And so it begins

They're trying to do to the generals what they did to John Kerry. I got news for 'em, these guys are a lot tougher than John Kerry ever was. They're not running for office and have distinguished records going back 30 - 40 years; they wouldn't be wearing stars if they didn't.

It's one thing when you're a rich kid feeling his youthful oats to go off to war for a few years, it's another when you're talking about men (and hopefully a few women will join them) who've made warfighting their business. Shit like this won't fly:

...The piece goes on to criticize General Zinni because he never even fought in the Iraq war...

As if Zinni's not fighting in this particular war would disqualify him from speaking on the subject. As if! The lovely Karena makes this point well:

...It is hard to claim that Zinni knows not what he speaks of seeing how he is a four star General with 39 years in the Marines and an expertise in the Middle East...

And how many wars have the Swift boaters and Yellow Elephants fought? Karena goes on to say the generals are to blame for Rummy's failure in Iraq because:

...

The opinion piece claims that the problems should be blamed on the Generals because they went against Rummy's wishes and failed to advance in Baghdad aggressively and pushed back against Rummy's desire to go into Fallujah sooner. What happened to Rummy's repeated claims that he listens to and trusts the Generals on the ground and will give them more troops if they ask for them, but things are going so swimmingly well, what with picking up all the rose petals and candies, they hardly need more troops.

...

Ever think these guys know Rummy's big plans are pure Machiavellian fantasy? General Shinseki said we needed a quarter to half million troops on the ground before the balloon went up on this misbegotten adventure.

Swift boating the generals won't work. These men have proven their expertise and have unassailable records. These are men whom others willingly follow into battle, something the Rethugs know nothing about. An exercise in futility for the Rethugs and it might well come back to bite them in the ass. One can dream.

Iran for Dummies

Easy to understand primmer on U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran.

Hat tip: Linkmeister

Psst....

Don't tell anybody, but this old rock and roller is gonna get the new Dixie Chicks album, if for nothing else but on principle.

Toxic Bush

No, not Ann Coulter! Not this time, anyway. From HuffPo:

Tony Blair has canceled an upcoming trip to America to avoid being photographed with Bush. The prime minister was scheduled to visit the US this spring for meetings with the president, but the trip was called off after Blair decided that being photographed with Bush would be too toxic for his image.

Let's see...Berlusconi out, Blair camera-shy with the Chimp...No more allies, Georgie! Things are looking up!

More 'General'

I've had the opportunity to serve under some good generals in my time, I was in awe of Norma 'Ma' Brown, whom I'd gotten to know personally (no, get your minds out of the gutter) while at cross-training before heading to SAC, and there were 3 or 4 others.

Richard Holbrooke is a man who's known his share of flag officers and is a level headed Foreign Service officer. So far, he has the best take on what all these generals coming forward really means:

...

These generals are not newly minted doves or covert Democrats. (In fact, one of the main reasons this public explosion did not happen earlier was probably concern by the generals that they would seem to be taking sides in domestic politics.) They are career men, each with more than 30 years in service, who swore after Vietnam that, as Colin Powell wrote in his memoirs, "when our turn came to call the shots, we would not quietly acquiesce in half-hearted warfare for half-baked reasons." Yet, as Newbold admits, it happened again. In the public comments of the retired generals one can hear a faint sense of guilt that, having been taught as young officers that the Vietnam-era generals failed to stand up to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and President Lyndon Johnson, they did the same thing.

...

Great thanks to Middle Earth Journal for the link.

Short Spring

The other day, I posted that Spring had done sprung here locally. Boy, talk about I shoulda kept my trap shut!

When I went to bed Saturday night, my deck and my driveway and the cars were completely free of snow. My roof was a day or so from being snow-free. The snowpack was receding all over the 'hood and water was flowing everywhere on its way to the Truckee River on its journey to end up flushing toilets in Reno. This morning there is 20" of fresh snow, two feet in some spots. Back to square one.

