Seen Reconstructed

23

2011-09-14T12:02:00.003-04:00

"In this undated photo released by the U.S. Marines, Sgt. Dakota Meyer poses for a photo while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Ganjgal Village, Kunar province, Afghanistan. The White House announced the 23-year-old Marine scout sniper from Columbia, Ky., who has since left the Marine Corps, will become the first living Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in decades for his actions in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/U.S. Marines)"

COIN of the realm

2010-03-16T08:49:00.002-04:00

No Kilcullen metrics for this?: McCrystal tries to change ethos of Special Forces in Afghanistan.

One wonders if the COIN theorists are prepared for the tension on the force, because of rules that increase risk.

Face it, that bargain is a very tough one to maintain even under a robust code-of-arms, witness Israeli soldiers charged with war crimes.

36,000 Taliban Fighters = ? months of engagement

2010-03-16T03:13:00.004-04:00

Assessing the militants’ numbers, General Barrons said: “There are probably 900 in the leadership, counting very junior to very senior, and there are between 25,000 and 36,000 people who would call themselves fighters.”

-London Times

So, at a breakneck pace of 1,000 a month (a figure I doubt we've ever achieved to date), it would be three years or thirty-six months to kill, capture, or convert (neutralize) all Taliban fighters.

Another American War, Off the Books

2010-03-16T02:28:00.002-04:00

Please, someone, let me know that this may have been another Elliot Abrams brainchild...it would only be fitting punishment to the Republic.

The Classified War Will Not Be Televised

2010-03-16T02:13:00.004-04:00

Wheels within wheels.

Now, it looks like Pakistan may have been a prime mover in the arrest of Baradar, Taliban honcho in the Queta Shura. (What I find amusing is that Karzai is not suspected as a spoiler of talks).

Whether ISI were witting or unwitting partners in derailing top-secret talks with Afghanistani leadership, it's not clear, yet.

Kashmir's terrorists bite Pakistan in the ass

2010-03-09T14:02:00.002-05:00

Biting the hand today that fed you yesterday?

Subsequent investigations had shown the attackers were the Punjabi Taliban belonging to at least three sectarian-cum-Jihadi groups, which are working in tandem with the Pushtun-dominated South Waziristan-based Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan to carry out joint terrorist attacks. The investigators had reported that some banned militant-cum-sectarian groups in the Punjab are gaining strength after having joined hands with the TTP.

-The News

Note the extensive use of suicide bombers against Pak targets that have nothing to do with "occupation".

COIN

2010-03-09T09:53:00.001-05:00

No Kilcullen metrics for this? (A tale of two convoys)

The State of the State

2010-03-08T10:45:00.002-05:00

The cycle of violence has short-circuited, exhausted itself, but the aftermath has its own cruelties:

The lives of Iraq’s millions of internal refugees remain bleak and the country’s humanitarian crisis is a grave one.

Cadillac of Cave Structures

2010-03-08T09:26:00.004-05:00

For the record, the Pakistani army has shined the light underground, rolling up an 'undisclosed location' for Taliban (and possibly, at one time, a bunker for Zawahiri) in Damadola in Bajur.

Separately, the recent arrests of the Quetta Shura are being seen, now, not as pure scores for intelligence, but as one faction throwing another to the dogs for even thinking about normalization talks with the Afghan government.

The weekly drop of extremists in Pakistan seems to be continuing apace, by whatever means. But it is not one-way, a 1,300 pd car bomb exploded outside a police facility in Lahore ...

India-Pak talks on Kashmir

2010-03-06T20:42:00.003-05:00

As violence surges and ebbs (recently surging) in Kashmir, the hopes for a true diplomatic track spring eternal.

With Pakistan now sporting 'smart bombs' from the USA, one can only hope that India gets to the table, quickly...

Otherwise, the USA will have jumped from the frying pan into the fire, no?

Everyone is part of some minority

2010-03-04T14:30:00.001-05:00

....and, sooner or later, the religious-political extremists come, in one way or another, for everyone.

Today is Gaza:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Gaza's Islamic Hamas government on Thursday banned men from working in women's hair salons, the latest step in its campaign to impose strict Islamic customs on Gaza's 1.5 million people.

More of Bush-Cheney's Faith-based Blunders

2010-03-04T13:44:00.003-05:00

This time, affecting the military, directly:

ONE OF THE VOICES WE SELDOM HEAR PUBLICLY

In my last position in the Air Force, I led those 200 men and women in a deployment to Iraq, where my team came under daily mortar attacks as they were controlling the air space over Iraq. During this deployment I was named one of the top officers in my career field for the entire air force.

"Shortly after I left Iraq, someone in the unit that had replaced mine found my private e-mails that I had written to family and friends in the stress of a combat zone. In Iraq during the height of the insurgency, the Air Force conducted a search of my private e-mails solely to determine if I had violated Don't Ask Don't Tell, and to gather whatever evidence they could use against me. ...

"I was relieved of my duties leading nearly 200 airmen, my security clearance was suspended, part of my pay was terminated, and I was forced to endure a grueling 16-month legal ordeal before I was ultimately discharged from the Air Force. On my final day of active duty I was given a police escort from the base as if I were a common criminal or a threat to national security.

Major Mike Almy, UAF

The Final Sacrifice

2010-02-25T13:20:00.003-05:00

The first known gay soldier killed in Afghanistan.

A letter from his partner made it known.

(Even in death, his name is unknown to us, at this time - as are others.)

Thieves at the feast

2010-02-23T08:10:00.001-05:00

The sad case of our own ammo finding its way, through allied hands, into enemy hands.

Is U.S. Military Gassing Itself

2010-02-18T07:57:00.000-05:00

No, not farts. Real concern about burn pits in theater.

Lies about the status of the Afghan conflict?

2010-02-18T07:46:00.006-05:00

I don't remember Rumsfeld saying anything about strongholds have existed for three years:

U.S. and NATO commanders were not certain whether the insurgents who have lorded over Marja for the past three years would stay and fight

I guess that was part of national secrets?

After how many years, do you stop getting called an "insurgent"?

Now, in our seventh year or so of starting over-over-over-over-over-over-over:

The group finally got moving, but by then a group of Afghan soldiers had already raised their red, green and black flag in the bazaar for the dignitaries. The governor and the visiting generals walked around the rubble of the market -- large parts of which were destroyed by a U.S. Special Forces airstrike in spring 2009 -- and hailed the progress of the current mission.

or not:

"It's still dangerous in this area," one soldier said. The Taliban "might burn it.

"Cambodia" weighs in on the conflict

2010-02-18T07:35:00.006-05:00

"It's high time we move beyond that era [of mistrust] and see what is good for all of us," a Pakistani military official said. "We are home to 70 percent of the Pashtuns," an ethnic group in southern Afghanistan and Pakistan that forms the bulk of the Taliban insurgency, "and we have a legitimate right to be part of this effort," the official said.

-WaPo

Or, is it more like Pakistan is the new Egypt? Praise Allah and pass the ammunition:

Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan, and Washington - The United States has delivered a fleet of drone aircraft and billions of dollars in aid to coax Pakistan to do more to confront Afghan Taliban militants taking refuge in the country.

Over the next seven years of our "deployment in Afghanistan", we will surely find out.

("Our deployment", not "war", must be the right term, given that the American public are seized of the Olympics, American Idol, and Tea Baggers, not "war").

and, Karachi, now?:

Several former U.S. intelligence officials and terrorism experts said Karachi is increasingly seen as a base of Taliban operations, with key leaders hiding in plain sight in an urban center that offers greater access to communication and resources.

A media war

2010-02-06T22:02:00.004-05:00

A sophistcated, learning enemy:

He too is frustrated, accusing the Taliban of manipulating the rules of engagement by using women and children as shields and shooting from hidden positions before dropping their weapons and standing out in the open.

"They know we can't shoot them if they don't carry guns or without positive identification. They are fighting us at another level now," MacLean said.

-First Lt. Aaron MacLean, 2nd Platoon commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment.

I have no reason to doubt this.

I'll wonder aloud the same as one does when the Israelis complain the same thing: in such circumstances, a telephoto lens is probably more effective than a rifle scope. Using women and children as shields is really, really, really, really, really bad press.

Without the video tape, ...

Awesome Afghanistan Photos

2010-02-04T02:41:00.001-05:00

David Guttenfelder, from last October, so a bit late to see these.

The Cost of Bush-Cheney on COIN

2010-01-18T16:39:00.002-05:00

What happens when you start late...:

The events provided another example of how fragile relations between Afghans and Americans have become, and how ready Afghans angered over civilian casualties are to blame American forces in virtually any circumstance.
While the first reaction to the explosion was shock, within a few hours an angry crowd gathered, chanting anti-American slogans. The crowd blocked the road to the border for several hours to protest the episode.

-NYT

If this can be generalized, then "long, hard, slog" was just a prelude to "long, hard, slog"...

Imunity for Murder

2010-01-17T08:13:00.001-05:00

US Federal Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed the charges against the five [Blackwater defendants], saying prosecutors violated their rights by using incriminating statements they had made under immunity during a US State Department probe.

Cheney's no-blame zone is apparently bigger than anyone could dream ...

Civilian Self-Pity Meet Command Performance

2010-01-17T07:58:00.001-05:00

O'Donnell, 29, stood at attention yesterday as the litany of broken bones was read off — then bounded up onto a makeshift stage as if none of that had ever happened, as he took command of about 290 soldiers that make up Headquarters and Headquarters Company.

Interesting because ...

..the injuries that Capt. Ray O'Donnell suffered in a 2007 Humvee rollover in Afghanistan.

... included facial fractures, traumatic brain injury, a crushed pelvis, spinal damage, a fractured hip, dislocated femur and severe nerve damage.

Yup, Once Again, We've Got Nothing

2010-01-16T20:14:00.001-05:00

When is someone - anyone - going to admit that the USA just cannot (and never has) been able to 'do intelligence right'?

latest recognition of failure

Is "the" reason that we play too much politics with our intelligence, both outside and inside the agencies? Probably.

Everyone's a fly-boy

2010-01-12T12:13:00.001-05:00

OPERATION ENDURANCE

The price tag, by Newsweek.

Housekeeping: Casualty Lists, Apologies

2009-12-14T19:53:00.000-05:00

I have not been able to keep up the regular discipline. I want to get back to that. It's important.

I'm sorry that the country flags on older postings have disappeared. The image hosting service that held them is defunct and it will take a long while to load up all the images again and to fix the old posts.

How many times can we "lose" Afghanistan and still "win"?

2009-12-14T19:51:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that some people are still arguing about when Operation Enduring Freedom became Operation Enduring, when it 'officially' jumped the shark?

They need to take some Viagra. We knew this time last year that there was very little al-qa'ida in Afghanistan.

The Romance is Gone

2009-12-11T21:34:00.005-05:00

The days of sending nongay soldiers off to fight and die, "over there", while their gay countrymen remain stateside-safe is over, to the extent it ever really existed.

See here, a British platoon in Afghanistan loves their gay comrade, apparently. With luck, someday we can write the same, even about Christianist America.

Finally

2009-06-23T02:59:00.000-04:00

By DEXTER FILKINS

NYT: June 21, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — The new American commander in Afghanistan said he would sharply restrict the use of airstrikes here, in an effort to reduce the civilian deaths that he said were undermining the American-led mission.

The Truth of the Situation, Part II

2009-06-23T01:24:00.002-04:00

LESSON: ALWAYS LISTEN TO RADICAL DOUBT

Fascinating and instructive:

It has now emerged that Mr Kurras, the former West Berlin police officer who shot the young student protester Benno Ohnesorg in 1967, was actually a spy working for East Germany's secret police, the Stasi.
For years, Mr Kurras deceived his colleagues in the West Berlin police service and the German public.
The death of Ohnesorg on 2 June 1967 during a demonstration against a visit by the Shah of Iran sparked the student protest movement in West Germany and the turmoil of 1968.
...
"The Stasi merely described the shooting as an 'unlucky accident' in the file and they broke off contact with Kurras after the shooting," he adds.

The Truth of the Situation

2009-06-22T23:54:00.004-04:00

...is beyond our eyes.

But, in one version of it, a guy who was tortured by al-qa'ida - tortured - was held at Gitmo for ... wait for it ... being an al-qa'ida sympathizer / operative.

Of course, releasing someone in such circumstances quickly and unharmed would be more "proof" he was a spy, enough to keep him 'off the battlefield' or 'out of the hands of the enemy', so there would be little reason, absent other evidence, to detain them indefinitely ... unless you didn't know anything, in which case detention would be dicey anyway.

What a mess.

The living for the dead?

2009-06-21T23:27:00.002-04:00

So far, this (U.S. frees suspect) doesn't look like it is working so well (two bodies named) ...

Why Cheney Is Talking

2009-05-15T00:59:00.004-04:00

LIKE DeLAY, HE THINKS IT'S ALL A POLICY DIFFERENCE

He doesn't want to leave the field to his "enemies", in particular, the FBI testimony. It's classic Rove-DeLay.

