‘Green Zone’ Trailer: Matt Damon Goes to Iraq to Fight…Americans?

Nobody liked this movie when it was called “Body of Lies.” 

This is the most revealing trailer yet and thankfully we’re given a heads up as to what the story might really be about. Hollywood will look for cover with the excuse that “Green Zone” is based on a true story, but we all know which “true stories” Leftist Hollywood cherry picks in order to fulfill the demands of an anti-American narrative. For example, the true story of 100,000-plus Americans risking their lives to liberate and protect from terrorists people they’ve  never met is one “true story” we’ll see in hell first.

Everything you’d expect from director Paul Greengrass and Damon is here, including that goddamn shaky-cam (it’s not saying the Lord’s name in vain if you mean it). Damon’s character is the protagonist and he’s there to do good but it’s not the terrorists who are the antagonists getting in his way … no, it’s The United States of America personified by the Greg Kinnear character. (more…)

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Tags: anti-American, anti-Iraq, Iraq, Matt Damon, paul greengrass
Posted Nov 17th 2009 at 12:32 pm in Film, Military, Politics | 263966137 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/17/green-zone-trailer-matt-damon-goes-to-iraq/%27Green+Zone%27+Trailer%3A+Matt+Damon+Goes+to+Iraq+to+Fight...Americans%3F2009-11-17+20%3A32%3A03John+Nolte

Political Correctness, Ft. Hood, and Hollywood

Almost before the echo of gunfire from the massacre at Ft. Hood had faded, the news media launched a pre-emptive rationalization for the slaughter committed by Muslim traitor Nidal Malik Hasan. To divert attention from the shooter’s inconvenient name (“I cringe that he’s Muslim,” said Newsweek’s Evan Thomas), the talking heads began speculating sympathetically about the fragile mental state of poor frazzled Hasan, who had never seen combat but nonetheless must have “snapped.” After all, surely there could be no rational, ideological motive for the mass murder, which President Obama labeled “incomprehensible.”  And “it’s certainly not about his religion, Islam,” denied Senator Lindsey Graham. Indeed, from listening to such “experts” as irrelevant diet book author Dr. Phil (“this is not a well act”), you’d think that Hasan was the victim, not the fourteen dead* and the nearly thirty seriously wounded that he left in his heartless wake. Even as a mountain of accumulating evidence irrefutably exposed Hasan’s act as premeditated violent jihad against the U.S. military, stubborn left-leaning commentators clung to their theory of mental derangement.

George Clooney in 2005’s  Syriana

Meanwhile the national discussion has segued to our own collective insanity, political correctness, which we are now discovering paved the very way for the massacre. It is this cultural and mental straightjacket that forced a U.S. Army general to say diversity is more important than losing American lives; that compelled our Homeland Security Secretary to reassure the Arab world that we’re doing everything we can to protect against a mythical Muslim backlash; that prevented people from speaking out about red flags that could have saved the lives of everyone murdered at Ft. Hood; and that prevents our officials from even naming the enemy. No such ailment afflicts the jihadists, however, who are celebrating Hasan as a hero, who have no problem acknowledging his ideological intent, and who recognize our political correctness as a self-inflicted fatal wound. Unlike our leaders and media elites, they don’t sap their wartime focus with hand-wringing and navel-gazing. (more…)

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Tags: "Redacted", al-Qaradawi, Arab film industry, Atlas Shrugs, Barrie Osborne
Posted Nov 17th 2009 at 4:48 am in Culture, Featured Story, Film, Military, Religion | 261714137 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtapson/2009/11/17/political-correctness-ft-hood-and-hollywood/Political+Correctness%2C+Ft.+Hood%2C+and+Hollywood2009-11-17+12%3A48%3A07Mark+Tapson

Hostages

16 November 2009

When New York Times journalist David Rohde was kidnapped last year in Afghanistan, the company engaged in a painstaking effort to squash the story. They succeeded in persuading major media who learned of the kidnapping to keep quiet. The cover-up was so good that a New York Times reporter I spoke with in December 2008, while she and I joined Secretary Gates on a trip through Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq and back to the United States, had not heard about the David Rohde kidnapping.

The New York Times openly agrees that publishing such articles increases the peril to the lives of hostages, yet it published details about a British couple being held hostage in Somalia, and thus increased the value of the hostages to the kidnappers.

