Anti-Terrorist Raids

Any given day in Iraq includes a distressingly long list of casualties, but what about the stories behind those incidents? Here’s one from today which I thought warranted some expounding on:

Under the headline Terrorist hideout destroyed, a military press release touts the raid of a suspected “terrorist hideout”, the killing of a “terrorist” and the capture of 15 men.

How do we know it’s a terrorist hideout? Surveillance determined that the building contained “stockpiled food”, 12 bedrolls, and perhaps most damning of all, “men’s clothing”. How do we know the slain man was a terrorist? Well he was “near the target building” and made an unspecified sudden movement before being killed. Oh, and those 15 men who were captured? Well 3 of them were actually “wanted” for some crime or another. That would imply the other 12 were “unwanted”, wouldn’t it?

Here’s something conspicuously absent: weapons. Nowhere in the report is it alleged that this vitally important terrorist hideout, the destruction of which would, according to the story, “further degrade al-Qaeda’s terror network”, contained any IEDs, or explosive components, or the dreaded Iranian EFPs. Not one of these hardened al-Qaeda members was reported to be armed, and the story contains not one mention of a weapons cache, or even a single round of ammunition being present in the house: just food, and clothing.

And that “threatening” man somewhere near the building, the one so ably gunned down by Coalition forces? There is nothing in the story to suggest that he had a gun, or a suicide belt, or even a really pointy-looking stick. Just a guy, standing somewhere in Mosul, who made a sudden movement after being accosted by an unknown number of foreign troops. Now and forever though, he is a “killed terrorist”.

Says MNF Spokesman Major Hall “Our pursuit of these terrorists will continue to disrupt their ability to hinder the security, stability, and growth that Iraqi citizens are entitled to” Yet one must wonder how 15 unarmed guys in a building containing food and clothing posed such a dire threat to the citizenry of Iraq.

Rule of law vs. rule of flaw

“[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his ruling,” President Andrew Jackson famously blustered after the US Supreme Court overruled him on the issue of US treaty obligations with the Cherokee. “Now let him enforce it.”

We’ve come a long way, baby — these days, presidential revolts against the Court are advertised as “disagreements” and carried out with procedural foot-dragging and visits to the Hill in search of legislative workarounds. The Court’s third rebuke of the Bush administration on the rights of prisoners at DoD’s Guantanamo gulag is the premier case in point.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey claims that the Court’s ruling — which upholds the right of Gitmo detainees to appeal their detentions in the US courts — won’t affect ongoing illegal “trials” before “military commissions.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), apparently forgetting the prohibition on ex post facto laws, proposed a constitutional amendment to legalize the Gitmo operation. Even more baffling as amnesia goes is the reaction of GOP presidential standard-bearer (and ex-“unlawful combatant” per Hanoi) John McCain, who expressed “concern” that the Court might prevent the US from treating its prisoners as poorly as his captors treated him.

Three “knock it off” orders from the Supreme Court; three “drag it out” operations from the War Party … and no end in sight for more than 200 victims left trudging along on the Treadmill of Tears.

The Feminization of the Military

Because it is getting harder to meet recruiting goals, the Marines are looking for a few good women–literally. The Marine Corps is marketing itself to women in magazines like Shape and Self and Fitness. The latest ad campaign shows a female marine in front of some men, captioned with: “There are no female marines. Only marines.”

The U.S. Military Academy now has gender-neutral lyrics in West Point’s Alma Mater and The Corps. For example, the line “The men of the Corps long dead” has been replaced with “The ranks of the Corps long dead.” Said Superintendent Lt. Gen. Franklin “Buster” Hagenbeck, singing “Guide us, thy sons, aright” at the funerals of two dead female soldiers was “unacceptable.” Preserving the words for the sake of tradition “disrespects the West Point women who serve,” said the Superintendent.

These are disturbing trends. As more women join the military, more women will die for a lie while in the military. It is bad enough that young men continue to join the military, but it is tragic that families are raising their girls to be soldiers. Yes, these young women are joining of their own free will, but it is tragic nonetheless.

Voinovich: ‘Get the hell out’

Republicans are already beginning to defect from the McCainiac party line on Iraq. Here’s George Voinovich, speaking before the Chamber of Commerce, in Howland, Ohio:

“We need to get the hell out of Iraq. Do you hear me?”

Voinovich decried the impending bankruptcy of the US, wondering aloud at the legacy we’re leaving our young people, sounding more like Ron Paul than the GOP’s putative nominee.

For McCain, the top issue is the war — and even though the gist of every story emphasizes that Voinovich still supports McCain, Republicans who agree with the Ohio Senator are more likely to casts their ballots for Bob Barr, the former Republican congressman who just clinched the Libertarian Party presidential nomination.