| July 23, 2007 Edition |
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The 9/11 GenerationDean BarnettWeekly Standard In the 1960s, history called the Baby Boomers. They didn't answer the phone. Confronted with a generation-defining conflict, the cold war, the Boomers--those, at any rate, who came to be emblematic of their generation--took the opposite path from their parents during World War II. Sadly, the excesses of Woodstock became the face of the Boomers' response to their moment of challenge. War protests where agitated youths derided American soldiers as baby-killers added no luster to their image. Few of the leading lights of that generation joined the military. Most calculated how they could avoid military service, and their attitude rippled through the rest of the century. In the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, military service didn't occur to most young people as an option, let alone a duty. But now, once again, history is calling. Fortunately, the present generation appears more reminiscent of their grandparents than their parents. I've spent much of the past two weeks speaking with young people (and a few not-so-young) who have made the decision to serve their country by volunteering for the military. Some of these men have Ivy League degrees; all of them are talented and intelligent individuals who--contrary to John Kerry's infamous "botched joke" ("Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq")--could have chosen to do anything with their lives. Having signed up, they have either gone to Iraq or look forward to doing so. Not surprisingly, the mainstream media have underreported their stories. Full Story |
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| QUOTE OF THE WEEK |
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A man's feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world. George Santayana |
| PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS |
Keep on Surgin'Bush is beating them back.Weekly StandardWilliam Kristol President Bush is absolutely right. But in a way his admonition to Congress at his press conference last week was unfair. He's correct that Congress can't run a war. But this Congress doesn't want to run a war. It wants to lose a war. Congress can, in principle, achieve this, and the Democrats who control this Congress are doing their best to bring it about. In the process, congressional Democrats are also doing a good job of re-McGovernizing their party. Last week, 95 percent of Democrats in the House voted in favor of legislation requiring that the United States withdraw most combat troops from Iraq by April 1, 2008. The notion that their party is serious about any policy alternative other than getting out and giving up is becoming unsustainable. It may be, though, that calling this the re-McGovernization of that party is unfair to George McGovern--especially as his friends assembled in Washington this weekend to celebrate his 85th birthday. It is worth noting, after all, that Vietnam wasn't nearly as central to U.S. security interests as Iraq--and that McGovern had a coherent, if mistaken, world view that guided his actions in a principled way. So it would be unjust to George McGovern to call these Democrats McGovernites. We'll just call them Defeatists, who are willing to ensure a US defeat for the sake of destroying the Bush administration. The Defeatist Democrats have lots of support from the mainstream media, most of whom have simply given up on reporting the war or analyzing arguments about the war. Actually, the newsmen who know something, like John F. Burns and Michael R. Gordon of the New York Times, have produced some terrific reporting. But run-of-the-mill foreign policy and White House reporters have little interest in what is actually happening in Iraq, or in a real consideration of the likely outcomes of different policy options. They're not even reporting what's happening in Washington. They're simply committed to discrediting the war and humiliating the Bush administration. Full Story Fact or Fiction?Worldwide StandardThe New Republic runs a piece in this week's issue titled "Shock Troops" (sub. req.) and authored by Scott Thomas--described by the magazine as a "pseudonym for a soldier currently serving in Baghdad." "Thomas" is the author of two previous dispatches from Iraq for the New Republic, both of which recount deeply disturbing anecdotes (in one, an Iraqi boy who calls himself James Bond has his tongue cut out for talking to Americans; in the other, dogs feast on a corpse in the street). His latest piece is even more disturbing. It recounts several instances of gross misconduct by the men in his unit, some of which are, to echo the title of his piece, deeply shocking--If they are true--a big if, according to several people with experience in Iraq. One described it to me as sounding like a "pastiche of the 'This is no bullshit . . . stories soldiers like to tell." The first episode puts "Thomas"'s unit at a "chow hall" at an unnamed base. A woman eating there is wearing "an unrecognizable tan uniform, so I couldn't really tell whether she was a soldier or a civilian contractor." The woman's face is described as having been "more or less melted, along with all the hair on that side of her head," by an IED. She sits down for lunch next to the men. Here's how "Thomas" describes what happens next: Full Story Policing TerrorismNew York Times BOOK REVIEW The original book review appeared in Swat Digest. Immediately after I picked up my copy of The World’s Most
