June 09, 2004
Rockin' Berlin to Baghdad (and Points Between and Beyond)
A great story via honorary MilBlogger Hugh Hewitt. Keith and Nugent passed through Germany on their way in and did a show for the GI's here too. Class acts all around - and that includes Hugh.
Chinese Prison Fun
A look at the life of American POW's held by China during the Korean War:
The exposure of Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is a resounding slap on the face of the United States who constantly labels itself "a guard of human rights". A sharp contrast to the brutalities of US forces is the very humane treatment of US prisoners by Chinese army at the field of the Korean War half a century ago.A recollection by Ms. Zhou Yuanmin, once an interpreter among China's POW administration staff and now a veteran editor of People's Daily, brings us back to the once gun smoke-filled battlefield, and enlightens us as to which country, after all, is the one respecting human rights and democracy.
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During his more than one year work there, Ms. Zhou was deeply impressed by the Volunteer Army's treatment of prisoners. "The Chinese army had always exercised 'revolutionary humanitarianism' towards war captives. Beat and curse were not allowed, nor a kick, because this were iron disciplines of an army. Chinese soldiers were forbidden from searching pockets of Americans, letting them keeping their cigarettes and other private items. As for valuables such as gold match, they were registered and kept by the administration authority, and returned to them upon repatriation", Ms. Zhou recalled.
The winter in Korea was bitterly cold. The Volunteer Army distributed clothes, caps, gloves and quilts, all cotton-padded, to prisoners. Their heatable brick beds were always kept warm. Every day they found rice, flour, potato, soybean and meat on their table, for they enjoyed a diet standard same as a Chinese regiment-level cadre. Since westerners were fond of sugar, the POW authority supplied them by month a certain amount of refined white sugar. These food were all extravagant stuff the Chinese army managed to buy from China, but what we were indignant at was the fact that our soldiers were killed by American bombs when transporting them. Later, the POW administration specially bought bread-baking machine to enable prisoners to make fresh bread by themselves, which they liked.
"You know, at that time there were only soybean, sorghum and potato for our soldiers to eat. Sometimes we were short of food, but our soldiers would rather leave food to prisoners, despite that they themselves would starve. Of course, at a time of deficient material supplies, some soldiers had complaints when they saw prisoners were eating even better than themselves, but soon they understood after our leaders discussed the matter with them".
The health of American prisoners was once a visible problem in the camp. Many of them fell ill after a long-term battlefield life and under psychological pressure caused by homesick. The situation was reported to higher and higher authorities and finally reached Premier Zhou Enlai. Personally, Premier Zhou gave the instruction of "enhancing prisoners' nutrition and adopting emergency measures". As a result, a large batch of highly skilled doctors rushed to the camp from across China and set up there a special general hospital for prisoners. The action resulted in the saving of many lives. Once our army captured an American pilot, who was found seriously injured and in urgent need of blood transfusion. We rushed him to the hospital, we transferred blood plasma from home. Some Chinese doctors gave their own blood and finally we saved this American pilot.
Our POW administration respected religious customs of different countries and ethnic groups, and allowed prisoners to celebrate Christmas, Thanks Giving Day and Islamic festivals. Especially during Christmas and the Spring Festival, the camp was filled with a festival atmosphere in which prisoners stage self-made performances. In his family letter, American soldier Green wrote "this Christmas, the whole camp was vibrating with songs from the choir from midnight to 2 am. We talked and laughed. The Chinese army surprised us by gifts, sugar, cake, apple, almond and wine".
Ms. Zhou particularly mentioned the "prisoners' Olympics" staged in November, 1952, which were participated by 500 people. Wearing sports suits from China, prisoners competed in track and filed, boxing and basketball. Some black Americans talented in sports staged a really fantastic show.
Our Volunteer cadres never beat or abused prisoners who made mistakes, but talked with them. If they really made serious mistakes, they would be placed in confinement, at most for one week. Our political commissars personally talked with some officer prisoners who were from the West Point, telling them not to set themselves against China because the Chinese and American peoples were friends.
