I was surprised to see this USA Today headline.

U.S. tally of wounded drops 26%

After all, that isn't the picture the press has spent the last year painting. It has, in fact, painted the opposite -- American troops under siege taking heavier casualties.

But what is the real story?

The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq fell by more than a quarter in 2005 from a year earlier, Pentagon records show. Military officials call that a sign that insurgent attacks have declined in the face of elections and stronger Iraqi security forces.

The wuestion is, will the press report thisinformation widely? And will the Cut-&-Run Party acknowledge this and quit calling the mission in Iraq a failure?

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Historian Niall Ferguson offers this glimpse of the future -- a scenario of what may yet come to be if the United States fails to stop the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

Prior to 2007, the Islamists had seen no alternative but to wage war against their enemies by means of terrorism. From the Gaza to Manhattan, the hero of 2001 was the suicide bomber. Yet Ahmadinejad, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, craved a more serious weapon than strapped-on explosives. His decision to accelerate Iran's nuclear weapons programme was intended to give Iran the kind of power North Korea already wielded in East Asia: the power to defy the United States; the power to obliterate America's closest regional ally.

Under different circumstances, it would not have been difficult to thwart Ahmadinejad's ambitions. The Israelis had shown themselves capable of pre-emptive air strikes against Iraq's nuclear facilities in 1981. Similar strikes against Iran's were urged on President Bush by neo-conservative commentators throughout 2006. The United States, they argued, was perfectly placed to carry out such strikes. It had the bases in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan. It had the intelligence proving Iran's contravention of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But the President was advised by his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, to opt instead for diplomacy. Not just European opinion but American opinion was strongly opposed to an attack on Iran. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 had been discredited by the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction Saddam Hussein had supposedly possessed and by the failure of the US-led coalition to quell a bloody insurgency.

Americans did not want to increase their military commitments overseas; they wanted to reduce them. Europeans did not want to hear that Iran was about to build its own WMD. Even if Ahmad-inejad had broadcast a nuclear test live on CNN, liberals would have said it was a CIA con-trick.

So history repeated itself. As in the 1930s, an anti-Semitic demagogue broke his country's treaty obligations and armed for war. Having first tried appeasement, offering the Iranians economic incentives to desist, the West appealed to international agencies - the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Security Council. Thanks to China's veto, however, the UN produced nothing but empty resolutions and ineffectual sanctions, like the exclusion of Iran from the 2006 World Cup finals.

Only one man might have stiffened President Bush's resolve in the crisis: not Tony Blair, he had wrecked his domestic credibility over Iraq and was in any case on the point of retirement - Ariel Sharon. Yet he had been struck down by a stroke as the Iranian crisis came to a head. With Israel leaderless, Ahmadinejad had a free hand.

As in the 1930s, too, the West fell back on wishful thinking. Perhaps, some said, Ahmadinejad was only sabre-rattling because his domestic position was so weak. Perhaps his political rivals in the Iranian clergy were on the point of getting rid of him. In that case, the last thing the West should do was to take a tough line; that would only bolster Ahmadinejad by inflaming Iranian popular feeling. So in Washington and in London people crossed their fingers, hoping for the deus ex machina of a home-grown regime change in Teheran.

This gave the Iranians all the time they needed to produce weapons-grade enriched uranium at Natanz. The dream of nuclear non-proliferation, already interrupted by Israel, Pakistan and India, was definitively shattered. Now Teheran had a nuclear missile pointed at Tel-Aviv. And the new Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu had a missile pointed right back at Teheran.

The optimists argued that the Cuban Missile Crisis would replay itself in the Middle East. Both sides would threaten war - and then both sides would blink. That was Secretary Rice's hope - indeed, her prayer - as she shuttled between the capitals. But it was not to be.

The devastating nuclear exchange of August 2007 represented not only the failure of diplomacy, it marked the end of the oil age. Some even said it marked the twilight of the West. Certainly, that was one way of interpreting the subsequent spread of the conflict as Iraq's Shi'ite population overran the remaining American bases in their country and the Chinese threatened to intervene on the side of Teheran.

