New Afghanistan

Forever War! Well, the Thirty Year War maybe.

See, Great Satan has been fiddling about with a semi nation state that is nigh inaccessible for America.

"...Washington has allied itself with radical m'Hammedists, fought against radical m'Hammedists or tried to negotiate with radical m'Hammedists. What Great Satan has never tried to do is impose a political solution through the direct application of American force.

"...This is a new and radically different phase of America’s Afghan obsession.

It's true bay bee! As P4 kinda sorted hinted - storming Taliban stronghold sanctuaries and reduxing Rules of Engagement could be interpreted as getting mean and scary and aside from kicking the cap up on the level of violence - what will future Afghanistan look like?

A shattered, scattered collection of mainly Pashtun tribal kleptocracies loosely confederated at times opposed and aided by key players like Great Satan, China, India, Iran and Pakistan?

"...Many Americans are now skeptical that even a stable and acceptable outcome in Afghanistan is possible. They believe that Afghanistan has never been administered effectively and is simply ungovernable.

"...Much of today's public opposition to the war centers on the widespread fear that whatever the military outcome, there is no Afghan political end state that is both acceptable and achievable at a reasonable cost.

"...In fact, there is a range of acceptable and achievable outcomes for Afghanistan. None is perfect, and all would require sacrifice. But it is a mistake to assume that Afghanistan is somehow ungovernable or that any sacrifice would be wasted in the pursuit of an unachievable goal. Afghanistan's own history offers ample evidence of the kind of stable, decentralized governance that could meet today's demands without abandoning the country's current constitution.

"...Success in Afghanistan will thus mean arriving at an intermediate end state, somewhere between ideal and intolerable.

Pic "Imposing Force"

СМЕРть Шпионам

SMERt' SHpionam Ba Booshkah!!

Hotter than a "Heck" Burger from Ray's!


Deep cover Commonwealth super spies with a penchant for Great Satan's intelligentisa in sensitive, tender positions like nat'l sec cats and new clear weaponry brainiacs!

"...Criminal complaints filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Monday read like an old-fashioned cold war thriller: Spies swapping identical orange bags as they brushed past one another in a train station stairway. An identity borrowed from a dead Canadian, forged passports, messages sent by shortwave burst transmission or in invisible ink. A money cache buried for years in a field in upstate New York.

"The network of so-called illegals — spies operating under false names outside of diplomatic cover — also used cyber-age technology, according to the charges. They embedded coded texts in ordinary-looking images posted on the Internet, and they communicated by having two agents with laptops containing special software pass casually as messages flashed between them.

Busted!

Handing off cash, sweet hot! intell and gossip in a nation not unlike Venuzuela, Great Satan's frenemies in Commonwealth may have deployed delightful assets like the recent risque raison de liason involving a Commodore from India's Defense Ministry and various nautical naughtiness...

Pic "From Commonwealth With Love"

Strategic Depth

One of the charming things about Land of the Pure's hopped up military command complex is that on the great (or terrible - depending on any personal feelings) day that India and Pakistan engage in a war is "Strategic Depth"

As best understood, PAK Army will roll with the New Delhi flow, trading space for time, fall back in Afghanistan, regroup, counter attack and hand India the worst defeat in military history.

Short of that event, Pakistan views Afghanistan as operational turf - best kept weak and discombobulated - especially for all those hot! goodies coveted by Rawalpindi.

"Pakistan's military intelligence establishment continues to define national security with reference to the weakness and pliability, rather than the strength, of its Afghan neighbor. There is both an external and an internal logic to this construction of national security.

"Externally, Pakistan seeks "strategic depth" against India, whose influence and friendly relations with the government of President Hamid Karzai threaten the Pakistani nightmare of strategic encirclement. Moreover, the Pakistani security establishment's sponsorship of the Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Taiba is today what Pakistan's sponsorship of Kashmiri militants was in the 1980s and 1990s -- a strategic tool to target and weaken India through terrorist attacks while enabling Rawalpindi to claim plausible deniability.

"At the same time, Pakistan's close relationship with the forces of Sirajuddin Haqqani (an important al Qaeda ally) and the Afghan Taliban give it critical leverage in its dealings with Washington.

Oh Snap! Plus, 44's "...flawed and halfhearted Afghan strategy has also created incentives for Karzai to look for new friends in a dangerous region -- leading to the Faustian bargain he risks making with Pakistan over political reconciliation that brings the Afghan Taliban into government without committing it to uphold the Afghan Constitution, and gives Rawalpindi a guiding hand in determining Afghanistan's future internal and external orientations.

Pic "Trillion Dollar Problems!"

Portrait

Great Satan's super avuncular, ex Navy Fly Guy, ex Def Sec, Vulcan Regime Changer, hand signaling magic man and "America AIN'T what's wrong with world" cat returned to Great Satan's Warcraft Lair to hang out as an all star cast that built, trained, maintained and deployed Great Satan's cadre of the most high tech, educated, humanitarian, proficient and precise all weather killers of killers in World History unveiled his portrait as a former Def Sec.

"...Some might ask how our country has endured? Well, it should be no mystery. It is because we are a free people, blessed with a free political and a free economic system – Where we are: free to think and act; to believe and protest; to vote and petition; and, yes free to succeed, to fail, and to start again.

"The night satellite image of the Korean Peninsula, my favorite as many of you know well, captured many miles above the earth, tells the whole story. Below the 38th parallel, South Korea is bathed in the light of dozens of cities, monuments to that nation’s freedom. In one of the most successful economies in the world, millions of South Koreans go about their work, creating opportunity and prosperity for themselves and their families. North of the DMZ is darkness. There live exactly the same people, with the same natural resources. But those millions of Koreans labor not for themselves or their families, but for a regime that enslaves them.

