text:
Dealing with the Devils
The Washington Post reports that the Taliban have taken a pasting in Southern Afghanistan, suffering casualties they had never contemplated before. Bill Ardolino, quoting Bing West, says that aggressive USMC tactics have been devastating. One platoon alone has killed nearly 200 enemy. The Washington Post says that for the moment, the Taliban is flat on its back. Elders are starting to appear at US funerals to offer apparently tearful condolences. Perhaps it isn't sorrow for the deceased, but fear of the Devil Dogs that prompts the solicitude in the back of beyond.
In Sangin, a riverine area that has been the deadliest part of the country for coalition troops, a journey between two bases that used to take eight hours because of scores of roadside bombs can now be completed in 18 minutes.
In Zhari district, a once-impenetrable insurgent redoubt on the western outskirts of Kandahar city, residents benefiting from U.S.-funded jobs recently hurled a volley of stones at Taliban henchmen who sought to threaten them. …
"We start this year in a very different place from last year," Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top coalition commander in Afghanistan, said in a recent interview.
The WaPo asks what General Petraeus is going to do with his current battlefield dominance. The conventional wisdom holds that he can only regard it like a wilting flower. The Taliban have sanctuaries in Pakistan and when America leaves too – for stateside — then the Taliban will be back. In the classic parlance of Mao, when America retreats, the Taliban advances. "The question of the moment for Petraeus and his subordinates is whether the gains will hold as Taliban commanders, laden with cash and munitions, stream across the desert from Pakistan, where there has been considerably less progress in denying them sanctuary." Moreover, the Taliban are shifting their attacks to Eastern Afghanistan, which is only thinly held by European forces. So the defeated Taliban will simply go where the USMC ain't.
For now, however, President Obama, who has pledged to begin pulling out troops in July, faces a complex and risky challenge. Within the next three months, he must decide whether the tenuous but promising changes in southern Afghanistan merit a significant reduction of forces or a more token drawdown.
That calculus also will be complicated by a deterioration of security in eastern Afghanistan. Because senior officers had long assumed the east was more secure than the south, the bulk of the surge forces were sent southward to Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Now some of those officers are hoping to shift more troops east if the improvements in the south hold.
But maybe Petraeus is up to something else. He famously made a deal with the sheiks in Anbar and turned them against al-Qaeda in Iraq. Might he be up to the same thing in Afghanistan. But who will play the role of the Anbar sheiks? Who but the Taliban.
Efforts have been underway to reach some kind of accomodation with the the Taliban. In late 2010, John Kerry said there is "no military solution" for Afghanistan and that "there are very active efforts now to seek an appropriate kind of political settlement." The problems of dealing with the Taliban would be as follows. First, it would be a threat or rival to the current government in Kabul. Second, any consequential and lasting deal with the Taliban would threaten to wrest it from the control of Pakistan.
The key to understanding the effect of a deal with the Taliban on Afghan politics is to back in history. In 1996, the Taliban, backed by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, seized the country from the former government, which continued as the Northern Alliance. Today's players are very much descended from then. The Northern Alliance formed much of the basis of the first anti-Taliban government. And many Pashtuns, who are numerous in Afghanistan, now regard the Taliban as their "government in exile".
In September 1996, government officials of the Islamic State of Afghanistan under Burhanuddin Rabbani were displaced by forces of the Taliban. The United Nations refused to recognize the Taliban government, instead it recognized the Islamic State as the official government government in exile. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference left the Afghan seat vacant until the question of legitimacy could be resolved through negotiations among the warring factions. The Taliban occupied 95% of the territory by 2001 and only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognized them as a government. The remaining 5% belonged to the rebel forces called the Northern Alliance.
Much of the political effort in Afghanistan since has been to rebalance the government away from the base of Hamid Karzai. It may succeed by slow evolution eventually, but not on the timetable mandated by withdrawal. To get quick results requires diplomatic and military action.
But any deal with the Taliban which leaves it in the hands of Pakistan and the Sauds essentially restarts the 1996 War. That would be self-defeating. For any deal with the Taliban to make sense, it must essentially shift them away from the patronage of the Saudis and the Pakistanis to that of the United States. In other words, any real deal with Taliban would essentially be a takeover of that terrorist organization. Of course they have residual loyalty to their religious and military mentors. But by beating them on the battlefield, the Taliban leadership may be persuaded to cry Uncle and throw in with the "strong horse".
Pakistan has actually accused India of trying to grab the Taliban from it. The Times of India reported "Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik has accused India of backing Taliban for fomenting trouble in Pakistan. Foreign ministry officials responded by describing the allegations as baseless and preposterous." India itself has been moving into Afghanistan with its superior commercial and business capabilities and has urged a "political settlement" with the Taliban. The WSJ reported in 2009 that "India, one of the biggest investors in Afghanistan, believes there is no military solution to the conflict in that country and that NATO combat operations should give way to a political settlement with the Taliban, according to Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna."
India is heavily invested in Afghanistan, particularly infrastructure projects such as roads, hospitals, schools and the new parliament building in Kabul. In all, Indian reconstruction aid totals $1.2 billion. Mr. Krishna said the investment was worth the risk despite the continued conflict. …
Mr. Krishna dismissed suggestions that India's growing involvement in Afghanistan is intended to encircle Pakistan, a fear prevalent in some circles in Pakistan. "I think that is a baseless allegation," he said.
The Pakistani fears may be baseless, but they would naturally occur to minds habituated to conspiracy. Having created terror organizations to use against India, how does Pakistan, a country so destitute that only a fraction of its national budget comes from taxes, outbid the far richer Indians? Could the Taliban, whose men are dying like ants before USMC rifles and supporting fires, succumb to the money of India and the bullets of the West? Is the American drone campaign and the increased presence of US intelligence in Pakistan, not a precursor to a US takeover of the Taliban? If the Americans could kill whichever Taliban they wanted and bribe whoever they liked, the infidels could install whoever they liked in the Taliban hierarchy. And once that happened, would the Northwest Frontier, until so recently a launching pad for attacking Afghanistan, not suddenly be twisted like a dagger in mid-thrust and turned against the Pakistanis?
Not if Pakistan can persuade the Saudis to oppose it. After all, the Saudis can make Washington sweat with a turn of the oil valve. So to help things along Pakistan has fallen all over itself to provide mercenaries for Saudi military efforts in Bahrain and within the Kingdom itself. In this they've been helped by the current crisis in the Middle East and the Obama's decision to be on "both sides of history". That has soured King Abdullah on the President and made the Sauds more dependent on Pakistan. But the danger, once manifested, will not go away. Islamabad will sweat.
Afghanistan, as this blog has often argued, had no value in itself. Its center of gravity is in the Middle East, something which Pakistan has always appreciated. Without Saudi money and influence, the Taliban would die, or be up for grabs. Hence the Pakistani obsequiousness toward King Abdullah. No Abdullah, no Taliban. Or worse, a Taliban with an Indian accent.
Barack Obama, having decided to withdraw from Iraq, is now accidentally presented with the opportunity of "owning" the proxy forces of Islam around the world as the Arab Spring loosens the grip of their client states on them. It arguably already "owns" the Libyan rebels. It may be negotiating to take over the Taliban, in condominium perhaps, with India. As Damascus and Iran shakes, the question of where Hezbollah will go becomes problematic. But these are opportunities that are not without danger.
The loosening of command and control could unleash hell and the question is whether the administration would be ready to deal with the devils that come pouring out of those portals. A real settlement with the Taliban in Afghanistan must result in a destabilization of Pakistan. The collapse of Khadaffy will only raise the curtain on a struggle for Libya. That much is already apparent. The collapse of Damascus and Iran could turn Hezbollah and Hamas into masterless terrorists. Most of all, an implosion in the House of Saud would momentarily unbalance not only the world's economy, but its terrorist ecosystem. From London to Jakarata to Detroit, the mosques would feel the pinch.
Many of these factors are beyond the control of Washington. The fate of the Saudis, the battlefield victories of the Marines and the course of the Arab Spring. These are all imponderable. Some crises are precipitated by design and others by accident. But each crisis represents both a danger and an opportunity. The three o'clock in the morning phone call has come and the phone won't stop ringing. But beyond the insistent ringing comes a nagging whisper from history. What do you do with the Taliban, with the Hezbollah, with the Libyan rebels? What do you do once you've completed your outreach to radical Islam? Gibbon recalls when Rome finally outsourced its defense.
A Grecian philosopher, who visited Constantinople soon after the death of Theodosius, published his liberal opinions concerning the duties of kings and the state of the Roman republic. Synesius observes and deplores the fatal abuse which the imprudent bounty of the late emperor had introduced into the military service. The citizens and subjects had purchased an exemption from the indispensable duty of defending their country, which was supported by the arms of barbarian mercenaries. The fugitives of Scythia were permitted to disgrace the illustrious dignities of the empire; their ferocious youth, who disdained the salutary restraint of laws, were more anxious to acquire the riches than to imitate the arts of a people the object of their contempt and hatred; and the power of the Goths was the stone of Tantalus, perpetually suspended over the peace and safety of the devoted state. The measures which Synesius recommends are the dictates of a bold and generous patriot. He exhorts the emperor to revive the courage of his subjects by the example of manly virtue; to banish luxury from the court and from the camp; to substitute, in the place of the barbarian mercenaries, an army of men interested in the defence of their laws and of their property; to force, in such a moment of public danger, the mechanic from his shop and the philosopher from his school; to rouse the indolent citizen from his dream of pleasure; and to arm, for the protection of agriculture, the hands of the laborious husbandman.
Ironically the barbarian auxiliaries of Rome came cringing to its hand from fear of the legions. When the barbarians replaced the legions the bonds of gold proved to fragile to bind. Then their loyalty went to the highest bidder. The devils may fear the Devil Dogs, but that is for now. Always only for now.
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85 Comments, 85 Threads
"Marines run toward our bullets."
