Archive for January, 2007

Contractor deaths in Iraq nearing 800

Nearly 800 private military contractors have been killed in Iraq since the campaign began, and nearly 8,000 more have been injured:

Statistics kept by the Labor Department indicate fatalities among civilian contractors working for American firms escalated rapidly late last year, with at least 301 dying in Iraq in 2006 — including 124 in the final three months.

U.S. military deaths totaled 818 during the year, the Defense Department has reported.

Despite the danger, job seekers continue to flood contractors’ offices with résumés.

Some 165,000 prospective employees contacted Houston-based Halliburton Co.’s KBR last year about job opportunities in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, company officials said. KBR now has half a million résumés on file.

And the recent troop “surge” announced by President Bush has prompted KBR to increase its hiring, company Chief Executive Officer Bill Utt said Friday.

I think most Americans would be shocked at how many private contractors are operating in Iraq, many of them in the employ of the US military. The DoD says that the number is around 100,000, but given the nature of the business (and the nature of the DoD), I suspect that the number is actually much higher.

Northrop Grumman news release:

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) delivered the first production Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) pod to the U.S. Navy in ceremonies here last week…

The ALMDS system is designed to operate from the MH-60S helicopter, using a Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging blue-green laser to detect, localize and classify near surface, moored and floating sea mines.

“Northrop Grumman has been aggressively pursuing emerging technologies to combat the growing threat from mines,” said Robert Johnston, director of Northrop Grumman’s Mine Countermeasures Program. “The transformational mine detection technology used in ALMDS is critical for creating safer passage around the world for our servicemen and women.”

“This milestone represents an important step forward as we are now delivering the next generation in mine countermeasures technology,” said Gary A. Humes, the Navy’s mine warfare program manager. “Because ALMDS has no in-water components, it will help shorten the detection timeline and maximize the helicopter’s time on station, thereby providing the maneuvering force with essential capability to dominate the complex, high-operational tempo environment of the littorals.”

That’s clearly an edited image, but I think you get the idea.

Various visual detection methods are in the works these days, as sonar’s capabilities are severely limited closer to shore.

The ALMDS will be part of the anti-mine package for the Littoral Combat Ship program.

Assault rifles escalate violence

Noticed this:

The beginning of the U.S. supply chain, federally licensed importers such as Century International sell guns to licensed dealers, from whom the guns might be stolen or bought and illegally resold, authorities said.

In August, one of thousands of guns the company has imported and shipped to dealers nationwide was found in the Boynton Beach apartment of a felon and reputed gang member, 25-year-old Frisner St. Cyr.

Citing an open investigation, detectives wouldn’t share information about how the semiautomatic rifle wound up in St. Cyr’s hands. Federal law bars the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from publicly sharing gun trace information, a spokeswoman said.

St. Cyr, convicted of felony battery in 2002 and a reputed member of the B-Town Boys gang, was shot in the back outside a suburban Boca Raton nightclub in February.

Got that? Someone who was shot in the back owned an “assault rifle”, in this case a Romanian WASR-10 semi-automatic AK-47 clone. And left it in his apartment while he was shot in the back.

Call me an idiot, but I can’t quite work out how this implies “assault rifles” need to be regulated more.

What Murdoc can’t figure out is, if people killing people with “assault rifles” is the problem, why not just make murder illegal? On the other hand, when they finally went and made drugs illegal the availability of drugs declined drastically. Today, you couldn’t find illegal drugs if you tried. So it’s hard to know what to do.

{Yes, folks, sarcasm…}

Anyway, the article notes that Palm Beach County enacted a major assault weapons ban:

“The assault weapon ban is an incredible tool used by gang investigators in California,” said Staysa, who heads his agency’s gang unit and is a court-certified assault weapons expert.

Fewer assault rifles means less risk for innocent bystanders, Staysa said.

