COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, October 02, 2006

Politicians, Listen Up. Find the Money for the Equipment They Need. Now.

Ramp Ceremony held for Pte Robert Costall 1st Battlion of the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry (1PPCLI)

This photo of a fallen Canadian soldier is part of a series from Afghanistan. Scroll down through them and appreciate what our fine young men from the US, Canada, UK, Romania, Germany and other allies from Nato face every day. In today's Telegraph is printed a scathing opinion piece on what is going on in Afghanistan. It is one thing for our politicians to make decisions to put our troops into God forsaken places to try and settle problems the old fashion way. It is quite another for them to provide the money, equipment and other resources for these same men to do their job.

Find the damn money. Tax whatever, whoever. Cut some non-essential spending from the multitude of billions begging to be cut, but find the damn money.

Now that I am calm again, I quote from the Telegraph opinion piece:

The Hidden War

(Filed: 02/10/2006)

"Britain's military deployment in Afghanistan is built on a false prospectus and is being sustained by a noxious cocktail of spin, misinformation and concealment.

Our ill-equipped forces are facing the toughest combat conditions since the Falklands and only now, as battle-wearied troops are pulled back for rest and recuperation, are the true horrors of this hidden war beginning to emerge in a graphic series of their e-mails and digital pictures.

What is shameful is that government ministers have been straining every sinew to keep the true facts from the public...."
Keep the faith.


(Update) Trish at the Belmont club posted this:
trish said...
From The Telegraph:


Paras almost retreated under Taliban assault

By Tom Coghlan
(Filed: 02/10/2006)

British forces in southern Afghanistan came within hours of retreating from a key base because they suffered a critical shortage of helicopters, the task force commander has disclosed.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph Brig Ed Butler said Taliban fire was so heavy and accurate at Musa Qala, a key forward base in northern Helmand, that Army helicopters faced a serious risk of being hit.

Brigadier Ed Butler
Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of British Forces in Afghanistan

He said the loss of such crucial equipment — together with the political impact of a large loss of life — meant he came close to ordering his soldiers to abandon the base.

Brig Butler said he had warned his superiors early last month that the intensity of Taliban attacks was such that mounting air supply and casualty evacuation missions was likely to lead to the loss of Chinook helicopters.

[...]

***********************************

Afghanistan has been and remains a severely under-resourced theater - and not just for NATO. Short on everything but bad guys (the game preserve for SF that Yon memorably described), it is not surprising that British forces have sought a withdrawal agreement with Taliban leaders in the south. The Afghan government, of whom locals are deeply mistrustful, must now step back into these areas and assert itself anew. As many local Afghan officials are former warlords, I don't imagine this will be a pleasant process. I also don't know what the ready alternative might be.

Whatever happens in the south, there are other areas, sorely neglected, that undoubtedly wait to grab headlines. We'll see what next Spring coughs up.

10/02/2006 05:48:14 AM

63 comments:

  1. Pte Robert Costall 1st Battlion of the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, RIP. There is never anything much more to say, is there? Canada needs to protect herself, that's what Pte Costall was doing, he brought honor upon himself, upon his family and friends and country, and Pte Costall is gone now.

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  2. Muslim accosts injured Para in hospital

    Speaking of Afghanistan, tell me if this does not break your teeth...
    More from the wonderful Telegraph
    By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
    (Filed: 02/10/2006)

    A paratrooper wounded in Afghanistan was threatened by a Muslim visitor to the British hospital where he is recovering.

    Seriously wounded soldiers have complained that they are worried about their safety after being left on wards that are open to the public at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.

    On one occasion a member of the Parachute Regiment, still dressed in his combat uniform after being evacuated from Afghanistan, was accosted by a Muslim over the British involvement in the country.

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  3. When you scroll down on those pics, and you get past the ceremony for the corporal, there is a picture of this fine young man in battle gear. Talk about up close amd personal.

    God bless him and his family.

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  4. I know--he's not just looking at you from a photo, he's looking at you from the Great Beyond.

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  5. I wake up with a smile on my face and a surly attitude toward Islamists. I know it's behavioral since I usually always had the smile but in peacetime not the snarly, surly attitude.
    But to read that a soldier mending in hospital is accosted my a muzzies really pissed me off. I've been pissed of at them since 9-11 and my own path of educating myself to their philosophy, which suck.
    Enough of the therapy. I want to know why countries can't deport even the millions of Islamists inside their borders.
    Stalin dismantled and moved the entire Soviet war manufacturing east of the Urals in WWII. Hitler moved millions of Jews,Catholic and others he deemed unworthy all over Europe. It can be done logistically. If they are citizens then pass laws allowing it. Parliments and Congrees' can do what they want to.
    Deport the Islams back to hell.
    During the French Revolution they (that would be whichever faction was in power at the time) would load up enclosed barges with those they didn't like and sink them in the Seine. If we just throw a few swine on board some of our older warships being sunk for artificial reefs just think what good grazing the little fish would have.
    On yeah ..good morning

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  6. Shutting down free speech. Where do these judges get their mushrooms?

