The Tipping Point

It’s as if the MSM still doesn’t understand that we are watching every day, every show, every column, and every wire report. I was amused last night to watch Ted “list the dead” Koppel and Tom “sky is falling” Friedman gleefully stuffing their faces with crow. I don’t know how they were able to speak while spitting all of those black feathers out, but somehow they managed. The topic of Nutline: Iraq, the Tipping Point. Three weeks after the fact they came together to note with very little in the way of surprise (surprisingly!) that the overwhelming success of the Iraqi elections ought to be seen as a seminal event in the Iraq War. How profound. It was as if they had known all along that the Iraqi people, like all humans since the dawn of Creation, yearn for freedom, and given the opportunity, would jump at the chance to grasp it despite the inherent risks. They went further to relate the historic concessions being made in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and popular uprisings in Lebanon against the Syrians correctly as outflows from the wave of freedom that began in Afghanistan, is cresting in Iraq, and is poised to crash along the shores of Middle Eastern despots from Morocco to Central Asia. Funny, I don’t remember hearing much of that rhetoric from those gentlemen over the past two years.

The titanic proportion of their collective wrongness is difficult to quantify with existing technology, but alas, I will make an attempt. What message was Mssr. Koppel conveying when he dedicated an entire episode of his long running liberal screed, er show to reading the names and showing the pictures of fallen US troops in Iraq? I dare say it was not a vote of confidence for the idea of the war, its goals, purposes, or intended outcomes. It was an election year ploy to cut the President off at the knees for having the courage and forbearance to face threats to the US with boldness and vision. A vision that Mssr. Koppel did not at that point possess, but plainly acknowledges today.

And then there is Mssr. Friedman; perched atop the Ivory Tower of liberal “thought” at the venerable Gray Lady. I recall that he has been somewhat less than supportive of the idea that transforming Iraq from dictatorship to democracy at the point of a gun would even be possible let alone contagious. What he failed to comprehend then and yet must freely acknowledge now is that the Iraqi people’s defiance of terrorist threats by claiming their franchise was the only action sufficient to frame the insurgency in its proper light, a small minority of mindless killers and disgruntled Baathists.

I was not amused by their failure to grasp what 52% of America has always understood. I didn’t find the rank hypocrisy of the entire program all that funny either. The part that made me giggle was the total lack of awareness that they had both been so horribly and irretrievably wrong on so many levels and for such a long time. They were expounding on the reality of the situation in the region as if they had known all along it was going to turn out that way. Sure, they offered caveats and outs for themselves, but that was only an act of appeasement to what must be a daily growing legion of liberals who have the creeping suspicion that everything they “know” about the President and the War on Terror is wrong. The question now is what are these people going to do with that knowledge? One of two things I suspect. I hope that many of them like many of my readers (Peg C. et al) will complete the transformation from foaming at the mouth moonbat to foreign policy realist. I expect that many more will endure their crow in silence choosing to ask their barkeep, Howard Dean, for another shot of Kool-Aid to help choke down another bitter dish.

In the execrable words of Kos, “Screw them.”

UPDATE: Martin Kettle writing in the Guardian makes my point with startling aplomb...

The [Iraq] war was a reckless, provocative, dangerous, lawless piece of unilateral arrogance. But it has nevertheless brought forth a desirable outcome which would not have been achieved at all, or so quickly, by the means that the critics advocated, right though they were in most respects.

Schizophrenic liberalism at its finest folks!

h/t Belmont Club

Never Get Out of the Boat

In Moorpark this morning it was, “Never go out of your house!” Because you might be eaten by a Tiger! As if torrential rains, mudslides, flooding, and gridlock was not enough for Southern California, some poor family woke up this morning to find an F*ing Tiger prowling in their yard! That’s right; a 425 pound Bengal Tiger has been loose in the mountains nearby the Reagan Library for several days.

Apparently, some yahoo was running a “shelter” for several large African and Asian cats in the area. He was raided by California Fish and Game Wardens last week, and it was subsequently discovered that one of the big boys was off the reservation. There has been very little reporting of late about the raid, the Tiger’s escape, and the relationship between those events. I wonder which event precipitated which, and since the Fish and Game people aren’t saying, I suspect that there might be some culpability there.