Some months after Mr. Rohde’s kidnapping started leaking, I published a generic blurb about the case, but made sure none of the information was new. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, David Rohde, Huffington Post, Michael Yon, Michael Yon Dispatches
Posted Nov 16th 2009 at 4:32 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2635227 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/16/hostages/Hostages2009-11-17+00%3A32%3A14Michael+Yon

(Updated) ‘Brothers’: Another Hollywood Slam on the Military?

–

Due out December 4th, “Brothers“ is a remake of a 2004 film called “Brodre,” which is summarized in part on IMDB with the following nugget:

Then Michael comes home with a full-blown case of post-traumatic stress disorder because of what he had to do to survive in captivity.

Leftist Hollywood loathes everything the American Military stands for: Honor, patriotism, selflessness and masculinity. Openly trashing the troops backfired decades ago, so the tactics had to change. Today, “support” for the troops is reflected in film after film after film stereotyping America’s best and brightest as victims, dupes, head cases and monsters. (more…)

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Tags: "Brothers", Brodre, Jake Gyllenhaal, natalie portman, Tobey Maguire
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 10:52 am in Film, Military | 262046124 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/12/brothers-another-hollywood-slam-on-the-military/%28Updated%29+%27Brothers%27%3A+Another+Hollywood+Slam+on+the+Military%3F2009-11-12+18%3A52%3A11John+Nolte

A Message to Our Veterans

[click image to play video]

So many of us in the business know people who have been overseas to help entertain the troops, and the luckiest among us have actually had the experience ourselves. I’m proud to have moved from Category A to category B this last week, when I was able to spend five days down at Guantanamo Bay.

There’s a lot to talk about. But the thing that struck me hardest was the fact that even though I expected to be blown away by our men and women in uniform, I really had no idea of just how far my high expectations would be exceeded. The competence and discipline I took for granted going in. It was the soldier’s generosity that kept knocking me on my butt. (more…)

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Tags: bill whittle, gitmo, guantanamo bay, PJTV, Veterans
Posted Nov 11th 2009 at 5:49 pm in Military, Politics | 26183416 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bwhittle/2009/11/11/a-message-to-our-veterans/A+Message+to+Our+Veterans2009-11-12+01%3A49%3A35Bill+Whittle

‘The Surge’ Shows That Numbers Matter

While President Barack Obama prepares to discuss potential military strategies for the war in Afghanistan today, the nation prepares to honor veterans of our nation’s wars. On the Monday before Veterans Day, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Institute for the Study of War took a constructive look at major military efforts in Iraq. The Institute presented “The Surge: The Untold Story,” [which you can watch in full below] a 30-minute briefing on the strategy that brought about a massive swing in the course of the Iraq war in a matter of months. The film premiered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. 

“The Surge” is really a snapshot, briefly summarizing the events of late 2006 to deliver key background, setting the stage and highlighting key strategic elements implemented in 2007 that ultimately pushed terrorist groups out of Baghdad, with the help of an emboldened Iraqi nation.

The story is told in a fast-paced, modern style, transitioning between interviews, live footage and pictures with military-style cuts and zooms. The interviews are very informative, though there were two problems. First, there is little if any negativity reflected in the film when analyzing the Surge strategy. Some opposition would have more effectively recaptured the atmosphere surrounding the controversial troop increase, and also lent further credibility to the effort’s effectiveness. The reason no negativity was shown, however, is that the generals, and now most politicians, agree that the Surge worked exactly as it was supposed to.  (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, General Raymond Odierno, Institute for the Study of War, National Press Club
Posted Nov 11th 2009 at 9:55 am in Film, Military | 26146219 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dmiller/2009/11/11/the-surge-shows-that-numbers-matter/%27The+Surge%27+Shows+That+Numbers+Matter2009-11-11+17%3A55%3A33Darin++Miller

Stand Up Notes From Flyover Country: Fallen Heroes and Terrorists

As I was driving to Wisconsin on Thursday a disturbing report came on the news. A mass shooting had taken place at Fort Hood in Texas. The details were unclear, at first report there were several shooters and seven dead. Several thoughts crossed my mind, solders suffering from PTSD, disgruntled civilian employees and of course a terrorist attack.

As details became clearer the death toll rose and the attack seemed to be the work of a single shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a devout Muslim. As the day wore on it became clear that Major Hasan held radical beliefs concerning United States foreign policy and had shared those beliefs not with just a few close friend but with just about anyone who would listen.

