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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (42141)	5/4/2004 2:27:04 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

I should have known they were over there. The Wardogs of Iraq by James Dunnigan Strategy Page There are hundreds of dogs, trained for military operations, in Iraq. The American military dogs in Iraq even have body armor. Marine Corps dogs, used for crowd control and other police type work, were equipped with custom made Kevlar body armor (worn like the winter coverings you see some dogs sporting in the cold weather). Costing about a thousand dollars each, the Kevlar will protect the dogs from stab wounds, shell fragments and some bullets. The K-9 Protective Vests weigh about seven pounds, which for a 90 pound German Shepard, is about the same burden as the 17 pound vest worn by the heavier marines. The K-9 vests have some special features as well. There are compartments on the inside of the vests for the insertion of cold packs (soft, flat plastic bags containing a chemical that, when activated, becomes very cool). Since dogs do not deal with heat as effectively as humans (dogs don’t sweat), and Iraq is a very warm place in the Summer, the cold packs can prevent heat stroke. There are also attachments on the vest to enable the dog to be dropped by parachute, or hauled up via a rope. The vests hinder the dogs mobility a bit, especially when they are jumping. But the dogs have quickly adjusted to the vests. The expense of the vests is justified because of the value of the dogs, and the hostility that Arabs have towards dogs (it's a cultural and religious thing.) The dogs take over a year, and some $60,000, to train. They are used for sniffing for explosives at checkpoints, crowd control and for detecting enemy troops on some patrols. So spending some money on life saving equipment for the dogs is a good investment. There are currently some 1,400 dogs in service for the U.S. military. During World War II, some 10,000 dogs were taken into military service, and in the Vietnam war, some 4,000 dogs were trained and sent over, where 281 were killed in combat. The marines used 327 dogs in the Pacific during World War II, and 29 died in battle. The marines found the dogs particularly useful for detecting Japanese troops, who were expert at camouflage, and setting up ambushes. Until 2000, when the law was changed, military dogs were used until they were about ten years old, then killed. It was thought that the retired military dogs could not adapt to family life. But decades of police, and some military experience, with dogs living safely with their handlers and family members finally caused the policy to be changed. Dog handlers had long urged that retired dogs be allowed to stay with their handlers, or be put up for adoption.

To: LindyBill who wrote (42141)	5/4/2004 3:01:04 PM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

Actually McCain is in the lead here as well. The guy is a born leader. He will never be president if only for health reasons. But he needs to take the Defense helm from a tired don rumsfeld. New direction in Defense is needed. Same for State as well. We could use a middle east specialist there who has credibility with both parties. Mike

To: LindyBill who wrote (42141)	5/4/2004 4:47:15 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

Bob Kerrey’s 9/11 Commission Fiasco~~What really happened when the 9/11 commissioner left the White House. May 03, 2004, 3:13 p.m. By Byron York Democratic 9/11 commissioner Bob Kerrey made an early departure from the commission's long-anticipated session with President Bush and Vice President Cheney only to find himself waiting for what turned out to be a late, and very brief, meeting on Capitol Hill. Now, Kerrey says that if he had it do over again, he would not have left the White House in the first place. Kerrey had scheduled a meeting at noon Thursday with New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, a member of the Appropriations Committee, at Domenici's office in the Hart Senate Office Building (the two were to discuss an issue related to the New School, of which Kerrey is president). To make the meeting, Kerry left the White House at about 11:40 A.M., missing the last hour of the commission's questioning of Bush and Cheney. But when Kerrey arrived at the Hart Building, he was told that Domenici was busy on the Senate floor, voting on a series of amendments. Noon came and went. Instead of meeting in the office, Kerrey went to an area just off the Senate floor, where, at about 12:30 P.M., he was finally able to have a quick word with Domenici. In the end, Kerrey says, he would have done things differently. "If I had known that there were votes in the Senate at the time, and Sen. Domenici was not in his office, and I would not be able to see him until later, and I would only get 30 seconds or a minute with him, then yes, I would have stayed at the White House," Kerrey told NRO. Other than the general topic of the meeting — a matter affecting the New School — both Kerrey and Domenici's office have declined to reveal any details of what the talk was about. Kerrey says the meeting with Domenici, a former Senate colleague, was arranged by the Carmen Group, a Washington lobbying firm which handles matters for the New School. Kerrey says he originally canceled the Domenici meeting in order to be at the White House but then re-instated it when he was told that there would be time to do both. When the commission session stretched on, Kerrey says he felt he had to leave. He has been surprised at the criticism his departure has prompted. "If I had known there would be this kind of public storm, I would not have left that [commission] meeting," Kerrey says. "If I had this thing to do over again, I wouldn't leave." Fellow Democratic commissioner Lee Hamilton also left the meeting with the president and vice president, but his departure has been the target of less criticism, apparently because Hamilton had made arrangements for his departure in advance. Hamilton was scheduled to be at a meeting with the prime minister of Canada at lunchtime Thursday, and a source close to the committee says Hamilton informed the White House of his plans before the meeting. "Lee pointed out that he had a program that he had been working on for many months with the prime minister of Canada," says the source. "The White House understood that and knew going in that he had to leave by a certain time." In the end, the source continues, "the president turned out to be exceptionally generous with his time," and Hamilton had to leave before the commission meeting was over. No Republican commissioners left the meeting early. Commission members of both parties had sought the Bush/Cheney meeting for months. The commission protested vigorously when the president originally intended to give the commission just an hour of his time. Bush later relented, and the session stretched to three hours. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- nationalreview.com