Iranian terrorists in Iraq get easier treatment than Professor Gates got from Cambridge PD?

If you believe the Professor, then yes. Gates was “Crowleyed”, arrested and released. The Iranian terrorists were only arrested and released. Advantage Iranian terrorists.

Blackfive points us to a Long War Journal report by Bill Roggio,

US released senior Iranian Qods Force commander

A senior Qods Force officer who led one of the three commands in Iraq assigned to attack US and Iraqi forces was one of five Iranians released by the US military on July 9.

…Farhadi is considered one of the three most dangerous Iranian operatives to have been captured in Iraqi since the US began targeting the Iranian-backed Shia terror networks. His role as one of the three theater commanders in the Ramazan Corps means he is directly responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing attacks against US forces.

The Ramazan Corps is responsible for the death of hundreds of US soldiers in Iraq, and the corps backed the various uprisings by Shia extremist groups. Ten percent of US deaths in Iraq are estimated to have been caused by the Iranian-supplied, armor-piercing explosively-formed projectiles, or EFPs.

Blackfive’s James Hanson, aka Uncle Jimbo, a retired Special Operations Master Sergeant, adds his perspective,

Make sure to read the entire piece as it contains the usual deep background on the extent of Iranian actions in Iraq and the fact that they were directly responsible for the deaths of far too many US servicemembers and Iraqi civilians. Iranian actions such as these exposes their operatives to detention as terrorists. The fact that we are now releasing them is shocking and needs to be discussed far more vigorously. Some of this is driven by our security agreements with Iraq, but it seems likely that some is to push negotiations with Iran on multiple issues. They have been complaining that we hold and must release their operatives and it seems we are putting the desire for talks with Iran above the safety of our troops and Iraqi civilians.

It doesn’t make sense to me and I’m sure there is some complicated, nuanced, multi-pronged reason. I’d like to hear it. This seems to me like an area where an enterprising journalist might want to start asking questions. Paging Pamela Hess, paging David Martin, Jim Miklaszeswki. Hello, anybody there? So far, a short AP article is all I’ve seen.

Bill Roggio, by the way, is someone you should be reading and following @billroggio for your Twitterers.

An Army veteran himself, Bill has embedded with the Marines, US Army, the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police in Iraq in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, and with the Canadian Army in Afghanistan in 2006. According to his bio, Bill has been published in The Washington Times, The New York Post, The National Review, The Toronto Times, and Die Weltwoche. His photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. He also presents regularly at the US Air Force’s Contemporary Counterinsurgency Warfare School on the media and embedded reporting.

In other words, he’s the best the blogosphere has to offer, a subject matter expert who take deep dives in their areas of expertise and share it with the world. In Bill’s case, it is reporting from the world’s most dangerous places. He has helped build Long War Journal into an indespensible resource for those interested in Obama era Overseas Contingency Operations. Like Michael Yon, Long War Journal is supported by its readers. If you value this type of citizen journalism, please consideer making a donation. In addition to being a new media pioneer, citizen journalist, Bill is a great guy and a family man.

I’ve interviewed Bill from Iraq and Afghanistan and had the pleasure of meeting him in May 2007, when we talked about the Long War Journal and the Anbar awakening in Iraq,

Social networks are about people, not technology

This goal for this hour was to talk about social networks, from the cutting edge of the digital age to social networks of the Flinstones era, and we will bring them all together through Saddam Hussein. If you are wondering whether I have lost my marbles or not, we’ll find out in the next 45 minutes.

Joining me in studio for the first segment was Paul Gillin, one of the country’s leading experts on social media. Paul was editor-in-chief and executive editor of the technology weekly Computerworld for 15 years and since 2005 he has advised businesses on strategies to optimize their use of social media. Paul’s books include The New Influencers and Secrets of Social Media Marketing. He also maintains Newspaper Death Watch, self-described as “Chronicling the Decline of Newspapers and the Rebirth of Journalism”.

We discussed the role community and family play in social networks and the future of journalism.

After the commercial break Paul and I were joined by Eric Maddox. As an Army Staff Sergeant, Eric was an interrogator assigned to Tikrit where he soon realized that the insurgency was not being run by former regime elements, the so-called Deck of Cards. Eric realized that the regime elements went into self-preservation mode and were too fragmented. Saddam was using his most basic social networks for protection and to run the insurgency. For his efforts,

Eric Maddox was awarded the DIA Director’s Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein. He’s written a great book about his experiene in Iraq called Mission: Black List #1 The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein

Today, Eric has been hired by the DoD as the first ever civilian interrogator. He has deployed to Afghanistan, back to Iraq, and other locations around the world for interrogation operations. He teaches new interrogation methodology and techniques for the government and to allied countries.