I went out about noon yesterday to clear the first foot of snow off my driveway. Being as it's nominally Spring, the snow was pretty heavy stuff. I'm used to wet snow clogging the snowthrower's discharge chute, but this stuff clogged the augur blades about every fifty feet. I usually stick a motorcycle tire iron in my boot with which to clear clogs, and it got a workout. I had to shovel the snow to break up the pack so the machine would clear it. A job that normally takes me 45 minutes took two hours, but I got 'er done.

By the way, if you've ever seen a pine tree unload a bunch of wet, heavy snow, let me know what it looks like. When they go, you can hear 'em all over the neighborhood, but when one of 'em does it anywhere near me, I'm usually under it. The first little bit goes, causing the branches to spring upwards, dislodging more snow, over and over. Sometimes I'm standing in an absolute wet cold whiteout for several seconds. Some of it always goes down my neck or my waistband, no matter what I'm wearing it finds a way in. Brrr. I just hunker down and cuss!

Just as I finished up, my next-door neighbor Bill came chugging down his driveway with his little sneezer of a Honda. I waited in the street, both to chat and to tell him his augur was clogged up, which it was. Honda actually provides a factory stick to clear clogs. No wonder them Asians are winnin', they're smart little fuckers. Bill gave me the hot scoop, which was that the Town had laid off the plow drivers, so we probably wouldn't have to worry about berms in our driveways. That was good news: I'd rather drive in a foot of snow than clear a berm.

I went back in the house, whereupon a snowplow promptly went by and bermed us in. I guess one of the plow guys has a phone. Bill stood his ground in front of his driveway and glared at the guy. He didn't get a berm. Seems I have all the luck!

Mrs. G told me that Toni had called, wanting to know how come I hadn't got her moped goin' yet. They had a laugh, and then Toni admitted the snowstorm was all her fault for bringing the moped over. I asked Mrs. G to call her back and tell her that I didn't mind working on it in a cold garage in a snowstorm, but that it'd cost extra.

I went back out and cleared the berm. It was about 5 feet wide, 2 feet deep, and the length of my two-car-wide driveway. That shit was really wet and packed, but it clogged up the chute this time like it's supposed to. Tire iron and shovel time again. Took an hour.

I cleared the snow off Mrs. G's pickup at 8PM, and another 6 inches off it this morning. Later this morning I gotta go run my snowthrowers again, the 8-horse and the "cordless" one with the long handle.

I don't mind a bit. Sometimes the bill comes due fer livin' in these beautiful mountains and ya gotta cough it up. Won't be too bad, the Sun is shining right now and I hope it holds. Yesterday, I got soaked to the skin, used up a dryerload of flannel shirts and sweatshirts in the course of 3 hours, and today I'll be out there at 40 degrees in a T-shirt and Hollywoods worrying about getting an even tan.

How's your Spring goin'?

Vacuum...filled

Had anybody at State or in the White House known what they were doing, we would have made overtures to the new Hamas government in Palestine. Now it seems the Iranians have filled the leadership vacuum:

TEHRAN (AFP) - Palestinian militant leaders have rallied behind Iran, vowing to resist pressure to recognise Israel and supporting the Islamic republic in its stand-off with the West over its nuclear programme.

...

He is also seeking Iranian funds to fill the gap left by the suspension of US and European aid to the Palestinian Authority. In a previous visit to Tehran, he declared his group formed a "united front" with Iran against Israel.

Meshaal repeated his view that is "is immoral and inhumane to collectively punish a nation which practises democracy." [my em]

Another wasted opportunity for the Bush administration. That's all the last five years have been. A complete waste.

Rummy replaced!!!!

The new SecDef.

Disturbing

I'm watching CNN and I see video of a Marine compound under attack. Do we still think things are going well when the insurgents are getting bold enough to bring the fight to the Marines?

Refining our aim

Me:

...I'll betcha anything there are guys from my old combat control unit already there, scouting out targets; refining the aim so to speak...

Digby:

...Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups...

More evolution

I love these cool timelines the most excellent PZ Myers digs up.

