC was there at its founding. So does John Edwards. And Ted Kennedy. The fact that Barack has little experience makes him the hot new ingénue, whereas Hillary is old like your mother.The truth is we know about her -- and we know very little about Obama. That alone makes her detractors scream: Get Out! Off the stage with you! Give us that hot new boy! Give us that sepia Brad Pitt! Old women are so over!

I do not operate with any moral authority whatsoever on this blog, as my shameless obsession with 9th-grade humor and unhinged ramblings attest. But, if I was to write a mocking piece on Obama, I would avoid using language that made me look like an extra from the "Birth of a Nation".

Erica Jong is so trapped in her idealistic, "by any means necessary" approach to feminism, that she will cross any line to get a woman in the White House. Erica is also a nut, as evidenced by her belief that Bush knew all about 9/11 before the tragedy happened. Just another 60s radical living in fantasy land who seems to still get attention throughout the media, sigh.

Huffington Post is nothing more than ill-informed political commentary mixed in with boring celebrity gossip that makes me incredibly embarrassed to be from the same country as the authors on this asinine blog. The only selling point is that Greg Gutfeld once had a home there, albeit specifically designed to make fun of all the other liberal hacks who frequented the place. The only reason I get the stupid mailer is because occasionally some vets write there, and, Jon/Brandon/Paul, if you are reading this post, I think it's time to jump ship, bros.

Iraq News (16 May)

The Good: A Iraqi Parliament member has claimed that national reconciliation has taken place amongst quarreling blocs, which is a way to convince investors in Egypt to bring in more money. Arab investors have been sluggish to invest in Iraq due to security issues and perceived corruption within the Iraqi government. However, Iraq doesn't have any trouble bringing in money from religious tourists to its holy cities of Karbala and Najaf. Militia thugs have relocated their operations to the northwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Shula (a Mahdi Army stronghold), but according to Long War Journal, US and Iraqi Forces are taking them down. Mosul operations continue to dismantle terrorist networks in what the media is describing as house to house.

The Bad: CNN breaks the news that recent clashes by Iraqi Security Forces are endemic of a Shi'ite power struggle. That might've been news in late March, but recent operations in Mosul highlight that the Iraqi-led offenses are primarily to take down thugs (regardless of sect, ethnicity), and that's a good thing. A woman and a physician were killed by stray bullets in Mosul. Iranian diplomats had their car shot up by gunmen enroute to the Kadimiyah neighborhood of Baghdad. Until the thugs who did this are found, expect Iran to blame the U.S. for shooting up the car (no, we don't target unarmed diplomats, even if they are from Iran).

The Ugly: A VA email leaked that they should consider refraining from diagnosing PTSD for our brothers and sisters to save money. Government-funded health care at it's best! Of course, vets don't have any other choice besides what Uncle Sam gives us. A big middle finger goes out to the VA today for this bombshell. A FOIA request is in the works. The Webb GI Bill passed the house, but it's tied up with a timetable for withdraw for troops in Iraq. That thing's DOA, just like the last Democrat-proposed Iraq withdrawals. Why can't they just pass the Webb GI Bill without tying it up with other legislation (it has bipartisan support)? Damnit, I hate politics.

Iranian Diplomats Shot (photo from Reuters)

Accurate Predictions for 2013

There's been a lot of blog buzz about McCain's predictions for the year 2013 of smiley-faced Americans, bipartisan cooperation, and Osama Bin Laden in the clink. I have always come to expect the worse, so here are three predictions based on three presidencies that were run through a super computer at the Pentagon that uses the same algorithm that they use in Vegas for sports betting.

#1) The Road Warrior Scenario: McCain wins in 2009 and launches a full-out nuclear war with China and Russia due to his bizarre preoccupation with the Cold War. Life becomes a brute struggle for survival in the wasteland that was once known as America. Red-Staters and Blue-Staters split off to form separate societies and go to war with each other over a big tanker full of gasoline. Fortunately for the ladies, Aussie hunk Mel Gibson shows up and saves the day, because all sexuality went out the window when the rest of the surviving men lost all their hair and their faces peeled off due to radiation sickness.

Take that, Karl Rove!

#2) The new Dawn of the Dead scenario (where the zombies can fucking run!): Obama wins in 2009 and due to his lack of foreign policy expertise (thanks Subrookie) and focuses all of his efforts on domestic issues. The great "mood enhancement" of 2010 involves giving everyone federally proscribed health care to all Americans to make them happy 24/7. Unfortunately, due to a bureaucratic slip up, all us regular schmoes get administered an experimental drug that turns every citizen into a zombie. Due to the cult-like following of Obama as Prez, these zombies are motivated and can run, unlike the slow moving flesh-eaters in the Romero original. Civilization is reduced to zombies ravaging the earth looking for "Hope & Change" and some brains.

Note: Flag Lapel Pins for Zombies are optional

#3) The Starship Troopers scenario: President Bush invades Iran in October 2008, declares himself "President for Life", and institutes martial law on the home front, thereby canceling the 2008 elections. Bloggers initially flip out, but a new society is created where everyone in America has to be in the military or they become a second-class citizen. Due to the lack of bickering in our new fascist society, mankind perfects interstellar travel in 4 short years. 2013 sees the start of Operation Klendathu Freedom, where we travel light years away to wage war against the bugs for them having something to do with 9/11.

Just like Baghdad

Personally, if I had to pick one scenario, it'd be #3. At least I'd get some steamy co-ed shower action prior to getting massacred by the Arachnids.

ACLU Manufactures a Crisis With Iraqi Detainees

Juvenile Detainees at Camp Cropper (from The Guardian)

The wags at the ACLU are attempting to make mountains of molehills with the issue of juvenile detainees at Camp Cropper in Baghdad. After Abu Ghraib, the U.S. military realized the urgent necessity to be more forthcoming with how Iraqi detainees were treated and the importance of rehabilitation to the overall counter-insurgency campaign as Small Wars Journal explains. The ACLU "broke" this earth-shattering news with a cornball press release yesterday, which made a big stink in the media. From Washington Post:

"Juveniles and former child soldiers should be treated first and foremost as candidates for rehabilitation and reintegration into society, not subjected to further victimization," Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU's human rights program, said in a statement.

I guess the ACLU doesn't have "Teh Google" at work, because the issue of juvenile detainees in Iraq was already in the news...last year. From the Inquirer:

These juveniles have been involved in something that is perceived as a security threat to Iraq or coalition forces," Nevin told Agence France-Presse during a tour of Camp Cropper. The number of juvenile detainees has skyrocketed since the surge in US troops was launched in February. "In January we had around 100 juveniles. Now we have around 950," Nevin said. Most of the youngsters have been sucked into the insurgency with threats or offers of money from Al-Qaeda, he said. "There is a lot of Al-Qaeda influence on these youngsters."

Similar to the ~100,000 juvenile prisoners in America, the juvenile detainees are taken off Iraq's streets because they are in urgent need of reform and rehabilitation. They have been brainwashed or paid off by thugs to attack security forces by planting IEDs, acting as lookouts, and even acting as suicide bombers. Would it be better to leave these poor kids in the hands of terrorists to be blown up in the terrorist campaign of brutality? This ACLU press release was tastelessly released the same day that there were two teenaged suicide bombers in Iraq. The same statement also goes on, in a drastic leap of convoluted logic, to get all huffy about military recruiters in high schools making phone calls to students, and there's even a video game that encourages military service! The ACLU should probably start making phone calls to the Senate about Halo too, because you get to kill aliens as a space marine, and that could lead kids to be prejudiced and discriminatory against The Covenant. The ACLU is making pathetic attempts to discredit the military in a time of war, and has about as much to do with civil liberties as this blog does with fusion gourmet cooking.

