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."

Sunday, June 24, 2007

World’s most powerful, technologically advanced nation finds it impossible to neutralize the IED


The single most heartbreaking aspect of the Iraq war is the daily carnage against US troops due to IEDs. Nine U.S. troops were killed in Iraq on Saturday, bringing the U.S. military death toll so far in June to 79, the military reported.

Four of the troops were killed when a roadside bomb exploded near a coalition vehicle northwest of Baghdad on Saturday. An Iraqi interpreter riding with the soldiers was wounded.

The soldiers were with Multi-National Division-Baghdad, which has been conducting raids in the area north of the Iraqi capital to destroy insurgent safe havens, the military added.

Two other U.S. soldiers assigned to Multi-National Division-Baghdad were killed and three others were wounded when their unit was hit by a roadside bomb and small arms fire in eastern Baghdad early Saturday, the military said.

Those that survive are horribly maimed. They will be so from now and until their enthusiastic fresh faces wilt from age and become heavy with flesh and time. They will be forgotten as all disabled vets have been in all previous wars. Their reality will be a life of averted glances, pain and challenge. It need not have happened. How did it and why does it continue?

The US has spent $10 billion in an unsuccessful campaign to defeat these weapons, but IEDs, not gunfire, still account for the large majority of American casualties. It makes no sense to me, a non-soldier, to have US military vehicles rolling along on Iraqi roads where surveillance and clearing methods are inadequate. The Iraqis have all the bomb material necessary because we had too few troops to secure ammo dumps when we attacked Iraq and now the pilfered material kills and maims daily because we have inadequate forces to secure the roads.

I would be willing to bet that if George Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz or Don Rumsfeld had family members riding mean Iraqi roads this would not have been. The Bush Administration has compassion and resources for millions of illegal entrants to the US, but never had the courage to ask for the sacrifice of the US to supply adequate troops and resources to the war of its creation. The architects and chief decider will never pay the price of their ineptitude and stupidity.

When I was in combat in Vietnam, my unit walked into ambushes from time to time…but never on a road. Early in his training, every soldier learns that you never travel a road or a trail until it has been secured in all directions to the maximum effective range of your weapons. Well, if it’s a violation of such a basic principle, why are we still doing it?

Recently, I asked this exact question of veteran officers with multiple tours in Iraq, and their replies were identical: not enough troops. Clearing and securing roads are labor-intensive exercises. To be sure, we are using technology to substitute for some of the labor, and we do defeat many IEDs in place before they can do harm, but there is really no operational excuse for driving into an ambush. If a vehicle has become the target of an IED, it means that security has been forsaken for expedience. As long as our troops drive along roads that have not been properly secured, some of them will be killed and maimed by IEDs.
- Col. Jack Jacobs, Medal of Honor Recipient

[...]


52 comments:

  1. The Beat Goes On
    (La de da de de, La de da de da.)

    Drones took video
    Days before the offensive, unmanned U.S. drones recorded video of insurgents digging trenches with back-hoes, said Maj. Robbie Parke, spokesman for the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division that is doing most of the fighting in western Baqouba.

    About 30 roadside bombs — known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs — were planted on Route Coyote, the U.S. code name for a main Baqouba thoroughfare, said Parke, 36, from Rapid City, S.D. “So they knew we were coming.”

    Odierno, who was in charge of Baqouba as head of the 4th Infantry Division in 2003 and 2004, said he was shocked at how entrenched al-Qaida had become.

    “This is not the Baqouba I knew, and we can’t let this happen again,” he said. Militant activity spiked in Baqouba in the summer of 2006, Odierno said. A U.S. airstrike killed al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi near Baqouba in June 2006, but by then the city was already a major base for his terror network.

    Since last fall, the U.S. has kept a single brigade — 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division — in charge of all of Diyala province. It was enough to conduct sporadic attacks on al-Qaida, but not enough to hold the entire province, Odierno said.
    ---

    I guess there MUST be a good reason why we didn't send Apaches up there to take out the Backhoes and etc,
    RIGHT?

