February 26, 2008
Making bricks without straw...
This is very interesting. By Major John Tammes, in Iraq...
Last night we had a bit of a surprise. We were paid a visit by Sergeant Major of the (Iraqi) Army Adel. He has possibly the hardest job I can imagine; build the NCO corps of the new Iraqi Army. The old Iraqi Army paid no heed to it's NCOs, it was a very Officer-centric/Soviet model force. So SGMA Adel has to fight not only to get his NCO corp built from almost scratch, he has to overcome an old and entrenched cultural problem. Training, doctrine, logistics and organization are all problems that he is facing. Oh, and all this during a war. I don't envy him his job one little bit.
SGMA Adel is probably the best of the old Iraqi Army's NCOs, and he joined the new Iraqi security forces as soon as possible in 2003. It is clear that he wants to serve his country and her army....
Arab military culture with an admixture of Soviet military culture. What a witches brew! Most people haven't a clue what makes armies work, and so they have no idea what an astonishing and audacious project the United States (and the Iraqi government) has undertaken, nurturing what we hope will be the first functional arab army in modern times. What's that old Seabees saying, "The difficult we do right away, the impossible takes a little longer?"
That useless dork Obama is prating about change (having never actually, like, done anything in his life that changed anything) and meanwhile the Bush administration is actually changing the world in numerous ways, and getting no credit from our fake press and fake liberals.
And the things that Bush is doing are liberal projects. At least as "liberal" was defined when I was young. They are Trumanesque. It continues to astonish me that (my one contribution to human knowledge as a blogger) "liberals" are not liberals anymore---they have become nihilists....
Posted by John Weidner at February 26, 2008 07:10 AM....... because their ideological ancestors worshipped at the altar of the great god Frederick Taylor (never mind that such worship probably made Taylor spin in his grave), and that god ultimately failed. And so they have nothing left to believe in.
Posted by: Hale Adams at February 26, 2008 06:58 PMOh, and to leave a comment that's actually on topic..... ^_^;;
I don't envy Sergeant Major Adel, either. In any good army, it's the NCOs that really form the "backbone". I served in the Army in the middle '80s, and many of my senior NCOs had been enlisted men and junior NCOs during Vietnam and the aftermath. They stayed in because they believed in the Army, believed that someone had to stick around and keep the outfit going when it all seemed to go to Hell after 1973.
I am thankful, both in my capacity as a lieutenant at the time and as a citizen, that we had such dedicated people. I hope that Sergeant Major Adel and his comrades can establish a similar cadre of NCOs for their Army, both for the sake of their own country, and for ours-- a truly competent Arab army is one more nail in the coffin of Arab dictatorship by its mere example.
Posted by: Hale Adams at February 26, 2008 07:09 PMThey aren't Trumanesque. They are what the Republicans forced on Truman once they finally returned to some power after WWII. He just took credit when he couldn't stop them. I don't think the Democrats have ever recovered from the choosing the wrong side of the Slavery issue. The first, but not last time they sold their soul for power.
Posted by: Robert Mitchell Jr. at February 26, 2008 07:28 PMRobert, that's interesting. But it's also the first time I've heard of it. Do you have a source?
Posted by: John Weidner at February 26, 2008 10:12 PMThanks for responding sir. My primary source is "Leftism Revisited" by Erik Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, which got me interested in the time period. Also, "McCarthy and his Enemies" by Buckley and Bozwell, and "Treason" by Ann Coulter. And of course, the Brothers Judd keep stirring the pot, but you knew that. I am still amazed how relaxed Truman was about China, until the Republicans made it an issue, but I think the one fact that made me loss all respect for Truman was that this man, who I had been told was pure, not part of the corrupt machine that had gone to jail for corruption as Democrats, while Democrats were in power, pardoned all of them when he became President. Not pure after all, just the one who hadn't gotten caught.....
Posted by: Robert Mitchell Jr. at February 27, 2008 07:42 AM