This is a fascinating discussion between two subject matter experts who realize that social networks are really about human beings and not technology.

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What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called "groundbreaking" by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston's Talk Station.

D-Day for the Boston Globe

So, today is D-Day for the Boston Globe. They need to find $20 million in cost cuts by midnight tonight.

I was recently joined in-studio by Jay Fitzgerald of Boston’s most financially stable daily paper, the Boston Herald and the outstanding Hub Blog as well as Todd Hyten, aka Armchair General Savin Hill, for a discussion about the sudden, near-death experience of the Boston Globe specifically, and newspapers in general.

Here is my position on the demise of the Globe: Beleive me, I understand the schadenfreude. However, despite their arrogance, liberal leanings and biases, we still need to the Globe to do the kind of reporting necessary to keep an eye on the hacks on Beacon Hill. These people already run unopposed about 90% of the time. The thought of them operating without media coverage is scary. We need the Globe, not for their liberal world view, but for the reporting on state government. If you think reform is nearly impossible now, what do you think will happen without the Globe around? For one, Marion Walsh would be making $175K and in her new hack-for-life position. It was Frank Phillips who broke the story and pushed it until we (taxpayers) got a happy resolution (Walsh taking a hike).

Reading Adam Reilly’s Phoenix article on the Globe got me thinking about this scene from one of my favorite movies,

I hate the Globe, please don’t leave

Last night I was joined in-studio by Jay Fitzgerald of Boston’s most financially stable daily paper, the Boston Herald and the outstanding Hub Blog as well as Todd Hyten, aka Armchair General Savin Hill, for a discussion about the sudden, near-death experience of the Boston Globe specifically, and newspapers in general.

There was a great deal of schadenfreude among the callers who won’t be shedding any tears over the Globe’s demise. I can sympathize and appreciate those feelings, for sure.

The point I tried to make was, for all their liberal leanings and biases, we still need to the Globe to do the kind of reporting necessary to keep an eye on the hacks on Beacon Hill. These people already run unopposed about 90% of the time. The thought of them operating without media coverage is scary.

We need the Globe, not for their liberal world view, but for the reporting on state government. If you think reform is nearly impossible now, what do you think will happen without the Globe around?

For one, Marion Walsh would be making $175K and in her new hack-for-life position. It was Frank Phillips who broke the story and pushed it until we (taxpayers) got a happy resolution (Walsh taking a hike).

What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

The “the collapse of conservatism”

As you know by now, I really support David Frum’s efforts to reform the GOP. He’s joined us twice since January to discuss what he is trying to accomplish.

David Frum on NewMajority.com,

Frum on the GOP’s Tube Socks problem,

David Frum on Glenn Beck,

The conservative writer David Frum said Mr. Beck’s success “is a product of the collapse of conservatism as an organized political force, and the rise of conservatism as an alienated cultural sensibility.”“It’s a show for people who feel they belong to an embattled minority that is disenfranchised and cut off,” he said

Watch these videos and tell me he is wrong…

Good news for Mother Earth, Matt Lauer staying home

One of the most enjoyable posts I have done in the nine years of blogging here at Pundit Review was titled “Where in the world will Matt Lauer’s carbon footprint end up? “. This post was a week long trip around the world with Matt Lauer and the other eco-hypocrites from NBC News. Matt’s trip, which took place during NBC’s much hyped Green Week, took Matt from New York City to Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Laos, Turkey and finally to the Republic of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.

A conservative estimate of Matt’s trip showed that he burnt about 30 tons of CO2 in five days. As I said at the time,

It would take the average American nearly three years to generate as much carbon emissions as Matt Lauer and NBC did in four days…Thankfully, the earth has a full year to recover, and so do viewers, from the hypocrisy.

It looks like the planet has caught a break thanks to the global economic crisis.

Matt Lauer staying home because of the economy

NEW YORK (AP) - Where in the world is Matt Lauer? Staying home this year. In a nod to the economy, the “Today” show is putting off its annual mystery trip where Lauer is sent to exotic spots such as the Taj Mahal or the Pyramids. Instead, NBC’s morning show team will be spending a week in May exploring affordable vacation spots in the United States.

I’m sad for the blog, because I was looking forward to following Matt around the world again, but I’m happy for Mother Earth and for viewers who won’t be subjected to another Green Week of hypocrisy on the Today show.

Olbermann in his own words

The most unintentionally funny man on TV today.