After the certainly terrified Moorpark residents reported the beast’s location, Moorpark PD set up a “perimeter” and called Fish and Game. That would be a sitting in your squad car perimeter I should think! Anyway, somebody with a rifle and a steady aim showed up and felled the creature on a soggy hillside soon afterward. Watching the “live shot” on TV this morning I couldn’t help but notice one of the bimbos on the local Fox affiliate exclaiming that it was, “so wrong” that the Tiger was killed. She wondered aloud, as bimbos often do, why they couldn’t have used a tranquilizer gun? Well maybe it was because prior to this morning nobody knew exactly what was out there, where it was, and when it would be encountered. It’s not like California Game Wardens have the experience and equipment of their equivalents working in the Shaba Game Reserve in Kenya. Besides, when African game wardens tranquilize big cats, it’s for research purposes with the intention of testing them onsite being a safe distance away when the thing wakes up and GOES BACK HOME. There was no home for a 425 pound Tiger in the Ventura County foothills to go back to. When a hungry Tiger is discovered in the midst of a residential area a couple hundred feet from a public park with soccer fields, you shoot the damn thing.

What a Putz

On February 19th the Navy Commissioned the USS Total Failure; I'm sorry the USS Jimmy Carter. It's a one-of-a-kind vessel that

has all the capabilities of a Seawolf-class submarine, plus a 100-foot-long, 2,500-ton hull extension known as the multimission platform to test new generations of weapons and support Navy SEAL (sea, air and land forces) operations. Along with the ocean interface testbed platform, the vessel can be equipped with a dry deck shelter and can operate the Advanced SEAL Delivery System.

But then, “We don’t go to sea to go to war,” Carter said during a tour of the sub. “We go to sea to preserve the peace.” Whatever dickhead.

Gang Rape Update

Well, it has begun again. This is Round 2 for Greg Haidl and his fellow rapists, and it seemed as if this time the Judge was going to reign in some of the abuses perpetrated on the victim last time around. Judge Briseño told Haidl attorney, Joseph G. Cavallo, “to sit down and shut up,” when he said during his opening statement...

“that Jane Doe, 16 years old and, according to police, unconscious at the time of the July 2002 incident, caused her own ‘disgusting, filthy, trashy’ sexual encounter.”

These are the tactics Cavallo used last time that produced a hung jury. During the first trial, Cavallo “called the alleged victim a “slut” who should be charged with sexually assaulting the older, larger defendants. He once asked a prosecution witness if a pool cue is bigger than a penis.”

Well the best smear merchant… er attorney daddy’s money can buy is using the same old playbook this time and is taking special joy in making a girl who had a Snapple bottle, pool cue, and a cigarette jammed in her ass on camera, cry. And Greg himself couldn’t help himself from actually laughing at her while she cried on the stand. We have a saying in the Teams that, “You can’t polish a turd,” but that doesn’t mean the Haidl defense team hasn't tried. Greg, confirmed skater dude used to baggy pants and spiked hair, is wearing cardigan sweaters, argyle socks, and a flat top haircut. When one of his lawyers calls him "an innocent little boy," the 19-year-old Haidl tilts his head to the side and contorts his face into sad, silent pleading.

Even though this jury is getting the Full Monty from the defense calling the victim a whore, they have yet to see the video tape. One can only hope that Greg’s smug laugh can soon be stifled in general population by a 6-8 black man smashing the teeth out of his head on the bedpost to make things go smoother.

DC Moonbat Update

As you might imagine, I have spies. Spies everywhere that keep Froggy up to speed on all manner of world and domestic developments. Who are these spies? You. The Chief of Froggy's DC Bureau has sent in an interesting report on the piss poor state of affairs that lefty moonbats find themselves in. Many blogs have reported that every day a group of pathetic losers pickets the metro station at the Pentagon calling our troops baby killers and encouraging them to disobey their orders from Bushitler to murder innocent Iraqis. Well, it seems that act has worn too thin for even this hard core band of miscreants to continue since the elections in Iraq were such a resounding success. Of course our troops aren't lucky enough to be rid of this patchouli stinking hippy scourge, but they have at least swapped out their baby killer signs and are taking a trip down moonbat memory lane. The "new" campaign is against the School of the Americas. Remember that? Yeah, that was where we "trained the right wing death squads" that operated in El Sal, Nicaragua, and Honduras. So I guess it feels like the '80s again over at the Pentagon metro. I can almost hear the Flock of Seagulls.

