Comments for H&I Fires* 24 July 2008

H&I Fires* 24 July 2008

2008-07-25T04:59:19Z

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.

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Can't tell whether this is breathless reporting, political games, or a serious problem: The Soldier Voting Scandal.

Former blogger "LT G," aka Mike Gallagher, is featured in a great article in the WaPo [h/t Blackfive].

Interesting:

Without a single front-page piece announcing to the world the War in Iraq has been all but won, the media shifts its claim -- repealing their coverage sub silencio, as lawyers say when judges overturn a previous decision while pretending they didn't.

Neptunus Lex is having blog problems. In the meantime, he's set up a temporary outpost.

Your Fuzzy post for the day: Firefighter rescues bear cub. - FbL

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When the schedule gets tight, Obama throws the troops under the bus. Okay that wasn't well done of me, but I'm getting sick and tired of this dog and pony show complete with media collusion... and it felt real good to type that. :D

And speaking of Obama, sounds like he's trying out for Olympic gymnastics. You know, I'm beginning to see a pattern...

More red meat: Ralph Peters takes on the extreme left.

"Support our troops, bring them home" just may go down as the second-most-cynical slogan in history, right behind Arbeit macht frei.
Now that the (truly base) Democratic base has decided our troops really aren't all that stressed, don't need a break and should move out sharply to fight Obama's wars (before the guy's even elected), I'm starting to feel like a peacenik.

- FbL

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I apparently can't stop myself today...

This is an intriguing (and disturbing) bit of info from the well-respected Iraq the Model:

The state-owned Al-Sabah quoted a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, as saying: "The change in the prime minister's position has to do with his own perception of the political developments in the United States...Maliki thinks that Obama is most likely to win in the presidential election and that he will withdraw his country's troops from Iraq as he pledged in his campaign." The official added that Maliki sees that "he's got to take preemptive steps before Obama gets to the White House."

Steve Schippert at Threatswatch asks a good question. As it turns out, the British media isn't ignoring the story. Wonder why the American media is...?

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Okay, last one. Powerline has the definitive post on Obama's sudden position on the Senate Banking Committee. - FbL

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Since Fuzzy beat me to the Ralph Peter's piece, I'll just say that the playing of the Chickenhawk card from the Right reads just as gratingly as it did when being played by the Left, for all the same reasons. I like the rest of his bit though. -the Armorer [FbL sez: that's why I called it red meat. But I liked how he pointed out the sudden silence. UPDATE: Upon a second read, I'm thinking that perhaps he was being ironic in playing the Chickenhawk card--just showing the ridiculousness and hypocrisy of their principle-less stands by using their own words against them.] [UPDATED UPDATE: I'm sure you're right... nonetheless I stand by my earlier disquiet. -the Armorer]

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Something to keep in mind this year as you contemplate voting:

It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.- Thomas Paine

Heh. President Bush's approval rating hovers around 30%. Congress... 9%

The ballot box, boys and girls, is where we have what influence we have. I'd say send the cretins home, but, sometimes, when you look at the choices... you begin to feel like you've gone beyond the looking glass. -the Armorer

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I sense the hands of BCR Labs, Inc at work here. Everybody knows BCR desperately wants a personal submarine! H/t, Kevin. -the Armorer

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Hmmmm. Interesting. Senator Obama's campaign had this to say about canceling the visit to Landstuhl. According to campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs:

During his trip as part of the CODEL to Afghanistan and Iraq, Senator Obama visited the combat support hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad and had a number of other visits with the troops.
For the second part of his trip, the senator wanted to visit the men and women at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to express his gratitude for their service and sacrifice. The senator decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."

Huh. I guess he didn't want to be accused of politicizing the wounded or something. Heh. I think that ship has sailed, Senator. For both sides. -the Amorer

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My Bad Boyfriend's campaign had a comment regarding Obama's decision to skip Landstuhl -

Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign immediately criticized the move.
"Barack Obama is wrong. It is never inappropriate to visit our men and women in the military," said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the Republican contender.

Spanked!
Love & Kisses........Princess Crabby
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]]> *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. Of course, now I have to call them UAS's, because someone got a Legion of Merit for the name change.Anyway, I call the post H&I Fires because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. Another term of art that might be appropriate is Free Fire Zone.

Comment from Ymarsakar on 2008-07-25

2008-07-25T13:13:30Z

DoD's gonna have to take on Jimmy Carter's job in addition to State Department.

Maybe DoD needs more power and money to go with their higher responsibilities, John? ; )

Comment from fdcol63 on 2008-07-25

2008-07-25T13:08:14Z

Quite frankly, I feel like going on a bolemic binge every time I see Obama. In Berlin, he said:

" ... I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions. ..."

It's as if he feels the need to apologize to Germans and Europeans because the US is not as perfect as they are, as if we're somehow not as "good" as they are.

All while standing there under a monument that's still riddled with bullet holes from the final scenes of a world war and Holocaust started by the forebears of these same "perfect" and "enlightened" people.

Gag me.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2008-07-25

2008-07-25T11:58:46Z

Fuzzy - I'm with you on Senator Obama's visitation habits.

Argent - yes, those problems exist. I mentioned them in the post where I ranted about the NRA raising money to get the troops registered, whereas the *problem* lies at the feet of local government (getting the ballots out in time) and the DoD, getting 'em delivered, voted, and returned in time.

And while you can't hold DoD responsible for the ballots that get sent out too late, you can fault them for not getting the ones that are out to the troops and back into the system.

And that's both a structural and a leadership issue.

Comment from Ymarsakar on 2008-07-25

2008-07-25T11:51:58Z

There's been problems with military members even being on a college campus, as well, Fbl.

Comment from FbL on 2008-07-25

2008-07-25T06:04:40Z

Not sure what you mean, Argent, but there have definitely been problems with military getting their votes counted in recent years.

Comment from Argent on 2008-07-25

2008-07-25T05:21:04Z

Is that voting scandal true?

Comment from FbL on 2008-07-24

2008-07-25T04:15:18Z

What I keep thinking about is this: what if he did it without an entourage and without the press, like Bush often does? That wouldn't be exploitative or "inappropriate," would it?

There's a great conversation about this going on over at Blackfive, with Uncle J defending Obama and Steve Schippert coming from a perspective that I'm at right now (that it could've been done w/out the media and been perfectly appropriate).

Comment from Ymarsakar on 2008-07-24

2008-07-24T19:20:05Z

Ralph Peter's a bit unstable. He was the one that kept trying to convince people that Iraq should be partitioned and that this is the "solution" to the Civil War.

He gave up on the Iraqis and on the hope of real victory in Iraq when things looked down, or at least he was starting to do so.

I'll always count that against him, that when the going got tough and people were yakking it up about "haha, we won and you lost", Peters was trying to evacuate Saigon instead of reinforcing it.

Comment from Ironside on 2008-07-24

2008-07-24T18:54:49Z

No time for the soldiers recovering in Landstuhl? This soldier won't forget that, senator. Many others won't, either.