Archive for August, 2009

Mystery surrounding Russian cargo ship grows

Things have been pretty sketchy since this story broke, and what we have heard has been a bit strange. Some claim the piracy story is a cover for something bigger.

All this seems a bit much for a boat load of timber.

Meanwhile: Admiral: Navy must ‘de-romanticize’ piracy

Budget Deficits and a Squirrel

More here. Via Instapundit.

UPDATE: New and improved version now up. Just think how small that squirrel would have to be if he wanted to stand under the Obama era deficits.

Did the “you’re supposed to be quiet” rule for public libraries get repealed at some time? Or are people just ruder and idioter than they used to be?

For the Left, war without Bush is not war at all

At one point the war was the biggest talking point on the Liberal radar.

Now, even though the United States still has roughly 130,000 troops in Iraq, and is quickly escalating the war in Afghanistan — 68,000 troops there by the end of this year, and possibly more in 2010 — anti-war voices on the Left have fallen silent.

What’s most telling is that, so far, Obama’s war policy has been pretty much a continuation of the Bush administration’s war policy. If Obama was changing things up, I guess Lefties could argue that he inherited Bush’s mess but was turning things around. But the fact that things are pretty much unchanged means, of course, that it wasn’t the war at all that they were against.

Compare this to the Conservatives’ big issue these days. Sure, few Conservatives have much love for Obama. But are they protesting the proposed health care reforms out of hate for the President? Or because they dislike the proposed health care reforms?

One other thing, though, is that maybe the “silence” of the anti-war voices is due more to lack of coverage by the media. At one point, the anti-war types were the darlings of the newscast. Now, if there are solid anti-war types out there still making noise, decision-makers might rather that no one see or hear them.

Over at GunPundit, I write a little about the “new craze” of open carrying at political events.

UPDATE: More here.

Bigger Corps stops calling up IRR Marines

The Corps has stopped putting Individual Ready Reserve Marines on involuntary orders, phasing out recalls as the active-duty force has grown to 202,000.

A little more than 200 Marines who reported for duty in late spring are likely the last reservists to get involuntarily recalled, said Maj. Steven O’Connor, a spokesman at Marine Corps Headquarters.

This is good news. It means the all-volunteer force is able to meet mission requirements without pulling in guys who don’t necessarily want to put in more time on active duty.

Troops could be sent to battered Iraqi region

The top U.S. commander in Iraq said Monday that he wants to deploy American soldiers to disputed territories in northern Iraq following a recent spike in bombings there.

The move would be a departure from the security pact that called for Americans to pull back from populated areas on June 30.

The U.S. soldiers would partner with Iraqi government and Kurdish troops to secure the largely unguarded villages along the fault line of land disputed between Arabs and Kurds, Gen. Ray Odierno said.

He stressed that no final decision has been made but said Iraqi and Kurdish leaders were receptive to the idea.

Everyone should realize that no one thinks things are all hunky-dory in Iraq, and if US troops need to re-enter the fight in areas they’ve pulled back from, they will. Though violence isn’t spiraling out of control and Iraq isn’t on the verge of a major civil war, things are a bit shaky in some areas.

If someone else was in the White House, I suspect that the headlines about the situation in Iraq would be slightly more alarmist. But, then, Murdoc’s a bit cynical at times.

Chief says Guard cannot go back to strategic reserve

An M-60A3 main battle tank of the 1st Bn., 108th Armor, 48th Bde., Georgia National Guard, waits in a defensive position during a training exercise. The unit is preparing for its annual exercises to be held this year at Fort Irwin, Calif. Photographer's Name: Long Location: FORT STEWART Date Shot: 7/15/1983

“We must maintain the level of efficiency and effectiveness that has been achieved today,” said Gen. Craig R. McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau, who spoke at the 38th annual conference of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS).

“We can’t be relegated to obsolete and incompatible equipment like we were during the Cold War,” he said. “We have proven that that old way of doing business does not work in today’s environment.”

This is, of course, true. Though at times the Guard appeared on the verge of breaking, it held together and is in pretty good shape considering the unexpected stress its been subjected to over the past few years.

This period in history is exactly what the Guard and reserve were built for, McKinley said. “We are shock absorbers in an all-volunteer force that allows us to go to this level of tempo.”

I suspect, however, that the current sorts of operations are not all that temporary. Even as deployments to Iraq are winding down, deployments to Afghanistan are ramping up. And who’s to say what’s going to happen tomorrow or next week or next year? I think basically keeping the National Guard on constant call for deployment to hotspots is a bad plan.

For emergencies? Absolutely. But if this is going to be a way of life, and it looks like it might become just that, flare-ups in various dusty corners will no longer be considered “emergencies” and will certainly not be unexpected.

I’ve wondered before whether it might not make sense to designate most of the Guard as a heavy traditional fighting force. Lots of tank battalions. Tons of artillery. All of the good stuff for major army-on-army combat. Keep them equipped with good gear, keep their training up for major threats, and keep them home unless the big war is about to begin.

With a good, well-equipped and well-trained National Guard in reserve, the regular Army could shift priorities more easily. Lots of brush wars? Shed some tanks and artillery, add more counter-insurgency training and get the job done. Pre-position heavy equipment in strategic locations, and if the heavies are needed retrain a brigade and fly them in. The full-time Army’s schedule would allow such training (and re-training as necessary) much better than the National Guard’s part-time schedule. Make the most of the time Guardsmen put in by making them as good at one thing as possible, leaving the regular Army (recently enlarged, finally) to adapt to the standard threats as needed.