Do tyrants fear America anymore? President Obama’s timid foreign policy is an embarrassment for a global superpower – Telegraph Blogs

 

The débacle of Washington’s handling of the Libya issue is symbolic of a wider problem at the heart of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. The fact that it took ten days and at least a thousand dead on the streets of Libya’s cities before President Obama finally mustered the courage to call for Muammar “mad dog” Gaddafi to step down is highly embarrassing for the world’s only superpower, and emblematic of a deer-in-the-headlights approach to world leadership. Washington seems incapable of decisive decision-making on foreign policy at the moment, a far cry from the days when it swept entire regimes from power, and defeated America’s enemies with deep-seated conviction and an unshakeable drive for victory.

Just a few years ago the United States was genuinely feared on the world stage, and dictatorial regimes, strategic adversaries and state sponsors of terror trod carefully in the face of the world’s most powerful nation. Now Washington appears weak, rudderless and frequently confused in its approach. From Tehran to Tripoli, the Obama administration has been pathetically slow to lead, and afraid to condemn acts of state-sponsored repression and violence. When protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the Islamist dictatorship in Iran in 2009, the brutal repression that greeted them was hardly a blip on Barack Obama’s teleprompter screen, barely meriting a response from a largely silent presidency.

In contrast to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, President Obama fails to see the United States as an exceptional nation, with a unique role in leading the free world and standing up to tyranny. In his speeches abroad he has frequently found fault with his own country, rather than projecting confidence in American greatness. From Cairo to Strasbourg he has adopted an apologetic tone rather than demonstrating faith in America as a shining city upon a hill, a beacon of freedom and liberty. A leader who lacks pride in his own nation’s historic role as a great liberator simply cannot project strength abroad.

It has also become abundantly clear that the Obama team attaches little importance to human rights issues, and in contrast to the previous administration has not pursued a freedom agenda in the Middle East and elsewhere. It places far greater value upon engagement with hostile regimes, even if they are carrying out gross human rights abuses, in the mistaken belief that appeasement enhances security. This has been the case with Iran, Russia and North Korea for example. This administration has also been all too willing to sacrifice US leadership in deference to supranational institutions such as the United Nations, whose track record in standing up to dictatorships has been virtually non-existent.

The White House’s painful navel-gazing on Libya last week, with even the French adopting a far tougher stance, is cause for grave concern. The Obama administration’s timid approach to foreign policy is the last thing the world needs at a time of mounting turmoil in the Middle East, including the growing threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and Islamist militancy on the rise from Egypt to Yemen. US leadership is now needed more than ever, but has embarrassingly gone AWOL on the world stage.

Do tyrants fear America anymore? President Obama’s timid foreign policy is an embarrassment for a global superpower – Telegraph Blogs

On call, officials stress public options in health care shift - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

 

Jennifer Haberkorn reports that President Obama's move to allow states flexibility in spending health care funds is the "most significant change" since the law was enacted, and a potential gesture toward critics.

But a source on a White House conference call with liberal allies this morning says the Administration is presenting it to Democrats as an opportunity to offer more expansive health care plans than the one Congress passed.

Health care advisers Nancy-Ann DeParle and Stephanie Cutter stressed on the off-record call that the rule change would allow states to implement single-payer health care plans -- as Vermont seeks to -- and true government-run plans, like Connecticut's Sustinet. 

The source on the call summarizes the officials' point -- which is not one the Administration has sought to make publically -- as casting the new "flexibility" language as an opportunity to try more progressive, not less expansive, approaches on the state level.

"They are trying to split the baby here: on one hand tell supporters this is good for their pet issues, versus a message for the general public that the POTUS is responding to what he is hearing and that he is being sensible," the source emails.

On call, officials stress public options in health care shift - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

Boehner rips bid to regulate Internet - Washington Times

 

House Speaker John A. Boehner lashed out against efforts to regulate Internet traffic before an audience of evangelical Christian media leaders and pointedly responded to President Obama by comparing the challenge of the burgeoning national debt to the Sputnik-era space race.

In a speech to religious broadcasters that received a sustained ovation at his conclusion, he said free expression is under attack by a power structure in Washington populated with regulators who have never set foot inside a radio station or a television studio.

“We see this threat in how the FCC is creeping further into the free market by trying to regulate the Internet,” Mr. Boehner said.

Boehner rips bid to regulate Internet - Washington Times

China: Power Junkies Promise To Share

 

China's defense spending is believed to be over $100 billion a year, and it has more than doubled in the last decade. This has triggered an arms race with its neighbors. Russia just announced a new military upgrade program that would increase defense spending by a third, and devote over half a trillion dollars in the next decade to buying new equipment. Japan, already possessing the most modern armed forces in the region, is increasing spending to expand it. A decade ago, China and Japan spent about the same on defense, but now China spends more than twice as much. Even India is alarmed. Spending only 30-40 percent as much as China does, the Indian generals and admirals are demanding more money to cope with China. India and China are actually devoting a lot of their additional spending to just bringing their troops up to date. Both nations have lots of gear that was new in the 1960s and 1970s. They don't expect to be as up-to-date as the U.S., which spends over $500 million a year, but there's plenty of newer, much better, and often quite inexpensive stuff to be had.

The perceived "Chinese threat" has persuaded neighbors to play down disputes and develop better military ties with neighbors. Such is the case with Russia and Japan, who still have a bitter dispute over ownership of the Kuril islands. Same with Japanese and South Korea, who have a lot of bad history to keep them apart, but a growing Chinese military threat to overcome all that. Same deal with Taiwan, Vietnam and India. China has only been able to buy friends in Myanmar (an impoverished police state), North Korea (a very impoverished police state)  and Pakistan (a corrupt and impoverished occasional democracy). China would like to upgrade in the allies department, but communist police states remain scary neighbors.

So alarmed has Japan become that, two years ago, it quietly established a foreign intelligence service (similar to MI6 or the CIA), for the first time since World War II. The Chinese noticed, as this new spy agency was mainly aimed at China and North Korea.

China: Power Junkies Promise To Share

Mexico: What Kind Of War?

 

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that around 600 kilometers (375 miles) of the U.S.-Mexico border is insufficiently monitored (ie, not adequately protected) in order to stop drug smuggling and human trafficking. That is about 19 percent of the length of the entire border. The GAO estimates that the U.S. Border Patrol has what it calls operational control sufficient to stop smuggling activities along about 45 percent of the some 3,200 kilometer (2,000 mile) long border.

Mexico: What Kind Of War?

Combat troops to get gay sensitivity training - Washington Times

 

American combat troops will get sensitivity training directly on the battlefield about the military’s new policy on gays instead of waiting until they return to home base in the United States, the senior enlisted man in Afghanistan said Thursday.

The Pentagon is launching an extensive force-wide program to ease the process of integrating open homosexuals into the ranks, including into close-knit fighting units.

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin Hill, the top enlisted man in Afghanistan where 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed, said that the sessions on respecting gays’ rights will go right down to the forward operating bases, where troops fight Taliban militants.

“I have heard about the training that will be forthcoming to the battlefield,” Sgt. Hill told Pentagon reporters via a teleconference from Kabul.

“We will take our directions from the Department of Defense, from the secretary of defense, the chairman, as well as the service chiefs of each service. Our plan is to take their direction, and we’re going to execute that training right here on the battlefield.”

No unit is exempted, he said.

“Our goal is to not allow a unit to return to home station and have the unit responsible for that,” he said. “While we own those soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, we’re going to execute that training on the ground. We hope that it will have little impact on their combat and security operations here.”

President Obama signed a bill in December to repeal the ban, called “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which required gay troops to hide their sexuality. However, the ban will stay in effect until the secretary of defense certifies that repeal of the policy will not hurt combat readiness.

