THIS is exactly why Israel has banned journalists from the Gaza war zone. Thank you, TimesOnline for ruining a great first-person war dispatch and turning it into douche-baggery:

In truth, the dogs, and the near-kidnapping of Roi, represent the failure of the Israeli military operation in Gaza. After 14 days, the biggest military machine in the Middle East has achieved little. Despite more than 1,000 Israeli air sorties, this weekend Hamas continued to launch rockets and even increased their number.

About 800 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, and more than 3,000 injured, but the main fighting force of Hamas was unhurt and lay in wait for the Israelis in Gaza City and the refugee camps in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.

Read the complete article here.

As you’re at home carving bird (or fake bird as some of my veggie eating friends are doing today) and watching the game, the Godfather marathon, the Rocky marathon, or actually speaking to the assorted relatives around the dining table, remember to give thanks that you ARE at home, and not currently caught up in one of the following world-wide ordeals.

• At least 125 are dead, and over 300 wounded in India following a massive terrorist attack on 3 locations in Mumbai. The attacks also saw hostages taken, with the gunmen reportedly seeking specifically U.S. and British citizens.
• There’s an increased police presence in and around New York City subways and trains due to a potential terrorist attack that could take place during the holidays according to an FBI memo.  The threat is being listed as “plausible but unsubstantiated”, however it is still being treated with the utmost seriousness.
• In better news the Iraqi Parliament has backed the security agreement with the U.S. by a substantial majority. The agreement will see the complete withdrawl of ALL American troops by 2011, following a withdrawl from cities and in 2009 to specified military bases.  All that remains now is for approval by the 3 member Iraqi Presidential Counsel.
• And in the most random “war” to take place, Axl Rose of the infamous Guns N Roses is launching an assault on Dr. Pepper accusing them of not living up to their promise of a free Dr. Pepper for all Americans if the album Chinese Democracy was released by the end of 2008.  To make it even more interesting, the album which has been in the works for 14 years is also under attack by the Chinese State Media who, being Communist are not thrilled about the album title and the title track.

I know that neither of those last two links are really all that important or meaningful in the grand scheme of things, but it seemed a friendlier note to end on than some of the other newsbites.

Happy Thanksgiving, I’m going to go eat some turkey now.

Republican VP Candidate Sarah Palin has made much noise about the fact that her son, Track Palin, headed off to war last month.  Not to be outdone, Joe Biden’s son, Beau Biden,  is off to Iraq as well.

Just kidding, well… sort of.  It’s not a game of one-up-manship, but all the same, the timing is quite fortunate for the Democrats.  While both McCain and Palin have been taking shots at the Dems for not voting to provide more funding for the troops (it’s not about funding, it’s about time-tables.  Dems want them, Reps don’t, they each vote accordingly regardless of what else is attached to the vote) and Palin herself has a son who is off to the war that the Reps are standing behind so intensely now is a perfect time for the Dems to appear to have more of a personal stake in things.

So, good timing and best of luck to Beau Biden and his unit, as well as Track Palin and his unit as they both go to war, and serve as symbols for their respective parent’s parties.

It’s heating up the news and you’re wondering what the fuss is about. The war between Georgia and Russia is confusing, I know. Here are a few reasons why we’re paying so much attention….

1. Israel: Sophisticated weaponry have been provided to the Georgian military by Israel including airplane drones and the Israeli rocket system called Lynx. 

Israel also has a hand in infantry training and strategic recommendations to Georgia from high ranking retired Israeli officers.  It’s an interesting move by Israel who has constantly been plagued by Russia selling sophisticated equipment to their Arab enemies.

It must be noted that Israel froze arms sales to Georgia two days before war with Russia was announced.

2.  United States: Large amounts of U.S. military surplus material have been provided to the Georgian army via the Georgian Training and Equipment Program.

The picture below shows the Georgian army clearly wearing the old army BDU’s and boots (which the American army has since replaced with the digitized ACU and tan desert boots). The canteen covers still read “U.S.” on them, for christsake!

Georgian Army in U.S. Gear

Add to the mix a LONG standing U.S. struggle against Russia and it’s a recipe for disaster.

3.  Russia:  When Russia starts a war, we pay attention.  It’s as simple as that.

There have been plenty of movies released in the past few years relating to the wars in the Middle East, from the recently released “Stop Loss” and ”Home of the Brave” for fictional accounts of what war and homecomings carry for our troops, to “Baghdad ER”, “Body of War”, and “No End in Sight” for documentaries ranging from the direct experiences of the men and women of the military, to the policies and backroom dealings that have occured throughout the entirety of the war.

…and people have been avoiding them all like the plague.  Even the ones that recieved positive reviews.

I’m not going to speculate on why these have all pretty much gone unseen, instead I’m going to highlight a few things that are being shown right now that should be viewed.

