RED SOUNDING
Feeds
Biography
I am a military historian. I completed a B.S. in Diplomacy and Military Studies at Hawaii Pacific University, and am continuing my education in the DC area. I created this blog as a scrapbook to keep a record of events I find interesting, and also to record my thoughts.
WHAT'S A REDSOUNDING?
I served in the US Navy from 1990-1996 as a submarine sonar technician. After completing submarine training, and a further eight months of basic and advanced electronics and troubleshooting schools in Groton, CT, I was sent to San Diego, CA, for sonar operator and repair school. I spent my first two years in the navy going to school.
In August 1992, after finishing 2nd in my class, I chose Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as my duty station where I served on two fast attack submarines: USS Aspro (SSN-648), and USS San Francisco (SSN-711). I completed submarine qualifications, and had my silver dolphins pinned on my chest in March 1993.
My first boat, the Aspro, was a Sturgeon-class fast attack submarine, refitted in 1986 with the AN/BQQ-5C sonar system -- the one I spent months in San Diego learning how to operate and repair. The boat was commissioned in February 1969 (when I was two years old), and I served aboard Aspro for her final two Western Pacific (WESTPAC) deployments prior to her decommissioning in 1995.
I was then assigned to the USS San Francisco in November 1994, and I completed Los Angeles-class submarine qualifications in January 1995. The fact that I was already wearing dolphins made qualifying a breeze.
What first struck me about the San Fran was its size. The differences between the two classes of submarines were stark, particularly in the engine room. The limited space on Aspro -- especially in her after compartments -- was crammed with a nuclear reactor, a propulsion plant and electric plant, water-purification systems, hydraulic plants, air compressors, reduction gears, sea and fresh water pumps, refrigeration plants, and numerous other life support systems. Needless to say, moving around the engine room on a Sturgeon-class boat during a fire drill while wearing a bulky oxygen breathing apparatus required great flexibility and a certain level of acrobatic skill. The forward compartments were not much better.
These Sturgeon-class boats (except the "stretch hulls") were only 292 feet in length, compared to the LA-class's 360 feet. Also, the Sturgeons were more narrow than the LA's, and the slight difference was profound from the inside. Thus, the San Fran featured an extraordinarily large engine room, which seemed to me like a gothic cathedral.
The reason for the larger engine room was rooted in the Cold War. Hyman G. Rickover was tasked in the late 1960s with designing a very fast boat, and in order to do so, its propulsion system had to really crank out the horses. And that it did! Driving the LA-class boats proved nearly deadly during their first sea trials, as the crews struggled to tame the powerful and agile hunter/killers.
My life onboard submarines revolved mostly around my main duties as a sonar technician. During the maneuvering watch, for instance, I spent hundreds of hours operating the boat’s fathometer. Standing for hours at a time, in one place, staring at a stylus running back and forth, back and forth, across a roll of paper, can challenge even the most emotionally stable of individuals.
Driving a $1 billion submarine into and out of port requires the undivided attention of the boat’s navigation team, which is composed of the finest watch standers entrusted with the safety of the crew – generally about 140 men – and one of the world’s most expensive and technologically sophisticated pieces of military hardware. During the maneuvering watch, it is the responsibility of the fathometer operator to alert the navigation team if he's detected anomalous water depths, which typically indicate something’s amiss. When the boat ventures into dangerously shallow water, the fathometer operator alerts the navigation team by shouting “red sounding.”
More to come...
RED SOUNDING
Which Candidate Holds the SEED?
An interesting parable highlights America's decision in November to elect the next Chief Executive:
Consider that, then watch this:
| A successful Christian business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you." The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO." One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure. Six months went by - still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he very much wanted the seed to grow. A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach; it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful - in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him. When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said The CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!" All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!" When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive! His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new CEO the others said? Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive!" |
Consider that, then watch this:
IBD on NYT and McCain and Obama
A great editorial from Investors Business Daily reminds readers that the establishment media wants Obama in the White House, and will cover for his consistently inconsistent foreign policy.
|
Obama's views on Iraq and Afghanistan have ranged from the inconsistent to the incoherent. He'd have us believe he supported defeat in Iraq because he wanted victory in Afghanistan. Yet his subcommittee has held no hearings on Afghanistan, and when he was part of a congressional delegation that visited Iraq in 2006, he passed on the opportunity to continue on to Afghanistan. |
Max Boot on Nouri al Maliki
Military historian Max Boot in a Washington Post column today examined Nouri al-Maliki's history as Iraqi prime minister. Of note, Maliki was opposed to the US invasion, opposed the troop "surge," and severely overestimated the Iraqi army's capabilities. Thus, Boot puts Maliki's recent overtures vis-a-vis a US troop withdrawal timeline in context.