Then it was announced that the President was going to speak about the shootings. I expected to hear a calming voice that would honor those slain and get to the heart of the matter: We have a serious problem in this country with domestic terrorists both in and out of the military and we need to do something about it.    (more…)

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Tags: Fort Hood, Islam, Janet Napolitano, Major Nidal Hasan, Muslims
Posted Nov 11th 2009 at 6:44 am in Military, Politics | 26110696 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjena/2009/11/11/stand-up-notes-from-flyover-country-fallen-heroes-and-terrorists/Stand+Up+Notes+From+Flyover+Country%3A+Fallen+Heroes+and+Terrorists2009-11-11+14%3A44%3A51Jeffrey+Jena

Semper Films: The Top Ten Marine Corps Movies

The men and women who earn the right to wear eagle, globe and anchor of the United States Marine Corps are a special breed.   To those outside the Corps, they talk funny.  They look funny.  They are extremely impressed with themselves – and they have every right to be. 

My beloved United States Army is a blunt instrument, a magnificent club that has pummels our nation’s enemies into submission.  But the Marines are America’s rapier, a razor sharp weapon of war that has never been bested and never will be.  For over two centuries, the United States Marine Corps has been fighting our country’s battles in the air, on land and sea.  They don’t give up.  They don’t quit.  There’s no word for retreat in a Marine’s vocabulary.  And they are making history even today in the mountains of Afghanistan and elsewhere.

November 10th is the Corps’ 234th birthday.  With the indulgence of my Devil Dog brethren, here is this Army veteran’s countdown of the Top Ten Marine Corp movies: (more…)

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Tags: 55 Days at Peking, a few good men, aaron sorkin, Adam Baldwin, Al Mathews
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 9:41 am in Classic Hollywood, Film, Military | 260006165 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/11/10/semper-films-the-top-ten-marine-corps-movies/Semper+Films%3A+The+Top+Ten+Marine+Corps+Movies2009-11-10+17%3A41%3A33Kurt+Schlichter

How to Kill a Terrorist

Meet Larry, my buddy from Bensonhurst. Okay, so it’s not Larry. For reasons of security his identity cannot be compromised. But take my word for it, Larry looks exactly like William Powell in The Thin Man. Or not.

Shabbat in the Israeli town of Efrat is a deeply spiritual experience.

The sun falls, gently folding itself into the surrounding hills and valleys. The same Judean hills where Jews have lived, worked and fought since Biblical times.

The unearthly light makes a final golden splash.

My wife Karen and I are visiting Karen’s brother David, his wife Elana, and their four children, residents of Efrat.

Attending Sabbath services in an Efrat synagogue, out of the corner of my eye, I spot “Larry.”

Security requires that I do not use his real name.

(more…)

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Tags: Arab Muslim Terrorists, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Counterterrorism, Efrat
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 6:45 am in Military, Religion | 257842119 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/11/10/how-to-kill-a-terrorist/How+to+Kill+a+Terrorist2009-11-10+14%3A45%3A03Robert+J.+Avrech

Ambush of the Common Sort

08 November 2009

Got a ping today about an attack on the road between Jalalabad and Kabul.  It’s a dangerous road and I don’t like to drive it.  The source has always been reliable, so I pinged Tim Lynch (who often is on that road), and Tim just sent these pics and a quick narrative.  (Unedited, and my post also coming via Blackberry.)  Tim writes:

The ambush happened around 0845 or so on the west side of the Duranta Tunnel.  Steve and I rolled out to look – the fuel convoy had security escorts from Compass security and they plus some ANP are who you see up in the ridges.  Three tankers were burning and three more were shot up and leaking fuel all over the place.  There was a section of OH-58’s up and after about 20 minutes of figuring out who was who on the ground they started in on the bad guys with rockets and mini gun.

There was still some fighting going on when we arrived and few rounds came our way but were very high and not to close.  The bad guys had one belt fed which opened up briefly – the Blue Compass/ANP guys clearly had the momentum and used damn good fire discipline – we only heard volleys when the Taliban exposed themselves and those volleys were not that long.The Army claims four KIA from the OH’s which is not doubt true given how low they were scouting about for targets – there is no cover out there just fingers and draws and the security guys were putting pressure on the Ambush team to keep moving which exposed them to the birds.

