The role of U.S. Special Operations Forces are expected to grown as the number of regular forces in Iraq are drawn down.
****
Even as the overall U.S. force in Iraq shrinks, the number of elite troops known as special operations forces is likely to grow, the military's top commando told The Associated Press on Monday.
More of these specially trained, often secretive forces may be required in Iraq in order to fill a niche role in the development of Iraqi security forces as the number of conventional Army troops goes down, Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, said in an interview.
The total U.S. force in Iraq of about 158,000 troops — including about 5,000 special operations troops — is scheduled to drop to about 140,000 by the end of July as two more Army combat brigades leave.
"Nothing I've been told leads me to believe that there will be a reduction" in special operations forces in Iraq, "and the door is always open for an increase in demand, so we're just trying to prepare for that the best we can," Olson said.
In addition to their role in training Iraqi soldiers and police, U.S. special operations forces perform small-scale raids, long-range reconnaissance and other secretive operations in search of al-Qaida and other terrorist suspects. They also work quietly with Iraqi tribal leaders to undermine the insurgency.
It was the first interview Olson has given since taking the helm at the Special Operations Command last July. He is the first Navy SEAL to hold the post, which has largely been the province of Army generals.
****
All of you active military men who want to be one of the elite, then there is good news for you:
To reverse that trend [of smaller Special Operations Forces in parts of the world other than Iraq and Afghanistan,] Olson is overseeing a substantial increase in the size of his total force. He is authorized by Congress to add five Army Special Forces battalions as well as three Army Ranger companies as part of a total increase of 13,000 troops over five years, starting this year.
The more interesting part of the article comes at the end:
First;
There are now about 50,000 people in special operations forces. Olson's command has seen its budget jump from $2.3 billion in 2001 to $7.3 billion this year, reflecting a conviction among U.S. leaders that heading off another major attack by al-Qaida requires a broad and long-term effort to not only hunt down and kill terrorist leaders but also to undermine support for extremist ideologies.
Second:
Olson, a French and Arab speaker who is a decorated veteran of the Somalia conflict in 1993, said he sees no sign that the strain of several years of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is taking an excessive psychological toll on his elite forces. The regular Army, on the other hand, has seen a growing number of negative indicators, including a higher suicide rate.
"Our guys are generally older, they're more stable in their lives — married at a higher rate, and a higher percentage of them have kids — and they're better trained in general than most of the (other) forces," he said. "So I don't think the stress on the force affects us in the same way that it does other forces."
More on these two points soon.
____________________
[link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/elite_warriors]
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Progress in Iraq; Water Treatment Plant Opens
Sunday, April 06, 2008
More news stories of U.S. armed forces making great strides in Iraq (via: CENTCOM):
On March 26, 2008 a a ribbon-cutting ceramony marked the opening of a newly improved water treatment plant.
The Mushada water treatment plant (north of Mahmudiyah, Iraq) went online to provide fresh potable water, and non-potable water, for over 60,000 Iraqis in that area.The project was funded by the "Commander's Emergency Response Program" and was overseen by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault.)
Some statistics on the completed 5 week project:
*can produce 2.7 millions gallons of potable water.
*3.5 million galons of non-potable water.
*has built-in fuel capacity to run the station for 6 months.
There's lots more about the facility at the link above, including a surprising comparison of the water produced at Mushada as compared to the water produced in Bagdad.
I know I have said before that the main mission IS and SHOULD BE to kill the enemy and break the enemies toys, but I am also glad that we can bring some relief to a group of people who, after years of oppression from Saddam and embargos on needed supplies, surely deserves it.May they use it in peace and good health.Things like this make me proud of our Armed Forces, proud to be a veteran of those same forces, and angry at the people who derride and decry our young people in uniform as baby killers and murderers.
Army Proud!
Cross-posted at United Conservatives of VA blog.
More news stories of U.S. armed forces making great strides in Iraq (via: CENTCOM):
On March 26, 2008 a a ribbon-cutting ceramony marked the opening of a newly improved water treatment plant.
The Mushada water treatment plant (north of Mahmudiyah, Iraq) went online to provide fresh potable water, and non-potable water, for over 60,000 Iraqis in that area.The project was funded by the "Commander's Emergency Response Program" and was overseen by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault.)
Some statistics on the completed 5 week project:
*can produce 2.7 millions gallons of potable water.
*3.5 million galons of non-potable water.
*has built-in fuel capacity to run the station for 6 months.
There's lots more about the facility at the link above, including a surprising comparison of the water produced at Mushada as compared to the water produced in Bagdad.
