Turkey Reports Airstrike on Iraq - New York Times

Turkey Reports Airstrike on Iraq - New York Times: "ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish jet fighters bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq early Sunday, Turkey's military said, marking an escalation of force against the outlawed separatist group. An Iraqi official said the planes attacked several villages, killing one woman."

This is interesting because the US would have had to have allowed it. The US maintains a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over Iraq. We have good to excellent radar coverage extending well beyond Iraq's borders. The only reason I can see that the CAP didn't drop the Turkish aircraft is that they were told not to.

The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) is a terrorist organization. The best solution is for the Kurds in Northern Iraq to police the PKK themselves. If they're not going to do that then they're going to keep giving Turkey an excuse to come over the border and handle the problem their own way.

EDIT: BBC quotes a Turkish General as saying the US gave advance approval.

America's war returnees: many troubles but more help | csmonitor.com

America's war returnees: many troubles but more help | csmonitor.com: "Many have trouble transitioning from combat dangers to a normal routine at home. But sometimes just identifying the problem is the issue.

The Army has improved its process by adding a second mental-health assessment three to six months after its initial screening, which is completed as soon as a soldier returns from war. This second screening has allowed the Army to unmask troubling trends among its soldiers: a fourfold increase in relationship problems compared with those reported in the first assessment, a surge of major depression among many, and increased alcohol abuse. [emphasis mine]"

This article lacks the insight I'm used to in Christian Science Monitor articles.

I have not read the Journal of the American Medical Association article that spawned this.

The results don't sound that remarkable. Battle stressed troops will maintain duty performance above all else. By the time a battle stressed troop has problems that show up at work their entire private life is in shambles.

I don't believe these problems are suddenly manifesting themselves at 120 days post deployment. I believe it's taking 120 days for things to get so bad that the warriors can't hide it anymore.

In case you haven't heard anybody else say this before, I will: the Army is screwing up an entire generation of warriors.

Former Iraq prison commander to be court-martialed

The Associated Press: Ex-US Commander at Iraq Jail Faces Trial: "BAGHDAD (AP) — A former U.S. commander at the jail that held Saddam Hussein will face trial next week on charges of aiding the enemy by providing a cell phone to detainees and acting inappropriately with an interpreter, the military said Saturday.

Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele, a reservist from Prince George, Va., pleaded guilty on Oct. 7 to three of seven charges, which carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison, forfeiture of pay and dismissal from the Army, according to the military."

I've blogged on this guy before.

Even though the aiding the enemy charge could be a death penalty offense, it is now a non-capital trial.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for the men and women who had to obey this ambulatory turd's orders. During his Article 32 hearing (pretrial hearing similar to a grand jury) there was testimony about him menacing his tower guards with a pistol. Worse still, imagine being a prisoner, with all your means of self defense taken away from you, in a prison commanded by a madman.

On a side note, LTC Steele is looking at long sentence in a military prison. My bet is that his sentence will be ten years or more. During that time, at least some of the military policemen that suffered under his command will have the opportunity to serve as guards in the facility where prisoner Steele will be serving out his sentence.

I'm not a lawyer, I don't even play one on TV

U.S. Issues New Rules for Iraq Security Firms - New York Times: "With Blackwater and other private contractors in Iraq facing tighter scrutiny, the House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would bring all United States government contractors in the Iraq war zone under the jurisdiction of American criminal law. The measure would require the F.B.I. to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing."

I can see how this might work if all of the PMC employees are US citizens. But all of the employees aren't US citizens. How would it be possible to extend US law to non-US citizens for crimes committed in a third country against that third country's citizens?

Ex-Paratrooper Is Suspect in a Blackwater Killing - New York Times

Ex-Paratrooper Is Suspect in a Blackwater Killing - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — The former Blackwater USA employee who is the sole suspect in the killing last Christmas Eve of a bodyguard for an Iraqi vice president is a 27-year-old former Army paratrooper from Montana who now lives in Seattle, where he spends much of his time renovating his small home.

The former employee, Andrew J. Moonen, is identified in numerous government and company documents and is known to scores of Blackwater and government officials, but Congress, the State Department and the company have been keeping his identity confidential."

They outed him. I wonder which "they" did it? Blackwater has good reasons for keeping their mouths shut. Congressional Republicans need Blackwater to succeed. I'm betting an aid to a Democrat forwarded an e-mail.

I'm all about Mr. Moonen facing justice for what he did. I don't think throwing him to the dogs was the right thing to do. Crazies all over the world will be buying plane tickets to Seattle.

