Monday, March 27, 2006

Politics by other means

Iraq the Model has some observations about the raid in which US and Iraqi troops are said to have massacred worshippers in a mosque.

Anyway, footage from the scene shows burned vehicles outside the husseiniya, empty smoke grenades and inside the place there were empty shells of BKC machine gun (the main gun mounted on most of the Iraqi army vehicles) the BKC is not a one-GI carried gun but is rather used as a supportive-fire kind of weaponry and if soldiers were to execute armless people this would not be their gun of choice because AK-47s or pistols could do the job with less noise and are much easier to carry and it makes more sense to think that this weapon was fired by the people who were hiding inside the husseiniya especially that this gun is abundant at the arsenals of militias. Also the use of smoke grenades means the assault team was expecting-and likely encountered-resistance from inside the target building. There's also the burned vehicles on the street which indicate there was gunfire coming from inside the building because the MNF report says that Iraqi soldiers were fired at "after they entered their objective" and it makes no sense at all to fire at the street behind you when you're under fire from the building you are already inside.

However, the best evidence that proves that members of Mehdi army were inside the building came from a prominent Sdarist parliamentarian and spokesman of the Sdar trend; Baha' al-Aaraji told al-Hurra this evening that "worshippers from inside the besieged husseiniya talked to us in person on the phone and asked for help…". So I wonder why would 'innocent ordinary worshippers' have the personal phone numbers of parliament members and Sadr office officials?!!

Bill Roggio believes we have to understand the raid and its denunciations within the context of Iraqi politics.

The raid on Sadr's milita should not be viewed as an isolated event, but as part of the continuing struggle to form the Iraqi government. The issue of the militias, and particularly Sadr's Mahdi Army, as well as Sadr's influence in the government, has come to a head. Last week, we discussed the creation of the Security Council, as well as a potential split between SCIRI and the United Iraqi Alliance over the selection of Jaafari as prime minister:

Commentary

Everybody has to get patted down before entering the government. Probably one of the reasons the negotiations to form a government are taking so long is that nobody trusts anybody to keep their guns out of the political arena. In some strange way these raids are part of the democratic process. Emphasis on strange.

234 Comments:

Blogger RWE said...

Just heard on Fox News that the Iraqis say that they were fired on before they entered the building - which was not a mosque. According to the U.S. the nearest mosque was a block and a half away.

Of course, you can worship anywhere, except possibly a public school building in the U.S. You can worship in a phone booth, in a tree, underground in sewer pipe. The people inside the target building could have been worshipping - but it is assumed by many that if they were, it must have been a mosque.

Also, the report said that the building was targeted by the Iraqis because they believed it was the HQ for a kidnapping gang - so this is another one we can lay at the feet of Tom Fox and his fellow psuedo-religious charlatans.

3/27/2006 04:48:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Undoubtedly Sadr's militias got a little too enthusiastic as of late.

I guess this is how you deliver a message to an obstructionist party in Iraq.

It sounds as if a pecking order is being established.

3/27/2006 04:55:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting thing to me is that the Ministry of Defense hasn't come out and Defended it's Iraqi Special Forces. Meanwhile, Ja'afari and Al Sadr are raising hell.

Iraqi politics are definitely NOT "BEANBAG."

3/27/2006 04:58:00 PM  
Blogger enscout said...

The Mahdi's were merely worshipping as they have been encouraged - with their AK's trained on those they deem unworthy of living.

Time to round up Sadr.
If he resists
- make him a martyr.

3/27/2006 05:10:00 PM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

Some have noted that rise of SCIRI and the UIA as the final nail in the coffin of Iraqi democracy and MNF’s efforts there. Whether it was or not I am not sure, but one thing can be certain, that AQ and their fellow jihadist’s needed to be divided and conquered, or at least isolated, before the SCIRI and the UIA could be effectively addressed. Thank AQ for doing their part. Now SCIRI and the UIA either integrate themselves into the greater Iraqi experiment or become it’s latest casualty.

3/27/2006 05:14:00 PM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

Well said RWE,
If the US forces bend a knee to the lawyers we can thank our adversaries for having a weak spot or two.

3/27/2006 05:17:00 PM  
Blogger Triton'sPolarTiger said...

Sadr = Cannon Fodder

Hey, a guy can dream....

3/27/2006 05:32:00 PM  
Blogger sam said...

US is damaged by raid deaths:

Although the facts of Sunday night's raid are in dispute, analysts say it has been damaging for the US and a propaganda windfall for Sadr as the country struggles to form a government of unity.

"The mosque incident will definitely boost his cause," Joost Hiltermann, of the International Crisis Group, said of the cleric, who, like other Shiite leaders, has links with Tehran.

US is Damaged

3/27/2006 05:43:00 PM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

For some reason or another, the US is the only entity that is vulnerable to damaging propaganda. I would surmise that is because the Islamists are happy to believe it and the Liberal press is happy to report it so.

3/27/2006 05:47:00 PM  
Blogger wretchardthecat said...

Annoy Mouse,

I'm not sure who said that 'Fascism is always descending on America but always lands in Europe'. But yes, America is always in its death-throes, always being defeated. I remember correspondence with a Swedish pacifist who was certain the USMC had been annihilated in Fallujah. Expect the same headlines to continue indefinitely.

3/27/2006 05:59:00 PM  
Blogger Cosmo said...

Joost Hiltermann, of the International Crisis Group?

Nope, no projection masquerading as analysis there. Not in the headline either. Nosiree.

3/27/2006 06:41:00 PM  
Blogger NahnCee said...

Joost Hiltermann

Is there really somebody in Europe whose name is Jews Hitler Man?

And we're supposed to believe a syllable he says?

3/27/2006 07:18:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Final Game is "On." The Shia's are calling for the U.S. to "Cede" control. Remember, we have spent the last year, or so, proclaiming Iraq a "Sovereign" Country. Ja'afari and Al Sadr came within a whisker of having enough votes to run the country entirely on their own. Now, we've gone after their militia's.

The Minister of Defense still hasn't said a word. He's waiting to see which way the wind's going to blow. This could be messy. Talabani has made a "Strong" move. He's called for an investigation. This is, actually, good news. It should give us a chance to expose the Death Squads, and to some extent, their connection to Al Sadr's party.

This will not be easy, or pretty. These are politicians that survived 30 years of Saddam. They are Smart, and brutal; and they know the territory. Our ability to retain control, and the support, of the Army is absolutely Crucial. If the Army (Minister of Defense) backs away from us we can look forward to one hell of a mess. One HELL of a Mess.

3/27/2006 08:00:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

America's Finest

3/27/2006 08:03:00 PM  
Blogger Cybrludite said...

I was wondering about those 14.5mm casings on the floor in the pics on the news. Were we supposed to assume those were beer bottles or something? (I'm guessing "BKC" is the local name for the KPV heavy machine gun)

3/27/2006 11:12:00 PM  
Blogger allen said...

heather,

"Bush "wanted to go to war ALL ALONG"

I sincerely hope so. I also hope he has the same feeling for Iran, Syria, and North Korea. What a wonderful world it would be.

At some point, I hope that Vicente's good friend "Whore Hay" gets a comparable bee in his Stetson about thousands of illegal demonstrators who hoist the flag of a foreign country over the sovereign territory of the United States. Prior to Mr. Bush’s role model Howdy Doody, that used to be considered an invasion and an act of war.

