What the Heck was I Thinking!?

QandO posted about William Arkin, a columnist for the Washington Post. I couldn’t believe some of the arrogant and condescending comments made by this sleezeball.

I’m all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the uniform of the United States Army. But I also hope that military commanders took the soldiers aside after the story and explained to them why it wasn’t for them to disapprove of the American people. (emphasis mine)

It gets worse through his post located at The Troops Also Need to Support the American People - Early Warning

He adds to the debit side of his citizenship ledger with:

These soldiers should be grateful that the American public, which by all polls overwhelmingly disapproves of the Iraq war and the President’s handling of it, do still offer their support to them, and their respect.

Through every Abu Ghraib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform, accepting that the incidents were the product of bad apples or even of some administration or command order. (emphasis mine)

Based on this fool’s twisted logic, we should blame him for every sin committed in Washington, DC where he works - rapes, murders, everything. Or should we just "accept" that these were the products of bad apples in DC?

So, we pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?

This jerk hasn’t a clue. I’ll bet he’s never been near a person in the military or a military family with a service member deployed. Obscene amenities? Like what? Support them in every possible way? More of that kind of support from the likes of him and his fellow defeatists at the WaPo and this war against Islamo-fascists will be lost.

Then he mocks the level of personal and team commitment the troops have shown to the country and the mission, in spite of the weak-kneed support from Democrat politicians and liberals.

In my little parable, those in leadership positions shake their heads that the people don’t get it, that they don’t understand that the threat from terrorism, while difficult to defeat, demands commitment and sacrifice and is very real because it is so shadowy, that the very survival of the United States is at stake.

We support your guys in the military, but don’t ask for too much of that support. We really would prefer you just go away until we need you for something we deem important, because:

But it is the United States and instead this NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary - oops sorry, volunteer - force that thinks it is doing the dirty work.

Then he lectures the troops and his readers by saying:

The notion of dirty work is that, like laundry, it is something that has to be done but no one else wants to do it. But Iraq is not dirty work: it is not some necessary endeavor; the people just don’t believe that anymore.

In this jerk’s opinion! There are plenty of people at home who understand what is at stake and that our troops need public, positive support for their mission.

I’ll accept that the soldiers, in order to soldier on, have to believe that they are manning the parapet, and that’s where their frustrations come in. I’ll accept as well that they are young and naïve and are frustrated with their own lack of progress and the never changing situation in Iraq. Cut off from society and constantly told that everyone supports them, no wonder the debate back home confuses them.

Have to believe? Young? Naive? This kind of condescension toward a military that is smarter, more educated, more mature and more aware of the reality of the world than any cross-section of the military at any time in our history is outrageous! This butt face must think he’s still talking to people who don’t know a service member, or don’t have a relative in service.

What a total putz! I’m disgusted with this pike of puke.

The only good thing about the post is the comments section where nearly everyone gives this weenie a kick.

UPDATE: Powerline has a great commentary on this post, and points to a 2003 post by Hugh Hewitt on Mr. Arkin. 

Michelle Malkin’s blog points to two posts by Bill Roggio about the recent kidnap and killing of US troops in Karbala.

In his second post, Mr. Roggio writes:

Pentagon investigating Iran’s Qods Force role in Karbala attack (The Fourth Rail)

The United States had planned to detail Iran’s involvement in supporting the Shia death squads, as well as the Sunni insurgency, al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah during a press briefing with Major General Bill Caldwell on Wednesday at 7:00 am Eastern. The briefing was purported to have detailed “specifics including shipping documents, serial numbers, maps and other evidence which officials say would irrefutably link Iran to weapons shipments to Iraq.”

The Bush administration has decided to put the briefing “on hold for several reasons, including concerns over the reaction from Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – as well as inevitable follow-up questions that would be raised over what the U.S. should do about it,” according to FOX News.

Bearing that in mind, we read in Yahoo news that the parade of presidential candidates, anxious to support the troops, are challenging the Administration to be careful not to drift into war with Iran and to be clear about the intelligence basis on which any such decisions would be made.

Obama, a candidate for president in 2008, warned during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that senators of both parties will demand “clarity and transparency in terms of U.S. policy so that we don’t repeat some of the mistakes that have been made in the past,” a reference to the faulty intelligence underlying the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

…

Senators including Hagel, George Voinovich (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, and Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., sounded frustrated with the administration’s decision not to engage Iran and fellow outcast Syria in efforts to reduce sectarian violence in Iraq.

