David Drake

... we were in this combat outpost down in southern Afghanistan, in the Helmand River Valley, and we were inside this center, a command center, watching a video screen. They were watching live while these guys were digging a hole for a roadside bomb. And there were other indicators, too, besides digging the hole. There was a guy swimming across a canal with this wire, and the wires are used to detonate the bomb.

Unidentified Man #1: I have two guys on the west side of the cow buoys(ph) running wires across the canal to the west side, where a (unintelligible) an IED the other day. So, they're watching them right now.

BOWMAN: There were a couple of guys keeping watch and stopping traffic. And the Marines were intercepting a radio call from these suspected insurgents while they were doing these other activities.

MONTAGNE: And on the radio, they were saying we're planting a bomb?

BOWMAN: And on the radio they were talking about planting a bomb.

MONTAGNE: So from the Marines perspective, the Afghans really did appear to be insurgents. So what did they do?

BOWMAN: Well, they felt comfortable. They had all the indicators that these guys were insurgents planting a bomb. So they thought about using a machine gun to shoot these guys. There was another combat outpost not too far away. The problem was there was a compound of houses between where the Marines were with their machine gun and the guys planting the bomb.

So then they decided to bring in the helicopters and use the machines guns and the helicopters to shoot these guys. As the helicopters came in, these guys look up in the air and start walking away. One of the guys was carrying a yellow jug - and that's become the icon of the roadside bomb. They mix fertilizer and diesel fuel in this, and that becomes a part of the bomb. And then we saw one of these guys throw this jug into a haystack.

Unidentified Man #2: And hiding the jug into the hay pile right now, and then are walking near the open field, so just wait until�

BOWMAN: And they were gone. It was all over. They could no longer shoot at them.

MONTAGNE: So why didn't they shoot at them?

BOWMAN: Well, they thought that they were still too close to this compound of houses to allow these helicopters to use their machine guns to shoot, so they decided against it.

MONTAGNE: So, in being very, very careful about shooting at what they absolutely believed to be insurgents, they ended up, in effect, losing these guys. How did that make them feel?

BOWMAN: Well, they weren't happy at all. And some of them stormed out of this command center. And we talked with one of them afterwards. This is Lieutenant James Wendy(ph).

Lieutenant JAMES WENDY (U.S. Marines): There's no way that anyone other than the enemy would've been injured.

BOWMAN: So, why weren't you allowed to shoot?

Lt. WENDY: Honestly, I don't know. I'd like to say I wish we could play by the big boy rules, you know, but, you know, it's just the way it is. And if I had known how frustrating it'd be and was able to better prepare myself for that mentally, I think that maybe I would've been better off.

MONTAGNE: What about the military leaders? Is it reaching the top? Are they hearing these complaints about these rules of engagement that are so restrictive?

BOWMAN: You know, they are hearing these complaints. And I had a few minutes this week with their overall commander, General McChrystal, and I told him the same story, Renee, I told you. And I asked him about the rules of engagement. Here's what he had to say:

General STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (U.S. Commander, Afghanistan): I've been at this a long time now, since 9/11, and there were a tremendous number of times when I've seen activities done, which, on the surface of what was seen, looks exactly one way, looks completely convincing. And then in the aftermath, what you saw was incomplete. In fact, what we find is civilian casualties who are unarmed civilians.

I think when we err on the side of maturity and caution, there is a cost. And I know that we're asking an extraordinary amount from them to operate with such restraint and self-discipline, but I think it's how we win the war.

Since his inauguration, Barack Obama has tripled the number of troops fighting in Afghanistan. After announcing the latest surge of 30,000 new soldiers in a speech at West Point, it is clear that he is a president actively prosecuting a war, not merely tending to one that was left to him.

[...]

According to his speech, Obama is escalating while retreating, adding more troops while also setting a date for their departure. Obama said he was putting pressure on the Afghan government, but he didn't suggest how. Some of the blurring was by design. He smudged the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, explaining that while he was sending troops to Afghanistan, the struggle was now more regional than it was when the war started eight years ago.

The president's critics will complain about the 18-month deadline Obama set for starting the troop withdrawal. The president says he set a deadline to focus the minds of our partners in Afghanistan, but he also said the departure decision would be based on the recommendations of his field commanders. This is a version of the debate we had during the presidential campaign, when Obama set a 16-month deadline for withdrawal from Iraq. His advisers will no doubt admit—as they did during the campaign—that if military advisers say a withdrawal from Afghanistan in 18 months is inadvisable, then the troops won't leave. His Republican critics will also presumably agree, as John McCain did during the campaign, that if the commanders say it's OK to start leaving in 18 months, then that's just fine with them.

