Easter Weekend open post
When do you believe one General and disbelieve another? Captain's Quarters links to a subscription-only article at the Washington Times. "General John Vines, the commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, told a policy conference that al-Qaeda terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has conceded defeat in Iraq and has begun pulling out, thwarted in his attempt to bring down the elected Iraqi government by his own heavy-handed tactics."
Al Qaeda in Iraq and its presumed leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, have conceded strategic defeat and are on their way out of the country, a top U.S. military official contended yesterday. The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps. "They no longer view Iraq as fertile ground to establish a caliphate and as a place to conduct international terrorism," he said in an address at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. ...
There's a roundup here with links, from all over the blogosphere on the subject of Rumsfeld's resignation representing every point of view.
The New Republic looks back on the formative years of the Iranian President for clues about what he is like, what he believes in. Pajamas Media has a roundup of Ahmadinejad's latest vow to annihilate Israel. Is he serious?
During the Iran-Iraq War, the Ayatollah Khomeini imported 500,000 small plastic keys from Taiwan. ... After Iraq invaded in September 1980, it had quickly become clear that Iran's forces were no match for Saddam Hussein's professional, well-armed military. To compensate ... Khomeini sent Iranian children ... to the front lines. There, they marched in formation across minefields toward the enemy, clearing a path with their bodies. Before every mission, one of the Taiwanese keys would be hung around each child's neck. It was supposed to open the gates to paradise for them.
At one point, however, the earthly gore became a matter of concern. ... Such scenes would henceforth be avoided ... Before entering the minefields, the children [now] wrap themselves in blankets and they roll on the ground, so that their body parts stay together after the explosion of the mines and one can carry them to the graves."
These children who rolled to their deaths were part of the Basiji, a mass movement created by Khomeini in 1979 ... And yet, today, it is a source not of national shame, but of growing pride. Since the end of hostilities against Iraq in 1988, the Basiji have grown both in numbers and influence. They have been deployed, above all, as a vice squad to enforce religious law in Iran, and their elite "special units" have been used as shock troops against anti-government forces. In both 1999 and 2003, for instance, the Basiji were used to suppress student unrest. And, last year, they formed the potent core of the political base that propelled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-- a man who reportedly served as a Basij instructor during the Iran-Iraq War--to the presidency. ... He regularly appears in public wearing a black-and-white Basij scarf, and, in his speeches, he routinely praises "Basij culture" and "Basij power" ... A younger generation of Iranians, whose worldviews were forged in the atrocities of the Iran-Iraq War, have come to power, wielding a more fervently ideological approach to politics than their predecessors. The children of the Revolution are now its leaders.
There's a bizarre story about an Ohio State University librarian who is being sued for harassment by faculty members because he recommended books by David Horowitz, Bat Ye’or, Rick Santorum and David Kupelian. Three faculty members complained the list made them feel "unsafe". Legal blogger Eugene Volokh thinks the complaint is technically a "sexual orientation harassment" case and says:
It's quite sad, I think, that these university professors are responding to offensive ideas not just by arguing against them, but by trying to coercively suppress them (apparently, according to the ADF's letter, with considerable support from their colleagues). I expect that the university will promptly dismiss the complaint, since even under the university's own policy such speech is not prohibited -- among other reasons, the speech wasn't "based on a person's protected status," since the statements weren't about the complainants, and weren't targeted towards the complainants because of their sexual orientation. But it reflects badly on the complainants that the complaint is even being filed.
Volokh notes that the librarian will be lucky if the complaint isn't upgraded to a human-rights violation case. That would be interesting.
Oh, and one related item, from a message during this debate written by another professor, Hannibal Hamlin (no, not the Hannibal Hamlin): "On the matter of homophobia, I think you should be rather careful, Scott. OSU's policy on discrimination is not simply a matter of academic orthodoxy, but a matter of human rights." Yes, reference librarians, professors, students, everyone: On matters of certain viewpoints that are prohibited by university policies, we think you should be rather careful.
Tigerhawk thinks "It will be very interesting to see whether the American Library Association, which purports to care a lot about 'intellectual freedom' will have anything to say about this outrage."
What do you think?
Here's another reminder that the Second World War generation is passing. It's an interesting comparative to the Basiji story. An obituary from the Daily Telegraph recalls one of the real X-Men:
Lieutenant-Commander Dicky Kendall, who has died aged 82, placed a two-ton mine under the German battleship Tirpitz in the Kaa Fjord of northern Norway. ... On the evening of September 20 1942, after being towed 1,200 miles from Scotland in an attack submarine, Kendall boarded the miniature sub X-6. ... At 0200 hours, the nets opened for a coaster, and [the minisub] followed through in the boat's wake. ...
Suddenly X-6 struck a shoal, and was forced to the surface by Tirpitz's port bow; all Kendall could see was the ship's grey paint. As X-6 scraped down the battleship's side, Kendall released the starboard mine under Tirpitz's B turret. After opening the buoyancy tanks to scuttle their craft, [minisub captain] Cameron, Kendall and the two other crew members clambered on to the casing to be hauled aboard a German picket boat, where all four saluted as X-6 sank.
Kendall was locked in a small compartment on board Tirpitz, but refused to speak to his captors, despite threats of summary execution. Then, at 0812, there were two violent explosions, and she heaved upwards several feet, throwing him and his guard to the deck. As the ship listed heavily, Kendall knew that the attack had inflicted serious damage. Cameron was awarded the VC; Lt John Lorimer and Kendall received the DSO; and Engine Room Artificer Edmund Goddard the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.
Kendall sat in the hull of the Tirpitz over his own mine and waited for it to go off. When the last of the Second World War generation are buried, this can truly be said:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Ahmadinejad take note: not everything has been forgotten.
184 Comments:
I don't quite know how the "feeling safe/unsafe" meme got so entrenched in gay-rights dogma, but it was one of the key themes of a complaint against some Connecticut high school students about a year ago. Now I attended that very high school some quarter-century ago, and I think I have a pretty good idea what real homophobia looks like, and what it really means to feel "unsafe".
These spoiled punks make me sick.
It's a great victory against AQ that they are leaving Iraq. There have been reports that Zarqawi was replaced by an Iraqi within the past couple months. See this link. It's unfortunate that we didn't get him though.
I doubt we've heard the last of him. He's likely to turn up in Jordan or the Palestinian territories, or at least his handiwork will.
I think the "progressive" thinkers in our society pursue their agendas with jihadistic abandon now. It erupted with the rejection of the 2000 election results, and it's metastazied ever since to blind righteousness. Anyone who dissents from the obsessively held "progressive view" is not only wrong, they are evil. As with Communism - there is no history, there is no process, there is only their PC jihad.
In Philly recently, a group organized a demonstration against the part owner of a gym in the Gayborhood. Their "cause" was the fact that this guy had contributed to Santorum's campaign in the past. It mattered not that he contributed because Santorum supports Israel, it only matters that Santorum is part of an "evil regime that must be defeated." The gym owner bailed and sold his interest, there is no talking to this kind of Feeling in place of Rationality.
The Left is becoming jihadi in their blind fervor. (US at least)
I want to ask these guys: "If this is an Evil Regime, what are the 62 million of us who voted for it?"
These "small plastic keys" remind me of the "butterfly mines" the Russians used in Afghanistan, they spread them with canister bombs. They look like clumsy old-fashioned key fobs, little pink toys that would flutter down and spread out over wide areas around towns and trails. They will blow off your hand or foot, and they were very attractive to innocent mountain children who had never seen such colorful plastic toys.
