War Diary, April 4, 2003: Blitzkrieg 2003 and Infidels at the Gate

Thank God it’s Friday! I am so tied, and dare I say irritable? I need sleep! Between work and school I am worn out! I think I will vegetate this weekend, catch up on recorded television programs and watch a couple of movies.

Now on to the WAR.

Saddam International Airport, has been renamed Baghdad International Airport. In less then two weeks, despite setbacks and hiccups, the United States Armed Forces, in a coordinated effort that will re-write the annals of modern warfare, have arrived at the gates of Baghdad with less then 100 dead. And in the process, no less then three Iraqi divisions have been eviscerated, with nary a scratch suffered by the 3rd ID, and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. A recent United Press International (UPI) article characterized it thusly:

“The U.S. military machine is unstoppable and looks set to continue the kind of global dominance that the British enjoyed in the century after their decisive defeat of France's naval power in 1805. A technological generation ahead of any other military on earth, the U.S. armed forces have built on the lessons of the German blitzkrieg of 1940 to pioneer a new style of war. The German panzer divisions integrated tanks, artillery, mobile infantry and close air support with radio communications and consistently defeated larger armies.”

I admit that I was skeptical that this new kind of war—the rolling start—would be effective given the tenacity of the Iraqi irregulars and para-military forces, and their single mined determination to disrupt supply lines and lines of communications stretching hundreds of miles across the desert. But the U.S. military planners adapted to the new conditions, and our troops like the true professionals they are, largely quelled the Iraqi opposition taking the fight to them on the street of their cities. The result: at the end of two weeks the Army has captured Iraq’s international airport some 10 – 12 miles from the center of the Iraqi capital, and the Marines have accepted the surrender of some 2500 Iraqi troops within the last two days. And the Kurds in the north with the help of U.S. Special Forces, have routed Iraqi troops and gained valuable territory. All of this scarce two weeks after the liberation of Iraq got underway. Again the UPI article stated:

"…the U.S. armed forces defeated the best army in the Arab world with one hand tied behind their back. The U.S. Army did not even field its first team. The 4th Division, the most technologically advanced of all, with a computer in every vehicle and TV camera on the helmet of every squad leader sending real-time images back to headquarters, never even arrived on the battlefield.

The tank-heavy Iraqis, trained and equipped according to the Soviet theories of armored warfare, were defeated by an outnumbered U.S. force that did not even contain an armored division. They were beaten by one U.S. mechanized infantry division (the 3rd), one Airborne division (the 101st) and a Marine Expeditionary Force fighting further from shore than any Marine unit before them. They had the backing, on a secondary front, of one reinforced British armored brigade.

This has been a campaign for the history books, an example of modern blitzkrieg that will convince every other military on Earth that there is no future in taking on the Americans…"

But still, the tough battle still remains: the mêlée for Baghdad itself. There is no doubt that if we go in, it will be a bloody and destructive undertaking, and the body count on both sides will climb alarmingly. And the question lingering like storm cloud over the world is will the Army wait for the Marines to catch up (believe it or not the 3rd ID is ahead of schedule), and then enter Baghdad, or will there be a true pause until the 4th ID can take the field?

I say this is a good time to pause, our troops need the rest; they surely must be exhausted and in need of a decent meal. Let’s see what the weekend will bring, hopefully not a chemical attack!
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Source: Martin Walker, Analysis: Blitzkrieg 2003, United Press International, Apr. 4, 2003 (http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030404-031359-3767r)

WAR Diary:

1043 Hours: School had been taking most of my time of late; Spring Break is over and the grind is on again. As I write this (at work) I am tired, not bone tired, but red-eyed, sore-eyed tired. I need some sleep. I think I will skip class on Friday; I am due to miss a Legal Writing class.
If it is possible, we are getting almost too much information on the war. I find myself reading and listening to far less coverage, but perhaps that can be attributed to school as well.

The push towards Baghdad is on in earnest, and I’m not sure it is a wide thing, without the 1st ID pushing from the north and the 4th ID back up the 3rd. I certainly hope to WAR planner wait until the two extra divisions are ready before the final assault on Baghdad begins. Baghdad is far too large for just two divisions, heavily armed or not, to hold for long. I fear the battle for the capital will be long and bloody; a lot of Iraqi lives will be lost, innocent lives, and far too many martyrs for the cause of Islam and the punishment of the infidels (us) will be created in the process. I implore Franks to wait!

But, it is reported that the Marines have destroyed one Iraqi division near Kut and that the Army had swept aside opposition in Karbala, seized the surrounded the city and were once again on the move north. Not too fast, not too fast, let us learn from the very recent past shall we!
Ever wonder how the Army and Marines are organized? I offer below a simplified snap-shot:

Squad: four to ten soldiers, command usually falls to a non-commissioned officer.
Platoon: includes three to four squads, about 16 to 40 soldiers; usually led a first or second lieutenant.
Company: three or four platoons, about 100 to 200 soldiers; usually led by a captain.
Battalion: three to five company, or 500 to 900 soldiers; usually led by a colonel.
Brigade: three to five battalions 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers; usually led by a colonel.
Division: three brigades, 10,000 to 18,000 soldiers; led by a two-star general.
Corps: two to five divisions, 20,000 to 90,000 soldiers; led by a three-star general.
Field Army: between two and five corps, 100,000 to 250,000 soldiers; led by a four-star general.

