This is an old story, and I’ve probably written on it before, but it bears repeating. From Defense Tech:
Here’s the situation: the U.S. Army is short on bullets. And only two companies can supply ‘em. One’s in East Alton, Illinois. The other’s in Israel.
That’s a problem, American lawmakers say. The Army, back in December, inked a $70 million deal with Israel Military Industries Ltd. for small-caliber ammunition. But some congressmen don’t like the symbolism of G.I.s firing Israeli bullets at Muslims in Iraq or Afghanistan. So they’re telling the Pentagon: “by no means, under any circumstances should a round (from Israel) be utilized,” according to Reuters […]
[my emphasis]
Christ, how these medieveal sandalhumpers must lounge in the damp musky hollows of their fig-stuffed cave hideouts and chuckle at our PC-minded puffery. Hell, I’d laugh, too, if it weren’t so sad.
I mean, what is it these congressional idiots fear, exactly? That an Israeli-made bullet might tear through the torso or skull of a jihadist and leave behind a hole shaped like the the Star of David?
Couple stories like this with contemporary worries over the “symbolism” of publishing “offensive” cartoons depicting Mohammed (the symbolism in that case being something along the lines of, “our First Amendment bows before your prophet, oh ye strapping holy warriors of Allah”—though I don’t think that’s what we were going for, exactly), and you’ll understand what an uphill battle it is to win a war—especially when certain members of your own side are more concerned with the feelings of those whose sworn aim it is to kill us all than they are with providing our military the means to cut the civilian-slaughtering terrorists in half with automatic weapon fire.
I mean, if we thought shooting bagels and matzo balls at these beasts would kill them more efficiently, shouldn’t we be setting up lucrative military contracts with Einstein’s or Manischewitz? This is war, after all.
(h/t Ace and Craig C)
Some Congressmen. I wish the article spelled out which ones.
I have a guess, that fits in well with this site.
Israeli bullets ruin the meat.
Where are the pol’s with balls, chutzpah, and a wicked sense of humor?
I say buy the Isreali-made bullets, and have one of those Danish cartoons printed on them. That, or have them shaped like little cocks.
I think my skull just imploded.
We could lend the bullets to the Iraqis. Would it be like the greased round in the Sepoy Rebellion?
Everyone’s caving in. Even ComedyCentral pussed out, barring Parker & Stone from showing Mohammed in their “Cartoon Wars” episode.
If we can do this, we should. If we can’t, well – get to it, DARPA!
That sounds like a winning move. You know, for the Iraqi people.
Would it be like the greased round in the Sepoy Rebellion?
FWIW the greased rounds weren’t actually greased with cow and pork lard but with a vegetable based grease so the whole thing was an unfounded rumor seized on as a pretext for the uprising. I’m sure that some enterprising member of the reality based community right now is hatching the theory that all US kit given to the Iraqis is actually from Israel.
Cynthia McKinney don’t let me down!
Would it be possible for the U.S. to attack an enemy the way we did with the atomic bomb? Now THAT was shock and awe.
Seems that we have gone to great lengths to be the good warriors, and have gone to excessive lengths to wage the painless war with instant results. This piece over at neo-neocon elaborates on how we’ve created this paradox.
Instead of concerning ourselves with making sure that the bullets that kill our enemy aren’t manufactured in a country that enemy would object to, illuminates this bugaboo.
I’d much rather us engaging an enemy with force that is urelentingly fierce and openly in disregard of how people might feel about it. Unfortunately, that time has passed, especially with this war. It’s no wonder why the enemy sees us as feckless and wimpy.
Me? I WANT some of ‘em kosher bullets for my M1A and my AR15…
Meant to write this….
We’re overly concerned with ensuring that the bullets that kill our enemy aren’t manufactured in a country that enemy would object to, and the paradox illuminates this bugaboo.
I like the sound of that.
Great Satan, Little Satan…hmmmm, yeah let’s cut the Wee Satan out of this.
It might offend someone.
So … no Jews allowed in the Illinois factory?
How about Jews in the Army? Kick them out?
I say kick the “congressmen” out instead. Not just out of Congress. But the whole country. Make ‘em live in Saudi Arabia. Give their bodyguards guns with “jewish” bullets. See what their orders are.
What’s the big deal? Muslims have been getting their asses shot up by Israeli bullits for the last 60 years or so. You would think they would be used to it by now.
