Man I go away for week and the next thing you know the Israelis are giving the Palestinians another much deserved butt kicking and five dopes in robes on America’s unelected and virtually unaccountable Supreme Court side with America’s enemy in the war on terror. What to do?
Well it seems the Israelis know how to fight a war. You know you’re on the right track in a war when the French begin to criticize your tactics. The Palestinian people elected Islamo-terror-fascists to run their country. ITF did what ITF do, terrorize. Hamas has been lobbing rockets into Israel and then grabbed a couple of Israelis. Now the Israelis are holding the elected Palestinian government accountable. The Israelis have bombed bridges, turned out the lights and grabbed a dozen Hamas government ministers. Lex predicted this when the Palestinians elected Hamas terrorists. Lex noted that the silver lining in the election was that Israel would be free to target the terrorist government, and they have. I noted that the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular have tried and failed 1,000 times against Israel. It is soon to be 1,001. One day Israel will just push the Palestinians into the sea and be done with them.
While it's clear that Israel is a country that recognizes that it is in a war for its very existence, America is a country that does not. (See Lex’s rule of halves – half of America does not know we’re in a war. Half of that half does not know what is required to win and half of that half has no idea of what’s at stake.) We have a treasonous MSM that takes joy in putting American lives risk because it thinks it’s “getting Bush” when it’s really getting us. We have a minority party that opposes the American president more vigorously than head of the forces who killed 3,000 American citizens. Now we have five dopes in robes (See Mark Levin’s “Men in Black” if you think this description is a bit over the top.) who want multi-national ITF who pledge allegiance to no country and never signed let alone lived by the Geneva Accords to be treated as POWs on the one hand but have access to America's criminal courts because they are not really POWs on the other.
This is how this is going to play out. President Bush will smile at the Supreme Five, thank them for their time. The ITFs at G’itmo will remain at G’itmo. The House will come up with a tough law to treat the G’itmo ITFs as the murdering soulless bastards that they are. The Senate will come up with “compromise” legislation that offers the G’itmo ITFs US citizenship after 5 years if they learn English, pay a $2,000 fine and promise not blow anything up for ten years. Bill Frist and Harry Reid will meet in teary embrace and declare it the Senate’s finest moment.
When this war winds down in 20 years with an American victory for the salvation of the Western way of life, historians will be forced to credit one man for remaining steadfast in the early going while the rest of the world was going wobbly around him. In spite of all of his other short comings, George W. Bush will be regarded as a decent man and great president for his early handling of the war on ITFs.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Information Vs. Intelligence
For Lex by AF Bro
New York newspapers have a long and ignominious record of printing information that is helpful to the enemies of our country. Information that is helpful to the enemy is, by definition, called “intelligence,” and those who knowingly provide such intelligence to the enemy during a time of war are, by definition, called “traitors.”
Private Robert Knox Sneden was an architect and engineer before enlisting to fight for the north during the Civil War. Despite his talent in two disciplines, he signed on as a private in E company of the 40th New York, but he never became a “grunt” in the infantry. He was initially assigned to the Quartermaster, but his talent for sketching scenes and drawing accurate maps got him detailed as General Sedgwick’s mapmaker. He was captured in the waning days of 1863 and spent the rest of the war in various prison camps, including the infamous Andersonville. His war diary, complete with sketches and maps, was published in 2000 (Eye of the Storm) and is a very interesting read. Private Sneden had this to say about reporters:
“The reporters of newspapers besiege headquarters of all the generals for military information and are a nuisance. They are forbidden to print many things, but they do it. The New York Herald prints war maps and diagrams with much accuracy. The enemy of course take the Herald and see it too.”
General Meade was preparing an assault from Culpepper Court House, VA in 1863. Private Sneden prepared maps for the assault, but all in vain. Meade called off the attack when he found out that a New York newspaper (the Herald) printed details of the plan the day before it was to begin.
Now we have the New York Times, and several other dailies, publishing the details of how our government is countering terrorists with financial information obtained form an international clearinghouse (SWIFT) of financial transactions. Despite the administrations pleas to keep secret this valuable tool in the fight against Islamo-Terrorist-Fascists, the NYT, and others, put the story on the front page. Recall that it was also the NYT that printed the story about another useful tool in the fight, that of mining international telecommunication data with known or suspected foreign terrorists. Now the enemy knows of both programs and will, undoubtedly, change their tactics. Now, as then, there is an outcry about the administration overstepping its authority, violating the constitution, invading our privacy, etc., when it is the NYT (and other MSM) who are knowingly providing intelligence to our enemy, i.e. committing acts of treason.
I don’t get it. The MSM flogs the administration for not connecting the dots; now they want to prevent the administration from even looking at the dots. Clearly, this is a schizophrenic approach to the war on terror. How can this be when the MSM is not mentally ill? The answer: They are not ill, just anti-Bush, anti-American, paper-sellin’ wonks with an agenda and a means to spread it. It goes without saying that the person(s) who “leak” intelligence to the press should be found and vigorously prosecuted. The media that publish these bits of intelligence should also be prosecuted. Yeah, yeah, yeah… freedom of the press. It’s past time that we sit down and define where freedom of the press ends and treason begins. Prosecuting the reporters, editors and owners of MSM outlets for treason will put the question of information vs. intelligence on the docket and, possibly, cause the MSM reporters, editors and owners to carefully reconsider their justifications for publishing intelligence that hurts our ability to fight ITF.
God forbid that the ITF are successful in their efforts to bring widespread catastrophe to America. In that event, you can kiss goodbye to freedom of the press along with many other freedoms we take for grated, and kiss hello to martial law, censorship and, possibly, internment camps. These draconian restrictions are all reminiscent of WW II, when we knew we were at war and fought like we were at war. As Lex said, we are at war today, but most people don’t know it- or act like it. We had better get our heads and hearts into the fight, or there will be dark days ahead for all of us.
New York newspapers have a long and ignominious record of printing information that is helpful to the enemies of our country. Information that is helpful to the enemy is, by definition, called “intelligence,” and those who knowingly provide such intelligence to the enemy during a time of war are, by definition, called “traitors.”
Private Robert Knox Sneden was an architect and engineer before enlisting to fight for the north during the Civil War. Despite his talent in two disciplines, he signed on as a private in E company of the 40th New York, but he never became a “grunt” in the infantry. He was initially assigned to the Quartermaster, but his talent for sketching scenes and drawing accurate maps got him detailed as General Sedgwick’s mapmaker. He was captured in the waning days of 1863 and spent the rest of the war in various prison camps, including the infamous Andersonville. His war diary, complete with sketches and maps, was published in 2000 (Eye of the Storm) and is a very interesting read. Private Sneden had this to say about reporters:
“The reporters of newspapers besiege headquarters of all the generals for military information and are a nuisance. They are forbidden to print many things, but they do it. The New York Herald prints war maps and diagrams with much accuracy. The enemy of course take the Herald and see it too.”
