So any guesses on who said this?:

“It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers. In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly, I am readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I will, in turn, do my best for the Cause by writing editorials – after the fact.”

Answer Below the Fold:

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Do you wanted to read something that will get you motivated for the weekend? Via Blackfive, then read what Marine Major General (Sel) John Kelly told a group of people that belong to the San Diego Military Advisory Council:

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The Chung family has sold their second dry cleaning business in the aftermath of the $54 million dollar pants lawsuit:

The owners of the dry cleaning shop made famous after they were sued for millions because of a lost pair of pants said Wednesday they have sold a second of their three stores.

The Chung family said they sold the shop involved in the dispute because of revenue loss and the emotional toll from the lawsuit.

In June, the family successfully defended a suit filed by Roy Pearson, a family court judge who sued the cleaners for $54 million in damages for a pair of missing pants.

While the legal fees were covered by fund-raisers, the Chungs have lost business because of the lawsuit and because Pearson posted flyers critical of the cleaners around the neighborhood, according to the Chungs’ lawyer.

At one point, Soo and Jin Chung owned three stores as a part of their dry cleaning chain, but they said in a statement issued Wednesday they were forced to sell two of the stores because of financial losses stemming from the infamous lawsuit. The first store was sold last year.

"This is a truly tragic example of how devastating frivolous litigation can be to the American people and to small businesses," the family’s lawyer, Christopher Manning, said in the statement. "This family has poured its heart and soul into their dry cleaning stores only to have their dreams crushed by Roy Pearson’s lawsuit."

Pearson is appealing the decision.  [CNN Money]

Considering they lost business despite the publicity they received from the lawsuit makes me wonder if there is any racial undertones to the fact they lost business.  Maybe someone reading this familar with where the Chung’s business locations in the D.C. area can comment on that.  You can read more over at the Marmot’s Hole.

Who can name where and what this is?

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

Mark – 10
Sonagi – 5
Chickenhead – 3
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

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.

I had to wonder if I was reading the Yangpa or not after reading this:

Kim Jong-il, the hip leader of North Korea, this week told the foreign minister of neighboring China, “Chill, mo’fo!’ What he meant was that everyone can relax because tensions with the South Korean puppets and its allies had recently eased.

That was heart-warming news for Yang Jiechi, the top Chinese diplomat, whose country has a lot of face at stake as the host of the six-nations talks which, until now, have failed to resolve the issue of Kim’s nuclear weapons. [Korea Times]

But it is in fact actually Michael Breen who wrote these words in his latest column in the Korea Times. The article is actually a bit “Yanpa-ish” because of how cynical Breen is. Who can blame him considering how long he has been following affairs on the peninsula.

I think there is going to be a surge in recruiting for the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Korea:

Conscientious objectors for religious reasons will be permitted to perform an alternative service starting 2009 at the earliest. They will serve at social welfare centers. But the Ministry of Defense said it will require conscientious objectors to serve for 36 months, double the time for conscripts, to “ensure fairness.” The decision has sparked heated debate. The Korea Veterans’ Association denounced it saying it will “further encourage many young men to evade active-duty military service." [Chosun Ilbo]

US forces in Afghanistan continue to destroy the Taliban leadership:

Mullah Abdullah Jan, the Taliban commander who led the kidnappings of 23 Korean hostages in Afghanistan, was killed in an air strike by U.S. forces.

U.S. forces launched an airstrike on a house in Ghazni province where a council of Taliban commanders was meeting on Monday night, the Associated Press reported.

Twelve Taliban leaders were killed including Abdullah, the commander of Qarabagh district in Ghazni, AP said on Tuesday, citing Ghazni provincial police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai.

Abdullah was believed to have planned and carried out the kidnappings of the Korean missionaries on July 19.

Abdullah was directly and indirectly in contact with press around the world during the hostage crisis, including Korean media.

According to the Afghan government, at least four other Taliban leaders who were involved in the kidnappings have been killed this month, including Mullah Mateen, a commander under Abdullah. [Chosun Ilbo]

The effectiveness of the airstrikes at killing Taliban leadership targets is why you see such a misinformation campaign being launched in Afghanistan against airstrikes by the Taliban claiming all these civilians are being killed.  The misinformation campaign worked to get the US Marines kicked out of Afghanistan with the aid of the willing media and now is even being used in Iraq by Al-Sadr to try and get the Blackwater security contractors removed from that country.  Once again totally aided by the uncritical media.

Of further note is that if President Roh Moo-hyun of Korea had dispatched a contingent of ROK Army special forces soldiers after the release of the Korean hostages just imagine how much the symbolism of the methodical killing of the Taliban leadership would have had for Korea even if it was the US forces doing all the work?  Additionally it would have been a measure to save some face internationally after paying millions of dollars in ransom to terrorists who then proceeded to brag and mock Korea about it.  As it stands now the US military is avenging the murder of Korean civilians that ROK soldiers should have been helping to do themselves. 

You can read more over at One Free Korea.

If you are an Army Captain check this out:

Active-duty captains thinking about leaving the Army now have a whole new set of reasons to reconsider: a new program of five incentives, including up to $35,000 in cash, being offered to keep the valuable officers onboard.

But the offers, which the Army announced in a military personnel message Thursday, won’t last long. Some have deadlines as early as Oct. 19, and the last deadline is Dec. 15.

The incentives are limited only to captains with O-3 dates of rank from April 1, 2002, through Nov. 1, 2007, who entered active duty in the following branches: air defense, adjutant general, armor, aviation, chemical engineer, field artillery, finance, infantry, military police, quartermaster, signal and transportation.

Incentives also are available to Nurse Corps officers and select categories of Medical Service Corps officers promoted to captain April 2, 2002, through Nov. 1, 2007.

