Petrified Truth

"The Western Disease"

End the old year, or start the new, with a bracing essay by scholar Victor Davis Hanson, with whom I am more impressed daily. He's been watching the domestic and international media at work and finds what he sees disturbing and ungrounded in real life.

There is something terribly wrong, something terribly amoral with the Western intelligentsia, most prominently in academia, the media, and politics. We don’t need Osama bin Laden’s preschool jabbering about “the weak horse” to be worried about the causes of this Western disease: thousands of the richest, most leisured people in the history of civilization have become self-absorbed, ungracious, and completely divorced from the natural world — the age-old horrific realities of dearth, plague, hunger, rapine, or conquest.

Indeed, it is even worse than that: a Paul Krugman or French barrister neither knows anything of how life is lived beyond his artificial cocoon nor of the rather different men and women whose unacknowledged work in the shadows ensures his own bounty in such a pampered landscape — toil that allows our anointed to rage at those purportedly culpable for allowing the world to function differently from an Ivy League lounge or the newsroom of the New York Times. Neither knows what it is like to be in a village gassed by Saddam Hussein or how hard it is to go across the world to Tikrit and chain such a monster.

Our Western intellectuals are sheltered orchids who are naïve about the world beyond their upscale hothouses. The Western disease of deductive fury at everything the West does provides a sort of psychological relief (without costs) for apparent guilt over privileged circumstances. It is such a strange mixture of faux-populism and aristocratic snobbery. They believe only a blessed few such as themselves have the requisite education or breeding to understand the “real” world of Western pathologies and its victims.

No beardnik he

Hard to believe there's a prankster in Cuba daring enough to mock maximum leader Fidel Castro like this, but the picture speaks for itself.

The black and white photo, shot from a distance as Castro addressed American students at the Palacio de las Convenciones, shows what many believe to be a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler upon close inspection.

Using magnifying glasses to get a detailed look, Cubans were stunned by what they surmised was a deliberate manipulation of the photo published Dec. 4 in the print edition of Granma.

"It was all over the street, everybody was talking about it," a foreign diplomat in Havana said in a telephone interview.

"The head does look like Hitler," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The hair looks like it's parted on the side. It looks like he doesn't have a beard. It looks like he has a Hitler mustache."

Speculation also swirled about possible arrests at the daily newspaper, which serves as the official voice of the Cuban government.

via the Miami Herald

UPDATE: Compare and contrast the daring of a protester in Castro's oppressed police state with this puerile and offensive image at IndyMedia in a free Washington, D.C.

Lynch and Piestewa videotape

NBC News has aired excerpts from an Iraqi television videotape showing badly injured Jessica Lynch and her colleague Lori Piestewa. Tough to watch.

Iraqi doctors took good care of captured Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch and labored hard but unsuccessfully to save her best friend, according to Iraqi television videotape shot during the soldiers’ captivity in Iraq last spring.

The tape, which was never aired in Iraq but has been obtained by NBC News, provides a new look at the treatment the Iraqis gave Lynch and other members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Co. after they were ambushed March 23. Lynch and four other soldiers were rescued by U.S. special forces on April 1, but 11 of their colleagues died during and after the ambush in Nasiriyeh.

Officials said Iraqi television videotaped the U.S. POWs for propaganda purposes, but because the tape of the wounded prisoners did not make the Iraqis look good, the network never aired it.

Article and video via MSNBC

Blinders coming off?

While Saudi Arabia's leaders worry about being assassinated at home by al Qaeda, the nature and the results of their support, both explicit and tacit, for Islamic radicalism worldwide are starting to be understood, even in a Europe that hasn't wanted to believe it.

For years, Saudi Arabian support for Europe's burgeoning Muslim population was seen as little more than benign help for sometimes beleaguered immigrants. In a remarkable change, Europe's police and intelligence forces have revised their view, identifying Saudi money and theology as a cause for growing radicalism and support for terrorism.

In recent months, countries across the continent have launched inquiries into Saudi influence on their Muslim communities, which in some countries account for more than 10% of the population and are growing rapidly due to immigration. The investigations focus especially on Saudi-backed schools, mosques and foundations that European police and intelligence officials allege help to breed intolerance. In some cases, the institutions have been the spiritual home to terrorists.

"We need to look at the organization that is providing the money and support," says a German intelligence official who works for a new government task force investigating Saudi influence of Islam in Germany. "For years, this has been coming from Saudi Arabia."

Germany's frustration is shared by other countries. In the Netherlands, reports that a foundation had trained at least one terrorist caused parliament to launch an inquiry into Saudi influence and tighten terrorism laws, while in France, police are investigating whether a Saudi-funded school is fostering extremism. In Britain, police are investigating how a prominent imam, or prayer leader, obtained a Saudi diplomatic passport.

via The Wall Street Journal (subscribers only)

Mr. Personality

Howard "Dr. No." Dean is starting to accumulate an entire assortment of campaign nicknames due to his multitudinous and unsavory personality quirks.

All candidates develop a reputation with the media. In 2000 the story line on Al Gore was his wildly exaggerated claims. Mr. Gore may not have said precisely that he "invented the Internet," but his propensity to tell "whoppers" got him tagged with the line nonetheless. Unfortunately for Mr. Dean, that's the kind of story line that's now emerging about him.

After building a campaign on the anger of the Democratic electorate, the former Vermont governor can now be called "Backsliding Dean." He leaps forward with a bold statement aimed at pleasing his core supporters, but ultimately is forced to slide back because of the ludicrousness of his position.

via the WSJ's OpinionJournal

Just as in the 2000 election, if the choice is between a normal human being and someone who is going to work out his psychological issues in front of us for 4 years or more, I pick George W. Bush -- regular guy.

No, not like the NGOs

As is so often the case, the American armed forces step in to get the job done, when others cannot or will not. What's so impressive about what's going in Iraq is their ability to improvise and adapt to circumstances in the theater of operations. Some decry "lack of planning," but I see leadership at every level.

With civilian aid experts still in short supply or scared off by the security threats... the American military continues to shoulder the biggest effort to help a nation restore its civilian society since the end of World War II.

Young soldiers plucked from their combat specialties are playing critical roles in areas in which they have no formal training, from running cement factories to rebuilding sewage systems.

But in the aftermath of the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government, no organization except the military had the resources and organizational wherewithal to deal with issues from setting up local governments to rebuilding roads. Since late April, the 101st Division alone has spent more than $40 million on 3,900 projects in northern Iraq.

Eight months after the United States declared the end of major combat in Iraq, the military is handing over more and more responsibilities to Iraqi officials, who are also working with civilians reporting to L. Paul Bremer III, the chief American civil administrator in the country.

But military commanders here expressed frustration that most international aid organizations have not returned in force since the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad last summer.

