jeffreymark

SELLING AMERICA'S MILITARY SOUL FOR A MESS OF POTTAGE

One of the most theologically compelling and seminal stories of the Old Testament features Isaac's younger son Jacob and eldest son Esau. Traditionally the older inherited the birthright from the father. In this story, however, Jacob, along with his mother Rebekah, took matters into their own hands. They deceived Esau, and to make along story short, stole his birthright over a mess of pottage.

Times have changed, faces look different, but politicians such as Obama, continue the age old tradition of selling out for a mess of political power. This little boy who would be president, according to those with greater experience, seems to care more about personal power than America's strength particularly in regard to foreign policy:

Despite these facts — however the mainstream media chooses to spin them — the operative question is: Will any of this matter to Obama?

I fear it won’t. He’s already shown that his version of fact-finding is to lay out an Iraq plan before going there. And while he conceded yesterday that there has been “enormous improvement” in security, Obama remains unwilling to concede change-I-can-believe-in on his three main Iraq tenets: timelines, political progress, and Iraq as a central front.

The statement he released after touching down in-country reiterates his misguided support for “a clear date” for withdrawal, his confused assertion that “political reconciliation continues to lag,” and his stubborn insistence that America must “refocus” our efforts in Afghanistan. Obama went so far as to tell an interviewer that he would oppose the surge again, despite the fact that the strategy that has saved countless American and Iraqi lives.

Should we fully blame Obama for his stubbornness? We created this immature gaga eyed kid who would be president. Or, at least our collective narcissistic disposition breathed life into his soul.

In addition, not only does Obama seem more concerned with winning an election than a war, the W$J's Daniel Henninger believes Obama possesses the philosophy to establish him as a sort of break the mold Democrat, but the old established 60's liberal Congressional crowd such Hillary, may sweep him right back into their anachronistic agenda. This may explain his inability to form a clearly defined Middle East policy. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Watch the interview with Henninger below.

OBAMA FORFEITED NEGOTIATING RIGHTS WITH IRAQ LONG AGO

Obama may engage the troops in a little basketball, show his appreciation for their work, and in thespianesque style, communicate a caring spirit. But, the troops know the truth behind this man's roller-coaster facade. Military wife and blogger Amy Proctor offers a hint of the military's feelings concerning Obama's Middle East photo op:

Pres. Bush and Al-Maliki are already negotiating “a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals” that will lead to the eventual withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The plan is contingent on continued security and improving Iraqi capabilities. It is not a date for withdrawal as Obama outlines.

Let’s be clear about one thing; it doesn’t matter if Maliki endorses Obama’s “timetable” for withdrawal or not. The facts are that Barack Obama opposed this “disastrous war” from the beginning, voted against funding the troops in combat and called for immediate withdrawal years ago. Obama may want to hitch his little wagon to the success of the democratic state called Iraq, but he forfeited his right to do so when he cast his vote to defund the troops and called Operation Iraqi Freedom a mistake.

Let’s not forget Obama’s ‘Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007’, which called for a goal of all U.S. troops to leave Iraq by March 31, 2008, or that he opposed the surge. There’s judgment you can believe in.

If Obama had his way, there would be no Maliki government (recall Democrats demanding the removal of Maliki in 2007), there would be no secure Iraq, Saddam and his evil heirs would still be dictators in Iraq, Saddam would have reconstituted his WMD program and those Iraqis who think Obama is so dang handsome and smart would be fearing for their wives and daughters every time Uday Hussein came rolling down the streets of Baghdad.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of this war is the hope of everyone who has invested themselves in this war effort one way or another, but Obama wanted to close the tunnel when seeing through to the other side required some commitment and hope.

While Obama seems to be on the political untouchable list now, he will fall from grace eventually when people pay attention to his policies and not his smile. Bill Clinton used to confound Republicans with his “Teflon Bill”, “Slick Willy” persona and now the Clintons are second fiddle to the Obamas. Ouch

Go here to read more of Amy Proctor and catch her links.

AN AWE INSPIRING LOOK AT THE BATTLE FOR SADR CITY

While the battle for Sadr City raged on in March and April, the awe inspiring Apache Helicopter, guided by the 4th US Army Division’s 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, provided aerial cover for the troops below. Bill Murray posts the inside story. It's worth reposting in its entirety here so that the reader may grasp the implications of the text I outlined in bold:

There are few pictures of a US Army Tactical Operations Centers, and once inside you realize why. Everything within the walls of a TOC in Iraq -- and there are dozens at the company, battalion and brigade levels -- is more or less classified. Screen after screen of live Unmanned Aerial Vehicle camera footage, high-definition video from floating balloons tethered high above each forward-operating base, high-powered FM radios connected with ground troops, three tiers of desks with sergeants and captains using internal message and email systems to communicate with UAV operators. It’s a bit Hollywood for the uninitiated.

