Tag: Military

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Finally, ‘Winning’ in Iraq, Afghanistan, Defined

Buck Banks

Military intelligence: At a press conference last week, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace said winning the war on terrorism will be determined by conditions, not a signature on a treaty. Well, duh!

‘Winning is having security in the countries we’re trying to help that allows for those governments to function and for their people to function.’

“Winning is having security in the countries we’re trying to help that allows for those governments to function and for their people to function,” he said. “Washington, D.C., has crime, but it has a police force that is able to keep that crime below a level at which the normal citizens can go about their daily jobs and the government can function. That’s what you’re looking for on the war on terrorism, whether it be Iraq, Afghanistan or anyplace else.”

So, the goal here, if I understand it correctly General, is to make Baghdad and Kabul as safe as our nation’s capital?

In 1960, there were about 27 crimes per thousand residents in Washington, D.C. In 2005, there were 62 per thousand. Of course, over that period of time, the population of D.C. actually fell from 764,000 to 551,000 — a reduction of 214,000, or 28 percent — while the crime rate increased by 57 percent. So Washington is actually a more dangerous place than it was 45 years ago. And Baghdad and Kabul are both more dangerous now than they were before we started the war on terror.

So maybe Washington is an appropriate benchmark for what constitutes a win in the war on terror, after all.

Surprise! Bush Will Have Warships in Position and Ready to Bomb Iran This Saturday

Jon Ponder

Bombing Could Start 17 Days before Mid-Term Elections

Based on stories last month in Time magazine and The Nation, it appears that the U.S.S. Eisenhower Strike Group left Norfolk, Virginia, on Oct. 1 and will reach the shores of Iran at the Strait of Hormuz this Saturday, Oct. 21 — 17 days before the mid-term elections.

First word of the Eisenhower’s deployment to the Persian Gulf came from angry Navy officers, who contacted military critics of the Iraq war and complained that they were being sent to attack Iran without any order from the Congress.

According to the mid-September 2006 article in The Nation, the strike group includes:

[The] nuclear aircraft carrier Eisenhower as well as a cruiser, destroyer, frigate, submarine escort and supply ship…

And:

First word of the early dispatch of the “Ike Strike” group to the Persian Gulf region came from several angry officers on the ships involved, who contacted antiwar critics like retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner and complained that they were being sent to attack Iran without any order from the Congress.

“This is very serious,” said Ray McGovern, a former CIA threat-assessment analyst who got early word of the Navy officers’ complaints about the sudden deployment orders. (McGovern, a twenty-seven-year veteran of the CIA, resigned in 2002 in protest over what he said were Bush Administration pressures to exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq. He and other intelligence agency critics have formed a group called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.)

Colonel Gardiner, who has taught military strategy at the National War College, says that the carrier deployment and a scheduled Persian Gulf arrival date of October 21 is “very important evidence” of war planning. He says, “I know that some naval forces have already received ‘prepare to deploy orders’ [PTDOs], which have set the date for being ready to go as October 1. Given that it would take about from October 2 to October 21 to get those forces to the Gulf region, that looks about like the date” of any possible military action against Iran. (A PTDO means that all crews should be at their stations, and ships and planes should be ready to go, by a certain date–in this case, reportedly, October 1.)

So why has the president sent the strike group to Iran?

[…]

Annual Army Association Convention Serves Up Some Real Insights

Buck Banks

Military intelligence — not your father’s oxymoron: How did I miss this convention? Sounds like a real good time was had by all, and if all the panels were as productive of outside-the-box thinking as the one on irregular warfare and counterinsurgency operations, then I could just kick myself. Here are some of the more insightful comments:

“I don’t see conventional challenges to be dominant for a long time,” said Conrad Crane, director of the U.S. Army Military History. “Our enemies are going to make us fight this kind of war until we get it right,” Crane said. “This is our future.”

‘Our enemies are going to make us fight this kind of war until we get it right.’