The Navy and Air Force are organized differently of course; I’ll touch on their organization tomorrow.

WAR Diary:

1539 Hours: I have not left the house today, I planned it that way. I am drained, mentally and emotionally from this WAR, and it is only a week old. And while I have noticed that I watch the coverage a lot less, I still thirst for the latest news of the carnage. I surfed over to Reuters.com (www.reuters.com) today and read a serious of short story’s about the WAR very different from those found in the American media. I recommend the site.

And I have to admit that I am anxious waiting for the next shoe to drop in the form of a terrorist attack. Where is it? We’ve all heard that it is coming, where is it, bring it on, so we can all stop wondering and waiting. Perhaps the terrorist are playing a mind game with us, much like we continue to play on the Iraqi’s. Get us to forget the horror of 9/11, long enough to pull off a strike that will once again catch us unawares, complacent, normal.

Anger and hatred of America and American is growing across the globe, especially in the Arab world; a quick read of almost any Arab daily will bear out the truth in of the statement. They seem to blame the “West” for all of their ills, spanning the last century, and we (the United States) is now the symbol of the west. But I find myself building up my own animosity towards them, despite my claim to enlightened thought. I wonder what kind of men would blow themselves up for a cause, however fleeting. To know in ones heart that the man I fight for is evil, but to give my life for him nonetheless; I can’t reconcile this in my mind. Or is it that they don’t think he is so bad, that because he is a fellow Muslim and we are the infidels, he is the worth of dying for. What kind of a mind thinks like that? How does one get to such a state of stunted intellectual growth?

The seeds of ignorance grow best in the fertile minds of the uneducated and unenlightened. And an uneducated mind is always easier to control and manipulate with fear and assault, by those with evil intent. And fear breeds mistrust in the proffered hand. Paradoxically, we sowed the seeds of that mistrust of our intentions at the end of Persian I. One need look no further then the strange circumstances in Iraq as proof of the proceeding statements. They say that hindsight is 20/20, but the U.S. government seems to lack this attribute. They keep repeating the mistakes of the past, over and over. We should have helped Iraqi’s when they raised against Saddam us in 1991. If we had, would we be fight this WAR now?

Food for thought…

WAR Diary:
1000 Hours: Beginning of Week Two and life for us ordinary Americans goes on, while our soldiers fight, die, and are wounded in an increasingly hospitable foreign land. It all still seems surreal to me despite the fact that I watch, and read, and listen to reports about the WAR almost every waking minute. NPR, CNN, MSNBC, The BCC, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Los Angels Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post; these are just some of the news outlets I drink my daily dose of murder, mayhem, and madness from. I find myself listening to the daily 6:00am est., briefing from CENTCOM (Central Command), and marveling over how truly useless it is. No real information is passed out; the reporters there would gather a broader, more developed picture of the WAR from reading my sources.

But like I said above, life goes on, and I have to try and pull my thoughts from this maddening affair, and turn them instead to work, school, and family. I finally received and offer letter from EDS. I have been waiting forever it seems. Now I can get healthcare, and get my teeth cleaned! My off-spring are straying and like the Shepard I must bring them back into the fold; again! “Why can’t they just act right,” I find myself asking, well, myself, over and over again. I was never, well hardly ever, a problem for my mother when I was a teenager. I did what I was supposed to do when I was supposed to do it. The world I knew owed me nothing, and I expected nothing from it; I had enough disappointments in my life, without expecting the world to come knocking with riches and solutions. Now days it seems, most of the teenagers want to be grown, but want their parent to take care of their needs; i.e. food shelter, transportation, clothing, spending money, etc. In other words, they want to make their own decisions, but want Mom and Dad to back-stop them with they fuck it all up, which invariably they do, because they know only a fifth of what they think they do! And yet, despite the time we (parents) have put in on planet Earth, we know less then nothing about the way it, and life work. Isn’t that amazing!?

Sometimes I become so tired of it all. I want to shout at the top of my lungs, “GET OUT, LEAVE US ALONE, LIVE YOUR LIFE AS YOU WILL, AND DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT, EXPECT US TO BE HERE WHEN YOU FALL!” But of course I don’t, I have to keep it together, I’m the father, the man, the rock, a moniker I wear with pride most of the time, but occasionally wish to discard with extreme prejudice. So go on, plodding, one day at a time, repeating the same old mantra into ears that only half listen, and mind that care not at all, about the real world. Did I say I was tired? But I know I cannot rest until the last of my off-spring is out the door for good. Then can I divorce them? But I digress…