Tony,
I want to ask these guys: "If this is an Evil Regime, what are the 62 million of us who voted for it?"
The enemy. Not the jihadis, but the real enemy.
On the matter of free speech and the lack thereof at Ohio State: The right of free speech is only useful for people who speak offensive or unpopular things. Popular and inoffensive speech needs no protection, because nobody wants to stop it. It is a great tragedy that universities, which once were the places one went to speak and write controversial things, are now just about the first state agencies to punish, or at least "investigate," unpopular or controversial speakers. Universities have betrayed their most important raison d'etre. This diminishes them as institutions, but it shrinks the scholars who work there into insignificance. Unless this tendency reverses itself, after almost 1000 years Western universities will no longer be the source of our most important new ideas.
"What scares me more is the same bastards who used these kids will have nukes in a couple weeks. If they'd murder their own children, how much concern do you think they'd have for your kids?"
Its rapidly approaching crunch time: Mr Bush MUST take action soon!
" ... During his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad uncharacteristically acknowledged differences inside Iran over the leadership's decision to confront the West, Russia and China by surging forward with the production of fuel that could be used for nuclear power plants or, at a greater level of enrichment, for nuclear weapons.
"There are some coward elements who are trying to create difference among people," the student-run ISNA agency quoted him as saying. "They get together, talk and create propaganda and psychological war. But we laugh at them. They call us and say that crisis is on the way, but we believe that the enemy has a crisis and we have no crisis in our country. Our people are brave."
But in Washington, Iran's efforts to create the impression that it was speeding ahead to make its nuclear program a fait accompli was countered by intelligence officials.
At a briefing on Thursday, Thomas Fingar, deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, said the official view of the intelligence agencies remained that Iran was unlikely to have nuclear weapons before 2010 at the earliest. But he also acknowledged that the mistakes made in assessing Iraq's capabilities had made the intelligence agencies far more cautious about delivering definitive assessments to President Bush. ... "
NY Times
"Our answer to those who are angry about Iran obtaining the full nuclear cycle is one phrase. We say, be angry and die of this anger," he said late on Wednesday, ..."
2010 say the Intelligence experts,
chill out while we Stay the Course.
See, Mr Bush will be right, those Iranians will not get Nuclear Weapons on his watch, it ends in '08 ...
2010, bet the farm
It's a Slam Dunk!
In the article on the Basiji it reads..
"At the beginning of the war, Iran's ruling mullahs did not send human beings into the minefields, but rather animals: donkeys, horses, and dogs. But the tactic proved useless: "After a few donkeys had been blown up, the rest ran off in terror," Mostafa Arki reports in his book Eight Years of War in the Middle East. The donkeys reacted normally--fear of death is natural. The Basiji, on the other hand, marched fearlessly and without complaint to their deaths."..
Are we in an era so surreal that it is beyond contemplation? How can we do anything other than admit the Islam has not been hijacked, but is the HIV of human religion?
Good comment Eggplant.
There are a lot of minefields in the enrichment of Uranium.
During the Manhattan Project, there were at least three known cases where accidents led to an uncontrolled chain reaction which was stopped by physical intervention of the experimenters.
There was another case where they almost had criticality and another case where there could have been an accident in storing the stuff.
When one considers the state of Iranian aviation maintenance and then contemplates the level of engineering and techical suport for Nuclear engineering, the Iranians may end up destroying it themselves by creating their own Chernobyl.
The Hidden Imam may become a burning nuclear fire after a big quake.
In a meaner world, one can see someone using several nuetron bombs to ruin all their enriched uranium.
Eggplant,
I know for a fact the kids marched out there like that. You are right that some did not want to go but these were removed during training.
The Hitler Youth were the same way.
Eggplant,
I do not know if that is better or worse. Take your pick.
Here is an Air Force General that says we can bomb Iran 'til they are done for.
"... What would an effective military response look like? It would consist of a powerful air campaign led by 60 stealth aircraft (B-2s, F-117s, F-22s) and more than 400 nonstealth strike aircraft, including B-52s, B-1s, F-15s, F-16s, Tornados, and F-18s. Roughly 150 refueling tankers and other support aircraft would be deployed, along with 100 unmanned aerial vehicles for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and 500 cruise missiles. In other words, overwhelming force would be used.
The objective would be, first and foremost, to destroy or severely damage Iran's nuclear development and production facilities and put them out of commission for at least five years. Another aim would
be to destroy the Iranian air defense system, significantly damage its air force, naval forces, and Shahab-3 offensive missile forces. This would prevent Iran from projecting force outside the country and retaliating militarily. The air campaign would also wipe out or neutralize Iran's command and control capabilities.
This coalition air campaign would hit more than 1,500 aim points. Among the weapons would be the new 28,000-pound bunker busters, 5,000-pound bunker penetrators, 2,000-pound bunker busters, 1,000-pound general purpose bombs, and 500-pound GP bombs. A B-2 bomber, to give one example, can drop 80 of these 500-pound bombs independently targeted at 80 different aim points.
This force would give the coalition an enormous destructive capability, since all the bombs in the campaign feature precision guidance, ranging from Joint Direct Attack Munitions (the so-called JDAMS) to laser-guided, electro-optical, or electronically guided High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) for suppression of Iranian surface-to-air missiles. This array of precision weapons and support aircraft would allow the initial attacks to be completed in 36 to 48 hours. ... "
Target: Iran
In the Weekly Standard, Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (Ret.) served as assistant vice chief of staff of the United States Air Force.
Another Lt General, another point of view. If you agree he could be considered a Patriot of the highest order, if you disagree, a selfserving seeker of more face time as a FOX News contributor.
Was General Thomas McInerney (Ret.) a Clinton appointee as well, or has he been retired longer than those other Generals?
Must he be selfserving, wanting the Air Force, his Service, to have all the Glory for itself. Not even mentioning the Terror network the Iranians have inplace, worldwide.
Yep, No mention of Out of Region blowback, if any, this article could be dismissed out of hand, just like General Newbold's.
Could it not?
Should it not?
Basiji that have been in this country for five years should get in-State Tuition, to get them off to a good (socialist) education as new citizens.
Academic Credit for an active case of TB or HIV.
Good one Tex
Re Kendall -- thing is, he did live to grow old...
C4 said:
"I do want to wait and see if we can get allies on Iran, other than unusable Israel. After the botched Iraq postwar, I don't want to see Bush blow another trillion and 20,000 casualties bogged down in yet another war..while Russia, China, Europe, and Japan free ride on our solitary sacrifice. Lets see if the Brits, French, Germans and just as importantly the Turks and Russians back the action. "
A coalition building strategy used by Bush-1 would be useful. As Iran has no natural allies except perhaps in Southern Iraq (and I think that is overstated) it is not too much a stretch to put major pressure on Kuwait, UAE (they are recovering from the port deal), Saudi, Mexico and even Venezuela to freeze oil prices during a period of oil disruption. All of those countries are open to American persuasion including "an offer they cannot refuse."
damn nice segue, C4. The artistry of the sentence lamenting the basij kept me from realizing I was reading your same statement again for 400,000th time.
I find it amazing that when right-wing capitalism(crony) succeeds, as in Southeast Asia, it's due to the industriousness of the indigenous people, but when it fails elsewhere, as in Latin America, it's the fault of the US. Or the JOOOS!
Let's have some sense of proportion, eh?