What might Mexico's response be to thousands of Americans descending on Nuevo Laredo and behaving with equal nonchalance? I do not see Vicente brushing off such an invasion with the excuse of toleration for "guest workers" just trying to make ends meet.

With all the respect I can muster for Mr. Bush, my ancestors did not come to the United States (actually no such entity existed at the time of the arrival of some) looking for work. They came looking for liberty. None returned to the old country. In fact, many found themselves defending the United States against the designs of the Fatherland.

3/28/2006 01:48:00 AM  
Blogger buck smith said...

Regarding Joost Hilterman and ICG, they have done some reports that were either biased or were so dumb, hard to know which. One which got some ink and NPR airplay recently claimed the coalition had little knowledge of the groups they were fighting. One of the commments pointed that it may be a deliberate strategy not to mention the various group names except AQI which is frequently mentioned. This creates more openings for Sunni groups that may leave the insurgency and join the political process. I would say there also may be other operational value in being vague about who is picked up where.

3/28/2006 06:18:00 AM  
Blogger exhelodrvr1 said...

Allen,
In general I agree with you, but I think you would find that the majority of immigrants came to America because of the economic opportunities.

3/28/2006 06:19:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

While, I agree, helo, that the majority of Southern immigrants are looking for econimic opportunity.
They are also, first and foremost, lawbreakers. Federal Felons by definition and method of operation.

It is time to enforce the Law.
Labor and Immigration.

If the Law is unfair or inadequate, it should be changed, not ignored.

The same applies to Mr al-Sadr and the Shia militias.

3/28/2006 06:28:00 AM  
Blogger Karridine said...

There, you've pushed ONE bowling ball down the alley toward the pins, -turn around, face me!- and altho you can't see it, (bdang! tungk!) you've hit some of the pins, THEREFORE you KNOW HOW TO BOWL PERFECTLY, and we Left-Leaning Liberals EXPECT you to bowl near 300 games from now on in.

Oh, and the same goes for your government! You've been taught, the whole of the Iraqi electorate has voted several times, so now simply build a perfect, fair and free society.

And, you may look at the pins now. Keep yr eye on the targ- Hey! Don't point that at m-

Bang!

3/28/2006 07:13:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

helodrvr
Do not know if you caught this, but I've been in the hills and just saw it. As usual, Mr Bush is acting in a careful manner, nothing in this will "rock the newsrooms"

" ... WASHINGTON (AP) -- White House chief of staff Andy Card has resigned and will be replaced by budget director Joshua Bolten, President Bush announced Tuesday amid growing calls for a White House shakeup and Republican concern about Bush's tumbling poll ratings. ... "

3/28/2006 07:17:00 AM  
Blogger PeterBoston said...

Balkanization of America is a HUGE mistake. There is no faster way to disintegrate the republic than to accomodate public language other than English, or to permit attacks on uniquely American symbols.

20 years ago burning the Flag was free expression. We no longer have the wiggle room to abet cultural suicide by Constitution.

3/28/2006 07:23:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Totally agree, peter boston.
Why does the Federal Government not control the Border?
Why do the Federals ignore Federal Law?

This is an interesting take, by Thomas Sowell
Guests or Gate Crashers?

Border control and Immigration are Federal Responsibilities.

3/28/2006 07:32:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

The Orange 'Point of Light' in the Ukraine has been dimmed but not extinguished. No, not by the Russians. Another Election has occurred.

" ... It is a shock to see Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, the Orange Revolution leader, humbled in his country's parliamentary elections. A year ago he was counted among modern Europe's heroes for his peaceful triumph over an authoritarian regime. Now he is struggling to hold his own in the post-revolutionary turmoil.


Mr Yushchenko's party seems certain to have come a poor third in the polls, behind the groupings headed by Yulia Tymoshenko, his former ally, and Viktor Yanukovich, his opponent in the disputed 2004 presidential elections. Although she came second to Mr Yanukovich, Ms Tymoshenko, the charismatic populist whom Mr Yushchenko sacked from his government last summer, is the real winner and the likely new prime minister. ... "
Read the rest at FT.com

3/28/2006 07:42:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

" Prior to Mr. Bush’s role model, Howdy Doody, that used to be considered an invasion and an act of war."
---
Very well said.

Ingraham's boys let Mike Meyers do some of your work.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Graham does
Ophie.

3/28/2006 07:42:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Graham:
"WHAT IS AMENESTY?
IT'S WHAT YOU WANT IT TO BE
"
---
thanks, we needed that.

3/28/2006 07:46:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

The majority of Construction Contractors who hire ILLEGALS do it BECAUSE of the economic opportunities.
---
...and the honest ones that obey the law get forced out of business.

3/28/2006 07:54:00 AM  
Blogger goesh said...

so why hasn't al sadr been taken out? Let the chips fall where they may after his termination. Let them kill each other in the power vacum and some will be more willing in the power structure to compromise.

3/28/2006 07:58:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"With all the respect I can muster for Mr. Bush, my ancestors did not come to the United States (actually no such entity existed at the time of the arrival of some) looking for work.
They came looking for liberty.
None returned to the old country.
In fact, many found themselves defending the United States against the designs of the Fatherland.
"
---
Makes it hard to muster much, sometimes.

3/28/2006 08:01:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

goesh,
Maybe GWB figures Mookie is just looking for work.
Can't knock that.

3/28/2006 08:03:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

That's a good question, Doug--what the heck IS "amenesty"?

3/28/2006 08:03:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

When I was a yout', circa '73-'78, a framing carpenter made about $8-15 USD per hour.
Mostly white males, in Carpentry. Ethnic Mexicans in Conctrete pouring & finishing and not many other Trades.

The AZ Depression of '78 set me off on the World Tour, but...

Carpenters in Phoenix, today, make $8-13 USD per hour.
The carpentry trade was "devalued" by increasing the amount of off site preconstruction fabrication of the houses built today, as oppossed to the '70's.
The other difference is that the workers are, today, mostly ethnic Mexicans. In all the Trades.

3/28/2006 08:09:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Bud,
It's a repeat of Simpson Mazzoli:
Kick the can down the road,
ENCOURAGE more folks to break the law.
...at least Reagan didn't KNOW it wouldn't work.

3/28/2006 08:12:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

al-Sadr must live!
He is a guiding point of light.

If Mr al-Sadr were to leave the scene, we'd be off course!

Better that he be humbled and humiliated, than killed.
Killing is easy.
This is the Course we have chosen,
buck up, get tough.

Stay the Course!

or come down South, to the beach, with me.

3/28/2006 08:15:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Rat,
In the 70's when I was in construction, the State of California was already employing ILLEGALS hanging drywall.
...but then, you know us Americans, won't do some jobs.

3/28/2006 08:16:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"This is the Course we have chosen."
---
Who is WE, Howdy?

3/28/2006 08:18:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

I remember that, too, Rat. South Texas ran about the same way back then. Most framers were younger, any anglos still in the biz past their yute became trim and finish carpenters. The Mexicans were all in cement work. But they've bought the market all thru the trade now. Anglo construction workers disappear, home prices stay that little bit more affordable.

3/28/2006 08:20:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"home prices stay that little bit more affordable"
---
Yeah, and I can't pay twice as much for lettuce, or mow my own lawn, POOR ME.

