MAY 12/03: 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!
Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Andrew Olmsted, who blogs from Fort Carson. His regular blog is AndrewOlmsted.com.
TO IRAQ...
On the Battlefield...
Three Fort Carson soldiers died Friday on a mission of mercy. The soldiers’ Black Hawk helicopter crashed while conducting a medical evacuation of an Iraqi girl.
The BBC reports that the United States has reached an agreement with the People’s Mujahideen of Iran to disarm. The group, designated a terrorist group by the United States government, was given an ultimatum by the United States late last week.
Inside Iraq
JK: "Dr. Germ" now joins her husband "Missile Man" in allied custody. The "cards" captured so far: CENTCOM list, or "Ba'ath Poker," the visual version.
JK: Ever get the feeling that many "do-good" international NGOs in Iraq are political scams? This report from Iraq add makes it hard to argue. Looks like charity is too important to be left to the charities.
The United States declared the Baath Party ‘dissolved’ Sunday, although General Tommy Franks conceded it would take much more work to completely eliminate the party from Iraq.
The United States is already shuffling its roster of bureaucrats in Iraq, with L. Paul Bremer flying to Baghdad to prepare to take over from chief U.S. administrator Jay Garner, and Barbara Bodine, coordinator for Central Iraq, left the country Sunday.
Iran’s attempts to install a fundamentalist state in Iraq were taken up by Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, who called for Coalition troops to leave Iraq.
Three more suspected bioweapons labs were found near Mosul Sunday. This discovery comes in the wake of the declaration the earlier trailer was, in fact, a bioweapons lab. But Task Force 75, the prime searchers for Iraqi WMDs, is preparing to leave Iraq.
Russia is seeking a larger role in postwar Iraq, continuing to insist the sanctions on Iraq must remain in place until UN inspectors certify the country free of weapons of mass destruction.
Iraqi culture stages a comeback, with the first independent play since Saddam’s ouster opening in Baghdad.
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...
JK: Iraniangirl reports on renewed efforts in Iran to censor the Internet, and block access to Iranian bloggers.
JK: Iranian blogger Steppenwolf has a response that sounds a lot like Iranian rap. He's had it, and the "lyrics" are white hot. (Hat Tip: M. Simon & Samizdata.NET)
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the United States’ road map to peace, setting aside his reservations in favor of letting the plan go forward.
Is nonproliferation a viable goal? It’s becoming harder to say yes, as yesterday India tested a homegrown air-to-air missile as part of their attempts to avoid becoming dependence on foreign weapons technology. Meanwhile, the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Organisation of National Volunteers), the parent party of Prime Minister’s Vajpayee’s party, warned the Prime Minister against making concessions regarding Kashmir as Vajpayee attempts to resolve the conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed province.
The Taliban’s attempted comeback continues, as they are suspected in the assassination of a Muslim cleric close to Afghan President Karzai, and the Taliban claims it is now getting support from Russian intelligence.
The United Nations is attempting to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo, where ethnic conflict has cost dozens of lives over the past few days.
The FBI is considering draining a pond in Maryland to search for evidence in the 2001 anthrax mailings.
News from the front where the heaviest fighting may be taking place: the battle between State and Defense. (Richard Heddleson has a few things to say in our Comments)
It looks like Lithuania will become the first former Soviet republic to join the European Union, as Lithuanian officials claimed the election easily cleared the requisite 50% requirement.
We try to close on a lighter note if possible. Ending the hopes of parents everywhere, a British man who placed an ad offering his son for sale or lease as a joke had to explain the joke to police when a shopper sighted the ad and was less than amused. If you're interested in applying to Captain our Winds of War feature and having your day at the helm, here's what we're looking for.
These guys from State are real cards (and I'm not sure from what deck)
"I just wake up in the morning and tell myself, 'There's been a military coup,' and then it all makes sense,"
Do they really not know what a military coup is like? If they haven't seen one in real life, perhaps Colin could arrange a viewing of Seven Days in May. It's that time of year.
"Why aren't eyebrows raised all over the United States that the secretary of defense is pontificating about Syria?"
Because State did such a lousy job of advancing American interests anywhere in the Middle East.
"Can you imagine the defense secretary after World War II telling the world how he was going to run Europe?"
What a grasp of history! Let's see there was a Morgenthau Plan for post WWII Germany. Morgenthau was the Secretary of a) State, b) War, c) Navy, or d) Treasury?
"Anyone who thinks that you can conveniently separate foreign policy, diplomacy, national security and war-fighting is clueless about the realities of global affairs, power politics and modern [war]," a senior Pentagon official said.
Perhaps it is the Pentagon's ability to amke intelligent statemnts like these that have kept American eyebrows from erupting.
"When there is a track record of success, that tends to earn a heavier and heavier workload," the senior Pentagon official noted.
That's the bottom line State. Got it?
Steppenwolf doing Iranian rap? Well I liked "Steppenwolf" the band in the 60's and I like Steppenwolf the blogger too. Good news, he seems to have come out of his funk a bit as a result of the comments so many posted on his site.