This is definitely the best article I have read yet on the status of the Iraq War:

The great question in deciding whether to keep fighting in Iraq is not about the morality and self-interest of supporting a struggling democracy that is also one of the most important countries in the world. The question is whether the war is winnable and whether we can help the winning of it. The answer is made much easier by the fact that three and a half years after the start of the insurgency, most of the big questions in Iraq have been resolved. Moreover, they have been resolved in ways that are mostly towards the positive end of the range of outcomes imagined at the start of the project. The country is whole. It has embraced the ballot box. It has created a fair and popular constitution. It has avoided all-out civil war. It has not been taken over by Iran. It has put an end to Kurdish and marsh Arab genocide, and anti-Shia apartheid. It has rejected mass revenge against the Sunnis. As shown in the great national votes of 2005 and the noisy celebrations of the Iraq football team’s success in July, Iraq survived the Saddam Hussein era with a sense of national unity; even the Kurds—whose reluctant commitment to autonomy rather than full independence is in no danger of changing—celebrated. Iraq’s condition has not caused a sectarian apocalypse across the region. The country has ceased to be a threat to the world or its region. The only neighbours threatened by its status today are the leaders in Damascus, Riyadh and Tehran. [Bartle Bull, Prospect Magazine]

Make sure to read the entire article, especially his reporting on Sadr.  I will remain skeptical about Sadr until he shows otherwise, but it is quite clear that Iraq is reaching a tipping point or has already reached a tipping point and we just don’t know it yet.  That doesn’t mean things are going to be easy from here on out because Al Qaeda still isn’t finished and a final confrontation with the Mahdi Army has yet to occur, so there are plenty of challenges left.  However, trends are definitely pointing towards a sustainable Iraq. 

I recommend further reading on this over at Milblogs. 

Who can name who the man depicted in the statue below is?:

Here are this year’s current Korea Finder Leader’s Board:

Mark – 11
Sonagi – 5
Chickenhead – 4
James – 2
Mike – 2
Peekstr – 1
HumKor – 1
Farty – 1
Maui – 1
kcbill06 – 1
CPT Kim – 1
Tim – 1
Surabol – 1
Brendon Carr – 1
Dr. Yu – 1
foflappy – 1

Note that who ever totals the most points at the end of the year, I will purchase for them a Korea related book or DVD of their choice using the proceeds I have accumulated by people purchasing books from Amazon.com on my website. If you like this website than please support it by buying your books, DVDs, and other products from Amazon.com from the search box on my sidebar. Thanks.

Leave it to the Army to put a happy spin on traumatic brain injuries:

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can happen anytime, anywhere, and to anyone.
Each year TBI contributes to a substantial number of deaths and cases of permanent disability. This fact sheet was developed to accompany the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center’s (DVBIC) “Survive, Thrive, and Alive!” brain injury awareness and prevention video.* It provides: (a) a general overview of TBI, (b) prevention tips to help you and your family reduce the risk of TBI, and (c) a list of organizations that can provide you with additional resources and information on TBI.

Now would you want your buddy diagnosing you with a brain injury?

USFK has released their monthly court martial results for September 2007 on their website this week.  It was a very busy month probably due to cases backlogged from UFL that are now just being brought to trial.  Pretty much the usual mix of stupid criminals with two serious criminals with one rape conviction by a USFK court martial and another rape conviction in the Korean courts.  The rape in Taegu for whatever reason did not make headlines in the Korean media.  Probably due to Taegu being a bit out of sight out of mind to the Korean media.

Another trend that is continuing this month is the fact that another MP and an Air Force Security Forces personnel were convicted of crimes.  The amount of MPs and security forces personnel getting court martialed is quite troubling.

Something else interesting this month is that the Stars and Stripes has begun to publish the USFK court martial results as well, which I think is a good thing because I have always felt educated soldiers make better decisions.  If they are educated about the consequences of committing crime they will make better decisions to avoid putting themselves into situations which could get them into trouble.

Anyway the full court martial results are below the fold:

(more…)

Well the idiots responsible for locking down all of Kunsan Airbase due to their taxi cab related incident exploits, have been found guilty and sentenced by the Korean court:

A Kunsan airman collapsed in a South Korean courtroom Tuesday morning after a judge announced that he and a base civilian worker were sentenced to 3½ years in prison for beating a taxi driver and trying to steal a car after a night of drinking.

A third man charged in the case, Airman 1st Class Michael Carpenter, was given three years’ probation for theft.