2 Percenters

I consider myself a thinker rather than a linker with respect to the blog. Sometimes, I link up other bloggers, but they have to either be really funny or strike a nerve of truth for me to take the time to do it. Patrick Lasswell at Meaningful Distinction has written such a nerve striking post. I don't necessarily agree with his 2 percenter theory in its purest form, BUT there is a large kernel of truth there that compelled me to write him an email. It is also a post that I have been specifically forbidden to write. Don't ask. Patrick's conclusions are sound, and I agree that the real answer to this problem is essentially... don't get caught.

LET MY PEOPLE GO!!!

Well, what do you know? Jamadi died after he was turned over to the CIA at Abu Ghraib. According to the AP story,

“Al-Jamadi was brought [by the SEAL Platoon] naked below the waist to the prison with a CIA interrogator and translator. A green plastic bag covered his head, and plastic cuffs tightly bound his wrists. Guards dressed al-Jamadi in an orange jumpsuit, slapped on metal handcuffs and escorted him to the shower room, a common CIA interrogation spot.”

So, after the Platoon dropped off their prisoner with a CIA interrogator, his clothes were changed, his flex cuffs were removed, and metal handcuffs were applied. In earlier testimony at the article 32 hearing,

“A terror suspect captured by Navy SEALs in Iraq was able to walk on his own and was resisting his captors when the CIA took custody of him, according to a Navy officer who said he was the last SEAL to see the prisoner alive.”

This account provided by a veteran SEAL officer and the accounts given by Army guards at Abu Ghraib are not in conflict and seem to exonerate the members of the Platoon who have been charged with assaulting Jamadi. This case against the Platoon members was initiated by a former Teammate who had been dismissed from the Platoon for stealing another man’s body armor. This thief remains the main witness for the Navy JAG prosecutor, and his account of events has been refuted by multiple sources all of which are deserving of more credence. This NCIS/JAG face saving charade needs to stop right now! Everybody wants to be a Team Guy, but nobody wants to put in the effort. This case is based on little more than professional jealousy and an inferiority complex. Get over it!

FREE THE SEALS!!! LET MY PEOPLE GO!!!

The other item of interest with respect to this AP story is the headline, “Iraqi Died While Hung From Wrists.” This misleading, attention grabbing lie is intended to mischaracterize the manner in which Jamadi died. When I read that headline, I immediately conjured up images of the Hanoi Hilton where US POWs were actually suspended in the air by ropes tied to their wrists behind their backs. Of course, this wasn’t done after a spot of tea either; it was done after the a$$ whipping of a lifetime. The AP writer, Seth Hettena who has been covering the SEAL’s legal travails, goes on to describe the actual meaning of “hung from wrists” at the end of the article...

“There, the interrogator instructed guards to attach shackles from the prisoner's handcuffs to a barred window. That would let al-Jamadi stand without pain, but if he tried to lower himself, his arms would be stretched above and behind him. The documents do not make clear what happened after guards left. After about a half-hour, the interrogator called for the guards to reposition the prisoner, who was slouching with his arms stretched behind him.”

I’ll bet the documents do not make clear what happened after guards left. Whatever it was, it was not done by members of the Platoon. Incidentally, handcuffing someone to a window while standing hardly constitutes hanging!

I guess the blogosphere is going to have to keep hammering these clowns until they get the message that we will not allow our troops to be slandered, maligned, and disrespected while they are in the act of defending our lives at great personal risk!

POW’s v. Iraq and United States

I read this story while waiting for my return flight from Vegas this afternoon, and I felt compelled to speak to this issue. In summary, several POWs from the Gulf War of 1991 had successfully sued the government of Iraq in 2002 and were awarded $1Billion in damages. The Bush administration has appealed these damages claiming that the government of Iraq is not subject to them because it is no longer a terrorist sponsoring state (1996 law says that terrorism sponsors may be sued), and additionally that the funds are needed to rebuild Iraq. My take on this issue may surprise some of you, but then again, so what, this is my blog.

