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Recent Appearances...

-Land of the Free

Professor gets $150K settlement in Islamic terrorism quiz controversy

2021-04-18

[CollegeFix] Three questions on a May 2020 college quiz about Islamic terrorism at Arizona’s Scottsdale Community College led to public outcry and a lawsuit from a Moslem student, who charged that "correct" answers would amount to a denial of his faith.

Now, the college system has paid $150,000. However the money went not to the student but to the professor of that course to forego his own legal action, the Phoenix New Times reported.

The quiz was part of an Islamic terrorism module of Professor Nicholas Damask’s world politics course.

Damask has taught at Scottsdale Community College for more than 20 years. He received his "PhD in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati, where he concentrated in American Political Thought and Contemporary Political Violence," according to his official college bio.

Just the News reported the questions that offended student Mohammed Sabra. They were, in summary:

1. Who do Islamic turbans "strive to emulate"?
2. Which verses of the Koran are used to encourage terrorism?
3. When is terrorism justified in Islam?

The answers were:

1. Mohammad
2. The Medina verses
3. During (or in the context of) jihad

Sabra argued that to give "correct" answers on this quiz would be to condemn his own faith, according to several news reports.

Damask countered that the answers had to do with the beliefs of terrorists, not the underlying truth of Islam.

The Council on American Islamic Relations sued the college on behalf of Sabra, charging that the quiz amounted to a violation of his, and other Moslems’, First Amendment rights.

Susan Brnovich, a U.S. District Court Judge for Arizona, tossed the lawsuit in August 2020 and the case is being appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

Before the initial case could be litigated, however, the president of Scottsdale Community College, Christina Haines, attempted to hand down her own ruling in the court of public opinion.

The New Times reported:

President Haines posted a message on social media stating that the quiz content was "inaccurate, inappropriate, and not reflective of the inclusive nature of our college...SCC deeply apologizes to the student and to anyone in the broader community who was offended by the material." The instructor, who wasn’t initially named, would apologize to the student, Haines asserted.

But Damask did not apologize as advertised.

As thousands of angry Moslem emails poured into his inbox, including some death threats, Damask "grabbed family members, threw some things in a suitcase, and fled his home temporarily," the New Times reported.

He also spoke to the press at the time.

"The college basically broke every single rule about handling a student grievance that we have, all in the name of handling public relations," Damask told the New Times last May.

He received support from the academic freedom group Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which informed the umbrella Maricopa County Community College District that it was violating Ninth Circuit Court precedents related to academic freedom.

That warning, and Damask retaining counsel, appears to have made the difference for him professionally.

The college district issued an apology to Damask for how his case was handled. It also paid him for his troubles and his silence.

In a settlement that the New Times uncovered with a Freedom of Information Act request, the district paid Damask $155,000, with $30,000 of that designated for his lawyer, in return for him foregoing the right to sue the school system or disparage its officials.

Consistent with that non-disparagement agreement, Damask is no longer talking to the press about his case.

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

AZ Prof Wins Free Speech Victory After College Panicked About Test Questions on Islamic Terrorism

2020-05-13

Followup to an earlier story
[Legal Insurrection] "Colleges can’t take away a professor’s academic freedom rights because they want to stem criticism on social media"

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education got involved here and helped make the difference.

From the FIRE blog:

VICTORY: Chancellor affirms professor’s academic freedom after Arizona college panicked over test questions about Islamic terrorism

Scottsdale Community College’s mishandling of a professor’s academic freedom drew an apology from the district’s interim chancellor Monday, just days after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education sent a letter defending the professor’s rights. The college tried to force professor Nicholas Damask to apologize for three quiz questions about Islamic terrorism that a student said were "in distaste of Islam." Damask added that the college suggested he would be required to meet with an Islamic religious leader to review the content of his course.

"I’m happy that the Maricopa Community College governing board has acknowledged the importance of the First Amendment and academic freedom, even into subjects that may be controversial — without that freedom of thought and inquiry, America just isn’t America anymore," said Damask, who has been teaching at SCC for 23 years. "And I’m grateful for groups like FIRE that are willing to stand by me in the fight to defend that freedom."

FIRE sent an urgent letter to SCC on Thursday, outlining the college’s free speech and academic freedom missteps and demanding that it abandon any suggestion that it will investigate or suppress his teaching.

Damask, chair of the Department of Political Science at SCC, exchanged emails with a student on April 29 about three quiz questions in an international relations course. Within a day, someone shared this student’s concern about Damask’s quiz questions online, and the questions generated negative attention on the school’s official Instagram account.

The quiz questions asked about the context in which terrorism is justified by some in the Islamic religion, where in Islamic doctrine and law terrorism is encouraged by those who justify it, and who terrorists believe they are emulating, based on the material assigned in the course.