Obama insisted that his deadline-that-isn't-a-deadline would put pressure on the Afghan government. "The absence of a time frame for transition would deny us any sense of urgency in working with the Afghan government. It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan."

But Obama said nothing in the speech that put actual pressure on the government.

[...]

Obama's tone was methodical and emotionless. He often sounded like a reluctant warrior. He told the West Point students about signing condolence letters and greeting coffins arriving at Dover. "As your commander in chief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined, and worthy of your service," said Obama. There were repeated references in the speech to the honor of their service.

The president said twice that he didn't take his decision "lightly." This seemed like an obvious shot at Dick Cheney and other critics who had complained that he had taken too long to make his final decision. (On the day of the speech, the former vice president claimed that Obama had shown "weakness.") Obama also spent considerable time reminding his audience about the troubled history of the Afghan war since the attacks of 9/11, implying that if Bush and Cheney had taken a little more time during the first seven years of the war, there would be no need for him to be giving the speech—or sending more troops into danger.

The Secret Service has formally apologized for allowing two party crashers into the White House state dinner on Tuesday night. The Secret Service continues to investigate how the husband and wife — who are looking for a role in a reality TV show — got past security and actually met the president. Melissa Blocks talks with Roxanne Roberts of The Washington Post.

The Secret Service issued an apology today for allowing two uninvited guests to crash the state dinner at the White House on Tuesday. Director Mark Sullivan said the Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed and that established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint. That failing, he said, is ours.

U.S. regulators on Friday [November 20] closed down Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida. Though there are some early signs of economic recovery, bank failures go on growing with rising loan defaults. This takes the total number of bank failures to 124, compared to 25 in 2008 and 3 in 2007.

The government-administered insurance fund that protects depositors fell into the red for the first time since the fallout from the savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s as the pace of bank failures accelerated.

The fund had a negative balance of $8.2 billion at the end of the third quarter, federal regulators said Tuesday.

[...]

So far, the F.D.I.C. has seized and sold 124 banks in 2009, and analysts expect hundreds more to collapse in the months ahead.

A Superior, Wis., woman was arraigned in St. Louis County District Court on Wednesday after being accused of holding a knife to an anti-abortion demonstrator’s neck outside of Duluth’s Building for Women on Tuesday morning.

Mechelle Tallulah Hall, 25, is charged with second-degree assault.

Hall’s alleged motivation is unclear. According to the criminal complaint, at one point, she held the knife in a threatening manner and said "The reason I’m doing this is because I am certified crazy." She’s accused of holding the knife to the throat of a 21-year-old woman who was handing out pamphlets outside the Building for Women.

President Obama said Tuesday that he was determined to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, and his aides signaled to allies that he would send as many as 25,000 to 30,000 additional American troops there even as they cautioned that the final number remained in flux.

[...]

Mr. Obama went around the table in the White House Situation Room asking his senior advisers for summations of their individual assessments and to voice any concerns they still had, said an administration official who was briefed on the two-hour meeting.

With 2009 by far the deadliest year for foreign troops in Afghanistan, critics of reinforcing the 68,000-strong US contingent portray the mission as unnecessary and unwinnable, warning it has begun to resemble Vietnam.

A USA TODAY/Gallup poll released Wednesday showed rising pessimism among the US public, with only 35 percent approving of Obama's handling of the conflict, down from 56 percent four months ago.

America was divided on the president's expected decision to dispatch some 34,000 more US troops. Half of those surveyed backed the plans, while 39 percent said it was time to begin withdrawing forces.

[White House senior advisers] said Friday they were not alarmed by Geithner's rough treatment at the hands of Republican lawmakers on the Joint Economic Committee, which even included a call for him to resign.

Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has forbidden Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy to receive the Roman Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion because of his advocacy of abortion rights, the Rhode Island Democrat said Friday.

“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion. He declined to say when or how Bishop Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction.

...with banks reluctant to lend and consumers afraid of borrowing, chances of a strong and quick economic recovery are slim, bankers and investors said at the Reuters Global Finance Summit this week.

"It will take at least a couple of years to come out of this recession," said Denis Salamone, chief operating officer of Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK.O), the biggest U.S. thrift.

CONSUMERS PULLING BACK

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter, its first growth in more than a year. But the main impetus was government subsidies on cars and housing.