Except, it is really Geobbles.

Re, "We do not torture":

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

-Joseph Goebbels

Just for the record, there could well be criminal referrals for torture, despite how you view the "policy pronouncements".

WHY TORTURE IS A POLITICAL PARTY FIT

As for constantly telling the American public they are under treat and need the "safeguards" of torture to remain "safe", it's Goering rather than Goebbels:

“Naturally the common people don't want war... That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists [cf. also Krauthammer's Excusionism in which he singles out pacifists] for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

-- Hermann Goering

And that is how you get a very generous and giving people, Americans, to behave like rats and embrace torture.

Taliban To be Smoked Out With Cell Phone War

2009-05-14T16:42:00.004-04:00

There will be a cell phone war for the Taliban, soon.

If it was half as provocative as the one that caused Hizb'allah to charge, it could be a stroke of genius. (Assuming it doesn't turn into another Tora Bora ... humph!).

True or false: you don't have to jam all the time, just intermittently, to be effective.

Is the Pressure Rising or Ebbing in the Mideast?

2009-05-14T15:23:00.004-04:00

IF OR WHEN

The logistical and practical challenge s to an Israeli airstrike are formidable, despite Netanyahu's distinct effort to deliver a credible threat of the same. (There are serious covert ops inside Iran underway, according to the press, not covered by the Asia Times' assessment).

ARE UNANNOUNCED CONSEQUENCES EVER AN ENGAGEMENT 'STRATEGY'?

Sadly, it's not clear what the international reaction to an Iranian bomb-test would be (from France, for instance, who last suggested publicly that they would rely on the nuclear deterrent...).

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH, FOR IRAN?

Also, it's not clear that the Mullahs would take it that far, in the absence of a proximate cause to do so. They may be content to be a "threshold nuclear power", as that has already put a self-satisfying, end-game umbrella over their ongoing regional games.

STALINISM HAD 70 YEARS TO RUN ITS COURSE ... THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAN IS A BABY, STILL

Or, it could mean that hardliners are anxious to find an excuse to war, over a long time (Stalin and Franco were at it a lot longer than have been the Mullahs). As long as there is significant oil wealth, the chance of a moderate leadership emerging is slim, even with the demographic changes to sweep the country. Truly, their only options to gin up war are with the Israelis and with the Iraqis. The latter might prove self-defeating. (They could attack themselves, the moderates, the unpure, in civil war, but that seems remote).

THE PRESSURE INSIDE ISRAEL HAS GOT TO ENORMOUS

The pressure inside Israel to act has got to be enormous. To turn over Israel's security to an international scheme of deterrence has to be almost unthinkable, in some quarters. The feeling that they may have a 'window' while the U.S. is still in Iraq may be seductive. The worry that the ongoing management of the I/P conflict might have military overtones of a new scale has to be deeply unsettling.

Hizb'allah No Longer Defending Lebanon

2009-05-14T11:19:00.004-04:00

They are openly engaged in cross-border battles.

The gloves are completely off their longstanding rhetorical cover (which no thinking person believed as anything but a stepping stone to the power they have today, frankly).

Casualty List - April 2009, Afghanistan

2009-05-06T13:28:00.000-04:00

MONTHLY CASUALTY LIST: ISAF-AFGHANISTAN

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Name Not Released Yet, 21	German Army	Bad Saulgau-Germany
Hauptgefreiter (senior corporal), Panzergrenadierbrigade 37
Kunduz; 29-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - RPG attack
Tobie Fasfous, 29	British Army	Bridgend-UK
Lance Sergeant, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards
Gereshk (north east of ) (Helmand province); 28-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Michelle Mendes, 30	Canadian Army	Wicklow-Canada
Major, Chief of Defence Intelligence
Kandahar; 24-Apr-09; Non-hostile
Trond Petter Kolset, 30	Norwegian Intelligence service	Steinkjer-Norway
Kaptein, Not reported yet
Takht Pul (Balkh province); 17-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide bomber
Richard A. Dewater, 21	U.S. Army	Topeka, KS
Private 1st Class, 1st BN, 26th Infantry Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Korengal Valley; 15-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Francisco X. Aguila, 35	U.S. Army	Bayamon, PR
Corporal, 82nd Sustainment Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps
Kabul; 14-Apr-09; Non-hostile
Karine Blais, 21	Canadian Army	Les Méchins-Canada
Trooper, B Squadron, 12th Armoured Regiment
Shah Wali Kowt District; 13-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jacob I. Ramsey, 20	U.S. Air Force	Hesperia, CA
Airman 1st Class, 712th Air Support Operations Squadron
Kabul; 10-Apr-09; Non-hostile
Blaise A. Oleski, 22	U.S. Marine	Holland Patent, NY
Lance Corporal, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force
Helmand province; 08-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire
Iuliu-Vasile Unguras, 32	Romanian Army	Dej-Romania
Capitanul (Captain), Batalionul 21 Vânatori de Munte (21st Mountain Battalion)
Qalat (20 km. nord-east of); 07-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Adam M. Kuligowski, 21	U.S. Army	Arlington, VA
Specialist, Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault),
Bagram; 06-Apr-09; Non-hostile
Azdin Chadli, 20	Royal Dutch Army	Uden-Netherlands
Soldaat der eerste klasse (Private 1st Class), 42 Pantserinfanteriebataljon van de Limburgse Jagers (42 Armored Infantry Battalion "Limburgse Rifles")
Tarin Kowt; 05-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - rocket attack
Phillip A. Myers, 30	U.S. Air Force	Hopewell, VA
Staff Sergeant, 48th Civil Engineer Squadron
Helmand province; 04-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Tiberius Petre, 33	Romanian Army	Târgu Mures-Romania
Capitanul (Captain), Batalionul 1 Operatii Speciale "Vulturii" (1st Task Force Battalion -"Eagles")
Kabul (Southwest of); 03-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

Casualty List - April 2009, Iraq

2009-05-06T13:18:00.004-04:00

MONTHLY CASUALTY LIST: MNF-IRAQ

Rank, Nationality	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Tyler J. Trahan, 22	U.S. Navy	East Freetown
Petty Officer 2nd Class, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit Twelve
Fallujah; 30-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - bomb
James R. Mcilvaine, 26	U.S. Marine	Olney, MD
Sergeant, 1st BN, 7th Marine Reg, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Anbar Province; 30-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire
Mark A. Wojciechowski, 25	U.S. Marine	Cincinnati, OH
Staff Sergeant, 7th Engineer Support BN, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Anbar Province; 30-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire
Leroy O. Webster, 28	U.S. Army	Sioux Falls, SD
Sergeant, 3rd BN, 82nd Field Artillery Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division
Kirkuk (near); 25-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Benjamin Moore Jr., 43	U.S. Army	Waycross, GA
Company Sergeant-Major, 2d BN, 27th Infantry Reg, 3d Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division
Contingency Operating Base Speicher; 24-Apr-09; Non-hostile
William C. Comstock, 21	U.S. Marine	Van Buren, AR
Corporal, 2nd Supply BN, Combat Logistics Reg 25, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Mari
Anbar Province; 22-Apr-09; Non-hostile
Brad A. Davis, 21	U.S. Army	Garfield Heights, OH
Corporal, 82nd Brigade Support BN, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
Baghdad (near, east of); 22-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Ray A. Spencer Ii, 20	U.S. Marine	Ridgecrest, CA
Lance Corporal, 3rd BN, 3rd Marine Reg, 3rd Marine Division
Al Anbar Province; 16-Apr-09; Non-hostile - gunshot wound
Raul Moncada, 29	U.S. Army	Madera, CA
Sergeant, 563rd Military Police Co, 91st Military Police BN, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division
Karbala (5 km south of); 13-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (EFP)
Michael J. Anaya, 23	U.S. Army	Crestview, FL
Specialist, 2nd BN, 27th Infantry Reg, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division
Bayji; 12-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Christopher D. Loza, 24	U.S. Army National Guard	Abilene, TX
Sergeant, 1st Squadron, 124th Cavalry Reg, 56th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 36th In
Walter Reed Army Medical Center; 10-Apr-09; Non-Hostile - Illness
Gary L. Woods Jr., 24	U.S. Army	Lebanon Junction, KY
Staff Sergeant, 1st BN, 67th Armor Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Mosul; 10-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide truck bomb
Bryan E. Hall, 32	U.S. Army	Elk Grove, CA
Staff Sergeant, 1st BN, 67th Armor Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Mosul; 10-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide truck bomb
Jason G. Pautsch, 20	U.S. Army	Davenport, IA
Corporal, 1st BN, 67th Armor Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Mosul; 10-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide truck bomb
Bryce E. Gautier, 22	U.S. Army	Cypress, CA
Private 2nd Class, 1st BN, 67th Armor Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Mosul; 10-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide truck bomb
Edward Forrest, 25	U.S. Army	Fenton, MO
Sergeant, 1st BN, 67th Armor Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Mosul; 10-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide truck bomb
Israel Candelaria Mejias, 28	U.S. Army	San Lorenzo, PR
Specialist, 1st BN, 2nd Infantry Reg, Task Force 3rd BN, 66th Armor Reg, 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team
Baghdad (north east of); 05-Apr-09; Hostile - hostile fire - land mine
Stephen F. Dearmon, 21	U.S. Marine	Crossville, TN
Lance Corporal, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force
Al Anbar Province; 03-Apr-09; Non-hostile
Daniel J. Beard, 24	U.S. Army	Buffalo, NY
Sergeant, 147th Postal Company, 21st Theater Sustainment Command
Diwaniyah; 03-Apr-09; Non-hostile

Where 'the boys' are ...

2008-12-29T21:46:00.002-05:00

We know the DoD experimented with drugs to de-militarize enemy soldiers by fiddling with their sexual drives, but apparently, violent, prolonged, nation-building exercises require sexual-dominance, of a sort (via FoxNews, December 29th, Brit Hume):

Tactical Change

The CIA has found a new tool in the War on Terror after it encountered a problem in rewarding those who help in the fight against terrorists in Afghanistan. The CIA had been giving cash and weapons to those who helped, but that was causing problems.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to The Washington Post, one agent said, "If you give an asset $1,000, he'll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money" — which sometimes got them killed.

So the CIA did something — well, less obvious: It gave tribal elders Viagra. The Post quotes one agent who says, "Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people — whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra."

Officials say Viagra is not given to younger leaders, but aging village patriarchs are easily sold on a pill that can "put them back in an authoritative position."

Mini Battlefield Digest: Afghanistan, Week 43, Year OEF+7

2008-10-21T05:39:00.005-04:00

Battlefield News, Afghanistan

The "news" from Afghanistan is almost all grim.

There are not enough boots on the ground to secure the country. In COIN-speak, that means that the battle will either be lost or fought to a standstill, right?

Al-qa'ida, elements of Pakistan ISI, and Iran are all implicated, alongside the flourishing drug trade, as enablers of the ongoing conflict. A political "resolution" seems well on the horizon, with both sides dug in deep, in hopes of the elusive "win".

Political Developments and Major Campaign Resource Shifts

Roggio: The prime minister of Canada said he intends to pull all Canadian forces out of Afghanistan by December 2011. The Taliban said attacks have been stepped up to influence Canada's election. -Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Roggio: A senior Taliban commander said Iran is supplying EFPs to the terror group. -Monday, September 15, 2008
Roggio: The Taliban welcomed Canada's decision to withdraw by 2011. The Taliban have killed 720 police officers in the past six months. -Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Roggio: The US defense secretary said three more combat brigades will be available to deploy to Afghanistan by the spring of 2009. -Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Roggio: The Governor of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province said the US must negotiate with the Taliban, the Haqqanis, and Hekmatyar. Six policemen were killed in attacks in Kabul province. -Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Roggio: President Karzai requested Saudi Arabia assist with opening peace negotiations with the Taliban. -Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Roggio: The Taliban refused to negotiate with the Afghan government. "We reject an offer for negotiation by the Afghan's puppet and slave President Hamid Karzai," Mullah Baradar said. The US notified Pakistan of an airstrike near the Afghan-Pakistani border. -Friday, October 3, 2008
Roggio: The senior US general in Afghanistan said more troops are needed immediately. -Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Roggio: A leaked report by the British Ambassador in Kabul claims US strategy is wrong and the war is as good as lost. -Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Roggio: A leaked Spanish report said Pakistan's ISI provided arms, IEDs, and other support to the Taliban. -Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Roggio: Germany has extended its mandate to operate in Afghanistan by 14 months. -Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Roggio: A battalion of French troops reportedly oppose being deployed to Afghanistan. Germany's foreign minister wants the country's commandos withdrawn. -Saturday, October 4, 2008
MCT: Though under-staffed, multi-national forces are making progress in Afghanistan, the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan told the Beaufort Rotary Club during a luncheon Wednesday. -Thursday, October 16, 2008

COIN: Actions, Reactions, Counteractions, etc.

