| May 21, 2007 Edition |
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Salute to a Memorable MarineWashington PostDan Morse The turnout seemed entirely fitting for a Marine who was described -- with little apparent hyperbole -- as the toughest guy in the house. More than 1,000 mourners, from generals to civilians, packed the Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis yesterday to honor Maj. Douglas A. Zembiec, who was killed last week outside Baghdad. Five hours later, after the sound of taps had faded over his coffin at Arlington National Cemetery, came what Zembiec, 34, might have considered the finest tribute of all. About 40 enlisted men gathered under a tree, telling stories about their former commander. Some had flown in from as far away as California, prompting one officer to observe: Your men have to follow your orders; they don't have to go to your funeral. The men knew firsthand how Zembiec, who lived outside Annapolis, had come to be known as the Lion of Fallujah. The story is one of their favorites. It was 2004, in the Jolan district of Fallujah, and Zembiec was a captain. They were on a rooftop, taking fire from AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. They tried to radio an Abrams tank below to open fire in the direction of the enemy. No good. Zembiec raced down the stairs and out to the street and climbed onto the tank. Gunnery Sgt. Pedro Marrufo, 29, who watched from the rooftop, remembers Zembiec getting a Marine inside the tank to open the hatch. Insurgents shot at Zembiec as he instructed the men in the tank where to fire. Cpl. Chad Borgmann, 28, who went to Zembiec's funeral from Camp Pendleton, Calif., said yesterday that boarding tanks during firefights and similar actions is typically the work of enlisted men. If a lance corporal falls, there are 40 to take his place. But there are fewer captains, Borgmann said, and fewer still who always seemed to be out in front. Full Story |
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| QUOTE OF THE WEEK |
| "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. " Socrates |
| PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS |
Was Osama Right?Islamists always believed the U.S. was weak. Recent political trends won't change their view.Wall Street JournalBernard Lewis During the Cold War, two things came to be known and generally recognized in the Middle East concerning the two rival superpowers. If you did anything to annoy the Russians, punishment would be swift and dire. If you said or did anything against the Americans, not only would there be no punishment; there might even be some possibility of reward, as the usual anxious procession of diplomats and politicians, journalists and scholars and miscellaneous others came with their usual pleading inquiries: "What have we done to offend you? What can we do to put it right?" A few examples may suffice. During the troubles in Lebanon in the 1970s and '80s, there were many attacks on American installations and individuals--notably the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, followed by a prompt withdrawal, and a whole series of kidnappings of Americans, both official and private, as well as of Europeans. There was only one attack on Soviet citizens, when one diplomat was killed and several others kidnapped. The Soviet response through their local agents was swift, and directed against the family of the leader of the kidnappers. The kidnapped Russians were promptly released, and after that there were no attacks on Soviet citizens or installations throughout the period of the Lebanese troubles. Full Story Why They FightAmerican troops don't want to abandon the Iraqi people.Weekly StandardJeff Emanuel THE DEBATE ABOUT the war in Iraq often focuses on America's national security, other countries' opinions of the United States, "what is best for the troops," and, of course, the Bush administration. Only on the rarest of occasions is lip service paid to those who will feel the effects of our decisions on the war most immediately, most acutely, and for the greatest length of time--the Iraqi people. At the end of the day, Americans can, in the short term, simply click off their television sets and forget about the situation in Iraq. For the men, women, and children living there--and the American soldiers fighting for their security--no such option exists. While in Baghdad, I spoke with many soldiers about the current situation and the effect of the American political debate on their lives and actions. Though their views, like those of American civilians, span the spectrum of possible opinions, most of the troops I met had one thing in common: an understanding that the Iraqis need our help--at least in the near term. "'It would be a disaster if you leave now'," said Lt. Colonel James Crider, Squadron commander of the 1-4 Cavalry ("Quarter Cav"). "I've had several Iraqis tell me that. They want us here--not forever, but for now, until they can take care of themselves." Full Story Why U.S. Military Never Leaves Anyone BehindA massive search for three missing GIs highlights the best of the warrior's code - and its consequences.NewsweekEvan Thomas and Larry Kaplow The credo is etched on the dog tags of every U.S. soldier in the 10th Mountain Division: "I will never leave a fallen comrade." Last week, after three members of