Combat troops to get gay sensitivity training - Washington Times

Murphy's Law: Child Abusers Demand Compensation

 

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan (general David Petraeus) caused quite a commotion recently when he chewed out a room full of Afghan government officials, including members of the presidential staff, for denouncing another instance of the "dead goat scam" as an effort to extort cash from U.S. forces, or halt operations against the Taliban. The Afghan officials were complaining that Afghan villagers claimed  a recent battle had resulted in Afghan women and children being killed and wounded by U.S. forces. But the American forces had ample proof that no such injuries occurred. Patraeus had seen such claims fall apart many times before, and knew it was just another example of the corruption that contributed so much to Afghanistan's woes. What got the Afghan officials worked up this time was the accusation (by Petraeus) that the local civilians had injured their own children to gain more cash compensation for injuries caused by NATO troops. Although Petraeus did not mention it, the burns may have been the result of a common form of punishment in rural Afghanistan, putting the hand of an unruly child in boiling water. Foreign medical teams often encounter this kind of injury, and other types of savage punishments, and sometimes the parents casually admitted the cause. It was, after all, part of the culture.

Murphy's Law: Child Abusers Demand Compensation

Information Warfare: China Overwhelms The Internet

 

With over 420 million Internet users, and 20 percent of the planet's population, it should be no surprise that Chinese has become the largest native language group (at 22.6 percent) of worldwide Internet users (now over two billion people). In the last ten years, these English speaking Internet users increased 2.8 times, while the Chinese speakers went up 12.8 times. English is second at 22.3 percent, followed by Spanish (7.8 percent), Japanese (5 percent) and Portuguese (4.2 percent, mainly because of Brazil).

English is still the dominant language on the net, with 42 percent of users able to use that language. While English is the common language of science and technology, the majority of Internet users, and especially new users, are not techies. Thus the majority of new web pages appearing on the web are not in English.

Information Warfare: China Overwhelms The Internet

Infantry: Winning The Protection Racket

 

A lot of techniques learned by American troops in Iraq are being transferred to Afghanistan. Actually, some of these tactics are ancient. For example, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and many earlier irregular wars, the locals were happy to remain neutral, but only if they could avoid coercion by the rebels/terrorists/whatever. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are the enforcers for the drug gangs, that will pay well for anyone who can keep the foreign troops away (from heroin production and smuggling.) The Taliban don't bring much to the locals, other than lifestyle rules (no music, videos, dancing or school for girls) and violent efforts to keep economic improvements (delivered by foreigners) out. So NATO troops are explicitly coming into areas and telling tribal leaders that, if provided information on Taliban location, the economic and other aid will get in because the foreign and Afghan troops will go after the Taliban. Naturally, the Taliban are not happy with this, and have threatened to take it out on the local civilians, especially the tribal leaders. So far, that has led to some civilian casualties, but a lot more Taliban are getting chased down and killed. The civilians keep passing on information.

A lot of this is going on in southern Afghanistan, in provinces like Helmand and Kandahar, which were long Taliban strongholds. The Taliban, because of all that heroin income, have more guns and hired hands willing to do whatever they are told. So the locals like seeing the odds evened up by the foreign troops. Moreover, as long as the foreign troops are around, there are more economic goodies. There are more jobs, more road building and economic activity in general. The foreign troops will eventually leave, but groups like the Taliban don't have a long shelf life either. In the meantime, life is good, or at least better.

Infantry: Winning The Protection Racket

173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Suspended

 

The Army has formally suspended Col. James H. Johnson III as commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which has about 3,300 Soldiers in Italy and Germany. The Army took action Feb. 17, according to Col. Bryan Hilferty, chief of public affairs for U.S. Army Europe.

“He’s been suspended,” Hilferty said, declining to comment further since the case is under investigation.

In response to written questions, Hilferty characterized the suspension as temporary pending resolution of the probe. No one else has been suspended or relieved in connection with Johnson’s case, he said.

Col. Kyle Lear, the deputy commanding officer of the 173rd, has been named as the interim commander, Hilferty said.

Johnson took command of the brigade in October 2008 and led it through a yearlong rotation to Afghanistan that ended late last year. The unit, which traces its lineage back to World War I, includes Salvatore Giunta, the first living Medal of Honor recipient for actions in the current wars. He received the medal for events in 2007.

Before becoming brigade commander, Johnson headed up the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment.

The 173rd Brigade is based in Vicenza, Italy, and includes six battalions. Two battalions are in Vicenza, and four are in Germany, with three of them in Bamberg. The fourth battalion is in Schweinfurt.

173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Suspended

TRICARE Fees Divide Mil Groups

 

Lawmakers seeking guidance from military associations on whether to support the new Defense Department plan to raise TRICARE Prime enrollment fees modestly for working-age retirees next year, and then to adjust them annually for inflation, will get mixed signals this time around.

Joyce Wessel Raezer, national director of the National Military Family Association, is not alone in calling the fee hikes of $60 a year for under-age-65 retiree families and $30 for individual coverage "amazingly reasonable."

She noted that the higher fees would affect only the managed care program and the "most vulnerable" users -- those medically retired and surviving spouses -- still would see no increase. No hikes are sought for the TRICARE Standard, the traditional fee-for-service benefit, or for TRICARE for Life, the prized supplement to Medicare available for elderly retirees.

TRICARE fees haven't been raised since 1995. Assuming increases are inevitable at some point, Raezer said, accepting these "surprisingly small" increases now, when the military is so deeply appreciated, is better than waiting until lawmakers come "looking for a peace dividend."

TRICARE Fees Divide Mil Groups

Oklahoma Police Captain Sues Supervisor for Mandatory Attendance at Islamic Group Event - FoxNews.com

Capt. Fields is a friend of mine and classmate from High School.  He’s also a class act for evidence note the damages he asks for.

Captain Paul Fields is under internal investigation after he refuses to take order from a higher ranking officer. Fields was ordered to assign officers to the Islamic Society of Tulsa's Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.

A Tulsa police captain has filed a federal lawsuit claiming his civil rights were violated after he was reassigned and placed under investigation for refusing to order officers to attend a voluntary social event at a mosque.

Capt. Paul Fields claims he was ordered to assign police officers to attend a law enforcement appreciation day at the Islamic Society of Tulsa. Fields refused that order because he said it violated his religious beliefs.

Click here to read the lawsuit.

“When you become a police officer you don’t give up any of your constitutional rights,” said Scott Wood, a Tulsa attorney representing Fields. He called it a case of political correctness gone too far.

The lawsuit names Deputy Chief Daryl Webster as the lone defendant – accusing him of retaliating against Fields for exercising his First Amendment rights. Fields is asking for one dollar in nominal damages, along with attorneys fees.

The police department could not comment on the lawsuit.

However, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan told Fox23-TV the mosque event was about community relations – not religion.

“I would never assign a police officer to participate in a religious service,” he said. “This is about a group who bonded together because of their religion. We are not going there because they are Islamic. We are going there because they are Tulsa citizens.”

Fields has been on the police force for 16 years and has at least six commendations. Wood says Fields has had a “stellar career” without any disciplinary actions.

In essence, Wood said Fields was retaliated against for not voluntarily attending a mosque. It’s a case of political correctness, he said.

“That’s definitely what it is,” Wood said. “But political correctness has nothing to do with the First Amendment.”

The events leading to the lawsuit started last week when members of the Tulsa Police Department were invited to attend a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” at the Islamic Center of Tulsa.

It was advertised as a social gathering featuring food, an opportunity to watch a Muslim prayer service, and an invitation to join lectures on beliefs, human rights and women.

According to Wood, no one responded to the invitations and no one volunteered. The following day, Fields received a directive ordering him to find officers to attend.

“This is a program put on by the mosque for the officers, not the officers for the mosque,” Wood said. “He did not believe it was police-related or related to his duties and he was not going to do something that conflicted with his religious beliefs.”

Wood said to their knowledge Tulsa police officers have never been ordered to attend non-police related events at synagogues or Christian houses of worship.

The controversy has sparked national interest among Muslims. Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for the Council on America-Islamic Relations said he was following the incident and said it’s an example of “anti-Muslim bigotry.”

“When somebody feels empowered to say, ‘I’m not going to take part in a community outreach event at a mosque because I basically don’t like Muslims,’ it’s all part of that rise in Islamophobia in our society,” he said.

But Scott emphatically denied CAIR’s accusations.

“Captain Fields would lay down his life for anyone in that mosque if the need arose regardless of their color, creed or their background,” Wood said. “The purported reason for this law enforcement appreciation day was because of the department’s performance in catching someone who had made threats against the mosque. You can’t have it both ways. ‘You did a great job protecting us, but you’re a bigot?’”