"The N.G.O.'s have been a disappointment," said Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st Division, speaking of nongovernmental organizations. "Don't get me wrong, the truck bomb at the U.N. headquarters was horrific. But they seemed as if they were very, very quick to bail out of here, compared to the risks they have run in a variety of other missions."

via The New York Times

North of the border

Toronto writer Kathy Shaidle is fed up with the reflexive and unreasoning anti-American attitudes of so many of her fellow Canadians, per her opinion piece in the Dallas Morning News this week.

(The Dallas Morning News site requires a lengthy and intrusive registration, so will go out on a limb here and excerpt extensively.)

Being an American trapped in a Canadian's body means always having to say, "You're stupid."

I once was one of those smug sneerers at our southern neighbor, the product of a typical Canadian upbringing: my memorizing Trudeaupian doctrine about our superior "cultural mosaic" and the Yanks' inferior "melting pot."

The U.S. Bicentennial made a particularly indelible impression. I was 12 in 1976, the perfect age to be scandalized for life by red, white and blue toilet seats.

And like all Torontonians, I have my share of Stupid American Tourist Stories: loud, super-sized folks wearing what appear to be pajamas, asking if they can walk to Niagara Falls from here.

So, what happened?

Well, I am a recovering liberal, and Sept. 11 is my dry date.

That morning, my leftist life flashed before my eyes. I remembered to my shame all of those "Yankee, go homes" I had chanted as a Reagan-era peacenik. And rolling my eyes at the tacky teddy bear memorials at the Oklahoma City bombing and muttering, "You would think a building never had blown up before."

How sophisticated I was. And how sick.

Wherever I go, conversations like the following are commonplace:

"Bush."

"I know."

"I hate him."

"I know."

I have worn out my computer's "delete" button, weary of asking co-workers to refrain from sending me "funny" e-mails about setting George W. Bush on fire.

I have taken to wearing a Stars and Stripes scarf. When asked about it, I explain that I use it to strangle old draft dodgers.

I really want to buy a gun (somehow) just so that I can refuse to register it.

I even have developed a taste for iced tea.

No, I am not entirely friendless. I have "met" new pals online: fellow Canucks equally outraged by the World Trade Center attacks and appalled by the matter-of-fact "they asked for it" attitude that permeates elite Canadian culture.

A few thousand of us attended a pro-U.S. demonstration in April. We gathered at City Hall, where I had demonstrated against the United States on a regular basis all of those years ago.

A dozen very young counter-protesters showed up, too. Those kids chain-smoked, swaggered and even sang "Give Peace a Chance."

The deja vu was dizzying. I pitied the angry, stupid girl I used to be, and I fumed while the arrogant little brats booed a speaker at the podium whose father had died on Sept. 11.

Their hatred of Mr. Bush is palpable. I had hated Ronald Reagan just as much. Then, I had started hearing about parents in the former Soviet Union who named their children "Ronald."

I believe I am on the right side of history now. Just on the wrong side of the border.

Tip via NRO's The Corner
Kathy Shaidle's blog

Holiday cheer

Good to note last night that the in-laws seem to be enjoying their Christmas gift: a Donald Rumsfeld talking action figure. The figure's resemblance to the real guy is striking. Very nice.

Payback time

The fight to the death with al Qaeda continues, with the Saudi government now one of the major targets. Decades of domestic appeasement and covert support for jihadism are now coming to a bitter and inevitable conclusion.

Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia with links to Al Qaeda appear to be making a concerted new effort to destabilize the Saudi government by assassinating top security officials, according to senior American officials.

A series of assassination attempts in the last month, including a failed car bombing in the Saudi capital on Monday, have also included a previously undisclosed shooting in early December of Maj. Gen. Abdelaziz al-Huweirini. As the No. 3 official in Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry, he is the kingdom's top counterterrorism official.

General Huweirini, who has worked closely with American officials, was moderately wounded in that Dec. 4 attack, the American officials said. No one has been killed in the attacks, which continued despite major setbacks for Al Qaeda in a battle with Saudi security forces.

The Qaeda militants have carried out a wave of major suicide-bomb attacks in Riyadh, the capital, killing at least 50 people in the last seven months. But they have also been punished by a Saudi security crackdown in which hundreds of militants have been arrested and dozens more killed, and secret caches have been uncovered that contained tons of weapons and explosives.

"The Saudis have done a good job of taking down a lot of their leadership," a senior American official said Monday of Qaeda members in Saudi Arabia. "But they continue to be very dangerous and to go after royal family-related targets."

via The New York Times

Wide open?

Reporters from the Houston Chronicle are apparently on a driving tour of sensitive locations in our area, eyeballing the security arrangements during a period when the nation is on high alert for terrorism. On Christmas Eve they wandered with impunity around the Port of Houston. Now they've been gamboling about the grounds of a nuclear power plant. Appalling, at least on the face of it. What the hell is going on?

The South Texas Project, about an hour's drive from Houston and owned in part by Houston's Centerpoint Energy, is one of the most powerful nuclear plants in the country. In 2001, Unit 1 alone produced 10.8 million megawatts of power -- more than any other reactor in the United States that year.

But even while the United States is on a heightened terror alert, a closer look at the nuclear plant reveals little evidence of increased security. Plant officials, however, say just because their security measures aren't readily visible doesn't mean they aren't there.

On Saturday morning, a Houston Chronicle reporter and photographer accompanied a security industry consultant on a tour of the South Texas Project's perimeter. The consultant asked to remain anonymous, fearing that his security criticism could cause clients to reject his business.

This is worse than I have ever seen it," said the security consultant. "It's appalling to think that we have a multibillion-dollar asset vital to the infrastructure to the United States that is being protected by one guard at the front gate and no guards at the back gate in the face of a heightened alert due to a significant terrorist threat."

The consultant suggested the plant should hire more visible, armed guards and use heavy-duty retractable barriers that would stop all vehicular traffic from penetrating the grounds.

According to its website, security at STP is managed by the Wackenhut Corporation.

Gangsters at heart

More evidence that terrorists are as much gangsters as they are ideological fanatics: drug running is now a focus for raising the money they need to fund their dirty war.

Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has become deeply involved in international drug trafficking, using the money to buy arms and, possibly, radioactive material for use in a so-called "dirty" nuclear bomb, senior U.S. officials say.

The seizure earlier this month of boats carrying heroin and hashish, and operated by al Qaeda-linked persons, has brought to light an al Qaeda drug operation that has grown tremendously since the September 11 attacks, the sources say.

"Bin Laden does not mind trafficking in drugs, even though it's against the teaching of Islam, because it's being used to kill Westerners," said a defense official who asked not to be named. "He has allies and associates who are not members per se, but who move products for him and take drugs and buy arms and give the arms to al Qaeda."