How Long Before Girl Scout Gets Smeared As a Terrorist

Like McClatchy Watch, this blog gives mad props to 15-year old Jennifer Sharpe of Dearborn for selling a whopping 17,328 boxes of girl scout cookies. Congrats! Unfortunately, Jennifer is from Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit that has a large Arab-American community, and it won't be long before keyboard commandos like Debbie Schlussel start baseless accusations of this poor girl for funneling money made from Peanut Butter Patties to Hezbollah. Schlussel's latest tirade is against the Walmart in "Dearbornistan", which she cleverly dubs "Wal-Mosque". Listen Deb, we all hate the very small percentage of Muslims that are terrorist thugs, but labeling everyone in a hijab a terrorist doesn't make defeating extremism any easier...and it makes you look like an idiot. To help distinguish between friend and foe, I've posted a terrorist and non-terrorist below, see if you can guess which one is which:

Hmm...better search them both just to be safe!

Gen X vs. Gen Y, Damn Kids These Days

Scholar of all things Gen X, Wek of Latchkey Man, has directed me to this most excellent article at Radar. The article slams Millennials for being a bunch of whiny, self-obsessed twerps , incapable of understanding that reality exists beyond their own narrow-understanding of current events, and that "They're like pod people with Facebook accounts" in their sheer number and influence. Having been born in 1980 during the Jimmy "Malaise Forever" Carter administration, I was pretty relieved to learn that I fell into the Gen X generation according to the article's classification. Maybe it's my general surliness towards the demographic of the young punks that egged my car, or my curmudgeon-like schtick on this blog, but I feel a world apart from the "The Millennial Generation", despite just a few years age difference. Here's why:

• I do not subscribe to the belief that writing about my daily existence of mediocrity would be of interest to anyone (e.g. going to the bathroom BRB!, OMG! eating lunch, I just got another Anthrax shot LOL!)
• I understand that work is supposed to be boring, dull, and laborious as opposed to a "super way" to boost an already inflated self-esteem and get kudos from the boss
• Evenings of getting wasted and gambling away my paycheck are vice and not a sign of my independence that needs to get posted on a Facebook profile
• I am incredibly skeptical of chintzy, expensive brand names and manufactured coolness that can be bought off the rack from Hot Topic
• I am accepting of the fact that you don't have control over certain events that happen in society and "just putting your mind to it!" might not be good enough to solve the problem
• I am not the most important person in the world

Consider this a disenfranchisement message from the Millennial generation, and I saw The Ramones before they broke up back in '95, ergo I'm cool enough to be part of the cynical Gen X, I sure hope.

Of course, it is not fair to paint such broad assertions of those born after 1981, so I'm willing to believe that some people younger than me are okay. One scary trend of the last decade has been girlie mags perpetuating the ideal of women as skinny and dumb as the bed posts at IKEA. GI Kate, Battle Dress U, and Gen Pink are all female millennials and they all provide a sharp counter-point to the ridiculous idealization that women are supposed to be dumb broads waiting for their frat-boy husband to whisk them away to a mansion in the Hamptons, while dressed up for prom riding a unicorn. A couple of my favorite blogs, Toy Soldier and Iraq The Purgatorium, show that millennials don't swallow the "company line" and are able to go on a Hunter S. Thompson style foray through a place like Iraq, viewing everything with a skeptical perspective (although I probably haven't heard of any of the music they enjoy). Unfortunately, these fine young men and women are most likely in the minority, and most millennials will be content to update their Facebook profiles compulsively as society collapses around them.

Weapons of Mass Distraction (h/t Marketing Nirvana)

Iraq News (15 May)

The Good: The Prime Minister remains in Mosul supervising the Iraqi-led, US-backed security operation. The op has had a name change from "Lion's Roar" to "Umm al Rabain" or "Operation Mother of Two Springs". Huh...I guess it doesn't translate so well into English, but the offensive has led to the detention of 560 wanted individuals according to Al-Sumaria. The Iraqi Army head, General Zebari, has also stated that the operation consulted with the head sheikhs in the area (note: one of the problems with the Basra operation is that the tribes were not consulted beforehand, the Iraqi Army has apparently learned from their mistakes). A Sadr spokesman has affirmed that the Mahdi Army will lay down their arms in Sadr City and elsewhere. The French have convicted five terrorist recruiters, who deceived impoverished, young men to go wage holy war in Iraq, which includes the "glory" of intimidating local civilians, chopping off people's heads, and other brutal atrocities.

The Bad: A teenage suicide bomber has killed 23 people at a funeral west of Baghdad in the Abu Ghraib suburb. The funeral was for the police chief of Fallujah's uncle, and it was meant to send a "message" to the Sahwa councils. The NY Times reports that the child was crying shortly before he blew himself up (presumably by remote control). Sick fuckin' shit. Also, a female suicide bomber killed an Iraqi Army officer near Baghdad, and she was 16-18 years of age. An Iraqi Islamic Party parliament member (large Sunni political party) narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Baghdad yesterday.

The Ugly: The next media outlet up to the plate to stir up U.S.-Iranian tensions is the Associated Press. There are reports that the head of the Iranian Quds Force, Suleimani, got all pissy with the Iraqi delegation that went to Tehran last week. If there's anyone that wants a war between the US and Iran over Iraq, it's probably the damn American media. Gotta boost those ratings somehow.

Hugo Chavez All Smiles With America Now That Oil Prices Are Sky High

Despite the fact that Hugo Chavez once called North America "The biggest menace to our planet", he's adopted a much more "chummy" tone with America according to this recent Reuters article:

"Whoever the next president is and whatever party they are from, we aspire, we are anxious, that 2009 start with a new level of relations...We are not a danger to the United States, for the love of God, completely the opposite"

It's pretty obvious that Hugo is going to need more cash to fund his wacky socialist revolution, and we Americans are hopelessly dependent on the oil. Just like buying half-a-bottle of whiskey from the crazy homeless man on the street, Caveat Emptor.

Sorry About That Whole Supporting FARC Thing

Smashing Through the Boundaries, Lunacy Has Found Me

The metal site Blabbermouth has the scoop on an indy movie being released about Iraqi metal band "Acrassicauda" (that's Latin for Black Scorpion). As general rule of thumb, I don't listen to music that was made after Kurt Cobain's crazy wife killed him (or he killed himself, whatever), but I was able to check out some of their shit on MySpace. These guys are pretty badass and way better than the Jack Johnson crap that passes for "rock" these days. The band started in Baghdad during the Saddam era, but had to leave the country after receiving death threats from the Muj during the post-invasion period. The dudes are inspired by Metallica and Slayer, so that's impressive considering how so many other newer "artists" don't even remember the metal classics (Cliff Burton 4ever you emo weenies!).

I'm not sure what their thoughts would be about a member of the US military plugging for them, but if I threw up the horns and rocked out on air guitar to Iron Maiden, they'd probably be cool. The website for the movie is here, and it's got limited release in NYC, LA, and Seattle later this month. If anyone sees it, please let me know.

Metal Has No Borders

How To Carpool During the Election Season

Why roll into work in a boring old Honda Accord, when you can impress the co-workers by carpooling in this monstrosity (h/t Wonkette):

The red pantsuit that surrounds the headlights is certain to get you many catcalls from the 50+ angry women crowd. This car reminds me of the Dennis Woodruff car that I saw in Hollywood almost every goddamn day when I lived there (caution: his website may induce seizures).