The Detail

When I left SOCOM (AF Special Operations Command) and went to SAC (Strategic Air Command), I volunteered for the base honor guard (SAC duty sucked and I took the opportunity to go TDY every chance I got). In two years I buried a lot of military, mostly of the older, retired variety, due the honors for prior service. The ones that got me though, were the active duty funerals, guys taken before their time leaving young wives and young children behind. It used to break my heart.

That said, our pal CAFKIA sent us this article (long but worth it) about the folks who pull the notification detail in the USMC. For those who can't grasp the secondary and ancillary consequences of war, let alone an illegal one:

...

Each door is different.

Some are ornately carved hardwood, some are hollow aluminum. Some are protected by elaborate security systems, some by loose screen doors.

During the past year, the 40-year-old Marine major in the white gloves has stood at the front doors of homes in three states, preparing to deliver the message no family wants to hear.

It is a job he never asked for and one for which he received no training. There are no set rules, only impersonal guidelines. It is a mission without weapons.

...

There have been close to 2400 notifications, every branch of the service is represented among the dead, since this war began. It's about time we said 'no more'.

If you lived in this house,

you'd be home now, at least as far as FEMA is concerned. A house don't need no stinkin' structure and foundation; a community don't need no basic comforts of civilization like food, water, sanitation, schools, medical care, roads, jobs, communication, a sense of the future... Hell, if it floods again maybe that "habitable home" in this picture here can be converted to a houseboat and do double duty.

More than 8000 families were evacuated to Houston after Katrina hit and Fearless Leader immediately flew down to survey the devastation, suffering, damage and pain, and then immediately mobilised federal, state and local resources to start to repair and rebuild... nah-h-h-h, that was LBJ when Hurricane Betsy hit that area some 40 years ago. Well, our FEMA has begun to notify the evacuee families in Houston that federal assistance would be ending because FEMA decided to sign off their homes as officially habitable. While FEMA apparently can't be bothered to coordinate any real effort to monitor and update agencies during this massive rebuilding effort, The Houston Chronicle actually sent professionals to New Orleans to assess some of the "habitable homes":

A team from Houston's Hurricane Housing Task Force, however, conducted a spot check of 43 New Orleans homes deemed "habitable" by FEMA and found 70 percent unfit for occupancy, White said Friday after a briefing by the team.

"Some of our worst fears were realized," White said. "Many of these notices were simply in error. The vast majority of the structures we inspected were not habitable by any standard."

The Houston team found 13 homes habitable and 30 uninhabitable, White said.

I have resurrected some of these Katrina issues this Easter Sunday because I went to Mississippi a few weeks ago to help in the clean-up effort. I spent a week just taking orders and doing grunt work (I'm so used to it), knocking down dry wall, picking up slats and shingles, scooping up piles of rotting wood and tree branches, general filth, books, appliances and god knows what else, moving broken pipes and car tyres, and viewed nothing but devastation and sealed buildings for as far as I could see. No families, no people there other than us and other volunteer teams. I wonder now if a few of the piles of wood we didn't get to might now be "FEMA-ready" for move-in immediate occupancy! Hey, I guess those evacuee homeowners will have a little while to get their homes up to code (without any federal assistance, of course) after they relocate from Houston or if they just can't manage to do, as the "safety of the individual homeowner and community demands", their homes will just have to be condemned as being unsafe I suppose, and the counties will just have to take over the condemned land and sell to some developer who can afford to rebuild according to code. That Catch-22 is sure some catch!

After leaving Mississippi and jumping back into my quotidian life with its own struggles I felt I had 2 hearts beating in me, one for my own life but also one for the people whose lives I have somehow borne wittness to, who have lost everything, every. thing., yet it looks like there are always more straws to put onto that camel's back... I hope this post doesn't seem too depressing and that it's alright to post something like this here (I waited a while to submerge some of my raw anger before interacting with anyone here). I know we can't all make this stop by running down there to rebuild and make things all better. We need the right troops, the National Gaurd currently doing duty in da 'Raq to come back and help rebuild here too. As for the concerns about rebuilding, I have done some research there. Short rebuild strategy: turn the project over to the Danes.

