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Tag Archive 'Iraq'

In Lefty world, it matters not what’s being done; the only thing that matters is whether a Leftist does it

Tweet Back in 2004, when George Bush was president, Michael Moore compared al Qaeda terrorists to American Minutemen: The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not “insurgents” or “terrorists” or “The Enemy.” They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win. Moore’s shallow brain and [...]

The different faces of the military — two SEAL autobiographies

Tweet Within the last two weeks, I’ve read two Navy SEAL books:  Marcus Luttrell’s Service: A Navy SEAL at War and Chris Kyle’s American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. The books have a lot of similarities, separate from the fact that both are books about SEALS seeing service [...]

Book review: Marcus Luttrell’s “Service: A Navy SEAL at War”

Tweet I promise that this post will be a review of Marcus Luttrell’s Service: A Navy SEAL at War.  First, though, I have to start with the ridiculous, before I can give proper context, not to the sublime (because war isn’t sublime), but to the important and meaningful. The ridiculous is, of course, MSNBC’s own [...]

Barack Obama is a warrior in chief, but is he fighting for or against America?

Tweet A few days ago, the New York Times ran an article assuring everyone that Barack Obama isn’t a wuss, he’s a warrior.  I have only a couple of points. First, considering that Obama has been and is such an aggressive President, one who has seen more troops die on his watch in Afghanistan than [...]

Boys will be boys *UPDATED*

Tweet Boys are born equipped with this neat little toy.  Amongst its many enjoyable attributes, you can write your name in the snow with it.  There are lots of other things you can do with it.  Long hikes without pit stops?  No problem.  Use a tree or, if you’re adventurous, see if you can fill [...]

Why can’t we fight to the finish this time, so we’ll never have to do it again?

Tweet A friend sent me a link to an editorial bemoaning the fact that, by abruptly pulling out from Iraq and, soon, Afghanistan, the Obama administration is ensuring that we’re leaving a job undone — something that invariably means one has to do it again.  If history is going to keep repeating itself, why can’t [...]

Cultural blindness and freedom

Tweet Was it a surprise to you that Egypt went Islamist?  It wasn’t to me. Was it a surprise to you that Libya went Islamist?  It wasn’t to me. Was it a surprise to you that Tunisia went Islamist?  It wasn’t to me. Has it been a surprise to you over the last decade that [...]

A couple of AP articles that caught my eye, both for what they say and for what they don’t say *UPDATED*

Tweet I was very surprised to see an AP wire story reporting that Islamic militants (as opposed to mere “militants” or “insurgents”) were holding “Christians” (as opposed to mere “people”) hostage.  Even more surprising, the AP reported that the Islamic militants were probably affiliated with Al Qaeda in Iraq, an entity one apparently couldn’t acknowledge [...]

Don’t shoot until you see the red of your own blood; or, liberal rules of engagement

Tweet “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”  — attr. to various generals at the Battle of Bunker Hill (although it has a longer pedigree than that). Liberals have been orgasmically excited by a video that Wikileak published showing a 2007 shootout in Baghdad, during which two Reuters stringers died.  Wikileaks contends [...]

Dastardly American troops interacting with indigenous kids in Afghanistan and Iran

Tweet Here’s our Commander in Chief speaking of the situation in Afghanistan while he was running for office:  “We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there.” This post is not [...]

All violence is equal, but some violence is more equal than others

Tweet Movie review one: The movie is a viscerally exciting, adrenaline-soaked tour de force of suspense and surprise, full of explosions and hectic scenes of combat, but it blows a hole in the condescending assumption that such effects are just empty spectacle or mindless noise. [snip] Ms. Bigelow, practicing a kind of hyperbolic realism, distills [...]

But Mommy, he hit me back first….

Tweet I’ve always loved that quintessential little kid excuse:  “But, Mommy, he hit me back first….”  Even kids understand, although they don’t always appreciate, the notion of a preemptive strike.  Lately, there’s more and more talk about Israel engaging in a preemptive strike against Iran (cheered by friends, feared by foes).  George Bush painted our [...]

Is the Obama administration playing games?