(more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Jalalabad, Kabul, Michael Yon, Military
Posted Nov 9th 2009 at 5:21 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2602789 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/09/ambush-of-the-common-sort/Ambush+of+the+Common+Sort2009-11-10+01%3A21%3A11Michael+Yon

Smithsonian Air&Space on Kopp-Etchells Effect

November 04, 2009

Helo Halo

Luminous halos twirled above a Boeing CH-47 Chinook on a recent night around 11:30 p.m. local time at Forward Operating Base Jackson in Sangin, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as helicopters ferried casualties and supplies in and out of the base. The photographer was independent journalist Michael Yon, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who has covered Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines with a camera. Helicopter pilots don’t have a name for the effect, but one explained to Yon, “Basically it is a result of static electricity created by friction as…dissimilar material strike against each other. In this case, titanium/nickel blades moving through the air and dust.” Yon says, however, that a researcher studying helicopter brownout emailed him to say that scientists are not 100 percent sure what causes the effect. Depending on the viewing angle, it creates dazzling little galaxies. An even longer exposure reveals stars and another aircraft marked by a string of lights at upper left of center; Yon suspects this aircraft was a Predator or Reaper UAV, which, unlike manned military aircraft, fly with their lights on in the Afghan night to avoid collisions. Yon, who made these shots with a Canon 5D Mark II with a 50 mm lens at an ISO of 800, claims that the night was far darker than his sensitive camera conveys, as evidenced by the green chemlights on the ground to guide the pilots. He was moved to create a name, the Kopp-Etchells Effect, for the rotor phenomenon to honor a pair of fallen soldiers, U.S. Army Corporal Benjamin Kopp and British Army Corporal Joseph Etchells, who died one day apart in July after fierce fighting in Helmand (Kopp had been evacuated to the U.S. before he died). “The tent in the foreground is a medical tent,” says Yon, “so that casualties can be kept in a tent until the last minute. A substantial number of British casualties in Helmand have been lifted off of this exact spot…because this is probably either the most dangerous place in Afghanistan, or nearly the most dangerous.” (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Benjamin Kopp, Boeing, Corporal Joseph Etchells, Helmand Province
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 11:12 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 25909410 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/05/smithsonian-airspace-on-kopp-etchells-effect/Smithsonian+Air%26Space+on+Kopp-Etchells+Effect2009-11-06+07%3A12%3A52Michael+Yon

Fort Hood: Wise Words From Michael Yon

Wise, wise words from Michael Yon: 

Now is not a time to psychoanalyze the attacker by using a media-supplied telescope that already said he was dead, and that there were multiple attackers.  Media: STOP, please.  There will be time to pursue answers and justice after Christmas.  We must remember that family members lost loved ones just before the holidays.  Justice and answers will come with time.

When stories of this kind break, the weatherman becomes the most accurate part of the newscast. We know nothing right now. We know less than nothing because too much of what we’re told is wrong.

All we know is that people are dead and wounded, and families and loved ones are suffering. That’s all that matters right now. The rest is noise.

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Tags: Fort Hood, media, Michael Yon, NRO, Tragedy
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 9:38 pm in Featured Story, Military, News | 25905881 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/11/05/michael-yon-tragedy-at-fort-hood/Fort+Hood%3A+Wise+Words+From+Michael+Yon2009-11-06+05%3A38%3A23Big+Hollywood

Coming Soon: ‘The Surge — The Untold Story’

Earlier this year, I met with Washington’s Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization, with some of the most accomplished academics in the field of military affairs. ISW wanted to produce a military history in the form of a documentary film. The purpose was to bring greater understanding of the real story behind the Surge in Iraq — the story the mainstream press often misses, or simply doesn’t have time to tell.  Surprisingly, though there were a handful of good books on the Surge, there hadn’t yet been a definitive documentary film.  Now, The Surge: the Untold Story is the only documentary of its kind giving audiences a look into the Surge, as told by top U.S. military commanders. Here’s the trailer:

Understanding the Surge – The Trailer from ISW on Vimeo.

The short film features never-before-seen interviews that move beyond Washington politics to tell the truth of how a failing mission was transformed into one of the most successful military operations in a generation. Audiences will watch rare interviews from high profile figures like General David Petraeus, General Raymond Odierno, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker – among many others. The documentary reveals the personalities of a new generation of U.S. military leaders and explains how they successfully implemented a counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq that brought the country back from the brink of civil war and catastrophe. (more…)

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Tags: Ambassador Ryan Crocker, General David Petraeus, General Raymond Odierno, The Surge: the Untold Story, Understanding the Surge
Posted Nov 4th 2009 at 11:25 am in Film, Military, Video | 25326245 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jmeath/2009/11/04/new-film-the-surge-the-untold-story/Coming+Soon%3A+%27The+Surge+--+The+Untold+Story%27+2009-11-04+19%3A25%3A27Jason+Killian+Meath

Great Britain Loses One of its Finest

Olaf in Combat.

