Sadr Ceasefire Extended and Turkish Incursion

Two very important news items (no it doesn't have to do with Obama sneezing) that beg your attention. The Sadr Ceasefire has been extended for another 6 months in Iraq, and Turkey has launched a ground invasion of ~10K troops into the Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq. Read what I wrote at VetVoice...both very big news items.

Important and Un-Important News

Important: Decision on Sadr ceasefire to be read tommorow at Friday prayers. Whatever the verdict, it will have a huge impact on security in Iraq.

Unimportant: Lame sex scandals about DC politicians (in this case McCain and some lobbyist) that make me vomit in my mouth. Why do aging boomers think we want to hear about their sex lives? How self-important can you get? Blegh!

Code Pink to Conquer LA

I took a shot at Michelle Malkin for waxing faux-patriotic in response to the whole Obama ruckus, but I'm giving her a big hat tip to an alert on those aging hippies that don't go away, Code Pink. Despite massive amounts of negative publicity for their shenanigans in Berkeley, they think it'll be a good idea to do a "Counter-Recruitment" campaign against a Navy Recruiting Center in LA:

Join CODEPINK outside of the Navy Recruitment Center in Santa Monica! Wear your pink for peace as we gather to spread the anti-war message and to educate the public about the risks associated with military recruitment and why it’s smart to OPT OUT. To attend, meet us outside our new location at the U.S. Navy Recruitment Center located at 2708 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica (90403) at 12 noon this Friday the 22nd.

You have to start to wonder if people like this and those "hardcore kids" who "totally trashed" a recruiting station in DC (thanks Chickenhawk Express) are all a clever ruse to stifle any sort of intellectual discourse on the immensely complex Iraq war. The fact that this Code Pink "protest" is at noon on a Friday ensures that only unemployed lowlifes and easily-misled high school kids will show up to the damn thing. Can't wait to see the media coverage of this event.

Maybe this whole thing is personal since I was recruited for the Navy out of Los Angeles way back in 2002. I may have harbored some bitterness over the years, but like every vet I've talked to (both for and against the Iraq war), I'm glad I did it.

Submariner Stands Accused of Kid-Touchin’ and My Prompt Disassociation

Argh! This is terrible. Not only was I also a Pearl Harbor sailor like this joker, but the USS Olympia was in my squadron too. My friend, who is “livin’ the dream” as a nuclear shift engineer in Charleston, sent me this little tidbit today about some tree-jumper's exploits while he was on a plane. Oh yeah, he's also a sub guy:

The complaint said the girl told Cole she was 13 years old and in the eighth grade, that they watched a movie on his laptop computer and then watched an in-flight movie together.
With blankets on both their laps, the girl said she was resting with her eyes closed when she felt Cole sexually grope her both inside and outside her underwear, as he fondled himself.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl "pretended to be asleep during the incident because she was afraid."

The public already has a negative perception of the Navy which prevents me from meeting normal people at cocktail parties. Certainly we have a surly demeanor and drink heavily lest we be chastised as douchebags by other members of the Navy, but to be associated with kid-touchin’ is some rough publicity. By the media’s portrayal, you’d think we were all in cahoots with the infamous bicycle shop owner who molested Dudley on Different Strokes. Here’s what the media opened up the article with:

A Pearl Harbor-based sailor was arrested on suspicion of molesting a 13-year-old girl on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Hawaii to Arizona….Cole is stationed aboard the USS Olympia submarine at Pearl Harbor, where he's a chief storekeeper.

Of course it’s not wrong for the media to state the pederast in question’s credentials, but I just wanted to set the record straight publicly that I’m not part of the NAMBLA conspiracy and most other Navy folk aren’t either. Here’s the list of sex offenders from my current county of residence, you’ll see I didn’t make the cut! While another guy who was the Command Master Chief at my last command probably should've, I can assure you my socially deviant thoughts are strictly limited to women of legal age.



LT Nixon: He's not the Bicycle Shop Owner, Mr. Horton

Castro's Out, Socialism Sucks

Just read the news over at Hot Air that Castro is finally gone and all I have to say is good riddance. This might come as a shock to a lot of youngsters on college campuses across the country but communism, socialism, or whatever "ism" that involves granting tremendous amounts of power to the state will ultimately lead to calamity. This holds especially true with socialism as it seeks to collectively "benefit" society by not respecting the individual. This inevitably leads to the loss of rights or "purging" of a few million people or so as seen with Stalin's Gulags, Mao's Cultural Revolution, and the "Year Zero" campaign under the Khmer Rouge. Castro's ideology was a reminder of these genocides that will hopefully remain 20th-century history (although people like Kim Jong-Il and Chavez scare me).

I'm a little disturbed that despite the atrocity, people still view low-level socialism as a viable option (aka "creeping socialism"). Crooks and Liars ran an article on the happy Danes who "don't have to worry about basic necessities", because the all-powerful nanny state takes care of them (see my response at comment #14). I'd rather be a free and miserable person than a well-behaved slave to the state, IMHO. Spokesman for the naive Hollywood Left, Michael Moore, talked about why the state needs to control health care. I purchased the bootleg of "Sicko" (you heard me Moore! a bootleg, and I want my $1.70 back!) and saw how he portrayed Cuba's health industry as a shining example on the hill. Give me a break. This might play well for all the cool college kids rebelling against their upper-middle class parents with Che shirts, but I'm not buying into this scam that has been proven by history to be a total disaster. Adios Castro, another stooge for a movement that sought to destroy civilization in the 20th century.

