Free Republic

...It wasn’t the first time American air or naval forces had attacked enemy positions in Somalia. It was the fourth such attack in 14 months on the lawless West African nation: a result of the increasing expansion of Islamic extremism onto the African continent. Conflicting reports have emerged regarding the operation. What is known is that the attacks were probably made with either surface or submarine-launched cruise missiles. The targeted house was in the town of Dhoobley (Dobley), a few miles from the Kenyan border. The targeted individuals were considered high value, and -- according to one of my sources...

...In other words, the Dems want to keep the troops in their places. The Dems want to appear to the rest of America that they have the troops best interests at heart. The Dems want the troops’ votes, and they are stymied by the fact that in an unpopular war, the military enlistment and reenlistment rates continue to meet or exceed goal, and the troops — by and large — don’t vote for Democrats. So the Left in this country actually has two problems when it comes to Iraq: First, we’re making solid gains in a very tough counterinsurgency. Petraeus...

On several occasions over the past three decades, Tehran has sent murderers to kill Americans. On none of those occasion has the United States responded forcefully. The mullahs are betting there will be no break with that precedent — not by the current occupant of the Oval Office and not by whoever replaces him in 2009. I suspect more than a few Americans would vote for a candidate who tells us the mullahs are dead wrong.

Why does everyone continue this bit about our invasion of Iraq being "based on a lie?" That in and of itself is a lie. ...

...As I’ve said before: though some members of Congress might cavalierly suggest U.S. soldiers and Marines are “cold-blooded killers,” the very nature of their work — something few Americans fully grasp — demands they be some of the world’s most moral men if they are going to be effective at what they do. That doesn’t mean soldiers are perfect. But it does mean many of them have been forced to face God in a way most of us have not, and it’s often reflected in their characters and unconscious behavior. While in Iraq, I was struck by two things that...

SEN. GRAHAM: Alright, I’ve said that Gen. Petraeus is Pres. Bush’s U.S. Grant. But I think Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone [deputy commanding general, Multi-National Force–Iraq for Detainee Operations] may be our Lawrence of Arabia. His guarantor program is evidence to me that we are finally getting it: We’re finally understanding Iraq. His program is forward-leaning. He sees the prison system as an extension of the war: Basically taking counterinsurgency into jails. And with this many people in prison, it’s important we do that. The way it works is when someone is ready to be released, say back to Anbar...

Ralph Peters this morning on Marine Corps humor compels me to share my own bit of the same, which I was actually saving for a forthcoming piece. He beats me to the punch on writing a piece on Marine humor, so here is one from the vault.

...beyond my ability to shoot and think, I would be a burden on any infantry force in a desperate situation in which everyone needs to pull his own load and assist others with theirs. I think this is true for most war correspondents, though many would never admit it. Infantry campaigning is difficult, and it has been ever since man first picked up a few stones, shouldered a club, and moved against a neighboring tribe. And despite modern weapon-systems and many of the new modes of delivery — helicopter, various ground conveyances — that difficulty has not changed. Of course,...

Forrest's soldiers loved him. His fellow generals admired him. His enemies were terrified at the mere mention of his name. Gen. Robert E. Lee said of his finest subordinate commanders, the most remarkable was one he "had never met" — Forrest. And U.S. and foreign military officers alike have studied Forrest’s campaigns over the decades since the end of the war. It has even been speculated that some aspects of the German Blitzkrieg were patterned after some of Forrest's operations.

In analysis exclusive to "The Tank," Middle East terrorism expert Walid Phares discusses the ongoing Syro-Iranian offensive against the West; its aims, and its three primary fronts: Eastern (Afghanistan), Central (Iraq), and — in much of today's analysis — Western (Lebanon and Gaza). Also, what we may expect in the coming months.

This e-mail from a Marine officer-turned-Arkansas farmer who fought — and was wounded twice — in the Battle of Hue (in which then-2nd Lieutenant Peter Pace also fought), one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War: ... "I think Harry Reid is a wimp, who acts like a sissy, and could not lead a platoon of Marines to the head (latrine)."

A senior U.S. diplomat visits Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, once the most dangerous place in Iraq for U.S. troops but now the scene of an alliance with Sunni tribal leaders bent on destroying al-Qaida in Iraq.

In terms of news stories, why do we continue to share what perhaps should not be shared with the entire world (which also means the enemy)? Case in point, yesterday's piece on MRAPs, Controversy over military vehicles for Iraq heats up, by Renee Schoof with McClatchy Newspapers. (MRAP, as I recently explained in a piece for The Washington Times, is “a U.S. Defense Department acronym for the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle design that soldiers want and contractors are bidding on to build in great numbers.” It is not, as Senator Joe Biden described it, a Humvee “with a V-shaped thing.” But...

With Captain Jack back on the silver screen, real-life 21st-century pirates operating off Somalia and elsewhere, and National Review preparing to set sail to Alaska, Americans aren’t crazy to wonder: Are cruise ships in any real danger of being attacked by pirates? ... Of course, our own Navy and Marine Corps have a colorful history of fighting and defeating pirates, particularly the Barbary Corsairs in the early 19th century. Regular shipboard and special warfare sailors also have engaged pirates in little-publicized actions around the world in the 21st century. On Saturday, USS Carter Hall, an amphibious-landing ship operating off Somalia,...

I was fortunate that nearly all of my commanders had it when I was in the Marines. In fact, I would argue the Marine Corps breeds it. Though he served before my time, my friend U.S. Marine Col. John W. Ripley — who received the Navy Cross for single-handedly blunting the North Vietnamese Army’s Easter Offensive in 1972 when he blew up the Dong Ha Bridge — certainly had it. Marine Maj. Douglas A. Zembiec, who was killed in Iraq (and has since been compared to a leader of Spartans), also had it.

This morning, my question to him was simple: Based on what we've seen thus far, the 15,000-man Lebanese Army appears to be performing pretty well. Don't you think? His response: 'Yes, it is a brave little force.'

...I can't help but believe that any legislation put forth by the likes of Hillary is nothing more than a veiled attempt to earn favor in the eyes of American servicemen and women, most of whom know her for what she really is: An anti-military self-server who would cut them (our soldiers) off as quickly as any of those soldier-haters who might be living out in what Bernard Goldberg refers to as "Halloween by the Sea" (San Fran) if it would serve her own aims. Hillary's simply trying to buy veterans — and those who support them — on her...

Around midnight, I stood on a three-story rooftop in Baghdad, watching orange and yellow flashes from a distant artillery barrage far to the west. Earlier there had been a spirited firefight about a block from my position — crackling automatic-weapons fire, arcing tracers, and single shots between the two forces, with one side (the insurgents) eventually silenced by the rapid, heavy “boom, boom, boom, boom” of an American .50-caliber machine gun. Now, except for the occasional muffled, artillery “woomph” rolling in from the west, the city was quiet. All at once, the most hellish sounding screeching and growling erupted on...

I often wonder how we in the 21st-century would manage the tragedy surrounding the sinking of one of our ships at sea when in some cases, during World War II, thousands of sailors and Marines perished within minutes. After all, would it not have been "criminal" – by today's standards according to some political commentators – to send our young men to sea in ships not adequately protected from submarine attacks or suicide pilots?

The just-released report from the Iraq Study Group (ISG) is not a blueprint for victory: This, according to those who would certainly have a better handle on the actual on-ground dynamics of the Iraq War than anyone else — American military officers, advisers, and special operators.