Those who read the Wall Street Journal will have already have general idea of what this week’s essay is about. But for those that don’t, a little explanation is in order.

The most severe shortage that the army currently faces is lower level officers. They more or less have enough grunts to meet their authorized strength and they have high level officers in spades. But lieutenants and captains are leaving the force at record levels. In part, this is because of the hardships of war. But an even bigger factor is frustration with upper level leadership.

In this essay, Lt. Col. Paul Yingling gives vent to those frustrations and the reception that this essay has been getting has rocked the military world. One general even went so far as to call all his subordinate officers together so that he could publicly rebut this essay.

Since this essay reflects the sentiments of a lot of junior officers currently serving in the military, I think that it is worth reading. But I would remind people that just because old guard is corrupt doesn’t mean that new crew has better ideas. Just think of the French and Russian revolutions.

Mankind is capable of more then you can imagine. There was a time when nobody would have believed that man could make it too the moon. There are people today who can’t believe that men are capable of things likes this….

Later in the day, some of the soldiers from the unit I share a tent with, the C-52, told me that one of their Kit Carson scouts (comprised of some of our previous enemies who have turned on al Qaeda) had pointed out an al Qaeda who had cut off the heads of children. Soldiers from C-52 say that the Kit Carson scout freaked out and tried to hide when he spotted the man he identified as an al Qaeda operative. Just how (or if) the scout really knew the man had beheaded children was unknown to the soldiers of C-52, but they took the suspected al Qaeda to the police, who knew the man. C-52 soldiers told me the Iraqi police were inflamed, and that one policeman in particular was crazed with intent to kill the man who they said had the blood of Iraqi children on his hands. According to the story told to me on 30 June, it took almost 45 minutes for the C-52 soldiers to calm down the policeman who had drawn his pistol to execute the al Qaeda man. That same policeman nearly lost his mind when an American soldier then gave the al Qaeda man a drink of cold water.

The above is from Michael Yon’s latest post and he has pictures of some of the exhumed bodies from the graves if you can stand that sort of thing. Be warned, the pictures included one picture of a pile of rotting heads.

News reports are pouring in regarding the recent riots in Iran. From the Houston Chronicles we read…..

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranians smashed shop windows and set fire to a dozen gas stations in the capital Wednesday, angered by the sudden start of a fuel rationing system that threatens to further increase the unpopularity of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The rationing is part of a government attempt to reduce the $10 billion it spends each year to import fuel that is then sold to Iranian drivers at less than cost, to keep prices low.

What if everyone has been fearing he wrong problem. Maybe the real threat to world’s prosperity comes not from Iran’s nuclear weapons but from Iran’s complete collapse. Has anyone thought about what a collapse in Iran would look like?

For this Week’s essay of the week we bring you a post by the Ape Man. Frankly, it is more of a rant then an essay, but it is late at night and we are desperate to meet the deadline. Besides, it is long enough to be an essay even if the quality of the idea is not up to snuff.

If you don’t have your head in the sand, you know that there is a big offensive underway in Iraq. One of the first reporters on scene is Michael Yon and you can find his first report here. Not much info so far, but I would keep an eye on his site if you are interested in the details of this offensive as it unfolds.

Also, check out this story by Michael Yon. Not because of how it relates to the war, but because of the portrait he gives of a modern Bedouin.

I left this comment over at the Belmont Club.
Wretchard,
I share Teague’s concerns though I am not sure why he chose this particular post to raise those concerns. Nonetheless, the substance of Teague’s comment is an issue that I would like to see you address in greater detail, because your answer to Teague seems to miss Click Here to continue reading.

In this rant, The EU Referendum wonders why the European council of ministers has over ruled the European Union’s high court and put The People’s Mujahideen of Iran on its list of terrorist organizations. After all, The People’s Mujahideen of Iran opposes the Iranian government and supposedly most European governments would like to see the government in Iran change. So why are they overruling their own courts to call it a terrorist organization?

This has been all over the net, so I have been trying to avoid it myself. But it is kind of hard to avoid something like this…..

Before trial began yesterday in the case of the D.C. judge who sued his neighborhood dry cleaners after they lost his pants, the most extraordinary fact was Roy Pearson’s demand for $65 million in damages.

That was before Pearson, an administrative law judge, broke down while testifying about the emotional pain of having the cleaners give him the wrong pants.

That was from the Washington Post and it really does not need much commentary.

Since this week’s Essay of the Week is about death and society it is only right that this weeks rant should be about society and death. And so we present a British Inspector’s rant on the indignities that modern regulations force on the dead and the grieving.