On some levels this really pisses me off but then I think about it from their perspective. It must suck to consistently get your ass kicked by someone who doesn’t even give you the respect of fighting hard. Could there be anything more immasculating than starting a fight with someone and having them just put their hand on your forehead while you swing desperately to get a punch in? Meanwhile they are getting a hummer, drinking a beer, gassing up their Porsche and organizing a huge party that you know you will never get to go to. Poor Ismlamists, sucks to be you but hey look on the brightside, at least the bullet that kills you will be made in the US of A.
I have only one word to say about this piece…
AUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
This story puts in perspective where the heads of some of our elected representatives are. A person who cared for the well being of our troops wouldn’t care if the ammo was being mass-ejected anally from an actual Israeli, they would just care that the word shortage in regards to ammo for troops currently in harms way is not an issue.
BTW – you are welcome for that image.
Oh, and kill them but make sure it’s a halaal death? We live in interesting times.
Don’t tell the ummah, but everyone already has a star shaped hole.
Ahhh, the old Chocolate Star Fish.
LOL! I thought that was an assterisk.
Does anyone recall a story about a military commander surpressing a muslim rebellion by dipping bullets in pig blood and distributing via a firing squad? One witness was left to tell the story. The rebellion abruptly ended shortly after.
Ring a bell with anyone?
OHNOES
I agree with the sentiment, but ya messed up the page, dangit.
Oh, sorry. I thought I spaced it properly.
Tis a few longer characters, not too bad… might be worse on 1024×768 or less.
Sorry.
That was Pershing in the Phillipines, I believe, although according to Snopes it is urban legend and not necessarily true.
I have to admit I like the idea.
I believe that was Black Jack Pershing in the Phillipines Insurrection. I also believe that this story has not been verified.
Ace wins. Caller “Heinz = Malkin” loses. MOVE ON dangit!
SHOOOOOOT! Wrong thread. Sorry. >_<
Oops, that wasn’t Snopes, but this is.
I thought we were supposed to kill the “enemy” with anything we could get our hands on – that would do the job.
Not only should we buy them, we should advertise like hell that we have them.
We don’t want to hurt their feelings – we just want to kill them.
To: Idiot Members of Congress
Subj: Feelings of the Enemy
“People who try to be sensitive in a war have a tendency to die, and to take their nations with them.”—Steven Den Beste, 21 Sept 2002
Just rumors of bullets that were packed in cow/pig grease actually caused (or helped inflame) quite a problem for the British when they were in India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepoy_Rebellion
I think it’s quite a valid concern that Israeli bullets would cause problems.
I mean, did you miss the whole things where Muslims were rioting over cartoons? Or that lovely movie our supposed allies made, which seemed to show that the whole Iraq war was meant as a way of acquirring organs for Jewish doctors?
Easy way to solve those problems: even more Israeli bullets ripping through even more outraged Muslims who are bent on killing us.
I’m sure that our mulsim allies will love it.
What’s really weird is that Hitler referred to atomic physics as “Jewish physics”, but that doesn’t seem to upset the clowns in Iran one bit. And Hitler is well nigh unto a prophet with that bunch. Israeli bullets should hardly appear on their mental radar screen, given that they’ve managed to get over that hurdle.
So our mulsim allies are outraged and bent on killing us?
So what is the worry for the Jihadis? What, you don’t get your virgins if you are ripped apart by Kosher bullets? Oh well……………..
The only thing that boggles my mind more than the actions of congress is He-Who-
Shall-Remain-Nameless’s comments.
Sweet Lord, it’s like brain rape. Can I file charges?
You can almost see the hourglass turn upside down and rain happy little pixels, as the actus-bot reconfigures its answer…
Of course not. They just love to see their muslim enemies humiliated according to muslim values.
The idea is that its not the ones we shoot at that are going to be upset.
I’m with actus on this one, guys…if our muslim allies don’t like it, they can love it.
So first we capitulate on the First Amendment in order to not upset our Muslim friends; now, we have to make sure our war methodology doesn’t upset them?
That has got to be among the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard suggested.
I say shoot them with uncircumcised bullets. Bigger holes.
Now if we had a gun that shot actholes…
Oh..but you do. It is called the ignore acthole pistol. It is invisible and fires non-lethal, slow acting, non-bullets. You don’t even have to pull the trigger. Actually, it is better if you don’t. You see…it just sits there, pointed at acthole’s perveted, pimply, pumpkin head….poised to fire.
