Karzai has officially gone crazy

I am convinced that Karzai has officially lost his ever-loving mind and gone crazy…

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said if the United States and Pakistan ever went to war, his country would back Islamabad, drawing a sharp rebuke Sunday from Afghan lawmakers who claimed the country’s top officials were adopting hypocritical positions.

Read more: www.foxnews.com/world/2011/10/23/karzai-says-afghanistan-would-back-pakistan-if-us-attacks/#ixzz1bfX2PDiM

This guy has repeatedly opened his cake-hole and spouted some really stupid things. At a time when more and more Americans are starting to question our involvement and continued presence in Afghanistan, this was a dumbass thing to say.

It looks like some the members of the Afghan Parliament feel the same way.

The comments set off a firestorm of criticism in the country. Afghan lawmakers argued they were particularly hypocritical coming just weeks after the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani by a suicide bomber.

I almost want to see us go to war with Pakistan so we can see if he is talking B.S. or if he would really try to commit the fledging Afghan forces we are training, against us. That would be about the most destructive thing that Karzai could do for Afghanistan. The last ten years of progress would be wiped out almost instantly if he tried to turn the Afghan Army against US Forces. Of course I doubt the Army commanders would listen to him since he is nothing more than the Mayor of Kabul anyway.

I have said in the last couple of blog posts about him that I think he is crazy or drunk with power or something. The guy really needs to be removed and replaced. If he keeps up stuff like this, that may just happen.

SFC Cashe keeps getting slighted

I first heard about SFC Cashe and his superbly heroic actions over at Blackfive.net (www.blackfive.net/main/2011/09/sfc-alwyn-c-cashe.html). Lately he has been back in the news as there is finally talk of upgrading his Silver Star to the Medal of Honor. However it seems his name is back int the news for another reason.

Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe was awarded the Silver Star six years ago for running into a burning Bradley multiple times to save his fellow soldiers. Friends and family believe that he deserves the Medal of Honor, and have been pushing for that recognition for years.

But amazingly, as top Army officials consider whether to upgrade that honor, Cashe’s grave site doesn’t even reflect the award he did receive. Instead of the Silver Star, his headstone lists only the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Read the whole story at www.military.com/news/article/heros-grave-displays-wrong-military-award.html

There is nothing wrong with a Bronze Star as it is a very honorable recognition. However the guy earned a Silver Star (actually I think he deserves the MoH also) and after several years you would think the Army could somehow find the time to fix this and give SFC Cashe’s gravesite the recognition it deserves. How long does it take to do the right thing?

The mistake is just the latest headache for the hero’s family, who have also struggled to get their deceased soldier’s awards records and medical files, as well as reimbursement for some funeral costs.

Does it take a call to a Congressman to start an inquiry? That seems to always get the Army moving. Not that I am saying you should call a Congressman but hey if you happen to have their number on speed dial and have nothing else going on…..

Not enough room in NYC?

This post is a follow up to one I wrote the other day on Military Pundits Blog (militarypundits.com/2011/09/is-bloomberg-an-atheist/). Besides the controversy over Bloomberg not allowing clergy at today’s ceremony at Ground Zero, another big controversy is that not all the first responders that rushed to the air of those trapped in the building and then rushed to the “pile” to look for survivors.

The excuse given is that there is not enough room foe everyone. Which I find completely asinine. How could a city that hosts over 1 million people to watch a crystal ball drop at midnight not handle the men and women who were willing to risk their lives? I am sure the first responders realize not everyone can be right around the memorial, but would be willing to just be there, even if it meant in the streets around the memorial. This is the city that never sleeps, and is one of the largest most recognized and visited cities in the world,

I just can’t conceive how this is the excuse. These people are heroes, not on a foreign battlefield but on our homeland, in our country, amongst our citizens. These responders didn’t do it for money or to be famous. They did it because they cared and it was the job they wanted to do. Many of these first responders lost friends and family in the attacks. People they cared for and loved.

To be honest I am not sure which is worse, not allowing clergy or not allowing these first responders. Both are crimes against the people of our country in my opinion and damn Bloomberg for doing this. I can’t believe one pompous ass like him can make these decisions and get away with it.

Headlines lead to wrong first impressions

When I first read the headline NATO airstrike kills 4 police officers in Afghanistan I thought “oh man that is not good”.

But then as I read into the story I thought to myself, “oh, well maybe this was a good thing”.

The governor of a province in northeastern Afghanistan said today a NATO airstrike killed four police officers at a checkpoint in the remote and mountainous region.

Jamaluddin Badar said coalition forces also detained 12 police officers after the airstrike. He strongly condemned the attack and arrests, which he said occurred late Sunday in the Wama district of the largely lawless Nuristan province bordering Pakistan.