The first is “Generation Kill”.  A mini-series on HBO based on the book of the same name in which an embedded reporter joins a group of Marines during the initial invasion of Baghdad and documents his experiences.  The book drew some heat on initial release due to the Marines’ outspoken displeasure with their leadership in some instances, but since has been placed as one of the books that “gets” what war is like for the guys on the ground.  The series in being touted as staying close to it’s source material and being fair in it’s depictions of the individuals portrayed in both the book and the show.

The second thing that’s being worked on right now comes courtesy of MTV (who also produced “Stop Loss” which many said was one of the least politicized takes on the war in movies to date) and rapper Kanye West, called “Choose or Lose & Kanye West present: Homecoming”.  The intent of the series is to highlight recently returned vets by sitting down with them and letting them discuss the difficulties faced in returning home.  An extra step being taken in this show is the assistance being given by West and MTV under the name of the Dr. Donda West Foundation (named for West’s recently departed mother) to the vets in the form of student loan repayment, rent coverage, and making up the differences between college costs and the coverage of the G.I. Bill which in certain instances has proven insufficient.

I’ve mocked Kanye West in the past for his lack of internal censor and his outspoken statements (Bush doesn’t care about black people ring a bell?  Not that I’m saying he was wrong, just that his delivery could use some work), but I have to say I think if handled correctly this could be a wonderful program, both to view, and for those it will help.

So there you go, things to watch out for while flipping the channels at home.

It’s a long running joke in the military that the Air Force gets the best of everything, from the cushiest rooms, to the highest level of electronic gadgets to play with- both job related, and r&r based.  It’s usually a topic that’s discussed in jest with only mild (if any) contempt carried through the thread by the ones making the wisecracks.

However, with a new project that the Air Force has in play, the Airmen themselves are turning on the hands that feed them, because the brass doesn’t think things are quite comfortable enough for them when they travel.  So they’re spending approximately $20 Million to upgrade their seating arrangements in something they’re calling Senior Leader In-transit Comfort Capsules or SLICCs.  Though in many of the pages discussing the SLICCs the word “Comfort” has been crossed out and replaced with “Conference”, in an effort to downplay the requested extravagances. 

The SLICCs are being equipped with 4 swivelling recliners with personal lamps (the recliners were originally brown, but were reupholstered to a nice “Air Force blue” to the tune of $68,240), a large wooden desk (more money spent to darken the color of the wood of which the table was constructed), beds, a couch, another table, a 37 inch flat screen TV with stereo speakers (what?  thought surround sound would be too much?) and a full length mirror.

Now, maybe it’s just me, but I remember being crammed into a civilian aircraft with multiple other units along with our armor, our gear, and our weapons, into standard seating and flying from the U.S. to Europe, then from Europe to Kuwait, and then moved out into a cargo plane with folded down bench seating and harnesses sitting in the same compartment as pallets of equipment for our flights to and around Iraq.  I’m not suggesting everyone fly in such a manor, but all things considered I think the “luxury aircraft” in which the senior leadership in the Air Force already travel is more than sufficient given the alternatives. 

Oh, it should also be noted that there are no additions of communication improvements or other work related additions to the SLICCs (unless you count a single desk as all you need).

Luckily Congress is in agreement and is doing all they can to slow the draw of funds by the project from the GWOT (Global War on Terror, because when I think war on terror, I’m thinking leather recliners and flatscreen TVs) pot. 

The project is already underway, with at least one SLICC well into construction.  So next time you meet a General from the Air Force, make sure you ask them about their flight.

More information about the SLICC, including pictures, can be found here.

The first American Deserter of the Iraq War has been sent home as of Tuesday in a move that many find surprising given that roughly 200 men and women have found refuge in our neighbor to the north since the war began in 2003.

Most Canadians have no issue with deserters, what with Canada not having backed the war in the first place, but with it’s current conservative government in place the rules about who qualifies for asylum in the country have changed greatly since, say, the days that Bill Clinton went running for the border, thus making it more difficult for those seeking a safe refuge from further deployments to war.

The man has been arrested and while the charge of desertion can carry penalties up to and including death by firing squad (no, really), it’s suspected that prison and something much like a felony charge will be his penance.

Perhaps the most surprising fact in this story, isn’t so much Canada turning away someone seeking asylum, but the face that roughly 200 men and women packed up their lives and left the all-volunteer military of the U.S. to run into the north and start over, rather than stay in the States locked into their contracts.

We talk an awful lot about Iraq, with both myself and Ms. Missive having been there ourselves, it’s something we’re likely never to leave behind, but looming large on the horizon for myself at least is the oft unspoken of fight in Afghanistan.  Across the entire state of Illinois guard units are deploying to various parts of Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF as opposed to the OIF of Operation Iraqi Freedom), another piece in the war on terror puzzle, and the new big target since the whole surge thing seems to have paid off in at minimum silencing sceptics on the state of things in Iraq. 