3/28/2006 08:24:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Meanwhile, Mr. Dent says Blacks should have to pay for private schools, AS WELL AS PAY TAXES, if they want a decent education for their children.

More black men grew up with fathers in times of Slavery.
Ain't corrupt socialism Great?
Free Drugs for All!
(the ILLEGALS make them "more affordable.")

3/28/2006 08:28:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

How will Socialism be maintained (a little bit longer) if we don't continue to exploit ILLEGALS?
...it's never worked any other way.

3/28/2006 08:29:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

doug,
buddy just loves to see lawbreakers, billable hours working folks through the "System"

If the System worked, well, there would be less to do.

Anedotally I know Mr Sowell is correct. Statisicly any case can be made.

I know that having a "grey society" an "underground" does not bolster Security.

I know that the 4,000 open murder warrents, for suspects that have fled to Mexico, pale in comparison to those migrants arrested and in prision for murder.

I know the Death Toll of US citizens from the unenforced Federal Immigration Policy is higher than 9-11-01.

Yet we chase Mr al-Sadr's tail in Iraq, while ignoring the assualt on the US border, from Larado TX to Naco, AZ and on to the Pacific and San Diego, CA.

Stay the Course!

3/28/2006 08:31:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"I know the Death Toll of US citizens from the unenforced Federal Immigration Policy is higher than 9-11-01."
---
Just heard Bill(y) Cristol, WASHINGTON DC, say that crime is down, unemployment is down, market up,
...another boy Howdy.

3/28/2006 08:35:00 AM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

I laugh at the so called "jobs that Americans won't do" meme. It's BS, pure and simple. My first job was following the fire crews of Southern California weeding back yards. I had the pleasure of meeting Parnelli Jones on his ranch style property, riding his young son around on a lawn mower, while I ‘Idiot Sticked’ several tons of brush to the bottom of a steep canyon in the blistering sun, bundled it, and drug every last ounce of it back up to the top to fill the truck that was waiting for me. I did such a good job of that I earned the opportunity to creosote a mile of fences. I was fourteen years old. The next summer I got a job as a dish washer and spent summers in Iowa walking my uncle’s bean crops with a hoe for $1.75 hour. In spite of the molly coddling bull you hear about this interfering with a young mans studies, my academics went from failing to the high honor role. You see, there is something about menial labor that focuses the mind… I had gained a crystal clarity of what I did not want to be when I grew up, a day laborer. Now I earn my calluses working on a keyboard staring into a computer screen. Sometimes miss hard work… I can watch it for hours ;-)

3/28/2006 08:38:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Liar, liar, pants on fire, buddy.

Home prices are not "more affordable".
Not to anyone still working as a Tradesman.

At least here, in AZ.

Both as the price per sq ft and the mean average price continue to soar. The "inflation" in housing prices is not due to labor costs, as you so aptly describe.

But the prices ARE NOT stable or affordable.
Mr Ford laid out the formula for economic expansion years ago. The workers must be able to afford the product.

3/28/2006 08:39:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Over at Pajamas Liberal Link, Marc Cooper's commenters think humans should be traded as freely across borders as any other commodity, or store of wealth.
Jefferson would be proud.
(Why have countries?)

3/28/2006 08:39:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Well, things are getting so bad, pretty soon we'll be wanting to immigrate to Mexico. Hey, seenor, doan burn yor breedges!

3/28/2006 08:41:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Mouse,
I lost part of my skull (you knew it had to be something) while the Mexicans did safer work at the same farm.

3/28/2006 08:41:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

A friend of mine, since High School, is building his new $4 Million USD home on the slopes of the McDowell Mountains, in Hidden Canyon.
He has been in "Real Estate & Construction" all his life.
He does not know a hammer from a saw.

Hiring illegals to cut costs sure did pay, in the long run.

3/28/2006 08:44:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

'Rat,
Since 2003, the average income of the lower 50% percent of earners has gone DOWN.
Think boy Howdy or Billy Cristal CARE?

3/28/2006 08:44:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

And any Scotsman living in Hawaii has gotta lotta room to talk about illegal immigration. Them early Hawaiians thought they were selling a coconut, not the whole archie-pela-joe.

3/28/2006 08:45:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

...or your friend in
"Real Estate & Construction"
of course.
Always did love Realtors.

3/28/2006 08:46:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Back to the 60's Bud,
Multiculturalism Rules
Bush is infallible,
Heil, Howdy!

3/28/2006 08:47:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

No, you guys are dead right about cheap labor warping the market. Minimum wages are too low, and it's the illegals. But the worm is turning. The new law just passed a big hurdle in the senate.

3/28/2006 08:48:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

buddy,
I am goin south.

Most of the immigrants I've met are really "migrants". They plan of going back, we they "cash up".

I do plan on going South, when the youngest leaves home and I can "cash out".

Still, that does not mean the US should not defend itself.

3/28/2006 08:48:00 AM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

My brother bought a spec home on a golf course outside of Dallas, paid most of it off, and he and his wife say they can't sell it for what they got into it. What's up with that? I told my dad, three words... Texas Texas Texas.

3/28/2006 08:49:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"has gotta lotta room to talk about illegal immigration"
---
So we OWE Mexico their country back, because we are GUILTY?
...please Expound on that.

3/28/2006 08:50:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"The new law just passed a big hurdle in the senate."
---
Smoke, mirrors, and Mazzoli, Bud.
...the House of Representatives know what 70% of the people (and the Constitution) want.
The Senate Sickos and Boy Howdy are out to a (nother) free lunch.

3/28/2006 08:54:00 AM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

14,000 illegal alien criminal gang members in Los Angeles plan on going home, right after they murder someone. 33% of our prison population is filled with illegal alien violent felons. 3 hots and a cot, cable television, and hey, all your friends are already there.

If you want to live in a nice suburban home, be sure to build a nice big wall and hire men with shot guns, that's what they do in Mexico, and while staying in Costa Rica, the liberal latin eutopia, the armed guard is part of your living expenses. Nice people mind you, but they'll steal your gardening stones if you leave them laying around. I'm for putting up with a few burdens, and putting the wall at the border, course, if we all get to go around like the old west and kill one another, I'm for that too.

3/28/2006 08:57:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

am,
right you are.
Outrageous Property Taxes, there, in Texas.
Lots and lots of deeded land, as well.

Not like here, where the Federals control almost 83% of the land, keeping it off the Market.
Makes the Forest Ranger the most important "Government Man" in most rural AZ communities.

3/28/2006 08:59:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"I'm for putting up with a few burdens, and putting the wall at the border"
("Bear any Burden,
Pay any Price")
Are you a DEMOCRAT?
Teddy for President!
His Brothers are old, white, dead males.

3/28/2006 09:02:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

I learned about Bureaucraps when I confided in a Forest Ranger.
...still bear a scar in my back.

3/28/2006 09:04:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Fellas, "wets" have been pricing down the labor market in Texas ever since there's BEEN a Texas. This is nothing new, for us down here. So please pardon my bemusement at the vision of 45 states--the non-borders--suddenly freaking at the Latino Invasion.

A large part of the problem is the California State House. you know what I mean, no need to re-plow it.

3/28/2006 09:05:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

So why are you on the wrong side, Bud?
Those Burning Bridges?
I must be confused.
...or else Washington et al were.