On these screens, the battle for Sadr City in late March and April played out. The 4th US Army Division’s 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, located at Taji Airbase in the suburbs of Baghdad, had responsibility for close-air support and reconnaissance for most of Baghdad east of the Tigris River when between March 25 and mid-May, elements within Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army fought pitched with Iraqi Army and Coalition forces for control of the stronghold.

The spike in violence caused the regiment to keep six AH-64 Apaches in the air over northern and eastern Baghdad at all times as part of coordinated ground attacks with Iraqi National forces and the US 4th Division and 10th Mountain Division. During that time, Apaches from units surrounding Baghdad fired more than 200 Hellfire laser-guided missiles, killing 251 enemy combatants, according to Civil Affairs Sergeant First Class Chris Seaton. Sadr’s forces and the Iraqi government of Nouri al Maliki agreed on a cease-fire in May.

During that period there were "dozens of engagements a day. Now we’re back into where we want it to be," said Lieutenant Colonel Todd Royer, the regiment’s commander. "Iraqi security forces are showing active signs of improvement. Almost all the missions are joint, and almost all of them have been Iraqi led."

The evolution of US Army’s TOCs during the Iraqi conflict may be among the biggest reasons why the military "surge" in the past year has helped cut year-on-year violence in the country by up to 80 percent, according to the Department of Defense.

The near instantaneous, error-free communication between air surveillance and ground troops has allowed much fewer troops on the ground to coordinate with air support and Iraqi forces, making units such as the 10th Mountain Division a potent constabulary force using a fraction of the troops normally necessary for such role.

"The ground units have been ... getting high-value individuals, time-sensitive targets," said Apache pilot Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jeffrey Dumond. "They were sporadic before in Sadr City. Then, it became everyday, then, several times a day. It seems to have worked. It’s uneventful out there now."

Doing the job of a unit twice its size, the 3rd Regiment operates 24 Apache helicopters, the US military’s premier attack helicopter, and 10 Blackhawk helicopters -- used for everything from medivac flights to office moves. In the past seven months, the 36 helicopters have flown 14,000 hours, more than a regular unit would fly in two years.

Sadr's forces took a relentless pounding from US aerial attacks and the Iraqi Army, while anecdotal evidence from Iraqi police and Army patrols showed parts of Sadr City decimated of grown men, leaving only 12 or 13-year-old boys to fight. Violent activities in Sadr City have plummeted since the May cease-fire. More than 1,000 members Mahdi Army member are believed to have been killed there, while another 1,300 Mahdi Army fighters from Iraq may have escaped to safe houses in Iran.

US intelligence reports say Sadr is trying to get his leaders to meet him in Qom, Iran, where he may be hiding, in order to reconstitute forces with a focus on attacking exclusively US military targets.

"It’s possible there is a slowdown because of the regional elections coming up" in October or November, said Dumond, speaking after an evening pilot's briefing. "They may feel they need to rebuild trust" after organized bombing in crowded areas angered Shia populations that represent the core of Sadr’s political support.

The exhibition of force by the US and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki in the past months is not without US critics. A Washington Post article published May 23 criticized the unit and particular pilots for civilian deaths and injuries occurring during the March to May period.

"The Post article did a real disservice to the pilot," said Major Geoff Crawford, second in command of the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment. "It came here with an agenda." Officers in the unit wrote a letter to the Washington Post, complaining that much of the story’s reporting was taken out of context. The letter itself was edited without permission before publication, Crawford said.

Despite the importance of the Iraqi Army’s investiture of Sadr City and Basrah and the dethroning of Sadr’s powerbase within Baghdad, periods of decreased violence in the past have not lasted, while political reconciliation between Shia, Sunnis and Kurds remains incomplete.

"Success now is not determined by the number of engagement, but by lack of engagements," said Captain Matthew Paladino, who operates the regiment’s Tactical Operations Center.

The regiment this month is in the process of transferring south to Baghdad’s International Airport, taking over surveillance and close air support over much of southern Iraq until February, when the 700 soldiers in the unit rotate back to Fort Hood, Texas.

One wonders what the press thinks it might gain by continually distorting facts, engaging in subversive reporting, and undermining the American morale. Makes us think perhaps the real enemy lives not in Iraq or the Middle East, but in the cubicles of the liberal press room. Shame on you Benedict Arnolds.