Before I explain my position, let me say that I acknowledge the horrific torture that was undergone by the POWs who were captured by Saddam Hussein. I will also say that I personally admire these men for enduring conditions such as these, and I hope and pray that they are able to move forward in life leaving that terrible episode behind them. For inspiration, I suggest that they strive to emulate the life of John McCain who spent over 5 years in a North Vietnamese prison camp after being shot down in his Navy fighter jet. McCain was grievously wounded during his ejection and capture sequence, but was not spared any of the torture routinely visited upon all of the inhabitants of the Hanoi Hilton. At the time of his capture McCain’s father was a well known Admiral in the US Navy and as a result, he was offered early release in a North Vietnamese attempt to gain a propaganda victory. McCain refused. Having been spurned by McCain and rebuffed in their attempt to use him, he was likely subjected to torture and beatings of a punitive nature with no intention of obtaining intel or information. During his captivity, his contemporary and fellow Naval officer John Kerry, called him and the other POWs “war criminals” which must have delivered a particularly demoralizing blow to the prisoners' already difficult existence. Even now, McCain is unable to lift his arms above shoulder level because of the severity of the injuries he received at the hands of his NVA captors. McCain returned to the United States and embarked upon a political career that can clearly be characterized as honorable and important. He is a critical voice of support for our troops fighting in the GWOT and despite losing a bitter primary in 2000, actively campaigned for the President as a matter of PRINCIPLE last year.

John McCain, to my knowledge, has never attempted to sue the Vietnamese government, nor has he even sought to bring attention to his POW experience. He is a true American hero that simply lived his life the best way he could, and happened to become one of the most respected politicians of the past 20 years.

Are VA benefits to former POWs paltry and insufficient? Absolutely. Is there any amount of money that could begin to compensate someone for enduring torture at the hands of a wartime enemy? Probably not. Are 17 former POWs entitled to a Billion dollars of Iraqi money? No way. Sorry fellas, that is not only excessive, but more importantly it goes against the PRINCIPLE of service with honor and humility. I don’t buy the Bush administration’s argument that Iraq is no longer a terrorist state and therefore not obligated to pay damages, but Iraq and its people do need that money. That’s a Billion dollars American taxpayers will have to come up with to continue reconstruction efforts if it is awarded to those 17 POWs and more precisely their attorneys. This reeks of tobacco suit exploitation and greed, and I’m sure that these POWs were strenuously lobbied to file this action by those attorneys smelling a big payoff. It is easy to see how people who had been legitimately wronged by a seemingly unaccountable entity could be convinced to take legal action with potential award levels of $1.7Billion (the amount of seized Iraqi assets). I bear no ill will against these men, and as I said, I have the utmost respect for their endurance and sympathy for their plight, but this lawsuit is wrong. Many have sacrificed in this war and in every war the US has ever fought, including those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. I would like to see these POWs act out of magnanimity and respect for those sacrifices and walk away from this case preserving not only their honor, but the PRINCIPLE of honor that they strove to uphold by serving our nation in the first place.

Tomorrow, the politics.

Flash: Suicide Pact Still in Effect!

It seemed as if a massive suicide plot had been foiled by the police, but apparently an even larger mass suicide has just begun to unfold. This terrible plan makes Jonestown and Heaven's Gate seem like a silly prank. This plot, which has been well underway since September 11th 2001, is now entering a most dangerous phase. This new charismatic leader now officially in charge, will lead his minions to the edge of the cliff, tell them to join hands, and with his trademark exclamation they will all jump together into the abyss.

Piper Doooown, Piper Dooooown!

Click it! Bill and the boys at Easongate.com bagged a big one today.

Eason Jordan has RESIGNED!

That is what happens when you start running your mouth and accusing US troops of murdering journalists in Iraq. Good riddance. Next up is Reuters' CEO Tom Glocer who has been trafficking similar comments to business magazines as recently as this month.

Flood Kerry with 180's

Alert reader, Peggy, has informed me about an interesting website with an even more interesting purpose. Kerry's Treason.com is dedicated to the humiliation and impeachment of John Kerry. While this is of course a worthy goal, it is not something that is very likely to be effective. That said, they have come up with a campaign to "Flood Kerry with 180's" which refers to the standard form used to release a servicemember's records to the public. Kerry, on Meet the Press the day of the Iraqi Elections, January 30th, pledged to sign the SF180 form. Kerry's Treason has the form in .pdf form and is encouraging all who feel led, to print one out and mail it to Kerry's Senate office. Let your conscience be your guide.

It’s Not Just Jordan and CNN, it’s al-Reuters Too

I just happened to be in the Doctor’s office waiting room perusing a magazine this morning and stumbled onto an interesting article in Business 2.0 by John Battelle about the CEO of al-Reuters, Tom Glocer. The article was in the form of an interview (magazine subscription required) with both questions and answers, and it was focused primarily on al-Reuter’s business strategy to become an online version of Fox News. Glocer in the beginning of the interview discusses al-Reuter’s close relationship with CNN, particularly in the network’s infancy. But it is the end of the interview that caught my attention.

