The NYTimes printed pictures and posted video of a US soldier dying in Iraq, even before the family was notified. The reporters involved have lost embed status because they violated their contract with the military.

Gateway Pundit is following the entire story.

The blogosphere is in full uproar over the response to a simple request (it’s already made it to Snopes). An American GI in Iraq wanted some floor mats to make sleeping on the cold, bug-infested ground a little easier, so he emailed a Wisconsin mattress company asking if they would ship to his location:

“Do you ship to APO (military) addresses? I’m in the 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Iraq and we are trying to order some mats but we are looking for ships to APO first.”

On the same day, Hess received this reply:

“SGT Hess,

We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq.

Bargain Suppliers
Discount-Mats.com”

The registered owner of the website, American Muslim of Pakistani descent Faisal Khetani, claims that the person responsible for the email reply had been fired. The Web site, meanwhile, has been temporarily taken down:

The “web-based” company can put up a static page but doesn’t put either phone or email on the page? The public’s reaction must have been swift, decisive and quite negative.

Stop the ACLU: How can anyone say something like this to a soldier in a war zone? Oh, right it was a Muslim, or someone of middle eastern heritage, where do the American Muslims/middle easterners actually stand on the war on terror?

Riehl World did a quick WhoIs and found the contact information for Mr. Khetani.

But Blackfive found that co-owner Khetani and other employees of the company have been getting threatening emails and phone calls to the point where they fear for their and their family’s safety.

I wouldn’t even send an email or you might get labeled as anti-free speech.  And please don’t send unprofessional emails to these folks.  Believe me, I get plenty of those and I don’t read them (except for laughs every once in awhile).

Ironic isn’t it?

Some clerk in Wisconsin gets defended on the basis of free speech but you can’t respond?

Typical.

The always insightful Victor Davis Hanson writes about our military successes, throws in a little history, and calls on a military leader to step forward with a plan. Read it all, but I couldn’t resist extracting this:

What then is the problem since we are still fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq after brilliant victories over the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?

Most obvious is the inability of our conventional forces to translate amazing tactical success in Afghanistan and Iraq into rapid strategic victory, a transition of establishing a stable postbellum government that requires everything from winning hearts and minds to inspired counter-insurgency. These questions about the transition from conventional to asymmetrical warfare always have nagged—why did the armies of Sherman and Grant who crushed nearly half-a-million Confederate soldiers in a little over a year from summer 1864 to spring 1865, not secure Reconstruction in 12 miserable years of failure, in the face of a few thousands Klansmen, and assorted night riders?

Hat Tip to InstaPundit.

Pictured is the F-35 Lightning II, a truly remarkable aircraft currently under construction, funded primarily by the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands.

It’s a strike fighter, capable of attacking ground targets and engaging in air-to-air combat.

Further, it will be produced in three different configurations: a conventional aircraft for the Air Force, a carrier variant for the Navy and a Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) version for the Marines and Royal Navy (watch a vertical takeoff). The fact that all three configurations will have 70 and 90 percent commonality keeps costs down.

A pre-production model flew in 2000 but the military won’t be taking delivery until the turn of the decade.

Possibly the most advanced feature of the aircraft is that a single processor fuses information from all the aircraft’s sensors into a “single, coordinated view of the battlefield.”

That capability is being leveraged by Lockheed-Martin, the primary designer on the project, to create a pilotless version of the aircraft. Lockheed-Martin devotes a third of R&D funding to developing unmanned vehicles, and has earmarked some of the funding to the F-35:

Creating the F-35U is made easier by the fact that all the controls are already electronic, and contain a lot of automatic (robotic) flight control software. Engineers probably noted how close, in design and purpose, the innards of an F-35 were to the various combat UAV designs going around. A robotic F-35 is envisioned as an unmanned bomb carrier, although there is nothing to prevent the F-35U from being able to fight other aircraft. . . .

Both the F-35U and F-22U would have a major advantage over manned fighters, in that a robotic aircraft could perform rapid maneuvers that the human body could not tolerate.

Cool! Unmanned fighter planes. When do I get my flying car?

Pictured is a throw-n-go UAV, from VeraTech Aero, called the Phantom Sentinel.

The rotorcraft sends back video footage of whatever you send it over. And because the center of rotation is outside of the fuselage, it becomes virtually invisible to the naked eye once it gets up to speed.

It folds up and weighs only four pounds so it is easily transported, and comes in sizes from two to ten feet across.

HT to Engadget, who notes:

We’re assuming that those crazy goggles the other G.I. is wearing in this photo are able to translate that dizzying number of spinning images to something that a human brain can make sense of.

Update: New Scientist Tech has a covers this with Invention: Invisible drones

Speaking of cool gadgets, how about a high-tech throwback to dirigibles?

