Staff Sgt. Justin E. Schmalstieg

Renee Drummond-Brown, whose son, Specialist Cardell Nino Brown, was close friends with Mr. Schmalstieg, described him as “a very brilliant mind.” She said Mr. Schmalstieg spent so much time at her house as a child that she considered him a son.

Even as a child he was unusually quiet and calm, she said, traits that would have served him well as a bomb technician.

“He was the one with the peaceful spirit,” she said.

Spec. Sean R. Cutsforth

His wife said he played football as well as baseball at Brentsville, and was also on a traveling youth baseball team. She said Cutsforth received a scholarship to Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk and spent three semesters there. He studied recreation and leisure activities and coached swimming.

She said she is expecting a child. It’s a boy, she said.

“Them as a couple, they really completed each other,” said Beth Whitaker, a family friend. “They were each other’s best friends.”

Lance Cpl. Jose A. Hernandez

Mirna Collazo, Hernandez’s ex-girlfriend, thought of a promise that Hernandez made before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Collazo said that she and Hernandez dated for about four months, but separated in large part because he didn’t want her to carry the burden of his fighting in a war.

“He always said, ‘I don’t want it to be hard on you,’” Collazo said. “But little did he know, it still is. He said, ‘If you promise me that you’re going to see me when I get back, I’ll promise you that I’ll come back.’ Now I’m just left with his promise.”

Cpl. Sean M. Collins

It wasn’t long after he received an Army teddy bear for Christmas, complete with a camo outfit. Linda and Paddy Collins said he got fed up at home and decided to run away.

Linda Collins found him walking down the road with a backpack, his Army teddy bear sticking out the back.

“He was running away to the East Gate of Fort Lewis,” Paddy Collins said. “He said he was going to enlist.”

Cpl. Willie A. McLawhorn Jr

Will attended Northeast Academy in Lasker, graduating in 2005. He was selected to the All-Roanoke-Chowan Baseball Team his senior year.

From an early age, Will loved to play Army, building forts and tossing pine cones pretending they were grenades.

Spec. Patrick D. Deans

“A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including their life,” Deans posted on his (Facebook) wall Nov. 10.

He is survived by his wife, Melissa, and three children, Zachery, 7, Julian, 2, and Joselyn, 1.

Spec. Kenneth E. Necochea Jr

Laura Dossett of Tennessee, met him when he was stationed at Fort Campbell and they quickly became close. “He was so shy (when they first met) but once we got to know each other, he opened up,” Dossett said. “He was such a gentle, sweet soul. He was a strong Christian. He was one of the only boys who ever willingly went to church with me.”

Dossett recalled that he brought her mother flowers the first time he met her. “She wondered ‘What’s he buttering me up for,’ but she learned that was just Kenny being Kenny. My family just loved him.”

Spec. Jorge E. Villacis

Villacis’ death came just less than a month after one of his closest friends, Staff Sgt. Juan Rivadeneira, 27, was killed in in a similar incident in Kandahar. Jessica Geribon, along with her husband Ricardo, her sister Jannina Salterini of Miramar, and Villacis’ parents Jorge and Segunda Villacis, of Hollywood, were all at the South Florida VA National Cemetery, west of Lake Worth, on Nov. 30 for Rivadeneira’s burial.

As she stood next to Rivadeneira’s flag-draped casket, Jessica Geribon said she could not help thinking, “I don’t want to be here again for my brother. I don’t want to relive this.”

Spec. Derek T. Simonetta

U.S. Army Spc. Derek Simonetta celebrated his 21st birthday with his family in Redding and San Carlos two months ago before returning to Afghanistan to fight. He confessed he had some misgivings about going back.

“We’re going over there to die,” one service member told him.

While the liberal blogosphere and mainstream media obsessed about Julian Assange (He’s just like us bloggers and reporters, only way sexier!), and devoted any left-over time to DADT (1100 Americans might have to change careers!), meanwhile in the cold hard world that mostly doesn’t give a fuck about symbolic issues…

North and South Korea have lurched to the brink of nuclear war.

An unofficial US envoy visiting North Korea has warned that the situation on the peninsula is a “tinderbox”. The envoy, Bill Richardson, made the comments after talks with officials in Pyongyang, whom he asked to exercise “extreme restraint”.

He said he had urged them to let South Korea go ahead with planned live-firing exercises on an island which was shelled by the North last month.