JOHN MCCAIN, TROOP SURGE, AND PEACENIKS

John McCain certainly falls short of traditional conservative's expectations. Lately he invoked the class warfare rhetoric of the left. But, he remains consistent in his support for the war in Iraq. Recently the Boston Globe posted this concerning McCain's position:

John McCain asserted yesterday that last year's troop buildup in Iraq pulled the country back from the "abyss of defeat" and "opened the way for something approaching normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi." On the eve of the long-awaited appearance before Congress today of General David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, the presumptive Republican nominee also portrayed calls from his Democratic presidential rivals to withdraw US forces from Iraq as a "failure of leadership." Addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, McCain insisted that despite a recent outbreak of heavy fighting and a US death toll that has surpassed 4,000, pulling out now would jeopardize recent gains. "To promise a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, regardless of the calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people, our most vital interests, and the future of the Middle East, is the height of irresponsibility," McCain said of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. "It is a failure of leadership."

On the other hand Obama's position represents a major ideological shift introduced by Walter Cronkite's gaffe following the Tet offensive during the Vietnam war. Tet single handedly gave anti war activists fodder for their position and planted seeds of doubt concerning American interests and capabilities in relation to foreign affairs. Historian Victor Davis Hanson, however, posits a salient point when suggesting:

At the same time, this freedom to distort often can hamper the military operations of the moment, as Thucydides himself saw and Plato feared in The Republic--and as was the case with the Tet Offensive. Frankness and hysteria, in place of reasoned and positive assessment, may have prolonged America's agony in Vietnam and lost battles in the field, but they surely didn't endanger the war against communism. Had America been as closed a society as was Vietnam, then it might well have won the battle but lost the war, much like the Soviet Union, which imploded after its involvement in Afghanistan, a military intervention similar to America's in Vietnam in terms of tactical ineptitude, political denseness, and strategic imbecility, but a world apart in the Russians' denial of free criticism, public debate, and uncensored reporting about their error.

How odd that the institutions that can thwart the daily battle progress of Western arms can also ensure the ultimate triumph of its cause. If the Western commitment to self-critique contributed to the American defeat in Vietnam, then it also was paramount in the explosion of Western global influence in the decades after the war, even as the Vietnamese army fought for a regime increasingly despised at home, shunned abroad, and bankrupt economically and morally.

In the next few decades, it shall come to pass that Vietnam will resemble the West far more than the West Vietnam. The freedom to speak out, the titillating headline, the flashy expose, and the idea that a man in tie and suit, not one sporting sunglasses, epaulets, and a revolver, is the Commander in Chief are in the end more likely to win than lose wars, on and off the battlefield.

Hanson's observation implicitly raises hopes that despite the outcome in our minor wars and the strident tones emanating from the leftist peaceniks such as Obama, the American stamp of freedom will remain imprinted within the global soul. Perhaps this bit of wisdom reminds us that freedom's mission begins at home. All the more reason I choose not to elect left wing socialists who embrace class envy and forced collectivism, a concern which leaves us quizzically scratching our heads over John McCain. Yet, McCain's party affiliation, his defense of the war, and his age, address his philosophical backers, his tenacity, and his seasoned wisdom. Thus, in the end I will vote for him.

For a more detailed comparative look at the Iraqi and Vietnam wars go here and listen to Victor Davis Hanson's hour long lecture on the subject. Good stuff from a conservative historical point of view.

IRANIAN SMOKING GUN

Bill Roggio reports on more Iranian weapons caches seized in Iraq:

As the US and Iraqi Army battle the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army and the Special Groups terror cells in central and southern Iraq, the US military in Baghdad has released further information on Iranian-made weapons seized in Iraq. The US has seized numerous weapons caches in the past, with lot numbers and marking clearly linking them back to Iran. Iran has denied any involvement with sending weapons to Iraq, yet it has not explained how these Iranian-manufactured weapons are appearing inside Iraq.

The explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, is one of the signature weapon made by Iran and used by the Mahdi Army and the Special groups against US and Iraqi forces. The EFP warhead is formed when explosives are detonated behind a machined, metal concave disk. This forms a molten projectile slug that can penetrate the thickest of armor. Iranian made 107 mm rockets and various sizes of mortars are also seized inside Iraq on a regular basis.

The latest Iranian-made weapons cache was seized by US and Iraqi soldiers during a routine operation in Mahmudiyah on March 28. The soldiers found 15 EFPs, more than 100 EFP components, detonation cord, fuses, a bag of homemade explosives, hundreds of rounds, and Iraqi National Police uniforms and rifles.

