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As I told Lt. Gen. Barno this morning, "Sir, this proves we were winning when WE left."
August 19, 2010 | Posted by Abu Muqawama - 10:57am | 35 Comments
Drew Conway was promoted to the faculty of New York University (uh, by the New York Times, at least), for these neat charts he helped make using the Wikileaks data.
Visualisation of Activity in Afghanistan using the Wikileaks data from Mike Dewar on Vimeo.
well...shit.
well...shit.
“Everyone gets everything
“Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission—and for my sins they gave me one… It was a real choice mission. And when it was over, I’d never want another.” Caption Willard, Apocalyptic Now
who's caption willard, and
who's caption willard, and why does he need captions?
Kabul... shit; I'm still
Kabul... shit; I'm still only in Kabul... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in The Khyber Pass.
President Obama: Your
President Obama: Your mission is to proceed up the Helmand River in a Navy patrol boat. Pick up General Stanley McChrystal path at Kandahar follow it and learn what you can along the way. When you find the General, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the General's command.
General Petraeus: Terminate the General's Command?
Secretary Gates: Fire HIM! Yes, he's out there operating without any decent restraint, chatting it up with Rolling Stone, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding troops.
Leon Panetta: Pink-slip with extreme prejudice.
Secretary Gates: You understand, General Petraeus, that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist...
Can you ask Lt. Gen. Barno
Can you ask Lt. Gen. Barno if he's ever visited the Pussycat Lounge and NY Dolls? Because their strippers seem to agree with CNAS and I know only one guy at CNAS who's into talking policy and politics with strippers, now they are mouthing the CNAS party line: "I don’t know what the big deal is," says one of the strippers.
http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/08/19/for-strip-clubs-near-ground-z...
If you watch the development
If you watch the development of the reporting the end is already there as it is doubtful that even 100K troops will delay the eventual Taliban takeover and it definitely confirms a deep shadow government in place and it is attempting to control the line of communications ring that encompasses the country.
Curious as to how Drew and his team were actually able to handle classified documents---even if stolen the documents remain the property of the government and carry a government classification which if found on a computer that was not authorized to have access---isn't this in fact a security violation under current government security regulations?
Then again, the number of
Then again, the number of SIGACTS usually increase when there are more troops to report them.
If a bomb goes off in the mountains, and there's no one around to input a SIGACT, do we brief it at Command and Staff?
Why would a bomb go off by
Why would a bomb go off by itself, and if it went off by its lonesome in some mountain, why would it be important?
More troops, more bombs, because of more troops.
What will be telling in
What will be telling in Afghanistan in regards to SIGACTS is if the same thing happens here that happened in the surge. 2007 was the most violent in regards to SIGACTs when violence peaked in Baghdad, Diyala and SaD Province (Kirkuk peaked in very late 2007 and Mosul seemed to me to peak in Spring 2008) but when the drop occurred, it occurred very quickly in the afore-mentioned areas. The point being that the troop surge came on in, operations started and SIGACTS ramped up accordingly to record level. Control was maintained over an area and then violence quickly dropped (usually coupled with whatever SoI contract was initiated). The primary difference here in AF is that given that we ain't there yet on the Afghan version of SoIs, we might not see the same corresponding drop (or at least might not see it to later). Still, if the previous pattern is an indicator, we might see the drop here in a few months, particularly as the campaign season comes to a close.
Is it possible that
Is it possible that increases in NATO troop strength is the main recruiting tool of the Taliban? More NATO troops "proves" the occupation and the supplies and cash they bring funds the subsequent increase in the insurgency. More attacks "prove" the importance of the campaign which leads to more troops and more money. More attacks translates into more NATO casualties whose deaths can't be in vain so the campaign continues.
Didn't bin Laden tell us that this was his plan?
What is it with Conway's and
What is it with Conway's and moving blobs?
starbuck wins
starbuck wins
Did Lt. Gen. Barno speak to
Did Lt. Gen. Barno speak to this woman when he last visited Disneyland? It seems she too has been bitten by the "we're Muslims, hence necessitate special treatment" bug:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Forange_county&i...
Are we going to have the hijab debate ala France, the UK and the Netherlands here too? And in Disneyland? For chrissakes!
And this is Kilcullen's doing, huh?
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/mistake+oppression+fashion+choices/3384...
Last week in an Australian court, a Muslim student refused to testify without her burka. She was supposed to testify against the director of a Muslim women's college who is accused of defrauding the government of more than $700,000.
From the collective
From the collective punishment thread....
"Comment by Luke 19:27 on August 17, 2010 - 1:27am
Let them build their Mosques in Canada or the UK, or we'll have thousands of Christians (and Hassidic Jews) piss on their front steps every day before dawn prayers. That is a promise."
