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POPSThe Keyboard Commandos want Obama to be tough
To Brooks, the big question is whether Obama possesses "the trait that is more important than intellectual sophistication and, in fact, stands in tension with it." That is, whether the president is "a very manly, virile, manful person, and a firm believer in strict discipline, corporal punishment, and nude apartment wrestling." Oops, never mind. That last bit was Captain Ned. But it does get old hearing this cohort of Ivy League toughs -- most of whom one suspects haven't had even a fistfight since third grade -- describe every U.S. foreign policy issue as a testosterone test. One suspects it may not be Obama's virility they're worried about. Next came Cheney's devoted daughter. After President Obama paid a 4 a.m. visit to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to salute the flag-draped caskets of 18 American servicemen arriving home from Afghanistan, and to console their families, Liz Cheney appeared on -- where else? -- Fox News radio to suggest a cheap political stunt.
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POPSBill Moyers: Bring Back the Draft The President is just about ready to send more troops. Maybe 44 thousand, that's the number General McChrystal wants, bringing the total to over 100 thousand. When I read speculation last weekend that the actual number needed might be 600 thousand, I winced. I can still see President Lyndon Johnson's face when he asked his generals how many years and how many troops it would take to win in Vietnam. One of them answered, "Ten years and one million." He was right on the time and wrong on the number-- two and a half million American soldiers would serve in Vietnam, and we still lost.
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POPSU.S. Had Covert Ties to Paki-based Terrorist in Iran Bombing The terrorist behind the Iran bombing recently was a former covert operative per Robert Baer, former CIA agent of Syriana fame. This is not unlike the former ties with Al Qaeda and bin Laden as covert operatives and "CIA brainchilds". Of course, this was done for provocatory purposes to spark Iran-British-U.S. conflict....and it appears to be working for this design. See Telegraph UK article: Iran vows revenge after claiming bomb attack was carried out by Britain A bomb attack on Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard that killed over 40 people including top generals was carried out by terrorists trained by America and Britain in nearby Pakistan , a senior commander said on Monday. See, "state-sponsored terrorism" can be alleged both ways.
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POPSThe Obama-McChrystal Gap He answered, “I’m always worried about using the word “victory” because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur.” … Obama either doesn’t understand " or, worse " doesn’t take seriously McChrystal’s report when it says, “While not a war in the conventional sense, the conflict in Afghanistan demands a similar focus and an equal level of effort, and the consequences of failing are just as grave.” Obama is neither smarter nor more politically astute than his generals. He tried to snooker McChrystal by requiring the general to send three options for Afghanistan catalogued as “low”, “moderate” and “high” risk. That way, he thought, he could accept a lower number of troops to be sent and still say that he followed McChrystal’s advice. But the general " seeing through that (according to a senior House member who I spoke to last week) " beat the president at his own game. The “moderate risk plan . . .
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POPSArmy chiefs accuse extremists of exploiting Britain's servicemen The values of these extremists - many of whom are essentially racist - are fundamentally at odds with the values of the modern British military, such as tolerance and fairness.' The new row came as an apparent list of the party's members and their personal details were posted on the internet, in the third leak of its membership in recent years. The names include former senior members of the military, doctors and professors, according to the spreadsheet posted on the the WikiLeaks website. Everything from their street address, post code, telephone number and mobile phone number is included. It comes amid huge anger over BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time on Thursday with the corporation refusing to pull him from the line-up. The BNP has regularly used pictures of soldiers as part of its campaign, alongside quintessentially British images such as Winston Churchill's V for victory sign.
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POPSBattle of Tirad Pass Trivia about the battle of tirad pass, 60 men led by Brigadier General Gregorio Del Pilar fought in Northern Luzon against major Peyton C. March to delay the american advance and also to ensure the escape of General Emilio Aguinaldo
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POPSObama Stands Up to the Military Despite recent months of Pentagon "leaks," and lobbying the White House is not rolling over to military demands. This action is almost unprecedented, taking great courage and political determination. Our military is suppose to be controlled and led by civilian, political leaders; not by generals. If Obama didn't deserve the Nobel Peace Prize award before (and he did); he certainly deserves it now.
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POPSAfghan outlook bleak as Taliban grabs territory While Obama plans his Peace Prize speech, our declared enemy is defeating our military for lack of commitment by their Commander-in-Chief. This is a travesty. The Taliban will, again, make Afghanistan it's launching site for terror attacks against the West, enslave it's population, and the soldiers who gave their lives there will have done it for nothing. All because of a lack of will. Well Ms Michelle says that she is now proud of America....I couldn't be more ashamed of her husband's treachery and abandonment. This is aiding our enemies and undermining the American soldier. Shame! This is Vietnam times TEN.