Exercise and Your Brain
Dennis Prager interviewed John J. Ratey, MD, a Harvard University clinical psychiatrist, and discussed the doctor's new book about exercise and its affect on the brain [listen].
Establishment Media's Love Affair With Junior Senator
Great video. (h/t Hotair)
This is all very reminiscent of TIME Magazine journalist Nina Burleigh's comment after flying on Air Force One with President Bill Clinton: "I would be happy to give him a blowjob just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. I think American women should be lining up with their presidential kneepads on to show their gratitude for keeping the theocracy off our backs." [Source]
This is all very reminiscent of TIME Magazine journalist Nina Burleigh's comment after flying on Air Force One with President Bill Clinton: "I would be happy to give him a blowjob just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. I think American women should be lining up with their presidential kneepads on to show their gratitude for keeping the theocracy off our backs." [Source]
He Thinks He's President Already!
Apparently, all the love he's getting from his adoring apostles in the media is going to his head. CNN's Anderson Cooper asked David Gergen and Gloria Borger about Sen. Barack Obama's presumptuous behavior in Iraq. (h/t Hotair, with transcript)
Remember, also, that Obama has his own presidential seal, and one of his senior aides talks like Obama already is the president.
Remember, also, that Obama has his own presidential seal, and one of his senior aides talks like Obama already is the president.
Max Boot on Obama and the Surge
A great analysis of the situation in Iraq by military historian Max Boot.
However, it appears Sen. Barack Obama cannot admit that he was wrong about the surge, and even told ABC News' Terry Moran yesterday that he's still opposed to the surge. Meanwhile, his campaign has erased from the official website any traces of the junior senator's previous opposition and criticism of the surge effort [source, source]. His truly is a campaign of change!
UPDATE: Funny!
| Recent experience in Iraq should make even Democrats who opposed the war a little more humble in their assessments. They should admit that they were wrong about the surge, applaud its success, and vow not to do anything to undermine the ongoing progress. Lanny Davis, Bill Clinton's former special counsel, makes precisely those points in the Washington Times today. However, as Congressman Pete Hoekstra notes in the Washington Post, the mainstream Democratic response has been to disparage the surge, deny its success, and stick with irresponsible calls for an immediate pullout. |
However, it appears Sen. Barack Obama cannot admit that he was wrong about the surge, and even told ABC News' Terry Moran yesterday that he's still opposed to the surge. Meanwhile, his campaign has erased from the official website any traces of the junior senator's previous opposition and criticism of the surge effort [source, source]. His truly is a campaign of change!
UPDATE: Funny!
Pat Condell on Islamofascism
Great stuff! (h/t LGF)
Condell refers to a few obscure issues. Here's a previous post on the issue of the Candian Human Rights Commission and its abuse of powers: Another Ezra Levant Update Part Two. Also, Condell referred to an undercover news report. Here's part one of the BBC report, "Undercover Mosque," which exposed the abject hatred being preached in so-called "mainstream" Mosques in London:
Condell refers to a few obscure issues. Here's a previous post on the issue of the Candian Human Rights Commission and its abuse of powers: Another Ezra Levant Update Part Two. Also, Condell referred to an undercover news report. Here's part one of the BBC report, "Undercover Mosque," which exposed the abject hatred being preached in so-called "mainstream" Mosques in London:
McCain Calls Out the Don't Drill Democrats
The McCain campaign finally highlighted the fact that Democrats really don't care how high gas prices go. In fact, their committment to radical environmentalists' desires for even higher gas prices dictates that they must never support increasing domestic oil supplies. Here's the ad, followed by an interesting Jay Leno joke that really hits the nail on the head:
Obama's Changing Iraq Policy
Paul Mirengoff of Powerline Blog examined Sen. Barack Obama's consistently inconsistent Iraq policy:
|
Before the war, Obama opposed military action in Iraq. It was in his political interest to do so. As Obama’s Senate campaign manager has acknowledged, to win the Democratic race for the Senate nomination, Obama needed to become the darling of the left. |
A Surge in Afghanistan
Both presumptive presidential candidates support a "surge" in Afghanistan. As I noted in an earlier post, some scholars don't agree that an increase in troop numbers is the answer to increasing violence. Today, another writer, Ann Marlow, weighed in on the subject, and argued that a surge may not be the answer.