"Colleges can’t take away a professor’s academic freedom rights because they want to stem criticism on social media," said Katlyn Patton, author of FIRE’s letter.

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Army retains decorated Green Beret it planned to kick out over confronting Afghan child rapist

2016-04-29

Thank God. Maybe even idiots have their limits.
In a stunning reversal, the U.S. Army decided late Thursday to retain a decorated Green Beret it had planned to kick out after he physically confronted a local Afghan commander accused of raping a boy over the course of many days.

Sgt 1st Class Charles Martland, confirmed the Army's decision to retain him when reached by Fox News, who has been covering the story in depth for the past eight months and first broke the story of the Army's decision in August to kick out Martland over the incident, which occurred in northern Afghanistan in 2011.

"I am real thankful for being able to continue to serve," said Martland when reached on the telephone by Fox News. "I appreciate everything Congressman Duncan Hunter and his Chief of Staff, Joe Kasper did for me."

As first reported by Fox News, while deployed to Kunduz Province, Afghanistan, Martland and his team leader confronted a local police commander in 2011 accused of raping an Afghan boy and beating his mother. When the man laughed off the incident, they shoved him to the ground.

Martland and his team leader were later removed from the base, and eventually sent home from Afghanistan. The U.S. Army has not confirmed the specifics of Martland's separation from service citing privacy reasons, but a "memorandum of reprimand" from October 2011 obtained by Fox News makes clear that Martland was criticized by the brass for his intervention after the alleged rape. Asked for comment in September 2015, an Army spokesman reiterated, "the U.S. Army is unable to confirm the specifics of his separation due to the Privacy Act."

An Army spokesman said Thursday that Martland's status has been changed, allowing him to stay in the Army in a statement to Fox News.

"In SFC Martland's case, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records determination modified a portion of one of SFC Martland's evaluation reports and removed him from the QMP list, which will allow him to remain in the Army," said Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk.

Martland's former Special Forces team leader, now out of the Army and living in New York said the Army is a better place with Martland in its ranks.

"This is not just a great victory for SFC Martland and his family- I'm just as happy that he can continue to serve our country and inspire his peers, subordinates and officers to be better soldiers. Charles makes every soldier he comes in contact with better and the Army is undoubtedly a better organization with SFC Martland still in its ranks," said Martland's former team leader Danny Quinn when reached by Fox News Thursday.

Quinn is a 2003 graduate of West Point.

"I am thrilled beyond words that my brother is able to continue his career of service to country. The relentless defense of Charles as a soldier and a man of integrity by his friends, family and colleagues sent a clear message that abhorrent decision making made in the interest of self promotion and lacking common sense will not be tolerated. Charles is where he belongs. He is an elite warrior. He belongs on the front lines. Our enemies last vision in this life should be of Martland's face. They have earned that right," said Casey a former Special Forces teammate of Martland's who asked that only his first name be used due to the sensitive of his current work.

The American Center for Law and Justice, who was involved with a writing campaign to save keep Martland in the Army, called the decision a "significant victory."

"The decision by the Army to retain this hero is long overdue and represents a significant victory for SFC Martland," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ. "Justice has been served. The U.S. military has a moral obligation to stop child sexual abuse and exonerate SFC Martland for defending a child from rape. The Army finally took the corrective action needed and this is not only a victory for SFC Martland, but for the American people as well."

"The Army did the right thing and we won -- the American people, won," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a phone interview with Fox News. "Martland is who we want out there."

Lawmakers were not the only ones who supported Martland's case.

One famous Hollywood actor also weighed in.

Harvey Keitel of "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" fame also asked the Army to reconsider their decision.

Martland grew up south of Boston, in Milton, Mass. An all-state football player in high school, he set his sights on playing college football after graduating in 2001. Martland went for the Florida State University team, which just finished a season ranked fourth in the nation.

He made the team, impressing legendary head coach Bobby Bowden and famed defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews. Still, he often remained on the sidelines.

When Pat Tillman, a former NFL football player who volunteered for the Army Rangers, was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, he saw Tillman's sacrifice as motivation to apply for another elite program.

Martland dropped out of college and graduated in 2006 from Special Forces Qualification Course, one of the U.S. military's toughest training programs. Over the years he became a jumpmaster, combat diver and sniper.

After a deployment to Iraq in 2008, he deployed to Afghanistan in January 2010 as part of a 12-man unit. He and his team found themselves fighting large numbers of Taliban militants in volatile Kunduz Province.

In 2014, three years after being sent home from Afghanistan, Martland was runner-up Special Warfare Training Group Instructor of the Year from a pool of 400 senior leaders in Special Forces.