Roggio: A 100-man Czech special forces team unit is operating outside of NATO command. -Thursday, September 4, 2008
Roggio: The US defense secretary apologized for recent airstrikes that caused civilian casualties. NATO seeks to implement rules to decrease civilian casualties. -Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Roggio: The US is re-evaluating its Afghan war strategy. -Thursday, September 18, 2008
Roggio: Russia warned it would cut off NATO's air bridge to Afghanistan if countries did not stop "hostile" policies toward Moscow. -Thursday, September 18, 2008
Roggio: Australian forces accidentally killed a district leader and several of his men in Uruzgan province. -Thursday, September 18, 2008
NPR: When a new administration takes over in January, it will inherit the challenging and overlapping problems of Afghanistan and Pakistan, two countries that are critical to U.S. national security. -Friday, October 17, 2008
RTTNews: In what could be disturbing news for the government of President Hamid Karzai, the former mayor of Afghanistan's Herat province is now the most powerful local Taliban commander, media reports said. -Friday, October 17, 2008
Canwest : Another senior government official has been shot dead in Kandahar city, fuelling a new fear in the troubled area as Taliban assassins increasingly target Afghans linked to the government and foreign organizations. -Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Roggio: The US Army closed down a combat outpost in the Gowardesh Valley in Kunar province. The US secretary of defense said negotiations with some elements of the Taliban is possible. -Thursday, October 9, 2008
theherald: The ratio of dead to wounded for British soldiers fighting in Afghanistan is approaching loss levels not seen since the Second World War, The Herald can reveal. -Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Roggio: The Pakistani military fired on two US helicopters operating along the border inside Afghan territory in Khost province. Pakistan claimed the helicopters crossed the border, flew over a Paksitani outpost, "returned fire and flew back." -Thursday, September 25, 2008

VIOLENCE: Tactical Developments

Roggio: The Taliban freed 118 Afghan laborers who were kidnapped last week in Farah. -Friday, September 26, 2008
Roggio: A battalion of French troops reportedly oppose being deployed to Afghanistan. Germany's foreign minister wants the country's commandos withdrawn. -Saturday, October 4, 2008
Roggio: The Afghan government denied reports it conducted peace talks with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia last month. President Karzai's brother denied accusations that he is involved in Afghanistan's heroin trade and threatened to sue The New York Times. Spanish military intelligence said Iran offered to shelter Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. -Monday, October 6, 2008
AP: An Afghan official says a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan has killed two German soldiers and five children. The governor of Kunduz province, Mohammad Omar, says two other German soldiers and two children were wounded... -Monday, October 20, 2008
IRNA: Taliban insurgents pulled some 50 passengers off a bus in southern Afghanistan and beheaded as many as 30 of them after accusing them of being soldiers traveling in civilian clothes, Afghan officials said. -Monday, October 20, 2008
AFP : A British aid worker was shot dead in the Afghan capital on Monday in a killing claimed by the Islamic Taliban militia which accused her organisation of "preaching Christianity" -Monday, October 20, 2008
Reuters: Taliban insurgents killed 25 Afghan civilians, including a child, after firing on one bus and seizing control of another in the southern province of Kandahar, a local police chief said on Sunday. -Sunday, October 19, 2008
BBC: A woman has been arrested on charges of kidnapping three children. Giving details to Afghan Islamic Press [AIP] about this, Mr Abdol Rauf Ahmadi, the spokesman for Security Command of police in west zone, said that the police detained... -Sunday, October 19, 2008
AFP: The car bomb exploded at the gates of a base which is run by Italian troops in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with some Spanish soldiers also stationed there. "We did have casualties - just wounded,"... -Saturday, October 18, 2008
AFP: A suicide car bomb exploded outside a base of the NATO-led military force in Afghanistan's western city of Herat, wounding several troops, the alliance said. -Saturday, October 18, 2008
AP: Five Afghan immigrants enslaved a teenage girl they brought to the United States, with some forcing her to do chores and one beating and sexually assaulting her, according to a federal indictment unsealed this week. -Saturday, October 18, 2008
abc.net: Afghan locals say women and children were among civilians killed in an air attack by international forces in the country's south. Locals say that 25 civilians were killed in the attack in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province. -Thursday, October 16, 2008
Denverpost: In a bow to public outrage over a recent spate of U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan that resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths, NATO officials have ordered commanders to try to lessen their reliance on air power in battles with insurgents... -Thursday, October 16, 2008
Reuters: Twenty-two Taliban insurgents and six Afghan policemen were killed in overnight clashes in the south of the country, provincial authorities said on Wednesday. -Wednesday, October 15, 2008
AP: Five Afghan scholars visiting the University of Washington to work on their master's theses were reported missing after failing to show up for training sessions, university officials said. -Wednesday, October 15, 2008
BBC: At least 18 Taliban militants have been killed while attacking a police checkpoint in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials say. Police say dozens of insurgents took part in the attack - the second major assault on Lashkar Gah this week. -Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Economic Developments, Reconstruction, and General Good News

[this space purposely left blank because of lack of de-classified, systematic data]

Casualty List - September 2008, Afghanistan

2008-10-20T20:22:00.002-04:00

MONTHLY CASUALTY LIST: ISAF-AFGHANISTAN

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Gary J. Vasquez, 33	U.S. Army	Round Lake, IL
Sergeant 1st Class, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group
Yakhchal; 29-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Richard G. Cliff Jr., 29	U.S. Army	Mount Pleasant, SC
Captain, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group
Yakhchal; 29-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jamie S. Nicholas, 32	U.S. Army	Maysel, WV
Sergeant 1st Class, 170th Military Police Company, 504th Military Police BN 42nd Military Police Brigade
Yakhchal; 29-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
William E. Hasenflu, 38	U.S. Army	Bradenton, FL
Sergeant, 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, (Air Assault) 101st Airborne Division
Jaji District; 28-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Alessandro Caroppo, 23	Italian Army	San Pietro Vernotico-Italy
Caporal Maggiore, all'8° reggimento Bersaglieri
Herat; 21-Sep-08; Non-hostile - natural causes
Matthew J. O'Bryant, 22	U.S. Navy	Duluth, GA
Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer, Navy Information Operations Command Maryland
Islamabad; 20-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - bomb
Rodolfo I. Rodriguez, 34	U.S. Air Force	El Paso, TX
Major, 86th Construction & Training Squadron
Islamabad; 20-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - bomb
Bruno G. Desolenni, 32	U.S. Army	Crescent City, CA
Captain, Joint Forces Headquarters, Element Training Team, Oregon Army National Guard
Kandahar; 20-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Joseph F. Gonzales, 18	U.S. Army	Tucson, AZ
Private, 1st BN, 26th Infantry Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Korengal Valley; 20-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Nathan M. Cox, 32	U.S. Army	Walcott, IA
Staff Sergeant, 1st BN, 26th Infantry Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Korengal Valley; 20-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jerome C. Bell Jr., 29	U.S. Marine	New York
Sergeant, 2nd BN, 7th Marine Reg, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Farah province; 19-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Brandon W. Farley, 30	U.S. Army	Haworth, OK
Staff Sergeant, 1st BN, 26th Infantry Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Able Monti (died at Bagram Airfield); 18-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire, RPG
James L. Wiley, 46	U.S. Army	North Bend, OR
Lieutenant Colonel, 27th Brigade Combat Team, New York Army National Guard
Bagram Airfield; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile
Joshua W. Harris, 21	U.S. Air National Guard	Romeoville, IL
Sergeant, 2nd Battalion 122nd Field Artillery, Illinois Army National Guard
Gerdia Seria; 17-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Bruce E. Hays, 42	U.S. Army National Guard	Cheyenne, WY
Captain, Wyoming Joint Forces Headquarters, Wyoming Army National Guard
Gerdia Seria; 17-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jason A. Vazquez, 24	U.S. Army	Chicago, IL
Staff Sergeant, 2nd Battalion 122nd Field Artillery, Illinois Army National Guard
Gerdia Seria; 17-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Mohsin A. Naqvi, 26	U.S. Army	Newburgh, NY
1st Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry
Gerdia Seria; 17-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Nicky Mason, 26	British Army	Aveley-UK
Lance Corporal, 2nd Battalion the Parachute
Kajaki (near), Helmand province; 13-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - Explosion
Jason Lee Rawstron, 23	British Army	Clayton-Le-Moors, Lancashire-UK
Private, 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment
Forward Operating Base Gibraltar (Helmand province); 12-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Michael W. Murdock, 22	U.S. Army	Chocowinity, NC
Private, 1st BN, 6th Field Artillery Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Bagram Airfield; 11-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire
John Wayne Marcum, 34	U.S. Navy	Flushing, MI
Senior Chief Petty Officer, Naval Special Warfare Development Group
Eastern Afghanistan; 11-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire
Jason Richard Freiwald, 30	U.S. Navy	Armada, MI
Chief Petty Officer, Naval Special Warfare Development Group
Eastern Afghanistan; 11-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire
Michael Slebodnik, 39	U.S. Army	Gibsonia, PA
Chief Warrant Officer, 2nd BN, 17th Cavalry Reg, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Forward Operating Base Nagil; 11-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - enemy fire at aircraft
Gary O'Donnell, 40	British Army	Edinburgh-UK
Warrant Officer Class 2, 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment Royal Logistic Corps
Musa Qaleh (Helmand province); 10-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Eichmann A. Strickland, 23	U.S. Navy	Arlington, WA
Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class, Combat Service Support Det. 36
Afghanya Valley; 09-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jesse Melton Iii, 29	U.S. Marine	Randallstown, MD
Captain, Headquarters Battery, 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division
Parwan Province; 09-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Nicholas A. Madrazo, 25	U.S. Marine	Bothell, WA
1st Lieutenant, Combat Logistics Battalion 37, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force
Parwan Province; 08-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jos Ten Brinke, 21	Royal Dutch Army	Berkelland-Netherlands
soldaat der eerste klasse, 41 pantsergeniebataljon
Baluchi Valley (near Patrol Base Qudus, near Tarin Kowt), Uruzgan province; 07-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Scott Shipway, 36	Canadian Army	Saskatoon-Canada
Sergeant, 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Panjwai district (Kandahar province); 07-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Marques I. Knight, 24	U.S. Army	San Juan Capistrano, CA
Specialist, 1st BN, 26th Infantry Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Aliabad; 06-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Michael R. Dinterman, 18	U.S. Army	Littlestown, PA
Private, 1st BN, 26th Infantry Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Outpost Restrepo, Kunar Province; 06-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire
Vincent C. Winston Jr., 22	U.S. Army	St. Louis, MO
Private, 2nd BN, 2nd Infantry Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Afghanistan; 04-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Justin James Cupples, 29	British Army	County Cavan-UK
Ranger, 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment
Sangin (Helmand Province); 04-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Chadwick James Horn, 21	Canadian Army	n.a.-Canada
Private, Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Zhari district (Kandahar province); 03-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - Rocket fire
Michael James Alexander Seggie, 21	Canadian Army	Winnipeg-Canada
Corporal, Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Zhari district (Kandahar province); 03-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - Rocket fire
Andrew Paul Grenon, 23	Canadian Army	Windsor-Canada
Corporal, Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
Zhari district (Kandahar province); 03-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - Rocket fire
Gregory A. Rodriguez, 35	U.S. Army	Weidman, MI
Sergeant 1st Class, K-9 unit - 527th Military Police Co, 709th Military Police BN, 18th MP Brigade
Ana Kalay; 02-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