Nurses and Milblogs

I put out the question on why there were so many nurses interested in milblogs (Ms. Robin and Ms. Sisu come to mind). Cathy B., a friendly face around here, responds:

I too have noted a number of nurses in the milblog world. Guess it's in our nature, empathy and reaching out to others. Don't wish to go into detail, our family has been involved in troop support through various organizations for almost four years. A Marine relative served in the early Ramadi fighting and is now back in country. We currently flat rate support a female medic for the second time on her second tour as well as many, many fine soldiers from the Any Soldier site throughout the years.

Makes sense to me. I guess the pervert in me was hoping it was for some sort of "naughty nurse" situation, but empathy and outreach are nice too. Thanks!

Iraq News (14 May)

The Good: The Wall Street Journal editorial board says Prime Minister Maliki is a big winner for cracking down on Shi'ite militias within the last 2 months. Now, the Iraqi Security Forces have their sights on the terrorist threat in Mosul, in which the Prime Minister showed up today to supervise operations. The Kurds have offered their support for the operations in Mosul. However, American media is still focused on the ceasefire saying whether or not the truce negotiated between the UIA and Sadr Trend is holding in Sadr City. The superb Long War Journal reports some clashes that have left 10 militia fighters dead in Sadr City, mostly around the Al-Qods street security barrier. 3 new oil fields have been discovered in the Kurdish region containing 2 Billion barrels (worldwide demand is about 90 million barrels/day).

The Bad: The US has slashed its reward for the head of the Islamic State of Iraq (Al-Qaeda), Al-Masri, from $5 Million to $100K. Wonder what that's all about. The President makes a jackass out of himself on a Politico interview, where he says he gave up "golf" to recognize the sacrifices made by America in a time of war. I thought we were supposed to go shopping? What a putz.

The Ugly: The Secretary of Defense, a man I respect, has called on the military to focus on the current wars of counter-insurgency as opposed to the future prospect of a large conventional conflict. He actually uses the term "Next War-itis". I'm sure he'll be quietly tucked away for pissing off the big military contractors making space lasers and death stars for our future war that may or may not happen. My man's got balls! Also, Christian Science Monitor has a very good article on how Iran was involved with the most recent Sadr ceasefire. Shows how big a player Iran is in Iraq.

Hot Dog! We have a Winner (Says WSJ Editorial Board)

Iran Not Just Hiding Their Nuke Program, They're Hiding Babes Too!

21st century Iran usually brings up my own mental image of Hezbollah thugs in Lebanon, a secretive nuclear program, and rockets whizzing over my head as I scramble for cover. But did you know that they are hiding a wide variety of Persian babes as well? Iraqi Bloggers Central has a pretty good round up for those interested in checking out babes from other parts of the globe (I'm a sailor, so it's a requirement and part of our tradition). Although, I disagree with his statement that women shouldn't be "shielded" or "occulted" away. Because, who am I to say what is wrong and what is right with someone else's culture? Many Iraqi women are just as lovely looking no matter how they dress in public. Unfortunately, it is considered extremely offensive in Arabic culture for us infidel types to stare lustfully at a women or engage in small talk you would find at a club on Saturday night. It can also prove very dangerous for the women in question if local militia/terrorist thugs find out she was flirting with the occupier (that's why it is banned to engage in relations with Iraqi women by US military policy). However, more than once a fellow sailor has quietly quipped, "Man, I'd like to see that hijab on the ground near my bed".

Yo Iran, We Want Less Weapons for Shi'ite militias, and More Babes!

Housekeeping Notes And Feedback Requested

So, I tried to an experiment to blog as much as possible today. No thinking about leaving Iraq, no work in the office (I got Tuesday off which would piss off a lot of deployed people to know), only a toasty computer screen and you fine people. My nerdy obsession may prove my wretched existence, but what the hell else am I going to do without booze, scavenge for Saddam's porn stash. It's been fun, but I'd welcome any feedback on today's posts, of which there were 8, to make your reading experience more interesting. Of course I'm a big fan of all the comments.

Also, have you ever wandered into a real fancy restaurant in some swanky liberal urban area like Boston with stone-washed jeans, a rhine-stoned denim jacket, a trailer-park mullet, and a "No Fear" T-shirt like some jackass, and then tried to argue with everyone's political beliefs? Well, I kind of felt like that on this Obsidian Wings thread I've been perusing all day and commenting on. Sure, all the people are way smarter and more educated than me, but I think I got in some good bits here and there!

G'night, everybody!

The Pope Is Cool With Aliens

So...this one time I was out to sea, a few years back, standing watch and I had this strange fantasy. "Standing watch" on a submarine can roughly be explained in civilian terms by locking yourself in your closet with a bunch of other smelly dudes for 6 hours straight (no going to the bathroom, either) and making sure everyone writes down the temperature reading on the thermostat every 30 minutes. Also, you have to have your face planted on this periscope that goes outside your house and give reports to your mom (that's the captain) on the phone every so often. Anyways, I was sitting on the periscope on a really long stretch of sea time, and I swear to jeebus, I saw this thing that looked like a flying saucer. I was totally stoked that it was going to come beam me away from my misery and take me to a place filled with alien babes, beer that gets you drunk without the hangover, and an endless supply of zombie movies. To this day, I'm not sure if I missed my opportunity to achieve utopia, and everyone thought I was down right crazy. But, you know what, the Vatican says believing in extraterrestrial life is okay. From the AP:

The Vatican's chief astronomer says that believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, says that the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

No one can make me fun of me, since the Pope has got my back.

Take me with you to the alien planet, your holiness!

Blogging the Apocalypse

All this human tragedy: Earthquake in China, cyclone in Burma, terrorist thugs killing civilians in India. Maybe it's the end of the world, who knows. I always hoped to blog until the bitter end. That or go to a big end of the world party like in Last Night. Of course I wanted to be drinking a beer simultaneously. Aw well, 1 out of 2 ain't bad.

Which one of you 4 horsemen is bringing the Miller High Life and Fritos?

Marines Chasin' Around Meth Addicts in Twentynine Palms

The Marine Corps does a lot of combat training in the Twentynine Palms area prior to deployment, which is located in the vast Mojave desert in southern California. It is home to the beautiful Joshua Tree National Park, coyotes, and a shit ton of meth addicts. Now, the Marines are having to interrupt their scheduled training to chase down scrap metal scavengers. From Breitbart:

Hundreds of Marines were conducting a combat training mission in the Mojave Desert when an air patrol spotted something kicking up dust: A civilian pickup truck speeding across the barren landscape. Behind the wheel was a suspected scrap metal thief who had been combing the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center for spent brass shell casings. His intrusion onto the base was the 12th time in six months that scavengers had inadvertently halted combat exercises.

Unsurprisingly, it seems a lot of these people hawking scrap metal are using it to fund their addiction:

The military said most scrappers arrested in the past several years appeared to be either illegal immigrants or drug users looking for easy money. If convicted on federal charges ranging from trespassing to theft, they face up to 20 years in prison.

I see a silver lining to this darkened cloud, because if a Marine can take down a tweaker running circles around the desert looking for spent brass casings, they can probably take out a more slow-moving terrorist weighed down with a suicide vest in Anbar province.

Meth: It puts the "classy" in Class A Controlled Narcotic

People's Republic of Boulder Asking for Token Conservative

The city of Boulder, home to the University of Colorado and well known for its flagrant yuppie douchebaggery, is going to allow a professor into the ranks who has to be a conservative. The Wall Street Journal explains (h/t Malkin):

Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson surveys this landscape with unease. A college that champions diversity, he believes, must think beyond courses in gay literature, Chicano studies and feminist theory. "We should also talk about intellectual diversity," he says. So over the next year, Mr. Peterson plans to raise $9 million to create an endowed chair for what is thought to be the nation's first Professor of Conservative Thought and Policy.