the unit were ambushed and spirited away south of Baghdad, the U.S. military poured 4,000 American and 2,000 Iraqi troops into the area. As surveillance drones flew overhead and spy satellites snapped images from space, the men searched door to door, offering a $200,000 reward by loudspeaker and detaining hundreds of Iraqis for questioning. They drained a canal and sent out cadaver-sniffing dogs. At FOB Youssifiyeh, battalion headquarters for the missing soldiers, grunts and officers alike told NEWSWEEK that finding their comrades was the most important mission of their military careers. "Easily," said Capt. Christopher Sanchez, 25, a West Pointer from Los Angeles. "Just because I know these guys. They're my friends." Late last week in an interview with the Army Times, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said he knew the kidnappers' names and believed that at least two of the three soldiers were still alive. But they remained missing. "Your soldiers are in our hands. If you want their safety, do not look for them," taunted a group called the Islamic State of Iraq - an umbrella group of Sunni insurgents, including Al Qaeda in Iraq. U.S. military officials tried to keep a brave face on the recovery effort, but some, not speaking on the record for fear of seeming downbeat or defeatist, were asking uncomfortable questions. Why had the soldiers been vulnerable to an ambush? Had their comrades been slow to mount a rescue? How long could they continue to divert massive resources from the larger mission of pacifying Iraq? "Leave no man behind" is an ancient and noble warrior code. It evokes images of bone-weary Marines carrying the frozen corpses of their comrades on the retreat from Chosin Reservoir in Korea, or helicopters zooming in under fire to rescue surrounded Special Forces in Vietnam. But the cost of bringing back the fallen, dead or alive, can be high, as the Americans and especially the Israelis have discovered over the years. Full Story |
| BREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
On Patrol with the Quarter CavA modern day Band of Brothers on the streets of Baghdad.Weekly StandardJeff Emanuel THIS APRIL, I had the honor of being embedded with a brand new Army unit--the 1st Squadron of the 1st Infantry Division's 4th US Cavalry Regiment, from Fort Riley, Kansas. The unit was created in January of 2006, and arrived in Iraq for this, its first combat tour, in February of 2007. As a result, it contains a disproportionately high number of soldiers--officers and enlisted--who are on their first combat tour of any kind; in fact, though they seem like seasoned professionals at this point, privates with fewer than 18 months in the Army abound in the unit's platoons, which are now operating on the front lines in Baghdad. "We are really like the 'Band of Brothers' in some ways," the 1st Brigade Combat Team's Public Affairs Officer (PAO), Major Kirk Luedeke, told me. "Just like the guys from the 101st Airborne Division depicted in [the miniseries], we are learning on the fly in the crucible of combat, and many of our team leaders and squad leaders haven't ever done this kind of thing before. But they're learning quickly and using sound judgment and leadership techniques each day. Full Story Tony Blair's Unshaken LogicWashington PostMichael Gerson The last time I had seen Prime Minister Tony Blair was on July 7, 2005, the day terrorists left a spray of glass and bodies across Tavistock Square in London. Blair, presiding over a Group of Eight summit at a golf resort in Scotland, was at first shaken and subdued. But as he gathered information on the attacks, he visibly gathered resolve. Before heading down to London, he showed me the speech he had written for that evening -- concise, elevated, with a perfect pitch of restrained emotion -- which I was powerless to improve. On Wednesday, sitting in shirtsleeves by the pool at the British Embassy in Washington, Blair recalled that day, along with Sept. 11, 2001, as evidence of a movement with "completely unnegotiable demands" that is "prepared to visit unlimited destruction." "They are prepared to play a long game," he told me, "and they believe that we are not." Blair's impending departure from the game makes that terrorist belief more plausible. Full Story Is freedom failing?Peter BeinartTime Magazine In 1999 Nigerians did something remarkable: they elected a President. After 16 years of military rule and four decades of political and economic failure, Africa's most populous country held a free election. "Globally, things are going democratically," a Lagos slum dweller told the New York Times. "We want to join the globe." It was a good time to get on board. The percentage of democracies in the world had doubled since the 1970s, to more than 60%. Many of the remaining autocracies--pariah states like North Korea, Burma and Iran--seemed to be living on borrowed time. In ideological terms, as Francis Fukuyama famously declared, history was ending--and Nigeria didn't want to be left behind. That was then. But when Nigerians went to the polls again last month, democracy lost. In an orgy of ballot-box stuffing and violence, punctuated by an attempted truck bombing of the electoral-commission headquarters, the ruling party won what some observers thought was the most fraudulent election ever in Nigeria--which is saying