Military

   Monday - October 10, 2005

CENTCOM Briefing

The recent earthquake in Pakistan that killed over 30,000 people has devastated that country. Now help is arriving from an unexpected quarter. Unexpected, that is, if you are an America-basher (I’m not naming names here but France, Germany, Russia, Iran, Syria and a few others come to mind). In the history of the world, how many standing armies would continue to fight a war against a deadly determined enemy with one hand and with the other extend aid, support, supplies and needed humanitarian assistance to a country close by which is full of people who hate the country the army came from? Answer: never before.

But that’s America. We aren’t over there just to kill people. We’re there to kill bad people. The rest of the population can expect a helping hand and any assistance we can offer in their time of need.

To all of the Muslims around the world and especially in the Middle East, I have only this to say: This is what we are and we aren’t going to change - our troops are the finest people in uniform today. Even now, there are thousands of American troops shuttling supplies to the stricken region and airlifting Pakistani troops into isolated regions to bring medical help and food as well as help dig out the survivors. What are Osama bin Laden and his murderous Al Qaeda thugs doing to help the stricken people of Pakistan? Absolutely nothing. They know only how to murder and destroy. America offers friendship and a helping hand. The choice is yours: death and destruction from Osama .. or .. friendship and assistance from America. Choose wisely ...

October 10, 2005
Release Number: 05-10-32

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIRST U.S. HUMANITARIAN AIRLIFT REACHES ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A United States Air Force C-17 delivered the first relief supplies here within 48 hours of the devastating earthquake that has left thousands dead and thousands more injured and displaced.

The aircraft and its crew from the 7th Airlift Squadron, McChord Air Force Base, Wash., delivered 12 pallets—weighing almost 90,000 pounds—of food, water, medicine and blankets from Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan.

With only a few hours notice, Airmen and soldiers at Bagram, successfully worked to palletize the humanitarian relief supplies and prepare them for the flight. Three aerial port specialists were also on the flight to coordinate and manage the cargo once it arrived at Islamabad.

“This was a total team effort,” said Col. Mike Isherwood, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Vice Commander. “Our hearts go out to all those affected by the earthquake and we are thankful we were able to help out.”

Pakistan Army Brig. Gen. Imtiaz Sherazi, director of logistics, is coordinating the relief efforts as supplies arrive and ensuring rapid distribution of assistance to areas that need it most.

Said General Sherazi, “These items are very valuable to us because there are lots of people in great distress.”

As relief efforts are ongoing worldwide, United States Central Command will continue to identify and provide additional capabilities for airborne reconnaissance, heavy lift ground equipment, medical support, shelters, rations and water to aid and assist the people of Pakistan.

October 9, 2005
Release Number: 05-10-30

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATEMENT FROM THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ON THE SOUTH ASIAN EARTHQUAKE

“On behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense, I express my condolences to those affected by the earthquake in South Asia.

“The Department of Defense is working closely with the State Department, and affected governments, to provide assistance to ease the suffering and assist in search and rescue operations.

“General John Abizaid, the Commander of the United States Central Command, and others have been in touch with military officials in Pakistan, and is moving five CH-47 and three UH-60 helicopters into Pakistan immediately.

“Additional capabilities for airborne reconnaissance, heavy lift ground equipment, and medical support are being identified and dispatched from within the Central Command region.

“Today, I will designate a dedicated Task Force commander in the region to work with the affected governments, to help assess their needs, and to draw on U.S. military capabilities from inside or outside the affected region as may be available and required.

October 9, 2005
Release Number: 05-10-29

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COALITION SENDS HELICOPTER SUPPORT TO ASSIST PAKISTAN EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY

KABUL , Afghanistan - At the request of the Pakistan Government, Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan will send U.S. Army helicopters and support personnel to assist with emergency recovery operations due to the earthquake in Pakistan

Following Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s statement of support for relief, recovery and rescue operations, five CH-47 Chinook helicopters and three UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters with their associated crews should arrive Monday. They will provide rescue, recovery and logistics assistance.

CFC-A is in contact with the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad to provide planning assistance and technical guidance as required.

This support will not degrade the Coalition’s operations in the Global War on Terror.

_{(-- thanks to SPC Flowers at CENTCOM for keeping us up to date)}

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/10/2005 at 05:13 PM   
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   Friday - September 30, 2005

More Abu Ghraib Nonsense

Key quote below: “While no one wants to see what’s on the photos or videos, they will play an essential role in holding our government leaders accountable for the torture that’s happened on their watch”. As usual, the ACLU is more intent on destroying American government than they are on keeping terrorists from killing us all. All they need to do is keep on filing these lawsuits and finding sympathetic judges to go along with their agenda. Sure, release the pictures. Give the ragheads another reason to stay fired up and angry at us. Who cares as long as the ACLU can make the administration look bad for what a few mindless soldiers may or may not have done? That is the ACLU agenda. Go visit Jay at StopTheACLU.com for more information on this dangerous organization’s latest activities ....

Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos
NEW YORK (AP)

Photographs showing U.S. soldiers tormenting Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison tarnished America’s reputation when they were released last year, with some critics of the U.S.-led occupation citing the scandal as vindication. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the release of dozens more pictures of abuse from the infamous Baghdad prison—potentially opening the military up to more embarrassment from a scandal that already has stirred outrage around the world. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein rejected government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq.

He said terrorists “do not need pretexts for their barbarism” and that suppressing the pictures would amount to submitting to blackmail. “Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed,” he said. The 74 photographs covered by ruling were taken by a soldier; three videotapes also were ordered released. A military policeman who saw the photos turned them over to the Army. Some may be duplicates of photos already seen by the public.