Oklahoma Police Captain Sues Supervisor for Mandatory Attendance at Islamic Group Event - FoxNews.com

Don’t accept the premise

Jeff G. @ protein wisdom:

Rumsfeld, who takes craps bigger than Andrea Mitchell.

Of course, I’ve long counseled that the way to push back against the dishonest debate tactics of the left is to refuse to accept their framing premises — and to call them out on their attempts to finesse the conversation or decontextualize / recontextualize a sound bite to rob it of its originary meaning. But when Rummy does it, it smells like single malt scotch. And freedom.

Don’t accept the premise

CBO raises its stimulus cost estimate, again - Washington Times

 

Congress‘ chief scorekeeper has again raised the cost estimate of President Obama‘s two-year-old economic-stimulus program, calculating it will end up costing taxpayers $821 billion — or $34 billion more than originally projected.

And the economic boost from the added government spending is beginning to wear off, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a new report Wednesday. The CBO said that in the final three months of 2010, the stimulus was paying to keep between 1.3 million and 3.5 million people in jobs, both down from the peak recorded in the prior three-month period.

The drop was expected, since the biggest chunk of stimulus money was spent out during fiscal year 2010, which ended Sept. 30.

Mr. Obama‘s stimulus program turned two years old last week, but it remains a thorny political issue.

House Republicans sought to cancel several billion dollars in unspent stimulus money as part of the $61 billion in spending cuts they passed Saturday, and Republicans on both sides of the Capitol have introduced legislation to try to reclaim other money or audit what was actually spent.

CBO raises its stimulus cost estimate, again - Washington Times

Morale: What ISAF Really Stands For

 

One of the many things that hurt morale among U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the half-hearted efforts of troops sent by other NATO nations hurts the worst. The multi-national force is called ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), but U.S. troops insist ISAF really stands for "I See Americans Fighting".

While British (9,500 troops), Canadian (2,900) and Australian (1,500) forces fight hard, most other nations avoid the enemy. Moreover, the British, Canadian and Australian contingents are all planning to leave in the next few years. Even the United States has pledged to "begin reducing" it's force (100,000 troops) in four years. But the sad truth is that Afghanistan is a mess, mainly because of the heroin (90 percent of the world's supply comes from Afghanistan), a curse that has created millions of addicts in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, as well as many more in Europe, North America, East Asia and the Middle East. Everyone expects that, in the end, the U.S. will stick around and take care of things. U.S. troops in Afghanistan see this in action, as other NATO troops are ordered to avoid fighting, and let the Americans take care of any emergencies.

The NATO troops themselves, for the most part, want to fight. But participation in ISAF has become a political issue inside most nations that are contributing, and the usual way to settle that domestic dispute is to put restrictions on the troops in Afghanistan. Militarily, it's a bad decision, but politically, it's a more tolerable one. So most NATO troops pretend to participate, secure in the knowledge of what ISAF really stands for.

Morale: What ISAF Really Stands For

Review Calls for Fewer Marines but Greater Capabilities

 

The Marine Corps is planning a “reset,” a top general said Wednesday, shrinking in size but expanding its ability to function as “the tip of the spear” in conflict or crises around the globe.

Recommendations in the draft Force Structure Review, which will be finalized later this year, reinforce the idea of the Marine Corps as a rapid reaction force. Proposed cuts to the 202,000-strong Marines won’t take place in the immediate future, said Lt. Gen. George Flynn, Marine deputy commandant for combat developments and integration, who Wednesday delivered highlights of the Force Structure Review.

“We’re not going to go down in force structure until after our demands in Afghanistan drop,” he said. “The purpose is to anticipate the future. This isn’t about reducing the force tomorrow.”

In an August speech, Defense Secretary Robert Gates had said the Marines at times functioned like “a second land army” during the Iraq war. The Force Structure Review, he suggested then, should focus on re-establishing the branch as an “expeditionary force-in-readiness.”

As fighting in Afghanistan winds down, the plan calls for the Marines to drop to 186,800 -- a number still more than 10,000 troops greater than pre-9/11 levels.

The future shrinkage would be accomplished in part, Flynn said, by eliminating 21 headquarters. Some infantry and artillery battalions would also be eliminated, along with some aviation squadrons.

Increases meanwhile would be seen in areas such as cyberwar, intelligence analysis, psychological operations and civil affairs. In particular, Marine Special Operations Command capability would see a significant increase in staffing and capability.

Flynn said the plans aren’t simply about excising parts of the Marine Corps that have grown since 2002. The idea, he said, was to restructure the entire branch for maximum mobility and adaptability, whether fighting enemies or responding to natural disasters.

Decisions on which units would be eliminated have yet to be made. But, Flynn said, “I have to find out rather quickly where those 1,000 Marines will come from to increase our MARSOC capability by 44 percent.”

The Force Structure Review also reaffirms the Marines’ dedication to the concept of amphibious operations, Flynn said. Landings like those at Inchon or Okinawa indeed may be a thing of the past, but sea-based operations remain a critical component of modern war.

The final report is due in about six months after further Pentagon analysis of the recommendations, Marine officials said.

Review Calls for Fewer Marines but Greater Capabilities

UPDAT 1-Libya crew abort bombing mission on Benghazi:report | Energy & Oil | Reuters

 

A Libyan air force plane crashed near the eastern city of Benghazi after its crew bailed out because they refused to carry out orders to bomb the city, Libya's Quryna newspaper cited a military source as saying.

Quryna's online version quoted the source, a colonel at an air base near Benghazi, as saying captain Attia Abdel Salem al Abdali and his number two Ali Omar Gaddafi bailed out of the Russian-made Sukhoi-22 plane and parachuted to earth.

The aircraft, which took off from Tripoli, came down near the city of Ajdabiya, 160 km (100 miles) south-west of Benghazi, the newspaper said.

Benghazi and most of eastern Libya has not been under central control since an uprising last week against the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In a televised speech on Tuesday night, Gaddafi threatened violence against groups who were defying his rule.

Benghazi-based Quryna is Libya's most reliable media outlet. It was owned by a media group linked to Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam but since Tripoli lost control over Benghazi it has begun to report openly on events in the city and further afield. (Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

UPDAT 1-Libya crew abort bombing mission on Benghazi:report | Energy & Oil | Reuters

Report: Midlevel Taliban Leaders Reluctant to Fight

 

Taliban field commanders, tiring of the war in Afghanistan, are reluctant to resume fighting ordered by their leaders hiding in Pakistan, a commander said.

These field commanders, who have been pushed into Pakistan following recent defeats in Kandahar and Helmand provinces by newly arrived U.S. troops, are being pressured by their leaders to return to the battle areas, but they are not keen to do so, The New York Times reported.

Their latest losses and general weariness after nine years of war are showing up as they contend with their leaders in Pakistan.

"I have talked to some commanders, and they are reluctant to fight," the Times quoted an unidentified veteran Taliban commander as saying. The 45-year-old commander said he has been a member since the group's founding.

Speaking to the newspaper in Kandahar, the commander said: "Definitely there is disagreement between the field commanders and the leaders over their demands to go and fight."

The report said the situation also points to the difficulty of ending the insurgency as long as the top leadership remains secure and protected by Pakistan.

Taliban members told the Times the top leaders, urged by the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies that want to maintain their influence in Afghanistan, keep pressuring the midlevel commanders to continue their insurgency across the border, however reluctant they may be.

Kandahar residents, who know the Taliban, said the commanders also don't have much of a choice as they, too, rely on Pakistani sanctuaries where they keep their families.

The commanders' differences with their leaders also are partly the result of successful raids by U.S. forces.

A Taliban supporter in Helmand told the Times about 500 insurgents, including most of the commanders in the province, were eliminated last year.

Report: Midlevel Taliban Leaders Reluctant to Fight

NATO: Afghan Attrition Remains Stubbornly High

 

NATO's top training commander says that attrition rates in the Afghan security forces remain stubbornly high, despite a massive international effort to expand the army and police to 305,000 members by this fall.

U.S. Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the commander of NATO's training mission, said on Wednesday that the Afghan army loses about 32 percent of its personnel each year. In the police, that number is nearly 23 percent, he said.

Caldwell says that's about the same percentage as three years ago.