3/28/2006 09:09:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

I suffer from something other than "bemusement" when I see a bunch of racist, never worked a day in their life, "Latinos" screaming for their rights.
...I had Black friends that saw through this whole charade in the 60s.

3/28/2006 09:12:00 AM  
Blogger Annoy Mouse said...

Right buddy, in the early days the "wets" were from Oklahoma. The problem was fine when it was in Texas, seems people are a little confused in Maine when they can't order a hamburger with out learning spanglish.

We won a war or two. Suppose this time its an insurgency. How do you deal with that? Ask Mookie.

3/28/2006 09:14:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

And as far as your "Heil Howdy", Doug, there's 18 states that have minimum-wage laws in excess of the Federal--all but two are losing population and tax base to the 'cheaper cost-of-living' states--like Texas. These are the 'blue' states (except for Florida), and all except for Florida are--paradoxically--taxing their working classes off to the states that are "loaded up with cheap labor".

So, who's gonna reverse all this? We'll need a StrongMan president--and it won't be Bush. You should'vbe voted for Kerry, Doug. He'd have gotten some internal-immigration laws passed.

Heil, hell.

3/28/2006 09:15:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Them Okie wets seemed to deeply care about the founders dreams.
Not so for the new Multicult La Razas.

3/28/2006 09:16:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

doug.
Don't tell me you trusted a Federal. I thought you were smarter than that. Must have happended when you were young.

In other news
Gary Anderson, a retired Marine Corps officer, that teaches a graduate class in the Revolution in Military Affairs at George Washington University, has written a book review.

The book, Cobra II, looks at US tactics during OIF and looks for ways to improve.

"... One British observer dubbed the new Germanapproach "Blitzkrieg" or lightning war. The German army was less impressed with itself. Immediately after the campaign, it undertook a rigorous self-study of the lessons learned that was brutally honest and self- critical.
A reader of that analysis who is unaware of the outcome would think that the Germans had lost, rather than won, the campaign. However, the improvements made as a result of that study contributed to an even more impressive victory against France in 1940.
Michael Gordon and Gen. Bernard Trainor have attempted to do the same thing with "Cobra II," their history of the drive to capture Baghdad March-April of 2003. ... "

" ... Consequently, the book deftly weaves the strategic, operationalandtactical events involved in the initial stage of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Along the way Mr. Gordon and Gen. Trainor present a number of revelations. ... "

" ... Mr. Gordon and Gen. Trainor clearly agree with the assessment of arms inspector David Kay that the State Department plan was a compilation of essays on things that would be "unimplementable."
The authors are well qualified for the task. Gen. Trainor is a retired Marine Corps general officer who was in charge of that service's strategic planning in his last assignment.
Mr. Gordon is a highly experienced war correspondent. ... "

" ... Mr. Gordon and Gen. Trainor feel that this role reversal among civilian and military leaders, along with abysmal intelligence at every level of war, contributed to our inability to foresee that we would still be fighting a guerrilla war there three years later.

They point to five key shortcomings that contributed to this.
These were: misreading the foe, over-reliance on technological advancement,
the failure to adapt to the battlefield,
the dysfunction of American military structures,
and a disdain for nation building.

A good military history should meet three criteria. It should have good maps, good footnotes and be readable by a lay person; this book meets all three. The reader does not have to agree with all of the conclusions that the authors reach to put the book down feeling that the time in reading it was well spent. ... "

War Lessons Learned in the Washington Times

3/28/2006 09:18:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Your "arguments" are ...lacking,
Bud.
Substance counts.

3/28/2006 09:18:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

If the USDollar didn't buy so much back home in Mexico, there'd BE no problem.

3/28/2006 09:20:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Please forgive my lack of substance, Doug. I am, after all, only pixels, you know.

3/28/2006 09:22:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

If Grandma had four wheels, she'd be a streetcar.
...I'd rather build/buy a home/food legally.

3/28/2006 09:23:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

I don't like racists Bud, even if they have Brown Skin.
How about you?

3/28/2006 09:24:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

People are people, doug.
Race, Nationality, Religion none can make a difference.

Laws, they can be ignored.
Unless the Police need to use them.

That is right out of Hitler's or any Totalitarians playbook.
Selective enforcement of the Law.

Texas, was once Mexico, buddy.
Let's hear it for the "Six Flags"

As was AZ, NM, CA.
So there is some "Forebearence" toward ethnic Mexicans. As am states, they have little claim to ME or NY.
I guess that selling cheap chicken in Bostom make Tyson's criminality in Arkansas acceptable.
Sure Wal-Mart offers lower prices, but it employees criminal methods to do it. It subcontracts cleaning it's stores to criminals. No wonder they have "cost advantages".

Or decide that we, as a Country, are on the right Course and we should Stay it.

Then change the Law to reflect the new US reality. Let US have the debate, let our Representitives vote.

But no matter the legislative outcome that may come.
Enforce the Law on the Books until the changes are made.
It may just expedite the change, for better or worse.

3/28/2006 09:34:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"It may just expedite the change, for better or worse"
---
Stay the course, from New England to Texas.

3/28/2006 09:37:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

...and Iraq, too, of course.

3/28/2006 09:38:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Ok, I'm convinced. Now what?

3/28/2006 09:39:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Quit saying the bottom line is the bottom line.

3/28/2006 09:41:00 AM  
Blogger PeterBoston said...

If you follow rat's lead you'll just take the gas pipe now and spare yourself further disappointment.

3/28/2006 09:46:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

The good old USD is to valuable south of our Frontier?
Why would that be?
Why should the US lower it's Standard of Living, so as to allow the Mexicans to continue mismanaging Mexico.
Why should the US pay the price for Mexican corruption?

More Trade and Open Frontiers have been touchstones for decades. They ahve not helped out the "working class" here in AZ, except to expand it with illegal laborers and Criminal combines that open "big box" stores, to the, at least short term, detrement of local businesses

Perhaps then, buddy, Mr Morales the new President of Bolivia is right, coca should be available in schools, it is only natural, part of the Culture of the Americas.

We should learn to adapt and learn and gain from the "ways of others".

Chew a little leaf. A pinch 'tween cheek and gum.
Carlos understood, buddy. Right before the don Jaun turned into a crow and flew off.

3/28/2006 09:46:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

I think Rat is asking for a return to honesty.
I am.

Laws
COUNT
Honor
COUNTS
Liberty
COUNTS

3/28/2006 09:48:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

So, we have to saw off how much of the bottem-end of the wage ladder, now? In a time of 4.8% unemployment?

Doug, your very substantive "arguement" "Grow my own lettuce? Poor me!" just might get a trial run, hey.
\:-D

3/28/2006 09:48:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Hey, rat, you read that crazy Carlos Casteneda, too?

3/28/2006 09:50:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

No, pb, no gas pipe for me.
I'll leave that to all you depressed Easterners. Cold weather, high oil prices, ineffective boilers and radiator heat.

Me, I'm moving to the "Heart of the Problem". Reverse migration for this rat. From desert rat to piRat of the Caribe.
No problem for me.

I worry though, for thee.

3/28/2006 09:51:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Laws
COUNT
Honor
COUNTS
Liberty
COUNTS

Now, finally, Doug, you're getting down to a good brass-tacks operational plan.

3/28/2006 09:52:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

And here I am surrounded by a bunch of folks from another country that fight and die far out of proportion to their population.
---
Wouldn't want to give them an EQUAL chance to become citizens.
---
Better to talk about what we "stole."
---
Pass the pipe, please.

