Remembering Belsen

The London News-Telegraph has an excellent story on an interview with Lieutenant Randall, who is still alive and kicking. Here's an excerpt:

After 30 minutes alone in Belsen, Randall and his driver were joined by another SAS Jeep carrying the squadron commander, Major John Tonkin, and his squadron Sergeant-Major, Reg Seekings, an SAS veteran of North Africa, Sicily, Italy and France. ''Seekings was a very tough man,'' Randall says. ''He had been with the regiment almost since it was formed and had been an army boxing champion when in the Guards.''

As the four SAS men stood looking at this pitiful and horrifying sight, they were approached by Josef Kramer, the camp commandant, and a woman in a dark blue uniform. "Kramer introduced himself and the woman, Irma Grese, responsible for the female prisoners, and to our astonishment offered us a guided tour of the camp,'' says Randall. ''We followed them. We pushed open the door of one of the huts and were overpowered by the stench. Emaciated figures peered out at us, in fear and surprise, from the rows of bunks. Lying among them, on the same bunks, were dead bodies.''

As they came out of one of the huts, the four men saw a camp guard using the butt of his rifle to beat up a prisoner. "Reg Seekings turned to John Tonkin, and asked permission to intervene and teach the guard a lesson.'' This was granted without hesitation. ''So Reg went over and hit the guard in the face. He got up and was then knocked out by another punch to the head. Then Tonkin ordered Kramer and Grese into the guardroom, and said, "We are now in charge, not you, and any guard who attempts to treat a prisoner with brutality will be punished."

It's infuriating enough for me, but it must be particularly horrible for men like this when modern "liberals" compare our soldiers in Iraq to the Nazis...

Sandmonkey

I ran across the Sandmonkey blog while doing some Googling, and right from its slogan it caught my attention:

Rantings of a Sandmonkey

Be forewarned: The writer of this blog is an extremely cynical, snarky, pro-US, secular, libertarian, disgruntled sandmonkey. If this is your cup of tea, please enjoy your stay here. If not, please sod off.

I was researching what the Michael Moore crowd were thinking now about the "Bush invaded Iraq to get the oil" theory. Sandmonkey has an interesting post on the matter; an exerpt:

Ok, here is the flaw in the "It was all done for oil" argument: The math doesn't add up. This war has cost the US over 175 Billion dollars and is projected to end up costing more then 500 Billion dollars over the next 2 years . No matter how big the Iraqi oil reserves are, there isn’t an economical way to sell enough of it for the next 10 years to just cover this cost and breakeven right now. Even if they increased the production to make up more money, the increased supply to a constant demand would bring the price of oil down, which brings you back to slot 1. If this was for oil, and to make money off of it for the "imperialist good of America", then it is the dumbest economical plan in existence. It would’ve been cheaper and less controversial to get the Oil through the UN Oil for Food program, which in case you didn’t know, had US companies as the #1 purchaser of Iraqi Oil. So let’s say this again and see if you get it: The US didn’t have to invade Iraq to get its Oil, cause they already were getting it cheap and hell of a lot cheaper then it costs right now. Not to mention, the Iraq oil money, will be needed for the reconstruction of Iraq. You think the Iraqis would let you just steal their oil and be ok with it? Right! Cause they are such docile toothless puppies.

As for the re-election, let's be honest, the Iraq war was Bush's weakest point up to the election. It was his most vulnerable side at the time, cause let's face it, back then it wasn't going very well. There was no Iraqi election or democratically elected Iraqi government. Just a US death toll. Yeah, Bush went to a highly expensive war that caused daily US death toll and divided a nation cause it would secure his re-election. Right! That makes perfect sense!

Not to mention, another War? With what Troops? The majority of the infantry is in Iraq and they are the ones who you need for ground control( that's why Iran and Syria support the insurgency with financing and agents; cause as long as the Americans are in Iraq, they are not in Iran or Syria). Not to mention, who would approve of another war while this one is still going on? You think the American people can take another War right now? You think anyone on both the left or the right would be for it? And with what money? How would they finance such a war anyway? Grr, I hate stupid people who say stupid illogical shit like that without thinking first.

Who'd have suspected more commonsense from a sandmonkey than from Michael Moore?

Owl update

Yesterday I told you how we discovered this nesting Great Horned Owl. This morning, I returned with the great morning light in a completely clear sky, and the "big gun": my 1280mm stabilized telephoto lens and tripod. The picture at right is one of the resulting pictures; I'm quite pleased with it.

Click on the picture for a very large view.

Follow-up on the baby that was kicked out: the raptor rescue folks arrived (a little grumpy, 'cause they took a wrong turn and ended up 25 miles or so in the wrong direction!) and picked up our little lost owl. This morning they called us up to let us know that the little guy is doing fine — especially after eating five mice! Once he's fledged and has learned to hunt and eat on his own, they're planning to release him right where they picked him up, on our friends place...