This would be a remarkable turn of events from the college campus that once allowed nutjob Ward "Little Eichmanns" Churchhill to spew his vile slander to impressionable young minds. But, alas, not every student is happy about the marketplace of ideas as Sophomore Marissa Malouff explains:

"They need to learn about social problems and poverty and the type of things liberal professors are likely to talk about."

I'm going to have to agree with Ms. Malouff, since it is necessary for our future policy-makers, politicians, and lawyers to be able to remember their years as grass-roots activists with self-righteous clarity. How else could the elite class justify to themselves fucking over millions of people with their disastrous policies foisted upon the American citizenry, if they didn't have that "Free Tibet" sticker on the car their parents bought them in college.

Horrible Dickensian Strife For the Proletariat in Colorado Must Be Taught in College

Vote For Obama To Alleviate Your Iraq Sins? I Ain't Buyin' It!

Michael Hatley has an Op-Ed at the Houston Chronicle entitled "America's Guilt Over Iraq" that discusses how Americans who initially supported invading Iraq should vote for Obama to wash away their evil sins. Obama may or may not have better foreign policy objectives for Iraq, because it's hard to say with the media's attention solely focused on that dickhead Jeremiah Wright and Obama wearing jeans. It's also difficult to look into the crystal ball and see what the reality on the ground will be for Iraq and what U.S. policy should be. Why do you think General Petraeus wanted that 45-day "evaluation" period later on this year? What's troubling about the Op-Ed is the tone of shamelessly spreading the "hope and change" gospel:

But it is what you do when you know a mistake has been made that defines you, far more than the judgment up front. You’ve heard it many times, if you are from Texas – being able to admit mistakes is a virtue. It is hard. It takes strength. And the thing is, you don’t have to do it publicly. You can make amends in the ballot box this November, in private. By casting your vote with a candidate who got it right, and who will use as much caution getting out as we were reckless going in.

Abstract concepts about Saddam wanting to nuke America is what got us into this mess in the first place, and the reality of an ongoing war is not going to magically disappear with abstract concepts about ridding yourself of guilt come election day. Call me a non-religious heathen, because I'm not a believer.

Because my mother will disown me if I don't support Bob Barr, here's my pitch for the guy running on the Libertarian ticket. He seems a lot more grounded in reality and interested in pragmatism than uber-messiah Obama or McCain, who seems to still be fighting the cold war. That's good enough reason for me to vote for the guy, because, reiterating the comment I made at Hot Air yesterday, "he doesn't suck like everybody else".

Addendum: Mike Hatley gets my respect for this article though, where he defends military personnel having extravagant porn stashes. Thank you for supporting the troops, sir!

The New Problem Set For Today's Vets: Apathy

A vet that got treated like shit

Pretty interesting article and comments thread from Professor Hilzoy over at Obsidian Wings on Obama's recent speech where he said Vietnam Vets were "shunned and demonized" and how that must not happen again. There seems to be a lot of denial that vets were treated poorly after Vietnam from those left-of-center boomers, where they often cite this Jerry Lembcke research that says returning Vietnam vets were never really spit on. This purported debunking of the "spit-on" vet myth serves as a moral cleansing tool to eradicate the guilt of some anti-war liberals treating their fellow man poorly. I'm still working on my time machine and flux capacitor to go back to the 60s/70s to get the real scoop, but judging by movies like "Born on the Fourth of July" (directed by a Vietnam vet based on the life of a Vietnam vet ) and the alarming number of homeless veterans I saw growing up, it can probably be surmised that those who proudly served our country got served up a steaming bag of dog ass by many fellow Americans. There seems to be a certain level of collective guilt from lefties of that generation in regards to that issue (see the ObWi post), and I don't want to play off people's fears like some demagogue, but it is certainly positive as many of those people are in DC running policy on how veterans benefits are allocated. Plus, the Vietnam vets had to fight tooth and nail for these types of benefits to exist and for cultural awareness, so props to them from yours truly.

If perception of veterans is an issue based on the paradigm of a generation, it's only natural for us to try and predict what we are going to face. Judging by the twitter habits and self-involved trends that spread like wildfire through people born post-Vietnam, I'd have to say the vet perception problem is that there is no perception. I have griped about Gen Y like some nutty curmudgeon extensively on this blog, but the fact that war remains a volunteer effort in America could cause some serious negative ramifications. Primarily, that the cost incurred will be blamed on those who volunteered, and that our small minority/token status will only make disturbing realities (PTSD, disability) a "fringe" issue in politics. At best we can hope to be relegated to some pathetic underclass status that gets "sympathy" from the general public, if we don't do anything about this quandary.

Because of all this, it's probably best to be outspoken in various forms of media to make sure that marginalization doesn't occur. So if you came upon this rambling blog post, you have my respect for caring about this issue and not being apathetic, but there's a lot more work to do from my end.

Update: Thanks to OCSteve (an ObWi regular) who points out this analysis on Just One Minute that pretty much says Lembcke is full of shit.

Tuesdaze Bloggin' Roundup of Iraq

Or you could Help KBR Joe by reading more blogs! From the past week:

• Obsidian Wings talks about the left respecting veterans
• Brandon Friedman says women should be allowed in combat
• The Tension discusses Al-Qaeda in Iraq being knocked out in Kirkuk
• Words from Warriors says SGT Grumpy's Back from the suck
• American Footprints talks about the fallout between Sadr and Sistani
• USO Girls talk about a wedding from an Iraq and one of their authors (Happy Honeymoon!)
• Talisman Gate is elated that the NY Times finally recognized the success in Basra
• Wired: Danger Room talks about new armor for the MRAP
• Armchair Generalist says Colby Buzzell going back to war shows the Army is strapped
• The Captain's Journal on prisons and COIN
• The Sandbox and compassion fatigue
• Jihadica on joining Al-Qaeda
• CounterColumn dissects the Sadr Truce
• Long War Journal on operations in Sadr City
• Spencer Ackerman on Sadr T-shirts for hipsters
• Crooks and Liars on not-so-Iranian weapons (this blogger should visit Baghdad, where the business end of Iranian weapons is a not-so-subtle reality)
• Iraqi Bloggers Central lists the top 20 Iraqi bloggers
• Bill Ardolino has great journalism from the front lines of Sadr City
• Matthew Ygleisas on our presence resulting in violent conflict in Iraq
• Abu Muqawama on the limits of COIN as applied to Sadr City
• McClatchy Watch criticizes the Pro-Sadr leanings of the rag
• Small Wars Journal says we should get out of the Green Zone
• Iraq: The Purgatorium is too short for this rocket/mortar bullshit (I feel ya, bro!)
• Midnight Blue has a piece on a Marine Gunny
• Mudville Gazette on people heading back to the states from the sandbox
• Jawa Report has a "special" surprise for the Special Groups thugs
• Blackfive talks about Sadr City
• A Soldier's Perspective speaks ill of IVAW
• This Ain't Hell badmouths IVAW
• The Sniper is no fan of IVAW either (sorry Selena, we still love you)
• Intel Dump talks about the Webb GI Bill
• Colby Buzzell talks about his editorial in the SF Chronicle
• Reason opines on the Iraq war spending debate
• Democracy Arsenal with a left-leaning take on COIN
• VetVoice on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
• GI Kate on the recent Lioness documentary about female soldiers and marines

VetVoice items I wrote:

• Competition for Resources
• Special Post for Moms
• Why Iraq movies bomb at the box office

Cheers!

Iraq News (13 May)

The Good: While the security situation in Sadr City remains troubling, the Sahwa council has the adjacent Adhamiya district of Baghdad under control according to this recent Alive in Baghdad release. The Turkish media reports that 11 PKK rebels have been killed in clashes in southern Turkey. PKK terrorists have long used the mountainous northern part of Iraq to launch cross-border attacks into Turkey. Iraqi media reports that 142 thugs have been detained in Mosul from Operation Lion's Roar, but the Prime Minister says the operation has yet to begin. That's rather strange.

