Proactively “From the Sea”; an agent of change leveraging the littoral best practices for a paradigm breaking six-sigma best business case to synergize a consistent design in the global commons, rightsizing the core values supporting our mission statement via the 5-vector model through cultural diversity.
A knockout piece in the WSJ. “Lawfare.” What a title. The 100# heads are starting to bring their guns around.
...the administration’s critics are already cynically leveraging the Haditha killings as a means of undercutting the president, heedless of the effect this may have on American national interests. … However, the advent of the modern media coverage – coupled with a growing and valid concern among democracies about humanitarian norms during warfare – has provided a new tactical innovation, increasingly known as “lawfare.” Al Qaeda and the Iraqi insurgents thus routinely claim that American forces systematically violate the laws of war by targeting civilians and abusing prisoners. These claims are not targeted at the Iraqi people (although similar claims regarding insults to Islamic believers are so directed) buy a public and, especially, elite opinion in the U.S. and other democracies. With Vietnam as its model, the Iraqi insurgency well understands that it can win only by undermining America’s political will to win, and the center of gravity in this conflict lied in Washington, not Baghdad or the Sunni Triangle. … The Pentagon’s emphasis on exhaustively training American troops in the laws of war is a good first step. U.S. forces already are the best equipped and trained in history, and it is only through a constant emphasis on duty, discipline and American values that out armed forces will prevail in Iraq and similar conflicts.
At the same time, should the Haditha incident mature into a full-fledged war crimes drama prompting a premature U.S. withdrawal, the damage would not be limited to Iraq. If the U.S. cannot fight and win against a brutal urban insurgency in Iraq today, its ability to defeat any determined foe willing to sacrifice the civilian population in irregular warfare will be in question. This can only benefit the most vicious regimes and movements. The Bush administration’s critics should pause a moment, and reflect, on whether this would really be worth it.
No, it isn’t the Republicans this time. Back to one of my favorite subjects, as a matter of fact, the subject of my second post ever back in '04: the disconnect between the “elite” and the military. Sure, we have a mix of folks from the Upper and Upper-middle class in the military, but the elite in general, and the Leftist elite in particular, have over the last 30+ years made a conscience effort to separate themselves from the military, and as a result the military from them. From the subtle “why do you want to kill babies, attitude to the more direct desire to keep ROTC off campus – they complain that the military is Southern, Western, and very Red State but do nothing to encourage their friends, cohorts or children to serve. Just the opposite – they actively discourage service.
In an interesting bit in The Washington Times, the Democrats brought in Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer, the authors of the new book “AWOL: the Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes from Military Service – and How it Hurts Our Country.” This came out 06 JUN by Eric Pfeiffer, but I can’t find it online. They have ID’d the problem well, but they are making a critical mistake – they are looking at the military as just another constituent group. This is fatal. A military BS Meter will immediately go off if they smell any type of pandering, or paternalism. Sure, it may sound good, and some will take the bait – but on balance it is much larger. I had more than one professional acquaintance who, after the ’92 election actively went after DC jobs just to work with the new party in power, and came away, not Republicans, but disillusioned Democrats. The lack of respect and in many cases outright hostility they experienced by Administration officials set them back.
Like I wrote almost two years ago – I would love for more Upper to Upper-middle class in the military. I am lucky, I was brought up in Prep Schools and I am tired of being the “Why are you in the military…” guy at High School reunions. No one understands field hockey.
Here are some juicy points.
Mrs. Rother-Douquet and Mr. Schaeffer said it would be beneficial to have military officers visit congressional offices.
Umm, no. The Congressmen should go visit the troops like many of their peers have. And stay for a week. Just not at my UIC, please.
Yesterday’s discussion was sponsored by the Truman National Security Project, a Washington think tank that declares its aim is to boost Democrats’national security credentials” through an “innovative, distinctly Democratic approach to national security.”
Deeds, not words.
It wasn’t necessarily Democrats spitting on the troops when they returned home,” Mr. Schaeffer said. “But those events are certainly more associated wit the left.”
