With all the news of prisoner abuse and killing of innocent civilians in Iraq this book, Warlord is a welcome dose of perspective to the media hype that surrounds these incidents.  The book is written by a former Marine lieutenant Ilario Pantano who was a prior service, enlisted Marine who served in the first Gulf War before getting out of the Marines to go to college and work for Goldmans Sachs.  He was working in New York near the World Trade Center when 9/11 happened.  Witnessing those events in New York motivated him to reenter the Marines at the age of 31 and try to make it through Officer Candidate School.  He was one of the top OCS graduates and he entered into the Marine Corps Infantry branch and deployed to Iraq in March 2004.

While serving in Iraq as an infantry platoon leader, LT Pantano was accused of killing two Iraqi civilians by an NCO is his platoon he had demoted from squad leader to radio man due to being incompetent.  This demotion essentially ended the NCO’s career thus he was determined to take LT Pantano down as well and the New York Times was more then willing to help him.  The book goes through how all the events happened that caused this lieutenant to face the death penalty for defending himself from insurgents trying to kill him, due to a disgruntled NCO, the liberal media looking to score political points against the Bush administration, and the Marine Corps looking to possibly sacrifice this one lieutenant in order to get the Corps out of the headlines.  It took support from his family, some dedicated lawyers, veterans groups rallying behind him, and bloggers to expose the lies brought against him by the NCO and the media.

After reading this book you will definitely think twice about believing any of the allegations coming out of Iraq against our soldiers and Marines from the media.  A must read for anyone interested in seeing a glimpse of the real situation in Iraq from the perspective of this one US Marine.

British sailors who are in port at Pusan stopped by the United Nations Cemetery in Pusan to pay their respects.

If you haven’t been to the UN cemetery in Pusan you really should go.  The cemetery has graves from many of the countries involved in the Korean War and the experience is quite sobering especially when you realize the few thousand graves there are just a small minute fraction of the overall war dead from the Korean War.  Another interesting fact about the cemetery is that it is the only UN operated cemetery in the world.  It is a quiet, pleasant place, which is actually quite amazing considering it sits in the middle of one of Korea’s busiest cities.

Has the Department of Defense finally made up their minds on this:

First it was required, then it was optional, and now it’s required again — for some.

The Defense Department has made anthrax vaccinations mandatory for U.S. troops and emergency-essential DOD civilians and contractors serving in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility and on the Korean peninsula for 15 days or more, a top Defense health official said Monday.

Currently, the Defense Department is not considering expanding the mandatory vaccination program to troops outside those areas, said Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense of health affairs.

Several hundred thousand U.S. troops are expected to receive the vaccine under the mandatory program, which is expected to resume within the next 30 to 60 days, Winkenwerder told reporters on Monday.

I started taking anthrax injections in 2000 when I went to Korea and I received up to four out of the six required shots before the DOD ran out of vaccine. So I eventually went back to the states and there the program restarted again before my division deployed to Kuwait to fight in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. I had to restart from shot number one again due to the time in between my first injections in Korea. Once again I made it up to four shots again when the court ruling came out that the DOD could not give anthrax shots anymore. So here I am again looking at having to take anthrax shots again in the future and I will probably have to start all over again from shot number one.

On a positive note I have had eight anthrax injections total and still no ill effects, yet. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself.

First the news agencies were reporting from anonymous souces that the initial intelligence results from the North Korean nuclear test indicated it was not a nuclear test:

U.S. intelligence agencies say, based on preliminary indications, that North Korea did not produce its first nuclear blast yesterday.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that seismic readings show that the conventional high explosives used to create a chain reaction in a plutonium-based device went off, but that the blast’s readings were shy of a typical nuclear detonation.
“We’re still evaluating the data, and as more data comes in, we hope to develop a clearer picture,” said one official familiar with intelligence reports.

Now the news agencies are reporting once again through unnamed sources that it was a successful nuclear test:

A preliminary analysis of air samples from North Korea shows “radioactive debris consistent with a North Korea nuclear test,” according to a statement from the office of the top U.S. intelligence official.

The statement, from the office of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, was sent to Capitol Hill but not released publicly. CNN obtained it from a congressional source.

