BACK TO IRAQ.

BACK TO IRAQ.

Soon I will be leaving our fair shores to return to Iraq. Consequently, I will be taking a hiatus from all blogging activity for sometime. However, I do hope to resume posting upon my return. In the meantime I am sure that my co-bloggers will continue the good fight for freedom.

Semper Fi.

21 yr brk

An End To Rest:

Our friends at Military.com, who sponsored so much of I MBC, have a great story today. It treats the story of New York City Police Detective Evan L. "Pappy" Schwerner, who recently rejoined his Marines following a short twenty-one year break. Well, who doesn't need a break now and then?

I'm sure the Marines around here will be only too glad to say, "Welcome home, Corporal... that is, Pappy."

NORTHCOM DPRK Missiles

NORTHCOM Speaks:

The Northern Command has said that they were good to go for intercept, but determined there was no need. It's good to know that NORTHCOM detected all the launches, and it's good that they didn't say exactly how they did.

Just what is going on here?

According to Reuters, the AP, CNN and Fox, North Korea actually test fired that ding-dong missle of theirs. It appears to have "failed".

But other missles were fired, too.

Like, 5 or 6 in all.

In a two hour period.

All the accounts above are just slightly different.

I'm wondering if that Taepodong-2 missle was in fact, shot down, and the other missles were a response to that.

A battle may just have occurred.

Bookies are cheap

Bookies are Cheapskates:

Australian bookies are paying $201 on Bush to win the Nobel Prize this year. Given the nature of the Nobel committee, I'd have to say that a thousand-to-one would be ripping people off. $201 is shameless.

Roundup

Roundup:

Quite a few excellent posts today. MilBlogs has a good running tally, but here are some I noticed:

Cassidy writes about love songs.

The Geek has posted his starry flag on high.

Mudville has posts old and new on the subject of the celebrations worldwide, wherever American servicemen tred.

Laughing Wolf at BlackFive has reposted the Declaration of Independence. However often you've read it, read it again.

Sharp Knife

Sharp Knife:

Normally one can count on Noel for a powerful post on Independence Day. I trust he is delayed by some honorable purpose. In any event, if you missed his Flag Day meditation, it's worth a look today.

Scorpions

Scorpions & Independence Day:

I recall that, just prior to the invasion of Afghanistan, there was an interview with a Talib who impressed the Western journalist by conducting the interview while smoking scorpions. This was meant to be terrifying -- after all, how tough would you have to be to smoke a scorpion?

A few years later, we have our answer:

A discerning guest at a Manhattan cocktail party removed a scorpion from its bed of cheese atop an endive leaf and popped it in his mouth, determined to savor the taste unadulterated.

"Nutty, sweet," was the verdict of Gourmet magazine food editor Ian Knauer at the recent soiree.

See? Even the sort of American who attends "soirees" can munch a scorpion, then give you a critique of its flavor to boot.

Plus, a lot of Americans are descended from Scots, where there was that... well, read it for yourself.

Happy Independence Day. Remember the example of Little Bill, and don't take guff from anyone today.

Hedging your bets department:

Sentator Joseph Lieberman, (Democrat from Connecticut) has announced that he's going to gather signatures for a petition to run as a write in candidate for Senate 'just in case' he loses the Democratic primary.

Plenty of people are not happy with him.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at the Senator's decision, really. I mean, he simultaneously ran for Senator and Vice President in 2000.

But what is interesting here is how Lieberman, who has been vilified by the anti-war wing of the Democratic party, is setting fire to his bridges behind him.

I can't imagine that the DNC is happy with this.

So, either the Senator wins his primary, in which case its 'business as normal' sorta/kinda/maybe, or he loses the primary, which sets up a three way contest in which the Senator, by splitting the Democratic vote (assuming that he really does split the vote), may actually give the contest to the Republican candidate.

I'm sure that the RNC is hoping for the latter, but of course, we'll have to wait and see.

I think Bush Derangement Syndrome has just given rise to Lieberman Derangement Syndrome.

(via Memorandum)

Big problems in that chain of command.

The BBC has more on the incident in Mahmoudiya, Iraq in March:

A former US soldier has been arrested and charged with killing four Iraqi civilians after raping one of them, the US Justice Department said.

This is a pretty ugly incident if the guy's squadmates were involved, as is reported in this article from the Army Times.

The Army Times' article reports that:

The affidavit, filed by FBI special agent Gregor J. Ahlers of Louisville, said Green and three other soldiers from the 101st’s 502nd Infantry Regiment were working a traffic checkpoint in Mahmoudiya on March 12 when they conspired to rape a woman who lived nearby.

Which implies to me that a squad team leader is involved, because somebody had to be incharge of that traffic checkpoint.

