November 22, 2005

The Next Weapons Controversy?

The NE round.

[I]t is a thermobaric mixture which ignites the air, producing a shockwave of unparalleled destructive power, especially against buildings.

A post-action report from Iraq describes the effect of the new weapon: 'One unit disintegrated a large one-storey masonry type building with one round from 100 meters. They were extremely impressed.' Elsewhere it is described by one Marine as 'an awesome piece of ordnance.'

It proved highly effective in the battle for Fallujah. This from the Marine Corps Gazette, July edition: 'SMAW gunners became expert at determining which wall to shoot to cause the roof to collapse and crush the insurgents fortified inside interior rooms.'

. . .

[I]t’s understandable that the Marines have made so little noise about the use of the SMAW-NE in Fallujah. But keeping quiet about controversial weapons is a lousy strategy, no matter how effective those arms are. In the short term, it may save some bad press. In the long term, it’s a recipe for a scandal. Military leaders should debate human right advocates and the like first, and then publicly decide 'we do/do not to use X'. Otherwise when the media find do find out – as they always do -- not only do you get a level of hysteria but there is also the charge of 'covering up.'

[The author is] undecided about thermobarics myself, but I think they should let the legal people sort out all these issues and clear things up. Otherwise you get claims of 'chemical weapons' and 'violating the Geneva Protocol.' Which doesn't really help anyone. The warfighter is left in doubt, and it hands propaganda to the bad guys. Just look at what happened it last weekÂ’s screaming over white phosphorous rounds.

Lawyers? Disproportionate force? Don't some of these same people want us to send 400,000 troops to Iraq. It's crazy. Do whatever works, i say.

In 1991 it was electric filaments that were inhumane. And they didn't even kill anybody. This time it's the white phosphorous nonsense. Nobody ever mentions that we used white phosphorous in World War II. If it wasn't for WP, it would have taken us much longer to break out of hedgerow country after D-Day. The world would be a different place, let me tell you.

Remember what Dupont said (or was it Monsanto?): "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible."

Via commenter Shelly.

Posted by: annika at 11:11 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 397 words, total size 3 kb.

Deafening Silence

Is it me, or is the blogosphere deafeningly silent on this story. i think it's huge, no matter which side you're on.

Posted by: annika at 01:26 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

November 21, 2005

"Boogie To Baghdad"

As far as i am concerned, there was one main reason Iraq was a serious threat to the United States. It's why Saddam Hussein had to go, and it's why Iraq needed to be turned into a U.S. friendly democracy.

The reason was, in the words of Richard Clarke, "Boogie to Baghdad." Byron York wrote about it in his most recent column:

In case you donÂ’t remember, 'Boogie to Baghdad' is the phrase that Richard Clarke, when he was the top White House counterterrorism official during the Clinton administration, used to express his fear that if American forces pushed Osama bin Laden too hard at his hideout in Afghanistan, bin Laden might move to Iraq, where he could stay in the protection of Saddam Hussein.

ClarkeÂ’s opinion was based on intelligence indicating a number of contacts between al Qaeda and Iraq, including word that Saddam had offered bin Laden safe haven.

ItÂ’s all laid out in the Sept. 11 commission report. 'Boogie to Baghdad' is on Page 134.

i checked, skeptical person that i am. Here's the relevant quote from the Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States:
In February 1999, [CIA assistant director for collection, Charles] Allen proposed flying a U-2 mission over Afghanistan to build a baseline of intelligence outside the areas where the tribals had coverage. [Richard] Clarke was nervous about such a mission because he continued to fear that Bin Ladin might leave for someplace less accessible. He wrote Deputy National Security Advisor Donald Kerrick that one reliable source reported Bin Ladin's having met with Iraqi officials, who 'may have offered him asylum.' Other intelligence sources said that some Taliban leaders, though not Mullah Omar, had urged Bin Ladin to go to Iraq. If Bin Ladin actually moved to Iraq, wrote Clarke, his network would be at Saddam Hussein's service, and it would be 'virtually impossible' to find him. Better to get Bin Ladin in Afghanistan, Clarke declared. Berger suggested sending one U-2 flight, but Clarke opposed even this. It would require Pakistani approval, he wrote; and 'Pak[istan's] intel[ligence service] is in bed with' Bin Ladin and would warn him that the United States was getting ready for a bombing campaign: 'Armed with that knowledge, old wily Usama will likely boogie to Baghdad.' Though told also by Bruce Riedel of the NSC staff that Saddam Hussein wanted Bin Ladin in Baghdad, Berger conditionally authorized a single U-2 flight. Allen meanwhile had found other ways of getting the information he wanted. So the U-2 flight never occurred.
Interesting.