Although a subscription is required to see the Business 2.0 article, in a delightful turn of events, the author of the piece, Mr. Battelle, happens to be a blogger! Not only that, but he has posted the article in its entirety at his blog (John Battelle’s Searchblog). The relevant questions and answers are found at the end of the post. Mr. Battelle asked Mr. Glocer to describe the situation in Iraq.

Nothing is as bad as the call that says, "Tom, I'm sorry, we've lost another one." And, unfortunately, at least two of the three people we've lost, and arguably the third one as well, have been at the hands of U.S. forces, due to friendly fire. (Emphasis added)

Glocer is still walking the tightrope here with the caveat reference to “friendly fire” which suggests unintentional fratricide. But his balance wavers and he slips up somewhat when he is asked about a dispute with the Pentagon regarding the “interrogation” of journalists under his employ in Iraq.

I have been to the Pentagon and spoken to [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld's chief of staff. I take it at face value that they do not intentionally target journalists. My difference with them is over how hard do you try not to target them. Their stock answer is essentially, "You want to be safe, you embed." From a journalistic point of view, we refuse to do only that. (Emphasis added)

Interestingly he does not even answer the question about the alleged “interrogations” but skips right to the “intentionally target[ing]” of his journalists in the theatre. I very much appreciate that he “takes it at face value” that this is not happening, but goes on to wonder “how hard” is the US military trying to not “target” al-Reuters’ journalists in Iraq.

Apparently in elite MSM executive levels, it’s common knowledge that US forces are trying to kill journalists or at least not trying too hard to not kill them.

Operating in a Hostile Work Environment

My regular readers will remember my earlier posts on the Wounded Animal and my descriptions of her Passive Aggressive behaviors which lead to my currently quite hostile work environment. Rest assured the battle for supremacy has been joined in earnest, and Froggy is progressing quite well. What I am talking about is the cottage industry of lawsuits that has been built around the concept of a hostile work environment. Invariably the claims of “embattled” employees “speaking truth to power” by hauling successful businesses and business owners into court is usually nothing more than an (often successful) attempt to redistribute wealth from the dynamic to the lazy. This phenomenon cohabits nicely with the equally pernicious influence of identity politics which in turn shares the covers with the irksome concept of hate crimes legislation.

But every once in a while, someone with vision, creativity, and a deep sense of irony comes along and flips the script back into the scowling faces of mediocrity and intellectual disingenuousness. Either that or this guy stumbled onto the hallowed ground of campus victim hood, dropped trou, and punched out a grumpy. Shane Calchera, veteran and student at Keene State College in New Hampshire, happened to notice that the office door of his history professor, David Stowell, was littered with offensive bumper stickers. Offensive how, you might ask?

"Regime change begins at home," "Stop the war," and "How many Iraqi children did we kill today?" read some of the 15 items on his door.

Amazingly, Shane had a problem with that, and he went ahead and filed a complaint. But in a beautiful little ironic sub-plot…

Calchera said he didn't realize he had filed a formal complaint. He said he simply wanted his concern addressed: that state property was being used to create what he felt was an environment hostile to military veterans.

In typical hypersensitive campus fashion, this complaint was elevated to an official charge of harassment by the nutty professor of his veteran student. True to form, professor Stowell hid behind the considerable skirt of the ACLU because…

"I was investigated because of my political views because someone objected to them, and that's frightening," Stowell said. "Everyone on campus should be concerned."

Earth to PINHEAD professor: Everyone has been living in a state of fear and paranoia over perpetrating even the most insignificant slight against any number of victim identity groups for over a decade. That is unless everyone refers to tenured college professors like yourself and the despicable Ward Churchill.

In an uncharacteristic display of common sense, both complaints, frivolous as they most certainly are, were dismissed by the College. What, no demonstrations of support by the student body on behalf of a “grieved” veteran? How can this be? Take to the streets, the quad, the administration building! Hey Hey, Ho Ho, this insensitive intellectual imperialistic hate mongering dead baby mocking Eichman has got to go! (My chant license expired… sorry)

Don’t ya just love it? Freedom baby, yeah! Too bad Shane can’t settle things the old fashioned way… turn professor Stowell’s grill into a hostile fist environment.

H/T Volokh via Glenn

Pipe Hitter of the Month

Marine First Sergeant Brad Kasal is Froggy Ruminations' Pipe Hitter of the Month. Who was the Pipe Hitter last month? What the hell is a Pipe Hitter? Can I become Froggy's Pipe Hitter of the Month?

