My friend Donald Sensing is definitely in a groove with his latest series of posts:
- A bomb plot to kill thousands of soccer fans at Saturday's Manchester United-Liverpool match was foiled in Britain. I'm surprised it has taken the Islamofascists this long to try a plan along these lines, especially given the helpful race riots that would likely follow their success.
"We are on the edge of the town..we see the minirets of the city and we hear the Immams sermons as they rail against us....good thing few here understand Arabic cause I can tell you the preachers weren't teaching the golden rule today. Morale, sky high...extra intensity..friends are on the line. the senior NCO's and officers here, feel the pull the most. They have served with or trained everyone on the line. The Corps is a small community. This is very personal."
- Sensing will feel a lot better when he sees U.S. forces gaining and using the initiative, instead of reacting. In an echo of his own central point, he links to Hobbs Online's where is Iraq's Wyatt Earp? My own take: the problem in Iraq is strategic, not tactical (vid. Belmont Club's post, also caled "Attrition") - but I do agree with the part about keeping the initiative and fighting on one's own terms.
- Donald explains the ambiguities of intelligence analysis. Real intel is never cut and dried. A reader who spent 10 years in Air Force SIGINT writes in to agree and explain - the reason is surprisingly commonplace.
- Rev. Sensing, formerly Maj. Sensing, thinks bringing back the draft is a really stupid idea. When he sees the arguments being used in the draft's favour, his support actually manages to decline.
- Kerry's officer fitness reports. Donald, no fan of Kerry's, gives credit where it's due and says they look pretty good. Both of us would also argue that Kerry's record since then looks a lot less good. He also discusses the issue of Kerry's purple hearts, and the history behind that medal.
Why doesn't Kerry show his medical records? Is it because he is impotent after his prostate operation last year? How can a Eunuch lead our country?
Hey, a WOCalanche! Joe, thanks for your kind words and the links, old friend!
"Both of us would also argue that Kerry's record since then looks a lot less good."
Good thing it only needs to look better than Bush's, eh?
Donald, we call it the "Winds of Change monsoon" - lots of warmth and a heavy rain of readers.
VT: yeah, Kerry's just your kind of guy. No, that isn't a compliment.
If you read the stories carefully, it looks like it's not clear that there really was a plot afoot to target the Man U-Liverpool game. That might have been a rumor that spun out of control.
Joe;
In times of war, I'll take a bona fide war hero over a chickenhawk any day.
You disagree?
Yes.
I know your hatred of Bush is boundless, but the chickenhawk charge is a lie that says more about you than about him.
Note the difference between your approach, and that of Sensing who puts the truth ahead of his political allegiances.
Everything I've seen from you on this blog says to me that you do the opposite.
Undertoad,
It's very hard to be 100% certain until and unless the bombs actually go off, isn't it?
"I know your hatred of Bush is boundless."
I have said nothing on this board to indicate this, and making such assertions indicates that you are reading more into my posts than is warranted.
You should be more careful about accusing someone of bias or partisanship just because you don't agree with what they say or worse yet you don't like how they say it. It makes you look biased and partisan.
And since you raised the subject, what is it about the "chickenhawk charge" that is a lie?
Joe - re: the Manchester United 'bomb plot'
Bear in mind that most of the stuff the Sun prints is pure and utter speculation rather than hard fact.
Although those arrested did have tickets to the Man U - Liverpool game, there was absolutely no discovery of explosives, and the police weren't expecting to find any (they didn't clear the neighborhood before making any arrests, which they would do automatically if they thought explosives were likely to be found).
It is possible that they were checking out Old Trafford (the Manchester United stadium) for a future attack, but it seems pretty clear that no attack was planned for Saturday's game.
Today's Boston Globe says that "the combat action reports released were actually for the previous skipper of the boat, not Kerry".