Knowing that Afghanistan is likely in my future (I am myself, still an active member of the Illinois National Guard), a little looking into the state of things there only made sense.  After a link sent to me by Ms. Missive, I almost wish I hadn’t.

More American and coalition troops died in Afghanistan last month than during any other month since the American-led invasion began in 2001, the latest evidence of a strengthening Taliban insurgency that has menaced NATO forces and reclaimed control over some southern and eastern parts of the country.

The violence in Afghanistan has surged at the same time as the number of attacks and American deaths in Iraq have fallen. Among the American-led forces in the two countries, 46 service members were killed in Afghanistan, compared with 31 in Iraq, the second straight month in which combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq.

Reports say that the operations in Afghanistan are under-manned, under-equipped, and basically suffering all the problems early fighting in Iraq suffered.  Hence the new push into Afghanistan while things in Iraq are (for now) calmer than they had been. 

How does the military resolve the loss of troops with the need for more troops?  NATO, while a presence in Afghanistan, is not exactly pouring new troops over the borders, so we must make up the difference.  However, the way we’re doing it is questionable at best…

As reported on here in the past, the number of wavers for criminal offenders to join the military has increased greatly since the war on terror began, and statistics now show that 30% of all recruits require wavers to enter the armed forces. 

Now I’m all for rehabilitation and attempting to turn one’s life around after mistakes made in the past.  We all join the armed forces for our own reasons.  But it’s not just unlikely, but borderline impossible that all offenders are looking to make full turn-arounds… in fact, it’s coming to light that there is an increase in gang membership in the military versus past years.

According to an FBI published report, “gang-related activity in the U.S. military is increasing and poses a threat to law-enforcement officials and national security.”

The report, released in February 2007, noted that members of nearly every major street gang — including MS-13, Bloods, Crips, 18th Street, Hells Angels and various white supremacist groups — have been identified on both domestic and international military bases.

There are no official statistics on gang membership in the military, but some experts have estimated that 1 to 2 percent of the U.S. military are gang members, FBI gang investigator Jennifer Simon said in a published article. It is believed that only .02 percent of the U.S. population are gang members.

“Gang membership in the U.S. Armed Forces is disproportional to the U.S. population,” she added.

Some experts have calculated that out of every 100 people who enter the military, two have some sort of gang affiliation.

One reason why more gang members are getting into the military is recruiting practices.

“As this war continues, recruiters have to drop their standards,” said retired Los Angeles County Sheriff Sgt. Richard Valdemar, who is a gang expert and trains various law-enforcement agencies across the country about gangs and gangs in the military.

In the Army, allowable offenses include making threats and kidnapping, according to Army Regulation 601-210.

According to a fact sheet released by the U.S. Armed Forces, since 2003 there have been at least 104 gang investigations conducted by the Criminal Investigation Command Department.

Anyone can understand the need for troops, and the difficulties in drawing new recruits in this time of unpopular war, but allowing convicted kidnappers to enlist?  Honestly? 

Of course, members of the military also join gangs after their initial deployments are finished, or in some cases while still deployed.  With the lack of group cohesion and camaraderie in the civilian world that one finds in the military, it’s easy to see how some would go out in search of that familial bond wherever it could be found.  Not to mention the difficulties one faces when returning to civilian life, whether it’s the at times near-impossible task of finding a job, returning to one’s friends and family after year(s) apart only to find that everything you know has changed, or just a complete disenfranchisement with a system that has let you down after a hollow “thanks for your service”.

Whatever the reasons, the military is hurting, we’re losing troops we need, we’re accepting troops we shouldn’t, we’re stretched thin and suffering as a result.

I know I seem to have leaped from one topic to another in this post, and perhaps I have, but on closer inspection it’s all interconnected.  Hell, 99% of the articles we write here could be connected by at least one or two strands of thought.  There are problems within all of our major systems; governing, policing, military, financial, et cetera… and they’re all combining to drag our country down into depths we’ve yet only imagined.

I find myself saying this too often it seems, but I don’t have a fix.  I don’t know anyone who does.  But I can recognize the problem, and educated discussion of the problems, not under the rug sweepings, not soundbite posturing, but analyzing and attempting real reforms are what’s needed here.  Hopefully someday we’ll have leaders who are up to the task.

On Thursday the House shocked everyone- including itself, with it’s votes on a 3-part war funding bill.

The surprise action left antiwar activists on and off Capitol Hill exultant, Republicans gloating and Democratic leaders baffled. Recriminations from all sides quickly followed.

