Some more details on the 60 mm mortars used by Marines

Typical 60mm mortar and round via afghanistansquid

Pentagon bans 60 mm mortar round after deaths
"The Marine Corps said early Tuesday that seven Marines were killed. But John Stroud, national junior vice commander in chief for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, began a memorial event in Hawthorne on Tuesday night by saying "one of the critical has passed," bringing the death toll to eight.
Members of the women's Auxiliary of VFW 231 then laid a wreath and eight individual floral arrangements at a park where a flag flew at half-staff within sight of the Hawthorne depot's boundary." Slide show at this link.

Video of Marines firing a 60mm mortar :

COMBAT FOOTAGE Marines in firefight beat Taliban ambush with 60mm Mortar Fire About four minutes in the mortar crew sets up. If you don't care for the salty language, turn the sound down. It was a bit slow playing back with several pauses.

Barry of Arabia

Alan Caruba; Barry O Goes to Jerusalem  "No doubt President Obama will repeat his assertion that the U.S. will never accept a nuclear Iran, but he will. Sanctions and “containment” are not going to work.

"“The reality is, however,” says [Barry] Rubin, “that Obama will continue to deny that his strategy is one of containing Iran but rather of preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That will go on until Iran gets nuclear weapons and Obama switches to a containment strategy.” "  More by Rubin on this.

More by Rubin; The Meaning of the Obama Visit to Israel and U.S.-Israel Relations in Obama’s Second Term  "In other words, the whole thing isn’t going to work. Obama might come away with just enough to claim some success, a claim that will be echoed in the mass media. But it would be meaningless."
Pretty much every story on national security contains disrespect or outright contempt for the press.

From the Jerusalem Post; GOP representatives also protest US president’s decision not to address Knesset  and also "to protest the exclusion of Ariel University students from the speech he is scheduled to deliver on Thursday.
"Out of Israel’s eight accredited universities, Ariel is the only one that is located in the West Bank. Students from the other seven universities were invited to the speech to be delivered at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center."

 JINSA Reports;  President Obama's Visit to Israel: U.S. Policy Priorities

 "Given the high levels of instability and uncertainty in the region at this time, we urge President Obama to make it clear to both our allies and adversaries that:"....I'm sure sometime this week we will hear Obama say the words, "let me be clear".

Blackfive update: Harry Reid hits rock bottom with those Marines who died in Hawthorne, NV

Ironic for me in a way, because in 1957 Marine Barracks, Hawthorne, NV was my first duty station after Boot Camp and Camp Pendleton; the Second Marine Division at Camp Lejeune was my final duty station from 59-61. TD

Nevada training explosion kills 7 NC unit Marines
"Nevada Republican Sen. Dean Heller tweeted: "Thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost a loved one in the Hawthorne Army Depot explosion. Grateful for their service."".

Harry Reid Hits Rock Bottom, Keeps Digging  "Harry Reid immediately took to the floor of the Senate to play politics with their lives by implying the sequester had something to do with it, even though he’s completely unaware of the cause of the accident:"  

Update from Blackfive; Harry Reid is a despicable human being

"For the the Majority Leader in the Senate  to use the tragic death of these 7 Marines to make a political point  shows you how ill served we are by the cretins who govern us. Too bad there's not hot tar and feathers immediately available. I doubt I'd have any trouble recruiting a bunch of Marines to help ride Reid out of town on a rail with the appropriate plumage attached."

Thanks much, Nevada voters.  "The Marine Corps is not happy, according to NBC News reporter Jim Miklaszewski (once again by way of RealClearPolitics):

Now I can tell you, Marine Corps officials this afternoon are taking a strong exception to what Harry Reid implied. Saying that this this exercise, for example, was planned well in advance, had nothing to do with the budget cuts. There were no corners cut, and if they couldn’t afford to have all the safety precautions into place, they wouldn’t do the exercise.
And in fact, one Marine Corps official told us a short time ago that he considers this nothing but pure political posturing on the backs of these dead Marines.

"Are Nevada voters content to allow their honor to be soiled through continued representation by Harry Reid?  They were apparently cool with him inventing imaginary friends to slander Mitt Romney as a tax cheat, but has he finally crossed a line?"

