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H&I Fires* 1 Feb 2007

By Denizens on February 1, 2007 | | Comments (4)

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite. [Hey - trackbacks work again!]

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

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As Ry predicted, William Arkin has ignited a blogstorm. For a good, old-fashioned beat-down, check out Uncle Jimbo. The more sedate may prefer Cassandra's calm and logical evisceration.

But I haven't seen a better summary than at Powerline:

The Peril of Newspaper Blogs... is that a reporter might say what he actually thinks before an editor catches up with him and makes him stop.

Blue Crab Boulevard has the definitive round-up.

Today's Day by Day gets in on the act, too. - FbL

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Video of Joshua Sparling confronting anti-war protestors last weekend (minus the spitting) - FbL

And to counter the seriousness of the other links so far... President Bush finds a new way to deal with the press: bury 'em.

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Unfortunately, Wild Bill Arkin isn't the only numbskull saying idiotic things. I wrote a letter to the editor of my local paper because I've had it up to my eyeballs with the "Poor, duped soldiers, oil and Iraq = Vietnam". Apparently, they are brilliant, well paid specimens of humanity in Afghanistan, but dumb as rocks as soon as they cross that Iraq border. (I was confused this weekend...when the marcher's were marching for peace, was that just Iraq or was that Afghanistan too?)

Anyhow, the letter was short (to hopefully get printed) and everything else I wish they'd give me the room for is on the blog.

While we're at it, here's some previews of the coming inter-regional Sunni/Shia war as soon as we abandon Iraq.

Finally, what if a democracy dies and nobody comes to the funeral?

Then Chirac opens his mouth and swallows his foot whole: Iran's possession of a nuclear weapon would not be "very dangerous" and that if used on Israel, Tehran would be immediately "razed."

It's that end part "Tehran would be razed". Kind of like that time it was announced "France has nukes and knows how to defend herself." Slip of the tongue? Or, the French version of Cowboy Bush?

-Kat (I had access to a computer, see how dangerous that is?)
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OK, maybe I jumped the gun on calling Arizona State Rep Warde Nichols a dillweed. Chalk it up to one of two things- either me misreading his statement, or the media taking it out of context, leading me to misread it. In any case, I apologize, Mr. Warde. FOXNew's new article on this subject casts a different light on his feelings toward the current ROE for National Guard members patroling our southern border.

Now, instead of just quoting him saying "What are they here for if they are going to retreat from people with automatic weapons", FOXNews has clarified his position by saying "Nichols said until the rules of engagement are changed, the troops are little more than "window dressing ... to say we are doing something about border security."
"We want to untie their hands," he added. "We want to put them in a primary role." "

Now THAT'S more like it! Untie their hands and put the Guard in a primary role guarding our border. After all, isn't that what the National Guard was created for? Protecting our homeland?
~AFSis

*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.

Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.

Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*

The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.

I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if (Don Surber uses it this way a lot) someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".

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4 Comments

By SangerM on February 1, 2007 12:35 PM
Uncle Jimbo made me cry, I laughed so hard. In re Arkin: "I realize you spent a little time in uniform back in the 70's as an intel weasel and I can only assume that the Soviets flipped you, removed your spine and balls and gave you a dumbass transplant, 'cuz your kind of sorry BS doesn't come naturally." And lot's more. I sure needed that....
 
By AFSister on February 1, 2007 12:59 PM
Jimbo certainly has a way with words, eh? LMAO
 
By SangerM on February 1, 2007 2:33 PM
Chirac's comments reminded me of a set of opinions I posted to a discussion board a few weeks ago. Have at me... Iran. I've said before, I think the U.S. and Iran will be good friends in 15-25 years (maybe less) if we can just keep from prodding one another into war. As for what that would take, I don't know. I think it would help if the U.S. would step back and take a real looooong look at what might be the best geopolitical arrangement in the middle east. I think it might be to our benefit if Iran were to be nurtured into becoming a regional power, with heavy influence over its neighbors. Yes, I KNOW about the nutcase dangerous radical religious issues, but I'd rather deal with their overt animosity than Saudi Arabia's covert version of it (and YES, I know I am oversimplifying here, but this is not a thesis...) Basically, I think turning Iraq into a democracy with the same borders it had under Hussein is simply unsustainable in the long run. It was a kludge country anyway, and I believe the Kurds will eventually push off and go for a nation of their own. They are not stupid, and they must realize it would be best for them to do that sooner rather than later, given Turkey wants into the EU and any harsh repression of the Kurds by Turkey would not only make EU accession very difficult, but would also see less than zero support from the U.S. Of course, the EU has pretty much given away its power over Turkey by making it pretty clear Turkey is not really wanted, so perhaps the Turks wouldn't really care what the Euros want (I wouldn't if I were turkey). Anyway, I think Iraq should be reduced to its components, and the parts that want to be part of Iran could be given to Iran, and the parts that want to be annexed to SA should, etc... Again, I don't care who ends up in charge, as long as in the long term there is stability and some decency and growth for the people. As for Iran having nukes, what could they possibly do with them if they get them, except 1) sell them to someone who would use them, in which case they'd be liable, or 2) use them themselves, in which case, they'd be liable. In either case, no matter what evil might be done with nukes built by Iran, the U.S. and others have enough nuclear weapons on hand to reduce every single city, town, and hovel in Iran to glass. I must assume that even Ahmadinejad is smart enough to know that, and that he cannot possibly cause enough harm with what he can produce to prevent this from happening. I am not a fan of MAD, but it still stands, and I think it would be a legitimate deterrent against Iran, which no more wants to see the utter destruction of its own country than did the U.S. or Russia. More to the point, Iran may have a nut in charge now, but he won't always be, and the Iranian people are not stupid either. At some point there will be a sea change in Iran for the best (less antagonistic toward the U.S.) if both countries can avoid tossing out that old double-dog-dare... /end/ I was asked a question about "What if Iraq had had nukes?" This was my reply: Well, we all know Hussein was if nothing else fairly crafty, though he certainly miscalculated in the end, eh? Thus, it's hard to say what he would have done, but I suspect he would have been no less leery of tossing one off at the U.S. or any of its allies including Israel than anyone else. 1) Israel surely has the means to respond. The US would no doubt have done the same. Too late to be sure, but in the end, Hussein had _nothing_ to gain from such an attack. More likely, he'd have whacked Iran ('cause who would have cared, the US??). 2) Unless the guys in charge of Iran really are looking to martyr everyone in Tehran and surroundings, I'd say they are doing their best to find some way to deter us from attacking them. You know the deal, diplomacy is saying "nice doggie" until you can find a rock. I may very well be wrong, but I really think this is more about national security for them than it is about looking for ways to kill all the Jews. They may want to do that, no doubt, but what would it get them to nuke Israel or the US or Britain? Nuked, plain and simple. If not by us, then by Israel or Britain or maybe even France and Russia. And don't scoff at that. Russia would love to have access to Iran wouldn't it? And China too for the oil. Imagine a multinational force comprising P5 armies. And would the Saudis complain, or Afghanistan? See, Iran is really not in a good spot, and frankly if I were in charge, I'd be doing my damnedest to get nukes of my own too. Yes, I know I could be very wrong... But there should be some way for the US and the others to accommodate a nuclear Iran (which I actually trust more than I do Pakistan, and I'm sure India does too) while making it painfully clear what the responsibilities are that go with being one of the big dogs... Just thinkin out loud... sorta... /end/
 
By Trias on February 2, 2007 11:52 PM
Sanger I think you're missing the 'Axis of Evil' thing. The US executive branch is not going to follow that line whatsoever regardless of how dumb or smart it is. The next crowd maybe.