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

Army kicking out decorated Green Beret who stood up for Afghan rape victim

2015-08-21

[Jihad Watch] The U.S. Army is kicking out a decorated Green Beret after an 11-year Special Forces career, after he got in trouble for shoving an Afghan police commander accused of raping a boy and beating up his mother when she reported the incident.

The case of Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland now has the attention of Congress, with Rep. Duncan Hunter writing to Defense Secretary Ash Carter challenging the decision.

"I am once again dismayed by the Army's actions in this case," Hunter, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to Carter.

Martland is described by many of his teammates as the finest soldier they have ever served alongside.

But his Army career changed course during his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2011. After learning an Afghan boy was raped and his mother beaten, Martland and his team leader confronted a local police commander they had trained, armed and paid with U.S. taxpayer dollars. When the man laughed off the incident, they physically confronted him.

They were punished by the Army at the time -- but why exactly Martland is now being discharged is a matter of dispute. Army sources cited his accolades, including being named runner-up for 2014 Special Warfare Training Group Instructor of the Year from a pool of 400 senior leaders in Special Forces, in questioning the decision.

As for the incident in 2011, Hunter told Carter: "To intervene was a moral decision, and SFC Martland and his Special Forces team felt they had no choice but to respond."

Casey, a former Green Beret teammate who would only use his first name since he is now a member of a federal counterterrorism team, told Fox News, "If I was a commander, I would have given him an award. They saved that kid's life."

Martland grew up south of Boston, in Milton, Mass. An all-state football player in high school, he set his sights on playing college football after graduating in 2001. Martland went for the Florida State University team, which just finished a season ranked #4 in the nation.

He made the team, impressing legendary head coach Bobby Bowdon and famed defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews. Still, he often remained on the sidelines. When Pat Tillman, a former NFL football player who volunteered for the Army Rangers, was killed in Afghanistan in 2004, he saw Tillman's sacrifice as motivation to apply for another elite program. Martland dropped out of college and graduated in 2006 from Special Forces Qualification Course, one of the U.S. military's toughest training programs. Over the years he became a jumpmaster, combat diver and sniper.

After a deployment to Iraq in 2008, he deployed to Afghanistan in January 2010 as part of a 12-man unit. He and his team found themselves fighting large numbers of Taliban militants in volatile Kunduz Province.

On one mission, one of their vehicles was struck by an IED, setting off a Taliban ambush. Fox News is told Martland rushed to the scene. He jumped in the turret of a damaged Humvee, exposing himself to enemy bullets while returning fire to help his teammates gather sensitive equipment.

"I thought he was gone, then he comes out of nowhere to save us," said an active-duty Green Beret who requested anonymity.

Martland was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions. According to one evaluation, he also was "praised" by Gen. David Petraeus, then commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.

Link

Afghanistan

Bergdahl "ashamed to be an American"

2014-06-02

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last known American POW, was freed after five years in captivity â an ordeal that began and ended in Afghanistan under a shroud of mystery.

How he managed to be captured has never been adequately explained, for example.

The Taliban turned over Bergdahl Saturday morning to US special forces in exchange for five notorious Islamic ~~terrorists~~ militants who had been held at Guantanamo Bay and will be sent to Qatar, where they will stay ~~at the Hilton~~ for a year under the terms of the trade. At least one of the prisoners, ranking Taliban leader Khairullah Khairkhwa, had direct ties to Osama bin Laden.

Bergdahl's parents, who had lobbied continuously for his Ârelease, had not seen him by Saturday night, but intimated that he faces an arduous recovery from his ordeal. Bergdahl is speaking in what appears to be Pashto, said his dad, Bob Bergdahl. It was not clear whether his son can still even speak English, Bob said.

I predict an amazingly quick recovery...

When the father spoke to his son â for the first time in five worried years â it was to say both in Pashto and English, "I am your father, Bowe."

"We will continue to stay strong for Bowe while he recovers," said his mom, Jani.

The search for Bergdahl began soon after he went missing on June 30, 2009, in the same rugged wilds of southeastern Afghanistan where NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed. Bergdahl's mysterious disappearance from the small military outpost there and the subsequent revelation that he was in enemy hands prompted questions that still linger.

Soon after the capture, Taliban commander Mulvi Sangeen claimed a drunken Bergdahl was snatched while he stumbled to his car in the Yousaf Khel district of Paktika. The US military called that a lie, and in one of the videos taken during his captivity, Bergdahl himself said he was captured while lagging behind a patrol.

But in the weeks before his capture, Bergdahl had made murky statements that suggested he was gravitating away from the soldiers in his unit and toward Âdesertion, a member of his platoon told Rolling Stone.

