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A Lance Corporal of Horse is not an officer but a very junior NCO. Ranks below a Corporal of Horse. This is probably a Household Cavalry Armored Troop. I believe that they are they only units in the British Army who still employ the rank of Lance Corporal of Horse. In those units a Corporal of Horse holds rank equal to a Sergeant in a normal armored cavalry regiment. A Lance Corporal of Horse equates to an Acting Sergeant.

Good show by the "Bootnecks"!

The proper spelling being "limousine" - my apologies

Just the usual limosine lefties trying to play the game of "we support the troops but not the war".

I think it is way too early to tell. I don't think that Rendell has enough name recognition on a national scale to be an asset to whomever the Democrats finally pick as their candidate. Unless Bush and the Republicans really manage to offend the electorate between now and the 2004 election it looks like whomever the Democrats select will simply be a throw away candidacy. Someone to carry their standard and then fall on his sword (i.e. the Democrats version of Bob Dole).

At the moment it looks like Gore and his henchmen will have control of the party apparatus which would guarantee his nomination. However, I don't think he would be electable under any reasonably forseeable set of circumstances. He appeals only to a certain type of core Democrat and not many others.

The Clintons are certainly angling for control of the Democratic party but I expect them to let Gore have his second shot and fall on his face. They will then move very aggressively to run Hillary for the 2008 election with Slick Willie and the usual crew running the party machinery.

That is my best guess based on the situation as we know it now. All of which may change considerably depending upon what occurs nationally and internationally between now and then. As the old political shibboleth goes, "Six months is a very long time in politics."

I wouldn't worry too much about Kerry. He is currently battling Sharpton for last place amongst the Democratic hopefuls. Whatever window that he had to run for President has come and gone. Like Teddy he will probably hold on to his senate seat forever but he will never win the nomination of his party.

I suppose that from time to time I smugly decry the fact that Great Britain certainly isn't what it used to be. Never having really recovered from their terrible butchers bill in WWI and then immersed in socialism for far too many years.

However, when I read this sort of limp wristed twaddle coming from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I have to admit that people like this writer Joe Keohane would never have been possessed of the fortitude to oppose the British on the Lexington Common or the bridge at Concord. Had the original citizens of the Bay Colony been like him the British Army would still be firmly ensconced in Boston.

Tea anyone?

"Former easyJet chairman Stelios Haji-Ioannou told BBC television on Sunday he thought passengers and crew could have the element of surprise over hijackers. What worked on that tragic day (September 11) was a surprise. The first (hijack) worked, the second worked, the fourth didn't," he said. "The passengers, the customers, the crew overpowered the terrorists," he added. I think it's far better than having guns because they might fall in the wrong hands."


He fails to mention that the forth flight also went into the ground at full throttle killing everyone on the aircraft. I can only wonder which European school of critical thinking produced this clown.

One more example of the current pathetic condition of the UK under socialism. Truly a sad state of affairs. Hearts of oak no more.

One more example of the current pathetic condition of the UK under socialism. Truly a sad state of affairs. Hearts of oak no more.

There are so many very fine works that have been written over the years that it is difficult to select only a few titles to suggest. However, the following are ones that should be easily accessible through any reasonably well stocked college or municipal library.

The Spirit of Seventy-Six, edited by Commager & Morris. Library of Congress Catalog Card: 67-11325. This provides a wealth of primary documents and letters as well as a well informed commentary by the editors.

The Papers of Henry Laurens, various editors. The Laurens papers are an ongoing project of the University of South Carolina. This is a 13 volume series that is certainly of value to anyone interested in the Continental Congress or trade as it was conducted in South Carolina prior to the war. Laurens was both President of the Continental Congress as well as the father of John Laurens who was one of Washington's Aides de Camp. Much of the correspondence between father and son is contained in this set.

The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, edited by Harold C. Syrett. A useful three volume set. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-15593.

Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, Selected Letters and Papers, 1776-1790. edited by Stanley J. Idzerda. Many interesting letters dealing primarily with military matters both great and small. A four volume set. ISBN: 0-8014-1336-2.

A Little Revenge, Benjamin Franklin at War with his Son by Willard Sterne Randall. An interesting book dealing with the conflict between the elder Franklin and his son William who was the Royal Governor of New Jersey at the beginning of the war. ISBN: 0-688-10790-7.

Benedict Arnold, Patriot and Traitor. Also by Willard Sterne Randall. Arnold is of course best known for his treachery while commanding the forts at West Point but he was arguably also the most capable of the general officers in the Continental Army. A very complex and ambitious man who was very much a part of the successes and failures of the American Revolutionary War. It is a very readable book and in my opinion it is the best of the several biographies dealing Arnold both before and during his attempt to sell his command to the British. It does not deal with his service and effectiveness as a British officer later in the war which is usually glossed over by most historians. ISBN: 0-688-10968-3.

There are dozens of other titles I could add to this list but even this short list will keep you busy for several months.

A good summation of the situation at Valley Forge. There was certainly a marked lack of performance by those handling the supply and logistics for the Continental Army at that time. Locally there was certainly no shortage of provisions as the British were able to buy what they needed while they wintered in Philadelphia. Not only did the Continental Army's logistical system fail but Washington also lacked ready money that might have been used to produre supplies locally.

Von Steüben has been largely neglected by serious scholars of the American War of Independence. The last serious biography of any worth was Palmer's which was published almost 70 years ago. He was certainly instrumental in developing both better discipline and a uniform manual exercise (drill) which was essential to the linear tactics of the period. He fared less well as a commander in Virginia when he found himself opposed by both Arnold and Phillips. However, Steüben's command at that time was almost entirely composed of militia so it was probably not a fair test of his skills as a field commander.