Lockheed Martin just picked up a $10 million contract to further develop the next-generation hull material for DARPA’s Integrated Sensor Is Structure (ISIS) program. DARPA intends to integrate sophisticated sensors directly into the structure of stratospheric airships, designed to operate 70,000 feet over the field of battle.

The planned capabilities of the ISIS project are straight out of a sci fi film – ISIS will provide a dynamic, detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield: friendly, neutral or enemy – a big picture map showing everything moving for hundreds of kilometers.

Let’s put lasers on about ten of them and put them along the border. Try to jump across the river and we’ll fry your ass. We’ll see how many terrorists and criminals walk in to our country then.

Sondrak has news:

In recent exercises over Alaska, the F-22 has been put to the test. The results have been staggering.

The following is a true story, verified by Snopes.

The Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant in the picture is Michael Burghard, part of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team that is supporting 2nd Brigade 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania Army National Guard). I heard the below story first hand last Saturday during a video teleconference between his Brigade Commander and the 28th Infantry Division Commander. I thought that others should hear it as well, as I think it demonstrates the true spirit of most of our troops on the ground.

Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as “Iron Mike” or just “Gunny”. He is on his third tour in Iraq. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up.

Continue Reading »

Adm. Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, says that countries are doing more to build ballistic missile-defense systems as the threat of long-range projectiles becomes more apparent:

Ballistic missile defense is a growing business as far as the numbers and capability out there.

Sounds like an investment opportunity to me.

Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) tests the safety of agrochemicals, foods, flavorings, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals and veterinary products. They do it by using test animals.

This has attracted more than a little attention from eco-terrorists in the past, as employees and thier families have been harrassed and assaulted. The domestic terrorists have turned their attention to companies that have anything to do with HLS:

The letters, sent to the homes of directors at 17 companies, said: “The company you work for is working with Huntingdon Life Sciences. This is a disgusting and cowardly act. You have a choice. You can walk away from those sick monsters or you can personally face the consequences of your decision. Not only you but your family is a target. Sever your links with HLS within two weeks or get ready for your life and the lives of those you love to become a living hell.”

The subject of these violent threats even included the workers of Leapfrog Day Nurseries because the chain gave vouchers for child care to HLS employees.

Feel what you want about animal testing. Personally, I don’t think I could do it but am grateful that there are those who can every time I take my daily meds.

But those who would threaten the children of working people are beneath contempt.

Unfortunatly, all 17 companies caved to the demands. I don’t blame them, but it will only encourage the low-life terrorists. Our prices will go up (do you know how many thousands of dollars it costs to have one little test conducted in order to satisfy governmental regulatory requirements?). And terrorism will be encouraged.

Perhaps it’s time we turned our attention away from the failed War on Drugs and expanded the War on Extremism? W, are you listening?

Pablo Paredes is the sailor that suddenly became a “conscientious objector” after he received orders to board a ship bound for the Persian Gulf last December. (Collecting taxpayer money was fine as long as he didn’t have to put is lilly-white ass in danger.)

Yesterday he was found guilty of missing his ship’s movement. Today he was sentenced to three months hard labor and busted down to seaman recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy.

The maximum sentence that could be given was one year prison, a forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge.

Paredes refused to do his duty in a time of war and the Navy didn’t even kick him out. Moreover, there is no mention of forfeiture of pay. He is still on the taxpayer payroll.

Prosecutors had asked for nine months in prison and a bad conduct discharge. The defense is almost crowing over the light sentence:

Paredes’ lawyer, Jeremy Warren, called the judge’s lesser sentence “a stunning blow to the prosecution.”

“This is an affirmation of every sailor’s and military person’s right to speak out and follow their conscience,” he said.

Indepundit is unimpressed with the sentence:

This is disappointing. “Hard labor” is what most military personnel do every day. Pablo’s former shipmates are five months into a six-month stint of “hard labor.” I would think that an appropriate punishment would be at least as long as the deployment he skipped.

Update: Further details on the sentence have come out:

US Navy Judge Robert Klant sentenced Paredes, 23, to a reduction in pay to the level of a basic recruit and ordered him to spend two months restricted to base followed by three months of hard labour.

Two months of freedom and three months of “hard labor” — drawing a paycheck all the time.

But wait, it’s not even that bad!

The sentence of hard labor normally involves extra duty. For two of the three months, Paredes also will be restricted to his naval base, but he will not spend time behind bars.

Sentenced to hard labor and still free to walk around town at night. This certainly doesn’t fit with the old movies of convicts breaking rocks!

My source (retired Army Major Advised by Wolves) assures me that being around other sailors won’t be a picnic. How do you think his “band of brothers” will treat him? Probably less charitably than the Swift Boat Vets treated Kerry.

Also, upon completion of sentence he will undoubtedly receive an administrative discharge — probably a “general discharge” which is not as bad as a BCD but certainly not as good as an honorable discharge.

Which means he will never have a civil service job. Big deal.