"If you're going to get terrorism under control, we've got to stop their livelihood, which is money," said the defense official. "Without money, they die."

via the Washington Times

Forbidden knowledge

If you have two minutes, check out the TV commercial for the Honda Accord that will never appear on American television.

Tip via the omniscient InstaPundit

Oh, a "religious" idiotarian candidate

So, Howard "Dr. No" Dean has told the Boston Globe that he describes himself as a "committed believer in Jesus Christ" and will include references to his Christian faith in his campaign for president just as he heads south for the Feb. 3 primaries in the Bible Belt.

Tough-minded Wesley Pruden, editor of the Washington Times, is more than a little dubious about (a) Dean's sincerity and (b) the upside potential for this as a campaign technique.

The former governor of Vermont, who grew up in New York as an Episcopalian, found a Jewish wife and became a Congregationalist, auditioned his Jesus talk in, of all places, Boston.

Mr. Dean described himself to the Boston Globe as "a committed believer in Jesus Christ" who expects to "increasingly include references to Jesus and God" in his speeches as he stumps the South.

Jesus Christ, he says, "was someone who sought out people who were disenfranchised, people who were left behind. He fought against self-righteousness of people who had everything. ... He was a person who set an extraordinary example that has lasted 2,000 years, which is pretty inspiring when you think about it."

Mr. Dean described himself as a Christian in the "Northeast tradition," uncomfortable discussing religious beliefs in public, and if the Jesus talk he displayed in his Boston interview is the best he can do he will be wise to take his own advice, and not talk about it in public. His beliefs smack of "the social Gospel" universally disdained in the Bible Belt, warmed-over Unitarian theology that Mr. Dean says he and his wife rejected when they considered trying to find a faith they could embrace together.

Mr. Dean and his handlers are looking past the primaries, of course, and to the general election, and the good ol' boys, some of whom fly the Confederate flag on their pickups but nearly all of whom are deeply, deeply suspicious of any candidate without a genuine faith. Southerners instinctively mistrust a man who thinks he can do it all by himself.

But worse than a man of no faith is a man who merely pretends to be something he is not. Worst of all, the man who condescends to invoke the name of Christ. Such a foolish man will reap only scorn, and no pity.

Meanwhile, the perspicacious Moxie has her own lowdown on "the painful truth" of the issue. Be warned that one reader of her post says it made him blow eggnog out his nose.

Water-borne terrorism?

Here's another dimension to previously-discussed threats of terrorism on the high seas. Our jihadist enemies seem to be busy everywhere.

Al-Qaeda has turned its terror sights to the sea, targeting luxury cruise liners in an expansion of its "jihad" against the West. Owners of the recently launched $1.3 billion Queen Mary 2 yesterday confirmed threats of terror hang over its maiden voyage early next year.

US intelligence officials also found evidence Al-Qaeda was planning to attack the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal as it passed through the Gibraltar Straits en route to the Gulf War earlier this year. Plans for the attack emerged after a US spy plane discovered scores of acoustic sea-mines had disappeared from a naval base in North Korea.

US intelligence services believe the mines could be aboard 28 "terror ships" Osama bin Laden has assembled in the past year. The capture of Al-Qaeda's chief of naval operations, Ahmad Belai al-Neshari, has helped to reveal the extent of the organisation's maritime ambitions. Al-Neshari was found carrying a 180-page dossier that listed "targets of opportunity". These included large cruise liners sailing from Western ports.

Anti-terrorism expert and former Sydney Olympics security chief Neil Fergus said yesterday that he was not convinced Al-Qaeda could launch sea attacks.

via News Interactive (Australia)

Leaders at risk

Always-interesting but seemingly unverifiable DEBKA makes a good point today in a discussion about recent unsuccessful assassination attempts against Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

It is a realistic possibility that al Qaeda’s repeated targeting of Musharraf is part of a larger plan to eliminate pro-Western Arab and Muslim rulers. The Pakistani president was lucky till now, but King Muhammad VI of Morocco and Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia are also thought to be imminent targets as linchpins of America’s global war on terror. Al Qaeda appears to believe that by knocking over key US props within the Arab and Muslim world, it will undermine America’s strategic standing universally.

Their report also includes information about various anti-explosive technologies that would be very encouraging if deployed.

Democracy and the Enemies of Freedom

Bernard Lewis, Middle East scholar and professor emeritus of history at Princeton, has a thoughtful essay in today's OpinionJournal on the challenge of implanting and nurturing freedom in the Islamic world. Excerpts:

The attempt to bring freedom to the Middle East evokes two fears: one in the U.S. and still more in Europe, that it will fail; and the other, among many of the present rulers of the region, that it will succeed.

Certainly, policies of political liberalization in Afghanistan and in Iraq offer a mortal threat to regimes that can survive only by tyranny at home and terror abroad. The enemies of freedom are dangerous; unrestrained by any kind of scruple and unhampered by either compunction or compassion, even for their own people. They are willing to use not just individuals and families, but whole nations as suicide bombers to be sacrificed as required in order to defeat and eject the infidel enemy and establish their own supremacy.

The creation of a free society, as the history of existing democracies in the world makes clear, is no easy matter. The experience of the Turkish republic over the last half century and of some other Muslim countries more recently has demonstrated two things: first, that it is indeed very difficult to create a democracy in such a society, and second, that although difficult, it is not impossible.

The study of Islamic history and of the vast and rich Islamic political literature encourages the belief that it may well be possible to develop democratic institutions--not necessarily in our Western definition of that much misused term, but in one deriving from their own history and culture, and ensuring, in their way, limited government under law, consultation and openness, in a civilized and humane society. There is enough in the traditional culture of Islam on the one hand and the modern experience of the Muslim peoples on the other to provide the basis for an advance towards freedom in the true sense of that word.

Even after the arrest of Saddam Hussein this week, the forces of tyranny and terror remain very strong and the outcome is still far from certain. But as the struggle rages and intensifies, certain things that were previously obscure are becoming clear. The war against terror and the quest for freedom are inextricably linked, and neither can succeed without the other. The struggle is no longer limited to one or two countries, as some Westerners still manage to believe. It has acquired first a regional and then a global dimension, with profound consequences for all of us.

If freedom fails and terror triumphs, the peoples of Islam will be the first and greatest victims. They will not be alone, and many others will suffer with them.

Unworthy leadership

As an Episcopalian, I find much that is alarming in the worldview, statements, and actions of Dr. Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury and putative spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide. Today, The Telegraph in London calls him "unworthy" and particularly notes his moral flabbiness on the issue of Islamic terrorism. Well said.

On Christmas Day the Pope appealed to God to rid the world of the scourge of terrorism. The Archbishop of Canterbury, on the other hand, reserved his clearest condemnation for the West's counter-terrorism campaign. Imprisoning terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay and Belmarsh prison, he complained, "sends out the wrong message" to Muslim societies. Those of the Christian faith, he said, should show themselves to be "on the side of humanity" by "making sacrifices for the sake of justice".