Yet the historian is bound to ask whether or not the true significance of the 2007-2011 war was to vindicate the Bush administration's original principle of pre-emption. For, if that principle had been adhered to in 2006, Iran's nuclear bid might have been thwarted at minimal cost. And the Great Gulf War might never have happened.

Do we want this to be the history learned by our children's children's children? Isn't the restrained use of conventional weapons against a rogue regime a better option than nuclear war?

Based upon my study of history, I see many of the same parallels that Ferguson does. We must not allow our desir for true peace to prompt us to accept a counterfeit one that leads to a bigger, more destructive war.

Hat Tip: Ace of Spades, Link Mecca, Protein Wisdom, Relapsed Catholic, American Future, Craig Meister

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Well, a young Israeli Arab man has been denied entry into the IAF.

He has instead been offered something almost as prestigious.

he IDF's Personnel Directorate has decided to reject the request of an18-year-old Arab Muslim from northern Israel who sought to join the army's prestigious pilot training course, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

Instead of becoming a pilot, the army offered the teen to volunteer to the paratroopers.

The disappointed youth, who graduated from high school with honors and already holds a civilian pilot's license, is expected to undergo initial tests on Thursday for the IDF's paratroopers unit.

However, the teen's father said the youth plans to appeal the decision to IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, and if needed even take the matter to court, in order to open the pilot course for Arab Muslims as well.

Muslims are not obligated to join the army, and only a few dozens volunteer to the IDF every year. Hence, the Arab teen's unusual request managed to surprise the defense establishment.

He will fight the decision, even as he fulfills what he views as an important obligation as an Israeli citizen -- one that few Muslims in that country take up, despite the fact that service is mandatory for Jews.

The teen's father said Monday that "in the past few days I spoke with a senior official at the IDF's Personnel Directorate who explained to me that the course is closed to the Arab sector for the moment."

"The official made it clear that if the course opens in the next year or two, my son would be able to try and join the course. In the meantime, he will get an opportunity somewhere else," the father added.

The reason for the rejection is shrouded in mystery.

The IDF's Personnel Directorate refused to issue an official statement to explain why the teen would not be summoned to the pilot course. However, IDF officials said that apart from the youth's matriculation exam results and his flight abilities, other criteria were also being examined, and it is not certain the teen met all of them.

I hope there is a Knesset inquiry into the matter. If Muslim and Jew are to live together in harmony, discrimination cannot happen.

(Previous post here)

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Israel claims that Arab citizens have equal rights in Israel. Now a young man is testing that claim by seeking to join the Israeli military as a pilot.

An 18-year-old youth from northern Israel is an outstanding student who completed his high school diploma with top grades. He is also a gifted civilian pilot. His dream is to become a pilot in the Israeli air force, but one thing may stand in his way: He is an Arab Muslim.

The young and motivated teen has already passed the IDF's first stages of the draft, and recently submitted a request to be recruited to the IAF's prestigious pilot training course, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.

If he succeeds, he is set to become the country's first Israeli-Arab military pilot.
"I ask that you allow me to fulfill my dream and my civil duty to serve in the armyÂ… my greatest dream and aspiration is to become a pilot. I feel I have the potential, the knowledge and the ability to serve in the IAF, or in any other elite unit," he wrote in his letter to the army.

That this young man is getting special scrutiny is somewhat disturbing. But he has one strong supporter – a major in the Israeli Air Force who was his flight instructor.

Luckily for the teen, he already has one devoted advocate who greatly supports his ambition to be recruited to the air force: Major Michael (res.) trained him to be a civilian pilot and has much confidence in his young student.

"I was amazed by his capability and love of flying. He learned to fly quickly, feels excellent while in the air, and the harder the maneuvers get, the more thrilled he is," Michael wrote in a recommendation letter submitted to the army.

"He functions well, is very bright and highly motivated to succeedÂ… I would very much like to see the army enabling him to make his dream come true and join one of the IDF's elite units, pending of course that he meets the requirements in full equality," Michael said, adding that he believes this move would give the army a chance to exhibit its openness to all citizens of Israel, and to display that equal opportunity is granted to all.