An appeal of Hellerstein’s ruling was expected, which could delay release of the pictures for months. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said releasing the photos would hinder his work against terrorism. “When we continue to pick at the wound and show the pictures over and over again it just creates the image—a false image—like this is the sort of stuff that is happening anew, and it’s not,” Abizaid said. The American Civil Liberties Union sought release of the photographs and videotapes as part of an October 2003 lawsuit demanding information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The ACLU contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.

“It’s a historic ruling, said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. “While no one wants to see what’s on the photos or videos, they will play an essential role in holding our government leaders accountable for the torture that’s happened on their watch.” Bridget F. Kelly, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, said her office was reviewing the ruling and considering its options. Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had argued in court papers that releasing the photographs would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken the Afghan and Iraqi governments and incite riots against American troops.

But the judge said his task is not to “defer to our worst fears, but to interpret and apply the law, in this case, the Freedom of Information Act, which advances values important to our society, transparency and accountability in government.” The ACLU had sought the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes altogether. The judge viewed the pictures and videotapes and ordered some of them edited. Romero said those images apparently contained so many redactions that they would have been unintelligible. The judge said the pictures were important because they were the best evidence of what happened at the prison.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/30/2005 at 08:03 AM   
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   Tuesday - September 20, 2005

The New Meme

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin held a press conference a little bit ago, and started losing control to a media pool assembled that was showing signs of panic, due to the previous incompetence in the region by the local and state government. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore stepped in and literally took over. Here’s what he had to say:

Honore: And Mr. Mayor, let’s go back, because I can see right now, we’re setting this up as he said, he said, we said. All right? We are not going to go, by order of the mayor and the governor, and open the convention center for people to come in. There are buses there. Is that clear to you? Buses parked. There are 4,000 troops there. People come, they get on a bus, they get on a truck, they move on. Is that clear? Is that clear to the public?

Female reporter: Where do they move on…

Honore: That’s not your business.

Male reporter: But General, that didn’t work the first time…

Honore: Wait a minute. It didn’t work the first time. This ain’t the first time. Okay? .........

[snip]

Male reporter: General, a little bit more about why that’s happening this time, though, and did not have that last time…

Honore: You are stuck on stupid. I’m not going to answer that question.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/20/2005 at 10:10 PM   
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   Sunday - September 18, 2005

CENTCOM Update

HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
September 17, 2005
Release Number: 05-09-40

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES CAPTURE KEY TERROR LEADERS IN MOSUL

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Multi-National forces, acting on multiple intelligence sources and tips from local citizens, raided a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist location in southwest Mosul, Sept. 5, capturing the top al-Qaida leaders in the city.

Captured during the raid was Taha Ibrahim Yasin Becher, (aka Abu Fatima), the al-Qaida in Iraq’s Emir of Mosul, and Hamed Sa’eed Ismael Mustafa, (aka Abu Shahed), the organization’s West Mosul Emir.

Abu Fatima and Abu Shahed were in a meeting at the time of their capture.

Abu Fatima had recently taken over the role of Emir after Abu Talha was captured in June and Abu Zubayr, who replaced Talha, was killed in mid-August. Abu Fatima had only held the position for 12 days when he was captured.

Abu Fatima supervised and directed the day-to-day operations of the organization and was responsible for numerous attacks against Iraqi security and Coalition forces.

Abu Shahed was responsible for organizing al-Qaeda activities in western Mosul. He was responsible for attacks conducted in the area and also participated in attacks involving small arms and other weapons directed against Iraqi security and Coalition forces. As the leader of one of Mosul’s territories he was in line to succeed Abu Fatima in the event of his death or capture.

The simultaneous capture of both leaders damages the organizational structure of al-Qaida in Iraq’s northern network. Abu Fatima and Abu Shahed were both originally from Tall Afar prior to assuming their roles in Mosul. In the past, the Emir position had been filled by terrorists who were already operating in the Mosul area.

Multi-National Force-Iraq announced the Sept. 6 capture of Dara Mohammad Sept. 16.

Dara Mohammad was the Ansar al Sunna Emir of Mosul.

_{Report Courtesy of http://www.centcom.mil.}

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/18/2005 at 11:51 AM   
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   Tuesday - September 13, 2005

The New HumVee

Military Vehicle Illustrating New Combat Options
(Red Nova)

A concept vehicle designed to illustrate potential technology options for improving survivability and mobility in future military combat vehicles will be shown publicly for the first time Sept. 13-15 at a military technology meeting in Virginia. The event, “Modern Day Marine Expo,” will be held at the Marine Corps Air Facility in Quantico, Va.

The concept vehicle, known as the ULTRA AP (Armored Patrol), was built to help the U.S. military evaluate multiple science and technology options – including ballistic and mine protection – that could benefit future vehicle design. The concept vehicle combines proven vehicle technologies with advanced materials and engineering concepts.

Research and development for the ULTRA has been conducted by the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), which led a unique team of research engineers from both GTRI and the automotive industry. The research initiative has been sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The ULTRA AP emphasizes high-output diesel power combined with advanced armor and a fully modern chassis. The design matches the best of modern commercial automotive technology with racing experience, explained Gary Caille, a GTRI principal research engineer.