2200 Hours: No plan survives its first brush with reality! I said the two days ago, and it is proving very true as the second week of the WAR slides into the timeline. The critics have been blooming on the airwaves like buds on a tree in early spring. All have a problem with the U.S. battle plan, but it was a gamble and we lost! Our venerable and barely tolerable Secretary of Defense distanced himself from the Battle Plan yesterday, laying it formation, and execution at General Tommy Franks doorstep! I wonder if General Franks has removed the considerable shank from his backside yet? Make no mistake; General Franks was following the dictates of his civilian head and his foolhardy quest to open the chapter on a new type of warfare, one which relied too heavily on gee-wiz munitions, and not enough on tried and true stratagems of war fighting. Seeing the writing on the wall Rumsfeld’s mentor in all of this mess, Richard Perle, resigned yesterday as chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, an independent group that advises Rumsfeld on defense related matters. He says he resigned because of conflicts of interests, but I think he stepped down rather than stand by the plan the two had championed in the considerable months leading up to the war. “Perle, a strong conservative advocate for the Bush administration's hard-line approach to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said he was resigning because ‘I cannot quickly or easily quell criticism of me based on errors of fact concerning my [business] activities.’ CNN On-line (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/27/perle.resigns/index.html)

The pieces of the Iraq warfare jigsaw puzzle plan did not all fall into place like a well written Hollywood movie. This is real life, and “shit happens” it was hard to slip the (23?) millions Iraqi’s a copy of the scrip, though we tried hard enough, and harder still to get them to follow it, so that we could have an easy, and clean victory! WAR is never clean and never easy, and it should be, less it become even more commonplace then it already is.

But the U.S. and British forces have adapted to the changing conditions admirable. They are now clearing out the cities little by little, trying to avoid civilian casualties, but they have to be mindful of the seasons…

Email me: thebard62@earthlink.net

WAR Diary; End of Week One: no plan survives its first brush with reality! The situation from the outside looking in, look, while certainly not hopeless, or even disastrous, let’s just say troubling. We (the United States), have seemingly put too many eggs in one basket. We relied erroneously on the bulk of the Iraqi forces giving up without a fight—well almost without a fight—as they did in the last Persian Gulf War, now called Persian Gulf I. But then, unlike now, we pounded, assaulted, battered, and mauled the Iraqi Army with bombs and missiles to such a degree, that by the time the land war started in earnest, they had had enough, and gave up in large numbers. Now these Iraqi troops in contrast, are putting up a fierce illegal fight, giving the Army and especially, the Marines, no rest, harassing supply lines and whittling away at the nerves and (confidence?) of our troops.

Then too, we relied on Turkey allowing us to open a second front with the 4th Infantry Division (the 4th ID) to the North. And when that didn’t happen, instead of bringing the 4th ID’s heavy tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and armored personnel carriers, south out of the Mediterranean Sea and into the Persian Gulf, we let them linger close to the Turkish coast for almost a month wasting precious time. Now the ships have sailed, but they will not be able to off-load until at least the end of next week! Adding in time to prepare the vehicles for battle and we’re looking at the middle of April before the 4th ID can contribute to the push towards Baghdad.

Further, the lack of sufficient Human Intelligence (HUMIT), on ground in Iraq in the months leading up to this war has proven fatal, because we were caught unawares vis-à-vis the Iraqi irregulars, and militia or so called Saddam Fedayeen. Accurate and timely HUMIT might have shed considerable light on the numbers and concentrations of these civilian guised thugs and marauders.

Lastly, the strategy of playing leap-frog over heavily populated cities based on the forgoing has proved fool hearty, and is contrary to the stratagems of past wars of this magnitude. And while I can certainly understand the desire by U.S. war planners to want to shun the sort of fighting that would be necessary to secure these cities, not doing so has proved problematical to the long supply lines needed to prosecute this war. That, together with the constant and ongoing threat of the irregulars (paramilitary) and Saddam Fedayeen has slowed the progress of this war considerably.

All of these miscalculations and missteps have led to the current situation: troops from southern to central Iraq under constant attack from roaming bands of guerrilla fighters hell-bent on throwing out the invading infidels; supply lines under constant assault from along roads impossible to quell without a campaign of scoured earth warfare; a lack of true American military presence in Western and Northern Iraq, and the forward advance of the tip of the spear, the 3rd ID stalled fifty miles southwest of Baghdad. Reinforcements to subdue the opposition in the cities along the supply route, and a second front in the North are needed. Bottom line: Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Sec. of Defense Wolfowitz’s rolling start doctrine of ground warfare has serious flaws!

But there is hope; deployment of the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions give me hope that soon the 3rd ID will soon get the reinforcement it needs. And the recent drop of 1,000 U.S. paratroopers from the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade which parachuted into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq under the cover of darkness, in order to secure an airfield so that elements of the 1st Infantry Division, out of Wurburg, Germany, equipped with Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, can be airlifted into Northern Iraq gives me reason to believe that given time we can triumph in a significant way. And let us not forget the 4th ID which already has orders to deploy, albeit from Kuwait, but deploy nonetheless.
Busy day, can’t wait to see what the night has to bring.

WAR, day seven. My mood is dark! This WAR has darken it considerably, more specifically the death of the Army and Marine soldiers and the capture of the other American serviceman, has cast a cloud over my mood that is almost palatable. I got very little sleep last night. Visions of men in camouflage lying dead in their own blood, a bullet hole through their heads haunted my sleep, chasing my dreams, making sleep almost unbearable.