OK folks, calm down, just calm down! I just started the Pipe Hitter of the Month... today. A Pipe Hitter is someone that you would want to be WITH if you ever found yourself in a really ugly life or death situation. Pipe Hitters don't really care what happens to them in a combat situation, they are all about getting on with the business of killing the enemy in large numbers often at personal risk to themselves. Pipe Hitters will come and get you when you are in a jam, too. They come, and then they go and kill the guys that are putting you in that jam, and then they protect you from those guys even when they are grievously wounded themselves. You can become Froggy's Pipe Hitter of the Month, but it's not easy. I don't just give this title away lightly. Pipe Hitters do not look for cool awards or titles though, so if you really want to be Froggy's Pipe Hitter, then your'e probably not Pipe Hitter material. Sorry.

Read the story linked above on Blackfive. It is a very inspiring tale of heroism... and pipe hitting.

Who Needs Those Silly Nuclear Bunker Busters?

Looks like we do. And soon too. Iran, abandoning any pretence that their nuclear program has anything to do with electricity, has announced that the West has nothing to offer them that would be more valuable than enriched uranium. When asked about the implications of a pre-emptive attack by the US or Israel on Iranian nuclear facilities, their “Chief Nuclear Negotiator” said…

“of course we will retaliate and we will definitely accelerate our activities to complete our (nuclear) fuel cycle. But I do not think the United States itself will take such a risk ... They know our capabilities for retaliating against such attacks."

That would be the electricity fuel cycle, not the thermonuclear fuel cycle… of course.

This schmoe is clearly bluffing, because I wouldn’t put it past the President to address this problem directly, if the intel was solid. The Air Force and the Carrier Air Groups aren’t really that busy right now. I would hope that we’re already flying the borders and coastline just to get those SAM radar units to "light up" in order to get that SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) package dialed in. Can you spell C-A-R-P-E-T B-O-M-B-I-N-G? There ought to be some kind of coordination our intelligence services are doing with the leaders (bloggers) of the Iranian resistance at this point. Blog the revolution, dude. After the bombs have struck their targets, the bloggers tell the people what’s happening. Then it’s Ukraine time.

The successful negotiation of this very dangerous situation begins and ends with the re-election of the President. Kerry was on record as a weak, equivocating sissy that ruled out the military option right off the bat. Then he went on international TV during the debates, and called for research on nuclear bunker busters to end post-haste. I wonder if his campaign got some donations from the web with Iranian IP addresses that night.

This is a very ugly and disturbing problem, but the only man on earth who can solve it has his finger on the trigger… and I feel fine.

'It's Fun to Shoot Some People'

I’m sure it is. When a vehicle in your convoy is ambushed with a roadside bomb and shooters from a nearby building, it can be somewhat frustrating. Then when you dismount your vehicle to return fire and you notice that your buddy that you were playing cards with last night just got his leg blown off, there’s a good chance that you might feel a bit perturbed. But, when you run across the street and into that building, hunt down, and kill those guys, I think that would be pretty fun, don’t you?

Is this concept so difficult to understand? Apparently so, because Lt. General James Mattis just got his pee pee smacked by the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the New York Times. Gen. Mattis, speaking at a forum in San Diego about the Global War on Terror, made remarks to the effect that there are people in this world that deserve to be shot, and that he is more than happy to oblige them. Gen. Mattis led his Marines into combat in Afghanistan, and twice in Iraq including the initial invasion and a subsequent deployment. He has had ample opportunity to see to it that many people who desperately needed to be shot were, and at the same time, he had occasion to write hundreds of condolence letters for the families of fallen Marines in his charge.

I first heard about Gen. Mattis about a year ago when I was down in Coronado visiting with some of my friends who had just returned from Iraq. Interestingly, they also reported having fun shooting people while they were there. One Platoon Chief that I spoke with mentioned Gen. Mattis by name. I don’t remember the context of the conversation, but the phrase, “Mattis is F*ing awesome,” was the general sentiment expressed. I’d never heard a Navy SEAL use the word awesome about a Marine before that day, and so I remember the conversation well.

Whether they realize it or not, the limp wristed metrosexuals at the New York Times and elsewhere, ought to be damn glad that there are Americans amongst them that enjoy doing the work that they find so disturbing. I see the cliché that, 'it is the soldier who wishes for peace the most because it is he who feels the sting of battle,' on the web and elsewhere a lot these days. While I can’t speak to that sentiment personally, the SEALs and Marines that I have known who spent time in combat didn’t express that to me. To a man, they have told me that after having trained for so long to prepare for battle, they were glad to have had the chance to put all of that hard work to good use. The Platoon Chief who gave me the rave review of Gen. Mattis also said about his deployment to post-invasion Iraq, “Matt, if I could have taken leave to stay there longer, I would have.”