General Meade was preparing an assault from Culpepper Court House, VA in 1863. Private Sneden prepared maps for the assault, but all in vain. Meade called off the attack when he found out that a New York newspaper (the Herald) printed details of the plan the day before it was to begin.
Now we have the New York Times, and several other dailies, publishing the details of how our government is countering terrorists with financial information obtained form an international clearinghouse (SWIFT) of financial transactions. Despite the administrations pleas to keep secret this valuable tool in the fight against Islamo-Terrorist-Fascists, the NYT, and others, put the story on the front page. Recall that it was also the NYT that printed the story about another useful tool in the fight, that of mining international telecommunication data with known or suspected foreign terrorists. Now the enemy knows of both programs and will, undoubtedly, change their tactics. Now, as then, there is an outcry about the administration overstepping its authority, violating the constitution, invading our privacy, etc., when it is the NYT (and other MSM) who are knowingly providing intelligence to our enemy, i.e. committing acts of treason.
I don’t get it. The MSM flogs the administration for not connecting the dots; now they want to prevent the administration from even looking at the dots. Clearly, this is a schizophrenic approach to the war on terror. How can this be when the MSM is not mentally ill? The answer: They are not ill, just anti-Bush, anti-American, paper-sellin’ wonks with an agenda and a means to spread it. It goes without saying that the person(s) who “leak” intelligence to the press should be found and vigorously prosecuted. The media that publish these bits of intelligence should also be prosecuted. Yeah, yeah, yeah… freedom of the press. It’s past time that we sit down and define where freedom of the press ends and treason begins. Prosecuting the reporters, editors and owners of MSM outlets for treason will put the question of information vs. intelligence on the docket and, possibly, cause the MSM reporters, editors and owners to carefully reconsider their justifications for publishing intelligence that hurts our ability to fight ITF.
God forbid that the ITF are successful in their efforts to bring widespread catastrophe to America. In that event, you can kiss goodbye to freedom of the press along with many other freedoms we take for grated, and kiss hello to martial law, censorship and, possibly, internment camps. These draconian restrictions are all reminiscent of WW II, when we knew we were at war and fought like we were at war. As Lex said, we are at war today, but most people don’t know it- or act like it. We had better get our heads and hearts into the fight, or there will be dark days ahead for all of us.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Dark days for Democrats
The days are dark for Democrats and Democrat sympathizers. Why? Except for the World Cup, America is strong and leading the world. That, it seems, is the worst possible scenario for Democrats.
In Iraq the terrorists are being rolled up like a cheap throw rug. The newly formed Iraqi government has developed its own plan for dealing with the insurgents and getting US troops out their country. News of over 500 WMD being found across Iraq exposed the lie that the Democrat mantra “Bush lied us into war” has always been. Haditha has turned out not be exactly what corrupt Congressman Jack Murtha claimed it to be – cold blooded murder. Meanwhile, Democrats can only muster 13 votes in the senate for their various cut and run strategies.
While N. Korea is planning to launch an extended range missile for unknown reasons, Democrats and their willing accomplices in the MSM remain oddly silent about their consistent opposition to a Strategic Missile Defense. Democrats lampooned President Reagan for his SDI vision. Kerry blasted President Bush 41’s insistence on continuing the program after the fall of the Soviet Union and 43’s insistence on testing and fielding certain component of a missile defense system in Alaska two years ago. Now N. Korea is warming up a missile that may be able to reach the western US. Iran, with N. Korea’s help, touts the capability to reach Israel and large parts of Europe. You’d think someone somewhere would say, “lucky thing Reagan had his vision and 41 and 43 followed through or we’d be in trouble.”
President Bush was able to come to meeting of the minds with the EU regarding Iran. Worthless UN sanctions may soon follow. Iran’s open and defiant failure to comply with the UN will open the door for lucrative secret illegal business deals for the French, Germans, Russians and Chinese and US military action will be required 16 year’s and 18 UN resolutions later. But for today, Bush and the US get another foreign policy victory.
Domestically, the economy is roaring in spite of high oil cost. Karl Rove has been cleared. Immigration is set to blow up in Liberal’s faces. Lacking any clear plan on how to govern, Democrat’s last best hope was the so called “culture of corruption.” But sadly for the anti-America party, it turns out that Lady Corruption paints politicians of both parties with a pretty even hand.
Conservatives, with pretenders like McCain and Hagle and sucking up every possible TV appearance, are capable of blowing their opportunity. Conservatives need to stick with the House on immigration and stick with the president on taxes and the war. These are the three issues conservatives can win on in Novemeber.
In Iraq the terrorists are being rolled up like a cheap throw rug. The newly formed Iraqi government has developed its own plan for dealing with the insurgents and getting US troops out their country. News of over 500 WMD being found across Iraq exposed the lie that the Democrat mantra “Bush lied us into war” has always been. Haditha has turned out not be exactly what corrupt Congressman Jack Murtha claimed it to be – cold blooded murder. Meanwhile, Democrats can only muster 13 votes in the senate for their various cut and run strategies.
While N. Korea is planning to launch an extended range missile for unknown reasons, Democrats and their willing accomplices in the MSM remain oddly silent about their consistent opposition to a Strategic Missile Defense. Democrats lampooned President Reagan for his SDI vision. Kerry blasted President Bush 41’s insistence on continuing the program after the fall of the Soviet Union and 43’s insistence on testing and fielding certain component of a missile defense system in Alaska two years ago. Now N. Korea is warming up a missile that may be able to reach the western US. Iran, with N. Korea’s help, touts the capability to reach Israel and large parts of Europe. You’d think someone somewhere would say, “lucky thing Reagan had his vision and 41 and 43 followed through or we’d be in trouble.”
President Bush was able to come to meeting of the minds with the EU regarding Iran. Worthless UN sanctions may soon follow. Iran’s open and defiant failure to comply with the UN will open the door for lucrative secret illegal business deals for the French, Germans, Russians and Chinese and US military action will be required 16 year’s and 18 UN resolutions later. But for today, Bush and the US get another foreign policy victory.
Domestically, the economy is roaring in spite of high oil cost. Karl Rove has been cleared. Immigration is set to blow up in Liberal’s faces. Lacking any clear plan on how to govern, Democrat’s last best hope was the so called “culture of corruption.” But sadly for the anti-America party, it turns out that Lady Corruption paints politicians of both parties with a pretty even hand.