Steyn on the CIA and Iraq

Mark Steyn's latest column is dripping with contempt — in Mark's inimitable style, of course — for the CIA and its attempts to manipulate the politics of post-war Iraq. Here's a taste to whet your appetite:

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the glass in Iraq is three-quarters full, which is why stories on the subject are buried so deep in the paper they might as well be in Sandy's gusset. Saddam's old prison state is now the first Arab country with a non-Arab head of state: a Kurd, Jalal Talabani. When you're trying to make sense of the bewildering array of Iraqi politicians who prospered in the January elections, a good rule of thumb is: Chances are they're guys who've been stiffed by the CIA. President-to-be Talabani fell out with them a decade ago, when they pulled the plug on a U.S.-backed insurrection at 48 hours' notice and failed to pay the late cancellation fee. Talabani was part of the Kurdish delegation that had a ''secret'' meeting with CIA honchos in April 2002, in which the drollest exchange came when the Kurds expressed skepticism as to whether the officials present really represented the U.S. government.

And who can blame them for wondering? The CIA, as I wrote a couple of years back, now functions in the same relation to President Bush as Pakistan's ISI does to General Musharraf. In both cases, before the chief executive makes a routine request of his intelligence agency, he has to figure out whether they're going to use it as an opportunity to set him up, and if so how. For Musharraf, the problem is the significant faction in the ISI that would like to kill him. Fortunately for Bush, if anyone at the CIA launched a plot to kill him, they'd probably take out G. W. Bish, who runs a feed store in Idaho.

I wonder if anyone has warned Mr. Bish of the danger he's in? At the very least, he ought to change his middle initial...

Significant others

Big Al's girl lets you know. A taste:

#41 When I got sad when I thought of all the times that I was able to just pick up the phone and call him when he was stateside.
#42 When I got used to things always being up in the air - and when I could fully appreciate that oxymoron known as "military planning".
#43 When I started watching the Army movies that he has me order him off of Netflix just so I could marinate in the military way of doing things.
#44 When I started re-reading his old letters just because.
#45 When I started memorizing the names of the guys that he is with in Iraq and referring to them by rank.
#46 When I made this blog.
#47 When someone "dissing" the military will make every hair on my head stand up on end!
#48 When the word "Hooah" became part of my daily vocabulary.
#49 When I realized that I have come up with almost 50 ways of how deployment has taken over my life!!

Big Al is a lucky guy...

Iraqi perspective

This very moving post ends with this:

Some shortsighted people doubt the outcome of this day and think that it's not suitable to announce it a success but we say to them:You're free to think whatever you like, we got on the train, but you’re standing still.

I will save the effort of explaining to them what they missed because several years from now when Iraq becomes a beacon of civilization in the region you will find out the truth solid and clear but unfortunately I'm positive that they won't admit it and they will try to find another funeral to practice the only hobby they're good at; whining and weeping.So today we're offering a last chance to choose between joining the real world and joining Muqtada and Harith Al-Dhari.

Go and chant with them, condemn democracy and march against freedom if you like but don't forget that those thugs represent no one but themselves. They rejected democracy from the beginning and missed the chance of joining the greatest election of our time.And don't forget that millions of Iraqis had also rejected those fanatics when the people marched to the boxes ignoring the threats and "fatwas"

Those who really represent me and my people are the men and women we voted for and put our trust in; men like Ibrahim Al-Jafari and Jalal Talbani who are grateful for the nations that helped Iraq in the darkest times and freed its people when our "brothers" ignored us and silently watched the Ba'ath murder and torture our people and more worse, gave the Ba'ath a hand more than once.

These are the people who represent us now; they promise us freedom and prosperity and I intend to trust them and believe them as long as they prove to be honest to us but I will never listen to those who want to bring back the rule of the dark ages.

Finally, I would like to say it again and say it loud:Thank you our liberators.

Thanks, Mohammed...

Iraq and St. Peter

An American soldier was in St. Peter's square when he spotted something most unexpected: an Iraqi flag. The American (Seeba) made his way over to the flag and discovered a lone Iraqi:

He extended an arm to hug Bashar Behnam, 26, an Iraqi Syriac Catholic from the northern city of Mosul, who claimed to be Iraq's only representative at Friday's funeral of Pope John Paul II.

Seeba's final assignment during a year-long deployment in Iraq was to protect voters in Mosul during national elections in January. Five of his close friends were killed during his unit's deployment in Tikrit and Bajee. But Seeba described it as America's sacrifice for Iraqis to be free.

"When you see this," he said of Behnam's flag, "it makes it definitely worth it." Displaying the Iraqi flag in Vatican City "just lets them know they are getting their freedom, that they don't have to be afraid anymore."

He turned to Behnam and added, "I just hope you're happy with your country and how it's progressed."

"I feel so good, being the only Iraqi here today," Behnam replied, seeming a bit embarrassed by all the attention.

He said he visited the Iraqi Embassy on Thursday and asked if there was a flag that did not have "Allahu akbar" inscribed amid the banner's three green stars. He felt the Arabic inscription would carry too much of an Islamic connotation for such a Christian setting, but it was the only flag available.

He said embassy officials were proud that he was willing to wave it at the pope's funeral. "They were very cooperative," he said.

As he spoke, three Italians approached him to confirm that, indeed, he carried the flag of Iraq. Then they burst into applause.

Read the whole story here. A tip 'o the hat to Chrenkoff for the pointer.

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Quote for the day

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humour to console him for what he is.

   Francis Bacon