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!
Still getting comments for "Where They Get Young Men Like This." Some interesting additional thoughts, too.
TO IRAQ...
On the Battlefield
Elements of the 4th Infantry Division heading north for a charge to Tikrit? Getting similar reports from British papers, too, including a good background piece on 4ID in the Guardian of all places.
Trent Telenko on the battle for Baghdad and capture of Presidential Palaces and the Information Ministry: "Going Down Town!"
Welcome back from the weekend. More background on the Day 1 strike against Saddam Hussein... Damn. I deeply wish there was something we could have done.
Here's some good news on the shadowy aspects of this war, which can claim very notable successes. Plus, "The destruction of Saddam's regime will result in the greatest intelligence coup in history." Thanks, I needed that. (Hat Tip: Instapundit)
Calling Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, et. al... we think we've found some of Saddam's chemical weapons. Can you say "environmental disaster?"
Whoa! BM-21 multiple rocket launchers, equipped with mustard gas and ready to fire. From NPR Radio and Reuters. Can you get more left than that? Dunno, but you know it's their army of the clueless when they write about "Marines with the 101st Airborne Division"
A number of soldiers also came down sick while guarding a complex, symptoms consistent with low level nerve agent exposure. Team Stryker has the details.
Speaking of unlawful combat, Mark Kleiman responds to Calpundit's question re: the legality of allied commando tactics with a very good breakdown on U.S. Special Forces scenarios and the laws of war. (Hat Tip: Intel Dump)
A great map of Basra, incl. British positions. (Hat Tip: Acepilots.com) Trent Telenko notes that the Brits are now there to stay, and pushing hard on all fronts. Meanwhile, some Basra citizens are revenging themselves on Saddam Fedayeen. No hiding place down here!
The 101st Airborne are working to take Karbala, as this superb and detailed account demonstrates. Money quote: "It's a beautiful morning... Kiowas, Black Hawks, JDAMs, mortars, smoke."
For more background on the religious significance of Karbala, see "War in the Houses of Ali".
Trent Telenko's "V Corps Lessons Learned" comes from front-line 3rd Infantry Division soldiers in Iraq - and contains an excellent set of tips for any soldiers heading into the theater. We've enhanced it with HTML that pops up key definitions and acronyms for you!
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
Why media coverage of the war is usually so poor overall. To help you get past that, Acepilots has Ten Rules for Making Sense of War Coverage.
More liberation coverage! Only thing these street parties are missing is a rock n'roll band.
Sigh - not if the U.S. State Department can help it. Doesn't bode well, especially if this forecast for Iraq's future is accurate. Even if it isn't, it's a very useful guide to the ethnic groups and factions jockeying to shape Iraq's future.
But there are a growing number of Arab intellectuals who believe that a meaningful and culturally appropriate Iraqi democracy is a real possibility. And this blog campaign believes it too (here's the code if you want to join).
Caerdroia explains the full scope of what's at stake in this fight - it's major! To really drive it home, follow that up with this read about "the Toyota Taliban" and the mess they've made in Kosovo. The similarity between UNMIK and the Albanian anmik ("enemy") is eerily appropriate... but this is what the U.S. State Department and the U.N. want for Iraq, unless public pressure creates a different outcome. (Hat Tip: watch/)
A very good discussion of the limits to what we should do in Afghanistan - and Iraq, too.
The Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. Now international, with some links for Brits and Australians! Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated April 1, 2003]
AND BEYOND...
Parapundit has an update on the mood in Iran and on its nuclear weapons programs. The news is not good.
The sensitive and sensible folk at Privacy International ran an international competition to discover the world's most pointless, intrusive, stupid and self-serving security measures. Presenting, the winners.
Evan Coyne Maloney's latest must-see video from the "peace" movement: "Peace, Love, and Anti-Semitism." Even one of the protesters he spoke to was frightened by what she saw.
Amnesty International may be more concerned about its political friends than human rights, but Human Rights Watch is criticizing the Iraqis and taking positions truly based on human rights concerns. Other members of the decent left also chime in.
WEASELS' FUTURES: Interesting bit from Newsrack on Germany's future political alignments. And from BusinessWeek on potential trouble brewing in France for Chirac (Hat Tip: Command Post).
via Emperor Misha, John Hawkins lucidly explains Conservative Thinking Behind the War on Terror. Leftie parody link offered as a bonus.
"Toxic Terror Tick-Tock" looks at the issue of terrorists with biochemical weapons: the past, our present, and possible futures.
More on the Agonist affair, which we covered last week. The comments are worth your time, and the link to today's WIRED article is in there too.
I try to close on a more humourous note if possible. This joke about Saddam's doubles certainly fits the bill, and may be quite timely.
Actually, it's kind of cute when the liberal types say things like "Marines with the 101st Airborne Division." It's a nice little reminder of how much we have to take care of them--they really can't function on their own, you know.
Sigh:
Maybe this is why the 3rd ID shot at the Palestine Hotel? Good stewardship sometimes requires that the heard has to be thinned.