After blowing a halftime lead and trailing at the end of the third quarter, the Rockets blow it wide open in the final stanza to live to fight another day … and keep my interest in this NBA season alive until at least Saturday.
Now, back to blogging.
A good soldier, whether he leads a platoon or an army, is expected to look backward as well as forward, but he must think only forward.
—General Douglas MacArthur
War is adjustment. In this story, both sides adapt to the other’s tactics.
Iraqis seeking jobs with security forces were targeted once again Thursday when a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body mingled among hundreds of men and blew himself up in one of four attacks that killed 26 people.
The attacks are part of a surge of violence that has killed more than 200 since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his new government last week with seven positions still undecided.
Many recruitment centres, to prevent car bombings, have been turned into small fortresses surrounded by concrete blast walls and razor wire. But militants are striking back with an old weapon: the suicide bomber belt.
[…]
In the deadliest attack, police said an insurgent blew himself up outside an army recruitment office about one kilometre from Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to government offices, foreign embassies and U.S. forces.
At al-Yarmouk Hospital, the morgue was overflowing with mangled bodies after the blast. One man lay screaming on his bed – both his legs had been blown off. Pools of blood covered the floor.
“While we were standing in line, a man walked…right up to the heavily guarded entrance gate, as if he wanted to ask the guards a question,” said Anwar Wasfi, who was injured on his leg and arms.
“Suddenly, an explosion occurred and I was knocked over. I passed out and opened my eyes wounded in the hospital”
At least 13 people were killed and 20 wounded in the blast, Lieut. Salam Wahab said at the recruitment centre.
A similar attack Wednesday, in which a suicide bomber blew himself up in a line of police recruits in the northern city Irbil, killed 60 Iraqis and wounded 150.
Both sides will continue to adapt, though it does seem that the tactics available to the terrorists are rather limited, achieve little against Americans and do nothing to help their cause with the Iraqi populace.
Afghan Rebels Step Up Attacks, Killing 9 Near Pakistani Border
Nine Afghan soldiers were killed and three were wounded in an ambush Thursday in southern Afghanistan, in the most deadly single attack by rebels against the newly trained Afghan National Army, a military spokesman said.
US forces kill 64 Taliban militants
In the bloodiest fighting in Afghanistan in nine months, the US and government forces killed 64 Taliban-led militants, the US military said on Thursday; nine Afghan troops and a policeman were also killed.
Seven US soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which began on Tuesday. American warplanes and helicopters pounded bands of militants in clashes in Zabul and Kandahar.
That cannot be considered a Taliban success.
Rockets lead 52-45 in a must-win.
Let’s blog.
The security standards for the rebuild of NYC’s Ground Zero have changed, and the governor is now requiring accompanying changes to the “Freedom Tower” plans.
The Freedom Tower to be built on the former World Trade Center site must be redesigned to address security concerns raised by the police department, Gov. George Pataki said Wednesday following a meeting with the mayor and other officials.
“We believe that a building that meets the NYPD standards can be built consistent with (architect) Daniel Libeskind’s master site plan,” Pataki said in a statement.
The meeting between Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein, city police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and other officials was sparked by a security assessment the police department provided last month.
The New York Times reported Sunday that because of the assessment, Silverstein has proposed seeking public financing — possibly hundreds of millions of dollars — to address security concerns.
Redevelopment officials have said the completion of the 1,776-foot tower, scheduled for 2009, would be delayed by up to a year to address the security issues.
The tower is expected to be built on the former World Trade Center site as a tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and to help improve the lower Manhattan economy. It would be the tallest tower in the world.
Its cornerstone was laid July 4, 2004, but the police department’s assessment forced the architects to rethink elements of the structure — including its location on the northwest side of the 16-acre World Trade Center site, which is owned by the Port Authority.
Police have declined to talk specifically about their concerns over safety, citing security reasons.
A preliminary design intended to address the security concerns will be released in the next several weeks, said Kevin Rampe, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. president who is leaving at the end of the month.
On Monday, the mayor had said safety concerns needed to be addressed as lower Manhattan’s redevelopment continues.
“In 1993, there was a bombing at the World Trade Center, and we did not learn our lesson, and we paid for that with close to 3,000 lives,” Bloomberg said then.