Conservatives, with pretenders like McCain and Hagle and sucking up every possible TV appearance, are capable of blowing their opportunity. Conservatives need to stick with the House on immigration and stick with the president on taxes and the war. These are the three issues conservatives can win on in Novemeber.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Contemopary Copperheads
For Lex by AF Bro:
In April of 1861 boxes from the south arrived in the north. They turned out to be the prequel to Ted “Unabomber” Kazinski’s mail campaign. The boxes contained venomous, copperhead snakes. New York City newspapers sensationalized the stories of these “letter-bombs” and used them to define the depravity of the southern people, snakes in the grass one and all.
At that time, democrats in congress were split between “war” democrats and “peace” democrats. The peace dems were later dubbed “copperheads” in reference to their depraved southern sympathies. Many copperheads wore copper pennies around their necks as badges of honor to define their anti-war, pro-south, pro-slavery leanings. The copperheads were vehemently anti-war and anti-Lincoln, and they were politically persuasive. They spewed their venom throughout the north, inciting desertions from the army, riots, murders of draft officers and wide-spread sedition. In 1864, dem presidential candidate General George “I’d rather prepare for battle than engage in battle” McClellan got 47.4% of the votes in the north, the only votes that counted at that time. The copperheads controlled dem party policies, the dems in congress and, presumably, McClellan himself. They gave Lincoln migraines on a regular basis and undermined the war effort by weakening popular support for the high ideals of our reasons for going to war, i.e. abolishing slavery and preserving the Union. They also pandered to and were in fact influenced by an age-old human weakness, the weakness of taking the easy way out of a difficult situation regardless of the long-term consequences. Politics being the mother of cynicism, it’s not a stretch see that opportunistic “public servants” would adopt policies that are bad for the country in order to increase their own political power. Also, arguments against spending blood and treasure are always more persuasive to the “peace at any price” crowd than the logic of the stout-hearted who see a threat and are prepared to deal with it regardless of the difficulties involved.
So what do copperheads have to do with us, almost 150 years later? Well, the essence of Copperheadism crosses the space-time continuum. It was here before the Civil War, it was here after the Civil War, and, I am convinced, it will be here during the Star Wars of the future. Here is what one well-known pol had to say about copperheads:
”Never in our lifetime has such a concerted campaign of defeatism been thrown at the heads of the President and the Senators and Congressmen as in the case of this XXth Congress. Never before have we had so many Copperheads among us -- and you will remember that it was the Copperheads who, in the days of the Civil War, the War between the States, tried their best to make President Lincoln and his Congress give up the fight in the middle of the fight, to let the Nation remain split in two and return to peace -- yes, peace at any price.”
So who was that sage and when did he speak? Was it Joe McCarthy? Barry Goldwater? Dick Nixon? The answer is: None of the above. It was FDR in one of his famous “fireside chats” in 1938, and the “XXth” Congress was the 75th Congress.
Copperheadism is taking the easy way out of a difficult situation regardless of future consequences, it’s political opportunism, it’s selling out the country, it is “peace in our time” (and destruction later), and it is alive and well today in the party that first precipitated this pejorative. Am I cynical, or is it just coincidental that both Congressmen Dennis Kusinich (D-OH) and Jack Murtha (D-PA) are preaching “cut-and-run” to gain political power. Kusinich had hoped to parlay his copperhead status into a seat in the Oval Office. Murtha’s cut-and-run diatribes are less grasping; he only wants to be Speaker of the House when, in his copperhead-induced state of euphoria, dems retake control after the midterm elections. House Minority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is trying to out-copperhead Murtha in her quest for the same political prize. Then there is Senator John Kerry. He must be a copperhead made of modern copper pennies, i.e. fabricated from an alloy rather than pure copper. Thus he voted for the war right before he voted against the war. Dr. Howard Dean (DNC Chairman) personifies the extreme copperhead hammer that bangs away noisily while Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) represents the copperhead anvil that just sits there, an obstinate obfuscator of any policies that would bring about a Bush victory, either on the battlefields or in political offices. As in days of old, there is no room in today’s democratic copperhead klatch for reasonable debate by guys like Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Even Hillary (D-NY) is being shunned for not being shrill enough in her critique of the war.
It is interesting to note that, as a result of their seditious political opportunism, the copperheads of old did not win a presidential election until 1884. If you start with McClellan in the 1864 election, that is 20 years of banishment to a political desert. Perhaps the contemporary copperheads should pay more attention to history and less to a flawed stratagem for regaining political power by taking the easy way out. Cutting-and-running is not an option in this current world war. We can cut, and we can run, but we cannot hide from the Islamo-Fascist-Terrorists. If we take the easy, cowardly way out, they will seek us out and kill us en mass. That is their goal, and that is our fate, if we succumb to the copperheads. To compound future matters, we have apocalyptic mad-man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran promising to 1) “wipe Israel off the map,” 2) end the “great Satan’s” (America’s) dominance and 3) use nuclear technology ONLY for peaceful purposes. Copperheads will take the easy way out and believe #3 but discount the first two promises. As my high school coach used to say, “It takes more backbone than wishbone,” and we and our allies will need plenty of backbone to prevent this Apocalypse in the making.
We have a significant choice in the upcoming midterm elections. We can continue to pay a high, but affordable, price to stop the IFTs now, or we can cut, run and later suffer devastation that will make 9/11 look like a picnic. You get to choose in November. Vote smart.
In April of 1861 boxes from the south arrived in the north. They turned out to be the prequel to Ted “Unabomber” Kazinski’s mail campaign. The boxes contained venomous, copperhead snakes. New York City newspapers sensationalized the stories of these “letter-bombs” and used them to define the depravity of the southern people, snakes in the grass one and all.
At that time, democrats in congress were split between “war” democrats and “peace” democrats. The peace dems were later dubbed “copperheads” in reference to their depraved southern sympathies. Many copperheads wore copper pennies around their necks as badges of honor to define their anti-war, pro-south, pro-slavery leanings. The copperheads were vehemently anti-war and anti-Lincoln, and they were politically persuasive. They spewed their venom throughout the north, inciting desertions from the army, riots, murders of draft officers and wide-spread sedition. In 1864, dem presidential candidate General George “I’d rather prepare for battle than engage in battle” McClellan got 47.4% of the votes in the north, the only votes that counted at that time. The copperheads controlled dem party policies, the dems in congress and, presumably, McClellan himself. They gave Lincoln migraines on a regular basis and undermined the war effort by weakening popular support for the high ideals of our reasons for going to war, i.e. abolishing slavery and preserving the Union. They also pandered to and were in fact influenced by an age-old human weakness, the weakness of taking the easy way out of a difficult situation regardless of the long-term consequences. Politics being the mother of cynicism, it’s not a stretch see that opportunistic “public servants” would adopt policies that are bad for the country in order to increase their own political power. Also, arguments against spending blood and treasure are always more persuasive to the “peace at any price” crowd than the logic of the stout-hearted who see a threat and are prepared to deal with it regardless of the difficulties involved.