"He spent more time with the Afghans than he did with his platoon," former Spc. Jason Fry told the magazine in 2012.

As a teen, the home-schooled son of Calvinists took up ballet â recruited to be a "lifter" by "a beautiful local girl," Rolling Stone reported â "the guy who holds the girl aloft in a ballet sequence." The strategy worked â Bergdahl, who also began dabbling in BuddÂhism and tarot card reading â soon moved in with the woman.

Even as a teen, he could fire a .22-caliber rifle with precision. At age 20, he traveled to Paris and started learning French in hopes of joining the French Foreign Legion. His application was rejected, and he was devastated, the magazine reported.

Bergdahl would drift for years, working mainly at a coffee shop near home. He briefly considered moving to Uganda to help villagers being terrorized by militias before deciding on a different Âadventure.

"I'm thinking of joining the Army," he told his folks after Âalready having signed up.

Bergdahl's dream was to help Afghan villagers rebuild their lives and learn to defend themselves, his dad told the magazine.

"The whole 'COIN' thing," Bob explained, referring to America's strategy of counter-insurgency. "We were given a fictitious picture, an artificially created picture of what we were doing in ÂAfghanistan," the dad said.

Bowe Bergdahl would detail his disillusionment with the Afghanistan campaign in an e-mail to his parents three days before he went missing.

"I am sorry for everything here," he wrote. "These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid."

Bergdahl also complained about fellow soldiers. The battalion commander was a "conceited old fool," he said, and the only "decent" sergeants, planning to leave the platoon "as soon as they can," told the privates â Bergdahl then among them â "to do the same."

"I am ashamed to be an American. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools," he concluded. "I am sorry for everything. The horror that is America is disgusting."

Bob Bergdahl responded in an e-mail: "OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!"

One night, after finishing a guard-duty shift Bowe Bergdahl asked his team leader whether there would be a problem if he left camp with his rifle and night-vision goggles â to which the team leader replied "yes."

Bergdahl then returned to his bunker, picked up a knife, water, his diary and a camera, and left camp, according to Rolling Stone. The next morning, he was reported missing, and later that day, a drone and four fighter jets Âbegan to search for him.

Weeks of searching turned into months. The military pushed his parents and fellow soldiers to sign nondisclosure agreements. But before everyone signed, a comrade from his unit publicly called on Facebook for Bergdahl's execution as a deserter.

Propaganda videos of his captivity â which featured Bergdahl denouncing American foreign policy â were released. At least once, in 2011, the prisoner, looking more haggard, fought back and tried to escape.

"He fought like a boxer," a Taliban fighter told Newsweek.

Why Bergdahl was captured in the first place remained a mystery by the time high-level US government talks began in 2012 regarding a trade for his release.

"Frankly, we don't give a sât why he left," one White House official said at the time. "He's an American soldier. We want to bring him home."

I understand that sentiment. I worry that we gave up far too much. But then we say the same thing when the Israelis do one of these 1000:1 trades. There's a lot of pressure not to leave one of ours behind.

There was fierce debate over exchanging him for the five Taliban combatants. Sen. John McCain, himself a former POW, once described the five as "the five biggest murderers in world history," according to Rolling Stone.

Link

Home Front: WoT

A General Steps From the Shadows

2009-05-19

Meet the new guy...
WASHINGTON Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the ascetic who is set to become the new top American commander in Afghanistan, usually eats just one meal a day, in the evening, to avoid sluggishness. He is known for operating on a few hours sleep and for running to and from work while listening to audio books on an iPod. In Iraq, where he oversaw secret commando operations for five years, former intelligence officials say that he had an encyclopedic, even obsessive, knowledge about the lives of terrorists, and that he pushed his ranks aggressively to kill as many of them as possible.

But General McChrystal has also moved easily from the dark world to the light. Fellow officers on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he is director, and former colleagues at the Council on Foreign Relations describe him as a warrior-scholar, comfortable with diplomats, politicians and the military man who would help promote him to his new job. Hes lanky, smart, tough, a sneaky stealth soldier, said Maj. Gen. William Nash, a retired officer. Hes got all the Special Ops attributes, plus an intellect.

If General McChrystal is confirmed by the Senate, as expected, he will take over the post held by Gen. David D. McKiernan, who was forced out on Monday. Obama administration officials have described the shakeup as a way to bring a bolder and more creative approach to the faltering war in Afghanistan.

Most of what General McChrystal has done over a 33-year career remains classified, including service between 2003 and 2008 as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite unit so clandestine that the Pentagon for years refused to acknowledge its existence. But former C.I.A. officials say that General McChrystal was among those who, with the C.I.A., pushed hard for a secret joint operation in the tribal region of Pakistan in 2005 aimed at capturing or killing Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Ladens deputy. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld canceled the operation at the last minute, saying it was too risky and was based on what he considered questionable intelligence, a move that former intelligence officials say General McChrystal found maddening.

