Straying Thoughts

Sure We Support The Troops

An ugly story from the Dallas/Fort Worth NBC affiliate:

DALLAS -- A candlelight vigil took place Wednesday night to remember U.S. war dead in Iraq during the week of the 1,000th casualty. One North Texas family, whose relative -- Chad Drake -- was killed outside Baghdad Monday, was among the mourners at Dallas City Hall Plaza.

The vigil, though, turned abrasive toward the family members, according to a family friend. The friend sent an e-mail message to NBC 5 News that described the treatment some vigil attendees directed at the family.

Drake's mother was "harassed and yelled at, booed and hissed, told her son died for nothing," the message read.

Drake's mother reportedly left the event in tears.

The "vigil" was organized by the Dallas Peace Center. Seems a rather inappropriate name. These people pretend to mourn the deaths of US troops but verbally abuse the family of a young man who died Monday. I can't think describe how I feel. Words like vile, disgusting, and despicable come to mind, but really, I'm just stunned. These people are so secure in their self-righteousness but can't spare an ounce of compassion for a mother who lost her son three days ago. I don't want to understand people like this. Leave them to their bitterness.

Spirit of America--Tools for Iraqi Tradesmen

I just received and e-mail update from Spirit of America about their "Tools For Iraqi Tradesmen" program. They've posted a story and some photos here and the Marines have posted a story and photos here.

The Iraqis receive 6-8 weeks training in construction and at the end of the course, they get a tool belt with their own tools.

Spirit of America has many projecs that they're working on. Take a look at their site and see if one moves you. They're also very good at sending updates on the projects and they're big on accountability.

I've noticed a new one: providing water barrels to poor Iraqis. This project was started by SFC Brian Soper is from Minneapolis, MN; he's with the Minnesota National Guard. So if you're from Minnestota, that gives you a "home town" connection to something good happening in Iraq.

The Scandal That Wasn't

Powerline has posted an excellent analysis of the Army's report on prisoner abuse. Short story--there ain't no there there. The numbers show an astonishingly small number of cases of abuse the entire war on terror, not just in Iraq. 94 allegations of abuse in general, 8 allegations of abuse during interrogation out of 50,000 arrests and detentions during the Iraq war.

So Teddy Kennedy, who claimed Saddam's torture chambers had re-opened under American management, should apologize for slandering the US military. And Al Gore, who bellowed "how dare they...", needs to apologize also. Of course, I don't believe for a minute that this will ever happen. They have no integrity or sense of shame and they'll never even have to face a unkind word or tough question from the media, because the media is complicit. It was never really about what did or did not happen in Abu Ghraib. It was about damaging the President as much as possible, and if that damaged the morale of those doing the fighting or lessened their effectiveness because they're constantly wondering how this is going to play on CNN, so what? We're trying to win an election here.

Take away the rhetorical flourishes and the mock outrage and the political smoke and media mirrors, and it comes down to this. You can elect people who are serious about defending the nation or people who are not serious about defending the nation.

Before and After Maps

American Digest has maps showing the Middle East before the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars and after. His point is that we've isolated Iran and this may have been part of plan from the beginning. Afghanistan also serves as a buffer between Iran and Pakistan, which has large number of militant Islamists. Nobody can say for certain what the ultimate outcome will be, but President Bush has re-drawn the map of the Middle East.