PrairiePundit

The Democrats Patriotism Problem Enertainers think when they are criticized for some of the goofy things they say on national security that they are being censored or blacklisted. Democrat politicians think that when they are criticized for goofy things they say on national security issues that their patriotism is being questioned. Back in the 2002 election when Democrats were challenged on their position of putting unions ahead of the President in the Homeland Security Bill they whined that they had been called unpatriotic, and even rolled Max Leland out as a veteran who had been insulted. Never mind that they were being criticized for bad policy proposals. Recently Sen. John F. Kerry was criticized for suggesting the US needed a regime change. Kerry, who never fails to remind that he is a Vietnam vet, lashed back that his patriotism was being challenged and that he had no idea when he was fighting in Vietnam that he could be criticized for saying really dumb things that

Bad News for Dems Good news in the war on terror where Pakistan arrested the master mind of the bombing of the Cole along with five other members of al Qeada. This is considered as a setback for the Democrats who have on their menu of reasons not to liberate Iraq, and item that says freeing Iraq will be a distraction from the war on terror and will alienate our allies. It should be noted that the arrest was made by Pakistani authorities who acted on their own. Conspiracy theoriest are asking, was their real reason for opposing the war an attempt to punish Halliburton?

Al Qeada Forces Arrested in Baghdad Members of an al Qeada cell that Secretary Powell described in his presentation to the UN, were arrested in Baghdad. They were associated with Abu Zarqawi who ran a training camp in Afghanistan specializing in poisons. This could lead to a connection between Saddam's regime and an attempt to place WMD intothe hands of terorist.

Roadmap Prompts Human Bomb Attack As is usually the case, Palestinians who want to kill Israelis more than they want peace with them sent a human bomb into a Tel Aviv pub in an attempt to murder as many people as possible. Fortunately a guard stopped the bomber before he could get inside. Fox reports that five people were killed in the Palestinian tribute to the "roadmap" to peace. If the Palestinian Authority is serious about peace, they will immediately turn over to Israel members of all terrorist organizations. If they are not interested, expect them to demand that Israel remove its forces that have been preventing the attacks.

Coordination Examples Specific examples of coordinated air attacks and ground operations. It is short but worth the read. Roadmap The roadmap to "peace" in the middle east, i.e. Israel, will require Palestinians to give up their fantasy of using human bombs to murder Israelis in the hope that it will persuade the Jews to leave. This requirement will be particularly difficult for the Palestinians, since roughly two-thirds of them favor the human bomb murders. Of course, it is not impossible to overcome, Tony Blair was able to overcome such odds to do the right thing on Iraq and was eventually supported. All it takes is leadership. Arafat has obviously failed this leadership test, and is not even trusted as a negotiating partner. His chosen successor apparently published a book denying the Germans attempt to exterminate all Jews--the holocaust. This suggest he is still in a fantasy world of his own, which makes him a most unlikely leader to persuade Palestini

Privacy The ruckus over Sen. Rick Santorum's discussion of an existing Supreme Court precedent, shows the problem of trying to "regulate" consensual conduct through the courts rather than the legislature. If the forces who oppose sodomy laws were as politically powerful as the fall out from Santorum's remarks would lead you to believe, then they should have no problem getting, say, the Texas legislature to repeal the existing sodomy law. Such a repeal would not effect the other areas of sexual conduct such as incest. It is easy for legislatures to set age limits on conduct. For courts it is much harder. Constitutional principals tend to be absolute. If consensual sexual conduct in private is a fundamental right, it gets really messy for a court to carve out exceptions to this fundamental right. It is the same mess the court got itself in on the abortion issue. There is still great argument over when a fetus is a viable baby. Even with all our scie

It Was Not a Failure of Diplomacy France busily spilled its guts to Saddam abut every converation witht he US in the lead up to the war. It was not a failure to persuade France, that led to the failure to get a second resolution. France had already chosen to side with a murderous despot over the US and everything else including 1441 was window dressing. All the dithering at the UN finally required them to say what should have been clear all along. They would veto any use of force resolutions in hope of saving their ally--Saddam.

Another Element of Coordination Special Forces operations were integrated into the battle plan for Iraqi Freedom in ways never contemplated before. Unlike Afghanistan, where they were the main actors, in Iraq they operated ahead of the attacking forces in ost cases providing crucial on the ground intelligence as well as targeeting laser guided bombs. While this story does not cover the Baghdad operations of Special Forces, there are indications that these units and their CIA counterparts were actively involved in targeting regime figures.