When General McChrystal took over the Joint Special Operations Command in 2003, he inherited an insular, shadowy commando force with a reputation for spurning partnerships with other military and intelligence organizations. But over the next five years he worked hard, his colleagues say, to build close relationships with the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. He won praise from C.I.A. officers, many of whom had stormy relationships with commanders running the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He knows intelligence, he knows covert action and he knows the value of partnerships, said Henry Crumpton, who ran the C.I.A.s covert war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks.

As head of the command, which oversees the elite Delta Force and units of the Navy Seals, General McChrystal was based at Fort Bragg, N.C. But he spent much of his time in Iraq commanding secret missions. Most of his operations were conducted at night, but General McChrystal, described nearly universally as a driven workaholic, was up for most of the day as well. His wife and grown son remained back in the United States.

General McChrystal was born Aug. 14, 1954, into a military family. His father, Maj. Gen. Herbert J. McChrystal Jr., served in Germany during the American occupation after World War II and later at the Pentagon. General Stanley McChrystal was the fourth child in a family of five boys and one girl; all of them grew up to serve in the military or marry into it. Theyre all pretty intense, said Judy McChrystal, one of General McChrystals sisters-in-law, who is married to the eldest child, Herbert J. McChrystal III, a former chaplain at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

General McChrystal graduated from West Point in 1976 and spent the next three decades ascending through conventional and Special Operations command positions as well as taking postings at Harvard and the Council on Foreign Relations. He was a commander of a Green Beret team in 1979 and 1980, and he did several tours in the Army Rangers as a staff officer and a battalion commander, including service in the Persian Gulf war of 1991.

One blot on his otherwise impressive military record occurred in 2007, when a Pentagon investigation into the accidental shooting death in 2004 of Cpl. Pat Tillman by fellow Army Rangers in Afghanistan held General McChrystal accountable for inaccurate information provided by Corporal Tillmans unit in recommending him for a Silver Star. The information wrongly suggested that Corporal Tillman had been killed by enemy fire.

At the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, where General McChrystal directs the 1,200-member group, he has instituted a daily 6:30 a.m. classified meeting among 25 top officers and, by video, military commanders around the world. In half an hour, the group races through military developments and problems over the past 24 hours.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brought General McChrystal back to Washington to be his director last August, and the physical proximity served General McChrystal well, Defense officials said. In recent weeks, Admiral Mullen recommended General McChrystal to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates as a replacement for General McKiernan.

One other thing to know about General McChrystal: when he was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in 2000, he ran a dozen miles each morning to the councils offices from his quarters at Fort Hamilton on the southwestern tip of Brooklyn.If you asked me the first thing that comes to mind about General McChrystal, said Leslie H. Gelb, the president emeritus of the council, I think of no body fat.

Link

Afghanistan

US fires top general in Afghanistan as 'war worsens'

2009-05-12

Follow-up. Scare quotes mine.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama fired the top U.S. general in Afghanistan on Monday, replacing him with a former special forces commander in a quest for a more agile, unconventional approach in a war that has gone quickly downhill. With the Taliban resurgent, Obama's switch from Gen. David McKiernan to Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal suggests the new commander in chief wants major changes in addition to the additional troops he's ordering into Afghanistan to shore up the war effort.

McKiernan, on the job for less than a year, has repeatedly pressed for more forces. Although Obama has approved more than 21,000 additional troops this year, he has warned that the war will not be won by military means.

Thus laying the groundwork for a grand skadaddle ...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed that view at a grim Pentagon news conference announcing the leadership overhaul. "As I have said many times before, very few of these problems can be solved by military means alone," he said. "And yet, from the military perspective, we can and must do better."
"It's time for new leadership and fresh eyes."

A new team of commanders will now be charged with applying Obama's revamped strategy for challenging an increasingly brutal and resourceful insurgency. The strategy, still a work in progress, relies on the kind of special forces and counterinsurgency tactics McChrystal knows well, as well as nonmilitary approaches to confronting the Taliban. It would hinge success in the seven-year-old war to political and other conditions across the border in Pakistan.

Which is just about lost to the Taliban/ISI/military schemers ...

McKiernan, named to his post by former President George W. Bush, had expected to serve into next year but was told he was out during Gates' visit to Afghanistan last week. Gates said he asked for McKiernan's resignation "with the approval of the president." The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and McKiernan's military boss, Gen. David Petraeus, both said they supported the switch.