“This is revolutionary” — building democracies and helping them establish capitalist economies and open and public police forces and judicial systems, said Kalev Sepp, assistant professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, Calif. “The mission is too broad to put on the shoulders of the military alone,” he said. “It has to be interagency.”

“We will not prevail with the force of arms alone,” Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, agreed.

“We are much closer to the beginning than the end of this long conflict,” he said, emphasizing the need for public support and financial backing to ensure the mission succeeds.

“Ultimately, victory requires a national strategic consensus, evident in both words and actions,” Schoomaker said. “While such a common strategic foundation, understood and accepted by the American people, existed during the Cold War, … it is not yet evident that such common understanding exists today.”

Foley’s Not the Story

Buck Banks

From the Armed Forces Information Service: Four Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers died at about 9 a.m. yesterday when terrorists attacked their patrol with indirect and small-arms fire northwest of Baghdad. The names of the soldiers are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department released the identities of five soldiers and one Marine who were killed recently supporting the war on terror.

Marine Capt. Justin D. Peterson, 32, of Davisburg, Mich., died Oct. 1 from a non-hostile vehicle accident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Army Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman, 46, of Bayside, N.Y., died at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, on Oct. 1 from a non-combat related incident. Lannaman was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1569th Transportation Company, Newburgh, N.Y.

Army Sgt. Joseph W. Perry, 23, of Alpine, Calif., died on Oct. 2 in Muhallah, Iraq, when his mounted patrol came in contact with enemy forces using small-arms fire. Perry was assigned to the 21st Military Police Company, 16th Military Police Brigade, 18th Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Army Spc. Angelo J. Vaccaro, 23, of Deltona, Fla., died Oct. 2 in Korengal, Afghanistan, from injuries suffered during combat operations. Vaccaro was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Rojas, 27, of Hammond, Ind., died on Oct. 3 in Baghdad from injuries suffered from enemy small-arms fire while performing security operations. Rojas was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd
Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Ala.

Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Isshak, 25, of Alta Loma, Calif., died on Oct. 3 in Tikrit, Iraq, from injuries suffered when his vehicle received enemy small-arms fire at Hawija during combat operations. Isshak was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Tammy Duckworth Did Not Cut and Run, Mr. President

Jon Ponder

Last week, in one of the lowest moments of his miserable presidency, George W. Bush accused the Democratic Party of becoming “the party of cut and run.” Tammy Duckworth, the Democrat running for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) who lost both her legs in when her helicopter took fire in Iraq, has an answer for the president:

“Well, I didn’t cut and run, Mr. President. Like so many others, I proudly fought and sacrificed, Duckworth said. “My helicopter was shot down long after you proclaimed ‘mission accomplished.”

And neither did the 60 or so other Democratic veterans running for Congress this year.

Cold War Officially Over – U.S. Withdraws Troops from Iceland

Buck Banks

‘g skil ekki: It’s official – the Soviet Union no longer poses a threat to Iceland, and, as of tomorrow, the U.S. military presence that held Nazism and Communism at bay for 65 years will end. Despite the fact that the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, heralding the break-up of the USSR, the U.S. has maintained a troop presence in Iceland for … some reason.

According to the Armed Forces Information Service’s press release, we’ve kept troops in Iceland because of the contemporary threats of terrorism, international crime and drug trafficking. And, while those threats still persist, it appears the need for more cannon fodder in Iraq and Afghanistan outweighs the threat to our NATO ally Iceland.

Bless, Reykjavik!

Is There a Pentagon Patsy in the Audience?

Buck Banks

Planting questions: A few days ago Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, chair of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, had a Q&A session with some lower-echelon staffers at the Pentagon. Now, it is entirely possible that it wasn’t staged and the questions weren’t planted, but … here, you be the judge. This is from the press release issued by the DoD today:

“Negativity in the press is absolutely detrimental to the morale of our forces and our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Cpl. John A. Stukins said to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Sept. 22 town hall meeting.