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  2. Maybe acting on UAV info violates the privacy rights of the criminal alien evildoers?

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  3. .."The commander of the U.S. operation said U.S. troops have cleared about 60 percent of western Baqouba of militants, but Iraqi security forces are ''not quite up to the job'' yet of holding the gains long term."

    Nor will they ever be.

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  4. "Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, of the Army's 25th Infantry Division, said it will take weeks or months before Iraqi security forces are ready to police the reclaimed area on their own."

    I have a suggestion to make. Close Guantanamo Tuesday. Take the 388 assholes and strap them on the front of the humvees and go out on patrol.

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  5. how to take out ied's

    Select an area of hostile land held by the enemy..

    allow people to leave

    level with major bombing until dust,

    bomb and repeat as neccessary.

    people who LIVE in tents without any electricity, cell phones or modern devices circ 1492 do not have the ability to make ied's

    or start bombing iran

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  7. Another day, another command detonated mine.

    That is what we used to call "IEDS".

    Take out the "command", no more IEDs.
    Simple, Simon.

    But the deal in Iraq, is ain't no war, has bot been since July '03.

    "O", if we will not rubble Iraqi homes and villages, or city blocks, And we will not bomb Iran.
    What to do, next.

    What option that is within the real operational perameters, other than to leave the Iraqi to their own devices?

    As we promised

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  8. There are, estimated. 25,000 assorted "Bad Guys" in Iraq. The big push, has killed 90 of them, in a week.

    ROCK ON!

    Only 250 more weeks to go, if the Enemy cannot resupply.

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  9. What happens, in September, when General P announces he was correct in his initial assessment.
    That the US Military cannot win in Iraq, militarily?

    That he can stir the pot, but just can't bring it to a boil.

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  10. What option that is within the real operational perameters, other than to leave the Iraqi to their own devices?


    The following has been sent by Email/Fax/Registered Mail to:
    President Bush/Vice-President/Presidents Executive Staff/Secretary of Defense/Directors of CIA//FBI/Homeland Security/Joint Chief of Staff/Dr. Sega/DARPA/Army Acquisitions/Federal Senators = Armed Services/Intelligence/Homeland Security

    I was informed by a Colonel in Dr. Segas Office, they don�t want my systems
    My systems, if the DOD would have contracted them, when they where ready in 2002, would have stopped the War in 2003. There would be no terrorist left if my systems were in operation, 98% of the soldiers killed/injured would be alive and fine!
    I have now been black listed because I put too much pressure on the DOD
    I want the Nation to know this!
    The DOD and President BUSH all Knew/Know about these systems starting in 2000, they are fully responsible for ignoring me.
    I feel the nation should know, the DOD & President Bush don�t give a Damn our soldiers are being blown to pieces!

    MY Concerns: 1968: Terrorism beginning
    Feltrinelli, Henri Curiel, Annababi, Tourist Guide to the Underground, Operation Leo, Carlos, Seamus Costello, IRA, Qaddafi*****There�s more, but the list is too long!
    Why weren�t they stopped? Intelligence agencies: BND/CIA/DCI/FBI/KGB/MI5/MI6/MOSSAD/NIMA/NSA/OSI
    The Mossad know what to do, do any of the others? I don�t think so, if you did* Why didn�t your agency stop the sources that controlled, supported, supplies: Information, tools, materials, money, weapons, killing devices and training for �ALL TERRORISTS�. You could have stopped terrorism in its tracks, but your controlling factors � the boss�s, your Director didn�t allow it, they all looked in another direction allowing terrorism to live, to grow to what it is today. Ask me: DOD/All Intelligence agents: Do you think this is right?
    Created/Ready January 20, 2002
    Theodore Andersons
    "VIPER" Terrorist Terminator Projects
    CLASSIFXXX tra � CONFIDENTXXX tra SYNOPSIS
    ***Systems TOX SECXXX*** tra
    A Viper has fangs required to find/locate/detect and terminate the Terrorist!
    New Future Defense Systems Tier A Level
    (Below TIER 1, 2 & 3 which I�ve worked on for 30 years) Fifteen new Defense Systems Ready. These systems could be ready for Beta testing in 2-3 weeks/months
    Ready: 2000
    #1 & 2: Tactical Control Area Protection System: Permanent &Temporary:
    Tactical Control Area Protection Systems: Permanent and Temporary systems - Destroy mortars/shoulder mounted missiles/projectiles/planes - terminate them in flight - and return a response that will terminate the launcher/launchee for the following locations: Homeland Security � USA * Command & Control Sites * White House * Pentagon * Embassies * Airports � worldwide * Military bases * Ammunition Dumps * Refineries * Dams * Train stations * Olympics * Any Important site/location