This isn't the first time Harry Reid got into the mud over our military "[Liberals] lie about the premise, then they speak on behalf of the military which they claim to be upset about, which is what they've been lying about in the first place! They are the ones who have been condemning the military. They are the ones who have been demoralizing the military. They are the ones who have -- I can't say this more powerfully enough -- trying to secure defeat for the US military."  Rush Limbaugh
Harry Reid eats crow    More on Reid 

How to Decipher a Social Security Number

eHOW  "Each Social Security number has three parts, though the first is the most informative. The first three digits can tell you what geographical area the person had a connection to and when he received his number. The last two parts can help you judge whether a Social Security number is a real, valid number. While a person is still living, the Social Security Administration keeps other information confidential, but after a person dies, you can also find out a little more."   Read more...
So that's why many just ask you for the last four digits.

Who Will Bell America? Obama, like Carter, may provoke one of our enemies to test our teeth and claws.

Victor Davis Hanson  "As a candidate, Obama ridiculed the Bush commitment to missile defense — only, as president, to extend such a capability to allies like Turkey and Japan that felt threatened by neighbors. In the latest crisis with North Korea, Obama has beefed up anti-missile defenses on our own West Coast. That erratic message was also not lost on world observers. The Hagel appointment and the sequester confirmed the impression that while Obama relies on the U.S. military, it is a military that he himself would never have created or funded and that he sees as a cultural laboratory where social change — such as overt gay service and women in combat — can be fast-tracked without the messiness of dealing with Congress, rather than as a force to ensure deterrence."

Innocents have died in the millions because of leftist, liberal fecklessness down through all of history. TD

On the eve of his Israel visit, Obama makes nice to Iran again

By the prescient and perceptive Rich Terrell 

IBD  "If at fourth you don't succeed, try, try again.

"President Obama is at it again this week, sending really warm wishes to Iran and its people on the occasion of their combination spring-New Year holiday, Nowruz. This is the fifth year Obama has extended the holiday hand of friendship to Iran, despite its ongoing nuclear weapons program and deep involvement in widespread terrorist activities.

"Here's last year's Obama Nowruz message. Scroll down for the full text and video of Obama's newest Nowruz message, with Persian subtitles." 

No Need to Repent for Support of Iraq War

Max Boot   ...."Was their sacrifice worthwhile? From today’s vantage point, unfortunately, the answer looks increasingly to be “no”—but it did not need to turn out that way. The “surge” of 2007-2008 reduced violence by 90% and set Iraq on track to become a functional democracy. Alas, President Obama did not show much commitment to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement that would have kept American forces past 2011. The result is that US influence in Iraq has plummeted while Iranian influence has soared. Left to his own devices, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is acting in increasingly sectarian fashion that is alienating the Sunnis and allowing Al Qaeda in Iraq—virtually defeated by 2009—to spring back to life. In short, we have managed to squander many of the gains that US troops fought so hard to achieve during the long, bloody years of war."

Now We Know What Obama Meant By 'More Flexibility After The Election '

Joshuapundit reminds us how in 2012 President Obama was caught on a hot mic telling Russian President Medvedev to tell 'Vladimir' (Putin) that after the election, President Obama would have a 'a lot more flexibility'.
"Today, Pravda-on-the Hudson is reporting on what President Obama meant.
"And I'm sure this is just the beginning.:

NY Times; U.S. Cancels Part of Missile Defense That Russia Opposed
"The Obama administration has sought cooperation from Russia on numerous issues, with varying degrees of success. Russia generally has supported the NATO-led military effort in Afghanistan and has helped to  restrict Iran’s nuclear program by supporting economic sanctions. But the two countries have been deeply at odds over the war in Syria, and over human rights issues in Russia. Most recently, Mr. Obama has said he would like further reductions in the two countries’ nuclear arsenals, something Russia has said it would not consider without settling the dispute over missile defense."

WaPo Smooths the way for Obama's Israel Trip

conservativepapers.com

American Thinker  "The Washington Post runs a lengthy front-page article in its March 18 edition about President Obama's trip to Israel, stressing his need to correct missteps in his first term when he applied one-sided pressure on Israel that spawned tense relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu." The article:

For Obama, trip is a chance to repair relations with disappointed Israelis

 "In his article...[Wilson] highlights Obama's mistaken view in his 2009 Cairo speech to the Muslim world that the Jewish state is rooted in the Holocaust and European persecution -- overlooking biblical ties to the land over a span of four millennia.
....
"Third, while the Bible indeed testifies to ancient Jewish roots, it's by no means the only such evidence. There is a huge trove of archeological proof of Jewish sovereignty in the land dating back a full millennium before the common era. There were about as many Jewish monarchs as there have been U.S. presidents. The Western Wall and Temple Mount stand today as reminders of the First and Second Jewish Temples. And even after the Roman conquest, there was a continuing Jewish presence in the land -- including many ancient Jewish towns -- over the last two millennia. Empirical evidence is just as potent as biblical evidence.
"And these are not the only Wilson missteps. Here are several more:"

NBC's Gregory to Israeli Ambassador: Will Obama Be 'Rock Star' in Israel?  "Oren gave the answer Gregory wanted to hear: "I think it's excellent....[Obama will have] a lot of opportunities to interact with Israelis, particularly Israeli young people....And by the time he takes off from Israel on Friday, I think he's going to be a very, very popular man in the state of Israel.""

