The link
It appears the current material conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan are very unpopular, as even with the recession and horrible job market, “not enough” people want to join the military to fight a strategically flawed war in Afghanistan and an ideologically flawed war in Iraq. So the army is now hiring “for profit” contractors to “fill the void,” thus validating claims of a military industrial complex. We continue to be weary of veterans who brag about their service while simultaneously pretending they are political dissidents.

WASHINGTON — The Army’s ability to train its forces is “increasingly at risk” because of the nation’s protracted commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan, the general in charge of training has told the Army’s chief of staff.

In a Feb. 16 memo to Gen. George W. Casey, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the commander of the Army Training and Doctrine Command, says that the Army has lost thousands of uniformed trainers because of troop demands in Iraq and Afghanistan, has had to put junior officers in charge of some key training functions and has delayed initial instruction for nearly 500 pilots because it doesn’t have enough trainers.

Only 30 percent of the instructors at Army training schools are in the military, Dempsey says, with the Army increasingly dependent on outside contractors.

“We are behind in integrating lessons learned, developing training and updating doctrine,” Dempsey wrote in the memo, a copy of which McClatchy obtained. “We are undermanned in our efforts to design the future Army.”

Dempsey’s warning occurs as the Obama administration presses ahead with plans to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by 30,000 and has committed a growing number of military trainers to doubling the size of the Afghan security forces. Since Dempsey took command of TRADOC in December 2008, the command has sent 889 troops, contractors and civilians to Iraq and 675 to Afghanistan.

Casey, who’s frequently warned that the long-term commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan have strained the Army, said in an interview this week that Dempsey’s memo didn’t surprise him.

He said, however, that the military didn’t have enough soldiers to commit more troops to training, and that relief would come from two developments: the continued withdrawal from Iraq and the planned expansion of the Army by 65,000 soldiers by the end of 2011.

Dempsey’s memo “is his way of getting it on my radar,” Casey said.

Titled “Erosion of TRADOC’s Core Competencies and Functions,” the memo contains a litany of how keeping a large troop presence in two war zones while committing to train foreign troops has hurt the military’s training efforts.

There are 96,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 78,000 in Afghanistan.

Dempsey wrote that since September 2001, the number of soldiers assigned to training and other planning responsibilities has declined by 7,300, while the number of civilian employees has declined by 4,500. To fill the gap, Dempsey says, his command has hired 9,000 outside contractors.

He complains that the result is a “de-greening” of training, meaning less reliance on Army personnel. For example, he wrote, outside contractors are teaching 68 percent of the courses at the Army’s Intelligence School.

Dempsey says the manpower shortage has affected ROTC training programs, particularly at universities that provide large numbers of junior officers to the Army. He says that the officer-to-student ratios at five of the nation’s six largest ROTC programs, including The Citadel in South Carolina and Texas A&M University, now exceed 1 to 45 and that in some cases the ratio is 1 to 76.

A shortage of captains and majors with combat experience is particularly troubling, he says.

“Their experience level is of extreme importance to our command because it gives them the field-tested knowledge and credibility to teach, coach and mentor the officers following behind them,” Dempsey wrote.

He wrote that 18 first lieutenants were filling company command positions in basic combat training units — positions usually reserved for higher-ranking officers — and that the command has had to turn to noncommissioned officers in some of those units to fill operations positions usually reserved for commissioned officers.

From the Korean Friendship Association

There are many noted mountains in the world. There are mountains boasting about height and kaleidoscopic view. However, the south Korean people are proud of Mt. Baekdu.

It attracts the eye of the public not only mystery of the mountain, indomitable spirit, appearance, thick forest, diversified natural phenomenon, unfathomable Lake Chon, but because leader Kim Jong Il was born there and leads the Korean nation to prosperity.

Mt. Baekdu is a noted one well known to the world people. It is famous not because of only its height and lake on its summit.

Mt. Baekdu is a time-honored one where Kim Jong Il was born. He was born in the mountain when the anti-Japanese armed struggle was waged and cultivated matchless courage and extraordinary ambition. Therefore, the Mt. Baekdu shows its appearance throughout the world and the august name of the leader shines along with the mountain. The Korean people call Mt. Baekdu the native place of their heart.

The Bright Star of Mt. Baekdu the Korean people admired in the past is towering high as the sun leading the struggle for national reunification and the way for humankind. Mt. Baekdu that produced the Bright Star is the native home of the Korean nation.

The sun of Mt. Baekdu is leader Kim Jong Il.

Every peaks of Mt. Baekdu are fraught with his ideal and high aims and valleys are filled with his courage and wisdom. Mt. Baekdu is the mountain of leader Kim Jong Il.