The Workers Paradise that was Mao's Cultural Revolution

Tuesdaze Bloggin' Roundup of Iraq (19 Feb)

Well Castro's out and the results of Pakistan's elections are being tallied, but don't forget that there's still stuff happening in Iraq. Check it out:

• Mudville Gazette has a song for all you hippies out there, hehe
• War is Boring discusses walking the fine line between Iraqi Police and the Sons of Iraq
• Talisman Gate discusses insurgent groups dropping the anti-Israel propaganda
• Brandon Friedman talks about the corporate ethics of Sioux Manufacturing
• Acute Politics has some dispatches from the Baghdad belt, here's one of them (highly recommended)
• Long War Journal explains Special Groups
• Informed Comment talks about the Sadr/Hakim truce not going so well
• Iraqi Bloggers Central states Al-Qaeda primarily kills Iraqi civilians, despite a lot of rhetoric against the US
• Irritated Vet examines our congressional priorities
• IraqPundit speaks of the Cordesman report that says Iraq will be a secure and stable state
• The Angry American discusses the joys of a patrol (a great milblogger, go check it out)
• Words from Warriors talks about the homefront while wars go on
• Hot Air talks about the Cordesman report as well
• Active Duty Patriot has info on Winter Soldier II
• Chickenhawk Express with the retort to Winter Soldier II
• StarCMC not so happy with the NY Times
• Eighty Deuce is about to rotate back to the world
• Disaffected and it Feels So Good talks about the true reasons for the Iraq war
• Captain's Journal says I should be getting paid more (works for me!)
• Last of Iraqis talks about trouble at the Baghdad Dentistry College

My VetVoice stuff this week:

• Free Press Under Fire in the Middle East
• The "Moral Authority" Trump Card
• The Surge a Year Later
• Foolishness in Washington
• Spinning the War in Iraq
• McCain is really Scaring Me

And finally, this tasteless video I made this week. I really hope Iraq gets better, seriously. But in the meantime, here's some satire to make you feel bad about it. If you haven't seen National Lampoon's Vaction with Chevy Chase, then you're probably too young to get the joke.



I'm probably going to hell for this, but I was headed there anyways, so whatever.

Iraqi Shopkeeper and Policeman Save the Day

Recently, the Say Anything blog opined why Americans weren't fighting back to prevent calamity following the tragedy at Northern Illinois University. I agree that an armed society is a polite society, but I would certainly not criticize the victims of this horrible massacre for not reacting with cat-like reflexes to avert tragedy. These remarks as well as dropping memes like the following made the gentleman nominated for Operation Yellow Elephant:

Meanwhile, back here in the United States, the Democrat front-runner for the commander-in-chief job is still mired in defeatism describing our soldiers in the battlefield as “wondering when it will end".

Off topic, I don't exactly understand the logic of how wondering when a war will end is defeatist propaganda. But I digress.

Well, out here in Iraq, a vigilant policeman and shopkeeper prevented a female suicide bomber from wreaking mass havoc in the heavily-populated Baghdad district of Karrada with some quick thinking. NY Times has the story:

The 42-year-old electronics store owner peered outside and saw an Iraqi soldier draw a pistol on a young woman wearing a black robe. The woman raised her arms. “I have nothing on me,” she pleaded. But she did: Mr. Ali saw wires protruding from her clothing. The soldier, hands shaking, fired two bullets at the woman as she began to run toward the shops. Then another shop owner shot the woman again with a Kalashnikov assault rifle that he said he keeps in his store for protection. The young woman fell hard, Mr. Ali said, but “managed to press the detonation button with her last breath.”

The use of females as suicide bombers by terrorists in Iraq is a tactic employed to allow travel through checkpoints in the hopes of not being searched or scrutinized. Good on the policeman and shopkeeper for not falling for this ruse, or else Sunday in Baghdad could have been marred with an event like the pet market bombings two weeks ago. These guys deserve the respect for fighting terrorism, not angry bloggers (like myself).

The Key to Counter-Terrorism

Iran Experiencing Technical Difficulties

There's been a lot of talk about an Iranian delegation coming to Baghdad to hold trilateral security talks with Iraq and the U.S. Too bad Iran hasn't gotten their act together yet. From WaPo:

"These negotiations have been postponed, not canceled," said a diplomat at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. "We believe these negotiations should continue, but we postponed them for technical problems."

I'm guessing they are having a hard time explaining why EFPs keep finding their way into Iraq. According to the Embassy folks, these talks will be significant as Iran and Iraq are going to have to play nice with each other lest the region get even worse. These talks have been in the works for months and it's sounding more and more like the excuses I hear when I try to set up a hot date for "Zombie movie night" at my place back in WA:

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iranian officials did not provide a reason for the postponement."The Iranians just told us that they are not coming on Friday," Dabbagh said. "We've been informed that it is a matter of a few more days."

Whatever.

For some not-so-good news, Pakistan had another suicide bombing as their elections draw near, and Afghanistan had a real bad one too. Bad juju.

Iran is having some issues

The Crap Douchey White People Like

There's a pretty hilarious blog out there that mocks the doucheiness and hypocrisy of contemporary yuppie liberals. It's aptly titled "Stuff White People Like" (h/t to Junkyard Blog). Not that I hate all liberals or even contemporary, yuppie, douchey liberals, but the site is pretty damn funny. Here's a smattering of the stuff white people like:

Expensive Sandwiches: The waiters and waitresses in these places are highly coveted by the white population. They are not quite as cool as bartenders, not quite as snobby as coffee shop workers, but still artsy, young, and more than likely to be a musician/artist/writer (since they only have to work from 11-3).

Indie: First, it allows them to say “oh, this? I got this shirt at Goodwill for $3.” This statement focuses the attention on the shirt, taking attention away from the $350 jeans and $200 shoes. The white person can then retain that precious ‘indie’ cred.

Apple Products: White people also need iPods, iPhones, Apple TV, AirPort Express stations, and anything else that Apple will produce. Because you need to express your uniqueness by purchasing everything that a publicly traded company produces.

As of right now, there's over 60 of these things and they are all filled with the things "white" people love and cherish, but I feel way left out since I hate all this stuff. While I do admit complicity in #11, I'm going to try and get the folks at the website to post something on "Flying V Guitar Solos". It doesn't fit in with the anti-yuppie meme of the blog, but man, those licks totally rock!