Cooridnated Attacks Attacks around Baghdad were coordinated with ground forces and AWAC and Joint Star flights that were within 60 miles of the city. Hunter drones and Predators also contributed to battlefield intelligence of an unprecedented level. Anytime the Iraqi's attempted to move they were spotted and killed. This is one reason why the media hysteria about the raids on the supply lines was so misplaced. In order to really cut the supply lines the Iraqis would have had to mass sufficient force to cut off the US advance. However, if they massed any force, it would immediately be spotted. The 1800 US planes could immediately attack any massed force and wipe them out. In this way the ground forces complimented the air forces helping to create the target rich environment. As the troops got closer to Baghdad, planes were stacked over the city with various ordinance giving the commander a menu to choose from for any given threat. The US forces also designated &qu

The Al Queda, Saddam Connection Documents in intelligence files in Baghdad reveal a 1998 meeting between a representative of bin Laden and Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad. It was an all expense paid trip from the Sudan to bghdad for a meeting that stretched into several days. An attempt was made to white out bin Laden's name in the documents that were marked top secret. The trip took place in March of 98. This timing could be significant since it would have put the two together in time to plan and execute the 9-11 attacks. The Telegraph, discovered the documents in records of the bombed Iraqi Intelligence headquarters. The paper repeats a point, made earlier here, that it was a failure of coalition force planning not to secure these buildings before people like reporters could rifle through them. This argument was made in the context of a suggestion by a memeber of Parliament tht the documents were forged. The MP making the allegation had been the subject of earier pr

The Gobsmacked Strategy The US strategy in Iraq was described by some as "shock and awe." It was suppose to be a strategic stroke that would force the enemy to recognize he could not win and therefore surrender. Strategic bombing is rarely that effective, if ever. The Brits use a term "gobsmacked" to mean bewildered or stunned. That is actually closer to what the initial phase of US bombing achieved in Baghdad. As is usually the case tactical bombing was still needed to defeat the troops inthe field. The first phase of bombing compliments the next phase and makes it easier and more effective. However, it is the bombing against the troops that ultimately leads to the rout in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan too much time and ordinance was wasted on empty buildings before moving to the attack on the troops. This could have been caused by the operational difficulty of getting enough special forces in place to direct some of teh hits on ground forc

Dixie Cups I have never been a big fan of the Dixie Chicks. Their music sounds like corporate packaging as oppose to heart felt. They lack the emotion of someone like Reba McIntyre. While I am not ashamed they are from Texas, I am not proud of that fact either. In their attempt to get out of the PR problem they caused themselves they have bared their bodies on a magazine cover and "bared" their feelings to Diane Sawyer. Both efforts appear to be more packaging than substance. The photo shows their bodies covered in graffiti. The interview sounds like a non apology for remarks they acknowledge were wrong. The nonsense about a lack of compassion by President Bush is utterly ridiculous. What can be more compassionate than freeing millions of people from the clutches of a truly murderous despot? They need to come to grips with the fact that the "questions" they had about the liberation of Iraq, where the product of wrong thinking on the issue. While

Record Watch in Baghdad "Free Iraqi soldiers" have been stationed in some of Baghdad's official buildings to keep an eye on the remaining records. The Telegraph in London has published several scopes lately based on the reporters search of Iraqi records. One of the most sensational allegations to come out of this reporting is that an anti war MP has been receiving significant funds from Iraq. So far there have been no reports of US funds, although there were allegations before the war that former weapons inspecter Scott Ritter had been paid several thousnad dollars. An American TV network is alleged to have removed several boxes of records before the Free Iraqi forces were posted. Looters have also ransaked the buildings and in some cases set fires. This appears to be a repeat of a failure in Afghanistan, where not enough was done to secure documents that would lead to finding terrorist. This is a different kind of war, where documents and data can lead to

Leadership In an exchange with reporters shortly after attending a church service with President Bush, two returning POW's talked about the highlight of their life. What as also remarkable was even after the ordeal of combat and captivity they both made it clear that they were ready to serve anywhere President Bush ordered. Arabs in the Real World The Arab News explains how Arab media and intellectuals really blew it on Iraq. "DOHA, 21 April 2003 — The Iraqi people brought down the statue of the tyrant who had oppressed them for 35 years. Millions saw the wretched end to one of the most loathsome and bloody regimes in modern history. With the fall of the regime and the statue, other things fell as well. The great analysts and strategic experts had exaggerated the bloody and oppressive regime and greatly overestimated its strengths. "So now that the first breath of freedom has been seen, where are all the things the Arab media promised us before t

