Time to Go

General Petraeus was reconfirmed by the Senate by a vote of 95-2.
General Odierno was reconfirmed by the Senate by a vote of 96-1.

Apparently Tom Harkin didn't get the memo.


My good friend over the the Bill Roggio over at the Small Wars Journal previously known as The Fourth Rail or as it is in my sidebar Bill Roggio is now being quoted by the Washington Post. The Washington Post of course was quoted by AFP who in turn was quoted by CNN.

It was a joy to co-blog with the good folks at the Mudville Gazette.

I had 7 employees when I started on this blogging venture...I'm down to one.

I find myself asking myself the question "What am I going to do after the war"?

Whats left of the war is in good hands and whats left to blog about is in good hands as well. The politico's have stopped screaming at each other as they privately come to the conclusion that "Victory is at hand"...or pessimistically...the Iraqi Army is pretty close to taking the reigns from American Forces.

It's been a long road...time to find a new one.

All the best.

SD

Bush Lied

via AP

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy.

buh...buh...buh...but..but...mumble...mumble.....

World bank Agrees with Me

I blathered on here about the coming food crisis as a result of replacing fuel oil with corn.

The Guardian has managed to get its hands on a World Bank Report here.

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

Rising food prices have pushed 100m people worldwide below the poverty line, estimates the World Bank, and have sparked riots from Bangladesh to Egypt. Government ministers here have described higher food and fuel prices as "the first real economic crisis of globalisation".

I'm not a particularly religious person..about the only time I find myself in a Church is for a wedding or funeral..that said..

The first horseman to appear is Pestilence, who rides upon a sickly, decaying horse. Pestilence causes the decay and imminent destruction of the worlds crops and wildlife.

In the wake of Pestilence comes Famine, a large and portly rider riding upon a thin and sickly horse, symbolizing gluttony and the lack of food.

Instead of our glorious leaders standing before the people and explaining the real energy options before us(That would take something called courage)...they pass a magical law mandating that 50% of US corn production be used for fuel so we can all feel better...we are going to grow our own fuel..end foreign dependence...burn the worlds food supply in the tanks of our 6,000 Pound SUV's.

Can a four passenger 100 MPG car be built...Popular Mechanics thinks so

Design here(pdf)

And this brocure makes me truly sick
sick

One-third of the earth beckons. Whether it’s the 2008 H2 SUV or SUT, owning a HUMMER affords you the ultimate freedom to go just about anywhere and do just about anything.

A nice little quote here

Over 8600-lb gross vehicle weight exempts H2s from EPA mileage-reporting program, but test wagon averaged just 10.7 mpg, test SUTs 10.4-10.7. H2 uses regular-grade fuel.

Thats right...if you make a car outrageously heavy and fuel inefficient you are exempted from having to tell anybody how bad it is.

I've got a new ad slogan for H2's..

Buy an H2...freedom to starve a village

US Wounded - Iraq June 2008

132 US Service members wounded in Iraq June 2008. The lowest level since May 2003.
June 2007 saw 754 US Service members wounded.

June Iraqi Violent Deaths

AFP
reported 521 Deaths. I counted 465.

The Good News -
Gun related violence dropped dramatically to just over 6 deaths per day. If adjusted for population this would result in a murder rate of 8/100,000 people. The murder rate in the US is 4 per 100,000 people as reported by Nationmaster


The bad news -
Explosive related deaths rose from 6.6/day to 8.1/day. The number of fatality producing events rose slightly from 59 to 63.

Five double digit suicide bombs or car bombs accounted for 117 of the 243 Explosive Deaths.

41 Decomposed Bodies were found(Some news agencies reported a higher number than I counted) up from 18 last month.

Three provinces averaged more than 1 Violent Death per day.
Diyala - 1.73
Ninewa - 2.13
Baghdad - 7.27

26 of the 52 Deaths that occurred in Diyala were accounted for by a mortar incident which killed 10(nationwide 21 people were killed by mortars) and a suicide bomber which killed 16.