130 dB of Kickin' Ass

So Much for Retiring in Cuba

I once heard Rush Limbaugh proclaim Guantanomo Bay (aka Gitmo) a tropical paradise for terrorists. Well I have no idea what it's like for the terrorists locked up, but I just got word from a fellow disgruntled Navy buddy who got his ass IA'd there recently. The dispatch reads:

I’m in cuba. I live in a tent. I shit in a latrine and shower with 20 other dudes. I work with a bunch of haircuts. It’s 8 am and I’m sweating profusely. They’ve banned alcohol for the first month I’m here. I guess at least there are no mortars, but there are banana rats.

Lucky bastard, he gets to booze it up after a month! And I'm sitting here sober like some Puritan. I have no idea what he's doing at Gitmo. Probably the same sort of thing I'm doing in Iraq, staff weenie work. You gotta love the Navy IA experience. Anchors Aweigh!

My Alma Mater Gives Me No Love!

I graduated from UCLA many moons ago and I have no regrets. It was a great school, in a great town, and even a schlubb like myself could meet some hot babes once in awhile (it was California after all). So out of respect for the University which gave me so much, I try to keep up with what the college kids of today are saying and their concerns. There's been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about the ruckus in Berkeley, where the Code Pink folks are trying to shut down military recruiting offices. I have explained before that this is ridiculous since the military is merely the tools of foreign policy not the implementers. UCLA is definitely a lefty institution, but not space-cadet left like the folks still hanging around Berkeley from the 60s. This political biasing always made for some pretty interesting conversations at 3 in the morning at house parties for myself (it beats passing out). So I was a little taken aback when I read this article in the UCLA student newspaper entitled "University Must Sever its financial ties with Toxic War". The Op-Ed speaks of solidarity with those Berkeley loons who have chosen to protest the USMC:

This past November, hundreds of high school students walked out of class across Washington state to rally against the war and in support of more education funding. More recently, UC Berkeley students and local community members came together with the Berkeley City Council in a widely reported decision to pass a declaration denouncing military recruiters. Here at UCLA, students got together in November to rally against the war and instead promoted peace and education.

Ah geez. Well isn't that embarrassing. Many UCLA alumni have been involved with our nation's wars. You'd think these youngsters would have given a least a pittance to us "misguided" folk who chose to sign up with the military. Instead the article only speaks of a foolish call to action:

This Valentine’s Day weekend, from North and South Campus to sorority row to Pauley Pavilion to Meyerhoff Park, dump the war and take hold of your voice for the intimate, loving, caring relationship we all know we want and all know we can have – with peace.

I want in on this intimate, loving, caring relationship! Instead it's totally exclusionary as evidenced by the proposed march to "Sorority Row" this weekend. I wonder if students will need to know the secret handshake to get in on the drum circle. In my day, the kids would protest down on Wilshire in front of the federal building for all to partake, what happened? Well, at least people still care about politics and aren't totally self-obsessed with text messaging their friends in class and Facebook. I just wish they would direct their frustrations towards the people that actually make the damn policies instead of dredging up tired old stereotypes about the military. Good thing the UCLA folks don't have my contact information, since the alumni association isn't squeezing any cash out of me this year.

Is this yahoo the role model of UCLA? (thanks Zombietime)

New Interview is Up

If you ever get tired of hearing me being surly and cynical about everything under the sun, you can read an interview I did with Dave M over at The Thunder Run on all things related to Iraq. I tried my best to be serious and on good behavior. Cheers, and thanks to Dave!

The Obligatory Valentine's Day Post

I am not a big fan of Valentine's Day. Unlike other Hallmark holidays such as Father's Day and Mother's Day which at least demonstrates some respect towards the people that brought you into existence, Valentine's Day is a vapid excuse for people to be compelled to buy nonsense for their sweethearts. It also has the effect of making single people feel like lowlifes, and is frequently used by people with a partner to get out of work, while the single losers get stuck holding down the fort at their place of employment. I thought that being in an area of conflict would excuse me from the trite consumerism of Valentine's day, but I guessed wrong. I walked into the DFAC for lunch and saw little heart shaped balloons filled with helium elevated above the tables we eat at (lucky for me I ate outside). Besides being an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars, this reminded me that it was, indeed, a day to be angry.

In addition, my daily perusing of the Iraqi media brought notice of this story which shows how Valentine's Day is celebrated in the Kurdish autonomous region:

Red roses and romantic gifts are very much in demand in Kurdish Sulaymaniya as young people shop for Valentine Day. Gift shops in the northern Iraqi province enjoy brisk sales one day ahead of the occasion that falls on February 14. All the gifts sold for that day are symbols of love, a shopkeeper said.

The Kurdish region has been the big success story of Iraq that has gone largely unreported as economic development is the norm, the Peshmerga maintain such good security that the Coalition barely have a presence up there, and I heard you can even walk around with no body armor in Irbil. They also got the 17% of the budget that they were asking for. But I must urge the good Kurdish people to beware of what you wish for. While I don't advocate an outright banning of the holiday like Saudi Arabia did, I must forewarn that Valentine's Day will bring a flurry of compulsory spending to your peaceful region that will certainly drive you mad, like it did to us in the States. I revert to the same phrase I do around Christmas time, Bah Humbug.

Totally Shameless

Pakistan, the Place to Keep You Up at Night

Being scared about the situation in Iraq is so 2007. With violence down, Al-Qaeda in Iraq frightened with getting schwacked by Sunni tribal members, and even Muqtada al-Sadr working on a deal to release the journalists that got kidnapped in Basra, the country has gotten better, despite still having a lot of problems. But nothing is quite as scary as Pakistan, which is replete with nukes, an unstable government, and a breeding ground for Jihadis up in the tribal region known as the "Northwestern Frontier".