    Ready: 2000
    #3: Helicopter Defense System:
    Terminate any projectile attempting to shoot down our front line helicopters � destroy the upcoming terrorist projectile - return response will terminate the launcher/launchee within 3-4 breaths of the terrorists that pulled the trigger. For: All US Army and Marine Corp Front Line Helicopters

    Ready: 2001
    #4: Convoy Defense System:
    Terminate any mortar/shoulder-mounted missile, find mines, bombs, biological, nuclear and WMD plus transmit a special signal to explode terrorist killing devices - bombs anywhere 24/7 For: Any convoy group/2 Stryker Defense Vehicles per mission/1 Remote Controlled Bomb/Mine Sensor Vehicle

    Ready: 2002
    #5: Remote Controlled * Stryker Vehicle:
    Always 1st in line � out front/Guide by 100�/Remote Controlled by First Stryker Column Defense unit Stryker Column Defense unit #2 (Co-Driver) controls Remote controller unit/New Remote controlled First Bomb Vehicle is strong/Has real looking soldiers driver and co-driver/It has Bomb, Mine, Nuclear, chemical, Biological, Sensors to inform the Defense Stryker units controlling this vehicle, the first vehicle in line.

    Ready: 2003
    #6: Silent Bomb Detection System:
    For the USA, installed around any important location and our Nations Freeways - will detect bombs/chemical/nuclear/WMD - mark the vehicle - GPS location so our Nations police forces can find it faster and then stop it. For: Homeland Security * All Government locations, All Airports * All US Military Bases/Sites * All Major Freeway Access points to Cities * Refineries * Dams * Olympics * Nato Countries including Israel and England * Homeland Security * All Government locations * All Airports * All US Military Bases/Sites * All Major Freeway Access points to Cities * Refineries * Dams * Olympics * Nato Countries including Israel and England

    Ready: 2003
    #7: Bomb Search/Detect/Response Vehicles: Replace the WARLOCK! I am responsible for the Warlock being Contracted � That was a mistake! My systems will transmit the signals to explode the IED�s anywhere!
    Stryker/Helicopters/Humvee�s: Could be ready in weeks! Explode the terrorist bombs - anywhere! Find where terrorist are building bombs, mines, biological, chemical, nuclear and WMD in homes/ residential, commercial, stores, hiding places - auto, and humans and will explode any bomb being prepared to kill us � 24/7 anytime/anywhere! Once this location is detected - it will be painted, GPS�d and then the response team/reaction force/bomb reaction force, take control - G2 then gleans and removes everything to a safe place. For: Any NATO Country bomb concerns/Homeland Security Setoff present Terrorist bombs/Locate bomb building/ holding/storage site/vehicle Mark its location/Provide GPS for Military Bomb Response Team

    Ready: 2003
    #8: Centurion: 360 Video systems for protection of new defense system locations, this system could also provide the protection along our borders with Mexico & Canada, to record unwanted terrorist and Drug persons entering into our great nation.

