Still same as the old boss. A fan of the site sends me this Boston Globe article, which discusses how prominent Democratic politicians pushed to get the second F-35 engine into the final DOD Appropriations bill prior to President Obama's signature. You might remember that F-35 second engine as one of those costly gold-plated things that DOD really didn't ask for and that President Obama said he wouldn't stand for. First it was gone.

The Obama administration has signaled for months that funding for a second F-35 engine in the fiscal 2010 defense bill could become veto bait. Gates spent months, most recently at the beginning of September, making the case that the Pentagon does not need the alternative engine, built by a General Electric-Rolls-Royce team.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said
Wednesday that he decided against funding the engine because he was concerned about the floor vote on the entire defense spending bill.

Now it's back.

Senator John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that GE officials had told his office that 1,000 jobs in Massachusetts will be saved or maintained once full production begins on the backup engine.

"There will also be some jobs gained, but maintaining jobs right now is very important,’’ he said yesterday, defending his efforts to persuade fellow lawmakers, including the highly influential Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, to overturn Obama’s proposal in a final vote on Saturday.

Inouye chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, while Murtha oversees a House panel with jurisdiction over defense spending.

Kerry also used his influence with the White House to get it to back off a threatened presidential veto. He told the Globe that he ultimately got assurances from Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, that the president would not veto the fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations bill if the money for the engine was included. Obama signed the bill which totals $626 billion, on Monday.

What utter bullshit. This is just unjustified crap, and it doesn't smell any better coming from a Democratic politician than a Republican. In talking about defense acquisition with a colleague, he said that he might believe in Santa Claus, but he didn't believe in acquisition reform. With clowns like this in the Senate and White House, it's no wonder that the Defense Department can't get clear of its huge funding bills and massively overpriced, behind schedule programs.

The VH-71 presidential helicopter program also got $85 million to "wind down" its efforts. Must be a big office. The USMC's Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle is getting $293.5 million, despite its many troubles. I'm severely disappointed.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (366)

PLAYS: (330)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passings of Roy E. Disney, Iranian Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, evangelist Oral Roberts and actress/art patron Jennifer Jones. In addition, the Pentagon released the names of three servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army PFC Jaiciae L Pauley, 29, of Austell, GA
Army PVT Jhanner A Tello, 29, of Los Angeles, CA
Air Force TSgt Anthony C Campbell Jr, 35, of Florence, KY

According to iCasualties, the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq is 4,689; in Afghanistan, 1,545. Iraq Body Count lists 168 Iraqi civilians killed during this same period, including 127 killed by car bombs in Baghdad in a single day. And as long as we're listing war casualties, Yemen rebels say that US air raids are responsible for 120 killed in their country, apparently in an effort to target Al Qaeda.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (36)

PLAYS: (95)

December 16, 2009 C-SPAN

Talk about double-dipping! I wonder if it would be too much to ask that media outlets ask about such conflicts before they offer them outlets as "objective" analysts:

WASHINGTON — After retiring from the Marine Corps in December 2003, Emil "Buck" Bedard headed back to work — for both the Pentagon and defense contractors.

Two months after leaving the service as a lieutenant general, Bedard became an adviser for the Pentagon's Joint Forces Command, a job that this year paid him about $1,600 per day to help run war games and mentor high-level commanders on how to lead troops in battle. Bedard also signed on with seven defense contractors as a corporate director or consultant.

For one of those firms, Bedard marketed a video surveillance system to the Marines during the time he was getting paid by the Pentagon for mentoring, even after a general concluded that the technology "did not work as advertised," a USA TODAY investigation found.

Bedard's activities present a case study of the kinds of situations that arise when retired senior officers become paid Pentagon advisers even as they market products to the military as consultants for defense contractors. USA TODAY reported last month that roughly 130 retired generals and admirals have held taxpayer-funded military jobs as "senior mentors" while also working for defense contractors.

Bedard's case goes beyond getting paid to advise the government and industry at the same time. E-mails and interviews show that Bedard pushed for his former service branch to buy the video system, including sending e-mails while on mentoring assignments.