So it was with a little bit of dismay that I saw news about 2 nuclear scientists being kidnapped (thanks Hot Air):

"We are trying to collect information.... We cannot disclose our strategy but we are hopeful we will find out where he has been kept and who is involved."

Then, I check over at Long War Journal and see that Pakistan's ambasador to Afghanistan has been kidnapped on the same damn day:

On the same day Pakistani security forces captured the former Taliban commander of southern Afghanistan, the Taliban retaliated by kidnapping Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan. The Taliban have offered to release Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin in exchange for Mansoor Dadullah.

These events have made me question whether I have been spending too much time focusing on events in Iraq. Maybe I should be more concerned about other regions...

The Good News Just Keeps Coming in from this place

Celebrating 8 Months of Mediocrity in Iraq

Today marks my 8-month anniversary of being in Iraq. Being a Navy "body-fill" for an Army Staff definitely has it's perks. People don't know what to expect of you and they don't understand what the hell a Navy Junior Officer is doing in Iraq in the first place. This allows my superiors to forego any "career development" or "you should think about staying in" conversations that are always excruciatingly painful. My superiors actually appreciate my bitterness and despair, as long as it doesn't affect my responsibilities at work of course, which I haven't messed up too badly yet. I never go out on convoys and am lucky enough to be chained to a desk. However, one of my Navy chums that has to go out frequently with the senior brass describes it as "being like Ensign Ricky just waiting to get blown to smithereens" (note picture above). This dark humor may be disturbing, and if you were looking for someone embellishing their experience to doll myself up as some sort of "hero" who loves his country, I'm sorry, but you should look elsewhere. Sure there are American heroes in Iraq, but you're certainly not going to find any amongst my group of peers. We are mediocre at best.

Tuesdaze Bloggin' Roundup of Iraq (12 Feb)

Hmm... since Tuesday is my sorta day off, I managed to find the time to change my sheets. Hopefully this terrible rash will go away. I'm such a filthy SOB. Here's what the others are saying about Iraq that the MSM forgot to talk about:

• Michael Totten's new Fallujah post is up
• Iraqi Mojo says suicide bombing is against the Qu'ran
• Acute Politics is down in Arab Jabour, I just missed him when he was in the IZ, maybe next time
• Long War Journal dissects "Special Group" operatives in Iraq
• Jason's Iraq Deployment talks about coming to the IZ for 40 days (I told him despite being better, it still sorta sucks)
• War is Boring talks about the Sahwa councils
• Townhall gives an account of one motivated SGT (thanks CJ)
• Kokesh discusses a boxing match between GoE and IVAW for charity
• Little Green Footballs discusses the Al-Qaeda diaries released from Iraq recently
• Kaboom talks about the joys of counter-insurgency
• Doc in the Box regales us with Valentine's Day in Iraq
• Sancho Press has a video clip from John Bruhns that's worth checking out
• Iraqi Bloggers Central talks about whether or not life was better under Saddam for Iraqis
• Captain's Journal discusses force size in Iraq

Here's the stuff I did for VetVoice recently (note: lots of other good stuff on there from a variety of bloggers and activists, not just my crazy ass):

• Vets returning to Society
• Are Vets Shaking things Up
• Another Navy IA making trouble (that isn't me)
• Angelina Jolie vs. Ayatollah Sistani
• Iraqi Government Needs to Get it Together
• Iraq Needs Cash

And I'm out!

Secretary Gates: Just an Average Schmoe Like the Rest of Us

Recently, the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, dropped by Iraq to give some not-so-awesome news for the US Military:

Gates previously had expressed hopes that conditions in Iraq would permit withdrawals to continue through the end of 2008, until there were about 100,000 forces in the country, but two hours of talks with Petraeus apparently changed his mind. Speaking about Petraeus's desire for a pause, Gates said it "probably does make sense" for a "brief period."

This does not address how badly stretched-thin the military has become, which even the biggest of Bush apologists would find hard to argue. It also gives indications that this war will continue to go on for quite some time But before embittered Americans start taking out their rage on the SECDEF, I would like to remind everyone that he is indeed a public servant, and criticism should probably be levied at the elected leaders that got us into this mess. The current mission in Iraq is to provide stability, security, and capacity building for the Iraqis, and if we need 130K or 15 Brigade Combat Teams, then that's what we need. Where they are going to come from, I'm not really sure.

I'm defending the Secretary because I recently read a ThinkProgress post that indicates he's a regular Joe Six-Pack just like the rest of us (h/t Rock Richard):

A friend recently gave him an electronic key chain, inscribed “The Gates Countdown,” with a small screen reading out how many days remain till the end of the term. He carries it everywhere, in part as a joke but not entirely.

These types of countdowns to the end of your tour are common among all commands in the military. What I've generally seen is an Excel spreadsheet with a picture of a babe on a motorcycle that countdown until the time you're supposed to be leaving to the exact second. I've seen these called "The Countdown to Happiness" or "Never Again!" or simply "FTN" (note: the TN is for "the Navy" and F is for a word ending in "uck" that isn't firetruck) that are replete with pie charts and graphs charting your exodus. So I applaud the Secretary for "keeping it real", and I'm glad he's not the only one a little bitter about his job in the colossal undertaking of our current defense policy.

Another Schmuck in the Suck, Just Like Us!

Crazy Lew's Crazy Blog Says the Military is Evil

I always like perusing the annals of Mr. Lew Rockwell. Now that the Ron Paul worship campaign is a bust (thanks Orcinus), he can drop the politically correct spiel and tell us blogosphere denizens how he really feels. I divert your attention to a recent article by Theology Scholar, Laurence Vance, entitled "For Christ and Caeser". The article discusses how if you're a Christian and want to join the service, well you're a sinner, mister. I felt it was best to counter this meme before it wades its way into the values stream of anti-American propaganda.