North Korea has warned it will launch “unpredictable self-defensive strikes” if the drill goes ahead on the island of Yeonpyeong, which lies close to the disputed inter-Korean western maritime border.

And just in case you think the worst that can happen right now is another big pile of dead Asians (and who really gives a fuck about them?) while Americans keep right on shopping for Christmas, Los Angeles and New York have been deploying a relatively unfamiliar acronym with a strangely up-close-and-personal quality about it.

“We’re working with surrounding states and counties on regional plans that address the threat of an IND (improvised nuclear device),” says Kelly McKinney, New York City’s Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Preparedness from the Office of Emergency Management.

“Shelter in place. That’s the single biggest message,” says Jonathan Fielding, L.A. County health director. “That’s the best way to save lives and prevent radiation-related illnesses. It runs counter to your basic instinct to get away and reunite with family members. If their kids are in school or in day care, that’s where they should stay,” he says.

“Don’t bother to dial 911,” says John Fernandes, director of L.A. County’s division of emergency management. “Most likely you’re not going to have 911. The cell towers are going down.”

And in South Korea December 15…

Kim Kyung-ji began sixth-period math class Wednesday afternoon by giving her middle school students three-ply, nonwoven face masks, to use during the simulated air strike by North Korea. Kim told all 30 youngsters to wrap the masks around their ears. She instructed them to move quickly – staying low to the ground, if possible – when the siren went off.

As part of the largest South Korean civil defense drill in 35 years, a dozen fighter jets flew low over major cities Seoul and Busan, staging a mock attack.

Speculation about what North Korea may do relies on a very poorly sourced narrative about Kim Jong-Il transferring power to his son Kim Jong-Un.

Burrowing into the rhetoric has provided clues that Kim Jong Il has decided it’s time to deal with a variety of foreign policy issues before the transfer of power.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Il may be using recent military incidents and the unveiling of a new nuclear facility to accelerate the transfer of power to his 26-year-old son and secure his own legacy by getting a peace treaty that cements North Korea’s legitimacy, according to senior U.S. officials who closely follow the Hermit Kingdom.

These senior officials, who spoke with NBC News earlier this month, say there’s always the possibility of a more dangerous turn in this belligerence, even with this week’s announcement of a renewal of six-party talks.

The 26-year-old Kim Jong-Un has been promoted to the rank of four-star general, and similarly…

On 10 October 2010, alongside his father the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un attended the ruling Workers’ Party’s 65th anniversary celebration. This was seen as fully confirming his position as the next leader of the Workers’ Party. Unprecedented international press access was granted to the event, further indicating the importance of Kim Jong-un’s presence.

But it also isn’t impossible that Kim Jong-Un’s rapid promotion has been accelerated by what passes for sane or at least partially independent forces within the WPK and the North Korean Army, in response to an equally rapid decline in the stability of current boss Kim Jong-Il.

In response to the rumors regarding Kim’s health and supposed loss of power, in April 2009, North Korea released a video showing Kim visiting factories and other places around the country between November and December 2008. In July 2009, it was reported that Kim may be suffering from pancreatic cancer. In 2010, documents released by Wikileaks stated that Kim suffers from epilepsy.

So now we’re confronted with an epileptic nuclear dictator who was never much less than half crazy on the best day he ever had, and he’s probably dying of a very fast and very painful form of cancer.

Could he possibly be crazy enough to push the nuclear button, which may (or may not!) be connected to some well-concealed INDs in Tokyo and Los Angeles and New York?

From Roll Call…

The frustration with President Barack Obama over his tax cut compromise was palpable and even profane at Thursday’s House Democratic Caucus meeting.

One unidentified lawmaker went so far as to mutter “f— the president” while Rep. Shelley Berkley was defending the package the president negotiated with Republicans. Berkley confirmed the incident, although she declined to name the specific lawmaker.

Not in private. Not off the record. Not in a bar.

In the full Caucus of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives.

Me bakhshi!
Excuse me!

Nafahmedum.
I don’t understand.

Sharmanda!
I’m sorry!

Mefaamom ke da Afghaanestaan amneyat ney-s.
I know there is no security in Afghanistan.

Ke khana borom.
I want to go home.

Khoda hafiz!
May God protect you!

Ba amone Khuda.
Goodbye.