Reserve officers, warrant officers, members of the special branches and captains who have been primary-zone candidates for promotion to major are not eligible for any of the incentives, the message said.

Captains have five incentives to choose from, with a limit of one option per soldier. Each option has to be “paid for” with a service obligation whose period of time varies, depending on the incentive:

– Cash (Critical Skills Retention Bonus): There are three tiers, depending on branch — $25,000, $30,000 and $35,000. The $35,000 bonus is limited to captains commissioned in military intelligence, infantry, field artillery, aviation and the transportation corps. The service obligation for any bonus is 36 months. The application deadline is Dec. 14.

– Graduate school: The Army will pay for an officer to earn a master’s degree. The service obligation is three days for every day spent in school. The application deadline is Oct. 19.

– Ranger school (requires a 12-month service obligation) and the Defense Language Institute (requires a three-day service obligation for every day of school). The application deadline is Dec. 14 for both schools.

– Switching career branches or functional areas: The service obligation is three years. The application deadline is Nov. 23.

– Extending for assignment to installation of choice: Officers who take this option must have completed 12 months at their current permanent duty stations. If approved, officers will be guaranteed stabilization for at least 24 months. The service obligation is three years. Officers assigned to life-cycle units are not eligible.

For more details on the bonuses, including how to apply, soldiers can review MilPer Message 07-237 at https://perscomnd04.army.mil/milpermsgs.nsf. [Stars & Stripes]

I’m sure more than a few captains will take advantage of this.  Quite a good incentive. 

The Israeli Defence Force may be using sexy former soldiers to promote their military, but the Royal Australian Navy appears to be using a different tactic, giving sailors breast implants:

THE Royal Australian Navy is paying for women sailors to have breast enlargements for purely cosmetic reasons, at a cost to taxpayers of $10,000 an operation.

Defence officials claim the surgery is justified because some servicewomen need bigger breasts to address "psychological issues".

Darling Point plastic surgeon Kourosh Tavakoli told The Sunday Telegraph the navy had paid for two officers, aged 25 and 32, to have breast-augmentation surgery at his private clinic.

Dr Tavakoli said the women had not been injured but claimed to suffer "psychological" problems.

"I’ve had two female officers who have got the navy to pay for breast augmentation for psychological reasons," he said.

"I know for a fact two patients claimed it back on the navy. They (the navy) knew it was breast augmentation and paid for it. [The Sunday Telegraph]

Maybe it is just me, but it seems like if you are having psychological issues due to your breasts maybe you shouldn’t be in the Navy in the first place?  I’m sure the male sailors aren’t complaining though.

I think something is fishy about this entire story:

The United States on Tuesday suspended all land travel by U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials in Iraq outside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, amid mounting public outrage over the alleged killing of civilians by the U.S. Embassy’s security provider Blackwater USA.

The move came even as the Iraqi government appeared to back down from statements Monday that it had permanently revoked Blackwater’s license and would order its 1,000 personnel to leave the country — depriving American diplomats of security protection essential to operating in Baghdad.

"We are not intending to stop them and revoke their license indefinitely but we do need them to respect the law and the regulation here in Iraq," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN.

Details of the weekend shootings haven’t been released, but the New York Times reported late Tuesday that a preliminary review by Iraq’s Ministry of Interior found that violence erupted as Blackwater security guards fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman’s call to stop, killing a couple and their infant.

According to the story on the Times Web site, the report said that Blackwater helicopters had also fired. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense said that 20 Iraqis were killed, higher than the 11 dead reported before.  [Robert Reid & Matthew Lee, AP]

The Interior Ministry’s version of events contradicts with what the Iraqi police and the Blackwater contractors claimed happened at the scene:

The newspaper said the report was presented to the Iraqi cabinet and, though unverified, seemed to contradict an account offered by Blackwater that the guards were responding to militants who had opened fire on State Department personnel. Iraqi police have said a car bomb exploded near a State Department convoy and that Blackwater guards began shooting.

What I think is going on is a disinformation campaign just like what happened with the Marines in Afghanistan and as usual the media is falling for it.   The Iraqi Interior Ministry is well known for its corruption and infiltration by the Mahdi Army.  So does anyone think it is any coincidence that this controversy happens and Al-Sadr is prepared to capitalize on it?:

Al-Sadr’s office in Najaf said the government should nullify contracts of all foreign security companies, branding them "criminal and intelligence firms."

"This aggression would not have happened had it not been for the presence of the occupiers who brought these companies, most of whose members are criminals and ex-convicts in American and Western prisons," the firebrand cleric said in a statement.

Al-Sadr insisted that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki prosecute those involved and ensure that families of the victims receive compensation.

The loss of Blackwater would be a huge set back because the State Department contractors would have no security to monitor the reconstruction projects going on around Iraq.  The delay of reconstruction projects would be a loss of creditability to the US and the Iraqi government.  Thus the US military may have to guard the reconstruction teams which may effect the scheduled redeployment of some of the "surge" troops back to America.  That is why it is critical for the US government to get Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq renewed.    

Al-Sadr is whipping up nationalist sentiment over this manufactured incident which will make it difficult for the Iraqi government to side with the US and the Blackwater contractors over what happened.  Remember, perception is often reality, especially in Iraq, and Sadr and his Interior Ministry goons have already created the perception with the help of the biased and uncritical media.  This manufactured incident will be played over and over again in the media because the media has long been suspicious of the role of security contractors in Iraq and this manufactured incident only plays to those suspicions.  You can see by reading this that the media feeding frenzy over security contractors is about to go into overdrive.

In short brilliant move by Al-Sadr and his Iranian puppet masters to undermine US reconstructions efforts and create a wedge between the coalition and the Iraqi government over this issue that has all been aided by the more than willing US media.