It is rather nauseating to watch retired generals posing and prancing on the stage like supermodels, pausing every now and then for applause and admiration. These now-superfluous peacocks believe it is all about them. They want to cash in on their "celebrity", perhaps write a book or run for office. We have all paid our dues, generals. But some of us have the decency to vacate the stage for those who must do the work.
NUCLEAR IRAN
In contemplating a nuclear Iran, Brent Scowcroft has written about the importance of a united response including China, and Russia. His thesis is that without both countries, diplomacy will fail. It is conceivable that the Iraq war could have been avoided if a higher level of cooperation had been achieved by The Bush Administration. There is a sobering assement in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs discussing the increasing vulnerability of both China and Russia to a US first nulear strike capability. An edited response by Yegor Gaidar appears in the Financial Times. Can it be that we find ourselves in a position that China and Iran have a greater interest in Iran becoming a nuclear power than not? Let's hope not.
Nuclear Punditry Can Be a Dangerous Game
By Yegor Gaidar
Published: March 28 2006 20:12 | Last updated: March 28 2006 20:12
..."In an article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, the US-based journal, Keir Lieber of the University of Notre Dame and Daryl Press of the University of Pennsylvania lay out results of calculations according to a model they have developed. They show that the US has developed nuclear capacity sufficient to launch a strike guaranteed to wipe out Russia and China, without the risk of suffering a return strike.
They also provide a detailed explanation for Russian and Chinese leaders of the purpose of America’s anti-missile defence system. The system is not about preventing the threat of attack from “rogue” nations, they argue, but rather, about enabling the US dramatically to reduce the risk of a nuclear counter-strike by
Russia and China after a nuclear attack by the US.
The world is confronting a serious challenge associated with Iran’s nuclear programme. The united stance of the US, Europe, Russia and China is a key prerequisite if we are to deal with this challenge. In the circumstances, mutual suspicion of nuclear strike preparations form the worst backdrop for such co-operation. Were I an Iranian leader, I would have paid a handsome fee for such an article.
When you are provoked, it is important to keep cool and look at who is trying to get you to lose your temper. Let us hope that Russian and Chinese leaders will have enough common sense to understand this."...
ahhh, but tex, fiingerman is still in the Game, you pay his fee, indirectly.
That 2010 estimate is still shy of the TEN years the CIA claimed LAST summer as a timeline.
Even so...
Three years, still puts Mr Bush in a position to "kick the can" a bit further down the road.
To many (two) years wasted dithering around in Iraq, Mr Bush lost the big Mo' and won't get it back in time for an Iranian War.
An opportunity lost. Inertia within the Military and Congress, along with a distrustful US public will all work against Intervention.
Iran been "unacceptably" nuclear for about a week now.
See how easy is WAS accepted.
The US Bombers are still grounded on the tarmac, the Israeli as well.
" ...
Winning the peace in Iraq
JIM LEHRER: Yes. I want to make sure I understand what you believe that Rumsfeld is responsible for specifically. Is it the whole plan itself, the decision to go into Iraq, the way it was executed, overruling Tommy Franks and the other military? Give me the indictment.
MAJ. GEN. JOHN BATISTE: I think it goes back to the strategic underpinnings, the basic plan that we executed in Iraq. It goes back to decisions to disband the Iraqi military, which was a colossal mistake and was the bane of the existence of the divisions in combat for the entire time they were there.
Hundreds of thousands of now unemployed, disenfranchised Iraqis, with their gun and ammunition, they left their installations -- which, by the way, were the best facilities in all of Iraq -- and the Iraqi people immediately took them apart, cinderblock by cinderblock. When we got there, there was only the concrete slabs left on the ground.
So the work to reestablish this, to build a competent Iraqi security force, to garrison them, provide for their care, was an incredible effort; it didn't have to be that way.
JIM LEHRER: If the leadership of the U.S. government had listened to you and your fellow military leaders, what would be the situation in Iraq today?
MAJ. GEN. JOHN BATISTE: Well, first off, I think we have got to complete the mission in Iraq. We have no option; we need to be successful; we need to set the Iraqi people up for self-reliance.
With their form of representative government that takes into account tribal, religious and ethnic complexity that defines that country is nothing new. The Brits had a hell of a time with that in the '10s and '20s of the last century, nothing new at all. And we got to set them up for self-reliance so they can go on it on their own.
When I returned from Germany after three years, I was shocked to see that business was as usual. Other than an occasional family that was committed to the war because one of their soldiers was in the fight, or sadly too many families whose soldiers had been killed or wounded, who really understand what sacrifice is all about, the rest of America only makes a decision whether they're going to put a yellow or red "Support Your Troops" sticker on the back of your car. And my question is: Why?
When we're spending $6 to $9 billion a month, depending what you read, we're mortgaging our future. And I believe Americans will stand up and do whatever they're asked to do. It might be some form of rationing; I don't know. We have experience in World War I, Korea, World War II on how to do this. This country is incredibly patriotic, and we would get up on our feet and support the president whatever he asked us to do.
JIM LEHRER: But that's an indictment of the president, not of Secretary Rumsfeld, correct?
MAJ. GEN. JOHN BATISTE: I'm not indicting the president one bit. I'm just saying that I came back from Germany to my country and I found that the people were not mobilized, not sacrificing for this incredible effort. If it's the country's main effort, let's all get behind it. ... "
Jr's coutin' the days. Under 100, now.
So short he has to unzip his fly to see where he's goin.
Our family sacrifice in the Global Police Chase is about over, you all can send your kids, next. Better yet, for those of you whom are under thirty, enlist yourselves, Fun Travel Adventure.
Step up and grab that ring, Pat Tillman did it, why not you?
I gave Batiste some credibility because I thought he was speaking as a combat division commander and not as the self-anointed smartest general in the world. His Leher interview just wiped that out.
I don't have enough facts to make a convincing argument either way but neither have I seen anything persuasive that leaving the Iraqi army formations intact was a better idea. Batiste says that the cashiered soldiers were later recruited into the insurgency. How does keeping them together make that recruitment less probable and not more?
Batiste should STFU.
Peterboston,
Go read Geroge's Sada's bio for what the Iraqi Military was - a bunch of Saddam Loyalists and Cronies who bullied the people and of whom people lived in Fear.
They had to be removed and replaced with an honest Army loyal to Iraq that people trusted.
Batiste needs to watch his lane.
Because, peter boston, leaving the men in the barracks, under some level of US supervision, would have been better then letting them run "wild and free".
Any Company Commander would know about restricting their men's "weekend & overnight" passes and how that cuts down on police blotter incidents.
Which, if we had been able to keep the old Iraqi Army in the barracks, would have been the anedotal result the Generals speak of.
Whether we even could have held it together is another question, entirely, that most seem to believe would have been a given.
It would not have been so easy to have held Saddam's Armies together, regardless of the assumed benefits.
Think of the Saddam's Army, in barracks, as Detainees we paid.
That is the basis of the theory, I think.
I don't see any positive outcome to keeping a defeated army in the barracks. They would more likely than not feel like POWs and develop a command structure that would prove more troublesome than they would as individuals.
That letting them "run wild" comment is as silly as it is empty. Maybe they should have been annihilated in place.
That is why you never made General.
In the first Gulf War POW were a major issue, tens of thousands of them.
In the Iraq Campaign, very few POWs.
By design.
Die or go home was the message.
When the an Army disbands and looters take to the streets, that's ...
"Wild & Free"
To paraphrase Mr Rumsfeld, at the time.
We certainly did not stop the looting, nor even try.
Iran is only the biggest tip of the devastating Islamic Iceburg that is moving at a steady rate toward our future, our childrens and our grandchildrens future.