    Ready: 2004
    #9: Weapon Stealer: System to relocate Steel weapons/vehicles, extremely powerful metal magnet unit (Super Electromagnetic) hung beneath a powerful Helicopter with special under protection for small arms/missile. Fly over War areas; turn on unit over terrorist locations. This unit could pull normal terrorist weapons from their hands � their homes almost anywhere. Remove any vehicle/weapon/mine and take it to the G2 Intel drop off, then to the Destroyer system.

    Ready: 2004
    #10: New system for Civil Air Lines: Terminate any upcoming missile, destroy it in flight or allow civil airliner to escape safely � I�m fully aware this has been awarded � Do they know what I do? My system will work and it won�t break the bank. Northrop Guardian System * OK *, BAE JETI System * OK *, Raytheon Vigilant Eagle System * OK *. My system is far cheaper, not expensive and could be on every single plane and helicopter protecting them from ManPod�s.

    Ready: 2004
    #11: USA Border System Protection �Permanent� System: Systems to detect Drugs/Bombs/PERSONS: for anyone entering into the USA; Weight/Scan eye retina/Voice Imprint sample �Name�/Information for each person recording to be sent to Homeland Security �Super CPU�/for all important human inputs:

    Ready: 2005
    #12: Weapon/Vehicle Destroyer: Remove any vehicles/weapons/mines by an Air transport to a drop off location. This location will have two special devices: One to turn any vehicle/weapon into a 3� x 3� square and a system to CREMATE the terrorist�s killers
    New Since January 28, 2006

    Ready: February 1, 2006
    #13: Entrance Human: Pentagon, any important security entrance
    Controlled Entrance; Bomb/IED/Bio/Chemical/Nuclear Sensors: 2-way, one person/one door open only.
    New Humanized security entrance: SEE what they�re wearing: Secured weapon-verify: Back-Scanner X-Ray machines:
    Personnel Verification: Weight/Hand/eye/ID/Breath: Alcohol/Drugs
    Bomb Sensors, for buildings/complex, not just: Highways/Roads around complexes

    Ready: February 1, 2006
    #14: Bomb Entrance Sensors/Security notified
    Pre, Check point, before building entrance
    Next to roadway, as personnel approach entrance to building
    Detect, Verify IED, Alarm signals, Lights/Horn and direct Security notification

    Ready: February 1, 2006
    #15: Terrorist Family Mothers Help
    Message package for Terrorist families � Mothers (Koran)
    Provide when Father/Sons are at (Prayers/Koran/Mosque)
    Special Package:
    � Candle/Base/lighter
    � 4 glasses
    � Small bottle of good non-alcohol
    � Package: cheese/crackers
    � Message: Mother-daughter-children-grand children-fun-life-future

    Handed out by Female soldiers fast � provide as many as possible, not just in Terrorist zone, but all around it. Why: If the mothers put their foot down, if the daughters realize they have the right to live and not be blown to bits, that there is NO killing innocent or by innocent persons to kill each other in the Bible or Koran.
    Tuesday, March 21, 2006
    These systems are extremely important � we don�t have the required agents in terrorist countries, my systems will support the agents � when the locations are found and the gleaned information is sent to the worlds Intelligence agencies so they can terminate the links � the resources that are sending terrorist killing devices/materials/tools/information/money.
    �God will never forgive us, if we forget those that Die�
    With these new Defense Systems, our Boys will come home alive!
    These systems are protected
    Theodore R. Anderson (US Marine Corp)
    Program Director
    Command, Control, Communications, Computers,
    Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance
    C4ISR Specialist/Telecommunications/EMI/RFI
    Designer, Engineer, Contract Management
    Office: 360.336.3057 PST Cellular: 360.927.0403 PST
    ceo@myshield.us
    The White House � Executive Departments/Secretary of Defense/Joint Chief of Staff/DARPA all know about my systems. Contact me please � our Soldiers and Intelligence Agents in harms way
    DEMAND these systems � TODAY!

