2007.08.09 Politics and National Defense Roundup
A Winter Soldier footnote
Scott Johnson
Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal published a powerful column by the former Romanian intelligence officer Ion Mihai Pacepa. The subject of Pacepa's column was the destructive effect of the left's intemperate attacks on the president. Buried in Pacepa's column is this intriguing paragraph: During the Vietnam War we spread vitriolic stories around the world, pretending that America's presidents sent Genghis Khan-style barbarian soldiers to Vietnam who raped at random, taped electrical wires to human genitals, cut off limbs, blew up bodies and razed entire villages. Those weren't facts. They were our tales, but some seven million Americans ended up being convinced their own president, not communism, was the enemy. As Yuri Andropov, who conceived this dezinformatsiya war against the U.S., used to tell me, people are more willing to believe smut than holiness.
The themes identified here by Pacepa were of course products of the "Winter Soldier investigation" in which John Kerry participated. Kerry featured each of the themes identified by Pacepa in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 1971. Pacepa's comments warrant attention. ...
Russ Vaughn emailed to make sure I saw Gen. Pacepa's piece two days ago and I somehow managed to space off linking to it. Please do read all of it, then don't miss the rest of Scott Johnson's post.
Below the fold:
Beauchamp Chronicles: Keeping the vacationing New Republic editors up to date Haditha: Charges dropped against two Marines Major U.S. Raid in Sadr City Targets Shiite Militia Faction
See also:
State of War
From The New York Times: U.S. says Iran-supplied bomb is killing more troops in Iraq. Attacks on U.S.-led forces using a lethal type of roadside bomb said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the U.S. military.
The devices, known as explosively formed penetrators, were used to carry out 99 attacks last month and accounted for a third of the combat deaths suffered by U.S.-led forces, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said in an interview.
Such bombs, which fire a semi-molten copper slug that can penetrate the armor on a Humvee and are among the deadliest weapons used against U.S. forces, are used almost exclusively by Shiite militants. U.S. intelligence officials have presented evidence that the weapons come from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, although Iran has repeatedly denied providing lethal assistance to Iraqi groups. ...
From FOX News: Captured Video Shows Iraqi Insurgents Firing Sophisticated Iranian-Made Rockets at U.S. Positions. Dramatic video produced by Iraqi insurgents and captured in a raid earlier this week by U.S. troops clearly shows a battery of sophisticated Iranian-made rocket launchers firing on American positions east of Baghdad, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. ...
Below is an updated list of stories about Iran's war with us, mainly in Iraq. The list includes the two stories above. Notice that the chronologically first story is almost two years old to the day, meaning we've know of Iran's involvement in Iraq at least that long. ...
Beauchamp Chronicles: Keeping the
vacationing New Republic editors up to date
Michelle Malkin
Matt Sanchez interviews a soldier about driving HUMVEEs and Bradleys into dogs. Watch the video:
[video link]
Bob Owens talked to Doug Coffey, the Head of Communications, Land & Armaments, for BAE Systems, the Bradley IFV’s manufacturer that TNR wouldn’t name. You won’t read this in the MSM..and certainly not in TNR: Bob, I received your earlier email and wanted to talk to some others about the specific questions you asked. To answer your last question first, yes, I did talk to a young researcher with TNR who only asked general questions about “whether a Bradley could drive through a wall” and “if it was possible for a dog to get caught in the tracks” and general questions about vehicle specifications…
…I can’t pretend to know what may or may not have happened in Iraq but the impression the writer leaves is that a “driver” can go on joy rides with a 35 ton vehicle at will. The vehicle has a crew and a commander of the vehicle who is in charge. In order for the scenario described to have taken place, there would have to have been collaboration by the entire crew. ...
Read the whole thing, and do follow the link to Bob's post.
See also:
Haditha: Charges dropped against two Marines
Bryan Preston
Rep. Jack “Abscam” Murtha may need to join the TNR vacation. Charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt and Capt. Randy Stone were dismissed based on a review of the facts in the case, Lt. Gen. James Mattis said in a statement.
Sharratt and Stone were among eight U.S. Marines originally charged in the Haditha case, which stemmed from the death of 24 men, women and children in the western Iraqi town. Sharratt was charged with unpremeditated murder and Stone with dereliction of duty.
Why were the charges dropped? ...
See also:
Major U.S. Raid in Sadr City Targets Shiite Militia Faction
BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 -- U.S. forces staged a major two-pronged attack early Wednesday on a vast Baghdad district controlled by Shiite militia groups, killing at least 17 people, according to the military and Iraqi police.
The raid on Sadr City, an area dominated by loyalists to Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was one of the largest in a series of U.S. attacks against Shiite militias. The most powerful group, Sadr's Mahdi Army, controls access to electricity, fuel and housing in much of eastern Baghdad as well as in some western neighborhoods. ...
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