SMASH weighs in

Tired of Shaving With Their Eyes Closed?

It seems that some liberals are tired of closing their eyes to avoid looking in the mirror after having shamefully and intentionally mischaracterized the President’s policy in Iraq and worse, failing to support our troops and their mission. Mark Brown writing in the Chicago Sun-Times might be one of those liberals, but he’s still not quite sure. After establishing his rock solid anti-Bush bonafieties in the opening paragraph, Brown makes this startling admission

“But after watching Sunday's election in Iraq and seeing the first clear sign that freedom really may mean something to the Iraqi people, you have to be asking yourself: What if it turns out Bush was right, and we were wrong? It's hard to swallow, isn't it?”

There are so many questions raised by this statement that it is hard to know where to start fisking. It is astonishing that an American (I think he’s an American) could believe that freedom would not “mean something” to the perennially abused people of Iraq. I mean it meant something to the people of Eastern Europe only 16 years ago, the people of Nicaragua and El Salvador before that, and every other group of people released from tyranny’s grip since the beginning of time. I suppose that many people in the US take the freedoms that we all enjoy completely for granted, and have no idea how those freedoms were obtained and are protected to this day. I would be embarrassed to have made such an admission on the pages of a major newspaper, but humiliation rarely occurs to liberals for some reason. While this aspect of his piece is the deepest and most substantive point, I get the feeling that he wouldn’t agree.

It’s the swallowing part that really drives this article, and it’s cliché at this point to say that Bush the chimp is wrong or lying every time he opens his mouth. Choking down the possibility of the President being proven right about his decision to invade Iraq is going to be tough. So tough that few liberals will likely join Mr. Brown in the admission of this very distasteful scenario even after it is proven a fact beyond reasonable doubt.

“For those who've been in the same boat with me, we don't need to concede the point just yet. There's a long way to go. But I think we have to face the possibility. I won't say that it had never occurred to me previously, but it's never gone through my mind as strongly as when I watched the television coverage from Iraq that showed long lines of people risking their lives by turning out to vote, honest looks of joy on so many of their faces.”

Again the incredulity he displays at the “honest looks of joy” the Iraqi people were feeling and showing is telling. I guess for a liberal, Election Day has been somewhat of a disappointment for the past several years which might explain some of the confusion about the people’s enjoyment voting.

“Going to war still sent so many terrible messages to the world. Most of the obstacles to success in Iraq are all still there, the ones that have always led me to believe that we would eventually be forced to leave the country with our tail tucked between our legs. (I've maintained from the start that if you were impressed by the demonstrations in the streets of Baghdad when we arrived, wait until you see how they celebrate our departure, no matter the circumstances.)”

This statement startles me for its total lack of confidence in the US military. At the time of the invasion, we had just conquered Afghanistan with a handful of SOF troops and aerial bombardment. Not to mention having mopped up the floor with the Iraqis just ten years earlier. But once again a liberal shows his ass by projecting his personal weaknesses and lack of resolve onto the US military where it surely doesn’t belong.

“Obviously, I'm still curious to see if Bush is willing to allow the Iraqis to install a government that is free to kick us out or to oppose our other foreign policy efforts in the region.”

He just had to drop the Bushitler reference, but he ends with this…

“For now, though, I think we have to cut the president some slack about a timetable for his exit strategy. If it turns out Bush was right all along, this is going to require some serious penance. Maybe I'd have to vote Republican in 2008.”

Fat chance. I will say this. If you have to watch a liberal flap his gums, it's best to watch him eating crow.

Terrorist, Punk Thyself

There is no way that actual terrorists posted this ridiculous hoax on their site. Because if they did, they have committed one of the most humiliating punk moves in recent memory. This is right up there with Dan Rather and Mary Mapes with the phony TxANG documents. I have to believe that they understand what it would mean to their movement if it came out that they actually faked an abduction of a US soldier by using a GI Joe doll. Later in the week some trickster college student or other malcontent is going to either take credit for this or be exposed as the author of this hoax.