    Seattle Where Else

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  7. Fle this under the heading "Know Your Domestic Non-Muslim Ememy-Tom Hayden...what the Left is doing to undermine America.


    Tom Hayden

    A dirty bag since the 60's

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  8. So the Brits and the Canadians need to raise taxes and institute a military draft.

    The Brits can barely hold their ground, militarily, and are negotiating local cease fires.

    Peace in our Time

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  9. What needs investigating in the Foley Follies.

    The important matter requiring investigation is how a recently-created anonymous blogger got the email correspondence which the boy’s parents had insisted be kept quiet. And how the blog site, which had virtually no posts and no traffic suddenly caught the attention of Foley’s opponent who immediately asked for an investigation.

    Interestingly enough, that site, Stopsexualpredators.com, has, as of publication of this article, changed its content, dropping all the posts cited by me, Rick Moran of Rightwing Nuthouse, Just One Minute and other websites investigating the case. The domain name appears to have been taken over by someone new (hat tip: Rick Moran), quite possibly an attempt to cover the tracks of what appears to amount to a black ops blog, a phenomenon Hugh Hewitt warned of more than two years ago.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/articles_print.php?article_id=5909

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  10. Where and how are classified US government documents leaked, who is responsible and where are the investigations of this illegal actions.

    For anyone to think that the background of a faceless blogger will become more important than the pedophilia, political abuse of power and the "cover up" of Foley's behaviour is delusional about the Media and the Public, both.

    To say the least.

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  11. BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- For a second day, gunmen dressed as Iraqi government forces staged a mass kidnapping Monday, raiding several computer stores in central Baghdad and seizing at least 14 people, a Baghdad emergency police official told CNN.

    The abductions were carried out by at least 25 gunmen impersonating Iraqi security forces. The kidnappers, traveling in seven vehicles, raided computer stores near Baghdad's Technology University around noon (5 a.m. ET).

    On Sunday, at least 20 gunmen, several disguised as police commandos, kidnapped 26 workers from a Baghdad meat processing plant, according to a Baghdad emergency police official.

    The U.S. military began distributing new Iraqi police uniforms last week, in an effort to prevent insurgents from pretending to be police while carrying out kidnappings and attacks.


    Buy more uniforms for the Iraqis, that's the ticket to Victory.
    If those kidnappers did not have the new uniform they would have called the raids off?

    Now they'll stop, they are "out of uniform".

    How about hunt 'em down and kill 'em. A platoon of Insurgents with seven vehicles, lost in the badlands of Baghdad.

    There are about 50,000 Police in Baghdad, 4 uniforms each,
    200,000 uniforms @ $50 USD per.
    Quick million dollar decision.

    Move ahead, whip it, whip it good.

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  12. War paint...that's the Iraqi police need.

    Some colorful pastels from Max Factor, colors and designs changed daily.
    By doing this we could co-opt the left,help the Reps with their fag problem, and save some money by a war drive and donations "Cosemetics for Peace".

    A good base coat and their good for all day. Hell Pelosi alone could probably outfit several squads.
    Squeeze the tube, wipe it on,go to war and whip it, whip it good.

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  13. Did you hear Helena Rubenstein is pregnant? They say Max Factor.

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  14. "Up" Chuck Schumer backs Islamics

    Schumer

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  15. Buddy by now you're probably wishing you'd never shown me the magic "Blue things"

    I'm becoming a Blue Abuser

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  16. Not a TALL--good links. This is a good-link site. Here's one from instapundit, on 'unrest in Iran', and the tribes vs AQ in Anbar.

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  17. Confederate Yankee (the link) reports that in the past year there've been "several" attempts on Achmadinejad's life.

    Might I suggest someone give Dale Gribble a call?

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  18. " ... Iranian authorities claimed that the explosion, which took place in the Iranian side of the natural gas pipeline near Turkey-Iran border, was an "act of sabotage."

    “Preliminary findings so far point at a work of sabotage, but further investigations are underway to determine the cause in details,” Reza Kasaei Zadeh, head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) stated on Friday.

    Turkish Natural Gas Pipeline Company (BOTAS) officials today confirmed that an explosion ignited a fire on a natural gas pipeline near the town of Bazargan, a few kilometers east of the Turkish-Iranian border.