Jihad Myths Jihad is being exposed as a concept that is not used to defend Islam, but as a reserve force for despots who claim some allegiance to Islam. In Afghanistan, thousands of Pakistani jihadis became disalusioned by the reality of opposing the US use of force to overthrow the mullahocracy of the Taliban. They saw the Taliban lose their "holy war." When the thugocracy in Iraq called for jihad to defend their regime there was no significan number of Afghan jihadi refugees volunteering. Iraq did get a few Syrian and Yemini volunteers but the numbers were not as large as they were in Afghanistan, and the results were the same, the jihadis were killed or captured and the government they defended fell. At some point these muslim volunteers are going to recognize that Islam is not served by them acting like cockroaches going to the exterminator. While Egyptian president Mubarak said the war would create more bin Ladens, what has actually happened is many p

The Freidman Bubble Theory Thomas Freidman of the NY Times asserts that the war to liberate Iraq burst the terrorism bubble. Freidman seems ready to declare victory and call off the war on terror. He is wrong Syria and Iran still have men running their governments who are willing to send people to murder Americans and Israelis. The DRNK is still selling these rogue regimes missiles that can threaten US interest in the middle east, while trying to build nuclear weapons that it would also sell to maintain its own reign of terror on its own people. Apparently Freidman would like to war to end so Democrats would stand a chance against George W. Bush in 2004. As long as there is a war, there is little chance that American voters are going to trust Democrats with national security issues. Bush and Rumsfeld know that there is still much work to be done before this war is over. What has been shown is that states that harbor terrorist are vulnerable to US forces if they do not cha

Coordinated Attacks I have already discussed the importance of new levels of coordination in the attacks of Gulf War II. That piece was mainly about the coordination between the air and ground tean and the headquarters. Added to that mix is the coordinated work of Special Forces and the CIA. Specail Forces was responsible for seizing airfields and certain communities that were outside the eye sight of embedded journalist. The CIA and Special Forces were deep inside Baghdad targeting regime leadership. If their attacks did not kill Saddam outright, and they may have, they did scare his regime to death. It did not last 24 hours after the last attack on leadership targets. The CIA is reported to have bribed several Iraqi generals to not allow their units to fight. While pre war hype talked about whole units surrendering, what actually happened made the operation move faster. Many of the Republican Guard (who fought like Democrats) simply took off their uniform and lef

Iraqi Clerics Attempt to Blow Opportunity for Democracy At their friday "prayer service" Iraqi clerics instigated a silly scene where a mob was shouting that they wanted the US to leave. This was easy to ignor sice the US has no intention of sticking around any longer than is necessary to disarm the country and give democracy a chance. What was really wrong was the suggestion that the mob wanted an Islamic government. What a mistake. While these people have been kept ignorant of many things by Saddam's governemtn, you would think they would know what a mess Iran has made with its Islamic government, not to mention the Taliban in Afghanistan. What that country needs is a government that permits all religions to exercise their beliefs and worship as they see fit. It must be terribly frustrating to mob that no one reacts to their mass tantrum. The Cuban Gulag Castro is "cracking down." Cuba is executing people who try to flee his island paradise.

Robot warriors The New York Times Magazine has an interesting piece on plans for remote control fighters and other types of robotic warfare. The piece does discuss some of the vulnerabilities of these weapon systems, but omits probably the biggest. All these systems as well as the systems that permitted unprecedented coordination, rely on micro chip technology. If you have looked inside the latest computers, one thing that is noticable is the hardware needed to keep the advanced processors from frying themselves. In the runup to the war one of the new weapons in the US arsenal was a charged beam weapon that could destroy the Iraqi command and control computer chips. It does not take much imagination to see how important such a weapon would be in the hands of an advisary as US forces rely more and more on micro chips to fight. The weapon the US has, apparently, is delivered by a cruise missile because it would destroy the electronics of a plane delivering it. Some type of an