"The stark difference between the free and the unfree is illuminated in that picture. The boundless energy of human beings is most assuredly not unleashed by governments of boundless power. That energy is unleashed only by free political institutions and free economic systems.

"But because we are free, as a people, we face choices:

"We can choose to engage with the world, strengthening alliances with our friends, expanding trade agreements, deterring potential foes, and taking the fight to them when necessary. Or we can retreat, or make the truly tragic mistake of modeling our country after systems that are obviously unsuccessful. If we choose the latter path, let there be no doubt, we are certain to fail the generations to follow.

"On September 12, 2001, hard hats unfurled an American flag over the still burning and deeply scarred Pentagon. Joyce and I wanted to include that scene in this portrait because those traits of resilience and perseverance – while remarkable – are not uncommon for the men and women of this Department. They are what built and sustained this country. And they are what I saw every day in the men and women I served alongside in the months and years after the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history.

"To each of those who serve – military and civilian – or have served, and to your families, there will come a time when the achievements you’ve made, and the trials you’ve endured, will recede into history. But although time will pass, and memories fade, certain important things will remain always – your pride of service and the appreciation of a grateful nation.

"This country – which has treated me so well, and which offers so much opportunity for us all – exists and prospers because the members of the United States armed forces, have stepped forward and volunteered to protect it. In a very real sense, America is their gift to the future.

Pic "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we do not know we don’t know."

Intermezzo

Please Enjoy this clip proving World Hoochiefication is only a matter of time (and check out the moves at the 58 second spot) while your party is being reached.

Queen Of Battle

The ancient game of chequers - invented by pre mullah Persia - features cool playing pieces on the squares. Some are powerful - like Castle Towers, Bishops or Knights - some are not - like pawns.

The most powerful piece of all is called the Queen. She can move any distance, any direction to attack.

Just like Great Satan's Modern Infantry - the "Queen of Battle."

Infantry can arrive in combat by any means imaginable - mechanized, airborne, seaborne and chopperborne. To close with the enemy, to kill him, destroy his equipment, shatter his will to resist and make him scream "GOD! PLEASE! STOP!"

Infantry are highly proficient in marksmanship, close combat, and fieldcraft. They should be proficient with other weapons in the unit as well as their own. They should also be familiar with foreign-made weapons they are apt to meet in battle. In the close fight, infantrymen must be skilled in the employment of all weapons (rifles, bayonets, LAWs/AT4s, grenades, mines, and even their bare hands).

This close personal fight requires combat-ready units composed of skilled soldiers and resourceful leaders.

At a magical place not far from Victory Drive is the Home of the Infantry.

Swearing a blood oath to never kiss and tell vital deets, GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD very recently scored a tete' a tete' with one of those skilled and resourceful infantry leaders.

A decorated infantry officer who has commanded platoons and companies with multi tours in Iraq and Afghanistan - earning a hard won promotion to his next gig - with a modern infantry unit fixing to hit the hood in A'Stan, graciously consented to moi pubbing a few anonymous thoughts on modern infantry and the task at hand.

"Courtney, first a disclaimer of sorts: I have not been in A-Stan since summer 2008. I HAVE however been deploying there off and on since October 2001.

"What I can say for sure is that the US has not earned the respect of the average person on the street in the ‘Stan due to a number of factors:

"The first being that Afghans have learned to respect the following things since the Soviet invasion: strength, brutality, and force. They do not respect you because you are nice to them and hand them free ****. They respect the strongest opponent carrying the biggest stick.

"Also, we are attempting to prop up a faltering, corrupt government. Yet, we cannot exert control on that one, for the simple fact that to replace Karzai forcibly would confirm so much Taliban and anti-coalition propaganda about the government being a puppet of the US.

"Third: it is still largely a tribal/feudal style of living for the countryside. This will continue to be the case until real and significant improvements in the country’s infrastructure can take place down to the lowest (most remote) levels.

"It doesn't look good, and it's all because we're fighting there with one hand tied behind our backs.

"We are not allowed to do operations and raids at night. We now must rely on the ANA and ANP to conduct operations such as clearing homes and religious sites.

"We need to get back into the fight, the way we were fighting the war during 2001-2004. Back before Karzai told us not to enter homes for fear of frightening civilians.

"They SHOULD fear us.

"If they learned to fear us more than the Taliban, and we maintained the momentum, we likely would no longer be in Afghanistan, and the insurgent movement of groups like the Taliban, Haqqani, and Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin would have been crushed.

"We've been too "touchy-feely" and that culture doesn't respect that. They have learned only to respect brutality, force, and strength. It's all they know.

"So, we will be bringing a showcase of kickass American asskicking & know-how, and show the love after the dust clears.

Pic "Follow Me" Modern Infantry Tribute

P4's COIN World

Hot!

From Tampa to Kabul - Great Satan's unconventional original ganksta Surgin' General defies convention again - with Command flowcharts this time (reckon there's a power point for that?) - and in a spiritual sense, inherits a world he hath made.

Ideally, P4 will fast track Surge and focus on the trinity of issues giganteus:

A'Stan's ancient style corrupt, tribalistic gov. Getting too snuggly with Prez Hamid may actually undermine Great Satan's longer term sec interests.

Sexing up the diplopolititary command structure with a robustly sleeker look and operational control. All those czars, envoys and ambassadors may be, uh, queering the mix way too much.

And the PAK part of AFPAK. Land of the Pure's General Kanayi (alledgedly the last of the Sandhurst chaps that drink whisker and tote a swagger stick) will be at a crossroads in his career. P4's prior connections will be crucial as he unleashes SOF to sweetly kill off ISI agents while preventing replacements and replenishment .