Iran established the Ramazan Corps in western Iran to manage the covert war inside Iraq in early 2003. The Ramazan Corps is an arm of Qods Force, the special operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Ramazan Corps is responsible for smuggling weapons and cash into the Mahdi Army and the Special Groups terror cells, as well as recruiting and training Iraqi operatives.

What to do what to do. The US first presented evidence of Iranian antagonism at the highest levels in February of 2007:

After weeks of internal debate, senior United States military officials today literally put on the table their first public evidence for the contentious assertion that Iran is supplying Shiite extremist groups in Iraq with deadly weaponry, including a roadside bomb that pierces American armor.

Because the elite Qods Force is involved, a senior military analyst said, the American intelligence community believes that the weapons shipments have been approved at “the highest levels of the Iranian government.” Still, no direct evidence was presented of how the intelligence community has made that link.

I wonder when the US might consider more than a wrist-slap in holding Iran responsible for American casualties.

AL-QAEDA'S BACK IN TOWN

And according to Omar from Iraq The Model they're endorsing a new sponsor; an old foe-Libya.

After Iran, Syria and others it's now Libya's turn to sponsor terrorism in Iraq. The news popped up for a second then it vanished; Gaddafi's son is accused by senior awakening officials in Anbar of funding and sending a group of foreign terrorists to Iraq. This particular group, awakening leaders believe, was responsible for the explosives cache that caused the devastating explosion in Mosul last week.

BACK PAGE POLLS

Poll numbers indicate changing attitudes among most Americans concerning the surge in Iraq. The liberal media, however, desires to keep the truth off of the front page. And for good reason. According to Melanie Morgan of World Net Daily the numbers may produce a change in the 08 election climate.

From down 21 percent to now up by 6 percent the new polls (just released) show the swing in momentum, one that has been remarkable by the media's silence on the matter. The tectonic swing in public opinion is taking place under radar and no one is talking about it.

Today more Americans believe "the surge" is making things "better" (40 percent) than making "no impact" (34 percent). (A stubborn 12 percent of Americans actually think "the surge" is making things worse, which accounts for those mentally challenged types who have been donating money to Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich).

Continue reading the latest on the polls here.

IT'S GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME

Like the old Paul McCartney song suggests, "It's getting better all the time" in Iraq. Of course we knew this because the Dems. ceased harping on the matter. Bill Roggio grafts the numbers.

This good news also led to a massive military budget passed by the Senate. Problem is the budget contains $555 million in earmarks. Well, you win some and lose some. Only tax payers stand to lose the most with this mammoth deal. Somebody please tell me, where have all the conservatives gone?

GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ

The BBC reports:

Iraqi oil production is above the levels seen before the US-led invasion of the country in 2003, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA said Iraqi crude production is now running at 2.3 million barrels per day, compared with 1.9 million barrels at the start of this year.

Since incessant apologizing is in vogue with the liberals shouldn't they apologize to President Bush for their invested interest in defeat?
Read more good news here.(Hat Tip: Instapundit)

COOPERATION AND VICTORY IN IRAQ

Omar, over at Iraq THe Model provides us a glimpse into the increasing role of anti-al-Qaeda groups at work in Baghdad:

Yesterday a joint US-Iraqi force with help from local anti-al-Qaeda awakening fighters in the Adhamiyah district in northeastern Baghdad found and disarmed more than 20 vehicles rigged as VBIEDs in a parking lot.

This is a great find by any standards but the timing makes it all the more significant.
The significance comes not only from the quantity of bombs, cars and other resources that al-Qaeda has been denied the ability to use. It comes from the amount of frustration they have to deal with right now that all these preparations and resources are lost.

What makes me think that this will indeed frustrate them is that al-Qaeda chose to mass this great number of VBIEDs instead of deploying them to the streets one, or a few, at a time fresh from the factory. Two possibilities arise here; they either couldn't find the means and safe routes to deploy the bombs and so they had to wait for more favorable circumstances, which is good news since it means their ability to conduct missions has really been reduced to a great extent.
Or it could mean that they were planning for something big, and I'm more inclined to think that this was the case.

Apparently their cells in Adhamiyah (in my estimation the strongest remaining in the eastern side of Baghdad proper) were planning a spectacular comeback during which a wave of car bombings would have sought to undermine the improvement in security.
A week of several car bombings a day would have been seen as a huge setback following several weeks of great decline in violence.
Fortunately this has been prevented and whatever their plan was, it's vapor now and they will have to start all over again… That's if they don't get caught, killed or kicked out of the neighborhood, which seems to be happening quite often these days!

Even though Omar refers to the joint effort, the significant victory here is the anti-al-Qaeda element. Obviously the surge gave the Iraqis an opportunity to get a leg up on the enemy.