========================
Luke 1927 you are my new Hero!!
Congrats world. You are about to meet the Real America, and it's fukking pissed.
I didn't know Lt. Gen. Barno
I didn't know Lt. Gen. Barno was into strippers and Muslim women. What a strange combination, kinda like Black girls and midgets...
Depending on individual
Depending on individual bladder and sphincter control, we can all pitch in.
I personally can poop at will, anytime, anywhere. So, if that Mosque is built, I will personally be pooping everyday, before dawn prayers, on their front steps--I may also be varying it, by pooping where they wash before prayers.
If you can't poop at will, please feel free to just pee with us. If you cannot do either at will, then we will gladly accept your donation of poop and pee (via USPS and dropped off personally) and we'll toss it for you on their front steps every morning before dawn prayers.
We're taking off the gloves and pulling down our undies for this. We also plan to video all this and spread it through youtube, so others in Europe and Australia can do the same.
Why is Wikileaks not
Why is Wikileaks not releasing anything on Iraq, or on those rumored juicy diplomatic cables that Manning was said to have dumped in their lap, the ones that Hillary Clinton really doesn't want us to see?
Wiki-Selective-Leaks-For-Propaganda-Purposes, more like it. Now we see State going into Iraq in force, in pink Kevlar with thousands of private contractors in tow... and, about that hydrocarbon law?
Aug 17, 2010 - *Not for recirculation by the corporate media. Editors & reporters who disobey will be bumped off their career paths, got it? We'll even sack the executive producers, I shit you not:
AMBASSADOR HILL: Yeah, the oil law – I’ve got to tell you, I mean, I got there in April of ’09 and everyone talked about the hydrocarbons law, the oil law. And I saw kind of a virtual stalemate in the Council of Representatives, and I supported the approach of just going ahead and doing contracts – that is, doing – not – these are not ownership contracts; these are oil service contracts. . .
. . . And so they need an oil law for a number of technical matters, but in terms of stimulating investments, I think they’ve found a very reasonable workaround, and I think you will see Iraqi oil production in the next five, ten years becoming very significant. It’s around 2 million barrels, and if things go well in seven, ten years, we’ll be looking at 8 million barrels, maybe higher than that.
In that Hill speech, there is zero mention of Iraqi electricity issues. There is no mention of (re)building power plants, let alone domestic oil refineries to serve Iraqi needs. Without power, water treatment facilities cannot operate, leading to increased disease - and food crises may also occur, due to issues with irrigation and refrigeration. So - water, electricity, food, medicine - zero mention by the Ambassador. He's focused on oil investments, Halliburton oil services contracts - same as under Bush. In fact, Obama is adhering to the Cheney Energy Task Force recommendations on Iraq c. Mar 2001, isn't he?
The MSNBC team covering the "withdrawal" from Iraq got the memo, along with everyone else - some minor mention of the influx of thousands of private mercenaries backing up State's oil push, but that's it. As far as why they were going in, or what State's goals are? Zip. Good little monkeys, here's a banana for Richard & Rachel - oh, alright, FOX News can have some too. Now, isn't the carrot nicer than the stick?
It's all so tragic... consider that idiot Saddam - if he had just let us run his oil program for him, he would still be living in the palace and torturing his political opponents in the dungeon for kicks - what a dumbass - and look what he made us do! Stubborn bastard... after we financed his war on Iran, too - which he flubbed, despite all the chemical weapons and cluster bombs we gave him. I swear, you can't find good help these days.
'Are you an assassin?' - Col. Kurtz
'I'm a soldier..' - Capt. Willard
'You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill..." - Col. Kurtz.
Unfamilar with Kurtz? Try this: Colonel Kurtz reads T.S. Eliot
It is inexcusable that there
It is inexcusable that there is any serious thought of building a mosque near the World Trade Center site. It has nothing to do with freedom of religion, tolerance, and so forth. It is a matter of decent respect for sensibilities. The authors of the unspeakable atrocity on that site, and other terrorist acts against civilians, espoused the faith the proposed mosque celebrates. Of course most Muslims are inoffensive. So are most Germans and Japanese and Russians; but there is no move to build cultural or recreational centers by those countries at Auschwitz, Pearl Harbor, or the Katyn Forest. This is an argument that only a degenerating society can have, and when Maureen Dowd is trying to enlist George W. Bush to this cause, we know that this is not necessarily a sick society — as the Left loved to claim in Johnson’s, and Nixon’s, and Reagan’s days — but that the New York Times is a sicker pigeon than we thought. As for my friendly acquaintance Mayor Bloomberg, he should have saved himself $80 million, devoted 10 percent of that to electing his talented and delightful companion Diana Taylor to the Senate over the cipher who festers there now, and hastened to his philanthropies. If this mosque is built in this location, everyone in the world will see it as a sign that the U.S. has become, in the words of Richard Nixon’s prescient warning, “a pitiful, helpless giant.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/244280/obama-and-muslims-conrad-b...
