SOFA - Step II

Last fall, coalition forces began to turn over major military bases in Iraq to the Iraqi Security Forces.

Today marks the second major step towards fulfilling our obligations under the Status of Forces Agreement that has all combat troops out of Iraq by 2011. Today, the last bases inside the cities of Iraq will be turned over or closed. Today is one step closer to a free and sovereign Iraq.


It is not a day without trepidation. Many Iraqis worry that the security forces will be up to the task of securing their safety. Some most likely worry that the simmering crisis in Iran will boil over, and refugees will spill over into an Iraq just barely beginning to come out of a al-qaeda inflamed sectarian crisis.

If you pray, pray for the people of Iraq, that peace and freedom may come quickly.

I don't even know what to say

1 dead, 1 wounded at the US Army recruiting station in Little Rock. Police have a suspect in custody. Unsuprisingly, he is a Muslim convert. Surprisingly, CNN reports that.

My prayers for the victims and their families. Man, that sounds trite.

My congratulations to Fox news for identifying a semi-auto SKS as an "assault rifle". Idiots.

Next up: apologists explaining how the shooter is/was drunk/high/mentally ill/retarded/from a broken home/etc/etc/etc

Still reading... apparently apologists have their work cut out for them. This useless piece of scum has been to Yemen and back and had the FBI "keeping an eye on him".

Memorial Day

I posted this last year. I don't see much to improve on this year.

THE WHITE HOUSE


Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 2, 2000



Memorandum on the White House Program for the National Moment
of Remembrance


Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

Subject: White House Program for the National Moment of Remembrance

As Memorial Day approaches, it is time to pause and consider the
true meaning of this holiday. Memorial Day represents one day of
national awareness and reverence, honoring those Americans who died
while defending our Nation and its values. While we should honor these
heroes every day for the profound contribution they have made to
securing our Nation's freedom, we should honor them especially on
Memorial Day.
In this time of unprecedented success and prosperity throughout our
land, I ask that all Americans come together to recognize how fortunate
we are to live in freedom and to observe a universal ``National Moment
of Remembrance'' on each Memorial Day. This memorial observance
represents a simple and unifying way to commemorate our history and
honor the struggle to protect our freedoms.
Accordingly, I hereby direct all executive departments and agencies,
in consultation with the White House Program for the National Moment of
Remembrance (Program), to promote a ``National Moment of Remembrance''
to occur at 3 p.m. (local time) on each Memorial Day.
Recognizing that Memorial Day is a Federal holiday, all executive
departments and agencies, in coordination with the Program and to the
extent possible and permitted by law, shall promote and provide
resources to support a National Moment of Remembrance, including:

* Encouraging individual department and agency personnel, and Americans everywhere, to pause for one minute at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on Memorial Day, to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all.
* Recognizing, in conjunction with Memorial Day, department and agency personnel whose family members have made the ultimate sacrifice for this Nation.
* Providing such information and assistance as may be necessary for the Program to carry out its functions.

I have asked the Director of the White House Millennium Council to issue additional guidance, pursuant to this Memorandum, to the heads of
executive departments and agencies regarding specific activities and
events to commemorate the National Moment of Remembrance.

William J. Clinton

Who do you remember today?

Dong.
3 o'clock.

Lieutenant Colonel Jack Friedrichsen, US Air Force

Dong.
Second bell.

Major Andrew Olmsted, US Army
Captain Thomas Casey, US Army

Dong.
3 strikes for the hour.

Sergeant Ross Clevenger, US Army
Sergeant Jim Holtom, US Army
Private First Class Ray Werner, US Army


Today, I'll remember.

Acute Library, continued

Thanks to Jules Crittenden for the link last week. Jules has a great site, and he's a lover of books as well- Crittenden's Botique: Right-Wing Bookshop and General Store

I got two books in the mail on Tuesday- The Islamist and Horse Soldiers. Both look to be excellent- Horse Soldiers in the sense of the most timeless military history (by the way- check out In Harm's Way by the same author for the story of one of the most fascinating tragedies of WWII, the sinking of the USS Indianapolis). The Islamist reads worryingly. I'm only 70-odd pages in, but Ed Husain is already painting a picture of his path from bored western Muslim to extremist.

I had Army drill this weekend, and inbetween qualifying on my rifle and teaching new kids how to clean an M-16 (seriously... what do they learn in basic training now?), I read most of Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror by Zachary Abuza. Most of the book was good. I learned quite a bit about the religious and political history of Malaysia and Indonesia, and there is a wealth of extensively footnoted information detailing the spread of al-Qaeda in SEA and how AQ was able to co-opt local muslim extremists into part of the larger organization. That said, there are a lot of typos in the book- one (which is mentioned in an amazon review) made me laugh out loud when I read it out at the rifle range. The author claims that "15% of Cham Buddhists are Wahhabi", which makes about as much sense as saying that 15% of all trucks are bicycles. Overall, though... it was a good intro to the topic.