So the soldier charged was a PFC and was discharged for having a 'personality disorder', which means he had to have been a 'problem child' even before this happened. Now, I can see one crazy guy going off and doing this. But an entire fireteam? There is something wrong in that chain of command.

What a mess this is going to be.

A kind word for KOS

A Kind Word for Kos:

Southern Appeal noticed this diary on Daily KOS, a hate-filled diatribe against the South and Southerners. It is not the first, and doubtless will not be the last, so I was prepared to write it off in that spirit. I hadn't intended to comment on it at all.

The only reason I'm going to do so is the follow-up post at the author's homepage noting that Kos and company had run him off ("like Saint Patrick casting away the snakes," in the author's own words). He has words for Kos in the same spirit as his earlier words for the South, but leave off what he has to say; it doesn't matter.

What does matter is that this was an act of decency by Kos, from whom I had not expected one. It is noted and appreciated.

Hamdan

Hamdan:

The body politic is in an interesting place. The most important distinctions are decided time and again by razor-thin margins, yet the winning side gets all. Thus, in 2004, the electoral margin was very thin -- yet the Republicans won both houses of Congress and the Presidency. Though the margin of victory was only a few points, the whole power of the state passed into Republican hands.

In Hamdan, a 5-3 decision that would have been 5-4 if Roberts had participated decided the day. The margin was as narrow as can be, and yet the intent of the other two branches of government was set aside, and the most hardline liberal ruling in years became, for now, the law.

The SCOTUS is designed to 'tack behind' the rest of the government, as lifetime appointees of previous administration continue to hold to an older understanding of propriety. This has a conservative effect on government, in the sense that it slows and moderates change. That is the real effect of Hamdan -- to hold us to a Cold War understanding of the Geneva Conventions.

During the Cold War, terrorists and guerrillas were the regular proxies of both sides, though particularly the Communists. As such, the great powers had an interest in pretending that those groups had a kind of legitimacy they really never deserved -- whether it was the Contras or the proto-Taliban on the one side, or the Viet Cong or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or various quasi-Marxist African militias on the other. The Cold War superpowers each adopted a false morality in order to pursue the real goal of disemboweling the other sides' interest through proxies. We chose to treat these people as if they were noble freedom fighters -- at least the ones whose defiance of the laws of war was beneficial to our own side -- and now we are paying the price. The community of legal scholars who came up during the Cold War considers terrorists to simply be disadvantaged soldiers, and considers the violations of the rules of war that terrorists engage in to be simply a balancing of the playing field. We must treat them as if they were moral equals, if only to show how much better we are.

SCOTUS will come around on this one, as more justices retire and are replaced. Justices chosen after 9/11 will not be soft on terrorists, as the old-school justices have learned to be.

Nor will the international situation continue to be so kind. The Cold War is over. The great powers have changed: they are now the United States, China, and a declining European Union. There is a rising India. Of those, only the EU has an interest in continuing to treat terrorists as a sort of criminal, rather than as a sort of barbarian. The EU's power declines steadily, as it strangles itself with regulations and tries to force economies as different as Frances' and Greece's to obey the same rules. India has no love for terrorists, as it suffers more from radical Islamic terrorism than anyone; China has already adopted the issue as a way of dealing with "splittists."

The tide is strongly against Hamdan and its advocates. I join those who suspect that the Bush administration and the Republicans in Congress will set out to overturn it as their major business between now and the 2006 elections. They will not find it hard to do, as the groundwork is already lain. Hamdan, though stern, is a last stroke from a once-strong champion. Once that model of thinking bestrode the world. This was its last hour of strength.

As for what lays beyond, Chester has some interesting thoughts. I myself simply believe that the Republican Federal powers will undo the work of the SCOTUS, and gain political strength in doing so. The Congress will be asked for new authority, and will grant it gladly. Abroad, there is nothing at the international level that is strong enough to resist the combined interests of the United States, China, India, and Russia into the bargain.

There will be no great new rights for terrorists. They will not enjoy the full protections of courts martial, as if they were honorable men. The tide turned long ago. All we see in Hamdan is proof that a few old men and women failed to notice.

Birthday Cake

Birthday Cake:

The boy is four years old now. We were moving during his birthday, so the celebration was postponed until tonight. My mother, his grandmother, made him a birthday cake.

I haven't said much about my mother (here and here are the only times I recall), but you probably know that Southern women are polite and sweet, yet stern and iron-willed.

My mother is all those things, and also rather assertive on the question of health food. This is a departure from when I was a boy; in those days, she hardly cooked at all. I left home knowing how to make everything from pancakes to lasagna from scratch. At our house, if you wanted to eat it, you'd better know how to cook it. At some point, though, she decided that she wanted to eat right and have better health, and naturally therefore she accomplished both goals. Nothing in her house is low-fiber, full-fat, or otherwise potentially unhealthy.