Doing all of this (and taking on Mullahopolis' meddling) and knocking it off the radar as the bulk of Great Satan's troops arrive make the 2nd time in the long small wars that P4 has deployed to do double duty for a CiC in extremis

Pic "And I''m burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you"

Set Up?

Whoa! The most probable possible possibility of a third Command Change in Talibanland in these last three summers is significant. Changing the guard again - right now - may in fact be way more than McC4 backblast from the risque Rolling Stone Iview.

As best understood - General Mc out flanked and out maneuvered certain elements in 44's Band of Ditherers last year on the long road of indecision and got nearly everything the mission required.

Diplopolititary intrigues, MacArthur MacMoments and machinations aside, the fully crunk psychic Brookings cat and former Sec o' States Internat'l Security Advisor Dr Michael O'Hanlon breathes an interesting breath of video vengeful visionary proportions.

Essentially - it could be interpreted that General McChrystal was set up by anti victory Retreatists, still stung over last years Mac attack.

Check the video Iview with Dr O' here - McChrystal Ordered to White House

Pic "Some Like It Hot!"

"Slow And Grinding"

The art of xforming enemies into neutrals, neutrals into friendlies and friendlies into allies is like learning to dine on soup with a knife. Existing conterminously apart from natural perceptions of time and space - counter insurgencies are totally different critters.

Great Satan's top cat that literally wrote the book and reinvented the ancient dark arts in das Unaussprechlichen COIN Külten hierarchy is Rhodes Scholar Dr Colonel Nagl - graduate of Great Satan's Warcraft Academy, veteran panzer leader of both Iraq wars, creator of Center For A New American Security and hangs out on the Defense Policy Board and as a visiting teach at King's College War Studies Great Britain, the elite CFR and IISS.

Even more cooler than all of that (multi game bay bee!) - he's a formidable proponent of Great Satan winning.

Sweet! Let's just cut to it, shall we?

"Our objective is to create an Afghanistan that can stand on its own, that ultimately is going to be able to secure its own territory, not provide a safe haven for terrorists, not drag down the security of the entire region, that that is still possible.

"It is going to take a long time.

While the so last year loser lover lobby tends to pile on the Marjah Experience faster than uncles on a girl at a family reunion game of flag football it's like high time get real, get serious (seriously - a comic book monger who never got the message in Amazing Spider- Man #1?! WTF? Haunting!) about the deadly dangerous, hot, slow and nasty grind that surging AFPAK entails.

deja vu?

Colonel Nagl expertly ignores such pitiful smokescreens and puts steel on target:

"Those skeptics may have forgotten that counterinsurgency is always slow and grinding

"The war in Afghanistan is winnable for three reasons: because for the first time the coalition fighting there has the right strategy and the resources to begin to implement it, because the Taliban are losing their sanctuaries in Pakistan and because the Afghan government and the security forces are growing in capability and numbers.

"None of these trends is irreversible, and they are not in themselves determinants of victory. But they demonstrate that the war can be won if we display the kind of determination that defeating an insurgency requires.

"The first reason that success is possible in Afghanistan is that the counterinsurgency strategy that the Obama administration adopted last year is beginning to take hold. This strategy, like the one adopted in Iraq in 2007, is much more than an additional commitment of troops and civilian experts. It focuses on providing security so that political progress can occur.

"Counterinsurgency campaigns are not won by killing every insurgent and terrorist. The most committed terrorists have to be killed or captured, but many of the foot soldiers and even the midlevel leaders can eventually be convinced through a combination of carrots and sticks that renouncing violence and becoming part of the political process offer a better chance for success than continuing to fight.

"American troop reinforcements in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where the insurgency is strongest, along with more effective drone strikes and an increasing Pakistani commitment to counterinsurgency, are putting more pressure on the Taliban and giving the Afghan government an opportunity to outgovern its enemies.

"The second reason success is possible is that Pakistan began to take far more effective action against the Taliban over the course of 2009. Because many of the fighters in Afghanistan have in the past enjoyed sanctuary inside Pakistan, that country must confront terrorism within its borders and curtail its clandestine support for extremist factions if the coalition is to succeed.

"Fortunately, last year there were dramatic changes in the Pakistani government's willingness to wage war against insurgents who increasingly threaten its very survival.

"Militants' attacks into heartland provinces like Swat and Buner galvanized a previously indifferent Pakistani public and military to stand up to the militants and drive them back. The Pakistani Army suffered more than 2,000 casualties fighting against the Taliban last year and is now preparing to clear insurgents from North Waziristan - the last significant remaining safe area for insurgents who likely include Osama Bin Laden - which promises to put further pressure on the enemy.

"Although an expanded international commitment of security and development forces can assist in the short term, ultimately Pakistan and Afghanistan must ensure stability and security in their own countries.

"The development of an Afghan government that is able to provide security and governance for its people is our exit strategy, and we are starting to see signs of progress after a slow start.

"U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Bill Caldwell brought new energy and more resources to the Afghan military training effort when he took command of it in November, and he has made progress: The Afghan Army, the most respected institution in the country, is now 125,000 strong. Recruiting and retention are both up, and the plan to build to a final strength of 175,000 by late next year is on track. The Afghan police force is further behind but also now boasts 100,000 officers and will grow by an additional 30,000 in the next 18 months.

"With the war in Iraq winding down and a determined international focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is possible over the next five years to build an Afghan government that can outperform the Taliban and an Afghan Army that can outfight it.