I have a word of advice for the news agencies, how about they wait for official word from the US government agencies involved with the data analysis instead of publishing incomplete analysis based on unnamed souces as fact. My second concern is all these leaks from sensitive government agencies. If a journalist can get sensitive information from government agencies why couldn’t foreign intelligence agencies just as easily do so as well. Why aren’t these leakers found and prosecuted?

In the US military we constantly receive briefings on the importance of OPSEC and milbloggers even have to register their blogs with their chain of command when deployed because of this. Yet the most damaging OPSEC violations I continue to see are from the same people who started the crack down on milblogs, the Pentagon and other government agencies. This is a classic do as I say, don’t do as I do.

Here is an update on the NFL on AFN Prime issue:

Servicemembers and others living on base can once again watch NFL football games and other programs for free because of two new additions to the on-base free cable service.

The American Forces Network’s Xtra and Atlantic channels have been added to the free cable package, Morale, Welfare and Recreation cable television chief Ron Buss said Friday.

Many servicemembers expressed frustration when the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service removed NFL games from AFN’s Pacific Prime channel, the only free available channel both on and off post.

AFRTS says it removed the games because South Korean cable companies pirate AFN Pacific Prime and showing football games in a market in which the NFL wants to make its own inroads could jeopardize AFRTS’ broadcasting rights.

Have you ever wondered why the Dragon Hill Lodge costs so much more than other US military hotels, like the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo? Well the Stars & Stripes has found the answer:

Standard hotel rooms at The New Sanno hotel in Tokyo and the Dragon Hill Lodge in Seoul look much the same.

Both are in modern, well-adorned hotels that feature multiple restaurants, beauty salons, room service, shops and indoor swimming pools. Rooms at both come with a double bed, a sleeper sofa, television, DVD player and mini-fridge.

There’s one big difference, though.

The Sanno, run by the Navy, is $63 a night for a military business traveler, while the Dragon Hill charges $213 more than three times as much.

Both hotels offer similar and much cheaper  rates to servicemembers on vacation. A private on leave can rent a room at the Sanno for $40 a night, and $59 a night at the Dragon.

Sorting out the price difference, hotel officials say, involves fluid financial pressures that range from international agreements to exchange rates to meat deliveries. It also involves the Dragons unique role in the Armys resort system, according to officials who oversee the Armed Forces Recreation Centers.

Basically the Dragon Hill management is saying that they have to make up the costs of other defense hotels that may not be turning a profit or need to pay for renovations. The Dragon Hill receives such a high number of temporary duty (TDY) visitors that are on government travel orders that the Dragon Hill makes sure they charge to maximum room rates to receive the maximum profit from all the TDY visitors.

However, here is the real reason why the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo is so much cheaper:

Gorman knows the Dragons business rates cant always compete with those at The New Sanno. Thats mainly because the Tokyo facility operates under a special agreement in which the Japanese government pays the salaries of Japanese workers, according to Charles Cavill, the Sannos director.

The Sanno has 310 workers, 300 of whom are Japanese, he said.

We have the lowest rate in the system of all military resort hotels, he said.

Could you imagine the up roar if USFK tried to get the Korean government to pay the Korean workers at the Dragon Hill? The Korean government won’t even pay an equitable cost with the US for keeping American forces stationed on the peninsula much less do something that would help the average soldier by keeping hotel rates down at the Dragon Hill.

By the way I have stayed at both hotels and both are quite nice. However, I would never stay in the Dragon Hill on my own dime because of the steep prices. I have only stayed there on TDY and was always shocked by the room rates and always left feeling thankful the government was paying for it. The New Sanno I have stayed at while on leave in Japan and would readily stay there again because the room prices are cheap in comparison to other Tokyo hotels of similar quality. The only problem is that you need to book rooms there way in advance because they go fast because of the cheap room rates. Overall I think the Dragon Hill is a nicer hotel than the New Sanno, but not worth the price to stay there on your own dime, while the New Sanno is worth every cent.

I can understand the spirit behind this proposal, but I have to wonder about the practicality:

Soon dog tags might tell battlefield physicians more than just name and blood type.

According to military medical researchers, within the next three years the tags could have every injury, every surgery, and every checkup of a servicemember’s life on there, too.

