The Political Conundrum!

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – Soldiers and Airmen gathered to pay their final respects to Sgt. William C. Spencer, at a fallen Soldier ceremony March 1 at the Joint Operations Center at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.
Spencer, a gunner with G Company, 106th Brigade Support Battalion, 155th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), died Feb. 25 from an aneurysm while serving at Contingency Operating Base Marez, Iraq.
Spencer, a Clinton, Ky., native, was born Aug. 11, 1969, and is survived by his mother, Sharon Welch, and his sister, Sharon Whittle.
He was posthumously promoted from specialist to sergeant Feb. 25.
Spc. Quentin K. Schul, the administrative operations chaplain assistant with the 13th ESC and a Victoria, Texas, native, spoke at the ceremony and read Spencer’s biography.
“(Sgt.) William Clifton Spencer gave the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “We will not forget.”
Col. Knowles Y. Atchison, deputy commander for the 13th ESC, placed the ceremonial identification tags on the fallen warrior memorial in the foyer of the JOC.
Sgt. Spencer is a hero, said Atchison, a Fort Hood, Texas, resident.
“This is a sad moment,” he said. “If he had not been here, would he still be living? That is what I ask myself. We will never know the answer to that question, but the fact is that he was here and he was making a contribution, he was serving his country. That makes him a hero. It puts him in the top five percent of the American population.”
Spencer will not be forgotten, said Atchison.

Col. Knowles Y. Atchison, deputy commander with the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and a Fort Hood, Texas, resident, places Sgt. William C. Spencer’s identification tags on the fallen warrior memorial March 1, after a ceremony in Spencer’s honor in the foyer of the Joint Operations Center at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. Spencer, a gunner with G Company, 106th Brigade Support Battalion, 155th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 13th ESC and a Clinton, Ky., native, died Feb. 25 from an aneurysm while serving at Contingency Operating Base Marez, Iraq.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano applauded President Obama's intent to nominate Major General Robert A. Harding, U.S. Army (Retired), as Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

In 2006, Hizballah's popularity peaked in the Arab world as a result of its military performance against Israel. That summer, the Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization fought Israel to a standstill in south Lebanon. Since then, however, the organization's popularity has plummeted in the region, largely due to a series of miscues in Lebanon and abroad.

I wrote a lenghty article in the Weekly Standard online describing the drop in Hizballah's regional popularity since 2006, and the steps the organization has taken to get its mojo back. Bottom line: when the "Islamic Resistance in Lebanon" (as it calls itself) is not actively "resisting" Israel, the Shiite militia appears to hold little appeal in the Arab world. The article can be found here, and below.

The confrontation in the sub Indian continent between al Qaeda, the Taliban and their allies on the one hand and the three democracies they target, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, on the other hand must be reevaluated in terms of international cooperation against the Jihadi threat. A regional system should be established to integrate the struggle against all Jihadi forces in the subcontinent. There needs to be a separation between the ethnic and territorial questions from the fight against Terrorism. Once that distinction is made the possibilities of internationalization of counter terrorism will be high. Jihadists based in any country of the subcontinent must not be given legitimacy by any Government on the ground of a local ethnic issue. Jihadi forces must be confronted collectively, while diplomacy and international mediations assist in solving the local problems.

The hosts and producer of You Served radio show, CJ, Troy, and Marcus, are issuing a challenge to the MilBlogosphere in a charity fundraising event with bald heads at stake.

Marcus has already lost a bet to shave his head bald from a bet on the second coin!

The new challenge is two-tiered with a third bonus tier added this evening during the You Served radio show.

The first tier is to raise $100 cumulative on the engravable memorial medallions we are auctioning in the You Served eBay Store (http://stores.ebay.com/userved). All proceeds will be donated to Soldiers Angels. The kicker and incentive on that cumulative total is that we have a generous anonymous donor who will donate $1,000 to Soldiers Angels if we can meet that $100 total. In addition to a donation of $1,000, CJ will shave his head along with Marcus! We currently have 2 coins auctioned with a total of $37.50, so we will need to raise $62.50 over the next 4 weeks (including this one). We will put up one coin a week to be auctioned.

The second tier is that if we can meet $250 cumulative total, not only will we garner that $1,000 donation, CJ and Marcus will allow Troy to shave their heads in Washington, DC during the Milblog Conference. It will be video recorded also, for all the listeners and donors to see! Imagine the fun and hilarity THAT would be.