SRC: ICASUALTY.ORG

Casualty List - September, Iraq

2008-10-20T20:15:00.000-04:00

MONTHLY CASUALTY LIST: MNF-IRAQ

Rank, Nationality	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Christopher A. Bartkiewicz, 25	U.S. Army	Dunfermline, IL
Private 1st Class, 2nd BN, 6th Infantry Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division
Baghdad (northern part); 30-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Christopher T. Fox, 21	U.S. Army	Memphis, TN
Specialist, 1st BN, 68th Armor Reg, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Adhamiyah; 29-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Jamel A. Bryant, 22	U.S. Army	Belleville, IL
Private 1st Class, 40th Engineer BN, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division
Baghdad (Southeast of); 27-Sep-08; Non-hostile - vehicle rollover
Ronald Phillips Jr., 33	U.S. Army	Conway, SC
Staff Sergeant, 3rd BN, 7th Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
Bahbahani; 25-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Michael J. Medders, 25	U.S. Army	Elyria, OH
Captain, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
Jisr Naft; 24-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide bomber
Thomas J. Brown, 26	U.S. Army	Shelton, VA
1st Lieutenant, 2nd BN, 6th Infantry Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division
Salman Pak; 23-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Matthew J. Taylor, 25	U.S. Army	Charleston, SC
Staff Sergeant, 2nd BN, 30th Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, (Light Infantry) 10th Mountain Division
Baghdad; 21-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire
Corry A. Edwards, 38	U.S. Army National Guard	Kennedale, TX
Chief Warrant Officer, 2nd BN, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Texas Army National Guard
Tallil; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Daniel M. Eshbaugh, 43	U.S. Army National Guard	Norman, OK
Sergeant, 2nd BN, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Oklahoma National Guard
Tallil; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Anthony L. Mason, 37	U.S. Army National Guard	Springtown, TX
Sergeant, 2nd BN, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Texas Army National Guard
Tallil; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Julio C. Ordonez, 54	U.S. Army National Guard	San Antonio, TX
1st Sergeant, 2nd BN, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Texas Army National Guard
Tallil; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Brady J. Rudolf, 37	U.S. Army National Guard	Oklahoma City, OK
Chief Warrant Officer, 2nd BN, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Oklahoma National Guard
Tallil; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Michael E. Thompson, 23	U.S. Army National Guard	Harrah, OK
Corporal, 2nd BN, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Oklahoma National Guard
Tallil; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Robert Vallejo Ii, 28	U.S. Army National Guard	Richland Hills, TX
Not reported yet, 2nd BN, 149th Aviation, 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, Texas Army National Guard
Tallil; 18-Sep-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Darrick D. Wright, 37	U.S. Army	Nashville, TN
Captain, 926th Engineer Brigade
Baghdad; 17-Sep-08; Non-Hostile - Illness - Heart Attack
Leonard J. Gulczynski I, 19	U.S. Army	Carol Stream, IL
Private 1st Class, 610th Engineer Support Company, 14th Engineer BN, 555th Engineer Brigade
Baghdad; 17-Sep-08; Non-hostile - vehicle accident
Sidney J. Marceaux Jr., 69	U.S. Army	Beaumont, TX
Colonel (Chaplain), Warrior Transition Brigade
Walter Reed Army Medical Center; 14-Sep-08; Non-hostile - illness
Ralph J. Marino, 46	U.S. Army	Houston, PA
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Central Command
Camp Buehring; 14-Sep-08; Non-hostile - illness
Wesley R. Durbin, 26	U.S. Army	Hurst, TX
Sergeant, 3rd BN, 7th Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
Tunnis; 14-Sep-08; Non-hostile - shooting incident
Darris J. Dawson, 24	U.S. Army	Pensacola, FL
Staff Sergeant, 3rd BN, 7th Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
Tunnis; 14-Sep-08; Non-hostile - shooting incident
Daniel R. Sexton, 53	U.S. Army	Wentzville, MO
Sergeant 1st Class, 164th Military Police Company
Balad (Joint Base Balad); 10-Sep-08; Non-hostile
Jordan P. P. Thibeault, 22	U.S. Army	South Jordan, UT
Private, 1st BN, 6th Infantry Reg, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division
Balad (FOB Hammer); 05-Sep-08; Non-hostile
Bryan R. Thomas, 22	U.S. Army	Battle Creek, MI
Private 1st Class, 1st BN, 66th Armor Reg, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Baghdad (eastern part); 04-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Kenneth W. Mayne, 29	U.S. Army	Fort Benning, GA
Sergeant, 1st BN, 66th Armor Reg, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Baghdad (eastern part); 04-Sep-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Patrick W. May, 22	U.S. Army	Jamestown, NY
Private 1st Class, Division Special Troops Battalion, (Light Infantry) 10th Mountain Division
Baghdad; 02-Sep-08; Non-hostile

Gates Restores Air Force Accountability

2008-06-06T07:37:00.003-04:00

In a bold and smart move, Gates removed the top two at the Air Force, sending a powerful signal that any culture of complacency was over. The timing was set by the completion of a far-reaching investigation.

He may be one of the best Sec Defs in a long, long time.

He's been showing a quiet, powerful competence, day after day after day.

Nothing Good Will Come of This

2008-06-05T07:55:00.002-04:00

story from TIME magazine on ... 'medical morale'?

Ug. Get them home

2008-06-02T13:55:00.001-04:00

...before this gets out-of-hand ugly:

drop-weapons

This is the worst kind of poison, not in general, but in particular, right?

Lebanon, Failed State, Goes On Failing

2008-05-26T20:24:00.003-04:00

Lebanon continued it's odd-ball trajectory, on the "brokered agreement" that made national politics captive to the freak-show Hizb'allah, who got "veto" authority.

Hizb'allah of course exercised military "veto" authority against the government, in the ill-timed final showdown that lead to the current surrender of the opposition parties.

Naturally, Nasrallah's propaganda team is out promising not to do exactly what they did, namely to use their "resistance army" against the government. Thugs know thuggery ...

Lebanon's new president got a red carpet welcome Monday, but was quickly thrust into the political thicket as Hezbollah's leader warned against any efforts to disarm his Iranian-backed guerrilla group. -AP

The Sec Def

2008-05-19T22:15:00.002-04:00

One of the few good things about the job of SecDef. We forget he left his nice civilian job ... unwillingly, sometimes. Here shown at Virginia Military Institute graduation.

Separately, amphibious assualt ain't what it used to be:

Monty Python and the Royal Marines

2008-05-19T22:09:00.002-04:00

IF you are in the right mood, there is this on how to chump your mates.

Life imitates art (NSFW - a small bit of nudity):

U.S. Embassy Publishes Photo Of Schools We Aren't Building

2008-05-11T12:28:00.002-04:00

At the last hearings, everyone announced (while I cringed) that the US was no longer involved in building schools and the like. The Iraqis are supposed to be paying. (As you know, the Pakistani government has been notoriously corrupt in funding hundreds, if not thousands, of 'paper schools').

It made this picture of our non-involvement involvement leap out. If there is some type of involvement, this ought to be it, I think. Lasting memorials to the US's presence are important 'physical memories', especially if they are good ones! Of course, Rumsfeld didn't want to pay for much construction on US dime at all... another failure in his GOP-ideology conception of the GWOT, I guess.

Anyway, whatever the case, they should get their story straight in Washington.

Details:

On April 21st members of the PRT traveled for the first time via military convoy ... deep into the province to perform two ribbon-cutting ceremonies marking the completion of local civic engagement projects. The 82nd Airborne will assume “strategic overwatch” or backing up of local Iraqi security forces for Muthanna province on May 23rd. The PRT hopes to create an atmosphere of trust and respect with the local Iraqis as the 82nd is introduced gradually to the province.

According to PRT Team Leader Paul O’Friel, “When local Iraqis see that the entirety of the American presence in Muthanna -- civilian and military alike -- is working to improve their lives through new roads and schools, medical care for the most rural communities, and innovative support in the agricultural sector, then the province will be a safer place

The Reluctant Warrior

2008-05-11T10:36:00.001-04:00

"My War":

Many people believe that the draft ended the Vietnam War. I'm convinced that reinstating the draft would definitely end this war.
...
But now, thanks to not enough Americans volunteering for military service, I now have to worry about my picture appearing on the second or third page of my hometown paper with the words, "it was his second deployment" in my obituary.

Cell Phone "War" is Over

2008-05-09T20:08:00.000-04:00

Hizb'allah won.

Lebanon's Cell Phone War

2008-05-09T16:29:00.005-04:00

Communications have always been a key element of war, from maps and pidgeons to satellites.

For political violence groups like Lebanese Hizb'allah, the government has moved against their propaganda, intelligence, and command-and-control network in one stroke, by disabling their cell-phone network and ejecting a mole at an information hub (the airport).

Then came the telephone crisis: Last weekend, Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon's Druze minority and an archenemy of Hizballah, accused the militant Shi'ite party of maintaining its own private telephone network, and of using security cameras to monitor Beirut airport with the possible aim of staging attacks or kidnappings. On Tuesday, the government followed up with an edict declaring Hizballah's telephone network "illegal and unconstitutional." It also launched an investigation into the alleged monitoring of the airport, and dismissed airport security chief General Wafiq Shuqeir, on suspicion of opposition sympathies.

....

More recently, Hizballah has dug trenches for fiber-optic cables in the mainly Christian and Druze Mount Lebanon district and in north Lebanon, according to Marwan Hamade, the Lebanese minister of telecommunications. "It was confined to one or two small areas before and we overlooked it as part of their internal communications. But now it's spread all over Lebanon," Hamade told TIME.

TIME, Nicolas Blanford

Humanity and Grief In Time of War

2008-05-07T16:27:00.002-04:00

Do the sum of small victories in the Long War weigh greater than the sum of all tragedies?

Rumsfeld famously asked the question about whether we were killing, capturing, or deterring more terrorists than were being "created". How does one weigh the positive interactions between the armed forces and the enormous tragedies that connected with them being required?

A soldier's quest to save Iraqi, Afghan interpreters
The results are small-scale, so far.

Over a year after they first sought to escape Iraq, Walid and two other interpreters who worked with Faler have arrived with their families. They all live near him in Oregon now. He brings their kids to doctor's appointments, takes them shopping, helps open bank accounts for them, and tries to find them jobs.

A married couple from Afghanistan, facing homelessness in San Francisco, contacted Faler last year. He convinced them to move to the cheaper environs of Oregon and helped them find odd jobs, pay the rent for a few months, and took them to Wal-Mart to buy household basics. Now the couple is on the East Coast and self-supporting.

Official Report on Karzai Attack - Inside Job

2008-05-07T16:18:00.003-04:00

Two government officials involved (low level) and a cell rolled-up. Taliban ... not implicated in the official report, so much.

They should hurry-up and give him a Nobel Prize. He may not live much longer ... so many of his close friends have been blown-up or machine-gunned already.

Why Christopher Hitchens Deserves to Be Read

2008-05-07T15:48:00.005-04:00

Mosque attack in Yeman, forcing ... harding of lines. Sermons about ... how to fight...

The mosque attack came a day after the Yemeni military announced that seven of its soldiers had been killed and blamed Houthi supporters for it. Even before Friday’s attack, more government troops had been expected to be deployed to the area.

In the past few days, the war-ravaged governorate has experienced numerous blasts and ambushes against troops, leaving more than 10 security soldiers dead. According to political analysts, such incidents may mean an end to efforts by the Qatari mediation team, which is seeking reconciliation between the Yemeni government and Houthi supporters.

Having realized that a previously formed mediation committee failed to do its job in Sa’ada, the authority ordered forming a new presidential mediation committee a few days ago in an effort to contain the escalating turmoil.

Such repeated incidents offer strong indicators of a fifth Sa’ada war between government troops and Houthi loyalists, primarily since Bin Salem Mosque was bombed and the authorities launched a massive arrest campaign against Houthis.

“While the mosque belongs to the Zaidi sect, Salafi extremist Askar Bin Zueil, who leads thousands of Salafi volunteers coming from various Yemeni governorates to fight with Houthis, claims that the victims were Salafis. These Salafis operate according to orders given by Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, commander of the northern military flank,” a source told the Yemen Times.

The source added, “In giving his Friday sermons, Zueil attempts to convince Zaidis to abandon their sect and stop supporting Abdulmalik Al-Houthi’s fight with the army.”

All of Iraq in One Story

2008-05-07T15:41:00.002-04:00

A fascinating story.

Almost every line is an allegory for what is going on in Iraq right now, with some notable exceptions. Even the "imagery" of being a city-within-a-city, etc., "works".

"Troops mass as attack on Mosul looms"

2008-05-07T14:46:00.001-04:00

It's going down:

Azzaman, May 3, 2008

The government is massing troops for an imminent attack on the northern city of Mosul, the interior minister said.

The minister Jawad al-Bolani said the government has deployed “elite units” in the city, home to nearly three million people and currently one of the most violent places in the country.

U.S. troops will assist with aerial bombardment, logistics and artillery. U.S. marines will intervene if necessary.

The battle to overtake Mosul is billed as the ‘last’ major offensive Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intends to launch to bring the country under control.

Mosul is now a bastion of al-Qaeda whose fighters have been under extreme pressure from the so-called Sahwa (Awakening) Council, a newly formed militia of Sunni tribesmen financed by the U.S., in other Sunni-dominated areas.

Weekly Casualty Lists: Week 19, Yr OEF+7

2008-05-07T14:45:00.001-04:00

Two infantrymen from the Georgian national army this week. Another journalist this week.

Within the violence, the assault on Sahwas ("awakening") members continues (again, we have no systematic information from the USG, so ...). Iranian Coastguard makes the list for the first time I can recall. Beheadings in ... Anbar. Sadly, U.S. airstrikes show up noticeably. Mass graves out of the new this week...

IBC reports for April:

April Total: 1,334, including 66 children; 136 civilians were killed by US Forces.

With some luck (and free time) an update of enemy casualty lists.