| Afghanistan's problems are not the same as Iraq's. Its people aren't recovering from a brutal, all-controlling tyranny, but from decades of chaos and centuries of bad government. Afghanistan, unlike Iraq, is largely illiterate and has a relatively undeveloped civil society. Afghan society still centers around the family and, for men, the mosque. Its society and traditions are still largely intact, in contrast to Iraq's fractured, urbanized and half-modernized population. |
VDH on Tet Offensive
Noted classicist Victor Davis Hanson spoke at Hillsdale College on September 10, 2007, about the lessons of the Tet Offensive, which Hanson calls a "psychological victory" that altered the course of the Vietnam War. Hanson made comparisons to the current situation in Iraq. He argued, as he's done in several of this books, that there are certain factors that make Westerners great warriors, yet parodoxically prone to eschew war. This is Hanson at his best, and this lecture highlights why he's one of today's most respected military historians. [Source]
Leftist Hypocrisy
A great video from Americans for Prosperity highlights the sheer hypocrisy of the limosine liberals who attended the Al Gore global warming gathering this past week in Washington, D.C. For more photos, see their blog.
UPDATE: 7/22/2008
Al Gore defended his 10,000 square foot home, which he shares with his wife, Tipper. It's "green," though, so I guess it's okay. Watch. (h/t Instapundit)
Here's the video of Global Warming Messiah Al Gore's speech on July 17 where he lectured Americans about using more "green" energy, while his Lincoln SUV and 2 Towncars sat outside with the air conditioner running for an hour!
UPDATE: 7/22/2008
Al Gore defended his 10,000 square foot home, which he shares with his wife, Tipper. It's "green," though, so I guess it's okay. Watch. (h/t Instapundit)
Here's the video of Global Warming Messiah Al Gore's speech on July 17 where he lectured Americans about using more "green" energy, while his Lincoln SUV and 2 Towncars sat outside with the air conditioner running for an hour!
NPR Blurs Distinctions
NPR's Morning Edition yesterday attempted to analyze the terrorism policies of Sens. Obama and McCain, but completely overlooked the key difference in order to portray them as indistinct. Listen.
The producers of this segment cited Michael Sheehan, a counterterrorism expert who says after examining each candidate's policies, he couldn't find much difference between McCain's and Obama's counterterrorism programs. However, both Sheehan and NPR completely overlooked the most glaring difference: McCain acknowledges that Iraq is the central front in the war against Islamofascism, and Obama says it isn't now and never was the central front. They can't both be right.
Let us take a look at what our enemy, Osama bin Laden, said in December 2004 about the importance of Iraq [source]:
The second in command, Ayman Zawahiri, echoed bin Laden [source].
Thus, it appears there is a major difference between the two candidates, but for those in the tank for Obama this warranted absolutely no attention. The reason for overlooking the difference was openly admitted by the producers themselves: "Given that McCain consistently polls better than Obama on the question of how to fight terrorism, it is in McCain's interest to highlight the policy differences he has with Obama." Apparently, it's thus in NPR's interest to whitewash those differences.
Of note, Sheehan made note of Saddam Hussein's ties to international terrorists during a 1999 hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs [source].
The producers of this segment cited Michael Sheehan, a counterterrorism expert who says after examining each candidate's policies, he couldn't find much difference between McCain's and Obama's counterterrorism programs. However, both Sheehan and NPR completely overlooked the most glaring difference: McCain acknowledges that Iraq is the central front in the war against Islamofascism, and Obama says it isn't now and never was the central front. They can't both be right.
Let us take a look at what our enemy, Osama bin Laden, said in December 2004 about the importance of Iraq [source]:
| LADEN: "I now address my speech to the whole of the Islamic nation: Listen and understand. The issue is big and the misfortune is momentous. The most important and serious issue today for the whole world is this Third World War, which the Crusader-Zionist coalition began against the Islamic nation. It is raging in the land of the two rivers. The world's millstone and pillar is in Baghdad, the capital of the caliphate." (Text Of Bin Laden's Audio Message To Muslims In Iraq, Posted On Jihadist Websites, 12/28/04) |
The second in command, Ayman Zawahiri, echoed bin Laden [source].