Also, scout_prime at First Draft has been reporting on Katrina and its after-shocks for 6 months. Today she posted a slide show prepared recently by Jose Fernandez after his trip there. Watch when you get the chance.

And yo, Fearless Leader, to quote Buffy, "A black eye heals, [BushBoy], but cowardice has an unlimited shelf-life".

Welcome

I'd like you to give a big welcome to a long winded good friend who'll be joining the staff here at the Brain. You all know the Angry Old Broad.

3 years

So, the 'Iran Plan' has been on the books for 3 years.

Word

...

I now know I wrongfully placed my faith and trust in a presidential administration hopelessly mired in incompetence, hubris and a lack of accountability. It planned a war based on false intelligence and unrealistic assumptions. It has strategically surrendered the condition of victory in Iraq to people who do not share our vision, values or interests. The Bush administration has proven successful at only one thing in Iraq - painting us into a corner with no feasible exit.

...

Read.

Link courtesy of C&L.

Housekeeping

Summer uniform. Which is, by the way, the new USMC Digital Desert camo. Happy Easter, Passover, whatever. I'm going to eat, drink, and be merry at my Italian sister-in-law's house.

Done deal...again

Billmon:

...

The problem, which I'm sure Clarke and Simon fully understand, is that there isn't going to be a congressional resolution this time - in fact I'd be very surprised if the administration gives the leadership of either party more than 24 hours notice before the bombing begins. No marketing campaigns, no debates, no arms twisted in the Oval Office. Just a fait accompli. (That's French for: "Choke on it, suckers." [my em]

...

No shit. There ain't gonna be any dicking around with the U.N. or Congress. The balloon is gonna go up and the cruise missiles are gonna fly and then will be the first time we hear about it. I'll betcha anything there are guys from my old combat control unit already there, scouting out targets; refining the aim so to speak. This will only amount to a big fucking mess if we don't stop them.

Great thanks to Dr. Attaturk for the link.

Better than The Onion

That would be the great Neil Shakespeare:

Scotty McClellan is now resorting to the 'He's ain't heavy. He's just retarded!' gambit in defense of the president.

"It's not his fault that he's so stupid," said McClellan. "I demand an apology! And don't use that word 'stupid' like I just did. The president, as we all know, is 'mentally challenged'. He doesn't know anything about what's going on around him. He is completely innocent.

...

He understands...

Gilliard does anyway:

Generals are like other people, except with a finely tuned sense of risk assessment. The idea that it's six generals calling for Rumsfeld to quit is comical. Asshats like Powerline and Red State don't know shit about this subject. They know what they are told and little more.

...

Despite liberal fears of the Republican nature of the US officer corps, the reality is that it hardly any different than any other large group of executives. What sets them apart is that to reach general, you have to have at least a masters, and a doctorate doesn't hurt. Which means that they are the most educated group of executives in the US.

And many of them have degrees from Georgetown Foriegn Service, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Harvard, the same as their peers in State and DOD. So when they talk about policy, it it's from education.

But what they are is apolitical. Most may vote one way or the other, but they don't seek any role in American politics. For generals to attack a sitting SecDef means they think there is a crisis in the military and it will harm its future capabilities. Because speaking out about civilian leadership is something the Army itself doesn't tolerate. Douglas McArthur, Edwin Walker and John Singlaub all lost their jobs by attacking the civilian leadership.

...

The right, which doesn't know dick about this, think it's a few generals. It isn't. This is the opinion of the magament class of the Army and Marines, they're just using retirees to make the point that active duty soldiers can't. But this will only get worse. Rumors of resignations are in the air and if that happens, Bush will be forced into a hole. You do not want your generals threatening the civilian staff, but when you have an incompetent SecDef, you can't watch people die and the army being destroyed.

...

This is the way it is, precisely what the 'pundits' and 'warbloggers' don't get. The fact the generals are speaking out at all is a big thing. Take the time to read the whole article, especially those who haven't experienced military service, and you'll see what we vets did as soon as General Zinni started critcizing this misbegotten war.

Update:

Pauly treats this well too, a must-read.