So what do copperheads have to do with us, almost 150 years later? Well, the essence of Copperheadism crosses the space-time continuum. It was here before the Civil War, it was here after the Civil War, and, I am convinced, it will be here during the Star Wars of the future. Here is what one well-known pol had to say about copperheads:
”Never in our lifetime has such a concerted campaign of defeatism been thrown at the heads of the President and the Senators and Congressmen as in the case of this XXth Congress. Never before have we had so many Copperheads among us -- and you will remember that it was the Copperheads who, in the days of the Civil War, the War between the States, tried their best to make President Lincoln and his Congress give up the fight in the middle of the fight, to let the Nation remain split in two and return to peace -- yes, peace at any price.”
So who was that sage and when did he speak? Was it Joe McCarthy? Barry Goldwater? Dick Nixon? The answer is: None of the above. It was FDR in one of his famous “fireside chats” in 1938, and the “XXth” Congress was the 75th Congress.
Copperheadism is taking the easy way out of a difficult situation regardless of future consequences, it’s political opportunism, it’s selling out the country, it is “peace in our time” (and destruction later), and it is alive and well today in the party that first precipitated this pejorative. Am I cynical, or is it just coincidental that both Congressmen Dennis Kusinich (D-OH) and Jack Murtha (D-PA) are preaching “cut-and-run” to gain political power. Kusinich had hoped to parlay his copperhead status into a seat in the Oval Office. Murtha’s cut-and-run diatribes are less grasping; he only wants to be Speaker of the House when, in his copperhead-induced state of euphoria, dems retake control after the midterm elections. House Minority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is trying to out-copperhead Murtha in her quest for the same political prize. Then there is Senator John Kerry. He must be a copperhead made of modern copper pennies, i.e. fabricated from an alloy rather than pure copper. Thus he voted for the war right before he voted against the war. Dr. Howard Dean (DNC Chairman) personifies the extreme copperhead hammer that bangs away noisily while Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) represents the copperhead anvil that just sits there, an obstinate obfuscator of any policies that would bring about a Bush victory, either on the battlefields or in political offices. As in days of old, there is no room in today’s democratic copperhead klatch for reasonable debate by guys like Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Even Hillary (D-NY) is being shunned for not being shrill enough in her critique of the war.
It is interesting to note that, as a result of their seditious political opportunism, the copperheads of old did not win a presidential election until 1884. If you start with McClellan in the 1864 election, that is 20 years of banishment to a political desert. Perhaps the contemporary copperheads should pay more attention to history and less to a flawed stratagem for regaining political power by taking the easy way out. Cutting-and-running is not an option in this current world war. We can cut, and we can run, but we cannot hide from the Islamo-Fascist-Terrorists. If we take the easy, cowardly way out, they will seek us out and kill us en mass. That is their goal, and that is our fate, if we succumb to the copperheads. To compound future matters, we have apocalyptic mad-man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran promising to 1) “wipe Israel off the map,” 2) end the “great Satan’s” (America’s) dominance and 3) use nuclear technology ONLY for peaceful purposes. Copperheads will take the easy way out and believe #3 but discount the first two promises. As my high school coach used to say, “It takes more backbone than wishbone,” and we and our allies will need plenty of backbone to prevent this Apocalypse in the making.
We have a significant choice in the upcoming midterm elections. We can continue to pay a high, but affordable, price to stop the IFTs now, or we can cut, run and later suffer devastation that will make 9/11 look like a picnic. You get to choose in November. Vote smart.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
The Cold War was a balance of terror
While we had a great trip through France, there were two low points. The first came in Caen. Our travel guidebook said there was a “must see” war memorial in Caen. Well the “War Memorial” is actually a museum dedicated to moral equivalence and it is a must miss.
I knew the museum wasn’t going to be so good when the first thing visible from the outside was the monument to non-violence pictured at the top. Now think of the irony here. A dopey looking monument to non-violence is constructed outside a museum documenting the most violent event in the history of the world, an event that was only brought to a successful conclusion through the effective use of the most violent weapons ever used in war to this day.
What does this tribute to non-violence say? If we would all just submit to the evil people in this world and do what they want we can stop all of this violence. It is as if they are saying there is no difference between John Wayne as Big Jake and Richard Boone’s character John Fain in the classic movie “Big Jake”. Both are violent men but one is a good guy and the other decidedly evil. The evil men in Big Jake are only brought to heel when good guys show up with guns.
But it doesn’t stop there. The equivalence is rampant throughout. We sat through a 30+ minute film on the preparation and execution of the D-Day operation codenamed OVERLORD. The French decided that it’d be cool to place the liberators of Normandy on a par with the Nazi occupiers. The screen was split equally with one side showing the Allies and the other the Nazis. What should have been a tribute to the skill and daring of the Allies and those who participated in the D-Day landing degenerated into a “they were all just doing their duty” piece of revisionist BS.
The last straw was, when touring a portion of the museum dedicated to the Cold War, the French called it a “Balance of terror” that was played out between the US and the Soviet Union and oh by the way both were engaged in terror. Well given the French willingness to collaborate with the Nazis before swapping their swastikas for American, British and Canadian flags, you’d think they would have gotten on the winners side once again in the Cold War once it was safe to do so.
The next low point was when we stopped in a Café on the way from the Cemetery at Omaha Beach to Pont Du Hoc. There were three American couples about my age very neatly dressed that were having their breakfast when we walked in. We took a table near by when I hear one of the ladies ask, “do the French have an army?” The men assure her that in fact the French do have an Army. The woman then says, “well maybe they were smart to stay out of Iraq so that they don’t have to put up any more of those crosses.”
I don’t think someone who doesn’t know if the French have an army is even aware that “those crosses” at Omaha Beach marked American graves. There is a furious discussion that follows with point being made that we probably wouldn’t be eating in the café had the Americans we just visited not stepped up to do their duty. The woman ought to get a job at the museum in Caen. She is perfectly suited for it. After being smacked down rather quickly by the others at the table, the clueless woman quickly changes the subject, “what do you think of the glass triangles at the Louver?” Do you mean the glass pyramids in front of the Louver or have the French further defaced a national icon by placing art glass triangles over the facade as well?