Dangerous Places (which I did on whim, having, to my shame,
never heard of it before) I went on line to look for reviews. The
first one was largely unintelligible, having been written, apparently,
by a Kenyan skateboarder who spoke very little English. The second
one, however, was more useful. It said, and I quote, “…written
in a piquant and personal style that delivered crisp, insightful,
and useful information, it reports what other guides—and our
government—won’t tell you...” . |
| BREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL |
Iran Is Found To Be a Lair of Al QaedaNY SunEli Lake One of two known Al Qaeda leadership councils meets regularly in eastern Iran, where the American intelligence community believes dozens of senior Al Qaeda leaders have reconstituted a good part of the terror conglomerate's senior leadership structure. That is a consensus judgment from a final working draft of a new National Intelligence Estimate, titled "The Terrorist Threat to the US Homeland," on the organization that attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The estimate, which represents the opinion of America's intelligence agencies, is now finished, and unclassified conclusions will be shared today with the public. The classified document includes four main sections, examining how Al Qaeda in recent years has increased its capacity to stage another attack on American soil; how the organization has replenished the ranks of its top leaders; nations where Al Qaeda operates, and the status of its training camps and physical infrastructure. The judgment that Iran has hosted Al Qaeda's senior leadership council is likely to draw some criticism from those outside the government who doubt Iran plays a significant role in bolstering Sunni jihadist terrorism. Iran's Shiite Muslims are considered infidels by the Salafi sect of Sunnis that comprise Al Qaeda. Full Story US General in Iraq Speaks Strongly Against Troop PulloutNew York TimesJohn Burns An American general directing a major part of the offensive aimed at securing Baghdad said Sunday that it would take until next spring for the operation to succeed, and that an early American withdrawal would clear the way for "the enemy to come back" to areas now being cleared of insurgents. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commanding 15,000 American and about 7,000 Iraqi troops on Baghdad's southern approaches, spoke more forcefully than any American commander to date in urging that the so-called troop surge ordered by President Bush continue into the spring of 2008. That would match the deadline of March 31 set by the Pentagon, which has said that limits on American troops available for deployment will force an end to the increase by then. "It's going to take us through the summer and fall to deny the enemy his sanctuaries" south of Baghdad, General Lynch said at a news briefing in the capital. "And then it's going to take us through the first of the year and into the spring" to consolidate the gains now being made by the American offensive and to move enough Iraqi forces into the cleared areas to ensure that they remain so, he said. Full Story Naval GazingA top-gun fantasy comes true.Wall Street Journal Op-EdBret Stephens ABOARD THE USS HARRY S. TRUMAN--An hour before dusk, the air crew of the USS Truman--several hundred men and women of every rank and job description--gathers at the front end of the deck to walk its 1,100-foot length, looking for tiny pieces of debris. A stray piece of metal sucked into the intake of a fighter jet could cause catastrophic damage to the plane and the pilot and terrible damage to the ship. "We don't think of this as a dangerous business," says Rear Adm. Bill Gortney, an F-18 pilot who also commands the Truman's battle group of cruisers, destroyers and submarines. "It's just a terribly unforgiving one." On this particular evening, however, the rigors of Navy life seem briefly to melt away. From the foredeck I see a school of dolphins leaping from the water; off to starboard, whales are just breaking the surface. The deck is nearly clear except for a detachment of Seahawk helicopters that has returned from an anti-submarine warfare exercise. Activity will resume at a frenetic pace later tonight as the carrier undergoes qualification exercises. But for now the Truman seems remarkably serene and oddly small, a dot in the ocean tracing a southerly course 100 miles off the Virginia shore. Full Story Opposing view: Strategy shows progressUSA TodayStephen J. Hadley On Thursday, the White House submitted a report to Congress assessing the progress Iraq has made so far in meeting 18 benchmarks laid out in the supplemental war spending bill. The report showed satisfactory progress on eight benchmarks, and eight areas where progress was not satisfactory. On two, it is too early to give an assessment. This type of mixed results is not surprising at the beginning of an operation - Gen. David Petraeus' strategy has been operating with full troop strength for less than a month. Under a strategy based on providing security first to facilitate political progress, it is not unexpected that an initial assessment would show