"We have to be cautious here because unemployment is still a big uncertainty, is forecast to continue to rise, and so we have to take a cautious outlook, even though things are notably better than they were a year ago," American Express Co (AXP.N) Chief Financial Officer Dan Henry said.

Unemployment rose to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and is expected to be a drag on the economy for some time.

"Companies are not yet confident that we will be out of this. And some are concerned about a second dip coming out of this recession and, therefore, they are not hiring," Salamone said.

"People's consumption attitude is going to be different over a period of time, and I think that will lead them to not be the whole engine of the world economy," said Takeo Sumino, chief operating officer of Nomura Holding America, a unit of Japanese brokerage Nomura Holdings

[...]

Mortgage delinquency rates and the percentage of loans in foreclosure jumped to record highs in the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. It forecast the trend will continue into 2010.

Credit card losses are seen peaking next year, and commercial real estate losses will likely become a big headache for more lenders.

[...]

"If you think chargeoffs are bad now, wait until this unemployment rate sticks at 10 percent for over a 12-month time period," he said. "Everybody tries to live their lifestyle, and people only begin to change their lifestyle when they lose their job. Then reality sets in."

President Barack Obama absorbed history's expanse Wednesday from atop the Great Wall of China, a manmade wonder of such enormity that Mr. Obama found himself putting daily life in perspective.

"It's magical," Mr. Obama said, walking down a ramp alone, his hands in his pockets. "It reminds you of the sweep of history and our time here on earth is not that long. We better make the best of it."

Al Gore was on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien recently and was attempting to explain the utility of geothermal energy, which taps the Earth's heat to generate energy. In so doing, former Vice President Gore proved to be an ignoramus.

[...]

People think about geothermal energy — when they think about it at all — in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees aces there are these incredibly hot rocks, , and the crust of the earth is hot ..."

The problem is that Al Gore got the temperature of the interior of the Earth wrong by several orders of magnitude. The actual temperature of the Earth's interior is upwards to six thousand degrees Celsius. "Several million degrees" would describe the temperature of the interior of the Sun.

In other words, if Al Gore were right, the Earth would not be a planet but a star.

Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana. But the section's purpose is indisputable: to deliver $100 million or more in federal funds to the state. And in the process clear the way for one of three moderate Democratic fence-sitters — Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are the others — to help propel the legislation past its initial hurdle in a crucial Saturday vote.

The Obama administration, under fire for inflating job growth from the $787 billion stimulus plan, slashed over 60,000 jobs from its most recent report on the program because the reporting outlets had submitted "unrealistic data," according to a document obtained by ABC News.

[...]

...the omitted data from the 12 outlets reflected 60,803 jobs saved or created from over $20 million in stimulus funds. If the administration had included the data in its report last month, the total job growth from the stimulus would have exceeded 700,000, rather than the 640,000 ultimately reported.

[...]

"The more we learn about the administration's 'jobs created or saved' methodology, the more questions we have regarding its accuracy and validity," Rep. Darrell Issa told ABC News Sunday night. "Now we learn that OMB is playing an active role in trying to filter information. Given this hands-on role that the administration is playing, it would be appropriate to have OMB represented at Thursday's hearing."

[...]

Since the latest stimulus report, there have been numerous media reports that the jobs numbers were inflated.

The Associated Press said the report "significantly overstates the number of jobs spared with money from programs serving families and children, mostly the Head Start preschool program."

The Denver Post also cited overstated federal figures with the Colorado Head Start program, noting that the government reported 269 jobs saved or created by the program, but only three were actually saved or created.

The Chicago Tribune noted that the administration said $4.7 million in stimulus money for schools in north Chicago had saved the jobs of 473 teachers, but the school district only employed 290 teachers. The statistics – claiming that stimulus money had helped save or create 14,330 school jobs in Illinois – were "riddled with anomalies that raise questions about their validity."

The Boston Globe also reported that Massachusetts recipients of stimulus funds claimed that 12,000 jobs had been saved or created, "that number has been inflated by miscounts, erroneous figures, or claiming jobs for work not yet started."

A Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputy escorting Vice President Joe Biden's motorcade was hit this afternoon at Gibson and Carlisle.

Police say a woman drove around two police units blocking the intersection and hit a car driven by a sergeant with BCSO.

No injuries or arrests have been reported, but the sergeant has been taken to Presbyterian Hospital for evaluation.

A sheriff's spokeswoman would not say whether the vice president had already gone through the area at the time of the accident.