I know I have said before that the main mission IS and SHOULD BE to kill the enemy and break the enemies toys, but I am also glad that we can bring some relief to a group of people who, after years of oppression from Saddam and embargos on needed supplies, surely deserves it.May they use it in peace and good health.Things like this make me proud of our Armed Forces, proud to be a veteran of those same forces, and angry at the people who derride and decry our young people in uniform as baby killers and murderers.
Army Proud!
Cross-posted at United Conservatives of VA blog.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Hillary Fund-raising Fiasco -- Moving Ahead To The Past
I missed this story the first time around, as it seems to have come to light back in October, but none the less, it still seems be typical Clinton politics, and, since she's two steps away from the White House again, a look at what's in store for the future under a second "Clinton Administration."
I can't believe anyone is seriously considering sending these people back to Washington and the presidency. It seems to me to be moving ahead to the past.
Courtesy: Rob at Say Anything Blog
The Los Angeles Times on Friday uncovered an amazingly generous spirit of giving from Fujianese immigrant dishwashers and trinket sellers, hundreds of whom “spontaneously” coughed up $1,000 or $2,000 apiece for Clinton’s presidential campaign. The $380,000 from their giving dwarfed the $24,000 that John Kerry raised there for his run for the White House in 2004.
Worse yet, when the Times checked the donors, more than a third couldn’t be found and most weren’t registered to vote. Some didn’t even have green cards. Immigrant associations were cited as the nexus of the giving, but in a high-cost city where local per capita income is $21,000, it doesn’t add up. In fact, it raises the question that someone is buying influence.
This Times story follows an earlier bombshell about Norman Hsu, one of Clinton’s most valued fundraisers, who brought in $850,000 before he was exposed as a swindler on the lam.
Hsu’s “bundling” of contributions from immigrants and people of low means in his debt had all the signs of proxy giving from someone hidden and higher up. As media scrutiny intensified, much of the largesse was returned to keep the heat off and the law at bay.
Clinton’s campaign is so full of questionable transactions that even the Nation, a left-wing magazine, has dug up a mysterious influence peddler named Alan Quasha who hires Clinton operatives and has links to top Clinton’s top fundraisers.
Apparently, even liberal at The Nation had raised eyebrows at Hillary's fund-raising fiasco.
Says Rob: "When a liberal rag like The Nation is going after a Democrat, you know that Dem is in hot water."
Four -- or even eight -- more years of stories like this?
I can't believe anyone is seriously considering sending these people back to Washington and the presidency. It seems to me to be moving ahead to the past.
Courtesy: Rob at Say Anything Blog
The Los Angeles Times on Friday uncovered an amazingly generous spirit of giving from Fujianese immigrant dishwashers and trinket sellers, hundreds of whom “spontaneously” coughed up $1,000 or $2,000 apiece for Clinton’s presidential campaign. The $380,000 from their giving dwarfed the $24,000 that John Kerry raised there for his run for the White House in 2004.
Worse yet, when the Times checked the donors, more than a third couldn’t be found and most weren’t registered to vote. Some didn’t even have green cards. Immigrant associations were cited as the nexus of the giving, but in a high-cost city where local per capita income is $21,000, it doesn’t add up. In fact, it raises the question that someone is buying influence.
This Times story follows an earlier bombshell about Norman Hsu, one of Clinton’s most valued fundraisers, who brought in $850,000 before he was exposed as a swindler on the lam.
Hsu’s “bundling” of contributions from immigrants and people of low means in his debt had all the signs of proxy giving from someone hidden and higher up. As media scrutiny intensified, much of the largesse was returned to keep the heat off and the law at bay.
Clinton’s campaign is so full of questionable transactions that even the Nation, a left-wing magazine, has dug up a mysterious influence peddler named Alan Quasha who hires Clinton operatives and has links to top Clinton’s top fundraisers.
Apparently, even liberal at The Nation had raised eyebrows at Hillary's fund-raising fiasco.
Says Rob: "When a liberal rag like The Nation is going after a Democrat, you know that Dem is in hot water."
Four -- or even eight -- more years of stories like this?
The Officail Handbook of The VRWC: War on Terror
I was thumbing through my bookshelf for some interesting Sunday afternoon reading, when I came across my copy of "The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy" by Mark W. Smith. Seemed like a good choice, since the one who gave us the phrase "vast Right-wing conspiracy" is now courting some of those same people seeking -- arguably -- her former government job.
______
“The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy”
By Mark W. Smith
Chapter 3: The War on Terror: Yes Berkeley, Cambridge, and Madison, Militant Islamists Do Want To Kill Us.