In the ULTRA AP, the GTRI/industry team has made improvements in two key areas by taking a systems approach to survivability and safety:

Survivability: This factor involves a vehicle’s ability to shield occupants from hostile action. The ULTRA AP will feature novel design concepts and research advances in lightweight and cost-effective armor to maximize capability and protection. The new armor was designed at GTRI in partnership with the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. The vehicle also incorporates a “blast bucket” designed to provide ballistic, blast and enhanced roll-over protection. New vehicle designs must incorporate dramatically increased resistance to explosions caused by mines and improvised explosive devices, Caille noted.

Safety with Performance: The ULTRA design explored the use of on-board computers to integrate steering, suspension and brakes to provide an unparalleled level of mobility and safety, Caille added. The new vehicle’s integrated chassis represents an advancement over the most advanced current production vehicles.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2005 at 06:08 AM   
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   Saturday - September 10, 2005

What Was The Pentagon Doing?

In catching up on reading the posts from the last week, I came across an explanation from BobF about military logistics and the amount of preparation that must go into any military deployment. If you’ve ever served in the military you know what he was talking about. It takes time and the military doesn’t have time, in most situations, to “get ready” instantly. For that reason, there are entire departments in each branch of the military that do nothing but prepare for the next mission. So what was the Pentagon doing prior to Katrina? Here’s a little insight from Daniel Henninger at the Wall Street Journal from an editorial entitled ”Who Calls The Cavalry” ....

The popular impression left the past week-- that the government was wholly unprepared for Katrina--is not true. Significant U.S. military assistance was on alert throughout the week prior to Katrina’s landfall. Why those highly trained and drilled assets did not move into New Orleans sooner is a question that should now sit at the center of a debate over who should have the authority--the states or the federal government--to be the “first mover.”

According to accounts provided by several sources involved with preparations for Katrina, the Pentagon began tracking the storm when it was still just a number in the ocean on Aug. 23, some five days before landfall in Buras, La. As the storm approached, senior Pentagon officials told staff to conduct an inventory of resources available should it grow into a severe hurricane. Their template for these plans was the assistance DoD provided Florida last year for its four hurricanes.

And a week earlier than this, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued an executive order delegating hurricane decision authority to the head of the Northern Command, Adm. Timothy J. Keating. Four days later, as the tropical storm soon to be named Katrina gathered force, Adm. Keating acted on that order.

Before the hurricane arrived in New Orleans, Adm. Keating approved the use of the bases in Meridien, Miss., and Barksdale, La., to position emergency meals and some medical equipment; eventually the number of emergency-use bases grew to six. And before landfall, Adm. Keating sent military officers to Mississippi and Louisiana to set up traditional coordination with their counterparts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As well, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England ordered the movement of ships into the Gulf.

By the Pentagon’s account, it carried out these preparations without any formal Katrina-related request from FEMA or other authorities. The personnel behind the massive military effort now on display in Louisiana--airlift evacuation, medical, supply, and the National Guard--was on alert a week before the hurricane. According to Assistant Secretary McHale, “The U.S. military has never deployed a larger, better-resourced civil support capability so rapidly in the history of our country.”

So where were they on the two days of globally televised horror? Why, for instance, didn’t DoD fly all this help close to New Orleans as soon as it saw Katrina coming? The answer, in military argot, is that you don’t deploy troops beneath a bombing run; Katrina predictably would have wiped out any help put in her uncertain path, just as she rolled over the Big Easy’s wholly unprotected “first responders.”

Then there’s American history, tradition and law. Once disaster arrives, several federal laws designed to protect state sovereignty from being swept aside by a Latin-American-style national police force dictate that a state’s officials, specifically the governor, is supposed to phone the federal government and describe what they need. If asked by Homeland Security, DoD will send in the cavalry. But this is one audible at the line even Don Rumsfeld doesn’t get to call.

Post-mortem investigations will surely re-create, minute by minute, how Louisiana Gov. Blanco and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff idled away their time last week. But it appears now that Gov. Blanco did not make that crucial, early, legally mandated call to the President. Absent that, Fox and CNN became the call to the White House. The media message was “do something!” In fact, the president does have “do something” authority. It’s called the Insurrection Act, which is what John Kennedy used in 1963 against Gov. George Wallace, ordering the governor’s own National Guard to turn against him and forcibly integrate the University of Alabama. As to the looters, who were breaking no evident federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 explicitly forbids using the military (unless a governor uses her National Guard under “state status") in a domestic police function.

The question raised by the Katrina fiasco--and by the Pentagon’s new Homeland Defense Strategy to protect against WMD attack--is whether the threat from madmen and nature is now sufficiently huge in its potential horror and unacceptable loss that we should modify existing jurisdictional authority to give the Pentagon functional first-responder status. Should we repeal or modify the Posse Comitatus Act so homicidal thugs have more to fear than the Keystone Kops? Should a governor be able to phone the Defense Secretary direct, creating a kind of “yellow-light authority” and cutting out the Homeland Security or FEMA middleman? Should presidential initiative extend beyond the Insurrection Act?

Instinct says the answer is forever no. Survival suggests we had better talk about it.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/10/2005 at 10:45 AM   
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   Friday - September 09, 2005

A Nice Story

I generally don’t like posting anecdotal stories, but this one sounds pretty legit.  Besides, we need some feel-good now and again.

Herc Driver’s Report on Katrina Rescue Ops

I just returned from New Orleans on a hurricane relief mission in the C-130.

Let me just start by saying I was awed. Not in what I saw in destruction and devastation because I had/have already seen enough of that on TV. What really hit me hard was the absolute determination and willingness of all those involved in the relief effort. I just want to quickly tell you what I was a part of and what I witnessed as it just really filled me with pride and reminded me again why we are such an amazing and successful country.