"In the corporate world, this ... would not be tolerated," said Kirk Hanson, director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California.

"It is not uncommon for someone to consult with their former employer, but it is a major concern if they are simultaneously representing groups that sell to or try to influence their former employer."

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (436)

PLAYS: (296)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passings of Metropolitan Museum of Art Director Thomas Hoving, Reagan envoy William A. Wilson and actor Gene Barry. In addition, the Pentagon released the names of four servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army SGT Elijah J Rao, 26, of Lake Oswego, OR
Marine Cpl Xhacob Latorre, 21, of Waterbury, CT
Army SSG Dennis J Hansen, 31, of Panama City, FL
Marine Sgt Ralph Anthony Webb Frietas, 23, of Detroit, MI

This brings the total number of allied servicepeople killed in Iraq to 4,689; in Afghanistan, 1,538. During this same period, Iraq Body Count lists 191 Iraqi civilians killed, which includes 127 people killed and 519 wounded by car bombs in Fallujah on a single day.

Schoolhouse Rock - Three is a Magic Number

Okay, maybe not three, but would you believe that when it comes to Afghanistan, 30 is the magic number? As Moon of Alabama notes, each time a battle in Afghanistan is described, the losses are always around 30. Megan Carpentier of Air America suggests that it may be that the Pentagon's cold calculus is that 30 civilian deaths is the maximum we Americans will tolerate without questioning the wisdom of the battles:

In other words, the Pentagon determined that 30 casualties, even if they were civilian, were too few to matter politically or to attract the attention of the press for more than a few words. If commanders expected more civilian casualties than that, political leaders had to sign off on the attack in advance to make sure they were prepared for the PR fall-out.

That PR calculus of how many deaths matter to the average American has apparently carried over from the Bush Administration to the Obama Adminstration, at least insofar as ground commanders are concerned. But the American people deserve the truth about how many Afghans--civilian and otherwise--are being killed by our forces. Just because senior officials at the Pentagon think that killing 30 people doesn't warrant their attention doesn't mean they're right.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (421)

PLAYS: (277)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos notes the passings of former Florida Senator Paula Hawkins, banking executive and junk bond king Fred Joseph and actor and D-Day at Normandy veteran Richard Todd. In addition, the Pentagon released the names of five servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army PFC Michael A Rogers, 23, of White Sulphur Springs, MT
Navy PO3 David M Mudge, 22, of Sutherlin, OR
Army PFC Derrick D Gwaltney, 21, of Cape Coral, FL
Marine LCpl Jonathan A Taylor, 22, of Jacksonville, FL
Army SGT Kenneth R Nichols Jr, 28, of Chrisman, IL

According to iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied soldiers killed in Iraq to 4,685; in Afghanistan, 1,535. During this same period, Iraq Body Count lists the deaths of 39 Iraqi civilians. Sadly, there is no site that I have found listing the civilian deaths in Afghanistan, but per Wikipedia, there were 1,013 civilian deaths in Afghanistan for the first six months of this year, and it is projected to top that number for the second half.

As David Sirota points out, here are some "objective, nonpartisan, non-ideological facts":

-- The 2010 Pentagon budget means "every man, woman and child in the United States will spend more than $2,700 on (defense) programs and agencies next year," reports the Cato Institute. "By way of comparison, the average Japanese spends less than $330; the average German about $520; China's per capita spending is less than $100."

-- "(The Pentagon budget) dwarfs the combined defense budgets of U.S. allies and potential U.S. enemies alike," reports Hearst Newspapers.

-- "President (Obama) is on track to spend more on defense, in real dollars, than any other president has in one term of office since World War II," reports National Journal's Government Executive magazine.

-- In 2000, the Pentagon admitted it has lost -- yes, lost -- $2.3 trillion. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a subsequent Department of Defense study said it was only $1 trillion. To put such numbers in perspective, contemplate what those sums could finance. $1 trillion, for instance, could pay the total cost of universal health care for the long haul. $2.3 trillion would cover universal health care plus the bank bailout plus the stimulus package.