“Sure, most Muslims aren’t terrorists. But we didn’t see any Amish farmers, Israeli Jews, Buddhists, or Lutherans perpetrating or celebrating the mass murder of three thousand people on 9/11. Only militant Islamists celebrated.” p.21
“…[T]here is nothing about U.S. foreign policy that can excuse the action of Militant Islamic terrorists. The U.S. may become angry with France, but does this give us the right to blow up the Eiffel Tower – or even riot on the outskirts of Paris? The radical Islamists and their supporters in the West who attribute terrorism to U.S. foreign policy are simply creating a smoke screen.” p.23
“How is it that liberals, who have found in the Constitution – voila! – unexpressed ‘individual rights’ to abortion, sodomy, and Miranda warnings, suddenly turn a blind eye to the clear nature and motives of the terrorists who are seeking our destruction? We didn’t ask for a religious war or a clash of civilizations, but that’s just what the radical Muslims are fighting. If we don’t defend ourselves, then Heaven help us. (Translation for liberals: “Then Noam Chomsky help us.””) p.23
“Militant Islamists do not hate us for anything more than who we are: a tolerant, religiously diverse, and free society. We pose a threat to their vision of utopia on Earth simply because we do not all bow to Mecca several times a day. In fact, most Americans probably don’t even know where Mecca is located.” p.25
“Our free society has made us the envy of the world, as well as the world’s preeminent nation militarily, economically, and culturally. But radical Muslims resent our global superiority. They’re looking for ways to knock us down a peg. They delight in criticizing our decadence and immorality – although these same Islamic moralists were deafeningly silent about the morality in the rape and torture of Saddam Hussein’s prisoners. Nor did they have much to say about the palaces Saddam built with emergency aid money meant for Iraq’s civilians.” p.25
“Let’s get something straight: The U.S. is the most generous nation in the world. When the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, Americans donated $1 billion privately, and the U.S. government gave $950 million on top of providing all sorts of other financial, military, and moral support to the victims. Hurricane Katrina? Two and a half billion donated. American taxpayers shell out between $6 and $9 billion in foreign aid each year. Muslim countries get a great deal of this – Egypt alone sucks up over $2 billion a year.” P.26
“Weakness, generosity, concessions and appeasement have only emboldened the terrorists. Islamic militants are not moved by our good intentions, earnest efforts, and charity – to them, anyone who is not in the House of Islam must be destroyed.” P.26
“Karl Rove got it right by observing, ‘But perhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and prepare for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers….I don’t know about you, but modernization and restraint is not what I felt as I watched the Twin Towers crumble to the earth; a side of the Pentagon destroyed; and almost three thousand of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble. Moderation and restraint is not what I felt – and moderation and restraint is not what was called for.’ ” p.27
“In reality, conservatives understate the threat. Though the terrorists may lack the military, economic, and technological means to destroy the West, their use of modern technology gives them the capacity to inflict catastrophic casualties. Make no mistake: If al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization had had a nuclear weapon on 9/11, they would have used it. Then the left-wing talking heads at the New York Times wouldn’t even be here to question the president’s motives.” p.28
“Shortly after 9/11, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Patriot Act. What does the Patriot Act do to help thwart future terrorist attacks in the United States? It eliminates unnecessary legal barriers that prevent federal intelligence officials from sharing information with law enforcement.” p.28
“Another benefit of the Patriot Act is that law enforcement officials no longer need to procure a separate warrant for each computer or cell phone a terrorist suspect might use. This simple updating of federal law to catch up with modern wireless and digital technologies should worry on one.” p.29
______
“The Official Handbook of the Vast Right-wing Conspiracy”
By Mark W. Smith
Chapter 3: The War on Terror: Yes Berkeley, Cambridge, and Madison, Militant Islamists Do Want To Kill Us.