3/28/2006 09:54:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Yeah, Bud, what I refered to in my 9:54 AM gets in the way of that, doesn't it?

Just like the Boy Howdy's calling folks names like "nativists" and "vigilantes."
Defend that if you must.

3/28/2006 09:58:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

I also mentioned mowing my own lawn, Bud, but wouldn't want the rich LADIES in Dallas having to STOOP to that, now would we?

3/28/2006 10:01:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Yes, tish, your field MI has been broken. The word may spread, it may be silenced.

The reports from Jr and his boys, the RoE, Catch & Release.
Their Reality managed to turn me from the rhetoric.

There is a way forward, and it is not beyond our means.
We'll just have to use foregien workers. They get paid less than US soldiers, they need less equipment, but they still get the Job Done.

Watch as the Military fights against using other county's forces to fight the next series of battles.

They should, will have to, though, take a lesson from the rest of US.

When costs are to high for the US workers to be involved, send in the foreigners, those Napalese will do the work for half the price.

We should let them, aye.

3/28/2006 10:01:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

That is, after all, the next Service to be outsourced, right, buddy?

3/28/2006 10:05:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

The point I'm trying to make is that the problem is long--in time as well as space--and unless we want to build the walls we have to guide Mexico to a better political/economic place.

Not our job?

Theoretically, no, but in reality, yes it is, the shared border makes it so. As the prez sez, "it's in our inters."

But, "meanwhile"--well, that's the near-issue.

The far-issue of Mexico's system, what's the best way to handle that? Slow-and-easy, or hard-and-fast?

3/28/2006 10:05:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

buddy, you were not the only one with empty hours to fill.

Back before the eyes started going bad.

3/28/2006 10:08:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

So we say that folks chanting for "La Raza" and Reconquista are good citizens?

And pretend that the LA Times LIES about American and Mexican Flags are "TRUTH?"

Brave New World, indeed,
see no evil.

3/28/2006 10:09:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

No, them rich ladies in Dallas will hire the next person, if Juan ain't available. What we need is a Revolution, so those exploiters who build Arizona mansions without swinging a hammer can be put outta biz, along with all other capital-allocation specialists.

3/28/2006 10:10:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"it's in our interest."
Has a different definition for him than me.
Makes me a seditionist in Boston, and I guess Texas and Brokeback Mountain.

3/28/2006 10:12:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

10:10 AM pretty well says it all,
...unless I'm missing something.
Thats my beef with the WSJ.
Christ wasn't an accountant.

3/28/2006 10:14:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

That's "Wetback Mountain" in these parts, sonny.

3/28/2006 10:15:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Well, buddy, Mr Fox will be gone, his "reforms" not making many.

In his place will be a "Socialist"
Not much positive reforming to be done by him, I'd bet.

If it is impotant for the US to "reform" others, better to work in Mexico, than Iraq.

Start with securing the Border, before we head South.
Since we are so streeetched.

US Troops should practice securing the US Border before being sent to guard the Iraq/ Syrian or Iraq/ Iranina Border.

Or so it would seem.

3/28/2006 10:16:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"capital-allocation specialists."
---
Allah Akbar!

3/28/2006 10:17:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Well, buddy, if they were not alowed to exploit the migrants, there would not be so extravagent a spread between those that obey the law and those that flaunt it.

The Capitial has gained in "Value" because the Government has allowed, by not enforcing the Law, labor to be "deValued".

The Revolution need only come through Law Enforcement.
I guess, though, that would be a Revolution, in and of itelf.

3/28/2006 10:22:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

The arguements for tightening up all these gray areas and law-breaking, they're without any doubt the right arguements. But ya don't have to be La Raz to know that the ex-alky crusading on a sudden soap-box against the evils of strong drink would be more effective if he'd admit it was sure fun while it lasted.

3/28/2006 10:22:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Speak for yourself.

3/28/2006 10:24:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

We could start today not eating in restaurants or staying in hotels, as the food & hospitality service industries notoriously hire illegals. I'll sleep in my pick-up next time I go to Houston. Food, I'll pluck a hen and broil her on the manifold on the trip down.

3/28/2006 10:31:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

The line between Mexico and US is not a "gray area". It is pretty well defined.

The Border Crossers are not "lost nor misdirected".

We can debate Immigration, the Congress will and has for years.

Until they come upon a new set of Laws, enforce the old ones.
That is the American Way.

3/28/2006 10:34:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

With Spring branding coming up, it's a helluva time to quit cocaine, but maybe I can cook up some good ole domestic bathtub meth.

3/28/2006 10:35:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Bud 10:22 AM,
Well said.
I don't go to Movies either,
...but I'm probably more like those dumb old Baptists you refered to above.
---
...and here they don't much hire illegals (maybe starting) they hire those same folks from that "other country" that fight and die for this one.
...and Okies like my wife and I.

3/28/2006 10:38:00 AM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Out here, the Federals have just about done away with range ranching. All the range was Federal, they've pretty much destroyed the Family Ranch business.

It was a pretty heavily subsidized business, but now the Federals have to hire folk to maintain the water tanks, etc., that the Ranchers used to do.

Out here it is pooper scoopers, some of the richest executives I know, abuse the migrant workers the worse. Living conditions, wages, etc.

The local Police laugh, while the Federals prosecute a grandma growin' weed in her backyard, in CA.

Interstate Commerce, you know.

Not that these migrants ever cross a State line or effect Commerce

3/28/2006 10:44:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

No, the 'gray area' ain't the border, it's the scofflaw-ing of the law for all these years. I quit hiring illegals when the regs changed back in the early 90s, went to hiring local kids to do the same work. So, I'm not defending the scofflaws. I'm only saying, boys, that border is as long as damn-near as wild as the Pakistani-Afghanistan, so don't think that scrawling magic-marker lines down the Rio Grande on your desk map is going to stop those Catholic families from breeding large numbers of children who want to eat every day.

3/28/2006 10:44:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Yeah, the Catholics and the Commies organized the demo in LA.
Along with the MSM.
Good Show.
...and the Catholics from the Phillipines here continue to enlist.

3/28/2006 10:47:00 AM  
Blogger PeterBoston said...

Asked whether the U.S. government was doing anything to secure Rahman's safety after his release, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that where he goes after being freed is "up to Mr. Rahman."

No Fear. State is out front taking care of us and Mr. Rahman.

3/28/2006 10:49:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

What's Billy Cristal call it?
Exclusionist?

3/28/2006 10:49:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Glenn Reynolds has Nigerian Relatives.
They don't "Get" our Multicultural "Ethics."
...but what do they know?

3/28/2006 10:54:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Osama Obama can't hold a Candle to Kyle.

3/28/2006 10:56:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Did you mention "laws" and "honesty" there, Bob?

3/28/2006 10:58:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

That's the problem with 'nanny government', Bob. It's not that curmudgeons and greedy old capitalists hate humanity (I mean, they probably do, but that's irrelevant to the proposition), it's that one the veil is parted, and government has entitled some person, then there's no logical place to stop. Then, of course, since the resources do not exist to pursue the task to a logical end, each individual cannot help but form his/her list of 'grievances' with which to batter thy neighbor from then on.