Thus, it appears there is a major difference between the two candidates, but for those in the tank for Obama this warranted absolutely no attention. The reason for overlooking the difference was openly admitted by the producers themselves: "Given that McCain consistently polls better than Obama on the question of how to fight terrorism, it is in McCain's interest to highlight the policy differences he has with Obama." Apparently, it's thus in NPR's interest to whitewash those differences.
Of note, Sheehan made note of Saddam Hussein's ties to international terrorists during a 1999 hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs [source].
The Poor in America
Incredible.
I've written before about how Leftist ideas in America produce more poverty and greater dependence on government programs. Here's a perfect example:
After all, her friends are only doing what the government would like them to do. But at least they got that final part right, though they likely don't have much say in the matter.
(h/t Instapundit)
I've written before about how Leftist ideas in America produce more poverty and greater dependence on government programs. Here's a perfect example:
|
People tell Nunez her daughter could get more money in public assistance if she had a child. |
After all, her friends are only doing what the government would like them to do. But at least they got that final part right, though they likely don't have much say in the matter.
(h/t Instapundit)
Maliki and Obama
Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki said during an interview with a German news magazine that presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's time-table for withdrawing US forces from Iraq "corresponds" with the wishes of the Iraqi government (h/t Hotair). The establishement media will likely (assuredly) be highlighting this news over the next week, as they follow the junior senator around the Middle East and Asia. In fact, Der Speigel has since altered the translation of Maliki's comments, indicating there's something amiss at the anti-Bush magazine.
What you will not hear from the establishment media, though, is the fact that the much improved situation in Iraq where such discussions about withdrawals are occurring would never have existed had Obama and his Democrat colleagues gotten what they wanted in 2007 -- that is, an unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all combat troops. Remember, in early 2007 Obama said a surge of troops would not reduce violence, but would increase it. He also said the war had been lost, and has continued, until very recently, to call for an "end" to the war, rather than a victory for US forces.
UPDATE: 7/20/2008
Newsbusters has a few posts about the media's love affair with Sen. Barack Obama, particularly this one which highlights how the establishment media jumped all over Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's apparent agreement with Obama's plan for withdrawing US troops. In fact, the German magazine Der Speigel, which interviewed Maliki has since revised their original article, and now says they mis-translated the PM. Also, an Iraqi spokesman has stated the article was incorrect when it implied Maliki supports Obama's plan for withdrawal.
Another Newsbusters post [here] focused on another media personality treating Obama with kid gloves.
What you will not hear from the establishment media, though, is the fact that the much improved situation in Iraq where such discussions about withdrawals are occurring would never have existed had Obama and his Democrat colleagues gotten what they wanted in 2007 -- that is, an unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all combat troops. Remember, in early 2007 Obama said a surge of troops would not reduce violence, but would increase it. He also said the war had been lost, and has continued, until very recently, to call for an "end" to the war, rather than a victory for US forces.
UPDATE: 7/20/2008
Newsbusters has a few posts about the media's love affair with Sen. Barack Obama, particularly this one which highlights how the establishment media jumped all over Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's apparent agreement with Obama's plan for withdrawing US troops. In fact, the German magazine Der Speigel, which interviewed Maliki has since revised their original article, and now says they mis-translated the PM. Also, an Iraqi spokesman has stated the article was incorrect when it implied Maliki supports Obama's plan for withdrawal.
Another Newsbusters post [here] focused on another media personality treating Obama with kid gloves.