My dark mood coupled with a lack of sleep, joined with the pure sometimes insanity of work, plus an incident that happened to me and mine a week ago, and life in general made me want to scream at the top of my lungs most of the day. The weight of it all was oppressive! I could think of nothing else but the WAR all day; I have a Legal Writing assignment due, past due as a matter of fact, and I couldn’t write it. I couldn’t form the thoughts, the words, the syntax, the rhyme, the reason, the logic…

I have slid gingerly out from under it now; the late afternoon warmth and an uneventful nap helped dispersed the cloud. This is a feeling I rarely experience, and one I loath to feel again.

I hate this WAR, I want us to win and win overwhelmingly, but I hate the fact that we are there. But there we are, and seemingly for the duration. We are not conducting an all out war as we should and that is what bothers me most. Politics and WAR DO NOT MIX! Lives are lost, honor betrayed, promises and trust broken, and American fight men lied to. It happened in every WAR since Korea, and it’s wrong! I state again, Politics and WAR DO NOT MIX!

No one wants civilians to die in the course of conducting a WAR, but oftentimes to achieve the ends of the pursuit, innocent people will die; it is why the institution of WAR should be avoided at all cost. That being said, we should not allow our fears of civilian fatalities and the ignorance induced backlash from the world at large it would cause, to temper our thirst for overpowering victory, and put our men under arms in undue harm. I know I spoke to this point last night, but it bears repeating for as long as necessary for the message to reach our Accidental Presidents’ feeble mind.

And soon the battle for Baghdad will be joined; the body count will rise…

Email me: Thebard62@earthlink.net

Bad news today my fellow Americans, confirmed 10 American Marines death and an untold number wounded. Tis a dark, dark day, and my heart is heavy. Even though I am no longer in the service, I still feel a deep kinship—that I find hard to explain to my wife—for the men and women in uniform; when they take casualties I morn as well, as I sure millions of veterans across the nation are. And it appears as though the Iraqis are violating the Geneva Convention on Armed Conflict. Parading dead American soldiers on television, possibly executing soldiers who have surrendered…

I knew in my gut that it was a mistake to simply by-pass those cities in our race to Baghdad. I have a feeling that the Bush Administration is playing politics, just as his father did before him, trying limit civilian fatalities, which is laudable, but it is not worth putting those charged with directly prosecuting this WAR, in harms way unnecessarily just because they wear a uniform. They too have families; they too have loved ones; they too have those who will miss them when they are gone; they too have a right to life and the American dream!

And now comes word that the Iraqis at An Nasiriya send women and children out into the street under Marine artillery fire. No doubt they had in their minds to stop the shells. If true, this is a shameful and reprehensible practice. What sort of men under arms sends innocent, defenseless, women and children out to protect them? Certainly, they are not men I would be obligated to respect, or greet as a man! Where is their honor? Have the Iraqi men none to wear? Appears not!

And the battle rolls on…

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WAR, fifth day, the ground troops advance towards Baghdad, by way of many, many small and medium sized Iraqi cities. I am watching to around-the-clock coverage of the WAR on MSNBC for the most part; they seem to have the best coverage, certainly since CNN has been summarily relieve of duty in Baghdad. The U.S. Marines and Army continue to advance apace, taking out opposition, sometimes fierce, as they barrel toward Baghdad.

They story of the U.S. soldier tossing hand grenades into tents of the 101st Airborne as it continues to unfold tragic. . The soldier whose actions were cowardly tragic, sad, and treasonous, was identified as Muslim American, who had voiced opposition to the WAR. One has to wonder if this incident will now cause a backlash against other Muslim American in the ranks of the U.S. Armed Forces. Our men and woman arte professionals, and that will help temper their response, but they are after all human. And let us not forget that save two recorded incidence of domestic terrorism all of the terrorist attacks against the U.S. have been perpetrated by peoples of the Islamic faith. It is sad but true happenstance, one which can not be denied or explained away with irrational indignation.

As the WAR progresses and the protest around the world continue apace, my mind is shifting as one solidly against the prosecution of this WAR to one who can see the necessity of its action. The protests stir up emotion and memories. The emotion of indignity is fueled by the staggering hypocrisy of most of the world’s people and governments, many of which would not enjoy the freedom they do if not for the military prowess, mastery and bravery of the U.S. Armed Forces. The Europeans, who have watched as their power waned after the bloodbath of WWII, used to hold sway over most of the worlds trouble spots. Their rule in the 16th – mid 20th centuries was often brutal, self serving, and by no means, democratic. Indeed, they have been responsible for the destruction of more civilizations then any other group of peoples in the history of the world. And yet, they now raise their voices in protest now as America attempt to remove an evil. Yes, they have a right to protest, but perhaps that protestation should be tempered by an acknowledgment of the part they and their governments have historically played in the shaping of the world, and the conflicts and strife that sprang from their disengagement from imperialism.

My memories call into focus the great evil of this man Saddam Hussein, who has in the past gassed in the thousands, his own people, without a single sign being raised in protest. This is a man who started two wars with barley a voice being raised in protest, nor fist in anger, by the European people, even as Saddam again gassed Iranian soldiers and civilians and instigated missile attacks on populace Iranian cities. This is a man who sent his soldiers to rape a country, and not an angry word was uttered by the worlds Muslims, despite the fact—or because—he had invaded a fellow Muslim nation. Times after time this man has proved his evil intent, but the worlds people, have scarcely noticed or given air to protest.