Veteran actor Edward Woodward has died aged 79, his agent has confirmed.

The Croydon-born star had been suffering from various illnesses, including pneumonia, and died in hospital, said Janet Glass.

Woodward is most famous for his roles in the cult 1973 horror film The Wicker Man, alongside Sir Christopher Lee, and TV series The Equalizer and Callan.

Sir Christopher described Woodward as "a very good friend and a splendid actor".

Ms Glass said he had been ill for several months and passed away surrounded by members of his family.

The actor, who lived in Hawker's Cove near Padstow, died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

"I knew him a very long time and he was a superb human being," she said.

"That integrity shone through in the roles he played. I can't ever remember, in all the productions he undertook, anyone having a bad word to say about him and he never had anything bad to say about anyone else either."

The success of Callan earned him an award for TV Actor of the Year and led to Woodward starring in a long-running American television series, The Equaliser.

His five years in New York made him wealthy, but Woodward regretted making the series, which took a heavy toll on his health.

Working 20 hours at a time, he coped by smoking 100 cigarettes a day - and had a major heart attack.

But the role did win him a coveted Golden Globe for best actor in 1987.

Obama turned his attention home and pleaded for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater." He said those who died on the nation's largest Army post deserve justice, not political stagecraft.

[...]

Obama said he was not opposed to hearings — eventually. But he strongly pressed lawmakers to hold off until the probes now under way are completed.

"There is an ongoing investigation into this terrible tragedy," Obama said. "That investigation will look at the motives of the alleged gunman, including his views and contacts."

How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow (Updated with video, pic).

(UPDATES: 12:22 p.m. A brief news video has been added below, showing the greeting in this photograph. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we've added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor in the same door way in a different fashion.)

The number of suicides among active- duty U.S. Army troops this year reached 133 in October, 18 more than in the same period last year and putting the service within reach of a new annual high.

The 133 reported suicides, including the National Guard and Reserves, between January and October compared with 115 during the same period in 2008 when the service recorded 140 by year’s end, an annual record, the Army said in a statement.

A new estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) places the US death toll from the swine flu, or H1N1 virus, much higher than had been previously reported. The death rate among the young and healthy is also far greater than both recent CDC estimates and that of normal flu strains.

Nearly 4,000 American have died as a result of the swine flu, out of an estimated 22 million who have been infected with the virus, according to the new CDC calculations, which are extrapolations based on data gathered in ten states.

[...]

Approximately three quarters of all deaths have been among those aged 18 to 64. About 540 teenagers, children and babies have died as a result of the swine flu—a figure four times higher than that reported last week by the CDC, and seven times the death total for a typical flu strain—with the heart of flu season, December through May, still to come.

There have been a total of 98,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations, with more than a third of these, 36,000, among those age 17 and under.

[...]

The Obama administration ordered approximately 250 million doses of the vaccine, and confidently predicted that 120 million of those would be available to the public by this point. Instead, the federal government has received only 42 million doses as of Thursday, and not all of these have been distributed.

[...]

The White House cannot claim that its response to H1N1 came for lack of time to prepare, with epidemiologists concluding last spring that the virus would produce a full-scale pandemic that could claim many lives.

Such has been the administration’s incompetence and indifference to the pandemic that commentators have suggested the swine flu may well become “Obama’s Katrina,” a reference to the callous and blundering response of the Bush administration to the hurricane that laid waste to the US Gulf Coast and its principal city, New Orleans, in 2005.

As was the case with Hurricane Katrina, the swine flu epidemic has revealed the decrepit state of infrastructure in the US and the indifference of a government whose overriding concerns are the profit margins of Wall Street banks and the imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Delivery and disbursal of the vaccine in the US has been compromised by the decimation of public health care over the past several decades through budget cutbacks and layoffs. This has only been accelerated by the economic crisis, with doctors, nurses and administrators being laid off from vital public health jobs even as they are most needed.

Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday. It was the first time since 2004 that soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase. Self-inflicted deaths in Afghanistan were on track to go up this year.

The Afghan report also found a shortage of mental health workers to help soldiers who needed it, partly because of the buildup Obama started this year with the dispatch of more than 20,000 extra troops.

[...]

Other findings of the Afghanistan survey included:

* Exposure to combat, long recognized as a strong factor in mental health problems, was significantly higher this year than rates in 2005 and similar to rates in 2007 for the combat units.

* Combat units reported significantly lower unit morale in the last six months of their tours of duty, more evidence of the wearing affect of long deployments.