We wanted to send a spy plane over Afghanistan, but Richard Clarke was afraid (probably with good reason) that the Pakistanis would tip Osama off, and he'd get spooked and leave Afghanistan.

Please note what Richard Clark did not say:

He did not say, "At least we don't need to worry about Osama going to Iraq, because as everybody knows, Osama and Saddam hate each other, Osama being a religious fundamentalist, and Saddam being a secular infidel."

The argument that Saddam and Osama would never have cooperated is not only factually incorrect, it's naïve. People who hate each other form partnerships all the time. Look at most marriages. No, seriously, what about Hitler and Stalin, Stalin and Churchill, Herzog and Kinski, Bill and Hillary, Ungar and Madison, Owens and McNabb?

The whole WMD argument is a red herring. The administration thought it was their "ace in the hole" when they were trying to make the case before the U.N. Now the anti-war movement thinks it's their "ace-in-the-hole." i never bought into the WMD argument, either way.

The flypaper argument is similarly weak. It's only a part of the puzzle. Alone, it makes a poor justification for the war. The main reason we needed to get rid of Saddam, and make Iraq into an ally instead of an enemy, was "Boogie to Baghdad."

The advantages to both parties would have made a Saddam-Osama partnership inevitable, especially after we kicked butt in Afghanistan. Therefore, it was a strategic necessity to remove the possibility of that partnership. We achieved that goal, and that's a fact that people tend to forget.

Posted by: annika at 06:31 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 688 words, total size 4 kb.

November 18, 2005

Joke Of The Day

CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer, on why all three major networks reported Rep. Murtha's "we must surrender" speech as the most important news story of the day:

Politicians make speeches all the time. Some matter and some don't. It was our opinion that this one mattered.
No word yet on why CBS didn't consider a recent "we must win" speech by the freakin' President of the United States in the same light.

Posted by: annika at 02:43 PM | Comments (30) | Add Comment
Post contains 79 words, total size 1 kb.

November 17, 2005

Smugglers

From Australia's Herald Sun:

Four Australian women have been detained while trying to board a plane in Syria, reportedly after gun parts were found inside a child's toy.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) said two women from Victoria and two from NSW were with two Iraqi women when they were detained at Damascus airport on Tuesday.

All six were of Iraqi origin, the department said.

A DFAT spokesman would not confirm media reports that the group was detained after a disassembled gun was found inside a toy being carried by a child with the women.

The ABC has quoted a Syrian police source and a diplomatic source as saying the women entered the airport in the Syrian capital with a child.

They said the women were detained after the gun parts were found in a toy the child was holding.

The women were reportedly trying to board a flight bound for Australia.

Via A Western Heart.

Posted by: annika at 01:44 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 157 words, total size 1 kb.

November 11, 2005

annika's Proposed Alternative To The McCain Amendment

Rather than legislate a blanket prohibition on all "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment," (which in many cases can be quite useful, not to mention fun*), i propose the following, more simple compromise amendment:

SEC. __. UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR THE INTERROGATION OF PERSONS UNDER THE DETENTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

(a) IN GENERAL - All persons within the custody or under the effective control of the Department of Defense or under detention in a Department of Defense facility shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation that works.

(b) LIMITATIONS - But whatever you decide to do, for God's sakes, don't film it!

_______________

* Lighten up. i said "not to mention," didn't i?

Posted by: annika at 09:25 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 130 words, total size 1 kb.

November 09, 2005

Francis Urquhart Lives

Tony Blair's days as PM are numbered?

(You might say that. i couldn't possibly comment.)

Posted by: annika at 08:19 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

California Über Alles

Everything lost.