    Ahlan! Jayyid asil, yawm al-khamis, adasa Ni al-yawm! Waqf � anha � irhabi & irhab!!!! Ajjara Ni! -I nizam irada anha wa irhab

    CIA, Forget it, I give up, I have been forced to go public, which is the only way to get the DOD to contract my defense systems. I�ll never get a job with the CIA, just wanted to let you know, that doesn�t matter to me anymore, I could, should be in a Think Tank, Anti terrorist group, too bad, have fun letting the terrorist survive and continue to kill our soldiers and Americans. My fifteen new defense systems will, WOULD bring in the intelligence to stop terrorists in their tracks to find where they are building, storing bombs and transporting WMD. The Intelligence gleaned from the G2 after their WMD sites are found, will/would have been/be sent to the worlds Intelligence agencies, that will now, be able to locate the resources the countries, corporations, companies, persons that are sending WMD, IED materials, tools, information, money, weapons, support to terrorists. I have been working with twenty CEO, Presidents, and Directors for five years preparing them for the Contracts to be awarded. We have kept these systems Top Secret, not wanting the terrorists to know what is on the horizon. I maybe responsible for what has happened in my life, most of it was because of my drive to get my defense systems to the DOD in secret. This has destroyed my future! CIA: Who contacted me two years ago? Stated "Mr. Anderson, after reviewing your background, education and training, you could run circles around 98% of our employees" If this is true, then why am I unemployed?

    Anderson, Theodore US Marine Corp (Father/Brother were Marines both Dead)
    Office: 360.336.3057 PST
    Cellular: 360.927.0403 PST
    Specialist/Expert: Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Surveillance & Reconnaissance, EMI/RFI: C4ISR Designer/Engineer/Project Manager/Contracts
    Keeping in mind
    **************They are protected**************





    The Bridge on the River Kwai
    The Thai-Burma Railway
    With this in mind, I shall now finish this talk with a few words based on the theme of the now famous words: When you go home, tell them of us and say we gave our tomorrow for your today. My words are these:
    and, when I came home, I told them about us, the dead and the surviving.
    They listened, they nodded, smiling, forgetting. The widow held my hand, kissing me on the cheek, lightly,
    Not to rouse the pain within and walked away, sadly, proudly. Yes� I told them about us when I came home (Text of a talk by Fred Seiker to the Kwai Railway Memorial (Three Pagodas Group) at their October 1997 Annual General Meeting)

    ID Removed: address/contact/image
    Security concern
    Tuesday, March 21, 2006

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  11. now i dont know what that was...
    but, i did read somewhere that there was a pulse electro machine that could set off explosives but the army did not want to use it as it could also set off bombs within civilian areas...

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  12. We've already been here:

    http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2005/08/unintended-consequences.html


    Change the angulation to allow for detection of organic objects (explosives) buried in the ground.

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  13. when we get serious we will destroy the supply lines coming out of iran

    when we get serious we will start using ied's on iran

    we will not leave iraq, dont left the gop and the dem's fool you

    ied's or not, the usa aint leaving iraq to it's own devices (or irans)

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  14. ied's are a pain in the ass..

    but real war is coming...

    hamastan, lebanon, syria & iran

    arabia, jordan & egypt

    sudan, somolia, chad, congo, zimbabwa

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  15. Been there, done that.
    You really do not understand the lack of depth in the Federal Government of the United States, do you?

    Watch and learn, amigos.

    Mira y aprenda, friends.

    All those places, "O", they'll burn without US.
    Just like Rhodesia.

    It's all in the plan, stan.

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  16. elijah,
    If there was ever a need for the US to take preemptive action against a Nation-State, in the War on Terror, it is and always has been in Pakistan.

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  17. Which does not even make "O's" list of hot spots.

    Being it is the only real time WMD threat to the US.

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  18. dear rat,

    my list exceeds my ability to speel

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  19. dRat,

    Sorry, but there just aren't enough Iraqi bases from which to attack Pakistan or Iran.

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  20. Iran, who said anything about Iran?

    By gones, that's the deal with Iran.