more progress toward security than political goals. The Iraqis still have more work to do, and we must continue to hold them accountable for their commitment to achieve political progress. But America must be willing to stand with this young democracy and help provide the stability it needs to move forward to provide security for its people and be an ally against terrorists who want to threaten us here at home. Full Story An Iraq for All IraqisWashington PostHayder Karim When one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, the Askariya shrine in my birthplace of Samarra, Iraq, was bombed again last month, I was asleep in a hotel steps away from the United Nations. Again, I woke to grief. This, alas, is a familiar routine. I am an Iraqi. I am 31, and I have lived with war nearly every day of my life. Yet earlier last month, I stood among a dozen Iraqi religious leaders -- Sunni and Shiite -- during a conference at the United Nations and forged a commitment to peace. I embraced my Iraqi brothers and sisters. We testified publicly about our commitment to building a peaceful Iraq for all Iraqis. And while I frequently wake in sorrow for the country I love, I still hold in my heart a great passion -- and real hope -- for peace. I know many Americans see only a divided Iraq. But I believe that Iraqis working together can forge an alliance for reconciliation and reconstruction. I am my parents' eldest son. My father, a Shiite, is a retired military officer; my mother, a Sunni, is a primary school science teacher. For 150 years, members of my family have been religious leaders -- Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish. This used to be the way of things, one group marrying another, immigrating into each other's regions. There was no question of where one belonged. Full Story |
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The 20 Percent SolutionWashington PostCharles Krauthammer Amid the Senate's all-night pillow fight and other Iraq grandstanding, real things are happening on the ground in Iraq. They consist of more than just a surge of U.S. troop levels. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have engaged us in a far-reaching and fundamental political shift. Call it the 20 percent solution. Ever since the December 2005 Iraqi elections, the United States has been waiting for the central government in Baghdad to pass grand national accords on oil, federalism and de-Baathification to unify and pacify the country. The Maliki government has proved too sectarian, too weak and perhaps too disposed to Iranian interests to rise to the task. The Democrats cite this incapacity as a reason to give up and get out. A tempting thought, but ultimately self-destructive to our interests. Accordingly, Petraeus and Crocker have found a Plan B: pacify the country region by region, principally by getting Sunnis to join the fight against al-Qaeda. Full Story How to Leave IraqTimeMichael Duffy There are two big schools of thought about what the U.S. should do next in Iraq, and both schools are almost certainly wrong. The first, represented by many congressional Democrats, argues that it is past the time for America to leave. The best thing that could happen now is for the U.S. to pull out as quickly as possible, force the Iraqis to take control of their destinies and compel the oil-rich gulf states in the neighborhood to get off the sidelines. In this view, leaving Iraq would deny al-Qaeda its best recruiting tool, a large U.S. military presence in the Middle East. Along the way, the U.S. could save the $10 billion a month that it is spending on the war and rescue the U.S. Army and Marine Corps before they both collapse. To the other school, it's just as clear that the only possible course is to continue to fight for as long as it takes. Espoused by Bush Administration officials, the contention of this group is that by withdrawing from Iraq, we'd unleash a bloodbath, hand al-Qaeda and Iran huge victories, destabilize the Persian Gulf and empower terrorists everywhere to attack our allies and our homeland. In the face of those dangers, say the White House and its backers, America has no choice but to remain in Iraq until a democracy emerges from the chaos of the Middle East - a project they openly acknowledge is the work of a generation. Full Story Religious PoliticsNewsweekOwen Matthews To hear Turkey's opposition tell it, this weekend's parliamentary election represents nothing less than a battle for the soul of the country. On one side stands Ankara's ruling Justice and Development Party, or AK Party (AKP), a party that has its roots in political Islam and which opponents accuse of harboring a secret fundamentalist agenda to undermine Turkey's strict separation between religion and public life. On the other are a fractious group of left- and right-wing parties united by only two things: a conviction that the AKP is not doing enough to defend Turkey's national interests against Kurdish terrorists and European Union bureaucrats, and a passionate opposition to any manifestation of political Islam. Turkey's nationalists are nothing if not vocal. As soon as parliamentary elections were called in May, middle-class secularist voters in their hundreds of thousands took to the streets in a series of mass rallies in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir to protest against Sharia (Islamic law). Carrying portraits of their country's secularist founder, Kemal Ataturk, and draped in a sea of red Turkish flags, the protesters denounced the AKP for its alleged Islamism. WE DO NOT WANT TO LIVE IN IRAN! proclaimed one banner carried by a woman in jeans and a T shirt in Istanbul. WE DO NOT WANT TO WEAR THE VEIL! read another. Full Story Now, An American Vision for IraqWashington PostCharles Krauthammer Amid the Senate's all-night pillow fight and other Iraq grandstanding, real things are happening on the ground in Iraq. They consist of more than just a surge of U.S. troop levels. