Posse Incitatus

Raising the bar on defeatism

That's what the Posse takes away from this report about insurgent proposals for an American withdrawal from Iraq.

That is to say, John Kerry wants the US to capitulate a full year earlier than the terrorists do.  If that isn't cutting and running, what is?

We have reached the bizarre point where the desire of the American left to lose in Iraq outstrips the enemy's willingness to win.

Traditionally, negotiations start with each side offering a settlement that is unacceptably advantageous.  These positions are then modified and softened until a mutually acceptable middle ground can be found.

The radical anti-war movement has done one better: it's starting position is one beyond what even the enemy is asking.  One would think the insurgents would press for immediate withdrawal and then work their way back to a two-year time frame.

Instead, the immediate withdrawal position was offered by that noted hawk Congressman John Murtha.  We presume his "come-down" is the surrender and internment of all US forces in the middle east - or at least the removal of all US forces "west of Okinawa."

The American left is raising the bar on defeatism.  One gets the impression that if they were confronted with Hitler's demands for the Sudetenland, they would have offered up the Polish Corridor and Alsace-Lorraine as well.

These people have an amazing emotional investment in seeing American forces defeated.  The New York Times' continuing efforts to expose America's anti-terrorist programs - programs they explicitly called for right after 9/11 - is another facet of this.

On a certain level, they need America to vanquished in Iraq.  They need terrorist attacks to ripple through the homeland.  They are openly urging mutiny and desertion in our military units.

In short, they are hoping for the kind of total collapse that consumed Weimar Germany.  Perhaps they still dream of a Marxist takeover, or believe that only a complete governmental collapse will vindicate their prognostications of defeat, but given the balance of forces, the desire of the American left to bring about American defeat is without precedent.

WMD reconsidered

Much attention in the blogosphere for the announcement that fully 500 chemical weapons have been recovered from Iraq so far.

It is hard for us to care much about this development, given that this has been a recurring theme.

One of the greatest blunders of the Bush Administration - and one that should damn it for posterity - was its refusal to fight the "No WMD" myth from the get-go.

This was never about finding huge stacks of primed weapons ready to launch.  It was always about capability.

If George W. Bush had gone before the American people early on and said something to this effect, the meme would have been strangled in its accursed cradle:

It is possible that Saddam Hussein may have destroyed these weapons.  After all, chemical weapons have a short shelf life and degrade over time.  However, there is no question of him retaining the ability to make more, whenever it suits him. 

The real danger of Saddam Hussein isn't in the next 15 minutes or even 15 days, but over the next 15 months and 15 years.  Sooner or later, if we leave him alone, he will strike again.  And when he does, he will have the most deadly and sinster weapons ever devised.

He doesn't need to stockpile them now for something he will do later.  What we know is that he has not disarmed, he will not disarm and, when it suits him, he will strike again.

Something to that effect.

But instead the White House turned turtle, played dead and basically let support for the war erode and trust in the president evaporate.

This latest argument is a needed correction to the public record, but we fear it is too little too late.

...and now a fake gun rights group

The Posse has been amazed at the amount of fabrication of late.  Perhaps Michael Moore was correct with his statement that we live in "ficticious" times.  Certainly the left does.

Via the hated Instapundit, we learn that Armed Liberal has found the latest ersatz grassroots organization:  The American Hunters and Shooters Association.

Despite being a liberal, we found Armed Liberal to be quite rational in many respects.  Thus it comes as a disappointment that he didn't immediately realize that this was a fake organization.

Clues abound, though the comments thread at Winds of Change covers some good ones.

The position of the organization on .50 calibre rifles  was another dead giveaway.

True sportsmen aren't scared of high velocity rounds.  They certainly don't drone on and on about how this gun is super dangerous and point to all of its scary characteristics for the obvious reason that hunting rifles are powerful, too.

Indeed, many of the same things that could be said about the dreaded .50 cal also go for some of the more upscale hunting rifles.  Most of what they write about the .50 also applies to the Cadillac of hunting weapons: the Weatherby.

While we don't have time to go into the numbers, we're pretty sure that the Weatherby .460 can do most of what a .50 cal. can.  Shoot through doors and walls?  Check.  Punch through aircraft fuselages?  Probably.

This passage in particular sounds like classic anti-gun hysteria:

The modern .50 caliber BMG rifle is one of the most powerful and destructive weapons legally available to civilians in the United States. A modern .50 caliber BMG rifle can hit a target accurately from distances of 1,000 to 2,000 yards, depending on the skill of the shooter, and can reach targets at a longer range with less accuracy. At significantly closer distances, these rifles are much more destructive and able to blast through solid concrete at 200 yards or penetrate an inch of armor plate at 300 yards.