A Baluchi rug from Nimruz Province, Afghanistan

“But the longer I stayed, the less consistent the answers became. Yesterday’s Aimaq could be today’s Taimani. I mention all this as a way of explaining how very difficult it is to get a clear understanding of rug weaving in Afghanistan. There are still plenty of real Turkoman and Baluch to talk to – and real work to be done, perhaps by Western women with language skills. Weaving is part of the womens’ world and men will always be outsiders.”

-Jerry Anderson

Connect the dots!

Saeed Amir, Saleh and Saeed Jan walked to Ras al Khaimah from Bala Murghab, on the northern border of Afghanistan. They were caught in the mountains near RAK last spring.

In the Bala Murghab district, home to 133 villages with a population of about 109,381 people, the MRRD report says that war has destroyed basic infrastructure and livestock have perished from disease. After years of war, the men say they were desperate to escape and live peaceful lives. “Between the government and the Taliban, they are always bombing our village.”

Bala Murghab (photocredit: Paula Bronstein)

The men travelled across Afghanistan to Spin Boldak, a border town with Pakistan in the south-east of Kandahar province. In Pakistan, they travelled from Chaman to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. From Quetta, they travelled south to Pakistan’s Pangjur district and across the border to Iranshahr, a 25-day walk. Once in Iran, they travelled by foot to Bandar Abbas.

“We worked in Bandar Abbas for a month,” said Saeed Amir. “Then we had no work. We thought, where will we go? When we were there, we heard about the UAE. Then we decided to go. We heard the Gulf is a rich place.”

From Bandar Abbas, the men could cross the Strait of Hormuz within hours and enter the UAE by crossing the Hajjar mountains from the Musandam Peninsula in Oman. The trip was not as simple as they expected, however.

“We spent eight days in the mountains,” said Saeed Jan. “We thought it would be three days. We took three fish each, bread, water and the clothes we are wearing now. We wore running shoes and used rope to climb the mountains.”

The lost men hiked at night, continuing when their food and water ran out. On one night, they were caught by torrential rains and forced to take shelter in an old mountain house made of rocks. A few days later, as they finally approached the RAK border and their dream of reaching the UAE, they were caught by the Army.

Ras al Khaimah

Sandstorm in Balkh Province, Afghanistan

Snooki!

“I had a feeling I wanted to make out with somebody. So I just made out with Ryder because, uh…all the guys like that.”

Nine-year-old Khalida Shah was eventually sold in Jalalabad, but her transformation into collateral began in Laghman Province, where her father pledged his poppy crop for a $2000 loan, and when those poppies were eradicated in a successful episode of America’s unending War on Drugs, Khalida became a “bride” of the 45-year-old creditor.

“It’s my fate,” the child says.

Forward loading bay of a C-5B at “Camp Marmalade” in Mazar-i Sharif

The city of Mazar-i Sharif was created because a local mullah dreamed that the first Shia Imam was buried there, and after another weird quirk of fate, more than 5000 NATO soldiers are now stationed at nearby Camp Marmalade.

Aircraft based at Camp Marmalade provide close air support for NATO operations all over northern Afghanistan, like the airstrike which killed ten people in Takhar Province on September 2, 2010.

President Hamid Karzai said the victims were campaign workers seeking votes in this month’s parliamentary elections.

Earlier, Takhar Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said the car in which candidate Abdul Wahid Khorasani had been riding was fired on by helicopters following an initial pass by fighter jets. He called the incident an obvious mistake, saying there were no Uzbek militants, foreigners or members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the convoy.

“There aren’t even any Taliban in this area,” Taqwa said. “They were all working on Mr. Khorasani’s campaign.”

NATO predictably denied all charges even from its own allies in Takhar Province.

After careful planning to ensure no civilians were present, coalition aircraft conducted a precision airstrike on one sedan and later followed with direct fire from an aerial platform. The vehicle was traveling as part of a six-car convoy, but no other vehicles were hit in the strike,” the military said.

But instead of issuing yet another absurd contradiction of all local authorities every time we kill another crowd of civilians, wouldn’t it be better if the United States simply proclaimed the fundamental principle of the American occupation of Afghanistan once and for all?

“Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.”

The sport of Buzkashi consists of grabbing the carcass of a goat off the ground while you ride at high speed in a stampede of 40 or 50 horses and riders, and then depositing the carcass across a finish line in the “Circle of Justice” while all the other riders try to knock you off your horse.

This is an image of the American “mission” in Afghanistan.