Archive for September, 2004
Army set to injure goats for training
Now this is what I call training:
Later this month, medics from the 10th Special Forces Group will learn battlefield medical techniques at the post by treating the goats, which will be sedated and then injured to simulate combat wounds, the Army confirmed Tuesday.The Army is unapologetic about the nature of the training, saying the goats will be sacrificed to save the lives of soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But, (wait for it!):
That’s not good enough for the Washington-based Humane Society of the United States, which last week sent a letter of protest to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, calling on him to spare the Fort Carson goats.“We wouldn’t be much of a Humane Society if we didn’t oppose the shooting of goats for training purposes,” said Martin Stephens, the organization’s vice president for animal research issues.
The military has long used animals to train soldiers for this sort of thing. I suspect that they will continue to do so for a long, long time. As they should.
AE Brain has two posts up on what should be considered scary developments in ol’ Persia:
Iran plans to launch a satellite using its own booster sometime next year.
To launch a fairly expensive satellite like this with a home-grown booster just doesn’t make any sense, it’s just throwing money away in massive quantities, with an excellent chance of launch failure. You can pay $1 million and have a 95% chance of success, or pay $20 million and have at least a 50% chance of losing your $20 million satellite. Only one explanation is credible.Launching a satellite like this “with Iranian technology” means they’re developing IRBMs. Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles, with ranges way in excess of anything the Pakistanis or Indians have tested. And possibly longer, true ICBMs. Add this to the Iranian Nuclear program, and Alarm Bells should be ringing. Not just in Washington or Tel Aviv, either. London may or may not be in range, but Berlin and Moscow almost certainly are.
File this under “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
And on the lighter side of things:
Iran plans to demonstrate its Shahab-3 defensive missile for observers. That’s how a doomsday device becomes a doomsday device. You demonstrate it so that there’s no doubt about its capabilities, then you glare icily at your enemies and dare them to do something about it.
The post also discusses the recent failed test of an Arrow missile defense system, which Israel hopes will protect it from doomsday devices. With pictures.
Go read.
Israel Receives U.S. Strykers for Prototype Testing
This could potentially be big for the future of the Stryker program. If it’s not too late, that is.
Tomorrow Israel will receive three Stryker prototypes to test. If pleased with the results, they may purchase hundreds of the 8-wheeled light armored vehicles.
Toward the middle of 2005, the U.S.-built vehicles will be outfitted with locally developed armor and weapon stations geared toward possible Israeli-specific Stryker missions. Prototype testing of the locally enhanced Strykers is expected to continue through the end of 2005, and could include up to eight different variants of the Stryker, including a version for paratrooper insertion and special operations; an engineering version to detect mines and explosive devices; an anti-tank combat variant; and a version for medical and search-and-rescue operations.Amos Yaron, director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Defense, said the Stryker technology demonstration program will allow Israeli decision-makers to determine how the U.S.-built Stryker can best meet Israeli military requirements. “We anticipate tremendous benefits from this system, especially once it is equipped with Israeli systems and technologies,” Yaron told DefenseNews.com.
If anyone can answer today the questions concerning the Strykers applicability to the Global War On Terror (World War 4), the Israelis should be able to. My question is why are they testing them now, after two American brigades have already transitioned and a third is getting ready to follow suit. Why didn’t this happen in 2000 or 2001, before the final commitment was made?
And as for local Israeli-produced components, we should watch carefully. I imagine that lot of the reasons for using locally-built parts are based on supporting local manufacturers, but I’ll bet the Israelis choose a stabilized weapons mount so the Strykers can fire accurately while on the move. I hope we’re watching carefully what they change and consider it for our use, as well.
Wasn’t Israel’s criticism of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle a major reason why the corruption of our original plans for that vehicle was uncovered? If I recall correctly, they were unhappy with the armor especially, and we eventually changed our plans when our design was proven to be inadequate. Or am I just putting too much stock into the Pentagon Wars legend?
In any event, I hope the IDF’s plans to buy Strykers, if it goes through, doesn’t end up being another give-away on our part.
My site host, Verve Hosting, recently upgraded the cpanel control panel we use. Among the new goodies is a hotlink protection system.
If it works as advertised, those of you stealing images from my site are SOL.
If I’ve somehow interferred with legit links, let me know.
(BTW, Verve Hosting is a great place to put your site. Check them out if in the market.)
A reader sent me this video. Not sure about its origins, but it’s worth a look.
DOWNLOAD HERE (1MB .wmv)
I will host it for a limited time.
