topblog -- commentary & news

By now most Americans know of the small Sunni village of Haditha and of the allegations that a group of US Marines massacred 24 civilians following the death of a comrade in an IED explosion.

Unlike many media talking heads and pundits, I don't have the information or inclination to say if the Marines are guilty or innocent. That is the task of investigators and the US military legal apparatus.

It is not my place to try to figure out what was going on in the mind of those Marines but I can say that whatever events did transpire indicates a failure of leadership... A failure of leadership that extends all the way to oval office. By this I mean what are we to expect from our warriors when they are given incomprehensible rules of engagement and forced to operate in a lethal environment where friends and enemies look, talk, act and dress alike?

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have set America up for failure and the appearance of a massacre at Haditha (let alone if it proves to be true) has ignited a new Muslim conflagration of rage that is aimed at the West in general and America in particular.

I have more confidence in our military legal system than I do in our political "leaders." I expect that the military criminal investigators will do their job well. What needs to be emphasized is that this investigation, it's findings and any courts-martial must be completely honest and open. We must allow access for non-friendly Arab/Muslim news organizations as well as our own. If the grunts are guilty, so be it. But lets not just punish and lock-up the enlisted and non-commissioned officers -- their commanding officers must be held accountable as well (as opposed to sham of a prosecution that took place following the prisoner torture cases). This incident stands to cause us more damage than Abu Ghriab, Afghanistan and Guantanamo.

Plain and simple -- we need to show the world that we truly are a great nation capable of amazing achievements as much as being swift, fair and just in accepting and dealing with our failures.

I'm back from lovely Fairchild AFB in Eastern Washington State for refresher high altitude chamber/flight physiology training I must attend once every five years.

Yours truly in the chamber.

My thanks to the (most excellent) staff of the unit and all my topflight aeromedical doctors -- all of which help keep my hairless ass in the seat and words & images flowing outwards.

One things separating me from my journalistic peers is that I actually maintain qualifications to do what I do. Being able to step-in as flight crew and wearing wings on my chest is what lets to often tag along (it is rare that I am given a photo sortie -- the vast major of my work comes from unit to service level special sorties I get wind of and combat training missions). I only say this as I am always getting a nearly completely undeserved screwing by other journalists who consider my familiarity with the military and my continuous participation with the services as some sort of collusion on my part and special treatment on theirs.

Lets see... Where was I? Oh, yes I remember -- now back aboard my previous train-of thought: unnecessary bullshit and the necessary lack of social graces in a high altitude chamber.

The human body isn't optimized for high altitude performance. My inefficient lungs, puny 48' chest cavity and stupid hemoglobin's need to bind with oxygen to keep me alive basically suck. More accurately, they leave me sucking (for air and life).

In my initial chamber training 20 some years ago, we would get in and the flight physiology gurus pumped out the air to a pressure altitude of 35,000 feet. We took off our masks and then proceeded to see how long it takes to pass out (took me about 35 seconds) while an expert stood by to fasten the bayonet on my O2 mask so I could keep living. The point is to learn the general aspects of hypoxia but more importantly it is to familiarize each of us with our personal symptoms of being hypoxic. In refresher training the chamber altitude is (thankfully) set at 25,000 ft and we get to solve problems and hang out for a while at altitude to explore our symptoms as the change due to age.

Remarkably those of us who punch holes in the sky can suffer the bends just as can our deep diving aqua-men and women. At angels 25, any gas in the gut expands in volume about five times. If you don't to bust eardrums and get intestinal torsions a lot of belching and farting needs to happen -- pretty damn quick as the "flight" from sea level to 25K takes seconds. So every five years I find myself in a sealed chamber starving for oxygen and getting mostly farts instead.

Who says the military doesn't have a sense of humor?


All the members of my class at altitude in the chamber (I'm at back right).

Hail the Raptor...

The first six of 12 1st Fighter Wing F-22A Raptors arrived at Elmendorf this afternoon straight from Langely AFB, Virginia (3,200+ miles, 9.5 hours in the seat and over 15 aerial refuelings along the way). This is the Raptor's first "overseas" deployment as well as it's first temporary assignment in the Pacific Command AOR. They are here to fly and fight in the upcoming Northern Edge wargame that kicks off in about 10 days.

I'm out of here for a couple days of high altitude chamber refresher training. I'll be back this weekend and it looks as if I'll be working often with the Raptors during their stay.

Onward and upward.



The commanding officer and five other Raptor pilots from the 27th Fighter Squadron.

I don't need to fly into another diatribe about the nature of the Third Gulf War in which we are mired. If you have HBO make the effort to watch the next showing of "Baghdad ER." If you don't have HBO visit a friend who has it. As a photojournalist, I found it compelling. As an American it both infuriated me and made me proud (of those who serve and of those who aid the wounded).

Watch it.

A squadron of 1st Fighter Wing Lockheed-Martin F-22A Raptors heads north next week -- on their way up here to call Elmendorf AFB home (while the Langley AFB runway is upgraded).

An older Lockheed-Martin graphic with a Raptor wearing AK on the vertical stabilizers along with the colors of the 90th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf -- the F-22A is to replace the E model Eagles flown by the 90th along with the remaining non AESA radar equipped F-15Cs from the 12th and 19th Fighter Squadrons.

The Raptor is a true 5th Generation fighter:

- with the radar signature of a large bug & has new stealthy paint that makes it hard to see.

- twin-engined (w/thrust vectoring) & capable of supercruising (flying quite a lot faster than Mach 1 without using afterburners).

- can effortlessly switch between anti-air, air to ground, directed energy/information warfare & reconnaissance tasks.

- carries advanced air to and air to ground munitions in protected internal weapons bays.

- can kill any other fighter flying before the adversary even detects the F-22A.

I'm not adding any temporal details as to exactly when they will arrive.

Make sure to keep an eye on me the next few weeks...

I'm a big booster (pun intended) of missile defense efforts and I'll tell you why. In my mind I see the destruction of a city or country by atomic, thermonuclear warheads, biological, chemical or radiological (the Soviets produced radioactive liquid warheads) delivered by ballistic missiles to be a huge environmental disaster (and disaster really doesn't convey how horrible such an act would be).

A recent aerial view of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system at Ft. Greely, Alaska. The nine Ground Based Interceptors (GBIs) are visible in the upper-left center portion of the facility.

My intellectual and political support of America's missile defense efforts stands in contrast to what most people think I should back given my anti-Bush and deep ecological beliefs. Hogwash I say, as I feel fine embracing paradoxical positions. It is true that in the past half-century the US has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on missile defense. It is true that many technologies and systems either failed, became obsolete due to countermeasures or never met the required expectations. It is also true that the current (and embryonic) GMD system, though fielded (nine GBIs at Ft. Greely and two GBIs at Vandenberg AFB, California) is still in development and the GBIs have a moderate success record during testing. It is true that the GMD system is impotent against stealthy cruise missiles, short and intermediate range ballistic missiles fusing depressed trajectories fired from cargo or fishing vessels, and the new hypersonic maneuvering warhead recently tested by Russia.It is also true that the current GMD system (even with the planned 40 to 100 GBIs) could only stand-up against an accidental, rogue or small attack consisting of a handful of incoming warheads (as each GBI carries one non-explosive, kinetic energy kill vehicle able to destroy only one warhead -- which sucks if the enemy shoots missiles with multiple warheads).