As Michael noted, his young student is bound to face the question of where his loyalties lie.

"I sincerely told him that there is the problem of loyalty. I told him that it would be hard to send an Arab to bombard other Arabs, whether in Gaza or in Lebanon," Michael said.

"But he said, 'I belong to the state of Israel, just try me and you'll see. I live in this country, and am willing to do what is required of me,'" Michael recalled.

Come on, Israel – for years you have talked the talk – now is the time to walk the walk.

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It seems we are preparing to deal with the Iranian nuclear program. Not is that the only one we need to take out.

First on Iran.

The United States government reportedly began coordinating with NATO its plans for a possible military attack against Iran.

The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel collected various reports from the German media indicating that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are examining the prospects of such a strike.

According to the report, CIA Director Porter Goss, in his last visit to Turkey on December 12, requested Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide military bases to the United States in 2006 from where they would be able to launch an assault.

The German news agency DDP also noted that countries neighboring Iran, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, and Pakistan were also updated regarding the supposed plan. American sources sent to those countries apparently mentioned an aerial attack as a possibility, but did not provide a time frame for the operation.

Although Der Spiegel could not say that these plans were concrete, they did note that according to a January 2005 New Yorker report American forces had entered Iran in 2005 in order to mark possible targets for an aerial assault.

Given the comments of the Iranian president in recent weeks, it might not be a bad thing to have plans prepared. Especially when he continues to make comments like this.

Iran warned Sunday of a "crushing" response if its nuclear and military facilities are attacked by the United States or Israel.

Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said, however, talk of such an attack most likely is "psychological warfare."

"Iran has prepared itself...they will get a crushing response if they make such a mistake," Larijani said on Iranian television late Sunday.

Larijani said Israel would "suffer greatly" if it launched an attack.

"If there is any truth in such talks, Israel will suffer greatly. It's a very small country within our range."

"Our (defence) preparedness is a deterrence," he said.

He also said a Russian proposal the two countries enrich uranium on Russian territory could not ignore Iran's right to carry out enrichment at home.

"It's not logical for a country to put the fate of its nation at the disposal of another country, even if it's a friend. You can meet part of your fuel needs from abroad."

"But is there a guarantee that nuclear fuel producers won't play with you over price or other things? History and experience show that if you don't have technology, you will damage your independence," he said.

So what we have is an anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying regime making military threats against Israel and the US -- with US troops on its border. These folks are clearly nuts!.

But the North Korean threat cannot be ignored, either.

NORTH KOREA is working to restart a reactor that would produce enough plutonium to make 10 atomic bombs a year, a leading American nuclear scientist has revealed.

Siegfried Hecker, former director of the US governmentÂ’s top secret Los Alamos laboratory, also said the North Koreans reprocessed 8,000 fuel rods to make up to 14kg (30lb) of plutonium last summer, despite taking part in six-party talks hosted by China to end their weapons programme.

“They have the plutonium,” he said. “We have to assume the North Koreans can and have made a few nuclear devices.”

HeckerÂ’s revelations were based on information gleaned during two visits to North Korea, the last in August 2005, in which he met physicists and, in a pure moment from spy fiction, was handed a specimen of weapons-grade plutonium, stored in a marmalade jar.

His findings are being studied with increasing concern in Washington. North Korea further hardened its defiant stance this weekend by ending all United Nations food distribution to its people and by ordering out aid workers, including a British team from the charity Save the Children.

Thousands will be put at risk by the decision. The UNÂ’s World Food Programme had been feeding up to 6.4m of North KoreaÂ’s 23m people since the famine of the 1990s.

Diplomats believe the expulsions are part of a clampdown ordered by Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s “Dear Leader”, as he prepares to stand alongside Iran to confront the Americans over their right to have nuclear weapons.

Given the clear instability of the North Korean regime, actions will likelyhve to be taken to demilitarize the North Korean nuclear program. the problem is that the North Koreans have already violated agreements on the production of weapons-grade material more than once.

Will we see military actionon one or both fronts in 2006?