The airman, 24-year-old Travis Martens, and Paul Chessbro, who worked at an on-base health products store, directed their taxi driver on April 22 to a dead-end street, beat him inside the car and continued beating him when he got out of the car.  [Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes]

The sentencing obviously did not go over to well for Airman Martens:

Guards rushed to help Martens, who fell and hit his head on a chair after his knees buckled as he stood while the judge read the verdict. After Martens gained consciousness, one guard laid his hands on Martens’ shoulders, and another held a cold 7-Up can against the spot where he bumped his head.

Martens, a military policeman, sat motionless with his head buried in his hands as the judge continued talking. Guards later supported Martens, who was pale and had loosened his necktie, as he limped out of the courtroom.

His attorney, Jin Hyo-geun, said Martens fainted because he didn’t eat anything for breakfast and was upset by the verdict.

“It’s not fair,” Jin said of the sentences. He said Martens and Chessbro, 21, both plan to appeal their sentences.

Well at least he found Jesus:

During a final statement to the panel of judges last month, Martens said he had made mistakes that night, had begun reading the Bible for the first time while being held, and wanted to return to the Air Force.

His lawyer complains that the setencing is not fair but I see nothing unfair about it.  I’m usually the first one to point out dubious South Korean court rulings, but this one, with the information I have, I can’t really find anything dubious about it.  If anyone has any additional information please chime in but it appears this is a pretty cut and dry case that these guys committed the crime.  Additionally the sentencing is pretty standard for this type of assault.  The sentencing is nearly identical to the sentence given to the Stuff ’em in the Trunk Gang last year who committed a crime almost identical to these three.

Martens excuse I didn’t buy either:

Jin, Martens’ attorney, has said his client has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since returning from a 2005 deployment to Iraq. Insomnia caused by PTSD contributed to Martens’ actions that night, Jin said.

The PTSD excuse is being used by just about every servicemember getting in trouble now.  Marten was an airman in Iraq and the Air Force guys I saw in Iraq spent pretty much their whole tours on the base.  Chances are Marten probably didn’t see any combat at all in Iraq.  The fact is Airmen Marten, not PTSD committed this crime and he doesn’t like the fact he is being held accountable for it. 

I love the Government Accountability Office.  Today they just exposed something that has irked me for awhile.

Even if it means scaling high ladders to do so:

At least he didn’t urinate on the side of the building as I have seen many people do before.

Via: Exkorling

This is a great video of the sacrifices made by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan:

HT: Fortress Australia

If anyone has a video of sacrifices made by our foreign allies I would be happy to post here as well. 

Is there a better agency in the US government than the Government Accountability Office?  The GAO has exposed one of the greatest things that irks me, which is the waste of government money by federal employees, mainly the State Department:

Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one-year period on business- and first-class airline tickets, in some cases simply because they felt entitled to the perk, congressional investigators say.

A draft report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, is the first to examine compliance with travel rules across the federal government following reports of extensive abuse of premium-class travel by Pentagon and State Department employees.

The review of travel spending by more than a dozen agencies from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006, found 67 percent of premium-class travel by executives or their employees, worth at least $146 million, was unauthorized or otherwise unjustified.

Among the worst offenders: the State Department, whose employees typically fly abroad on official business.  [Hope Yen, AP]

A lieutenant colonel I know who is in the Army, but was attached to the State Department once told me how the team of State Department personnel he once worked with would fly business class wherever they went while he sat in the back in economy class because he worked for the Army.  The State Department employees which many of them are young just out of graduate college types used to laugh at the fact that the older lieutenant colonel had to sit in the back of the plane while the younger State Department employees sat in the front.

It isn’t just planes either there is a lot of waste in the State Department and with the GAO would audit the whole place.  Just look at how Paul Bremer ran Iraq, that will give you an idea how the State Department is run.   I had some dealings with State Department personnel before and needless to say I was not impressed and many of us called them "Trustifarians" because so many of them were young kids just out of grad school that thought they knew it all.   

Just for the record I have flown once in the front of the plane.  The rest of the time I have flown economy.  The only time I have flown in front of the plane was when I went to war.  The planes the military used to deploy soldiers to Kuwait were charter planes.  I was on a chartered United Airlines flight to Kuwait and was given a business class seat and let me tell you it is nice to fly in the front of the plane and the State Department employees obviously know this better than anyone. 

I have looked fully into the whole Rush Limbaugh "phony soldier" controversy today and surprise, surprise it was bogus.  Seriously I’m beginning to think Korean journalism standards are becoming higher than American standards considering all the recent bogus media manufactured controversies.