“What are we doing to confront this problem and to better the morale of our forces over there — not only over there, but here as well?” asked Stukins, a 23-year-old administrative specialist from Lafayette, La., who works with the Marine Staff at the Pentagon.

Rumsfeld and Pace both congratulated Stukins for asking his question.

Fielding Stukins’ query, Pace said there was around-the-clock media coverage of the overseas exploits of the U.S. military early on during the global war on terrorism.

“We had television, newspapers, magazines,” Pace explained. “If you were interested, you could read as much as you wanted and you could watch as much as you wanted, and you could form your own opinions.”

‘I also have the right to respect your right to be wrong.’
— Cpl. John Stukins

However, as the conflict continued, other issues began to compete with military news for radio or television airtime or newspaper or magazine copy inches, Pace said.

“News is a business, and now the news cycle is such that only certain amounts (of coverage) of every day are allocated to coverage of the war,” Pace said. “And, unfortunately, the parts of the war that then become shown are the parts that capture people’s attentions.”

And, more often than not, Pace noted, today’s military news coverage in Iraq and Afghanistan seems to focus on “where the bombs are going off,” instead of “where the schools are being built and the like.”

So, the general said, it’s important that department leaders and rank-and-file military members tell the public about the good, as well as the not-so-good, military news from overseas.

So Stukins is like the Radar O’Riley character in M*A*S*H, a paper-pusher. He just happened to be able to string together his two-part question well enough to give his bosses a segue into politely telling the rest of the staff to keep their mouths shut about the negative stuff.

In an interview later with American Forces Press Service, Stukins used the term “reprehensible” to describe people who criticized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the media. And he left us this gem:

Stukins says he’s a firm believer in freedom of speech as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights. “But, I also have the right to respect your right to be wrong,” he said.

Thanks, Corporal! And we respect your right to be a tool of the military-industrial complex.

Gardiner Says U.S. Already Conducting Military Ops in Iran

Buck Banks

War’s on: A retired Air Force colonel is making the rounds in the media saying that the United States government is already conducting military operations inside Iran, and is preparing to start targeted bombing attacks. Sound familiar?

Just now on CNN, Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner (Ret.) said, “We are conducting military operations inside Iran right now. The evidence is overwhelming.”

Gardiner, who taught at the U.S. Army’s National War College, has previously suggested that U.S. forces were already on the ground in Iran. Today he added several additional new points:

  • The House Committee on Emerging Threats recently called on State and Defense Department officials to testify on whether U.S. forces were in Iran. The officials didn’t come to the hearing.
  • “We have learned from Time magazine today that some U.S. naval forces had been alerted for deployment. That is a major step.”
  • “The plan has gone to the White House. That’s not normal planning. When the plan goes to the White House, that means we’ve gone to a different state.”
‘The real U.S. policy objective is not merely to eliminate the nuclear program, but to overthrow the regime’

In a press release issued by the Century Foundation today, Gardiner asserts that Bushco is making plans to bomb Iran into submission:

In a new report for The Century Foundation, Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner warns that some in the Bush administration are making the case for air strikes aimed not only at setting back Iran’s nuclear program, but also at toppling the country’s government. He says that these officials are undeterred by the concerns of military leaders about whether such attacks would be effective.

“If this uncertainty does not appear to worry the proponents of air strikes in Iran it is in no small part because the real U.S. policy objective is not merely to eliminate the nuclear program, but to overthrow the regime,” he writes. “It is hard to believe, after the misguided talk prior to Iraq of how American troops would be greeted with flowers and welcomed as liberators, but those inside and close to the administration who are arguing for an air strike against Iran actually sound as if they believe the regime in Tehran can be eliminated by air attacks.”
[…]

New Rules for Military Interrogations from a Kinder, Gentler Dept. of Defense

Buck Banks

Humane HUMINT: Wednesday, President Bush announced that the Department of Defense had released a new handbook that provides guidelines for interrogation that is designed to avoid the kinds of excesses and abuses perpetrated by military personnel, intelligence officers and contractors at Abu Ghraib Prison. The DoD even issued a press release about it (cue the martial music):

“The work which our interrogators do … saves lives, … U.S. lives, coalition lives and innocent civilian lives,” said Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence. “And we’re immensely proud of the accomplishments of our interrogator workforce.”