Yeah, well…..that's what they do dumbass! Say Hi to Allah when the Marines send you to see him!
Semper Fi!April 18, 2011 - 12:40 pm Link to this Comment
2. Don Rodrigo
We also won the Tet Offensive as I recall. Lots of metrics to prove it.April 18, 2011 - 1:17 pm Link to this Comment
3. Don Rodrigo
"Marines run toward our bullets."
Joe Scarborough related to me a similar intercepted communique from Second Fallujah, where insurgents were phoning their HQ to inform them that "we keep shooting, but the Marines keep coming."
Duh. It's very telling that so many who would and do fight us express this kind of surprise when they encounter American arms. Stupid notions held by people with influence and power are one of the chief causes of war.April 18, 2011 - 1:22 pm Link to this Comment
4. Sam Hall
IIRC, During the second battle Fallujah, the Marines came up with a T-shirt. "72 virgin dating Service – See your nearest Marine – Express Delivery Available"April 18, 2011 - 1:34 pm Link to this Comment
5. Steve C.
Can we turn the Taliban? I don't know, but I'm willing to trust Patreaus has a desired end state that gives us a chance in Afghanistan. As for Pakistan, we've never really laid out the facts for them. The time of choosing has gone on far longer than necessary. You can be with us or against us. Regardless of how they choose, we've got a relationship with India.
As for the center of gravity, I'm continually disgusted that we never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. To cower in fear because some third rate monarchists might turn off the spigot is not the behavior of a free and powerful democratic republic. And to tolerate their double games in light of how they supply cash to nihilists around the world makes it worse. I'm convinced that 100 years from now the whole relationship will be a case study in national abnegation. The reality is that they need us to protect them and they need us (the world) to buy their oil. Without oil sales, they would collapse back into the 9th century. And a well deserved end that would be.
The dawning instability in the region is the wages of our poor policy choices over the last 30 years. We've tolerated disloyalty and helped keep the lid on because the best and the brightest kept telling us that realpolitik was the only means to manage the region. That idea has reached its limit and now things are going to change. I hope we have the foresight to remember to put our own interests ahead of any other nation's.April 18, 2011 - 1:37 pm Link to this Comment
6. Gordon
Hang in there, Marines–I love you!! Gung Ho! Gung Ho! Gung Ho!!!!April 18, 2011 - 1:53 pm Link to this Comment
7. Josh
One platoon alone has killed nearly 200 enemy.
Imagine the fawning if we seriously cut loose on these goatherds. The war would have been utterly over by 2004, and half the population converted to Christianity.
As for suborning the Taliban – as Allah wills.April 18, 2011 - 1:58 pm Link to this Comment
8. always right
4. Sam Hall
LOL, did they show Helen Thomas (or Nancy Pelosi) mug shots front and back under the advertisement?
Love, love, love our boys (and girls).April 18, 2011 - 2:02 pm Link to this Comment
9. blert
Nix the "Gung Ho" — an expression lifted entirely from chairman Mao and the Long March.
It's lost favor with the Corps, too.April 18, 2011 - 2:19 pm Link to this Comment
10. blert
From the front it is apparent that the locals see the light only after feeling the heat.
Same old, same old.
Not mentioned, but this is where the M1A1 tanks were deployed.
As for infantry tactics — the Taliban use German military logic for their minefields. Thus it's embarrassing that our guys didn't see such placements and scheming a mile off.
I love the line-charge gambit. We can destroy weeks of scheming within seconds. Bravo.April 18, 2011 - 2:24 pm Link to this Comment
11. SpeakEasy
6. Gordon : Although blert is correct, I appreciate the sentiment as intended. More appropriate may be the expression, "Get Some!" And we have been. Thanks.April 18, 2011 - 2:46 pm Link to this Comment
12. happygrl
OT: Another great report from Leo Linbeck III on Michael Medved regarding the Health Compact! Power to the People!April 18, 2011 - 2:49 pm Link to this Comment
Lest we forget!
"Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
On 18th of April in 75…."
And the Doolittle Raid!
18 April 1942
16 B-25B's from the USS Hornet!
With heritage like that we do not have permission to fail!April 18, 2011 - 3:42 pm Link to this Comment
14. batman
If, as I suspect, Pres. O will tilt toward whatever is advantageous to the Muslim world, can anyone be sure we will favor India over Pakistan?
Does anyone know whether the Luo's of Kenya are suni or shi'a?
If General Petareus is being permitted to succeed, we can thank the fact that Pres. O tends not to pay attention to details and may be more focused on golf than on the Gulf.April 18, 2011 - 3:58 pm Link to this Comment
15. stoicheion
'It arguably already "owns" the Libyan rebels."
IIRC it was Cicero that said "Barbarians won't stay bribed or bought. All you can do that has lasting effect is kill them." Or something like that.
Danegeld doesn't remove the Dane.
Buying off the Taliban and or Al Qaeda is just another way of kicking the can down the road. Killing them all is a LOT of work using hand tools. Even in the hands of Marines.
We need to put Dupont on the job. You know that roach spray that doesn't kill roaches outright, but makes them sterile? Screw like rabid minks but no baby Roaches. We need something like that for Muslims.April 18, 2011 - 3:59 pm Link to this Comment
16. stoicheion
"Does anyone know whether the Luo's of Kenya are suni or shi'a?"
It doesn't matter. The MSM wants you to think it does. Muslims want you to think it does. It doesn't. They will stop fighting each other long enough to kill you. That is what matters.April 18, 2011 - 4:02 pm Link to this Comment
17. batman
stoicheion: I agree with you. I asked only to see whether O tilts toward one or the other in his pro-Muslim policies. From a practical point of view only the Sufi's don't have murder of "infidels" as their main project.April 18, 2011 - 4:10 pm Link to this Comment
18. stoicheion
2. Don Rodrigo
"We also won the Tet Offensive as I recall. Lots of metrics to prove it."
That we did. Hardly the first time a battle was won and the war was lost.
That fact was a major consideration behind Clausewitz's maxium that War is politics by another means.
Americans have never seen War as another tool of diplomacy, just like embargo, blockade or alliance. Mao said that War is politics with bloodshed, politics is war without bloodshed. He pretty much hit the nail on the head.
"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun"
- Chairman Mao Zedong (Tse-tung)
It is clear that war is not a mere act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political activity by other means"
This is from a translated version of "On War" from 1976
"Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied."
-Otto Von BismarckApril 18, 2011 - 4:15 pm Link to this Comment
19. wretchard
I don't know that I should be so bloodthirsty about exterminating the "barbarians". The barbarians of yesterday, the pagans of yore, the Danes to whom the Danegeld was paid, are now among the core populations of Western Europe, together with the Scots, Germans, "Gauls", etc. The uncivilizables of yesterday are today supposed to seek counseling at the slightest jolt.
What was "the DuPont" solution that converted all these firebreathing, Asterix type wildmen first into the Pasteurs and Descartes and Napoleons — and then into the Pierres and Gastons of today? It was that strangest of things, culture and history.April 18, 2011 - 4:22 pm Link to this Comment
How long might we expect to wait for the culture & history of Islam to turn?April 18, 2011 - 4:33 pm Link to this Comment
21. Gordon
B/9—I know it's not so much in style but someone who should know told me it came from the old China Marines, before the time of Mao. You can nix it, I still like it.April 18, 2011 - 4:41 pm Link to this Comment
22. Victor
The wise Petraeus strategy
– to split the Taliban into a militant wing and a political wing
–then make a deal with the political wing is moving forward.
+ The militant wing must and will be destroyed !
A recent series of article in Asian Times documents the progress so far in this matter-
– most significant is that India is now on board.
Next month the Taliban political wing will open an office in Turkey.
" All concerned international and regional players have agreed that Turkey should host the next round of talks with the Taliban, possibly as early as next month.
Unlike previous rounds, though, that primarily involved a few Muslim states including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,
all major players including the United States, the United Kingdom and India are very much onboard for this latest reconciliation process. ….
In an apparent softening of its attitude against India, Pakistan has withdrawn its opposition to New Delhi's participation in a preparatory conclave on the security and reconstruction of Afghanistan to be held in Ankara next month, the Indian newspaper the Hindu reported."
American fundamental interest is in an orderly withdrawal with a stable non hostile Afghan regime in power.
The rest of NATO wants the same result– to protect their long term energy supplies from the region.
India, China , Iran, Pakistan and Russia certainly do NOT want a fundamentalist Sunni Narco-Terrorist state on their borders or near borders.
And all those actors will be involved in the final deal.
Kissinger announced this major initiative in Geneva last August pointing out the self interests of all the actors in more detail
–maybe his last RealPolitik move.
Getting India and Pakistan on the same side of the table is the first stepApril 18, 2011 - 4:43 pm Link to this Comment
23. wretchard
"China Marines".
Back in the day the Republic Serials ran a series called the "Fighting Devil Dogs" which featured a Flying Wing, the first costumed supervillain in cinematic history and the revenge of a pair of Marine officers whose unit was destroyed in China but this same villain. The villain, known as The Lightning, had a secret base on the tropical island of Gehorda, which not coincidentally, had a USMC garrison.
Anyways, in the opening scenes they come across some dead Chinese soldiers slain by a mysterious electrical force.
It's all steampunk stuff. Airships, biplanes, Springfield rifles and gunboats with 37 mm deck guns. Later I discovered that the series lead actually went on to become a Marine in World War 2 and died on Tinian.
The only other Republic Serial worth anything was the first of the rocketman series. Commando Cody, I think he was.April 18, 2011 - 5:09 pm Link to this Comment
24. Josh
What was "the DuPont" solution that converted all these firebreathing, Asterix type wildmen first into the Pasteurs and Descartes and Napoleons — and then into the Pierres and Gastons of today? It was that strangest of things, culture and history.
Caesar, then Christianity, The Renaissance, and two thousand years.
Among other things.
Even so, past performance is not a guaranty of future results.April 18, 2011 - 5:15 pm Link to this Comment
25. blert
Negotiating with the Taliban is a non-starter because of phone-line problems: there's no one on the other end able to shut the engine off.