03 November 2009

British soldiers at war are an incredible group.  Courageous, competent, and committed in very difficult conditions.  An email came today from London, from a BBC correspondent who has been to Afghanistan saying that Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid had been killed. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Middle East, Military, Olaf Schmid
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 5:05 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 25739028 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/03/great-britain-loses-one-of-its-finest/Great+Britain+Loses+One+of+its+Finest+2009-11-04+01%3A05%3A45Michael+Yon

For Conservative Movie Lovers: John Ford, John Wayne, and ‘They Were Expendable’ Part 3

“That bold buckaroo with the cold green eyes.”

– General Douglas MacArthur, describing his savior John Bulkeley –

In March 1942, facing imminent capture by the Japanese, America’s commander in the Far East was ordered to slip away to safety in Australia. The Empire of the Sun controlled both air and sea, and only a precious few Allied planes and ships remained in-theater, skulking through the night fog like pirates to avoid capture and running on little more than spit and baling wire. “Overhauling those motors without any replacement parts was a terrible job,” one of the few to escape that nightmare later remembered. “For instance. Any tank-town garage which overhauls a flivver back in the States always replaces the gaskets with new ones. Only we didn’t have any. Or any sealing compound. So those old gaskets had to be carefully removed, handled as gently as though they were precious lace, and laid back in place when the motors were reassembled.”

When MacArthur arrived at the dock with his family and key commanders, he found waiting for him a trio of tiny, dilapidated motor torpedo boats crewed by dirty, emaciated men with long, unkempt beards and wild eyes. Their skipper was a thirty-year-old U.S. Navy Lieutenant named John Bulkeley, who for months had held his disintegrating squadron together by scrounging like a rat among the islands for gasoline, torpedoes, and other basic supplies. His boats were little more than plywood matchboxes, but Bulkeley had kept them active long after the rest of America’s Navy and Air Force had been destroyed or driven off. He made sneak assaults against transports, cruisers, destroyers, airplanes, landing parties — anything to frustrate the pace of the overwhelming Japanese invasion. Every time he attacked it was a fearsome David-versus-Goliath mismatch, but Bulkeley had done so time and again, sinking many enemy vessels. (more…)

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Tags: Air Mail (1932), Bataan, Beulah Greenwalt, Caroline Islands, D-Day
Posted Oct 31st 2009 at 11:01 am in Classic Hollywood, Military | 24727830 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/10/31/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-3/For+Conservative+Movie+Lovers%3A+John+Ford%2C+John+Wayne%2C+and+%27They+Were+Expendable%27+Part+32009-10-31+18%3A01%3A22Leo+Grin

I Keep Watching the Skies: B Movies and Me

I have always been a fan of so-called B movies. I’m not sure I like that description because it implies that B movies are not as important as A movies, not as serious, not as good. Well, I’m not so sure about that. Of the B movies that I love, my favorites are, without a doubt, the science fiction monster movies. Yes, those wonderful creations conceived of by some of the most colorful characters in Hollywood and beyond. Studios like AIP, Toho, Daiei, Hammer and Universal are synonymous with creatures that crawl, creep and are able to stamp a city flat.

Names like Ray Harryhausen, George Pal, Bernard Herrmann and H.G. Wells come to mind. As do those of Ken Toby, Less Tremayne, Paul Frees and Whit Bissell. Each of these names, plus thousands and thousands of others, can immediately conjure up a favorite film, a scene or even just a great line or look that impressed us as kids and perhaps continues to do so.

When I think about those elements that I love in my favorite sci-fi monster movies, my mind can easily dwell for hours on the creatures themselves, the settings, the art direction, the machinery and technology and everything in between. I never grow tired of that stuff. But I also love, with equal passion the characters that people the story. They are really what it’s all about. So, indulge me as I invite you to take a little trip through my memory, recalling some character moments that stand out for me in the B genre of scifi monster movies. (more…)

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Tags: aip, arness, b movie, bissell, carrington
Posted Oct 24th 2009 at 6:58 am in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, Military | 24710279 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smann/2009/10/24/i-keep-watching-the-skies-b-movies-and-me/I+Keep+Watching+the+Skies%3A+B+Movies+and+Me2009-10-24+13%3A58%3A31Schizoid+Mann

Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Loses Spark

Anybody seen a better future around here?