The "sacrifices" to which Dr Williams refers presumably involve risking another terrorist attack on the scale of September 11. So far, the counter-terrorist campaign has been remarkably successful in preventing al-Qaeda attacks in Europe and America, in spite of that organisation's strikes elsewhere in the world. Moreover, this has been achieved without any curtailment of the rights of ordinary Muslims in Britain and America, who are free to practise their faith with a degree of freedom of which Christians in many parts of the Islamic world can only dream. Does Dr Williams really suggest that humanity would better be served by refusing to imprison those who, given the chance, would delight in making a nuclear attack on a Western city?

The bitter pill

George F. Will reviews the incoherent public statements of Howard "Dr. No" Dean and considers the impending implications for the Democratic Party.

Regarding foreign policy, Dean recently said not only that America is no safer because Saddam Hussein was captured but that America is "no safer today than the day the planes struck the World Trade Center." Well. He says he supported the war to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan, although he thinks it made us no safer. And even though he says the war in Iraq made us no safer, he says he would "not have hesitated" to attack Iraq if the United Nations had given us "permission."

Because Dean's foreign policy pronouncements have been curiouser and curiouser, his recent speech on domestic policy did not get the attention it deserved for its assertion that America is boiling with "anger and despair." Republicans are, Dean says, trying to "dismantle" the welfare state -- presumably when they are not enriching Medicare's entitlement menu -- and they aim "to end public education."

via the Washington Post

Our Port wide open

Should we just hope that al Qaeda doesn't read the Houston Chronicle? Or is Port of Houston management going to actually correct this?

A drive along the Port of Houston's docks by two Houston Chronicle employees and a security consultant -- despite a heightened national terrorism alert -- brought strong warnings to security guards and law officers from the port police chief.

"The security people who allowed it to happen were not having a merry Christmas," port spokeswoman Argentina James said Friday.

Russell Whitmarsh, police chief in the nation's second-busiest port, said he has strongly reminded the security staff that only essential personnel are to enter in view of the code orange terrorism alert issued Sunday by federal officials.

Whitmarsh said he met with security supervisors Wednesday to go over "what went wrong, what error was made" in allowing a Chronicle reporter and photographer, along with a security consultant, to drive along the docks earlier in the day.

The three drove past several ships and warehouses, heavy equipment and bridge supports after showing their driver's licenses to security guards.

via the Houston Chronicle

The unauthorized visitors apparently had a leisurely tour on Christmas Eve, courtesy of security guards who failed to take even the most basic precautions.

A Christmas Eve tour of the Port of Houston and the petrochemical industries along the Houston Ship Channel shows that -- despite a recently heightened national security alert -- they lie wide open to even a moderately determined terrorist.

A local corporate security consultant, accompanied by a Houston Chronicle reporter and photographer, pointed out numerous vulnerabilities at the sites and suggested ways to fix them. The consultant asked to remain anonymous, fearing that his security criticism could cause some of the corporations to reject his business.

"It's Christmas Eve. Think Dec. 7, 1941," the consultant observed as he and the others in a late-model sport utility vehicle approached the port's main gate, just off the Sidney Sherman Bridge on the East Loop.

Once inside the port, the group was able to move around at will. At the very edge of the wharf, group members could almost reach out and touch any of the dozen or so large ships unloading -- including an auto carrier and a bulk cargo ship.

The group also drove within a few feet of a work crew unloading the cargo ship without being challenged. The visitors cruised a mile of dockside without any business there, but were never stopped or questioned.

The massive supports of the Sidney Sherman Bridge carrying traffic on Loop 610 looked especially vulnerable. A major explosion collapsing the columns could kill hundreds of motorists and disrupt truck access to the port for months.

Unfortunately, especially for those of us who live downwind, the Port of Houston -- filled with ships, terminals, and petrochemicals -- is a huge target waiting for terrorist attention.

The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located just a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. The port is ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne commerce, second in total tonnage, and sixth in the world.

The Port of Houston is made up of the port authority and the 150-plus private industrial companies along the ship channel.

Approximately 175 million tons of cargo moved through the Port of Houston in 2002. A total of 6,414 vessel calls were recorded at the Port of Houston during the year 2002.

Military Survival Rules

Some "rules" of unknown provenance, but undoubted wisdom:

· "Aim towards the enemy." - Instruction printed on U.S. Army rocket launcher

· "When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend." - U.S. Army training notice

· "Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. From 30,000 feet, every single bomb always hits the ground." - U.S. Air Force ammunition memo.

· "If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal

· "A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit." - Army preventive maintenance publication

· "Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo." - Infantry Journal

· "Tracers work both ways." - U.S. Army Ordnance Corps memo.

· "Five-second fuses only last three seconds." - Infantry Journal

· "Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid." - Col. David H.
Hackworth

· "If your attack is going too well, you're probably walking into an ambush." - Infantry Journal

· "No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection." - Joe Gay

· "Any ship can be a minesweeper - once." - Anonymous

· "Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." - Unknown Army recruit

· "Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you." - Your buddies

· "If you see a bomb disposal technician running, try to keep up with him." - U.S. Army ordnance manual

· "It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed" - U.S. Air Force flight training manual

Tip via the Library Dragon

Joe gets it

Sen. Joe Lieberman says presidential candidate, and former physician, Howard Dean has become "Dr. No." So be it.

"In this campaign, I'm putting forward a strong, positive vision for America. And that stands in sharp contrast to what Howard Dean offers today. He seems to believe if you are just against everything, that's enough. Against removing Saddam Hussein. Against tax cuts. Against knocking down walls of protection around the world so we can sell more products that are made in America, by Americans. Dr. Dean has become Dr. No."

- Sen. Joe Lieberman

Sharp shooting

USA Today has a profile on U.S. Army snipers at work in the urban warfare of Iraq.

The sun was sinking at the desert's edge when Sgt. Randall Davis, an Army sniper, spotted his target: an armed Iraqi on a rooftop about 300 yards away. ''It was just getting dark. I saw a guy step in front of the light,'' Davis, 25, recalls.

He says he knew he was watching another sniper by the way the man stepped back into the shadows and crept along the roofline to spy on a squad from his unit, B Company of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, known as the ''5-20.''

''Most people, when they get on a roof, will just move around and do what they've got to do,'' Davis says. ''This guy was moving slowly, trying to have smooth motions, trying to stay in the shadows.''

From his own rooftop position, Davis tracked the man through the sight of his M-14 rifle. He didn't have to wait long before the enemy sniper made another mistake. ''He silhouetted his rifle from the waist up, trying to look over at the guys in the courtyard.''

Davis fired one shot. ''I hit him in the chest. He fell back. His rifle flew out of his hands.''