Provincial Attack Trends - Iraq

The Coming Food Crisis

As we here in the USA whine and complain about the high cost of gasoline the rest of the world concerns itself with far more important issues.

via World Grain

The USDA forecasts 2008-09 global maize production at 778 million tonnes, just below the 2007-08 record of 779.8 million.

The FSI category is dominated by ethanol, for which 101.6 million tonnes of maize will be used in 2008-09, up 33% from 2007-08 and up 88.9% from 2006-07. The huge jumps reflect capacity expansions in the wake of previous and upcoming U.S. government ethanol mandates.

12% of the entire worlds supply of corn will be pumped into the tanks of US automobiles next year. I wandered down to the local farm supply store yesterday. The farmers aren't complaining about the price of gas...they are complaining about the price of animal feed. The "E85" vehicles are barely in production and they are already distorting world food prices.

I'd like to personally thank Senator Grasley of Iowa for his tireless work towards creating a worldwide famine on a scale never before seen in human history.

Updated:via AP

In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed.

I had been hoping we were a couple of years away...but apparently not.

Again, I would like to thank Senator Grasley for his great foresight. I'll be thinking of him when I enjoy my bowl of rice for Thanksgiving Dinner.


I'd like to also take a moment to join with my leftard brothers...

NO WAR FOR FOOD

40 year old truths finding their way

A couple of pieces yesterday got a couple of my brains cells to fire.

The first a piece about the Status of forces agreement with Iraq here.

In 1969, Colonel Muammar al-Kaddhafi demanded the closure one of the United States' largest bases in the Mediterranean region, the Wheelus. Again, the Americans complied, despite the fact that Libya intended to hand the base over to the Soviets.

Then in an amazing coincidence good ole Colonel Kadafi start shooting his mouth off here

But when he was thinking about Dimona, he undoubtedly had the fate of former president Kennedy on his mind as well. Kennedy decided to monitor the Dimona nuclear plant. He insisted on doing so, in order to determine whether or not it produces nuclear weapons. The Israelis refused, but he insisted. This crisis was resolved with the resignation of Ben-Gurion. He resigned so he would not have to agree to the monitoring of the Dimona plant, and he gave the green light for the killing of Kennedy. Kennedy was killed because he insisted on the monitoring of the Dimona plant. This image was undoubtedly on Obama's mind. He undoubtedly wanted to talk about this, but decided not to.

Then I did some poking around and found this

The chief spokesman of the Russian Air Force, Col. Aleksandr V. Drobyshevsky, has confirmed in writing for the first time that it was Soviet pilots, in the USSR's most-advanced MiG-25 "Foxbat" aircraft, who flew highly-provocative sorties over Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona in May 1967, just prior to the Six Day War.

I'm sure Oliver Stone would have made a bundle of money if he had made a movie about "The Joooos" killing Kennedy if he could have found any more evidence than the rantings of Colonel Kadafi. Colonel Kadafi still hasn't gotten over that cruise missile that ended up in his swimming pool....but I digress.

All wars are started with a provocation...more often than not..a manufactured provocation. In the case of the '67 war...aggressive overflights of Israel by Soviet Aircraft. At the time it is doubtful that anyone had identified them in any provable way as Soviet Owned Aircraft. President Johnson had committed a substantial portion of US forces to Vietnam and the timing was right for the Soviets to provoke a bit of a war between the Arabs and Jooos so that they could finally seize control of the port of Haifa. The Jooos prevailed that day...but in the dozen or so years that followed a whole string of "Friends of the West" in the Middle East were overthrown by pro-Soviet dictators/groups culminating with the fall of the Shah of Iran.

40 years of lies...40 years of killing...most of the people who "knew" the truth have long since died. The fire continues to burn in the Middle East yet the reasons why have long since been forgotten.

Mid Month Update on the Iraq Killfest

Okay...I apologize...I was trying out for a Job as headline writer for AP.

In all seriousness..

Iraqi Reported Gun Related deaths are below 6/day and explosive related deaths are slightly below 6/day as of the 15th of the month. Baghdad acounts for 52 percent of Iraqi Violent deaths with a murder rate of 6.6/day...equivalent to NYC murder rate during the 1980's.