Military officials working on ways to get vital medical information downrange are working on new electronic dog tags containing troops’ complete medical history, along with that traditional social security number, service, blood type and religious information.

Already about 13,500 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are wearing electronic dog tags in addition to their standard-issue ones.

The experimental models are essentially reinforced memory sticks, which can plug into any laptop and display every injury, illness and medication troops are taking.

My biggest concern with these is how bulky they would be and how durable?  Do soldiers have to take off their electronic dog tags before crossing water?  Will the electronic dog tags survive the sweat of soldiers wearing body armor?

With the amount of crappy boy bands in Korea I guess it was only a matter of time before someone went insane:

The South Korean pop idol U-know, of the popular boy band TVXQ, has been hospitalized after sipping a glue-laden drink that a female “anti-fan” gave him on Saturday at the Korean Broadcasting System building in Yeouido, Seoul, police said. The 20-year-old woman turned herself in to police yesterday and was arrested on charges of injuring.
According to SM Entertainment, the singer’s agency, U-know, whose real name is Chung Yun-ho, received the orange juice with a note from the woman Saturday night as he headed for a waiting room during the filming of the KBS2 TV show, “Happy Sunday.” The note reportedly said, “Watch your mouth. There are many people changing their channel when TVXQ appears on TV. I want to kill you.”
He apparently did not read the note, sipped the juice and soon threw up because of its unusual taste. He was hospitalized and has recovered, according to the agency. He may go home today.
The suspect, identified only by her last name Koh, reportedly told police she was an “anti-fan”of TVXQ and felt the impulse to “mess with” U-know after hearing that he was at the broadcaster’s building.
Police said she bought the juice and glue at a nearby store in Yeouido and went into the building without being stopped by any security official.

Was she trying to glue his mouth shut perhaps?

I guess it was only a matter of time before these guys made an appearance:

A small group of anti-American activists rallied in central Seoul on Monday, voicing their objection to a U.N. resolution sanctioning North Korea for its claimed nuclear weapons test.

Last week, the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution imposing stringent non-military sanctions on North Korea which claimed to have conducted a nuclear test in defiance of international warnings.

The U.N. resolution calls on its members not to make any weapons-related dealings with North Korea and orders all countries to freeze funds linked to the North’s weapons mass destruction programs.

Chanting anti-American slogans near the U.S. Embassy, about 30 protesters accused the U.N. of collaborating with Washington trying to smother the North’s communist regime.

“The U.S. sanctions and pressure on North Korea are the fundamental cause of North Korea’s nuclear test, and the U.N. resolution failed to mention even a bit of that truth,” Han Sang-ryeol, a representative of the group, said.

The protesters claims are groundless because the US financial sanctions are because of North Korean counterfeiting and money laundering of US currency and are not related to the nuclear issue.  It is easy to criticize the US over the financial sanctions if it isn’t your currency being counterfeited. All the people that criticize the US for the financial sanctions act as if the US should just let the North Koreans counterfeit US currency so the Norks will play nice and be quiet. Screw them and I’m glad the US is standing up to the North Koreans and not letting them counterfeit US currency or blackmail the US with their antiquated nuclear program.

One Free Korea has a great round up of the winners and losers of the recent UN North Korean Sanctions. Here are two of the big winners:

John Bolton: Winner. I’d like to hear John Bolton’s critics deny that, as with Resolution 1695, he has wrung far more effectiveness from the U.N. than we had come to expect. Not only should we confirm this man, pronto, we should clone him. Madeleine Albright never got results like these. The United States: Winner. We got everything we really wanted here:

* help constricting Kim Jong Il’s financial arteries
* the right to search his ships and planes.
* an embargo on the purchase and sale of heavy weapons and WMD components.
* something to hurt Kim Jong Il and his loyalists — the ban on luxury goods.
* the real capacity to investigate, monitor, and enforce all of the above, including pursing them to Iran.

Make sure you read the rest of the winners and losers.

John Bolton has been an amazing UN ambassador and you would think his effectiveness would over ride the political partisanship that seeks to deny him of his confirmation. However, this same effectiveness will probably only make his political enemies even more determined to tear him down.