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POPSI Know What I Saw If you're a total UFO buff like me, then this clip's for you. Here's the full movie. (9 parts) Enjoy. :) http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/31083/I_KNOW_WHAT_I_SAW_1_9/
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POPSAfghan insurgents pushed into base.... The press is having a holiday with this. This sort of thing happened a lot in Vietnam. What the press isn't saying is that likely HUNDREDS of enemy were killed trying to take over this base. This incident tells me: 1. What idiot chose such an indefensible location for a fire base??? 2. Thank you American press for telegraphing to the enemy our intent at withdrawing from the base, thereby emboldening the enemy and creating this opportunity to kill our soldiers. 3. Expect to see more of this as we withdraw having insuffient force to protect our troops - thank you Obama for helping spill our troops' blood due to your indecision. 4. Finally, recall all the times George Bush flew into Baghdad to visit our troops and generals. When will the coward Obama pay a visit to Afghanistan ??
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POPS Wartime President Supported Back to the matter at hand. Theoretically it means he’s actually free to do the right thing. Now, all he needs to do is make a decision. Or announce it. Whatever.
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POPS Chaos-istan The big question now is whether this is going to be about Obama’s ego, or about winning in Afghanistan. If any general is ill-advised to shoot his mouth off, this business may also teach the administration something about blowing off generals at (unnecessarily extended) criticial moments and insisting that political parameters trump military ones in wartime. Maybe if he wasn’t so distracted with trying to have Democratic Christmas in October … an expensive tax-and-fee-subsidized health care giveaway in the middle of economic crisis and war. To be followed on by cap-and-trade’s assault on business, industry, utilities and consumers. And then you’ve got Iran, unresponsive to the extended hand of friendship. AFP, “On Afghanistan, US military puts Obama on the spot,” NYT with a look at Petraeus includes the unfortunate news that this president is less interested in listening to his generals than his predecessor was.... LA Times: “Afghanistan assault points out .....
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POPSTo document our pessimism Max Boot is member of the infamous neo con cabal. Still, he knows a thing or two about warfare and national security policy. His opinion here is not good news.
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POPSWhat Went Wrong With Our Economy? We're letting domestic and multinational corporations, with their uncompromising profit motive and strong connection to the military, determine the future course of our country and the world. Terrorism has replaced communism as the major threat to our lifestyle. But corporate defense contractors -- Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics -- take millions of dollars from the federal treasury every DAY to produce Cold-War-era weapons, with their profits guaranteed by the American public. We're the leading seller of arms to the world. We intervene in more countries than ever before, even though studies show that intervention is tied to terrorism. Our elected representatives listen to businessmen and generals rather than to scientists, doctors, humanitarians, teachers, mothers. And we've been conditioned to believe that this is the way it must be. But it doesn't have to be this way.
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POPS"Girl From Ipanema": Plenty Time To Get Toned and Tanned And I have a sneaking suspicion that after the hobnobbing is done, the IOC members will check their gift bags, look at the boxset of DVDs from Obama … Anyway, Obama probably just thinks this a fun, feel-good sideshow, stepping up for the home team. Doesn’t seem like that big a deal. What he probably hasn’t figured out is that, taken with a health-care failure, an Iran debacle, bucking the generals on Afghanistan, and that climate change thing that has “health-care redux” written all over it, being dissed by the IOC is going to make him look like an Olympic-sized loser. Can’t get anything done. Especially since the wife said it’s “gloves off” and “take no prisoners.” It’s a big gamble. This idea that you can treat not only your own top agenda items but actual serious national security concerns with less apparent interest than a big, expensive party for your hometown, and think there won’t be consequences.
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POPSBig Band Afghanistan Swing You will have to listen to the lyrics to get the connection but the Dipsy Doodle describes the advise the President is getting from his Generals and the Pundits trying to sell more is less and surge to get out.
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POPSThose Who Ignore History... History didn't listen to us," said Tabeyev, who's now 81. "All our efforts to restore peace in the country . . . this was a flop in the end." The fundamental problem in Afghanistan is that it isn't a country in the way the West thinks of countries, said retired Lt. Gen. Ruslan Aushev, who did two tours there and left as a regimental commander. "There has never been any real centralized state in Afghanistan. There is no such nation as Afghanistan," said Aushev, who's a former president of the Russian Caucasus republic of Ingushetia and now heads a veterans group in Moscow. "There are (ethnic groups of) Pashtuns, Uzbeks and Tajiks, and they all have different tribal policies." As a result, any occupation force will spend much of its time propping up a government that has little relevance outside Kabul and trying to corral disparate ethnic groups and tribes into a national army that's often unwilling to fight, Aushev said.
