Bing West, The March Up

At Amazon, Bing West, The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the United States Marines.

'Megan Leavey' Review (VIDEO)

I liked it.

It's not the biggest blockbuster you'll ever see, but I really like Kate Mara, so I made it a point to see this one. Plus, I rarely miss a war movie. I went to the early-bird budget matinee, so the theater was almost empty. I don't see the opening weekend numbers online, although at least the movie's not straight to DVD. It's heavy on the personal relationships, especially Corporal Leavey's relationship to her dog, Rex. It's a tear-jerker as well, but a true story.

It's worth a look, either way. Most refreshingly, the director eschewed any inclinations towards leftist antiwar anti-Americanism. Indeed, the conclusion's hella patriotic, but I'll leave it at that not to spoil things.

See also the Los Angeles Times, "Review: 'Megan Leavey' tells a tale of two war heroes: a woman Marine and her bomb-sniffing K-9":

It’s also a movie that doesn’t wear its issues on its stripes. Without feeling the need to brand itself either a woman-in-the-military movie or animal-activism yarn, [director Gabriela] Cowperthwaite quietly goes about humanizing everything so that both of these elements, which might get treated as hot-button topics elsewhere, gain a kind of understated momentum all their own. Sure, that gives it the slight tinge of a chummy, politics-free, armed-services recruitment video — especially when Common’s around to play the supportive sergeant always this-close from breaking into a smile. But the battle scenes are direct and tense, if not exactly original, and even when the screenplay tosses in a burgeoning flirtation with a fellow K-9er (the charming Ramon Rodriguez), “Megan Leavey” makes it feel like an extra color in a soldier’s story, not a predictable story beat for a heroine...

RTWT.

Syria Strikes Send Critical Message to North Korea, China, and Russia

From Judith Miller and Charles Duelfer, at Fox News, "Syria airstrikes: The critical message Trump sent to North Korea, China and Russia."

So Laura Ingraham's Not Thrilled With Trump's Syria Attack?

Apparently not, if this tweet is any indication. Indeed, I saw some buzz about how she was one of the "alt-right" commentators opposing the strike.

I love Ms. Laura, but on this point I suspect she's off.

Hope @realDonaldTrump reads this buried in @nytimes. pic.twitter.com/bXi2QIVnNV

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) April 9, 2017

Syrian Chemical Attack Survivor Hits Out at @CNN's Brooke Baldwin (VIDEO)

Boy, you think Ms. Brooke's tryna make Trump look bad, tryna delegitimize his administration?

This dude Kassem Eid ain't buying it. He's awesome!

At Daily Mail and CNN:



America, the indispensable nation.

Leftists hate that, lol.

H.R. McMaster Boots K. T. McFarland

Well, if the appointment as envoy to Singapore doesn't work out, K. T. McFarland can always head back to Fox News.

At Bloomberg, "McFarland to Exit White House as McMaster Consolidates Power":

K. T. McFarland has been asked to step down as deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump after less than three months and is expected to be nominated as ambassador to Singapore, according to a person familiar with White House personnel moves.

The departure of the 65-year-old former Fox News commentator comes as Trump’s second National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster, puts his own stamp on the National Security Council after taking over in February from retired General Michael Flynn.

McFarland proved not to be a good fit at the NSC, the person said, adding that Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was involved in the decision as well.

Her removal follows a reorganization of the NSC in the past week that removed Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor, from the principals committee, the Cabinet-level interagency forum that advises the president on pressing security matters.

Other officials, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were brought back onto the committee as “regular attendees,” reversing a move made in January. The changes were outlined in a presidential memorandum dated April 4.

Former Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell stays on as another deputy national security adviser, and a second person is expected to be named to a similar role to replace McFarland...

More (via Memeorandum).

Trump Made All the Right Calls This Week

I've been thinking so much myself.

From Walter Russell Mead, at WSJ (via RCP), "In Striking Syria, Trump Made All the Right Calls":

President Trump faced his first serious foreign-policy test this week. To the surprise and perhaps frustration of his critics, he passed with flying colors.

In the first place, the president read the situation correctly. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s horrific and illegal use of chemical weapons against civilians was not merely an affront to international norms. It was a probe by Mr. Assad and his patrons to test the mettle of the new White House.

This must have looked like a good week to challenge Washington. The Trump administration is beset by critics. Most senior national-security posts remain unfilled. The White House is torn by infighting. The Republican Party is divided by the bitter primary campaign and its recent health-care fiasco.