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: MNF-IRAQ

Rank, Nationality	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Name Not Released Yet	Not reported yet	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Force - West
Anbar Province; 06-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Army	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - North
Ninewah Province; 06-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire
Giorgi Margiev	Georgian Army	n.a.-Georgia
Lieutenant, 13 Battalion of 1st Infantry Brigade
Diyala Province; 02-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Zura Gvenetadze	Georgian Army	n.a.-Georgia
Corporal, 13 Battalion of 1st Infantry Brigade.
Diyala Province; 02-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Corey L. Hicks, 22	U.S. Army	Glendale, AZ
Private, 1st BN, 66th Armor Reg, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Baghdad (eastern part); 02-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Marine	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Force - West
Al Anbar Province; 01-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Marine	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Force - West
Al Anbar Province; 01-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Marine	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Force - West
Al Anbar Province; 01-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Marine	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Force - West
Al Anbar Province; 01-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jeffrey F. Nichols, 21	U.S. Army	Granite Shoals, TX
Specialist, 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, (Light Infantry) 10th Mountain Division
Baghdad (central); 01-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack (VBIED)
Chad A. Caldwell, 24	U.S. Army	Spokane, WA
Staff Sergeant, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
Mosul; 30-Apr-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Andrew. R. Pearson, 32	U.S. Army	Billings, MT
Captain, 1st BN, 22nd Infantry Reg, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Baghdad (southern part); 30-Apr-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Ronald J. Tucker, 21	U.S. Army	Fountain, CO
Specialist, 1st BN, 22nd Infantry Reg, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
Baghdad (southern part); 30-Apr-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Lawrence D. Ezell, 30	U.S. Army	Portland, TX
Sergeant 1st Class, 71st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group
Baghdad (northern part); 30-Apr-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: ISAF-AFGHANISTAN

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Michael Starker, 26	Canadian Army	n.a.-Canada
Corporal, 15 Field Ambulance Regiment
Pashmul region, Zhari district (25 kg west of Kandahar); 06-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire
Ratu Babakobau, 29	British Army	n.a.-UK
Trooper, Household Cavalry Regiment
Naw Zad district - Helmand Province; 02-May-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Radim Vaculik, 29	Czech Army	Hluk-Czech
PraporcÃk (Chief Warrant Officer), 102. pruzkumn prapor, 102 Reconnaissance Battalion
Logar province; 30-Apr-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: IRAQI CIVILIAN, counted by large event

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ

Counted Civilian Casualties: 171 this week.

Tuesday 6 May: 18 dead
Baghdad:	3 die in clashes, Abu Dshir; mortars kill 3 at Khulani intersection; gunmen assassinate academic; 3 bodies.
Diyala
Wajihiya:	roadside bomb kills Sahwa member.
Salahuddin
Tikrit:	suicide car bomber kills 4 at restaurant.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen kill 2 policemen; roadside bomb kills policeman.
Monday 5 May: 24 dead
Baghdad:	US air strike kills 6, Sadr City; US air strike kills 5 (inc. child with parents), Amil; rocket kills 2, Rasheed; 4 bodies.
Kirkuk
Kirkuk:	roadside bomb kills policeman.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen storm building, kill 3 women; gunmen kill 1 civilian in the street; body found.
Babil
Hilla:	gunmen kill former Baath commander.
Sunday 4 May: 25 dead
Baghdad:	roadside bomb kills traffic policeman, Yarmouk; roadside bomb kills another civilian; gunmen kill academic, Al Adel; US bombing kills 5, including 3 children, Sadr City; 3 bodies.
Diyala
Wajihiya:	roadside bomb kills 1 Sahwa member.
Khanaqin:	raodside bomb kills child.
Salahuddin
Balad:	bomb kills 2 women.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen kill journalist; gunmen kill 2 civilians in separate incidents; roadside bomb kills 1; 3 bodies.
Basra
Al Fau:	3 fishermen killed by Iranian coastguard.
Saturday 3 May: 27 dead
Baghdad:	roadside bomb kills 1, Al-Shurta; US air strike kills 3 boys; 4 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen kill 2 policemen; roadside bomb kills 1; 1 body found.
Salahuddin
Shirqat:	child is killed by mortar.
Diyala
Khanaqin:	child is killed by bomb; communist party member is shot dead.
Anbar
Rumana:	12 beheaded bodies are found (believed to be policemen and Sahwa members abducted earlier).
Friday 2 May: 9 dead
Baghdad:	mortar kills 1, Salhiya; 3 bodies.
Diyala
Muqdadiya:	gunmen kill 2 Sahwa members.
Anbar
Aqur Quf:	car bomb kills 3 relatives (son, brother and nephew) of Sahwa member.
Thursday 1 May: 65 dead
Baghdad:	US air strikes kill 2 women and 2 children, Sadr City; car bomb kills 9 civilians, including a child, Camp Sara; 5 bodies.
Diyala
Balad Ruz:	suicide bombers kill 45 at wedding, including the bride and groom.
Kirkuk
Hawija:	bicycle bomb kills 2.
Wednesday 30 April: 12 dead
Baghdad:	2 die by US fire, Abu Dsheer; 1 killed by mortars, Rahmaniya; 4 bodies.
Kirkuk
Al-Abbasi:	roadside bomb kills 2 Sahwa members.
Wassit
Kut:	gunmen kill woman at home.
Salahuddin
Tikrit:	2 bodies found.

Name	Date
Circumstances
Sarwa Abdul-Wahab	04-May-08
Gunmen killed a woman journalist during a botched kidnapping attempt Sunday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police, and family said. Sarwa Abdul-Wahab, 36, worked as a lawyer defending journalists' rights and freelanced Kurdistan Reporters News Agency.

src: MNF-I, MNF-A, journalists from icasualties.org; Iraqi Civiilan: iraqbodycount.org; Afghan events from Bill Roggio, other sources

Arafat Used to Steal Gas, Now Hammas Does it

2008-05-01T12:02:00.001-04:00

TODAY IS IT "GAS SHORTAGES", TOMMORROW WE'LL BE HAVING SADDAM-ERA BABY PARADES

The head of the Palestinian Authority's gas agency confirmed Tuesday that Hamas gunmen had raided the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, stealing at least 60,000 liters of fuel meant for the Gaza power station in order to fill their own vehicles.

- JPost

Victory Just Around the Bend

2008-04-23T06:31:00.000-04:00

Not since the war in the Pacific ...

2008-04-22T05:04:00.001-04:00

...the VA has added 3,700 mental health professionals in the last two years.-LA Times

FARC a Predictor of Taliban vis-a-vis Drugs?

2008-04-19T09:31:00.002-04:00

A well composed story:

It has been 44 years since the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia group, or Farc, began its fight to overthrow the Colombian government.

The Farc, which says its armed struggle against the government is based on a search for social and economic justice, found natural support among the country's rural poor.

But in recent years the movement has faced decline.
...

Pablo, who deserted from the Farc four years ago, says he became disenchanted after his fellow fighters got involved in Colombia's drug trade.

One Well Placed Bullet, Today

2008-04-17T09:24:00.001-04:00

THE STRUGGLE WITHIN ISLAM: ONE BULLET AT A TIME

Kunar province's chief bad actor, dead at the hands of small arms fire by Paki police.

Rummy to Write Memoires Afterall

2008-04-16T03:16:00.001-04:00

How could he resist? It's done.

Reconciliation At Gunpoint

2008-04-11T14:49:00.002-04:00

There is no having Democracy at gunpoint.

Yet, there is.

Reconciliation, of a sort, in Diyala, at gunpoint.

My nose tells me that the history of Diyala's politics post invasion would make a remarkable book or bit of reporting.

No Soldier Leaves War Unwounded

2008-04-09T16:51:00.000-04:00

From Australia:

A FORMER soldier who shot dead four members of his family before walking into a police station with a bag of weapons and a homemade bomb was detained today for a minimum of 15 years, police said.

David Bradley, 41,...
Police said Bradley had developed mental health problems after serving in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and the 1991 Gulf War

Are we safer?

2008-04-09T10:20:00.001-04:00

It's not just terrorism or the "GWOT", post Iraqi invasion... :

• a new definition of state sovereignty as "nuclear sovereignty," accompanied by a massive increase in the number of small and medium-sized nuclear states;
• the illegal proliferation of military nuclear technology;

• the legal proliferation of civilian nuclear technology and an increase in the number of "civilian" nuclear states, implying military proliferation risks;

-Joschka Fisher

More First Draft History

2008-04-09T09:43:00.001-04:00

The strategy for Victory in Iraq? This author says it was a declassified version, not de novo:

That was the background to a decision in the fall of 2005 to release an unclassified version of Gen. Casey's campaign plan, along with a document explaining how all elements of American power were being mobilized to assist in its realization. The full document was called the National Strategy for Supporting Iraq, the name of which changed somewhere along the way to the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq, or NSVI. There was nothing new here. The release of the NSVI, bolstered by a series of frank presidential addresses, was simply an attempt to make public a number of details about our approach and offer a reasonable response to our reasonable critics.

The effort was doomed. It was overtaken by political events or, rather, by one specific event: a press conference, on Nov. 17, 2005, by John Murtha, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania.
Mr. Murtha was a veteran of the Vietnam War and a hawk on defense spending--someone generally thought to be at home with the old "Scoop" Jackson wing of the Democratic party. When it came to Iraq, he turned out to be something else.

Medal of Honor Awarded Today

2008-04-09T01:42:00.003-04:00

Navy SEAL Michael Anthony Monsoor, shown during winter training in Alaska in 2004, died in Iraq in 2006 after saving the lives of three American snipers and several Iraqi soldiers.

I remember remarking this story when it came through, but I cannot find the blog post. I did think it occured way up North, however.

Bad Voodoo Good Voodoo

2008-04-07T08:10:00.003-04:00

The compelling Frontline effort to document a microcosm of the war effort from the inside through the eyes of the men of "Bad Voodoo" can be found here (complete with blog).

The flattening of journalism can be read in Columbia Journalism Review's piece on Good Voodoo Man Bill Roggio.

The Re-definition of "In Country" - Part III

2008-04-04T15:29:00.003-04:00

{what more is there to say, at this point - let us pray?}

Another female KBR employee has come forward alleging she was brutally raped in Iraq, and that the company attempted to cover it up, the Nation magazine reported yesterday. -Justin Root

Bush Legacy

2008-04-04T10:06:00.002-04:00

The legacy of Bush's legal "strategy" for GWOT is a real eyesore (and I'm not even totally opposed to military commissions!).

Item:

Now, during a March 14 speech at the London School of Economics, [Gonzales's] successor Mukasey stated that the long-delayed trials of Guantánamo prisoners—six of them to start this year—will have "all the protections [for the defendants] we regard as fundamental." But he neglected to mention one glaring, discordant fact: that Colonel Morris D. Davis, the former chief prosecutor for the Office of Military Commissions, which will be conducting these trials, resigned in protest over their lack of credibility last October.

"I resigned on that day," he wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed piece in December 2007, "because I felt the system had become deeply politicized and . . . I could no longer do my job effectively or responsibly." And in February of this year, Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser for these military commissions, refused to rule out the use of "evidence" that had been obtained by waterboarding—which nearly everyone but Mukasey defines as torture.

Item:

Central to Mizer's claim is a piece of evidence suggesting that Crawford's legal adviser, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, is so ensconced in the prosecution that he has become the de facto chief prosecutor -- a highly improper role according to observers, participants and the Military Commissions Act itself.

Non-Gay Band of Thebes

2008-04-01T06:06:00.002-04:00

The Army is letting the married non-gays live together in Iraq:

U.S. Army Sgt. Jacqueline McCloud, 29, left, and her husband, Sgt. Jason McCloud, 24, right, kiss in the doorway of the small cargo container they share at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 27, 2008. The two, who have two small children, are deployed together with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The Army is allowing scores of husband-and-wife soldiers to live and sleep together in the war zone -- a move aimed at preserving marriages, boosting morale and perhaps bolstering re-enlistment rates at a time when the military is struggling to fill its ranks five years into the fighting. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Malaki's "Operation Fall Apart Together"

2008-04-01T06:02:00.004-04:00

Qais Mizher for The New York Times

Shiite militiamen roamed the streets of Basra, Iraq, on Friday with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. Gunfights erupted unpredictably between the Mahdi Army militia and Iraqi forces.

Military Justice

2008-03-27T13:01:00.003-04:00

Can you spot what is wrong with this statement?

On a fateful day in this war, airmen delivered justice to the al Qaeda terrorist Zarqawi. -George Bush, President

Weekly Casualty Lists: Week 13, Yr OEF+7

2008-03-26T14:53:00.001-04:00

Enemy casualty lists not available this week here, although there are reports of significant 'policing' activity in Iraq.