In the camp, American prisoners were not afraid of Chinese soldiers and cadres, but were afraid of their fellow men-American pilots. The large "POW" characters crossing the camp ground, which were visible from the air, didn't prevent American pilots from dropping their bombs who just wanted to fitful their tasks. Some Volunteer soldiers were thus killed trying to protect prisoners by dragging them into shelter.
At least that's what the People's Daily Online would have us believe.
This moment of bizarro-world reality was brought to you via e-mail from a Mudville reader in China, who writes:
Would you care to put this article up for comment? It is from the Peoples Daily in China. A propaganda piece which I think is full of lies. I would like some ammunition to strike back with. A couple of years back I was told by a Chinese lawyer that the US had started the fighting against the Chinese in the Korean War. I set her straight fast.
I lived in Korea for a couple of years. The propaganda flowing from the North was incredible, the very definition of unbelievable. Unfortunately, I think one must go well beyond the mere willing suspension of disbelief to really accept any description like the one above as fact, Orwellian is the best description I could offer of such believers. And no 'ammunition' can penetrate the kinds of barriers to truth these folks have constructed around themselves.
But then, once upon a time no one thought the Heidelberg Castle could be breached either. And look what the French did to it.
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Anybody have any ammo?
MilBlogs
There's still a few cool blog names left unused out there, but Digital Marine is now taken. So if you're thinking of starting a blog, you'll have to come up with something else.
Oh, and welcome Digital Marine to the MilBlogs ring.
June 08, 2004
Greetings
Regular visitors here have likely noticed a slow down in posts recently. Many reasons for that, most of which have to do with a family and a military career. I'm not complaining or apologizing about either.
But expect an upswing in entries here soon. For those awaiting responses to e-mail, they're forthcoming. For those who've applied for the MilBlogs Ring with no result, results are coming.
Speaking of e-mail, a while back I linked a post from Tim regarding a film project he'd gotten wind of. A few days later I discover this in my inbox, from the filmamaker:
I'm an American filmmaker based in Berlin. I've spent the better part of the last year in Baghdad shooting two films. The latest, Gunner Palace, follows a troop of young soldiers over a few months. This is the war you haven't seen on the news. As a soldier says in the film, "For y'all this is just a show, but we live in this movie."Our blog for the film is up at this link.
It includes two video clips that I think your readers will appreciate, no matter what their views on the war.
Best,
Mike Tucker
Nomados
Berlin
Awesome stuff. Check it out.
June 06, 2004
Farewell President Reagan
I spent yesterday in France, visiting a free nation on the anniversary of the landings that led to that liberation. Time and logistics kept us from attending the events in Normandy; Metz was our destination. Liberated in November 1944 the city features an amazingly beautiful cathedral.
1944
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Now
Unknown to us prior to arrival the day of our visit was marked by a gay pride (or perhaps AIDS awareness - such banners were prevalent) celebration. A procession of homosexuals and others (notably the socialists and communists, apparently in a show of solidarity) led by a six-foot-four drag queen made it's way through the streets to the cathedral square and set up operations.
Ahhhh... freedom.
It was quite late before we returned across the border to Germany, arrived home and went straight to bed, so it wasn't until this morning I learned of the passing of president Reagan.
I joined the US armed forces when Ronald Reagan was president, and now I bid a sad farewell to my first Commander in Chief. More later, perhaps, but for now Baldilocks has marked his passing in words that perfectly encapsulate this day and this man.
June 03, 2004
D-Day +60 Forecast
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From the United States Air Force Europe Operational Weather Squadron, the weather forecast for the Normandy area for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
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Update 3 Jun 2004: Are the weather guys hedging their bets?
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Today's outlook calls for a spell of light rain and fog on Friday morning, a time previously expected to be just 'mostly cloudy'. Given the minimum conditions needed for parachute drops the following day, this negative trend does not bode well...