Despite the high rate of loss, he says, the training effort is on track to reach the goal of 305,000 soldiers and policemen by October.

Caldwell attributed the high rate of loss of trained personnel to the weak leadership in the Afghan army and police, especially in areas of high-intensity operations.

NATO: Afghan Attrition Remains Stubbornly High

Israel: Democracy And The Next Wars

 

With the military now running Egypt, until elections can be held in about six months, Israeli officials are quietly calling, and visiting, Egyptians who might lead the new government, as well as generals who are running things now. Decades of anti-Israel media activity has created a popular Egyptian hostility towards Israel, and Israel is hoping a free press might be inclined to take a less hateful view.  Most Israelis are optimistic that they can establish better relations with a true democracy in Egypt, but it will be a year or more before anyone will really know if it will all turn out that way. At the same time, the Palestinians are divided over new elections, and the Lebanese are on the brink of civil war because of it. Democracy looks attractive from a distance, but it's hard to make it work.

Meanwhile, the availability of so much anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda on Arab satellite news (which is easily available inside Israel) continues to motivate young Arab-Israelis to become terrorists. Police are uncovering more plots, and weapons. It's only a matter of time before a lot more of these plots become successful.

Israel: Democracy And The Next Wars

India-Pakistan: It's A Strange World

 

The American decapitation (concentrate on killing or capturing leaders) strategy is causing a split between the senior Taliban leadership in Pakistan., and the mid-level commanders who actually run combat operations in Afghanistan. The Taliban has a sanctuary in Baluchistan (southwest Pakistan), where CIA UAV missile attacks are not allowed. It's an open secret that the Taliban leaders are in and around Quetta (the capital of Baluchistan). There are also rest camps for Taliban fighters operating across the border in southern Afghanistan (mainly Kandahar and Helmand provinces.) The growing problem is that the Taliban senior leaders, safe in Quetta, are demanding that the Taliban middle management across the border in Afghanistan do more to keep the foreign troops away from drug gang operations (poppy fields and labs for converting opium into heroin). During the past year, doing that has become suicidal for Taliban leaders operating in Afghanistan. While the U.S. can only track and kill Taliban leaders in Pakistan with missile armed UAVs, in Afghanistan these leaders face far more danger. U.S. troops prefer to capture these guys (as a source of information), but will otherwise kill them with ground fire, smart bombs or whatever. Rewards are paid for targeting information, and few Afghans are adverse to making a few thousand bucks at the expense of the hated Taliban (who continue to behave badly with the civilians they claim to be protecting.) As a result, morale is very low among Taliban field commanders. Some men are refusing promotion, even though it brings with it more money, and sanctuary for your family in Quetta. While the Taliban has a form of life insurance, it does not make the widow and her kids rich. Taliban middle-management is increasingly calling for peace negotiations, but the Taliban senior leadership, safe and sanctimonious in Quetta, refuses to negotiate. It's victory or nothing. Pakistan is unwilling to remove the sanctuary status of Quetta, as powerful groups in the Pakistani government see the Taliban as a key tool for controlling events in Afghanistan. This offends the Afghan's a great deal, but Pakistanis in general agree that, left to their own devices, the Afghans would become allies with the evil Indians. Meanwhile, there's a road heading north from Quetta, the crosses the Afghan border after about a hundred kilometers, goes through Spin Boldak and then north another hundred kilometers to Kandahar City, the traditional "home town" of the Taliban. It's the road less travelled these days.

India-Pakistan: It's A Strange World

The Means of Coercion - WSJ.com

 

By JAMES TARANTO

To make sense of what's going on in Wisconsin, it helps to understand that the left in America lives in an ideological fantasy world. The dispute between the state government and the unions representing its employees is "about power," Paul Krugman of the New York Times observes accurately, before going off the rails:

What [Gov. Scott] Walker and his backers are trying to do is to make Wisconsin--and eventually, America--less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style oligarchy. And that's why anyone who believes that we need some counterweight to the political power of big money should be on the demonstrators' side.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones elaborates:

Unions are . . . the only large-scale movement left in America that persistently acts as a countervailing power against corporate power. They're the only large-scale movement left that persistently acts in the economic interests of the middle class. . . .

The decline of unions over the past few decades has left corporations and the rich with essentially no powerful opposition. No matter what doubts you might have about unions and their role in the economy, never forget that destroying them destroys the only real organized check on the power of the business community in America. If the last 30 years haven't made that clear, I don't know what will.

There are several problems with this line of thinking. First, to talk of America in terms of "class" is to speak a foreign language. Outside of university faculties and Marxist fringe groups (but we repeat our self), Americans do not divide ourselves up by class; rather, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . ."

When Americans describe themselves as "middle class," the term is a synonym for "ordinary" or "respectable," not part of a taxonomy of division. Actual middle-class Americans don't feel put upon by "corporate power" or "the business community," because by and large, they own the means of production: They run businesses; they hold shares in corporations through their investment and retirement accounts. Some belong to unions, but the vast majority do not: "In 2010, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier," according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In any case, it seems to have escaped Krugman's and Drum's notice that the Wisconsin dispute has nothing to do with corporations. The unions' antagonist is the state government. "Industrial unions are organized against the might and greed of ownership," writes Time's Joe Klein, a liberal who understands the crucial distinction. "Public employees unions are organized against the might and greed . . . of the public?"

The "labor movement" in America has increasingly come to consist of people who work for government, not private companies. As the BLS notes, the union-participation rate for public-sector workers in 2010 was 36.2%, vs. just 6.9% for private-sector workers.

There is a fundamental difference between private- and public-sector workers. A private-sector labor dispute is a clear clash of competing interests, with management representing shareholders and unions representing workers. In the public sector, as George Will notes, taxpayers--whose position is analogous to that of shareholders--are usually denied a seat at the table:

Such unions are government organized as an interest group to lobby itself to do what it always wants to do anyway - grow. These unions use dues extracted from members to elect their members' employers. And governments, not disciplined by the need to make a profit, extract government employees' salaries from taxpayers. Government sits on both sides of the table in cozy "negotiations" with unions.

Collective bargaining in the private sector thus is less a negotiation than a conspiracy to steal money from taxpayers. The notion that this is "in the economic interests of the middle class" for government employees in Wisconsin and elsewhere to get above-market wages and extremely lavish benefits is just laughable. Sure, government employees are "middle class," but so are the vast majority of taxpayers who don't enjoy the special privileges that come from owning the means of coercion.

Commentary's Jennifer Dyer argues that the Wisconsin dispute--likely the first of many, as states and localities face up to the unsustainable costs they have imposed on taxpayers via such collusion with unions--reflects a "crisis of progressivism":

The term "progressive" has been batted around in various incarnations over the last decade, but in its original sense in U.S. politics--the sense popularized by the Wisconsin Progressives and the spinoffs from their movement--progressivism was about enlarging the government's supervisory role over society and entrusting the administration of that role to experts employed in public agencies. . . .

The agencies were sold to the public as a means of taking the corrupt politics out of issues that ought to be decided straightforwardly by disinterested experts. The progressive idea has always been that this stable of public experts should be insulated from the demands of interest groups--even if the interest group in question is a majority of registered voters.

The Wisconsin Republicans are challenging that idea directly. The vociferous political left isn't wrong about that: the crisis in Wisconsin is a power struggle for the future of government, not just a clash of this year's fiscal priorities. If the voting public can, in fact, deny professional autonomy--in this case, the option to organize for collective bargaining--to public employees, the essential premise of progressivism is badly undercut. Public employees, in their professional capacity, would not then have a "right" to anything the voters don't choose to accede to. That would include the scope of their agencies' portfolios as well as the terms of employment for government workers.

It's an intriguing argument, but it doesn't seem quite right to us. Unionized government employees are not, by and large, professional "experts." If any government workers are undercompensated relative to their private-sector counterparts, it is those with special expertise--lawyers, scientists, economists, top administrators. Public-sector union members mostly have commoner abilities, for which they are overpaid.

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Here is the contradiction of progressivism. Progressives tell us they want the government to do more. But they can't win elections without public-sector unions. Because they are beholden to those unions, their main priority when in power is to increase the cost, not the scope, of government. Because resources are finite, the result is the worst of both worlds: a government that taxes more without doing more. This is unsustainable economically. Fortunately, as Wisconsin voters showed last November, it's unsustainable politically as well.