It is going to be a "Long War" and Iran may or may not be even a big chapter in the history of this war.
But it may be one of the most important ones. Who will be the American President who will preside over the story of Iran's quest for world power and the quest for the rebirth of Persian greatness?
For the rest of us, it is time to start telling our children what they must do in the coming years.
Prepare them, it is your responsibilty.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
I've read a little military history and I just don't recall when policing looters during or immediately after a battle became a priority war objective.
If there is anything lacking in the Iraqi campaign it's a sense of historical persepective - even among people who should know better.
From 2003
" ... WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring that freedom is "untidy," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the looting in Iraq was a result of "pent-up feelings" of oppression and that it would subside as Iraqis adjusted to life without Saddam Hussein.
He also asserted the looting was not as bad as some television and newspaper reports have indicated and said there was no major crisis in Baghdad, the capital city, which lacks a central governing authority. The looting, he suggested, was "part of the price" for what the United States and Britain have called the liberation of Iraq.
"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," Rumsfeld said. "They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here."
Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed. "This is a transition period between war and what we hope will be a much more peaceful time," Myers said. ... "
Three years in, still hopeful for that transition to a "peaceful time" after the War.
But notice General Myers, he thought the War was over, then, if we were in a transition period.
Was he being "selfserving" when he said that,
or was he just wrong?
Or was he wrong, at all?
The War was over, then.
Depends on whom the Enemy is, no?
Depends on which War General Myers was thinking of.
rat
i bet you pick your nose too.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
They told me that if I reenlisted, I'd be a Drill Sarge at Ft Lost in the Woods, that was to be my Career Path, they said.
Went back to AZ, instead.
been savin' those buggers,
just for you, too.
When you come out here on your USA Ass Kickin' Tour at least you'll have something to take home when you're done.
If you go back and read Mr Rumsfeld and General Myers quotes from '03 & '04 it puts a little different perspective on what is being said now.
Great USA Today story about how the Insurgency started, three days after the Invasion.
Lot's of "good" stuff, from the near past.
Revising History, it's just not a symptom of being "left"
damned right.
Sit by the pool, enjoy the cosmic radiation and the tempid waters.
I'd had enough kimchee to last a life time.
You don't get it rat. Never will. I don't give a rat's ass (including yours) if the Iraqis looted the local McDonald's or the museum, or what color panties they wore at Abu Grahb, or if flag officer's don't like Rummy's memos.
Iraq is the Small Footprint experiment. Maybe it will work out. Maybe it won't although the evidence to date says that it will.
Whether the Iraqis want to kill each other in great numbers or not we're there with boots and bases snuggled up beside Mullahville and in their face.
snuggle up close, pb.
I get it, lies and deception, your stock and trade.
If the US cannot be honest about it's Goals and Intentions, they are not worthy of pursuit.
When and if Mr Bush speaks to your purported truth as to the reasons for the troop deployments, I'd support them.
But hehas not and does not. He speaks only of the localized Iraqi War.
You must believe, as Ms Sheehan does, that Mr Bush is an outright liar.
Eggplant,
I had a college prof who was from Iran. He had some buddies who were all gung-ho to go back to Iran after the revolution. My prof warned them not to go back lest they end up with their "backs to a wall". Well, they went back and did indeed end up with their "backs to a wall".
9:29 PM Eggplant said...
“ IMHO, the Iranians won't have a functioning nuke this year. If an Iranian nuke was near term, the Israelis would be making a whole lot more noise than they currently are.”
The Iranians slipped their nuclear capability right on by America and Israel. They have the A-bomb right now: but in token amounts only. The enrichment campaign will ramp up production and permit meaningful production of tritium. Iran has had heavy water production capacity since 1995. (IAEA) Both routes to the bomb have been detected. (U233, U235) (IAEA) These reports are four years old.
Ahmadi-Nejad is able to openly push ahead because he already has an atomic shield.
This situation shuts up American and Israeli threats. They have lost all purpose to dissuade. Any further bluster just narrows one’s options. Hence the quiet.
The absurdly distant capability predictions are designed to take the political pressure off the national leadership. Note the drumbeat of exculpatory rationalizations vis a vis ultra-centrifuge through-puts.
It is not possible to configure an atomic nosecone till its warhead is resolved. Every other power began mating tests only AFTER they had a working weapon. Therefore, it is of great import that Iran has begun testing her first generation atomic nosecones. The fact that they are Russian knock-offs is irrelevant.
The only reasonable conclusion: Iran has atomic weapons already – and now is moving to establish a strategic rocket force.
We are witnessing total strategic breakout.
“ Timing is everything when it comes to taking out Iran's enrichment capability. The uranium centrifuges are expensive machines and the Iranians need thousands of them to produce significant quantities of U-235. We don't want to destroy a few prototypes that can be easily replaced. We need to wait until they've built a huge underground gallery with thousands of centrifuges ready to go on-line. Then the day before they flip the "on switch" is when we collapse the cavern and destroy billions of dollars worth of hardware. In the meantime, we play nice with the Europeans doing the diplomacy futility, get our HUMINT organized in cooperation with the Israelis and tie off our loose ends in Iraq.”
Sooner is better than later. The prototypes are in Russia and the West. Iran is importing these machines and bolting them together. Just how much engineering do you think that involves?
There is no magic ‘on’ day. Each cascade ‘train’ is fired up independent of any other. The tweaking that is required is for maximum effectiveness. Even a crudely balanced cascade train will provide the goods.
The only challenge is leaks and vibration. Plainly, with 164 devices spinning, Iran has mastered that. Scaling up is a walk in the park.
There is absolutely no requirement to have all of the centrifuges concentrated in one spot. Expect Iran to start distributing these gadgets around the country.
BTW getting U235 up from 7,000 ppm to 35,000 ppm takes most of the effort. Going from 35,000 ppm to 800,000 ppm is not so tough. Putting on your chemical engineering cap: the mass transfer required at low concentrations requires tremendous capital investments. The higher levels of enrichment involve a drastically reduced process stream.
Our human intelligence from within their atomic community is a joke. How else to explain Iran’s ability to get the jump on the West?
HAVING heavy water production since 1995 begs the question: whence its output? One can’t fail to note that their new power reactor is a pressurized HEAVY WATER design. It is expected to go hot this year.
Heavy water is such a terrific moderator that natural uranium can fire up a sustained reaction without any further ado. The only reasonable assumption is that Iran has heavy water moderated converter reactors hidden around the countryside. I’d expect them to be of a very simple swimming pool design.
Iran has solved the diplomatic process of violating the spirit of the NPT: produce your first nukes on the backburner with absolute priority for secrecy, deniability. With enough on hand, break into the ‘club’ fuzzily – never detonate. Then ramp up to become a nuclear superpower. The key: your opponents can not be allowed to see you cards or your game plan.
rufus,
If only you were right,
The Weekly Standard has quite a lengthy piece about how the French believe we will have to bomb Iran. How they are setting it up, as it were.
The most interesting paragraph, to me, was:
"... ALTHOUGH THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION has no desire to have the Great Iran Debate--just mentioning a preventive military strike at the State Department or the Pentagon is not a socially acceptable, polite thing to do--the clerical regime will probably force the administration to have it soon. The recent reporting that suggests the Bush administration--or at least the dark side of it in the Pentagon and the vice president's office--is already gearing up for a possible military confrontation with the clerics is, to put it mildly, at odds with the diplomacy-centered, keep-the-handcuffs-on-hawkish-U.N.-ambassador-John-Bolton approach of the State Department, which dominates Iran policy. Although this may change, the Pentagon and the vice president's office seem to have little role in the administration's Iran discussions, and in neither place do you find bombing enthusiasts or strategists trying to game scenarios reminiscent of the run-up to the 2003 war against Saddam Hussein. ... "
Now, I do not think of the Weekly Standard as a Leftist or defeatist periodical.