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
France - not all bad
Hey all, Lex and family just rolled in from our travels to France and Berlin. Here are the highlights.
It has been said that when the French government ordered all America forces from France the American ambassador replied, we assume the ones in your cemeteries can stay.
Jun 2 Verdun, France
We saw 19,000 perfectly aligned US servicemen. Verdun is the largest American cemetery in Europe. The cemetery honors US servicemen killed in the area during WWI. It is an awesome humbling sight. The first names are odd here. Among the common Johns, Williams, and James are the uncommon Josiah, Ollie, Zachariah, Wendell, Ralph, Luther but I didn’t a single Sean, Devin or Connor.
Jun 3 Belleau, France
We saw 2,289 perfectly aligned US servicemen. The American cemetery at Belleau Wood, France is a Mecca for Marines. Belleau Wood is the battle where the Germans named their Marine foes “Teufelshunde” or devil dogs – a nickname to which all Marines and former Marines will still proudly answer to this day.
Jun 5 Sword, Juno and Gold Beaches
We had lunch at Sword Beach were the Canadians came ashore on D-Day. Not much at all left to remind one of the heroics that took place there on that day. There is a large marker at one of the beach’s many entry points. There are also a couple of brass markers along the concrete walkway that separates the beach from the junk shops and restaurants.
As we traveled up the road past Juno toward Gold, were the British landed, we found a site that paid tribute the manmade ports the allies constructed to support the Allied invasion of Europe. The Arromanches area looked like any college beach town during spring break. It was an endless line of tourist shops hawking t-shirts, post cards and other memorabilia, ice cream wagons and restaurants.
June 6 Omaha Beach
We arrived at the American cemetery shortly after it opened – over 9,000 perfectly aligned US servicemen. Finally, I thought a place along this prime French beach area with the dignity and solitude that the events Jun 6, 1944 deserve. There was a brief ceremony preformed by a group of old-timers. A digital version of the Star Spangled Banner played over a loud – but not too loud – speaker and was followed by a beautiful version Taps. The old timers laid a wreath at the foot of the bronze statue that dominates the cemetery’s entry. The ladies and many of the men in the group wept. That same ceremony would be repeated about five times during our one hour visit.
We moved on to Pont Du Hoc. This is the point on Utah Beach were Capt Rudder led a band of 225 Army Rangers up steep cliffs to take out a battery of German guns. As you look at the tactical advantage that the Germans had, it’s a miracle that only 2/3ds of Rudder’s company were killed that day.
We drove on to St. Mere Eglise. This is the town made famous by the movie The Longest Day were a soldier gets his parachute hung up on the town’s church steeple and survives the day by playing dead. For some odd reason the town fathers have found it necessary to dress up a manikin and hang it from the steeple. St. Mere Eglise has the same charm as the commercialized beach towns.
We saw a dozen or more beautiful churches, toured 5-6 amazing ruins, stayed in a couple of beautiful little towns, drank beer with World Cup soccer fans, but for me these were the highlights. Like Gettysburg, walking the grounds where so many Americans lay, their lives and deeds too quickly fading from our national memory, was an awakening. Standing among the 6,000 American servicemen who lost their lives on Jun 6, 1944, standing on the exact ground where they many have met their end put our current struggle with world-wide Islamo-terror-fascists into perspective and gave me a new understanding of what “sacrifice” really means. Tomorrow the disappointments of the trip.
It has been said that when the French government ordered all America forces from France the American ambassador replied, we assume the ones in your cemeteries can stay.
Jun 2 Verdun, France
We saw 19,000 perfectly aligned US servicemen. Verdun is the largest American cemetery in Europe. The cemetery honors US servicemen killed in the area during WWI. It is an awesome humbling sight. The first names are odd here. Among the common Johns, Williams, and James are the uncommon Josiah, Ollie, Zachariah, Wendell, Ralph, Luther but I didn’t a single Sean, Devin or Connor.
Jun 3 Belleau, France
We saw 2,289 perfectly aligned US servicemen. The American cemetery at Belleau Wood, France is a Mecca for Marines. Belleau Wood is the battle where the Germans named their Marine foes “Teufelshunde” or devil dogs – a nickname to which all Marines and former Marines will still proudly answer to this day.
Jun 5 Sword, Juno and Gold Beaches
We had lunch at Sword Beach were the Canadians came ashore on D-Day. Not much at all left to remind one of the heroics that took place there on that day. There is a large marker at one of the beach’s many entry points. There are also a couple of brass markers along the concrete walkway that separates the beach from the junk shops and restaurants.
As we traveled up the road past Juno toward Gold, were the British landed, we found a site that paid tribute the manmade ports the allies constructed to support the Allied invasion of Europe. The Arromanches area looked like any college beach town during spring break. It was an endless line of tourist shops hawking t-shirts, post cards and other memorabilia, ice cream wagons and restaurants.
June 6 Omaha Beach
We arrived at the American cemetery shortly after it opened – over 9,000 perfectly aligned US servicemen. Finally, I thought a place along this prime French beach area with the dignity and solitude that the events Jun 6, 1944 deserve. There was a brief ceremony preformed by a group of old-timers. A digital version of the Star Spangled Banner played over a loud – but not too loud – speaker and was followed by a beautiful version Taps. The old timers laid a wreath at the foot of the bronze statue that dominates the cemetery’s entry. The ladies and many of the men in the group wept. That same ceremony would be repeated about five times during our one hour visit.
We moved on to Pont Du Hoc. This is the point on Utah Beach were Capt Rudder led a band of 225 Army Rangers up steep cliffs to take out a battery of German guns. As you look at the tactical advantage that the Germans had, it’s a miracle that only 2/3ds of Rudder’s company were killed that day.
We drove on to St. Mere Eglise. This is the town made famous by the movie The Longest Day were a soldier gets his parachute hung up on the town’s church steeple and survives the day by playing dead. For some odd reason the town fathers have found it necessary to dress up a manikin and hang it from the steeple. St. Mere Eglise has the same charm as the commercialized beach towns.
We saw a dozen or more beautiful churches, toured 5-6 amazing ruins, stayed in a couple of beautiful little towns, drank beer with World Cup soccer fans, but for me these were the highlights. Like Gettysburg, walking the grounds where so many Americans lay, their lives and deeds too quickly fading from our national memory, was an awakening. Standing among the 6,000 American servicemen who lost their lives on Jun 6, 1944, standing on the exact ground where they many have met their end put our current struggle with world-wide Islamo-terror-fascists into perspective and gave me a new understanding of what “sacrifice” really means. Tomorrow the disappointments of the trip.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
IEDs not new
The Lex family is on tour in Europe so The Griffin will contribute today’s article for your consideration.