The White House said the recommended change came from the Pentagon. "The president agreed with the recommendation of the secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the implementation of a new strategy in Afghanistan called for new military leadership," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

McChrystal is a former special forces chief credited with nabbing one of the most-wanted fugitives in Iraq. Taking a newly created No. 2 slot under his command will be Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, a veteran of the Afghanistan fight who has been Gates' military shadow, the top uniformed aide who travels with him everywhere.

By year's end, the United States will have more than 68,000 troops in the sprawling country -- about double the total at the end of Bush's presidency but still far fewer than the 130,000 still in Iraq.
McKiernan and other U.S. commanders have said resources they need in Afghanistan are tied up in Iraq.

Although Obama had pledged to add forces in Afghanistan while shutting down the Iraq war, his new administration has sought firmer control over the pace and scope of any new deployments. Gates and Mullen have both warned Obama that a very large influx of U.S. troops would be self-defeating.

Asked if McKiernan's resignation would end his military career, Gates said, "Probably." But he praised the general's long service, and when pressed to name anything McKiernan had failed to do, Gates demurred. "Nothing went wrong, and there was nothing specific," he said.

Gates, too, was appointed to his position by former President George W. Bush. He noted that the Afghan campaign has long lacked people and money in favor of the Bush administration's focus since 2003 on the Iraq war. "But I believe, resources or no, that our mission there requires new thinking and new approaches from our military leaders," he said. "Today we have a new policy set by our new president. We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership also is needed."

McKiernan issued a short statement in Kabul. "All of us, in any future capacity, must remain committed to the great people of Afghanistan," McKiernan said. "They deserve security, government that meets their expectations, and a better future than the last 30 years of conflict have witnessed."
In June 2006 Bush congratulated McChrystal for his role in the operation that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. As head of the special operations command, McChrystal's forces included the Army's clandestine counterterrorism unit, Delta Force.

He drew criticism for his role in the military's handling of the friendly fire shooting of Army Ranger Pat Tillman -- a former NFL star -- in Afghanistan. An investigation at the time found that McChrystal was "accountable for the inaccurate and misleading assertions" contained in papers recommending that Tillman get a Silver Star award.

McChrystal acknowledged he had suspected several days before approving the Silver Star citation that Tillman might have died by fratricide, rather than enemy fire. He sent a memo to military leaders warning them of that, even as they were approving Tillman's Silver Star. Still, he told investigators he believed Tillman deserved the award.

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

Good Economic News: Ted Rall Laid Off

2009-04-24

ht to Patterico who notes:
I don't normally gloat when someone loses their job, but for this tool, I'm willing to make an exception. Especially given that his "job" consists of comparing U.S. soldiers to suicide bombers; mocking widows of terror victims; profiting from Pat Tillman's death; assuming the voice of Iraqi soldiers talking about killing American soldiers; making leftist political hay out of the Nick Berg beheading; lying about lefty blogger vitriol; and suing a guy for making him appear to be a "rude, petty, self-absorbed writer/cartoonist" (which is what he is).

F*ck Ted Rall. I'm glad he got laid off.
and I agree wholeheartedly

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Cardinals Have an Extra Man on the Field

2009-02-01

When the Arizona Cardinals take the field in Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII, in their first-ever Super Bowl appearance, there will be an extra player on the field. You won't see him, but he'll be there nevertheless. And he'll play the entire game with his Cardinals.

His presence was felt as the Cardinals posted a surprising win in their playoff game against the Carolina Panthers, a game in which everything seemed to be in the Cardinals' favor. And his presence will no doubt be felt in Tampa, as the Cardinals, playing in the Super Bowl for the first time in team history, square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team making its seventh Super Bowl start and hoping for its sixth Super Bowl win.

The extra Cardinals player on the field, of course, will be superstar and hero Pat Tillman, the patriot who suspended his NFL career and shocked fans when he walked away from a $3.6 million contract offer from the Cardinals to become an Army Ranger. He enlisted in the Army along with his younger brother, Kevin, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Tillman is likely the most famous Cardinals player in the history of the team.

There will also be a very special audience for this game. Super Bowl XLIII will be broadcast to more than 230 countries, to a potential worldwide audience of more than 1 billion viewers, including military members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The special video linkup will allow soldiers in Afghanistan to watch the game from the Pat Tillman USO Center that was built in his honor at Bagram Air Base with funds donated by the NFL. Another group of soldiers will watch the game from FOB (Forward Operating Base) Tillman, in the mountains of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, close to the place where Pat Tillman gave his life in defense of freedom.