Science versus Hype
A new scientific paper published by the American Physical Society, the country's largest organization of physicists, contradicts Al Gore's hyperbole regarding man-made global warming (MMGW). However, the organization has not changed its position vis-a-vis MMGW. (h/t Hotair)
Speaking of Balls
More footage from Jesse Jackson's controversial remarks last week. (h/t Hotair)
Purity Balls
TIME had a relatively sympathetic piece about a growing phenomenon in America: Purity Balls. Fathers escort their daughters, aged from about 8 to 18, to dances where the young women commit themselves to sexual purity, and their fathers commit themselves to providing for and protecting their daughters from the ills of our post-modern culture. Here's a sample:
That seems like a small price to pay for making the right decision. After all, no one is guaranteed a life free from guilt. What's the alternative? I've addressed what threats to their daughters today's fathers are facing (if you've seen the film "Jaws," you'll recongize the titles):
Here Lies the Body of Mary Lee
Died at the Age of One Hundred and Three
| In the face of the hook-up culture of casual sexual experimentation, [Ken Lane] explains, with its potential physical and emotional risks, he wants to model an alternative. Even with older teenagers, many of these families don't believe in random dating but rather intentional dating, which typically begins with a young man's asking a father for permission to get to know his daughter. Lane was so stymied by how exactly that conversation would go that he even asked Randy Wilson if he could sit at a nearby table and listen in one day when Wilson met one of Khrystian's potential suitors at a local Starbucks. "We're trying to be realistic," Lane says. "I'm not ready to be like India--have arranged marriages. But there is some wisdom there, in that at least the parents are involved." This, of course, is the kind of conversation that makes critics howl. What about a young woman's right to date whomever she pleases, make her own mistakes, learn from the experience, find out who she is and what matters to her? To which the Wilsons and their allies reply: If you still think this is just about sex, you are missing the whole point. The message, they say, is about integrity, being whole people, heart and soul and body. Wilson himself has said virginity pledges have a downside: "It heaps guilt upon them. If they fail, you've made it worse for them," he said. "Who is perfect in this world? One mistake doesn't mean it's all over." Everyone here has a story, and very few are in black and white. One man is dancing with his younger daughter, wishing his older girl had come as well. She used to wear a purity ring, he says, until a boy she knew assaulted her; she took it off--felt too dirty. Her parents gave her a new one, a bigger one; it took many months and much therapy, her father goes on, before she was able to put a ring on again. "That was part of a healing process," he says, "with the message that you're valuable no matter what someone did to you." |
That seems like a small price to pay for making the right decision. After all, no one is guaranteed a life free from guilt. What's the alternative? I've addressed what threats to their daughters today's fathers are facing (if you've seen the film "Jaws," you'll recongize the titles):
Here Lies the Body of Mary Lee
Died at the Age of One Hundred and Three
Obama in Middle East and Afghanistan
NYT: "Senator Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan Saturday morning, opening his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to meet with American commanders there and later in Iraq to receive an on-the-ground assessment of military operations in the United States’ two major war zones."
Howler alert! (Try not to blow your drink through your nose):
There's an interesting article in the July 28, 2008 issue of TIME magazine by author and Harvard professor Rory Stewart that examines what has been done right and wrong in Afghanistan, and what needs to be done to ensure stability in the region:
Stewart's thesis has a glaring weakness because it's based on an incorrect assumption. He says, "We face pressing challenges elsewhere. If we are worried about terrorism, Pakistan is more important than Afghanistan; if we are worried about regional stability, then Egypt, Iran or even Lebanon is more important; if we are worried about poverty, Africa is more important." However, Afghanistan presents a confluence of issues that makes it uniquely sensative because all these challenges are present in one region, not dispersed across continents as Stewart implies.
The article is followed up with a short glimpse into each presidential candidate's Afghanistan policies, which Dennis Prager dissected yesterday [listen]. His analysis is devastatlingly thorough and highlights Obama's incoherence.
Howler alert! (Try not to blow your drink through your nose):
| "Well, you know, I’m more interested in listening than doing a lot of talking,” Mr. Obama said. “And I think it is very important to recognize that I’m going over there as a U.S. senator. We have one president at a time, so it’s the president’s job to deliver those messages." |
There's an interesting article in the July 28, 2008 issue of TIME magazine by author and Harvard professor Rory Stewart that examines what has been done right and wrong in Afghanistan, and what needs to be done to ensure stability in the region:
