Rusted Sky

8 Year Old Iranian Boy Caught Stealing Bread

It's not bloody - but...

Damn.

Cultural relativity be damned - that's wrong. How would this be justifiable? And look at the size of that kid. He's been missing meals for a while.

Damn.

J.

BruceWillis.com

So, how DO you get your News? Television? Newspaper? Online? Word of Mouth?

Whatever your preferred choice of getting YOUR news, a VERY large percentage of the News has been shown to be either biased on one side or another, Manipulated by the Powers That Be, Sensationalized, or otherwise Slanted so that by the time it gets to you it bears very little resemblance to what is actually occurring in our World today. Whether it is about Hurricane Katrina, The War in Iraq, the latest exploits of the Rich/Famous, or whatever else is current today, I completely believe that nearly ALL the news that trickles down to us is somehow manipulated. That said, I am not writing this to convince you of what I believe to be true.

I was recently sent what has come to be called a "blogspot", written by a gentleman named Michael Yon, who is currently reporting from the frontlines of Iraq. I have found his writing to be refreshing, honest, and compassionate, and anyone who has Family in Harm's Way either in Iraq, Afghanistan, at Sea, or anywhere else in the World will hopefully find his reporting to be as un-filtered and manipulation-free as I have.

I do NOT write this to try to affect your opinion of the War one way or the other. We are ALL entitled to believe what we wish. But in a World where even children can easily spot the Media's over-whelming appetite for the Sensational, I have found Mr. Yon's Site to be what feels like the Real Deal. michaelyon.blogspot.com

I remain, your pal, beedub

The CIA decides to put the hurt on the President to hide their own embarassments, so they send a guy to Niger who reports back to the CIA that Iraq tried to buy uranium ore - then tells the NYTimes they didn't. This guy they sent apparently has problems keeping the story straight - says his wife's a covert agent, yet they're behaving in anything but a covert fashion.

(First rule of security as it's taught in the military - you don't know nuffin'. 'specially if you got a TS or higher clearance - even if Jane's All The World's Weapon Systems have already published everything including the throw weight of the warhead and has pictures detailed enough that you can count the screws holding the nose fairing on the warhead shroud.)

The Senate goes into a closed session (and I can't even recall the last time they did that) over the Iraqi Intelligence flap, when they've already issued a bipartisan report. Why they need another one, I can't guess - unless they want the Reader's Digest Condensed version. And when a disaster hits in NO, all the failures there are laid at the feet of the President - DESPITE all the documented failures of the local authorities and the crappy engineering of the levees that broke.

Bird flu is apparently making its way worldwide - yet there's little attention paid to it by the media, instead the focus is on whether or not Carl Rove will get indicted for the possible outing of Joe Wilson's wife - with a sidebar spectacle of a reporter who went to jail rather than release the name of the source who supposedly did the outing - despite the permission of the source - and who's notes are supposedly startlingly inconclusive of who said what to whom, to the extent of misspelling the outed agents' name.

Iraq has elections - and they're ignored. Iraq votes on a consititution - and it's ignored... though there was breathless anticiaption on how bad the violence was going to be before the election. No violence - no story - and the passing of the Constituton was two paragraphs tucked into the 'World News' section. We're 'winning' the war in Iraq - but the media doesn't see the good stuff that's going on, just the problems. Hey, if it bleeds, it leads.

Afghanistan has elections, and that rates one paragraph in 'World News'.

In other world news, Paris has 6 straight nights of race riots - but is virtually ignored.

The headline story as of the time of this posting on MSNBC news is about a supposed CIA secret prision where a high-ranking member of Al Quaeda's being held. (They say that like it's a bad thing....) And there MAY be something new on the Natalie Holloway case. Foxnews has a two line blurb about the Paris riots.

There's something exceedingly odd about the priorities of the media these days - and about the priorities of our legislators. They seem to be too focused and intent on the easier stuff than on the hard - and are grateful for any assistance in the way of distractions from the media.

Frankly, if this were in anovel I can imagine the slush-pile reader throwing it across the room. "People aren't that stupid!" they'd shriek. "Crappy plot devices! Sheer stupdity on the part of the villans!" And the thing would never see the light of day again.

Instead, we're living it. God, I hope the writer gets a damn clue soon.

J.

US Personal Income up $173.5 billion in September: Savings negative Four Months in a row - - Dr. Peter Morici

My regular savings account with Bank of America gets a whopping 0.5% interest per anum. For every hundred bucks I save for a year, I get 50 cents. And if the balance gets below $300, you get a $3 a month service charge tacked on. If I got one of their money manager savings accounts, I'd get the increased rate of 0.55%. Woo - an extra nickle! But their minimum amount is $1000, and it's $10 a month until you get a $5k average in the account.

Wow. Such riches.

My Paypal account has no minimum amount, and pays 3.89%, with the dividend paid monthly.