    Our EU allies ready to approve some Iranian nuclear enrichment capacity.

    As per Treaty Rights, I guess.

    Or per fear factor. But regardless, the peace train is rolling, the US is not about to block it.
    Will the Israeli go nuclear, preemptively?
    I tend to doubt it, at least with this generation of Israeli leaders.

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  21. dRat,

    I'm having a hard time gauging US approval or disproval. Why was Olmert invited to the White House? The men is a disaster. Is that part of the plan as well?

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  22. He performed to the US model, in Lebanon.

    He is leading the Levant to a new era of reconciliation.

    Baker-Hamilton is being implemented, almost to the letter, without acknowledgement.
    It is a wonder.

    Depends upon whose "Plan" we're discussing, I had thought Mr Sharon's well under way, when the Captain/Navigator left the bridge.

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  24. no matter our plan, the plan our enemy has is to destroy us..

    patience they will drag into destroying them

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  25. great news...
    5 spanish unifil troops blown up by ied or car bomb in southern iran, opps hezbollahstan, opps lebanon...

    more great news, 12 lebanese killed by ied's in northern lebanon by palios/islamists

    yet, we can talk about being appeasers all we wish..

    our islamicnut job enemies will MAKE us kill them

    I shall hold a prayer service 50 years from now to explain why we nuked several hundred million people back in 2010...

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  26. Hello everyone.

    I am still on my "away game" but I tuned in tonight to find this dreary post bringing all the patrons of this fine cantina down. For shame. I disagree with almost all of it, although I love to hang my hat in here and get comfortable at the bar.

    Deuce, you said:

    "It makes no sense to me, a non-soldier, to have US military vehicles rolling along on Iraqi roads where surveillance and clearing methods are inadequate."

    The bottom line is that IEDs are highly effective weapons in an insurgency; you cannot watch every where, all the time, no matter how many people or what technologies you have available.

    Some IEDs are command detonated, others act on a pressure plate. Some are buried, some are surface laid, some are in trees, some are camoflaged in the detritus littering dusty roads. The insurgents constantly shift their techniques, tactics, procedures and technology to maintain their effectiveness/lethality. There is no silver bullet for them, no single technology to make the threat of IEDs obsolete. Other than to not wage a counterinsurgency fight in built up areas. The way the world's demographics are going, that is not likely to happen any time soon, either.

    Also, with all due respect to Colonel Jack Jacobs, it is pretty difficult to stay off the roads in urban areas and still fight a counterinsurgency campaign; the fight in Iraq is not in the middle of the barren desert (where you can simply drive off the road and across the sand), it is in built up city areas. If the Army had to conduct a counterinsurgency fight in Detroit, you couldn't avoid the roads, so why should anyone be expected to in Baghdad?

    I disagree with his "nobody drives into an ambush", thing, too. Even with the utmost tactical presence of mind, experienced, disciplined units still unexpectedly encounter the enemy on the battlefield and have to react to contact, ESPECIALLY in built up areas. Moving a dismounted patrol through the jungles of Vietnam is not the same as driving a ground assault convoy through a built up area. I believe it is a bit disingenuous of the aforementioned Colonel to not say as much in his little essay, too.

    Baghdad is not the Central Highlands of Vietnam. I honor his valor and thank him for his service and welcome his exercise of free speech, but retired COL Jacob's comments are more political than practical.

    Deuce, I think the crack about Bush/Cheney not exerting more energy to solve the IED problem in these places is neither intellectually sound nor valid. By your own account, the administration spent 10 billion dollars in an attempt to solve this problem; even if they have thus far failed, 10 bills is hardly a drop in the bucket.

    So here is a slightly contrarian view.

    I can tell you from experience that Soldiers in the Army have a great deal more body Armor (better too), better helmets, better armored vehicles, and better personal first aid kits than they did on September 10, 2001. All of those items increase the probability of surviving (among other things) an IED strike.