So as the pre-game festivities of Super Bowl XLIII come to an end, after the national anthem and the fly-over by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, and just before General David Petraeus makes the ceremonial coin toss, say a prayer of thanks for the life and service of Pat Tillman, and for all those men and women defending our freedom and our American way of life around the globe, and for their families. And don't forget to also say a prayer for the safety of the players in the game.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, "[The NFL] feels that the 70,000 fans attending the Super Bowl this year should be cheering louder for the military than the two teams playing," he said. "It is, indeed, very important for the NFL to look for every opportunity to support the troops."

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Home Front: WoT

Petraeus to be Top NATO Command?

2008-01-22

The Pentagon is considering Gen. David H. Petraeus for the top NATO command later this year, a move that would give the general, the top American commander in Iraq, a high-level post during the next administration but that has raised concerns about the practice of rotating war commanders.

A senior Pentagon official said that it was weighing a next assignment for Petraeus and that the NATO post was a possibility. He deserves one and that has also always been a highly prestigious position, the official said. So he is a candidate for that job, but there have been no final decisions and nothing on the timing.

The question of General Petraeuss future comes as the Pentagon is looking at changing several top-level assignments this year. President Bush has been an enthusiastic supporter of General Petraeus, whom he has credited with overseeing a troop increase and counterinsurgency plan credited with reducing the sectarian violence in Iraq, and some officials say the president would want to keep General Petraeus in Iraq as long as possible.

In one approach under discussion, General Petraeus would be nominated and confirmed for the NATO post before the end of September, when Congress is expected to break for the presidential election. He might stay in Iraq for some time after that before moving to the alliances headquarters in Brussels, but would take his post before a new president takes office.

If General Petraeus is shifted from the post as top Iraq commander, two leading candidates to replace him are Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who is running the classified Special Operations activities in Iraq, and Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, a former second-ranking commander in Iraq and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gatess senior military assistant.

By this fall, General Petraeus would have served 19 months in command in Iraq and would have accumulated more than 47 months of service in Iraq in three tours there since 2003. In the NATO job, General Petraeus would play a major role in shaping the cold-war-era alliances identity, in coping with an increasingly assertive Russia and in overseeing the allied-led mission in Afghanistan.

General Petraeus, 55, has been criticized by Democratic lawmakers opposed to Mr. Bushs decision to send additional combat forces to Iraq. A NATO post would give him additional command experience in an important but less politically contentious region, potentially positioning him as a strong candidate in a few years to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, several military officials said. They and some others who discussed the potential appointment declined to be identified because they were speaking about an internal personnel matter.

Some experts, however, say General Petraeuss departure would jeopardize American efforts in Iraq, especially since the No. 2 officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, is scheduled to complete his tour and leave Iraq in mid-February.

General Petraeus should stay at least through this year, said Anthony Cordesman, a military specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. We really need military continuity in command during this period in which we can find out whether we can transition from tactical victory to some form of political accommodation.

We have in Petraeus and Crocker the first effective civil-military partners we have had in this war, Mr. Cordesman added, referring to Ryan C. Crocker, the United States ambassador in Baghdad. Gen. George W. Casey Jr., General Petraeuss predecessor, served nearly three years in the top Iraq job before becoming Army chief of staff.

There has been speculation that General Petraeuss next post might be as head of the Central Command, which has responsibility for the Middle East region. That would enable him to continue to influence events in Iraq while overseeing the military operation in Afghanistan and developing a strategy to deal with Iran. The Central Command post is currently held by Adm. William J. Fallon. Admiral Fallon, through a spokesman, denied that he intended to retire from the military in the next several months.

General Petraeus, through a spokesman, declined to comment on a possible NATO assignment. Geoff Morrell, the senior Defense Department spokesman, said no decision had been made.

Trying to guess General Petraeuss next assignment is the most popular parlor game in the Pentagon these days, Mr. Morrell said. Where and when the general goes next is up to Secretary Gates and President Bush, and they have not yet decided those matters. However, they very much appreciate his outstanding leadership in Iraq and believe he has much more to contribute to our nations defense whenever his current assignment comes to an end.

Of the potential successors for General Petraeus, Generals McChrystal and Chiarelli would bring contrasting styles and backgrounds to the fight. General McChrystal has spent much of his career in the Special Operations forces. He commands those forces in Iraq, which have conducted raids against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the mainly Iraqi group that American intelligence says has foreign leadership, and against Shiite extremists, including cells believed to be backed by Iran.

In June 2006, Mr. Bush publicly congratulated General McChrystal on the airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who was the head of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. The Pentagon does not officially acknowledge the existence of some of the classified units that General McChrystal leads, and Mr. Bushs comments were a rare acknowledgment of the role those troops played in a high-level mission.

General McChrystal, a 53-year-old West Point graduate, also commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment and served tours in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and in Afghanistan as chief of staff of the military operation there in 2001 and 2002.