Entertainers as Politicians Entertainers who spoke out against the war to liberate Iraq are whining about the negative reaction of the public to their political stand. Many have complained that they have lost work as a result of their political stand. Schazam! Isn't that what happens to politicians all the time. At every election roughly half the people who run for office, who have an opponent, lose the job they are seeking because the public did not agree with something they said. It is one of the consequences associated with free speech. If American citizens decide to reject their performance because of something they said that is known as living with the consequences of taking a political position. It is not a blacklist. These people are selling entertainment as a product. Most people who sell any product go out of their way not to offend people who may be incline to buy their product. Most people selling products do not say insulting things about people they disa

Raiders of the Museum It appears that many of the museum pieces missing were placed in two different vaults that were never opened, according to the Wallstreet Journal. In othr words, nevermind. Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland raises another interesting question about the museum mess. What is it about Arab society, that they cannot take responsibility for their actions. Iraqi Arabs loot their own antiquities and the US is blamed for not stopping them.

Proof of Saddam's Aid to Islamacist Who Target US, UK and Israel The Telegraph has found evidence of Saddam's ties to an African Islamicist group looking for arms and explosives to use against the US. The group is based in Uganda.

Al Qaeda Using Syria Italian police arrested seven al Qaeda suspects who were charged with assisting 40 al Qaeda operatives get to camps in Iraq using Syria as a transit point. Wiretaps apparently show Syrian overseers coordinating the movement of recruits and money between Iraq and Europe.

Palestinians Side With Terrorist In the war against terror, most people who oppose the war are smart enough to keep quite. But with the arrest of terrorist Abu Abbas, the Palestinians make the claim that his arrest violates the Oslo Peace accords and he should be freed. Erekat, a spokesman for Arafat made this assertion at the point when the Palestinians were hoping for the US's help on a "road map to peace" with Israel. It raises the question of why anyone would help someone this stupid. While the Palestinians are trying to put together a new cabinet, they should also look for a spokeman smarter than Erekat.

Hell Hole Marines used tank shells to break into an underground prison in Iraq. This one was in Baghdad, but it may take weeks to dig out all the Iraqi political prisoners. Arab Embed A woman reporter for Arab News tells how living with Marines changed her life and her attitude about Americans. "Marines were like Arabs," really. National Security Is a Wedge Issue For Dems Democrats are divided over next steps in the Middle East according to the Washington Post. At first it was just the crazy aunts of the Democrats that spoke out against the war to liberate Iraq from conditions like that in the Hell Hole story above. As Gulf War II got closer it appeared that the Democratic base oppose liberating Iraq. Current polls show that among Democrats 61 % now approve of Bush's handling of Iraq. However, a significant number of Democrats appear to have a McGovernite death wish of national security issues. It will be interesting to see if people like

Booty In the history of warfare looting following a conquest is done by the winning army. Booty was bonus pay for the soldiers. Marlborough was one of the first military leaders to put a halt to the practice. The US forces that took Baghdad are much too disciplined to engage in such activity, indeed no one has suggested that they did. However, liberals have added another burden to winning a war. Now troops who are trying to defeat the enemy are supposed to rush to the antiquity center and protect it from the citizens of the city. Some would find this requirement a distraction from the objective of winning the war, but evidently the liberal media thinks it is what the fight was for, after all, the US was able to protect the oil fields for the Iraqis. It probably did not occur to Centcom planners that Saddam might do some prewar looting in Baghdad, or possible people who had been oppressed by Saddam would think taking government owned antiques was good revenge. Anyway, this h

Syria II It is a mistake to say that the US has no plans to invade Syria. What Syria is doing now by sending terrorist to kill Americans in Iraq is a clear violation of the Bush Doctrine. Syria should either control her terrorist elements are share their fate. To say that the US will only use diplomatic means and sanctions against Syria suggest that the US is only going to use the means that proved ineffective against Saddam's Iraqi regime. While the threat of the use of force might give the Euro weenies the vespers, it is much more likely to produce the results the US is seeking. At this point the diplomatic dance looks like a good cop bad cop routine, with Bush the cowboy playing the bad cop and Tony Blair along with the Saudis trying to persuade the Syrians to act responsibly before the crazy cowboy comes after them. If that works fine, if not the US should keep plenty of troops in Iraq. Syria disputes the other charges against her, hiding Saddam's WMD and hidin

