The Cool Blue Blog

Spc. Christopher S. Merchant

32, of Hardwick, Vermont.
Merchant died in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, when his HMMWV came under attack by enemy forces using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to the Army National Guard's 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment, Jericho, Vermont. Died on March 1, 2006.

We honor his service and his life on Memorial Day and always.

Sgt. Joshua A. Johnson

24, of Richford, Vt.; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), Vermont Army National Guard, Jericho, Vt.; killed Jan. 25, 2006 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle during combat operations in Ramadi, Iraq.

We honor his service and his life on Memorial Day and always.

Remembering what duty costs

The following was written by Ralph Bennett. It was originally published in TCS Daily and is reprinted here with permission.

Go and find a soldier's grave.

Make this Memorial Day really memorable.

Go and find a soldier's grave.

It shouldn't be too hard. If you're not near a military cemetery, just about any cemetery will do.

Look for the little American flags fluttering by the stones or the little bronze markers placed by the veterans' organizations.

Or walk the rows and look for those stones that impart terse histories of short lives -- "Killed in Action on the Island of Iwo Jima," or "KIA Republic of Viet Nam," or "Iraq 2003."

I know, I know. You do plan to watch that short parade, and the ceremony at the flagpole. But then relatives are going to be over for that big cookout. There's baseball and auto racing on TV, not to mention the "Memorial Day Mattress Event" or the "Memorial Day SUV Salesathon."

Look, just take an hour away from all that. An hour. Go out early in the morning if you have to.

Go and find a soldier's grave.

Put some flowers there. Or just pause and say a prayer. Nothing elaborate. "Thanks" will do.

Or just stop and think about what it means; what it really means to give your life, in its prime, for your country. Look at that name there on the stone. Think what might have been... and what was.

Some of these men and women were in uniform by choice. Some because they had no choice. Some were heroes. Some were not.

But they were there where all hell was breaking loose. They probably had no idea they were giving "the last full measure of devotion." They just had some instant, desperate job to do. In a cockpit or a turret or a hole in the ground.

Did they grasp the "policy implications" of their presence on the high seas, in the air or on some foreign soil? Did they have time for a curse or a prayer when they saw the muzzle flashes or heard that rushing sound, or when the bomb sent the Humvee into the air?

Go and find a soldier's grave.

You can have that hamburger and beer later, and maybe relax in the hammock and not give a thought to that one whose life span is now an incised line in stone -- that one who represented you, like no Congressman could.

Go and find a soldier's grave.

Remember what duty costs.

Then just bow your head and, as Gen. George S. Patton said, do not mourn that such men died, but thank God that such men lived.

Sgt. 1st Class John T. Stone

52, of Norwich, Vt.; assigned to the 15th Civil Support Team, Vermont Army National Guard, South Burlington, Vt.; killed March 28, 2006 as a result of enemy mortar and small arms attacks during combat operations in Lashkagar, Afghanistan.

We honor his service and his life on Memorial Day and always.

Galloway's call to arms

Terrorist collaborator, and friend of Saddam, George Galloway was kicked out of Birtain's Labour Party for urging British soldiers not to fight in Iraq. Today, he thinks it would be OK if Prime Minister Tony Blair was assassinated.

By a suicide bomber.

When asked

"Would the assassination of, say, Tony Blair by a suicide bomber — if there were no other casualties — be justified as revenge for the war on Iraq?”

Galloway, 51, replied: “Yes, it would be morally justified. I am not calling for it — but if it happened it would be of a wholly different moral order to the events of 7/7. It would be entirely logical and explicable.

“And morally equivalent to ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Iraq — as Blair did.”

Of course, being a failed reality TV star, he might just be craving attention.

Star Chores: The Crystal City

"Area 51, huh? How long will it take us to get there?" Blackfive asked.