“Sure, most Muslims aren’t terrorists. But we didn’t see any Amish farmers, Israeli Jews, Buddhists, or Lutherans perpetrating or celebrating the mass murder of three thousand people on 9/11. Only militant Islamists celebrated.” p.21
“…[T]here is nothing about U.S. foreign policy that can excuse the action of Militant Islamic terrorists. The U.S. may become angry with France, but does this give us the right to blow up the Eiffel Tower – or even riot on the outskirts of Paris? The radical Islamists and their supporters in the West who attribute terrorism to U.S. foreign policy are simply creating a smoke screen.” p.23
“How is it that liberals, who have found in the Constitution – voila! – unexpressed ‘individual rights’ to abortion, sodomy, and Miranda warnings, suddenly turn a blind eye to the clear nature and motives of the terrorists who are seeking our destruction? We didn’t ask for a religious war or a clash of civilizations, but that’s just what the radical Muslims are fighting. If we don’t defend ourselves, then Heaven help us. (Translation for liberals: “Then Noam Chomsky help us.””) p.23
“Militant Islamists do not hate us for anything more than who we are: a tolerant, religiously diverse, and free society. We pose a threat to their vision of utopia on Earth simply because we do not all bow to Mecca several times a day. In fact, most Americans probably don’t even know where Mecca is located.” p.25
“Our free society has made us the envy of the world, as well as the world’s preeminent nation militarily, economically, and culturally. But radical Muslims resent our global superiority. They’re looking for ways to knock us down a peg. They delight in criticizing our decadence and immorality – although these same Islamic moralists were deafeningly silent about the morality in the rape and torture of Saddam Hussein’s prisoners. Nor did they have much to say about the palaces Saddam built with emergency aid money meant for Iraq’s civilians.” p.25
“Let’s get something straight: The U.S. is the most generous nation in the world. When the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, Americans donated $1 billion privately, and the U.S. government gave $950 million on top of providing all sorts of other financial, military, and moral support to the victims. Hurricane Katrina? Two and a half billion donated. American taxpayers shell out between $6 and $9 billion in foreign aid each year. Muslim countries get a great deal of this – Egypt alone sucks up over $2 billion a year.” P.26
“Weakness, generosity, concessions and appeasement have only emboldened the terrorists. Islamic militants are not moved by our good intentions, earnest efforts, and charity – to them, anyone who is not in the House of Islam must be destroyed.” P.26
“Karl Rove got it right by observing, ‘But perhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and prepare for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers….I don’t know about you, but modernization and restraint is not what I felt as I watched the Twin Towers crumble to the earth; a side of the Pentagon destroyed; and almost three thousand of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble. Moderation and restraint is not what I felt – and moderation and restraint is not what was called for.’ ” p.27
“In reality, conservatives understate the threat. Though the terrorists may lack the military, economic, and technological means to destroy the West, their use of modern technology gives them the capacity to inflict catastrophic casualties. Make no mistake: If al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization had had a nuclear weapon on 9/11, they would have used it. Then the left-wing talking heads at the New York Times wouldn’t even be here to question the president’s motives.” p.28
“Shortly after 9/11, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Patriot Act. What does the Patriot Act do to help thwart future terrorist attacks in the United States? It eliminates unnecessary legal barriers that prevent federal intelligence officials from sharing information with law enforcement.” p.28
“Another benefit of the Patriot Act is that law enforcement officials no longer need to procure a separate warrant for each computer or cell phone a terrorist suspect might use. This simple updating of federal law to catch up with modern wireless and digital technologies should worry on one.” p.29
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs Resigns as Head Coach
Looks like Coach Joe Gibbs is leaving the Redskins:
Via: The Washington Post
Via: The Washington Post
"ASHBURN, Va. -- After the toughest season of his Hall of Fame career, one that tested his leadership like never before, Joe Gibbs is stepping down. He resigned as coach and team president of the Washington Redskins on Tuesday, three days after a playoff loss ended an inspirational late-season run that followed the death of safety Sean Taylor.
Gibbs will remain as a special adviser to owner Dan Snyder and was to discuss his resignation at an afternoon news conference at Redskins Park. The news startled players, who left Sunday's final team meeting certain their 67-year-old coach would return for the final year of his contract. "
I'm sorry to see coach go. If there was one person that I thought would be able to turn the team around, it would have been Coach Gibbs. There are rumors that Coach's resignation was due, in part, to his call for two back-to-back time-outs in the Redskins loss to Buffalo a few weeks ago. If that call did figure into his resignation, or is the battering ram that others are using to say he should resign, I respectfully disagree. Many coaches have made bad calls in the NFL this season. I don't see that one incident as a reason to ask for his resignation.
The Redskins have not played as the Redskins that I have known and loved, for over a decade. Sure they have had some stand-out athletes, but as a team, they have not been stars all together, in unison, for over a decade. When Coach came aboard, they were a team that was at the bottom of the pile. After one year of figuring out what he had, and another two of drafts, re-organization, and "tweaking" he was finally able to touch the playoffs, only a few steps away from the Super Bowl. Maybe with one more draft, one more season to create some veterans of playoffs, they could have made that last step. This WAS and IS a successfull year for the Redskins, and Joe Gibbs is the designer of that. Period. If he can take the fall for one call, he can take a bow for what went right.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year! Welcome 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
May this year bring you peace, love, joy, and happiness.
To all of our soldiers who are away from home this holiday season, and to their families here in the U.S. and elsewhere, thank you for your sacrifices for our safety. God bless all of you.
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