Syria Some believe that if Syria is not the next target in the war on terror it should be. Syria has been incubating terror for over thirty years. Newt Gingrich says it is the only country in the world where you can get off a plane in its capitol airport and take a cab to the office of a terrorist organization. Islamic Jihad, of Sami Al Aren fame, is headquartered in Damascus. Hezbollah also operates openly. Syria continues to occupy Lebanon. It is difficult to see how any roadmap to a Palestinian settlement can occur without a withdrawel of all Syrian troops from Lebanon, and withdrawel of support and recognition for terror organizations. Osama's Raiding Strategy In Osama's latest statement he says the best way to fight the US is to wear the US down with a series of raids in much the same way the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan. What he does not seem to recognize is that the Afghans would have never been able to defeat the Soviets without the substan

Holy Real Estate Ralph Peters talks about the tendacy of some religious groups to fight over certain specific pieces of real estate. Wars over holy sites spring up in India and Israel frequently. One reason they do not happen in the US is because the predominate religion is Christianity. In Christianity the church is made up of its members not its meeting places. The church building is not the church. One of the ways Islam attempted to wipe out other religions was to build mosques on the sites of religious significance to those religions. Thus you have a mosque on the Temple Mount in Israel, the site of the ancient Jewish temple. In India mosques were built on sites that were once Hindu places of worship. Apparently in Islam, once a mosque has been built it becomes a "holy site" that must be defended to the death, usually the death of people of other religions. One of the interesting aspects of the Palestinian occupation of a Christian church in Bethleham duri

Misunderstanding the Threat Sen. Tom Harkin and some far left Labour Party members have said that the relatively quick defeat of Saddam's regimes, means that Iraq was not much of a threat to begin with. These people have not been paying attention. No one ever said tht Saddam's conventional army was a threat--no one. The threat was his weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorist. Us forces have already found evidence that a substantial terrorist organization associated with al Qeada was operating in Iraq and that they had been working with riacin poison. This is the same group that attempted to use Algerian terrorist to spread the poison in Europe right before the war. Harkins ignorance of the threat posed by Iraq is just another example of why Americans do not trust Democrats on matters of national security. Too many liberal Democrats view national security as a competitor with their domestic priorities, instead of the shield that permits them to have domes

Unavailable For Comment In a "Then and Now" story giving statements made by people during the war and what they are saying now, the Telegraph wraps it up by saing Saddam is "unavailable for comment." The Tip The story of how Centcom got a tip and turned it into a strike on a meeting of Iraqi leadership. It was a tip that led to the "tipping" point where organized Iraqi resistance stopped. Iraq's Opportunity The US has given Iraq a great opportunity. Not only has a murderous despot been pulled down, but the country will now have the oportunity to create a democracy in the middle of the Middle East. If Saddam could turn the Garden of Eden into a dried up cess pool, Iraq now has the oportunity to make it flower again. To accomplish these things, Iraq will have to also overthrow the hatred that is the passion of the region. They can create a democratic society that invites the world to see the birthplace of mankind, or they can c

More Movement From the Axis of Evil Iran is looking for ways to restore diplomatic relations with the US. The question still out there is whether Syria will get serious. Some reports suggest the the pipeline to Syria from Iraq has been turned off. The pipeline carried 250,000 barrels of oil a day.

North Korea Blinks North Korea has agreed to multilateral talks on nuclear disarmament. They had earlier demanded bilateral talks with only the US. The report also suggest a change in the usually blustery tone of the North Koreans. Makes you wonder whether they have been watching satelite coverage of the war to liberate Iraq.

Liberation of CNN CNN has been aware of atrosities and crimes committed by the government in Iraq for over 10 years, but kept quite to avoid harm coming to its reporters and employees. Imagine the most powerful news organization in the world intimidated and not willing to tell its story until the Marines pull down Saddam's statue. You would think they would have shown more understanding of why ordinary Iraqis did not immediately embrace their liberator until they too were sure Saddam was gone. Crossfire has real meaning for some people.

Defensive Patriotism Democrats have a Patriotism strawman they beat whenever their irrational views on national security are challenged. John "regime change" Kerry is the latest to beat the strawman, by wrongly claiming that his patriotism was being challenged. Since when is his bad judgement equal tp patriotism. He is a man who served in the military in Vietnam and like many Dems, he thinks this innoculates him from being challenged on his bad national security positions. Kerry needs to stop waving the bloody flag of patriotism and demogoguery and seriously address national security issues. His "regime change" comment is just another example of how Democrats throw red meat insults out for their true believers, that wind up blowing back in their face. It is similar to the "Taliban wing of the Republican party" insult that was used during the Clinton administration. All of this is great fun in front of your true believers, but it does not persuad

Syria Is Not a Serious Country Syria called for the end of the occupation today. No not of its decades long occupation of Lebanon. They want the US out of Iraq. Syria is a country that is run by people without a grip on reality. Assad better get serious soon or he will find himself looking for a bunker.