"Three standard days at maximum warp," Glenn, who had been designated the acting First Officer, answered flatly, leaning back in his chair and staring up at the ceiling. He pursed his mouth, looked back around the room at the tense, intent faces, then sighed. "I wish I could say it'd be sooner." 

"So when do we go?" Joanie asked, already getting pumped at the prospect of action.

Matt fidgeted with his coffee cup, stalling. "Well, unfortunately, my primary responsibility is the safety of this ship," he answered slowly, "And there are things we don't know about these aliens; for instance, are they hostile?" 

Joanie looked at Matt as if he'd asked whether the aliens had a spaceship. "Well, duh," she pointed out, "they stole the Captain, right? That's pretty goddamn hostile, if you ask me."

Subverting Iran

The Counterterrorism Blog notices that Iran is preparing for war

Military activity in the Gulf has been increasing tremendously in the past few months. According to British sources, the stock of weapons, missiles and combat planes in the six neighboring countries to Iran is now three times what it was at the onset of the Iraq war in 2003.

This arsenal is also composed of submarines, destroyers belonging to Iran and also to the international community in the Sea of Oman. An impressive number of offensive and defensive weapons are also deployed in the region. For instance, since March ,Gulf refineries and vital oil installations are protected by batteries of Patriot missiles. Furthermore, according to the Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassah, the US has built a massive stock of oil and could ask the temporary stop of Gulf refineries in order to prevent heavy damage in case of an Iranian attack. Iran has indeed warned Gulf monarchies that their oil facilities would be the first target in case of a US operation on Iranian nuclear facilities.

But as Iran gears up for an external threat, it also must deal with an internal threat. According to the New York Sun

In Tehran, university students staged a second day of strikes over the firing of eight professors and the new policies enacted by Tehran University's president.

In Tabriz, the regime tried to quell riots earlier this week over a cartoon depicting members of the Azeri minority as cockroaches.

In Qom, the theocracy was absorbing the aftershocks of a candid interview from Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, who told an Iraqi news agency that the current Islamic Republic has failed to deliver the democracy it promised in the 1979 revolution.

The protests at Tehran University have been on-going since early in the week

At least one person was injured on Tuesday as students demonstrated in one of Tehran’s several universities against the government’s repressive policies, a student who took part in the rally told Iran Focus

Students have vowed to continue with their protest which began on Monday in Amir Kabir University until their demands are met

During Tuesday’s protest, students threw stones at the university dean’s office, shattering several windows, after they were prevented from entering the campus by agents of Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF)

The demonstrators then forced their way through the guards into the building where they began chanting anti-government slogans.

Iran's messianic loony-tunes President blames the US

"Today, they (the U.S. and its allies) are hatching plots. They want to provoke differences, divisions, disappointment ... to prevent the Iranian nation from achieving all of its rights," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in Khorramshahr in southwestern Iran....

"It is clear that the evil hands of foreigners are making efforts to provoke tribal, ethnic, and religious differences under the present circumstances," State Public Prosecutor Ghorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi was quoted Tuesday as saying by state-run media.

He may have something there. Back in February, Secretary of State Rice announced plans to support pro-Democracy groups in Iran

With Poland's Solidarity movement of the 1980s as its model, the Bush administration wants to boost support for opposition groups inside Iran as a way to counter the actions of the Tehran government.

The implicit goal: regime change from within.

An emerging consensus in Washington finds that with diplomacy having so far failed to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, and US military action deemed extremely problematic, the remaining option is a pro-democracy revolution.

Of course the US could not be successful in such an endeavor without the help of the Iranian Government

In what human rights observers say is unprecedented, authorities in the city of Qom have arrested more than 1,000 followers of the mystical Sufi tradition of Islam.

The Iranian government had been showing signs of increasing antipathy towards Iran's Sufi community, but experts say the scale and violence of the clashes on 13 November is unheard of.

The deputy governor of Qom, Ahmad Hajizadeh, said 1,200 worshippers -- also known as dervishes -- were arrested as police sought to close a Sufi house of worship....

Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God.

Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam....

...observers say these tensions have worsened since the establishment of an Islamic republic, some 27 years ago, and state tolerance for Sufi groups has diminished....

"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion, they are having doubts, and they have lost faith in the work of those who consider themselves custodians of religion," he maintains. "By contrast, they feel very close to the Sufi teachings and its customs, which are based on love."

The story of the Sufis is indicative of the what is going on throughout Iran as the forces of repression, hate, and totalitarianism are confronted by people who want freedom.

And if we can help that along, so much the better.

Let them worry about a threat from the outside when it's their own people they have to fear.

Mountain Lion Presses the attack

Donna Miles wrting for the American Forces Press Service reports on the activity in Afghanistan known as Operation Mountain Lion

The recent surge in violence in southern Afghanistan reflects the fact that Afghan security forces are extending their reach and that the Taliban, in desperation, are trying to stop them, a senior military official told Pentagon reporters today....

"My suspicion is that the Taliban ... recognize that if they don't try to do something about that now, then they may not have a chance to do something about it later," [ Army Brig. Gen. Carter F.] Ham said.

"One of the reasons I believe that there are more incidents in the south is that the Afghan forces are going more places," he said. "They are going places where they didn't go before and certainly meeting some resistance."

Bill Roggio note that violence being reported in the press is being initiated by coalition forces, not the Taliban

The news reports of a major Taliban offensive in southeastern Afghanistan are inaccurate, as Coalition offensives and Taliban attacks have been lumped together to give the impression of a coordinated Taliban assault in multiple provinces. A reading of the various reports indicates that while the Taliban has launched a major strike on a police station and government center in Helmand province and a small scale attack on a police patrol in Ghazni, as well as two suicide attacks against U.S. contractors in Herat and an Afghan army base in Ghazni, the fighting in Kandahar was initiated by Afghan and Coalition security forces during planned operations. Over 100 have been reported killed during the fighting, with 87 being Taliban. Well over half of those killed were killed during the Coalition offensives in Kandahar.

There were two separate major engagements in Kandahar province, and both were initiated by the Coalition. Coalition forces conducted a raid and subsequent air strikes against a Taliban safe haven in the village of Azizi. As many as 27 Taliban are believed to have been killed during the operation. A joint Canadian and Afghan security force conducted a sweep in the Panjwai district of Kandahar, and killed 18 Taliban and captured 26 in the process. One Canadian officer was killed and three Afghan police were wounded during the operation.

He also notes a Taliban offensive that didn't go well for the enemy

The fighting in Musa Qala in Helmand province is a bonafide major Taliban attack. The Associated Press reports an "estimated 300-400 militants with assault rifles and machine guns attacked a police and government headquarters" in Musa Qala. The Afghan police provided reinforcements to the beleaguered police station, fought off the Taliban force, reestablished control over the region, and killed 40 Taliban and took thirteen casualties of their own. Two police patrols were ambushed in Ghazni, and resulted in the death of two policemen. There is no evidence the attacks were coordinated. And they certainly weren't coordinated to occur in conjunction with Coalition operations.

More recently, Bill reports that Mountain Lion is pressing to the Pakistan border in the area known as Uruzgan

The latest fighting in Uruzgan continues a string of engagements over the past week, with an estimated 300 Taliban killed during a series of engagements. The large majority of the recent engagements were initiated by Afghan and Coalition patrols and combat operations. Afghan and Coalition forces are pushing into regions previously untouched, sparking resistance from Taliban, some of whom are filtering in from Pakistan. Another Afghan politician has accused Pakistan of fueling the Taliban, "“Pakistani authorities and agencies are involved in the ongoing war and lawlessness in areas on both sides of the Durand Line.”

