Recent content by SpruceTree

tomahawk6, yeah, the military has definite advantages in the red-tape dept over other gov't groups.

Armymedic, Maj. ____ addressed CIMIC at the talk I mentioned. CIMIC's job is that of facilitator for the CF's tasks.

Whiskey_Dan, Not all insurgents are terrorists and vice versa. There are many different guises of non-uniformed combatant. In Iraq for example there are more than a few groups with varying agendas. Some target occupiers, some target anyone they don't like - all have some political goal usually...

I was recently at a panel discussion on exaclty this sort of thing (A CF major and several aid agency reps) - defining the relationship between aid agencies and the military. A couple points stood out. First, in a place like Afghanistan, the military is actively engaged as a belligerant against...

KevinB, Kirkhill, et al, Thanks for the links and comments!  There is broad range of information out there and I'm looking for a balance. Nomad, Are you insinuating that I think the British should not have rescued their own because I've asked some questions? Nowhere in my posts do I suggest the...

More on your intro: Briefly summarise the Iraq War origins and such. Something along the the lines of "In 2003 the United States.....Iraq.... Failing to achieve UN support.... WMD inspections...Canada declined participation...." instead of launching into vague statements about Iraq War and...

GO, I don't have time to go into detail, but I'll say one or two things. . "The reasons for the Canadian government not participating in the Iraq war can most easily be separated into the two areas of political and strategic/military. " This is an awkward statement. Reword.. "Political...

Kirkhill and paracowboy, thanks for your comments. I'd say though, that there is a point in the deteriorating situation in Iraq where the benefit of staying there is gone and the foreign troop presence creates more problems than it solves.  If the bulk of the Iraqis (or Amerians/Brits civilians...

tomahawk6, No offence, but that National Review article is a pretty nuanced and opinionated piece. I think from our perspective it's very hard to have any idea of what's going on the ground. If I were to talk to the British NCOs they'd tell one story, and the officers something else. If I were...

Juan Coles' response to the Hitchens article can be found here: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/05/hitchens/index.html For balance... 54/102 CEF, I went through the Global Wargame. Fascinating stuff. There is s a lot of futurist material out there but much of it tends to be written...

No worries Kirkhill! I have bouts of the big info/small brain syndrome at time as well!  :) 

48highlander and Rebel_RN, The way I understand it so far, it the Army Corps of Engineers is the body responsible for levee work in NO. ACoE is a federal agency, therefore it draws funding from the federal coffers. As well, NO is one of the United States largest ports and oil import facility...

Kirkhill, you mentioned one instance where the  problem of transporting the poor was highlighted, but were these disaster plan excercises  a regular occurance? Or was what you mentioned just a meeting and not an excercise? I've googled a bit, but nothing anwering my question came up.

TCBF, um, would this link, http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/releases/Egret.HTM describe what you're refering too? As far as I can see, the Engineers' were delayed somewhat as they adapted their plans to protect the Great Egret rookery. I am not sure how you can accurately 'blame'...

I've been following the hurricane and it's aftermath in the news and on a number of US blogs and message boards, and this is by far the most reasoned, intelligent discussion I've encountered so far. It seems to me that when the water retreats, there will be a lot questions about responses and...