It is not uncommon to have police, especially those near the border, to be crooked and actually be the enemy. I mean we fought against the police in 2006-2007 and I have to assume they haven’t changed that much yet. They are motivated by money, threats, ideaology like many others in Afghanistan.

I am glad I took the time to read the story HERE and getting a little better insight into this incident. I hope that most people who see headlines in the news or hear a sound bite also take time to investigate and learn more about a story than just the eye-catching snippet of words used to title the story.

Are MRI Machines needed in Afghanistan?

Troops in Afghanistan may have to wait 10 to 12 months for advanced medical machinery for treating concussions, raising concerns among top military leaders that the equipment will not be available for potentially hundreds of sevice members with mild brain injuries.

I read this story the other day and I was amazed that some of the top Service and Combat Commanders are asking for this common medical technology but some doctors in the services are disputing the effectiveness of these technologies,

Army surgeon-general Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker said that although an MRI is a helpful tool in battlefield care, it is not essential for diagnosis.

The Navy surgeon-general, Vice Adm. Adam Robinson, echoed the view that an MRI is primarily a research tool.

Rather than saying “no” and saying they don’t agree with the top Commanders, these medical professionals need to be presenting their cases to the Commanders and either showing they are right and the Commanders are wrong or they need to have their minds changed and support the Commanders’ request.

Without an urgent demand, the two machines for $9 million must be acquired through competitive bidding, the Navy says. They will not reach Afghanistan until August at the earliest, Robinson says.

More than 300 U.S. troops per month suffered concussions last year in Afghanistan. Mullen’s science adviser, Army Col. Christian Macedonia, said if purchased outright, without competitive bidding, MRI machines could go to the war zone in a period of weeks.

So because of acquisition rules and policies about the urgent need of these the MRI machines will take months to go forward and be used rather than weeks which is how fast it could be done.

I bet if some of our Representatives in Congress starting applying some pressure or if the mainstream media started talking about this then those machines would be on the next plane heading east. But until then, I guess it will fall on Army Times and MilBlogs to get the word out.

Read the whole story at www.armytimes.com/news/2011/04/gannett-no-mris-in-afghanistan-041511/

5.1.11, another date we won’t forget

There is a company called 5.11. They are known for their tactical clothing and gear. I wonder if they will capitalize on the date of 5.1.11?

See 5.1.11 is the date that Usama (or Osama) Bin Laden was sent to hell by the trigger pull of a Navy Seal. Anyway, 5.11 tactical is not the point of this post, killing of that piece of crap is. I was very thrilled the other night when I saw the news. I remember sitting there watching the news and then the President speaking and then the news again thinking I felt that same way when they caught Saddam in the hole. One of those, I will never forget where I was when I heard the news.

Just like when Saddam was found, the killing of Bin Laden won’t end this war right away either. It may be a big moral booster for Americans, it may have gotten us a lot of intel, and it may be a great sound bite for the President, but the bottom line in my humble opinion is that the war will still be there for a while longer.

The Al-Queda organization is a decentralized group that may have gotten motivational messages from the top guy but he surely is not running things. It is clear by his lack of security and the few people that were around him that he was like the mafia boss that had retired and had alzheimers, just wasting away with a lot of respect by his underlings but no influence over them.

It is great news so we can say we got him and I am glad that they put a bullet in his head and not try to bring him back to the US alive so the ACLU could defend him. Look at the KSM fiasco where our government can’t decide where he should be tried and what rights he is allowed to have. The last thing we needed to do was waste more tax dollars on securing Bin Laden in a jail somewhere and coddling him to make sure he had all his muslim rights.

I personally have no problem with dumping him in the sea either. It keeps the radicals from making wherever he was buried into a memorial site. Heck even that doesn’t stop them radicals as they are now calling the body of water he was dumped into “martyr’s sea”. Personally they should have fed his body to a pen full of hungry hogs but that is just me. Hungry swine will eat everything, to include bones so there would not have been anything left, except for pig crap. Instead now he is fish crap.

Photo courtesy of CLM.

Lack of Leadership

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he has stayed out of the contentious budget negotiations in Washington, even as he expressed disappointment at the potential government shutdown and the possibility that troops would miss paychecks.

“I have not been at all involved in the budget negotiations, and I obviously defer to the president,” he said Friday.

Oh, ok…wait, WHAT?
Isn’t the SecDef the primary and top leader representing the military and all of its members? Shouldn’t he be the primary advocate and spokesperson for the troops under his command? Shouldn’t he be the one lobbying and pressuring Congress to pass a bill that would keep troops getting paid?

In the book “Obama’s Wars” the SecDef was painted as a “yes” man and a guy that likes to avoid conflict and would not choose sides until the very end when it was clear who would win. He would side with them.

I think his recent statements validate that image of him in the book by Bob Woodruff.

Read www.stripes.com/news/2011-budget-battle/gates-says-he-s-steered-clear-of-budget-talks-1.140486 to get the whole story.

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