'Push Back Hard'--Again
"The unions should make their voices heard and push back hard," editorializes the New York Times, one of the few newspapers to support the Wisconsin antitaxpayer revolt unreservedly. "Push back hard" must be a macro on the computers over at the Times editorial page, which demanded back in August that supporters of the Ground Zero Mosque "push back hard" against ordinary Americans. In the meantime, of course, the Times has delivered many a pious lecture on the evil of "incivility" in politics.

It's quite striking the way almost every lie the left ever told about the Tea Party has turned out to be true of the government unionists in Wisconsin and their supporters:

• Extreme rhetoric. The Wisconsin Republican Party has produced what Mediaite.org calls an "incredibly effective" video juxtaposing liberal complaints about allegedly extremist Tea Party rhetoric with unionist signs likening Gov. Walker to Hitler and other dictators. Left-wing journalists are making similar invidious comparisons: "Workers Toppled a Dictator in Egypt, but Might Be Silenced in Wisconsin" read the headline of a Washington Post column by Harold Meyerson last week. The other day on CNN we saw scenes of a Madison crowd chanting, "Kill the bill"--which was said to be violent and invidious a year ago, when "the bill" was ObamaCare.

• Violence. Blogress Ann Althouse, a state employee based in Madison, posted a video of municipal salt trucks blowing their horns in support of the unionists. A YouTube commenter responded (quoting verbatim), "whoever video taped this has no life and should be shot in the head." Unlike Frances Fox Piven, Althouse has never advocated violence, but don't expect the Times to give this the kind of coverage it gave Piven's claims that she had received threatening emails.

• Partisan AstroTurf. That's the Beltway term referring to a fake grassroots movement. Politico reported last week that "the Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America arm--the remnant of the 2008 Obama campaign--is playing an active role in organizing protests." A blogger at the OFA website, BarackObama.com, writes: "To our allies in the labor movement, to our brothers and sisters in public work, we stand with you, and we stand strong." We've also received emails from MoveOn.org, which says it's holding a pro-unionist rally outside our offices later this afternoon. Sorry, MOO, we're working at home today.

• Refusal to accept election results. Although Republicans have a majority in the Wisconsin Senate, Democrats have fled the state, taking advantage of the body's rules to deny the majority a quorum. The Indianapolis Star reports that Democrats from the Indiana House are employing the same tactic. Even Barack Obama, when he was an Illinois senator, usually voted "present."

• Stupidity. Remember "Teabonics," a photo album of misspelled Tea Party signs? The unionists can't spell any better--and some of them are teachers! Althouse got one photo of what we think is a woman holding a sign that reads " 'Open for business' = Closed for Negotiatins [sic]." Also, some of the teachers' tactics--in particular, fraudulently calling in sick and exploiting other people's children by enlisting them as protesters--seem not only unethical but calculated to repel the public. One blessing of low standards for public school teachers is that it ensures many of them are not bright enough to stage an effective protest.

The one exception: So far we haven't seen any evidence of racism by the Wisconsin unionists. But we're watching for it.

The Means of Coercion - WSJ.com

4 Americans on hijacked yacht dead off Somalia - CBS News

No response, as yet, from White house.

The four Americans aboard a yacht hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia are dead.

Hijacked last Friday off Oman, the Quest was being piloted toward the Somali coast - and was being shadowed by a U.S. Navy warship.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that gunshots aboard the yacht were heard, and the warship took action.

All four Americans were dead, killed apparently by their captors.

There were more than a dozen pirates on board, some dead and others captured, Martin reports.

The Americans were Scott Adam and his wife, Jean, of Marina del Rey, Calif.; and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, both of Seattle.

Adam, in his mid-60s, had been an associate producer in Hollywood when he turned in a spiritual direction and enrolled in the seminary a decade ago, Professor Robert K. Johnston of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and a friend of Adam's, told The Associated Press.

"He decided he could take his pension, and he wanted to serve God and humankind," he said.

Johnston and Adam worked together to start a film and theology institute. Adam also taught a class on church and media at the school.

Since 2004, the Adams lived on their yacht in Marina Del Rey for about half the year and the rest of the year they sailed around the world, often distributing Bibles in remote parts of the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia, Johnston said.

Scott and Jane Adam documented their maritime missionary work on their website, S/V Quest Adventure Log.

4 Americans on hijacked yacht dead off Somalia - CBS News

Federal, state and local debt hits post-WWII levels

 

The daunting tower of national, state and local debt in the United States will reach a level this year unmatched just after World War II and already exceeds the size of the entire economy, according to government estimates.

But any similarity between 1946 and now ends there. The U.S. debt levels tumbled in the years after World War II, but today they are still climbing and even deep cuts in spending won't completely change that for several years.

As President Obama and Republicans squabble over whose programs to cut and which taxes to raise, slow growth and a rising tide of interest payments - largely beyond their control - are making the job of fixing the budget much harder than in the past. Statehouses and governors face similar challenges.

After World War II, the federal debt - including debt purchased by the Social Security Trust Fund - hit nearly 122 percent of gross domestic product. State and municipal debt back then was minimal. By the time Dwight Eisenhower was elected president six years later, the federal government's debt had dipped to about three-fourths of GDP.

The key factor in the rapid drop in government debt, said Harvard University economist Kenneth Rogoff, was fast economic growth. Spurred by a young labor force, world-leading manufacturers, high personal savings rates, a pent-up demand for consumer goods after years of war and the Depression, and a bout of inflation, the economy grew 57 percent in six years. Thanks to sharp postwar cuts in defense outlays, federal government spending also tumbled for a couple of years.

But today the U.S. economy is in a polar opposite condition. The labor force is aging, U.S. manufacturing often lags behind Asian and European rivals, households are in hock up to their eyeballs, and consumer appetite for goods is tepid. In addition, inflation is tame and government spending locked into entitlement programs and debt service that will be hard or impossible to alter.

Federal, state and local debt hits post-WWII levels

Iranians hack into VOA website - Washington Times

 

Iranian computer hackers on Monday hijacked the website of the Voice of America, replacing its Internet home page with a banner bearing an Iranian flag and an image of an AK-47 assault rifle.

The group called on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “hear the voice of oppressed nations.”

The banner stated that “we have proven that we can.”

The message called on the United States to “stop interfering in Islamic countries.”

It then listed more 90 websites of VOA it claimed has also been hacked.

A State Department spokesman could not be reached for comment.

An administration official said the group identified with the banner is known as the Iranian Cyber Army.

VOA operates a global network of news and information outlets that reflect official U.S. foreign policies. It broadcasts, through radio, television and the Internet to scores of nations around the world.

Little is known about the group. It was credited with hacking and defacing Twitter in December 2009, replacing the social networking site’s home page with a message that the site was hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army.

Cyber security specialists have said there are suspicions that the Cyber Army is part of the Iranian government after the hacker group was critical of the pro-democracy Green Movement in Iran.

Iranians hack into VOA website - Washington Times

Marines Finally Fire Their Osprey Mortar | Kit Up!

 

For the first time in combat, the Marine Corps fired a round in anger through the 120mm mortar system dubbed the Expeditionary Fire Support System, or EFSS.

In support of the International Security Assistance Force, Marines with F Battery, Battalion Landing Team 3/8, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Regimental Combat Team 2, fired the new 120mm mortar system from Combat Outpost Ouellette, Helmand province, Afghanistan.

The first rounds fired from EFSS in support of combat operations was a M1105 illumination projectile, used to light an area occupied by snipers attached to Company I, BLT 3/8. Illumination denies any enemy concealment in darkness and deters nighttime emplacement of improvised explosive devices.

Marines Finally Fire Their Osprey Mortar | Kit Up!

Yemen: Democracy Is Not Enough

 

While there have been more demonstrations this month, and at least a dozen demonstrators have been killed, it's but a small increase from the normal unrest. Despite two weeks of daily unrest, the government is still in control (as much as its ever been). Yemen has long been run by a tribal coalition. There's not much oil wealth, so the leader holds power by sharing and consulting with key tribal leaders. There is still plenty of unrest, as the tribal leaders have been corrupt, and not done much to cope with unemployment and economic stagnation. The tribal leadership is still pretty strong, and the pro-democracy demonstrators need more than just a clean election to change Yemen. The current unrest is more likely to turn into another round of civil war, than a round of honest elections.