Confederate Brigadier General Gabriel Rains was a pioneer in the development of the land mine. In the 1860’s they were called torpedoes. After General Sherman burned Atlanta in October of 1864 and moved towards Fort McAllister and Savannah, the Union troops soon discovered Rains’ torpedoes in the roads and causeways. Federal General William Hazen reported that many of his men were “blown to atoms”. General Sherman ordered that if a union officer suspected torpedoes in the road “that a wagon load of prisoners, or citizens implicated, be drawn by a long rope” across the ground to be tested.
Rains’ devices utilized a friction primer that was set off by a trip wire or was detonated by a pressure sensitive fuse. The device used an inline series of crushable copper lids on top of a fuse plug and the detonator was held in place by a locking nut. After installation the black powder was inserted via a side access hole then plugged. Simple but effective technology. Captured confederates were actually used to deactivate these mines. Sherman said that he” did not care one bit if they were blown up”.
Today in Iraq, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) kill and maim Americans, Iraqis, Brits, UN workers, journalists, men, women, and children. In 1864 the confederates were desperate to stop Sherman. The confederates were using a new tool of war against uniformed soldiers in their homeland. Terrorists, insurgents, radical Muslims, and other nut cases today in Iraq, are daily murdering indiscriminately across Iraq. Estimates set the number of these mentally unbalanced mass murderers at around 1000.
Today the technology exists such that relatively small physical devices can kill thousands. Over 140 years ago this new torpedo technology was described by a Federal engineer as working “as much by its’ effect on moral as by its’ actual destruction”. Today IED’s are having the same effect in some circles. Could these people ever operate effectively in the U.S.? Only if we let them. Their strategy includes bringing this chaos to the U.S. We were caught napping on 9-11 as we thought it impossible. Today we have to consider previously unlikely scenarios as likely. We have to assume that new serious technologies will migrate to the bad guys. We have to keep the pressure on finding them and killing or capturing them.
Sherman had 62,000 of the best federal troops in the Union moving in mass from Atlanta to Savannah in 6 weeks. Rains’ torpedoes could not stop Sherman. IED’s are the result of a desperate group lashing out. I do not know how the U.S. and its’ true allies can possibly allow our effort to find and kill terrorists to subside. Our success cannot breed a lax attitude. We cannot allow any erosion in our offensive momentum. Rains’ torpedoes have migrated to cell phone activated IED’s. What will those devices migrate to become?
Confederate Brigadier General Gabriel Rains was a pioneer in the development of the land mine. In the 1860’s they were called torpedoes. After General Sherman burned Atlanta in October of 1864 and moved towards Fort McAllister and Savannah, the Union troops soon discovered Rains’ torpedoes in the roads and causeways. Federal General William Hazen reported that many of his men were “blown to atoms”. General Sherman ordered that if a union officer suspected torpedoes in the road “that a wagon load of prisoners, or citizens implicated, be drawn by a long rope” across the ground to be tested.
Rains’ devices utilized a friction primer that was set off by a trip wire or was detonated by a pressure sensitive fuse. The device used an inline series of crushable copper lids on top of a fuse plug and the detonator was held in place by a locking nut. After installation the black powder was inserted via a side access hole then plugged. Simple but effective technology. Captured confederates were actually used to deactivate these mines. Sherman said that he” did not care one bit if they were blown up”.
Today in Iraq, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) kill and maim Americans, Iraqis, Brits, UN workers, journalists, men, women, and children. In 1864 the confederates were desperate to stop Sherman. The confederates were using a new tool of war against uniformed soldiers in their homeland. Terrorists, insurgents, radical Muslims, and other nut cases today in Iraq, are daily murdering indiscriminately across Iraq. Estimates set the number of these mentally unbalanced mass murderers at around 1000.
Today the technology exists such that relatively small physical devices can kill thousands. Over 140 years ago this new torpedo technology was described by a Federal engineer as working “as much by its’ effect on moral as by its’ actual destruction”. Today IED’s are having the same effect in some circles. Could these people ever operate effectively in the U.S.? Only if we let them. Their strategy includes bringing this chaos to the U.S. We were caught napping on 9-11 as we thought it impossible. Today we have to consider previously unlikely scenarios as likely. We have to assume that new serious technologies will migrate to the bad guys. We have to keep the pressure on finding them and killing or capturing them.
Sherman had 62,000 of the best federal troops in the Union moving in mass from Atlanta to Savannah in 6 weeks. Rains’ torpedoes could not stop Sherman. IED’s are the result of a desperate group lashing out. I do not know how the U.S. and its’ true allies can possibly allow our effort to find and kill terrorists to subside. Our success cannot breed a lax attitude. We cannot allow any erosion in our offensive momentum. Rains’ torpedoes have migrated to cell phone activated IED’s. What will those devices migrate to become?
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Guest Lexs
I am off on the last of our family travles in Europe before heading back to the states on 11 Jul. I'll be posting when I can. While I'm out and about, I've passed the keys to Lex to the Griffin and AF Bro who may post from time. Check back now and again and check the archives.
How important is Haditha?
In his article that follows, Jed Babbin makes some of the same points made on this page - of course much better - but also explains what is at stake. Cutting and pasting someone else's work is not what this page is about. Lex is usually about my long winded way of making rather simple points. The piece that follows is important because it clearly lays out the Liberal blame America first game plan with regard to Haditha. Read it all. Be ready.
The Haditha Story
By Jed Babbin
The accelerating media feeding frenzy over the alleged killings of twenty-four Iraqi civilians in Haditha by US Marines last November is about to overwhelm American politics. Propelled by their most irresponsible war critics, the left will try use Haditha as it used My Lai thirty years ago: as a political tool to take apart America's support for the war and to shatter the legitimacy of our cause and the morale of our troops.
We don't know what happened in Haditha, an insurgent stronghold in Anbar Province. Unverified press accounts allege that members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, First Marines, were hit by an improvised explosive device and one of them was killed. Others, according to these reports, went on an hours-long killing spree to revenge their comrade's death, leaving about twenty-four men, women and children dead. Navy and Marine Corps investigators are at work, and other reports indicate that at least three Marine officers, including the battalion and company commanders, have been relieved of duty. It's also reported that more than one enlisted man has been detained pending charges about to be brought.