something. Once again, Nigeria is catching a wave. From Bangladesh to Thailand to Russia, political freedom is in retreat. In a book due out this fall, Hoover Institution political scientist Larry Diamond notes that "we have entered a period of global democratic recession." Full Story The Insurgent AdvantageNew York TImes Op-EdDavid Brooks The war on terror has shredded the reputation of the Bush administration. It`s destroyed the reputation of Tony Blair`s government in Britain, Ehud Olmert`s government in Israel and Nuri al-Maliki`s government in Iraq. And here`s a prediction: It will destroy future American administrations, and future Israeli, European and world governments as well. That`s because setbacks in the war on terror don`t only flow from the mistakes of individual leaders and generals. They`re structural. Thanks to a series of organizational technological innovations, guerrilla insurgencies are increasingly able to take on and defeat nation-states. Over the past few years, John Robb has been dissecting the behavior of these groups on his blog, Global Guerrillas. Robb is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and Yale University, and he has worked both as a special ops counterterrorism officer and as a successful software executive. Full Story Stakes are high on all sides of an unstable IraqBoston GlobeAhmed Aboul Gheit "IRAQ'S NEIGHBORS have everything at stake here," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said recently to emphasize the link between the future of Iraq and the future of the Middle East. Yet, the region -- Egypt in particular -- needs no reminder of this stark reality. The stakes are indeed high. Iraq's continuous slide into ethnic conflict and internal fragmentation poses enormous challenges for the region's security and stability. If left to fester, Iraq's sectarian fault lines will spill beyond its borders. The growing vacuum left by the breakdown of central authority will be filled by the rising influence of ethnic and tribally based militias. Iraq's neighbors will strive to fill that vacuum, thus increasing the propensity for regional intervention in Iraq's internal affairs, both to prevent the chaos from spreading to their own borders, and to cultivate proxies among Iraq's protagonists to increase their influence. All this will turn Iraq into a regional hub for terrorism similar to -- if not worse than -- that which prevailed in Afghanistan during the 1990s as it disintegrated into civil war in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal. In such an environment, the region's aspirations for a better future will no doubt be challenged. Egypt has long recognized the link between regional stability and internal reform. After pioneering the path of peace that resulted in our peace treaty with Israel, Egypt embarked on a process of internal transformation from a centrally managed economy to one based on the private sector that achieved a 7 percent rate of growth; from a single-party political system to one based on multi-party pluralism. We know full well that sustaining this transformation requires a conducive regional environment; one that faces a profound challenge in the form of a collapsing Iraq. Full Story |
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A Shining Model of Wealth Without LibertyWashington PostJames Mann As the United States has been bleeding popularity and influence around the world, China has been gaining both. That's largely because it has been coming into its own as the first full-blown alternative since the end of the Cold War to Washington's model of free markets and democracy. As the U.S. model has become tarnished, China's has gained new luster. For authoritarian leaders around the world seeking to maintain their grip on power, China increasingly serves as a blueprint. We're used to thinking of China as an economic miracle, but it's also becoming a political model. Beijing has shown dictators that they don't have to choose between power and profit; they can have both. Today's China demonstrates that a regime can suppress organized opposition and need not establish its legitimacy through elections. It shows that a ruling party can maintain considerable control over information and the Internet without slowing economic growth. And it indicates that a nation's elite can be bought off with comfortable apartments, the chance to make money, and significant advances in personal, non-political freedoms (clothes, entertainment, sex, travel abroad). Full Story Young Militants Give New Muscle to KremlinNewsweekOwen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova The attacks came in crushing waves. Hours after Estonia removed a statue of a World War II-era Soviet soldier from Tallinn on April 27, a virtual blitzkrieg struck the tiny Baltic nation's computer systems. Massive onslaughts of spam brought down the Web sites of government agencies, banks and news services and paralyzed large parts of Estonia's cyber-reliant economy. NATO sent emergency Internet security assistance to defend the embattled member state. The Kremlin denied any role in the assault, whose source had yet to be positively identified as the electronic bombardment finally subsided last week. Even so, the Russians have not tried to hide their rage against Estonia. On the contrary, the Kremlin has rolled out its newest