21 October 2009

In 2008, I was trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal preparing for a return to Afghanistan. A message came from a British officer suggesting to end the trip and get to Afghanistan. Something was up, and I didn’t bother to ask what. Days of walking were needed to reach the nearest road. After several flights, I landed in Kandahar and eventually Helmand Province at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The top-secret mission was Oqab Tsuka, involving thousands of ISAF troops who were to deliver turbines to the Kajaki Dam to spearhead a major electrification project. The difficult mission was a great success. That was 2008.  During my 2009 embed with British forces, just downstream from Kajaki Dam, it became clear that the initial success had eroded into abject failure. And then the British kicked me out of the embed, for reasons still unclear, giving me time to look further into the Kajaki electrification failure. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, IEDs, ISAF
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 11:22 am in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2509786 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/23/afghanistan-electrification-effort-loses-spark/Afghanistan%3A+Electrification+Effort+Loses+Spark+2009-10-23+18%3A22%3A17Michael+Yon

Real Life Hero–Sergeant First Class Jared Monti

Boots on the Ground Report

As I watch Hollywood’s inexcusable defense of Roman Polanski and the White House’s indecision in Afghanistan, I’m wondering what I’ve missed. For example, if the President’s going to break a campaign promise, why would he pick one that will endanger not only the mission and the lives of so many great Americans in Afghanistan, but the security of our nation? At the same time, how come everyone knows Polanski’s name but you hear little mention of a tough guy named Sergeant First Class Jared Monti?

Sergeant First Class Jared Monti in Afghanistan

Is it possible we don’t have our priorities straight? For those that are interested, let me tell you about Jared Monti.

This spring Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made a routine visit to Fort Drum, NY, home of the 10th Mountain Division. During his circulation of the post, he chatted with several members of the rear detachment of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team whose headquarters and 4500 troops are presently serving south of Kabul, Afghanistan. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Defense Robert Gates, Iraq, Jared Monti, Obama
Posted Oct 21st 2009 at 8:31 am in Celebrity News, Military, Politics | 24909447 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ajtata/2009/10/21/real-life-hero-sergeant-first-class-jared-monti/Real+Life+Hero--Sergeant+First+Class+Jared+Monti2009-10-21+15%3A31%3A57Brigadier+General+%28R%29+Anthony+J.+Tata

Why America Loves ‘NCIS’

 It’s a sign! “NCIS” on CBS has been the No. 1 show on Tuesday nights for four weeks. It is the highest rated show on TV. Why is this important except for advertisers who want to sell products? 

It is important because America is choosing to watch Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs catch “dirtbags.” It’s a cop show, you may say. Yes, but these cops are in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. They solve crimes involving Sailors and Marines. So for one hour every Tuesday (2 hours if you count “NCIS-Los Angeles,” the spinoff) we are in the world of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. 

There are many reasons to watch the show. It is face paced, clever and the audience is drawn into this team with all its unique characters. They are a family and we want to be one of them. They have talents we wish we had and they use them for good. 

Special Agent Tony Dinozza (Michael Weatherly) is the goof off from every office we’ve ever worked in. But he is a former cop and relies on his instincts to come up with that one idea that might solve the case. Of course, he is also a great shot and a good fighter which comes in handy with bad guys.  (more…)

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Tags: cbs, Mark Harmon, NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, war on terror
Posted Oct 19th 2009 at 3:46 pm in Military, Politics, Television | 247686146 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/msokoloff/2009/10/19/why-america-loves-ncis/Why+America+Loves+%27NCIS%272009-10-19+22%3A46%3A34Myrna+Sokoloff

Jews and Guns

An Ethiopian Jewish woman soldier takes aim. Both men and women serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. Thus, there is a weapon in almost every Israeli home.

Before our son Ariel Chaim ZT”L passed away, age twenty-two, in 2003, we spent a good deal of time discussing the Second Amendment, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Ariel was amazed that so many American Jews—overwhelmingly liberal and secular—aligned themselves with the advocates of gun control, in reality a movement to banish the private ownership of guns by lawful citizens.

(more…)

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Tags: gun control, guns, Halacha, Jewish History, Jewish Law
Posted Oct 19th 2009 at 6:43 am in Military, Politics | 246310197 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/10/19/jews-and-guns/Jews+and+Guns2009-10-19+13%3A43%3A11Robert+J.+Avrech

Afghan Lunacy

[This dispatch was written by me in December 2008 in southern Afghanistan. It was never published though I recently found it in the unpublished archives. The photos came from the same period.]