Please do not feed the acthole.
Hope those non-bullets aren’t made in Israel. Wouldn’t want to offend He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named’s Mulsim (sic) friends.
TW: Friend, I kid you not. OK, there’s got to be a simple explanation. The TW generator reads the post and comments and selects random words. It has to. That, or… well, I shudder to think.
Is an Acthole cancerous?
It’s a horrible disease. It rots your brain from the inside. While your brain is completely gone, it builds an “alternative” brain that lets you think that you are super intelligent, omniscient – that only you can know the truth and pushes you to impart that truth on the great masses.
Most people have a smidgen of intelligence left and eventually that smidgen grows and consumes the “alternative” brain. That happens around the age of 40-50. There are some people who completely lose their senses and are forever ruled by the “alternative” brain such as the KKK (Kos, Kennedy & Kerry)
Fortunately most Classical Liberals, Libertarians and Conservatives have some built in immumity. Some with this disease have been misdiagnosed to have Communism as one of the symptoms is incoherently uttering, “From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs”
Acthole is extremely malignant and eats the brain out so quick most sufferers can’t even recognize it is gone.
They should just have Israel Military Industries change their headstamp from “IMI” to “NVA” ( “No Virgins Arsenal”).
Who cares if the Muslims are offended. To even allow the issue to be broached is to give into real bigotry. No thanks.
Thank you RLS
Now I can wash my hands….
And maybe before we empty our magazines into the next jihadi, we should ask him what type of bullet he prefers to be ripped apart by. This story makes me sick. Dhimmitude is becoming reality….
In the true spirit of Congress, I propose a rider to that bill:
Under no circumstance shall a “Jewish Bullet” be used in Iraq, unless it is first dipped in bacon grease…
…and only if someone in Denmark publishes cartoons of the shooting.
So I’m supposed to get up early and vote this November. Maybe not this time around. Increasingly, I am becoming convinced that Congress (living in their nice gated communities, skimming off plenty of Congressional perks, and hobnobbing with the K Street lobbyist crowd) has been selling the rest of us out since about 1965.
As far as I’m concerned, we should buy nothing BUT Israeli made ordnance.
I also think that Zacarias Moussaoui should be given life without parole and an all pork diet.
Probably the people nation building in a devout muslim country.
actus
Just how far are you willing to go to keep moslems mollified? We already have the MSM willing to self-censor. Shall we withdraw our foreign aid to Israel? Shall we take the British academic approach of dis-inviting all Israeli academics/students and not doing any joint research? Shall we forbid American students from going to Israeli colleges and universities? Demand signed loyalty oaths from American Jews? Make them wear a yellow star? Demand that American public schools be segregated by sex? Dress codes that demand girls wear long sleeves and headscarves?
Come on, actus. How far does the US have to engage in voluntary dhimmitude before you say “enough”?
Look, as a vet and the mother of a soon-to-be-commissioned officer in the Armed Forces, I quite frankly don’t give a flying rat’s ass WHERE the bullet is made that will the kill the son of a bitch who’s aiming for center mass on my kid’s torso.
Jesus, don’t these people have enough REAL work to keep them busy?
If they did, would they be in Congress?
How far ya got?
Luv,
Actus
So if I’m an Iraqi, and I hear that the US is using Israeli bullets, I’m going to join the insurgency and risk potential exposure to those bullets?
This is going to turn up on Snopes in a few weeks, isn’t it? I mean, something this stupid just has to be a hoax, right?
The enemy’s prejudices and superstitions are weaknesses that are properly exploited to our advantage. This enemy, after all, doesn’t hesitate to do the same to us, wether it’s performing beheadings or other medievel mutilations, attacking elementary schools and killing children by the hundreds, or the simple killing of innocents as they go about their daily lives. Islamist terrorism is designed explicitly to sicken the modern western conscience.
T/W: merely, as in it’s merely a BLT, and God doesn’t give a rat’s ass about it.
It’s a good thing I’m no longer in the military.
The whole point of standardized ammunition is that it’s, well, you know, sort of standardized.
My response would be to empty twenty pounds or so of each type into a bucket and deliver the bucket to the Speaker of the House with a note saying, “We will be happy to comply with your instructions, but first please examine the enclosed and tell us how to determine which is which.”