WEAPONS OF THE WORLD: XM8 News (Sep 2, 2004)
A reader tips me off to an XM8 entry on Strategy Page that I missed while traveling last week. Among the X-Weapon goodness:
Meanwhile, the debate, within the army, over converting from 5.56mm to 6.8mm ammo continues. Most of the enthusiasm for the 6.8mm round comes from SOCOM (Special Operations Command.) Their argument is that the 6.8mm round is more accurate at longer ranges, and more likely to put out of action, with one shot, anyone it hits. SOCOM troops (Special Forces and commandoes) are more likely to use single shots to take down enemy troops. This, however, is also increasingly the case with U.S. Army infantry. While less capable (with a rifle) support troops are more prone to use automatic fire, the support troops usually travel in vehicles, with additional ammo supplies handy. However, the preponderance of army leaders are against the 6.8mm round. Converting would be expensive (costing billions of dollars), and the brass believe there are more important things to do with the money.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The XM8 is probably a better weapon than the M16/M4. It’s probably a better system, and in the long run we’ll be better off if we adopt it. But the biggest deficiency with the current system seems to be the caliber of the round, and going to a better 5.56 rifle is a baby step when a lot of folks think we already know what the right full step would be.
Sharpshooters in Iraq and Afghanistan are using the M14. If barrel length were the issue, they would be using M16s instead. That must mean that the 5.56 round is insufficient for what they do, even when fired from a longer barrel. The XM8 barrel is two inches shorter than the M4 barrel. (Search for M14 on this site for more info and pictures.)
As much as I like the XM8, I don’t know if it’s worth it as long as we stay with the 5.56. That’s an Army decision, not an H&K decision.
Many thanks to the reader who tipped me off to this post. He wrote
Since you seem to be the unofficial XM8 news consolidation site
It’s funny, but that seems to be what’s happened. Maybe H&K ought to fly me down for a little test firing for coverage from the blogosphere…
ELECTRONIC BATTLEFIELD: The EB-52 (Sep 6, 2004 entry)
Strategy Page has a post today about the EB-52 project.
The EB-52, a heavy bomber serving as an electronics warfare aircraft, is in the works . In July, the USAF began working on the introduction a stand-off jammer (SOJ) electronic warfare version of the B-52 bomber, to enter service as soon as possible. The plan calls for development and fielding of a long-range radar-jamming/radar spoofing under-wing electronics pod. An initial purchase of 12 pods, to be carried by 16 B-52Hs, is being reworked into the 2005 budget.
This project has been talked about for some time, and Strategy Page had good post on it earlier in the summer, if I recall correctly. But this entry has more specifics and dates. Go read.
Report: Saddam’s No. 2 arrested
It appears that maybe we’ve nabbed Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam’s former No. 2 man and a suspected leader in the continuing Iraqi insurgency.
Al-Douri was captured in a trap set for him at a clinic where he was receiving medical treatment, an Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman, Saleh Sarhan, told al-Hurra television. Another official said some 150 gunmen were with al-Douri and clashed with the U.S. and Iraqi troops.“There was a major operation around Tikrit and al-Dour and American forces supported by Iraqi civil defense corps members were able to capture Izzat al-Douri,” Sarhan told the U.S. government-funded Arabic-language station in a live telephone interview. Saddam was captured at a safehouse near al-Dour on Dec. 13.
U.S. Maj. Neil O’Brien of the Tikrit-based 1st Infranty Division, however, said he could not confirm the report. A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Baghdad also said he had no information about an arrest.
Sarhan said authorities knew al-Douri had been in ill health, reportedly from leukemia.
As usual, let’s wait for more concrete confirmation before we put that card up, but if this turns out to be true it’s got to be good news.
Personally, I had thought we captured back in early December (late November) of last year when a Kuwaiti newspaper reported it and the Pentagon just about fell over itself denying that we had him. I told several people (though I apparently didn’t blog it) that if we had him, we’d want to roll up as many of his comrades as possible before they wised up and changed plans and hiding places. When we pulled Saddam out of his spider hole a week later I said “I told you so” and when the insurgency slowed down significantly in the first couple months of 2004 I thought for sure we had him. But this summer I finally admitted that we would have announced it by then if we really had had him since December and that I was probably wrong.
Maybe this time it’s accurate. And if it is, expect to see a “Insurgency continues despite capture of Saddam’s No. 2″ headline within ten days.
UPDATE:Surprise! There seems to be some confusion about whether he’s been captured or not.
UPDATE 2: It’s not him.