No matter how quickly military investigators work, and no matter how firmly any crimes are punished, the anti-war left won't be satisfied unless Haditha becomes the lever that pushes President Bush to admit the war was wrong and set a time to withdraw from Iraq. My Lai - the March 16, 1968 massacre of about 500 Vietnamese by US soldiers - was first covered up and then exploded in headlines, courts-martial and congressional hearings. (Maureen Dowd, one of the New York Times's hyperliberal columnists, has already labeled Haditha a "My Lai acid flashback.") Screamed about by protesters, shown endlessly on television news, My Lai and the court-martial of one of the perpetrators, Lt. William Calley, provided the final political nail in the coffin of American involvement in Vietnam. We withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, abandoning our allies and hanging our heads in shame. This is the political result the left wants from Haditha, and we cannot allow it to happen for one very big reason. The Vietnam War ended in Vietnam, leaving America incapable of taking action in defense of itself or its allies for decades. The end of the war against the terrorist nations won't occur in Iraq, and we must be prepared - psychologically and politically - to continue the fight. When we lost Vietnam the enemy didn't follow us home. Radical Islamists will. If they win, we will literally lose America.
If it were up to Cong. John Murtha, Duke University rape case prosecutor Mike Nifong would be transferred to the Haditha case. Fortunately for both the victim and the accused, the military justice system doesn't satisfy media hunger for the bread and circuses of civilian criminal trials. Those who may be charged with war crimes won't be arrested after dramatic chases down Los Angeles highways, nor will we be subjected to judges and lawyers preening before the television cameras during the trial. But because the military justice system moves much slower than politics, and because of the opportunity it poses for the antiwar crowd, the Haditha incident will create three lasting effects that will carry through to November and beyond.
First, the left will use every tool at their disposal to ensure that the Haditha incident becomes synonymous with the entire Iraq war. Abu Ghraib proved a propaganda bonanza for the terrorists and nations such as Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia that want us to withdraw from Iraq in defeat. Haditha - regardless of what the facts may turn out to be - will be used ceaselessly and purposefully to eliminate American support for the Iraq war and to demonize anyone who still supports it. Haditha will become the Orwellian centerpiece of the Democrats' claim that they support the troops. "They've been there too long," Murtha and his ilk will cry. "We have to bring them home before they kill more babies." And then the Dems, feigning concern for our soldiers, will offer them psychological counseling when they return. The political fallout will be enormous, and it will damage both the ongoing war efforts and our troops' morale.
On Tuesday, CNN -- eagerly anticipating the political impact -- reported that, "Some members of Congress have been told to brace for the fallout from potential charges of murder and cover-up..." The media will take up Murtha's charge that there is a cover-up because it fits neatly into their theory that President Bush lied us into that war. If Bush lied then, who wouldn't believe the Pentagon isn't lying now, and the Marines trying to cover up the massacre of innocents?
It will be easy for the left to drive this story into a frothing political rage because they will have the field to themselves. If anyone in the military chain of command (including civilian leaders such as Secretary Rumsfeld) says anything about the case that could be interpreted as prejudging it or attempting to influence the outcome, the charges could be dismissed under the military law doctrine that prohibits "command influence." So the Pentagon is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't. Neither the press nor the libs in Congress would be satisfied if Rumsfeld promised summary execution of any malefactors. But if he did, and the charges were then dismissed for command influence, the same critics would be demanding his resignation for blowing the opportunity to punish anyone responsible for the alleged crimes. The fact that Rumsfeld and others won't say more will only fuel more political demands for his head - and others -- to roll.
The investigation may be completed as early as next month, but in a case such as this the decision to court-martial anyone will likely not be made for weeks or months. And in that time, all the John Murthas, the Maureen Dowds, and the Seymour Hershes of the world will be screaming in print and on the air, convicting the Marines, their leaders and every American who wants to win this war before any court-martial hears a single charge. They've already begun.
Murtha, on ABC's "This Week," said, "Who covered it up, why did they cover it up, why did they wait so long?" He's not only ready to condemn the Marines, but all their leaders. He said, "We don't know how far it goes. It goes right up the chain of command." Baloney. It's quite likely that some of the Marines involved, even their immediate superiors, tried to cover up the Haditha incident. But once the Time Magazine videotape was viewed by the staff of Lt.Gen. Peter Chiarelli - the multinational corps commander -a no-holds-barred investigation was begun. No one - among the military's senior leaders or civilian bosses - ever participated or tolerated any such cover-up. Murtha's accusations are as specious as they are cheaply political.
Second, it's no accident that Al-Jazeera was headlining Murtha's accusations more prominently than other media. The Al-J headline read, "US troops killed Iraqis in cold blood." Because of the media hype here and around the world, Haditha could become a synonym for American brutality equal to My Lai and will damage our ability to fight radical Islam around the world. And third, if as now appears likely, Marines are convicted of war crimes, Haditha could be a major blow to the morale of American troops everywhere.
We have thousands of troops in harm's way around the world. We cannot allow them to believe - as their fathers in Vietnam came to believe - that Americans regard them with the same scorn as those who may have murdered innocents in Haditha. Though he didn't say so, Marine General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, may have had Haditha on his mind when he spoke at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers on Memorial Day. Speaking from personal experience under fire, Pace tried to explain how a soldier carries on with death staring him in the face: "It is the fear of not doing our nation's duty that overrides the physical fear," he said. "That somehow our actions will not live up to the legacy of those who've gone before. That somehow our performance in battle (will) leave the Marine or soldier on our left or our right in harm's way."
Just as the few disgraced the many at Abu Ghraib, the very few who may have committed murder in Haditha will place a burden on the shoulders of every soldier, sailor, airman, marine and coast guardsman fighting terrorism. Each of us has a duty to not add to that burden, and to help relieve it as well. If those few Marines killed innocents in Haditha, their conduct is an aberration, not the norm. It is up to each one of us to ensure that the events of Haditha do not tarnish the brave and selfless service of the many who came before, or any who come after. Except for the aberrant few, the Marines are always faithful to America. In times such as this, we cannot fail to be faithful to them.
Jed Babbin was a deputy undersecretary of defense in the George H.W. Bush administration. He is a contributing editor to The American Spectator and author of Showdown: Why China Wants War with the United States (with Edward Timperlake, Regnery 2006) and Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think (Regnery 2004).
The Haditha Story
By Jed Babbin
The accelerating media feeding frenzy over the alleged killings of twenty-four Iraqi civilians in Haditha by US Marines last November is about to overwhelm American politics. Propelled by their most irresponsible war critics, the left will try use Haditha as it used My Lai thirty years ago: as a political tool to take apart America's support for the war and to shatter the legitimacy of our cause and the morale of our troops.