But now, the world’s populace is indignant; now they are angry; now they are taking notice; now they are concerned, even the Americans, most of which drove to their respective protests in SUV’s or other means of transportation that guzzles gas as you and I would consume a bottle of Gatorade after a football game of a hot summers day in Atlanta, GA.

My wife and I had an animated discussion about this very subject last night. She was against the WAR leading up to its commencement, but now she is wavering…more later.

WAR third day, the ground troops advance towards Basra, a key port city on the Persian Gulf. Late word has it that the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has bypassed this city and proceeded up the Tigris River in order to secure a bridge or two. Methinks, Basra will be left to the British to secure.

3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) continues unopposed on it trek to Baghdad, and tonight is actually using headlights! We own the skies over Iraq, so why not? The much ballyhooed awe and wonder (is that right) air campaign started tonight all over Iraq. I fail to understand why rational men would continue to back a losing hand in the guise of Saddam Hussain. He is going down, there is no other plausible outcome What do the men backing him hope to gain by resisting; to coin a phrase from the Borg: “resistance is futile.”

And it is finally sinking in, that this endeavor we are undertaking is for real! The protestors will bout in force again today; their re-appearance today forced me to alter my plans, since I have school tonight. They are set to begin at 5:00pm in front of the Federal Building here in downtown Chicago. It just so happens that the federal building is on the very street I need to turn down to get to school. Ordinarily, I hit Bally’s before class, which puts me in the city at around 5:15, so you see, I could risk getting stuck tonight on the Congress, and then have to go way out of my way! I hate that!

So here I am at 4:30, typing this entry, enjoying the most delectable Teriyaki Chicken from China Express across the street from the school. I am famished, having had soup and crackers at 11:30am! I have this same dish every Friday, my treat to myself! By the end of a long hard week, it hits the spot!

Back to the WAR, the unstoppable, fast advancing WAR. It is interesting how all of these retired generals and admirals come out of the wood work whenever a war starts. How do the networks find them? Do they volunteer themselves as experts; they are all over the airways! Not that I mind all that much, I appreciate the informed commentary.

Much ado about nothing has been made of the President’s going to Camp David over the weekend. Lord knows I can’t stand the man, but I think even he deserves to get away from it all. Hell, I would hat for the stress to drive him to start tipping the bottle again; we do not need that. Slithering Dick Cheney is back whispering word of encouragement into Bush’s crinkled ear. Cheney reminds me of Worm-tongue of Lord of The Rings, The Two Towers fame. The only thin he is missing is the black robes!

Sec. of State Powel has been sadly muted since the start of the WAR, but then again there is little for him to do except insist that the provisional governor of Iraq come from the state department when the volcano that is the U.S. military ceases to erupt. Small chance that happenstance will come to pass, but a Bard can hope…

Like everyone else, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the terrorist attacks to start. That is perhaps the scariest portion of this whole morass, waiting and wondering when and where the first terrorist attack will fall. Of course I hope that it never does, but wishing will not make it so…God help us when it does!

This is yesterday’s post:

WAR, second day, the ground troop go in under cover of darkness where the advantage is theirs. It looks like the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the British are heading for Basra while the Army’s Fifth Corp is heading to Baghdad.

I still can escape the question: What are we doing!! This all seems a bit surreal; I got up this morning and watch television while I ate breakfast and then went to work. It was raining lightly and traffic was predictably heavy, but I got to work on time and installed a new anti-virus program on my servers. I had Chunky Soup for lunch with a diet Coke, and a small bag of cookies for dessert. Of course I followed the war via NPR, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and the BBC, but for the most part my life was the same, nothing has changed. The WAR is a world away and it feels like it. No sacrifice is really being asked of us; my spouse made that point last night; it all so very disturbing…

It’s almost as if the average American—unless they have family in the Gulf, in the thick of the shooting—have no stake in this WAR. We watch it unfold, but there is disconnect that is disconcerting. I feel as though I should be doing something, but what? Is chronicling my thoughts here doing something?

There are reports of demonstrators right down the street from here, I’ll go to the Chicago Tribune on-line and get the scoop. Oh good, it look like they have left the loop and headed to the lake front, I should be able to get home tonight before midnight! Not that I don’t sympathize with the protestors, especially since it is raining out, but I value my sleep….

So it has begun; the missiles are flying the motivational music is playing, the hearts are beating, the curtain has lifted on WAR. Let it be swift, let it be as bloodless as possible, and let us not be isolated in the end.

Targets of opportunity they are calling it…40 Tomahawks fired from Navy ships in the Persian Gulf and most likely the Red Sea, and Air Force F117’s launched the attack.

All we can do now is watch as the war plays out like a silent film before us as ex-military generals and admirals become talking heads for the networks. I have asserted that this war is wrong because it violates traditional American principles. We are not an empire, nor do I think we should aspire to such a venture. Freedom for ourselves and others is supposed to be our watch word! We should not seek to hold land and peoples for our own design and benefit.