This dilemma was brought up in the Three Conjectures. The distributed nature of the anarchy assures you that negotiation is impossible.
Such a disconnect is behind ALL of the British/ Russian / Soviet diplomatic headaches. Kabul or Kandahar, neither ever had any command of allegiance outside the town — if even that.
The Taliban proxy army is all go and no control. The ISI doesn't care where it ends up so long as it keeps running over the countryside like a Roman tax-farmer.
( And this informs the plot of Robin Hood 2010. Curiously, Hollywood has entirely inverted reality in this tale. Homely, butched out women command romantic interest while an alpha male does not. Muslims are victims of Christians and all evil taxation is a consequence of counter-attacking the muslims in a far off land. The French are even aggressive and brave. Truly a remarkable inversion. )
The Taliban have no more strategic focus than the Apache. It's hit and run all the way down.
The latest turn in tactics will certainly have Karzai turning in his sheets like a lathe.
The opfor is able to penetrate deep into Afghani paperwork and procedure.
More chaff at 22.
Yuuk.April 18, 2011 - 5:18 pm Link to this Comment
26. steeple
Blert, yeah I was left wondering who used to string up the women from the soccer goal crossbars in the stadium at Kabul. Was it the Political Wing or the Militant Wing of the Taliban?April 18, 2011 - 6:24 pm Link to this Comment
27. Richard Aubrey
The existence of barbarians has always been a problem for neighboring civilized peoples.
Gradually, gradually, the barbs have been pushed back. What happened on the borders of Rome, or China, or Southeast Asia when the Wild Wa kept raiding the settled folks next door still happens on the borders. But there are fewer barbs and smaller borders.
This was one of the reasons the Brits kept pushing north out of India. But wherever the border was, the troubles were.
One of the issues with the barbs is….non-distributed. You just had to kill them, take away their sustenance (massacre buffalo), suborn some of them, hire them as native regiments.
Problem today is that the borders have, at least partly, disappeared. And the non-distribution has morphed into nearly random distribution. There are no borders.
You can't make Astan a country because it never was. Until you destroy the barb way of life.
Good luck writing that grant.April 18, 2011 - 6:43 pm Link to this Comment
28. Blast From the Past
The Taliban are Pashtun. Pakistan is dominated by the Pashtun. Is it possible to draw a line between them? Who are we at war with? Is it a coalition of,
1. Sunni, or Sunni and Shia clerics, and followers, A.K.A. Radical Islam,
2. Pashtun, Nejd Arabs, and Iranian imperialist Shia schismatics,
3. agents of the SCO with religious window dressing?
If the answer is door #3 then we should focus on containing China, frustrating Russia and building long term freedom from totalitarian energy. While there are synergies among all three anticipated strategies this first one would be most traditional in relying on coalition building, rearmament and reindustrialization. In all cases I am rejecting the possible current, or nuanced, or sophisticated, or Liberal policy of seeking to coopt enemies and turn them into proxies. While that can happen and has, as the present status of Germany and Japan or for that matter Dixie show, it can only do so after a decisive victory and not sooner.
If the answer is door #2 then we need to isolate a destroy those communities that are hosting the threat. That would mean the elimination of Pakistan as presently constituted. The Pashtun should then be comprehensively defeated and denied the ability to control neighboring communities for the foreseeable future. Similarly the House of Saud and the Wahabi Salafist MB project they fund should then be disestablished. Under this model AQ is seen as merely a schism or branch of the Saudi project and their maneuvers are seen as political infighting among our enemies. Finally this model would also justify the elimination of Iranian client regimes, notably in Syria and the reduction of the Iranian polity to its core ethnic population. It is worth noting that if the Pashtun are denied control over other communities then they would be pushed back from the Sind, Baluchi and Pujab regions of present day Pakistan as well as the South, West and North of Afghanistan. This would leave them some valuable mineral deposits in their native territories and I wish them joy in negotiating their future with the Chinese. The Nejd Arabs and Iranians if denied control over other communities would find themselves without access to the oil weapon and consequently with no influence on the world stage.
If the answer is door #1 then we should say it. To do so would mean treating Dar al-Islam as a political entity that is at war with Dar al-Harb. That does not mean waging war with every Muslim but it does mean waging war with those Muslims who are engaged in the political project of waging war with everyone else. Those who assert their fealty to that hostile political project should be accorded the respect and dignity of being taken at their word and treated accordingly. This will undoubtedly result in the short term in an increased threat from some Muslims who choose confrontation and a regrettable episode of confrontation that will follow. It offers the hope over time of permitting the often looked for reformation of Islam that will permit those who adhere to it to eschew physical confrontation with other communities and to fully participate as loyal members of other societies.April 18, 2011 - 6:45 pm Link to this Comment
29. Annoy Mouse
As far as a political wing of the Taliban alla Sinn Féin, bureaucracy creates entropy and disorder eventually. At least once it exceeds its mandate it does so predictably. If the USG is any example of what can happen to the Taliban, give them 200 hundred years of domestic policy twaddle and the towel heads will throw in the towel and man-date sensitivity training.
Think of the Pentagon verses the State Department. Forget Dow, give them Tao.April 18, 2011 - 6:52 pm Link to this Comment
30. Mad Fiddler
Blert, when I see the dashes, my scroll reflex kicks in.April 18, 2011 - 6:55 pm Link to this Comment
31. Annoy Mouse
BftP – "the House of Saud and the Wahabi Salafist MB project they fund should then be disestablished"
As long as we are parsing Barbarians, why don't we make HoS a deal they cannot refuse? Get on the program with us or we are going to go into an unholy alliance with AQ. The beauty here would be simple logistics. Maybe a little plausible deniability to 'hedge' our bets. It would be brilliant. Next we can inform China that after some serious soul searching, we have decided to sell ICBM technology to North Korea. The anti-proliferation thing was so enervating and costly, like pulling an oxcart from the mud, thought we might try thinking out of the box for once in 60 years and push from the opposite direction. That ought to get the bile flowing.April 18, 2011 - 7:03 pm Link to this Comment
32. Annoy Mouse
If our State and Defense Departments are to be at cross purposes, we might get something useful out of it like a workable good cop bad cop Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde dynamic.
We gots good sticks but our carrots are all rotten.April 18, 2011 - 7:11 pm Link to this Comment
33. Cowboy
If the report is true, if we stand poised to break the Taliban and Al Quaeda in Afghanistan, then I fear it must mean we are about to lose the war there. The same thing happened to the French in Algeria and the US Army in Vietnam. Both times the military forces aligned towards total victory, only to be undone by a liberal/progressive polity eager to scotch and to disown the hard-fought gains.
If we win in Afghanistan, or anywhere else at all, in fact, how can that happen without determined leadership summoning the will for it? We've got a president who seems to think that going around pontificating, hedging, and playing both sides is enough. A bulldog he's not. All caught up in nuance, it'd be a miracle to me if he ever won a streetfight.
34. blert
Pakistan is dominated by the Pashtu
Try Punjabi… considered by some to be the militant twins to the Junkers of Prussia; they normally 'run'/ ruin Pakistan.
35. toadold
It seems to me that in the 20th and 21st centuries, the diplomats have caused more wars than they have prevented and those wars have been bloodier and longer due to them. Your opinion and mileage may vary.April 18, 2011 - 7:26 pm Link to this Comment
36. tharkun
25/Blert – The latest turn in tactics will certainly have Karzai turning in his sheets like a lathe.
I realize Karzai has become the designated boogieman to take the fall for our own incredibly stupid policy decisions, but the truth is we are the ones who betrayed him. In Late 2001 and early 2002 he fought well and honorably alongside our SpecOps as we removed the Taliban who'd supported Bin Laden and al Qaida from power. Now he's just another example in a long line of the adage that "it's safer to be America's enemy than an ally".
He does not deserve the bad rep he's gotten. After we made it clear that we had no intention of staying committed for the long haul he had no choice but to start cutting deals to survive. We called it corruption; for him it's merely the life and death nature of his culture. His big mistake was trusting us, and for that he is truly scrod.April 18, 2011 - 7:34 pm Link to this Comment
37. stoicheion
"It was that strangest of things, culture and history."
Richard, that takes time. Time that we may not have anymore. The trite phrase is the world has gotten smaller. It hasn't. Same size it's been for the last few billion years. What has changed is the time communications and travel takes. Combine that speed increase with the fact that the enemy are barbarians, Not stupid and time becomes critical.
IMHO, the current Islamic bellicosity is due to their recognition of the fact that the West has a stronger culture. Muslims DO NOT wish to go the way of the Gauls, Scotts or Danes. They do not want to be 'borged'(or is that 'borked'? My Star Wars lore is lacking) and they are fighting back to avoid it. Since they are poor fighters, they have to use terrorism.
I don't think chemical sterilization is a war crime. The conventions on war cover killing people with chemicals. WE aren't killing people, just keeping them from breeding. Think of it as pre-emptive abortion. The liberals should love it.
Shouldn't have to even use it. Just let them know that if they don't stop killing women and childres, we will exterminate them like the vermin they are.
If they want to kill each other, fine. That is their business. When they crawl out from under the baseboards and come after us, then it becomes our business.April 18, 2011 - 7:37 pm Link to this Comment
38. Victor
In the so far very successful Petraeus strategy
1/ You listen to your enemy
2/ You focus upon fundamental American interests and your options
3/ You take decisive action to further fundamental American interests
4/ When the enemy calls to make a deal you talk to them
5/ You trust but verify in all deals and you keep your weapons keen
Petraeus has been very clear about these matters for a very long time
Actually going back to his PhD @ Princeton
He makes deals with allies and enemies
– but he always keeps fundamental American interest front and foremost.April 18, 2011 - 7:39 pm Link to this Comment
39. Annoy Mouse
There are estimated to be 50,000 Mexican Mafia members in Los Angeles alone. These assassins were imported like barbarians courtesy of the USG to grow power and authority over a cowering public. They vote and they more than cancel your vote. They vote for what they had in Mexico, a socialist democratic state with an elite oligarchy. It now infests California and it is growing like the Taliban is in the Northwest Territories.
