Journal: Ralph Peters on The Rules Murdering Our Troops

05 Civil War, 10 Security, Military, Policy, Reform, Strategy
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Marine Barracks Today
Marine Barracks Today

Over 200 Marines died in the barracks by the beach in Beirut, in their sleep, because the White House failed to understand that the strategic situation had changed; because chicken hawk staff approved the launching of battleship salvos (think really pissed-off Volkswagons in flight) that certified the US was “taking sides” rather than seeking to preserve the peace;  and because the “rules of engagement” imposed on Colonel of Marines Tim Gerrity required that his Marines not have rounds in the chambers and not fire as approaching vehicles that failed to stop–at the same time, intelligence sucked then as it sucks now.

The photos are our own, from Beirut in August 2007.  We grieve for our Marines, who sought to serve their country while being used as an expendible tool by the White House.  Today the same thing is happening in Afghanistan and Ralph Peters has unleashed his own volley against the insanity of asking our troops to allow themselves to be killed whenever a civilian is in the area.  Click on the collage for today's deja vu.

Journal: Afghanistan Bay of Pigs Reprise

05 Civil War, 10 Security, Military
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Wall Stree Journal Full Story Online
Wall Stree Journal Full Story Online

What Next In Afghanistan? The Five People Obama Is Asking

Click on photo for full story.  Grades and comments are those of Phi Beta Iota.

Vice President Joe Biden. C+. Scale back, Drones and Special Forces on high-value targets.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. F.  Delusional on Taliban as lovers of Al Qaeda, listening to slick Australian on spending our way into hearts and minds.

National Security Adviser James Jones. D. Good man that does not know what he does not know, drops from a C to a D because his job is outreach and ensuring the President hears from a diversity of views, that is not happening.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen.  C+. A strategic savant trapped between a rock and a hard-place, his integrity fights his loyalty every day.  A for the rest of the world, D for not calling AF for what it is: a blunder of epic proportions.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates.  B-. Found his integrity in pushing the troop demand into the public eye after first being a loyalist.  Learned from Viet-Nam that Ho was a nationalist after all, Taliban is more of the same.  A lame duck while Obama decides between Chuck Hagel and John Hamre.

Administration Over-All:  D. Empire as Usual, Bureaucracy as Usual, Sacrificing our Troops to Buy Time, Not Listening to Serious Experts, Not Able to Think a Strategic Thought, Not Able to Plan, Program, and Execute a Whole of Government Anything.

CENTCOM Week in Review Ending 24 September 2009

Uncategorized
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Hot Topics

AA:  Counterterrorism at the expense of COIN will doom Afghanistan and Pakistan: US officials 09/24/09

AA: Israel hiding nukes in Golan, Syria claims 09/22/09

AA: Al-Qaida release video message likening Barack Obama to George Bush 09/23/09

AF:  Afghan jails are base for al-Qaida and Taliban, says US commander 09/21/09

AF:  Afghan warlords will fight if U.S. gives aid 09/22/09

IR:  National security adviser says Iran advancing in making medium-range missiles 09/20/09

IR:  Reading Iran by the Letter 09/20/09

KG: Kyrgyz officials urge return to death penalty 09/23/09

PK:  Pakistan probes detained Swedes on al-Qaida ties 09/21/09

PK:  Qaeda's training area in Pakistan is ‘the most dangerous spot on the map' 09/21/09

PS: Haniya Says Gaza Siege Crime Against Humanity, Human Rights Groups … 09/23/09

YE: Food running out in Yemen refugee camps: UN 09/23/09

Below the Fold: Instability, Special Operations, Security Forces, Foreign Affairs, Crime

Continue reading “CENTCOM Week in Review Ending 24 September 2009”

Call for Multinational Editors

Authors & Editors
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open doorThis web site is infinitely expandable, and is backed up by our websites and databases in Sweden.  We are seeking multinational editors who will receive full editorial privileges here in return for covering specific countries or topics from a Public Intelligence perspective.  Within couintries we also seek “tribal” editors, one each for each of the eight tribes of intelligence (academia, civil society, commercial, government, law enforcement, media, military, and non-governmental).  Within Civil Society we are especially interested in editors covering labor unions and religions as both a constituency (in need of public intelligence) and in the case of religion only, as a threat (penetrating governments and exerting undue illegal influence on public policy).

Editors, who may be anonymous to the public, are likely to be offered free admission to the new annual multinational information sharing and sense-making conference.  Use Contact to get in touch

We will support postings in any language with the request, not a condition, that the title and first paragraph be provided in English for indexing purposes.

Journal: True Cost Meme

True Cost
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Original Source
Original Source

>>CEI Breaks True Cost of Cap and Trade Treasury Department’s Own Documents CEI’s Christopher C. Horner reveals the true $1,761 per family cost of Cap and Trade legislation with the Treasury Department’s own documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.  News of the story has been widely covered in:

CBS News; Obama Admin: Cap and Trade Could Cost Families $1,761 a Year
CBS News; Declan McCullagh’s Response to Skepticism on Cap and Trade Costs
The Investor’s Business Daily; Smoking Papers on Global Warming
The Washington Post; Cap-and-Trade Memos Fire Up the Skeptics
The Politico; Cap and Trade’s Price Tag [Corrected]
CEI’s Openmarket.Org Blog Post by Iain Murray
CEI’s GlobalWarming.Org Blog Post by Christopher Horner

Continue reading “Journal: True Cost Meme”

Journal: Fighting against ourselves in Afghanistan

05 Civil War, 09 Justice, 10 Security, Ethics, Military
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Full Story Online
Full Story Online

The U.S. trains forces in Afghanistan that then go to work for the Taliban

Ann Jones

Key Points:

1.  Washington and U.S. military out of touch with ground truth and historical-cultural reality in Afghanistan.

2.  We are training individuals in US techniques who desert and join the Taliban–we are literally training the Taliban to beat us.

3.  Many individuals are re-enrolling under multiple names in order to get the training and the good food, while many others take the training and the food and never come back after their first period of leave (vacation after training).

4.  Pashtuns are not joining police and so the Americans are sending non-Pashtuns back into Pashtun territory to act as police–this is so stupid as to be insanely criminal and irresponsible.

Phi Beta Iota: This article was linked to in an earlier post on connecting the dots, but it reads better in Salon and we recommend a careful review–this is journalism at its very best, informing the public about FACTS that the Administration desires to ignore.