The Bad: There was fighting in Sadr City overnight, despite the recent Sadr-backed ceasefire of the Mahdi Army in the Shi'ite district. It puts a question mark into how much control the guy has over his movement. Media will most likely spin this to make the U.S. forces look like the aggressor in some "purge" campaign. In reality, we're just shooting back. Terrorists in Mosul killed 5 Iraqi policemen with an IED.

The Ugly: Former employee of the US embassy in Baghdad, Ret. Judge Brennan, has stated that the State Department has overlooked corruption within the Iraqi government, indirectly killing Americans and Iraqis?!? Holy smokes, talk about some harsh criticism. Of course, I'm more likely to listen to a Foreign Service Officer with more than 25 days of boots on ground. This author for the Houston Chronicle says the best way to alleviate that guilt about the Iraq war is to "vote Democrat". Not think about future foreign policy or the best way forward, just "Vote Democrat" so you can alleviate that guilt...what an asshole.

Broken Glass, Broken Dreams (from AFP)

Ron Paul's People Continue The Creepiness

Help! Someone on the Internet is Wrong...And They're After Me!

Glenn Reynolds has a review about Ron Paul's new book over at PJs, and he speaks in a criticism that is rather muted about the rEVOLution:

My biggest disagreement, and that of many libertarians with Paul, involves national security. Paul and I are both libertarians, but of different varieties. Paul is an old-fashioned Rothbardian. I’m more of a Heinleinian libertarian and we, like the Randian libertarians, tend to view national defense as more important than the Rothbardians do.

Allow me to come to Glenn's defense in a little more blunt manner. Ron Paul's brand of libertarianism is a completely bizarre ideology that should've never embarked into the political arena from the discussion that spawned it at some Star Trek convention in Palookaville. I'm a moderate libertarian, and it's necessary as a society to understand that our actions affect the construct of society around us, but the state should have a minimal role in civilization with the exception of protecting life, liberty, and property. But I don't know how this simplistic view translates into 9/11 truther imbeciles wanting the LP candidates to sign an "investigation pledge", a revolt at the RNC planned with the intellectual fortitude of some middle school food fight against "the cool kids", and "paleo-libertarians" telling us working for Uncle Sam that we are "dishonorable" because we're serving Darth Sith Cheney (and this from a former Navy Officer! Who is this guy, Benedict Arnold?).

While most candidates will always have their nutty fringe, Ron Paul seems to have these people en masse. I think their hearts are in the right place (at least the younger ones), but let's all come out of our mother's basement and realize the world in not black and white like when you gazed at Luke taking on Darth Vader in your prepubescence days. That's how these crackpot views floating around perpetuate (e.g. the Bush Administration got us into Iraq which is bad, therefore 9/11 was an inside job). No Paul fans, the world exists in shades of gray...

Health Gestapo Bans Smoking in Casinos

Nanny state thugs strike again, this time banning smoking in Atlantic City casinos. First off, why else would you be hanging out in a casino, for your health? If you wanted to live forever, you could run 3.5 miles everyday, not work a stressful job, and do yoga on a daily basis, but not everyone wants to do that shit. There will always be coercion over people's personal lifestyle as long as busybodies like Americans for Nonsmoker's Rights (coincidentally from Berkeley, the same city that produced Code Pink) keep promoting their self-righteous agenda. Whatever happened to freedom of choice? Apparently we lost a huge war to the Nurse Ratcheds of the world and now we're suffering the consequences.

Be Like Hitler, Don't Smoke!

That Part of the Deployment

Confusius Once Said: "One's level of motivation is directly proportional to the time spent on deployment"

Alas, the time has come for me to be "checked out" or in a state of "not caring". I've gotten a shiny medal, I mailed most of my crap to my mother's house, most of the Navy types I came in with to Iraq are long gone, and the new replacements have arrived. One of them is *gasp*, a lady! So much for my standard work practice of not wearing pants in the office. The new officers seem happy to be here and ready to take over, and I hope to explain to them the job beyond my own incoherent mumbling and mindlessly staring at the ceiling like a zombie (that's gonna be tough for me). The Army Captain says she wants to travel outside the wire to help out with women's rights issues (sister of Fallujah, Mother Teresa of Iraq, et. al.), but I didn't have the heart to say that the closest our particular cell goes to leaving the T-walls of the Green Zone is watching the helicopters take off when you walk to the PX. Of course, the early bird gets the worm, and I hope she can help out with those endeavors. Because motivated people are what makes the world go round, and people satisfied with wallowing in mediocrity and cynicism usually start blogs.

Iraq News (12 May)

The Good: Iraqi media is reporting that the Iraqi Army has killed one and detained 36 suspected terrorists in new operations in Mosul. The LA Times Mosul correspondent cites the inconvenience for the citizens due to the operations (the curfew and what not), but that Iraqis were tired of living with insecurity. Operations in Sadr City (Long War Journal has all the details) continue to construct the security barrier, which has been reported as 80% complete. This comes at a time when the Mahdi Army has backed off, but according to the WSJ, the decline in hostilities between the Mahdi Army and US/Iraqi forces was brokered by Iran last week! Shows the complexities of the US-Iraq-Iran tap dance. Kuwaiti officials have busted a drug smuggler coming from Iraq into Kuwait. Drug smuggling money is used to fund militia activity in southern Iraq (much like oil smuggling). The NY Times is reporting some significant progress in Basra as Iraqis are no longer intimidated by militia thugs.

The Bad: CNN reports that the result of the UIA-Sadr Trend truce to get the Mahdi Army off the streets is still in question. For Sadr City, that place could flare up at any moment based on what Muqatada al-Sadr has to say, so it is prudent to keep an eye on all developments in the Shi'ite district. One soldier was killed in Baghdad by an IED yesterday.

The Ugly: And you thought your job was hard! Michael Gordon of the NY Times has an in-depth look at route clearance teams (the guys who find IEDs) in militia-infested Sadr City. Teflon Don over at Acute Politics did this in Anbar back when it wasn't such a nice place. Not a job for the weak of heart. NY Times also reports some violence is still going on in Sadr City in today's edition.

Just Like When I Was a Lad (photo from Mosul by USAF)

Thanks For Your Military Service, You Tax Burden

As discussed earlier, the competition for veterans benefits amogst funding for other government programs is shaping up, and I attempted to propose some bipartisan solutions to this quandry over at VetVoice. But this recent article and its tone gives me cause for concern. From Breitbart:

Despite the decline in total vets—as soldiers from World War II and Korea die—the government expects to be spending $59 billion a year to compensate injured warriors in 25 years, up from today's $29 billion, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And the Veterans Affairs Department concedes the bill could be much higher. Why? Worse wounds. More disabilities. More vets aware of the benefits and quicker to file for them.

I'd say the simple answer to the "Why?" is that America is a country at war (despite some people's apathy and lack of involvement). War is nasty business, and people get hurt or killed. The government is contractually obligated to take care of those wounded at war, because these men and women were representing the country when they were serving in the military. This logic even falls into a strict libertarian interpration of the constitution. But, the politicians make it seem like we are a burden on the tax base, like welfare queens. Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn) had this to say about the new GI Bill: “Some of us oppose creating a new entitlement program in an emergency spending bill, whether it’s butchers, bakers or candlestick-makers.”

Dark times ahead. The government will continue to grow and waste money on damn near everything else, including who can dress up as a naughty nurse. Best to take action now, before it is too late.