Which brings us to the birthday cake.

I swear this is true: his grandmother made him a prune-bran birthday cake.

She really did.

Move

The Move South:

I've been quiet for a few days while moving house. A few notes on the experience:

1) I've never driven a truck quite that size before. It was a very large Penske rental, right at the upper limit of what a non-commercial license allows.

2) Naturally, therefore, the first part of the drive included crossing the Blue Ridge mountains.

3) In the worst rainstorm on record.

4) Having gotten off the mountains and into the Shenandoah valley, where the rain was even worse, we came across (in the little village of New Market) an absolutely horrendous wreck involving six semis and numerous smaller vehicles. "Great," I thought. "Even the professionals can't keep the big rigs on the road today."

5) "Perhaps it was a fluke, though," I thought, carrying on down the road. About ten miles later, there was another wreck, this one involving two semis.

6) The rain was so bad that, on some occasions, traffic just stopped. After a while, people shut off their engines and waited for a break in the rain.

7) A "break" still meant very heavy rain.

8) Penske's trucks are top-notch. I loved the thing -- beautiful, powerful, outstanding.

9) Penske's service sucks. The truck was more than half a day late showing up. Nothing they told us about it was true. No proper instructions were given for anything, including the question of whether it could accept low-sulfur diesel fuel or how it was to be returned.

10) Did I need a truck that large? Yes and no. Only about one third of the truck was actual furniture or household goods. The other two thirds? About half of that was the wife's art supplies and artwork in progress. The rest was flowers. Tons of them, pot after pot, three shelves full lashed together to make big platforms and then all the floor space. I can't understand how she could acquire so many flowers.

11) OK, I can understand it -- she grew most of them from seeds. But still.

12) In spite of everything, we survived. All is well, more or less. Hope you've had a good few days.

Sending a message.

If this report is true,

Israeli warplanes buzzed the summer residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad early Wednesday, military officials said, in a message aimed at pressuring the Syrian leader to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier.

I think the Israelis are about to take the gloves off.

Update:
I guess it is true.

This doesn't leave much wiggle room, either:

Earlier, Justice Minister Haim Ramon said that Mashaal, was a target for assassination due to his ordering of the kidnapping of Shalit.

"He is definitely in our sights ... he is a target," Ramon told Army Radio. "Khaled Mashaal, as some who is overseeing, actually commanding the terror acts, is definitely a target."

Well, it isn't like Hamas isn't asking for it.

Life Changes.

The fellows over at Situational Awareness are going through a major change.

I wish them good luck in their new endevors, and it seems that they already more to say. Yeah, I agree. Keep bombing.

Outstanding

Outstanding:

OOH-Rah -- I tell you what, every now and then that Bush fellow really gets one right.

Speaking of getting it right, Michelle Malkin's WWII-poster Photoshop contest results (here and especially here) are something to see. I hope we'll be seeing serious prosecution for these leakers, who took oaths to keep our secrets and then betrayed them. In the meantime, as Darleen's Place put it:

Don't Kill Her Daddy with Careless Talk!

The one difference between the WWII posters and the modern situation, though, is this: it's not just the soldiers being put at risk. Indeed, in the case of the NY Times publishing every detail of our anti-terrorist programs it comes across, it's not even primarily the soldiers.

Terrorists love soft targets.

It's you that's threatened by this.

Coffee

Coffee At Borders:

This afternoon I took the wife to the Borders bookstore in Warrenton, so she could look at art magazines. She loves to look at art and flower and horse magazines. Actually, she's the biggest magazine-reader I ever met. In addition to looking at these things at the store, and then buying the ones she likes best, she has numerous subscriptions. She reads every one of them cover to cover. Last Tuesday the mail brought two of them at once. When I handed them to her, I said, "Well, there goes a week's productivity." She hit me.

(Yes, Cassidy, I know.)

Anyway, we went to Borders. After the first hour or so, I had looked at everything in the store twice and decided to just go get some coffee.

The coffee shop is upstairs on a ledge overlooking the rest of the store. That's just the way they designed it.

I went upstairs and there was this young guy running the coffee stand, flirting with his female customer. He was laughing and passing her coffee and change and receipts, and making what were intended as witty comments and trying to make her laugh. Finally, he turned and suddenly tossed her the container of cream cheese for her bagel --

-- which missed her by quite a bit --

-- and landed at my feet.

He looked abashed, looked at me, looked more abashed, and managed to get the girl out of there quickly and without any further witty banter. She left, and he watched her go as he spoke to me. He was twirling a roll of tape around his finger as he talked -- 'welcome to Seattle's coffee, what can I get you' --

-- when suddenly the tape came off his finger --

-- flew past my head --

-- and landed just behind me.