I can't tell you why this upsets me so much

Serco Careers: "Job Description Participates as temporary full-time member (Personal Effects Specialist, or Photographer, or Administrative Speciaialist) on a Serco, Inc. team of 96 contract employees working on-site in a fast-paced operational/warehouse environment for the US Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at the Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED). Receives, inventories, sorts, cleans, photographs, packages, and ships to family members (next of kin) all personal effects belonging to military service members and others, including defense contractors, who are killed or severely injured worldwide, especially incident to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Such a horrifying statement made in such a mundane, dehumanizing way.

First seen on Wonkette.

Treating the trauma of war – fairly | csmonitor.com

Treating the trauma of war – fairly | csmonitor.com: "Bennington, Vt. - The high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among soldiers returning from Iraq is one of the many 'inconvenient truths' of this war. Inconvenient largely because it is costly: The most effective and humane means of treating PTSD are time-intensive and long-term.

The military, however, has changed the terms and given many thousands of enlisted men and women a new diagnosis: 'personality disorder.' While the government would be obliged to care for veterans suffering from combat-related trauma, a personality disorder – defined as an ingrained, maladaptive way of orienting oneself to the world – predates a soldier's tour of duty (read: preexisting condition). This absolves Uncle Sam of any responsibility for the person's mental suffering."

I joined back in the 80s. Back then, the understanding was: "Go where we send you, do what your country needs done and your country will take care of the rest." This is still partly true. You still go where you are sent, and you still do what needs done but the country does not take care of the rest.

It is my hope that one day we have a government that deserves the loyalty of the young men and women that do its dirty work.

Hopefully, the Veterans Administration is overturning these diagnoses.

The First Post: bunch of slobs

The First Post: Pic of the Day: food queues in Iraq

I can't tell you why stupid stuff like this pisses me off... but it does. The lazy, incompetent bastards at The First Post have captioned the above picture "US soldiers push back Iraqi women..." Two guys wearing "chocolate chips", carrying Kalashnikovs, one not wearing a helmet and the other wearing a black "fritz" helmet are not US forces. The uniforms and equipment are consistent with Iraqi Police, Iraqi Army and Iraqi National Guard. I really couldn't tell you which, but then again it's not my picture, not my web page and it's not my job to write the caption.

It would be nice if the people writing about Iraq actually knew something about the subject, but that's really too much to ask.

Reservist fighting his fifth war call-up - 07/08/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

Reservist fighting his fifth war call-up - 07/08/2007 - MiamiHerald.com: "The 26-year-old Port St. Lucie man has been ordered to report to Fort Jackson, S.C., on July 15 for his fifth deployment. And that has compelled Botta, a first-generation American who counts himself a quiet patriot, to do something he never thought he'd do: sue the Army."

Thirty-seven percent of the active duty Army has never deployed. This guy already has four deployments since 2001. I understand the whole "take the money... do the job..." thing, but I think Eric has earned a break.

The target tempo is one deployment every four years. Naturally, some jobs are going to get hit harder than others. An infantryman is going to go more times than a drill instructor. But five times in six years is ridiculous.

General Discharge Recommended for Anti-War Marine

LocalNews8.com � Idaho Falls, Pocatello - Weather, News, Sports - Discharge suggested for anti-war Marine: "KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A military panel in Kansas City, Missouri, has recommended a general discharge for an Iraq war veteran who wore his uniform during a war protest."

The article says Adam Kokesh won't lose any military benefits. That's not completely correct. I know that you have to have an Honorable discharge for Montgomery GI Bill benefits. Kokesh is currently a graduate student at George Washington University, so he might miss the $1,000 a month payout.

This is still a whole lot better than the Other Than Honorable that was under discussion. An OTH would have cost him many more benefits.

Antiwar to the Corps - washingtonpost.com

Antiwar to the Corps - washingtonpost.com: "In a case that raises questions about free speech, the Marines have launched investigations of three inactive reservists for wearing their uniforms during antiwar protests and allegedly making statements characterized as 'disrespectful' or 'disloyal.'"

Imagine that, a combat veteran wearing a uniform in an unauthorized manner or at an unauthorized time while speaking out against a war.

In this case, a mock patrol on the streets of Washington, DC, I believe the wear of the uniform was central to the protest and the protected speech.

The USMC is screwing up. The protesters brought no disgrace or dishonor to the USMC. They performed an act of protest while expressing their personal opinions, nothing more.

Furthermore these individuals are in the Individual Ready Reserve. The IRR is a limbo status members serve in after their separation from active duty. Members in the IRR receive no pay and no benefits but are technically still in the military and can be recalled to active duty in times of national emergency. Extending military regulations to a member in the IRR might be legal, but it's a huge stretch.