    Natural gas flow to Turkey was halted due to the impact of the explosion, which destroyed 60 to 70 meters of the line. ..."


    Chase the links, within the linked story and it seems that Col Kurtz got the word tp the PKK. Go east, not north.

    The low intensity insurgency should increase it's operational tempo. Regardless of the US election, there is a "blackout" in the US media, that advantage should be pressed.

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  19. rat, do you reckon Col Kutrz is up there with the PKK?

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  20. All sorts of activity, intense speculation about "Washington & PKK".

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  21. If it were my Game, that's where the some of the players would be.
    Deniable Kurds.

    In the south though:

    Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but one Iranian MP said he thought separatists were behind the attacks.

    "The blasts in Ahwaz are always perpetrated by counter-revolutionary elements, those who engage in activities against Iran from beyond our borders and Britain," Nezam Molla-Hoveyzeh told reporters.

    "A satellite network has been provoking ethnic and nationalistic issues recently; and some networks outside the country have been active to encourage separatism in Khuzestan."

    The oil-rich province, which is home to about two million ethnic Arabs, was rocked by a wave of unrest last year, including bomb blasts in June and October.

    The government blamed the attacks on the UK, whose forces are just across the border in southern Iraq, but British officials denied involvement.

    In November, protests erupted in Ahwaz after ethnic Arabs accused authorities of discrimination.


    Those Brits, they don't make headlines.

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  22. Count me as a skeptic that an insurgency inside Iran is going to get any traction. We're all been reading for at least the past 5-7 years how the young'ns are unhappy,want western ways, don't remember the 1979 revolution etc..thy want sex ,drugs, rock and roll..well all we've really seen is the tic tock of the clock as Tehran closes in on nuclear arms.
    The Iranians are also aligning with the Chinese, Russians, and Hugo among others to streghten their postion on acquiring "Peace Big Rock Candy Mountain Nuclear Energy"
    Our intelligence estimates on when countries gat nuclear arms is a joke..we miss by years not just months.
    Nope we can't wait. they'll rope-a-dope-us into a fully armed ME. Egypt,Syria,Israel,Somalia,Kuwait,and the Islamic Thinkers Society of Jackson Heights,NY.

    Islamic Thinkers Society

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  23. Iran should be awash in violence, at least on an Iraqi scale. That it is not is a failure of both a strategic and tactical nature.

    If there is a "War".

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  24. yeah, but what about Jackson Heights?

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  25. lLURKERS GUIDE.....to joining into the conversation.

    1.send Habu $5.00
    2. Begin each sentence with a word ,number, or symbol.
    3. Freely state your position. I personally prefer not to use IMHO (in my humble opinion) since I try to give attribution, but that is an individual choice.
    4. Send Habu another $5.00
    5. Ad hominum attacks are out of bounds..I tried it once it didn't work at all and was out of place.
    6. prizes are awared daily. Our host 2164 and his stalwart ally Whit choose the best post by a newby and send Habu $5.00

    So jump in, just remember,grammar,syntax,capitalization, etc, usually get in the way of a really good jumbled up post so don't fear..only half of us read 'em anyway.
    Next lesson ..."SECRETS OF THE BLUE LINK" don't miss it.

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  26. NEWBY'S AND LURKER'S GUIDE (con't)
    Advanced lessons.

    1. Here is a template you can use to get started since writers block often occurs just prior to the fingers hitting the keyboard.

    Let's say the general topic is "The World is A Mess" ok here we go...when you see parentheses insert a word of your choice or follow suggestions from lurker wife or husband or significant other. Let's get started.

    I think the world is a mess(choose a pastel color,tribal faction fighting, or bad hygene...or your own idea)
    and that the USA could do better if(it quit the UN,NATO,NASCAR or all references to pastels colors..or your own idea).
    We should instead (March for Peace, Kill Everybody we don't like,move to Vancouver,BC,nuke somebody...or your own idea) because this would help us.
    The current situation will (get better,get worse,get much worse, we're all gonna die ..or your own idea) if we continue doing (nothing,allowing Congressmen to use email or quit flossing after each meal).
    Now add your final thoughts and you're done ..congrats and good luck!!





    I believe

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  27. #3 school shooting, that should wrap it up until April.

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  28. NEWBY's and LURKERS (con't)
    Quips

    Short crisp quips are often employed as notice to others that you are still breathing and need acknowlegement of your existence. You'll find blogging a solitary endeavor and no doubt creeping up the scale on causes of divorce.

    Let me show you a short quip example. Rufus, one our most outstanding and knowledgeable contributors linked an article at 2:04:04 (timestamp). I read the article and picked out a line to quip. Here goes.

