Rambling On

Cheers to the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol and a few other publications here in the USA for printing them. An excert from his must read article .

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None of these anguished reactions actually occurred, of course--no pogroms, no renunciation of U.S. and E.U. aid, no hiccup in the Iranian nuclear program. Because there was no real "anguish." In truth, by December nothing much had happened because of the cartoons.
So a group of Danish imams took off for the Middle East to try to cause trouble. To do this, they added three cartoons to their roadshow that they seem to have ginned up--crude propaganda pieces that would be guaranteed to stir a mob, just in case the original illustrations didn't produce the effect they were after.

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Some excellent analysis on what is and could happen in Iran can be found at the Officers Club and Threats Watch . I see Pentagon rattled their sabers back at Iran, that basically said , Back Off! You wouldn't stand a chance. as Steve points out.

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By Steve Schippert

London’s Telegraph reports that the Pentagon is drawing up plans to coordinate for the contingency of a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities should diplomatic efforts fail as expected. The portions of the plan revealed call for B-2 Stealth bombers armed with bunker-busters and sea-launched cruise missile barrages, potentially including redesigned ballistic missiles with conventional explosives, hitting unspecified Iranian nuclear facilities.
Any such plan is not news. That the Pentagon has decided to put someone forward ‘leaking’ it, however, is news.
In a bit of classic information warfare, the administration is sending a message to Iran,

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I am afraid we don't have any pretty, make nice options left to deal with Iran and its apocolyptic leadership.

This also a must read piece by Guardsman 1st lt. Parry. (hattip: Carol Liebau)

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LAST MONTH I returned from Iraq, swapping my desert camouflage for a suit and tie to resume my desk job at a Century City firm. For the first time in 18 months I was separated from my battalion, the 1st of the 184th Infantry Regiment, which was among the first California Army National Guard units to be sent into combat since the Korean War.From the first weeks of our mobilization in August 2004, we were in the spotlight. We were the battalion "mired in scandal." We were, according to the disgruntled, poor in training and morale. Once in Iraq, we were the battalion that suffered casualties seemingly faster than anyone could count: 17 killed in action and nearly 100 wounded in 12 months. We were the battalion whose commander, Col. William W. Wood, became the highest-ranking soldier to die in action. Our previous commander was relieved of duty after a scandal involving the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Even as we rolled out each day to confront terrorists, we were known at home primarily for things that had nothing to do with the job we did or how we did it.

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