How the Media Got It Wrong John Keegan, one of the best military historians, explains how he correctly predicted the outcome of the war and how many others got it wrong. The ones who got it wrong for the most part showed little depth of understanding of the use of force. Their analysis seem to reflect their hopes rather than any real understanding of the military situation. In that regard, they were much like the arabs who listened to what the Iraqi Info Minister said and thought Coalition brifings were propaganda. Sometimes a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. That was one of Saddam's mistakes too.

More Wrong Predictions Andrew Sullivan has compiled a long list of predictions that have been proven wrong. Included is Robert Fisk's statement that Iraqi defenses around Baghdad were "impenatrable." Fisk did not mention this in his piece yesterday where he interviewed one of the Marines aroound the cricle where the statue of Saddam was taken down. His new line is that the task of ruling Iraq will be more difficult than going through the impenatrable defense. Fisk obviously is not listening to coalition policy makers who have repeatedly said that Iraq will be ruled by Iraqis. Strategy The success of the attacks against Saddam's regime is due to many things done right. Classic tactics in using force were combined with new levels of coordination, while still having the flexibility for subordinate commanders to take advantage of situations as they emerge. While speed has been touted as one of the reasons for the success, history has shown that fast vict

Iraqi Command and Control With all the destruction of Iraq's command and control infrastructure including finally getting Iraqi TV off the air something strange happened overnight. By early Wednesday in the US not one Iraqi official came to work. The journalist minders did not show, in Baghdad. The border guards on the Iraq Jordian border were destroying computer hard drives and leaving their posts. At the finance ministry a mysterious fire was consuming the top two stories. There was no Info Minister making wacky statements about Iraqi victories. Somehow a message went out to all these people that the war was over. Of course, there is always some who don't get the word. These were usually the Arab volunteers who had come to act as martyrs for Saddam. By the end of the day some of those had shown up at the Palestine Hotel to see if the reporters could help them get home. Despite the gripes at the Qatar briefing, the Sky News reporter who was also on Fox, was not

Predictions Check out predictions made in the run up to the war. Hint, most of them were wrong. Nuclear Material Found by Marines Marines have found a nuclear facility with radioactive readings that are off the charts.

Arab Disbelief Having fooled themselves with reports from the Arab media, Arabs were stunned by the ease with which Baghdad fell. Some were asking were the Iraqi tanks were and the Republican Guard. Having disbelieved reports from US forces that the tanks and Republican Guard were being destroyed they were searching for a reason for the lack of fight left in the Saddam regime. New fantasies will have to be constructed to avoid the reality of Saddam's demise. The happy faces of the Iraqis will require more explanation.

Baghdad Liberation Reporters in Baghdad realized the city had been liberated when their minders did not showup today. Despite this big news, reporters at the Centcom briefing still think the story is about them and wanted to talk about what was going to be done to investigate the journalist who were killed yesterday. They do not seem to comprehend that the reason those people were killed was because of the decision of Saddam's regime to use illegal combatant to fight in civilian clothes from civilian areas. By using civilians as shields the Saddamites have finally brought their depravity directly to the journalist, who seem to think only the US forces should be asked questions. The reporters need to focus on the story that is important and quit thinking me, me, me.

The Good Guys In the war to liberate Iraq, obviously the Brits are high on the good guy list. Not only were they strong allies going into Iraq, they have done an excellent job in southern Iraq and liberating Basra. Perhaps the most indispensible good guy is Kuwait. Without Kuwait it would have been extroidinarily difficult to liberate Iraq. They have stood up to the insults of their fellow arabs and have also done a good job manning their Patriot missile batteries. They have been aggressive in going after the al Queda cells that were trying to thwart the liberation. The Poles also make the good guy list for contributing special forces that help save the off shore oil terminals. The Aussies and their special forces and air craft also contributed to the liberation. Journalist Under Attack It is unfortunate that journalist were killed and injured in fire fights between the US forces and Iraqi illegal combatants. It is also unfortunate that many of the journalist hav

Liberating the Childrens Prison Marines were mobbed by about 150 children who had been imprisoned because they would not join a Baath Party organization. The kids hugged and kissed the Marines as their parents joined the celebration. Some of the children had been imprisoned for five years.