The bonus challenge is if another person or organization donates an addtional $1,000 to the first tier, the Hero Maker Clayton Murwin, a regular listener of our show, will produce an orignal 16×20 military themed oil painting of the person or organization’s choosing!

This challenge is issued to all who enjoy a bit of good fun with a bit of humiliation mixed in. The You Served crew hopes everyone enjoys this bit of excitement for a good cause and that you don’t forget the real reason behind all of this; Soldier’s Angels!

It seems that our coalition partners in Afghanistan now see the value and experience of GEN McChrystal. I figure they must since they are allowing their troops to be put under his command.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, is being given expanded authority over U.S. and NATO forces in the country, a defense official said Thursday.
The move will put all but a small number of U.S. special operations forces and some support troops from other nations under the command of the American Army general.
McChrystal is already commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan but the additional authorities will give him greater control over the estimated 121,000 international troops in the country than any of his predecessors have had.
He “will have U.S. operational control of all U.S. forces less a small number of special operations forces,” an American defense official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
As the NATO commander, the only forces not under McChrystal’s control will be a special U.S. task force that handles detainees, the small number of special operations forces and some support troops from other nations, the official said.
McChrystal’s expanded authorities come amid a surge in U.S. forces to Afghanistan that will boost foreign troop levels in the country to 150,000 by August.
NATO officers, meanwhile, are planning a new U.S.-led military command in southern Afghanistan to prepare for a major offensive against the Taliban bastion of Kandahar, officials said Thursday.
The new command would oversee military operations in Helmand province, where an allied offensive has taken on Taliban forces in Marjah, while an existing NATO command under British leadership would be freed up to focus on the pivotal campaign planned for Kandahar, defense officials told AFP.

Secretary Janet Napolitano will travel to Tokyo at the invitation of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, to meet with counterparts from the Asia/Pacific region and officials from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to discuss ways to bolster global aviation security.

Secretary Napolitano announced the first 11 airports to receive advanced imaging technology (AIT) units purchased with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds—strengthening security at airports throughout the country while boosting local economies.

In the coming weeks, the United States and its allies will attempt to push additional Iran sanctions through the UN Security Council. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has indicated that "the United States and like-minded countries" could also impose at least some additional sanctions on their own. Although stronger sanctions are certainly needed to deter Iran on the nuclear issue, they alone are unlikely to pressure Tehran into changing its behavior. Just as important are efforts to plug the gaps and loopholes in the current sanctions regime.

Iranian Evasion

A number of overlapping sanctions are already in place against Iran, imposed by the UN, European Union, Britain, and the United States. One of the primary means of evading these regimes is through re-exports. Generally, export-control laws distinguish between different countries in determining the legality of a specific transaction. For example, dual-use goods, which can have commercial or military applications (including in the nuclear sector), may be sent to some countries but not to others. Iran often takes advantage of this framework, evading U.S. laws and international sanctions by setting up front companies and middlemen in countries to which these types of items can be legally exported. In most cases, the sellers are not told that the goods will be re-exported to Iran -- though many other sellers are willing to turn a blind eye.

The best known of these re-export hubs is Dubai, where thousands of Iranian businesses engage in illicit trade. Extensive re-export networks can also be found in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, and Europe. These networks allow Iranians to procure much-needed American and European technology that they would otherwise be unable to obtain. A recent Associated Press report described a case in which a Chinese company used a Taiwan-based agent to divert more than a hundred pressure gauges (a device with both commercial and nuclear applications) to Iran, misleading the Swiss seller about the ultimate destination.

Iran's procurement networks extend to U.S. shores as well. In December 2009, for example, California-based suspect Jirair Avanessian was indicted for illegally exporting a specialized vacuum pump -- a device with potential nuclear applications -- to Iran via the United Arab Emirates. According to the Justice Department, he was directed by an individual in Iran.

To read the rest of the piece, click here.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Napolitano today met with CEOs of the member airlines of the Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the largest airline trade association in the United States, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents approximately 230 airlines and more than 90 percent of the world's air traffic—part of her ongoing efforts to bring together major domestic and foreign air carriers to work on ways to bolster international aviation security.