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POPSIn Which Obama Has A General Problem, Just Like A Real President*
The tug-o-war playground politics of the matter aside, there is still the fact of war in Afghanistan, a persistent global threat, and the rapidly diminishing credibility of the United States as a stalwart, moral force in the world, from the limp handling of Iran to the delivery of tribute to Vladimir Putin, and now the dawdling and dithering over the erstwhile good war. For all their squawking about us, the Euros don’t need us to be another EU member. They need someone to do the dirty work. Ditto the Arabs. China and Russia have got to be enjoying this, though. On second thought, there is a sort of double-reverse presidential precedent to this crisis. It’s Obama as McClellan. Not exactly Lincolnesque, but very Lincoln-proximate. Totally related: Victor Davis Hanson at NRO looks at Two-Front Wars, Theirs and Ours and comes away with something other than the currently fashionable doom-and-gloom mongering. It’s al-Qaeda after eight years of war, on the ropes and desperate.
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POPSTagged Carroll Trust The UK HM Inland Revenue and Customs is completing an exhaustive investigation into the rapid break-up and liquidation of a multi-national industrial and philanthropic conglomerate which once boasted assets totalling over one billion dollars under the umbrella of the Carroll Foundation and the Carroll Global Corporation being one of the main world wide operating structures of the Carroll Foundation Charitable Trust which controlled over 85 corporations. The report will be passed to the HM Attorney Generals Office and Britain's Metropolitan Police Scotland Yard Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). At the centre of the inquiry is the Carroll Global Group of Companies, a family-owned commercial dynasty stretching back three generations in the United Kingdom with very close links with the Carroll families in Ireland and on the eastern seaboard of America in the State of Maryland.
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POPS Holder's Show Investigation Winding Down based on the facts or on his political instincts. But a government source asserted that Holder was briefed on some of the details by advisers and that the attorney general was troubled by the material he read. Authorities have not pointed publicly to new evidence or witnesses that would strengthen the cases under review. I'm sure that, like Obama's Gitmo press conference, reopening these investigations was a feel-good announcement for Holder when he made it. Maybe the conclusion of this utterly non-politically motivated investigation will free up enough resources for Holder to voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. As if. Posted by Tom Maguire
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POPSObama Delays Afghanistan Troop Decision The generals want more troops. Or, at least, these are the "leaks," from the Pentagon and the head general, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, is testifying in Congress now and is saying we "probably," need more troops. If listening to Fox News or CNN it almost sounds like the President approved more troops. But he has not. The President is not going to make a decision on troop increases anytime soon. I, personally, think he should ask a few more generals to resign, tell the Republicans: "You Lie!," and continue to stand strong against the racist, warmongers, neocons and zionist extremist that continue to try to rule with Hate & Fear.
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POPSU.S. Government Nervous About Stimulus Fraud, Scams Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He described the individuals as con artists and hucksters. "The commission is committed to using its law enforcement authority aggressively to bring these schemes to a halt, and to continue deploying public alerts and educational materials," Leibowitz said. The FTC cannot criminally prosecute scam artists, such as a telemarketing outfit that he said told Americans they were eligible for $25,000 grants and offered to sell them a $59 book on writing grants, the chairman said, but the agency does refer the cases to state attorneys general, he said. But some legislators questioned if enough was being done. "These funds must be disbursed quickly," said Maine Senator Susan Collins The Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog, told the panel it is worried the auditing process the federal government requires states to use for stimulus-related programs may not catch misspending.
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POPSAncient burial site discovered in northern Greece cont: She said they arguably belonged to a Macedonian royal and were buried at the end of the 4th century B.C. But it is too early to speculate on the dead person's identity, pending tests to determine the bones' sex and age, said Saatsoglou-Paliadeli, a professor of classical archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She said one of the silver vessels is "very, very similar" to another found decades ago at a nearby royal tumulus, where one grave has been identified as belonging to Philip II. Alexander was one of the most successful generals of all times. In a series of battles against the Persian Empire, he conquered much of the known world, reaching as far as India. After his death in 323 B.C., at the age of 32, Alexander's empire broke up in a series of wars by his successors that saw the murder of his mother, half brother, wife and both sons.
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POPSBack to the Good Old Days, Or, Why Are We In Honduras Anyway?
First, at least six of the military officers who implemented the coup and the subsequent Iran-like repression of pro-democracy protests are graduates of the (in)famous "School of the Americas." The SOA, providing US training to Latin American military personnel, has long been known throughout Latin America as the "School of Coups," or sometimes the "School of Assassins," because so many coup plotters and abusers of human rights have trained there. The coup leaders in Honduras, Generals Romeo Vasquez and Luis Suazo, are both SOA alumni, twice so in the case of Vasquez, and other coup plotters are also SOA grads. Although the SOA has officially changed its name to "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation," the old epithet "school of coups" evidently still fits. And despite the coup, Honduran soldiers are still training at the SOA as if nothing had changed. A long-running movement to close the SOA as part of a new "good neighbor policy" toward Latin America has gained
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