"That is how this war is likely to end - first with a trickle and then a torrent of Taliban deciding that working with the government offers a better future than fighting against it. They will make that decision only if the United States demonstrates that it is committed to staying the hard course in Afghanistan that Obama decided to follow just last year.

"The path will be hard, but - if we remain dedicated to the fight - it is far from hopeless.

Pic - "Great Satan's cause is just and her quarrel honorable."

Future COIN

"Taste It Bite It Chew it Pop It Lick It Smack It Move It Drop It Crack It Snap It."

Just lucky! Such stunning social commentary also serves as doable nomenclature for deep level COINspection at this point in time.

Perhaps the best scribe of all the prodigious premier PR COIN Advocate Generals is Army Aviation Captain Crispin Burke - a veteran at all weather any time any where choppering Great Satan’s uparmored infantry to "sometimes bring the love/sometimes bring the hate" throughout Iraq and theatre in the Last Days of Surge.

Captain Burke AKA "Starbuck" has surged choice mindcandy in Small Wars Journal, Wired.com's "Danger Room", FoPo Online, the Guardian, DOD's "Early Bird", Army's "Stand-to", while providing clear, timely communications and clarifications to New York Times.

Amidst administering "Wings Over Iraq", and ensuring Xth Mountain's Climb to Glory -- Captain Burke did consent to consort and conjure an especial exclusive vision of Future COIN ala AFPAK:

"Always in motion, the future is.

"Counterinsurgency doctrine is not without its flaws, with two large ones becoming increasingly more obvious.

"First, counterinsurgency is, by its very nature, a time-consuming, manpower-intensive endeavor. Certainly, I can sympathize with the Vietnam and post-Vietnam generation in their aversion to avoid counterinsurgency altogether.

"However--and this is where I have a key disagreement with Col. Gian Gentile--we don't get to pick and choose our battles. Col. Gentile tends to echo the Powell Doctrine, in claiming that a well-crafted strategy will preclude fighting in counterinsurgency-type conflicts, or conflicts for which there is seemingly no end in sight.

"Such strategic brilliance is rare, especially in a democracy, where the will of millions rules foreign policy.

"Bottom line: keep FM 3-24--updated as necessary--on the bookshelves. While the book is not without its flaws, it does have a number of good lessons applicable from everything from counterinsurgency, to hybrid-style wars, to disaster relief.

"Secondly, COIN is an operational framework, not a strategic one. Furthermore, FM 3-24 was written in a specific context, when America was good at offensive operations, but poor at human intelligence gathering and population security.

"Follow FM 3-24 to the letter, but politics and strategy will make or break the campaign, guaranteed. Look at the defeat of the extremely professional Rhodesian Light Infantry.

"It's time we ask difficult questions about the ISI's support for the Taliban, Hamid Karzai's rampant corruption (and potential support for the Taliban), and reconciliation with the Taliban.

"Not to mention, the big question: what role does al-Qaeda--the real enemy--play in all of this?

"The next twelve months in Afghanistan will be difficult, and I think it might be the last major campaign in this long series of wars. I'm not too optimistic. I foresee gradual gains in security, though I doubt they will happen as quickly as Gen. McChrystal wants them to happen. Again, the political realm will make or break Afghanistan. Pakistan has a very real interest in destabilizing and weakening Afghanistan.

"For now, Marjah is the schwerpunkt. Understandably, Gen. McChrystal understands that time is running short in Afghanistan, with most of NATO planning to leave sometime next year.

"Nevertheless, the expectation that Marjah could be turned into a functioning civil society in just 90 day was grossly unrealistic. We need to learn as much as we can from this failed "government in a box" strategy in order to come up with a coherent plan for Kandahar

"Special Forces and airstrikes have already started to pick off Taliban leaders in Kandahar. Gen. McChrystal believes--rightly so--that this upcoming offensive is less of a "kinetic" battle than a process of installing good governance from the bottom up. Although I think that this will likely wait until after the summertime fighting, so as to give it the best chance of succeeding.

"Ultimately, whether a government in Kandahar will successfully link with a government in Kabul is the real question.

Pic "Run Devil Devil Run Run" with Megan Fox (Redux Two)

The Father Of Us All

WWAGD?

What would the Ancient Greeks do?

As the skit scriber Sophocles sagely saged - tragedy is the eternal, constant - always on 10 struggle against and with stuff that's deeply inherent, permed penchant'd - and unpleasantly uncool - within ourselves.

And one thing that has remained more constant than not in the human condition is organized conflict - war.

"War is the father of all - the king of all"

War is an entirely human endeavor - the technologies may change, new ideas develop, hot! tactical and strategic delights are constantly just ahead yet the nature of manchild is unchanging.

Military History is nigh essential in the new millennium - in the decade after 911 - many cats (and their resume' would argue differently) seemed strangely out of touch, off base and well, boring. Arguments for doing nothing as op4'd to making tough choices and decisions bewtixt bad and really bad belies sinful misunderstanding and misappreciation for Military History.

"Our own past experience with war also reminds us that through prepardness, deterrence, and tough diplomacy, those who seek to profit bt aggression can be restrained, but only while they are relatively unsure of their power - before they gain greater strength, and thus prove both uninhibited and far more costly to subdue.."

Pic "War: The Father of Us All"

Teaser

P4's COIN World

Slow and Grinding

Queen of Battle

AFPAK Forecast

Future COIN

Small Wars!

Set Up?

AFPAK Forecast

Sweet! Major Michael Few is one of Great Satan's premier Army Combat Rock Stars - that put the 'urge' in Surge - on a company level. A highly decorated veteran (certain rumors whisper none higher) of four Operation Iraqi Freedom tours of duty, he's recently gigged at Naval Postgraduate School as a Defense Analyst and currently hangs out with the world famous All Americans paratroop division.