The question that remains is why was this done? If somebody really wanted the US military to believe that someone was actually captured in an effort to sow discontent and take away from the great news of the Iraqi election, that person is a piece of $hit and deserves a good beating. If this was done for the purpose of mocking the insurgency, while I can sympathize with that sentiment, this was probably not a wise method of expressing it. I would expect that it is most likely the former rather than the latter, but we will probably find out by the weekend what the deal is.

If and I mean this is a BIG IF. If the insurgents actually felt they had to resort to something as juvenile and asinine as this, then they really are in trouble. This would indicate several things, none of them good for the insurgents. First, it would be an admission that they took a MASSIVE credibility hit on Sunday (which they did), and that is something I would not have expected them to admit. Second, an act of utter futility such as this indicates a general sense of desperation and loss of any initiative or momentum that they may have ever enjoyed. Third, this kind of act shows a major breakdown in discipline within an organization that does not allow for even impure thoughts to enter the minds of its followers. The credibility crisis that has resulted from the successful elections will be amplified by a factor of 10 if it turns out that Zarqawi's people were behind this. The Iraqi people today feel emboldened by their heroic statement of rejection to the terrorists symbolized by 8 million ink stained fingers. Given this kind of humiliating act of desperation, the Iraqi people will be able to rally around this attempt to fool them as a confirmation of their overwhelming victory. The terrorists will become a joke to the Iraqi street with no hope of ever frightening them again. Even if the blogosphere is able to uncover the perpetrator of the hoax, this story might catch on in Iraq anyway having the same effect.

On second thought, if this was intentionally done to humiliate the terrorists, it may turn out to be important.

UPDATE: LOOKING AT THE HOAX IMAGE YOU CAN SEE THAT THE "TERRORIST" IS AIMING AN M-4 (US RIFLE) AT THE "HOSTAGE" AND THE RIFLE HAS NO MAGAZINE IN IT. I REALLY HOPE THE TERRORISTS DID THIS. I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING THAT WOULD DEMONSTRATE THE FLACIDITY OF THE INSURGENCY MORE THAN THIS. IF I WERE A PSYCHOLOGIST, I WOULD SAY THAT THIS IS A CRY FOR HELP.

SOF takes the Lead in Tactical Intelligence

It seems that the CIA’s monopoly on clandestine/covert intelligence operations has finally been broken. While the CIA performed well in Afghanistan, it has proven to be a highly ideological and political bureaucracy. Former DCI Tenet said last year that the CIA clandestine service was FIVE years away from “the kind of clandestine service our country needs” so the US military decided to build the clandestine service THEY need. The CIA has clearly had an agenda of late that was more political than operational, which is something DCI Goss is attempting to rectify. Until then, Special Operations Forces have been given the authority to recruit and pay informants in a bill recently signed by President Bush. Regardless of the CIA’s problems these new authorities to conduct intelligence operations are a good idea.

It is inefficient for SOF to rely on a third party to act as a broker between informants and operators anyway. SOF intel operators are not going to be seeking out agents in a position to provide long term strategic information (although they may run across them from time to time), rather they will be going back to their roots in a sense. In Vietnam, SEALs would frequently sneak into enemy villages at night and kidnap high ranking Viet Cong personnel for interrogation. These missions were conducted within the Platoon and the intel was used directly by the Platoon for follow on assaults and ambushes often the next day. This program seems to be an effort to get fresh tactical intelligence into SOF operator’s hands without going through a middleman. This situation will be a net positive for both the CIA and SOF. The CIA’s Clandestine Service can either decide to reinvigorate its tactical military intelligence gathering activities, or it can focus more of its energy on going after more strategic targets. Now that this intel capability is organic to SOF, it will only be expanded and perfected by the highly competent and motivated SOF operators given the task.

Via Drudge

Happy Birthday Sis!

Much love and happiness to you and Troy. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Sorry about putting you next to the herpes post, but it just works out that way sometimes.

Your bro.

Howard Dean and Herpes

The gifts that keep on giving.

Looks like the drunken zepplin from Massachusetts and the nutjob from Vermont are bumping uglies in public. Dean has seemingly clinched the DNC Chair post with commitments from the state party chairmen, the Clintons, and now Big Ted. If things keep heading in this direction, we won't be talking about filibusters in the Senate in '06. We'll be able to pack the federal courts with 35 year old Ann Coulter proteges, turn Social Security into a 401k, pass the gay marriage Constitutional Amendment, and pass a flat tax. Well, that might be a bit of an over reach, but at least we will be laughing a lot. Blogfodder for everyone!