MORE AT Blogs for Bush

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You have to love stories like this one -- love, generousity, and patriotism all rolled together.

A Marine who's planning to marry a Texan got an early Christmas present: A fellow shopper picked up the tab for a $3,000 diamond engagement ring after the two struck up a conversation in a jewelry store.

The 54-year-old Dallas woman who paid for the 1-carat, princess cut diamond ring wants to remain anonymous, Helzberg Diamonds spokeswoman Stacey McBride told The Associated Press on Friday.

The woman's father was in the military, her brother was a Marine who died in Vietnam and her nephew just got back from Iraq, McBride said.

Marine James Lynaugh, 28, of Patuxent River, Md., was shopping Thursday at the Helzberg Diamonds store at a mall in Tyler.

Lynaugh and the anonymous shopper discussed their mutual military connections. Lynaugh opened a store credit account to buy the ring, then left with it.

After the other shopper paid for her items, she inquired whether Lynaugh's credit charge could be reversed. She didn't even ask about the cost of the ring, McBride said.

"So we were able to reverse that charge, and she paid in full with a check," McBride said.

A representative of the North Kansas City., Mo, company later contacted Lynaugh with the good news.

"He did say that he broke the news to his fiancee" that someone else paid for the ring, McBride said.

Lynaugh's fiancee is from Athens, about 40 miles southwest of Tyler in East Texas. The Marine also has family in Huntsville.

He did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press on Friday afternoon.

And the greatest of these is love.

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Some stories (scroll down) stand without further comment.

The remains of a U.S. sailor missing for 63 years since his aircraft crashed on a northern Pacific island in World War II have been identified and returned home for burial, the Pentagon said.

Seaman 2nd Class Dee Hall of Syra, Okla., will be buried today with military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.

Hall was one of seven crewmen aboard a U.S. Navy PBY-5 Catalina that took off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on June 14, 1942, to attack targets on Japanese-held Kiska Island. The aircraft encountered bad weather and heavy anti-aircraft fire near the target and crashed with all crewmen on board.

In August 1943, U.S. forces recaptured Kiska. Both the crash and burial sites were found and excavated in 2003. Military forensic experts identified Hall and the other missing crewmen, the Pentagon said.

A grateful nation humbly thanks you for your service and your sacrifice.

Rest in peace.

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Two years ago, Matt Maupin was a typical American young man.

He worked at Sam's Club.

He was attending college, majoring in nutritional science.

He worked out at Powerhouse Gym.

He had a dog named Fibi.

He drove a Mustang.

And in February, 2004, he was deployed to Iraq with the 724th Transportation Company.

Six weeks later, on April 9, 2004, he was guarding a civilian convoy that was ambushed by so-called insurgents -- terrorists, to call them by their proper name -- and was captured. He is the only American to have been captured in Iraq.

The Pittsburgh Times-Review has a great piece about the Maupin family and their experiences over the last year-and-a-half. I encourage you to read it.

I also encourage you to copy my little PhotoShop project above and put it on your site.

For we must never forget Matt Maupin, a typical American young man, who fell into the hands of the enemy while fighting for this country and the freedom of the Iraqi people.

And we must make sure that Sgt. Matt Maupin returns home with honor -- an American hero.

Posted by: Greg at 06:01 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Howard Dean, whose medical deferment confined him to the ski slopes during Vietnam, has announced that the Democrats are coalescing around a “Cut-And-Run NOW!” policy in Iraq, because, after all, Iraq is just like Vietnam.

"I've seen this before in my life. This is the same situation we had in Vietnam. Everybody then kept saying, 'just another year, just stay the course, we'll have a victory.' Well, we didn't have a victory, and this policy cost the lives of an additional 25,000 troops because we were too stubborn to recognize what was happening."

Or was it because Congressional Democrats didnÂ’t have the will to allow the President at the time to implement the strategies necessary to win the war?

Posted by: Greg at 12:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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You have to ask the question, given the position taken by Murtha, Pelosi, and other opponents of the war in Iraq.