Obviously -- obviously! -- these points are no cause for alarm and certainly no cause for defense spending reductions, right? All they must prove is that the archconservative Cato Institute, William Randolph Hearst's newspaper chain, National Journal employees and Pentagon officials are secretly America-hating liberals. And -- obviously! -- so are two of the most aggressive neoconservative hawks ever to hold government office, Sen. John McCain and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. After all, they're the ones who issued those scathing statements about wasteful defense spending in the pop quiz above. That means they're actually terrorist-appeasing lefties, right?

Really, how could anyone other than traitorous communists see the data and then consider backing the mildest Pentagon spending cuts? I mean, come on -- in a country whose paranoid conservative movement now makes a dead-serious ideology out of Stephen Colbert wisecracks, how dare any red-blooded American even think of pondering basic budgetary facts?

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: 68

PLAYS: 14

( . . You'll Always Get What You Always Got.")

Drawing analogies between Vietnam and our current situation in Afghanistan has been difficult - they are two different wars under two different circumstances. The similarities go as far as our insistence on winning a war that we have no logical basis for being in are the same. The similarities are a Foreign Policy that has been a dismal failure since after World War One. Yet, as the definition of insanity goes - we continue to do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. In Afghanistan, as with Vietnam we are stuck in a damnable situation where we are in fact, damned if we do and damned if we don't. It's what happens when you pay the price for arrogance and deceit.

In 1972, with all other seeming avenues failed, the Nixon administration resorted to mining Haiphong Harbor in an attempt to cut off supply lines to the North Vietnamese. Vietnamization was deemed a dismal failure.

Pres. Nixon: “All entrances to North Vietnamese ports will be mined to prevent access to these ports, and North Vietnamese navel operations from these ports. United States forces have been directed to take appropriate measures within the internal and claimed territorial waters of North Vietnam to interdict the delivery of any supplies. Rail, and all other communications will b cut off to the maximum extent possible. Air and navel strikes against military targets in North Vietnam will continue.”

Shortly after this announcement, NBC Radio ran a Special Report entitled "Vietnam: The War That Will Not End".

It echoed a sentiment that a weary nation was feeling. That war, like this one seems destined to have no happy ending.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (885)

PLAYS: (340)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos notes the passings of philanthropist Abe Pollin, model and author Charis Wilson, Kevlar vest developer Lester Shubin. In addition, the Pentagon released the names of eight servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army SSG John J Cleaver, 36, of Marysville, WA
Army SGT Daniel A Frazier, 25, of Saint Joseph, MI
Marine LCpl Nicholas J Hand, 20, of Kansas City, MO
Army SGT Briand T Williams, 25, of Sparks, GA
Army SGT James M Nolen, 25, of Alvin, TX
Army PFC Marcus A Tynes, 19, of Moreno Valley, CA
Army SSG Matthew A Pucino, 34, of Cockeysville, MD
Army SGT Jason A McLeod, 22, of Crystal Lake, IL

This brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,685; in Afghanistan, 1,530. During this same week, Iraq Body Count lists 56 Iraqi civilians killed.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (707)

PLAYS: (296)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passings of John O'Connor III, former ambassador James Lilley, former New Mexico Governor Bruce King and photographer Evelyn Hofer. In addition, the Pentagon released the names of 7 servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Army SPC Tony Carrasco Jr, 25, of Berino, NM
Army SPC Aaron S Aamot, 22, of Custer, WA
Army SPC Gary L Gooch Jr, 22, of Ocala, FL
Marine Sgt Charles I Cartwright, 26, of Union Bridge, MD
Army CWO Mathew C Heffelfinger, 29, of Kimberly, ID
Army CWO Earl R Scott III, 24, of Jacksonville, FL
Marine LCpl Justin J Swanson, 21, of Anaheim, CA

According to iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,680; in Afghanistan, 1,518. During this same week, Iraq Body Count adds another 54 Iraqi civilians killed.

What is it about Democratic hawks that makes them so indistinguishable from Republican hawks? From the AP:

Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy said a strategy decision on new deployments involving the U.S. and other troop-contributing nations would be made within the next few weeks, according to an official transcript released Saturday.