It's a piece that is flat out anti-military, without even the normal contextual references to errors made in the Iraq war. It doesn't cite any specifics except for the recruiting tactics at a small Christian college in Virginia, which I've never heard of. The article discusses what the military does not do:

The military does not defend our freedoms. The military does not secure our borders. The military does not patrol our coasts. The military does not guard our shores. The military does not fight terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them over here. The military does not protect our First Amendment rights. The military does not keep us safe. The military does not ensure that we can speak English. The military is not retaliating against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.

I give Mr. Vance props for not attributing the 9/11 attacks to being perpetrated by the Bush Administration, which puts him head and shoulders above most of Lew's followers. However, I disagree that the organization I volunteered for doesn't keep us "safe". Whenever there was trouble and our country was under attack from foreign enemies that sought to end our way of life, the US military has risen to the challenge without a lot of hemming and hawing. I'm not being self-righteous, I'm just saying we're public servants with an arsenal of weapons and I apologize to Mr. Vance if he thinks otherwise. But there's more:

It is bad enough when atheists, agnostics, pagans, and the irreligious join the military, but it is an indelible blot on Christianity when Christians do the same.

Now he's taken my agnosticism to task for being some kind of heathen in uniform. I have nothing against religion per se, but could he please stop making ridiculous broad-sweeping assertions about the morality of those that don't go to church every Sunday. I may not read the bible, but I know that killing civilians is wrong, war should best be avoided, and that allegiance to some fanatical satanic Army horde within our community is probably only happening when US military members get online and play World of Warcraft. Mr. Vance makes one last proclamation:

If they really want to honor Christ and the Bible, Christian colleges should discontinue all ROTC programs, ban military recruiters from all their campuses, and discourage their young people from enlisting in the military.

Yes, Mr. Vance, that's what we need. More reasons for people to not sign up for the service. It's bad enough we can barely make recruiting numbers, but your diatribe certainly isn't helping. Thanks.

The heathen minotaur military that exists in the minds of some religious scholars

CPAC 2008: Help, Politics in America is in Trouble!

Help! My beloved conservative values of a free-market, small government, and a strong national defense are under siege. CPAC 2008 has illustrated that the only choices for President are a Christian Values bumpkin and John "Let's Bomb the Piss Out of Iran" McCain. Both presidential candidates want to step up the government spending, both have no plans on a responsible exit strategy for Iraq, and both shamelessly cater to the Moral Values Crusader cadre who think teaching abstinence in public school is more important than fighting terrorism or the economy. What's an American to do....

I requested pictures from Ms. Nicki over at Liberty Zone of hot young republican babes, but sadly, she fell ill. She was also not happy with the future of conservatism. Neither was Eric Dondero over at Libertarian Republican, which mentioned that the Libertarian party actually sent the GOP a funeral wreath. Predictably, John McCain got booed, and Reason discussesd young republicans who flipped out because Mitt Romney and his hair dropped out of the race. Ann Coulter got the boot from the main stage (good decision), but she made some crazy speech about "Islamofascists" that no doubt will alienate most of our moderate allies in the Middle East. Mr. Bellavia's interview on Captain's Quarters was interesting, but he isn't running for office.

The conservatives in this country are so divided after 8 years of apologizing and making excuses for the disastrous policies of BushCo, that there is no doubt a spendaholic Democrat is going to win. Hillary and her health care for free agenda is going to turn America into a pathetic socialist state as she attempts to pacify the population. Both Hillary and Obama have heinous plans for an exit strategy from Iraq that leave a lot of questions unanswered. Neither of these candidates have addressed how to fix our busted military either. They just intend to get the votes by selling entitlements and other free shit to the American people. Like Ms. Nicki, I also see the future, and it is terribly bleak. Maybe I can go move to Thailand and open up that nightclub I always wanted to: "Ashtray-a-Go-Gos". See you all in Pattaya Beach!

Also, CPAC-Iraq 2008: "Get your War On!" was a total bust. No one showed up to see my 100- powerpoint slideshow on "The Way Forward" in Iraq. I was very hurt =(. I did watch Fletch w/Chevy Chase though, so it's all good. Times have been tough, but I fear they will get tougher.

Jericho Runs Afoul of Blackwater

These guys are lookin' familiar...

I'm no big fan of TV ever since the Simpsons started suckin' back in 1998, but I picked up the first season of "Jericho" when I was back in the states. I had never heard of it before, but I looked on the back and the description of the series reminded me of the Steve Guttenberg (of Police Academy Fame) classic "The Day After". Both take place in Kansas and both consider the ups and downs of small town life after the apocalypse. I actually thought the series was pretty damn good! Call me old fashioned, but the post-apocalypse genre is classic American media. This is despite the fact that the protagonist is more to draw the female audience. I was hoping for more of a Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds" type character, but in this day of television, you'll take what you can get.

Anyhoo, one thing that I thought was pretty funny is that there's a group of Private Security Contractors that go apeshit and shoot up a hospital in one of the episodes. The company is called "Ravenwood" in the show, which I guess is some Hollywood political potshot at Blackwater. It's cool though, they come to try and take over the town, but the nice folks of Jericho scare them off (reminds me to buy more weapons when I get back to the states). It's nice to know that I'm living in a place that can generate a pop culture reference, the Green Zone. Reminds me of my days in LA.

Just like when we took on the Blackwater guys for control of the ping-pong table at the chow hall

Silly Syria, Don't You Know How to Run a Propaganda Campaign

I came across this Op-Ed in a Saudi-owned paper out of London, Asharq al-Awsat, called "A million Iraqi victims...Do They Deserve an International Tribunal". It's chalked full of chintzy leftist propaganda (here's a video example that's heavy on the self-righteousness) that uses the Iraq war to make the United States look like the evilest thing since the Mongol Hordes of folklore. Let's take a look.

Badmouthing Blackwater, check:
Human Rights Watch organization (HRW) announced in its recent report of January 31, 2008 that the killing of at least 17 Iraqi civilians by employees of the US- security firm "Blackwater" last September focuses attention on the impunity with which private contractors operate in Iraq.