Liberation A Marine translator is welcomed back in his home town. A joyous reception is described.

"apart from some technocalities" The Iraqi Ambassador says they are winning, "apart from some technocalities." I guess apart from having US forces occupying the palaces and government buildings, while Saddam's DNA is being searched for in the bottom of a 60 foot crater, they are doing pretty good. Then there is the matter of having about 20 tanks out of a total of 800 left in what used to be the Iraqi army. Oh well, perhaps the Information Minister will give the infidels indigestion.

PLO Training Facility Marines have found a Palestine Liberation Organization training facility with manuals and class rooms. Training materials include bomb making. The terrorist training portion of the story is toward the end of the link. This appears to be further evidence that not only is the war to liberate Iraq, part of the war on terror, it will also make peace in Israel more likely.

Iraqi Operational Arts At the end of Gulf War I, Gen. Norman Schwartkof described Saddam as being ignorant of the "operational arts" of war. It appears he learned little in the intervening 12 years. John Keegan has added his criticism. Saddam did learn that he could not win in a straight up fight at the border. He expected a long bombing campaign would give him warning of the coming ground offensive, thereby giving him a chance to set his oil fields a fire and destroy the bridges on the approaches to Baghdad slowing an advance. The early start to the ground offensive robbed him of the opportunity to set the well on fire. Coalition special forces units made it difficult to destroy the bridges. While most of them were wired for destruction, combat engineers were usually able to disable the explosives before Iraqi's could detonate them. They were able to do this because the Iraqi's failed to put out sentries to warn of the US advance or the people in charge

Arab Media Critics US and UK media were not the only ones who did not understand how effective Tommy Franks war plan was. Arab media also criticized Saddam's war plan for being ineffective, which it was. However, their suggestions would have been equally as ineffective. While they suggest cutting off supply lines, the size force needed to do that effectively would have been destroyed just like the Republican Guard was destroyed. Is Syria Next? UK sources suggest that Syria is the subject of the meeting between Bush and Blair in Northern Ireland. There has been wide spread speculation that much of Saddam's prohibited weapons was shipped to Syria last summer. Syria has also been criticized for sending terrorist and supplies to Iraq during the war. Syria has also been accused of facilitating prohibited weapons purchases from both France and China and possibly Russia. For a war on terror to be successful eventually Syria and Iran will need regime change. With

Taking a Baath in Baghdad As the US forces continue to demonstrate that Saddam is not in control of his country, he will continue to exercise control over his dwindling band of syncofants. Since it is dangerous to deliver bad news to Saddam, he very well could believe the ridiculous things his information minister is telling the world. Even if he has a better grip on reality, he is still unlikely to give up. He appears to be someone who thinks it is his destiny to survive, even when all the evidence is to the contrary. One of the things the coalition forces and special ops guys could do to speed the conclusion would be to attack during one of the Info ministers spiels and capture him. They should then give the reporters a trip to the airport that Iraq claims to control. This may be as close to a coup de main as the US can get. It would demonstrate to the Arab world, that Saddam's regime is over, even if he may still be moving imaginery divisions around in the map ro

"Possibly Live" From Baghdad, the Saddam Show Events this week have at least forced the Iraqis to presentthe appearance of a living Saddam to their audience outside Iraq. He could not be seen in the country. People who have experienced war talk about "foxhole" conversions. If this is saddam he has apparently had one. Jihad is in the air. What is remarkable is how few have heeded his call. While there was some talk of 3000 to 4000 going to Iraq, so far the only evidence of outsiders jumping on his sinking ship of state are the 150 or so Yeminis who volunteered. While Mubarak of Egypt has said the war will create many more bin Ladens, out of two billion muslims in the world, not that many of them are coming to Iraq in search of martyrdom. The war to liberate Iraq has already destroyed a large al Queda enclave. It is certain that whatever their feelings about the US and the war, the Pakistanis who rushed to defend the Taliban do not appear ready to repeat

Un Attempts to Find Relevance The UN thinks the US needs it's help to deal with post war Iraq. While there is much talk of how much powt war Iraq will cost the US, there seems to be little recognition of how much more it would cost the US to push that money through the hands of UN corruption and inefficiency.