House leaders had broken the war funding bill into three separate measures. The first, to continue funding combat operations, needed Republican votes to pass over the objection of antiwar Democrats. The second would impose strict Iraq-related policy measures strongly opposed by President Bush, and the third would fund domestic priorities, including a new G.I. Bill and levees around New Orleans.

That legislative legerdemain became the plan’s undoing. Rather than go along, 131 House Republicans voted “present” on the war funding provision, saying they were incensed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and a few of her lieutenants had drafted the bill in secret, then expected them to play along.

Reps say their action is a boycott of shady Dem dealings, Dems say the Reps had a choice between funding the war, or not funding it, and they chose to wash their hands of it altogether.

(T)he impact is likely to be short-lived. The Senate will take up its version of the war funding bill next week; it is expected to restore the war funds and strip out the policy prescriptions most disagreeable to the White House. The White House reiterated its veto threat of the overall package yesterday morning, demanding a new version stripped of policy prescriptions and domestic spending, including the bill’s $52 billion expansion of veterans’ education benefits. The supplemental appropriations vote is the last major clash on Iraq policy between Congress and Bush.

Had it become law, the House bill would have brought the total cost of the war in Iraq to around $660 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service, more expensive than any U.S. military effort except World War II.

As passed, the House bill would require troop withdrawals from Iraq to begin within 30 days, with a goal of removing all combat forces by December 2009. The Iraqi government would have to match U.S. reconstruction funding dollar for dollar, and would be required to offer the U.S. military the same fuel subsidies it provides its own citizens.

Basically as it stands, rather than continue to flush money in a situation that taxes our country’s resources and money more than we can afford, this bill will improve scholastic options for troops who have served, begin bringing the troops home as well as giving them more time off inbetween deployments to recouperate, and make the Iraqi gov’t begin to pull it’s actual fair share of the load. Sounds pretty reasonable to me, but of course reasonable dealings have never been the current admin’s strong point, as evidenced by the fact that the White House has promised to veto this thing to death should it even reach their door.

And while the improvement of educational benefits to the troops sounds like something anyone, regardless of political affiliation could get behind- leave it to Prez hopeful John McCain to try to use it as a tool for keeping the troops in the military (which in turn makes it all the more difficult to use the benefits to get to college, because, you know- deployments tend to make it hard to get to get to class on time).

The measure has attracted broad bipartisan support, but it is opposed by Bush because of its cost, its tax increase and fears that its generosity could entice service members to leave the military rather than reenlist at the end of their tours. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee, has put forward a less generous alternative that would save its richest benefits for service members doing multiple tours.

But McCain’s efforts have run into bipartisan opposition — from lawmakers, veterans organizations and educators. Former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge, a close McCain ally, came out for Webb’s measure yesterday.

“I have tremendous regard for Senator McCain, but I can’t figure out where he is right now,” said Dartmouth College President James Wright, a former Marine who helped negotiate the Webb-Warner language. “It seems to me our posture as a nation cannot be to say to servicemen and -women, ‘We do not value you unless you reenlist.’ That wasn’t the contract they signed.”

But no matter what happened in the House, expect the Senate to sink the whole thing and bring it right back to war spending where this gov’t seems to think it belongs.

No wonder we’re having such trouble finding bin-Laden (assuming anyone is really looking for the guy anymore) we can’t even really figure out if we’ve killed or captured a guy, when his is or isn’t in our presence.  We’re not really sure to tell the truth.  Confused?  I know I am.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, has not been captured, a senior U.S. military official told CNN on Friday.

Iraqi authorities said Thursday that al-Masri had been captured in Mosul.

U.S. military officials were surprised about the report of Abu Ayyub al-Masri’s capture — first reported by Iraqi media and picked up by The Associated Press. And intelligence officials said they were skeptical, even though Iraqi officials said al-Masri was already in U.S. military custody.

Al-Masri (“the Egyptian”), also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took the reins of the Iraqi al Qaeda offshoot in June 2006 after a U.S. missile strike killed his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Since then, Iraqi officials have reported his death three times, his capture twice and a mortal wounding once.

So either the guy is a zombie, a magician, a figment of our imaginations, or- all these intellegence officials are completely lacking in intellegence.  Which do you think it is?

Iraqi officials have also misreported the deaths or capture of other high-ranking insurgents, Baathists or others, including al-Zarqawi before he was killed and Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the highest ranking former member of Saddam Hussein’s regime still at large.

Al-Duri, who was the King of Clubs (No. 6) on the U.S. military’s deck of most wanted regime officials, was most recently reported captured two weeks ago by multiple Iraqi officials. He had previously been reported killed in 2005 and captured the year before.

Wow… kinda helps you sleep at night knowing the Keystone Cops are working in conjuntion with Mr. Magoo to keep Iraq, and the rest of the world, safe and secure- doesn’t it?