Getting all sore over torturing a bunch of douchebag terrorists, check:
...the United States is still infringing the fundamental human rights by maintaining secret detention centers abroad, arresting civilians illegally, and justifying the act of torturing them.

Tossing in Hiroshima and Vietnam, check:
They killed civilian Japanese in Hiroshima and millions of Vietnamese peasants.

It's even got a reference to Noam Chomsky in there, which is certain to make over-privileged, college-aged, know-it-alls cream their pants back in the states. Now I don't support torture, the mismanagement of policy that requires Blackwater, or killing civilians, but let's take a look at who wrote this gem. It wasn't young hipsters from a liberal college...it's none other than former Syrian Foreign Ministry of Affairs, Bouthaina Shaaban! I must say, Syria is not drawing a lot of water in this town. What with the whole Ba'ath party image, being in cahoots with North Korea, and that Lebanon fiasco, it's no surprise that people representing Syria's government shouldn't be trusted. Sadly, the article has a tone that shows Ms. Shaaban combed through anti-war memes found throughout the internet to gather research for her propaganda piece. Also, her personal website looks like she's trying to appeal to Westerners (it's in english and proclaims "Welcome to my Virtual Home"), which implies that most Arabs in the region wouldn't be dumb enough to buy her cheesy message. For now, I prefer to get my propaganda from Iranian news agencies. At least their state-run media comes up with original stuff like "Tehrani worshipers rally against Zionist regime crimes".

The next Op-Ed by the Syrian Spokeswoman will be about the glorious rise of socialist paradise, North Korea, and why the US is bad

Sadr Ceasefire, The shame of Kentucky, Mitt's Done

The Shame of Kentucky: No I'm not talking about the sinful but delicious whiskey they produce, I'm talking about the Governor's office giving a slap in the face to a called-up reservist (h/t to Operation Yellow Elephant).

Gov. Steve Beshear's administration might have violated state and federal laws by firing a governor's office staffer who had just returned to Kentucky in December from three months of U.S. Air National Guard training.

Booo!! It's not just the issue of legality, but rather it highlights a disturbing trend of our nation's double standard of encouraging people to heed the call to service, but treating them like ass when they come back. Eventually, unless I want to blog from my mother's basement the rest of my life, I'll have to get a lousy entry-level job somewhere once I'm no longer active duty. I plan on lying and saying I spent 10 years as an undergraduate "finding myself" to avoid the inevitable questions about my military service like "When do you go back to Iraq" and "Hey whackjob, when are you going to go Timothy McVeigh on this place".

On the Rhino with Acute Politics: He's somewhere in the IZ after coming via the Rhino (the armored bus) from BIAP. As always, I extend an open invitation to any blogger out this way (near-beers are on me!), but that might involve seeing my pathetic existence in the flesh.

Open Sewer at the Sniper: If you ever thought it was somehow justifiable to threaten a woman in the blogosphere with punching her in the face (including extensive use of the C-bomb), well, you might just get a long with this class act belittled by one of the funniest damn blogs out there. Sniper has got the scoop (check comments).

That Other War: Rock Richard has got some education on Afghanistan for those not in the know. I'm going to go bone up on it after this post.

Mitt's Out: Wonkette will fill you in.

Sadr Ceasefire Extended: Reuters has the details on this big story you're probably not going to hear much about. That's good news since it won't distract security forces from fighting the necessary battle up in Mosul against jihadis and other fanatics. A smart move on Sadr's part, even though the guy's a nut.

Pissed-off, young Shi'ite thugs of the Mahdi Army to maintain ceasefire (that's good!)

Al-Arabiya Sez Al-Qaeda Totally Blows

Sick Fundamentalist Bullshit

Information was released today regarding an Al-Qaeda in Iraq training center for children. The discovery was found during a raid in Diyala and it showed young masked children training to conduct kidnapping and assault operations on civilians. I think it goes without say what a shit idea Al-Qaeda's caliphate would be, and here's an article at USA Today which will fill you in on the details (video footage is also here). Unless you're a writer at Lew Rockwell, who questions Al-Qaeda's existence, I think we all agree that these guys are totally fucked in the head. But let's take a look at what Arabic media is saying about Al-Qaeda, since their outlets reach the population that might get subdued into this jihadi logic.

Al-Arabiya also ran footage of the Al-Qaeda propaganda video showing youngsters training on how to kidnap civilians to generate ransom money:


I also dredged up an article from 4 Feb on Al-Arabiya's English website entitled "The Al-Qaeda/Israel Riddle". While the article seems to convey the message that, by some bizarre logic, Israel may be affiliated with Al-Qaeda, it still denies that Al-Qaeda is a legitimate organization.

It is time for Arab citizens to know that Al-Qaeda is an extremist, terrorist group. Until today, Al-Qaeda and Al-Zawahiri did not offer Palestine anything except those political pornographic tapes that are presented on TV screens -- a cheap struggle for which Al-Qaeda does not pay anything. The task of the Arab media should be to expose this falsehood, not promote it.

While the author certainly isn't waving any American flags, at least the Saudi-owned media giant, Al-Arabiya, isn't talking about the benefits that Sheikh Osama is handing out. I find this to be important in a time of war, that the message of Al-Qaeda being a bunch of car-bombing thugs gets out to the people. Particularly the Saudis, where most of the 9/11 hijackers came from.