It's easy to blame the lying public employee unions, and to feel discouraged about the future of democracy. i do. But those feelings will pass, because i know the main reason Californians voted for the status quo yesterday.

Californians, like most of the country, are very pissed off at their government for various, often opposing, reasons. So when you have a bunch of propositions that are intended to improve things and change the status quo, but you introduce them into a climate of voter dissatisfaction, it's very hard to expect people to vote "yes" on anything. The "no" is their way of saying "we don't like things the way they are."

Remember, the recall election was itself a "no" vote.

Add to that, the legions of well-funded and motivated, goose-stepping union members who were certain to get out their own vote yesterday, and you see why the reform measures had no chance.

Oh, and San Francisco voted yesterday to invite gun-toting outlaws to visit the city, stay a while, and while they're there why not rape rob or kill a San Franciscan for added fun and profit.

Posted by: annika at 06:45 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 195 words, total size 1 kb.

November 08, 2005

Media Double Standard?

AP's report about today's Tennessee school shooting contains an unusual choice of quotes in the third paragraph, as printed in this ABC News post.

The motive for the shooting at Campbell County High School, 30 miles from Knoxville, was not immediately known, Sheriff Ron McClellan told WVLT-TV.

'We don'a0644t [sic] know yet. I have the individual at the hospital,' McClellan said. 'These men are all fine Christian men, and I am at a loss for words.'

Now i don't have a problem with the quote per se. Sure it's a dumb thing for the sheriff to say. Obviously one of those students was not a fine Christian man.

But i find it interesting that AP seems to take special care to identify the religion of this particular murderer at the top of the story, when i usually have to read to the end of a typical AP story on terrorism to find out that kind of information -- if they disclose it at all.

Posted by: annika at 04:13 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

Californians Must Vote

If you are a Californian, you must vote today. The special election is the difference between changing things or giving up. Don't you give up. Vote for change. Unless of course, you like things the way they are in CA.

The cool thing is, if you haven't studied the propositions, don't worry. Just vote like i did.

Proposition 73: YES.

Proposition 74: YES.

Proposition 75: YES.

Proposition 76: YES.

Proposition 77: YES.

Proposition 78: YES.

Proposition 79: NO.

Proposition 80: NO.



Posted by: annika at 03:50 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 86 words, total size 1 kb.

November 07, 2005

French Riots

It amazes me that after eleven days of rioting, the French have not yet called out the military or instituted a curfew. Isn't that riot control 101? i mean at some point, you gotta do something, don't you. What are they doing over there? Sheesh, Mike Brown could have done a better job than Chirac and Villepin are doing.

Update: i have two more semi-facetious observations. First, it's a measure of how much things have changed in Europe, that the German government is actually advising their citizens to "be careful" about traveling to France. Come on guys. Now is the perfect time to strike! Whatever happened to "Let the last man on the right brush the channel with his sleeve?"

Second, a lot of people are saying it's poverty that's causing these riots. So maybe France isn't socialist enough. Taking that line of thought to its logical conclusion, i'd have to agree. If France were a full blown Communist dictatorship, you can bet these riots would have stopped soon after the first rock was thrown. Just ask any Czech or Hungarian of a certain age.

Update 2: Read Sarah's personal experiences living in one of the Parisian "suburbs."

Posted by: annika at 07:39 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 202 words, total size 1 kb.

November 06, 2005

1300 Cars Burned Last Night

Time to buy Renault stock.

Posted by: annika at 07:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

November 03, 2005

Danish Ramadan Rioters

You've heard of the suburban Paris rioters. Now meet the Danish rioters.

The police has to stay away. This is our area. We decide what goes down here
and
We are tired of what we see happening with our prophet. We are tired of [Danish newspaper] Jyllands-Posten.
Transterrestrial Musings has the story.

via Instapundit.

Update: Here's what's prompted the violence. A couple of cartoons.* Funny, i don't seem to remember Evangelicals rioting in this country after Flynt spoofed Falwell some years ago. But whatever.

* link updated.

Posted by: annika at 10:32 AM | Comments (32) | Add Comment
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

November 01, 2005

California Voter's Guide

What a crappy crappy day i had today. i won't go into all the reasons, some were biological and others environmental. But i'm all stressed out right now. My preferred stress reliever had to work tonight, so instead i'm enjoying a glass of fine California wine.

