April 18: Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused. If you find something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War". Welcome!
We're Asking YOU: Should we keep "Winds of War"? Is it an important feature that makes us special, or something you can find in many other places?
TO IRAQ...
On the Battlefield
"My old unit is in combat now, without me." Phil Carter on who they are, and what it feels like.
One an Major, now a Minister, Rev. Sensing saw the stories about a military chaplain in combat at "The Battle of Curly, Larry & Moe". He talks about the precedents, legalities, and theological permissability involved. Then he asks: "what would I have done?"
Where did those all Iraqi divisions vanish to? Where was the Republican Guard? Here's part of the answer. And here's another part of the answer.
And why did the fedayeen keep charging tanks in pickup trucks? Here's your answer - we used the French tactic from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Good thinking, troops!
Slate's Fred Kaplan has some good questions for the Pentagon and CENTCOM. Phil Carter has some answers.
We've moved all of the basic military and Iraq reference materials into their own post. Presenting the Winds of Change.NET Essential War Briefing [Updated April 7, 2003].
Beyond the Battlefield
With Saddam's regime gone, the allies want U.N. sanctions lifted quickly. France, Russia, and the EU would rather keep the sanctions, in order to hold Iraq to ransom. They've miscalculated. Badly. Again.
"Stabilization." Law and Order in Iraq." Sounds so easy. Well, here's what it's really like to be a soldier trying to keep order in Baghdad. Great reporting, and thanks to uber-reader Mike Daley for pointing it out.
Got another one: the 4 of Clubs. What a brilliant communications strategy, by the way. Want to see the deck? Want a deck of your own?
Another referral from Mike Daley, this time about the looting of Iraq's National Museum. Good news: Seems the really good stuff was kept safe. The post also has some good background on what really went down there. Bad news: Our recovery proposal in "Preserving Babylon" may not work.
Jay shows us how the Ba'ath Party kept "order". There's definitely something creepy and cruel about the recent cry for order, coming as it does from so many people who supported the dictatorship.
Things are starting to settle down, though. Some of the materials are even being returned, thanks to a "no booty calls for booty-haulers" ruling by a local imam. Lysistrata, call your office!
Outstanding post by Bargarz about the Shi'ites in Iraq. Lengthy, insightful, includes some good update debates, and covers Iran too.
Glenn Reynolds has more on the idea of an Alaska-type National Trust Fund for Iraqi oil. This is a very important idea, and could do more to put Iraq's private economy and civil society on the right footing than anything else we do.
The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. American, British and Australian. Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated April 1, 2003]
AND BEYOND...
Did the Russians pass military advice to Iraq via Iraqwar.RU, supposedly a GRU (Glavnoye Rasvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie, military intelligence) site many bloggers were referencing? Daniel Forbes has done the research, and written a good article.
Well, looks like Iraq is having some effect at home, too. A Pakistani paper notes that a number of American Muslims are welcoming Daniel Pipes' appointment to serve on the board of the US Institute of Peace. They praise his commitment to distinguishing between the radicals and Islam, and also say they're glad he has the radicals' number. Names are named, so you'll know who the good guys are.
I try to close on a lighter note if possible. This story of justice for a young man who tried to fire frogs from a potato gun works for me. Serves him right.
I say keep the feature, but pare it down just a bit. Of course, you should keep closing with something lighter (thanks).
Chuck,
The Iraq campaign is over but the War on Terror continues. We now have an army, and will soon have a larger one, in the central position between three states which are the primary enablers of Islamist terror throughout the world. These are Iran, Syria, and the Wahhabi Entity. Aside from relieving some of the troops presently in theater the reinforcements are ideally equipped to scare the hell out of all three.
With the threat of military force present, and covert as well as overt support for the Iranian democrats, we may be able to topple the Ayatollahs without another campaign. Syria is blathering about making Iraq another Lebanon, which would be an act of war against us. These divisions could take out Syria in that case. And the oil tick Princes of the Wahhabi Entity must be nervous about whether or not we intend to take them out too (I vote yes). What we need to do is deprive the terror groups of the funding and support that comes from the oil ticks. If the Wahhabi Entity does not cut such support off we could discover that the oppressed Shi'a people of the Eastern Province have a yearning for independence, which I suspect they do. By freeing them from Wahhabi oppression we could deprive the Wahhabis of their oil. That would take the oil money away from the terrorists.
So you see, there is still much for soldiers to do there, even aside from keeping the peace in Iraq. We may be able to accomplish much of this without further military campaigning, but using the threat of force to coerce the region's governments into accepting our conditions or being overthrown by local people who want a decent government, in a region hitherto governed almost exclusively by tyrants.