    "But margins are important in nuclear gamesmanship."
    (now my quip)
    "margins are also important if you have a ten page term paper due and only eight pages of material"....
    we all like mirth, so just quip it, quip it good...feel'in in the mood just quip it, hold on tight and quip it good.

    Good luck ..now join in.

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  29. Here I am checkin habu's lists, trying to find how school shootings would effect #3.

    It's the third shooting in a cycle and buddy yhinks that;s it, 'til April

    Was the thought I finally arrived at.
    Wish you'd use the new & improved habu formating guide, buddy.

    Save me from thinkin'

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  30. habu, just remember, the guys in the white jackets are NOT that good a company. Take it from me. I mean, that's what I heard from somebody else, else, I mean, that is.

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  31. rat, you're right, that's what I meant. sorry for the corn fusion.

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  32. you can whip a quip, but you can't quip a whip. if you *could*, oh, what a raft of politicians would i lash mercilessly.

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  33. anyway, Rafsanjani's latest move--chin scratcher. Scratchin chin, takes time.

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  34. With permission from our host, or later begging his forgiveness (best approach) I would like to proclaim the last quarter of 2006 as:

    "DON'T BE A GHOST,JUST POST"

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  35. "Let's say the general topic is "The World is A Mess" ok here we go..."

    Isn't this the general thrust of every topic?

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  36. Buddy and Rufus,

    thanks, i was losing altitude quickly and you know the saying...

    aviate,navigate,communicate.

    got my whips and quips messed upin the prop wash.

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  37. I am open to posting some warm and cuddly stuffed news toys. Post your suggestions.

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  38. Cutler,
    By no means is that the topic.

    In fact you can even make up a new world if you want to..or stick to the old standards.

    Chicken Fried Steak and collard greens...your choice.

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  39. Cutler,

    If you want to talk about mauve vs. puce as an accent color you just do it.

    We just freelance.

    I will say a good many of our later evening posts are funnier that the day ones.

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  40. 2164...great idea but I personallly think if we hold off til closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas we can get a bigger reponse.

    Holloween is coming up..we could do a Wiccan thing.

    Wiccan

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  41. "I am open to posting some warm and cuddly stuffed news toys. Post your suggestions."

    As soon as I find one, I'll let you know. Then I'll wake up.

    Not complaining about the mood, it fits the world. Just noting.

    Maybe I can find something good on Oprah to talk about.

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  42. Sumner Redstone fired Tom Cruise and published Bob Woodward. [Speaking of Oprah]

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  43. Haven't looked through it, but this looks like a good read.

    Tip to Westhawk, I'm actually writing a paper on COIN in Vietnam, coincidentally.

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  44. If you can make Iwo Jima touchy-feely, then you're *there*, you've gotten all the way to the end of the touchy-feely string.

    (play the 'trailer')

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  45. Incidentally, I'd kill to know who Westhawk is.

    He knows his shit, wouldn't be surprised to find out he's someone we've heard of before.

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  46. "Your Honor, I wish to take the Mason Jar...er, Fifth, please!"

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  47. A standard bottle of wine usually clocks in at about 13 percent alcohol by volume. Thunderbird is a whopping 17.5 percent.

    If all this leads you to believe that Gallo, and other American wine manufacturers, were making their profits by selling unusually potent potables to America's underclass – well, you'd be exactly right.


    *hic*

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  48. FLASH--news reports--breaking news--entire United States Congress "checks into rehab"--witnesses report "palestinian-like mob scenes" at DC area hospitals--

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  49. --"Where on earth will we put all these drunken dickbreaths?" harried emergency-room doctors wonder--

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  50. tradesports--GOP down 10 pts since last Fri/Sat--to 47.

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  51. Shit yus guys all still here while i be do'in da other post.

    anyway got some Holiday recipes.
    just got the names so far, ingredients don't count so much.

    Giardia Jamboree
    Phlegmonade Pie
    Helium Mousse
    Iguana Mint Shurbert
    Mint Chocolate ChipBeef and Toast
    Chunky Monkey Spunky

    can be served with red or white wine

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  52. Myself I prefer a nice platter of cold, wormy, raw crow.

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  53. Saw that earlier today, buddy

    Wish it could have been me.
    But ....

    Vote for Foley
    Vote for FOLEY = vote for BUSH
    BUSH says vote FOLEY


    That's a hard campaign to wage, in 30 days.

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  54. That and the ME bad guys are playing the election--hard. Batten down.

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  55. Thanks for the great article. i really appreciate it. it will be a great guide for my thesis

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