He was criticized last year when a Pentagon investigation into the accidental shooting death of Cpl. Pat Tillman by fellow Army Rangers in Afghanistan held the general accountable for inaccurate information provided by Corporal Tillmans unit in recommending him for a Silver Star. The information wrongly suggested that Corporal Tillman, a professional football player whose decision to enlist in the Army after the Sept. 11 attacks drew national attention, had been killed by enemy fire.

General Chiarellis strengths rest heavily on his reputation as one of the most outspoken proponents of a counterinsurgency strategy that gives equal or greater weight to social and economic actions aimed at undermining the enemy as it does to force of arms. General Chiarelli, 57, has served two tours in Iraq, first as head of the First Calvary Division, where he commanded 38,000 troops in securing and rebuilding Baghdad, and later as the second-ranking American officer in Iraq before becoming the senior military aide to Mr. Gates.

In a 2007 essay in Military Review, he wrote: Unless and until there is a significant reorganization of the U.S. government interagency capabilities, the military is going to be the nations instrument of choice in nation-building. We need to accept that reality instead of resisting it, as we have for much of my career.

General Petraeuss last post in Europe was as a senior officer for the NATO force in Bosnia, where he served a tour in 2001 and 2002. He did a great job for me as a one-star in Bosnia, said Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, who served as NATO commander at the time and has since retired. He would have the credibility to keep Afghanistan focused for NATO.

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Home Front: Politix

Rumsfeld Defends Himself in Tillman Case

2007-08-01

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld defended himself and took no personal responsibility Wednesday for the military's bungled response to Army Ranger Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld, in his first public appearance on Capitol Hill since President Bush replaced him with Robert Gates late last year, reiterated previous testimony to investigators that he didn't have early knowledge that Tillman was cut down by fellow Rangers, not by enemy militia, as was initially claimed.

He told a House committee hearing that he'd always impressed upon Pentagon underlings the importance of telling the truth.

"Early in my tenure as secretary of defense, I wrote a memo for the men and women of the Department of Defense," Rumsfeld told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "You will note that principle number one - the very first - was: 'Do nothing that could raise questions about the credibility of DOD.'"

Rumsfeld gave the committee a copy of that memo.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., charged that unanswered questions surrounding Tillman's death reach into the highest ranks of the Pentagon and beyond.

"The concealment of Corp. Tillman's fratricide caused millions of Americans to question the integrity of our government, yet no one will tell us when and how the White House learned the truth," said Waxman.

Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, and other family members watched from the back row.

Before the hearing started, Rumsfeld entered smiling and shook hands with retired Gen. Richard Myers, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and retired Gen. John P. Abizaid, former commander of the U.S. Central Command.

Both joined him at the witness table.

Two activists held signs reading "war criminal."

"Are you not ashamed?" one said. Rumsfeld didn't react.

"This is not a rally or demonstration, let's keep that in mind," Waxman chided, before delivering his opening statement.

The congressional inquiry comes a day after the Army laid most of the blame for the response to Tillman's death on Philip Kensinger, a retired three-star general who led Army special operations forces after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Army censured Kensinger for "a failure of leadership" and accused him of lying to investigators probing the aftermath of Tillman's death. For five weeks the Army knew Tillman was cut down by his fellow Army Rangers, but told the public and Tillman's own family that he died in a fire fight with enemy militia.

I couldn't read anymore

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Home Front: WoT

Latest desperate moonbat "Theory" about Tillman's death

2007-07-27

New Evidence Clearly Indicates Pat Tillman Was Executed

Army medical examiners concluded Tillman was shot three times in the head from just 10 yards away, no evidence of "friendly fire" damage at scene, Army attorneys congratulated each other on cover-up, Wesley Clark concludes "orders came from the very top" to murder pro-football star because he was about to become an anti-war political icon.
Why is it that I don't ever think of these things? I must be a moron or something.

Rest at link if your curiosity gets the better of you. :-) They do mention that Wesley Clark stood behind this. Is it true that he did say something? Even if it were, Clark would have no way of knowing because nobody would ring up all their ~~has-been~~ retired buddies and blab about it. The total desperation behind this act will probably go completely unnoticed by the lunatic fringe, and ignored by many others. Any other info/ideas on this stellar piece of work that is surely due a Putzler prize?

Worst case I figure: He ran off on his own and got shot in the head by a terrorist. His body can be exhumed to verify the three shots at close range or pictures should be available. Seems like his head would be knocked back and sideways by the first shot, leaving the other two to enter from the side or some other angle if they were to be center-of-mass shots. The theory seems to be only half-baked.

KOS has given it some press, too. Great. I'd sure love to see this brought up in the MSM and then taken down, but given the mentality I don't think it would matter one bit to those who frequent ~~POS~~ KOS.

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