No hunter would write that.  Hell, our vintage SMLE can, "depending on the skill of the shooter," reach targets 1,000 yards away.  Just about every modern hunting rifle can.

Not convinced yet?  Try this page.  Ah, the "gun show loophole."

If there is one thing true sportsmen ahbor, it is the thought of having to go through a background check simply to sell a rifle or shotgun to another hunter.

Only gun control shills care about this.  We can't think of any hunters and shooters who would support this.

Obviously this group consists entirely of hunters and shooters who:

1.  Fear large-caliber long weapons capable of killing at 1,000 yards range;

2.  Don't like or own handguns;

3.  Think that the government doesn't have enough information on who owns what guns; and

4.  Believes that more regulation of more guns is a good thing.

In short, this group is as fake as a three-dollar bill.

Given the propensity of anti-gun activists (and leftists in general) to lie in general, we suppose it was only a matter of time before they came up with a fake shooting club, complete with prop dead birds and people in blaze orange with shotguns.

Knock it down

The Posse wholeheartedly agrees with the brilliant response to a possible North Korean missile test offered by Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive:  shoot it down.

While Uncle Jimbo's suggestion may appeal to a visceral sense of justice, it also makes excellent sense from a foreign policy perspective.

One of the problems with the deterrent effect of a missile defense system is that it is essentially unproven.  Even after a raft of successful tests, one can still hear many American officials insisting that it can't or won't work.  Indeed, no amount of testing can substitute for the real thing.

A North Korean test flight is therefore the ideal situation in which to test America's ABM capability.  Even if critics deride it as a "lucky shot," it will have worked.  "Star Wars," "SDI" or whatever one wishes to call it will be real.

Would this be an act of war?  Perhaps.  Then again, the Korean War has never ended and a missile launch could arguably be considered an act of war in its own right.

American resolve is being tested.  A successful use of a defensive technology would accomplish much in terms of making SDI a more effect deterrent and reminding the world that the US stands by its allies.

This latter point is not to be overlooked.  The question of the fate of Taiwan looms large.  A strong US show of resolve - shooting down a missile on behalf of Japan - would perhaps give Beijing second thoughts about its ongoing sabre-rattling.

As for a failed intercept, it is a possibility, but great gains can only come from taking chances.  US policy during the 1990s was based on minimizing risk and we have paid a heavy price for it.  From failing to remove Saddam in 1991 to fleeing Somalia and ignoring the threat of Radical Islam, the "safe course" often creates more dangers than it avoids.

Shoot it down.

UPDATE:  Proving that great minds think alike, the Wall Street Journal agrees with us.

Shall we stick a fork in Ward Churchill?

The Posse was mildly amused to see this article about Ward Churchill's possible ouster from the University of Colorado.  What is amusing isn't Churchill's plight, but rather the failure of author Dan Elliott to adhere to even the most basic principles of journalism.

Let's start with the lead (or as they say in the industry, the "lede"):

DENVER - A University of Colorado committee recommended on Tuesday firing a professor who called some of the World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns," citing repeated research misconduct.

Okay, so we know who this guy is and why he is notorious.  We also know that in addition to his stupid statements, he stands repeatedly accused of research misconduct.

The panel's recommendation now goes to university officials for a final decision.

Ward Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies, denied the allegations. He has vowed to fight his dismissal with a lawsuit.

Okay, a little back and forth.  But what about the misconduct?

"Baloney. That's my one-word-response," he said. He noted there have been previous calls for his removal, "whether or not it was legal."

First quote to Churchill, then, who is full of bluster.  Yawn.  Can we get to the meat of the issue yet?

The school's investigation focused on allegations that Churchill committed research misconduct and plagiarism.

Oh, sounds serious.  We should hear some more about this.  But instead, it's back to Churchill.

In a written statement, Churchill dismissed the investigation as an attempt to silence him.

"This process has not demonstrated that I engaged in any serious research misconduct but that, after more than a year of painstaking review, those charged with firing me could find nothing more than a few footnotes and questions of attribution to quibble over," he wrote.

Wait a minute, so they found something?  What was it?

The article doesn't say.  In fact, it focuses on stuff the investigation didn't even look at.