Jim in KC—no, the story isn’t Snopes-bait. Which makes it worse.
Regards,
Ric
Don’t think that it will be on Snopes. Could be wrong, though.
Maybe Mark Twain was right when he called Congress the only protected criminal class.
If insurgents start using bullets made in Africa, or in… San Francisco or something, I assume we’ll see the same displays of outrage from these same folks.
AFTER ALL, THEY’D BE INFLAMING OUR PREJUDICES!!
Not to mention that the idea of our troops firing bullets made in EAST ALTON, ILLINOIS (!!!!!) makes me want to FUCKING PUKE.
“I think it’s quite a valid concern that Israeli bullets would cause problems.
I mean, did you miss the whole things where Muslims were rioting over cartoons? Or that lovely movie our supposed allies made, which seemed to show that the whole Iraq war was meant as a way of acquirring organs for Jewish doctors?”
Yep. The problem is that our foreign policy objections are wedded to not offending a population that is so steeped in xenophobia, militantcy, and chauvinism that it is looking like even our careful steps belie a reality that we will never be able to be careful enough.
I’ve always been for reducing tensions whereever possible, and in this vein, I thought for example inviting Mongolian troops into Iraq was a true faux pax, due to the enemy propaganda value.
At the same time, when tolerating the bigotries and eccentricities of the middle ground combatant (between both sides) means that something so insigificant as this (or a South Park cartoon) is inflammatory, then we’re approaching the point where you just have to throw up your hands and say to hell with it and adjust our plans accordingly, because they’re simply beyond potential peaceful coexistence.
I’d also add that it is egged on by an appeasement streak in the West that convinces them they can get away with this crap and it’ll just be explained away or tolerated. The more we treat their ridiculous demands and anger as legitimate, the more they’ll put on airs of offense, because they know they can get away with it. If, for example, we’d told them to stuff it after the “Crusades” brouhaha, we’d likely have to put up with a lot less of their fake and pathetic uproar.
objections = objectives
TW: may, “Thank you sir, may I have another.”
Alas they learn it on our own campuses, where it is all too effective.
Wow, it may be deja-vu, but it feels so good…
If you did comment on this before, then I probably left a comment like this before…you rock!
Thankfully the impact of this news will be mitigated when the insurgents learn Jews also created bitching.
“I’d also add that it is egged on by an appeasement streak in the West that convinces them they can get away with this crap and it’ll just be explained away or tolerated. The more we treat their ridiculous demands and anger as legitimate, the more they’ll put on airs of offense, because they know they can get away with it. If, for example, we’d told them to stuff it after the “Crusades†brouhaha, we’d likely have to put up with a lot less of their fake and pathetic uproar.”
To an extent, this could also be said with regard to the carping coming out of Europe. The European Left, with its control of the media in many of the continent’s countries, will find something to fault in our efforts no matter how extensively we pussyfoot around.The more squeashmish we fight, the more ridiculous their criticisms will be. For sure, they’ll never be satisfied with the great capitalist American war machine, it is only a question of how serious we take their attempts to find fault and where we allow them to set the bar at which they begin carping.
Buy Isreali-made bullets with small hollow points loaded with pig blood.
Arent the bullets in Illinois made by infidels as well?
Is ths Allah fellow so strict that he would deny virgins to a believer just because he was shot by a guy who kept his ammo in a baggie with a ham hock?
Also, once you get your 72 virgins can you trade some of them in for a woman that knows how to screw?
Hey!! I got my free quran from CAIR on friday!
I went to their site and filled out some stuff
and a year later I get this beautiffully made book. Now I am gonna find out for my self if it is an evil religion or just used by some evil people to justify evil..ness
My grandmother worked at that Lake City ammo plant, once upon a time.
My questions were rhetorical, but in a semi-hopeful way, because although I firmly believe our elected representatives are that stupid (as they have so amply demonstrated), I am an optimist at heart and so can’t help but hold out some vague hope for them. Stupid of me, I know.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we can win the GWOT, but we only deserve to win it to the extent that we are, in fact, serious about even trying to win it. So far, that’s not evident to me in how we’re prosecuting the fronts in the wars at hand.
But remember, Clinton and Shinseki took good care of our troops! That’s why we’re down to ONE DAMN FACTORY making milspec ammo, and everyone knows where it is. Naw, that’s not a security problem…
Patton, but this is environmentally-friendly ammo!