Many of my detractors and anti antimissile defense luddites haven't a clue what they are talking about -- most are ignorant that the (Soviets and now the) Russian Federation have an operational force of 100 nuclear warhead equipped missile interceptors circled about Moscow in hardened launch complexes or that the US built and fielded a similar system back in the 1970s.

In my idea of a perfect world, us humans would understand that no matter what color your skin is, what god you worship or what political system you live in -- we are all of the same race and living on the same puny planet. We would abandon war, strife and hunger and focus on discovering what the universe offers us and to making ourselves better beings. It sucks that the world is what it is and we don't seem to be on the road to enlightenment and salvation but rather to oblivion and complete destruction. In this world, the best kind of missile defense is to keep bad actors from acquiring ballistic missiles or if they don't get the message, a reasonable course of action would be a preemptive strike as the missiles are delivered to their bases (too bad President Bush has nearly discredited the strategy of preemption with the use of cherry-picked/shitty intel that was the "reason" we attacked Iraq).

There are some good things that have come from missile defense research: adaptive optics, bigger telescopes, powerful and efficient lasers, faster & more capable computers, better radars and satellites (communication and weather recon) and a deeper and better understanding of near-earth space weather to name a few. Other spinoffs from missile defense tech that most critics never touch upon is that knowledge we are acquiring could save the planet (life in all it's forms -- humanity included) from destruction by asteroids, comets (and don't giggle about this as I'm deadly serious) and remote possibility of alien attack. It sucks that warfare is one of things we humans excel at and students of history know that war often delivers the greatest advancements in science, technology, medicine and living conditions -- albeit at a terrible cost).

Missile defense in no panacea but it is necessary. I'm positive missile defense research will (eventually) deliver the goods. My only wish is that these systems are never used as if they are, we are truly screwed.

New White House spokesman Tony Snow made his debut this morning. As a fellow public affairs guy, I feel he did a pretty good job of showing himself to be completely different from the prickly, pushy and porcine Scott McClellan (I don't take a jab at him for being fat but rather for being an intransigent and barely competent fellow who enjoyed wallowing around in his own excrement).

While I care not for Snow's politics, he connected with me (not that it matters) in how he dealt (with honest emotions) with his own struggle with colon cancer as well as his mom's death caused by the same disease. Cancer sucks and you don't have to have it to know that. For some of us who live through it of with it, cancer can be a positive influence in that it helps up focus on what matters most: life.

No doubt Mr. Snow will quickly raise my hackles; after all look who he works for. So be it I say. Maybe, just maybe, he will be an honest and open flack that not only takes one for the boss but convinces the President to change his dismal strategy of arrogance, lies and thinking he is above the law.

I wish Snow good health and good luck (he is going to need loads of it).

In a few minutes President Bush plans to unveil his new "plan" to secure our southern border by mobilizing thousands National Guard troops and airmen to draw a line in the dirt of the desert Southwest.

This is a tremendously stupid plan -- here are a few reasons why:

- Many Army and Air Guard units are worn-out (both people and gear) from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
- Border security is not the job of the National Guard -- it is the job of Customs, Immigration and Border Patrol (and the Coast Guard
and Customs for maritime border security).
- The military (other than the Coast Guard) is not a law enforcement organization (except during martial law or natural disasters).
- Militarizing the border sends the wrong message to the Mexican government and people. We need to work as partners
with the Mexicans to help elevate their status of living conditions so that millions of their citizens no longer have to look North
for work and money.
- Americans have to stop using Mexicans and Latin Americans as wage slaves. American business leaders have to change their way
of relying on low-cost workers. American consumers need to stop bitching and pay the "real" price of (now) artificially low-priced
products and goods.

I don't know whose dumb-ass idea this is, but I suspect it was people who have never served in the military. Americans don't join the military to be border guards (other than those who serve in the Coast Guard). Americans join the National Guard to serve their state in times of need and natural disasters as well as to serve the country in wartime. It seems this move to put Guardsmen and women is a way to stick the bill for effort to the states involved (in a similar fashion to how the war in Iraq is funded by off the books in emergency and supplemental funding) .

I can see using the National Guard for border surveillance and some support role (only if the employment of said troops has training value for those Guard members). If the country needs more border guardians, then hire and train new border guards. Let us not solely focus on the southern border as illegal immigrants, terrorists and drugs come through Canada and the thousands of miles of US coast line as well. Once again, the president is turning to the use of the military as his patriotic backdrop. His credibility is shot. As it stands now, his legacy is going to be totally negative.

It is an odd position I find myself in as I semi-support the President and Senator Kennedy's plan to fashion a guest-worker program (to take care of the 12 to nearly 20 million illegal immigrants). I have no problem with people wanting to immigrate to the US though I don't believe in blanket amnesty. I maybe 1/16th Native American but the other 15/16ths of me is a product of immigrants (Czech, English, Irish and German). Our nation is as rich as it is due to the work of immigrants. I'd like to see President Bush stand up and take the heat, not care about what his well-heeled supporters say and do something good for the country and our southern neighbors -- namely figuring out a way to make our southern border effective (as if I were a terrorist with WMDs who wanted to attack America I would slip into the country via the established illegal immigrant and drug importation routes) and to cook-up a credible immigration policy that is fair to American citizens as well the huddled masses trying to legally immigrate into our country.

Friends and readers know I often lament the demise of the Cold World War.

While my operatives let me in on the action last month, I waited till this week for NORAD (the joint Candandian/US North American Aerospace Defense Command) confirmation that the Russian Federation Air Force conducted a training exercise in late April that included Tu-95 Bears and perhaps a massive Tu-160 Blackjack or two flying what seem to be cruise missile attack missions against Alaska and Canada.

Don't worry -- if anything, seeing that Russians have flow to hold a strategic bomber training exercise is a good thing as it gives us a chance to see what they are up to and they get a few hours of airtime (I fly more hours a years than most Russian bomber pilots) and practice. At no time did the Russian aircraft approach or violate our or Canada's 12 mile territorial airspace. The PA contact at NORAD said that the exercise was no suprise and "we (the US )had fighters out there."


Breathe easy comrades... After all, what is there to worry about?

Just remember you first heard it here.

Took a bumpy Monday morning flight on an Alaska Army National Guard C-23B+ Sherpa to Ft. Greely in central Alaska to attend the 49th Missile Defense Battalion change of command ceremony.


Most Americans if asked about missile defense would respond vaguely that we have a capability to shoot down ballistic missiles though nearly all would be essentially clueless when it comes to the particulars. As I type, there are nine live GBIs (Ground-based Interceptors) in their holes at Ft. Greely and another two snug in their silos at Vandenberg AFB in California.

Another detail many don't know is that the Alaska Army National Guard 49th Missile Defense Battalion operates the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system at Ft. Greely.