Vets: Heroes or Tax Burdens? (picture from AP)

Seamen Needed!

heh heh. The funny shit you get in email from time to time. On the plus side, I'll never have to pay for a vasectomy.

Iraq Security Threats That a 3rd Grader Could Understand

Everything in Iraq is exceedingly complex, and the security situation is no different. As operations ramp down in Sadr City and ramp up in Mosul it's necessary to have an update for situational awareness purposes. Since this blog is not exactly the height of intellectual achievement for the 21st century, and I'm competing for bandwidth with American Idol gossip in the blogosphere, it's best to dumb it down a notch and explain what security threats are present. In easy to follow methodology from south to north:

Basra: Big city with competing militias, let's just call them all "thugs". Lots of oil and exports means lots of corruption. The Iraqi military men beat up the thugs last month. You don't hear much about Basra anymore.

Najaf/Karbala: Very holy cities and very quiet. Many Iraqis and Iranians make holy pilgrimages down here. Many Americans in suits in Washington don't talk about this, because Islam is bad and so are Iranians.

Rural areas south of Baghdad: Mostly agricultural. Bad terrorist men moved in after 2003. Bad terrorist men were kicked out by US forces in 2007 during "surge". Now Iraqis keep their villages safe. News men in America don't talk about this, since the "surge" didn't work because Bush is a bad man.

Anbar Province: Used to be very nasty place with bad "insurgents". Many foreign terrorists came to wage war on America. America worked with tribes to kick them out. Some terrorists still around in desert, but not many. News men like to talk about a civil war in Iraq between the tribes in Anbar and Baghdad, but there's no evidence that this will happen.

Baghdad: Iraq's biggest city. Some terrorists came, but they got kicked out during surge. Lots of militia men, since there's not enough the Iraqi government can do. Lots of American troops too. Lots of Iranian weapons in Baghdad. News men and bloggers like to deny that these weapons exist, because it's what Bush says, like Iranian weapons are a big joke or something. But Americans always have to run and hide when rockets and EFPs from Iran start blowing up around us in Baghdad. That's not a joke.

Northern Provinces (big cities are Mosul, Baqubah, Kirkuk, Tikrit, and Tal Afar): Some terrorist bad people hanging around making Iraqis misreable, especially in Mosul. Americans and Iraqis working hard to get rid of them.

Kurdistan (Dahuk, Irbil, Sulaymaniyah): Very prosperous. Almost no US military presence, because they have everything under control. That's why you never hear about it. Sometimes PKK clowns attack Turkey and Turkey drops bombs...then you hear about it on the news.

Mr. Smiley Sun: He gets mad starting in June, it's pretty damn hot in Iraq.

Any questions?

Iraq News (11 May)

The Good: A major Iraqi Army operation has been launched in Mosul dubbed Operation Lion's Roar. Iraq's third largest city is under curfew as security forces are going to flush out the terrorists that have, for too long, brought destruction and violence to the people in the region. The terrorists operating in northern Iraq are the true threat to international security (as opposed to the militia thugs who are just a threat to Iraq), as most of their leadership is from a variety of foreign countries in which they seek to export their bizarre ideology. This operation has gotten very little attention in the American media, but Arab Times has a quote from the head of the Iraqi Armed Forces calling on the tribes and clerics of Mosul to kick out Al-Qaeda. The AP reports that Sadr City is calm with militants leaving the streets and the citizens resuming their normal lives. Tina Susman has some good reporting on the construction of the security barrier in southern Sadr City by our troops, and it should be noted that the US backs the ceasefire and stipulations between the Mahdi Army and the Prime Minister.

The Bad: A woman and child were killed in an escalation of force incident near Mosul. The San Francisco Chronicle has an opinionated piece on the Iraq war as an incubator of terrorism. I think the statistical evidence they cite in the article is bunk, as they attribute more US/Iraqi Security Force deaths in 2008 as the result of an increase in "terrorism". I would consider the saddening rise in casualties due to the offensive against Shi'ite militia thugs, who I am skeptical on labeling terrorists.

The Ugly: Great news! The VA, the organization in charge of taking care of our physical and mental health, stinks according to this New York Times article. The article cites the extensive cost to take care of us vets. Certainly caring for veterans is costly, but it's the government's obligation to do this (unlike all the other pork-barrel spending the feds engage in). I can already see how vet benefits are going to get cut, as people demand more money for themselves. We're headed for tough times brothers and sisters...

All Eyes on Mosul

Happy Mother's Day From LT Nixon

I first started blogging about news in Iraq and providing links in an attempt to properly highlight what was going on over here, because my mother wanted to know what the hell was going on. There is a certain obligation required to our moms, for our very existence is the result of them. I'm glad that other mothers have found this information insightful and useful as some of you kind ladies have emailed me. It is natural that mothers would want to know what their boys and girls have gotten themselves into in our country's current conflicts. I can think of nothing more important than motherhood, as it has been the very fabric of our civilization since time began. So without further adieu, I give you Mr. T on how to respect your mother, and I respect mothers around the globe.



Mothers have a special status in society that should be honored and revered, so Happy Mother's Day (except to this lady).

More On Those Unsung Heroes: Celebrities

Thumbing through Time's "100 most influential people" in 2008, I am totally stoked that celebrities, who never get any media attention, have been justifiably honored! Why give props to hard-working diplomats and human rights activists under the "Heroes & Pioneers" Tab of the list, when it's best to highlight the Hollywood party scene with Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie (written by fellow actor messiah, George Clooney). Brad, I payed $1.25 for the Ocean's 13 bootleg, and I want my money back.

Andre Agassi also gets a place under the Heroes & Pioneers tab. Fellow tennis superstar, Andy Roddick, has this to say:

Arthur could well have been talking about Andre Agassi. We are all aware of his tennis accomplishments, the brilliance and flash of his career. It's impossible to forget his epic U.S. Open victories, and also—though he might want us to forget—the mullet and acid-washed jeans. But the greater challenge for an athlete is to have a positive impact away from the cameras. I've been privileged to witness firsthand Andre, 38, do just that.

It's certainly comforting that hitting a ball back and forth over a net will have such a major impact on the problems of our world. It will certainly keep people distracted with mindless entertainment, as society collapses around them. Bravo! Because only in celebrity-obsessed America, could we have uneducated tinsel town boobs receiving equivalent praise as the woman known as The Mother Teresa of Iraq.

Look at Brangelie in Action! Spreading Humanitarian Aid to Fellow Hollywood Elites

Forum That Could Save The Right And A Blog on Jihad

The Next Right?: If you put a gun to my head right now and asked me if I was a Democrat or Republican, I would have to say Republican begrudgingly. Of course that is similar to the question would I rather have an affair with Barbara Bush the elder or Hillary Clinton (*shudder*). While I'm certain that I'm an anti-leftist, the Republican party long ago disillusioned me with cornball cultural conservative programs like federal funding for abstinence, banning people from getting married, and nixing porn on military bases. But alas, there may be hope with this new website The Next Right, which could provide substantial grass roots support to the American right. I'm not getting my hopes up, but it may be worth checking out. (h/t Matthew Ygleisas)

Get Educated on Jihad: The dudes at Abu Muqawama are a lot smarter than me, so when they tell me to read a website, I'm obliged to follow. Check out Jihadica, which has details on the international scourge of Islamic terrorism.