To bomb, or not to bomb
Is that really the question?
as they said over PA, so many years ago
"Let's roll"
Rat-Half the US, and half of Europe, does not want to get into the 'Let's roll' mode.
Rather, they want to roll over.
Until those voices dim down, Bush has his hands tied. No point pushing all out now when it could cost the sane planners control over the process, ceding it to the inmates, the leftoids.
Those voices will not "dim down" on our present course. The US is not dependent upon Europe to act.
As Mr Rumsfeld said in '04, Iran is the source of the Enemy. As Mr Bush said in '02 we are at War with those that support Terror.
Nothings changed but that the Iranians are stronger today than in '04.
Our Army was in Iraq, victorious according to General Myers, and provocated, according to Mr Rumsfeld.
Like Syria, Iran got a Terror Pass.
To say our position improves with time is not what Mr Bush has said. He said time was short, we had to act.
The Israelis have yet to detonate a device.
But they retain the deterence factor of having the weapons, regardless.
The same applies to Iran, aye.
peterboston,
For whatever it's worth, I agree that leaving the Iraq Army intact would have been an enormous mistake. Confining them to barracks would have compounded the mistake.
The only 'organized wars' (to include afterwar) I can think of have been waged by the bums. The only planned occupations were by the bums.
The bums lost, one way or another, by either long battle or longterm economic realities.
Those that are good at 'organizing and planning war' are also very good at 'organizing and planning' a country's economy.
Show me a growing, longterm, 'planned economy' which is working without the use of arms and then I will considered a 'planned afterwar'. otherwise, I will keep thinking 'moral inept' at the same time 'planned afterwar' goes through my mind.
There's about 16 WHEREAS clauses in the Joint Resolution. Choose as many as you want from Column A and Column B. Or none at all. Don't really care.
Maybe I forgot to mention that I don't speak for the WH. I'm looking at the facts on the ground and that's what I see.
The story of the sinking of the Tirpitz has an African Queen ending to it. The difference being the African Queen is a work of fiction the Tirpitz was not.
Then the President's Course is not one you would reccomend. pb?
The only reasonable conclusion: Iran has atomic weapons already – and now is moving to establish a strategic rocket force.
Blert,
I don't buy it.
The only way the Iran would have an atomic weapons ready is if they received one from Pakistan. To my eyes, everything about Iran's action screams that they're lying.
Now, I'd like you to consider something.
When you announce that preemption is your National Strategy and you tell everyone, it begets preemption. Why would any country that understood what the US did to Saddam, to Iraq, ever sit back and wait for the US to position itself like that again before they would strike? Why would they allow the US to position the its forces so close by, and to do all the things the US is doing, and not strike first, or at least take some action?
mat
The Mullahs have a losing hand and are bluffing with their last few chips. The only way they win is for US to fold. Any overt action wrecks the bluff and ends the game. Badly.
I don't think the US with Bush in the WH will back down even if its means serious tonnage heading East, but who knows. There are plenty of people working towards that end and more than a few of them sit in the Senate or wear stars.
10:16 AM Mətušélaḥ said...
“ Why would any country that understood what the US did to Saddam, to Iraq, ever sit back and wait for the US to position itself like that again before they would strike? Why would they allow the US to position the its forces so close by, and to do all the things the US is doing, and not strike first, or at least take some action?”
The mullahs are striking back: mines for the unlawful combatants in Iraq; co-option of Iraqi politics; ramping up the cost of OPEC crude via jaw-jaw; formation of a de-facto alliance with China and Russia and penetration agents all over the West and Iraq.
The mullahs are not for turning. For them the war is joined – already.
Moby Dick, the great white economy (aka Godzilla) takes many a harpoon without notice: it’s so hard to get respect (attention) these days.
Iran wants to sit at the ‘big table’ and have complete freedom of action. Payback for the mullahs means being PAID OFF. Ahmadi-Nejad figures to correct his economic troubles with tribute.
That first detonation ends the NPT and all of the Russian imports. That’s much too high a price. As it stands Russia is sending them the ultra-centrifuges and much else precisely because Iran is still a signatory in acceptable standing of the NPT.
So the downside is huge.
The upside is nil. Just the obviousness of their weapons program is having the required effect.
And then, there is the zombie factor: her terrorist adjuncts. This is a weapon that is more powerful in the scabbard than in the hand.
Actual detonation would only trigger Bush release: he’d absolutely have to respond – and would be able to use nuclear forces, to boot.
Bobalharb,
Wood rot had long ago taken care of the Ark. If Rafi Eitan didn't realize it then, it means he was already a senile old man back in 1981.
Iranian unemployment and currency inflation are both in the 20% range (as reported, so it's undoubtedly worse).
This sort of economic performance would be the end of any democratic government that didn't have a powerful rally point--like for instance a real fear of foreign attack. The rhetorical "kick-me" coming out of that government is incomprehensible without resort to numbing mirror games, so maybe it's an Occam explanation, such as the economy and internal legitimacy.
Can the Mullah government be so bad that it is trying to maintain itself via a war it hopes it can control? Gambling against a US air assault is rapidly becoming a bad play unless it's a last gasp, no alternative sort of ploy.
I just can't see the 13th Imam fantasy leading such a large educated professional diplomatic corps. Well, I *can* see it, but I don't believe my eyes.
Blert,
If Iran had the bomb it would have already detonated it over Riyadh. If it had two, Makkah would be next. If it had three, Abqaiq would be next. If it had four, Jubail would be next. Etc.
Buddy,
How you feeling?
Wesley Clark is on Fox right now, saying "OIF was unnecessary, we should have finished Osama and come home!" "There was no connection between Sabbam and Terrorism, and OIF was a strategic blunder. Rumsfeld should go, and if this hadn't fooled the American people on Saddam, George Bush would never have been re-elected!"
The delivery was hard, harsh, position-statement toned. This is new, out of Clark. We're seeing a planned offensive, something made necessary by Zarkawi tapering off operations. I'm disgusted.
But not surprised. Correalation of Forces (as in the Brezhnev Doctrine) to our once-great Democratic party means, against the other American political party.
Mika--better than yesterday, thanks f'r askin.
Buddy,
Did the Fox news anchor person call him on it? How is it that such ignorant statements are allowed to go unchallenged? Oil rich Sheikh money involved with the Fox network as well?
Bobalharb,
Yes. It's the same bastard.
Nope, no commentary--just Clark pumping out the same utterly oblivious and sensationally cynical bumper-sticker propaganda.
Too bad for Hitler and Tojo, and lucky for FDR and the human race, that we didn't have Clark and the retired generals hanging out with a gushing press corp throughout WWII, saying "If we just hadn't gotten involved, we wouldn't have to be fighting all these costly battles way the hell over in Europe and the far east!"
Bobalharb,
He's also chums with Fidel Castro. >:
Here's Wiki's description of Ark: "The Bible describes the Ark as made of acacia or shittah-tree wood. It was a cubit and a half broad and high and two cubits long (about 130 × 80 × 80 cm). The Ark was covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid, the mercy seat, was surrounded with a rim of gold."
bobalharb, you must've not seen "Raiders of the Lost Ark"--
Buddy,
Sure enough, a quick search and my suspicion is validated..