It was Davis' eighth confirmed kill. Earlier, he had killed seven enemy fighters in a single day.

Accolades

Austin Bay thinks that Time Magazine naming "The American Soldier" as Person of the Year doesn't go nearly far enough. Amen.

Person of the Year should be the first in a crescendo of honors. Frankly, the grand accolade U.S. GIs have earned is the Nobel Peace Prize.

Peaceniks perish the thought? It's high time, actually. Pacifists didn't liberate Nazi concentration camps, American GIs and British Tommies did. This past year, U.S. Central Command and crack line units like the Army's Third Infantry Division did far more to promote and secure real peace and justice on this broken and brutalized planet Earth than decades of posturing peace marches and thousands of toothless U.N. declarations deploring dictators and genocide.

In the raw mathematics called body count, dropping Saddam's fascist death machine saved 50,000 to 60,000 Iraqi lives -- the innocents his henchmen would have slain during 2003 while the United Nations fiddled and France burned with anti-American ressentiment.

Iraqis freed of Saddam's moment-by-moment terror know American GIs brought that blessing, belated as it is.

It is an intricate, complex paradox that warriors waging just war are the source of a more resilient peace.

via the Houston Chronicle

The tribe is all

Interesting report in the Washington Post on the intelligence progress being made in Iraq. I think we knew, as a generality, that tribalism was, and still is, a huge factor in how the Saddam Hussein regime was organized, but getting the level of detail needed for operational success is new. Impressive work by the good guys.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot to do and attacks by bad guys will continue. Iraq is a very nasty stable to clean out.

As U.S. forces tracked Saddam Hussein to his subterranean hiding place, they unearthed a trove of intelligence about five families running the Iraqi insurgency, according to U.S. military commanders, who said the information is being used to uproot remaining resistance forces.

Senior U.S. officers said they were surprised to discover -- clue by clue over six months -- that the upper and middle ranks of the resistance were filled by members of five extended families from a few villages within a 12-mile radius of the volatile city of Tikrit along the Tigris River. Top operatives drawn from these families organized the resistance network, dispatching information to individual cells and supervising financial channels, the officers said. They also protected Hussein and passed information to and from the former president while he was on the run.

At the heart of this tightly woven network is Auja, Hussein's birthplace, which U.S. commanders say is the intelligence and communications hub of the insurgency.

U.S. commanders have blamed the violence on a combination of Hussein loyalists, Islamic guerrillas and foreign fighters, but the structure and operations of the insurgency have been the subject of speculation and debate. The commanders say the detailed picture that they now have of the Iraqi campaign is the result of months of sleuthing, including raids targeting suspected Hussein loyalists in the Tikrit area.

The interrogations and documents uncovered in the raids, coupled with electronic and other intelligence, repeatedly revealed the involvement of the same extended families and marked the way toward the inner circle.

Seasons greetings

Remember those serving far away -- they sure haven't forgotten us. Merry Christmas to the troops.

For generations, U.S. service men and women and government civilians have spent the holiday season far from loved ones, so that all Americans can celebrate the peace, prosperity and liberty that our armed forces have fought to protect.

Today, you continue to keep steadfast watch across the globe, from bases on land, planes overhead, and aboard ships at sea; from distant, remote locations, and within our own borders.

During this holiday season, the United States is asking much of you -- and you are responding with a strong sense of duty, a willingness to give up personal comfort for the greater good, and the professionalism that has earned our military services honor and respect throughout the world. It is never easy to be away from home, but especially during the holiday season, the courage, patriotism and unconditional support of families and loved ones mean so very much.

Your service and the sacrifices of your families come at a crucial moment in our nation's history. Your dedicated work is making the world a better, safer, and more peaceful place. I am inspired by your character and courage, and am extremely proud to serve with you. The Joint Chiefs of Staff join me in sending to you and your families our very warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

- Gen. Richard B. Myers, USAF, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Text via DefenseLINK

White House Christmas

While waiting for new terrorist strikes, be sure to check out Christmas at the White House, including BarneyCam II: Barney Reloaded, Karl Rove reading "Santa's New Reindeer," and more.

What Christmas Brings

This night bestowed peace on the whole world;
so, let no one threaten;
this is the night of the Most Gentle One—
let no one be cruel;
this is the night of the Most Humble One—
let no one be proud.
Now is the day of joy—
let us not revenge;
now is the day of good will—
let us not be mean-spirited.
In this day of peace let us not be conquered by anger …
Today the Bountiful impoverished Himself for our sake;
so, rich one, invite the poor to your table.
Today we received a gift for which we did not ask;
so let us give alms to those who implore us and beg.
This present day cast open the heavenly door to our prayers;
let us open our door to those who ask our forgiveness.
Now the Divine Being took upon
Himself the seal of humanity,
in order for humanity
to be adorned by the seal of Divinity.

—Saint Isaac of Nineveh's "Christmas Sermon"

via Christianity Today

Thinking ahead

Savvy political pundit William Safire notes that Howard Dean's war with the "Old Democrats" is now out in the open, and he thinks it would be bad if Dean doesn't win the nomination.

But what if Dean loses momentum in Iowa, does "less than expected" in New Hampshire, gets clobbered in Carolina or blows his cool at media tormentors once too often? What if the Old Democrat center, revivified as a stop-Dean movement and helped by the pendulum press, actually stops Dean? Could happen. Then what?

He is not the sort who gives up easily. Nor is he likely to ask Clark or whomever in a smoke-free room for the No. 2 slot. Dean has grass-roots troops, a unique fund-raising organization, the name recognition and the fire-in-the-belly, messianic urge to go all the way on his own ticket.

Politronic chatter picked up by pundits monitoring lefty blogsites and al-Gora intercepts flashes the warning: If stopped, Dean may well bolt.

That split of opposition would be a bonanza for Bush. In a two-man race, the odds are that he would beat Dean comfortably, but in a three-party race, Bush would surely waltz in with the greatest of ease.

Here's my problem: Such a lopsided, hubris-inducing result would be bad for Bush, bad for the G.O.P., bad for the country. Landslides lead to tyrannous majorities and big trouble.

Which is why I worry about Dean not getting the Democratic nomination.

via The New York Times

Baathist strife

Seasoned Middle East observer Amir Taheri, writing in the Arab News, reports that the arrest of Saddam Hussein is having a dramatic effect on the insurgents previously under his control. Disarray in their ranks should provide a bonanza of fresh intelligence.

With Saddam Hussein under arrest, a power struggle has started within the remnants of his Baathist regime.

At least three rival groups are positioning themselves to fight for the control of what they call “popular resistance” (Al-Muqawemmah Al-Shaabaiyah).

The issue is attracting broader Arab interest with some pan-Arabists, Islamists and other groups focusing on the Iraqi insurgency as the vanguard of a wider struggle against the West led by the United States.

