All Things Considered

Sorry - on a little bit of a hiatus during the holidays.

More reading on the Humvee armor question and the troops on the ground. (Link provided by Mike)

To the media, it was a dramatic revelation of Bush administration hypocrisy and incompetence: A lowly American GI courageously speaks truth to power, thus showing that the emperor has no clothes. But to this Marine veteran of the Iraq war, the hullabaloo over Army Spc. Thomas J. Wilson's question reveals far more about media bias, prejudice and ignorance than it does about the U.S. military and Iraq.

Spc. Wilson asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why, nearly two years after the start of the war, his unit still has too few "up-armored" humvees. The media were surprised that an enlisted man would ask so direct and pointed a question of the Pentagon's highest official. I wasn't.

I enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve after Sept. 11, 2001, and served in Iraq in 2003. Throughout boot camp, combat training and subsequent preparation for war, my instructors always stressed the importance of independent thinking and initiative. Obviously, when you're in the middle of a firefight, you cannot--and must not--second-guess split-second command decisions. However, when preparing for war, thoughtful and considered questions are not only tolerated; they are encouraged--even demanded, I found.

As one of my combat instructors told us: "Marines, you're more likely to die from someone doing something stupid than because the enemy is skilled and ingenious. So make sure you've thought things through and that everyone's on the same page. Be polite. Be tactful. But don't be afraid to ask questions."

Aggies in the national news, but not exactly for the best of reasons.

Aggies started camping out last Sunday to buy tickets for this season's SBC Cotton Bowl, in which A&M plays the University of Tennessee in Dallas on New Year's Day.

At 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning, an unnamed woman marched right past snoring football fans and took her place at the head of the line.

When the campers woke up at around 6 a.m. and began protesting, she grabbed the posted sign-up list of students who'd been waiting for days — and ate it.

"The piece of paper doesn't justify a spot in line to me if no one is standing there," the anonymous woman, a senior, later told the Battalion, the student newspaper. "If they wanted a spot, they should've woken up."

A spokesman for the university's athletic department said students had been putting their names on lists while waiting for tickets since at least 1985.

"[She] walked up in the line and people were trying to explain to her that she had to put her name on the list," said sophomore Amineh Baradar. "She didn't want to because she said [keeping lists of who was there first] wasn't an official university policy."

The culprit:

Chris Farley is alive and well and eating Cotton Bowl ticket lists in College Station.

The message boards are eating this story up - pun intended. If you have some time, check out the Sooner board. Hilarious.

Okay, you got me. It's time for Rumsfeld to go. Somehow.....someway. I can't stand the guy. Another ringing endorsement.

Schwarzkopf, interviewed on MSNBC-TV’s “Hardball,” chided Rumsfeld for his reply to a soldier in Kuwait over the lack of armor on many military vehicles used in Iraq.

“I was very, very disappointed — no, let me put it stronger — I was angry by the words of the secretary of defense when he laid it all on the Army, as if he, as the secretary of defense, didn’t have anything to do with the Army and the Army was over there doing it themselves, screwing up,” Schwarzkopf said.

Here is another example of how completely ridiculous liberals have become.

Lieberman says no to being Homeland Security Chief

by PLS
Tue Dec 14th, 2004 at 19:11:49 PST

Update [2004-12-14 22:19:23 by Armando]: Promoted from the diaries by Armando. Title Edited "Loserman" becomes Lieberman. Everybody knows I'm not Joe's biggest fan. But if this is true, big ups to Joe. He must know we hate him, but he was a good enough Dem to pass on something he probably would have very much wanted to do.] (Author's bold and italics)

Aaron Brown reporting that Lieberman [Diarist wrote "Loserman"] has said no for the second time to the WH regarding taking the Homeland security post, and that he has also turned down being the American ambassador to the UN.

Humm... glad he is saying no. But the fact that he has repeatedly asked to serve in this administration shows just how loyal he has been.

Oh, and Zell Miller has accepted a job at Faux as a comentator. What a surprise, huh?

Let me get this straight: Bush appoints conservatives and people that have served with him before....and you blast him. Bush appoints people in your party to high positions in his cabinet....and you blast him. "But if this is true, big ups to Joe." Huh? What kind of idiot is this Armando? Lieberman turns down a high cabinet position and you applaud him? Mark this down: next person that Bush appoints, he will get blasted for only choosing "his" people. These guys at Daily Kos are so out of touch it's not even funny.

There are days that I absolutely love John McCain and there are days that I just cannot stand him. I think this is a complete cheap shot at the President. Now, that's not to say that McCain doesn't have a point. I have said many times that I am not a fan of Rumsfeld and, honestly, I probably lean more to this way of thinking. However, that being said, I think this kind of rhetoric needs to be passed on behind closed doors. I don't doubt that McCain has already said something along these lines to President Bush already. What is the point of saying this out loud on front of the cameras? I cannot understand the angle McCain is trying to take here.