I loved Rand Paul's in-your-face, Obama filibuster, but...

Before we remove US influence from the Middle East, we must be aware of the struggle there between radical Islam; "...an insurgency within the Muslim world against which almost all Sunni Muslim states are now fighting."
I cannot see any less danger in the Paulite foreign policy than is evident in Obama's. Perhaps Paul could be Chuck Hagel's smarter brother.

From AEI Critical Threats Project:  Rand Paul's Side Effects  "But Senator Paul’s most important intellectual error lies precisely in his notion of side effects. American support to the anti-Soviet mujahideen in Afghanistan contributed to the rise of al-Qaeda. But it was America’s complete and total inaction and disinterest in Afghanistan in the 1990s that allowed that movement to establish itself there to such a degree that it could plan and conduct the 9/11 attacks. Inactivity, too, has side effects, and those must be weighed as seriously as the side effects of proposed actions."
 

So much for Obama as the leader of a world power

With North Korea threat looming, US nuclear disarmament has others deciding to 'arm up'   Talk about nuclear proliferation, our status as protector of the free world was supposed to prevent just this from happening. TD

Don't Obama and Hagel understand that the superiority of the U.S. nuclear force has contributed greatly to the prevention of major war and the preservation of peace since World War II?  Read more:

 

DEBKAfile; Tehran: Our commanders now authorized to open fire. Go home, Obama!  " General Jazayeri would not have dismissed the prospect of the US activating its military options with such contempt without authorization from the highest level, i.e. supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  

He was effectively telling the US president that, after pulling American forces out of the Middle East and relegating the handling of the Syrian issue to Moscow, “Mr.Obama” had burned his military options in the Middle East and should go home."

Future presidents will inherit a foreign policy disaster from Obama. This is the natural result of a foreign policy influenced by rock stars, celebrities, and the anti-war left. So much for giving peace a chance. We appear to be reliving the path taken by the antiwar British in the 1920-1930's who continued to demand disarmament while enemies spoke of conquest as they built up their military machine. Their actions nearly cost Britain her very existence. TD

Obama's Israel Trip: One Step Forward After Three Steps Back " Visiting Israel sends an important signal of U.S. solidarity, one significant step forward. Yet Obama has also taken three major steps backward with the appointment of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense, John Kerry as Secretary of Defense, and John Brennan as CIA Director."

 

Obama Approval Dismal in Israel, Plans to Directly Address Israeli Public

"In the world of Barack Obama, talking directly to people ensures that they will like him and do what he wants. So, for his trip to Israel, Obama is eschewing speaking at the Knesset, as his two predecessors did, and instead plans to speak at a convention center where he can directly address the Israeli people.

"There’s one small problem. Israelis don’t like him. They really don’t like him."

Jerusalem Post; Obama will want to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bite the bullet and leave preventing Iran from producing a bomb to the US.  "Netanyahu, however, will be mindful of past US failures to stop North Korea, Pakistan and India from going nuclear, and insist that Israel cannot take the chance that America might fail again, especially given the fact that the US can live with a nuclear Iran whereas Israel can’t. In other words, Netanyahu will be apprehensive about allowing Iran to enter a zone of immunity against Israeli attack, leaving Israel totally reliant on American military action, which may not happen." 

The New Affirmative Action; Making diversity the goal of preferences doesn’t eliminate bias.

Victor Davis Hanson 

"Sometime in the first years of the new millennium, “global warming” evolved into “climate change.” Amid growing controversies over the planet’s past temperatures, Al Gore and other activists understood that human-induced “climate change” could explain almost any weather extremity — droughts or floods, temperatures too hot or too cold, hurricanes and tornadoes — better than “global warming” could.

"Similar verbal gymnastics have gradually turned “affirmative action” into “diversity” — a word ambiguous enough to avoid the innate contradictions of a liberal society affirming the illiberal granting of racial preferences."....