He said that during last month's street protests in France, the US television network Fox -- owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in which Al-Walid himself has shares -- ran a banner saying: "Muslim riots."
"I picked up the phone and called Murdoch... (and told him) these are not Muslim riots, these are riots out of poverty," he said.
"Within 30 minutes, the title was changed from Muslim riots to civil riots."
Messy world, ain't it--when the Aussie Murdoch saves USA from suicidal abc/nbc/cbs depression, yet rotary-club sounding USA-booster al-Walid buys into Fox and then exerts pressure to--what--help paint a bright line between pro-west Muslims and the crazies? Or...well, you know.
There's just a giant black hole where the Muslim debate oughtta be. I mean, if the al-Walids and bin-Ladens were Americans, say, they'd be hammering each other daily in the press, in front of all the voters. Provided they weren't, y'know, "wanted for murder" or something.
Buddy,
Would it be even crazier if Eitan received campaign money from Fidel to help paint a bright future for pro-Socialist Israelis?
The bad root there, Mika, is that Fidel rules at gunpoint. Otherwise, it'd all be just politics. Israeli Reds get to vote--and as you say, in the single digits, foreigners are able to know the Israel Bomb is way out of the hands of the nutjob utopians.
mətušélaḥ
Al-Walid
4 - 5%
Hey
Allen, al Walid--according to what I've read here and there--has his money in the western stock markets. He hangs out in Vegas, speaks English better than me do, wears western clothes. Reminds me of Donald Trump. I think he's invested in several media companies (TimeWarner/CNN?), plus a bunch of the old industrial stocks (GE comes to mind).
IOW, this isn't a mystery robe from the far dunes zeroed in on FoxNews. It could be worse than that, of course, but it isn't *that*.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad--a Basij instructor
You’ve got to be kidding.
I’d rather be a hammer than a nail.
There are folks who really need kill'n.
Buddy, you're missing the point. If al-Walid was allowed influence, and openly boasts about it, we can only guess who else was allowed influence.
mətušélaḥ,
who else was allowe influence
James A. Baker III has the Rolodex.
Mika, are we talking theory, or practice? If theory, I get it, it's all wrong, it's influence-trading. If we're talking practice, though, well somebody has to write even the raw feeds, and that somebody is beholden to somebody. There's the chance--given FoxNew's overall anti-jihad, pro-west, pro-Bush slant, that al-Walid is trying to deny his family's (he's a KSA Royal) sworn enemy (AQ) their "the west hates all Muslims" propaganda.
"Lets hope the next President is a good one."
Just for grins, C4, who do you like?
So 5% buys you a direct line to a guy like Mr Murdoch. The head honcho of News Corp. which has an overall anti-jihad, pro-West, pro-Bush slant. How much do you suppose is needed to buy the ear of lowly news editor at the BBC? How much for a cameraman at CNN to make sure the video feed or still shots are Halal?
rufus is to be excused for not recognizing it as a strawman diverting attention from you know whooo that are behind C4 101, ruf, take care of that lawn.
Thanks for the partial list:
It's all anyone can be expected to do.
1:51 PM
All 'Rat, no beef.
"goat-getting theory, in present GWOT context?
1:43 PM "
---
That's nothing but a rationalization/obfuscation for the unnecessary anger and bad feelings we cause our Muslim brothers to experience.
The Root Cause of the Problem, iow.
Rat, 9:08 am
One of the biggest failings of this administration is its poor communication. I don't think Bush and Co. lie any more than other administrations but they like to play their cards close to the chest and don't really tell the public why they're doing things. If things turn out well one can get away with this. If (when) things turn out badly you get recriminations.
The most obvious example is the justification for the Iraq war that was (mostly) based on WMDs. I do remember Bush "mentioning" other reasons, like the need to spread democracy, before the war but it was the WMDs that were emphasized. We all know how that turned out.
Part of the problem is that Bush is just not a good public speaker. The other is his real desire to keep his thoughts and intentions to himself.
The Latin-lefty governments springing up in new democracies, are springing up amidst a substantial Latin American economic boom--if numbers like GDP and personal income mean anything.
The choice for US policy has been either to encourage liberty or encourage oppression.
"Liberty" is going to, in the short term, elect lefties in nations with underdeveloped middle-classes.
What we in the US must do (rather than blame an admin helpless before the demographics), is continue to encourage open markets and political transparency across the board--by (1) trying to prevent these new lefty governments from giving in to lefty regime temptation and retarding democracy now that they're "in" (ala Chavez, elected in 1998), and (2) continue to influence global policy organizations toward rewarding free trade (as has been done with stunning success in Brazil, whose lefty president has bifurcated capitalism and social policy, so that Brazil can grow (and boy, has it grown!).
Long term, politics will move to the center, so long as the economic and political reforms of the last two decades continue to build institutional memory.
What was Bush's alternative, C4--prevent populism via CIA assassinations and installation of puppet governments?
If this is your idea of good policy, say so--becuz otherwise, you're just demagoguing.
The "yellow Peril" part of your post--yes, we have a strong economic rival in PRC. The economy is still only 10% of ours, and has staked it's solvency to the US Dollar, so it's not exactly grounds for Bush to declare war on PRC--right?
So, what would be your solution to the "problem" of foreign nations lifting themselves out of misery/poverty, and establishing the will of their people?
Kick 'em all back down?
What exactly *does* your ideal world look like like, C4?
Really, now is a good time to tell us.
Actually, I do share some of C4's concerns that the WSJ dream we are supposed to wake up to soon may well become instead a nightmare of phoney theories and accounting.
Sorry.
Just like Fred Barnes latest from outerspaceland "Conservatives" in DC, concerning immigration:
Those folks know about as much about the American Street as I do the streets of Dubai.
There's a Mexican Economist predicting a 40% loss to some local communities businesses if Amnesty Prevails:
He knows as soon as some of these millions are legalized, they'll bring their families North and no longer have any reason to send Dollars South.
...and we'll instantly have 20 million new democrat voting/poorly educated, services consuming proto citizens to deal with.
The Joos have Gold Plated Toilet Seats?!!!
Doug,
It's for the royal crapper. Some Highness by the name of YeHoVeH.
tex,
You may agree that these thoughts may prove useful in the "long war" (or anyother, for that matter).
It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.
I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.
Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness. A sincere love of peace is no excuse for muddling hundreds of millions of humble folk into total war. The cheers of the weak, well-meaning assemblies soon cease to count. Doom marches on.
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.
A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.
Truly, to tell lies is not honorable;
but when the truth entails tremendous ruin,
To speak dishonorably is pardonable.
What about Madonna?
Doug, I think you're beginning to show some sophistication on the issue. Increase border control to the point of diminishing returns, pick up illegals where you can, and just table the issue of amnesty vs deportation for now, in this DC. Kick can down road, let a year go by, deal with Iran, get Mexican election over with. This is no time to have a friggin civil war, and besides I can't remember where grampaw buried the Confederate money.
She gets a gold cellphone.
6:31 AM is part of being "all 'Rat"
...no offense, 'Rat.
Just funin like you and Jr will be doing soon.
doug,
Gold Plated Toilet Seats
You do have to get out more. That's after we take over Dr. Rice's "world community."
Well, the way *I* see it:
YOUR startin to attain some of that sophisti-stuff in addition to the usual pure sophistry ;-)
I've been a kick the canner for some time compared to the absolute ignorance of the US Senate.
