ninme

Terrorism is a nasty thing, people, and it’s important that the US recognizes it’s role in causing it.

FOXnews - Officials: 3 Homicide Car Bombs Kill 6 in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Three homicide car bombs exploded outside Somalia’s government base of Baidoa, killing at least six people, including the drivers, and wounding four civilians, officials said Thursday. One of the bombers was a veiled woman.

The bombing took place at a government checkpoint, exploding as police tried to check them, Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told The Associated Press.

“The three drivers were killed on the spot and three others who were with them,” the minister said by telephone. “We have captured three who were with them who have tried to flee. The dead include non-Somalis, they are Al Qaeda supporters.”

(Quick break: for those of you who aren’t already familiar with this little habit of theirs, Foxnews has this thing about calling suicide bombers homicide bombers because they’re intended to kill people and “suicide” puts too much unfair emphasis on the victim. It drives me nuts.)

On a related note, James Taranto has been publishing letters from members of the armed services responding to Charlie Rangel’s latest Love Letter From the Democrats to them (I wish they wouldn’t do that, it’s so …something. If I wrote a post saying that I think all blondes are idiots, all the blondes among you wouldn’t write me emails saying, “Well actually I have two BSs and a Masters”. You’d email to tell me I’m a jerk. Charlie Rangel should be told to go to the nearest Army/Navy/Airforce academy and and tell them to their faces what he thinks of them, rather than from a studio in downtown DC where all they can do is write angry letters to a sympathetic journalist in New York.), including the following:

Patrick Shearin weighs in on the importance of strong political leadership:

I’m brought to tears reading the testimonials from the best and brightest that are currently serving in harm’s way. As I read, I was viewing the film “Rocky,” an all-time American classic, and for some reason the power and optimism of American youth overwhelmed me. I got my degree and I served and I chose combat arms (mechanized infantry–HUAH), but I did so in what was to be known as the Clinton years. Now I will grant you that I am a marked partisan, nonetheless, the impact of that C-in-C cannot be underestimated.

Myself, I conducted a recon-in-force and once I saw that the Clinton administration was going to leave matters like the Mog (the battle of Mogadishu) alone, I figured I was done. They were far more concerned about gay rights, Waco and Elian Gonzalez than us grunts. Just see what the Mog generals asked for and what they got! Les Aspin, RIP, shot them down, right before they were shot down. Not that the U.S. press cared. Funny how U.S. servicemen and our enemies pay the most attention to our suffering. I don’t remember the barometer of Clinton’s non-policies’ effects on re-enlistment when I bailed! That was when nothing mattered (pre 9/11), but a lack of support and understanding from the home crowd.

I think that is a fundamental disconnect between those who serve and those who never will–what is the mission and what is the home mood. Most of us serve regardless, it is a matter of how long. The mission affects that–if it is worthy, so many will stick to it, some may not. But it is a strong beacon when there is a leader that will lead the home, when there is a president who will stand up and stand strong against what needs to be done. A serviceman is used to being ignored and misunderstood, but when his president stays with him, well, he never, ever forgets that.

I hope that President Bush knows that.

So there you go, folks. Proving once again that getting out of Iraq is the only way to solve this horrible mess.