(Que foggy lens, wavering blur, harp-like tones, camera on backwards running clock; fade out then in again on black-and-white world...)
"...If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete."-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Fade in: 1944.
Sun Tzu's reference to Heaven is considered a nod to the whims of weather, an acknowledgement of it's impact on all man's efforts; a tribute to nature's callous disregard for those who would plan without consideration for it's vagaries.
Erik Brenstrum, of the Meteorological Service of New Zealand, writing on the 50th anniversary of the event, called the original D-Day weather forecast The Most Important Forecast in History:
RAIN FELL FROM overcast skies and gale force winds drove large waves on to the beaches of Normandy as dawn broke on Monday June 5, 1944. To the Germans watching their defences, there was nothing to show that this was the moment the Allied Armies had planned to invade Europe. In fact, the operation had been put on hold because the bad weather had been forecast 24 hours before. Had it gone ahead in these conditions, the invasion would have been a catastrophic disaster.Nevertheless, the invasion had to occur on either the 5th, 6th or 7th of June to take advantage of the right conditions of moon and tide. Darkness was needed when the airborne troops went in, but moonlight once they were on the ground. Spring low tide was necessary to ensure extreme low sea level so that the landing craft could spot and avoid the thousands of mined obstacles that had been deployed on the beaches. If this narrow time slot was missed, the invasion would have to be delayed for two weeks.
The decision to postpone the invasion for 24 hours had been taken by Eisenhower and the Supreme Command at 0430 on Sunday June 4. It was not taken lightly, because so many ships were already converging on Normandy that the risk of detection was grave.
Nor had the forecast which prompted the postponement been easily arrived at. Eisenhower's weather advice was provide by Group Captain Stagg, a forecaster seconded from the British Meteorological Office who was coordinating the advice of three forecasting teams: one from the Meteorological Office, one from the Admiralty and one from the United States Army Air Forces.
The advice of these groups was often diametrically opposed. The American team used an analog method, comparing the current map with maps from the past, and were often over-optimistic. The Meteorological Office, aided by the brilliant Norwegian theoretician Sverre Petterssen, had a more dynamic approach, using wind and temperature observations from high altitude provide by the air force, and were closer to the mark.
The decision to invade on Tuesday June 6, taken late on Sunday night and finally confirmed early Monday morning, was based on a forecast of a short period of improved weather caused by a strengthening ridge following the front that brought Monday's rain and strong winds. In the event, Monday's bad weather had already given the Allies a crucial advantage: it had put the Germans off guard.
More to come...
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June 01, 2004
Shots from the Front
A note from the Stryker Brigades (thanks Todd):
How goes? A while back we installed some gallery software on our site, which follows the Stryker Brigade currently deployed in the Mosul region. Since then we've amassed a collection of 2,500+ photos, all submitted directly by soldiers or their families. I recently went through the gallery and put together a collection of positive images we called "Smiles From Iraq". These are images you won't see on the news. Here's a link to the entry where we introduce the photo album. And here's a direct link to the album
New MilBlog
Always a pleasure to welcome a new spouse blog to the MilBlogs Ring. Armysgtswife (aka Homefront Happenings) is the latest to join our 'military family'.
Welcome aboard.
Yikes!
Sombody is handing us a load. Is it little Bobby Novak?:
The handful of valiant American warriors fighting the ''other'' war in Afghanistan is not a happy band of brothers. They are undermanned and feel neglected, lack confidence in their generals and are disgusted by Afghan political leadership. Most important, they are appalled by the immense but fruitless effort to find Osama bin Laden for purposes of U.S. politics.This bleak picture goes unreported because journalists are rarely seen there. It was painted to me by hard U.S. fighters who are committed to the war against terrorism but have a heavy heart. They talked to me not to undermine policy but to reveal problems that should and can be corrected.