It started when I showed up for the flight in Nashville. Instead of the flight planning I would normally do (the other pilot did it), I was tasked to call all 60 or so of the pilots from the 105th Airlift Squadron (my squadron) and find out their availability to fly hurricane relief missions.

Now, don’t forget these are all Air National Guard men and women and most all have full time jobs outside of flying for the Guard. Almost without exception, every pilot offered whatever assistance was needed. No surprise.

As they say, go read the rest.
(posted on the “Professional Pilots Rumor Network")

Posted by Drew458     on 09/09/2005 at 06:59 AM   
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   Tuesday - September 06, 2005

Plenty of Troops

From the always-resourceful James Taranto:

Plenty of Troops

	One of the myths the Angry Left has been peddling in the wake of Katrina is that there aren’t enough National Guardsmen to deal with the disaster because they’re all off in Iraq. National Review Online’s James Robbins offers a dose of reality:
		Take the Army for example. There are 1,012,000 soldiers on active duty, in the Reserves, or in the National Guard. Of them, 261,000 are deployed overseas in 120 countries. Iraq accounts for 103,000 soldiers, or 10.2 percent of the Army. That’s all? Yes, 10.2 percent. That datum is significant in itself, a good one to keep handy the next time someone talks about how our forces are stretched too thin, our troops are at the breaking point, and so forth. If you add in Afghanistan (15,000) and the support troops in Kuwait (10,000) you still only have 12.6 percent. So where are the rest? 751,000 (74.2 percent) are in the U.S. About half are active duty, and half Guard and Reserve. The Guard is the real issue of course--the Left wants you to believe that the country has been denuded of its citizen soldiers, and that Louisiana has suffered inordinately because Guardsmen and women who would have been available to be mobilized by the state to stop looting and aid in reconstruction are instead risking their lives in Iraq.
	Recall, too, that many of the same people who are now say the National Guard is too important to waste on American security overseas a year ago were insisting that George W. Bush was a bum for serving in the Texas Air National Guard while “war hero” John Kerry was in Vietnam.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/06/2005 at 12:12 PM   
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   Thursday - September 01, 2005

Send In The Marines!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military will increase the National Guard force in the hurricane-ravaged U.S. Gulf states to 30,000 amid growing lawlessness in New Orleans and mounting relief needs, and it dispatched an aircraft carrier to the region, officials said on Thursday. This would bring to nearly 50,000 the number of part-time Guard and active-duty military personnel committed to the biggest domestic relief and security effort in U.S. history after Monday’s onslaught by killer Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana and Mississippi were hardest hit.

“We will not tolerate lawlessness, or violence, or interference with the evacuation” of New Orleans, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff told a news conference. “I’m satisfied that we have ... more than enough forces there and on the way.” Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, head of the Pentagon’s National Guard Bureau, said an additional 4,200 military police troops would be moved into New Orleans over three days and would be under command of the governor and state officials.

“This is not martial law,” Blum told the news conference, adding that the Guard members would only support local law enforcement officials. Each U.S. state has its own part-time National Guard force, which traditionally is at the command of the state’s governor to mobilize for emergency duties ranging from police work to disaster response. The Navy said it was sending the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman to join an armada of vessels off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Air Force said it was adding a high-flying U-2 spy plane to the relief effort to take pictures to help relief efforts at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Navy also said the hospital ship USNS Comfort, based in Baltimore, is expected to set sail by Saturday and reach the region in seven days. The floating hospital has 12 operating rooms and up to 1,000 patient beds, but will be configured initially for 250 beds, the Navy said. It will first stop in Florida to load additional medical supplies and personnel. Army officials said they were preparing for the possibility of deploying larger numbers of active-duty troops to the stricken region, but no deployment orders on that scale had been issued. “Units have been informed to stand by in anticipation of future requirements,” said Army spokesman Paul Boyce. “That has happened throughout the southeastern United States. No word on numbers at this time, merely that a number of units have been given a standby heads-up.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/01/2005 at 07:26 PM   
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   Thursday - August 25, 2005

MAGGOTS!

From CNS News: the horrifying, bastardly behavior of anti-war activists protesting at Walter Reed Hospital. I first heard about this on Drudge yesterday and Baldilocks posted about it earlier today. I waited until CNS finally released the entire article a few hours ago. Right now I want to go break some of these leftist bastards legs and arms and heads and ....

Washington (CNSNews.com) - The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read “Maimed for Lies” and “Enlist here and die for Halliburton.”

The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House.

Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq.

Code Pink Women for Peace, one of the groups backing anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan’s vigil outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford Texas, organizes the protests at Walter Reed as well.

Some conservative supporters of the war call the protests, which have been ignored by the establishment media, “shameless” and have taken to conducting counter-demonstrations at Walter Reed. “[The anti-war protesters] should not be demonstrating at a hospital. A hospital is not a suitable location for an anti-war demonstration,” said Bill Floyd of the D.C. chapter of FreeRepublic.com, who stood across the street from the anti-war demonstrators on Aug. 19.

“I believe they are tormenting our wounded soldiers and they should just leave them alone,” Floyd added.

According to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, nearly 4,000 individuals involved in the Iraq war were treated at the facility as of March of this year, 1,050 of whom were wounded in battle.

One anti-war protester, who would only identify himself as “Luke,” told Cybercast News Service that “the price of George Bush’s foreign policy can be seen right here at Walter Reed—young men who returned from Iraq with their bodies shattered after George Bush sent them to war for a lie.”