Major Few was gracious enough to exclusively share some hard won expertise, insights and intell about the AFPAK Surge with GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD.

Is Marjah currently a schwerpunkt for Teufel Hunden?

"...I certainly hope not, but it does have everyone's panties in a wad right now. I'm not sure why. Many of us at SWJ predicted this struggle last summer. COIN is a slow, nasty business.

"...Full disclosure - one of my good buddies ran Helmand Province by himself with a 10 man SF team for two years before the British took over. They were doing just fine back then. Same issues applied. The Marines will get the job done just on their own timeline and in their own way.

Why are those pop pop poppy fields immune from confiscation, control or destruction?

"...That's just part of the realities of small wars. Time is always against the side of the host nation once a guerrilla has risen to significant strength. The poppy fields are not immune to destruction.

"...We simply choose not to invoke the level of violence needed to eradicate them. Same reasoning applies to the guerrilla. These matters are costly and time consuming without guarantees of success.

What happens next?

"...The summer and fall will be bloody. I have some good friends in the worst of places sorting through it now on the BCT and Co command levels. I've always been within two degrees of separation in that regard.

"...Three of the top five commanders that I've ever served with are there right now- LT GEN William H. Caldwell, BG Ben Hodges, and COL Andrew Poppas in key areas of responsibilities. We've sent the first string. I'm just frustrated that I had to sit this one out from too many concussions.

"...Courtney- here's my best guess for A'stan over the next year. COL Poppas will pacify RC-East through a campaign of hate over love. After many casualties, the Marines will work towards a treaty in RC-South. After many more deaths, GEN McChrystal will unleash SOF throughout Khandahar and Pakistan.

"...By October, the Taliban will retreat for the winter, and we will declare victory. By next summer, we will withdraw and turn the mission over to the SF boys (a CJSOTF plus) as should have been done in 2002 and last summer to concentrate on FID with a renewed State Department effort.

Major, sir - very appreciative for all your achievements and endeavors. Glad you're on our side! Your writing at SWJ is incredibly good, sir - are you considering unleashing memoirs?

"...Thank you. Hopefully in the next couple of years, I'll be able to merge all my thoughts into a coherent book. It's the hardest thing that I've ever attempted- emotionally exhaustive as it were.

"... In the best case scenario, in five years we'll have books by Niel Smith, Crispin Burke, Jim Gant, Jimmy Smith, and Nate Springer to tell the tale of war from a commander's perspective. We'll see.

"...Keep up the good work and please relax on the use of sir. Starbuck will get jealous :).


Pic "Sometimes you bring them the love. Sometimes you bring them the hate.”

Schwerpunkt!

Whoa! Tough times in AfPAK, P4’s event and testification (not a cut – yours truly has most likely racked up way more theatriques ala moment mentis non compos than Great Satan’s Surgin’ General) and of course – “Weenie Hut Juniors” inappropriate handwringing and gleeful gloating - hoping for a chance that 44 may implement the ancient cult of failure like “Retreat! Defeat! And Repeat!” on a strategic level

Cutting through the smokescreens and to put steel on target, the ever essential “Vom Kriege” is sweet meds indeed!

Furor Teutonicus psychically predicted a magical metaphysical counterminious dependency - all the dominant strengths/weaknesses of any diplopolititary belligerent are sweetly bound up in “…a center of gravity…”

Sweet Schwerpunkt! Bay bee! “…The geo-political or politico-military position of each belligerent state relative to its allies and opponents: if it is removed, impaired, or destroyed, then the alliance or state that it supported would collapse...”

"Disrupt, dismantle and defeat" - nicht war?

Is Marjah the schwerpunkt in the Af part of AfPAK?

The bad guys roam at night threatening, cajoling – swimming in the stream by day, fiendishly FUBARing everything 2 combat battalions of leather necked Teufel Hunden infantry are there to cover.

“…Two-thirds of the stalls in Marja's main bazaar have reopened, but the only baker fled the area a week ago after insurgents kidnapped his son in retaliation for selling to foreign troops and the police.

“…Men have begun to allow their burqa-clad wives to venture out of their homes, but an effort by female Marines to gather local women for a meeting last week drew not a single participant.

Oh Snap! Reckon 44’s laisse faire date for unassing the AO next summer IS significant!

While enemy control freaks, creeps and jerks may not be using the new Arabic Counter COIN mad methodology, the jam remains the jam - a schwerpunkt has been laid out to get played out.

Refining AfPAK McC's Surgistan plan to which "all energies must be directed...?"

GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD recently hit up the hottest coolest combat rock stars and COIN cadre in the biz, in the field and in the know - and the upcoming result is hotter than a firecracker, twice as loud and as provocative as wearing a thong to church!

Pic - "What would you do differently today if you could not leave until the war was won?"

Agents Of Enemy Influence

The recent FoPo Hello FP Online hosted about last years electile dysfunction in Iran:

"... asked seven prominent Iranian-Americans, deeply immersed in both the English- and Persian-language media, to look through the fog of journalism at what actually happened in Tehran -- and why so many of us got it so wrong..."

Gleefully dissing the misreaders of Tehran, the infamous despotic defending duo makes a self congratulating self aggrandizing appearance.

Essentially - the mullahs are cool, the electile dysfunction was cool and Great Satan is jamming up everything beyond repair with all that evil Green Revo jazz

Dr.'s Hillary Mann Leverett and her other half Dr Flynt Leverett are more than a hot item among Great Satan's Think Tanks, Ex Admin players and Foreign Policy/ Internat'l Relations cats.

They are also a malign influence in Great Satan's national and internat'l interests.

And quite possibly - paid enemy agents of enemy influence.