During the short and blustery ceremony, Lt. Col. Ed Hildreth assumed command from Lt. Col. Gregory Bowen


There will be more from me soon regarding missile defense. In parting, I'll share an interesting tidbit of information -- Alaska's only known nuclear reactor is at Ft. Greely. Operated from 1962 to 1973, the 20 megawatt SM-1A reactor produced in excess of 1.6 megawatts of electricity along with live steam for base heating. The purpose of putting the reactor at Ft. Greely was to power the remote test and training base in an sub arctic environment. The guts of the reactor were removed and shipped south years ago and the (low level) contaminated dirt around the facility has been gathered and stored on base. The reactor is currently in a safe-store condition and will most likely never be removed (would be far too costly and hazardous).


The SM-1A fission reactor power and steam generation and containment facility.

Last week was a busy one...

Had the pleasure of flying a Red Flag Alaska 06-2 mission this past Thursday with a crew from the 9th Air Refueling Squadron in their KC-10A Extender.

This was the first Red Flag Alaska exercise -- replacing the Cope Thunder air wargame conducted in The Great Land for 15 years. Only US units participated in RF06-2 and the airframes ranged from AFRES B-52H Stratofortresses to Navy EA-6B Prowlers. What most attracted my interest was the participation of the 64th Aggressor Squadron pilots and their F-16C Vipers.

The 64th AS hails from Nellis AFB. Back in 1997. I was the first journalist to fly with the Aggressors when they were with the 414 CTS and I've been pestering the higher-ups for years as to the need to have a dedicated Alaskan aerial aggressor squadron. Now that Red Flag has come to Alaska, the best Aggressors in the world can now use the best military airspace in the world to teach their (non)deadly lesson to American and allied combat pilots.

The Aggressors used to dress like the Soviets and spoke Russian during the battle. Now in a world were yesterday's friend could become an adversary, the Aggressors are trained to fly and fight in the manner of many contemporary air forces (observers such as myself always enjoy trying to figure out who they are mimicking).


The KC-10A is a great tanker and airlifter and the Air Force made a mistake in not buying more than 60 when they had the chance (especially considering how long the current tanker procurement mess has festered). The aircraft I flew on was in good shape and 9th ARS crew were a pleasure to fly with.


RF06-2 ended Friday. There will two more Red Flag Alaska's this year (Aggressor F-15s of the 65th Aggressor Squadron coming in December) and a US/allied and friendly air forces Cooperative Cope Thunder held this summer.

Dear Readers,

Just wanted to let everyone know that interesting things have been happening up here (in a military way). Can't yet tell all as I am still working my operatives for additional information. Hint: it has to do with how things used to go down up here... oldschool.

Stay tuned. More soon.

May Day was beautiful: sunny, sweetly cool and crisp

My immediate destination was about 125 clicks north to the hamlet of Talkeetna. About 2/3rds of Alaska's nearly 700,000 humans live in cities of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and the towns of Kodiak, Ketchikan, Sitka, Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue and Barrow. All the other peeps live in Bush villages that range in population from 2 to maybe 2000. Talkeetna has a few hundred year-round denizens and the place swells close to 1000 in spring in summer to deal with an influx of a couple thousand climbers and the growing throngs of tourists heading into and around Denali National Park.

A local pedals by visiting climbers (the canisters they carry are for them to poop-in while on the mountain).

Pararescuemen (PJs) from the Alaska Air National Guard's 212th Rescue Squadron gave me a lift to Talkeetna were we hooked up with a AK ANG 210 RS HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter (the bird is customized for combat search and rescue). Most years, the PJs work in small teams that each spend a month exploring and climbing Denali (Mt. McKinley -- 20,320ft). It is a great deal for all as the PJs get amazing training experiences and climbers on the mountain have the PJs around should things go wrong (and on mountains like Denali, things often do).


This year the first team of PJs decided to do something they don't normally do -- namely letting a couple civilians join them on a summit campaign. 31 year-old climber Sean Swarner and a buddy are the two civies that joined the PJs that were left off at the 7,200 foot -level base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier.


Swarner shares some stoke with newly-arriving climbers while Tech. Sgt. Robert Schnell looks on.

So what is the big deal about Swarner? Well, he is guy that has faith in his god and he is happy to be alive and seems to make the most out of everyday. Swarner made it through Hodgkin's Disease and Askin's Sarcoma at two different times (the only guy in medical history to do so). He summited Everest in 2002 and aims to make it to the top of each of the seven continent's highest peaks.



Climbers slog up the Kahiltna Glacier towards base camp -- The image on the right is a 210th Rescue Squadron Pave Hawk with Mt. Hunter in the background (14,573 ft).

The trip to Denali was wonderful and I enjoyed hanging out with Swarner and the PJs. I wish them all an exciting and safe climb. As a fellow human (and one who also has cancer in their life) I support Swarner and I wish him success in life and in pursuit of his truly lofty goal. For those who want to know of his progress on Denali -- he is posting updates to his Web site:SeanSwarner.com.

Right-wing blowhard and big fat hypocrite Rush Limbaugh gave himself up to the (Florida) Man yesterday as part of a plea deal on a single count of committing fraud to obtain prescription pain meds. Pretty good result given that he spent lots of "cabbage" (tens of thousands of dollars) popping lots of "baby blues" (tens of thousands of pills) and lied repeatedly to the authorities while he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on trial lawyers (gasp) in order to walk away from a crime that would send us peons to the hoosegow for years of gay rape.

While I detest the man for what he spouts, I would fight to the death to protect his right to say what his dumb-ass self wants to say (being a coward, I'm sure Limbaugh would let others do the fighting for him). But what really frosts my sole remaining testicle is not how he rages on with holier-than-thou rants and ignorant/lowbrow/meanspirited characterizations and assessments of situations and adversaries but that his listeners actually believe what he says as well as swallowing the big lie that he has their best interests at heart.

There are demagogues on the left, center and right, but I find the "conservative" ones most dangerous (ones on the left tend to be well-meaning flakes) as they go about their business with an (self)appointed assuredness that their ethics and morals are to etched in stone and followed as if they came from god. What happens is that degenerate gamblers and racists (Bill Bennett), drug addicts (Limbaugh), stupid perverts (O'Reilly), liars (Coulter) and venomous morons (the list is long but I'll pick Savage) actually convince themselves that they are better than us. By that I mean all of us as they could give a shit about us little people. They see their followers only as steady meal (or pill) tickets and convenient ego strokers.

Now Limbaugh has been booked and is out on bail and it looks like his penalty to pay to society amounts to little more than a slap on his flabby excuse of an ass. Most people who like him (or any of the other wanker-pundits) do not share your values nor do they want to understand of share your pain. Wake up people as the likes of Limbaugh and his cohorts are playing you for chumps -- they care not for you, your family, your community or our nation. Turn off the talk radio and read a book or a newspaper take a trip to a foreign land or maybe volunteer to help a wounded warrior rebuild their life.

Tony Snow (yawn) is to be the new presidential press puppet, replacing Scott McClellan in a couple of weeks.

McClellan was simply dreadful as a PA flack -- testy, sweaty, arrogant and confrontational. Any tough question was met with an accusation that the questioner was unAmerican and didn't care that Bush is "protecting" the American people.

To be fair, McClellan wasn't in the inner circle (though he acted like he was) and was often lied to by Bush, Cheney, Rove, Card and Libby. So a complete asshole was made to appear as a complete flaming asshole.

That Snow was picked for the job as working for Fox "News" means has been on the Bush/Cheney payroll. His past negative comments about Bush served only to grease the skids for him to slide into McClellan's job while pretending to be an outsider.