Luke accused President Bush of “exploiting American soldiers” while “oppressing the other nations of earth.” The president “has killed far too many people,” he added.

On Aug. 19, as the anti-war protesters chanted slogans such as “George Bush kills American soldiers,” Cybercast News Service observed several wounded war veterans entering and departing the gates of Walter Reed, some with prosthetic limbs. Most of the demonstrations have been held on Friday evenings, a popular time for the family members of wounded soldiers to visit the hospital.

But the anti-war activists were unapologetic when asked whether they considered such signs as “Maimed for Lies” offensive to wounded war veterans and their families.

“I am more offended by the fact that many were maimed for life. I am more offended by the fact that they (wounded veterans) have been kept out of the news,” said Kevin McCarron, a member of the anti-war group Veterans for Peace.

Kevin Pannell, who was recently treated at Walter Reed and had both legs amputated after an ambush grenade attack near Baghdad in 2004, considers the presence of the anti-war protesters in front of the hospital “distasteful.”

When he was a patient at the hospital, Pannell said he initially tried to ignore the anti-war activists camped out in front of Walter Reed, until witnessing something that enraged him.

“We went by there one day and I drove by and [the anti-war protesters] had a bunch of flag-draped coffins laid out on the sidewalk. That, I thought, was probably the most distasteful thing I had ever seen. Ever,” Pannell, a member of the Army’s First Cavalry Division, told Cybercast News Service.

“You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors’ guilt is the worst thing you can deal with,” Pannell said, adding that other veterans recovering from wounds at Walter Reed share his resentment for the anti-war protesters.

“We don’t like them and we don’t like the fact that they can hang their signs and stuff on the fence at Walter Reed,” he said. “[The wounded veterans] are there to recuperate. Once they get out in the real world, then they can start seeing that stuff (anti-war protests). I mean Walter Reed is a sheltered environment and it needs to stay that way.”

McCarron said he dislikes having to resort to such controversial tactics, “but this stuff can’t be hidden,” he insisted. “The real cost of this war cannot be kept from the American public.”

The anti-war protesters claim their presence at the hospital is necessary to publicize the arrivals of newly wounded soldiers from Iraq, who the protesters allege are being smuggled in at night by the Pentagon to avoid media scrutiny. The protesters also argue that the military hospital is the most appropriate place for the demonstrations and that the vigils are designed to ultimately help the wounded veterans.

“If I went to war and lost a leg and then found out from my hospital bed that I had been lied to, that the weapons I was sent to search for never existed, that the person who sent me to war had no plan but to exploit me, exploit the country I was sent to, I would be pretty angry,” Luke told Cybercast News Service.

“I would want people to do something about it and if I couldn’t get out of my bed and protest myself, I would want someone else to do it in my name,” he added.

The conservative counter-demonstrators carry signs reading “Troops out when the job’s done,” “Thank you U.S. Armed Forces” and “Shameless Pinkos go home.” Many wear the orange T-shirts reading “Club G’itmo” that are marketed by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

“[The anti-war protesters] have no business here. If they want to protest policy, they should be at the Capitol, they should be at the White House,” said Nina Burke. “The only reason for being here is to talk to [the] wounded and [anti-war protests are] just completely inappropriate.”

Albion Wilde concurred, arguing that “it’s very easy to pick on the families of the wounded. They are very vulnerable ... I feel disgusted.

“[The anti-war protesters] are really showing an enormous lack of respect for just everything that America has always stood for. They lost the election and now they are really, really angry and so they are picking on the wrong people,” Wilde added.

At least one anti-war demonstrator conceded that standing out in front of a military hospital where wounded soldiers and their families are entering and exiting, might not be appropriate.

“Maybe there is a better place to have a protest. I am not sure,” said a man holding a sign reading “Stop the War,” who declined to be identified.

But Luke and the other anti-war protesters dismissed the message of the counter demonstrators. “We know most of the George Bush supporters have never spent a day in uniform, have never been closer to a battlefield than seeing it through the television screen,” Luke said.

Code Pink, the group organizing the anti-war demonstrations in front of the Walter Reed hospital, has a controversial leader and affiliations. As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin has expressed support for the Communist Viet Cong in Vietnam and the Nicaraguan Sandinistas.

In 2001, Benjamin was asked about anti-war protesters sympathizing with nations considered to be enemies of U.S. foreign policy, including the Viet Cong and the Sandinistas. “There’s no one who will talk about how the other side is good,” she reportedly told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Benjamin has also reportedly praised the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro. Benjamin told the San Francisco Chronicle that her visit to Cuba in the 1980s revealed to her a great country. “It seem[ed] like I died and went to heaven,” she reportedly said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/25/2005 at 01:42 PM   
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   Tuesday - August 23, 2005

Weekly Activity Report: 22-AUG-2005

It’s time for another Weekly Activity Report from CENTCOM (US Central Command), gang! Here’s all the news from Iraq and Afghanistan that the mainstream media refuses to report or even acknowledge. But that’s OK, ‘cause we know they’re all busy in Crawford covering real news, right ....? I want to personally thank SPC C. Flowers at CENTCOM Public Affairs for keeping me up to date on activities. OOH-AHH!

As always, a big thanks to all our troops and to CENTCOM (http://www.centcom.mil) for keeping us posted!

August 22, 2005
Release Number: 05-08-21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUCCESSES THIS WEEK IN IRAQ (12-18 AUGUST 2005)

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Some of the Iraqi citizens benefiting from reconstruction this week were school children. Several projects were completed across the country, including school buildings. The Iraqi Security Forces continued to display their capability, and local citizens contributed to the security of their communities.