3/28/2006 11:02:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

"each individual cannot help but form his/her list of 'grievances' with which to batter thy neighbor from then on."
---
Or pretend there's some "value"
to "laws."

3/28/2006 11:05:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

uoql
"Laws", often thought to be 'top-down' controls, are in fact 'bottom-up' controls.

3/28/2006 11:08:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Amen

3/28/2006 11:09:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

What's "uoql?"

3/28/2006 11:10:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

"uoql" partial spambot code, mislocated. Not a new interest group.

3/28/2006 11:11:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

"UOQL for Freedom" placard sighted in L.A.

3/28/2006 11:12:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Aren't Spammers an Interest Group?

3/28/2006 11:13:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Thrilled to hear the FEC is stayin out for now.
"You ain't seen Nuthin Yet"
...if they give us enough time.

3/28/2006 11:14:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Aristides should approve of that comment.

3/28/2006 11:14:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Scalia has upset Turley:
JUDGED terrorists as evil,
BEFORE doing his job.

3/28/2006 11:27:00 AM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Gotta go exploit the masses for a couple hours--keep Davy Crockett up there locked and loaded on that weak south wall.

3/28/2006 11:32:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Rush has now counseled a lady that her family, fathered by an illegal, has nothing to worry about, thanks to the "NEW"
Simpson Mazzoli comin down the tracks.
Billboard to Mexico:
Come on up, the Bucks are fine.

3/28/2006 11:33:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Verdun didn't mean shit.

3/28/2006 11:35:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Abolish the UN,
Elect Bolton POTUS.

3/28/2006 11:40:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Should TB patients be given preferential immigration status?
Oops,
I forgot: They already have it.

3/28/2006 11:47:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

11:44 AM,
Beats Reality,
...by a LONG shot.
(even if Texans think they have a monopoly on that stuff.)

3/28/2006 11:49:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Bob,
That's how Teddy Kennedy Pronounced it.
...but he free associates a bit himself.
In MY words:
I'd call him a lightweight.
(not counting MSM/Fed/"Preferences," of course.)

3/28/2006 11:53:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

You left out "LAWS,"
again,
Bob.
Both Britain and the USA are who we are because of them, imo.
(Before Britain sold out to the MultiMuzzies.)
...among other things, of course.

3/28/2006 11:58:00 AM  
Blogger Doug said...

Bob,
Yeah, it's like the Dems and MSM giving JFK more weight than he deserved because of his charisma.
...but then again, his views on foreign policy were a lot closer to mine than Obamas or GWB's!

3/28/2006 12:19:00 PM  
Blogger Mr.Atos said...

The virtue of cultivating Capitalism, not just Democracy,

"When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice--there is no other--and your time is running out."

( http://capmag.com/article.asp?id=1826 )

3/28/2006 12:19:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

"Bear any Burden, Pay any Price"
(But heaven help us if we have to pay more or do it ourselves.)

WSJ will not approve.

3/28/2006 12:21:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

I'll take the combined wisdom of our founders and our Heritage over one smart lady, thanks.

3/28/2006 12:24:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Compare JFK's resume to the media stars in LA.

3/28/2006 12:28:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

(10 yrs Public "Education," pop clothes and approved skin tone, good Commie BS)

3/28/2006 12:39:00 PM  
Blogger Alexis said...

I don't think there's much real disagreement over whether there's a "civil war" in Iraq. The problem is what kind of civil war.

Civil wars, like diseases, come in varying degrees of virulence. Technically speaking, Northern Ireland is having a civil war, but people can live with that kind of civil war. On the other hand, Germany's Thirty Years' War was horrific. In each case, you had sectarian warfare based on religious hatred, but one case is closer to herpes while the other is closer to the Black Death. In terms of magnitude, those two "civil wars" were very different from each other.

On one level, the very intervention in 2003 could be seen as American troops entering a proxy civil war on behalf of the majority of Iraqis (and quite possibly Shi'ite theocrats).

Imagine if the United States had liberated Ireland before 1916, and if Ireland's capital had been Belfast. Then imagine that there were a Basque minority in a mountainous region with a fifth of the population, with the rest being Irish. Then imagine hundreds of years of Prostestant domination getting reversed in an instant, with Catholics (under Spanish influence) intent upon creating a de facto clerical state where all of the influence resided in the Catholic Church. And then imagine trying to create a free democratic state within that environment.

Such a feat can be done, but it would not be easy. It would not be wise to assume, however, that Muslims in Baghdad would necessarily behave themselves any better than Christians in Belfast. Or Londonderry.

There are three questions in my mind now.

1. Since there is a deadlock in creating a new government, will new elections be called in Iraq?

2. Will Iran's (and Syria's, and Saudi's) continuing incitement of strife in Iraq force the United States into deciding on finally overthrowing the Iranian government?

3. Will the Bush administration's seeming lack of focus on winning in Iraq lead to conservatives demanding his removal as President? (Note how Social Security, Dubai, and now immigration have undermined the President's credibility for continuing the fight in Iraq.)

3/28/2006 12:43:00 PM  
Blogger Charles said...

OT:
A helpful way to understand the difference between numerology and mathematics is to compare the student in North Carolina (mentioned in a post entitled 19 by wretchard ) who went on about the number 19 (as did Louis
Farrakhan in a March on DC 8 years ago)
.......and the current interest in mathematic ---and physics--circles in the number 42 as a link between prime numbers and quantum physics.
in this article called Prime Numbers Get Hitched

the headline on the articles states: "In their search for patterns, mathematicians have uncovered unlikely connections between prime numbers and quantum physics. Will the subatomic world help reveal the elusive nature of the primes?"

Closer to numerology would be the curiosity of the number 42 pointed out in Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe.

3/28/2006 12:44:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Bob,
If you're flagrant, what am I?
(DON'T ANSWER THAT!)
"JFK came from a soap opera family and his end was tragic for the family and the country because his potential was snuffed out."
---
...and the blame for Teddy cannot be genes or family alone.

3/28/2006 12:50:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

3/28/2006 01:11:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

That (Doug Adams?) guy who mathmatically proved that the meaning of the universe is "42":

"So I thought that just for a change I would actually construct a puzzle and see how many people solved. Of course, nobody paid it any attention. I think that's terribly significant."

LOL! It's an allegory (an Al Gore-y?) "Don't take yoosef too seriously!"

3/28/2006 01:13:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Medved's brother says Liebermann is beating Netanyaho.
...the end for Bebe.

3/28/2006 01:14:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Yeah, Algore would NEVER take himself too seriously.
Ow!
My Skin is being steamed off!
(40 days and nites of rain, here)

3/28/2006 01:17:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

NOW who's being flay-grant?

3/28/2006 01:20:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Cap Weinberger. Lyn Nofziger yesterday. RIP Cold-Warriors, we--many of us--thank you for your service.

3/28/2006 01:23:00 PM  
Blogger Alexis said...

About Immigration

I had been inclined not to want to think about immigration, but the mass protests are scary.

There a key difference in my mind between saying that people have a moral obligation to help the poor, the weak, and the struggling, and seeing foreigners sneak into our country and then assert their "right" to break our laws with impunity and tell us how to live our lives and what laws we can or cannot pass.

A line has been crossed. I think those massive protest marches in our big cities are in the process of galvanizing and polarizing opinion against illegal immigration. It may not sound rational, but while I am willing to welcome foreigners into my home and do my part to help them learn our way of life (and of course our language), I am horrified by the message I am receiving that foreigners can simply break into my home, take my stuff, and then I'm told I'm a racist, a nativist, or a bigot if I dare protest against such an invasion.