Pic "Marg bar Amrika"

Army Day!

Oh Snap!

"This We'll Defend!"

Happy happy BDay (#235 in fact!) to Great Satan's all weather original voltiguerres - the Army!

"...Two hundred and thirty-five years ago, the United States Army was established to defend our Nation. From the Revolutionary War to the current operations taking place around the world, our Soldiers remain Army Strong with a deep commitment to our core values and beliefs.

"...This 235th birthday commemorates America’s Army – who are achieving a level of excellence that is truly Army Strong. Being Army Strong goes beyond physical endurance and mental preparedness. It encompasses an indomitable spirit, and high ethical and moral values. These are not only desirable traits in a person, but in a Nation that wishes to live up to the ideals and vision of its founders.

"...We are “America’s Army: The Strength of the Nation."

Pic "The American Army - Killing Our Enemies On Xmas Day Since 1776"

Old Glory Day 2010

14 June is Old Glory Day. Proclaimed by Great Satan's only nuclear regime changer, August 3rd, 1949, President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

"This famous name was coined by Captain William Driver, a shipmaster of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1831. As he was leaving on one of his many voyages aboard the brig CHARLES DOGGETT - and this one would climax with the rescue of the mutineers of the BOUNTY - some friends presented him with a beautiful flag of twenty four stars. As the banner opened to the ocean breeze for the first time, he exclaimed "Old Glory!"

He retired to Nashville in 1837, taking his treasured flag from his sea days with him. By the time the Civil War erupted, most everyone in and around Nashville recognized Captain Driver's "Old Glory." When Tennesee seceded from the Union, Rebels were determined to destroy his flag, but repeated searches revealed no trace of the hated banner.

Then on February 25th, 1862, Union forces captured Nashville and raised the American flag over the capital. It was a rather small ensign and immediately folks began asking Captain Driver if "Old Glory" still existed. Happy to have soldiers with him this time, Captain Driver went home and began ripping at the seams of his bedcover. As the stitches holding the quilt-top to the batting unraveled, the onlookers peered inside and saw the 24-starred original "Old Glory"!

Captain Driver gently gathered up the flag and returned with the soldiers to the capitol. Though he was sixty years old, the Captain climbed up to the tower to replace the smaller banner with his beloved flag. The Sixth Ohio Regiment cheered and saluted - and later adopted the nickname "Old Glory" as their own, telling and re-telling the story of Captain Driver's devotion to the flag we honor yet today.

Captain Driver's grave is located in the old Nashville City Cemetery, and is one of three (3) places authorized by act of Congress where the Flag of the United States may be flown 24 hours a day"

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Rethinking Striking Iran

Sometimes in certain circles - usually academic - there is a curiously uncrunk concept that military action is the ultimate evil. All events, conflicts and disagreements can be handled with friendly give and take, a committee meeting or ultimately - a pink slip. Military solutions are seen as the worst possible outcome of all.

Thankfully, daemoneoconic avatars like Jamie Fly at Shadow Gov and Director Krystol @ Foreign Policy Initiatives have double teamed that sad, silly meme staking it's hair to the floor so tight - it can't even blink and openly calling for robust dialogue about using military force as a diplomatic/management tool!

"...And one routinely hears how very, very dangerous any use of military force against Iran would be.

"...Would it be so dangerous? That is a debate the country needs to have, publicly and frankly, before it’s too late.

"...Critics of military action against Iran argue that it would open up a third front for American forces in the Middle East. Our troops would be at risk from Iranian missiles. Iran would block the Strait of Hormuz (causing oil prices to skyrocket) and use its terrorist proxies HAMAS and Hiz'B'Allah to carry out attacks well beyond the Middle East, including perhaps on the U.S. homeland.

"...A targeted campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities, against sites used to train and equip militants killing American soldiers, and against certain targeted terror-supporting and nuclear-enabling regime elements, the effects are just as likely to be limited.

"...It’s unclear, for example, that Iran would want to risk broadening the conflict and creating the prospect of regime decapitation. Iran’s rulers have shown that their preeminent concern is maintaining their grip on power. If U.S. military action is narrowly targeted, and declared to be such, why would Iran’s leaders, already under pressure at home, want to escalate the conflict, as even one missile attack on a U.S. facility or ally or a blockade of the Strait would obviously do?

"...Some in Washington seem resigned to letting Israel take action. But a U.S. failure to act in response to what is perhaps the greatest threat to American interests in decades would be irresponsible. Israel, moreover, lacks our full capabilities to do the job.

"...Despite our global commitments and our engagement in two ongoing wars, the U.S. military is fully able to carry out such a mission. Indeed, the success of President Bush’s 2007 surge of forces into Iraq and of President Obama’s sending additional resources to Afghanistan means we are on better footing to deal with Iran’s nuclear program than we were a few years ago.

"...Obviously, the best alternative in Iran is regime change brought about by domestic opposition.

"...It’s now increasingly clear that the credible threat of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program is the only action that could convince the regime to curtail its ambitions.

Pic "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences"

Loudspeakers Of War

Juche'!

Only in the long divided peninsula of Korea - the southern half popped up with a free, fun hot! democrazy and the northen half essentially a slave engined underground rocket factory with a nation state attached comes some blaring news - and it's not about NoKo's murderous attack on a ship in their own sovereign waters.

It's about Loudspeakers and Psy Ops.

"...North Korea warned of an “all-out military strike” to destroy South Korean loudspeakers and other propaganda tools along their fortified border, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"...South Korea’s preparation for psychological warfare, is a “direct declaration of a war” against the North, the general staff of the communist state’s military said today in a statement on KCNA. The North’s military retaliation may turn Seoul into “a sea of flame,” the statement said.