Appointing Snow to take the heat for Bush is like putting a Band-Aid on gangrene. New Chief of Staff Josh Bolten is attempting to convince us that there is a shake-up going on inside the White House and that he is kicking ass and taking names (from his rolodex). The sad part is that most of my fellow citizens are low grade morons and will believe just about anything they see on TV or hear on talk radio (trust me, being on TV and radio a lot has made even me seem credible).

It is all for naught as like the Russians say, "the fish rots from the head."

Friends and readers know I hold my president (note I don't say "our" as I have many international visitors to topcover) in low regard.

I profoundly respect the office of the President of the United States. I served my country (as a US Coast Guardsman) not to serve the president but to defend the constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. In that light, I now see President Bush and his posse no longer as an embarrassment but as unindicted co-conspirators and quite possibly as enemies of the constitution and the American people.

Once again, I take no pleasure in writing this. You are reading words that will probably result in my being (additionally) surveilled and possibly questioned by various agencies of the US Government. That doesn't bother me as I have done nothing wrong and the NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, CID, AFOSI, NRO etc. all know where I live and how to contact me (I stand ready to serve at all times).

Normally, I tend to use humor and cynicism to deal with weighty subjects. Odd as I don't have funny feelings tonight.

In the court of Mark Farmer (which I acknowledge means rather little), I allege that The President by (cherry-picking intelligence to suit his wishes) invading Iraq (and then disbanding the Iraqi military, not having enough troops to occupy the country and not having any cogent post war planning) has done nothing but waste the blood of our troops, squandered half a trillion dollars and done more damage to America's credibility and worn out our military worse than anything al Qaeda could ever do. Bush might as well be one of the Iranian ayatollahs considering how well exposed and vulnerable he has left our warriors in Iraq (not to mention troops based elsewhere overseas or the critical homeland assetts left without adequate protection. America's world public affairs image is shit due to Bush (and for those who say it doesn't matter what the rest of world thinks of us I say you are ignorant as any battle that can be won militarily can be won with the right words at a far lower cost).

I feel it is important for me to take a stand. I am not fighting a partisan battle as I have no respect for either political party. I say the president is a criminal based on personal research, private interviews with politicians, generals, grunts, staffers and other journalists. I suggest my readers embark on their own sojourns for truth.

The President's and Vice President's actions regarding the war in Iraq, cherry-picked intel, sending our troops in battle in Iraq without decent body and vehicle armor, secret torture prisons, using the government, intelligence services and military to wage smear campaigns against political adversaries, waging covert spying programs against American citizens, special and rigged multi-billion dollar noncompetitive contracts to cronies, secretly diverting Task Force 121 from hunting bin Laden to Iraq to find Saddam, lying under oath, lying about the (non) connection between al Qaeda and Saddam, outing a spy for political payback, releasing secrets for political gain,secret energy deals which only increase our dependence on foreign sources of oil, selling us out to the (evil) House of Saud and rewarding and protecting corrupt, greedy and inept cabinet secretaries -- are all criminal and, in some cases, treasonous acts.

Oh let us not forget Bush's inability to lead and that his self-righteousness is eclipsed only by his vanity, stubborness and vacuousness. I don't know if most people get how badly he has "handled" the war on terror. For all the world's goodwill that came our way after the September 11th attacks, Bush successfully pissed it away (damn quickly, I might add).

Most of this I have said before in public forums and this blog. The President and Vice President should be investigated by special prosecutors and then by congress (when the democrats take over after the fall election). As it looks from here, both men should be impeached and removed from office. War isn't the best time to change leaders, but war is never a goodtime anytime. I know those of you who voted for W and Deadeye Dick feel letdown and used -- now you feel like the rest of us. It is never joyous to admit you were fooled into supporting a lying cheating turd (hell I voted for Kerry and felt kinda the same way). Like I wrote a couple days ago, it is pretty cool to live in a country where I can write what I feel and not wind up in a gulag. While our republic is in dire straits, it is because of the wisdom of the American revolutionaries and their insistance in having a government of laws regulated by checks and balances that America can handle purging Bush and Cheney out of office.

After all, they are only men.

p.s. Can anyone tell me why he wearing an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbon (as his service records show no such award -- and who was saying Kerry wore ribbons he didn't earn?)?

I miss the certainty and easy logic of the Cold World War.

It was us versus them.

Not any more.

Those in control need to create monolithic enemies. If I was to believe my government in Washington, The People's Republic of China just might become an evil empire. Problem is, that is going to take time.

We need an enemy now.

At their neoconservative cores Bush, Cheney, Rove, Bennett, Wolfowitz are cowards. They won't pick a fight with North Korea (as they actually have nukes, long range ballistic missiles and a whack-a-do leader capable using them on Seoul, Misawa and Tokyo). Those folks won't fight in Africa as they lack any backbones. They won't fight in Myanmar cause most peeps don't know where it is.

So, the people in power in DC (read, clutching at straws) need to make a devil out of some country (to help take our collective attention of the bleeding sore that is Iraq) to show that their strategy of global engagement they predicated their inept actions on is still valid.

Iran is satan.

There, that was easy.

Actually, Iran has always interested me: Persian history and military accomplishments, Iran and it's dealings with the West, the Shah and his achievements and the abuses he heaped upon his people, the Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq war that killed a million people and the 25 years of weird relations the Islamic Republic of Iran has had with America.

As I have stated before, I see Iran as two countries: one moderately secular, one a radical theocracy. Iran is a client state of China and I see an emerging alliance of sorts between the two (access to oil in exchange for weapons and nuclear/biological/chemical technology). China wants to be seen as a major power and it having the appearance of being able to work with Iran in political terms only increases the PRC's international status (same goes for the PRC's relationship with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

Iran has learned well from the West when it comes to politics. Iran knows how to play behind the scenes while their president vilely spews anti-semitic and anti-american rhetoric. They learned from our repeated poundings of Iraq and Serbia that if you have WMD and command and control goodies, you want to bury them deep in hardened facilities. They also know how to play the news cycles and they get a lot of mileage out of their stock footage of military parades and weapons tests.



I also know that Iran's leaders understand the nature of information as a weapon and the value of a small nuclear arsenal. They play the info game well and they keep us guessing. I suspect the Ayatollahs know the value of a small nuclear arsenal as well as the value of a single nuke (basically you use it or you loose it). While I fear that Iran at some point will see the advantage of striking Israel first, my bigger fear is that the Iranians would target the largest concentration of US troops in Iraq with their nuke or, even worse they will loft a single warhead over the the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and detonate it in near earth space thereby zotzing all the electronics from Italy to Israel. But then again, I can think of lots of really bad shit.


Plain and simple: everyone should keep an eye on Iran and take it upon yourself to learn what you can about the land and it's leaders.

Seen here in 1953 after being the first human to exceed Mach 2 -- test pilot, scientist and Collier Trophy winner Scott Crossfield died Thursday in a light plane crash. He was 84.

Crossfield led an exceptional life. He flew the X-1, X-4, X-5, the D-558-I, D-558-II and was the first to fly the X-15 spaceplane. He was Navy fighter pilot and instructor pilot in WW II and went to college after the war. After getting his bachelors degree, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA -- the predecessor of NASA) as a civilian test pilot.