“Beforehand, it was more common to see multiple rounds fired into houses,” he said. “We’re still seeing assault rifle assaults, but they’re not nearly as common.”

Even so, the sheriff’s office said, violent crime rose dramatically in Alameda County last year, especially in the county seat, Oakland.

People there are still shooting each other, Staysa said. They’re just using less-powerful guns.

Hmmm. This makes it sound like these “assault rifles” can fire more shots and are more powerful than other rifles. This isn’t true, of course, which means that someone is lying.

And I particularly like how violent crime rose “dramatically” in Alameda County, but it’s apparently okay, since criminals are using other rifles that aren’t as powerful as “assault rifles”. (Remember, these “assault rifles” are usually less powerful than other rifles. That’s a fact. Again, someone is lying to you.)

Getting shot and killed with a hunting rifle or handgun is much better than getting shot and killed by a scary-looking “assault rifle”.

A lot of folks are upset about John Kerry’s latest idiocy:

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry slammed the foreign policy of the Bush administration on Saturday, saying it has caused the United States to become “a sort of international pariah.”[...]

“So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”

Sure, he’s acting like a moron. But don’t hyperventilate too much over this latest anti-American slam against US policy during a war. He’s been doing it for three decades, people:

His narrow loss to GW Bush in 2004 is more of a reflection on Bush’s poor performance than anything Kerry could say.

I wonder if we’ll be hearing all sorts of folks running to Kerry’s defense, explaining that he didn’t say what he said. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the defenders have moved on now that Kerry is not going to run in ’08.

Details are still being put together, but the 2007 MilBlog Conference site has been launched and a few tidbits are coming to light. Last year’s conference, the first go at it, was a blast. This year promises to be even bigger and better.

The conference will be on Saturday, May 5, in Washington DC. The venue is TBD at this point, though an announcement will be coming soon.

If you blog about military matters or are simply interested in blogging or the military, I encourage you to check it out. A lot of the top names in the milblogging community will be there, many of them sitting on one of four panels:

• From the Front moderated by Matt Blackfive
• All in the Family moderated by Andi
• Potluck moderated by Donovan
• Wounded Warriors, Healers and Angels moderated by Chuck Z

Here’s a first: Murdoc is a member of the Potluck panel. Other confirmed members of the panel at this point are Noah Shachtman of Defense Tech and Lt Col P of Op-For.

Also, like last year, Greyhawk will be moderating a live chat during the conference.

Murdoc’s hat is off to Andi for all the hard work she’s once again putting into this, and to all the other volunteers who are putting together what should be a great time. Hope to see you there.

Once again, the spammers are on Murdoc’s case. I think I’ve got everything cleared out, and please let me know if I’ve accidentally junked your legitimate comment. I’ve done that more than once while digging through hundreds and hundreds of spams.

Also, I’ve added a small text-based CAPTCHA-type thing at the bottom of the comments entry screen. This is the least-intrusive way I can find to deal with the current problem. No one (including me) really wants to go to authentication, and I’m less than impressed by most CAPTCHA systems. This is part of my current anti-spam software, so I enabled it and it worked. So there it is. I will probably be manually rotating the “word” from time to time, so keep an eye on it. Or I may even disable it if things allow.

Anyway, comment away.

U.S. troops authorized to kill Iranians in Iraq

The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran’s influence across the Middle East and compel it to give up its nuclear program, according to government and counterterrorism officials with direct knowledge of the effort…

In Iraq, U.S. troops now have the authority to target any member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, as well as officers of its intelligence services believed to be working with Iraqi militias. The policy does not extend to Iranian civilians or diplomats. Though U.S. forces are not known to have used lethal force against any Iranian to date, Bush administration officials have been urging top military commanders to exercise the authority.

The wide-ranging plan has several influential skeptics in the intelligence community, at the State Department and at the Defense Department who said that they worry it could push the growing conflict between Tehran and Washington into the center of a chaotic Iraq war.