weapon in the drive to reclaim Russia's bygone regional dominance: a shadowy youth movement known as Nashi (Russian for "ours"). Full Story Influx of Al Qaeda, money into Pakistan is seenLA TimesGreg Miller A major CIA effort launched last year to hunt down Osama bin Laden has produced no significant leads on his whereabouts, but has helped track an alarming increase in the movement of Al Qaeda operatives and money into Pakistan's tribal territories, according to senior U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the operation. In one of the most troubling trends, U.S. officials said that Al Qaeda's command base in Pakistan is increasingly being funded by cash coming out of Iraq, where the terrorist network's operatives are raising substantial sums from donations to the anti-American insurgency as well as kidnappings of wealthy Iraqis and other criminal activity. The influx of money has bolstered Al Qaeda's leadership ranks at a time when the core command is regrouping and reasserting influence over its far-flung network. The trend also signals a reversal in the traditional flow of Al Qaeda funds, with the network's leadership surviving to a large extent on money coming in from its most profitable franchise, rather than distributing funds from headquarters to distant cells. Full Story In Qaeda ClutchesNew York PostAndy Geller An al Qaeda-led group yesterday said it seized three U.S. soldiers during a deadly attack on their patrol. The group, Islamic State in Iraq, announced it was holding the soldiers on one of the war-ravaged country's deadliest days in weeks. At least 126 people were killed or found dead. In northern Iraq, a suicide truck bomb destroyed the offices of a Kurdish political party, killing 50 people. A car bombing in a crowded Baghdad market took the lives of another 17. Four thousand U.S. troops joined the search for the captured soldiers in insurgent areas south of Baghdad. U.S. troops surrounded the town of Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, and told residents over loudspeakers to stay inside. Full Story Don't Abandon the IraqisThe high stakes of the war.Weekly StandardFrederick W. Kagan From time to time, nations face fundamental tests of character. Forced to choose between painful but wise options, and irresponsible ones that offer only temporary relief from pain, a people must decide what price they are willing to pay to safeguard themselves and their children and to do the right thing. America has faced such tests before. Guided by Abraham Lincoln, we met our greatest challenge during the Civil War and overcame it, despite agonizing doubts about the possibility of success even into 1864. The Greatest Generation recovered from the shock of Pearl Harbor and refused to stop fighting until both Germany and Japan had surrendered unconditionally. A similar moment is upon us in Iraq. What will we do? America has vital national interests in Iraq. The global al Qaeda movement has decided to defeat us there--not merely to establish a base from which to pursue further tyranny and terror, but also to erect a triumphant monument on the ruins of American power. Full Story |
| TACTICAL TRAINING & INTELLIGENCE RESOURCES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
Mirror Image Training: Training to Combat TerrorismMirror Image is a tactical and strategic training course developed and owned by the Terrorism Research Center. TRC instructors have trained hundreds of military personnel that are subsequently deployed to active combat operations, as well as large numbers of first responders, law enforcement, and security professionals. Mirror Image is an intensive one-week classroom and field-training program, designed to realistically simulate terrorist recruiting, training techniques, and operational tactics. During the course, participants will receive insight into the mindset and rationale of the terrorist through hands-on experience with the methods and means terrorist employ, education about terrorist ideologies and the cultural dimensions that influence their decision making process. Military, law enforcement, intelligence, and security professionals will, in turn, be able to see themselves as the terrorists see them and understand the weaknesses in their own environment that the terrorists will seek to exploit, and which all too often they miss. Armed with these insights participants will leave the course better able to anticipate, prevent and respond to multiple terrorist threats. June 17-22, 2007: Blackwater Training Center, Moyock, NC A detailed brochure may be downloaded at: www.terrorism.com Questions on TRC training, please contact Betty O'Hearns-Hines, Training Coordinator for the Terrorism Research Center. Email: betty@terrorism.com Phone: (727)360-4302 voice or (727)409-1754 The Responder Knowledge Base: An Invaluable Guide for Emergency RespondersThe administrative details of emergency response are taxing on our nation's law enforcement, firefighter, and EMS personnel. Time is lost mulling over the details of responder equipment, government grants, recommended training, etc...The Responder Knowledge Base (RKB) was created to help relieve this logistical burden. Funded by the Department of Homeland security through the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, the mission of this free service is "To provide Emergency