Published: from Nepal on 14 October 2009

On May 25, 1961, the President of the United States of America said:

“Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.”

(more…)

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Tags: Af-Pak war, Afgh, Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, bush
Posted Oct 14th 2009 at 6:13 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 24651812 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/14/afghan-lunacy/Afghan+Lunacy+2009-10-15+01%3A13%3A40Michael+Yon

Market Garden: A Remembrance During Time of War

Kandahar City, Afghanistan

Slowly, surely, the city is being strangled.  Signaling the depth of our commitment, security forces are thinner in Kandahar than the Himalayan air.  During the days and evenings, there were the sounds of occasional bombs—some caused by suicide attackers, and others by firefights.  The windows in my room had been blown out recently and now were replaced.  We came here to kill our enemies, but today we want to make a country from scratch.

A world away from Afghanistan, over in Holland, was approaching the 65th anniversary of the allied liberation from Nazi occupation, and I had been invited to attend by James “Maggie” Megellas.  Maggie, who had fought his way through Holland and is today remembered there as a hero, is said to be the most decorated officer in the history of the 82nd Airborne Division.  Now 92, Maggie has recently spent about two months tooling around the battlefields of Afghanistan, and though it would be an honor to finally meet him, there was the matter of extracting myself from Kandahar City and getting through about forty minutes of dangerous territory to the military base at Kandahar Airfield. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, General Petraeus, Kandahar City, Maggie Megellas
Posted Oct 12th 2009 at 5:38 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 24515813 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/12/market-garden-a-remembrance-during-time-of-war/Market+Garden%3A++A+Remembrance+During+Time+of+War2009-10-13+00%3A38%3A38Michael+Yon

McConaughey Gets It: Rom-Com Star Supports Veterans

Matthew McConaughey won’t be in the mix for any Oscar nominations this year, and probably not in 2010 or 2011, for that matter. But the routinely shirtless actor has one up on some of his A-list peers.

At a time when many celebrities risk alienating their fan base by voicing political views, McConaughey is opting to speak out on behalf of our men and women in uniform.The “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” star will appear in a new public service announcement that encourages giving back to veterans, politics be darned. (more…)

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Tags: Major League Baseball, matthew mcconaughey, Military, troops, Veterans
Posted Oct 10th 2009 at 2:49 pm in Celebrity News, Military, Politics | 241238122 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/10/10/mcconaughey-gets-it-rom-com-star-supports-veterans/McConaughey+Gets+It%3A+Rom-Com+Star+Supports+Veterans2009-10-10+21%3A49%3A02Christian+Toto

Ride 2 Recovery Day 5: Pismo to Solvang

Dennis with the R2R Pig

Today the R2R gang headed out towards the Danish tourist town of Solvang. But first, the kids of Oceana Elementary in Pismo came out in full force to cheer on the riders. Today featured a special American Legion Post 534 Lunch in the town of Orcutt. This is the most popular lunch on the ride and the Legion really stepped up with a great presence. They even arranged for a rocket launch at Vandenburg AFB just as we sat down to lunch. The Delta 2 rocket had a special R2R designation painted on the side and the roar after the launch shook the ground. (more…)

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Tags: Adam Housley, Dennis Miller, Mike Vogel, r2r, Ride 2 Recovery
Posted Oct 10th 2009 at 10:47 am in Military | 24437812 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/r2r/2009/10/10/ride-2-recovery-day-5-pismo-to-solvang/Ride+2+Recovery+Day+5%3A+Pismo+to+Solvang2009-10-10+17%3A47%3A23Ride+2+Recovery

Ride 2 Recovery Day 4: Guest Blogger Kristy Swanson!

Hello, Everyone following us! Today was my first day on the ride, riding from San Simeon to Pismo Beach. I cannot even describe what a rush it is to ride along side our Wounded Warriors; it is an absolute Honor! They all have been so incredible towards me, making sure I know what I am doing and don’t get hurt.