Second unit preparing to leave Fort Lewis
Members of the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry will begin leaving for Iraq within the next few weeks. They will replace the Stryker unit that’s been in Iraq since the end of last year. The last I heard, the plan was still to leave the Stryker vehicles in Iraq and to only swap out the men in order to speed the process.
Samarra latest no-go zone for U.S. troops, Iraq trying to end standoff there
The Stryker Brigade had things pretty much in hand when it left Samarra early in the year for the Mosul area, but things have deteriorated badly over the past several months:
Samarra, an ancient city of 250,000 known for its 9th century spiral minaret, is controlled by about 500 fighters from three well-known Sunni Muslim rebel groups, according to city residents and the U.S. military.The insurgents have destroyed police stations and government buildings. The police chief and mayor still live in Samarra, but have lost all authority. The city council president resigned last week after insurgents blew up the council building.
The guerrillas have also kidnapped and executed residents suspected of collaborating with the Americans. With the U.S. military on the city’s outskirts, Samarra’s insurgents slip out of the city to mount their attacks.
Video CDs purchased in Samarra show three local men confessing as American spies. The videos end with statements saying collaborators must be killed. The fate of the men is unknown.
Rather than going back into Samarra and trying to strong-arm the resistance as the Stryker Brigade did at the beginning of the year, the 1st Infantry Division units in the area are hoping that Iraqi officials can negotiate a peace settlement with the insurgents, most of whom seem to be Baath-party holdovers.
The rebels are members of three large insurgent outfits: Jordanian terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad, another umbrella group called Mohammed’s Army, as well as Ansar al-Sunna, the insurgent coalition that has taken responsibility for numerous suicide bombings and other attacks, including Tuesday’s execution of 12 Nepalese hostages.
Shortly after the Stryker Brigade left Samarra, security there was turned over to Iraqi forces. Although Iraqi troops have been performing better as of late, it was a pretty rough spring and summer for them and it’s not surprising that things got out of hand again.
U.S. Troops Clash With Insurgents in Iraq
In Tal Afar, west of Mosul, yesterday, a Kiowa helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing during some fighting. It isn’t clear what the cause was, but the crew escaped safely. A Stryker vehicle moved in to secure the landing site and was apparently disabled.
U.S. intelligence believes Tal Afar is being used as a haven by insurgents smuggling men and arms into Iraq from nearby Syria. It opted to launch the Saturday operation in a bid to flush them out, the military said.
Meanwhile, Darth Sadr is still a servant of the Dark Side:
The cleric’s public statements and subsequent actions have often been at odds and nothing in Friday’s sermon suggested he was planning to immediately resume hostilities. But its inflammatory tone did nothing to calm the tension between his fighters and the U.S. and Iraqi militaries.“Many, but not all, think that the American army is invincible. But now it’s appeared only truth is invincible,” Sheik Jaber al-Khafaji, said in a statement read on al-Sadr’s behalf. “America claims to control the world through globalization, but it couldn’t do the same with the Mahdi Army.”
Last week’s accord that ended three weeks of fighting between U.S. forces and al-Sadr militiamen in Kufa’s twin city of Najaf gave the interim government control of that city. It also disentangled U.S. forces from bitter street fighting.
Al-Sadr portrayed the American withdrawal from Najaf’s devastated Old City as a sign of U.S. military weakness. “We should keep in mind the lessons of what happened in Najaf,” the cleric’s statement said.
I’ve long debated with those who claim “the Muslim mind only understands violence”, but al-Sadr’s words and actions over the past year certainly seem to make the point of those who think annihilation is the answer.
Remember when Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter was sent spinning out of control off into space at the end of STAR WARS? The Death Star was destroyed and the Rebel base was saved, but Vader eventually got his fighter back under control. That’s exactly what Darth Sadr is trying to do right now. We’ll have to see if he tries to strike back.
To be continued.
Well, I’m back from my travels and out of touch. Did anything happen at the GOP convention? Did NYC get burned to the ground by protesters?
Was I right? Was I right? John McCain is the GOP VP nominee, isn’t he? If not, it was Powell, right? Condi? Rudi?
Well, anyway, I also wanted to point out that MO readers who thought that the timing mattered thought that a capture or kill of Osama bin Laden after the end of August would possibly look politically motivated. Granted, only 36% of respondents thought timing made a difference. But we have entered the zone (which I find reasonable, though I will reserve judgment until it happens). Fo what it’s worth, I thought it would happen in May.
Presumably, the zone closes the day after the election.