Pic "Comedy serves as a true textbook of life teaching the youth vanguard how they should work to implement the line and policy of the Workers' Party of Korea."

Green Light II

Whoa! Like the wicked tall tail tales that rumors mill grinds and regrinds, this partic bit of juicy diplopolititary gossip l'guerre' keeps, uh - popping out.

Whabbia Arabia practices standing down the Royal AF while Little Satan does the southern leg of a day trip to Persia

The idosity that Little Satan may just say the heck with it and strike Persian enrichment chicanery along with those 3 magical soft spots crucial to Preacher Commands new clear ambitions may mean where there is blunt smoke - there is a blunt cooking off in the immediate environs.

Iran’s nuclear complex has three critical nodes: Esfahan, with its conversion facility, the Natanz enrichment facility, and the heavy water plant and future plutonium production reactors at Arak.

Blitzing bomb building builders of a new clear persuasion at all three sites (all magnetically attracting multiple 'strike packages')

The total number of weapons needed to have reasonable confidence in destroying all three target sets is thus 24 5000-lb weapons and 24 2000-lb weapons.

84 tons of intelligent guided precision weaponry!

Pic "An independent assessment of Israel’s options for striking at Iran’s facilities, based in part on prior work on Iran’s nuclear facilities" or, Green Light II

Shout out to Dr D @AmPow!

Regime Change Persia

A year has past since 44's Bystander in Chief moment: the Green counterrevolution. And the diplopolititary fallout is still to be determined

“…Although the demonstrations did not lead to a revolution, their consequences mean that we are no longer dealing with the same country.

Oh Snap! See, instability has ran all the lights - with Preacher Command in extremis at the highest levels - strategically consequential au naturel!

"...The biggest strategic consequence of the event is the fact that Ali Khamenei is more than ever before fearful of a rapprochement with the west..."

Preferring to buddy up and hook up with an illegit league of Not Hot Autocrazies like NoKo and Syria, ancient proxies Hiz’B’Allah and new BFF’s HAMAS in the Strip, Supreme Leader slowly and surely draws his plans against us.

“..Since his domestic legitimacy has been tarnished, his view is that such allies can be used as a new pillar of stability for his regime since he can use his influence with them to ward off any western advances against his country, be they political or military.

Direct Hit!

“…Challenge the legitimacy of this Iranian regime, and to support Iran’s people in changing the character of their government – peacefully, politically, on their own terms, and in their own ways.

Fire for effect!

"...We need a grand national undertaking to broadcast information freely into Iran, and to help Iranians access the tools to evade their government’s censorship of the Internet. We need to let the political prisoners in Iran’s gruesome prisons know that they are not alone, that their names and their cases are known to us, and that we will hold their torturers and tormentors accountable for their crimes.

"...We need to publicize the names of Iran’s human rights abusers, and we need to make them famous. Then we need to impose crippling sanctions on them for their human rights abuses – to go after their assets, their ability to travel, and their access to the international financial system.

As divine daemoneoconic avatars prophesied eons past - changing the nature of regimes is most likely the same as regime change

Pic "Sweet! Maybe Sir Paul could Wing it with a delightful little ditty?"

Sanctions

Well, well, wail!

Those magical stunning sanctions were to be like, super "crippling," "biting" "smart," and "targeted" sanctions

In reality, however, the best adjective to describe the new sanctions is "ineffective."

"...Although the paltry effect of the new U.N. sanctions might not have much of an impact on Iran, it could spur the U.S. Congress to implement unilateral sanctions on Iran's petroleum exports, which the Security Council's resolution does not address.

..."Congressional sanctions probably will not change Iran's strategic calculation either, but supporters can plausibly argue that they could choke off the money that pays for Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that oil sales comprise as much as 76 percent of the regime's revenues.

Whoa!

While the wicked SA 300 Air Defense System is untouched by the sanctions - Great Satan's right of interdiction is sweetly intact - consorted into the mix

"A very strict regime of inspections of potentially contraband cargo going to and from Iran that could -- that would violate sanctions. So, states would be asked and required to inspect, on their land, in their ports, on sea, such cargo that may be suspicious."

Tough to believe these - or any sanctions will reinforce desired behavior in Mullahopolis' behaviour nuclear - and containment is more like wishful thinking than a policy

Essentially - Great Satan "...has already “checked the box” to show that engaging Iran doesn’t work. Now she's has started the process of “checking the box” to show that the “broadest and toughest” sanctions ever imposed on Preacher Command don’t work.

And that leaves 44's Admin's Charade in the unenviable (for them anyway) sitch

"... with no other options except formal adoption of regime change as the explicit goal of its Iran policy—and/or military strikes..."

Pic "Sanctions aren't a strategy! They're a tool for achieving the strategic objective of preventing Iran becoming a nuclear weapons state!" with the Stunners

Propaganda Wars

Looks like the totally gay free Khomeinist regime of Preacher Command has scored some serious points among Arab League and the M'Hammedist Bloc in the recent Strip blockade. And that gives serious cred to the idea that only the Supreme Leader's remix of 'theopolitik' is credible when it comes to dissing Little Satan - to death.

"...Over the past three years, Iran’s Khomeinist regime has succeeded in changing the traditional perception of Israel. Instead of Israel being the almost invincible enemy that crushed the Arabs in the Yom Kippur War and the Six Day War, it is now portrayed as a waning power, a small and vulnerable enclave that, having lost the support of its powerful protector, the United States, is facing the might of a resurgent Muslim world under Tehran’s leadership..."