Actress Kristy Swanson

I admit, I did have one spill at a rest stop today. LOL!  It was my own fault not getting out of my clips properly. So, of course, I fell in front of everyone! They picked me up, dusted me off, and patted me on the back.  Several guys said, “Oh, we’ve all done that several times!” They made me feel at home. (more…)

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Tags: John Wordin, Kristy Swanson, Pismo Beach, r2r, Ride 2 Recovery
Posted Oct 9th 2009 at 6:43 am in Military | 24382619 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/r2r/2009/10/09/ride-2-recovery-day-4-guest-blogger-kristy-swanson/Ride+2+Recovery+Day+4%3A+Guest+Blogger+Kristy+Swanson%212009-10-09+13%3A43%3A46Ride+2+Recovery

A Story From War

Published: 08 October 2009

“In April this year it became 2 Rifles’ dubious fortune to be sent to Sangin on a six-month tour. By mid-August their battle group, a composite force from various units built around a core of several hundred riflemen and fusiliers, had the worst casualties of any British brigade sent to Helmand, with just over 100 soldiers killed or wounded: a fifth of their total patrol troops. The trend suggested that by the time the battle group’s tour ends this month as many as one in four of these infantrymen will have been slain or injured, a figure that compares with British infantry casualty ratios in Europe during the later stages of the Second World War.” -Anthony Lloyd

(more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Anthony Lloyd, Apaches, British 2 Rifles, Helmand
Posted Oct 8th 2009 at 4:13 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 24373813 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/08/a-story-from-war/A+Story+From+War+2009-10-08+23%3A13%3A56Michael+Yon

We Want You! Oct 10th: The Warriors Are Coming

WE WANT YOU! Want a chance to show your appreciation for those that have served our country? The opportunity is here. 

On Saturday, Oct. 10, more than 150 wounded heroes will complete a 7-day, 475-mile journey from San Francisco to LA. The Wounded Heroes, many home from Iraq and Afghanistan, are cycling down scenic Highway 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Their goal is to raise awareness and money to provide bikes and equipment for mental and physical therapy for fellow military heroes. The final leg of this journey brings the riders down San Vicente Blvd. from 26th to the West LA VA. 

This is where you come in.  We are looking for everyone, You, your family, friends, community members, organizations, and congregations to come out and line San Vicente Blvd. all the way to the VA. Welcome home these brave men and women and cheer them on their final miles.  Special guest riders include James Cromwell, Adam Baldwin, Tobey Maguire, Mike Vogel, Patricia Heaton, David Hunt, Kristy Swanson, Adam Housley, and Andrew Breitbart.  (more…)

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Tags: Adam Baldwin, Adam Housley, American Legion Riders, Andrew Breitbart, David Hunt
Posted Oct 8th 2009 at 10:51 am in Military | 2433549 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/r2r/2009/10/08/we-want-you-oct-10th-the-warriors-are-coming/We+Want+You%21+Oct+10th%3A+The+Warriors+Are+Coming2009-10-08+17%3A51%3A08Ride+2+Recovery

Ride 2 Recovery Day 3: BIG!

Nate making the grade

Peter Gabriel once sang about the Big time. He probably did not have Big Sur in mind when he wrote that song, but it sure came to mind today as we set off from Carmel on our way to San Simeon. The 92-mile ride featured more than 7000 feet of climbing. The riders were in great spirits after the great event at Carmel Mission Ranch the night before.

In the song Gabriel talks about Big Boys, Big City, Big Adventure, and Big Heaven. Well, that pretty much sums up the day today: Big Hills, Big Scenery, Big Adventure and Big Heaven-on-Earth views. (more…)

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Tags: Carmel Mission Ranch, Nate Hunt, peter gabriel, r2r, Ride to Recovery
Posted Oct 7th 2009 at 1:04 pm in Military | 2422062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/r2r/2009/10/07/road-2-recovery-day-3-big/Ride+2+Recovery+Day+3%3A+BIG%212009-10-07+20%3A04%3A42Ride+2+Recovery

Afghanistan: Obama’s Setup and Payoff

Skillfully written screenplays are frequently structured around a series of setups and payoffs.

The most rudimentary example is, of course, the pistol in the desk drawer: revealed in Act I, and then in Act II, the gun is used to kill someone.

For an intensive workshop in cinematic setups and payoffs you should screen the Back to the Future series, where setup and payoff are elevated to an entirely new level.

It’s kind of fascinating, watching Obama construct the setup for his Afghanistan policy. He follows a familiar dramatic structure:

1. Anguished self-reflection, all quite public in order to display nobility of character. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, appeasement, General McChrystal, General Petraeus, Hamas
Posted Oct 7th 2009 at 8:21 am in Military, Politics | 241054108 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/10/07/afghanistan-obamas-setup-and-payoff/Afghanistan%3A+Obama%27s+Setup+and+Payoff2009-10-07+15%3A21%3A49Robert+J.+Avrech