H&I* FIRES 15 JAN 2008

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.

Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want to flame someone in email please - if it doesn't say "The Armorer" or "John" then I didn't write it! And honestly - if you don't like something said or posted... leave a comment, and hash it out (within the context of The Rulez which are clearly posted on the comment form, I would add).

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General McKiernan to assume command of the NATO forces in Afghanistan. Among his many qualifications for the job - may fave is the first one:

General McKiernan was never a favorite of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and after the invasion he was made the deputy head of the Army’s Forces Command, which oversees the training of American troops in the United States. In 2005, he was awarded a fourth star and made the head of American Army troops in Europe.

His European experience will be a plus in dealing with NATO’s disparate forces in Afghanistan. During the 1990s, he was a senior officer with allied forces in Bosnia and later was deputy chief of staff of American Army operations in Europe.

Among his other posts, he has been commander of the First Cavalry Division and the Army’s chief of operations.

Petty of me, I know.

Read the rest here, in the NYT.

Of course, I'm guessing it won't be easy, and this Washington Post story via MSNBC lays out:

The U.S. plan to send an additional 3,200 Marines to troubled southern Afghanistan this spring reflects the Pentagon's belief that if it can't bully its recalcitrant NATO allies into sending more troops to the Afghan front, perhaps it can shame them into doing so, U.S. officials said. But the immediate reaction to the proposed deployment from NATO partners fighting alongside U.S. forces was that it was about time the United States stepped up its own effort.

After more than six years of coalition warfare in Afghanistan, NATO is a bundle of frayed nerves and tension over nearly every aspect of the conflict, including troop levels and missions, reconstruction, anti-narcotics efforts, and even counterinsurgency strategy. Stress has grown along with casualties, domestic pressures and a sense that the war is not improving, according to a wide range of senior U.S. and NATO-member officials who agreed to discuss sensitive alliance issues on the condition of anonymity.

Moving over to Iraq - here's some understatment, methinks:

Mr. Qadir’s comments are likely to become a factor in political debate over the war. All of the Democratic presidential candidates have promised a swift American withdrawal, while the leading Republican candidates have generally supported President Bush’s plan. Now that rough dates have been attached to his formula, they will certainly come under scrutiny from both sides.

In what context? This one:

FORT MONROE, Va. — The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.

Those comments from the minister, Abdul Qadir, were among the most specific public projections of a timeline for the American commitment in Iraq by officials in either Washington or Baghdad. And they suggested a longer commitment than either government had previously indicated.

Pentagon officials expressed no surprise at Mr. Qadir’s projections, which were even less optimistic than those he made last year.

President Bush has never given a date for a military withdrawal from Iraq but has repeatedly said that American forces would stand down as Iraqi forces stand up. Given Mr. Qadir’s assessment of Iraq’s military capabilities on Monday, such a withdrawal appeared to be quite distant, and further away than any American officials have previously stated in public.

You can read the rest of that here in the NYT. As ever, the devil is in the details. -the Armorer

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The model for the Mona Lisa has been definitively identified. - FbL

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In their ever-accelerating attempt to make Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi furious, the Iraqis have finally passed their "de-Baathification Remediation Reconciliation" bill. From the Christian Science Monitor:

Signs of political reconciliation are emerging in Iraq, raising US hopes that a logjam has broken.

By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is counting on Saturday's passage of a key piece of legislation in Iraq, easing measures against former Baathists, to act as a break in a logjam that has held up national reconciliation.

With violence down, insurgent groups quieted, and many of the forces affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq routed, the United States is hoping passage of the new law means the "surge" of 30,000 additional troops is succeeding. In announcing the surge a year ago, President Bush said its aim was to provide the conditions for Iraq's warring power blocs to find common ground on important political issues.

Not that all is sweetness and light in Iraq - the a**holes still vex us:

WASHINGTON — When the two Army Rangers slipped inside the house of suspected assassins in the dark on Christmas morning in Mosul, they expected a fight. They got one.

Two gunmen, using an 11-year-old boy as a shield, confronted the soldiers. One of the Rangers, a staff sergeant, shot the suspects dead with his rifle. The boy was unharmed, according to an Army document about the assault. [Emphasis mine. -the Armorer]

That clash — recounted to USA TODAY by four of the Rangers involved and confirmed by the military command in Baghdad — kicked off what U.S. military officials say was a 17-hour firefight that resulted in the deaths of 10 al-Qaeda in Iraq insurgents, including the head of an assassination cell, a financier and a military leader. At least one fighter was from Saudi Arabia, according to the military account of the raid. Intelligence gleaned from the fight led to 10 follow-up operations, the Rangers' commander said.

The Dec. 25 raid occurred in what military officials say has become the most dangerous part of Iraq — Mosul and surrounding areas, about 200 miles north of Baghdad. The assault was a preview of a U.S.-led campaign to root out insurgents in Mosul and Diyala province who have targeted those who cooperate with Americans. It was part of a broader operation that led to the combat deaths of nine U.S. soldiers last week in Diyala.

You can catch the rest of that in USA Today. -the Armorer

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Now, for a little change of pace... want to have your guns, and eat them, too?

Snerk!

My sister, who is not a fan of guns, but who has come to terms with the fact that reasonable people can have reasonable reasons for owning a lot of them (because of the blog) was determined that her children would not play with guns.

So, no toy guns, not even squirt guns.

She recognized the fallacy when her eldest took a slice of bread, bit off a corner, and proceeded to say "Bang! Bang!"

So, of course, I sent her the link.

H/t, the Flea! -the Armorer

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J.R. and Josie Salzman have been known on these pages as "a wounded warrior and courageous spouse." But today I wanted to share something far more universal--a vignette of typical domestic life, from her point of view: Cooks and those who love them, but not their cooking. - FbL

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Update: You simply *must* read that post that Fuzzybee linked. Jo, you are a gift from G-d. Lookit the line she handed us... " watching the officer arrest the cross dresser with a warrant"

The truth is out there, Chief WARRANT Officer 4 BillT(ret'd)... Let us not quibble about context. Today I'm pretending I'm an MSM reporter...! -the Armorer

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How come my spam filters are full of "Colon Cleanse" ads? What's wrong with my punctuation? I've got an apostrophe problem, sure, but my colons are fine! :::: See? Or izzis a public health campaign in Panama and they're just soliciting help from the world? -the Armorer

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