Flournoy, the Pentagon's policy chief, led a U.S. delegation that briefed NATO ambassadors Thursday on the Obama administration's review of the Afghan war. Officials released a transcript of her remarks from that meeting.

"No one is talking about leaving Afghanistan, or even standing pat. We are increasing our commitment and we're talking about how best to do that with both civilian and military resources," Flournoy was quoted as telling NATO ambassadors.

Tell me, Ms. Flournoy, how many thousands of troops NATO is going to be providing, given their limited participation to date and their nations' people also coming out more and more against further involvement in Afghanistan? How many more years, how many more deaths, how many more billions will it take before Afghanistan is "secure"? Honestly, someone needs to clue in Ms. Flournoy about the failed wisdom of following in the footsteps of the "stupidest guy on the face of the planet."

I have never understood the grasping need of Dem politicians to be viewed as being as tough as - and often, as foolish - Repub politicians when it comes to issues of national security. Afghanistan is not vital to American security interests - going after al Qaeda is, and they're in Pakistan. We need a strategy of containment rather than one of nation-building - we can't afford the current strategy, and it's overdue for a change.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1517)

PLAYS: (311)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the passings of journalist John Mashek and the Ft. Hood shooting victims.

Civilian Michael Grant Cahill, 62, of Cameron
Major L. Eduardo Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Va.
Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, of Plymouth, Ind.
Capt. John P. Gaffaney, 54, of San Diego, Calif.
Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tenn.
Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Tillman, Okla.
Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis.
Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah
Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook, Ill.
Capt. Russell Seager, 41, of Racine, Wis.
Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago. She was pregnant.
Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, 55, of Havre de Grace, Md.
Spc. Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn.

In addition, the Pentagon has released the names of 9 servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army SPC Joseph L Gallegos, 39, of Questa, NM
Army PFC Brian R Bates, Jr 20, of Gretna, LA
Army SPC Adrian L Avila, 19, of Opelika, AL
Army PFC Lukas C Hopper, 20, of Merced, CA
Army SPC Christopher M Cooper, 28, of Oceanside, CA
Army SPC Jonathon M Sylvestre, 21, of Colorado Springs, CO
Marine Sgt Cesar B Ruiz, 26, of San Antonio, TX
Army SSG Amy C Tirador, 29, of Albany, NY
Army SPC Julian L Berisford, 25, of Benwood, WV

According to iCasualties, this brings the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,677, in Afghanistan, 1,513. During this same period, Iraq Body Count lists 56 Iraq civilians killed. For the month of October, 438 civilians were killed in Iraq.

I don't usually comment on a blog post that comments on another blog post, but I believe Matt Yglesias hits on an important issue in his observations on Andrew Exum's interview with Washington Post reporter and author Greg Jaffe.

Greg Jaffe, speaking to Andrew Exum, says “This whole conventional vs. irregular debate is stupid.”

War is war. And we waste far too much energy trying to categorize it. I think most lieutenants, captains and majors are beyond this false conventional vs. irregular frame that we try to impose on war. I wish I could say the same for the more senior people in the Pentagon.

I think there’s a lot of truth to that. At the same time, just because things look one way to “lieutenants, captains and majors” and another way to “senior people in the Pentagon” doesn’t mean we should take a dismissive view of the senior people’s outlook in a rush to celebrate the insights of the practical warfighter.
----------
And when you get down to the guts of defense budget politics, these high-level strategic concepts matter a great deal. Nobody, of course, is going to say that the U.S. should somehow completely abandon its ability to fight conventional wars. But the choice between a mindset that says “the main purpose of the military is to scare China & Russia” or a mindset that says “the main purpose of the military is to intervene effectively in third world backwaters” has very real implications for what kind of hardware purchases look cost effective.