Did you read that Barne's piece in the Standard, though?
He has a totally different POV based on ONE poll that does not jive with anything else in the country.
Then again, it had 3 CAREFULLY chosen questions.
The filipinos here have long gamed the welfare state with additional relatives brought under it, but they are so darn productive and patriotic, that it works fine, given that millions can't make it over every year and overwhelm things.
Not much of a "Flip" crime problem, either.
Allen,
I just don't know what else a plated Mercy Seat with a gold lid might be.
Gold plated Rim, indeed.
Doug, Allen's Truly, to tell lies is not honorable is a split-infinitive, but I don't want to tell him because he blow fire. Why don't chew tell him?
Just don't let Mr. Clean make that ring around the rim go away.
tex,
Not to be picky, but what's the difference between a "rabid" Leftie and the run-of-the-mill Leftie.
Couldn't that be like the "moderate" Muslim? Wasn't it Kissinger who said that's the one who's run out of ammunition?
"It ain't you and it ain't me, must be the feller behind that tree!"
Not much of a "Flip" crime problem, either.
That's cause Doug keeps 'em locked in the bathroom to polish his rim, that's why
Hey, W coined the phrase Toilet Cleaners of the World, not me.
Here we call them Landlords, Businessmen, and Politicians.
why does it have to be "polish that rim"? why couldn't it be "lithuanian that rim"?
...and Weekend Warriors spending a few years in Iraq.
When you're Scotch, it's a Poleish/Rim interference fit thing.
buddy larsen,
split infinitive
Just quoting. I wish it had been mine, spit and all.
When we're all peeking over the rim of that big Mercy Seat in the sky, I nominate doug to tell Sophocles.
cause polish girls know their polish? :D
Hey, speaking of Local Warriors: that "local" Captain Heli-Pilot lady that got her legs shot off is runnin as a 'Pub someplace in the Midwest.
Captain Tami, I think
buddy larsen,
"feller behind the tree"
Isn't that from the Koran?
Lucky we don't have a Pole Tax here.
3:32 PM
I'll sing him some Song I picked up in Bakersfield.
"spit infinitive" = perpetual drool
here in Texas, we call it the KOran.
Over 60 = Perpetual Stool.
That "Serpentine" site is very good--you can actually *see* the shame amd regret leaving your self. Nothing there about the Great Conundrum, tho--them as has the most of it, feel the least of it.
GNI per capita 2004
perpetual stool = eternity in prayer, upon the Golden Rim--
More like a Layer on the Rim.
Mexico comes in at 69th place. The rest of Latin America is after Mexico.
Mat, is that before taxes or what?
That's a hint re the populist politicians, eh?
What goes on in Luxembourg? Strictly Financin?
dancin' and financin' and a little property enhancin'. Not too much welfare advancin'.
I wonder if Buddy is included in those prayers?
Doug,
Got it from here.
I thought all Norway had were Kippers and Computer Hackers.
...but what's a Cracker like me 'sposed to know?
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
Godwin Law alert! Dive! Dive! Dive!
Anybody know why Lawrence Franklin is Red?
Hope Trish sees where Ledeen fits into this.
Has anyone seen the Perpetual Porta Potty?
I was thinking about Romney until he came up with
"I don't know enough about it to comment."
re immigration.
Uh, thanks, Mitt.
4:17 PM
Don't leave home w/o it.
Plated, Layered, or what-not.
cedarford,
What percent of American households pay no Federal income tax?
What percentage of American Federal income tax payers pay 60% of all Federal income tax receipts?
What did the consumer pay per ton of steel in 1850?
What did the consumer pay per ton of steel in 1900?
What was the average unit cost of a home PC in 1985?
What was the average unit cost of a home PC in 2005?
I just want to be sure that my envy-meter is factually calibrated.
What goes on in Luxembourg?
I think that's where Arafat parked your money.
Cede a fard,
You're a smart fellow. Why can't you figure out how to become part of that Owner Class?
4:28 PM,
I heard we're right on the verge of having more voters benefit from more taxes than not.
Socialist programs destroy citizenship even if capitalism can keep them afloat.
Screw Godwin:
We got ourselves a /C4 think tank at hand.
/slash/dementia,
The Godwin Law
I'll have to ruminate that.
mətušélaḥ,
"Arafat parked your money"
Yasser or Suha?
I'll betcha suha has a plated seat.
The supposed Goals and Intentions are laid out for Iraq in the Authorizaion for Use of Force in Iraq.
Those WHEREAS's have been acomplished, for the most part.
There is NO Force in Iraq for the US Army to fight, comenserate to the scale of troops deployed.
The majority of troops have not been fighting or participating in a War for over two years.
The aQ and Insurgent operations have been Police Operations, not military, though troops are used. Even in Tel Afar and Ramadi, Civil Administration, not combat, is the mission.
The Admin continues the Iraq "War" meme dispite defeating Saddam.
Truthfully the reason the troops cannot return is not the situation in Iraq, but the Region beyond.
Syria & Iran to be precise.
The Administration refuses to say that, for their whatever their reasons may be.
This is basic dishonesty and diminishes the Admins credibility with the independently minded.
It is the main "antiWar" meme I hear, that the War is over, Saddam is long gone.
No one here has an adequate answer as to why US Troops remain in Iraq, if Iraq is not to be a "spring board" or at least a Base in the Region, which the US and Iraq publicly say it is not.
We are in Iraq solely because of Iraq. Please link to any Administration statement otherwise, I'd love to be wrong.
War in / with Iran is "Wild Speculation" according to Mr Bush.
If that is true, we are in deep caca. If it is not true, Mr Bush should speak the truth, or the Public will continue to fall away from his False position.
For Rich Lowry to say the Bush Administration is "Intellectully Bankrupt" is but an indicator of the challenge.
That we are not at War with either Iran or Syria validates the lack of a real WoT. The failure to implement the Bush Doctrine of '02 makes even quoting that State of the Union address heart rending.
rufus
FICA is only paid on the FIRST $94,200 in '05. The rest is FICA free.
It didn't take FDR to bring "economic justice", it took a war! WHich is what ended the Depression, not FDRs policies.
5:39 PM
FICA's Regressive, but who's countin anyways?
Just goes into the current black hole of expenditures.
C4, Dementia--aren't you guys really talking about the ultimate horror of consciousness? The memory of the terror of birth? The knowledge of the forbidden fruit? That being alive is a death sentence? That the powerful control the weak? That human nature is sinful? That everything everywhere all the time just totally sucks? I see what you guys are saying--i really do--it's the Dark World, where we are all predators *and* prey. You can call it political, and see the evil conspiracy everywhere, or you can buck up, remember that upward mobility is an economic force and that static analysis measures the young against the old, and that...oh what the hell...Marx needs oppression to survive, it's anti-human, and ah, fooie, no fun whatsoever.
Good thinking matusela.
NP. Just trying to a poor Fellah down on his dinars. Let me know when you find a Jooish wife that will have you as a husband.
..just trying to *help*
Rufu--LOL--I'm not at me besht tonight....
Cedarfard,
Of course, you can also try your luck with Osama and his gang of social liberators. Though, I think my suggestion would be a bit less hazardous to your health. Or maybe not, given my experience with Jooish girls. Hehe.
I like Joosh girls, that Mediterranean statuesqueness. Statuesqueness, yes, that's a word.
To whom it may concern:
FICA is composed of two funds.
The medicare bite is 1.5% for employer and employee (each) and there is NO CAP. That's right, you never stop paying into Medicare with wage income.