Inside Iraq, however, the power struggle within the insurgency is fought around more mundane issues. At stake is some $400 million in cash that Saddam and his entourage took away from the Iraqi Central Bank in Baghdad on April 8, hours before the US Marines arrived.

The fallen regime is also believed to have stashed away billions of dollars in foreign, mostly Swiss, French and Austrian banks. Until 2002, these were managed by Barzan Ibrahim Al-Tikriti, a half-brother of Saddam who is now believed to be held by the coalition forces.

The rival groups are also fighting over control of large quantities of weapons that the Saddamites looted from army barracks last spring. One of the last orders Saddam issued to his supporters on April 8 was to “seize and secure” as many weapons as they could. According to Iraqi sources, however, there are enough arms in secret locations to supply the insurgency for months if not years.

The three main groups involved in the power struggle are organized along tribal and clan lines covered by a veneer of ideology.

Profiling is not enough

Harvard terrorism expert Jessica Stern thinks profiling is inadequate to catch adaptive terrorists, including a new source of jihadist recruits: women. A point well-taken, although profiling and other blunt instruments will have to do until we get more human intelligence into place, a process that will take months and years.

Terrorists seek out vulnerabilities in the enemy government's countermeasures. When metal detectors were installed at airports, terrorists found other ways to attack planes. When governments began protecting their embassies with concrete barriers, terrorists turned to larger explosives. Profiling men exclusively, and also focusing so tightly on countries known to harbor terrorists, are significant loopholes that have not been closed despite the FBI's recognition that al-Qaida has begun recruiting women, and despite the discovery last spring that a female scientist trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have been providing logistical support to al-Qaida.

Although women represent a fraction of terrorists worldwide, it is naive to assume they're not recruited to violent extremist groups. Women are responsible for approximately one-third of the suicide attacks perpetrated by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, and two-thirds of those by the Kurdistan Workers' Party. Women have founded and led terrorist groups, hijacked planes, served on all-female tank units, blown up buildings and assassinated national leaders. What is new is that women are participating in attacks on behalf of organizations that promote Islamist causes.

The lack of scrutiny of women entering the United States and the broadly held -- and correct -- view that women are less prone to violence are likely to cause al-Qaida to turn increasingly to women and other recruits who don't fit the standard profile. According to intelligence assessments cited in the press, the al-Qaida movement is seeking recruits all over the world -- in Western prisons and inner cities, among Hispanic-Americans and among French converts to Islam. Through Internet communications, it is urging individuals to create their own cells and carry out their own strikes, without necessarily joining existing militant organizations. It is also recruiting women.

via the Houston Chronicle

Muammar knows

Col. Gaddafi, maximum leader of Libya, understands what the Democrats do not: American resolve and action make a difference.

Col Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, called yesterday on other "rogue states" to follow his dramatic example, by admitting involvement in banned weapons programmes, if they were to prevent "tragedy" from striking their nations.

He sidestepped direct questions about whether the war in Iraq had influenced his decision to scrap nuclear, biological and chemical research, saying his motives were "not important".

But his stark warning to other "rogue" states appeared to offer endorsement of Washington's and London's policy of diplomacy backed by pre-emptive strikes.

Asked if he had a message for other leaders, especially the heads of Syria, Iran and North Korea, he replied: "They should follow the steps of Libya, or take an example from Libya, so that they prevent any tragedy being inflicted upon their own peoples."

via The Telegraph (UK)

Pundit William Safire says the Libyan agreement is clear evidence that President Bush's plans are working, and that the implications for Old Europe are just sinking in.

As American tanks began to roll through Iraq to overthrow Saddam, Libya's longtime terrorist, Moammar Gadhafi, came up with a strategy to avoid being next on the regime-change list: pre-emptive surrender.

Nobody calls it that, of course. Diplomats and doves want to treat the dictator's epiphany as the result of patient negotiation stretching back for decades. Some Republicans claim he was softened up by a bomb dropped his way in the Reagan years. But three years after that, his terrorists murdered 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Subsequent sanctions led to economic pain and the threat of a coup. After acknowledging Libyan responsibility, he has been trying to get U.S. oil companies back by promising to pay damages to the families of his victims.

That was not what caused this tyrant suddenly to confess to buying and developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and to promise to reveal all to inspectors. He was transformed into a pussycat by the force of American arms in stopping the spread of mass-destruction weaponry.

Why did Gadhafi have his spy chief, Musa Kussa, approach Britain's Tony Blair -- and not France, Germany or the milquetoast United Nations, to get off George W. Bush's short list of rogue nations? The reason: Britain was America's primary ally in the war against Saddam and was the bridge to Washington. This shows that it pays to be the staunch friend of the United States in extending freedom and does not increase a nation's strategic importance to be America's political adversary.

via the Houston Chronicle

Terrorism feint?

Citizen diplomat and Fox News analyst Mansoor Ijaz thinks the current terrorism threat may be a feint.

My guess is that what these terrorists are trying to do is mislead us domestically, and they do that because they do still have some elements of the sleeper infrastructure left here in the United States, where they're able to then see how we react, how we respond. What does it mean for our terror level alert to go up one notch at this time of year? Are we changing shopping mall entrance, checking them? Are we checking the bridges? Are we checking tunnels?

What exactly are we doing to try and counteract whatever it is that they have in mind? That is what I think this is really geared towards, not so much an actual attack on U.S. soil, which I still do not believe they have the capacity to pull off in any sort of a 9-11 type style.

He also thinks al Qaeda is rebuilding, within the sheltering arms of Iran, and getting ready to attack again, probably outside the U.S.

It is my understanding that bin Laden has met in recent weeks on a number of different occasions with small militias of people coming across the Iraqi border to get instructions, to get theological sustenance and so forth. And Zawarhiri is engaged in the long-term attacks, that I've said, are going to come sometime in the not too distant future, within the next six months or so, against maritime attacks.

Break down al Qaeda's theological way of doing things in to nuisance terrorism, symbolic terrorism and structure terrorism. The nuisance terrorism is what we see on the ground in Iraq today. The symbolic terrorism is like 9-11 that had major economic consequences. And the structural terrorist attacks that they want to put together. For example, hitting a major maritime canal like the Suez Canal or Panama Canal, would affect the global economy in a significant way. That is the ultimate objective that they've got.

And all rest of what they do in the meantime is to keep the cells active, to keep everything fluid. And to keep us occupied in what they are doing. A little bit like a magician. Do something over here while the real stuff is going on over here.

Joy to the world

The 4th Infantry Division in Iraq has some excellent holiday spirit this year. Not sure this particular old elf is so jolly, but... oh well.

via Yahoo! News

Using the tools

The Army is using innovative analysis techniques adapted from the civilian sector to get the best of insurgents in Baghdad. It's working, bit by bit.