The war against terrorism, especially in Iraq, has caused many Americans to ask if the cost is worth it. They watch television and read the papers about the casualties and terrorist suicide attacks. The media report daily the number of soldiers killed in Iraq but rarely report the positive events.

What if these same Americans had been around in 1944 and 1945? In 1944, the Marines stormed Iwo Jima in the Pacific. In about five weeks, they had more than 6,000 Marines killed and more than 19,000 wounded. Shortly following that battle, U.S. forces attacked the island of Okinawa, where more than 12,000 military personnel died.

It was at Okinawa that the Japanese unleashed the kamikaze -- suicide attackers who sank or damaged numerous ships. More than 6,000 sailors died in those aerial attacks. I am sure the nation was concerned then, too, about how to deal with people who were intent on dying as long as they took many of their enemy with them.

Scenes of the D-Day landings and the Battle of the Bulge in "Saving Private Ryan" depict the gruesome aspects of combat in 1944-45 probably better than any other film. Our troops soldiered on because they accepted the overwhelming necessity for victory in a just cause.

After all, if 2100 deaths in nearly three years provokes such an outcry from our "Peace At Any Price" friends on the Left, how would they have reacted to Iwo Jima, Okniawa, or Normandy? And would they have demanded an exit strategy and a set withdrawal date had it been necessary to invade the Japanese home islands?

Posted by: Greg at 08:08 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Bresident Bush has made it his practice to meet with family members of sevice personnel killed in Iraq when possible. He has even met with Cindy Sheehan -- though she seems tohave forgotten her words of praise for the President at the time.

Here is an account of one such meeting.

For about 20 minutes Tuesday, the MacKenzie family met privately with President Bush as he offered sympathy and listened to stories about Pfc. Tyler MacKenzie, a 20-year-old solider killed in Iraq earlier this month by a roadside bomb.

"We cried, and I had to pull out some Kleenex and give it to everyone else," Tyler's grandmother Mary MacKenzie said.

"I had to give some to the president, too, because he didn't have any."

The meeting was arranged through the office of U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave. Tyler MacKenzie, who graduated from Greeley West High, was the first Weld County resident killed in the war.

Both David and Julie MacKenzie, along with grandparents Emmett and Mary MacKenzie, saw Bush speak at the Brown Palace Hotel before the Secret Service moved them to a quiet room to meet with the president.

Emmett MacKenzie, a 75-year-old Korean War veteran, said Bush reassured them that there would be no pullout of troops until Iraqis could provide their own security.

"He said we wouldn't quit, and we told him we didn't want to quit until the job was done," Emmett MacKenzie said.

"We want to continue, and we're behind him 100 percent."

Another family for pursuit of the only valid exit strategy -- VICTORY.

Why is it that such families do not get the sort of coverage and respect that one America-hating mama gets?

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Look whoÂ’s making the big bucks pimping her dead son.

The State University College at Oneonta has booked a Fox News Channel military analyst to counter a lecture tonight by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan.

Lt. Col. Scott Rutter, who retired from the Army in November 2003 after leading a mechanized infantry battalion into Baghdad, will give a presentation sponsored by the student-run College Union Activities Council at noon Friday in the Hunt Union Square.

CUAC is also sponsoring an appearance by Sheehan at 8 p.m. tonight in the Hunt Union Ballroom.

Both events are part of "Making a Difference Week," said CUAC lecture chairwoman Erin Dromgoole, who helped book both speakers earlier this month.
Sheehan is getting paid $11,000 for the hour-long talk, while Rutter will receive his standard fee of $600 for his presentation, Dromgoole said.

I’ve got no problem with speakers being paid – even generously – for their efforts. But $11,000 for this brainless anti-American witch whose book sales are tanking as Americans reject her strident falsehoods? Seems a bit much to me, especially when compared to the asking price for a real American hero.

But then again, maybe it has a lot to do the relative availability of such speakers. Distinguished veterans who support the war are pretty common – traitorous hags who will dishonor their dead children are much harder to come by.

MORE AT: Michelle Malkin, Right Politics, Eric's Boredom Revealed, Urban Grounds, The Mind of IrishWalsh, Bird of Paradise and Cake Or Death?.