"...Tehran has succeeded in dragging non-Arab states, notably Turkey, a former ally of Israel, and Malaysia into conflict with Israel, and is working on others, especially Pakistan and Indonesia, in the hope of creating a pan-Islamic front. The Turkish Prime Minister visited Iran last month to seal a nuclear deal.

Little Satan may actually have a trick or two to play - throwing the Tehran -Turkey Axis off balance and gaining a prestige victory in the propaganda wars.

"...1. Expel the Turkish ambassador and declare his return contingent on a full, credible, and public Turkish investigation of the terrorist organization that planned and funded the "aid flotilla."

"...2. Publicly demand reparations from Turkey for the costs of the operation, including the medical bills of the thugs and Jew-haters who have been given such lovely medical care in Israeli hospitals.

"...3. Demand a UN investigation of why Turkey is funding terrorist organizations that are involved in attacks on Israel.

"...4. Fund a Kurdish human-rights NGO in Israel -- there are lots of Kurdish Jews who I'm sure would be happy to help -- that raises awareness of the plight of Kurds in Turkey. (Short answer: they are treated horribly.) This organization must publicize the apartheid conditions of Kurdish life in Turkey and churn out op-eds, studies, videos, and press releases denouncing Turkey's brutal and racist treatment of its own minorities.

"...5. Fund a Turkish-language documentary on the Armenian genocide, upload it to YouTube, and promote it heavily in Turkey. If Erdogan wants to call Israel a criminal and a murderer, there's no reason why Israel shouldn't return the favor on this most sensitive of issues.

And to really really push the envelope way beyond the edge, drive a wedge betwixt blossoming bosumly buds and set tongues on fire - Little Satan could fake an interception of a magically especial 'Turkish' ship called the Rachel Corrie Ten Boom.

Board it, film it and interview the 'activists' - who amazingly enough - are enroute to the Strip to build a m'sk for gay m'hammedists - complete with a lady imam.

Pic "Winners and Losers"

The Longest War

It's true - 104 months mark the longest era of continuous war Great Satan has ever hooked up with.

Hard on the heels of scary new words like 'Ground Zero" "Taliban" "Jihadistan" and "Gender apartheid' Great Satan defied naysayers and nonprofit defeatists about the Graveyard of Empires and swiftly knocked out one Taliban stronghold after another.

"...First fell Mazar-i-Sharif, then Kabul, finally Kandahar. Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar were on the run. It looked as if the war was over, and the Americans and their Afghan allies had won..."

"...104 months ago, when those first bombs fell, anthrax was terrorizing the nation; Barack Obama was a little-known Illinois state senator; and soldiers now "surging" to Kandahar were in junior high. We didn't have YouTube, or IPhones. And Palestine was coming apart

104 months. A lot of stuff has happened, and a lot more is fixing to happen

It's gonna get crazier. And Great Satan's willpower and staying power will be just as vital as her firepower and brain power

"There is no safe haven that al-Qaeda covets more than the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which present a unique opportunity for our enemies and a threat to us. Situated in rugged terrain hundreds of miles from any coastline, with weak or nonexistent governance and security services, this region provides both a home to al-Qaeda and possible access to nuclear weapons.

Great Satan should get loud that unassing Afghanistan - to split the AO where she was "...brutally attacked and in which more attacks are now being planned..." is never, ever going down, so long as there is the slightest chance, possibility or opportunity of a repeat.


Pic - "In it to win it"

Strategic Liabilities

Like boom! Those Realists. Their sad devotion to the ancient amoral corrupt Cult of Stability (a buzz that never was!) has totally failed to conjure anything cool or desirable in the new millennium.

And of all the charmless charms requited re: Realpolitik's recent risible raison d'retarde, the myth of Strategic Liabilities is easier to knock out than a girl on Benadryl

Essentially the Strategic Liabilities Myth heralds that rowdy Little Satan has dang near queered the internat'l diplopolititary scene beyond repair:

"...The depth of America’s moral commitment does not justify or excuse actions by an Israeli government that unnecessarily make Israel a strategic liability when it should remain an asset..."

Afflictedly followed by a boring asseted list of sins real and imagined.

K. Fair enough. Yet, the entire argument collapses faster than Izzy Deen al K'Ssam ground troops confronted by Merkava panzers.

Spin it round bay bee, right round.

Exactly what are the bennies, booty and goodies gained by sucking up to intolerant, illegit unelected regimes like slave trading Syria? That fear Facebook and lose every war they start while tormenting their own people, abuse their Palestinian strategic resources and fiddle about with WMD and terrorists?

Or a time traveling ganksta gang - the world's very first freely elected kidnapping suicide regime - that for some reason, will not build electricity or sewage treatment plants, are frightened of guys that do hair, scared of hot girls and fear any elections ever again while trying their best to estab a rocket base in rich innocent civilian turf?

Or terroristic sympathizing Repentant Ottomans that read Mein Kampf en masse, enjoy NATO nepotism and unsexifully swinging from a sec sec secular society into something else?

The weirdly unreal meme of being 'even handed' in dealings in the world is not only a trick question - after all, Great Satan's foreign interests should be radically tilted towards her designs and desires - it is also totally suspect and a harbinger of heartache to equate equal stats betwixt unfun, unfree control freaks fully crunk with secret police, secret trials, secret prisons with despotic disses as the same as egalitarian societies with periodic, transparent elections, uncensored media fun and free choice.

Strategic liabilities or Strategic opportunities?

Actually, the tarded flotilla faux fubar should be used by Great Satan to loudly laugh off internat'l abnorms and concerns and share that sometimes - democracies are not only lethal - they are also kinda crazy and unpredictable - doubly so in conflicts or war.

Pic "My friends say i’m crazy - they all try to save me"