Unknown to many, Crossfield helped lead us towards the stars.

President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China is evidently enjoying his first visit to the United States of America as well as rubbing elbows with our corporate leaders.


Good for him. Good for China and good for us.

While President Bush attempts to play the anti-commie role in an attempt to placate the quavering right wind of the Republican Party in not so subtle ways of letting President Hu know that he really isn't getting a full-blown state visit (when we all know he is), American oligarchs are establishing relationships and understanding that probably will outlast Bush's administration. The Chinese are extremely adept political players and they fully realize that Bush is at best a lame duck (and there is greater status in having the Chinese populace see President Hu with Bill Gates rather than kicking it with W -- though the 21-gun salute must have been satisfying).

What I mean by that is that these sorts of personal contacts could eventually rival and outstrip our government's sway with the PRC. Considering that China is now the world's fourth largest economy on it's way to being an eventual number one -- it is my feeling that economic, political, environmental and military-to-military engagement and a strategy of coexistence (neither overt conflict nor spineless concession) with China is far more productive than the predictable rhetoric, rigid edicts and unenforceable rules that only waste humanity's efforts and limited planetary resources. Abu Ghraiib, Gitmo prisoner torture and renditions don't serve us well, we still do occupy a bit of high ground when it comes to the prickly problems of demanding that China improve it's human and workers rights and living with the PRC as they ascend to the status of superpower (first regional and then global). If we play the game right, the enormous appetite of the Chinese people for information, better living standards and the need for greater equality between rural & urban populations will persuade/force the Chinese government into the role of being a global competitor with the West rather than a military adversary.

In the past two weeks seven retired flag officers (generals) have publicly called for the resignation of SECDEF Rumsfeld. I find it odd how many of those on conservative side of American politics have decried the general's statements as unpatriotic when those those same voices lauded the same generals when they wore the uniform. Of course, this is the typical hypocritical bullshit I have come to expect from such sources.

Now, the White House has enlisted their countervailing retired generals to try to stop the political hemorrhage that is personified by the Secretary Rumsfeld. This bunch includes the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Myers (USAF) who I feel was placed politics before strategy and is one of the worst Chairman (and did little to protect the grunts and groundpounders in Operation Iraqi Freedom) ever. The White House has every bit as much right to play the blame game as those of us who are now against the war in Iraq as we do to say they suck.

To be fair, I supported the war in Iraq. However, it only took a few months for me to realize how wrongheadly we prosecuted the conflict. I also think that Rumsfeld was a stand-up guy in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon (carrying victims to ambulances) and that he did a pretty damn good job in the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan. He tried to transform the military but got lost along the way in running the war in Iraq. It is obvious that he should be sacked (and at the same time thanked for his service). Unfortunately, Bush and his crew are more concerned with the appearance of weakness than with the blood of 2,500 of our warriors and the tens of thousands of Iraqis on their hands.

Back to criticism. As a journalist, I try to be impartial and honest. As a citizen and blogger, I am going to call them as I see them. It is one of the greatest attributes of our Republic that I can rail against those in power all the while covering the military (of course there are folks who will no longer work with me due to my political beliefs but that is their loss) and not wind up in some secret prison somewhere. Things are pretty fucked-up but they could be worse.

For the past 33 years the US Army has helped the National Park Service by airlifting gear for multiple base camps on Denali (Mt. McKinley) with the exceptions of 1991 (Desert Storm) and last year (Operation Iraqi Freedom). Fresh back from Iraq, three CH-47D Chinooks and crews fromCompany B, 1st Battalion or the 52nd Aviation Regiment "Sugarbears" stepped-up to carry the load.

The Sugarbears at based at Fort Wainwright at Fairbanks and their Chinooks recently received upgraded engines and they wanted to see if the powerplants would allow them to operate at higher altitudes with greater loads.



Considered to be the active Army's best high-altitude rescue team, the Sugarbears set the Chinook high altitude rescue record 10 years ago by landing on Denali's "football field" at 19,600 feet (Denali's summit is 20,320ft).


Last Friday I flew along with the Sugarbears as they slung loads to base camp at the 7,200 foot-level of the Kahiltna Glacier. This camp is were most mountain climbers head out to summit Denali and other nearby peaks.




After dropping me and a few other people off on the Kahiltna Glacier, the three Chinooks then went to drop loads at the 14,400 foot level camp and the high camp at 17,000 feet. With the birds light and everyone on oxygen, the crews then landed at the "football field" and then flew over the summit at 23,000 feet.



Sounds like the new engines work pretty good.



I had a great time (as always) flying with the Sugarbears. I'm thankful they let me tag along and I'm stoked they made it back from Iraq with everyone OK. I am looking to flying more with them this summer when I'm in Fairbanks.

Around town patches of snow linger yet daylight is long and winter's crispness is long gone. Elmendorf AFB is a short walk north from downtown Anchorage -- just the other side of the railroad yard.

Construction of the base began 6 months before Imperial Japanese naval forces attacked Pearl Harbor. A critical defense installation for 65 years Elmendorf is the headquarters for Alaskan Command, the 11th Air Force and the 3rd Wing. The base is growing in stature as Lower 48 bases shrivel. Current 3rd Wing aircraft include the 12th and 19th Fighter Squadrons flying F-15C & D model Eagles (featuring 18 F-15C Eagles with Active Electronically Scanned Radars, new mods of the AIM-120C AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder air to air missiles, advanced IFF gear, digital data links and the Joint Helmet Mounted Cuing System) the 90th Fighter Squadron with the F-15E Strike Eagle, the 517th Airlift Squadron with C-130H Hercules and C-12F/J transports and the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron operating two E-3B AWACS.

Within the next few years the Lockheed-Martin F-22A Raptor shall replace the F-15E Strike Eagles and the non-AESA equipped C Model Eagles and the C-130H Hercules swapped out for new Boeing C-17A Globemaster IIIs (operated by the Alaska Air National Guard).

Today I was invited to hang out at base ops to watch the Eagles and to wait for a special visitor.




A little before 5 p.m., I spotted the unique planform of an Antonov An-72P (built in Ukraine and given the NATO code name "Coaler) short takeoff and landing maritime patrol and enforcement aircraft.

This one belongs to Lt. General Valeri Putov, Commander of the Northeast Directorate of the Russian Federal Security Service who, along with his staff, are here to meet with with US Coast Guard 17th District (Alaska) Commander Rear Admiral James Olson.








In the nearly 25 years I have been in Alaska (I came here serving aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Storis still homeported at Kodiak Island) have seen the US/Russian change greatly. As a deck seaman and boarding party member I participated in the boarding of giant Soviet factory/trawler/spyships in our 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone in the Bering Sea to being buzzed by Soviet Aircraft and shadowed by Soviet Naval ships. As a Coast Guard photojournalist and public affairs guy I watched and recorded some of the first USCG and KGB Maritime Border Forces talks. As a reporter and observer of things military, I have enjoyed watching the Northeast Russian Federal Security Services and USCG D 17 relationship grow into a partnership and perhaps the most often used direct headquarters to headquarters communication link between our two countries.



You know something?


I'd love to have an An-72P -- given it's short and unprepared field capabilities it just might be the perfect Alaskan RV.