During the Watts riots the only thing that kept the unrest from spreading was a muscular LAPD and armed citizens on the periphery. My mom was stopped by a barricade of armed citizens coming home from the supermarket with her kids to make sure we weren't anarchists.
The LAPD has a new mandate. Ignore foreigners and focus on controlling every facet of the tax-payers life, with deadly force if necessary. Nobody riots when the recently departed is not a radical pseudo-minority.
During the Rodney King Riots, the LAPD first used its new ad hoc policy; circle the wagons and then retreat. The new written priority of the LAPD is to protect the LAPD. The unions made sure of that. The thin blue line turned yellow (cowardice of the political system) and it was then up to courageous Korean shop keepers that kept the disorder from spreading. Let's bring in all of the North Korean people, they are hardworking and do not suffer from Anglo-guilt complex. They may be a problem in the future but for now, the last ignored "invasive species" has overrun the indigenous flora and fauna and we must find a new bio-control agent that even Dow could not muster. Then, if we could find something that works as well on run away government than it does for runaway weeds we'd be well on our way towards the hope, change, and ruin that is coming our way.
P!ssing against the gale of history has run its course. Democracy was killed by the fiscal and moral greed that brought us unmitigated lobbying and unions that rather kill a business for its own short term gain than represent the interests of its members, past, present, and future.
You can not win any foreign war while losing so miserably at home.
40. Unsk
Kinda OT: "a number of leaders of Islamic organizations (all of whom publicly opposed the King hearings on Muslim radicalization) were about to be indicted on terror finance support charges by the U.S. attorney's office in Dallas, which had been investigating the case for most of the past decade.
But those indictments were scuttled last year at the direction of top-level political appointees within the Department of Justice (DOJ) — and possibly even the White House.http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/did-obama-and-holder-scuttle-terror-finance-prosecutions/
Don't worry our Dear Leader will find a way to save the Taliban.
41. Ivan
So to summarise the dialectical turn is this: the US splits the Taliban, kills the hotheads, sadists and assorted recalcitrants but leaves the smarter political Taliban intact with increased prestige. The Taliban then walks into power in a US created and sponsored Sharia paradise, which it seems to me is what they had wanted all along. While the genius of the bookish Petraeus leaves me agape, it would have been far better for the Americans to have stayed at home and put the squeeze on Pakistan, for that country is the incubator and at the nexus of all the troubles.
After Tet, when North Vietnam had no more use for the Vietcong, they sacrificed them in repeated confrontations with the US and South Vietnamese forces while keeping their main army intact. No matter how many Talibanas the Marines destroy, there are thousands more hatchlings in the pipeline from Pakistan.April 18, 2011 - 7:57 pm Link to this Comment
42. Victor
AQ attacked America
The Taliban gave haven and support to AQ in Afghanistan
Therefore we attacked AQ and the Taliban who had given AQ support
We won
Last week Petraeus said there are 100 or less AQ in Afghanistan
–our US troops won and did a fantastic job
–time to bring them home, honor them, make them wealthy and free.
Preferential hiring, educational/training grants and tax free income for 3 years to get them started for all front line combat troops when they come home.
Even better deals for those front line combat troops who continue their service.
The generic hatred of ALL Muslims and Arabs is childish, No Nothing and un American.
In fact, most Arabs in California are Christian Arabs.
Petraeus is correct in his unfolding USCENTCOM strategy and it is working
Americans are anti-settler/anti-colonist not anti-Semitic—
There is a huge differenceApril 18, 2011 - 8:24 pm Link to this Comment
43. RagnarD
Commando Cody, I think he was.
Not quite. IOW, yes & no. Commando Cody was a character in a serial 'Lost Planet Airmen' I think.
Begot a rock-a-billy band of the similar name:
Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen
My pappy said "Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin',
if you don't stop drivin' that Hot Rod Lincoln."
44. Annoy Mouse
According to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa 2006, 12 American citizens are killed daily by illegal aliens. I'd give that a plus or minus but a fair average. Think of the social discord and breeding of violence that is happening around the bloody edges of that conflict. Mexico will certainly collapse.
To date; American deaths by insurgents –
Afghanistan: 1,534
United States: 41,664
Until a resurrected Walter Cronkite starts chronicling the daily death toll we are sure to lose this war. Let the Pashtu's eat poppies; GFO now.
"time to bring them home, honor them, make them wealthy and free"
…and train new echelons in the principles of COIN operations. We need to militarize our borders and transfer all operations currently in Pakistan onto our border with Mexico. The Mexicans are not as cooperative as the Pakistani's because, in the case of Mexico, the Taliban have a near monopoly of force in the form of monetarily connected drug cartels; same business, different flower. The drones and 'wet-work' will work with or without the consent of the Calderon administration with the same and hackneyed caterwauling that has brought us to the impasse that we are currently in.
45. Mad Fiddler
Annoy Mouse, your words have much merit.
Sadly, it fully suits the purposes of the people currently operating the levers of power in this culture to have U.S. citizens being murdered by illegal aliens, while the government does nothing except to "tsk, tsk" from on high.
The logic is weird. Evidently, the principles of Liberalism coincide neatly with those of transnational progressivism here. The people we call illegal aliens are in fact the sainted authentic third world indegenes who are legitimately expressing their annoyance at having been oppressed so viciously by our thoughtless ancestors.
Funny, my own family background includes some hispanic and native american forebears, along with a pack of indentured servants, convicts, sheep herders, common laborers, and dirt farmers. None of'em ever owned anything but maybe a drinking flask. Not a slave-owner in the lot… Well, except for possibly the native american…April 18, 2011 - 9:02 pm Link to this Comment
46. Annoy Mouse
Illegal aliens cost the US taxpayers more billions per year than we send to Pakistan. It is estimated that this cost is eight billion dollars a year in California alone. The USG does its best to hide the costs of this invasion both in terms of dollars and American lives. What we do know is that illegal aliens kill Americans in the staggering numbers and those numbers are on the rise. As the bottom of our safety nets begin to fray we could be looking at an unmanageable disaster.
So if the USG is promoting immigration unlawfulness on the back of subjective moral 'justice' then it is clearly doing so with the explicit understanding that it is paying for the services of assassins to murder Americans. This is very good for government and very bad for the citizenry but can be exploited by government policy that empowers the offender's national origins by defining the Hispanic Caucasians as a unique and preferred race.
4,380 lawful and peace loving Americans are murdered by the US government every year. That does not include taxpayer provided abortion services.
How exactly does R2P play out in all of this?April 18, 2011 - 9:07 pm Link to this Comment
47. Victor
Drugs are bad–the 45yr war on drugs failed–just like prohibition did.
AQ is now into drug production and selling–like Al Capone
We kill this trade by killing the profit, decriminalize drugs and the gangs go out of business–the addicts will die or seek help–sink or swim.
There is no only military solution to AfPak nor the Holy Land, just as there was no only military solution to N Ireland.
At the end of the day all conflicts end with officers sitting at the table
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shigemitsu-signs-surrender.jpgApril 18, 2011 - 9:09 pm Link to this Comment
48. wretchard
The key is solving the agency problem. Washington has slowly stopped being the agent of the principal and is now acting on its own behalf, for and by a certain permanent class. That is the thread that runs through the deficit, unilateral disarmament, the War on Terror and the insecurity of the borders.
If this problem isn't solved, no other problems can be solved.
It is useless and probably unnecessary to speak of striking fear into the heart of Afghan Islamists or such if the agency problem can't be solved. Useless because nobody is ever going to do any "striking" no matter the provocation; and useless because if the agency problem is solved and Washington again becomes accountable, the Islamist extremist problem will for the most part, go away.
It is fantasy to think that "someday" someone in Washington will get tough. The lesson of the last ten years is that the likelihood of that occurring, even temporarily, will require an event several orders of magnitude greater than 9/11. And if the bureaucrats are swept away by something unimaginably horrible, then it only proves the point. The agency problem has to be resolved or things will sort themselves out only in a spasm; at the limit, when things have gone nuts. That's really a restatement of the Three Conjectures, BTW.
For things to get "fixed", the agency problem has to be solved. Most people realize that and that is why all these efforts at "taking back Washington", "starving the beast" or creating Interstate Compacts are being attempted. Each of these is aimed at solving the "governance" problem — what I call the agency problem.
In a sense the only strategic ground that matters is the US political system. It either works in a way that rationally solves problems or it fails to function and thereby creates the inevitability of solutions based on desperation. Either the system works when it is fixed by a political, electoral process or the system works subsequent to a gigantic explosion in which it throws off all the special interests which encumber it in one horrifying blast of flying chain links and gore.
Better the first than the second.
If it's any consolation, my guess is that this problem will face Europe soon and to a certain extent will face China in a little while. It is, I think, already facing the autocracies of the Middle East. It is change or go up like a Roman candle. Not even the Assads, who have the power to shoot anybody they like, can get away from the resolution of the agency problem.
We have the great good fortune, or perhaps the bad luck, of living in a time when these questions are going to be answered, in part I guess, by us. Why? Because we're here. And more than luck, perhaps, because of all the countries on earth, I think the US has the greatest self-awareness of this problem.
In the future, historians will look back and say, "they spoke of nothing else". Assuming of course, there's a future and there are historians in that future, and not guys driving around in dune buggies in a post-apocalyptic desert.
What the answers will be and whether we will make it happily out the other end, I have no idea. But since we're all trapped on this earth, the rational thing to do is to act rationally in the hope that an orderly political change can be effected. And if it doesn't work, well, we'll find out what happens next.April 18, 2011 - 9:22 pm Link to this Comment
49. Cowboy
Annoy Mouse,
I live in Koreatown. This wasn't Koreatown when I moved in here, not too long ago, really. It was a sleepy, white-bread Republican town. It became Koreatown quite rapidly over time. You could walk down Main Street 15 years ago, and yes, we have a Main Street, and it would have been like most others. You cannot walk down Main Street today and have any hope of knowing what any given shop is in the business of if you can't read Korean.