U.S. troops battling the shadowy guerrilla insurgency in Iraq have adopted the computer-sleuthing tactics of big-city American police departments to prepare strikes against rebel fighters and their sources of money and weapons.

Military intelligence analysts have adopted databases and software used by civilian law enforcers to catalog names, pictures and suspects' fingerprints and to search such for links among guerrilla suspects, said Lt. Col. Ken Devan, the top intelligence officer for the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division.

Devan and the division's intelligence analysts study clusters of attacks in Baghdad neighborhoods, looking for the time of day and days of the week when strikes are most likely. They then alter their convoy schedules and routes to avoid ambushes or send patrols to confront the guerrillas, Devan said.

The division uses three programs in tandem, entering data on every bomb blast, every firefight, every suspect detained and every tip given by a local resident. Digital fingerprints are taken from every arrested suspect and added to the database.

"We're seeing patterns emerge. There are certain neighborhoods you don't want to be out in, or there's a better likelihood you'll be attacked," Devan said. "You try to predict what the enemy's going to do next. We try to cut him off at the knees."

AP report via CNN

Ho ho ho

An astute, but worried, reader of the Washington Times sends in his politically correct greeting for the season:

Please accept with no obligation, explicit or implied, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, non-judgmental, tolerance embracing, inclusivity enhancing, equality seeking, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious/secular persuasion of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice any religious and/or secular traditions.

Salute them

Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, has a message for America during this holiday season.

As our nation continues to pledge and show support to our Soldiers, our Soldiers in turn continue to pledge support to our nation. They will continue to sacrifice and endure the hardships as they take the fight to the enemy in places that many Americans will never visit or even read or hear about in news reports. They will grit their teeth, tighten their belts and dig their boots into the dirt as they've done in the past. These battle-tested warriors, who demonstrate courage, intensity and a dogged determination to succeed, will continue to fight with the backing, support and appreciation of a grateful nation. They know no other course -- they are American Soldiers.

And like all American Soldiers, past and present, they will endure. The evidence lies in the remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan and in the towns and cities of Iraq where Soldiers, today, are carrying out combat operations against the enemy at altitudes of 10,000 feet. They are fighting and they are winning. The evidence is also vividly apparent in the Walter Reed Medical Center, where critically injured Soldiers are learning to cope with lifelong injuries and painful rehabilitation. They too are fighting and winning. While thousands of miles separate these great Americans, they share no complaints -- no regrets.

What they do share is a common love for their comrades and their country. They know no other course but selfless service -- they are your American Soldiers. Salute them this Christmas.

via The Wall Street Journal (subscribers only)

I think his remarks are equally meaningful for the men and women of each of the armed services, not just the Army. We salute them all.

Pumping up "weak" countries

The RAND Corporation has been studying strategies for using the American military in the Global War on Terror. A new report focuses on how to operate in "weak" countries where terrorists can thrive.

Increasingly, however, U.S. military forces will need to fight al Qaeda and other groups in countries that do not support terrorism but are too weak militarily or politically to counter such groups on their own. Examples include the Philippines and Yemen. U.S. operations in these countries will look less like traditional warfare and more like what has been called “nation assistance,” “foreign internal defense,” and counterinsurgency.

RAND Project AIR FORCE studied effective counterinsurgency operations to derive concepts for likely U.S. strategy against terrorist groups abroad. The central lessons are as follows:

- Host governments, not the United States, should play the leading role in hunting down terrorists.
- Terrorists should be subjected to relentless pressure by host government forces so that they cannot determine the tempo and timing of operations.
- Effective counterterrorist operations will be “information intensive,” relying on accurate information about the activities, locations, and identities of terrorists.
- Most important, host governments should seek to win the support of their populations, thus alienating terrorists from potential sources of support.

Based on these concepts, the primary role of U.S. military forces will often be to train, equip, advise, and assist host country forces in rooting out terrorist groups. U.S. forces will be called upon to forge strong relationships with host-country personnel, to show great discretion in their conduct of operations, to maintain a low profile in the host country, and to be able to react swiftly and effectively when promising targets arise.

Summary and full report via RAND

Sixth-grade justice

Some Houston sixth-graders were asked by their teacher to discuss the capture of Saddam Hussein and what is the appropriate way for the civilized world to respond. As noted in an audio report by KUHF-FM, Houston's NPR station, their response was clear and immediate.

A group of middle school students took time to discuss the capture of Saddam Hussein and what they think is a just punishment for his crimes.

A group of about 25 sixth graders at Hogg Middle School talked about the history, crimes and downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime. The students broke out into several discussion groups and every group came to the same conclusion, that Hussein should be executed.

The kids' teacher wanted to talk about "tolerance." I asked my seventh grader the same question: her answer was exactly the same. The kids understand in a way that adults sometimes do not.

Threat level Orange

Happy holidays, courtesy of the jihadists.

The government is raising the national threat warning from yellow, the midpoint on its five-color scale, to orange, a federal official said Sunday. Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary, planned to discuss the change at a midafternoon news conference at the agency's headquarters. A department official and a Bush administration official both confirmed the elevated threat level but declined to provide details before Ridge's announcement. U.S. officials by the end of last week were telling holiday travelers to be vigilant about the threat of terrorist attacks. The warning was prompted in part by a raised level of ominous intercepted communications that has not quieted for months.

via Fox News
Department of Homeland Security

UPDATE: Tom Ridge made the announcement Sunday afternoon.

The U.S. Intelligence Community has received a substantial increase in the volume of threat related intelligence reports. These credible sources suggest the possibility of attacks against the homeland around the holiday season and beyond.

The strategic indicators, including al-Qaida's continued desire to carry out attacks against our homeland, are perhaps greater now than at any point since September 11th.

Information indicates that extremists abroad are anticipating near-term attacks that they believe will rival - or exceed - the scope and impact of those we experienced in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania more than two years ago.

Recent reporting reiterates that al-Qaida continues to consider using aircraft as a weapon. And they are evaluating procedures both here and abroad to find gaps in our security posture that can be exploited. Our actions are directed against their efforts.

Friendly reminder: if you see some fanatical asshat starting trouble while you travel or shop, just kill him then and there.

Good news via London

Two interesting reports in the Sunday edition of The Telegraph in London.

First, they say the agreement with Libya to eliminate that country's programs to develop weapons of mass destruction was precipitated not just by our anti-terror action in Iraq and elsewhere, but also by the seizure of inarguable physical evidence of Libya's culpability.

Libya's promise to surrender its weapons of mass destruction was forced by Britain and America's seizure of physical evidence of Col Muammar Gaddafi's illegal weapons programme, the Telegraph can reveal.

United States officials say that America's hand was strengthened in negotiations with Col Gaddafi after a successful operation, previously undisclosed, to intercept transport suspected of carrying banned weapons.