And

Afghan and Coalition forces have gone on the offensive in the Pech River Valley of Kunar starting late April during Operation Mountain Lion. Pakistan's Bajaur district is the location of several Coalition and Pakistani air strikes, including the Predator drone attack on a meeting of al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, where Ayman al-Zawahiri was thought to be in attendance. Five senior commanders, including Abu Khabab al-Masri, the head of al-Qaeda WMD committee are believed to have been killed in the strike. Bajaur appears to be a command and control center for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, as well as a staging area into the northeastern provinces of Afghanistan.

General Ham summarizes the operation's objectives

Operation Mountain Lion, which began in mid-April, has made solid strides toward disrupting insurgent activities, denying them sanctuary, and preventing their ability to restock. The ultimate goal is to extend the reach of the Afghan government so it can serve the Afghan people.

The offensive, which Ham said has now moved into the "stability and reconstruction phase," is designed to extend the reach of the Afghan security forces and, ultimately, the Afghan government.

Since the operation began with air and ground assaults in the Pech River Valley, an area notorious for terrorist activity, U.S. and Afghan security forces have conducted more than 650 patrols and discovered 12 major weapons and ammunition caches, Ham reported. He said it's "very good news" that many of those discoveries resulted from tips by local Afghans.

In addition, coalition forces met with local and district leaders throughout the region to explain the operations' goal and solicit their support for the Afghan security forces.

Coalition medical teams treated more than 8,000 Afghan men, women and children while operating in their districts and distributed more than 13,000 radios so people who never had them before can "receive news and stay connected with their central government," Ham said.

Impostor

Someone over at Kos is posing as me.

OK, so imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but just so you know there's only one, original, real Cool Blue in the blogosphere and it ain't them.

A Dangerous Place

Representative Solomon Ortiz from Corpus Christi New Mexico doesn't like the idea of the US deploying troops to the Mexican border one bit

He believes placing National Guardsmen on the border is an affront to Mexico and a disaster waiting to happen.

An affront to Mexico?

He also thinks its a dangerous mission for which the National Guard is not trained.

“A lot of things can happen in a year,” he said. “What happens if troops encounter gang members or drug traffickers?”

Uh, we could shoot them before they got into the country and kill innocent US citizens or, even, illegals who are just here to work. Do that a few times and I'll bet the border would become a much less dangerous place, no?

If the border is such a dangerous place, isn't it time we made it less dangerous? Shouldn't that trump concerns about embarrassing Mexico who, it would seem, has the power to police it's own border to get rid of gang members and drug traffickers.

Is it Representative Ortiz's position that the "dangerous border" should remain dangerous? And if not, then why isn't the National Guard the very people we need to place in such a dangerous place?

The problem with the immigration situation is not the people who want to come to the US and work. The problem with the porus southern border is precisely the gang members and drug traffickers.

Not to mention terrorists.

Representative Ortiz correctly identifies the Mexican border as a dangerous place.

But what he's worried about is offending Mexico.

Methinks his priorities are a bit skewed.

Fortunately the at least one unit of the Texas National Guard, which has just returned from Afghanistan, is more willing to defend the Country than is Representative Ortiz

When Sgt. Jesus "Chuy" Aguilera arrived home Saturday after a year of patrolling the mountains of Afghanistan, he was hit with some surprising news — he could be soon guarding the Texas border....

''Everybody is willing to go," Aguilera said. "The border is a piece of cake compared to Afghanistan."

...Veterans, such as Aguilera, dismissed concerns about military units assisting in domestic police work, noting their overseas duties operating in civilian areas will help on the border.

Aguilera said the many lessons learned in Afghanistan would help Guardsmen if they are selected for border duty....

Chief Master Sgt. Gonda Moncada, a Guard spokeswoman, said air and ground units would be involved in helping Border Patrol agents in nonenforcement duties.

''We are not going to be involved in actual border security," Moncada said.

''But we are going to support them with logistics, communications, engineering, analyzing intelligence reports, reports, those type of things that usually takes Border Patrol agents away from the border."

More border patrol agents actually at the border.

Hmmm, there's an idea.