For a time, I tried to patronize these places regardless. Gave up. These are are Korean shops for Koreans and only Koreans.
More power to them, but note: I did not choose to live in Seoul. If I wanted to live in Seuol, I would have moved there. Seoul has moved here. Now, I have to live in Seoul. Assimilation? Forget it. That onus is on me. It is I who have to adjust to the new reality of American demographics, not the fresh Korean. Note: a lot of wonderful things can be said about Koreans in general, but they do carry some cultural baggage. Namely, they are quite querrelous and easy to take melodramatic offense. They'll coalesce around preceived slights, exaggerate the tension, and play it to their advantange. Naturally, I might add, as our own political-correctness stacks the cards that way.
Upshot? Every year there is a lot less English spoken in this town. Fewer kids in scouting. Lower wages for all. Fewer opportunities if you are not Korean. More knife fights. More car accidents. Even more pet control problems. It is surprising how much unexpected clash you get, actually. And increasing situations where you cannot, literally, stand to breathe in a checkout line next to a person who smells inescapably worse than ass (is it the kimchi?) and will seek every opportunity to cut you off in line and dress you down and scream in your face should you challenge things on grounds of common courtesy.
I suppose that all of these complaints are of a similar order to complaints of yore against Russian neighborhoods, or Polish, or Irish, or what have you. Given time it will all balance out.
I get the feeling it won't, though. I sense backwards assimilation. We bend to them, not the other way around. The onus is upon us to get along, when it should be vice-versa.April 18, 2011 - 9:25 pm Link to this Comment
50. Annoy Mouse
Vic – "decriminalize drugs and the gangs go out of business–the addicts will die or seek help–sink or swim"
From your keyboard to God's ears (eyes?). Throw in legalizing prostitution and gambling. The government can get its heavy hand off of legitimate businesses and squeeze out the Mafia while destroying those businesses through excessive regulation and taxation. Win-win.
Wretchard – Brilliantly put. Thanks for a glimpse of gods' view.
Cowboy – I grew up in LA and know your pain. There has always been a China Town (LA), Korean Town (Gardena), Little Saigon (Westminster) [ at least in my 50+ years] and there always will be. The immigrants will always seek out their own and sadly, we must accommodate or do the same. Maybe one day there will be a Euro Town.
In the case of Koreans, I'll take them for now. Their burgeoning numbers are a long way from perverting our political system by voting themselves status and goodies. When they do, I'll help you man the 'barricades'.
Incidentally, want to live in a nicer Korea Town? Move to Auckland, NZ. Just stay out of the billiard halls and their karaoke parlors and you'll be fine.April 18, 2011 - 9:43 pm Link to this Comment
51. stoicheion
"There is no only military solution to AfPak nor the Holy Land,"
Victor, there is ALWAYS a military solution. It is just that solution is not politically correct.
"Petraeus is correct in his unfolding USCENTCOM strategy and it is working"
Is it? IT will be years before we know if it worked. Iraq is still on the edge.
Our enemy has faced superior forces for centuries. Nothing Petraeus is doing is new. IN the past, Muslims have delt with Petraeus's tactics by storing their weapons, spending their bribes and waiting. Sometimes for centuries. Then they come back. Read a history of the Eastern Roman Empire. Petraeus has. He has to know he is kicking the can down the road. Hurt thrm bad enough to make them pull in their horns a wait and see if the 22nd century doesn't offer better opportunities. Muslims are lucky they got Petraeus. He is the best we got today. He isn't qualified to kiss Sherman's or Grant's boots.April 18, 2011 - 10:45 pm Link to this Comment
52. Cowboy
Annoy Mouse,
If you know how I can move to New Zealand, I'm all ears. The last time I looked into it they were not a breed to be fooled by cowboy bragadochio, so I was not welcome. If they'd take me, I'd make plans to leave right now.
The win-win on drugs? Shoot everybody who has drugs. Drugs cannot be tolerated if you desire a functional society, sorry. I've taken heat on this board for this extreme position, but what the hell. Folks want to give a kid a pass for holding. Shoot the bastard. Shoot all of his suppliers. Shut that crap down with a big hammer. We're not only destroying ourselves, but destroying Central America with our drug habit that we dance around. Enough. Drugs = Death. It's time to make that known, and feared.April 18, 2011 - 10:59 pm Link to this Comment
53. Fletcher Christian
Cowboy – Sure. Logically, this means airstrikes on whiskey distilleries and spraying tobacco farms with Agent Orange, along with shooting all current holders of liquor store licenses. No? Ethanol and nicotine aren't drugs?
Why are some drugs acceptable and others not? It's not all that long ago that marijuana was freely, and legally, available. And remember why Coca-Cola has the name it has.
I am firmly in the "legalise everything" camp. Sure, for a while there would be a hell of a lot of deaths; but they would be deaths of people who are a waste of oxygen in the first place. And doing this would cut off the narcos at the knees. And in my opinion, the reason why this hasn't happened is that many, many thousands of jobs in law enforcement are at stake.April 19, 2011 - 1:29 am Link to this Comment
54. wretchard
As far as getting into NZ is concerned, your best bet is an immigration agent. I don't know any for NZ, but there is one for Oz I can recommend. He only charges if you get in, though you have to pay the fees for filing the documents at the requisite embassy.
Basically there's a system through which you're assigned points. A good migration agent will tell you straight up, whether you're in or out. An honest one will turn you away if you haven't got a chance. If you do have a hope, they'll let you know the odds.April 19, 2011 - 1:36 am Link to this Comment
55. Annoy Mouse
Cowboy – "Drugs = Death"
Agreed; also, suicide = death. If I had to pay 30% of my paycheck to make sure every morose teenager wouldn't kill themselves I don't think I'd care to do it. Same with every guy who likes to base jump, climb mountains or race cars just to keep them safe from themselves. Freedom has a price and it is just that decision about personal choice and no other that must be made. Your sentiments are how fascist states lure the public into choosing their medicine. Let the nanny take care of the children and not the state. Better yet, you take care of the children yourself and while you're raising them consider all of those children that you don't give a crap about that have been murdered through the institution of abortion. The state doesn't respect life so why the high price for those who willfully degrade their own? Certainly you couldn't care that much. Everything has its price like the first amendment does. So we have the first amendment along with the Westboro Church and CAIR.
Freedom has the possibility that your little baby poopy drawers will dye their hair black and tattoo their ass with some comely temporal aphorism like "Where's the beef?" However, if you can't raise little Johnny or Jane to respect themselves please don't saddle me with a multi-trillion dollar debt to keep it from happening this year and this year only. Your notions are noble, quaint and yet they are not sustainable unless enough of us were keen to start killing everybody, even Americans taught by Marxist unionistas to hate the heritage of their parents. Right now we are keeping the lights on by borrowing money from children that are not yet born. Think of the ramifications of that. If you want to go do a "Death Wish IV" on them and start killing all of them yourself, then I appreciate your industry. It is your body to do what you want. Until then,consider this 2 letter saying: 'If it is to be it is up to me'…and letting the foolish screw up their own lives cannot be a priority over letting the responsible live theirs.
Just my humble opinion. Your mileage may differ.
PS – Re: "they were not a breed to be fooled by cowboy braggadocio": just tell them you wrangle sheep, you'd fit right in. I am not kidding.April 19, 2011 - 2:23 am Link to this Comment
56. Tcobb
#55 Annoy Mouse
My understanding may be flawed but I have read that when distilled liquor first became cheap in Britain it created a huge wave of addicts–people literally lying in the gutters. The government did nothing, and a lot of these people just died. The problem cured itself.
Evolution works. But one of the primary goals of the Nanny State is to fight evolution tooth and nail, which is why a Nanny State must ultimately die.
The road to Hell is not just paved with good intentions. Often they are sign posts pointing to its direction.April 19, 2011 - 3:52 am Link to this Comment
57. anton
Back OnT, isn't it odd that a little while ago southern Afghanistan was the uncontrolable end of the place (think back as to whose troops were in charge there) and now the problem has moved to the area of, "….. Eastern Afghanistan, which is only thinly held by European forces. So the defeated Taliban will simply go where the USMC ain't."
I am afraid that our allies are part of the problem. Much like the Germans on the Eastern Front in WW2 we have weak and/or unwilling allies (I am not impugning the bravery of the troops, I don't know them well enough for that) who are simply not keeping up their end of the deal. We should have seen the problem in Libya coming a long way off; we have been doing the heavy-lifting for so long that the appetite for such labor seems entirely gone from the European character. Better off with India as an ally, at least they are "in theater" for the long haul and actually have skin in the game.April 19, 2011 - 4:32 am Link to this Comment
58. tharkun
51/stoicheion – I fear you are indeed correct about Petraeus' strategy; he is knowingly kicking the can down the road, it's movements greased by the blood of his troops. As for his reasons for pursuing an ultimately futile path, I can only speculate, but my guess is he has political ambitions of his own.