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: MNF-IRAQ

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Hometown
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Army	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad
Baghdad; 25-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Army	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad
Baghdad (southern part); 23-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Army	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad
Baghdad (southern part); 23-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Name Not Released Yet	U.S. Army	n.a.
Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad
Baghdad (southern part); 23-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Andy Habsieger, 22	U.S. Army	Festus, MO
Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad
Baghdad (southern part); 23-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Thomas C. Ray, II, 40	U.S. Army National Guard	Weaverville, NC
Sergeant, 1132nd Military Police Company, North Carolina Army National Guard
Baghdad (northwest of); 22-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
David B. Williams, 26	U.S. Army National Guard	Tarboro, NC
Sergeant, 1132nd Military Police Company, North Carolina Army National Guard
Baghdad (northwest of); 22-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
David S. Stelmat, 27	U.S. Army National Guard	Littleton, NH
Specialist, 1132nd Military Police Company, North Carolina Army National Guard
Baghdad (northwest of); 22-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Tyler J. Smith, 22	U.S. Army	Bethel, ME
Private 1st Class, 3rd BN, 7th Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
Baghdad; 21-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - indirect fire
Gregory D. Unruh, 28	U.S. Army	Dickinson, TX
Sergeant, 2nd BN, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
Mandali; 19-Mar-08; Non-hostile - vehicle rollover

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: ISAF-AFGHANISTAN

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
William H. Jefferson, Jr., 34	U.S. Air Force	Norfolk, VA
Technical Sergeant, 21st Special Tactics Squadron
Sperwan Ghar; 22-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
William R. Neil, 38	U.S. Army	Holmden, NJ
Staff Sergeant, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group
Sperwan Ghar; 21-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Ionut Cosmin Sandu, 29	Romanian Army	Piscu-Romania
Sublocotenent/2 nd Lieutn/, Batalionul 300 Infanterie "Sfantul Andrei"
North of Qalat (prov.Zabul); 20-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Antione V. Robinson, 20	U.S. Army	Detroit, NC
Private 1st Class, 782nd Brigade Support BN, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
Nawa District, Ghazni Province; 19-Mar-08; Non-hostile - accident

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: IRAQI CIVILIAN, counted by large event

Counted Civilian Casualties: 178 this week; 197 last week; 197 prior week.
Counted bodies found: 40 this week; 96 last week; 96 prior week.

Tuesday 25 March: 33 dead
Baghdad:	roadside bomb kills 1, Bab al-Sheikh; Mahdi Army fighters kill attack Dawa party office, kill 2 guards, Amin; 2 policemen killed at checkpoint, Sadr City; civilian killed in clashes, Sadr City; 5 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen kill morgue employee; 6 bodies.
Wassit
Aziziya:	3 killed in clashes.
Basra
Basra:	9 civilians reported killed during a day of clashes between authorities and Mahdi Army; 3 civilians killed by British forces.
Monday 24 March: 13 dead
Baghdad:	4 bodies.
Salahuddin
Tal Jwad:	civilian killed by mortar.
Diyala
Sadiya:	roadside bomb kills 3 policemen.
Buhriz:	Awakening member killed by US fire at checkpoint.
Basra
Basra:	man killed in clashes.
Ninewa
Mosul:	2 killed by mortars; body found.
Sunday 23 March: 74 dead
Afghanistan:	The Taliban assassinated a pro-government cleric in Helmand.
Baghdad:	rocket/mortar attacks kill 19 (4 children among them); gunmen shoot 7 dead, Zafaraniya; suicide car bomber kills 5, Shula; roadside bomb kills 1, Mansour; 6 bodies.
Diyala
Abu Saida:	gunmen kill policeman and his driver.
Baquba:	gunmen kill policeman; mortars kill 2; 2 children (8 and 10 years old) are blown up by bomb in playground.
Nahar Sabah:	15 (most from the same family) die in US air strike.
Muqdadiya:	2 bodies.
Kirkuk
Kirkuk:	roadside bomb kills policeman.
Wassit
Kut:	3 killed by mortars; 2 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	car bombs kill 2; 4 bodies; A suicide car bomber killed 13 Iraqi soldiers after plowing his vehicle into their base in Mosul; 30 soldiers and 12 civilians were wounded in the attack.
Saturday 22 March: 28 dead
Afghanistan:	The district governor of the Khanaqa district in northern Jowzjan province was killed in a knife attack this morning. A highway commander for northern Kunduz province was assassinated late Friday night.
Baghdad:	roadside bomb targeting US patrol kills 2; roadside bomb kills 1, Amin; roadside bomb kills 1, Mansour; 3 bodies.
Salahuddin
Ishaqi:	6 members of neighbourhood patrol killed in US air strikes.
Samarra:	A suicide car bomb hit the house of tribal leader Hussain al-Shatab, killing five people, including his brother, and wounding 11 others
Kirkuk
Kirkuk:	roadside bomb kills 1.
Diyala
Sarajiq:	3 are shot dead in their car.
Buhriz:	1 killed in US air strike.
Baquba:	gunmen kill Ali Hassan, returning displaced, outside his house.
Abu Saida:	Gunmen killed Colonel Akram Awad al-Omairi, commander of a rapid reaction unit of Balad Ruz, outside his home in the town of Abu Saida in Diyala province, police said.
Babil
Hilla:	1 body found.
Mahaweel:	2 bodies found.
Latifiya:	1 body found.
Friday 21 March: 10 dead
Baghdad:	2 bodies.
Salahuddin
Balad:	gunmen kill policeman and 2 bodyguards.
Al-Hoori:	gunmen raid house, kill 1.
Ninewa
Mosul:	roadside bomb kills 3.
Wassit
Kut:	gunmen kill 1.
Thursday 20 March: 20 dead
Afghanistan:	The Taliban released a video showing the suicide bombing of the Sabri district headquarters in Khost province that killed two US soldiers earlier this month.
Baghdad:	5 bodies.
Sulaimaniya
Goezha mountain:	1 body found.
Ninewa
Mosul:	roadside bomb kills policeman; gunmen kill 2 policemen; 2 bodies found (1 decapitated).
Salahuddin
Samarra:	6 killed by US fire.
Wassit
Kut:	2 policemen killed in clashes.
Diyala
Muqdadiya:	civilian is shot dead.
Wednesday 19 March:	48 dead
Baghdad:	gunmen kill father and son, owners of currency exchange office, Karrada; car bomb kills policeman, Karrada; bomb kills taxi driver; 7 bodies.
Diyala
Balad Ruz:	suicide bomber kills 6 in market.
Kirkuk
Hawija:	3 policemen killed by US forces.
Salahuddin
Tikrit:	1 neighbourhood watch shot dead.
Babil
Hilla:	roadside bomb kills 2; another roadside bomb kills 2 policemen.
Basra
Basra:	gunmen kill 17 border guards; gunmen kill policeman.
Karbala
Karbala:	2 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	3 bodies

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ

Name	Date
Circumstances
None counted this week.

src: MNF-I, MNF-A, journalists from icasualties.org; Iraqi Civiilan: iraqbodycount.org; Afghan events from Bill Roggio, other sources

Turning the Page on the "War on Terror"

2008-03-26T14:09:00.003-04:00

TOWARDS A SMART, GLOBAL COUNTERINSURGENCY AND COUNTERTERRORISM DOCTRINE IN THE USA

Badat's case sheds some light on a rarely considered question: Why do some terrorists drop out? We rightly think of al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups as formidable foes, but the stories of would-be killers who bail give us some intriguing clues about fault lines that counterterrorism officials should exploit. The reasons for a change of heart can be strikingly prosaic: family, money, petty grievances. But they can also revolve around shaken ideology or lost faith in a group's leadership.

It's become a truism of counterterrorism that we must understand how and why individuals become jihadists in the first place. But almost nobody is studying the flip side of radicalization -- understanding those who leave terrorist organizations. We'd do well to start. Figuring out why individuals walk away from terrorist groups can help governments predict whether an individual -- or even a cell -- is likely to go through with a plot. Understanding the dropouts should also make it easier for governments to determine which terrorists might be induced to switch sides, help stop radicalization and craft messages that could peel away people already in terrorist organizations. The more we know about why terrorists bail, the better we can fight them.
Michael Jacobson

I think that we can all agree that the neocons, Bush, Condi, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their pronouncements have probably not inspired one "reverse conversion".

Dereliction of Duty

2008-03-26T11:23:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure it would be good for Democratic electoral politics, but this is an irreverent look at the emotions that drove people to "get action" "on Iraq".

This is the quote that caught my eye, mostly:

And many feared that if the United States did not go to war, it might make some hippie, somewhere, happy.

But this is the one that requires the most attention. How it came to pass, post-Reagan, that so many imagined that a full-scale military engagement could be "handled" or "managed", as regular politics or otherwise.

What all of us had in common is probably a simple recognition: War is a big deal. It isn’t normal. It’s not something to take up casually. Any war you can describe as “a war of choice” is a crime. War feeds on and feeds the negative passions. It is to be shunned where possible and regretted when not. Various hawks occasionally protested that “of course” they didn’t enjoy war, but they were almost always lying. Anyone who saw invading foreign lands and ruling other countries by force as extraordinary was forearmed against the lies and delusions of the time.

Still, towering over these emotions was Bush's dereliction of duty, in sending troops in without a firm exit strategy; and, as we now know, without even a competent 'phase three' plan.

To ask for either of these, in the pre-war period, rather than amounting to the most basic and simple of military knowledge aforethought, was an unworthy, presumptuous, or impossible-to-know request, in some quarters.

Last, for all the bluster about being Libertarian, the obvious candidate to run for President under that banner, Ron Paul, doesn't have the courage to do it. What layer of irony is that?

French Realism

2008-03-20T08:17:00.003-04:00

harsh, on the fifth anniversary:

Cinq ans après avoir envahi l'Irak avec 190 000 GI et 60 000 Britanniques - qui ne sont plus que 5 000 -, cinq ans après avoir essayé de réaliser l'impossible rêve néoconservateur d'instaurer la démocratie par la force dans le monde arabe avec, entre autres, l'objectif de renforcer la sécurité d'Israël, cinq ans après avoir débarrassé la région d'une de ses plus brutales dictatures, l'Amérique est embourbée dans une impasse. La "stratégie démocratique" a été abandonnée en chemin, l'ambition n'est plus que de parvenir à stabiliser la situation.
....
Après cinq années de tragédie ininterrompue, ce ne sont pas les 6 000 "soldats" d'Al-Qaida - dernière estimation du renseignement militaire américain - qui maintiennent seuls l'Irak dans la guerre. Ce sont les rivières de sang versé qui polarisent toutes les communautés comme jamais. Que les Américains s'en aillent ou qu'ils demeurent, la stabilisation de la vieille Mésopotamie n'est pas pour demain.

Weekly Casualty Lists: Week 12, Yr OEF+7

2008-03-19T12:18:00.002-04:00

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: MNF-IRAQ

-------

Name, Age

Srv Branch

Hometown

Rank, Unit

Location; Circumstance of Death

MICHAEL D ELLEDGE

U.S. Army

n.a.

Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad

Baghdad (north of); 17-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

Christopher C Simpson

U.S. Army

n.a.

Not reported yet, Multi-National Division - Baghdad

Baghdad (north of); 17-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

William D. O'Brien, 19

U.S. Army

Rice, TX

Specialist, 1st BN, 28th Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

Baghdad; 15-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - small arms fire

Juantrea T. Bradley, 28

U.S. Army

Greenville, NC

Staff Sergeant, 7th Special Troops BN, 7th Sustainment Brigade, (Light Infantry) 10th Mountain Division

Tallil; 12-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - rocket attack

Dustin C. Jackson, 21

U.S. Army

Arlington, TX

Specialist, 350th Adjutant General Company

Tallil; 12-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - rocket attack

Tenzin L. Samten, 33

U.S. Army

Prescott, AZ

Private 1st Class, 7th Special Troops BN, 7th Sustainment Brigade, (Light Infantry) 10th Mountain Division

Tallil; 12-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - rocket attack

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: ISAF-AFGHANISTAN

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Name Not Released Yet	Czech Army	n.a.-Czech
Not reported yet, Not reported yet
Girishk; 17-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Sonny Kappel Jakobsen, 45	Royal Danish Army	n.a.-Denmark
Senior Sergeant, Not reported yet
Girishk; 17-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Christian Jørgen Grundt Damholt, 33	Royal Danish Army	n.a.-Denmark
Captain, Not reported yet
Girishk; 17-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Jason Boyes, 32	Canadian Army	Lake Lynn-Canada
Sergeant, 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI)
Panjawayi; 16-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
Collin J. Bowen, 38	U.S. Army National Guard	Millersville, MD
Staff Sergeant, 1st BN, 175th Infantry Reg, Maryland Army National Guard
Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas; 14-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: IRAQI CIVILIAN, counted by large event