Iraq News (May 10)

The Good: Washington Post has good embed journalism from Mosul on the ups and downs of US forces working with Iraqis to secure the population from terrorists. If Sadr City calms down, expect to hear most reporting to focus on Mosul. The Sadr Trend has reportedly negotiated with the UIA bloc (the bloc Prime Minister and ISCI are part of) to allow the Iraqi Security Forces into Sadr City to seize heavy weapons. This is similar to what happened in Basra, and it turned out alright. The Sadr Trend was forced to allow the Iraqi Security Forces in because the Sadr City residents were suffering (no shit). The MRAP vehicles are getting more armor upgrades to lessen the effect of IED attacks on our troops. Story for those seeking a Saturday heartwarmer on a SSGT from 2ID who helped out an Iraqi girl in Diyala province. Long War Journal has the scoop on Special Forces conducting ops in Sadr City to target militia thugs.

The Bad: An errant rocket struck the BBC bureau in Baghdad, most likely targeting the Green Zone. The militia's rockets often miss their targets and kill civilians in the process. Luckily, no one was hurt in this particular attack. In an alarming move, the Sadrists have spoken ill of Sistani! Grand Ayatollah Sistani is, as far as I can tell, the most influential person in Iraq, and the Sadrists are mad that he hasn't condemned the situation in Sadr City.

The Ugly: As if we needed the Ambassador to tell us, more unrest in the Middle East would cause oil prices to go sky-high. The Time article takes the opportunity to make the Iraq war all about "teh oil". Some perv in KBR got busted with child porn. Most of the KBR contractors I know are professional, but I guess every organization has that one bozo that makes everyone else look like a jackass.

1LT Baxter Conducts COIN (pic from Washington Post)

Competition for Resources and The Politics of Dehumanization

The time when anything remotely negative said about our military was deemed as “un-American”, during the flag-waving days following 9/11, are but a memory. The cost and length of the Iraq war and the economic downturn have made the military as a whole a ripe target for criticism among Americans as resources become more scarce amongst our tax base and the country’s debt runs out of control. I recall seeing a lot of bumper stickers growing up that said “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber”. Could the same line of logic be applied about tax dollars going to social programs for the general public instead of veteran benefits?

The politicization of the war has mostly been directed at the “neocons” (an undesirable label that is now morally akin to the Hitler Youth), but it can even explain how Hillary failed to win the Democratic primary, as Publius at Obsidian Wings explains. Whoever gets the proverbial “Iraq war” necklace hung around their neck is most likely to be characterized as a nuisance or evil for decades to come. This has terrible ramifications for Iraq vets and other personnel who have served in the military during these troubled times, as the Iraq war’s architects will retire to castles invisible in the public eye, but us vets will be amongst the general populace representing an endeavor Americans will resent. Take your pick on why the Iraq war has taken so long, been so costly, or how we shouldn’t have even started it, but we must deal with reality now or we could end up in a very poor position in our future society.

While directly criticizing the troops remains politically incorrect for the time being in policy circles and the media, there has been some low-level criticism of the military apparatus. The media’s preoccupation with the Abu Ghraib scandal after so many years comes to mind, but at least that can be conveniently chalked up to “a few bad apples”. Here are a few examples of subtle attempts to discredit the military as an institution, thereby discrediting those who are part of the organization. I recently found these and they aren’t the fringe neo-Trotskyite crowd on the streets with tinfoil hats, but rather from individuals that can communicate effectively to a broad audience. These can be extrapolated to a cultural paradigm that could sweep over large portions of Americans if we rest on our laurels.

Kathy G. over at Crooked Timber discusses how certain books on required military college reading lists have led to a culture of “racism” and “imperialism”:

Books and ideas can have a profound impact. I don’t think it would have been quite as easy for the Bush administration to do what they did if racist, imperialist attitudes were not so prevalent amongst the military and foreign policy elites.

It goes without say that the “racist” and “imperialist” moniker are phrases that have extremely negative connotations. The public does not have the understanding to distinguish between ranks and sees the entire military as one cohesive unit, and applied to our leadership will effectively characterize us all as ideological monsters. Glenn Greenwald decries the Pentagon’s information apparatus, which will effectively make us appear as liars and under orders from a Goebbels-style machine:

The Pentagon has posted to its website the roughly 8,000 pages and audio tapes it was forced to provide to the New York Times regarding its "military analyst" program. Anyone who reads through them, as I've now done, can only be left with one conclusion: if this wasn't an example of an illegal, systematic "domestic propaganda campaign" by the Pentagon, then nothing is.

Finally, famous author, Stephen King, portrayed military service as an inherent flaw of an individual’s character with these recent remarks.

The fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that.

None of these comments are particularly offensive, but they are a snap shot of a trend which will ultimately create a political and cultural atmosphere where we will need to be looking over our shoulders if left unabated.

This process of dehumanization will make it more viable for future pundits and politicians to ostracize the relatively small number of military personnel who served during this time of war. Campaign slogans will be more designed to sway large groups of voters and support for us could become political suicide as the American public views us as “those guys who signed up to go to Iraq”. Veteran benefits such as health care, the GI Bill, and treatment for our wounded brothers and sisters should be free from politics, as a country that sends men and women to a war should be contractually obligated to take care of them afterwards. But we all know that our government does not operate on principle, since it is “for sale” to the highest bidder or special interest groups. Also, by nature of our public service, soliciting substantial amounts of funding from the private sector would prove difficult. It will be necessary to compete with various other groups as crunch time in the economy approaches to get the benefits we need. The cost of treating our vets from these two wars will be tremendous, and big government staples like Social Security that give benefits to the general public have the backing of powerful lobby group AARP, which makes things even more difficult. Unfortunately, we do not make up a large enough voting bloc where we can vote things our way all of the time, so it will be necessary to play politics.

After espousing on the problem, give me some time to think up some solutions (I’d be a shitty officer otherwise), and I will post them up on VetVoice hopefully this weekend.

Competition for Resources

Teenagers Make Skull Bong Just in Time For Mommy's Day

Growing up in hippy-land, I'm no stranger to the drug culture. I've heard of people smokin' from some unconventional devices that would impress MacGyver to include: apples with a pen tube jammed in it, cut-off 2 liter bottle in the toilet, and a pipe made from legos. But the way these kids got high was way out of the ordinary. From the Houston Chronicle (h/t Brandon):

Jones claimed he and his friends used shovels to dig up the body and removed the corpse's head with a garden tool, Adkins said. Jones also revealed he and the other two boys took the severed head to the juvenile's home, where they used the skull as a "bong" to smoke marijuana, the officer said.

The ole dig up the corpse to make a bong gag, eh. You see it everyday, although I don't understand how the physics of it would work. I probably won't be alone in the government's "You Aren't Allowed to Breed" program anymore, once the good people of Texas process these lads through the court system. I have to wonder what was going through these youngsters minds when they cooked up this morbid plot. This is what happens when high school boys get ignored by their female counterparts, they end up weird (I know from experience, and probably have a similar movie collection as these young punks).

Their Mothers Must Be So Proud!

Manowar to Take On Code Pink Shenanigans

Code Pink is employing new tactics to get rid of those nasty Marines from the Berkeley Recruiting Station. In lieu of cheesy signs and Maoist propaganda, they're gonna go with witchcraft for this mother's day. From Fox News (h/t ABWF):

The women's anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells and pointy hats Friday for "witches, crones and sirens" day, the last of the group's weeklong homage to Mother's Day. "Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we're going to end war," Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com.

Alright, Code Pink. For a long time I thought you were merely a propaganda arm of the Melanie Morgan & Michelle Malkin contingent to make it easier for bloggers like me to degrade the anti-war movement. I see you've stepped up the ante, so I'm going to have to use my imperialistic powers of military service to give legendary 80's metal band Manowar a jingle and ask for assistance. Prepare to have your satanic chants squashed into humiliation with the awesomely divine intervention of "The Gods Made Heavy Metal".

The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say It's Over With You Know That It's A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It's Never Gonna Die

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Standby For Awesomeness From The Sky

Update: Zomblog has pictures of the protest in Berkeley. View at your own risk.