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Anti-war activists claim that this war is being fought by poorer, lest-educated minorities for the benefit of the white monied elite. Interestingly enough, the demographics of today's military shows something very different.

According to a comprehensive study of all enlistees for the years 1998-99 and 2003 that The Heritage Foundation just released, the typical recruit in the all-volunteer force is wealthier, more educated and more rural than the average 18- to 24-year-old citizen is. Indeed, for every two recruits coming from the poorest neighborhoods, there are three recruits coming from the richest neighborhoods.

Consider these statistics on education and socio-economic status.

If, for example, we consider the education of every recruit, 98% joined with high-school diplomas or better. By comparison, 75% of the general population meets that standard. Among all three-digit ZIP code areas in the USA in 2003 (one can study larger areas by isolating just the first three digits of ZIP codes), not one had a higher graduation rate among civilians than among its recruits.

In fact, since the 9/11 attacks, more volunteers have emerged from the middle and upper classes and fewer from the lowest-income groups. In 1999, both the highest fifth of the nation in income and the lowest fifth were slightly underrepresented among military volunteers. Since 2001, enlistments have increased in the top two-fifths of income levels but have decreased among the lowest fifth.

Oh, and about the breakdown between black and white -- the differnce between those serving in the military and the public at large is not significant. Whites constitutes 75.8% of the military, and 77.4% of the public at large. Blacks are 14.1% of the military, and 14.6% of the entire population. In neither case is the gap at significant variance from the nation as a whole.

Who wants to bet that the facts don't get int the way of the rhetoric of those who want to attack the president, the war, and the American military?

Posted by: Greg at 11:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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No one can criticize John Murtha and his position on Iraq, according to the cut-and-run Leftists. Will they extend the same courtesy to this veteran, and kindly shut up? After all, I think he is in a better position than they are to know what to do.

A National Guard general from upstate New York responsible for securing one-quarter of Iraq for the past year said Tuesday it's not yet time to withdraw American troops, though progress has been made in turning over control to Iraqi authorities.

"I don't think a quick pullout is in the interests of anybody," Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto said. "You've got to have a military that can secure the government."

Commander of the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division and a task force of 24,000 U.S. troops in north-central Iraq until Nov. 1, Taluto said they helped establish 18 fully- trained and equipped Iraqi battalions and turned over 11 military operating bases to Iraqi control, including the former presidential palace in Tikrit on Tuesday.

"I think it's possible we can see troop reductions in 2006 based on what I see," Taluto said. "It has been on our watch incrementally getting better all the time."

The task force included about 3,500 members of the 42nd, about 400 from the greater Albany area, with the last few planeloads slated to return shortly. Maj. Richard Goldenberg said their area in Iraq comprised about 27,000 square miles, about half the size of New York state. It included Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish areas and about 40 percent of the country's oil fields.

Yeah, I think the commander of a major theater of operations would be in a position to comment about the appropriate policy on troop deployment. General Taluto says to stay. Let's respect his service and that of his troops by making sure that the mission is completed and that the American military leaves with honor.

Posted by: Greg at 02:59 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
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I suppose Re. Jophn Murtha doesn't really care about the views of those actually serving in Iraq, but one of them had the integrity to stand up and say what he thinks of Murtha's proposed cut-and-run policy.

"Here on the ground, our job is not done," said Col. James Brown, commander of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, when asked about Murtha's comments during a weekly briefing that American field commanders routinely give to Pentagon reporters.

Speaking from a U.S. logistics base at Balad, north of Baghdad, two days before his scheduled return to Texas, Brown said: "We have to finish the job that we began here. It's important for the security of this nation."

I'll take one of our serving soldiers over bloated and bloviating politician any day. Sit down, Congressman, and do not disgrace yourself or the Marine Corps any longer. Show a little faith in the men and women still serving, instead of presuming that they are no match for the Islamist swine who murder the innocent like cowards.

And Col. Brown, email me if you ever make it to Houston -- I want to buy you a drink. The email address is over on the sidebar.

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