One thing that pissed me off early, happened between classes as i was filling out my absentee ballot. An annoying guy in my class came over and sat down next to me. He obviously thought i was filling out a lotto card.

"Hey, if you win the lottery, do I get some?" he asked.

My first thought was, You couldn't get some offa me even if you won the lottery. Then it occurred to me that he was talking about the winnings.

"No this is an absentee ballot," i told him.

"Oh, are you voting no on all those propositions?" he said.

"What propositions do you mean?"

"Those ones the governator likes."

i paused for effect. "Um, no. i'm actually voting yes on them."

He looked horribly disappointed. "Really?"

"Yes really."

"i voted for him," he added. "But I don't like any of his propositions."

This type of thinking is apparently common, according to the polls. But i was amazed to have actually met someone with that kind of disconnection from reality.

"What's the point of voting for Schwarzenegger if you don't want him to change anything? That makes no sense at all. He can't do it by himself. We might as well have kept Gray Davis."

He obviously hadn't thought about that. "Um, well, it seems like some of those propositions are just 'broken promises.'"

Whoa. That was amazing. Here was a guy who had no idea what was on the ballot, yet he was able to parrot verbatim the Unions' attack ad slogan. That's how effective those anti-Schwarzenegger ads have been.

i wanted to lay into him at that point, but i figured the better solution would be to salvage something positive from an idiot, if possible.

i said, "They're not like that at all. Why don't you read the propositions and vote for the ones that sound good to you."

"Well, i suppose." He seemed open to the idea.

"Good. Promise me you'll do that," i flashed him a smile.

"I will. I promise."

Excellent. i had hopefully converted an idiot.

So here's how i voted for next Tuesday's special election, in case any of you care:

Proposition 73: This measure requires a 48 hour waiting period and parental notification for minors seeking an abortion. This is probably just a ploy to get conservatives to the polls, but i figure it might actually bring just as many pro-abortion voters out. Since i'm against abortion, i'm in favor of any restrictions, no matter how incremental. i voted YES.

Proposition 74: This is the first of the four Schwarzenegger propositions. This measure increases the amount of time a teacher must work before getting tenure. Right now they can get tenure after two years. The initiative bumps it up to five years. Sounds reasonable to me. YES.

Proposition 75: According to the Secretary of State this initiative prohibits "the use by public employee labor organizations of public employee dues or fees for political contributions except with the prior consent of individual public employees each year on a specified written form." That's a no-brainer. YES.

Proposition 76: This is the initiative that promises to make the State government "live within its means." i hope it passes, and if it does, i hope it works. YES.

Proposition 77: This measure is supposed to reform California's gerrymandered districts by taking redistricting out of the hands of the politicians and letting a panel of retired judges draw the lines. Not a perfect solution, but better than the current system, which leaves the foxes in charge of the henhouse. YES.

Proposition 78: One of two competing prescription drug discount initiatives. i voted for this one rather than 79, which is more flawed. YES.

Proposition 79: This prescription drug scheme relies on state bureaucrats to negotiate discounts, instead of the free market. But the worst thing is that it creates a whole new loophole for greedy plaintiff lawyers to file frivoulous lawsuits based on technicalities. NO.

Proposition 80: i don't know what to think about this measure, which purports to repeal California's energy deregulation. i can see arguments both ways on this one. However, i'm generally in favor of deregulation, so i voted NO.

The four Schwarzenegger supported propositions are 74, 75, 76 and 77. The polls say they're all going down. But the polls have been wrong before, and i hope at least 76 and 77 win. That could really start some changes here in California, which is a state that is much more conservative than its legislature. Though most people don't realize it.

Posted by: annika at 10:41 PM | Comments (30) | Add Comment
Post contains 811 words, total size 5 kb.

Hollywood Hypocrisy

i bet i could totally outshoot Ben Afflack, that pansy.

Posted by: annika at 09:22 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 14 words, total size 1 kb.

<< Page 1 of 1 >>
200kb generated in CPU 0.6136, elapsed 1.8669 seconds.
73 queries taking 1.7952 seconds, 376 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.