Free Republic

Wingers these days, despite their shrill bravado, are a dispirited group, reeling from recent political developments that signify the utter repudiation of their worldview. In succession, they've latched on to a number of gimmicks to keep hope from being entirely extinguished. Palin is one of those gimmicks and conceivably the most important. And, although she is a gimmick, she is also the current and past respository of hope for deliverance from a poltical reality that crushes their spirit. Clearly, Palin is aware of this phenomenon and appears anxious to exploit it for either political or economic gain or both. Maybe...

AN NUMANIYAH, Iraq (Aug. 12, 2005) -- On June 9, 2005, the forward deployed 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing sent an 11-man Military Transition Team (MiTT), to An Numaniyah, Iraq, a training base in southeastern Iraq. The team’s mission is to stand up the 2nd Brigade of the 7th Iraqi Army Division and serve as advisory staff in the training of the 1st Battalion. The MiTT concept is modeled after the combined arms platoons that were employed in Vietnam from 1967 to 1974. Using this model, Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq formed three specialized teams to embed with the New Iraqi Army...