U.S. Sen. John McCain said Monday that he has "no confidence" in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, citing Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq and the failure to send more troops.

McCain, speaking to The Associated Press in an hourlong interview, said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld's resignation, explaining that President Bush "can have the team that he wants around him."

"I have strenuously argued for larger troop numbers in Iraq, including the right kind of troops — linguists, special forces, civil affairs, etc.," said McCain, R-Ariz. "There are very strong differences of opinion between myself and Secretary Rumsfeld on that issue."

When asked if Rumsfeld was a liability to the Bush administration, McCain responded: "The president can decide that, not me."

Another example of "I take my life in America for granted". (Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan)

A teenage girl with a mental age of eight is facing the death penalty for prostitution in Iran. The trial comes only four months after the hanging of another mentally ill girl for sex before marriage in a case that has prompted a human rights lawyer to prepare a charge of wrongful execution against the presiding judge.

The girl, known as Leyla M, is in prison while the Supreme Court decides on her "acts contrary to chastity", among the most serious charges under Iranian law. Under the penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be executed.

Interesting post by Adam Yoshida on the West versus Islam. I am not sure that I agree completely, but it's tough to discount what he has to say. (My bold and italics)

I hate to admit to it but, in the weeks immediately following September 11th, I initially bought into the widely-circulated platitudes about the ‘peaceful’ nature of Islam. It would be fair to say (if one were trying to put it as mildly as possible) that my position has since changed.

Many have noted in recent months that I’ve spent an increasing amount of time discussing the broader Islamic threat as opposed to merely the Islamist threat. That’s because I’ve come to a simple conclusion: if Western Civilization is to survive, Islam must be destroyed. The two are not compatible and cannot co-exist on a single planet.

Some of the bolder souls on the right have moved beyond the initial belief that the present war is merely against “terrorism” to the more specific belief that we are fighting “Islamists.” But, allow me to ask a question: how are we to distinguish what is Islamist from what is merely Islamic? The answer, in truth, is that we can’t. The Islamist operative planning to blow up the Sears Tower is to the Moslem in Tehran what the Communist agent in Washington was to the Moscow factory worker in the Cold War. Both are part of the same evil system, only their guilt differs.

Fantastic letter posted at Powerline which, I think, truly exemplifies why we are in this war with Iraq. (Mt bold and italics)

Reader Harold Stones works for Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas. Mr. Stones writes:

I have become friends with Chris Phelps, a young Marine officer. Chris emailed me that he was about to be deployed for his second tour of duty in Iraq. He is married, has four sons, all younger than 7. I responded that I doubted his wife, Lisa, was overjoyed and, allthough her parents live nearby, I asked Chris to give her my office, home and cellphone numbers in the event they need anything. I think his message is well worth sharing.

Of course, we agree. Here is the response from Major Phelps that Mr. Stones forwarded to us:

No Lisa isn't happy, and I was just talking to my two oldest sons last night about sacrifice. (Sort of prepping the battlefield, but we've talked about the subject for two years.) I want them to understand the topic and what it means to be an American....really more what it means to stay an American and what citizens of this great country must do to secure that concept. It's amazing how a 6.5 and a 5 year old can really understand it, and actually converse back with an adult on the topic. It's going to be hard on them.

I hope I'm not too naive but this is what's in my head. I continually tell myself and I wholeheartedly believe that if we as a country can confront terrorism and rouge nation-states that support terrorist acts and if we can bring peace, hope, freedoms, and democracy to a country in the heart of the Middle East while at the same time solidifying the security, freedom, and liberties of this great nation then my sacrifice is inconsequential. If I am asked to partake in some small way to accomplish this goal then I say take me before my four sons are confronted with this problem in 20 years and they are forced to clean up a problem that has only festered, become increasingly worse and a problem that we should have confronted twenty years earlier. We are doing the right thing, and America needs to stand united and reaffirm to themselves every now and then that we are in fact doing the right thing. I think I'm a free minded thinker, and I'm not "brainwashed" by the President, Mr. Rumsfield, or some "right wing propaganda conspiracy theory." I really think we're attempting to accomplish something monumental. I guess we'll see.

Mr. Stones, you've been good to my family and so has Senator Roberts. Thank you for that. I look forward to seeing you again.

Best regards,
Chris Phelps
Major, United States Marine Corps

Agree 100%. Thank you for your service, Major Phelps.

Now it's official. I am not sure how you could think anything other than poison. This has to be one of the strangest things I have ever seen.

Austrian doctors said Saturday that Viktor Yushchenko, who faces a Dec. 26 runoff in Ukraine against the Kremlin-backed candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, was poisoned with dioxin as he campaigned for President.