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have engaged us in a far-reaching and fundamental political shift. Call it the 20 percent solution. Ever since the December 2005 Iraqi elections, the U.S. has been waiting for the central government in Baghdad to pass grand national accords on oil, federalism and de-Baathification to unify and pacify the country. The Maliki government has proved too sectarian, too weak and perhaps too disposed to Iranian interests to rise to the task. The Democrats cite this incapacity as a reason to give up and get out. A tempting thought, but ultimately self-destructive to our interests. Accordingly, Petraeus and Crocker have found a Plan B: pacify the country region by region, principally by getting Sunnis to join the fight against al-Qaeda. Full Story Petraeus Is Talking; Is Anyone Listening?Investors Business DailyIt's pathetic when a major political party holds a pajama party to publicize its desire to surrender during a war. But it's even worse when such shenanigans drown out a vital message from a real leader. In the end, it was a cheap PR stunt that came undone when the Senate voted not to cut off debate on a proposal to begin withdrawing troops within 120 days. Such maneuvers have earned the Democrat-led Congress the American public's contempt. They've rewarded this Congress with a 14% approval rating - the lowest ever. Unfortunately, the noise from Congress' pajama-clad know-nothings drowned out a truly important voice in this debate: that of Gen. David Petraeus. In case you don't know, he's the innovative commander who is spearheading our war effort in Iraq and the "surge" of 28,500 additional troops. Full Story |
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| FRANKS REVIEW |
Tactical Equipment EvaluationDuraCoat: 3.5 Year Wear ReportAbout three and a half years ago I had some of my guns duracoated by R-Squared Custom Gun Finishing located in St. Mary's County, Maryland. That time frame, when considering the handling of the weapons, represents hundreds of presentations, thousands of rounds fired (100s for the shotgun) and lots of cleaning. I figured it was about time to take a look at how well the DuraCoat finishing was holding up on the weapons involved. For me that's a shotgun, an AR rifle and a trio of Glock pistols.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/other/duracoatrev.htm
Recreational Equipment Review"Hundred Dollar Baby" by Robert B. ParkerI have been a fan of the writing of Robert B. Parker for a long time. His series of books about the character Spenser (used for a television show back in the day) is an excellent resource for honorable behavior and for entertainment. Parker's latest Spenser novel, "100 Dollar Baby" is typical Spenser, but may be showing a reduced lack of enthusiasm on Parker's part for this veteran character. After all, now he has Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall to write about as well.Full Story Can Be Viewed At: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/recevals/recreading/100dolbaby.htm |
| CHAPLAINS CORNER |
A POINTForever ago a Basic School Instructor made a point that has stuck in my operating mechanism ever since... "Once you start an arrest follow through to completion. If you do not intend to make the arrest, do not threaten to arrest. Do not warn people that you are going to arrest them. Tell them that they are under arrest and do it!" This information has carried me through many confrontations with people who needed to be handled in different ways. Some needed to be arrested and were arrested. Some needed to vent their frustrations and were allowed to do so as long as they did not endanger anyone and cooled down in the process. Some needed educating... They received education if they would listen... Some would not listen and were arrested because they would not learn and be peaceful when warned that they were violating the law. This week as I was meditating upon the war in Iraq my thoughts followed a similar line of thinking. Iraq was warned that we would invade if certain things did not change. They did not change to the satisfaction of our leaders of the time and we invaded... over four years and many lives and casualties ago. I am not always a good diplomat... I probably would not have warned the Iraqi government if I had the evidence our leaders claimed to have. I am not surprised that we found no weapons of mass destruction... They had plenty of time after the warning before we acted. Were the weapons of mass destruction there? I don't know but those we are supposed to trust said they had the evidence. http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2007/article/072307chaplain.htm |
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