“This is a building, particularly the Freedom Tower, that is built to be a symbol, and symbols are great if you are encouraged by the cause, and they are potentially a target by people that hate the cause.”
Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, who had publicly complained Tuesday of “inertia” slowing the rebuilding process, on Wednesday praised the governor and mayor for moving “quickly and decisively.” He also called for officials to “move full speed ahead” on other revitalization projects.
The complications with the Freedom Tower will not delay plans for a new performing arts center, set for 2009 or 2010, and the trade center memorial and new PATH commuter train station, both set for 2009, rebuilding officials said.
Want a symbol for the world to see? Rebuild the towers. But that’s just my opinion.
An extremely high-ranking al-Queda member, possibly its number three man, has been captured in Pakistan. With the news, USA Today borders on focusing in the popular-but-wrong direction.
When President Bush said after the 9/11 attacks that he wanted al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden “dead or alive,” few would have thought he would still be at large nearly four years later.
Wednesday brought new hope that for all bin Laden’s elusiveness, he is not entirely safe: Pakistan announced the capture of al-Qaeda’s suspected No. 3 man, Abu Farraj al-Libbi.
Al-Libbi (“the Libyan”) has a string of jaw-dropping allegations against him, including two attempts on the life of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 and one last year on the country’s prime minister. But the key part of his résumé is that he reportedly stepped into al-Qaeda’s No. 3 role after 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured, also in Pakistan, in March 2003.
The arrest is a reminder of the grinding nature of the war on terror and how progress is incremental and painstaking. It also spotlights the importance of allies — none more so than Pakistan.
After 9/11, Pakistan made the difficult decision to work with the U.S., setting Islamic militants, who hold sway in much of the country, firmly against Musharraf. The relationship is delicate for the U.S., too, since Musharraf is resisting the democracy and freedom the U.S. is also pushing, and because Pakistan has nuclear weapons.
The precise impact of removing known al-Qaeda leaders is uncertain. When one is cut down, back-ups quickly step in. Al-Qaeda cells operate independently. Still, any organization that loses about half of its top 25, as al-Qaeda has since 9/11, loses potency.
Al-Libbi was seized in Pakistan’s wild northwest region, where many believe bin Laden is hiding. Will the trail lead next to bin Laden and his deputy, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri? Al-Libbi’s capture at least revives that possibility. For now, though, removing al-Qaeda’s purported No. 3 inflicts a less-than-mortal wound. Capturing or killing No. 1 and No. 2 would do far more: removing the men whose symbiotic alliance produced the horrors of 9/11.
Look, no one wants bin Laden dead more than me. That said, I see it as a marginal issue in the war against Islamist terror. This is not a campaign against one evil man but rather a campaign against those like him and the culture that allowed him to thrive and would spew forth others of his like to replace him. The USA Today piece does do a good job of reflecting the necessarily grinding nature of this campaign, however, and of realizing the obviously diminished capabilities of the terrorists’ having to plug in understudies into a large chunk of their leadership.
What the USA Today and America need to realize is simply this: the war is not about bin Laden but presenting an alternative society to the one that spawned the beast. And that is where Iraq comes into play — the possibility of a shining Arab city on the hill.
Well, this is what I call stating the obvious — involvement in a war has stressed the military and eaten into supplies.
The United States may not be able to win any new wars as quickly as planned because the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have strained its armed forces, manpower and resources, the nation’s top military officer has told Congress in a secret report.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the US military as in a period of increased risk, according to a senior defence official.
“We will prevail,” Gen Myers said when asked about the report. “The timelines [to winning a new war] may have to be extended and we may have to use additional resources, but we’re going to be successful in the end.”
Gen Myers also predicted the risk would go down in a year or two, the official said.
“We are at war and that level of operations does have some impact on troops,” White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. “But the president continues to be confident, as well as his military commanders, that we can meet any threat decisively.” Among the most likely conflicts the Pentagon foresees in the near term are with North Korea and Iran, the two remaining members of President Bush’s “axis of evil”.
About 138,000 American troops are in Iraq. Another 18,000 are in Afghanistan. Military officials have given no precise estimate when they will be able to significantly reduce the number of US troops in Iraq, but some generals have suggested next year.
That the military, dramatically reduced from Cold War numbers, would quickly feel the burden of conflict in two theaters while trying to maintain a ready posture in others is to be expected. So, too, the questioning of resources, as there has been zero effort towards moving the country to any sort of a war economy.