As far as it takes to nation build a moslem country. I mean, we want to win in Iraq don’t we? Its a devout muslim country isn’t it? Its going to be more of a political victory than a military one isn’t it? That means its going to require politics as well as guns.
I think people are wrong when they focus on how upset the muslims we kill are going to be. The focus should be on how it upsets the muslims we DONT want to kill. I know everyone likes to be hip to the word ‘dhimmi,’ but I don’t think this counts. Its not quite dhimmitude when we invade their country and blow them up. Nor when we decide what sorts of decision will make that invasion work better, be more successful.
People are going to have to face the fact that we are installing a representative government in a devout muslim country. One that has not had its Attaturk, and will not be very friendly to Israel, at least not out in the open.
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”
– Mark Twain
“All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.”
– Mark Twain
“I never can think of Judas Iscariot without losing my temper. To my mind Judas Iscariot was nothing but a low, mean, premature, Congressman.”
From “Foster’s Case” NY Tribune 3/10/1873
Mark Twain
“A fool and his money are soon …. elected.”
Will Rogers
“Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what’s going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?”
Will Rogers
“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”
Will Rogers
“If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of congress.”
Will Rogers
“It’s easy being a humorist when you’ve got the whole government working for you.”
Will Rogers
It seems that things haven’t changed much in the last 150 years or so.
Methinks the penultimate word there may very well be the monkeywrench in the works of this whole project.
Note: the unelected bureaucrats gain power to the extent our elected reps lose it. There are winners and losers in the bash Congress/The Pres 24/7 game, and voters ain’t the former…
Medieveal sandalhumpers? Good one.
Personally I prefer the term “wogs”. Another good name for ‘em is “rag-heads.”
None o’ that PC stuff for me….
Heh.
You got a mouse in your pocket? Since this is the first comment of yours I’ve read in which you express an interest in winning in Iraq, did he convince you it was a good idea? Inquiring minds want to know.
I thought the standard lefty talking point was that Iraq was no threat to the US because it was a secular paradise run by Baathists who hate religion almost as much as the American left?
I realize you’re trying to be clever, but look, it matters very little where the bullets are made either to the recipients of said bullets or to any interested observers. This is simply a few congress-critters trying to make themselves sound and feel holier-than-thou by grabbing some multi-culti ass, as it were, and instead making themselves look and sound like morons.
I think it’s depressing as hell that at least some of our elected representatives would rather polish their “sensitivity” credentials than declare themselves in favor of a thorough victory over an opponent who certainly does not share any similar concerns.
We need to be far more ruthless in order to win. And it’s been ages since I read The Art of War, but I’m sure Sun Tzu would have something to say about the benefits of turning your enemy’s stupid weaknesses against him.
That’s who it was run by. But its population is not secular batthist. In case you didn’t notice, the government there didn’t really reflect the wishes of the people.
If it you say so. Sure, if it doesn’t matter to the people we want to befriend, then no problem. But to make certain, the worry is not that we upset people we want to kill, but that we upset people we don’t want to kill.
Actus, the sort of people who get worked up about this sort of stuff enough to forget the important things aren’t the ones we were going to win over anyway, indeed they’re likely the ones we need to defeat to make this work. Both actual devout Muslims (like Sistani) and liberal secularists have bigger fish to fry than Israeli bullets. Our over-sensitivity to trivial matters loses influence with them.
And of course that’s why it’s so horrible that we, along with our allies, freed them from that government.
All else being equal, why would it be more horrible to be shot by an Israeli-made bullet than to be shot? To think that something like that is true requires a stupid prejudice on the part of either the shootee or the observer. Instead of playing along with stupid prejudices, we should strive to eliminate them if possible, or to turn them to our advantage if not.
In the words of our ol’ buddy Chris Klein, we shouldn’t coddle them…
I’m ready to defer to your expert opinion on this. My only point was that we shouldn’t worry about what the people we kill think. Its that we should worry about what the people we don’t want to kill think. If you think they don’t care, then go ahead.
Of course, I mean, the muslim world in general needs a good dose of liberalism and feminism.
Aren’t all bullets coated in wax to protect gun barrels? Why aren’t we using pig fat to make that wax? Can’t America do anything right?
“If you think they don’t care, then go ahead.”
I think they care more about getting the folks terrorizing them dead. They have first-hand experience with the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of sensitivity in accomplishing this task.