Ninja Warrior by all accounts.

Apparently, not afraid to speak his mind?

The article goes on to paint McChrystal as a man who “has managed to piss off almost everyone with a stake in the conflict,” including U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and National Security Adviser Jim Jones.

Of Eikenberry, who railed against McChrystal’s strategy in Afghanistan in a cable leaked to The New York Times in January, the general said, “‘Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, “I told you so.’”

ADM Fallon walked away from CENTCOM for saying much, much less. And he was a COCOM.

I can’t imagine that GEN McChrystal will stay around much longer following this little bit of fun.

The big question is this… you don’t get to his level without knowing what you’re doing. There simply are no “Oh, I didn’t think that would get printed.” moments.

So, is he looking for an easy way out of a horrible problem as he tries to fight the Afghan war with the Iraq playbook and an administration that isn’t what you’d call 100% supportive?

or is he really this politically inept?

Democrats and Republicans alike repeatedly accused the embattled British corporate chieftain of refusing to answer their questions, cutting corners on safety, and turning a blind eye to mounting scientific evidence of an unprecedented environmental tragedy.

Yes…. how dare you not make up answers to satisfy my egotistical need to prove that I am in charge.

“It’s clear to me you don’t want to answer any of our questions,” Rep. Waxman said. “I am amazed at this testimony. You’re kicking the can down the road. I find that irresponsible.”

Let’s face facts. He’s the CEO of the company. Do you think he knows the specific details of every single project going on? Of course not. No more than the Representatives know why the Wal-Mart in their district is raising prices on those sweet jars of pickles. It’s not his fault, it’s simply something that is far below his level and he’s waiting to hear the results of the investigation before making a determination.

That’s not avoidance, it’s just good sense. And it’s a refusal to pander to the Twitter-fed masses who aren’t interested in factual, effective resolution but are simply happy with a spoon-fed, sugar-coated, Jedi hand waving answer that everything is going to be ok. As long as you don’t, you know, look to closely.

That, and the company’s name is BP. They’re British. They probably don’t give a shit *what* you think they should answer, Congressman.

Absolutely amazing.

A World War II Battlefield discovered in Papua New Guinea

untouched.

unseen by any but the Gods of those who perished there.

Although the site was known to local villages, jungles reclaimed it after the battle of Eora Creek. Although locals hunted on the plateau surrounding the site, they avoided the 600-square-meter battle ground because of a belief that spirits of the dead were still present in the “lost battlefield.”

Maybe now they can rest.

– Dwight Eisenhower

It’s a very stressful time in the career of a submariner, as failure to screen leads to all sorts of things. Congrats to the folks who are selected from amongst the “best and most qualified”, including several guys I’ve had the honor of serving with!

A. Lincoln

What price do you think you’ve paid for freedom?

It’s probably not enough.

These last few days she takes no joy in life, and when I petted her last night I discovered wasted spaces where strong muscles used to cord and bunch. This morning I had to help her up to go outside. When we came back in together she stood trembling on the door stoop, looking into the living room where stark evidence of her incontinence was left for me to tidy up. She looked back at me with regret, no doubt expecting strong remonstration – she has always been, in that way at least, a good dog.

In a word… sucks.

Best to the Cap’n…

The US Fifth Fleet and US aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower in the Gulf of Oman were not allowed to shoot at an Iranian Fokker F27 aircraft which on April 21 hovered for 20 minutes 900 meters over the carrier and no more than 250 meters away, even though they saw its flight crew gathering intelligence on the Eisenhower and its warship escorts.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources report that the US Persian Gulf command went public on the incident on April 28, a whole week later, only after Gulf military circles, amazed at the American naval and air units’ passivity in the face of hostile surveillance, threatened to break the story to local media.

This striking restraint indicates that the US Gulf and Arabian fleets are under orders to take no action – certainly not to open fire – against Iranian naval or air units, with first obtaining permission directly from Washington.

Wow, crack journalism there shippy. Never mind international laws of conflict, the fact that the Iranians were essentially doing nothing more than tourists on a cruise liner do, or the historical precedence that could easily be verified by Googling “Soviet and American Cold War at sea” to see how we usually handle such things.

Nope, let’s act enraged because “souces” are amazed at lack of action. Especially when said sources are from countries KNOWN for restraint in action…

These Gulf sources, talking to debkafile, wondered out loud if the United States would also turn a blind eye to an Iranian attack that cause the sinking of a Saudi, UAE or Israeli ship sailing in the Gulf.

Nope, never seen anyone get 1,000 lashes for porn or anything ridiculous like that in that area of the world.

Clearly the people we should be taking international relations clue from.

Clownshow.

Islamic Fundamentalists even more so because they try to take things to the extreme, what with threats of death to the infidels and all that.

Needless to say, I find THIS immensely humorous….

Someone at Dan Savage’s blog started it, then Michael Moynihan at Reason picked it up, now I feel obliged to help push it out there. Says Moynihan:

I will be employing my tremendous skill as an illustrator, of course, and expect that my colleagues will do the same. If they refuse, they will be declared weak-kneed, namby-pamby, quisling infidels and will be shamed on this blog (Though such idle threats rarely work these days; perhaps I could threaten them with a painful death, which seems to do the trick). If readers would like to show their solidarity, please email your Mohammad masterpieces to me here: mmoynihan at reason.com. The best ones will be published on Hit & Run, which, along with the concomitant death threat, is reward enough.

beautiful. I can’t wait to see what happens…

(H/T to da Phibian)

A U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL Thursday of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four American security contractors.

Let’s hope the other two warriors receive the same verdict. And let’s hope that Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kevin DeMartino, who can’t seem to tell the same story twice about what happened, gets everything he’s due.