30 years ago today, I launched off of USS America (CV-66(6) on one of the first missions of Desert Storm. According to my logbook, we got 5 hours airborne flying over Saudi Arabia and looking both into Iraq and into Jordan. America was not flying any strikes that first night – we had only arrived… Continue reading It sure does not seem that long ago.
Category: Iraq
No longer relevant
Meaning it really does not matter that the COVID-19 virus started in China. Sure it makes MAGA hacks feel better thinking that blaming China will change the net effects of Nero’s Trump’s fiddling while the rest of the world burned. Blame China all you want. Post memes saying China Lied, People Died ( particularly ironic… Continue reading No longer relevant
A great insult
I took most of this past week off, primarily because I was not very motivated, and that lack of motivation will continue into the New Year. Of that I am quite confident. The Christmas holiday was pretty much as I expected with the S.O. doing her best to go through the motions while either not… Continue reading A great insult
The 11th day of the 9th month of the 17th year.
The 17th year since the disaster of 9-11 occurred. Today, of course, will be a day of remembrances and memorials to the 3000 Americans who perished on that day, and the many more both in and out of the service who perished as a result of that day and the actions taken afterward. The timeline… Continue reading The 11th day of the 9th month of the 17th year.
Never placing the blame where it belongs……..
Over at another blog, there is yet another tired old rendition of the refrain, “The surge worked-and Obama pissed it all away.” It’s a tiresome song that gets played over and over again, and the usual suspects will shout, “hear, hear.” Now I do understand it. I do recognize that a lot of people believe it.… Continue reading Never placing the blame where it belongs……..
But I thought we lost the war during Obama’s West Point speech?
LTG Daniel Bolger (Citadel Class of 1978) has a very good book out chronicling the truth that a whole lot of people don’t want to admit. For them, the wars were lost when the President of the United States decided to :1) not hang US troops out to dry with a worthless Iraqi government when they… Continue reading But I thought we lost the war during Obama’s West Point speech?
When do we get to blame the Iraqis?
I woke up this morning to see articles blaming the current situation on Iraq-on our failure to leave troops there. John McCain is living up to his reputation of never meeting a war he did not want Americans to fight. They are trotting out the “I told you so” brigades to say its Obama’s fault… Continue reading When do we get to blame the Iraqis?
Traveling again
On the road again-had a challenging journey yesterday to the other side of the Atlantic. To start with my ICE train to the Frankfurt Airport was going to be delayed by 90 minutes. That was a non-starter as it was going to make me late for check in-and my requisite need to “pre-charge” in the… Continue reading Traveling again
Going down a sinkhole…….
Is still a bad thing-no matter how many times you do it. The usual suspects have come out, and seized upon Robert Gates’ new book to criticize the effort to get the US out of the worthless hellhole that is Afghanistan, and to rewrite the history of the US fiasco in Iraq. I find the tenor of the… Continue reading Going down a sinkhole…….
There was never a chance………..
Phib, in one of his repeated themes, bemoans the fact that we did not give ourselves a chance to “succeed” in Afghanistan. “All it required was about another four-five years of patience. Of course, that 4-5 from now is based on an alternative history where we did not announce our retreat in DEC 09 …… Continue reading There was never a chance………..