I like the spin that we would be unable to win another war “as quickly as planned” but don’t believe it, as the truthfulness of the statement would really depend upon which war is in question.
In the case of a move into the south by North Korea, I completely believe it, as our forces there have historically been a tripline of sorts. Any action against North Korea has been envisioned as a large advantage in numbers for the communist North and a tremendous advantage in technology and training for the U.S. and South Korea. Add to that decisive advantages of air and naval dominance and the inherent strength of initially fighting on the defensive and you have the long-held formula for Korea: hold on against the numerically-superior onslaught until the allied advantages nullify it and sufficient assets are brought to bear to counterattack..
I also see the slowed-but-certain victory as accurate if conflict with Iran or Syria rolls around. The issue with Iran is that, should push come to shove before our military has had a sufficient recovery period, I envision a much bloodier campaign for the Iranian people than I would’ve hoped would ever be needed. There is a strong undercurrent for democracy among a large portion of the Iranian populace and, given time and successful democratic governments in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq, this undercurrent could turn into a violent undertow that threatens to drag under the ruling radical theocracy. Should the Iranian government feel this danger and press the issue with the U.S. before the Army and Marines are back to near-full capability, the war would have to be carried from above. And I ain’t talking about with a delicate touch; I mean the brutality of the “Shock and Awe” that was threatened against Iraq but never truly utilized. That would be necessarily tragic.
My main question about Myers’ statement is China. If they move against Taiwan, something they are not currently ready for but are upgrading and training for at breakneck speed, time would be of the essence. Defense of Tiawan does not allow for a buying-time mentality. Any invasion would have to be stopped, as success would hinge on preventing any foothold and build-up by the Chinese. To recover Taiwan after a successful Chinese occupation would be for naught — even if the commies are finally, bloodily expelled, Taiwan would be essentially a nation existing in the past tense.
On a day when new survey results show that 57 percent of adult Americans do not believe our efforts in Iraq are worth the cost, the Army has released detailed data showing that its recruiting continues to hemorrhage, falling short of its April goal by a heart-breaking 42 percent.
The U.S. Army missed its April recruiting goal by a whopping 42 percent and the Army Reserve fell short by 37 percent, officials said on Tuesday, showing the depth of the military’s wartime recruiting woes.
With the Iraq war straining the U.S. military, the active-duty Army has now missed its recruiting goals in three straight months, with April being by far the worst of the three, and officials are forecasting that it will fall short again in May.
The all-volunteer Army is providing the majority of the ground forces for an Iraq war in which nearly 1,600 U.S. troops have died.
The active-duty Army signed up 3,821 recruits last month, falling short of its goal of 6,600 for April, Army Recruiting Command spokesman Douglas Smith said. That left the Army 16 percent behind its year-to-date goal, officials said.
The Army is striving to attract 80,000 recruits in fiscal 2005, which ends Sept. 30. The Army has not missed an annual goal for signing up new soldiers since 1999, and had not missed a monthly goal since May 2000.
[…]
The Army Reserve, a force of part-time soldiers who train regularly and can be called to active duty in times of need, signed up 849 recruits in April, short of the monthly goal of 1,355, Smith said. That left the Army Reserve 21 percent behind its year-to-date goal.
A senior Army official, who asked not to be named, said the Army Reserve will “probably not” achieve its annual goal of 22,175 recruits.
The Army National Guard said it did not yet have its April numbers, but has missed its recruiting goal in every month of the current fiscal year through March and was 23 percent behind its year-to-date goal at that time. It missed its fiscal 2004 annual goal.
Military recruiters have said potential recruits and their parents were expressing wariness about enlisting during the Iraq war. They said improving civilian job opportunities also were affecting recruiting.
Has the war gone that poorly? Has the situation turned that dire? Or is the public being sold a negative bill of goods by the media? The networks and most papers wail with bad news while paying only passing attention to any progress, except when the situation absolutely demands it (the only recent moment that comes to mind is the success of the January elections). Barring such demand, the old saying in sensationalist journalism is that a building that does not burn is not news.
As evidence that the situation on the ground is not as bad as the public is being led to believe, let’s check with the people on the ground.