But now that war is upon us, I will support our fighting MEN & WOMEN (not boys and girls as I had heard them called), insofar as possible from my landlocked perch in Chicago. I consider them my brethren, for I was once among their ranks. When you are deployed in a distant land, the support of those at home means the world to you. So my support they shall have, albeit with a heavy heart and sullen mood. I am tired of war…

On a related note, I heard on the way home this afternoon, that some 35 or more propane canisters have gone missing in and around the Chicago area! The FBI has claimed that the thefts are unrelated, but this pronouncement is a little hard to swallow without thought or reflection. I do not believe these thefts to be just a coincidence, and unhappy happenstance if you will. Something evil, foul, underhanded, frightful, and menacing is afoot. I just hope my own back yard will be free from surge of fire, but since I go to school down town I have to be wary…

Is this the beginning of the end? When will the terrorist shoe drop with fire and destruction upon our unwitting heads?

So it is war then. Twenty-four hours is all we have left of sanity. Now that it is on, I hope it is swift and the American casualties light. And I so hope that Saddam does not use chemical weapons. He has already started sabotaging oil well’s, I hope we can secure the rest before the moron creates yet another environmental disaster.

I am glad that I am no longer in the Navy, but part of me wishes that I was still in and doing something. My life, and the lives of all Americans save those in the gulf, and their families, are so far removed from this war, that it may as well be a long running movie! It just doesn’t affect us. We go about our lives with nary a care, but perhaps with the commencement of hostilities that will change if terrorism comes calling on American soil once again. A terrorist campaign like the one that has become a normal part of Israeli life, visited upon America would paralyze this country. I fear that more then I fear that American forces currently putting themselves in harms way will come to a bad end.

If a terrorist campaign where suicide bombers blow themselves up one after another on the streets of American cities would be devastating, and I fear the Constitution may not survive it! Already, after 9/11 our civil liberties are under assault and the Constitution is burning at the fringes. Ashcroft, I feel, would love nothing better then to declare Marshall Law, and force us all onto our knees to pray for salvation and the American way! Imagine then the assault on the venerable document if terrorist declared all out Israeli war on the U.S. and it populace. With our open society they would be almost impossible to stop without the institution of some sort of Marshall Law doctrine. It is too frightening to even think about in depth.

I couldn’t even envision life I such an America, so use to my freedom am I. I’m not sure I’d want to live through that kind of hell. The uncertainly of where the next bomb would go off, coupled with the governmental constraints would be almost unbearable. And it would be open season on Muslims and anyone perceived to be Arab. Could we see a return to the Japanese style internment camps of 1942? In the name of national security anything seems game.

So it is war! The dogs have been released; their teeth sharpened dripping with fire of revenge, looking for a target neutralize, their path dead reckoned on Baghdad. Lord, I am tired of war. I wonder what peace would look like, how would I taste, smell, and feel like? Would the human race know how handle peace? Probably not, too much evil intent. We do not after all, live in a Star Trek world, yet!

So it is WAR! Diplomacy has breathed its last breath, and the God’s of war have taken the field. And now that it has come upon us, and we are powerless to stop it, we have to support it. Our military men and women deserve that much from us at home. I only hope the war will be swift and sure, and that Saddam does not have it in his mind to use chemical weapons. But if he has them at his disposal, what would prevent him from using them. He has, at this point, nothing to lose. His land at the end of this will belong to the United States; to the victor goes the spoils, said spoils in this case running black under the desert.

I fear the fight for Baghdad will be fierce and bloody, if the Iraqis decide it is better to fight the onslaught that is the American Army and Marines, not to mention the British Army, rather then give it up, and save the city. Make no mistake, if the fight for Baghdad comes to a seize of old, the city will be destroyed utterly, of that there can certainly be little debate. How, oh how, did we as a nation come to this. Have we become marauders, the Mongols of the new century?

This is distressing. I will write more after the Presidents speech tonight in 18 minutes…

Slowly, painfully, inexorably we crawl towards war. A new bomb was tested today. At 21,000lbs, it is by far the largest in the U.S. or anyone else arsenal! Where oh where are we going to drop that? The world is unraveling and I feel powerless to pull tight the string. War is inevitable, unavoidable; it lingers like a dark cloud over everything we seem to do. The stock market is down, the price of gas it up; all bad news seems to have “War with Iraq” stamped up its title page.

I am at the point now—and I know I am not alone—that I wish we would just invade and get it over with already. Invade and let the world implode, and the hatred of American and Americans, spill forth like hot lave from newly awakened volcano. The terrorist will strike and we will strike back, all is lost, all is lost, or so it seems.

The spilt with our Allies continues to grow and I fear for the future of the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for that matter. Mired in a sea of poisonous self interest, and no longer united in the quest to end the evil of communism, the nations of the world have once again turned from multilateralism. The bridge over the moot of cooperation and human progression has been raised, and once again the world is hurdling towards world war.

The United States, is acting like a spoiled child and the conservatives blinder firmly attached trumpet the call to arms with unbridled, naked glee. A quick listen to conservative AM talk radio will bear me out. It’s scary really, how many people; mostly white males want to rush to war. They are so maddening in their Pavlovian devotion to the Accidental President. He can do nothing wrong in their eyes, he is the great White leader, who will slay the evil doer in Baghdad, no matter the eventual cost to nation.