Having Kim Jong Il, a great man born of Heaven, in high esteem, the Korean people and humankind are blessed with leaders century after century. He is the sun, as he possessed at the high level with light, heat and attraction, attributes of the sun.

The Korean people are confident about a reunified and prosperous nation as long as they are led by him.

It is the greatest fortune for the Korean people to have Kim Jong Il as the sun of the nation, who frustrates the challenges of the imperialist allied forces to demonstrate national dignity throughout the world with his matchless pluck and far-sightedness.

Mt. Baekdu is the sacred place of the nation that the Korean nation boasts to the world. From time immemorial, a great man is born in a famous place.

Kim Jong Il, who was born in Mt. Baekdu, is a great man produced by the Heaven.

He started his life in Mt. Baekdu, listening gunshot as a lullaby and cultivated courage and wisdom of a brilliant commander under generals of Mt. Baekdu. He overcame unprecedented difficulties in grave period with pluck of Mt. Baekdu.

It is his spirit and pluck that north Korea defends the national dignity and makes efforts to build a thriving nation, frustrating the vicious moves and military threat of the allied forces of imperialist.

As it is hard to expect the dawn without the sun, the realization of reunification encouraging the nation with hope and confidence is inconceivable without an outstanding leader of the nation.

The dawn of reunification and national prosperity will break at Mt. Baekdu.

Free Media Productions extends heartfelt greetings of solidarity and congratulations to the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the momentous occasion of the 68th Birth Anniversary of General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and Chairman of the DPRK’s National Defense Commission, Dear Leader KIM JONG IL!

The Translated Link from Arabic

Agencies – Media sources said that former Prime Minister Tony Blair lied to the investigation committee on the Iraq war when he claimed that attention to topple former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein began after the attacks atheist ten of September. And removed the newspaper “The Independent” British unveiling of the document did not receive the Commission of Inquiry into the Iraq war, confirms that the government of Tony Blair made secret plans to drum up support for the establishment of an internal coup against Saddam Hussein two years before the invasion of Iraq. The newspaper “The Independent” The British Foreign Office officials drafted a plan called “contract with the people,” suggested to the dissidents in Iraq that toppling Saddam would receive support from Britain, also pledged to provide aid and debt cancellation of oil contracts and the provision of commercial transactions as soon as the ouster The newspaper “has been the completion of the plan, titled” Confidential – for the eyes of the British and U.S. “in the June 11, 2001, and approved by the cabinet of ministers.” The document said Britain would “want to deal with Iraq that respects the rights of its people and live in peace with its neighbors and abide by international law and the right of the Iraqi people to live in a society based on rule of law, free from repression, torture and arbitrary arrest, and that respects human rights, freedom and prosperity the economy. The document said “those who wish to be published a call for change in Iraq deserve our support. We look forward to the day when Iraq who is due to join the international community, will receive a new system to reschedule debt and aid from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund aid package and trade of the European Union.” Mr Blair said during his testimony before the commission last week that serious attention to the overthrow of Saddam breed only after ten atheist attacks of September, which changed from “a risk”. For his part, “said Ed Duffy, spokesman for the Liberal Democrats in foreign affairs, said the document questioned the validity of the certificate made by Blair should have been published before hearing his testimony on Friday. “The plan to support the Iraqis who seek to topple Saddam may be less harmful, and that was without a doubt the most legitimate what happened. However, it appears that Blair had always intended to change the system since the early and before the atheist of September.” “It seems, however, that veil of secrecy was lifted from the documents is crucial, which stop an obstacle to question Blair and other people.” In addition, newspaper “The Guardian” The Commission of Inquiry Celkot Blair will call again to make further submissions before it. She said Blair would be questioned in public and in secret after the committee expressed concern that his testimony on the legality of the invasion are contrary to those made by the former British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.

This article focuses on Blair, but it is clear that Bush was trying to downplay the Afghanistan war, and switch to Iraq, even though a stronger case can be made against Afghanistan than against Iraq. Iraq is secular and never attacked USA. It was back stabbed. Afghanistan is theocratic and could be accused of Al-Qaeda collaboration. Yet Bush wanted to get the focus off of Afghanistan and onto Iraq.

The motives are ulterior! Profit and gain!

Fold your little hands,

Bow your little head,

Think for five minutes

On Stalin.

J.V. Stalin is the brilliant leader and teacher of the Party,

The great strategist of the socialist revolution.

He is implacable in facing the enemies of socialism,

Absolutely true to principle.

He is the union of clear revolutionary perspective,

And clarity of goal in all His activities,

Combining them with extraordinary firmness and persistence.