Children in Dobak Tappak village of Al Tamim Province received much-needed school supplies, clothing and toys from the Nahrain Foundation, a non-governmental organization that focuses on providing proper nutrition, decent clothing and medical supplies to Iraqi women and children. The foundation received its supplies as part of a joint effort between American donations and a Coalition forces-run program known as “Operation Provide School Supplies,” which accepts donations from private citizens and corporations in the U.S.

More than 600 children will return to renovated or rebuilt schools in Maysan Province when school starts this fall. This week, renovation on the Al-Eethnar Mud School was completed, and the Al Eethar Mud School was replaced at a cost of $87,000, benefiting 500 students who attend classes there.

In addition to reconstruction on schools, eight newly constructed schools in Wassit and Babil Provinces are receiving new furniture before the start of the school year. Each of the school projects will receive office desks and chairs, file cabinets and new student desks. Collectively, 400 three-student desks will be proportionally divided among the schools, based upon the number of students.

More reconstruction projects in Sadr City started this week, including the $13 million electrical distribution project for sectors one through eight. When complete, an estimated 128,000 people will have a reliable source of electricity. The project includes installation of power lines, 3,040 power poles, 80 transformers, 2,400 street lights, and power connections to individual homes, complete with meters.

Construction started on the $3.8 million Al Rayash Electricity Substation project in Al Daur District of Salah Ad Din Province, located between Tikrit and Bayji. The project, which is expected to be completed in early December, will provide reliable service to 50,000 Iraqi homes and small businesses. An electric distribution and street lighting project in Daquq was completed on Aug. 17, providing new overhead distribution lines and street lighting in the community.

Approximately two million people will benefit from the Baghdad trunk sewer line, which was completed this week. Workers cleaned and repaired the Baghdad trunk sewer line and its associated manholes and pumping stations. The $17.48 million project restored principal sewage collection elements in the Adhamiya, Sadr City and 9-Nissan districts of Baghdad, and will provide for the intended sewer flows to the Rustamiya wastewater treatment plant.

In Basrah, construction is complete on phase one of the $865,000 Basrah courthouse project. This five-phase project is expected to be entirely complete in October of 2005. This main courthouse in Basrah, expected to hold a number of high profile trials, continues to operate during construction. Iraqi subcontractors are working on the project, and employing an average of 70 local Iraqi workers daily.

Iraqi security forces benefited from reconstruction projects this week as well. A patrol station in the Karkh district of Baghdad Province was completed, as was a $390,300 border-post project on the Saudi Arabian border. A division headquarters building for the Iraqi Army in Salah Ad Din Province was also completed this week. The $7 million project includes a single-story building with a concrete roof and interior office space to accommodate the unit. Additionally, a $2 million firing range in Taji was completed this week.

To accommodate additional detainees, a new prison project was started in Khan Bani Sa’ad, a mountainous municipality in the Ba’quba District of Diyala Province. The $75 million project will house up to 3,600 inmates. The entire site is approximately 550,000 square meters, which includes an educational center, medical facilities and administration buildings. The project will employ approximately 1,000 Iraqi workers during construction.

In another move that highlights the increasing turnover of security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, generals from Iraqi and Coalition forces joined local tribal leaders at a ceremony where Forward Operating Base Dagger in Tikrit, one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces, was officially handed over to the 4th Iraqi Army Division this week.

Iraqi Security Forces continued training this week. In Taji, Iraqi soldiers completed a Strategic Infrastructure Battalion Train-the-Trainer course. The 90 graduates will go on to serve as instructors at an Iraqi Army training base. A class of future IA non-commissioned officers graduated from their primary leadership development course on Aug. 15 in Tikrit. Iraqi Army unit training also included combat lifesaving, staff training, computer skills and weapons training.

This week, the 1st Iraqi Army Brigade succeeded at implementing the first Non-commissioned Officer Academy in the country. Iraqi soldiers from the most recent class were the last group to be instructed by the U.S. Soldiers who had developed the training. During Saddam Hussein’s regime, an NCO corps did not exist in the Iraqi Army. The class will continue after the U.S. instructors leave, and will be taught by NCOs from the 1st IA who assisted earlier courses.

Baghdad police continued to demonstrate their capabilities this week. Iraqi Police Service officers in the New Baghdad District conducted a variety of operations including raids involving over 450 officers. Police confiscated 30 AK-47 rifles, two hand guns, and one machine gun during the raids.

They also arrested 30 suspected insurgents, three of whom were targeted in the raids. In addition, police at the Al Khanssa Police Station in Baghdad captured a kidnapper involved in the abduction of a local physician, whose family paid a ransom to have the victim released. Following the arrest, police officers recovered the doctor’s vehicle as well as the ransom money paid by his family.

Iraqi Army soldiers found a weapons cache under a vehicle in Rawah this week. The cache contained two light machine guns and 3000 rounds of ammunition, nine AK-47 rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition, one NATO machine gun and 200 rounds of ammunition, four concussion grenades, one fragmentary grenade without fuses, and various other ammunition.

Based on two separate tips from Iraqis, Coalition forces discovered weapons caches that contained rocket-propelled grenades and two launchers, 16 mortar rounds and a launcher, and five boxes of anti-aircraft ammunition hidden in northwest Baghdad.

Another tip led Coalition forces to a large cache of artillery shells in the early hours of Aug. 16. The shells were apparently intended for use as improvised explosive devices. The 25 to 30 individual rounds, located inside a building within Al Anbar Province, were destroyed after security forces confirmed there was no one in the building.