President Trump concluded, correctly, that failing to respond effectively to Mr. Assad’s challenge would invite more probes and more tests. He moved quickly and decisively against the provocation, demonstrating that the days of strategic dithering are gone.

Second, Mr. Trump chose the right response: a limited missile strike against the Syrian air base that, according to American intelligence, had launched the vicious gas attack. This resonated well nearly everywhere. At home, it won approval from Jacksonians and others who want a strong president. The strikes vindicated America’s prestige and dealt a clear setback to those who seek to humiliate or marginalize the U.S. But no ground troops were involved and Mr. Trump made no move toward long-term counterinsurgency or nation-building, the type of campaign that many Americans, his base in particular, have learned to view skeptically.

Internationally, the strike was also popular. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, putting awkward phone calls behind him, spoke up forthrightly in Mr. Trump’s support. So did Canada’s Justin Trudeau, not usually considered a member of the Trump Fan Club, and Germany’s foreign minister, a Social Democrat whose party has been among the most critical of past American military action.

The strike reassured nervous allies, hungry for leadership but concerned about Mr. Trump’s temperament, that he is capable of a measured response intended to support a vital principle of international law. Friends of the U.S. will sweat less, and opponents will sweat more. That is a good thing.

Third, Mr. Trump handled the process well. Congress was briefed but not asked for approval, a decision inside the long-established norms that govern military action by American commanders in chief. Engaging in a war to overthrow Mr. Assad would be another matter, but so far Mr. Trump has stayed well within the mainstream of American presidents dating back to the 18th century.

The Trump administration notified Russia before the U.S. bombed the Syrian airfield. This is a process of its own. If this were the start of a long war, we wouldn’t give our adversaries advance warning about the opening salvo. However, by telling Moscow we were about to strike, the administration was signaling that the engagement would be limited, and the Russians could therefore temper their response. By using cruise missiles, the administration also guaranteed that the action would be impossible to prevent.

Finally, Mr. Trump gets extra points for deftness...

Keep reading.

Donald Trump 'Neocon Puppet'?

Heh.

I got a kick out of seeing Paul Joseph Watson blow a gasket last night:

I guess Trump wasn't "Putin's puppet" after all, he was just another deep state/Neo-Con puppet.

I'm officially OFF the Trump train.

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) April 7, 2017

And then all kinds of reports today about the "alt-right" meltdown at the administration's Syria strike.

At the Atlantic, the Daily Beast, and the New York Times, among others, I'm sure:

“What Trump did was nothing less than a betrayal" https://t.co/gQWa3dA3om

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) April 7, 2017

Alt-right turns on "neo-con puppet" Trump after bombing Syria https://t.co/FhhfcUJQUC pic.twitter.com/OHzmtjwFd3

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 7, 2017

"I'm officially OFF the Trump train." Trump's far-right supporters turn on him after the Syria missile strike. https://t.co/CRIDWz4PgB

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 7, 2017

They're paleocons. The "alt-right" are basically "paleocons" opposed to a forward U.S. foreign and national security policy. I'm not a paleocon, lol.

Miltary Strike Against Syria (VIDEO)

Following-up, "U.S. Launches Tomahawk Missile Strike After Syria Chemical Weapons Attack (VIDEO)."

I was watching "The Exorcist" and flipped over to CBS when it was done. I tripped out at the headline of the military strike against Syria. It all happened so fast, literally within 24 hours from President Trump's comments about "crossing so many lines" yesterday.

Watch:

U.S. Launches Tomahawk Missile Strike After Syria Chemical Weapons Attack (VIDEO)

Oh boy.

That's a pretty quick turnaround from yesterday's comments about "crossing so many lines."

I like it. This president shows resolve and dispatch. It was literally a surprise attack. Members of Trump's own administration didn't even know beforehand. And striking so quickly sends all kinds of messages, to Assad and Kim Jong Un, as well as Vladmir Putin and Xi Jinping. A new sheriff's in town. The U.S. will not hesitate to act when "vital interests" are at stake, as President Trump made clear in his comment today in the strike.

In any case, at the Guardian U.K., "US strikes Syrian airfield in first direct military action against Assad: Dozens of Tomahawk missiles have been launched at a government airfield in the wake of the Syrian leader’s use of chemical weapons against civilians."

And at USA Today, "U.S. launches cruise missile strike on Syria after chemical weapons attack":

WASHINGTON — "No child of God should ever suffer" the horror of the chemical weapons attack Syria launched on its own people, President Trump said Thursday, as he announced a cruise missile strike against Syria.