Tuesdaze Bloggin' Roundup of Iraq

Super Bowl and Super Tuesday keep sucking away attention from Iraq (predictably), don't forget there's a war on my fellow infidels. These sources have got the scoop:

• Iraq Partii is back in business up in Taji
• Army of Dude has some more badass photojournalism
• BlackFive wasn't too ecstatic about that Wikileak of Rules of Engagement
• Jason's Iraq Vacation talks about guilt
• Jules Crittenden discusses Acute Politics' Teflon Don coming back to Iraq
• Democracy Arsenal Talks about the Boneheadedness of the Pentagon
• South Puget Sound Libertarian wasn't impressed with the new $3.1 Trillion Budget
• Michael Totten has the latest from Fallujah
• McClatchy Watch has info on Mosul residents stocking up in preps for a big operation
• A Soldier's Perspective has info on a (*gasp*) General supporting milblogging
• Eighty Deuce discusses Ashura from a boots-on-ground perspective
• SGT Grumpy discusses the media being slow on the uptake regarding the war
• Iraq: The Purgatorium (this generation's Hunter S. Thompson) talks about serving time
• Kaboom's LT G discusses a soundtrack to war (I feel old, I haven't heard of most of the bands)
• Long War Journal offers some perspective on Qaeda's use of women with down syndrome as suicide bombers
• False Motivation discusses morale during a mortar attack
• Acute Politics rolls out to the badlands
• Iraqi Mojo questions the Oil for Food program
• Abu Aardvark discusses Sahwa councils
• Arrgghhh! talks about the morals of soldiers
  

The revolution will be blogged (I hope) or I'm moving to the moon. Here's the opinionated things I wrote at Vetvoice recently:

• On Iran's "Slanted Drilling" enterprise
• On Crooked Contractors
• On the atrocious Pet Market bombings in Baghdad
• On the Cheapening of 9/11
• On LA Times calling all military peeps "rapists"

Cheers!

Super Demotivated Tuesday

It's Super Tuesday! Go ahead and pick your candidate that will support special interests from column A, B, C, or D. Best of luck!

Dems (thanks to Dave Z for helping whip these up):




Repubs:


I'm still going with Zombie Thomas Jefferson in 2008, but I am open to suggestions. Who are you guys voting for?

Code Pink On the Loose in Berkeley

If there's one thing that's been generating a fury of outrage, it's Code Pink protesting the Marine recruiting station down at Bezerkely. Seeing how their public shenanigans haven't changed any policies over in DC, they've now resorted to attacking the humble public servants entrusted to carry out those policies. I have a lot of respect for the Marine Corps. Sure they are a little to "Oooorah" for my cynical self, but I'm glad we have Marines watching our backsides round the world. Here's a picture illustrating Code Pink's stupidity (thanks to Little Green Footballs and Zombietime for braving the stench of hippie):



This is heinous. Vox Vetarana suggests imposing Sharia Law in Berkeley to see how they like it. Michelle Malkin points out their ridiculous hypocrisy in that they equate "Standing up" against the Marines being analogous to "Standing up" against Hitler. A Soldier's Perspective provides a way to show your support for the Marine Corps out in nutty NorCal. I wonder if the best policy to deal with them is the same way to handle the Westboro Baptist Church, just ignore them until they go away. Maybe then they will wake up from their drug-induced coma and realize it's not the "Summer of Love" anymore.

HuffPo: Where Celebrity Gossip Begets Terrible Political Commentary

In reality, I actually like some of the stuff at the Huffington Post, even though I'm no liberal. Paul Rieckhoff and Jon Soltz both write there from time to time and I try to keep up with their stuff, since they have some good things to say regarding veterans' issues. But I am always really leery of the C-list celebrities who decide to step away from their trendy fashion boutiques on Melrose Ave. to foray into the bloggin' of politics. First it's necessary for them to create this culture of celebrity-worship, so that the average joe in the blogosphere will listen to whatever drivel they have to say. Blogger Steven Weber at HuffPo explains (he was on NBC's "Studio 60", and stupid me without his headshot to sign!):

Fame is now an end justifying any means necessary. Because if the public is gonna use and the companies pushing the glittering hallucinogens are way too profitable to be in any way responsible, then celebrities should have mandatory labels delineating their nutrition and possible side effects, how they should be handled and what the minimum age should be for their consumption. And before taking on the burden of celebrity themselves, the young, the talented, the handsome, the beautiful and the just plain ambitious should know whether it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Ironically, while Mr. Weber discusses the ills of fame, he emphasizes the fact that everyone wants to be young and beautiful and just like the folks in Hollywood. What an ass. In this guy's mind, everything would be alright if we had the same viewpoint as him because he's some "enlightened" celebrity. These people don't know anything about current events and politics unless it's written on the back of some babe's ass they were sniffing coke off of.

This culture of celebrity worship harnesses an environment conducive to allowing imbeciles and uninformed loudmouths like Roseanne Barr to blog. I'm not standing on high ground here, and I'm pretty sure this blog ain't winning any journalism awards, but check this crap out:

How will Obama handle his Jewish problem? He has to pander to the pro Zionist Jews of America and at the same time talk about dismantling support for Israel in order to appeal to his "progressive" followers. How he handles this one is very telling about his "judgment". He just refused to condemn Israel for ghettoizing the Palestinians. Who is he really?

This is atrocious. It's not even grammatically correct, I don't even know what the hell Roseanne is talking about (presidential candidate Senator Obama...uh...I guess), and it reads like a MySpace blog from the 12-year old offspring of some white supremacist kook. But of course who gets the most comments and attention, not Jon and Paul, but rather these washed-up celebrities who don't even understand their own political agenda. And this blog is ranked #3 by Technorati! Can these people just stick to acting, please.

Some people just need to be ignored

Generation 9/11 vs. Generation Worthless

Well, it's actually Groundhog Day today. The big joke for us staff weenies is that everyday is Groundhog Day, since nothing ever changes. The same powerpoints, the same reports, the same emails, the same food...the same. I frequently hear people humming the Sonny and Bono tune "I got you Babe" in reference to the hilarious Bill Murray movie. I feel comfortable in my T-walled off existence and shouldn't be bitching, since sometimes things staying the same can be good. Converse to this, change can be bad and I would like to voice my complaints about something that has changed for the worse.

