We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:32:12 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 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. You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place... ********************************* John (a.k.a. Noonan, the cheater who stole a $9k march on the next charity drive.) at OPFOR makes a definitional argument I largely agree with and have argued over at Alan’s once or twice. The Fort Dix dix may not be terrorists by the strictest or most accurate definition, but, like LTC P, I think... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html Sat, 12 May 2007 23:41:23 -0600 Actually, I think the current definition is wrong, too. I don't think it possible for a private person to be a terrorist. I think that only government folks can be terrorists. It was the French Revolutionary government which invented "terror" in that sense. What I think you're talking about are people whom I would call "bandits", or "dangerous lunatics" or "pirates". Yup, "pirates", that's it, folks who do kp&r on their own, without protection or acknowlegement by any recognized nation-state. Pirates, hang 'em when you catch 'em. (not to be confused with small-mouthed armed pacifists who mind their own business and think nation-states are pirate conspiracies, of course) I except the USA from the category "pirate conspiracy" because they started out honest and are mostly still so, but I do dread the completion of some trends I think I see. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-60011 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-60011 Tue, 15 May 2007 02:51:52 -0600 Trias. yup. You've basically given words to my thoughts and feelings on that r: the word terrorism. Simply being in opposition to the US doesn't make one a terrorist. It's over used. I'd rather we kept it to a strict def'n, the legal one actually, rather than have it tossed around like it is. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59938 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59938 Sun, 13 May 2007 01:29:50 -0600 When I read some of his other stuff I see nuggets, but also pure oddness. I mean, the guy who taught me China watching has reams of evidence that PLA/AF/N learned TONS about us by watching GW and our operations in the Balkans(with the RUMINT I've heard about that Chinese newspaper/Embassy bombing, they would only speak of it off the record, it kinda makes sense why it happened and how it became a media disaster---someone using the Balkans as test bed.). If we take his argument seriously, that getting involved with a tangential enemy learning from us, we should never go anywhere because an observer or less than neutral party will learn about us and how to exploit revealed weaknesses. That element just strikes me as silly. ANd yet, certain parts of his 'Myths of WW2' piece make a lot of sense(with others being well, rants I would make on too much Mountain Dew, too little sleep, and too little ability to think clearly.). I really didn't want to make this about Brecher, in this space. More about the individual piece. I see some 'duh, captain obvious' stuff and some tortured logic in play here. Given that, I wonder why J and the good Prof like it so much? ------ Hmm, Blackhawk's got me tied in a loop. Like the dog from ancient Rome who couldn't choose between two bones. I'm not sure to what he refers(is it advice about how to conduct myself? Does it refer to one of the articles? Which one?). No fair. Shakespeare be nice, but damn it I hate it when it causes an Asimovian robot-like loop.;) --- Hmmm. Real cheetos! Thanks Maggie! I hope you can eat all the M&Ms you want and still pull off that Queen Gorgo thing!(scampers away to hidey hole with cheetos). We may be anemic, John, but not THAT anemic. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59937 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59937 Sun, 13 May 2007 01:25:24 -0600 To John: "he was spurred on by the conviction that the world needed his immediate presence." I often have this...um...conviction. To Ry: "Neither fraud, nor deceit, nor malice had yet interfered with truth and plain dealing." To my sweet, sweet Dulcinea: "Truly I was born to be an example of misfortune, and a target at which the arrows of adversary are aimed". Now if you will excuse me, there are windmills that need tilting... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59936 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59936 Sun, 13 May 2007 00:28:41 -0600 Rusty thumbtacks? That is harsh. Hey Ry, here's a fresh bag of Cheetos. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59934 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59934 Sat, 12 May 2007 22:29:18 -0600 The deck gun is a 37mm cannon salvaged from a wrecked P-400 (export version of the P-39 Aircobra). http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59933 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59933 Sat, 12 May 2007 22:13:46 -0600 [whistling merrily] Whatever are you talking about, Blackhawk? [removes stale cheetos from Ry's stash, replaces with rusty thumbtacks dipped in dung] http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59932 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59932 Sat, 12 May 2007 21:40:23 -0600 Ummm...not to piddle on the parade, but am I the only one for whom the post title says "12 April 07" instead of, say, "12 May 07"? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59931 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59931 Sat, 12 May 2007 21:26:17 -0600 I am a Navy girl! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59930 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59930 Sat, 12 May 2007 18:29:06 -0600 Very good lady and gents! Maggie gets extra credit for the link! I honestly figured you would get it quickly, and am pleased you met my expectation! I just think it's kewler than the dickens the 'skeeter boat sailors were so inventive in arming their boats! As for War Nerd, as I said in email elsewhere, he has interesting insights, but he spends too much time flailing his politics and it gets in the way of his ideas. Leaving aside his seeing patterns where I suspect none exist. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59929 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59929 Sat, 12 May 2007 17:44:49 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59928 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59928 Sat, 12 May 2007 17:00:58 -0600 The 37mm forward gun was originally the nose gun of the Bell Aircobra, modified for PT service. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59927 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59927 Sat, 12 May 2007 14:49:20 -0600 http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/ElcoPTBoat/37MMDeckGun/index.htm]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59926 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59926 Sat, 12 May 2007 13:48:50 -0600 And that gun came from the P-39. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59925 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59925 Sat, 12 May 2007 13:19:33 -0600 I've never been that impressed with the War Nerd. He has a history of sneering at us, and this is just another opportunity to mock. He also fails on grokking causality. If Iran wins, it will be because it intervened in every way except sending troops across the border (oh, wait...) and received no real response, nothing to make it think twice. During the Rush To War(tm) that took basically the entire year of 2002, quite a few people pointed out that Iraq, with its central location and causus belli, was a great beachhead from which we could mess with and hopefully bring down its hostile neighbors. It was looking really good for about 6 months after the statue fell, then we sat on our bayonets. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59924 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59924 Sat, 12 May 2007 13:11:56 -0600 Re: the deck gun is 37MM. The half-hoop thingy is the magazine. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59923 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59923 Sat, 12 May 2007 12:59:18 -0600 IMO the 'terrorist' term has been grossly misused and was never that firmly defined in the public in the first place. It is an emotional response word used well beyond the widely accepted form in 9/11 where real and obvious terrorism occurred to cover far more dubious areas like opponents in the Iraq war. In the end the terrorist label has been flung all over the place. Every crooked government with an opposition found it fashionable to use the term. Democrats and liberals that didn't fall in line with the war were flung with it. It was even flung on Americans and the military. So now people are desensitized and calling these six terrorists or not doesn't have all that much impact in the public either way. Kinda sad IMO hard to have a 'war on Terrorism' after all if alignment on what a terrorist is, is so very poor. It's an interesting pov from the 'war nerd' article I suppose but I am with the armorer on it being opportunistic not pre planned. I have argued before about a lot of unfortunate unintended consequences of the Iraq war. I suppose his more conspiratorial pov suggests intended consequences to him instead. I do think his basic argument of those that stayed out of the Iraq war winning in a sense rings true though there are limits. Iran may or may not need worry about jihadi nutcases but places like Russia and France are not entirely out of the firing line. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59922 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59922 Sat, 12 May 2007 12:49:30 -0600 Brecher certainly has an interesting view, once you strip out the gratuitous snark that threatens to make his piece unserious. If there's a flaw in it, I think he puts a frisson of planning where has mostly been a conflation of inertia and opportunism, and flavors it with his distaste for Cheney and anything not firmly rooted in RealPolitik. In other words he's almost implying a plan and seeing patterns in chaos - and imputing geopolitical motives where simple economics can also explain. He's seeing faces in the clouds. But that doesn't mean that the *clouds* don't have meaning, and there is value in examining them in and of themselves - because from clouds, rain falls. The rivers are running high where I live, so I have an interest. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59917 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/05/hi_fires_12_apr_1.html#comment-59917 Sat, 12 May 2007 09:46:59 -0600