After a local Iraqi identified his neighbors as insurgents, Iraqi Army soldiers and Coalition forces conducted a joint cordon and search operation in northwest Fallujah and detained two suspects.

Iraqi Security Forces killed terrorist Abu Zubair, also known as Mohammed Salah Sultan, in an ambush in the northern city of Mosul this week. Zubair, who was wearing a suicide vest when he was killed, was a known member of Al Qaeda in Iraq and a lieutenant in Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi’s terrorist operations in Mosul. He was being sought for his involvement in a July suicide bombing attack of a police station in Mosul that killed five Iraqi police officers. He was also suspected of resourcing and facilitating suicide bomber attacks against Coalition, Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi citizens throughout the country.

Local Iraqi citizens, along with the growing Iraqi Security Forces, are contributing to the security of their communities. Reconstruction efforts also provided Iraqis with improved basic services, paving the way for a safe and secure environment.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/23/2005 at 04:51 PM   
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Another Security Breach

Every time I read a story about another security breach and the theft of personal information on people I want to strangle someone. As an Oracle database administrator (DBA) in my “day job”, it is my personal responsibility to maintain these vast databases of information, keep them running smoothly and make sure they’re accessible as well as containing valid data.

A large part of my work is spent on security. There are a myriad of tools available to a DBA to monitor access as well as restrict that same access to only those who have a “need to know”. Over the last few decades, I have done a considerable amount of contract work for the Department Of Defense and a large part of that work involved setting up security fences around critical data.

The one major problem I usually encounter is some applications development group or member of management who whines and cries because they (1) don’t feel like changing their password every ninety days, (2) don’t like having to use a password that is at least eight characters and contains at least one alpha, one numeric and one special character, or (3) don’t understand why writing their password on a piece of paper and taping it to the bottom of their keyboard is a bad idea.

Yes, the biggest problem a DBA faces, where security is concerned, is STOOPID USERS. It’s not the script-kiddy out there surfing the internet or the hacker in Bulgaria that gives me the most grief. It’s the idjits within my own organization who cause me the most headaches. That applies to any organization out there, not just to me and my IT shop. That is why I am dead set against a national ID card or ntaional database of personal and private information on all citizens. As long as people remain stupid any database can be broken into. We don’t need a better database or a better security scheme. We need a better human.

Today’s ridiculous security breach comes to us courtesy of the US Air Force and involves the stolen personnel records of about half of the officer corps ....

Hacker Steals Air Force Officers’ Personal Information

(WASHINGTON POST)—Social Security numbers, birth dates and other private data on roughly 33,000 Air Force officers—about half the branch’s officer corps—were stolen from a military computer database, the service informed its personnel late last week. Officials of the Air Force Personnel Center, based at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, said the intrusion occurred sometime in May or June, apparently by someone who used a legitimate user’s log-in information to gain access to the system.

The exposed data did not include financial records, but contained such personal information as marital status, number of children and academic records. No incidents of identity fraud have been tied to the theft, the military said, but officers were warned that Social Security numbers could be used to get other private data. Affected Air Force personnel were advised to monitor their credit reports closely.

The theft is the latest in a spate of data breaches over the past two years involving government agencies, universities, commercial firms and data brokers, resulting in the exposure of tens of millions of consumers to potential fraud. The Air Force information was contained in an online system designed to help officers manage their assignments and careers. The Air Force detected the breach after “we determined that there was one individual who was reviewing a lot of these records . . . it was very uncharacteristic,” Maj. Gen. Anthony F. Przybyslawski said in an interview.

The incident is being investigated by both military and civilian law-enforcement agencies. “We are conducting a wall-to-wall review of our personnel-related data systems to maximize the security of the systems,” Przybyslawski wrote in a letter on Friday to Air Force personnel. He wrote that the career-management system was shut down when the intrusion was discovered, but that personnel were not immediately notified pending an initial investigation.

The system was restored with enhanced security, the letter said, adding that “identity theft and other fraudulent uses of our resources steal from our operational budgets.” John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said the breach is part of a persistent problem with cyber-security that the Pentagon has been unable to overcome. While Pike said the military has a strong record of protecting classified information related to its mission, it has had less success guarding sensitive data about its people. “They have historically done much better at protecting operational systems than at protecting administrative systems,” Pike said.

The problem, he said, is that the Pentagon doesn’t make security for those systems a top priority. “Robust security can be expensive, and it can be annoying to implement,” he said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/23/2005 at 05:07 AM   
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   Friday - August 19, 2005

WAR: Weekly Activity Report

As anyone who ever served in the US military will tell you, one of the most irritating things everyone is required to do is file a report at the end of each week. Appropriately, it is call a Weekly Activity Report (WAR). Within the WAR, you are required to list all (1) accomplishments, (2) problems encountered, (3) work in progress, and (4) goals for the coming week. These reports are then gathered together and submitted to the commanding officers to enable them to get a “big picture” view of how things are going down in the trenches.

Now, the US mainstream media (MSM) is performing an outstanding job of telling you about all the deaths (including body counts), bombings, firefights, downed helicopters, etc. in Iraq. They do this to feed the anger of the Angry Left in the US. However, they completely ignore the accomplishments of the military in Iraq. It’s as if they are following an unwritten commandment that says “Thou shalt publish no good news from Iraq”.

Fortunately, the US military still has to file a Weekly Activity Report each week and it is publicly available on their web site. Here are excerpts from this week’s WAR from CENTCOM ....