Tweet Greyhawk is trying to put the pieces together in Iraq and Afghanistan when it comes to troop rotation.  Right now, on the information available, it looks as if their’s some sleight of hand going on with regarding to troop movements and the American public.  What do you think? In the mid-19th Century, Palmerston called [...]

How to avoid the stigma of being called an apartheid state

Tweet The head of the UN General Assembly just called Israel an “apartheid” state.  In other words, Israel is emblematic of evil in the world.  I’ve finally realized what the problem is:  Israel has a mixed population. Think about it:  Iraq expelled her Jews and hounded her Christians into obscurity.  Saudi Arabia makes it illegal [...]

Man bites dog? Dog bites man?

Tweet We all know that in the news world, “man bites dog” gets the front page, while “dog bites man” is ignored.  In a twisted way, then, one could say that the wall-to-wall Abu Ghraib coverage reflected the media’s horror that the American military had morphed from honor to dishonor.  (Or we could be realistic [...]

Good news and fascinating reporting

Tweet There’s a good news article in the SF Chronicle today, and one that also has a one interesting point and one missing point.  First, the good news:  A local Marine battalion just returned home yesterday, safe and sound, from its fifth tour of duty: Number five was relatively easy. The Marine battalion that has [...]

Clarifying Obama’s secret Iraq negotiations

Tweet Two days ago, word broke that Barack Obama, despite myriad campaign promises to bring the troops home from Iraq as soon as possible, tried to derail withdrawal talks in order to advance his own political agenda.  Yesterday, Barack Obama issued a weirdly phrased denial that called Amir Taheri (the journalist who broke the story) [...]

Does this sound like treason to you? *UPDATED*

Tweet Treason is a pretty simple concept.  Here are a few choice definitions: A violation of allegiance to one’s sovereign or to one’s state. Violation of allegiance toward one’s country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one’s country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies. 1. a [...]

Best analysis I’ve seen of Obama’s myriad failures re Iraq

Tweet Before today, I hadn’t heard of Frank Turek.  After today, I’m going to keep an eye out for his articles.  He’s written a really splendid article explaining how deeply, terribly wrong Obama’s every position is regarding Iraq.  Frankly, for those who are well-informed, there’s nothing in this article you haven’t seen before.  I’m just [...]

Nobody here but us biased chickens *UPDATED*

Tweet The LA Times has mounted a spirited defense against the ever increasing volume of reader complaints the Times is getting about its loving coverage of Obama, especially when contrasted with the fact that its McCain coverage is minimal and fairly hostile.  Here’s the key part of its defense: [I]t’s the string of Page 1 [...]

Hoist by their own petard

Tweet In light of the Surge’s manifest success, John Hawkins, of Right Wing News, has written a column that assembles many of the Democratic gloom and doom predictions about the Surge when it was first proposed.  Makes for interesting reading in that it exposes the profound ignorance and ideological blindness coming from the Left.

The reality-based candidate

Tweet It’s no longer a phrase heard much anymore, but the Progressives used to title themselves “the reality based community.” They understood the real world, unlike the cruel, self-centered, self-serving conservatives surrounding them. Of course, that being the case, Obama must be the reality based candidate. However, Cheat-Seeking Missiles, riffing off a Washington Post editorial, [...]

I finally figured out what Obama reminds me of

Tweet Here’s a good video showing Obama’s constantly revolving position on Iraq (h/t Hot Air): And, given the way Obama’s head is flipping left and right as he keeps doing a 180 on his Iraq position, I couldn’t help thinking of poor little Linda Blair’s head:

Talking to the troops

Tweet I’m sorry to say that, for me, “the troops” have always been somewhat abstract, not because I don’t respect and admire them, but because I really don’t know any troops.  Living in my Marin bubble, where the military is anathema to the average person, you simply don’t have a large number of people entering [...]

Prescient versus naive? stupid? ideologically blind?

Tweet Frederick Kagan has a fascinating comparison of the specific Iraq policy plans McCain and Obama advanced before the Surge.  McCain actually envisioned a surge-like event, and described all the positive benefits that would flow from it — and his predictions proved to be completely accurate.  Obama, of course, demanded retreat and defeat.  Given the [...]