More thoughts tomorrow, time to post…

I have had mixed feelings about Associate Justice Clearance Thomas ever since he accented to the United States Supreme Court, being appointed to such by President Bush the elder. His record on the Court since that appointment has been one of overwhelming conservatism, which I admit disappoints me greatly. Thurgood Marshall is most assuredly rolling over in his grave! While Marshal championed Civil and Equal Rights of all Americans, and fought tirelessly to raise the status of black Americans, Thomas hid in a monastery! And yet I grudgingly respected his right to his conservative views, however abhorrent I found them.

However his dissent in the racial decimation case of Miller-El v. Cockrell, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice gave me considerable pause to think again. So repulsed was I, by his cold, closed minded analysis of the case, I wrote an essay for my school newspaper this past Friday. This man is dangerous to Black Americans folks, plain and simple! Below is the essay in its entirety:

Justice Thomas Has an Identity Crisis


Racial discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice. They are woven into the fabric of American society as tightly as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. Contrary to what most White Americans believe, racial discrimination is very much alive and thriving in America. As a black male I live with it every day of my life, and I will die with its mark heavy on my heart and its imprint etched into my soul. To be sure it is not in my face every minute of every day, but like a dark shadow it follows me wherever I go, reminding me from time-to-time of my station, my role, my burden. No matter the education, social status, or bank balance, if you are black in America you wear a dark suit that will never come off.

So it was with some surprise that Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and a man who grew up during the Civil Rights movement, should choose to dissent in a case dealing with racial discrimination in the justice system! I say some, because Justice Thomas, a staunch conservative, has always held views contrary to my own, and the vast majority of black America, about race and racism. And while I do not agree with his stance on most issues, I have defended his right to form them, and to stand apart from black masses. But his dissenting opinion in Miller-El v. Cockrell, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, in which he stated that “[b]ecause petitioner has not shown, by clear and convincing evidence, that any peremptory strikes of black viniremen (prospective jurist) were exercised because of race, he does not merit a certificate of appealability (COA). I respectfully dissent,” cannot be ignored, or explained away as just a difference in opinion.

For those unfamiliar with the aforementioned case, in 1986 Miller-El was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the city of Dallas. Miller-El appealed the conviction on the basis that he did not receive a fair trial because all but one of the prospective Black jurors was struck from the jury pool by the Dallas District Attorney’s office. Using tactics that were found by the Supreme Court in Batson v. Kentucky to be contrary to equal application of justice, the prosecutors in this case used peremptory challenges to strike 10 out of 11 prospective black jurors. The prosecutors also used other methods—also ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court—to excuse black Americans from the jury pool, leaving a panel of all white jurists to hear Miller-El’s case with a predictable outcome.

It is every American citizen’s right to file a writ of habeas corpus before a federal appeals court, if it can be proved that ones constitutional rights have been violated. But before the writ can be filed, a defendant must obtain a Certificate of Appealability or COA from a United States District Court. However, before the COA can be issued, a prisoner must demonstrate clear and convincing evidence of a violation of his/her constitutional rights; violations a “reasonable person or jurist” might find compelling enough to grant a COA. The basis of Justice Thomas’s dissent is that Miller-El did not meet this burden. In his dissent Justice Thomas stated: “[q]uite simply, petitioner’s arguments rest on circumstantial evidence and speculation that does not hold up to a thorough review of the record.” I beg to disagree with his dissent!

By now it is an open secret that lady justice is neither blind, nor fair when dispensing justice to most Black Americans—especially black American males. There have been and continue to be, systemic abuses of the criminal justice system in America that have left the Black community devastated. Fatherless Black children, and a black male prison population grossly out of proportion with the over all black population of the nation, are just the tip of a societal injustice anchored in racism, ignorance, and fear. Some would argue that black males commit crimes proportionate with their numbers in prison, but in our own state 13 black males have been released from death row within the last ten years, having been falsely accused.

American history is replete with tales of the unprincipled, amoral, and egregious assaults on our system of justice by those bent on denying black Americans equal protection under law. And as I stated above, some of the most scandalous tales find their place at the table of modern, post Civil Rights, American justice. It’s against this backdrop that Justice Thomas delivered his ill-formulated dissent. If racially motivated malfeasance in the American justice system were a rarity, then and only then, could I understand and give careful consideration to his arguments in this case. But such is not the case, and like it or not at the end of day, whether the lights are on or off, Justice Thomas wears the suit of the black American male, and all it purports. I would submit that Justice Thomas has become a boorish European wannabe with no real sense of identity. Conservative values, and making oneself blind to the continued struggle for equality of your fellow black Americans, will not make it otherwise!

Thomas has done us all a disfavor by turning a blind eye to the cancer that is racism, a cancer that eats at the very heart of American jurisprudence. After all, the vaulted American justice system is only as pure and as fair as the men and women who shepherd it.

I write an opinion column almost every week for my school newspaper, The DePaulia (I currently attend DePaul University’s College of Law in Chicago; yes political junkies, I am a first year law student), pretty regularly and sent in the essay below last week. It pretty much sums up how I feel about Bush and his administration:

Open Letter to President Bush


Dear Mr. Bush,

What are you doing? Try as I might, I cannot sign onto the direction you are taking the nation! Your Presidency thus far, has been predictably short-sighted, while displaying an overabundance of empty rhetoric, and stupefying arrogance. I often sit perplexed, numb, and just a bit depressed whenever I read, or hear about a new Bush Administration policy decision. I can’t help but feel as though you and your Party are ruining not only our nation with your unimaginative, self-serving, edicts. Worse still, you (if opinion polls are to be believed) are increasingly sullying America’s reputation among the worlds’ peoples with your unilateral and haughty approach to foreign policy!