Trump ordered the strike against Syria early Friday local time in retaliation for the chemical weapons attack that killed 86 people on Tuesday, he said.

The attack, the first conventional assault on another country ordered by Trump, comes a day after he declared that the chemical weapons assault had “crossed many, many lines,” including the deaths of 27 children.

From his resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump said Syrian President Bashar Assad "launched a horrible chemical attack on innocent civilians using a deadly nerve agent. Assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered at this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.

"Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the Untied States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons," Trump said.

Years of previous attempts to change Assad's behavior had failed, Trump said.

The 59 missiles, fired from the destroyers USS Porter and Ross in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, struck the airfield where the Syria based the warplanes used in the chemical attack, according to Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. The missiles destroyed aircraft, hardened hangars, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems and radar at the Shayrat Airfield.

The chemicals used in the attack on April 4 were also stored at the base, Davis said. The missile strike was designed to deter Syria from mounting another chemical attack...

More.

President Trump Says Chemical Weapons Attack Changed His View of Syria (VIDEO)

And this just days after Secretary of State Tillerson sought to rehabilitate Bashir Assad.

We've been escalating in Iraq and Syria in any case. I'm interested to see how things play out now, like the buzz of a more legitimate hard-power case for regime change in Damascus. That's something a lot of Trump supporters opposed during the campaign. Not sure what the political upside would be if Trump's looking to hang onto his hardcore base of supporters. I don't think they're primarily neoconservatives.

In any case, at the Washington Post, "Trump condemns chemical attack as his U.N. ambassador assails Russia’s role":

A chemical attack in Syria that killed scores of civilians, including children, “crossed a lot of lines for me,” President Trump said Wednesday, adding that he is now responsible for trying to end a grinding conflict he blamed his predecessor for prolonging.

Unlike his U.N. envoy, Trump did not mention Russia and its culpability for backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose government blamed the chemical release on rebel forces.

“When you kill innocent children, innocent babies — babies! — little babies,” Trump said, “that crosses many, many lines. Beyond a red line, many, many lines.”

He suggested that the attack Tuesday had changed his mind about his approach to the conflict and confronting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, but he did not give any specifics.

“I like to think of myself as a very flexible person,” Trump said during a Rose Garden news conference with visiting Jordanian King Abdullah II.

“And I will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me, big impact. That was a horrible, horrible thing,” Trump said. “I’ve been watching it and seeing it, and it doesn’t get any worse than that.”

Trump said the grinding Syrian conflict, in its seventh year, “is now my responsibility,” but repeated campaign-trail criticism of the Obama administration for threatening military action and then backing off.

“We have a big problem. We have somebody that is not doing the right thing. And that’s going to be my responsibility,” Trump said. “But I’ll tell you, that responsibility could’ve made, been made, a lot easier if it was handled years ago.”

Earlier Wednesday, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley assailed Russia in blunt terms for protecting the Syrian government, saying that Moscow is callously ignoring civilian deaths...

More.

U.S. Military Escalation, Off the Radar

Following-up from last night, "U.S. War Footprint Grows in Middle East, With No Endgame in Sight."

At the Los Angeles Times, "Trump administration stops disclosing troop deployments in Iraq and Syria."

US won't announce or confirm info about troop numbers in Iraq & Syria "in order to maintain tactical surprise." https://t.co/CqMaoksRHO

— W.J. Hennigan (@wjhenn) March 31, 2017

U.S. War Footprint Grows in Middle East, With No Endgame in Sight

Well, I think the endgame is the annihilation of the Islamic State, but how and when that's going to happen is another story.

At the New York Times:

The U.S. military is becoming more involved in a string of complex wars in the Middle East https://t.co/P6gACx0M7d

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 30, 2017

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United States launched more airstrikes in Yemen this month than during all of last year. In Syria, it has airlifted local forces to front-line positions and has been accused of killing civilians in airstrikes. In Iraq, American troops and aircraft are central in supporting an urban offensive in Mosul, where airstrikes killed scores of people on March 17.

Two months after the inauguration of President Trump, indications are mounting that the United States military is deepening its involvement in a string of complex wars in the Middle East that lack clear endgames.

Rather than representing any formal new Trump doctrine on military action, however, American officials say that what is happening is a shift in military decision-making that began under President Barack Obama. On display are some of the first indications of how complicated military operations are continuing under a president who has vowed to make the military “fight to win.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the commander of United States Central Command, said the new procedures made it easier for commanders in the field to call in airstrikes without waiting for permission from more senior officers.