Expressed in wretchard's terminology, Petraeus, along with most of the rest of our upper-level military command staff, has cast his lot firmly with the current agency of the elites. My further speculation is that while he may likely prosper in the short term he will likely be scapegoated for the eventual failure of these policies and join the ever-growing crowd of the formerly useful "under the bus". As an erudite student of history he would do well to remember the fate of Flavius Aetius and others like him, but ambition has a way of blinding even brilliant intellects.April 19, 2011 - 5:04 am Link to this Comment
59. Don51
…I received orders to move against Colonel Thomas Harris, who was said to be encamped at the town of Florida, some twenty-five miles south of were we then were…Harris had been encamped in a creek bottom for the sake of being near water. The hills on either side of the creek extended to a considerable height, possibly more than a hundred feet. As we approached the brow of the hill from which was expected we could see Harris' camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept right on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped a few days before was still there and the marks of recent encampment were plainly visible, but the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his. I never forgot that lesson. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
The view always seems to be of our side and its problems and difficulties. The enemy is seen as single minded and focused with unbreakable will. We defeat ourselves because we give in to our fears rather than understand our strengths with which the enemy can not cope. In places like Central Asia, you don't have to utterly rout the enemy. You just have to take them down enough for the other natural creatures of the environment to finish it for you.April 19, 2011 - 6:13 am Link to this Comment
60. heyyoukidsgetoffmylawn
The second comment may snap one's head back the other way.
http://www.avoiceformen.com/2011/04/16/purple-hearts-final-beat/April 19, 2011 - 6:25 am Link to this Comment
61. stoicheion
57. anton
Afghanistan is unwinable so long as Pakistan is a source of refuge and comfort. We are trying to sque-gee water without a drain hole. Need a mop and a bucket but there is no chance of getting that from the politicians. According to the handbook on guerilla written by Petraeus, we need 632,000 troops to cover all of Afghanistan. Without that, we just push them from one part of the country to another. I knew this going in as did Petraeus and anybody else that has studied Military History. Nothing new happening in Afghanistan. Guerrilla (Spanish for small war), insurgancy, whatever you want to call it is the second oldest form of warfare. It started the day after the first battle was lost. The losing army split into small units and hid in the hills(forest, jungle, whatever). They then came out to attack supply lines and small detachments of the winning army.
The Romans were the first to develop an integrated plan for counter-insurgency. It was basically what we call today the 'ink blot' strategy. take a geographical area and control it. Treat the people living in that area as citizens. Provide them the same services as citizens. Apply the same laws, the same taxes, the same rules and customs. Treat the guerrillas as criminals, the people as citizens. the theory is if you treat them like citizens, they will become citizens.
The "Roman Way" is far and away the best method for assimilating newly conquered lands into the Empire. The only drawback is it takes generations.
It doesn't apply today, since America isn't an empire and is past it's expansionist stage. The stated Strategy in Afghanistan was to drive out the Taliban and kill AQ types. That was accomplished in 2001.
The Long Legged Mack Daddy from Kenya has US troops in Afghanistan so he will look tough. Not sure he is fooling anybody, except maybe his Ho's.April 19, 2011 - 6:45 am Link to this Comment
62. stoicheion
I think having congress tele-commute would go a long ways toward trimming down the Agency problem. Most people would be surprised by how much 'gubermint biddness' is done at cocktail parties or at Redskins games. Having the Congress-critters stay home and vote by computer would be a boon for open government and a disaster for lobbyists.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to cloud 6 months of emails between lobbyists and Congress? Picking out criminal conspiracies would be a snap. Put about 1/2 of congress in jail every 6 months and soon we would have honest government. Save Trillions.April 19, 2011 - 6:58 am Link to this Comment
63. anton
61. stoicheion
Agreed, Afghanistan is a place, not a nation, trying to "defeat" them in the old Westphalian nation-state manner is not really possible as there is no political center to control. The Resident has never had a plan to deal with any event outside the US, he reacts (badly) to events. I have seen no evidence of a strategy to advance US comcerns, some see one to degrade them; more likely it is ill-tempered incompetence guided by the agenda-ridden personalities he has surrounded himself with.
Regarding the Roman Way, it is too bad we have lost faith in out civilzation and have given up trying to spread the good word. But even the Romans knew when to cut their losses; they looked north into the wild hinterlands of Pictland and decided it wasn't worth the candle and built Hadrian's Wall to keep the barbarians out.April 19, 2011 - 7:16 am Link to this Comment
64. bell curve
Wretchard the Cat is 100% correct with respect to the "agency" problem. The governing class and associated elites now govern for themselves and pull all strings behind the scenes to insure that events come out for their benefit. If a resultant policy produces a good effect for the country as a whole, this is a mere afterthought to our ruling elites, they could care less. I suspect that 80 to 90 percent of the problems/issues discussed in this blog can only be solved by solving this agency problem. Otherwise, a nuclear explosion over an American city, the devaluation of the dollar, the collapse of our economy, the destruction of our heritage and culture as we are swarmed over by illegal immigrants with no allegiance to our nation, (and no desire to ever assimilate, but rather to turn us into the 3rd world hell-hole they came from), these and other destructive scenarios are looming in our future.April 19, 2011 - 8:17 am Link to this Comment
65. Don Rodrigo
#19 Wretchard
Unfortunately, Islam's track record does not lend itself to social and cultural transformation into modern, civilized behavior. Christianity did.April 19, 2011 - 9:05 am Link to this Comment
66. tharkun
65. Don Rodrigo & #19 Wretchard
It isn't just Islam's track record, it's Islam's inherent design. If you were to view Islam as analogous to computer programming language code for human cognition, it's amazingly tightly written to resist all attempts at modification, with built in anti-viral subroutines to kill any programmers/apostates who try.
Continuing the analogy, if the teachings/instruction sets of the other great world religions are considered as human cognitive programming code to bring about peace, enlightenment, salvation or some variant of "can't we all just get along", then Islam would represent an almost perfectly designed cognitive virus designed to infect, destroy and replace these programs in human collective consciousness.
Who was it that ole Mo really saw in that cave that gave him the revelations/program instruction set to create the almost hive consciousness that Islam effects in its adherents? Whoever it was, he has proven to be a formidable Adversary…April 19, 2011 - 9:37 am Link to this Comment
67. Annoy Mouse
OT Alert
Exploring the idea of the agency problem; we the principles have hired agents to do our bidding under the loose framework of being a "government for the people by the people". When our nation was founded the idea of becoming a professional politician, at least a congressman, was anathema to good manners. It evolved into a higher calling for men of means then became a path to means in itself. This would sometimes put the businessman close to the legislative in order to husband the law, if not for personal advantage, then to prevent a disadvantage.
But the man of many talents devolved into specialties and thus was born the lobbyist, of which a union leader is a kind. And so many layers were laid between the principle and the agent but still the principle could make or break the politician at the poll so there was a semblance of balance.
As the size and scope of the nation grew with the corresponding growth in commerce the agents required capital to advertise their worth and in no small part their advocacy for largess. Eventually the markets evolved into global trading agreements and the agency problem once again shifted to deals with international partners and most importantly their governments, be they Libya or China.
Now we have a government agency that makes its covenants with foreign agencies and in no small part profits from them, sometime directly. China considers it in it's best interest to control who gets elected in the United States and is certainly bidding to see a favorable outcome as too The Duck of Death. Now the government is engaged in enterprise that is not even tenuously beneficial to the principles of the compact called the US Constitution. They are righteously pursuing policies that are for the good of the……………, you fill in the blank.
Our political classes' goals, not spelled out, obsequiously pursue matters of their own accord. They stand on their own merit because they have struck a moral pose and what will be will be to that end. Exit strategy? Who needs a stinking exit strategy? Oh yeah, the less moral social class of politicians, Republicans who want to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body, they need an exit strategy.
So we have Party A conspiring with Party B to fleece Party C. Conspiracy is so vile in US law, that to conspire to commit a misdemeanor is a felony.
So why are we in Afghanistan, Libya, and soon, Palestine? Who TF knows.
"Ours not to wonder why , ours but to do and to die". This used to be the lot of the military. Now it is the lot of the citizen as well.April 19, 2011 - 10:07 am Link to this Comment
68. toadold
And yet the greatest contempt of the mass of the Islamic uneducated, illiterate, hide bound, gullible, and superstitious, is from the educated governing elite, who exploits them and does everything possible to keep them ignorant. The problem now is that ignorant are gradually becoming aware of a larger world on top of the unrest caused by the food supply fiasco. The Muslim Brotherhood will not be able to feed their supporters in the long run and possibly not even in the short run?April 19, 2011 - 10:55 am Link to this Comment
69. Whitehall
Gibbons had some insights but a recent history of Rome I just completed made more sense of the decline and fall.
Basically, the corrupt central military power demanded so much resources from the population of the empire that the "citizens" came to see the Roman government as not much different from the barbarians in terms of effects on their lives. Why continue allegiance to a power that heavily taxes, over-regulates, and doesn't deliver an improved life for its citizens?
I've long argued here that Obama sees Petreous as a potential political rival, much like Polk saw Scott or Truman saw MacArthur. Obama will NOT set up his general for a victory on the battlefield that he could translate into a political challenge at home.
W is correct – the global battleground, the point of decision, is the American political process. Yet we have an open system, available for corruption. We are most vulnerable here, at the local voter registrar's office – our Marines and soldiers can hold their own on the battlefield – can our political elite?April 19, 2011 - 1:22 pm Link to this Comment
70. Make Believe Media
Basically, the corrupt central military power demanded so much resources from the population of the empire that the "citizens" came to see the Roman government as not much different from the barbarians in terms of effects on their lives. Why continue allegiance to a power that heavily taxes, over-regulates, and doesn't deliver an improved life for its citizens?
Why indeed. The state will have to get even more draconian to ensure continued allegiance … and then we will reach a tipping point, I imagine.April 19, 2011 - 2:14 pm Link to this Comment
71. blert
Polk had serious medical issues going way back and was committed to a 1-term presidency.
Scott was way down his list of headaches.
Truman is much the better analogy. Even when MacArthur pointed to his former chief of staff, Ike, Truman didn't get it.
Rome fell apart due to both economic parasitism and stunningly chronic civil wars. These had VAST impacts that for some reason modern writers just can't fathom.
Like the insanity portrayed in Robin Hood 2010 — absolutely rapacious taxation during the civil wars destroyed the capital base over vast areas well removed from the direct fighting that you can read about.
America rose to the top for the simplest reason of all: no war was fought on American soil in the 20th Century.
Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Poland,…. China, Burma, Vietnam, Japan, Korea … and others have one thing in common: massive destruction by war.