• Approximately 18,000 Iraqi schoolchildren will sit in freshly refurbished schools when their new school year starts in about six weeks. Iraqi and U.S. government agencies announced Aug. 6 that renovations of 43 schools in the northern and southern provinces are funded for repairs, and contracts have been awarded for the work. As part of the Iraq Relief Reconstruction Fund, over $1.3M was set aside to continue a nationwide school repair program that addresses rehabilitating sanitary facilities, electrical and mechanical systems, and structural repairs to schools in Karbala, Dahuk, Najaf, Basrah, and Qadisiyah.


• More than 200 Iraqi children received medical screenings from Coalition Forces, with support from Iraqi Police, during an operation Aug. 5 in western Mosul. Soldiers and medics handed out soccer balls and hygiene products to the local children while they conducted the screenings. More than 1,000 children have received medical screenings during this and four similar operations over the last three weeks.


• In Baghdad, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad attended the handover ceremony of the International Press Center (IPC) to the Iraqi Government Communications Directorate (GCD) on Aug. 9. The IPC is a hub of activity for Iraqi and International journalists during press conferences, National Assembly sessions, and other media events. To mark the handover, USAID/Iraq provided a grant to the IPC for technical and office equipment that includes 20 desktop computers, 30 laptop computers, licensed software, printers, a scanner, a copy machine, CD writers, desks, chairs and other necessary office equipment. A group of Iraqi journalists who have used the IPC since its opening in February 2004 received the 30 laptop computers yesterday.


• Iraqi and U.S. officials unveiled a special monument to honor four Iraqi Army Soldiers who gave their lives for the security of Iraq during the Ashura holiday. Dr. Ahmed Chalabi, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister, said the country owed a great debt to the four Soldiers and their families, and promised the Iraqi government would care for them in gratitude for the Soldiers’ gift to the country.


• Officials from both countries also signed a charter to detail plans to bring much-needed projects to the people of Husseiniya, an agricultural town north of Baghdad whose population boomed during the previous regime. Coalition Forces are working with the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works to build storm drainage projects, water-quality improvements, and most importantly, sewage treatment facilities. The Husseiniya Charter is the first of its kind in the area, and will serve as the test-bed and guide for other projects in impoverished areas in and around Baghdad.


• Reconstruction projects around the country are in progress, and this week, construction started on a Police Facilities project in the Samarra District of Salah Ad Din Province. This 250-officer station in the northeast part of Samarra, which is a $4.3 million investment, will provide a presence in the city to help stabilize law and order. The contractor employs 25 Iraqi workers, and the project is scheduled for completion in November.


• Iraqi workers in Baghdad finished the $3.6M Al Amari Water Distribution project this week. The project can produce approximately 250 cubic meters of potable water daily and service about 2,000 families in the Al Amari and 9-Nissan areas of Baghdad.


• Iraqi Security Forces continued to prove themselves as they strive toward assuming security operations around the country.


• Iraqi Army soldiers discovered five improvised explosive devices placed around a building in Rawah August 9. The soldiers located the five IEDs connected with wiring and secured the area to prevent any injuries while a coalition explosive ordnance disposal team neutralized the threat.


• Iraqi Security Forces EOD teams were also busy – clearing three IEDs in separate cities the same day. Iraqi Police discovered an artillery shell wired for command detonation in Baqubah, a more complex IED rigged for remote control detonation in Tikrit, and another in Hit. An Iraqi EOD team eliminated the threat while an Iraqi Intervention Force secured the area, protecting community members from the terrorists’ weapons.


• Citizens in Baghdad and Ramadi were just some of the Iraqi citizens who assisted Coalition and Iraqi Forces in locating weapons caches this week, taking an active part in securing their communities and creating an environment that will foster more reconstruction and increased stability.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/19/2005 at 09:24 AM   
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   Wednesday - August 10, 2005

Boots on the ground

We already know that the MSM doesn’t tell us the whole story of what’s going on in Iraq, and thanks to a link I read on Kim’s site this morning, I have a new source for real reporting from the front.

Michael Yon : Online Magazine

Jungle Law
Mosul, Iraq

The first person to use a shield might have been a hairy man who, days earlier, barely survived a barrage from the stone-throwing man in the cave next door. As the use of weaponized sticks and stones spread, improved shields probably were not far behind. Throughout recorded history, bigger and better shields always play catch-up to their bigger and better ballistic brethren. Common wisdom posits that defense systems are preventative measures, but in fact, they are reactive. Every castle wall can be defeated. Somewhere along the line people realized, “the best defense is a good offense.” Adherence to this maxim provided at least one of the philosophical rubicons to our landing in Iraq.

The best modern armors, which can include everything from sandbags to special alloys and “reactive armors,” are simple to use and can work well for short periods. Sandbags are good and cheap, but are cumbersome and blow apart easily. As for the reactive armors, modern explosives are more powerful than modern alloys and their associated engineering can withstand. Pound for pound—and volume for volume--explosives are miles ahead of metallurgy and engineering. No matter how sophisticated the science behind the shield, someone can make a bomb to beat it.

During the first phase of this war, many of our troops were riding in unarmored Humvees and other vehicles. Soon they were being torn to pieces. Once the vehicles were up-armored, the enemy was unable to defeat much of that defense. For a time. But today—although armored Humvees are great and can defeat many threats—the latest generations of IEDs can effortlessly swat them away, spreading their parts over city blocks. The enemy has destroyed our most powerful armored tanks with underground bombs that leave craters in the roads large enough to make swimming pools.

Go read the rest (and the archives), you will be a better person for it.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/10/2005 at 10:52 AM   
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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