The operation is said to have been carried out under the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), an international, American-led scheme to halt the spread of WMD by seizing them in transit. The PSI was first mooted by President George W Bush in May but was not officially launched until September.

Last week, a senior official from the US State Department confirmed that the PSI had "netted several seizures", although he refused to give further details.

Second, they report that we now have evidence that Saddam Hussein was in fact directing much of the opposition to Coalition forces in Iraq. That seems consistent with radio reports this morning that hundreds of Iraqi bad guys have been arrested in the last few days since Saddam's ignominious capture.

Saddam Hussein was personally directing the post-war insurgency inside Iraq, playing a far more active role than previously thought, American intelligence officers have concluded since his capture.

Despite the bewildered appearance of the deposed dictator when he was hauled from his hiding-hole last weekend, he is believed to have been issuing regular instructions on targets and tactics through five trusted lieutenants.

Documents found in his briefcase when he was caught indicated that he had been kept informed of the progress of the insurgency but they did not suggest he had overall control of operations by former Ba'ath Party loyalists.

However, since the arrest and interrogation of guerrilla leaders named in the paperwork, US investigators believe that Saddam was at the head of an elaborate network of rebel cells.

They have put together a detailed picture of Saddam's support structure while in hiding. This enabled him to issue commands without the use of satellite phones that could be picked up by monitoring devices.

The Telegraph has also learned that millions of dollars to support the insurgency were recovered in raids on other suspected Saddam safe houses. US officials say he was in regular contact with five "enablers" - veterans of his feared security services drawn from his power base of Tikrit.

Each man had his own responsibility: logistics, financing, planning, operations and as chief of staff. It was the last of these, picked up in a swoop in Baghdad nine days ago, who gave away Saddam's hiding place.

The "self-licking ice cream cone"

Scholar and military analyst Robert Kaplan is just back from a month with the troops in Afghanistan. He's concerned about creeping bureaucratization of the war effort there, and the implications for the larger War on Terror. Thank God for the non-coms.

Instead of powering down to a flattened hierarchy of small, autonomous units dispersed over a wide area--what the 1940 Marine "Small Wars Manual" recommends for fighting a guerrilla insurgency--we have barricaded ourselves into a mammoth, Cold War-style base at Bagram that drains resources from the fire bases. It is ironic that just as the Pentagon is proposing a more light and lethal world-wide basing posture (with many smaller footprints rather than a few large ones in Korea and Europe), in Afghanistan, whose mountains and tribes make it the most unconventional of battlefields, we have reverted to such an antiquated arrangement.

We are fighting a world-wide counterinsurgency, and you don't hunt down pockets of insurgents over vast swaths of the earth with large bases, large infantry columns, and central control. Operation Iraqi Freedom only shaped the battlefield for the war in Iraq, which is of a small, unconventional kind. Because insurgencies vary from country to country, and even within countries, it is necessary to divest power from places like Washington and Bagram to the edges of the command structure, where noncoms at Advanced Operating Bases constitute the sensitive, fingertip points of defense policy--tailored to the particular situation in their respective microregions. For example, while the U.S. seeks to fold the Afghan Militia Forces into the newly created Afghan National Army, in some provinces these same militias are vital to the security of our special forces fire bases. Therefore, decisions about integrating these forces must be left to individual base commanders, who are familiar with local personalities.

The U.S. military is the world's best because its sergeants and warrant officers are without equal. It is a matter of better utilizing them. Mistakes will occur, like the children killed recently near Gardez, but remember that Green Berets have been regularly saving the lives of young mine victims in rural Afghanistan.

In El Salvador in the 1980s, 55 special forces troops beat back a guerrilla insurgency while gradually integrating renegade militias into a newly professionalized national army. They had advantages, though. A force cap kept the number of uniformed Americans in the country from mushrooming, and except for some basic guidelines they were given relatively limited instructions. So the question is: Can we find our way back to 2001 in Afghanistan and to 2002 in the Philippines, when the Fifth and First Special Forces Groups led the way to military transformation?

via the WSJ's OpinionJournal

Smart "Gimli"

John Rhys-Davies, the versatile actor who portrays sturdy Gimli in The Lord of the Rings films, is apparently much smarter than the typical Hollywood actor. For one thing, he recognizes the primal quality and importance of the current struggle between Western civilization and militant Islam.

I think that there are some questions that demand honest answers.

I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged. And if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilization. That does have a real resonance with me.

What is unconscionable is that too many of your fellow journalists do not understand how precarious Western civilization is and what a jewel it is.

How did we get the sort of real democracy, how did we get the level of tolerance that allows me to propound something that may be completely alien to you around this table, and yet you will take it and you will think about it and you’ll say no you’re wrong because of this and this and this. And I’ll listen and I’ll say, “Well, actually, maybe I am wrong because of this and this.”

[He points at a female reporter and adopts an authoritarian voice, to play a militant-Islam character:] ‘You should not be in this room. Because your husband or your father is not hear to guide you. You could only be here in this room with these strange men for immoral purposes.’

I mean… the abolition of slavery comes from Western democracy. True Democracy comes form our Greco-Judeo-Christian-Western experience. If we lose these things, then this is a catastrophe for the world.

There is a change happening in the very complexion of Western civilization in Europe that we should think about at least and argue about. If it just means the replacement of one genetic stock with another genetic stock, that doesn’t matter too much. But if it involves the replacement of Western civilization with a different civilization with different cultural values, then it is something we really ought to discuss—because, g**dammit, I am for dead white male culture.

You do realize in this town what I’ve been saying [is like] blasphemy…

…but we’ve got to get a bit serious. By and large our cultures and our society are resilient enough to put up with any sort of nonsense. But if Tolkien’s got a message, it’s that “Sometimes you’ve got to stand up and fight for what you believe in.” He knew what he was fighting for in WW1.

via Promontory Artists Association
Tip via Andrew Sullivan

Howie losing friends

Ever the epitome of the Washington conventional wisdom, the Washington Post, has started to comment on Howard Dean's rhetorical incoherence and general nuttiness. The Democrats and their allies may sense impending doom.

It is Mr. Dean's position on Iraq, however, that would be hardest to defend in a general election campaign. Many will agree with the candidate that "the administration launched the war in the wrong way, at the wrong time, with inadequate planning, insufficient help and at unbelievable cost." But most Americans understand Saddam Hussein for what he was: a brutal dictator who stockpiled and used weapons of mass destruction, who plotted to seize oil supplies on which the United States depends, who hated the United States and once sought to assassinate a former president; whose continuing hold on power forced thousands of American troops to remain in the Persian Gulf region for a decade; who even in the months before his overthrow signed a deal to buy North Korean missiles he could have aimed at U.S. bases. The argument that this tyrant was not a danger to the United States is not just unfounded but ludicrous.

Tip via Andrew Sullivan