So long as America can keep the heavy fighting outside our borders — and stay at the top of food exports — she will have the commanding heights.
Trump is on record as calling for seizure of the Iraqi oil patch for services rendered. Such Habu'ist thinking is bound to grow.April 19, 2011 - 2:17 pm Link to this Comment
72. Whitehall
Polk's treatment of Scott during the Mexican War (and Taylor too) was directly related to Scott and Taylor being Whigs with clear and visible political ambitions. (Polk was a Democrat.)
I'm reading the new-ish biography of Polk by Borneman and highly recommend it.
Mr. Make Believe Media,
Like Rome, the US is importing new people who seem to have allegance to other cultures and governments over that of the United States – see La Raza and others.April 19, 2011 - 3:14 pm Link to this Comment
73. Subotai Bahadur
#49 Cowboy
It is different, I grant. While my acquaintance with Korean culture is largely via Korean martial arts and a fondness for Korean food [yes, including kimchee *smile*]; I am more than passing familiar with Chinatowns, as are most Chinese here. I worry a lot less about Koreans assimilating and becoming Americans than most. Assuming that there is congruence between them and Chinatowns; these areas are for those JOB [Just Off the Boat] and those who are not able to make the cultural adaptation. Those young enough and adaptable enough move on do so. The children of those who stay grow up as Americans. I have seen it many times. They, like I, are the bridges between the cultures. Eventually, hopefully, the Chinatowns disappear as those who cannot adapt pass on. I have seen that happening in British Columbia, where Chinese are so integrated into the majority society as to make Chinatowns superfluous. There is a reason that they call Vancouver, BC "Hong-couver".
I realize that doesn't help you with dealing with what is functionally a foreign culture taking over your neighborhood. But the long term view is not, I hope, as dismal.
#69 Whitehall
Just curious, but what book was that? For years I have been making the same argument about the fall of Rome, based on my readings; with the exception that it was less the upkeep of the military than the burdens of the Imperial bureaucracy. That, and the civic leaders in Roman cities were expected to cover any financial shortfalls out of their own pockets. When local leaders [decurii] tried to quit, the Emperor [Diocletian?] made the positions hereditary and permanent. Or at least tried to.
Not a way to win hearts and minds [and loyalty] of the locals when an alternative was available.
Subotai BahadurApril 19, 2011 - 3:19 pm Link to this Comment
74. blert
57. anton
The Germans MADE their allies weak. America made her allies strong.
How so?
The 3SS rather famously stole 150mm howitzers bought and paid for by Romania straight off the factory floor in 1938. They never were replaced. What ever Skoda produced went straight into German hands.
Likewise, the Germans stole heavy weapons from Italy, Hungary and Romania all the time. That's why the front collapsed when the T34s showed up: no anti-tank guns at all! Hitler never prioritized them, and what were made were snapped up by the German Army.
Rommel pulled the same stunt in North Africa. All of the Italian trucks were stolen to serve the Germans, most famously during the retreat from Egypt.
The lousy war record of the Italians, Romanians, Hungarians is entirely due to this effect. It's a heavy conflict and all that they've got is light weapons and a sprinkling of WWI hand downs.
When the Italians left the war a staggering gap opened up in Russia that the Soviets NEVER care to speak of. IT'S the reason for the 1943 Soviet summer super-offensive — NOT Kursk. Expending not one bullet, the Soviet Army was able to drive directly into the German rear like they were on holiday. The effect was catastrophic — far, far worse than the debacle at Kursk.
And it was all due to the Anglo-Allies going after Italy first.
It passes as common knowledge in Italy. I've yet to see it written up in the West or acknowledged by the Russians. The ENTIRE event has been thrown down the memory-hole.April 19, 2011 - 3:20 pm Link to this Comment
75. stoicheion
"Rome fell apart due to both economic parasitism and stunningly chronic civil wars. These had VAST impacts that for some reason modern writers just can't fathom."
That is because Rome survived for centuries with those problems. They survived on the strength of their Legions. What changed that was the stirrup. Invented in India (toe loop), passed on to and refined by China where the Horse tribes of the great plains of inner Asia picked it up. With stirrups the Bow of the Horse tribes became a threat to armored foot soldiers. Plus, using stirrups allowed a mounted rider to carry a spear longer then those of the Infantry they faced. From that point on the Legions were doomed. No Legion meant no Rome. No legion and the other troubles became more then a nuisance.April 19, 2011 - 3:32 pm Link to this Comment
76. Tcobb
There are many theories regarding the fall of the Western Roman empire. Note that I say the Western Roman empire. The Eastern Roman empire (Byzantium) lasted for another thousand years.
But what did change in the Western Roman Empire before their fall was essentially the rise of a ruling class that tracks the rise of the Tranzis today. They simply didn't believe that their citizens were special at all. They, and all the barbarians, were equal. Cattle to be used and butchered at will. The military strategy changed from perimeter defense to defense in depth, mainly to insure the safety of the ruling class, And the borders began to crumble.
When no one is special, everyone is expendable meat. Can you spell OBAMA?April 19, 2011 - 3:41 pm Link to this Comment
77. toadold
The Japanese in California clung to their area longer than normal I susppose due to the hostility of the WW II and post war problems. There were some complaints that the American?Japanese tried to be more Japanese than the Japanese, for instance keeping lists of "Etta" names so their kids wouldn't intermarry. The population of Japan town has been going down and now Koreans are moving into that area. There have been "hassles" that have led to a local committee to smooth over and educate the two groups about cultural differences. The Koreans would get upset if they said hello and a Japanese wouldn't say hello back, Korean outspokenness vs. Japanese reserve, Irish vs. English kinda.April 19, 2011 - 3:43 pm Link to this Comment
78. blert
75. stoicheion
The Romans knew of the stirrup…
All of the civil warring destroyed their agricultural base. General climate made horses VERY expensive relative to military merit. Further, traditionally all of the glory had gone to foot-soldiers.
Horses only make military sense when grazing land is extensive. France, Britain Germany and Poland are all ideal horse country.
By comparison, the middle east and Italy are expensive places to ride horse. Further, most historical battles — for Rome — were in Italy or on the edge of the Med. The logistics of maintaining cavalry there stink.
The US Army looked at the fodder requirements for horses overseas and concluded it's going to have to be trucks! Nothing had changed — fodderwise — in two thousand years.
The excessive civil wars meant that Roman society evolved into very powerful top politicians – above taxation – and free men converting to slave status so as to avoid taxation.
It was Marxism before Marx. Free enterprise became castrated. No one wanted to have any seizable assets. This is probably when the Ashkenazi Jews learned to get out of harms way in a hurry. The Masada option didn't work.
Such a situation destroys economic progress as tax avoidance utterly dominates all thought. The decline causes the taxers to go ever more insane trying to stay in the game.
We're seeing the same Stashist politics right now in Washington.
The MSM is larded with know-nothings wailing against truth.
Thus the MSM has corroded the gears of transmission and we're left with a shiftless Congress.April 19, 2011 - 4:24 pm Link to this Comment
79. Whitehall
Subotai – "History of Rome" by Michael Grant. Highly recommended. Also recommended is "The Complete Roman Army" by Adrian Goldsworthy.
Of course, if one looks at climate records for Europe you'll see that a warming phase coincided with Rome's rise and a cooling trend with its demise in the West.
The excess energy provided by the warming trend supported increased population and larger, more effective armies and navies. Rome was well-positioned to grow with its somewhat more egalitaning society and organization of its society. The cooling climate reduced agricultural surpluses (less to tax) and the hardening of the bureaucracy prevented adaptation – people were FORCED by law to follow their father's occupation, for example.
In the late empire phase, cavalary seems to have become a more important part of Roman tactics although the actual legion composition may not have changed much as a percent of armed men.April 19, 2011 - 4:42 pm Link to this Comment
80. ScenarioA
Word has probably not yet reached whatever planet Trump lives on that Iraq has already signed 20 year contracts for production of its oil. In the first round China's CNPC won the contract with the highest potential production combined with highest fees per barrel, while in the second round Russia's Lukoil won the crown jewel.
Only two of the 15 companies which will be producing Iraqi oil in the coming decades are American (Exxon Mobil and Occidental).April 19, 2011 - 5:26 pm Link to this Comment
81. Subotai Bahadur
#79 Whitehall
Thanks. I already have Goldsworthy's "Roman Warfare". I'll look into both Grant and "The Complete Roman Army".
In the late empire phase, cavalary seems to have become a more important part of Roman tactics although the actual legion composition may not have changed much as a percent of armed men.
It is my understanding that in the middle and late Western Empire, the cavalry was largely hired auxiliaries. The adoption of the stirrup enabled the use of weaponry from horseback as has been noted; and especially the development of the heavily armored Cataphracti as the heavy cavalry fraction used both in the Eastern and Western Empires. One difference, off the top of my head, was that in the West the Cataphracti were frequently hired Sarmatians [steppe people], as opposed to the Eastern Empire where they were organic Imperial units.
One interesting bit of conjecture. There was a Sarmatian Cataphracti unit based in Britain along Hadrian's Wall. Keep in mind, this is heavy armored cavalry carrying long, heavy, spears. They have found that they had carved the equivalent of the regimental crest, graffiti style, on the stone walls of the barracks. What was the crest? A sword in a stone. This may be one of the many threads over the length of Britannia and several centuries that helped create the Arthurian legend.
Subotai BahadurApril 19, 2011 - 5:32 pm Link to this Comment
82. blert
79. Whitehall
I, too, recommend Walter R. Borneman's effort — and have a copy.
Polk easily is in the top eight most important Presidents. His timing was miraculous. America gained ownership of the California gold strike only weeks after Marshall's boys discovered placer at Coloma.
That set the stage for the rest of the 19th Century — especially the American Civil War. It caused it and financed it!April 19, 2011 - 5:57 pm Link to this Comment
83. marymcl
@22 Victor
~ "The wise Petraeus strategy
– to split the Taliban into a militant wing and a political wing
– then make a deal with the political wing is moving forward.