The panel did not address his essay relating the 2001 terrorist attacks to U.S. abuses abroad. The essay referred to some World Trade Center victims as "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who carried out Adolf Hitler's plan to exterminate European Jews during World War II.

The essay was largely ignored until January 2005, when it came to light before a scheduled speech at a college in upstate New York.

Churchill's case has been cited by conservatives as an example of how universities have overstocked their faculties with leftists. Others raised concerns about academic freedom.

Wonderful stuff, to be sure, but utterly irrelevant.  The heart of the story - the allegations of misconduct and the evidence of it that this panel found so compelling - is not to be seen.

To be fair Dan Elliott may not be an utter imbecile who doesn't know how to write a basic news story.  His work may have been butchered by blindingly inept editors and sub-editors who figure that the actual charges that could cost this guy his job are not germane to the story.

Either way, the MSM provides yet another example that in terms of information, it has absolutely nothing to offer.

The Dim and the Dead

Could there be a greater contrast between the two views of the War on Terror than two stories that dominated the blogosphere today?

First, there was the news and an Army lieutanant had decided to willfully disobey a lawful order sending him to Iraq.  We'll wait for you to click on that link.  The graphic alone is worth the trip.

As expected, the blogosphere went to town on this idiot.  Small Town Veteran has a vast list of linky goodness.

Of course this item - top story when we were getting up and on the way to work - was quickly displaced by the USAF's stirring rendition of "I Dropped a Bomb on You," lovingly dedicated to the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

We live in strange days - a time when truth is indeed stranger than fiction.  The leading al Qaeda operative in Iraq has just been blown to smithereens, its government has finally completed its formation and yet to some, the most moral question of the hour was how many WMDs Saddam Hussein had in his basement.

For the record, the Posse would like to see Lt. Dimbulb Watada spend the rest of his natural life making big ones into little ones.  We won't characterize him as a coward, as some have done, merely because it is irrelevant.  We will simply remark that his actions make him utterly unfit to wear the uniform and that he is a complete and utter disgrace - and an insult to the heroes risking their lives every day in Iraq.

Thus, the contrast: good news from the front, but back home, the left managed to find a new player for the "Who is dumber than a sack of rocks" contest.

The Posse's work schedule (yes, we have work at last) means that we will be posting in the evening from now on, and the thought that we missed on the pile-on deeply pains us.  Lt. Wannabee should have been given the full Pablo treatment, but alas, we had things to do.

But it is worth mentioning that neither Pablo or Blake Lemoine did anything nearly as stupid as this guy.  Blake is in fact "getting on with his life," what's left of it.

Backed into a corner

If there was ever evidence that we are indeed engaged in a war between Islam and the West, the terror plot recently foiled in Canada is it.

The Posse was totally unsurprised that

1. Islamic terrorists would want to kill Canadians in large numbers and

2. The Canadian government's was watching them carefully, "civil liberties" rhetoric be damned.

Via the hated Instapundit, we learn that even the flaccid statist multi-culti Liberal Party of Canada understands what is at stake (or at least it's leader does).

One of the commenters opines that a "political solution" is the only way to stop terrorism.  This is correct.

As another commenter observed, war is merely politics by other means.  The Allies were free to solve the political problem of German Naziism by destroying the country and killing millions of its people.  Similarly, Japan's militarism was obliterated via military force.

Negotiation can only work when there is some middle ground between the two parties.  One of the more amusing (and pathetic) beliefs of the anti-war movement is the notion that all differences can be reconciled.

Yet experience shows that this is patently absurd.  What is the "middle ground" between a rapist and his victim?  Should she submit to heavy petting?

Radical Islam seeks the total overthrow of the West, the destruction of its culture and the submission of its people.  The only thing to negotiate is the timetable for the West's surrender.  Anything else must by definition involve violence.

What the Canadian plot illustrates is that the war is coming.  Just as the pacifists of the 1930s had to be backed into a corner before they realized what was at stake, so (it is hoped) their intellectual heirs will do the same.

Counterfeit valor

It appears the Posse was somewhat premature in our earlier assessment of Jesse Macbeth as a fake veteran.

Apparently he did serve after all - for about a month before washing out of basic training.  The rest of his "military career" was pure fiction, though.

What makes his case a little more interesting is that (h/t LT Smash) apparently he altered his DD 214 - the official record of his military service. 

Speaking of embellished military careers, we were highly interested to see that John Kerry may finally be releasing his full military records.  We won't hold our breath on this one, but we will be interested to see if our earlier prediction - that his original discharge was "cleaned up" by the Carter administration - bears out.