Responders, purchasers, and planners with a trusted, integrated, on-line source of information on products, standards, certifications, grants, and other equipment-related information." In collaboration with the InterAgency Board (IAB) and subject matter experts, the RKB has established an online "first-stop" for responders, collating information from sources once scattered though numerous cumbersome databases. Content includes the DHS Authorized Equipment List, the IAB Standardized Equipment List, nearly 4,000 products, operational suitability testing for hundreds of products, the results of the DHS radiation detector testing, a decontamination efficacy matrix, Lessons Learned and Information Sharing documents, Homeland Security Grant Program information, responder training, and more. The ability to "Ask an Expert" on the RKB provides responders with a reliable resource for all responder-related questions. Additionally, the ability of RKB users to provide offline "User Opinions" helps further increase the utility of the RKB. With its vast content and sophisticated integration scheme, the RKB succeeds in helping responders answer all their equipment related needs.Please register with the RKB at www.rkb.mipt.org View the IAB website at www.iab.gov | |
| FRANKS REVIEW |
Tactical Equipment EvaluationThe Oldest DebateIt is quite entertaining at times to be in the company of those who know firearms. Everyone has an educated opinion and we type A personalities don't tend to be tactful in how we represent our opinion. I've enjoyed listening to some truly great minds in the firearms field debate the pros and cons of the .45ACP versus the 9mm. In the past few years the debate has grown to include the .40S&W, the .357Sig and now the .45GAP. Being highly presumptuous and arrogant, I'm going to way in with my two cents worth on the pros and cons of the various calibers and loadings and offer my outlook on what I believe the best is.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/guns/theoldestdebate.htm Recreational Equipment ReviewThe Poncho HoochIn several past articles I've referred to my surplus military poncho as a good emergency shelter item. In fact, it's been included in at least five articles as recommended equipment, and it's been referred to in many more than that. In response to several of those articles I've gotten emails from folks who said, "What you say is nice; but pictures would help." Point taken. This week I got my poncho out and set it up in the three different configurations I know of to use it as an emergency shelter. Below I'll describe all three ways and offer up what I believe to be the strengths and weaknesses of each.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/recevals/campback/ponchohooch.htm r/t
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| CHAPLAINS CORNER |
TWO WORLDSThis day has been busy. Then, when I sat down to rest and eat, a sadness overwhelmed me. Not a day goes by without my receiving news of the deaths of one or more Peace Keepers. I am a very happy man... Also a Spirit filled Christian called to minister to others... I live with a paradox... At the very same instant there lives within me two opposing conditions of Spirit... One of great Joy and Happiness, even exaltation and gladness beyond comprehension... the other of impelling grief and sadness that can be very heavy to experience.The Joy and happiness is because I belong to and work in concert with the Living God, my Commander-In-Chief... The grief and sadness are for the conditions of the world in which I must live and function... In my case that includes the world of peace keeping with the accompanying great cost of the maintenance of Life, Liberty and the Right to pursue Happiness... The great cost in injury and death to the Peace Keepers who go forth to do the job that needs to be done so that others may live and prosper. I grieved this morning for the three soldiers missing in Iraq... Grieved because I know the great cost they have suffered. I grieved also for the missing Constable in South Carolina who has been missing several days since he made a traffic stop and citizens reported hearing shots. He disappeared and never responded to radio calls to check on him. Added to these were the ones whose injury and death, of which I have been informed in just this week alone... In addition, all of the others who have preceded them this month and this year. I must keep them all close to my heart along with all of you who are alive and yet remaining and still functioning... plus all of your families and loved ones. Some good news... This week I received information that I am accepted for the second job for which I applied. I start the first one next week as a Citizen Patrol Aide walking the resort strip, working day shift to assist police officers and citizens who have needs for service and assistance. Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2007/article/052107chaplain.htm
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The Blackwater Tactical Weekly is a free weekly e-publication. The BTW provides readers valuable information from diverse sources regarding tactical and strategic security issues. Editor-in-Chief – Gary Jackson (btw@blackwaterusa.com) Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training
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