Afghanistan constitutes George W. Bush's clearest victory since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Taliban regime has been overthrown, eliminating al-Qaida's most important base. But the overlooked war continues with no end in sight. Narcotics trafficking is at an all-time high. If U.S. forces were to leave, the Taliban -- or something like it -- would regain power. The United States is lost in Afghanistan, bound to this wild country and unable to leave.
The situation in Afghanistan, as laid out to me, looks nothing like a country alleged to be progressing toward representative democracy under American tutelage. Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-sponsored Afghan president, is regarded by the U.S. troops as hopelessly corrupt and kept in power by U.S. force of arms.
Those arms are not what they seem. The basic U.S. strength in Afghanistan is 17,000 troops of ''straight-legged'' infantry -- conventional forces ill-prepared to handle irregulars. The new unit assigned to Afghanistan is the 25th Infantry Division, which has been stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and has not seen combat since the Vietnam War.
And I hesitate to tell him about this since he's kinda busy fighting Osama and his crowd on one side and Reggie "I'm a better man than any GI anywhere" Rivers on the other, but damn! - this guy just dissed Hooks whole Division!
Sorry if this turns your otherwise rosy day sour Top, but I can't let it slide without bringing it to your attention.
Update: Hook responds.
1 June 04 Morning Briefing
TOP STORIES
1. U.S. Shifts Focus In Iraq To Aiding New Government
(New York Times)...Thom Shanker
Senior American commanders here say they are writing new orders to shift the focus of the military's mission from offensive combat operations to protecting a new Iraqi government and parts of the economy while building up Iraq's own security forces.
2. Army Investigates Wider Iraq Offenses
(Washington Post)...Bradley Graham
Over the past year and a half, the Army has opened investigations into at least 91 cases of possible misconduct by U.S. soldiers against detainees and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, a total not previously reported and one that points to a broader range of wrongful behavior than defense officials have acknowledged.
NA
3. At Abu Ghraib, Soldiers Faced Pressure To Produce Intelligence
(Wall Street Journal)...Christopher Cooper and Greg Jaffe
...Interviews with more than 20 interrogators and analysts at the prison -- most of whom haven't spoken out before -- suggest the problems at the now notorious Abu Ghraib prison were more complex than suggested by the widely distributed images of abuse. Seven guards have been accused of wrongdoing, and military and congressional investigators are looking into the case. The interviews show an intelligence system ill-equipped to battle a largely faceless insurgency. Interrogators and analysts at Abu Ghraib, some of whom say they had little experience interrogating prisoners, knew little about the enemy they were fighting. And they were working within a military-intelligence system that was never designed to incarcerate and interrogate thousands of prisoners for months on end.
4. Dates On Prison Photos Show Two Phases Of Abuse
(Washington Post)...Scott Higham, Joe Stephens and Josh White
...The date stamps reveal that the recording of the abuses started shortly after the MPs arrived at the prison and built to a crescendo of perversity, with the naked human pyramid on Nov. 8. One of the photographed incidents stands out because it contains military intelligence officers in the frame -- showing soldiers gathered around three naked men lying shackled together on Oct. 25. Finally, the photographs suggest that two distinct types of abuse occurred at the prison. First, sexual humiliation and crude brutality at the hands of the MPs. Then, the more targeted use of dogs.
5. Iraqis, U.S. Split On New Leaders
(USA Today)...Steven Komarow
The planned announcement Monday of a new Iraqi government was delayed, apparently by differences between U.S. authorities and the Iraqi Governing Council over the proposed leadership. As the U.S.-led civilian administration and members of the council wrangled over the new government, violence in the capital and near the southern city of Najaf claimed the lives of two U.S. soldiers and at least two dozen Iraqis.
6. Shiites Try To Save Truce
(Los Angeles Times)...Charles Duhigg and Edmund Sanders
Shiite leaders made a desperate effort Monday to salvage a truce between U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr, even as American military commanders declared that the insurgents had failed to honor the 4-day-old cease-fire.