BTW Muni's ( 'taxfree' municipal bonds ) are not truly taxfree. You suffer the bite at the outset by receiving below taxable rates of return. This reduction in lender income flows directly to the governmental borrower.
hey, rufus, that Haley Barbour is sure having fun needling Louisiana, ain't he?
Not only that, but Munis finance the infrastructure that EVERYBODY uses.
Limbaugh got an email from a Dentist who turns up Rush on the Radio and brings out the drill when a Liberal comes in:
Knows both of them will overwhelm the Novocaine.
Maybe that says more about Dentists than Joos?
___What percent of American households pay no Federal income tax?
40%
The percentage of all Federal income tax receipts collected from the lowest two quintiles is -2%; i.e. 40% of Americans receive a payout from the Federal government.
The percentage of all Federal income tax receipts collected from the mid-quintile is 4.4%; therefore, the percentage of total Federal income tax receipts collected from the lower 60% of the public is 0.1%.
___What percentage of American Federal income tax payers pays 60% of all Federal income tax receipts?
The top 5% of earners pay 59.1% of all Federal income tax receipts.
The top 10% pay 71.5% of all Federal income tax receipts.
The top 1% of earners pays 37.0% of all Federal income tax receipts.
Of course, as everyone KNOWS, the rich do not pay their fair share. This compliant must logically address the OBVIOIUS dichotomy between the vast income they earn and the paltry percentage paid by them in Federal income tax.
“Well”, in the words of the late Jack Benny, let’s see if this is fact or fiction.
The top 1% of earners earned 20.1% of all income (greedy capitalists). However, this group paid 37.0% of all Federal income taxes.
The top 5% of earners earned 35.6% of all income (just makes you sick, doesn’t it). From this group the Federal government extracted 59.1% of all income taxes collected.
The top 10% of earners earned 46.1% of all taxable income (what can one say?!). The payout to the Feds was 71.5% of all income taxes.
For those who decry the present system and demand equity, DON’T!
County/municipal infrastructure--roads, airports, hospitals, utilities--things that raise everybody's quality of life and standard of living.
The risk is two, default (and the rating agencies help avoid this--the lower the rating the higher the yield), and the big risk, that interest rates will rise and the asset value of the bond--this applies to traders more than long-term holders--will fall commensurately. There's also the other side of the rate risk, a falling rate environment may get your Muni "called"--if the call feature is in the deal--where the issuer pays you back early, and you have to re-deploy the capital earlier than planned.
Tax-free municipals are a wonderful widow and orphan vehicle because the non-trader set just holds 'em to maturity.
It's a win/win tool--not a nefarious scheme whereby C4 gets robbed of his self-awarded share of your property.
"OBVIOUS"
well, excuuuuse ME!
Allen 7:36 PM,
That's leaving out FICA?
buddy larsen,
Not you. I corrected OBVIOUS.
He's VERY sensitive.
...esp on face and groin.
doug, 8:05 PM
Individual income tax, excluding any Social Security or Medicare
See what you make of http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/TaxModel/tmdb/TMTemplate.cfm?Docid=816&DocTypeID=2
doug,
"sensitive"
Is it electronically contagious?
Will monitor wipes help?
We've got cures for it aplenty.
Yep out here in dee-liverance country, we b'lieves in standing on our own two elbows--
(*groan*) \;-(
The monitor wipes are far more absorbent than the iguana wipes--
w/Sonia, the Island Princess.
---
Re Iguanas
Did you notice that Aussie put frogs on his roof to have them crisp up a bit?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-- a man who reportedly served as a Basij instructor during the Iran-Iraq War
I made a blog entry last month about the Sting song called "Russins" about Cold War fears:
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me and you
Is if the Russians love their children too
That's the problem with this war. Clearly these are people who will gladly see their own children dead if it means others will die with them. And therefore MAD is no deterrent at all with the Iranians, and we must proceed with that certainty.
Here's the latest rant from Liberal Larry:
Jeff Skilling's Lame Excuse
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I’ve been unable to do much blogging lately. But despite my self-imposed exile, I managed to poke my head out from beneath the sink long enough to catch the latest news on the trial of Enron consigliatore Jeff Skilling. Indicted on 157 counts of fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and various other crimes against humanity that flourish in a capitalist system such as ours, Skilling is facing some serious hard time at a minimum-security country club of his choosing. He’s a Republican, and by nature thicker than a whale omelette, but one would think he could come up with a better excuse for breaking the laws of this country than “I pick your fruit”. I understand that this is “a nation of immigrants”, but Skilling only made himself look like an idiot by shouting it whenever the prosecution backed him into a corner. When he wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and demanded equal rights for his “opressed Chicano brothers and sisters”, it was all I could do to keep from throwing an SOS pad at the TV screen.
I don’t care how tight they are with Bush, Skilling and Kenny-Boy Lay, they are not above the law, nor can they simply ignore any laws that inconvenience them. At least, not until they learn how to use a leaf blower. Unless they trim some shrubs or rat one out, they are as guilty as hell and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
edwin, you hit upon the fear of fears, alright.
Yeh, that Sonia--was she from Down Under?
edwin,
"MAD"
You are so right. That's why we must implement SAD, so long as destruction is the operative paradigm.
She asked Doug to join her, and doug said "why, did you fall apart?"
she beat on doug's door all night. he finally had to let her out.
"What sonia?" he asked
"nothing" she answered
ok, out of respect to W, i gonna clean up my last several idiocies--
Yep. I started to post one of me like that, but I couldn't get anybody to snap the shutter. then I had a hard time explaining to the judge what a "blog' was. whew.
blog. short for a big log?
Mat,
did you read the comments at your link?
fer example:
---
"I hear sKilling is working on a chyldryns book while in prison.
I did not shred them in my house,
I did not delete them with my mouse,
I should not have a fine to pay,
I learned accounting from Tom DeLay.
So beyatch, don't give me cause,
I'm hard and tough, and I watched Oz.
I made my scratch by selling power,
And if you jump me in the shower,
I'll do whatever it takes to live,
Then stick you with a rusty shiv.
I'll go to the hole, but you'll talk falsetto,
In my defense, Si se puedo!"
"I think the American public won't comprehend Basiji psychology until after the war is over and won or lost.
It's just too alien"
---
What if we say they roll wrapped fetuses (feti?) over minefields, would that work?
Better yet, they just toss
"clumps of cells"
wrapped in Palm Fronds?
Just substitute those millions of sucking sounds with a bunch of "booms."
Yegads, / is getting to me!
" Anyway, this sort of reasoning counsels me to be tolerant of the "calculated ambiguity" I see in the Administration's basing policy.
How do others on the thread feel about it? "
---
I'm running low on Depends, so can't comment.
It's widely assumed that any war with Iran would lead to a significant increase in oil prices, especially if the Straits of Hormuz were mined or otherwise blocked. So let me play Devil's advocate and ask whether that would really be a bad thing?
A significant increase in oil prices for an extended time would make the extraction of oil from shale deposits economically viable, and there may be at least 500 billion barrels of the stuff in the US alone. It would cause a significant diversion of investment into alternative energy sources, including oil-exporting nations in more stable regions. The US and other advanced industrial nations would also be best placed to make this transition due to their wealth and strong technological bases. An attack on Iran that destroyed its oil production and transport infrastructure would cause it far more long-term damage than any interruption to Middle East oil supplies would cause to America.
So the oil card can only be played once, and then it's useless. Therefore whatever the short-term economic pain it may be best to force them to play it sooner rather than later.
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