An unidentified Democratic staffer in attendance said, “When you get down to it, most military values are really Democratic values,” which received a warm applause from the estimated two dozen fellow staffers in attendance. Mrs. Roth Douquet said she agreed with the statement – but when asked if politicizing military values was dangerous, added, “The military shouldn’t be an institution that belongs to either party.”
Amen. The Democrats are making a mistake. The military isn’t a “constituency” like others in US politics that you can deal with like it is just another bit of the electoral pie you can seduce with “constituency politics.”
If the Democrats want to better balance the military, it isn’t a political solution. Trust me, you don’t want to further politicize the military – it isn’t healthy for a Representative Republic. It is a long-term project. Open your schools. Encourage your peers and their children to join. It is a crop that will take decades to grow. Whatever you do though, stop what you are trying to do now. The military should NEVER be looked at like another political constituency that can be bought off – by the Right or Left.
Listen to Mr. Schaeffer. Frank Schaeffer’s book about coming to terms with his son joining the USMC is on the required reading list.
Oliver Stone, you want to be know as a man with the largest balls in Hollywood? Make a movie of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's next book.
And with her new project she reveals, once again, how she is a true child of the Enlightenment. It’s a book “dealing with Muslim treatment of gays. It will also feature the Prophet transported to modern-day New York, forced by three great western liberal philosophers, Mill, Popper and Hayek, to recognise the failure of many Muslim societies."
A cautionary tale for those breathlessly wanting to condemn any and all who are accused of by the military of crimes.
Remember, or perhaps not after the news cycle went on to the next bucket of slime, the “Investigation” into the deaths of inmates in Bagram in 2002?
Well, the Jury is back.
In a last, sharp rebuke to Army prosecutors who had charged more than a dozen soldiers with abusing prisoners at a secret military jail in Afghanistan, a military jury on Thursday acquitted a former Army interrogator of beating and sexually humiliating a man accused as a terrorist.
What was he charge with then, if not their deaths?
He was not charged with mistreating either of the men who had died ... Army prosecutors charged him with beating and kicking Ahmed al-Darbi, a member of Al Qaeda, and stripping off his pants to humiliate him.
Private Corsetti was also accused of smoking hashish on the roof of the Bagram detention center, a cavernous warehouse that had been a Soviet aircraft-machine shop, and failing to obey a lawful order by drinking alcohol in his tent.
Mmmmmm. MIDN Owens syndrome. Investigate one thing - find others - may drop the first - but will get the on the new stuff.
The lead prosecutor, Capt. Christopher Ellis, described the case as one in which clear rules had been egregiously violated. “This case was all about standards that were in place,” he said. “This is not how professional soldiers are trained.”
Well, a jury of professionals weighed the evidence.
The officer in charge of the interrogation platoon, Capt. Carolyn A. Wood, appeared publicly for the first time in Private Corsetti’s case, testifying under a grant of immunity...
Interesting way to lead your Soldiers.
One, former Sgt. Selena M. Salcedo, said she had seen Private Corsetti pull down the pants of a high-level Qaeda figure, Omar al-Farouq, during her first Bagram interrogation and later smack the prisoner on his buttocks with an empty plastic water bottle. The other, Sgt. Jennifer Higginbotham, said Private Corsetti had joked to her and other soldiers about an incident in which he demeaned a prisoner.
But the principal accusations of abuse came directly from Mr. Darbi, whom an intelligence official identified as a brother-in-law of a 9/11 hijacker, Khalid Almidar.
..and found it wanting.
The jurors, who included five senior sergeants, two lieutenant colonels and two colonels, deliberated less than half an hour before returning their verdicts. They acquitted Private Corsetti even on the charge involving alcohol, which his defense lawyer, William E. Cassara, readily admitted.
If pulling down someone’s pants and slapping them in the a55 with an empty water bottle is a Courts Marital offense……
The timing is unrelated – but Parade magazine has a nice profile of the making of a Marine that doesn’t have your standard-issue spin to in. Give it a read. The Moonbats are already all in the comments section, but such is the freedom that Marines make sure we have.
Michael Yon covers it all for about 5min 45 sec on Reliable Sources. From Afghanistan to Iraq - a good report. Howard Kurtz does a good job letting Michael tell his story.