The Iraqi Who Tipped Marines on PFC. Lynch Monammed was angered when Saddam's Fedeyeen Colonel slapped Jessica Lynch while she was lying wounded in the hospital bed. After he told the Marines about her, he went back to the hospital so he could draw a map of the layout of the hospital and the security forces around it. Read it. Saddam Airport US forces now occupy Saddam International Airport in Baghdad. This will probably be a base for operations in the attack on the remaining Baathist in Baghdad. Perhaps they can take a que form Houston and rename the place, Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The Spoils of War Secretary of State Powel has made it clear the victors will establish the interim government in Iraq, not the UN. The Axis of Weasals is grousing but knows they have no leverage, despite their claims of illegitemacy of the war. Actually their suggestion that the UN must administer Iraq, even though the organization failed in its responsibility makes no sense, and is a non starter in Washington. A Farewell To Arms Historian John Keegan raises the question of where the casualties are in Iraq. I believe there have been significant Iraqi casualties among the Baathist illegal combatants. The expected surrenders have not materialized because the Republican Guard has been taking off their uniform, down to their boots and in many cases throwing down their weapons. They are trying to blend into the civilian population. The question that remains is whether they will try to reconstitut as illegal combatants. Their throwing down of their weapon suggest they ar

Make My Day Syria is showing signs of defensiveness. Syria is a regime that has shown signs of bluster since the war to liberate Iraq. It's bluster is likely to have a cost. Any attempt to interfere with the liberation may lead to regime change in Damascus. The story suggest that Saddam may got to resort in Syria.

Something Worth fighting For Osoma bin Laden and Saddam made the same miscalculation about the US, based on the events surrounding the shoot down of a Blackhawk helicopter in Mogudishu. The US never had an important interest in Somalia. It became a CNN sponsored humanitarian mission near the end of Bush 41's term. What CNN and most of the liberal media did not comprehend is that famine is an instrument of warfare. Somalia was in the middle of a civil war and as Stalin showed one of the most cost effective weapons of mass destruction is starvation. If you step in to interfere with that strategy, you become a combatant, despite any humanitarian intentions. After Clinton came in, the mission got more involved in the civil war to the point that Army Rangers were trying to chase down warlords and the bin Laden gang started looking for an opportunity to "chase" the US out of the civil war. When the "Blackhawk Down" events took place the US was faced with ha

Forced Suicide A Shiite cleric reports that the women who drove through a military check point where seven of the 13 people on board were killed was forced to do it by Saddam's death squads. He says the cab driver who killed four Americans and himself with a car bomb was also forced to do so by threats to his family. See The Civilian Casualty Whine below.

Heavy Debate The retired generals war against Rumsfeld suffered two blows Tuesday. The first came from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Myers, who made it clear that Rumsfeld had not vetoed sending more troops and that the plan for Iraqi Freedom was one put together by Tommy Franks and his staff at Centcom and was fully supported by all of the Joint Chiefs. Myers was also sending a messge to his subordinate commanders to "quit your bitchin" and get on with implementing the plan. The persistance of the media in pushing this theory that Rumsfeld was endangering US forces by denying additional troops indicates there is an agenda of some that has little to do with this war. The old tank commanders like Barry McCafferty would have preferred to see more "heavy" troops in the battle. The second blow to this attack against "the plan" was on the ground in Iraq. US forces are now less than 20 miles from Baghdad having secured bridge crossings of bo

Holy War? The Arab News headline says "God's Will Is More Powerful Than US Weapons." Of course if the US and its weapons are successful in ridding Iraq of Saddam, will the Arab News say that God was on the side of the coalition?

The Civilian Casualty Whine The press is attempting to put US commanders on the defensive about civilian casualties caused when a van loaded with women and children refused to stop and ignored warning shots, wound up with several dead when finally haulted. The actions of the driver of this vehicle are totaly irrational. Does anyone else think it is funny that a vehicle loaded with women and children would show up in a combat area and attempt to run a road block. This type of weird conduct suggest that these people were ordered to do this by one of Sadam's death squads, in an attempt to cause an embarrassing incident for Arabs to whine about on Arab television. While the deaths are tragic they should be added to the tally of deaths Saddam's and his sadist are responsible for. Vietnam Liberals never comprehended how they caused a quagmire in Vietnam. For that reason they tend to view any conflict as another "Vietnam." One of the sillier iditerations of