Col. Joe Curtin, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said the Army was ahead of its targets for reenlisting current soldiers. “At the same time, we have a challenge of bringing new members into our ranks, but we’re optimistic we’ll meet that goal by the end of the summer,” Curtin said.
People involved in a disaster don’t stick around in better-than-expected numbers.
‘Tis a shame that, on a day when history is being made by the swearing in of the first-ever Iraqi government resulting from popular elections and reflecting the diversity and will of the Iraqi people, America is being coaxed methodically towards a repeat of an earlier historical moment, an event when the American media betrayed the country’s military and truth with their poor, slanted selling of an alternate reality. Ah, Tet — a repeat is not in the best interest of our nation or, indeed, the future of western civilization, but that doesn’t stop some from pushing for it.
Perhaps my post last night portrayed a tad too negative view of the war against Islamist terror, although it looks like I may have been dead on about the trouble the murderers are having recruiting martyrs. A captured letter released today shows that the fodder shortage may just be the tip of the terrorists’ troubled iceberg.
U.S. forces in Iraq have captured what they say is a letter from a key supporter to insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, indicating that there is a split in the insurgency, which the letter blames on poor leadership.
The U.S. command in Iraq says troops found the letter during a raid in Baghdad last Friday. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman says experts have confirmed its authenticity as message from senior aide Abu Asim Yemeni to the insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi.
“The letter is important because it highlights the fact that Zarqawi’s influence and effectiveness may be deteriorating. It describes low morale and weak and incompetent leadership, and goes on to allege to Zarqawi that he has abandoned his followers because he is now a fugitive himself,” he said.
According to a translation of the letter provided by U.S. forces in Iraq, it describes some trouble between groups of insurgents that the apparent writer, Mr. Yemeni, says “cannot be forgiven.” He reports to his old friend Mr. Zarqawi that “morale has weakened” and “lines have become separated due to some leaders’ actions.” The letter says, “We have leaders that are not capable of being good leaders” It also expresses suspicion about some envoys who claim to speak for Mr. Zarqawi, and warns him not to believe everything his closest aides tell him.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
Let’s throw this story around the horn, blogosphere-style
First, our allies.
Italy has chosen to dispute the U.S. report on the checkpoint incident that cost the life of Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari. The Italians have apparently been heavily influenced by popular support for the “hostage” rescued, communist and anti-American journalist Giuliana Sgrena, she of the ever–changing story.
Still, in retrospect, Italy looks brave compared to the Philippines and Spain.
Despite these poor examples of supposed allies, let’s take a look at what’s going on in those nations cold-chillin’ on the sidelines. Chad at In the Bullpen brings truly ugly news: countries are paying tribute to al-Quida for temporary local peace.
I’m not sure which is more disturbing; information that Qatar is paying off Al Qaida to prevent attacks or that a Qatari official says this is happening in other countries as well.
No good news on any of these fronts today. No, not really.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, the terrorists continue trying for another Tet, the model for a military failure and media succuss that I said repeatedly was their new goal. Now, they are threatening to get the media play that would enable them to achieve it. Check out these headlines currently on Google News:
Iraq Violence Unabated as 23 More Die
Iraqi Leaders Seek Deal Amid Bloodshed
New Iraq leaders face violent surge
2nd Day of Deadly New Iraq Mayhem
Death toll rises as Iraq insurgents strike at will
This is certainly bad. However, this ain’t 1968 and, hopefully, the true state of affairs can get past leftist and leftist-leaning media manipulation.
Along with this, while the U.S. may have recruiting issues of its own, apparently so do the terrorists in Iraq. Dr. Rusty Shackleford at the Jawa Report blogs on the heinous motivation that may be driving some of these suicide bombers — terrorist blackmail based on kidnapping of wives and children.
So, let me get this straight. Zarqawi is now capturing women and children, and then telling the fathers that if they don’t blow themselves and a few infidels up then he’s going to chop their heads off?
Well, that certainly makes the American recruiting issue seem like a small matter. The Islamist bastards seem to be running short of volunteering explosive cannon fodder, so they’ll use foul terror to generate their own martyrs. Somehow, I doubt this is within the teachings of the so-called religion of peace.
See if that little sick tidbit gets any ink anytime soon. If any news like this takes hold among the Arab people, all the previous bad news means nothing. The terrorists’ desperation for Tet may just prevent their own Tet as the ways of the evil operations come to light.