Kimmons said the new Army Field Manual 2-22.3, “Human Intelligence Collector Operations,” provides specific guidelines for those directly involved in detention and interrogation efforts in straightforward language.

‘We’re immensely proud of the accomplishments of our interrogator workforce.’

It applies to everyone involved in detainee operations and interrogations, including battlefield interrogations at the point of capture, he said.

The field manual outlines 19 acceptable interrogation approaches, and includes examples of correct usage of these techniques. “It tries to leave as little to the imagination as possible without being overly prescriptive, and we think we’ve done a good job,” Kimmons said.

The manual also lists specific unauthorized behaviors and clarifies the difference between military intelligence and military police roles. Although these roles are complementary, military police don’t participate in interrogations and don’t set up conditions or “soften” detainees, Kimmons said.

The manual also very explicitly describes the chain of command and responsibility and makes it clear that every soldier is responsible for reporting abuses of the manual, even by higher-ups.

I was curious about the manual, so I downloaded the PDF and browsed around in it for a while. It’s a fascinating document, and I was surprised the DoD made it available to the public. You can download a copy here (link at bottom of page: FM 2-22.3.pdf), but be warned, it’s almost 400 pages long.
[…]

Gitmo Has Survived Ernesto, Army Ready to Help FEMA

Buck Banks

Gimme shelter: Tropical Storm Ernesto did less damage to the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, today than Paris Hilton’s recent vow to remain celibate did to the straight males of the world. The storm rolled over the controversial base earlier this morning in a direct hit that didn’t hurt too much.

DoD is working with FEMA experts to prepare for any eventuality.

According to a press release hastily dispatched by the Department of Defense, the base experienced on 33-knot winds with gusts up to 38 knots, or a 40-50 mph range, and only had 2.1 inches of rain fall on the detainee camp.

“We were prepared,” base spokeswoman Satcey Byington said. “Most people sheltered in place and came out when the ‘all clear’ sounded this morning at about 10:30.”

Does that mean the guys in organge jump suits and face masks just curled up in their chain-link cubes and hunkered down? Strangely, the release did not mention the hundred-odd remaining detainees, though it did hail the shelter-in-place talents of the 7,000 military personnel.

Then, in a move that did little to quell the fears of those of us in danger of being molesto’d by Ernesto tomorrow, the DoD said that the military was already cooperating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on delivering assistance in the storm’s aftermath.

DoD is working with FEMA experts to prepare for any eventuality. “We have the defense coordinating officer and the defense coordinating element from FEMA Region 4 deployed to the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, Fla.,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. DoD also has representatives at the Regional Response Coordination Center in Atlanta.

“There has also been a determination that should there need to be logistical staging, that Fort Rucker and Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and Homestead Air Reserve Base and Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida will serve as FEMA logistical staging areas,” Whitman said.

Well, I guess that’s better than having ice trucks in Maryland, but Miami is still a 10-hour drive from Tallahassee, a good seven-hour hike from Jacksonville, and don’t mention Alabama — and that’s with clear, dry roadways and working traffic signals.

Anyway, a co-worker reports that Winn-Dixie is out of water already as of her lunch break, and long lines have formed for gasoline. And though we’re being told there’s no need to panic, people are already getting testy over who gets the last loaf of Wonder Bread.

Kind of reminds me of how Michael Brown and Michael Chertoff and George Bush were “ready” for Katrina’s landfall in New Orleans last year and the job they all did. On the eve of Ernesto, Jon and Trish and I think it might be interesting to mine the archives and revisit some of the low lights of Bushco’s performance a year ago.

Stayed tuned for a look back at the “heckuva job” done by our goverment in response to the nation’s worse natural disaster.