The religious right heralded your ascension (a “God Fearing” man) to the Presidency as a return to moral righteousness and principled behavior in the White House. But, being a God Fearing man has not endowed you with wisdom and vision enough to see the folly of your present course. I strongly dislike what you and your Party are doing to my country, my society, and my fellow Americans in the name of “compassionate conservatism.”

Our country was founded on the Principles of equality and justice for all, Mr. Bush, not just the moneyed few. While the religious right pays unabashed homage to your accidental Presidency, I feel our country continues to devolve into a society of obscene private wealth and stupefying, public poverty!

I, for one, do not want my children to inherit a country where the rich have become the new aristocracy, and the poor the new serfs confined to the blighted inner-cities of our nation, while the middle-class hangs on by its finger nails, clawing forward, or slipping back at the whim of the corporate elite. Is that the kind of future you see for America, Mr. Bush? Do you care enough to pay attention?

Principles, real principles, mean something to me, Mr. Bush, not hollow homage to God, devoid of real compassion or empathy. In your policy decisions to date I see little principle and little compassion for the average struggling American. But I do see an almost un-relentless pursuit of personal wealth for yourself and those fortunate enough to be born with a silver spoon, and a seasoned pedigree. I was shocked to learn that you made more in dividend income last year then most Americans make in a year! And yet you seek to cut the tax on dividends, while seniors have to travel to Canada to find affordable prescription drugs!

And are you aware Mr. Bush that while you dream up new ways to fatten the already bloated and morally bankrupt coffers of the obscenely wealthy, two million American have lost their jobs since March of last year? And that most have not found new employment? What help for them Mr. Bush? They without golden parachutes, and fat severance packages totaling in the millions of dollars; they without health care benefits or prescription drug coverage (myself included); they who are losing not only their American Dream of today, but its promise for the future.

Have you no concern for them Mr. Bush? Seems not, because their plight, my plight, will not be your family’s to suffer. Is that why you give us such sallow disregard? Would a day, a week, a month spent with an average American family, plant the seeds of empathy and understanding in your bosom?

And why are you taking us to war Mr. Bush? Our nation, founded on the principles of the rule of law, has never launched a war against another sovereign country without being provoked in the most repugnant of terms. And without good reason, we should not insert ourselves into the affairs of other nations unless a gross violation of human principles and morality dictate our military response! By going to war with Iraq I would argue that you seek to violate the very principles that cement the foundation of our nations founding. And in so doing you lessen America’s standing in the eyes of the world community.

Is oil at the heart of your un-relentless march towards carnage and human suffering? If it is, shame on you Mr. Bush, and shame on all of those who would take the nation to war for profit and because you lack the vision, wisdom, and leadership to craft an energy policy that boldly moves the nation away from it dependence on foreign oil! Nobel laureate and former President Jimmy Carter has stated that: “In order for us human beings to commit ourselves personally to the inhumanity of war, we find it necessary first to dehumanize our opponents, which is in itself a violation of the beliefs of all religions…[W]ar may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good.”

So, Mr. Bush, Mr. Accidental President, I am tired. Tired of the short-sighted legislation that seeks to enrich the few at the expense of the many; tired of your conservative agenda cast deceptively in the guise of compassion that threatens to hold hostage the tide of social progression, at the hands of the religious right; tired of the unimaginative, self-serving, mean spirited nature of your policies that again benefit the moneyed few at the expense of all. I am tired too of war, and threats of war. And I am not alone, I am not alone in my weariness, the nation feels it too, if only you cared enough to listen!

Hello Web world, I thought would come out swinging into this new world (for me anyway) world of BLOGS. My first post is a letter I sent to CBS concerning a segment on 60 Minutes II last night. Hope you enjoy the rant:

To Whom it May Concern:

As I watched your segment last night about Bravo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, I was left with one over-riding question: where were all the Black American soldiers? Dan rather interviewed not one! As a matter of fact I didn’t see one black soldier, period; in for foreground or in the background while you were shooting! Is that because there are no black soldiers and or officers, in Bravo Company? That would be pretty hard to believe since the overwhelming majority of infantry is made of black men, or so we’re told.

So I am back to my question: where were all the Black American soldiers? Were they not photogenic enough; were they no heroic enough; did you feel they had nothing to say, or that they would say the wrong thing? Or is that racism—subtle as it may be in this case—is once again rearing it ugly multifaceted head? It may mean noting to you, but to me a Black American male who served his country for 15 years it means a lot! I want my children to see that black males are serving their country every bit as much as white men. I want them to know, from more then just my example, that black men are more then the subtotal of the media cliques they have grown up seeing on their television screens. That black men are then a prison statistic, more then a rap record; and much more then the drug dealers, petty felons, and one-dimensional sex fiends Hollywood loves to portray them as!

Shame on you for not showing us (the American public and the world) a balanced representation of Bravo Company. We deserve and demand better! I am tired of all of America’s heroes wearing a white face!

Vincent Martin...