+ The militant wing must and will be destroyed!" ~
You mean the way Sinn Fein "destroyed" the IRA? Doesn't sound so wise to me.
Subotai ~
I haven't read that particular book, but I do recommend Michael Grant. He's written many books about the ancient Mediterranean – Etruscans, Greeks, Hebrews, you name it. A very knowledgeable man and an engaging writer.April 19, 2011 - 8:52 pm Link to this Comment
84. jWarrior
81 : SB. There is a 2007 file called The Last Legion that is loosely based on what you say. Colin Firth is in it, so it's not too bad.April 20, 2011 - 4:41 am Link to this Comment
85. Naddy Bumpko
In the years prior to the start of U.S involvement in WWII the Japanese military dismissed the U.S. military as lightweights (my word), unwilling to fight, unwilling to take casualties and prone to turn tail at the first sign of trouble. They obviously failed to study the history of the USMC in WWI and it seems that the Taliban have also under estimated the fighting prowess of the Marines. Much to their dismay I'm sure. Now they want to make nice with the Taliban and al-Quida? Ummm….no. I have a better idea. Let's kill them , then we can send our troops home.April 20, 2011 - 12:47 pm Link to this Comment
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- Daily Feature July 18, 2011
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This is for Adrian's birthday... and please don't laugh about it... I'm not an animator, I'm an illustrator but I really put my effort to make this look good. By the way, I wasted 4 days of work 'cause the file broke, but a good friend of mine rescued it, and i had to hurry the end, that's why the quality gets low at the end.
May be the preloader is not working....
EDIT: Wow! Frontpaged! Thank you all! I really appreciate the comments and the ratings, sorry I'm not answering all the comments but I'm sure I will read them all n_n
EDIT 2: Guys... there is many people thinking this is my first animation, it's not, I never said it was my first, thanks for the cheers anyway! n_n
Esto es para el cumple de Adrian, y por favor no se rian... no soy animadora, soy ilustradora pero realmente me esforce para que se viera bien. Por cierto, perdi 4 dias de trabajo porque el archivo se jodio pero un buen amigo mio lo rescato, y al final me tuve que apurar, por eso el final esta medio echo al chilason.
Tal vez la barra de cargar no este funcionando...
EDIT: Wow! En la pagina principal! Gracias a todos! Deberas aprecio los comentarios y los raitings, perdon por no contestar todos los mensajes pero seguro los voy a leer todos n_n
EDIT 2: Oigan... hay mucha gente que piensa que esta es mi primer animacion, no lo es, nunca dije que fuera la primera, muchas gracias por los animos de todos modos!! n_n
Rated 4 / 5 stars February 13, 2014
why was he wearing a hooded cloak on a sunny day?
the character designed reminded me of inuyasha, is that how you spell it?
Rated 5 / 5 stars February 16, 2013
kick ass man.
Rated 5 / 5 stars August 4, 2012
I love this video! I love wolfs and the storyline is great (I think) Great idea!
Rated 5 / 5 stars July 11, 2012
great but ... what happens after teh kiss? (its called porn, dumbass!)
Rated 5 / 5 stars July 9, 2012
Hahah Thats a fun little movie. I loved it

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Former University of Louisville football player and Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch is tackling a personal mission off the field.
Branch did an interview with ABC News where he talked about his mission to raise funds and awareness about meningitis in honor of his son.
His son, Deiondre, had meningitis and suffered a brain injury from the infection. Now 11, Deiondre, lives at the Home of the Innocents because he needs constant care.
Branch started the Deion Branch Foundation to raise money and awareness about the cause. Branch pushed his son in the Kentucky Derby Festival's mini-marathon over the weekend and raised more than $27,000 for the foundation.


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Bulk bin buying is always a better deal - right? I was of this mindset until one day as my arm was elbow deep in semi-sweet chocolate chips I saw the price $7.99 lb. I stopped shoveling the sweet morsels scratched my head and thought, "that sounds expensive". So I decided to compare…bulk bins versus packaged. This is what I found:
Welcome back to Project: Food Budget!
SIZE OF FAMILY: 3 -- Nick, Shae & Baby Paisley (Nick counts for 1.5 with his high metabolism)
FOOD GOALS: Nick - Fresh fruit & veggie juice cleanse for 3+ days. Shae - simple, quick & easy whole foods.
FOOD BUDGET GOAL: $100/week.
Welcome back to week 2 of Project: Food Budget!
GOAL: $75/week including any household or personal essentials
ACTUAL: $69.11 ($5.89 under budget!)
SIZE OF FAMILY: 4 -- Daniel, Trina, Brylee and Ian
FOOD GOALS: use items already in pantry, quick simple meals for the couple days when it will be just the kids and I later in the week, restock on some produce and start making smoothies again.
A friend gave us a handy do-it-yourself sprouting container. Making fresh homegrown sprouts is easy and much cheaper than buying pre-grown sprouts! Basically you get some seeds wet and let them sprout. While you don't want the seeds to be submerged you do want them to have enough moisture. This moisture is accomplished by daily rinsing and draining. The Sproutamo container is perfect for streamlining the sprouting process.
Baking homemade bread is an experience I have recently incorporated into our lives on a much larger scale than before. I turned to making our own loaves out of necessity and have begun to really enjoy the practice. A hot slice of bread right from the oven is enough incentive to allow for the time it takes to make a loaf or two every few days.
I live 20 miles from the nearest grocery store (at least the nearest store that has what I need). To save on gas for our grocery trips we have changed our habits to involve only making a grocery trip once a month. I know this may sound impossible, but we have adapted to it and benefit from the savings in time and money. The long stretch between shopping excursions also forces us to waste less food and actually use up the things in the pantry and fridge.
Happy Holidays! Christmas break started last Friday and since my wife is a teacher she got a few gifts from her students. Over the years there have been many interesting gifts such as: school inspired ornament set, pewter apple paper weight, ABC lapel pin and lotion. While the gesture is kind the majority of these gifts either end up in our re-gift box or on the shelf of a local thirft-store. Except of course the coveted gift cards to Jamba Juice and Starbucks (attention all students - trading A's for gift cards).
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We loved this dish! But...I only give it 5 stars with the modifications I implemented. First, it needs renamed--it is NOT Kung Pao Chicken! Kung Pao is very spicy, and this recipe as written is NOT. I doubled, maybe even tripled the red pepper flakes, and added cayenne pepper as well, and it came out decently spicy, but not overwhelming. I also chopped the peanuts, did not use any scallions (don't think it needs them), and used lite soy sauce--it still came out very salty, so this is not a recipe for anyone watching sodium. Think I may use lightly salted peanuts next time to give it better balance. I will repeat, and soon! Served with Basmati rice--delish :)
Kung Pao Chicken
Quick Asian stir-fries make especially satisfying weeknight dinners. Kung pao is traditionally a seriously spicy dish, but we've given ours a moderate level of heat; feel free to adjust the quantity of red-pepper flakes to suit your taste. Serve with steamed rice.
Yield: 4
- 1 1/3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 5 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sherry
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar or rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1/2 cup peanuts
- 4 scallions, white bulbs and green tops cut separately into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes
- 1. In a medium bowl, toss the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of the sherry, and the 1 tablespoon cornstarch.
- 2. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, water, and the remaining 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sherry, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch.
- 3. In a wok or large frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderately high heat. Add the peanuts and stir-fry until light brown, about 30 seconds. Remove from the pan. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add the white part of the scallions and the red-pepper flakes to the pan and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the chicken with its marinade and cook, stirring, until almost done, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the soy-sauce mixture and the scallion tops and simmer until the chicken is just done, about 1 minute longer. Stir in the peanuts.
- Variation:
- Cashew Chicken: Substitute the same amount of cashews for the peanuts.
- Wine Recommendation: Since the chicken is salty and spicy, the drink's first job is to refresh. An aromatic white wine such as a sauvignon blanc from California or South Africa will do nicely, as will your favorite cold beer.
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Kung Pao Chicken Recipe at a Glance
- COURSE: Main Dishes
- CONVENIENCE: Quick/Easy
- CUISINE: Asian, Chinese
- MAIN INGREDIENT: Poultry
- PUBLICATION: Food & Wine
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Date: 6 months ago
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A cleavage worth getting lost in...
great tits
you've got such a gorgeous body
Now that you're nice and clean let's get dirty!! :*
Hot vid , Cold shower for me now...
I would love to lose my lil dick in those gorgeous tits of yours.
gorgeous shower,,,you need a partner;-)...love it when you spread your pretty cheeks!!!
your tits are huge and awesome for such a skinny girl. thanks ofr sharing
got the moves the jagger!!!
You have fantastic boobs.
OMG those breasts are amazing. love seeing the water dripp off them and i especially LOVED when u grabbed ur ass cheek and spread it.... id love to slide my tongue inside there and taste the shower water slide down ur ass...
you are so sexy!
fuck, what an awesome, perfect body!
DAMN DAMN DAMN baby tht ass juicy as fuck. love to fuck th hell out u n shower.
sexy spy ... who the hell would do this? never ever the nice neighbour
My god that was fuckin hot! Now I need to shower


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William F. Bailey M.D., FACS
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text: Found a (non-free) solution. Quicktime Pro and Perian FTW. With QT & Perian 1.x, I can open the .mkv file in Quicktime. Then I export as MPEG-4 (H.264) using "passthrough" (i.e. it doesn't reencode). Should work beautifully. My demo file crashes the AppleTV, though. ... I think there was something wrong with the MKV-file, though, since it also gives an error message on VLC. I'll try with another to verify.


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Have been to this hotel numerous times. The rooms are always clean and the staff is always friendly and helpful. The breakfast buffet is excellent. Suites are spacious, other rooms are nice but a little on the small side. The location is good, numerous restaurants nearby. Felt safe there and felt safe in the neighborhood as well, even at night.
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