Something is wrong here.

Small and rural states get horribly hurt by illegal immigration, even though they are not directly affected. Without illegal immigration, big cities would have low transportation costs but high wages, while rural areas would have high transportation costs but low wages. Cheap illegal labor in our cities and border states eliminates incentives for corporations to shift their production to poor states. The net effect of both outsourcing jobs to Asia and fostering illegal immigration massively increases the kind social inequality that fosters revolution. If Chinese plants do the manufacturing, India does the software and help desks, illegal immigrants do the janitorial work at headquarters, and the executives live in gated communities, the obvious political response is an increasingly shrill and angry nativism that horrifies me. The fact is, some states of the Union will be left behind, and "globalization" may ironically incite the very resentments the "globalizers" decry.

If I were in the European Union, I would demand to treat cheap illegal labor (and subsidized water) on American farms as a subsidy (which it is!) no less than the current EU subsidies. For that matter, "small family farms" in the US have more in common with their European counterparts than either do to the huge corporate farms that rely on migrant (and often illegal) labor.

In the future, the viability of any trade agreement with depend upon the enforcement of the laws that exist. America's apparent unwillingness to enforce its laws against illegal immigration effectively undermines our standing as an honorable trading partner. Either we honor our commitments or we do not. And that goes for every government on the planet.

3/28/2006 01:23:00 PM  
Blogger PeterBoston said...

Geez. Speaking of genes. I just learned from a review of Harvey Mansfield's book Manliness that men are genetically closer to chimpanzees than to women. What the heck do you do with that kind of information?

3/28/2006 01:28:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Eat more bananas?

3/28/2006 01:35:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Mr Sharon fell ill, it was good for Bebe.
Hamas was elected, it was good for Bebe.
Then Bebe comes in last.

It proves a point, indeed.

The misfortune of one nor the good fortune of others does not always have much effect on the success of the third player at the table.

The Shia radicals will be represented, by Mr al-Sadr or, in the event of his demise, some other Imam will step up.

The Shia Militias may soon be neutered, be they will not be declawed. Will that be enough?

The Sunni militia have seemed to have ceased their Insurrection, for now.
The Shia militia have been engaged by the ISF now. This begins to be round the circle, will the ISF become Iraq's "honest broker"?

For the Iraqis to succeed they must be given more than the Authority, they must have Responsibility forced upon them.

As long as US is there, in strength, the Iraqi Authority will be held suspect, by it's own People and the other Regional States.

We should begin to withdraw and befin negotiating the end game "Troop Status" if the Parliment ever decides on a Government.

If they do not decide on a Government, soon, only our beginning to leave would motivate them to take action.
Assuming of course that the Majority of Iraqis REALLY want US there.

3/28/2006 01:48:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

For the Peeling?

3/28/2006 01:48:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

1:35 PM, of course.

3/28/2006 01:49:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

As I thought of Mr Weinberger, buddy, after you mentioned his passing. It came to me that person we should thank, for MR Weinberger's continued Civic Good Standing and the retention of his "good name" is the Forbes's.

When the Special Prosecuter and his minions struck at ol' Cap the Knife, it was Forbes money that held them at bay. He'd have been bankrupted and left for road kill, if Mr Forbes and his Family had not stepped up.

3/28/2006 01:59:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

He definitely had enemies, as any Bechtel exec will, once in government. The big problem with him, of course, was that he was RR's (blessed be his name) SECDEF, and was key in winning the Cold War. Or, say, transfiguring the USSR.

3/28/2006 02:13:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

As to that Senate Immigration Bill, Teddy's and Big John's

"... Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican who has led the fight against illegal immigration, said the committee's proposal "provides nearly universal amnesty" for the more than 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S. and adds hundreds of thousands of foreign workers to a background-check system that is "already on the brink of collapse."
"If the Senate follows the Judiciary Committee's lead, the prospects of getting a reform bill to the president's desk this year are slim, to say the least," he said.
"No plan with amnesty and a massive increase in foreign workers will pass the House. Amnesty and foreign workers are fundamentally incompatible with the House's approach and, according to every recent poll, they are not what Americans want. Americans want enforcement first, and disagreement over foreign workers should not prevent us from securing our borders," he said. ... "


What he says, just about sums it up.
When will the Federal Government gegin to enforce the Law?

As Mr Frist says
"... "A nation that can't secure its borders can't secure its destiny or administer its laws," said Mr. Frist, who introduced his bill yesterday. "And the situation along our southern border now ranks as a national security challenge second only to the war on terror." ... "

Now I think he's got the Priorities flipped.
An actual ongoing Invasion, well that is of greater import than an attack in "possible preperation".
Anyway, it is not an either / or deal.
We can easily stay the course as to the Mohammedan Wars and still secure the Border.

Why can the Federals not enforce the Law?

3/28/2006 02:13:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Plus, as RR's finance wiz out in Californy, saving that state from itself, for awhile.

3/28/2006 02:15:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

What happened to the AZ Guv's order to put the troops on her border?

3/28/2006 02:21:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

If one listens to the Gov, there is a detachment of the Guard down there supporting the Federal effort. To hear JD Heyworth tell it, they are emptying trash cans and checking the oil levels in the motor pool vehicles.

The truth is bound to be out there, some where in the middle.

I was thinking, a dangerous thing, but if there is 4.8% unemployment and 5% of the work force is illegal immigrants.
My oh my, Glory be!!

We'd be at full employment at higher wages, if as I was taught a rate of 3.2% unemployemnt is about as low as you can go..

We may have 4 or 5 million to many "illegals" to manage our employment,wage & immigration rates, successfully.

That is really why the Laws must be enforced, buddy, the Market Forces are to Labor Depressing, today.
The rates of immigration, without enforcement, will only excellerate, exasperating the situation.

If Economic balance is one of the Federals implied responsibilities, they are mismanaging the System, to the detrement of the majority of it's citizens.

The always broken System has developed a fatal flaw, we have Supply way beyond Demand and the Country is not better off for it.

3/28/2006 02:37:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Clintonite Threat.
Missed Missile.
Good for Poll and the Pol.

3/28/2006 02:39:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

You're right about the skewed pricing of labor being best seen as supply demand, Rat. But no economist has used 3.2 in years and years. The 4.6 for a year or so in the 90s is now being used as de-facto "full" employment, as at that level no further supply seems subject to 'demand-pull'.

3/28/2006 02:46:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

...but you, and I, and Hurricane Katrina Van den Huevle know Tancredo is the modern incarnation of the KKK.

Not welcome in a compassionate place like the White House.
I always thought it was "liberals" that were compassionate on someone else's Dime.

3/28/2006 02:48:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

"no further supply seems subject to 'demand-pull'. "
---
Let them construction wannabes eat cake:
Labor's cheaper on the Commune Commons.
Level field, and all, ya know.

3/28/2006 02:51:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Free Viagra for next years Cezar Chavez Day!

3/28/2006 02:52:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Well, I was taught that, long ago, it seems.

What is not factored into the employment numbers, though, are many of the jobs using the illegals are not reported and that many of the "natives" are out of the Labor market. Those chronicly unemployeed and that never had a job are not factored into that 4.8% number.