The Senators want the Administration to talk with Syria and Iran. It doesn’t matter how many people the Iranian IEDs have killed or crippled. It doesn’t matter how much money they’ve pumped into Iraq to destabilize or sway the government. It doesn’t matter if they and their proxies have already sworn to kill Americans - and succeeded.

Let’s talk.

There’s no spectacle like conducting a war and a 2-year presidential campaign at the same time.

In the same Washington Times article as my previous post, I found this tidbit from Sam Brownback, the reverse Joe Lieberman:

Bush policy, not resolutions, called enemy boost - Nation/Politics - The Washington Times, America’s Newspaper

When the conservative Mr. Brownback was asked how he would handle the situation as president, he said, “I think if the president would reach out to the Democratic leadership and ask them not what are you opposed to, but what are you for, we can start coming together. I thought that was the whole purpose of [the Iraq Study Group].”

It really doesn’t matter what the purpose of the Iraq Surrender Group was, the result was abysmal. To have Sam Brownback, a “conservative,” espouse the foreign policy position of this cast of lost children doesn’t endear him to the conservative base.

Joe Lieberman, who identified himself more with Democrats domestically and with Republicans on foreign policy, now has his reverse twin in Sam Brownback - conservative in domestic policy (hopefully) and wandering with the defeatist Democrats in the desert of Middle Eastern politics.

Senator Lugar, ranking member of the Foreign Relations committee had this to say:

Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the nonbinding resolution is the wrong idea.
    ”Essentially, this resolution, others that are being offered, are an opportunity for people to vent their emotions, their thoughts, get it on record,” he said during an appearance on “This Week.” (emphasis mine)

He hit the nail on the head as far as Democrats go: venting emotions rather than thinking about how they could help move the situation toward the stated goal of a country that can govern itself and defend itself, and isn’t a haven for islamo-fascist terrorists.

Senator Vitriol Webb added his convoluted logic to the arguments:

“We’re not opposed to the president’s plan. What I object to is the fact that there isn’t a plan,” he said during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “This is almost just like a tipping point for a lot of people who are basically saying you cannot continue to give the administration a free hand in the manipulation of troop numbers without a clear endpoint to a strategy.”

Where has he been while people have talked about the endpoint of the strategy in Iraq?

Source: Bush policy, not resolutions, called enemy boost - Nation/Politics - The Washington Times, America’s Newspaper

When I saw this article in the Washington Times, my first thought was that Clueless Joe Biden had reverted to 6-year-old arguments:

Bush policy, not resolutions, called enemy boost - Nation/Politics - The Washington Times, America’s Newspaper

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman said yesterday that President Bush’s Iraq policy is “emboldening the enemy,” rebutting critics who insist that resolutions denouncing the president’s troop surge hurt the morale of U.S. forces.

“It’s not the American people or the United States Congress who are emboldening the enemy. It’s the failed policy of this president,” said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Delaware Democrat

Next, I expect him and his like-minded elocutionists to have the retort, “I know you are, but what am I?” entered into the Congressional Record.

When WILL they grow up?

Source: Bush policy, not resolutions, called enemy boost - Nation/Politics - The Washington Times, America’s Newspaper

From the Washington Times of January 27th.

Pet market bomb kills 15 persons

BAGHDAD — A bomb hidden in a box of pigeons exploded yesterday as shoppers gathered around, tearing through a busy pet and livestock market and littering the blood-soaked pavement with human remains and animal carcasses.

While it is terrible that the bomb killed so many people in a Baghdad pet market, you have to stop for a second and think: People in Baghdad are buying pets.

This means several things:

1. People want to go to a public place to look for a “luxury” item, pigeons, snakes, other birds, dogs, cats, and exotic animals to read the article;
2. People have the time, money and energy to keep pets. These aren’t animals that could be used for food, they’re a luxury item;
3. 15 people were killed, 66 injured, some unknown number of others were left alive to describe the horrific situation. That means that many more than 80 people were at the market. This is not some 5 to 10 guys meeting to trade pigeons.

All of this says that life in Baghdad is a lot more normal and prosperous than the press accounts would have us believe.

Source: Pet market bomb kills 15 persons - World - The Washington Times, America’s Newspaper

A while back I posted about the need for veterans to support our current forces in this war against the propadandists on the home front.