We don't know what happened in Haditha, an insurgent stronghold in Anbar Province. Unverified press accounts allege that members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, First Marines, were hit by an improvised explosive device and one of them was killed. Others, according to these reports, went on an hours-long killing spree to revenge their comrade's death, leaving about twenty-four men, women and children dead. Navy and Marine Corps investigators are at work, and other reports indicate that at least three Marine officers, including the battalion and company commanders, have been relieved of duty. It's also reported that more than one enlisted man has been detained pending charges about to be brought.
No matter how quickly military investigators work, and no matter how firmly any crimes are punished, the anti-war left won't be satisfied unless Haditha becomes the lever that pushes President Bush to admit the war was wrong and set a time to withdraw from Iraq. My Lai - the March 16, 1968 massacre of about 500 Vietnamese by US soldiers - was first covered up and then exploded in headlines, courts-martial and congressional hearings. (Maureen Dowd, one of the New York Times's hyperliberal columnists, has already labeled Haditha a "My Lai acid flashback.") Screamed about by protesters, shown endlessly on television news, My Lai and the court-martial of one of the perpetrators, Lt. William Calley, provided the final political nail in the coffin of American involvement in Vietnam. We withdrew from Vietnam in 1975, abandoning our allies and hanging our heads in shame. This is the political result the left wants from Haditha, and we cannot allow it to happen for one very big reason. The Vietnam War ended in Vietnam, leaving America incapable of taking action in defense of itself or its allies for decades. The end of the war against the terrorist nations won't occur in Iraq, and we must be prepared - psychologically and politically - to continue the fight. When we lost Vietnam the enemy didn't follow us home. Radical Islamists will. If they win, we will literally lose America.
If it were up to Cong. John Murtha, Duke University rape case prosecutor Mike Nifong would be transferred to the Haditha case. Fortunately for both the victim and the accused, the military justice system doesn't satisfy media hunger for the bread and circuses of civilian criminal trials. Those who may be charged with war crimes won't be arrested after dramatic chases down Los Angeles highways, nor will we be subjected to judges and lawyers preening before the television cameras during the trial. But because the military justice system moves much slower than politics, and because of the opportunity it poses for the antiwar crowd, the Haditha incident will create three lasting effects that will carry through to November and beyond.
First, the left will use every tool at their disposal to ensure that the Haditha incident becomes synonymous with the entire Iraq war. Abu Ghraib proved a propaganda bonanza for the terrorists and nations such as Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia that want us to withdraw from Iraq in defeat. Haditha - regardless of what the facts may turn out to be - will be used ceaselessly and purposefully to eliminate American support for the Iraq war and to demonize anyone who still supports it. Haditha will become the Orwellian centerpiece of the Democrats' claim that they support the troops. "They've been there too long," Murtha and his ilk will cry. "We have to bring them home before they kill more babies." And then the Dems, feigning concern for our soldiers, will offer them psychological counseling when they return. The political fallout will be enormous, and it will damage both the ongoing war efforts and our troops' morale.
On Tuesday, CNN -- eagerly anticipating the political impact -- reported that, "Some members of Congress have been told to brace for the fallout from potential charges of murder and cover-up..." The media will take up Murtha's charge that there is a cover-up because it fits neatly into their theory that President Bush lied us into that war. If Bush lied then, who wouldn't believe the Pentagon isn't lying now, and the Marines trying to cover up the massacre of innocents?
It will be easy for the left to drive this story into a frothing political rage because they will have the field to themselves. If anyone in the military chain of command (including civilian leaders such as Secretary Rumsfeld) says anything about the case that could be interpreted as prejudging it or attempting to influence the outcome, the charges could be dismissed under the military law doctrine that prohibits "command influence." So the Pentagon is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't. Neither the press nor the libs in Congress would be satisfied if Rumsfeld promised summary execution of any malefactors. But if he did, and the charges were then dismissed for command influence, the same critics would be demanding his resignation for blowing the opportunity to punish anyone responsible for the alleged crimes. The fact that Rumsfeld and others won't say more will only fuel more political demands for his head - and others -- to roll.
The investigation may be completed as early as next month, but in a case such as this the decision to court-martial anyone will likely not be made for weeks or months. And in that time, all the John Murthas, the Maureen Dowds, and the Seymour Hershes of the world will be screaming in print and on the air, convicting the Marines, their leaders and every American who wants to win this war before any court-martial hears a single charge. They've already begun.
Murtha, on ABC's "This Week," said, "Who covered it up, why did they cover it up, why did they wait so long?" He's not only ready to condemn the Marines, but all their leaders. He said, "We don't know how far it goes. It goes right up the chain of command." Baloney. It's quite likely that some of the Marines involved, even their immediate superiors, tried to cover up the Haditha incident. But once the Time Magazine videotape was viewed by the staff of Lt.Gen. Peter Chiarelli - the multinational corps commander -a no-holds-barred investigation was begun. No one - among the military's senior leaders or civilian bosses - ever participated or tolerated any such cover-up. Murtha's accusations are as specious as they are cheaply political.
Second, it's no accident that Al-Jazeera was headlining Murtha's accusations more prominently than other media. The Al-J headline read, "US troops killed Iraqis in cold blood." Because of the media hype here and around the world, Haditha could become a synonym for American brutality equal to My Lai and will damage our ability to fight radical Islam around the world. And third, if as now appears likely, Marines are convicted of war crimes, Haditha could be a major blow to the morale of American troops everywhere.
We have thousands of troops in harm's way around the world. We cannot allow them to believe - as their fathers in Vietnam came to believe - that Americans regard them with the same scorn as those who may have murdered innocents in Haditha. Though he didn't say so, Marine General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, may have had Haditha on his mind when he spoke at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers on Memorial Day. Speaking from personal experience under fire, Pace tried to explain how a soldier carries on with death staring him in the face: "It is the fear of not doing our nation's duty that overrides the physical fear," he said. "That somehow our actions will not live up to the legacy of those who've gone before. That somehow our performance in battle (will) leave the Marine or soldier on our left or our right in harm's way."
Just as the few disgraced the many at Abu Ghraib, the very few who may have committed murder in Haditha will place a burden on the shoulders of every soldier, sailor, airman, marine and coast guardsman fighting terrorism. Each of us has a duty to not add to that burden, and to help relieve it as well. If those few Marines killed innocents in Haditha, their conduct is an aberration, not the norm. It is up to each one of us to ensure that the events of Haditha do not tarnish the brave and selfless service of the many who came before, or any who come after. Except for the aberrant few, the Marines are always faithful to America. In times such as this, we cannot fail to be faithful to them.
Jed Babbin was a deputy undersecretary of defense in the George H.W. Bush administration. He is a contributing editor to The American Spectator and author of Showdown: Why China Wants War with the United States (with Edward Timperlake, Regnery 2006) and Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think (Regnery 2004).
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