Archive for: March 2009

Is this helping matters, do you think?  In response to Alan Colmes’s self-serving bit of revisionist history:
“Leave Obama alone?” Fuck him, and you. We’d all be better served if he left us alone. But being a socialist tyrant, that …

Great article at American Thinker that connects up with what I was on about yesterday, on self-loathing and sympathy for The Other.
But this is not about chimps, nor about native peoples. I’m only talking …

There is, of course news of the other sort. But the bad news is easy to find and usually much more widely discussed. Here instead is a round up of the positive news stories from 10 to 23 March 2009 from Iraq. I focus on this, not only to attempt to balance the scales in the tone department, but to tweak the noses of those who seem to know all about the costs of these endeavors and nothing of their value.
__________________________________________________

SECURITY

Multinational Force

Six Years Into Operation Iraqi Freedom, Prospects Improve for Iraqi People
Source:American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 19, 2009 — Prospects for the Iraqi people “get better every day,” with the Iraqis now solving their problems “politically, and not with guns,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said on 18 March as Operation Iraqi Freedom marks its sixth anniversary. Violence is down in virtually every category: fewer civilian, coalition and Iraqi security force casualties, fewer insurgent bombings and suicide attacks, and less ethno-sectarian violence. The mission of U.S. forces in Iraq will fundamentally change after Aug. 31, 2010. At that point, the U.S. military will have three tasks: –

Train, equip and advise the Iraqi security forces;
Conduct targeted counterterrorism operations; and
Provide force protection for military and civilian personnel.

And, except for counterterrorism operations conducted in close coordination with the Iraqi government, U.S. forces will cease combat operations. Multinational Force Iraq will be redesignated as a transition force headquarters consisting of a single headquarters, several advisory and assistance brigades and appropriate supporting forces, Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a Defense Department spokesman said.

Coalition Jets Shoot Down Iranian Drone Over Iraq
Source:American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 16, 2009 — Coalition jet fighters shot down an Iranian drone that was hovering over Iraq late last month, Multinational Force Iraq officials confirmed on 16 March. The incident occurred Feb. 25, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, officials said in a statement. Two coalition aircraft were directed to visually identify the unmanned aerial vehicle after it was detected hovering inside the Iraqi border. The pilots confirmed that it wasn’t a coalition aircraft and that no collateral damage would result from a shoot-down.

On the Ground: U.S. Forces Perform Dual Role in Securing, Developing Iraq
Source:American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 13, 2009 — U.S. forces in Iraq increasingly are working on civil affairs projects to develop the country, while continuing to provide security so that progress can happen throughout, military officials report. Soldiers assigned to the Army’s 641st Civil Affairs Team helped bring a water filtration system to a village near Badra. Thanks to an Iraqi commander’s emergency response program water filtration project, they now have clean drinking water at the flick of a switch, right in the heart of their village.

in gay joke smuggling ring. Breakthrough tip said to have come from waterboarded suspect.

according to Moncrief (via Flopping Aces):
Heather Heidelbaugh, who represented the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee in the lawsuit against the group, recounted for the Committee what she had been told by a former ACORN worker who had worked in the …

Via Jonah at the Corner, TS Eliot’s Snort of Rejection for Animal Farm.
“We have no conviction that this is the right point of view from which to criticise the political situation at the current time,” wrote Eliot, adding …

Via Charles at LGF—whom I don’t think we can persuade to join the OUTLAW brigade—a plea from David Horowitz to knock off the ODS junque.
Conservatives, please. Let’s not duplicate the manias of the Left as we figure out how …

A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these …

Not.

Plus, Bamyan Buddhas revisited. Soon to come, printing of Dante will be prevented as a hate crime in Europe.

More Dodd scandal: AIG kickbacks?

Via Weasel Zippers comes this amazingly disturbing article:
JUDGES should interpret the Constitution according to other nations’ legal “norms.” Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts. The United States constitutes an “axis of disobedience” along with …