Yemen: Democracy Is Not Enough

Algeria: Terrorists Take A Time-Out

 

While the government has promised to end 19 years of martial law ("state of emergency") by the end of the month, police and pro-government thugs continue to block daily pro-reform demonstrations from sustaining themselves in city and town centers. Algeria is somewhat unique in the Arab world in that it is still mobilized to deal with an active Islamic terror group. Thus a lot of Algeria's oil income is going to provide good jobs for large and, so far, reliable and loyal, security forces. But some members of the government are also calling for real democracy, believing that the unrest against authoritarian government will only grow. There is popular unrest more because of unemployment and corruption, but these problems spring from the corruption and mismanagement of a self-appointed ruling class. Algerians, unlike many other Arab countries, are still weary from over a decade of war with Islamic terrorists, and not as willing to endure more such violence. Some of these Islamic radicals are still around, just enough to remind everyone about the bad-old-days.

In neighboring Libya, full scale rebellion appears to be underway. Libya has, since the 1960s, been under a far stricter dictatorship, run with the cooperation of tribal and ethnic group leaders. This form of rule is corrupt and inefficient, causing growing poverty and unemployment, but does take advantage of tribal and ethnic loyalties and local (and paid-off) leadership. As in the rest of the Arab world, it's a generational thing. Libya, like many Arab nations, has a ruling family that has paid attention to taking care of the security forces, so that when force was needed, it would be applied. But there has been growing unrest, and in some large cities, like Benghazi, the government has lost control. Egypt has set up refugee camps on its border with Libya, to deal with 20,000 refugees so far, and more on the way. There appear to be splits in the security forces as well, with a growing number of desertions. Democracy has become a popular new cause among the young, even if they have a job in the security forces. But a civil war may not produce a democracy, just a new group that has enough power to control the population, and oil income. The current government, under the Kaddafi family, has squandered much of that money, and that's a big part of what the current unrest is all about.

Algeria: Terrorists Take A Time-Out

'Global Katrina': Biggest solar storm ever could cause power cuts for MONTHS | Mail Online

 

The world is overdue a ferocious 'space storm' that could knock out communications satellites, ground aircraft and trigger blackouts - causing hundreds of billions of pounds of damage, scientists say.

Astronomers today warned that mankind is now more vulnerable to a major solar storm than at any time in history - and that the planet should prepare for a global Katrina-style disaster.

A massive eruption of the sun would save waves of radiation and charged particles to Earth, damaging the satellite systems used for synchronising computers, airline navigation and phone networks.

If the storm is powerful enough it could even crash stock markets and cause power cuts that last weeks or months, experts told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The chances of a disruption from space are getting stronger because the sun is entering the most active period of its 11 to 12-year natural cycle.

The world got a taster of the sun's explosive power last week when the strongest solar eruption in five years sent a torrent of charged plasma hurtling towards the world at 580 miles per second.

'Global Katrina': Biggest solar storm ever could cause power cuts for MONTHS | Mail Online

Compass shift means changes for pilots, boaters, campers - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

 

Magnetic north, the point at the top of the Earth that determines compass headings, is shifting its position at a rate of about 40 miles per year. In geologic terms, it's racing from the Arctic Ocean near Canada toward Russia.

As a result, everyone who uses a compass, even as a backup to modern GPS navigation systems, needs to be aware of the shift, make adjustments or obtain updated charts to ensure they get where they intend to go, authorities say. That includes pilots, boaters and even hikers.

"You could end up a few miles off or a couple hundred miles off, depending how far you're going," said Matthew Brock, a technician with Lauderdale Speedometer and Compass, a Fort Lauderdale company that repairs compasses.

Although the magnetic shift has little impact on the average person and presents no danger to the Earth overall, it is costing the aviation and marine industries millions of dollars to upgrade navigational systems and charts.

Compass shift means changes for pilots, boaters, campers - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Wounded Iraq veteran jeered for speaking in Columbia University ROTC debate - NYPOST.com

 

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

"Racist!" some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

"It doesn't matter how you feel about the war. It doesn't matter how you feel about fighting," said Maschek. "There are bad men out there plotting to kill you."

Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds.

Maschek, who is studying economics, miraculously survived the insurgent attack in Kirkuk. In the hail of gunfire, he broke both legs and suffered wounds to his abdomen, arm and chest.

He enrolled last August at the Ivy League school, where an increasingly ugly battle is unfolding over the 42-year military ban there.

Wounded Iraq veteran jeered for speaking in Columbia University ROTC debate - NYPOST.com

CNN's Candy Crowley somewhat surprised by Donald Rumsfeld's ignorance of Obama's good global image | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

 

INDIA

AFGHANISTAN

IRAN

INDONESIA

CNN's Candy Crowley was perpetuating one of the American media's favorite myths about Barack Obama, that his mere election in 2008 had radically improved the United States' image around the world after those disastrous eight years of Republican George W. Bush, whose policies and flunkies caused so many foreigners to really dislike the world's sole remaining superpower.

Obama's "supporters," said Crowley, "say that in two years he has been able to return this country to a status of being liked across the world in a way that America was not liked during the Bush administration.

"That he has once again made America a beacon."

The trouble for Crowley Sunday was that she was interviewing Donald Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld knows a little something about the world after being a military pilot, corporate executive, congressman, White House aide, Washington power-player and media adversary, as well as secretary of Defense during many of those Bush years.
"Do you agree with that?" she asked Rumsfeld with a straight face.

"Do you think that -- that the U.S. is now looked at much differently than it was and much more positively than it was during your tenure?"
Rumsfeld is promoting his memoirs, "Known and Unknown," and has been doing nonstop media appearances trying to sell as many copies as possible because he's donated all proceeds to benefit military families.

Referring to Obama, he told Crowley, "No. And I don't think there's data that supports that.

"I think he has made a practice of trying to apologize for America. I personally am proud of America." 

Crowley seemed surprised at Rumsfeld's ignorance about Obama's powerful positive public image abroad.

She stated: "Well, he seems to be quite popular overseas in a way that President Bush was not. The streets aren't full of people burning him in effigy."

She continued: "There does seem to be a new -- a chance to look at America in a different way than it did during the Bush administration. You don't think that's true?"
Rumsfeld replied: "I don't think that's true and I don't think that there's data that would support that."
Crowley didn't need any data. She persisted: "Even though the streets look differently?"

CNN's Candy Crowley somewhat surprised by Donald Rumsfeld's ignorance of Obama's good global image | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Winning: Al Qaeda Cries Banzai

 

Without realizing it, al Qaeda is calling on its troops to make a homage to Japanese World War II infantry tactics, by making a Banzai Charge. Al Qaeda has called on all True Believers to make whatever kind of attack they can, especially in the West. This was very similar to a spectacular tactic Japanese troops used when they knew they were beaten.

The image most people have of the Japanese army during World War II is a mass of fanatical guys launching a hopeless charge led by officers waving katana (samurai swords). This was the Banzai charge and these attacks did occur, and made a vivid impression on the defending troops. But most of these attacks failed.

…

Al Qaeda is in a much worse situation than the World War II Japanese. First of all, few al Qaeda members are as competent and diligent as the average Japanese soldier. Most al Qaeda recruits are illiterate, and, while often fanatic, not well disciplined. The few competent planners and technicians they had have been considerably depleted by a decade of attacks by Western troops and intelligence agencies. But Islamic radicals gained some media traction with their claims to be defending Islam from infidel (non-Moslem) attack. This inspires many young Moslems, especially the illiterate and poor, or those literate and fortunate Moslems living in the West who feel they are not getting sufficient respect from their infidel neighbors. To these Moslems, especially, al Qaeda is calling for a Banzai Charge. There have already been some of these attacks. Some involve guns or knives, others use a car driven into a crowd of unbelievers. Bombs have not been as successful, despite all the technical advice available on the web from al Qaeda bomb makers. But there are plenty of Moslems living in Western nations who openly admit their admiration for suicide attacks. If you can't win, you can at least go out in a mayhem of senseless slaughter.