Friends and readers know I'm the type of fellow that does what I feel I have to do. What is focus and tenacity to one person is being an asshole to others. As I grow older I find I have no problem fessing-up to being an aggressively focused and tenacious asshole.

People who know me are aware I don't make much money. While my choices in life have yielded results I am proud of, I have a hard time transmuting those achievements into tangible realities of life like money for rent, food, vet bills, etc. Those close to me also know the hard times I endure due to big mouth and arrogance. I fully realize my shortcomings and I work hard to be as good a person as I can be.

I am deeply appreciative for the compliments I receive from my friends and fellow artists. I've won top awards in competitions focusing on avitation, space and maritime subjects. I enjoy knowing my work is some of the best in the world. The odd thing is that I have always been overlooked and dissed by my peers here in Alaska. I don't do what I do to gain praise, but we all know that a little recognition now and then is pretty sweet.

The Alaska Press Club held it's annual J(ournalism)-week a few days ago. I submitted two pieces of work and expected to hear nothing back again just like in the years past.

Surprise of surprises, I won the category of best photo story for my "Arctic Warriors -- Force on the Final Frontier" which ran in the August 2005 issue of Alaska Magazine. The three judges were three top photo editors at the Los Angeles Times. Not only did I win, but the other enteries were said not to be in the same league and no 2nd or 3rd place awards were made.

I could not do what I do, nor would I have ever won the award if it was not for the men and women of US Armed Forces in Alaska. My award is everybit as much mine as it is theirs (and the same goes to the staff of Alaska Magazine). To everyone, I say thank you.

When it comes to battle, the last thing any warrior desires is a fair fight. War is more than politics by other means, it is cruel, ugly and about the annihilation of the enemy.

In my military mind, I don't adhere to romanticism of chivalry nor to the samurai code of Bushido (though I do find a certain beauty and symmetry within the "Way of the Warrior"). When geopolitical maneuvering fails, I believe in being sudden and overwhelmingly violent (while at the same time being as merciful as possible with civilians and noncombatants).

Our war in Iraq is exactly how not to fight a 21st Century war. Our intentions were known by all months in advance of the invasion. That time allowed Saddam and the Baathists to fund and stockpile weapons for use by the Iraqi insurgent units. By now, even staunch supporters of President Bush admit he screwed the pooch.

Bigtime.

Beyond the nearly 2500 dead American warriors and the nearly 10,000 troops so badly injured they will never return to service, Bush's failure stands to discredit preemption as a useful strategy.

I'm all for trying to work serious problems out on the international stage or in secret negotiations. Hell, I would rather make a deal or pay a government off to prevent war (not appeasement, but a verifiable understanding). However, when you are dealing with intransigent countries like Iran and North Korea, I feel preemption may be the right arrow in the quiver to grab -- and if things get really bad, a nuke or two might be the right choice (only when it is certain that the US or our allies are looking at a pending nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological attack.

So how does a self-styled warrior-pacifist and environmentalist come to hold such an intellectual position?

Pretty easy actually considering the incredibly fucked-up situation the world is in. I'd love to live on a perfect and peaceful planet where humans get along with other humans as well as the environment -- a world where money, religion and skin color matters not. Problem is, that isn't the globe I live in. I am not being trite or glib, but it may take another horrific global conflict to hammer out all the problems people have with other people.

Or maybe humanity will perish in a multitude of double-flashes (the optical signature of a nuclear explosion).

Am I saying that we should nuke Iran or North Korea?

If it is (actually and not cherry-picked and made-up intel) known that they continue to field nuclear weapons or proliferate nuclear technology then yes we should. We may find ourselves quickly in a situation where we observe Iran trying to lobe three or four warheads at Israel (which would destroy Israel) while Israel prepares to retaliate (where upon the entire Arab and Islamic world would come gunning for us). In such a situation we may have to step in and obliterate Iran's military and dual political command structures...

I can think of at least 10 other scenarios that would task us to strike first with nuclear weapons. If I can do that, there must be another 100 possible scenarios of which I am clueless.

It is our best interest not to throw the baby (preemption) out with the bathwater (the failure that is W's presidency). That said, it is also even more important that we wise-up and elect people who can handle the job rather than those morons who pander to us. Oh yeah, and lets get out of or find a reasonable strategy to take care of the stinking mess we created in Iraq (and if anyone can do that I recommend they immediately call the White House).

No matter what, things are going to get even worse before they ever get better.

I'm sorry I'm the guy who has to tell you this.

Seymour Hersh's New Yorker Story: The Iran Plans

I've never had any problem embracing paradoxical positions.

Though a deep ecologist (look up the movement) for 30 years, I am also a serious and vocal supporter of modern wargames.

Many people think those positions are incompatible. It is true that the US military committed some egregious acts against the environment during the Cold War (1945 - 1991). Most damage and contamination happened as a result of expediency committed during efforts to prevent the annihilation of our country ,and later, our species. I'm not saying that forgives the military for what they did to the environment. I will say that the American military today is downright enlightened in comparison it's Cold War predecessor and works to remediate past devastation (though those efforts are not funded as much as they should be).

The science and technology embodied in current weapons is mind-bending. Wonder-weapons and the strategies and tactics to employ them steal the headlines and TV news. They all mean dick if you haven't the fuel to power them and the food and equipment to keep the warriors going (even the warriors who support robots). The ability to support our military is currently critically susceptible and the military knows it. That is why observers like myself have been watching the military scramble to find a way to field electric driven vehicles and ships as well as minimizing the need for long, thin and very very vulnerable overland logistics resupply convoys and the over use of airlifters to fly all sorts of stuff that runs a military.

Now back to wargames. Red Flag and Cope Thunder are focused on giving pilots their first 10 combat missions in a very realistic training environment which seems a lot like war but you get to come back the next day ever when you are killed (much better than loosing new combat pilots that take years and millions of bucks to train). The 5,001 sq. mile Nevada Test & Training Range (NTTR) and the 67,000 sq. mile Pacific Alaska Range Complex (PARC) contain big spreads of land that are restricted to one degree or another (though much of both range complexes and the Military Operating Areas (MOA) and ground have large amounts of dual civilian uses like flying, camping, mining, and hunting).

It probably sounds bogus that while the military tears up the air, the target arrays with live fire munition impact zones are comparatively small in relation to full range size. Animals learn to avoid the impact areas and the variety and numbers of most animals are greater on restricted ranges as opposed to the adjacent government lands. The live munitions drop areas are located away from areas of ecological, archeological, anthropological and cultural interest -- many such sites have been saved due to being collocated in restricted ranges.

The way I feel that intensely realistic wargames are valuable in five ways most people don't perceive:

- We fight like we train -- wargames allow all the US military branches fly, steam and fight together in the way they would in war.
- The Warrior caste is encouraged to be innovated, crafty and devastating in intellectual and visceral ways in a manner that
that is intensely competitive yet rarely fatal.
- The US/ Allied and visiting forces and observers develop direct contacts with their peers in such a way that fosters behind the
scene relationships that make joint efforts run smoother and at times prevent misunderstandings that could result in real war.
- It keeps the Warrior caste busy and focused on what matters most -- being ready to defend the country and to be so accomplished
and fearsome that no one would ever want to fight another real war.
- Springing for the flow to float the cost of wargames is always far, far less than the price of war.