Is it due to higher turnover rates, now, or was the 3.2 never an accurate gage?

3/28/2006 02:52:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Didn't used to have free foods and meds for your six kids, 'Rat.

3/28/2006 02:54:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

At the risk of being hooted down as Simon leGree, let me add that the inflation-trigger, the "K factor" that economists are most worried about--and the reason Bernanke is going to 5 and past on FedFunds (tryingh to jawbone-up the long end), is "wage-inflation", as this sets off the wage/price spiral.

As I tried to note re the states with higher-than-federal minimum-wage laws, thesae are also the highest tax states, and some combo of higher interest rates and/or inflation (the hidden tax) is the trade-off price we will pay for the benefit of raising the entry-level compensation rates. Sorry, not an opinion, and not a position, just a fact. No free lunch.

3/28/2006 02:55:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

" No free lunch"
au Contraire:
Blind Justice,
Free Lunch.
(and meds and "education" and etc)
What's Fox to do without all that free money inflow.

3/28/2006 02:58:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

It's all to support out of control socialist programs, Bud.
You know that.

3/28/2006 03:01:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

But I know that labor rates in Phoenix ARE depressed, buddy. They have not gone up in thirty years.

You may call that Stability, but a 3% rate of inflation per annum, compounded, has to factored in, does it not?

So just how depressed are Tradesman wages, now?
Compared to '76.
$15 per hour then,
compared to $15 per hour now.

Compare the purchase power after 30 years of Stability vis a vie the Economy's Growth.

That is what 11 million illegal workers bring to the Employment Marketplace. A stagnation that is really a depression for workers.

In most of the "Service Economy"

3/28/2006 03:02:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

My best friend's father, a lowly truck driver/Oil Field worker, knew FDR's scheme was a Ponzi, way back when.

3/28/2006 03:05:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

It's only Ponzi absent growth to keep it rollin'.

Rat, right, but no Bureau assigned anybody a place to live nor an occupation.

3/28/2006 03:12:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Two kids, two women, one kid each.

More than enough for me.

It's beach time, damned near.

3/28/2006 03:12:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

"It's only Ponzi absent growth to keep it rollin'. "
---
Yeah, he never thought of covering the workplace with illegals to keep it going.
Far as I know tho, they have kids too.

3/28/2006 03:16:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Hewitt says you should take up Chair Re-arrangement 'Rat.
Gotta run a tight ship.
It's pre-Iceburg Heaven!
Live it up!

3/28/2006 03:19:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

The 'living' wage 30 years ago is being earned by a different set of folks today--it's still the 'living wage' where the family lives. Like gold, an ounce of which will buy a nice suit of clothes and a good pair of shoes, anywhere, anytime, 2000years ago in Judea, or today in Phoenix.

However, you sell that oz of gold for $550 bucks in Phoenix and tote the $ down to the monte south of Saltillo, and them dollars will buy much more than that suit and shoes. For now. And now is where we always live.

3/28/2006 03:20:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

The Elephant Bud, The Elephant!!!
...oh,
Never Mind.

3/28/2006 03:21:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

The "Conservative" Dogma:
Free Everything for the workers.
...long as they're illegal.

3/28/2006 03:23:00 PM  
Blogger desert rat said...

Right but there is a Bureau to stop those "without authorization" from entering the Marketplace.

Those "outside" forces effect Labor negatively and Capital favorably, in general.

There are Laws against the "outside" forces from entering the Marketplace. The enforcers of the Law ignore it. They choose not to enforce it. They choose to follow other adventures, like prosecuting grandmas in CA for growing medicinal weed.

That was worthy of the Federal AG's Office, prosecuting Border Felons is not, it seems.

Unaccounted for murderers, fled back south of the Frontier, 4,000, so far.
How many more, before this qualifys as a War?
What is the magic number of innocent civilians killed, before we move to Action Stations.
It was 3,000 on 9-11-01, we have breached that number, already.

We speak of the suburbs of France and laugh at their stupidity.
Go to Cave Creek & Bell Rd, in Phoenix, tomorrow morning.
There are 100 able bodied men standing around, waiting. At noon, less.

Was not like that in 1976, nor 1986. This is a recent development, just a decade or so old. Time to nip the problem, well it is still in the bud.

3/28/2006 03:25:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Now can't change, 'Rat:
Stay the Course!

3/28/2006 03:25:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

No argument, rat. Just pointing out where a few of Nature's Laws are located.

3/28/2006 03:28:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

"There are 100 able bodied men standing around, waiting. At noon, less."
---
Consider it Wall St West.
From the same generation that brought our kids Free, Sex,
...closer to Free Labor.
For a while.
That's Now.

3/28/2006 03:28:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

"Nature's Laws"
When Man's Laws are not enforced, nor respected.
Free Justice.
Free Liberty.
Viva Freedom!

3/28/2006 03:30:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Absent some criminal law enforcement, capital and labor, supply and demand, will stay at the table playing Bridge.

3/28/2006 03:31:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Heavy.
Never thought of that.

3/28/2006 03:32:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

So how is your position different from the commenters at Marc Cooper's that say Borders are a relic from the past, and an impediment to Free Trade in Labor?

3/28/2006 03:34:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Lennar, Toll brothers CountryWide finance, Marriot, Hilton, MacDonalds, oh hell, just grab the financial section of the paper and pick one of every three of the listings in the Wilshire 5000, and go raid the corporate headquarters.

3/28/2006 03:35:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

I already told you, Pineapple Plantation Overseer, I am a Red Communist Stalinist Leninist Hitlerite Pol-Pot follower.

3/28/2006 03:37:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

So that makes it the Truth?
Why not describe it for what it is?
(Like the LA Times could put the Mexican Flags back in the Story)
Just for Proprieties Sake, of course.

3/28/2006 03:39:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

I wouldn't say that,
I'd just say you're full of it.

3/28/2006 03:40:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

All I'm trying to say is, you're looking at a very costly and long-term unwinding of the problem. Best not to have any blinders on going in.

3/28/2006 03:44:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

But first things first--let's get a program, then worry about making it work.

3/28/2006 03:47:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

33% of the Prison Population to support 5% of the workforce seems a strange trade to me.
...plus all the rest.

But I haven't been to a movie in 30 years, so what do I know?
(I know I'm not payin Tom Crusises Salary, at least)

...and I just got in from doin the Wash.
Must be like them Baptist Grandfolks of yours, huh?
BACKWARDS!

3/28/2006 03:49:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

It's called "warsh" 'round here. And I don't have any answers. I'm calling THAT as it is.

3/28/2006 03:51:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

The Prisons
The Schools
The Hospitals
The Streets
etc
...but it gives Fox more Bucks to take care of his people, I guess.

3/28/2006 03:52:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

I left out the breakdown of our respect for law.

3/28/2006 03:53:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

Pay more for lettuce.
Let OTHER people in to do some of the work.
Haven't seen many Filopino Flags flyin around here.
But I won't bet on it, given our schools.

3/28/2006 03:55:00 PM  
Blogger Doug said...

We can't handle an adjustment in 5% of our workforce?

3/28/2006 03:56:00 PM  
Blogger buddy larsen said...

Dear Uncle Sam on a surfboard, do you mean you've had all these draconian solutions all this time, without first knowing the answer to THAT question?

3/28/2006 04:01:00 PM  

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