“We recognized the nature of the fight was going to change and that we had to ensure that authorities were down to the right level and that we empowered the on-scene commander,” General Votel said. He was speaking specifically about discussions that he said began in November about how the fights in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State were reaching critical phases in Mosul and Raqqa.

Concerns about the recent accusations of civilian casualties are bringing some of these details to light. But some of the shifts have also involved small increases in the deployment and use of American forces or, in Yemen, resuming aid to allies that had previously been suspended.

And they coincide with the settling in of a president who has vowed to intensify the fight against extremists abroad, and whose budgetary and rhetorical priorities have indicated a military-first approach even as he has proposed cuts in diplomatic spending...

The massive recent civilian causalities are extremely regrettable, and totally unacceptable. Otherwise, I'm really liking the growing footprint.

U.S. Marines Have Landed in Syria

Well, you know what they say: Send in the Marines!

And they have.

At the Washington Post, "Marines have arrived in Syria to fire artillery in the fight for Raqqa":

Marines from an amphibious task force have left their ships in the Middle East and deployed to Syria, establishing an outpost from which they can fire artillery guns in support of the fight to oust the Islamic State from the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, defense officials said.

The deployment marks a new escalation in the U.S. war in Syria, and puts more conventional U.S. troops in the battle. Several hundred Special Operations troops have advised local forces there for months, but the Pentagon has mostly shied away from using conventional forces in Syria. The new mission comes as the Trump administration weighs a plan to help Syrian rebels take back Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State. The plan also includes more Special Operations troops and attack helicopters.

The force is part of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which left San Diego on Navy ships in October. The Marines on the ground include part of an artillery battery that can fire powerful 155-millimeter shells from M-777 Howitzers, two officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deployment.

The expeditionary unit’s ground force, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, will man the guns and deliver fire support for U.S.-backed local forces who are preparing an assault on the city. Additional infantrymen from the unit will provide security, while resupplies will be handled by part of the expeditionary force’s combat logistics element. For this deployment, the Marines were flown from Djibouti to Kuwait and then into Syria, said another defense official with direct knowledge of the operation.

The official added that the Marines’ movement into Syria was not the byproduct of President Trump’s request for a new plan to take on the Islamic State...

Keep reading.

The 'Arc of History' Won't Help Obama's Sorry Legacy

At Foreign Policy, "Obama never understood how history works."

The arc of history is long, but it won't ever judge Obama's Syria policy kindly. https://t.co/XKgUCrXAyY pic.twitter.com/tFN8uV1I03

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) December 30, 2016

Thousands of California National Guard Troops Forced to Repay Enlistment Bonuses (VIDEO)

Obama's pledged to investigate the matter, but hasn't promised to forgive the repayments.

Talk about FUBAR.

At LAT, "Thousands of California soldiers forced to repay enlistment bonuses a decade after going to war," and "Defense secretary orders Pentagon to stop collecting California National Guard bonus repayments."

Iraqi and Kurdish Forces Push Closer to Mosul (VIDEO)

Holly Williams reports, for CBS News This Morning:



Also, at LAT, "Iraqi forces face Islamic State snipers, rockets and suicide bombers during Mosul offensive."

U.S. Forces in Mosul Prepare for Decisive Battle Against Islamic State (VIDEO)

Holly Williams reports, for CBS This Morning:

Conflict with Islamic State Intensifies: Local Troops Fighting in Syria and Iraq (VIDEO)

Via ABC News 10 San Diego:

WikiLeaks Trying to Hack Donald Trump's Tax Returns (VIDEO)

Julian Assange confirms he's trying to hack Donald Trump's tax returns, on Bill Maher's show.

Watch, at CNN, "Wikileaks: We are working on hacking Trump's taxes: Julian Assange told Bill Maher in an interview that Wikileaks is working on hacking into Donald Trump's tax returns. The Republican nominee has refused to release the returns, despite multiple requests from reporters."

At the clip, Scottie Nell Hughes notes that they wouldn't be hacking into Trump's files, they'd be hacking into the IRS.

Assange is wanted in Sweden anyway, and would likely be extradited here. I think a lot of folks think WikiLeaks just broke onto the scene the last couple years. But Assange and his cyber-terrorists tried to demonize and discredit the U.S. back in 2010.

These are bad people. Don't kid yourself about them. They're genuinely evil.

Shame on Bill Maher for giving him a platform.