I'm all for wargames and less war.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is flexing it's nuclear, missile and sea muscles: building new nuke facilities, reprocessing uranium, separating the U-235 isotope, firing missiles and demonstrating a 225 mph supercavitating rocket torpedo (I'll talk about that technology later).

Oh yeah, and talking a lot of shit.

How do we ascertain the nature of Iranian conventional, unconventional, chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities?

That is not easy -- unless they start leaving their blueprints and weapons on the roof so we can scan them from space. Iran is a theocratic, semi-closed, near police-state that operates aggressively on multiples levels (overt, covert and completely deniable approaches to commercial, religious, military and political capabilities and strategies to name a few). It appears that while our national technical capabilities are great at imaging lots of buildings, bases, planes, tanks and the like, our ability to place that stuff in a geo-theo-political context falls short due to a small number of well-placed operatives. The Iranians are intelligent and shrewd operators. Their two-tier secret religious/elected parliament mode of government lends well to obfuscating true national goals with a flair for bluster and racist rhetoric.

Mind you, I have a feeling most Iranians are like most Americans: pretty decent human beings trying to get through life and provide for themselves, their families, communities and country. They see themselves in relation to both their proud Persian heritage and their aspirations to be a major world player. I also have a feeling many of the guys pulling the strings feel they have god on their side, yet are corrupt, criminal and tyrannical.

The Ayatollah's have a pretty simple playbook:

-They want the West and, in particular, America to pay for what Iran sees are actions against and humiliations suffered (like with some in the Chinese government and military, they would like to provoke a confrontation with the US and then sink an aircraft carrier -- which would be a huge psychological blow to my country as we have not lost a carrier since WW II).
- they want to destroy Israel.


Beyond that, they would like to make a lot of money, let the Iranian people have a few physical luxuries and some political freedom all the while controlling them with a tighter grip and exporting their own brand of Islamic governance. It is a crime against the Iranian people and to humanity that such a few men can co-opt Islam in the name of their own evil pursuits.

What do we do?

We are already fighting the Iranians -- in Iraq and around the world over the past 25 years. Iran is one of the biggest producers of counterfeit US money as well as an indiscriminate proliferator of ballistic missile and other weapon technologies to other nation-states and sub-national groups. We need better human intel operators and linguists. We need to keep a close eye on them to keep the up the political, diplomatic and military pressure on Iran while note backing them up against a wall with no way out.

It would truly suck so bad if we get in a shooting match with Iran. Our forces in Iraq would suffer first with terror and possibly missile attacks and then Iranian and client group attack cells would engage American and Western soft targets worldwide. Iran has located weapon and nuke labs in secret underground bases in addition to a large number of widely distributed above ground (some semi-hardened and hardened) facilities. A first strike would have to involve a massive aerial attack hitting hundreds of aimpoints in the first few hours. If a single nuke on a single missile hits Israel, the whole Middle East goes up.

We and our government and military need to be thinking in these terms. Iraq must not ever make us take our eyes off Iran and North Korea. In the meantime lets hope we have some inspired and capable people out there working that it never comes to blows. We need a way to buy off the bosses in Iran and North Korea, de-fang their militaries and beat the swords into plowshares and then allow both countries to join the rest of the world community (once they have a Big Mac or a Wal-Mart there is no going back).

The Air Force made a wise move: the Cope Thunder war-games in the Pacific Alaska Range Complex are being re-designated as RED FLAG Alaska.

It makes complete sense to combine the real threat systems and target arrays that make up the 5,001 sq.-mile Nevada Test and Training Ranges NTTR -- run by Nellis AFB with the stunningly expansive 67,000 square mile PARC. Nellis is the home of the world's most challenging air combat training operation known as RED FLAG. Not only is the PARC 13.4 times larger than NTTR, a correspondingly large ground maneuver area lies under it's airspace. While the PARC's 30 ground threats are programmable threat emitters and MANPADS -- the massive PARC airspace lends itself to the use of the F-22A Raptor stealthy-supercruise-superfighter (that will make it's Alaskan debut this year), new Allied fighters like the Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, French Rafale, Indian Su-30MKI, the upcoming US/International F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and new super/hypersonic air and ground launched missiles. The PARC was recently upgraded with GPS Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation pods that support the near-real time viewing on the massive displays at Elmendorf and Eielson of up to 99 aircraft fighting at the same time. With us being tied into transpacific fiber optic cables, merging battlespace C4ISR operations at Nellis and in Alaska (hell, from Japan, command ships, bunkers or where-ever) should be seamless.

At last, there will be a dedicated detachment from either the 64th (F-16C/D Vipers) and 65th (F-15C/D Eagle) Aggressor Squadrons from Nellis (for 15 years I've been pestering Sen. Stevens and senior AF officers about the need for dedicated Alaskan aggressors). The was a great squadron at Groom Lake called the Red Eagles -- they flew purloined Soviet fighters back in the day. My friend Lt. Gen. Dave McCloud (R.I.P.) was a Red Eagle back in the day. Outside the petting zoo at the Nellis Threat Training Facility is a beautiful MiG-17 with Dave's name on it. It is most certainly time for a group of new Red Eagles to take roost at Eielson under the 353rd Combat Training Squadron (with this move, I'd think Eielson has a long happy future).

All this is great news for Alaska as we will see a few new troops, some new airplanes, money for PARC upgrades and operation, more Allied and friendly military participants and more national support as the two best test and training ranges come together for the good of the Air Force and our nation. Gets me thinking -- we have the airspace, the ground maneuver areas, good bombing and gunnery ranges, missile defense at Ft Greely, space tracking and early warning from Clear AFS and Eareckson AFS on Shemya, the seabased X-band radar homeported in Adak, 19 remote aircraft and cruise missile detection radars around the state tied along with two E-3 AWACS into the underground Regional Air Operations Center at Elmendorf, a spaceport on Kodiak... all we need to make Alaska the greatest training battlelab is an amphibious landing and livefire range.
I'll get to work on that next time I see the senator.

RED FLAG Alaska : I'm stoked.

Fellow military aviation and Black aircraft journalist Bill Scott at Aviation Week & Space Technology has taken some on the chin for his recent Blackstar cover story in AW & ST.

Having nearly 15 years of experience of watching the comings and goings at Edwards AFB, China Lake, Palmdale, Tonopah Test Range and Watertown Federal Airfield at Groom Lake, Nevada, I feel I can say with some evidence and several sightings to my credit that Bill is more right than wrong.

Where he thinks Blackstar is an air-launched spaceplane, I lean to the jet and rocket powered spaceplane taking off on it's own power and being suborbital -- used for quick pop-up attacks on satellites and for high speed strike recon. There is no reason to think my spaceplane isn't Bill's. All I know is that there are men and women that have astronaut wings who don't fly the shuttle.

I have a great deal of respect for the scientists, engineers, spooks and astro-pilots and the military/industrial/entertainment complex knows my interest is in the hardware. As far as I am concerned, it isn't really the time to comment on current Groom Lake operations. Yet my interest remains and I'll keep an eye out for whatever flies out of The Box and over my head.

Hell, I just want a ride.

"Hey hey, my my. Out of the blue and into the black. You pay for this, but they give you that. And once you're gone, you can't come back. When you're out of the blue and into the black."

