What we have Wrought

Thought for the day - "The Americans promised they would make Iraq a symbol of liberty and prosperity. Now it has neither."

As I have said before no one I know takes pride in defending the Islamist parties in power. They are corrupt and incompetent, and almost certainly backing the Islamification of Southern Iraq and in the pockets of Iranian agents. Women, especially, are certainly much worse off than under Saddam, at least by many accounts. I can't say much about the alternative, because that goes against official policy and I don't want to run afoul of the State department.

Of course, we shouldn't expect too much from a country like this, they can't live up to American expectations in such a short time frame, and there are many, many good Iraqis trying hard to bring forward a better future for their country. But it will take time and it will take blood. And when I see stories like this - "Bad" Women Raped and Killed - it really makes me hate this place.

If you need a lift after such a negative post, check this blogger out PPT Ranger- pretty funny stuff.

Some things just don't translate

I am working on a update post, but I have been incredibly busy. And on top of working late every day (it 0112 right now and I am just going to sleep) the call to prayer blares out every morning at around 0445 and goes on and on.

However, I found this in the laundry trailer and had to share.

If you notice there are lemons in the upper left hand corner, making this lemon barf. I checked the label to see where this was made - can you guess? Who would have thought we'd have Iranian barf to wash our clothes with. You just can't make this shit up.

Situation Normal

Things here are that weird Army mix of numbing boredom and pandemonium. At a moments notice everyone will be spun up that something has to get done 5 minutes ago, and all the while the (Master and) Commander is coming up with new checklists he wants on his desk - "by COB big Sarge." The next minute the entire team is hanging around with nothing to do, but no one leaves to take care of personal business because a new emergency could erupt at any moment.

Which reminds me of a little encounter between yours truly, and let's call him Chief (who ostensibly conducts our team meetings. I would like to say he facilitates our meetings, but that would be a lie.)

Anyhow, we were off to a mandatory Battalion meeting right before the start of the weekend. Everybody else was dismissed for the day - "go to the meeting then take off." Not us:

• Chief: Okay, we need to head out to <place>, so make sure you are all there by 1400. Then let's get back here by 1630 in case there is anything to put out.
  
• Grumpy: Uh, Chief, is there anything to put out?
  
• Chief: That's what the meetings for.
  
• Grumpy: *squints* Well, if there's nothing to put out then we don't need the meeting, so is there anything to put out.
  
• Chief: We're gonna figure that out at the meeting.
  
• Grumpy: *grimace* No, you're not following me. Does anyone here have anything to put out? If not, we can let the Troops go.
  
• Chief: Damn it, I don't know - that why we need the meeting. Stop being so difficult!
  
• Sergeant Major: Hey, are you still grumpy?
  
• Grumpy: I told you, I'm not Grumpy, I'm bitter, get used to it
  

That was what led me to get my drink on, then somehow a party got started in my room, and my buddies drank all my roommates beer. (hic) Which may partially explain my previous post. But I won't have to worry about drunk blogging soon, more on that and G.O. #1 in a future post.

Among the men we sing that circus diddy (Thunder and Blazes, actually) whenever things start getting stupid. You know, "dunt-dut-duh-di-duh-duh", where the clowns coming running in, going in all directions. Gotta maintain a sense of humor or you'll break [;P

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And in a post-script to the story of Ohmygodinajad speaking at Columbia, Iranian students didn't give him an ovation during his speech at Tehran University on Ocober 8th.

Mr. Ahmadinejad angered students and professors at the university after his election in 2005 when he appointed a cleric as the university’s president. Many liberal professors and students have been dismissed since then.

Student leader Abedini said that although Ahmadinejad responded to students' questions during his visit to Columbia University in New York last month, "he's not ready to listen to the questions of students at Tehran University and answer them." Well, I am sure we are all shocked that freedom of expression is repressed in that bastion of intellectual freedom that is Iran. At least the Iranians can be proud their students know how to stand up to a tyrant.

Ahmadinejadathon-and-on-and-on

US media has handed Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an unbelievable PR victory. Instead of refusing him the press time he was looking for, we have played right into his hands. This is especially true of the students at the supposedly "liberal" institution of Columbia. We can be sure the applause they gave him will be replayed on Iranian TV ad-nauseam.

They cheered a man who sanctions the murder (often by stoning) of homosexuals, men and women who have sex out of wedlock (in one case a couple was killed for holding hands in public), has advocated the destruction of Israel, and questions the Holocaust. Apparently, being a liberal does not mean you are a defender of Human Rights, only that you support anyone who opposes US policy. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Che all mass murders who were darlings of the left. Dictators around the world can take comfort from their concern for liberty.

In Iran, the media response was to celebrate Ahmadinejad's defiant visit to the "Lion's Den". Below are some quotes from the official Iranian news agency:

• amid standing ovation of the audience that had attended the hall where the Iranian President was to give his lecture as of early hours of the day
  
• The audience on repeated occasion applauded Ahmadinejad when he touched on international crises.
  
• Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that the US has turned to a large prison where the media are keeping the American people away from truth.
  
• "Iranians are the freest and the most intellectual nation in the world and are well informed of the daily news."

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A man is known by the company he keeps . . .

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe discuss the need for unity of the developing states against the US and British neocolonialism.
With President-for-life Assad
Best Buddies Mahmie and Hewie
Just can't keep my hands off those Latin Lefties!!!!

Know Thy Enemy - An Iranian View

It is always instructional to try to look at things from the point of view of you adversary. In that spirit I have been reviewing the news posted on several Iranian news websites. My interest in Iran should be obvious, and you should be interested too, since, without question the Iranians are deeply involved in Iraq, certainly advising, and almost certainly training and arming insurgents who use that knowledge to kill Americans.

• AP: The U.S. military has noted a "significant improvement" in the aim of attackers firing rockets and mortars into the heavily fortified Green Zone in the past three months that it has linked to training in Iran, a top commander said Thursday.
  
• ... the sophisticated weapons being used against U.S. troops in Iraq “were provided by the Quds Force,” a paramilitary arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
  
• Sergeant Grumpy's own post Hezzbollah leaders capture ties Iran to Iraq
  
• Milbloggers and military writers in Iraq are beginning to note improved aim, and less spray and pray from the insurgents they confront "They have attacked multiple targets simultaneously, and often target follow-on forces and first responders, such as medical personnel ... Some of their snipers are deadly and elusive. I've taken almost as much accurate machine-gun fire as inaccurate."

But don't take my word for it, here is what the "Supreme" (really, have anything but despots called themselves Supreme?) Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Saturday commemorating the birthday of Imam Ali (the first Imam of Shia Muslims)"The Zionist regime (Israel) and the American government are the main enemies of Iran, and hatred for America is deepening every day around the globe"

On to the Iranian view. Much like the USSR did in the Cold War, Iran sees itself beset by enemies on all sides - America occupies countries to the east and west, the Gulf to the south is dominated by Sunni states, including rival Saudi Arabia (look at the reaction in Iranian press to the Wahhabi Fatwa for the destruction of Shiite's holy sites and shrines.)

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi on Thursday urged Muslims to maintain vigilance to thwart the US and global arrogance conspiracies at regional and international scenes.

"The global arrogance, led by the US, intends to destroy culture of the Islamic nations in line with its ominous goals," he said.

In this view there is a global conspiracy to destroy "Islamic" culture. The logical response to this threat is for Muslim nations to band together in defence. For the Iranians, it is natural that this requires Iranian leadership ("Islamic Revolution" in the following quote.)

Impacts of victory of the Islamic Revolution on international equations are emerging under circumstances that the Muslim world has been turned into an international power against arrogance and enemies.

The end is around the corner and try what they may, the US and its surrogates including Israel are living on borrowed time

Iran also has cause to see itself under assault via covert action on the part of it's enemies:

• Khamenei accused Washington of backing a so-called "soft revolution."
  
• Iran rocked by series of blasts - spokesman told the BBC he was sure the Americans were behind the attacks and also suggested that Britain might be involved
  
• 2nd blast in 3 days hits Iranian city

One point made surprised me somewhat, mainly because I haven't heard Islamists speak out against IT.

They wish to cause a change in typical structures and norms of the Islamic nations through information and communications technology (ICT) and military means.

This position aligns with others in the world who view the grip of Hollywood, and the access to information granted via the web as a plot by Washington to destroy local cultures.

So the narrative they tell themselves and attempt to sell to the rest of the Islamic world is that they are reacting in a logical manner in response to a real and pervasive threat to their religion, cultural heritage and way of life. Iran (in this narrative) is taking the lead in confronting the Arrogant West.

The geographic heart of the Islamic world is in Mecca and Medina. But, the political heart of the Islamic world is in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Iran is beloved among the Muslim nations and the Islamic Iran will strongly continue its way with the mottos of justice and people loving.

The ultimate goal is to "to turn the Muslim world into an international power through the next 50 years." Some advantages Iran notes this power has:

• 1.35 billion population
  
• 70 percent of the world's known oil resources and 48 percent of gas reservoirs are located in Islamic states (note the Iranian use of Islamic vice Muslim)
  

Of course, this largely ignores the Shia/Sunni schism that al-Qaeda is doing it's level best to aggravate. This is no small issue for Muslim society. It is entirely possible that a US exit from Iraq, coupled with al-Qaeda's murderous agenda, and Iranian-backed Shia death squads could plunge the area into an Islamic Civil War akin to the 30 Years War Christendom suffered in Europe.