Winning: Al Qaeda Cries Banzai

Leadership: Better Isn't Always Better

 

With the change of government in Egypt, Israeli intelligence is reviewing its files on the Egyptian military in case the peace treaty between the two countries is cancelled. Israel has been keeping an eye on the Egyptian military since the late 1940s. Israel got sloppy in the early 1970s, and missed the reforms Anwar Sadat introduced, which led to some Israeli setbacks early in the 1973 war. The Israelis quickly recovered, and took advantage of Egyptian exuberance. The Egyptians have since celebrated their early successes in the 1973 war, and largely ignored their eventual defeat.

Unlike the Egyptians, the Israelis learned from their mistakes, and keep learning. Egypt, meanwhile, has allowed their armed forces to decline in effectiveness. Although the Egyptians have received over a thousand American M1 tanks and over 200 U.S. F-16 fighters since the 1980s, they have allowed corruption and smugness to destroy the capable forces they had in 1973. One way Israel has tracked this is from the interviews they did with captured Egyptian soldiers from the 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars. While they found that the quality of the enlisted personnel remained stable, the quality of the officers and NCOs declined. There was some improvement between 1967 and 1973, but all indications are that the decline resumed after 1973.

Meanwhile, Egypt expects over a thousand U.S. M-1 tanks to make a difference. The problem is that the Egyptians do not spend enough time training with these vehicles, nor do they maintain them well. Same with the 2,500 older U.S. M-60 and Russian tanks. Egyptian training and maintenance suffered in comparison to how the Israelis operate. That will make a big difference in any future war.

Egypt has the fourth largest F-16 force in the world, with over 210 aircraft in service and two dozen on the way. The new order would give Egypt 240 F-16s. This is the core of their air power, as their remaining force consists of aging French Mirage F5s and Mirage 2000s, Russian and Chinese MiG-21s, and a few U.S. F-4s. The main reason Egypt has so many F-16s is because, as part of the 1977 peace deal with Israel, the U.S. has been providing several billion dollars in military and economic aid a year. The understanding is that most of this money will be used to buy American products. The F-16 seemed like a good choice, if only because Israel was very happy with them. But the Israelis have upgraded their F-16s with locally made electronics and weapons, while stressing lots of pilot training. Any future war between Israel and Egypt would see a lot of F-16s shot down, and few of them would be Israeli.

Unless another military reformer like Anwar Sadat shows up, Egypt would be most fortunate if it maintained its peace treaty with Israel.

Leadership: Better Isn't Always Better

House votes to thwart ethanol expansion - The Hill's E2-Wire

 

The House early Saturday approved an Oklahoma Republican’s amendment to federal spending legislation that would thwart EPA from proceeding with a program to allow use of higher amounts of ethanol in newer vehicles.
Lawmakers voted 285-136 for Rep. John Sullivan’s (R-Okla.) amendment that would block EPA from using funding this fiscal year to implement its so-called E15 waiver, which allows ethanol levels in gasoline of up to 15 percent in cars from model year 2001 onward.
The underlying fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution passed early Saturday morning.
Groups ranging from oil refiners to livestock trade associations to automakers backed the Sullivan amendment, which corralled votes from 206 Republicans and 79 Democrats, while 31 Republicans and 105 Democrats voted against it.

Several environmental groups also oppose expanded ethanol use.
“My amendment ensures consumer safety, plain and simple. The EPA has completely ignored calls from lawmakers, industry, environmental and consumer groups to address important safety issues raised by the 50% increase in the ethanol mandate issued over the past year,” Sullivan said in a statement Saturday.
“Putting E15 into our general fuel supply could adversely impact up to 60% of cars on the road today– leading to consumer confusion at the pump and possible engine failure in the cars they drive,” he added.

House votes to thwart ethanol expansion - The Hill's E2-Wire

VETERAN’S GROUP DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM SEC. OF STATE CLINTON Claims vet was manhandled for silent protest | BREAKING NEWS | Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State News

 

Could it be the U.S. government thinks peaceful, civilian protest against government is fine on the streets of Cairo, Egypt but not on U.S. soil?
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech at George Washington University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression - and lauding freedom of speech on the Internet - 71-year-old military veteran Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes and hustled out of the building and, according to McGovern and his supporters, was “brutalized and left bleeding in jail.”
What McGovern did was simply remain standing silently in the audience and turned his back on her as Secretary Clinton began her speech.
That was it.
McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was wearing Veterans for Peace t-shirt.
Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, "So this is America?"

VETERAN’S GROUP DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM SEC. OF STATE CLINTON
Claims vet was manhandled for silent protest | BREAKING NEWS | Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State News

Robot hummingbird passes flight tests (w/ Video)

 

A prototype robot spy "ornithopter," the Nano-Hummingbird, has successfully completed flight trials in California. Developed by the company AeroVironment Inc., the miniature spybot looks like a hummingbird complete with flapping wings, and is only slightly larger and heavier than most hummingbirds, but smaller than the largest species.

Robot hummingbird passes flight tests (w/ Video)

Not enough money for a 2012 primary? - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

 

A handful of states, including Massachusetts, are considering abolishing their presidential primaries — mainly because there's not enough money in the budget:

Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin says there’s not enough money to run a primary in March 2012, according to Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget for the next fiscal year.

“The number that was submitted by the governor despite the fact that he suggested, or his administration suggested, that it would be a 2 percent cut, in fact is a far more drastic cut. My budget will go down anyways for the coming fiscal year in the elections area because we have one fewer election in the upcoming fiscal year than we did in the last. But nevertheless, it’s a problem to run this March 6, 2012 event based upon the numbers they’ve submitted,” Galvin told WBZ.

The result of a state abolishing its presidential primary would likely be a state-party funded caucus system — but those state parties could also choose a different nomination method

Not enough money for a 2012 primary? - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

FT.com / Asia-Pacific / Afghanistan - US troops set for longer Afghan stay

 

The US surge in Afghanistan is likely to stay in place long beyond President Barack Obama’s initial plan to pull troops out in large numbers this year.

Some US officials anticipate the drawdown scheduled for this year will be relatively modest – even though Mr Obama had initially intended to “push the curve to the left” in the 30,000-strong surge, accelerating both its deployment and withdrawal.

One factor is the presence of General David Petraeus, the US and Nato commander in the field and a uniquely authoritative figure because of his commanding role in Iraq, who has made clear his opposition to a precipitous withdrawal. He made no mention of the July date in a recent letter to troops on the challenges ahead.

The Pentagon this week reacted to reports that Gen Petraeus was slated to depart by insisting no decision had been made and that he would not be leaving “any time soon”.

Typically, top Nato and US commanders in Afghanistan stay in post no longer than 18 months, which would take Gen Petraeus, who started in July 2010, to the end of this year.

Speaking to the Financial Times recently, he signalled that he would set out to the White House the risks of withdrawals that were too big or too fast. He said he would provide Mr Obama with drawdown options “with assessments of risk for each course of action, and then a recommendation on how to initiate the responsible drawdown of the surge forces”.

The US has already adopted a common Nato-wide goal of transferring the lead in the battle against the Taliban to local forces by 2014 and retaining a military presence in the country beyond that date.

“I don’t know if I would describe it as slow but I certainly would describe it as deliberate,” said a US military official, referring to the pace of the change between 2011 and 2014.

FT.com / Asia-Pacific / Afghanistan - US troops set for longer Afghan stay

NationalJournal.com - House Passes Amendment to Block Funds for Net Neutrality Order - Friday, February 18, 2011

 

The House passed an amendment Thursday that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from using any funding to implement the network-neutrality order it approved in December.

The amendment, approved on a 244-181 vote, was offered by Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., to legislation that would fund government agencies for the rest of fiscal year 2011.

Walden and other critics of the FCC's net-neutrality order argue it will stifle innovation and investment in broadband. The order aims to bar broadband providers from discriminating against Internet content, services, or applications.

"If left unchallenged, this claim of authority would allow the FCC to regulate any matter it discussed in the national broadband plan," Walden said.

If the defunding effort fails, Republicans are pursuing a second route to try to block the FCC's open-Internet order. Walden and other Republicans in both the House and the Senate introduced on Wednesday a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, which would give lawmakers a limited amount of time to try to block the FCC's net-neutrality rules.