Recently, there was an article in Time magazine entitled "The Year of the Youth Vote", which discussed the relation of college students to our current political diatribe and ultimately the future of the country. This reminded me of a similar article I read many years ago in Newsweek, which was published shortly after 9/11, called "Generation 9/11".

The Newsweek article from 2001 focused on the unification of students of all ideologies to confront the specter of world-wide extremism. Grad student Juan Epstein summarizes our resolve at the time:

We had no crisis, no Vietnam, no Martin Luther King, no JFK. We've got it now. When we have kids and grandkids, we'll tell them that we lived through the roaring '90s, when all we cared about was the No. 1 movie or how many copies an album sold. This is where it changes.

I recall seeing this on a newsrack at a Ralph's in Los Angeles when I was a senior in college. It inspired me because I knew that I was going into the service and that I would be doing so as part of a united front with my peers. Not that the Long War requires everyone to be in the military, but rather everyone had a similar calling to step out of their shells of self-indulgence and meet the threat with fortitude.

In the words of Fight Club author, Chuck Palahniuk, that's how dumb I was.

Looking at that Time article published this week reveals a generation of self-serving adolescents hiding under the illusion of righteousness. They are so ecstatic that they have turned Facebook sites and text messaging into a way to encourage voter participation that they don't even realize their voting patterns are centered around the theme of "What's in it for me!"

I am a believer that change can happen," says Patricia Griffin, 25, a student at St. Louis Community College. "So-called Washington experience has given us an unjustified war, an economy slipping, the dollar losing its value, health care impossible to afford. I'm telling my friends they can make a difference this time. They can vote."

Yeah, good for you young lady. Because the most important thing right now is for the federal government to hand out free health benefits and for you to get that "totally sweet" high-paying job in the city.

This is an abomination. Is our generation supposed to pat ourselves on the back for taking 10 minutes out of our "busy schedules" of partying and shopping to go to the polling station to vote? Seriously, it's the least you can do. Where's the sacrifice that generations in the past have made to ensure our country didn't become extinct? Us military folk are deployed like a bunch of assholes because we were "dumb enough" to sign up in these people's mind. Don't feel sorry for us! In reality, the people in my age bracket are playing the proverbial fiddle while Rome burns to the ground. I'm starting to envision how history will remember our naive and self-indulgent generation and I don't want to go down without a fight. What the hell happened between 2001 and 2008, I must've been asleep at the switch. This cultural paradigm of obsession with one's own wants and desires needs to end, today.

From a generation united in 2001...

...to some douche wearing a man-pack in 2008!

TSA addresses my gripe!

Thanks to Jason for going through the 400+ comments this TSA blog has gotten soliciting complaints and suggestions from passengers. My gripe is here, and someone from the TSA responded by the handle of "tsa tos ny":

LT Nixon,
As a TSA Screening Manager I would 1st like to apologize for the fact that we have to screen you at all and would just like to say that the screening force more than respects the active duty military personel.

We see you go off to a war no one wanted and we sometimes see the terrible aftermath when you return. You have our utmost respect and I personally want to thank you for your sacrifices. Many of our screening force are retired or reserve military.

Unfortunately, the TSA "powers that be" don't see things the same way we floor level employees do. They quote such names as Timothy McVeigh and other "Domestic Terrorists". I just want you to know that there is a blog site type of idea board for TSA personel only and there is MASSIVELY OVERWHELMING criticism of the very policy you are talking about. We (the actual people that work at the checkpoints - not the policy makers) feel that military personel in uniform, traveling on orders should be exempt from screening or at the very least exempt from the liquids/shoes and other more intrusive rules. We are fighting to get those rules changed for military personel.

At many of the airports I've worked at, I usually see TSOs or Supervisors escort military personel to the front of the line and try to be as accomodating as possible within the guidelines of our SOP. We feel that it's the least we can do.

Just wanted you to know that and thank you again for your service.

Kudos to you "tsa tos ny"! I assure you that LT Nixon's no terrorist despite favoring smaller government, being white, male, and also having represented our country in uniform like Timothy McVeigh. Thanks for trying to nix the "politically correct" process of searching grandmothers, nuns, and service members in uniform. We appreciate your dedication to making airport screening more efficient. You are a friend to the military!

So the TSA has Got This Blog...

First caught wind of it while watching the news, but the TSA (the kind folks who do the airport security) has got a blog were you can voice your rage and discontent. The admin person on this blog must've gotten boned with the worst Public Relations job in history since Kramer's PR guy following the Laugh Factory fiasco, so I admire his or her efforts to be nice:

Some have been downright mean and cranky but that’s okay too. For most people, this is the first chance to reach out directly to TSA and tell us about your experiences and we very much want to hear from you.

Well hell. I wouldn't be a true Navy junior officer if I wasn't a complete bitter wiseass, so I thought I'd drop them a comment concerning their handling us military personnel coming from Kuwait to Atlanta on R&R (a true story).

To Whom It May Concern,

Recently, I was with a group of military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan traveling from Kuwait to Atlanta for our 2-week R&R period. I appreciate the Atlanta TSA personnel thanking us for our service when we first stepped foot on American soil. That was a fine example of Southern hospitality! However, I found it a little baffling that we had to take off our combat boots, dogtags, belts, etc. to go through a metal detector. My questions are three-fold: 1) Why would we need to go through security when we just got off a plane that departed from an airport in Kuwait with very strict security measures and customs procedures. 2) In no cases to my knowledge have terrorists been wearing US-issued military uniforms with valid military IDs, why not just let us bypass security, and 3) Having us get undressed in such a fashion while in uniform in front of other civilian passengers was a little embarrassing, and it undermines the professional demeanor that we would like to ensure the American public understands we uphold. Thanks for your time!

Very Respectfully,
LT Nixon

The blog uses comment moderation, so I don't know if it's going to make the cut, but it's under this post somewhere posted on 2/1 @ 6:28am. I'll probably get in trouble for this, but whatever.