Regarding their Nuclear program, Iranian news is at pains to show that Iran is in fact the victim of nuclear encirclement as well, and the development of a nuclear program (they will not say weapon until they detonate one) is purely logical from a perspective of self defense. Aside from the obvious nuclear threat from the US, Britain, France, and Russia there are nuclear programs being developed in Israel and Saudi Arabia. From the headlines of Iran Daily:

• Saudi Arabia’s Secret Nuclear Program Exposed
  
• Americans Helping Israel’s Nuke Plans
  

So what should we conclude from this? A few things - Iran is a State actor that sees itself as the ascendant leader of the Islamic World. Iran is not going to be intimidated, or made to cave in to pressure. That would violate their narrative. Iran will likely seek non-military confrontation with the West in order burnish these credentials. And while the US maintains forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran will seek to arm and train the insurgencies there, for good reason. It frustrates US plans, and it also allows Iranian agents to build networks and relationships to be leveraged later in the future struggles to topple Muslim regimes not in line with the messianic vision of Iran's Islamic Revolution.
Iran would not likely move to attack the West outside of the Middle East, at least not while they attempt to consolidate the Muslim world to their particular banner of Islam. That of course is not to say that Iran wouldn't build intelligence networks in Europe and the US, along with "sleeper cells" for use in any future conflict with the West.

How to deal with Iran? Many of the best minds are working on this, and I can't hope to be more articulate than them - Google the web for their thoughts. But one thing is clear to this Soldier - the Iranians do not respect restraint, it only emboldens them. Doing nothing is not an option.

However, because Iran is a State it is interested in self-preservation and therefore is more like the Soviet Union than al-Qaeda, and there is room for firm negotiations, just as with the USSR. And Iran is anti-Wahhabi and may be worked with to oppose al-Qaeda and it's ilk. (In fact al-Qaeda recently threatened to attack Iran.) It has been widely reported that Iran was prepared to help fight al-Qaeda and was rebuffed by the neocons in the Administration. Quite possibly Iran can be contained and co-opted, given the right mix of threat of force and incentive for cooperation. Or, if we navigate this challenge poorly, we could end up in a 3-way US-Iran-Sunni Islamist fight. Either course of events promises to be difficult and historic.

School yourself about the "surge"

Okay, this is a rant

I am tired of hearing from people who are against the war in Iraq and the War on Terrorism who have not done their homework. If you don't agree that we should stay in Iraq, let's talk about that. There are some good augments for leaving, but if all you can do is regurgitate sound bites from the Left I don't have time for that. And if you are against the war in Afghanistan (yes, there is still a war going on in Afghanistan) you need to get your head checked.

Look, I am not dogmatic, I understand that the near failure in Iraq is Bush's responsibility, and I get as irritated as anyone when people start blaming the Dems for failure in Iraq. Bush and his team started and ran this war and occupation. But if you are ready to dismiss the surge, first take the time to research what is going on. The so called surge represents a radical change in tactics for the U.S.

Maybe we were misled into this war, maybe it was run by a bunch of yes men, and neo-con monkeys. That doesn't change the fact that we are responsible for the mess in Iraq now. That doesn't change the fact that our defeat there will represent a major gain for Iran and al-Qaeda, or that by knocking off both of Iran's real threats, we have emboldened them to new levels of defiance. (see: is Cheney an Iranian agent.)

But, and it is a big one, that doesn't mean that the best course of action is to run away. General Petraeus is the first high level Commander to both get counter-insurgency ops and be willing to tell his superiors that their vision of reality was f'd up and things need to change. And to be fair - the stimulus for allowing him to be heard came form the American People during the election, which also led to the removal of DR, who pissed off alot of professional Soldiers.

So give him a chance, and, if you really care about what is going on, do your research. This is from one of the best counter-insurgency sites out there:

“I know some people in the media are already starting to sort of write off the “surge” and say ‘Hey, hang on: we’ve been going since January, we haven’t seen a massive turnaround; it mustn’t be working’. What we’ve been doing to date is putting forces into position. We haven’t actually started what I would call the “surge” yet. All we’ve been doing is building up forces and trying to secure the population.

Does that fit with your reality? What about this quote from a blogger who lives in Baghdad:

There's more than numbers for those who want to understand

The results so far have been astounding, and please allow me to say that I'm proud of the change in attitude many of my fellow Iraqis are showing. Even if numbers don't suggest so because the change is happening but it will take time-perhaps beyond September-before this change will show in numbers.

A nation is not a corporation and when we deal with a nation we are dealing with a society; a mass of people with ever changing hearts and minds and that's why numbers alone can't be enough to assess the situation—thoughtful insight and looking at the bigger image are also required.

For over a year the media and many officials were spooking us with the exaggerated ghost of civil war. I wonder what they have to say now! I think their silence is more telling than anything they would've said.

Iraqis are awakening, one very telling example can be seen in the ongoing operation in Diyala; members of the 1920 revolution brigades, once bitter enemies of the US military and Iraqi government are now assisting US and Iraqi military in fighting al-Qaeda even though the majority of the Iraqi soldiers and officers are Shia.

There has been a real turn around in al-Anbar, a place the Media was ready to write off as an insurgent haven, but that hardly gets reported. If you aren't praying for success (while demanding accountability) where do you really stand?

If you are against the war, or for the war, please get literate on the reality, take time to read (TV doesn't count) before you open your mouth. As a fighting man, I believe I can ask that much of you, those who I would kill and die for to keep safe.