In 1953 the SS United States was brought in to the Norfolk Naval Ship Yard (NNSY) for some repairs. For those not familiar with this installation it is actually loacted in Portsmouth, Virginia on the site of the old Gosport Navy Yard which dates back to the colonial period. If memory serves me correctly she was placed into Dry Dock No. 1 (the oldest dry dock in the U.S.). That was located directly behind the quarters at the Marine Barracks (long gone since the early 1960s) and from those quarters you could see the huge bows of this liner rising above all the other nearby structures. It gave the impression that she was sailing right on throught the concrete and steel of the navy yard and headed directly for our quarters. These photographs were evidently taken at that time.

http://www.ss-united-states.com/dry1D2.html

The web site is:

http://www.ss-united-states.com/

He had been using former Diplomatic Security Service personnel. I wonder when he made the transition?

Your most welcome. Compared to what passes for lyrics to songs over the last several decades French's were clever indeed.

French certainly takes many historical liberties and inserts a variety of anachronisms in his lyrics but I think your point about the Turkish incursions into Vienna and the long held anamosity between the Russians and the Turks are entirely correct.

Abdul Abulbul Amir
Written By: Percy French
Copyright Unknown

The sons of the prophet were hardy and bold,
And quite unaccustomed to fear,
But the bravest of these was a man, I am told
Named Abdul Abulbul Amir.

This son of the desert, in battle aroused,
Could spit twenty men on his spear.
A terrible creature, both sober and soused
Was Abdul Abulbul Amir.

When they needed a man to encourage the van,
Or to harass the foe from the rear,
Or to storm a redoubt, they had only to shout
For Abdul Abulbul Amir.

There are heroes aplenty and men known to fame
In the troops that were led by the Czar;
But the bravest of these was a man by the name
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

He could imitate Irving, play Euchre and pool
And perform on the Spanish Guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of the Muscovite team
Was Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

The ladies all loved him, his rivals were few;
He could drink them all under the bar.
As gallant or tank, there was no one to rank
With Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

One day this bold Russian had shouldered his gun
And donned his most truculent sneer
Downtown he did go, where he trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir

"Young man," quoth Bulbul, "has life grown so dull,
That you're anxious to end your career?
Vile infidel! Know, you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir."

"So take your last look at the sunshine and brook
And send your regrets to the Czar;
By this I imply you are going to die,
Mr. Ivan Skavinsky Skivar."

Quoth Ivan, "My friend, your remarks, in the end,
Will avail you but little, I fear,
For you ne'er will survive to repeat them alive,
Mr. Abdul Abulbul Amir!"

Then this bold mameluke drew his trusty chibouque
With a cry of "Allah Akbar!"
And with murderous intent, he ferociously went
For Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

They parried and thrust and they side-stepped and cussed
'Till their blood would have filled a great pot.
The philologist blokes, who seldom crack jokes,
Say that hash was first made on that spot.

They fought all that night, 'neath the pale yellow moon;
The din, it was heard from afar;
And great multitudes came, so great was the fame
of Abdul and Ivan Skivar.

As Abdul's long knife was extracting the life -
In fact, he was shouting "Huzzah!" - -
He felt himself struck by that wily Kalmuck,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

The sultan drove by in his red-breasted fly,
Expecting the victor to cheer;
But he only drew nigh to hear the last sigh
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.

Czar Petrovich, too, in his spectacles blue
Rode up in his new crested car.
He arrived just in time to exchange a last line
With Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

A loud-sounding splash from the Danube was heard
Resounding o'er meadows afar;
It came from the sack fitting close to the back
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skovar.

There's a tomb rises up where the blue Danube flows;
Engraved there in characters clear;
"Ah stranger, when passing, please pray for the soul
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir."

A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps,
'Neath the light of the pale polar star;
And the name that she murmurs as oft as she weeps
Is Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

I would agree with you that the establishment of a democracy in Iraq will probably lead to the downfall of the House of Saud.

What I am considerably less certain about is whether representative government or democracy in the Islamic world is going to bring about conditions that will be favorable to the United States. I suppose that our best hope is that the result of such a democratization of the Middle East would lead to the development of more secular and less Islamic states. That, however, seems more of a hope than a certainty.

It looks like an old Warsaw Pact camo pattern.

This is probably a recycled photo from the USSR-Afghan War.

People like Hatch do love that cheap labor, illegal though it may be.

Policies of this type always remind me of that 18th century tune "The World Turned Upside Down". I am given to understand that this was not a favorite of Lord Cornwallis although Mr. Hatch seems quite fond of it.

"Omniscience is not now, nor has it ever been, in the intelligence budget."


Nor, I'm afraid will it ever be.

Meyer makes a reasonable case for hiring a better group of analysts than currently exists within the CIA. However, the payscale and working conditions of those positions really mediate against such improvements. The CIA is a bureaucracy. Like most government bureaucracies it tends to attract a great many mediocre people. It is the nature of Government agencies to promote on the basis on seniority and political favoritism. The unfortunate result being that mediocre performers thrive in such an atmosphere.

Having said that I would also maintain that the CIA is probably the best of the large government agencies in terms of the overall caliber of its personnel. It is simply the nature of the beast that the most talented move on to greener, more lucrative and less bureaucratic pastures. In short the taxpayer gets about what he pays for in this instance.

What Meyer fails to make a case for is the continued dominance of the CIA by career analysts rather than by personnel from the covert side of the house. People who understand the difficulties of HUMINT and how to make that most important aspect of intelligence work more effectively. The CIA has had far too many analysts in senior decision making positions for far too long.