Counted Civilian Casualties: 219 this week; 197 last week; 197 prior week.
Counted bodies found: 60 this week; 96 last week; 96 prior week.
Tuesday 18 March: 28 dead
Baghdad:	roadside bomb kills 2, Shaab; roadside bomb kills 3, Al-Binook; 5 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	car bomb kills 3; 2 bodies.
Diyala
Abu Saida:	roadside bomb kills 3 policemen.
Salahuddin
Al-Athia:	gunmen kill policeman.
Baiji:	2 Sahwa members shot dead; 2 bodies.
Basra
Basra:	2 fishermen shot dead by Iranian patrol while fishing; gunmen open fire on sheikh, kill his driver.
Babil
Iskandariya:	roadside bomb kills member of neighbourhood watch; roadside bomb kills woman.
Monday 17 March: 92 dead
Baghdad:	3 are killed in minibus explosion, Karrada; roadside bomb kills policeman, Mansour; mortar attack kill 5 at soccer field (2 of them children), Ghadeer; mortars hit house, kill 6 children, Sawmar; 7 bodies.
Karbala
Karbala:	suicide bomber kills 52 near shrine.
Basra
Basra:	gunmen kill policeman; woman's body found.
Anbar
Haditha:	gunmen attack checkpoint, kill policeman.
Diyala
Abu Saida:	roadside bomb kills 1.
Ninewa
Mosul:	roadside bomb kills 1; 10 bodies.
Kirkuk
Udhaim:	3 bodies of neighbourhood patrol found.
Sunday 16 March: 26 dead
Baghdad:	car bomb kills 1, Mansour; 5 bodies.
Diyala
Hwedir:	5 policemen die in clashes.
Khanaqeen:	roadside bomb kills Kurd.
Muqdadiya:	2 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen kill 2 policemen; roadside bomb kills 1; 3 bodies -one beloning to 11-year-old boy.
Basra
Basra:	4 bodies.
Wassit
Kut:	2 bodies.
Saturday 15 March: 19 dead
Afghanistan:	A secondary school in Kandahar attended by 1,200 students was burned to the ground by suspected Taliban terrorists.
Baghdad:	2 bodies.
Diyala
Al-Huwayder:	gunmen kill civilian.
3 bodies
Ninewa
Mosul:	truck bomb kills 1 at checkpoint; 3 bodies of 3 brothers found.
Wassit
Kut:	6 die in clashes; gunmen kill 1 during house raid.
Numaniya:	body found.
Babil
Iskandariya:	gunmen kill civilian.
Friday 14 March: 15 dead
Baghdad:	football coach is shot dead, Al-Yarmuk; street sweeper killed by roadside bomb; 2 bodies.
Wassit
Kut:	2 policemen are killed in clashes; motorcycle bomb kills 1; chieftain's son is killed in clashes; bomb strikes minibus, kills 2.
Babil
Hilla:	rockets kill 4.
Ninewa
Rabiya:	suicide bomber kills interpreter at Syrian border.
Thursday 13 March: 39 dead
Afghanistan:	A suicide car bomber detonated near a convoy carrying US troops close the Kabul airport killing at least six civilians and wounding 18.
Baghdad:	car bomb kills 18, Bab al-Sharki; gunmen kill journalist; 3 bodies.
Diyala
Baquba:	civilian killed by gunman.
Salahuddin
Al-Hajaj:	3 Sahwa killed by gunmen.
Tikrit:	gunmen kill policeman.
Baiji:	gunmen kill 2 at checkpoint.
Samarra:	15-year-old girl is shot dead by police who open fire on family car at checkpoint.
Najaf
Najaf:	policeman killed in drive-by shooting.
Kirkuk
Al Zab:	suicide bomber kills 3.
Kirkuk-Rashad highway:	car bomb kills 1.
Wassit
Kut:	2 killed by rockets during clashes.
Ninewa
Daybaka:	1 body found.
Mosul:	abducted Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho is found dead.
Wednesday 12 March:	24 dead
Baghdad:	roadside bomb kills 2, Amin; 4 bodies.
Diyala
Bazaiz Buhrz:	US forces fire warning shot and kill 10-year-old girl.
Benizad:	5 Sahwa shot and beheaded at checkpoint.
Dali Abass:	1 body.
Kanaan-Balad Ruz:	1 body.
Imam Habash:	2 bodies.
Muqdadiya:	2 bodies.
Salahuddin
Baiji:	policeman is shot dead.
Samarra:	3 fuel truck drivers killed by roadside bomb.
Basra
Basra:	gunmen kill ex-Baath member; gunmen kill Sadrist.

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ

Name	Date
Circumstances
Qassim Abdul-Hussein	13-Mar-08
Gunmen killed Qassim Abdul-Hussein, the head of the circulation department for al-Muwatin newspaper, in a drive-by shooting in central Baghdad's Karrada district, said Jabbar Tarrad, the head of the Iraqi journalists' syndicate.

src: MNF-I, MNF-A, journalists from icasualties.org; Iraqi Civiilan: iraqbodycount.org; Afghan events from Bill Roggio, other sources

Fallon was a Freelancer

2008-03-19T08:32:00.002-04:00

Can you believe this crap?

What the hell good is an investment in a professional military, if they cannot offer smart opinions, without challenging the President's authority?

We'd have a far better military to "go to war with" if we had a top brass that didn't feel they had to be Republican yes-men to get ahead or keep a pension.

Russia, Mother Again, Not Father

2008-03-19T07:52:00.002-04:00

An interesting spin on events:

The former republics of the Soviet Union for the most part have completed the process of becoming independent states. These countries have achieved full-fledged statehood and are not at risk of losing that status in the foreseeable future.

The post-Soviet states are entering a new stage of development. During the first phase, each tried to decide which ideological stance would be most advantageous. That is now giving way to a more pragmatic approach. In other words, these countries are reconsidering the previous stereotype that Russia is the bogeyman and that Europe is some kind of paradise.

In the 1990s these countries were focused on resolving problems of basic survival and could not look far beyond their borders. Once that was accomplished, the political elite, comprising nationalist and nomenklatura elements, have turned their attention to finding a place for their countries in the greater political picture.
The Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 was a turning point in the policies of all post-Soviet countries. Moscow's aggressive stance during that period turned out to be so counterproductive that it decided to switch tactics.

How We Must Fight To Give Away Money

2008-03-19T07:48:00.001-04:00

The cost of the war to the U.K.:

In both countries the budgetary costs have been far higher than originally promised. At the onset of war the Blair government “prudently” set aside £1bn (€1.3bn) to cover the costs. But the UK has already spent over £9bn in Iraq alone. This does not include the huge “tail” in overall war costs, such as the impact of looking after the disabled, replenishing equipment and restoring the forces to pre-war strength.
...
The House of Commons defence committee was stunned to discover last week that British spending in Iraq had shot up by 72 per cent during the past year, despite lower troop levels. In 2008 the number of British troops on the ground is scheduled to halve – but the bill will be only slightly lower than last year. This is due to the high fixed costs of keeping anyone there – in terms of security, fuel, medical care and repairing equipment. As long as 2,500 British troops remain in Basra, Britain can expect that the costs of Iraq will not drop appreciably and may yet increase.

The Arab Citizens

2008-03-19T05:52:00.003-04:00

Tempest tossed, they get good info on American military plans:

British and US sources attest that the US Department of Defense has set up a plan to attack Iran, dubbed "Checkmate". An Air Force Strategic Studies Group was entrusted with planning the war, under the leadership of Brigadier-General Lawrence A. Stutzriem and his chief civilian adviser, Dr. Lani Kass, a former Israeli military intelligence officer and expert in electronic warfare (CNN, Sunday Times).
...
[BACKGROUND]
The fact of the matter is that Project "Checkmate" is not new: it was used by the United States in the 1970s against the Soviet Union, and again during the second Gulf War when it drove the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. If this information is mentioned in the media to such an extent, then surely Admiral Fallon must have learned of it from other military sources and decided to submit his resignation - since it is the military leadership which will be held responsible for any failure in war.
...
[CONSIDERATIONS]
Petraeus considers that victory in Iraq will not be possible without a blow to Iran that would reduce its influence. Fallon, on the other hand, views this as a great risk, considering that the backbone of the current government in Bagdad is constituted of Shiite parties loyal to Tehran. There is no telling how they, or the rest of the Islamic world, would react if Petraeus's views were to be implemented.
-Al Hayat

The GOP's Finest

2008-03-19T05:43:00.003-04:00

A Commander-in-Chief seized by fear. No plan (or desire) to build democracy. "Success" not defined by a return of troops ...

Richard Perle, interview with al-jazeera:

The administration looks around and says: "My God, what might happen next?" And the fear that seized senior officials....

So the US went in to Iraq to eliminate that threat, not to build democracy, not to steal Iraq's oil, not for broad geopolitical reasons but because the importance of dealing with that threat became a near obsession of the administration after 9-11.
....
Well I don't measure success by the return of US troops …

Can we afford another GOP administration?

Barnacles on the Iraqi Ship of State

2008-03-17T01:46:00.002-04:00

The terrorist wackos who came to Iraq at the same time as the Americans are now feeling down, but not out.

Richard Perle

2008-03-16T19:57:00.003-04:00

Pity Richard Perle.

He hoped for the best and didn't plan for the rest.

Never crossed his mind that there might be major frictional costs to a war-of-liberation in a land with serious doubts about the liberators, right, wrong, good, or bad and a neighbor anxious to exploit the situation.

Thinks that failing was what happened after the invasion, not with the lack of foresight before it.

Saddam is dead. Maybe a trillion dollars or more in cost later, he still thinks that was worth the good of that justified death, too.

Odierno on the "Plus Up" - Five Years On

2008-03-15T16:45:00.008-04:00

We've (again?) opened the door for moderate Islam, created an invitation to a better world, at great - great - sacrifice (that may never be repaid ten fold).

This is the analogy that I used some four years ago, as a left-liberal conceptualization of the OIF effort, and this is the first that I've seen the military finally come to the same point of view.

At this time, it is still very, very unclear that the struggle inside Islam has tipped in the direction of seizing that moment, and the door cannot remain open indefinitely while we wait.

Many rate the current status of the struggle a draw. While the forces of order are just as strong as the forces of chaos, arguably, outright corruption and otherwise weak institutions continue to be drags on building a new order, as significant as any. How does an army fight corruption?

We are still not at the point when we can say, stay-or-go we haven't "lost", because, in whatever case, we did the right thing for as long as possible/practical:

Let me close by emphasizing that there was much sacrifice to achieve these gains. Let us all never forget those whose lives have been changed forever because of injuries and those who gave their lives fighting for the ideals of liberty as well as their loved ones. Their sacrifices were and are not in vain, and because of them the Iraqis have the right to choose their own destiny.

The gates of freedom remain open today because of our fallen comrades: noble and gallant warriors who gave everything so others can enjoy life, liberty, and happiness. We will honor their memory and remain dedicated to ensuring their sacrifices are never forgotten.

Fallon Yellow Belly?

2008-03-15T04:46:00.001-04:00

MacArthur was notoriously fired by President Truman because he wanted to hurry up and get to total war.

According to the Washington Note, Fallon was swiftly shown the door because he wanted to hurry up and get to resolution that doesn't involve carpet bombs?

AND, the Administration doesn't even want to go to war with Iran.

Therefore:

We threw away a seasoned commander during a time of war, just so George Bush could continue to feel like he is in the big boss boots.

Statistics! They DO Exist .. .{faint}

2008-03-08T22:54:00.001-05:00

some people get them ...

Weekly Security Stats thru Jan 28, Iraq.

Threat Inflation

2008-03-08T22:45:00.001-05:00

Book Review, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race

"Threat inflation," Rhodes writes,

was crucial to maintaining the defense budgets of the Cold War.... Fear was part of the program, the psychological response to threat inflation that delivered reliable votes.

The cold war arms race was not, he argues, a natural condition of the US–Soviet rivalry. Those who claimed to act out of patriotism perpetuated the waste of billions of US tax dollars, squandered the possibility of achieving lasting nuclear security, and weakened America's global standing.

The $5.5 trillion spent on nuclear weapons—"enough to buy everything in the United States except for the land," noted Carl Sagan—was money not invested in domestic needs. Rhodes writes:

Far from victory in the Cold War, the superpower nuclear-arms race and the corresponding militarization of the American economy gave us ramshackle cities, broken bridges, failing schools, entrenched poverty, impeded life expectancy, and a menacing and secretive national-security state.

"Mission Accomplished Stew"

2008-03-06T15:54:00.003-05:00

Scathing satire of Bush's hapless wartime leadership skills:

Sample from Recipe (al-jazeera dot com):

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons, Iraqi extra virgin oil [no olives]
A "sea" of crude oil (and the necessary no-bid contracts to protect it)
Misinformation and disinformation (including Iraqi mushroom [clouds] and 9/11 Saddam links)
Shock 'n awe-tichoke cruise missiles and B-1 bombers (in quantity)
130,000 American troops ([suggest more and] hustled out of the kitchen.)
1 head of Saddam Hussein

"New media: weapons of mass communication?"

2008-03-06T14:33:00.004-05:00

IASF offers up an ongoing "expose" of folks from Afghanistan who have opened up their world through the internet, through blogging.

PhotoStory

I started encouraging young Afghans to blog. I founded and organized the Afghan Association BlogWriters at www.afghanpenlog.com (Farsi) and http://afghanpenlog-en.blogspot.com (English) to promote blogging in

Afghanistan. Afghan Penlog is now a network of Afghan bloggers.