Yeah. I’d sure hate to “push” things with the Iranians. I mean, if we “push” too hard it might lead to a war with them. You know, the war that they’re already fighting against us. We kill too many of them and it might end up looking like we’re fighting back.

Give me a break.

Anyone who pretends that this war won’t involve Iran (and Syria) at some point is kidding themselves. It already involves them directly aiding our enemies. You want to talk about stopping the escalation with Iran? How about we stop Iran from escalating? We asked nicely and it didn’t work.

This would be like authorizing force against Chinese “operatives” who were fighting in Vietnam against our troops.

Oh, wait. There weren’t any Chinese “operatives” in Vietnam. Wink. Wink.

I’m just getting sick of hearing about how some folks are “troubled” that we’re going to “escalate” things by fighting those who are fighting us. It’s almost like they don’t want to win, or something.

A V-22A Osprey aircraft flies over the bow of the amphibious assault ship USS WASP (LHD 1) during shipboard compatibility trials. Camera Operator: PH3 RAUL L. SOLCIDO Date Shot: 5 Dec 1990

“Date Shot: 5 Dec 1990″. Think about that. This Osprey was conducting shipboard compatibility trials while the military build-up of Operation Desert Shield was underway. There was a flying example of the V-22 way back then. First flight was actually in early 1989.

This has been a long time coming.

David Axe at Defense Tech has a good one up today: Osprey Ready for Primetime? Part One. Be sure to check it out.

See also: Concerns about the Osprey? Who knew?, posted last night here on MO.

Also, I just learned that then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney cancelled the V-22 program in the 1990 defense budget and called for the development of a new long-range helicopter, but was over-ridden by Congress.

I plan to whip that one out next time a Leftie gives me any static about the Osprey. Dick Cheney tried to cancel it but a Democrat-controlled Congress restored it. That’s delicious.

Meanwhile, Marines are headed to war in it. This is going to pass from a passing discussion to a war zone reality very shortly. Let’s hope the damn thing works.

Pic from DVIC.

The year that dare not speak its name?

Classical Values points out a WSJ piece on the Chinese New Year:

Next month, China will ring in the Year of the Pig. Nestlé SA planned to celebrate with TV ads featuring a smiling cartoon pig. “Happy new pig year,” the ads said.

This week, China Central Television, the national state-run TV network, banned Nestlé’s ad — and all images and spoken references to the animal in commercials, including those tied to the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday.

The intent: to avoid offending Muslims, who consider pigs unclean.

A commenter on Classical Values notes that the Chinese government has just issued a “Year of the Pig” postage stamp, so I guess we’ll have to see if this report is actually true. (via Instapundit)

IMPORTANT UPDATES BELOW

E-mail sent to soldier in Iraq brings backlash for online mats company

Stars & Stripes:

The owner of an online discount mats store has seen his business shut down and his family threatened after an employee sent a nasty note to a soldier serving in Iraq.

Faisal Khetani, the owner of Discount-Mats.com, said his site has been forced offline after being flooded with e-mails and Web attacks, and his personal information has been copied onto numerous sites.

Now, I’m all for pointing out “unpatriotic” and “anti-patriotic” stuff, and in a case like this I’d be totally in favor of a “boycott Discount-Mats.com” campaign. I certainly don’t have a problem with a campaign of phone and email complaints. But personal threats and posting personal information is going a bit far.

The problems started earlier this month when Sgt. Jason Hess, a soldier with the Headquarters Troop of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, e-mailed the business to see if he could get gym mats for a garage-turned-conference room at his camp in Taji.

An unidentified employee of the Wisconsin-based company replied within a few hours:

–We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq.”

The page at right is what you get right now when you go to www.discount-mats.com. The employee has been fired. Mission accomplished. If they want to make a formal apology to the Sgt. Jason Hess and his unit, that would certainly help smooth things over and get Discount-Mats back into everyone’s better graces, of course.
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