Speaking of Jules Crittenden and militant Muslims, here's Jules on Josh Marshall on homegrown terror:

It appears that this is one of those cases where the group was under surveillance for a very long time and helped along in what turned out to be a bogus plot orchestrated by federal authorities.

O, when will the feds stop persecuting Muslims and forcing them into man-caused-disasterism!

I'll tell you what... seeing "jailhouse converts" to Islam getting arrested while placing C4 bundles around a synogogue makes me real comfortable with the idea of moving Guantanamo detainees into American mainland prisons!

The Library

I've always been a bookworm. My parents raised me in a house that had virtually every open wall covered up by a bookcase. I read through most of the Encyclopedia Brittanica as a kid, and I hit up old chemistry and linear algebra textbooks for what I could understand. We read classics at family dinners and on road trips- Swiss Family Robinson, The Wind in the Willows. I loved historical fiction, especially books from the age of sail.

Iraq was good to me on the reading front. I had a lot of spare time to fill, and instead of watching Simpsons, Girls Next Door or whatever $2 DVD the Iraqi vendor had just added to his lineup with a bunch of the other guys, I read. I got through Atlas Shrugged, The Face of Battle and The Mask of Command. I read Fiasco and The Golden Bough. I read through the Bible.

I haven't been as much of a reader since I've been home. College classes hit hard, and my perfectly delightful girlfriend occupies a good bit of my time as well. Still, though... I recently read most of the way through Martin von Crevelds The Culture of War (the library asked for it back before I quite finished). I enjoyed it, though longtime Clausewitz fans may disagree. The Al-qaeda Reader is on my nightstand, and Militant Islam in Southeast Asia is waiting for its turn. The Islamist and Doug Stanton's Horse Soldiers are in the mail.


Summer is coming.

Welcome, Crittenden Warmongers! Feel free to browse around.

I Just Fixed the Pentagon's Budget

So I came up with a great idea to save the military money.

Get rid of this abortion:



If you've never had the pleasure of sampling this questionable delight, let me just say this: there are hundreds of thousands of young men and women under arms in this country, and every single one of them will go hungry rather than eat this MRE.

The Pentagon buys something on the order of 50 Million MREs a year. Since there are 24 different varieties, that's on order 2.1M Cheese and Veggie Omelets per year. At an avaerage of $7.25 per MRE (I couldn't find a price for the CaVO by itself, so I used the cost of a box divided by 12), that is $15 Million a year spent on the excrement of Satan.

It's wasted. All of it.

Update: So according to Wikipedia, this MRE is already on its way out this year. That's the bright side (and trust me... it IS a bright side).

The downside is that the Pentagon kept it on the menu for 4 years. That's $60M of your money forgotten in storage lockers, discarded in the trash, and picking up dust.

Plank Walked

Three times, anyway. Courageous captain is safe.


Question: did these guys know they were pirating a US-flagged ship?
I keep hearing about how canny and technologically-advanced these pirates are- how they identify ships before they depart port, targeting those with valuable (read: worth a ransom) cargo. If all that is true... did they really expect hitting an American ship to end well for them?

I'm just glad this immediate situation is over. Now I don't have to listen to every pants-on-head retard suddenly turned hyperventilating armchair admiral blather on about how the Navy should have been ready to snipe those pirates and scoop the heroic captain from the water.

I'm not a expert on naval affairs, but I don't think I'm out of line saying that sniper teams are not part of the modern equipment issue on guided missile destroyers. Tomahawk cruise missiles? Sure. Sharpshooters in the topsails? Pretty sure those went out with the feather-plumed tri-corners.

Update: Those guided missile destroyers may not have snipers in the rigging anymore, but those amphibious assault ships have them in the holds. Sounds like the good captain bailed a second time, at which point a SEAL team promptly ventilated the pirates. I'm sure this means at least one or two armchair admirals will find it a good idea to tie up a SEAL team on every anti-piracy patrol boat.

Also worth mentioning: piracy was the immediate threat in this instance, and by nature demanded a response. The long view in Somalia must address the terrorist haven it is becoming. In the short term, sinking a few boats or something will satisfy the American people (just as bombing a couple afghan al-qaeda camps used to). Cathartic? I suppose so, if you take comfort in decisive battle. Effective? No. We also can't forget that we just rescued our guy- there are still hundreds of captives of other nationalities still in the hands of pirates, and any "anti-pirate" activities must consider the well being of those prisoners.