The protesters are being threatened with Other Than Honorable Discharges. That's actually a big deal. It is the worst discharge you can receive without being court-martialed and is reserved for serious misconduct. Most veteran's benefits are denied to people who receive OTH or lower discharges. Being a disrespectful loudmouth is not serious misconduct and the OTH discharges are unwarranted.

I can't tell you how I know this, but being a disrespectful loudmouth usually results in nothing more than a closed door session with the First Sergeant during which said loudmouth is reminded that nobody cares what he thinks. The loudmouth then serves penance doing assorted dirty jobs until the First Sergeant gets distracted with someone else.

The USMC's reaction to these men attending a protest in uniform is disproportionate to the offense. Particularly in this case, where the offense was committed while exercising their First Amendment rights.

Adam Kokesh, one of the three facing an OTH discharge maintains a blog here.

Advisers Fault Harsh Methods in Interrogation - New York Times

Advisers Fault Harsh Methods in Interrogation - New York Times: "WASHINGTON, May 29 — As the Bush administration completes secret new rules governing interrogations, a group of experts advising the intelligence agencies are arguing that the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable."

Told ya so.

Now, for the attention-span impaired: 1) TORTURE IS IMMORAL and 2) IT DOESN'T WORK.

Can we stop now? Please?

Prince Harry Will Not Serve in Iraq - washingtonpost.com

Prince Harry Will Not Serve in Iraq - washingtonpost.com: "LONDON -- Britain's army reversed course Wednesday and announced that Prince Harry will not be sent to Iraq with his regiment due to 'specific threats' from insurgents that expose the third in line to the throne to an unacceptable degree of risk."

Told ya so. The troops already there should understand. Prince Harry would have been a shit magnet. Their job will be somewhat easier and somewhat safer without him.

Way too close to the truth

The intent of this post was not to be a mirror of Blackfive, who truth be told, I have significant differences with. One of those "agree on the important stuff but probably couldn't finish a beer together" things.

Nonetheless, they had this Doonesbury up today and I had to swipe it. With today's instant media there really is a rush back to the hooch to send "I'm not dead" e-mails.

General Petraeus Values Message

Values Message (10 May 07).pdf (application/pdf Object)

The Pentagon recently released a survey discussed here in this blog in which alarmingly high percentages of US Forces serving in Iraq condoned torture and said that they would not report abuse of non-combatants. General David H. Petraeus, Commander Multi-National Force Iraq has published a values message to his troops:

"Our values and the laws governing warfare teach us to respect human dignity, maintain our integrity, and do what is right. Adherence to our values distinguishes us from our enemy. This fight depends on securing the population, which must understand that we—not our enemies—occupy the moral high ground. This strategy has shown results in recent months. Al Qaeda’s indiscriminate attacks, for example, have finally started to turn a substantial proportion of the Iraqi population against it.

In view of this, I was concerned by the results of a recently released survey conducted last fall in Iraq that revealed an apparent unwillingness on the part of some US personnel to report illegal actions taken by fellow members of their units. The study also indicated that a small percentage of those surveyed may have mistreated noncombatants. This survey should spur reflection on our conduct in combat."

I never had the honor of serving with General Petraeus. He is one of the great warriors of my generation.

I learned about this off of Blackfive. I lifted the quote off of Michael Yon's blog.

Military bans MySpace, other sites from networks, computers | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Military bans MySpace, other sites from networks, computers | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "DENVER — Soldiers serving overseas will lose some of their online links to friends and loved ones back home under a Department of Defense policy that a high-ranking Army official said would take effect today."

For those of you who haven't recently served in a war zone, a lot of communication with family and loved ones is done over military networks. Most of this is done on DoD computers specifically set up for this purpose in morale tents. Others use the same computer they use for duty. A few folks have a DoD LAN connection in their living quarters and some personnel stationed in places like Baghdad are on Wide Area Networks of dubious security provided by locals.

One of the ways the younger troops maintain contact is through myspace pages. As myspace and the other social networking sites have loaded up on the eye candy, they've become an ever-increasing burden on DoD networks. DoD internet access in war zones is frequently carried over satellites. Not the cheapest way to get your bandwidth and certainly not the easiest to upgrade. Bandwidth conservation is a real live military priority.

Which brings us to the here and now. Communicating with mom and dad just got a little harder and the flow of information out of war zones just got a little more restricted.

First seen on Foreign Policy.

The War In Iraq: A Soldiers Perspective - Watch more free videos

A long time ago a very experienced soldier told me to smoke in war zones. Specifically, he told me to smoke those little Tiparillo cigars that smell about as nice as a flaming cat turd. By the end of the day you stink of the damn things but that's a whole lot better than smelling like the dead.

Secrecy News

Secrecy News: "'I have considered your request that we remove Army publications from the Federation of American Scientists web site,' I responded today. 'I have decided not to comply.'"