He cleared his throat. I handed him his tape back, and ordered a cup of regular coffee.

He nods, turns around and sets up the cup, and opens the tap so that coffee starts to pour into my cup. He steps away to get the cream, asks if I want cream, I don't want cream, all right no cream then -- he puts the cream back.

By this point, the coffee is pouring over the top of the cup and off onto the floor.

He turns around, sees it, and with a shout -- 'Ah!' -- he shuts it off. "Well," he said, "seeing as that cup is now scalding hot and soaked I'll, er, get you another one."

He looks at the coffee machine, and notices he has poured all the coffee out on the floor.

"Would you prefer a lighter or a darker roast?" he asks.

"Dark," I said.

"Oh, good, that's all that's left." He fetches a new cup and fills it from the "DARK ROAST" pot at the end. I paid him, and sat down to read the newspaper.

A little while later, I saw two soldiers walking through the bookstore below. They were in uniform, and I noticed they were wearing the flag patch on their shoulders. They walked up into the cafe and off to the restrooms.

While they were in the restrooms, I went over to the guy and told him that -- whatever they ordered -- he was to refuse to take their money, and just let me pay for it. I told him not to tell them who'd done it. I have a good reason for that. If someone does something nice for you, you think, "What a nice guy." But if something nice is done for you by someone unknown, you think of all sorts of different people who might have done it. You think about why these people might have done it. And that gives a better sense to the soldier of just how much they really are owed.

They got their drinks and left. I studiously ignored them, in case they were searching for a sign of who might have bought them drinks. I didn't want them to know, so I just continued to read the paper.

A little while later, the wife finally came upstairs. I asked if she wanted some coffee. She said she did, so I gave her some cash and told her to go over and get whatever she wanted, and pay the man what I owed as well. She didn't understand why I would owe anything, but I told her -- don't worry about it, he'll know. She gave me a funny look, and went to pay.

A few minutes later, I hear this exchange:

"I'd like a frozen vanilla coffee. Oh, and my husband wanted me to pay what he owed."

(It turns out another clerk had come on duty, so I hear a female voice). "Who's your husband?"

"The gentleman over there."

"Hm. I don't know. Let me ask [the name of the male clerk]."

So the lady clerk called over the other clerk, and my wife repeated, "My husband said to pay what he owes."

"Who's your husband?" the male clerk asks.

"The gentleman over there," my wife ever-so-patiently repeats.

"Oh," said the clerk. "The gentleman with the hat and the big knife?"

"Yes, that one," the wife agreed.

"He doesn't owe anything," the clerk replied. "Neither do you."

And then he opened up the register, and gave her back the money I'd paid him for my coffee.

"Your drinks are on the house."

I tried to talk him into taking the money, but he flatly refused. It's a good world, you see -- sometimes.

Joking?

Are They Joking?

Heidi at Euphoric Reality points me to a story about a Nike advert that is apparently causing some objections among incredibly brain-dead kind-hearted British folk. The image in the ad is of a soccer player, who has painted himself white with a red cross that makes up his hands and arms, and from his face to his belly. The red cross is done in a ragged sort of style, with the effect that the soccer man looks a bit like a bloody albino.

It isn't the bloody-albino effect causing the protest, though, but rather:

Rev Rod Thomas of Church of England evangelical group Reform was not convinced. ‘It’s quite a disturbing image and because the paint is wet, it really looks like blood,’ he said. ‘It therefore brings to mind the crucifixion to many people, and why Nike would want to do that, I haven’t a clue, unless it is simply as a publicity stunt.’

Now, we all know -- as does the Reverend Rod, who mentions it later -- that the red cross on a white field is the Cross of St. George, which happens to be the national flag of England. It is also the flag used by supporters of England's soccer team. So, as to why you'd want to paint an English soccer player with the Cross of St. George, it takes very little imagination for a thinking man to sort that out.

As for the intentional crucifixion imagery...

That was really the whole reason for the flag.

Hot

Hot.

I don't know about this, but in my part of Virginia, it's too hot to think. I trust you will all forgive me, but it's almost 9 PM, the heat index is still over 92 degrees, humidity is high and rising, and I haven't had much of a coherent thought in hours.

Blackhawk, sir, when you are ready to claim your hat, please drop me an email.

Oh, yes -- the DOD did finally decide on that contract it's been pondering over for three years. It awarded it to some firm I'd never heard of until a few days ago. I've obviously made many plans and options ready in case of such an action -- when you're working on "you might be unemployed in 20 days!" for three years, your thoughts do tend to turn to contingencies -- but if anyone out there is in possession of an especially adventurous option, I would be inclined to hear it.