NationalJournal.com - House Passes Amendment to Block Funds for Net Neutrality Order - Friday, February 18, 2011

House votes to overthrow 'czars' - Robin Bravender - POLITICO.com

 

The House voted Thursday to dethrone nine White House “czars.”

Republicans successfully added an amendment to the continuing resolution that would leave President Barack Obama’s senior advisers on policy issues including health care, energy and others out of a job.

The vote was 249-179.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) offered the amendment that blocks funding for various policy advisers to combat what he called “a very disturbing proliferation of czars” under Obama.

“These unappointed, unaccountable people who are literally running a shadow government, heading up these little fiefdoms that nobody can really seem to identify where they are or what they’re doing,” Scalise said Thursday. “But we do know that they’re wielding vast amounts of power.”

The jobs on the chopping block: White House-appointed advisers on health care, energy and climate, green jobs, urban affairs, the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, oversight of TARP executive compensation, diversity at the Federal Communications Commission and the auto industry manufacturing policy.

House votes to overthrow 'czars' - Robin Bravender - POLITICO.com

Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill

 

Obama accused Scott Walker, the state's new Republican governor, of unleashing an "assault" on unions in pushing emergency legislation that would nullify collective-bargaining agreements that affect most public employees, including teachers.

The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to mobilize thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals.

Their efforts began to spread, as thousands of labor supporters turned out for a hearing in Columbus, Ohio, to protest a measure from Gov. John Kasich (R) that would cut collective-bargaining rights.

By the end of the day, Democratic Party officials were working to organize additional demonstrations in Ohio and Indiana, where an effort is underway to trim benefits for public workers. Some union activists predicted similar protests in Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Under Walker's plan, most public workers - excluding police, firefighters and state troopers - would have to pay half of their pension costs and at least 12 percent of their health-care costs. They would lose bargaining rights for anything other than pay. Walker, who took office last month, says the emergency measure is needed to save $300 million over the next two years to help close a $3.6 billion budget gap.

Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill

Leadership: Stop Picking My Pocket, Please Sir

 

The head of the U.S. Air Force recently demanded that defense contractors stop the practice of submitting unrealistically low bids for new weapons, and then coming back for more and more money as "unforeseen problems" appear and costs keep escalating and delivery is delayed. Currently, procurement projects are about a third over budget, and most items are late as well. Currently, procurement of weapons and major equipment make up about a third of the defense budget. While this is expected to decline over the next decade, as defense budgets shrink, the problem also extends to upgrades and refurbishment of existing equipment.

The big problem is the decades old contractor practice of deliberately making an unreasonably low estimate of cost when proposing a design. The military goes along with this, in the interest of getting Congress to approve the money. Since Congress has a short memory, the military does not take much heat for this never ending "low ball" planning process.

Actually, it's poor planning in general that causes most of the high costs. It's bad planning by the military, when coming up with the initial design, and bad planning on the part of the few manufacturers that have a monopoly on building certain types of weapons systems. Monopolies do not encourage efficiency. There are many examples of all these bad habits at work. Don't expect any of this to change anytime soon. It's the way things have worked for a long time. Many generals and admirals, members of Congress, and even a few manufacturer executives, have called for reform. But it just doesn't happen, at least not to a large extent.

One encouraging post Cold War trend has been an increased reluctance to build a lot of a weapon that became extremely expensive. Thus the B-2 bomber, Seawolf submarine, F-22 fighter, Crusader artillery system, Comanche helicopter, and DDG-1000 destroyer all got production cut sharply, or were cancelled, when their budgets went too far out of control. So there's hope yet.

Leadership: Stop Picking My Pocket, Please Sir

Infantry: Ultra Portable Foot Bridge

 

The British Army has come up with a lightweight and portable solution to a common mobility problems their troops were having in southern Afghanistan. The problems were getting across numerous deep, but narrow, ditches, canals and crevices found in the area. The troops also often found themselves in need of ladders to get over walls, or similar obstacles. The solution was the Short Gap Crossing system. Using strong (composites) sections (each 75 cm/30 inches square) that can be snapped together quickly to create a ladder or. For use as a bridge, you can use a maximum of six sections, for a 4.5 meter/14 foot span able to handle the weight of a fully equipped soldier (up to 150 kg/330 pounds). Each section weighs less than a kilogram (2.2 pounds), and assembling four or more takes less than two minutes. Six soldiers in a squad can hang one section on their packs, without adding much weight.

Infantry: Ultra Portable Foot Bridge

Somalia: Looking For Volunteers To Invade

 

More nations are calling for going ashore in Somalia, as the Somali pirates simply use captured fishing ships (carrying or towing speedboats for attacks) to go deeper into the Indian Ocean to avoid the international anti-piracy patrol. The pirates are winning, and the shipping companies don't want the Indian Ocean turned into a pirate hunting ground. But none of the major nations, that have troops and the ability to put them ashore in Somalia, are willing to conduct such an operation. Yet. But meanwhile, more clan leaders are organizing pirate operations, and seizing ocean going fishing ships for use as mother ships that can seek victims as far as the coast of India, and beyond. The international anti-piracy patrol is responding by sending commandos to take back some ships (like large oil tankers). This is risky, but not taking risks is only making the piracy situation worse.

Some of the crews of captured fishing ships have admitted that they agreed to willingly help the pirates (by operating their ship) in return for promises of freedom after a certain number of days-at-sea or attacks. This is often the best deal a fishing ship crew can get, if the fishing ship belongs to a company that cannot afford any kind of ransom the pirates find worthwhile.

Somalia: Looking For Volunteers To Invade

Infantry: Unbreakable

 

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have found that their new Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH) is even more bullet proof than expected. While testing the ECH, it was discovered that the machine firing metal fragments at the ECH (to represent shell and bomb fragments) could not fire fragments fast enough to penetrate. The ECH was supposed to be invulnerable to pistol bullets, and it was, but some types of metal fragments were expected to still be dangerous. So ECH was tested to see how well it could resist high-powered rifle bullets. ECH was not 100 percent invulnerable, but in most cases, it would stop anything fired from a sniper rifle. Overall, it was calculated that the ECH was 40 percent more resistant to projectiles and 70 percent stronger than the current ACH helmet.

The ECH is made of a new thermoplastic material (UHMWP, or Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene). It is lighter and stronger than the Kevlar used in the ACH and earlier PASGT and, it turned out, provided much better protection as well. The ECH will begin replacing the current ACH later this year, with 200,000 being eventually purchased. The ECH costs $600 each, twice as much as the ACH. But for troops under fire, the additional cost is well worth the additional protection.

Combat helmets, which appear to be low-tech, have been anything-but over the last three decades. Advances in the design and construction of helmets have been accelerating, especially in the last decade. For example, the current ACH (Advanced Combat Helmet) recently underwent some tweaks to make it more stable. That was required because more troops are being equipped with a flip down (over one eye) transparent computer screen. The device is close to the eye, so it looks like a laptop computer display to the soldier, and can display maps, orders, troop locations or whatever. If the helmet jumps around too much, it's difficult for the solider to make out what's on the display. This can be dangerous in combat.

Infantry: Unbreakable

Warplanes: Gunships Come Out Of The Darkness

 

U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) has, for the first time since the Vietnam War, allowed its MC-130 gunships to operate in daytime. For the last four decades, it was believed too dangerous for these low, slow flying, heavily armed aircraft to operate when the sun was up. The key to this change is new weapons being used by gunships. The new, small, missiles enable the slow, large, MC-130s to operate above the range of ground fire. The new SOCOM MC-130W "Dragon Spear" is also based on an idea developed by the U.S. Marine Corps, the "instant gunship." The first one of these arrived in Afghanistan five months ago. Four months ago, it fired one of its weapons (a Hellfire missile) for the first time (killing five Taliban). Called "Harvest Hawk," the marine "instant gunship" system, enables weapons and sensors to be quickly rolled into a C-130 transport and hooked up. This takes a few hours, and turns the C-130 into a gunship (similar in capabilities existing AC-130 gunships). The sensor package consists of day/night vidcams with magnification capability. The weapons currently consist of ten Griffin missiles and four Hellfires. A 30mm autocannon is optional.

Warplanes: Gunships Come Out Of The Darkness