Why isn't LTG Barno a good
Why isn't LTG Barno a good friend too?
poop and pee? USPS? c'mon
poop and pee? USPS? c'mon fellas, you can't be serious.
@Visitor, What bodily fluids
@Visitor,
What bodily fluids or parts do you recommend?
I can think of some.
Allah be praised. They may have finally overstepped.
BTW WTF do you think they're doing? On the graves of our sacred dead?
1. Was hoping for
1. Was hoping for perspicacious commentary on on incidents following the road network over time (such as it is).
2. Boy do I feel let down.
V/R JWest
Get with the program, V/R
Get with the program, V/R JWest, it's all about the 2 blocks from Ground Zero Mosque right now. Either pee, poop or get out of the way. Love it or Leave it.
Elf at 5:15 P.M.: "On the
Elf at 5:15 P.M.: "On the graves of our sacred dead "
So their lives are worth more than anyone else's?
" Elf at 5:15 P.M.: "On the
"
Elf at 5:15 P.M.: "On the graves of our sacred dead "
So their lives are worth more than anyone else's?
Same answer as on the other thread. YES. They damn sure are in that town.
What's your point?
Elfinta at 2:41 P.M.:
Elfinta at 2:41 P.M.:
"What's your point?"
My concern is with the use by some of the words "sacred" or "hallowed" to describe the WTC site and/or the victims of the attack. The use of such words in this fashion is not consistent with a number of tenets of Christianity.
Do you believe that a person has the ability to determine the relative worth of the lives of other people?
Can the worth of a person killed by a drunk driver in Alabama be accurately compared to the worth of a person killed by a drunk driver in Kansas?
To rephrase my question at 9:53 P.M. to avoid any misunderstanding:
So the lives of the victims are worth more than the lives of any other American?
It's Elfitna, not
It's Elfitna, not Elfinta...
"The use of such words in this fashion is not consistent with a number of tenets of Christianity. "
Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on those words.
Your argument doesn't follow. It's not a question of whose life is more valuable, although some clearly are. This is a battlefield. The enemy doesn't get to build a monument there.
If we're going to continue with this, this is rather like a bunch of drunks driving to the victims grave - drunk - pissing out their beer on the grave then driving away drunk. Five times a day.
Lan Astaslim.
Elfitna at 4:51
Elfitna at 4:51 P.M.:
"Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on those words."
Agreed, but Christianity consistently opposes the use of such words to describe a place, person, or thing because its smacks of idolatry.
"This is a battlefield. The enemy doesn't get to build a monument there."
Agreed, but it isn't a place we worship.
War in general but specifically terrorism is driven in large part by images. We have never created the images necessary to counter the images of 9/11: planes flying into buildings, buildings burnings, buildings collapsing, shell-shocked survivors staggering through dust choked streets, and worst of all OBL's face on TV, magazine covers, t-shirts, ect. Almost 9 years have gone by without our creating any counter images. This mosque, even if never built, is intended to create images that will rip the scabs off.
"This is rather like a bunch of drunks driving to the victims grave - drunk - pissing out their beer on the grave then driving away drunk."
Exactly.
Highly misleading. If the
Highly misleading.
If the number of troops on the ground increase, the number of TICs will increase. I am also sceptical of this chart as it sure does seem to keep areas in red in the dead of winter, when SIGACTs plummet. Thats a dead giveaway something is wrong. The impact of teh weather and winter just isnt apparent here.
Does this comment in the
Does this comment in the press from today make Drew's work on the leaked documents also liable under the 1917 law as he knowingly used classified materials that he was not allowed to even see or handle unless his clearance from his BAH days is still active and the materials part of a classified project he was working on.
"A person familiar with the investigation told The Times late last month that Justice Department lawyers were exploring whether Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks could be charged with inducing, or conspiring in, violations of the Espionage Act, a 1917 law that prohibits the unauthorized disclosure of national security information.
Charles Johnson, the Defense Department’s general counsel, in a letter last week to a WikiLeaks lawyer, appeared to share that thinking: “It is the view of the Department of Defense that WikiLeaks obtained this material in circumstances that constitute a violation of the law, and that as long as WikiLeaks holds this material, the violation is ongoing.”
If you want to buy real
If you want to buy real estate, you will have to receive the home loans. Moreover, my mother all the time takes a sba loan, which seems to be really fast.
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