The Wolf at Blackfive ends a long post about the nutroots rallying in DC this weekend with these words:

To all of you VN-era vets out there, I’m asking for your help here. Help us speak out and ensure this never happens. You’ve been there, you got the t-shirt- you’ve experienced the hatred. I don’t want to see us go that route again.

Source: BLACKFIVE: I hate to say I told you so..

Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of all the factions involved in Middle East politics. Winds of Change.net has an interesting post about the question of whether Iraq can become a democracy or not.

One part of the post quotes from a description of the Hama Massacre from Wikipedia. That entry includes references to a book “Pity the Nation” by Robert Fisk. This quote from within the book tells a lot about why “baby” Assad would support Akhmadenijad and the Iranian Mullahs, who are Shiite, over al Qaeda and the other Sunni factions

Government repression in Syria hardened considerably, as al-Assad had spent in Hama any goodwill he previously had left with the Sunni majority, and now was compelled to rely on pure force to stay in power.

With examples like these and the current day news about what passes for politics in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza strip, Iraq starts to look fairly calm. It looks especially so when you take out all the outsiders - Sunni recruits to al Qaeda in Iraq and Iranian IRGC and Qods Force.

Source: Winds of Change.NET: Hama Complex

QandO posted an entry looking at Sen. Jim Webb’s recent statements about the alleged loss of support among the military for the war in Iraq.

He makes several good points about the weakness of the survey results in supporting what Webb contends.

One entry stuck out at me that I think mr. McQuaid missed:

Earlier in that day, while questioning LTG Petraeus, the newly confirmed commander in Iraq, he was a bit more specific on his point about military support:

“There was a poll in the Service Times fairly recently that showed a majority of the people in the military no longer support the approach of this administration in terms of how the war should be fought.” (emphasis mine)

Disagreeing with the approach one takes, and disagreeing with the results one wants are two different things. Webb claims it’s the latter, but the survey question as reported is about the approach.

One could also say that the President disagrees with the prior approach! He’s changing that as we speak!

This harks back to one of my earlierposts about strategy and goals

Source: http://www.qando.net/ - Fact checking Jim Webb

Bruce McQuain at QandO blog has a very interesting post up about the Karbala raid in which 5 US soldiers were killed, 4 after having been kidnapped.

The post contains extensive excerpts from The Fourth Rail by Bill Roggio. They both conclude that the Iranians were behind the sophisticated raid in an attempt to at least gain release of their own people take prisoner recently in northern Iraq.

Bill Roggio notes:

This raid required specific intelligence, in depth training for the agents to pass as American troops, resources to provide for weapons, vehicles, uniforms, identification, radios and other items needed to successfully carry out the mission. Hezbollah’s Imad Mugniyah executed a similar attack against Israeli forces on the Lebanese border, which initiated the Hezbollah-Israeli war during the summer of 2006. (emphasis mine)

Mr. McQuain notes at the conclusion of his post:

Excellent points, excellent analysis and I’d guess it’ll be proven to be spot on eventually. If so, a whole new front in this war has just been blown wide open. And you heard it from a blog first. (emphasis mine)

This isn’t about the war in Iraq. This is the Islamo-fascist war to control the Middle East and establish the new caliphate. Those aren’t my words for it, it’s what they’ve said time and http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16356again.

If politicians and opinion-spouters don’t wonder at the “coincidence” of these raid types and the implication that the radical IRGC and Qods Force are behind them, they should turn in their party membership cards.

This string of information about the involvement of the radical Iranian leadership’s continued involvement in terrorism and irregular warfare reminds me of the catalog of information about the Sunni brand of salafi jihadists that became al Qaeda. Read “The Looming Tower”, by Lawrence Wright. (see also the 2 hour interview of Mr. Wright by Hugh Hewitt)

Link to http://www.qando.net/ - The Karbala Raid (UPDATED)

I read a couple of blogs, including Captain’s Quarters, which have the Day by Day cartoon by Chris Muir under their masthead.

This one really got a chuckle out of me. It’s a great parody of the PC-Mac advertisement.

Now, if I can only figure out how to get my Blogsome main page to show the daily cartoons from Chris, it would be great. If you check out the site some day and it’s hosed, you’ll know I’ve worked up the nerve to try something - and failed.

Pray for me.