The Lady With a Bazillion Kids is Pregos...again

Sorry to dredge up the old meme, but she's back. This time with her 18th child. I'm sure they are all little treasures, but at some point you have to wonder if she's running a home or a kennel.

Iraq News (9 May)

The Good: 6 militia thugs have been killed in Sadr City after firing at US soldiers. You'd think these guys would change their behavioral patterns as every time they shoot, they usually get greeted with retaliatory fire from US ground forces or hellfires from the air. The cell that launched a mortar attack last afternoon in Baghdad that killed civilians met an non-triumphant end from 3 hellfires shortly after the launch. Colin Powell is backing the GI-Bill sponsored by Sen. Webb, which is a pretty high-level endorsement.

The Bad: Two contractors were killed by indirect fire (rockets) down in Basra. Despite my gung-ho enthusiasm yesterday that Islamic State of Iraq front man, Al-Masri, was captured in Mosul, it turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. Well that blows. Reports of high-level capture/kills have been botched in the media in the last month. This includes Hasnawi being killed in Sadr City and Al-Douri being captured in Salah ad-Din (both would've been good news, but were incorrect). Why does the media like to fuck with us so bad.

The Ugly: The GI Bill didn't make it through yesterday, despite tremendous bipartisan support. Something about Blue Dog Democrats...don't ask me how Washington works. Greyhawk over at Mudville Gazette highlights the political malaise associated with the GI Bill. Perspective on the diplomatic quandry that is US-Iraq-Iran relations from the Economist.

Oh, Fiddlesticks!

Breaking: Al-Masri Detained?!?!

Fuck all you terrorist pieces of shit! We got your #1 guy in Iraq. From the AP:

News of the arrest was also reported by Iraqi state television.

"The commander of Ninevah military operations informed me that Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajir the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Askari told The Associated Press by telephone.

He did not have any further details nor did he say when the al-Qaida leader was arrested. According to unconfirmed reports, however, he was caught Thursday evening in the Tayran area in central Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. Mosul is currently a major battleground for U.S. forces and al-Qaida.

Al-Masri took over al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7, 2006 in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.

U.S. officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaida's No.2 official. He later joined al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

More on this tomorrow... I hope it's correct.

Hezbollah Runs Amok in Beirut

Hezbollah seems to have been in the news a lot this week. First with released information from the US military that they were training Shi'ite militias near Tehran to wreak havoc in Iraq. Next they beat up a Reuters photographer (h/t McClatchy Watch). Now, clashes have erupted in Beirut after their telecommuncations got shut down by the government. BBC reports:

The fighting began after the leader of Hezbollah described the government's move to close its telecommunications network as a "declaration of war". Hassan Nasrallah vowed to "cut off the hand" that attempted to dismantle it. Earlier, the Lebanese army command warned its unity was at risk if the ongoing political crisis and civil unrest in Beirut continued.

The correspondent from Al-Jazeera English announced that he just got back from Baghdad and the explosions/gunfire were way worse in Beirut. Oh boy.

Worse than Sadr City? That's not good...

Goons in Burma's Junta Won't Let Navy Provide Relief

Burma got hit with a devastating cyclone where the death toll could reach 100,000 if aid isn't provided in a timely fashion. The UN has reported they are "extremely disappointed" with the access they are getting to the people in need, and the USS Essex strike group is doing donuts in the Gulf of Thailand instead of conducting a humanitarian mission. From the AFP wire:

US Navy ships, including an amphibious assault ship with helicopters and US marines, are standing by off Thailand awaiting permission to join relief efforts in cyclone-hit Myanmar, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The Pentagon and the State Department have begun planning for a humanitarian relief mission even though Myanmar has yet to respond to US offers of aid, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. "But that's all we can do at this point, is to plan, because we have not received a request from the Burmese government," Morrell said, using Myanmar's former official name.

The Burmese government is best known for their secretive, military junta rule and beating up peaceful monk protestors. Now, they don't want other nations to help out with this humanitarian disaster, because their oppressed citizens might learn unrevolutionary ideas from foreigners coming into the country. It's sad that there are still dictatorial regimes like this in the world.

The US military isn't just for blowing shit up and getting haircuts. Humanitarian operations conducted during the Tsunami in 2004 and the Pakistan earthquake in 2005 saved thousands of lives. And right now, the ridiculous politics of the Burmese regime is getting in the way. It boggles the mind. As LCDR Avery says:

Sad, but true, many countries in the region would rather watch their own people suffer and die than accept help from Americans.

Marines Allow Poppy Fields in Afghanistan

Instead of torching the poppy fields of Afghan farmers, thereby pissing them off and making them more likely to work with the Muj, or giving the Taliban money to eradicate poppy fields, like Bush did in 2001, the Marines are taking the smarter route and letting Afghans conduct business. From the San Diego Tribune:

Staff Sgt. Jeremy Stover, whose platoon is sleeping beside a poppy crop planted in the interior courtyard of a mud-walled compound, said the Marines' mission is to get rid of the “bad guys,” and “the locals aren't the bad guys.” “Poppy fields in Afghanistan are the cornfields of Ohio,” said Stover, 28, of Marion, Ohio. “When we got here they were asking us if it's OK to harvest poppy and we said, 'Yeah, just don't use an AK-47.'”

So instead of forcing the poppy farmers to pledge allegiance to a band of illegitmate thugs like the Taliban, the Marines (the good guys, unless you are in Code Pink) are enabling moderate Afghans to take part in economic production. This is a key part of COIN doctrine to quell an insurgency, so kudos to the Marine Corps. Also, the poppy can be used to extract opiates for legitmate medical uses and reap huge money in exports for the poor country.

Of course, I'm sure it won't be long until the alarmist nanny squadron at Partnership for a Drug Free America starts making PSAs for the Marines, because they think that they're all strung out on smack or some such nonsense. Another case of our dumb drug war hamstringing the goals of our justified war on Islamic extremism in Afghanistan.

Marines Employing Smart COIN Techniques (photo from San Diego Tribune)

Iraq News (8 May)

The Good: 30 terrorist thugs have been detained in Diyala province by Iraqi and US forces. The arrests were in Balad Ruz, which saw a horribly barbaric double suicide-bombing last week. The spokesman for the Baghdad security plan announced that Iraqi police killed 10 criminals in Baghdad during operations. It's no secret that infrastructure in Baghdad is in the shits due to decades of Ba'ath Party rule followed by a war where the enemy deliberately targets services for Iraqis. But here's an article from Reuters about improving water availability to the citizens in eastern Baghdad.

The Bad: Turns out an ex-detainee of Gitmo came to Iraq and blew himself up. He was from Kuwait, which is rare, since most foreign fighters are Saudi, Libyan, Egyptian, and Syrian based on the Sinjar records that got publicly released last year. To my buddy who works at Gitmo and sometimes reads this blog for the occasional midget porn clip: what the hell, dude?!? People are fleeing Sadr City due to the combat operations in the militia-infested district, but the government is trying to get them set up in football stadiums.

The Ugly: Marriott is considering building a massive hotel in Baghdad's Green Zone (sometimes called the IZ). And, guess what, the president of the Marriott advises the Bush administration on trade issues! That's not a conflict of interest or anything (sarc). Also, the Iranian media is freaking out that John Bolton has called for possible military action against Iran. I still think a military strike against Iran would be nothing short of a fiasco at this stage of the game, and we should consider other "soft" options. Especially when the Iraqi Foreign Minister is trying to get US and Iran to hold diplomatic talks. But what the fuck do I know, I'm way low on the feeding chain.

Soldiers as Diplomats and Urban Planners (from Reuters)