I love those little poindexters over at the FAS. The Army publishes a For Official Use Only (i.e. limited distribution) document restricting blogging and e-mails and the FAS posts it on the web. Hopefully, I'm not the only one who sees the irony in that.

The regulation is a re-write of Army Regulation 530-1 Operations Security and it severely restricts electronic communication in any form. Both blogging (any) and e-mail (any) require supervisory review.

I know, it sounds impossible to me too. But there's a bigger issue which is the abuses during the Vietnam era. During Vietnam the US Government in general and the US Army in particular undertook a campaign to deceive the American people about the progress of the war. The press smelled a rat and went around the press officers. William Hammond in an official Army history concluded that the press reports were "still often more accurate" than the official releases. (quoted in Karnow, History of Vietnam) The Army does not deserve to be trusted with controlling the flow of information.

The Army is facing a technologically sophisticated enemy and blogs in particular are a goldmine of information. Go here, pick out a few blogs from deployed servicemen and read them from the viewpoint of a hostile intelligence officer. The Army has a point.

Still, their implementation was heavy-handed and wrong. The answer is education. A warrior's primary loyalty is to his or her unit. Not to the country or to any other abstract concept like freedom and democracy. Teach the service members how maintain communications without endangering their unit. They'll do it.

Here's the scary snippet form AR 530-1:

g. Consult with their immediate supervisor and their OPSEC Officer for an OPSEC review prior to publishing or posting information in a public forum.
(1) This includes, but is not limited to letters, resumes, articles for publication, electronic mail (e-mail), Web site postings, web log (blog) postings, discussion in Internet information forums, discussion in Internet message boards or other forms of dissemination or documentation.
(2) Supervisors will advise personnel to ensure that sensitive and critical information is not to be disclosed. Each unit or organization’s OPSEC Officer will advise supervisors on means to prevent the disclosure of sensitive and critical information.

Troops at Odds With Ethics Standards - washingtonpost.com

Troops at Odds With Ethics Standards - washingtonpost.com: "More than one-third of U.S. soldiers in Iraq surveyed by the Army said they believe torture should be allowed if it helps gather important information about insurgents [emphasis added], the Pentagon disclosed yesterday. Four in 10 said they approve of such illegal abuse if it would save the life of a fellow soldier."

Well that my friend is the mother of all "ifs."

I could use the Inquisition as an example, or maybe the Salem Witch Trials, but what the hell... let's use something more current. In February of 2003 then Secretary of State Colin Powell testified before the United Nations that Al Qaida had gone to Iraq to learn about chemical and biological weapons. [reference] This statement was based on the "confession" of a man known as al-Libi who, having failed to talk to his US interrogation team, had been rendered to Egypt. The Egyptians play hardball and there is very good reason to believe al-Libi was tortured. [reference] The problem with the confession, and it makes the case for duress, is that al-Libi later recanted. [reference]

Put yourself in the shoes of someone being tortured. What's your focus going to be? Stopping the pain, right? Your primary focus is going to be figuring out what the evil son of a bitch with the jumper cables wants to hear and telling him exactly that. And if the evil son of a bitch wants you to confess to a crime that occurred a decade before you were born, you'll do it.

Torture as a path to the truth? Torture as a means of extracting valuable intelligence? You've got to be kidding me.

'Invaders' must leave Iraq, says SAS general | Uk News | News | Telegraph

'Invaders' must leave Iraq, says SAS general | Uk News | News | Telegraph: "He said: 'As Lord Chatham said, when he was speaking on the British presence in North America, 'If I was an American, as I am an Englishman, as long as one Englishman remained on American native soil, I would never, never, never lay down my arms'.

'The Iraqi insurgents feel exactly the same way. I understand them. I don't excuse them for some of the terrible things they do, but I do understand why they are resisting the Americans.'"

I have served with British forces and I consider them the finest peacekeepers in world bar none. Sir General Rose, in addition to his special operations time, commanded the peacekeepers in Bosnia from 1994-1995. The General knows the business. His assessment of the insurgency is correct.

The bulk of the killing, however, is sectarian violence. The civilian casualty totals are over ten times the coalition casualty totals. These deaths are overwhelmingly Iraqis killing Iraqis. Nation building is not possible with this level of violence. This is a stand-up peacekeeping mission. Somebody has to stop the killing.

I agree with General Sir Michael Rose. Our very presence is inciting violence. I also believe our presence mitigates at least some of the sectarian violence. In an ideal world, we'd be relieved by a force that's simultaneously tolerable to Iraqis and capable of going head-to-head with multiple heavily armed sects with murder on their minds.

Who's that going to be?