The name Stalin is the symbol of the moral and political unity of the working class.

The Kahanist approach of opposing all Arabs is incorrect. Kahanists may have common enemies but they are only useful to an extent.

Kahanism is not the right path to fight Islamic extremism.

The neo-con path is not the right path either. Liberal democracy is not the right path when confronted with theological threats.

A third way is the real option.

Workers World online

By Deirdre Griswold

This year’s economic plans in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will put greater emphasis on the development of light industry and agriculture, promising a surge in the living standards of the people.

An outline of these plans was contained in a joint New Year’s editorial that appeared in the DPRK’s three leading newspapers: one representing the party, one the youth and one the army.

For almost a decade, at great sacrifice, the DPRK has had to allocate a large amount of its resources to building up its means of defense. This emphasis took on special urgency when, in January 2002, former U.S. President George W. Bush arbitrarily added the DPRK to the propaganda invention he called the “axis of evil.” Such a pronouncement by the commander-in-chief of the world’s largest military power could only be interpreted as a threat to attack Korea.

At the time, the Bush administration had already embarked on a war in Afghanistan and was threatening to invade Iraq, another country on Bush’s “axis.” Hundreds of billions of dollars were being added to the budget for the Pentagon and other agencies of U.S. aggression and intervention around the world.

The DPRK had to take the threat seriously.

From 1950-53, hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops had invaded Korea and fought a war there against the People’s Liberation Army of the DPRK. The Korean soldiers were bolstered by a million Chinese volunteers, who came across their common border to fight alongside their Korean comrades. Both the Koreans and the Chinese were defending revolutions that had begun in their countries decades earlier, when the masses of people suffered under Japanese troops and puppet regimes. Sweeping to victory when World War II ended in Japan’s defeat, the Korean revolutionaries soon had to fight a second war for national liberation and social justice — this time against U.S. imperialism.

Virtually no family in Korea was left untouched by that war. Millions of civilians and soldiers were killed. At the end, the U.S. continued to occupy the south militarily — and still does. This division of Korea and the constant pressure on the north have been a drag on its economy ever since.

Despite all this, industrialization in the DPRK began almost immediately after the armistice in 1953, and its economy soon outstripped the U.S.-occupied south. Living conditions for the people rose quickly. Ever since, the socialist system of the DPRK has been able to provide quality free, universal medical care and education to its people.

However, much of this progress was cut short in the 1990s. Not long after the fall of the Soviet Union, which had been an important ally and trading partner of the DPRK, the legendary leader of the Korean Revolution, Kim Il Sung, died. The country then experienced several years of the worst weather of the century, when floods ruined much of its agricultural land and swept away bridges, hydroelectric dams and other important infrastructure.

Add in the increased threats from the U.S., including economic sanctions that still continue, and it is clear that this has been a very difficult period for the Korean people, but one in which their resolve to defend their socialist state has never wavered.

In recent years, the DPRK has announced its ability to defend itself not only with a superbly trained and motivated army but with nuclear weapons. It has staged underground nuclear tests and launched several missiles that could send a warhead thousands of miles if Korea were attacked. Last year, Pyongyang announced it had put a communications satellite in space, launched by its newly developed Kwangmyongsong-2 missile.

Underlying these military achievements is the DPRK’s progress in rebuilding its scientific-technological base on a higher foundation. The joint statement points to its success last year in perfecting new steel-making techniques at the Songjin Steel Complex and in achieving “cutting-edge” computer-guided machinery.

The DPRK registered growth in its economy last year, even as the economy of the south was contracting because of the world capitalist crisis. The joint New Year’s statement credits the unity of the people with the Workers Party of Korea and its leader Kim Jong Il for having turned the situation around so dramatically.

Now the DPRK is poised to take a leap forward in providing more and better consumer goods and services.

At the same time, it is calling for the U.S. to drop the sanctions and join it in signing a peace treaty ending the Korean War. Only an armistice exists — which Washington uses as the basis for keeping some 30,000 U.S. troops in southern Korea to this day. Pyongyang is also calling for Washington to join it in hammering out an agreement to create a nuclear-free Korean peninsula — a reminder that the DPRK was under the shadow of U.S. atomic weapons for more than half a century before it attained a nuclear deterrent of its own.

Griswold has visited both the DPRK and south Korea a number of times.

Illegal immigrants from Haiti have no reason to fear deportation but if they are deported, Haiti is in great need of relief workers and many of them could be a big help to their fellow Haitians. – Representative Steve King of Iowa

I completely agree! It would be humanitarian to send them to help their brothers and sisters! Great point!