    There are more and better night vision devices fielded than just a few years back, which allow Soldiers to drive more at night and lessen the chance of encountering IEDs.

    All that being said, Soldiers on today's battlefield are facing a tough fight, against a series of vicious, well funded, intelligent, adaptive, loosely networked enemies. Those lucky few in Afghanistan are facing many of the same things, if only on a slightly lesser scale.

    I somewhat agree with the more troops comments, but not for the same reasons that are proposed in the post. More boots on the ground would mean that the military would have enhanced capability to identify and kill/capture IED makers and facilitators. However, a substantial increase in troops would likely (at least initially) increase the casualty rate as well.

    OK, I hope that gives you all something to chew on. I will close by saying that I sense more despair in this commentary than I do when I am walking around and among Soldiers.

    When I get time (whenever that is!!) I will try to write a decent post to shine some light into the dark recesses of the bar, and chase the shadows away!

    Cheers!

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  27. "This is not the Baqouba I knew, and we can’t let this happen again,"
    ---

    That's what the Shanesty Folks Claim will be the result of passing their carefully crafted legislation.

    Happened before, won't happen this time:

    Trust Us.
    (Admin, ICE, LaRaza, MECHA, ACLU, Johnny Sutton, and etc)

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  28. Bob W,
    Why shouldn't we have taken out the Backhoes, and etc from the air after spotting them with UAVs?

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  29. I too agree that a whole more troops were not the answer:
    More Violence was, and a quick turnover to the Iraqis, with them being dependent on us for arms to continue the violence against the insurgents.

    Being dependent, we could have called some of the shots about what was acceptable, and what was not.

    Many seem not to remember what a peaceful place it was by comparision for quite some time.

    We protected, sometimes even nurtured the insurgency for years, now we wonder what went wrong.

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  30. The above is not all 20 - 20 hindsight:

    After the good folks of Tikrit greeted us by murdering our Troops in Cold Blood, I called for rubbling the area:

    This would have had the additional benefit of taking out Saddam in less than 5 months.

    A good portion of the starter culture of the insurgency would have been taken out too, as well as their hidey holes.

    Instead our Viceroy let that grow for a year, as well as Sadr:
    Who could blame Al Q for not taking notice of the great opportunities we were providing them?

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  31. With a wimper, not a bang... [Victor Davis Hanson]

    Watching those film clips and pictures of the Taliban kidnapping Afghans who were de-mining the countryside, and Iranian thuggish police in black hoods hanging a sort of slop bucket around the necks of free-speech dissidents, and the various semi-official and popular Iranian, Pakistani, and Middle Eastern new threats to Sir Rushdie — while a silent West worries instead that the meals for Guantanamo inmates cost only 2-3 times more than the soldiers who guard them...

    - and wondering on a Saturday morning how a post-civilized West can marshal the will to win a war of ideas against pre-civilized Islamists.

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  32. U.S. to allow family visits for Iranian Revolutionary Guards members detained red-handed while plotting attacks to kill Americans?

    ---
    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman says West now discussing Iran’s right to enrich uranium.
    Criticized “technological apartheid.”
    EU negotiator Solana calls talks “very constructive.”
    Says new sanctions could derail talks.

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  34. Command, pressure plates and/or trip wires, etc. etc ...
    Mines and booby traps, field expedient, same old same.

    Go through the buildings.

    But that would involve Doctrines of urban warfare abandoned in the post modern era.
    Where now, as Wretchard relates, Corps level operations are underway, the might of the US military has struck, and killed a gross or so of enemy combatants, in a week. Hammer and anvil, did the anvil move?

    At an operational cost of at least $2 Billion USD per week. To achieve what judgable Goasl, on what kind of a time frame, political questions that remain unanswered.

    That the US is now arming Saddamist in the Anbar may be touted as success against aQ, but Mr Maliki feels it is undermining his Government. It is.

    Arming the insurgents, not the most clever long term policy, unless of course, we've abandoned the goal of a Centralized Democratic Federal Iraq.

