Today is all about...

Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael A. Monsoor














...who will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously in a ceremony at the White House April 8, 2008. He will receive the award for his actions in Ar Ramadi, Iraq on Sept. 29, 2006. On that day, Monsoor was part of a sniper overwatch security position with three other SEALs and eight Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers. An insurgent closed in and threw a fragmentation grenade into the overwatch position. The grenade hit Monsoor in the chest before falling to the ground. Positioned next to the single exit, Monsoor was the only one who could have escaped harm. Instead, he dropped onto the grenade to shield the others from the blast. Monsoor died approximately 30 minutes later from wounds sustained from the blast. Because of Petty Officer Monsoor’s actions, he saved the lives of his 3 teammates and the IA soldiers. Monsoor also received the Silver Star for his actions during the same deployment in May 2006, when he exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to rescue and treat an injured teammate.



His tribute site here .

Blackfive was on the case when it happened -- "People you should know"



Footnote: WATCH THIS SPACE: LOST AND FOUND -- SADDAM'S WMD?

[Previously covered by Kenneth Timmerman here.]

SEE YOU IN D.C., YOUR HO-HO-HOLINESS

I'll be in the District with a slight overlap to the Papal visit -- no tickets to anything, but maybe he and I can arrange to meet at some intersection as he mobiles through town.

The city is urging those planning to attend the Papal Mass at the new Nationals stadium to buy a special Metro Pass and leave their cars at home. Their first PSA attempt looked like this (later pulled off the air -- I thought it was kinda cute):



He's no Travelocity Gnome, mind you, but has a certain charm nonetheless.

Habemus pop-star.





TOO BAD THE POPE DIDN'T GET THERE IN TIME TO ABSOLVE JAY ROCKEFELLER

Not too sure what West Virginia Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller would LIKE to be famous for, besides his surname link to an 18-wheeler-load of oil money.

He SHOULD be more famous for his November 2005 admission that in 2002 he toured three middle eastern countries and tipped them off to the likelihood of our future invasion of Iraq -- a rank act of treason by any sane definition. But that was somewhat, uh, under-reported by the big-name press at the time.

Then there's the question of why, if the thought of war so alarmed Rockefeller that he spread the word among our potential enemies [as in "the friend of my enemy is my enemy"], he nevertheless decried Iraq as the most dangerous thing on the planet since that alien came and removed his brain, and promptly voted to authorize war. Or not. Chris Wallace reported -- you decide.

More recently Rockefeller has been in the news for having proclaimed, at maximum decibels, what will probably go down as ALL TEN of the Top Ten Stupidest Things Any Human Being Could Have Said About John McCain.

McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues.

Fisking this piece of fetid political feces isn't really worth the key-strokes. (The most fun part is that the laser-guided missile hadn't been invented yet when McCain was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 -- tied for second place in fun-ness is (a) the fact that he was hit at 4,500 feet, and (b) it took him 5 1/2 years to be "long gone".)

NRO's The Corner says it so well: "Senator Jay Rockefeller, jerk." Full metal train-wreck is here.

Like somebody once said, "I love the smell of Napalm when some politician makes a meal of it."

Over at the Vets for Freedom rally yesterday, attended by Senators McCain and Lieberman, among others, the crowd was treated to this definition of "we're against the war but support the troops" by one veteran/speaker:

This is like somebody coming along, punching you in the gut, and saying, 'oh, I didn't mean that for you, I meant that for your boss.' We despise 'support' like that.

Later, the occasionally impossible Senator Lindsay Graham weighed in at the rally, addressing the assembled military folks:

You want to know who wants you to come home more than anybody? Al Qaeda, because you're kicking their ass.

Indeed.



MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH...

The two biggest men on campus, General David "Peaches" Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, were competing in the javelin catch event over at the Senate Armed Services Committee struggle session. The next president of the United States was in attendance to pepper them with questions -- if we only knew who the heck it was!!!???? Mrs. Clinton seems to have put on the worst performance, but at least she didn't call the general a liar again like last time -- apparently she has grasped the fact that that would be the pot calling the kettle African-American.

Oops.