I am organizing a first teaching blog workshop in Kabul for students and journalists shortly. The aim is to develop the Afghan digital media through blogging. We don't have a completely free media; I think we can fill this gap through blogs. Through these, we can practice free speech and build the way to democracy.

Enemy Casualty Lists: Week 10, Year OEF+7

2008-03-06T14:18:00.001-05:00

Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror. Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?
-October, 2003, SecDef Rumsfeld
An Afghan girl looks at paintings depicting women's issues during the first ever women's art exhibition at Amani school in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008. Twenty-three young women artists have displayed 93 of their paintings (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: ENEMY CASUALTIES AND DENTENSIONS IN IRAQ

Counted Enemy Casualties, IRAQ
Counted Captured: 122; Killed: 39; High-value: 6
Friday, February 29, 2008: Captured: 26; Killed: 5; High value: 1
Baghdad	Coalition forces killed five al Qaeda operatives and detained 22 during raids in central and northern Iraq. US solders captured a senior leader of a Special Groups network during an operation in Baghdad’s Beida neighborhood. Iraqi security forces detained a Special Groups leader and two cell members in separate raids in Baghdad and Fahama.
Saturday, March 1, 2008: Captured: 4; Killed: 2; High value: 1
Baghdad; Mosul	US forces killed two Saudi al Qaeda operatives in Mosul and captured a suicide cell leader who recruited women bombers. Coalition forces captured a Special Groups facilitator three operatives in Baghdad.
Sunday, March 2, 2008: Captured: 24; Killed: 13; High value: 2
Mosul	Thirteen al Qaeda fighters and two police were killed in a clash in Tal Afar. Iraqi SWAT captured the leader of an assassination and IED cell and two others in Mosul. Coalition forces detained 20 al Qaeda operatives during raids in central and northern Iraq. Coalition forces also captured a Special Groups leader and three others during a raid in the Numaniyah area.
Monday, March 3, 2008: Captured: 34; Killed: 15; High value: 2
Baghdad	Coalition forces killed five al Qaeda operatives and detained nine during raids in northern and central Iraq, and detained an al Qaeda leader in Baghdad. Coalition forces captured a Special Groups logistical adviser for Wasit province and detained one operative in Al Mashru. Iraqi security forces killed 10 al Qaeda fighters and captured 12 during a series of operations in Diyala province.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008: Captured: 10; Killed: 4
Baghdad; Mosul; Samarra	Coalition forces killed three al Qaeda operatives in central Iraq. Iraqi special forces captured two al Qaeda leaders in Baghdad. Police killed a suicide bomber in Mosul and arrested eight in Samarra.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008: Captured: 24
Basra	Coalition forces detained 22 al Qaeda operatives during raids in northern and central Iraq. Iraqi forces detained two al Qaeda operatives in Wasit province. Basrah police have launched an emergency security plan in the city.
src Bill Roggio - Read - Support

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: ENEMY CASUALTIES AND DENTENSIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

Counted Enemy Casualties, Afghanistan
Counted Captured: ; Killed: ; High-value:
Sunday, March 2, 2008: Captured: 6
Zabul	Afghan and Coalition forces detained six Taliban in a raid in Zabul province.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008; Killed: 7; High value: 1
Ghazni; Helmand	Afghan and Coalition forces confirmed a Taliban leader was killed in Ghazni province on Feb. 25. ""Several"" Taliban were killed during an operation in Gershk district in Helmand province.
src Bill Roggio - Read - Support

Weekly Casualty Lists: Week 10, Yr OEF+7

2008-03-06T14:15:00.000-05:00

Our prolonged, violent, nation-building exercises continue to be quite "hot".

There is a security emergency declared in Basra. ...

IBC counts 975 Iraqi deaths in February, up about 200 from January.

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: MNF-IRAQ

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Hometown
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Christopher S. Frost, 24	U.S. Air Force	Waukesha, WI
Staff Sergeant, 377th Air Base Wing
Bayji; 04-Mar-08; Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Duane Barwood, 41	British Royal Air Force	Carterton, Oxfordshire-UK
Sergeant, 903 Expeditionary Air Wing
Basra; 29-Feb-08; Hostile - hostile fire - rocket attack

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: ISAF-AFGHANISTAN

Name, Age	Srv Branch	Country
Rank, Unit
Location; Circumstance of Death
Steven R. Koch, 23	U.S. Army	Milltown, NJ
Specialist, 1st BN, 508th Parachute Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
Sabari District (Khost province); 03-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide car bomb
Robert T. Rapp, 22	U.S. Army	Sonora, CA
Sergeant, 1st BN, 508th Parachute Infantry Reg, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
Sabari District (Khost province); 03-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - suicide car bomb
Michael Yuki Hayakaze, 25	Canadian Army	n.a.-Canada
Trooper, Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians)
Panjawayi; 02-Mar-08; Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: IRAQI CIVILIAN, counted by large event

Counted Civilian Casualties: 190 this week; 197 last week; 271 prior week.
Counted bodies found: 73 this week; 96 last week; 71 prior week.
Tuesday 5 March: 21 dead
Baghdad:	gunmen kill lorry driver,Shaab; roadside bomb kills 1, Mahmoudiya; 4 bodies.
Salahuddin
Samarra:	suicide car bomb kills 2 Sahwa members.
Balad:	2 villagers are killed by gunmen; roadside bomb kills 1.
Kirkuk
Kirkuk:	gunmen kill academic; roadside bomb kills 1.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen kill 4 policemen; 3 bodies found, one decapitated.
Diyala
Udhaim:	1 killed by roadside bomb.
Tuesday 4 March: 33 dead
Baghdad:	2 bodies.
Diyala
Baquba:	gunmen kill civilian; 1 body found.
Buhriz:	gunmen kill civilian; 1 body found.
Khalis:	1 body found.
Muqdadiya:	15 bodies found in mass grave.
Salahuddin
Al-Hassan:	gunmen kill 2.
Tikrit:	gunmen attack checkpoint, kill 2 Awakening members.
Ninewa
Mosul:	gunmen kill policeman; roadside bomb kills 1; 2 bodies found.
Babil
Latifiya:	1 body found.
Kirkuk
Bastamli:	gunmen kill 2 family members.
Monday 3 March: 79 dead
Baghdad:	car bomb kills 22, Bab al-Muadham; suicide car bomber kills 2, Ghadeer; explosion kills 3, Waziriya; 5 bodies.
Basra
Basra:	gunmen kill police colonel and 3 bodyguards; gunmen kill Badr member and 2 bodyguards; gunmen kill 2 in separate incident.
Salahuddin
Samarra:	18 bodies found.
Huwaish:	car bomb kills 4 children and 2 women.
Diyala
Mahmudiya:	6 bodies found.
Another body found elsewhere in the province.
Baquba:	gunmen kill 2.
Wassit
Numaniya:	gunmen kill policeman.
Ninewa
Shirqat:	suicide car bomber kills 2 policemen.
Mosul:	2 bodies.
Sunday 2 March: 28 dead
Baghdad:	3 bodies.
Diyala
Baquba:	roadside bomb kills policeman trying to defuse it; gunmen kill civilian.
Wajihiya:	roadside bomb kills 6, 2 of them children.
Buhriz:	motorist is shot dead by Iraqi soldiers, after failing to 'respond to checkpoint instructions.'
Muqdadiya:	3 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	car bomb kills civilian.
Shabana:	2 policemen killed in clashes with gunmen.
Salahuddin
Samarra:	car bomb kills 8, a child among them.
Basra
Basra:	woman and child are killed by 'defective' artillery shell fired by UK forces.
Saturday 1 March: 13 dead
Baghdad:	roadside bomb kills 1, Mahmudiya; roadside bomb kills 1, Amriya; 2 bodies.
Kirkuk
Injana:	2 pilgrims (one of them a child) are shot dead inside bus returning from Karbala.
Diyala
Mulla Eid:	Sheikh is killed in clashes.
Udaim:	3 pilgrims are killed when gunmen attack bus.
Anbar
Thira Dijla:	2 bodies.
Ninewa
Mosul:	car bomb kills 1.
Friday 29 February: 16 dead
Afghanistan:	The Talban raided towns in the Arghandab district in Zabul province and conducted kidnappings, beatings, vandalism, and theft.
Baghdad:	2 bodies.
Salahuddin
Samarra:	teenager is killed in US air strike.
Ninewa
Mosul:	roadside bomb kills father and 11-year-old son; gunmen abduct Chaldean Archbishop, kill his 3 companions in the process; gunmen kill judge and lawyer.
Diyala
Baquba:	gunmen kill 2.
Al Guba:	2 bodies.
Kirkuk
Kirkuk:	2 bodies.

WEEKLY CASUALTY LIST: JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ

Name	Date
Circumstances
None counted this week.

src: MNF-I, MNF-A, journalists from icasualties.org; Iraqi Civiilan: iraqbodycount.org; Afghan events from Bill Roggio, other sources

Hunda Brings Changes to Sadr Movement

2008-03-06T14:12:00.002-05:00

Roggio reports that al-Sadr is on the verge of transforming the Mahdi army into a humanitarian group. Juan Cole fleshes out some of the undercurrents in the Sadr movement:

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Muqtada al-Sadr has washed his hands of Ahmad al-Sharifi and Adnan Shahmani. He accused these Sadrist commanders of corruption. Al-Hayat says that the Sadr Movement has witnessed a number of schisms in the 3 weeks since Muqtada al-Sadr renewed the freeze on the activities of Mahdi Army militants. These commanders who peeled off accused Muqtada of being subservient to the Americans. Asma' al-Musawi, a member of the Sadrist politburo, said that Shahmani had formed his own breakaway party. She said that was his right, as long as he dissociated himself from the Sadr movement itself. Al-Sharifi has also formed his own small party, hiving off from the mainstream Sadrists.

Happy To Go Back To "Stone Age" - No Need to Bomb

2008-03-06T13:59:00.003-05:00

The Taliban have destroyed cell phone towers this week. Then I read this, too:

Aid Groups in Pakistan Pack Up After Execution-Style Attack

February 28, 2008 9:26 AM

Gretchen Peters and Habibullah Khan Report:

About half of the aid groups operating in Mansehra district of northwest Pakistan have pulled out or shut down after gunmen staged a brazen and highly sophisticated attack that killed four local employees of a British aid group, according to aid workers and Pakistani officials.

No one has claimed responsibility for Monday's incident, said Mazhar Ul Haq Kakakhel, the police chief for Mansehra district. Pro-Taliban militants have been increasingly active in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province where the execution-style killings took place.

A dozen attackers wearing fatigues and carrying automatic rifles stormed the offices of Plan International and opened fire on its employees. Then they tossed a bomb into the compound and set the place ablaze. Survivors of the attack said two of the assailants appeared to be older and to be commanding the operation.

Beneath the Platitudes on "The Surge"

2008-03-05T15:07:00.003-05:00

Again, left without benchmarks and no systematic data, the public are left grasping for a true picture of the facts on the ground, at the mercy of politicians:

Did this cost Patrick Cockburn anything to write, one wonders? (link to story)

So keen are the authorities to show that Sunni and Shia have stopped killing each other and that violence is down overall that many deaths with an obvious sectarian motive are no longer recorded. ‘I think the real figure for the number of people being killed is about twice what the government says it is,’ one local politician told me. He had just sent the death certificates of some victims of sectarian killers to the military authorities, who refused to admit that anybody had died at the time and place that the bodies were discovered.

Maliki himself went on a walkabout in central Baghdad to demonstrate how safe things have become. However, the precautions taken by his bodyguards suggested otherwise.

Baghdad is entirely divided between Sunni and Shia; the sectarianism is as deep-seated as it was before the fall in violence. In many areas, Iraqis say bitterly, ‘the killing stopped because there was nobody left to kill.’ There are very few mixed neighbourhoods left. The Mehdi Army still exists as a parallel government just beneath the surface in Shia areas, which take up most of the city.

Again, the Iraqi government has tried to prove the opposite. Last November it paid for a highly publicised convoy of buses to bring Iraqis home from Syria, an exercise designed to give the impression that hundreds of people were returning to peaceful Baghdad. It never happened. Three months later, despite much tougher Syrian visa regulations, the flow is still out of Iraq.

It goes on ...

U.N. - Where's the Latest Progress Report?

2008-03-05T14:50:00.002-05:00

After having issues a comprehensive mid-year progress report last year, the U.N. doesn't seem to have issues a year-end update (or even a current update).

The International Compact envisioned a five-year effort.

They really ought to get their reporting off the ground, soon.

The Unlikely Center of American Imperative Abroad

2008-02-29T08:28:00.002-05:00

Mosul:

The town that Petreaus made his name clearing (but not holding) is now being touted as the last urban stronghold of AQI in need of clearing ...

Iraqi Electricity Surges

2008-02-01T06:10:00.001-05:00

Oh, that would be the demand for electricity ... not the supply, which is flat to down, following the "plus up":