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  35. Delete this and make a post!
    ---
    Deuce and Whit:
    How about Posting this as a thread starter where we can keep track and post updates?
    ---
    Gordon Smith Is A "No" on Cloture [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
    06/22 08:22 PM

    ---
    A Vote for Cloture Is a Vote for Amnesty [Mark Krikorian]

    Since Kathryn is now the official whip for the anti-amnesty forces, does anyone know what Dr. Barrasso, Wyoming's new senator, has said on immigration? Did it come up during his primary race in 1996?
    Here's the latest I have, from Numbers USA. Since Tuesday's cloture motion (to bring the amnesty back up for debate) needs 60 votes to succeed, that means 41 senators either have to vote No or just be absent. There are 32 pretty solid No votes for cloture and, assuming Fredo doesn't go and drag Sen. Johnson in from his sickbed, that's 33 against.

    The solid No votes on cloture are Alexander (R-Tenn.), Allard (R-Colo.), Baucus (D-Mont.), Byrd (D-W.Va.), Bunning (R-Ky.), Chambliss (R-Ga.), Coburn (R-Okla.), Corker (R-Tenn.), Cornyn (R-Texas), Crapo (R-Idaho), DeMint (R-S.C.), Dole (R-N.C.), Dorgan (D-N.D.), Enzi (R-Wyo.), Grassley (R-Iowa), Hutchison (R-Texas), Inhofe (R-Okla.), Isakson (R-Ga.), Landrieu (D-La.), McCaskill (D-Mo.), Pryor (D-Ark.), Roberts (R-Kan.), Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Sanders (I-Vt.), Sessions (R-Ala.), Shelby (R-Ala.), Smith (R-Ore.), Stabenow (D-Mich.), Sununu (R-N.H.), Tester (D-Mont.), Thune (R-S.D.), Vitter (R-La.).

    That leaves eight votes to get to 41.


    The following 12 senators are leaning against the bill itself but so far are leaning toward the cloture motion — which means, in reality, that they would be helping pass the amnesty, because if the bill comes to a final vote, it will pass. These are the Senators whose decisions will likely determine whether the amnesty passes or not: Bond (R-Mo.), Bingaman (D-N.M.), Burr (R-N.C.), Boxer (D-Calif.), Cochran (R-Miss.), Conrad (D-N.D.), Ensign (R-Nev.), Levin (D-Mich.), Gregg (R-N.H.), Nelson (D-Neb.), Hatch (R-Utah), Webb (D-Va.).

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  36. See, doug, if you had accepted the power, you could do it, yourself

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  37. I thot the invite was more of a nudge to keep on topic!
    ...I'm very sensitive about that.

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  38. Bush Blows Up His Party:
    Glenn Reynolds argues the Administration is wrong to think it's up against only the "right wing blathersphere."
    Mickey Kaus

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  40. How many mega bases have been built in the last 10 years? Other than enriching the no bid contractors, what's the purpose? What's the threat? How does building these mega bases address that threat?

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  41. Ace:
    "What bullshit. I've seen some illegal immigrants, and let me tell you, they're not all comely. Some are pretty rough-looking, as a matter of fact.
    And yet New York Times photographers have this knack of presenting only the most telegenic and pull-the-hearstrings illegals to illustrate its pieces.
    "
    ---
    Funny, I was counting Welfare Breeders and the little Welfare Feeders, brought to us by the Elite DC Greeders.
    ...all depends on one's perspective, I suppose.

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  42. YouTube 'Em

    Next weapon in the anti-comprehensive battle?
    Mickey Kaus

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  43. Okay Doug:
    I put up a post called "Counting Cloture."

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  44. Doug,

    All I see is a white elephant Mickey Mousing a bicycle with flat tires.

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  45. I didn't even see that!
    How's "Lost" coming?

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  46. First, it will have to be found. :(

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  47. Maybe get that Looking for Humor in the meantime?
    I haven't seen it,
    will now, I hope.

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