| So what exactly should we do about Afghanistan now? First, the West should not increase troop numbers. In time, NATO allies, such as Germany and Holland, will probably want to draw down their numbers, and they should be allowed to do so. We face pressing challenges elsewhere. If we are worried about terrorism, Pakistan is more important than Afghanistan; if we are worried about regional stability, then Egypt, Iran or even Lebanon is more important; if we are worried about poverty, Africa is more important. A troop increase is likely to inflame Afghan nationalism because Afghans are more anti-foreign than we acknowledge and the support for our presence in the insurgency areas is declining. The Taliban, which was a largely discredited and backward movement, gains support by portraying itself as fighting for Islam and Afghanistan against a foreign military occupation. Nor should we increase our involvement in government and the economy. The more responsibility we take in Afghanistan, the more we undermine the credibility and responsibility of the Afghan government and encourage it to act irresponsibly. Our claims that Afghanistan is the "front line in the war on terror" and that "failure is not an option" have convinced the Afghan government that we need it more than it needs us. The worse things become, the more assistance it seems to receive. This is not an incentive to reform. Increasing our commitment to Afghanistan gives us no leverage over the government. ... A smarter strategy would focus on two elements: more effective aid and a more limited military objective. We should target development assistance in provinces where we have a track record of success. Our investment goes further in stable and welcoming places like Hazarajat than it can in hostile, insurgency-dominated areas like Kandahar and Helmand, where we have to spend millions on security and the locals do not contribute to the project and will not sustain it after our departure. We should focus on meeting the Afghan government's request for more investment in agricultural irrigation, energy and roads. And we should increase our support to the most effective departments, such as education, health and rural development; they are good for the reputation of the Afghan state and the West. Creating more educated, healthier women and men and better transport, communications and electrical infrastructure may be only part of the story, but they are essential for Afghanistan's economic future. Our efforts in nation-building, governance and counternarcotics should be smaller and more creative. This is not because these issues are unimportant; they are vital for Afghanistan's future. But only the Afghan government has the legitimacy, the knowledge and the power to build a nation. The West's supporting role is at best limited and uncertain. The recent elimination of the opium crop in Nangarhar, for instance, was driven by the will and charisma of a local governor and owed little to Western-funded "capacity-building" seminars. The greatest recent improvements in local government have come about through the replacement of local governors rather than through hundred-million-dollar training programs. Since these successes are often difficult to predict, we should invest in numerous smaller opportunities rather than bet all our chips on a few large programs. |
Stewart's thesis has a glaring weakness because it's based on an incorrect assumption. He says, "We face pressing challenges elsewhere. If we are worried about terrorism, Pakistan is more important than Afghanistan; if we are worried about regional stability, then Egypt, Iran or even Lebanon is more important; if we are worried about poverty, Africa is more important." However, Afghanistan presents a confluence of issues that makes it uniquely sensative because all these challenges are present in one region, not dispersed across continents as Stewart implies.
The article is followed up with a short glimpse into each presidential candidate's Afghanistan policies, which Dennis Prager dissected yesterday [listen]. His analysis is devastatlingly thorough and highlights Obama's incoherence.
Colorado
A business trip to Denver afforded me and a colleague the opportunity to visit Estes Park, CO, last week, and a drive down beautiful Rt 7. Estes Park is famous for the hotel featured in the Stanley Kubrick film "The Shining," starring Jack Nickleson. What a beautiful state! Here's some photos from the trip:
A quick little hike near a beautiful stream.
A drive down scenic Rt 7.
An old stone church a few miles south of Estes Park.
Elevation: 8964 ft. Earlier we passed above 9000 ft.
Looking northwest over Lake Estes.
The Rockies beat the visiting Pirates 5-3 after being down 0-3. Coors Field is a beautiful ballpark, much like Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Sunset from Aurora.
A quick little hike near a beautiful stream.
A drive down scenic Rt 7.
An old stone church a few miles south of Estes Park.
Elevation: 8964 ft. Earlier we passed above 9000 ft.
Looking northwest over Lake Estes.
The Rockies beat the visiting Pirates 5-3 after being down 0-3. Coors Field is a beautiful ballpark, much like Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Sunset from Aurora.
Terror Threat in Colorado
The Denver Water Board closed a dam road near Breckenridge, Colorado, for security reasons [more]. Stratfor assessed the feasibility of an attack by al Qaeda on America's dams.
Don't Drill Democrats
Hugh Hewitt coined the phrase, "Don't Drill Democrats," or DDD, to emphasize that, as gas prices continue to soar, we must remember that the Democrats who control Congress are opposed to drilling for oil in the United States, no matter how high the prices go. Today, John Hinderacker at Powerline Blog posted an interesting piece that demostrates that not only are Democrats against drilling for oil in the United States, they're also trying to pull the wool over the voters' eyes. Bottom line: Dems are running a bill through Congress that's nothing but smoke and mirrors, but which is being sold as an answer to our energy problems.
Obama's Naivete
The blogs have been ablaze with examinations of Sen. Barack Obama's foreign policies, and the sheer audacity of the man. Ed Morrissey posted an entry about Obama's recent interest in speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, and highlighted (but disagreed with some portions of) Charles Krauthammer's criticism. Morrissey also made note of Obama's recent gaffe regarding an apparent "bomb" that landed on Pearl Harbor -- anyone remember this "bomb"?
At Powerline Blog, Scott Johnson dissected Obama's plan for America's future defense program. This one's particularly scary because it exposes Obama's abject naiveté. Also, John Hinderacker
At Powerline Blog, Scott Johnson dissected Obama's plan for America's future defense program. This one's particularly scary because it exposes Obama's abject naiveté. Also, John Hinderacker