There is no doubt in my mind that the issue of "hardware purchases" looms very large in the minds of senior military and civilian decision makers. Conventional warfare means lots of tanks, armored vehicles, stealthy jets, next generation bombers, submarines, destroyers, and aircraft carriers. And let's not even get into the care and feeding of that massive military machine. Counterinsurgency operations, or COIN, is completely the opposite, with a focus on maintaining security and diminishing the insurgent grasp on the population without destroying real estate. Also a no-brainer that the DOD budget is already too bloated, and that in managing two wars, protecting the homeland, and trying to modernize its equipment, there's going to be some in-fighting.

But more importantly, the issue is also in the theory and execution of national strategy. The basic idea of military doctrine is that small military units execute tactics on the ground that must support the overall plan of operations within a theater. The theater commander needs to ensure that he has adequate numbers of personnel, that operations continue toward a particular set of goals, and that the logistics support those operations - and his operations must support the overall national strategy for that region. If your tactics and operations don't align against the strategic goals and expected outcome, then you're doing something wrong - even if you're General McChrystal.

Now under the Bush administration, strategic goals and outcomes changed every Friedman unit (six months), which made it difficult to effectively plan operations or execute tactics. But one thing that was certainly clear was that conventional tactics that destroyed the Taliban in 2002 and that took the Iraqi army out in 2003 didn't support the post-conflict goals. You can't prosecute military operations with a conventional frame of mind when what one really needs is an approach to irregular warfare. That's why we failed in Lebanon in 1983.

Greg Jaffe is a good journalist, and I look forward to reading his book. On the other hand, making a statement like "War is war. And we waste far too much energy trying to categorize it" is a remarkably stupid statement. Nuclear war is not the same as conventional war. Conventional war is not the same as irregular war. Our military needs to be able to operate across a range of different operations, and needs to be equipped properly to execute its operations quickly and efficiently. But what we really need is national leadership that understands the nature of war, that knows how to develop a strategy that is executable, and that knows when it's time to go. From Sun Tzu:

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

Thus ends the lesson.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1424)

PLAYS: (351)

From This Week with George Stephanopoulos, the Pentagon released the names this week of 25 servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army SPC Eric N Lembke, 25, of Tampa, FL
Army PFC Kimble A Han, 30, of Lehi, UT
Marine Cpl Gregory MW Fleury, 23, of Anchorage, AK
Marine Capt Eric A Jones, 29, of Westchester, NY
Marine Capt David S Mitchell, 30, of Loveland, OH
Marine Capt Kyle R Van De Giesen, 29, of North Attleboro, MA
Army SGT Eduviges G Wolf, 24, of Hawthorne, CA
Army PFC Devin J Michel, 19, of Stockton, IL
Army SPC Brandon K Steffey, 23, of Sault Sainte Marie, MI
Marine LCpl Cody R Stanley, 21, of Rosanky, TX
Army SSG Luis M Gonzalez, 27, of South Ozone Park, NY
Army SGT Fernando Delarosa, 24, of Alamo, TX
Army SGT Dale R Griffin, 29, of Terre Haute, IN
Army SGT Issac B Jackson, 27, of Plattsburg, MO
Army SGT Patrick O Williamson, 24, of Broussard, LA
Army SPC Jared D Stanker, 22, of Evergreen Park, IL
Army PFC Christopher I Walz, 25, of Vancouver, WA
Army CWO Michael P Montgomery, 36, of Savannah, GA
Army CWO Niall Lyons, 40, of Spokane, WA
Army SSG Shawn H McNabb, 24, of Terrell, TX
Army SGT Josue E Hernandez Chavez, 23, of Reno, NV
Army SGT Nikolas A Mueller, 26, of Little Chute, WI
Army SFC David E Metzger, 32, of San Diego, CA
Army SSG Keith R Bishop, 28, of Medford, NY
Army SCP Robert K Charlton, 22, of Malden, MO

In addition, 3 agents from the DEA and an American UN security guard were killed in Afghanistan.

This week's casualties bring the total number of allied servicemembers killed in Iraq to 4,673; in Afghanistan, 1,502. During the same period, Iraq Body Count lists 69 Iraqi civilians killed. This has been the deadliest month for US forces in Afghanistan since the beginning of the invasion.