-Neil Young

Israel, my favorite fortress democracy, went to the polls today (63 % of the electorate did). Even more so than us, with the Israelis there is a deep political rift from the radicals on the right to the freaks on the left.

To most everyone's relief and maybe even some joy, most people voted for the centrist-right Kadima party (a recent construct of necessity cobbled together by Ariel Sharon before his stroke) and the leftist Labor party. The big surprise was how well the Yisreal Beitenu and Gil (pensioners) parties did and how poorly the right-wing Likud performed. With luck, this election heralds the political end of Bibi Netanyahu who looked sweaty and stunned during his (most likely) farewell address.

Acting and Presumptive (and accidental) Prime Minister Olmert is an odd ball. A political veteran with a Right Wing history now is the man to bring together a center-left coalition government for the 17th Knesset that shall be bent on defining Israel's final border, working with or destroying Hamas and figuring out what is fair for both Israelis and Palestinians when it comes to the West Bank.

For Hamas and all the other radical Palestinian Islamists, this is their one chance to make things right for their people. It is probably Israel's last best hope of peace.

Some of my readers might be surprised how many notes of support I get from members of the military and those who work in local, state and national government. Sure, there are those who tell me that I suck and should go to hell as it is journalists like me that are ruining this country by suppressing the "good news" coming out of Iraq. These people are seriously misguided and possibly incapable of dealing with their own responsibility of electing the current administration.

Iraq is a mess. There is a civil war. The country is coming apart at the seams and 140,000 of our troops are stuck in the middle of the ever-increasing shit-storm. We are more vulnerable because Bush invaded Iraq.

Put the blame where it belongs. The media didn't create the situation -- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz did.

I unashamedly support our military and those who volunteer to serve and protect our nation, our allies and friends.

I am the only journalist in Alaska that covers the military full-time. I attend every ceremony, deployment and homecoming I can. I freely give digital files of my pictures to members of the armed forces and the units to which they belong. When I sell prints, I sell them for cost (unlike those at Halliburton and KBR who rake in billions sticking it to the US Government). It is true, I detest many politicians and see them for what they are: incompetent, egoistic, money and power-grubbling weenies. I can write and talk the way I do as I have little to loose as I haven't be co-opted by a spoon-fed job, money, access or power.

So back to the nature of my e-mail. Most letters from military members support what I say. While many don't support my political views, they do think I am often on the mark when it comes to military matters.

Simply put, I stand by our military and our warriors (and yes, I know the military isn't a perfect organizatiion and a few in uniform are screw-ups and shitbirds).

To hell with the politicians who continue to put them in harms way for a completely bogus neo-conservative strategy.

Lets throw the bastards out this fall.

Sitting here watching the President deliver a speech in Cleveland, I am struck by the man's ability to convince himself that he is right. Having the same ability, I must give Bush credit that he stands by what believes even though he is, at times, dead wrong.

The speech itself lends no additional insight into the man or his plans. But when he takes questions and plays the role of the simple everyman he seems to score with the crowd. He outrightly lied about saying the he (and Cheney) linked Saddam with 9/11 attacks (and nobody called him on it). Too bad he is incapable of accepting his mistakes and then being able to switch to a new strategy or tactic. He is way off the mark with the continued blaming of the media as being the source of America's problems and that the" good" stories out of Iraq. Face it, W, the deadly morass we find ourselves in Iraq is all of your doing, not the media.

I believe in helping the oppressed peoples in Africa, Asia and Eurasia. Bush does too -- except it appears that his administration cares only about those people in countries with large amounts of oil.

The man is more complex than people give him credit. He isn't a stupid man but I think he is surrounded by a bunch of opportunistic, insincere and pathologically malevolent advisors (especially Cheney and Rove). We all can see that there is an inner battle going on in the President: a struggle between his dogma and beliefs versus the reality of the world we live in.

I hope that it is a battle which he wins. The world will be better place and he may even salvage his legacy (which currently is swirling in the crapper).

Three years of war in Iraq...

2400 dead American warriors, over 20,000 GIs wounded, our Army and Marine units are serving second and third deployments and their helos, tanks and gear are all shitted out, close to 40,000 Iraqi civilians dead, hundreds of suicide bomber attacks, thousands of IEDs, a growing civil war, half a trillion dollars pissed away into the sands of Mesopotamia.

You would think we would wise up, change our tactics and get the hell out of Iraq.

Sorry.

Our president is stubborn, foolish and hasn't a clue. He took us to war to avenge a half-assed Iraqi plan to kill his father and to prove to his mother that he is a big boy now. He plans to deliver a speech tomorrow touting our success in Operation Iraqi Freedom. I would not expect anything new or insightful as his administration is defensive, intransigent and about as thick as a brick.

I am not a pessimist.

I am realist.

Bush and Cheney have sold us out and have accomplished far more to hurt America than any terrorist organization or rogue state. By invading and occupying Iraq, we bog down our land forces in an endless cycle of violence and retribution. In Afghanistan, our invasion resulted in a quasi-democratic government and better conditions for many people though al Qaeda and the Taliban are regrouping as we don't have enough forces in country. If a guy like me can see how Saddam set us up by getting rid of his WMD stocks while outfitting the Fedayeen Saddam with stashes of money, weapons and explosives (and Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld took so long to set up the invasion on Iraq -- thereby moronically telegraphing our punches and giving Saddam the time it took to set up a post-invasion tarbaby insurrection). War is best fought with sudden and overwhelming destructiveness and fury -- not by plodding about for months before taking action.

Religious leaders in Iran are very happy with George Bush and the neocons as they now no longer have to worry about Iraq being an enemy and they are stoked to no longer have the Taliban operating along their south eastern border. Iran has been able to infiltrate operatives and technology (the most dangerous being field expedited explosively-forged projectiles that can tear through a M1A2 Abrams tank) into Iraq. They have been able to gain valuable intel as to how we fight and supply our forces in the field.

It's not only Iran that is celebrating.

North Korea is overjoyed to see our forces flailing about the desert. What they like even more is how they have been able to see into the minds of Bush's administration and have no doubt be able to cook-up a few new strategies as well as updated old ones. The North Koreans probably have 10 or more deliverable nukes. Our spy agencies and our military leaders know this (note the rapid deployment of an X-band radar in Japan to guide anti-missile interceptors). Our pants are down around our knees and I'm sure Kim Jong Il is enjoying the view.

China has gained a great deal of intel on our military technology and tactics. China is not an enemy. Though both Iran and North Korea are PRC military client states. While the PRC isn't a current foe, there are those in People's Liberation Army who like to talk shit about nuking us if we back Taiwan in a shooting war. Truth is, the PRC has only about 30-40 missiles capable of hitting the US. That could do horrific damage and kill millions of Americans but the Chinese also know we would extinguish their civilization as we turned their land into molten glass. China is best seen at the moment as a competitor. Things can change but what I know of the Chinese military (and I am somewhat of an expert in this regard) and the real leaders of the country would prefer to modernize their nation and their military, try to level out the inequalities of city folk versus the rural peasants to stave off a civil war and to take us on in economic, resouce and geopolitical battles rather than a head-on conflict.

Two more years of W and his bunch of merry men and I'll be damned if I know if we will make to 2008.