Sheesh. And economists are worried because folks aren't saving. Well, there's no INCENTIVE to. Maybe they're just socking it under their matresses. Might not be getting interest - but at 0.5%, inflation'll eat up any interest you get from the bank. We've got the !st Nat. BankoDaddy rates in our house - Aaron gets his savings doubled per year. I tell him if he saves his money for flying lessons when he's old enough, I'll match whatever he has saved.

But it's not working too well... yet.

(BTW, at dinner yesterday I asked him the 4 forces that affect an aircraft. Danged if he didn't get them right!) (Lift, thrust, drag, and weight - if you didn't know. Some folks don't consider weight as one of the forces, for some reason.)

J.

Channelnewsasia.com

Iraq eyes tourism as US leaves Saddam palace

TIKRIT, Iraq : US commanders on Tuesday moved out of a complex of palaces that once belonged to ousted president Saddam Hussein, a site Iraqi officials hope to turn into a tourist destination.

The complex overlooking the Tigris River was built just outside Saddam's hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq soon after the country's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait.

It served as headquarters to the 42nd Infantry Division, responsible for military operations in north-central Iraq.

Their replacement, the 101st Airborne Division, will be staying at a former Iraqi air base a few kilometers (miles) up the road, and local officials will take control of the palace complex.

The special effects should be AWESOME.

(I wouldn't recommend they contact Six Flags, though.)

J.

IBM slows light, readies it for networking | Tech News on ZDNet

has created a chip that can slow down light, the latest advance in an industrywide effort to develop computers that will use only a fraction of the energy of today's machines.

The chip, called a photonic silicon waveguide, is a piece of silicon dotted with arrays of tiny holes. Scattered systematically by the holes, light shown on the chip slows down to 1/300th of its ordinary speed of 186,000 miles per second. In a computer system, slower light pulses could carry data rapidly, but in an orderly fashion. The light can be further slowed by applying an electric field to the waveguide.

J.

Guess who wins?

BTW, that was a 1/10th inch slit in the pipe.

J.

The US media's been downplaying the riots near Paris. It took a bit of searching on CNN to find this one.

CNN.com - Paris riot: PM?cancels Canada trip - Nov 2, 2005

On Tuesday night, the sixth straight night of unrest, some 150 fires were reported in cars, buildings and garbage bins in the suburbs across the Seine-Saint-Denis region on the north and northeast of Paris, France-Info radio said.

The area is home mainly to families of immigrant origin, often from Muslim North Africa, AP said. It is marked by soaring unemployment, delinquency and other urban ills.

Police detained 34 people in the overnight violence, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told Europe-1 radio.

It's looking like a powderkeg over there. And the fuse is lit. How big will the bang be when it comes?

J.

And it's not looking good.

Paris-Area Riots Spread to 20 Towns - Yahoo! News

AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France - A week of riots in poor neighborhoods outside Paris gained dangerous new momentum Thursday, with youths shooting at police and firefighters and attacking trains and symbols of the French state.

Facing mounting criticism, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin vowed to restore order as the violence that erupted Oct. 27 spread to at least 20 towns, highlighting the frustration simmering in housing projects that are home to many North African immigrants.

J.

Big, and funny. Might take a while if you're on dialup.

CARLTON DRAUGHT BIG AD

Those Aussies - what a sense of humor!

J.

Okay, I've got to confess something here. Actually, a number of things.

When 9/11 hit, I thought that it was caused by an aberrant splinter of Islam. The Taliban and suchlike - well, they were a small group within Islam, not to be confused with the greater mass of moderate Islam.

However, I must confess to wondering just why, if the Taliban were so radical, that the other Islamic states in that area weren't doing what they could to moderate things. Destruction of the ancient Bhuddas brought no note of censure, and the treatment of women under the Taliban was documented to be insanely mysoginistic. Yet - the silence was deafening from the Islamic nations, with platitudes about how women were respected and protected in Islam. Having worked for Muslims in the past, I thought that indeed the excesses of the Taliban and other groups like that were not emblematic of Islam in general.

I don't feel that way now. I'm starting to think that the folks I worked for, Muslims in the West in general (and not in Europe, I'm sorry to day) are the abberation - are the split off from the Islamic body. The Sunni branches, the Wahhabist versions - they may not be the norm, but they've got control of the religion and I can only hope the other branches can figure out how to release that control without causing millions of deaths in the process.

I sure hope I'm wrong, but I think we're going to see things get a lot worse before they get better on that subject.

I will confess that I at one time thought the UN was a useful body. I don't much think that anymore - I see it as a boys' club for dictatorships, a facade of legitimacy that's useful to keep their sorry carcasses propped up on top of the feudal states that support them. They know sanctions don't mean anything, and if you've got any sort of pull you can get damn near any sort of aid out of the UN you might want - and if that aid never reaches the intended beneficiaries... well, that's just too bad.

I will confess to a lack of surprise that Saddam was never publicly criticised by the local regimes. Saddam was, to them, a hero. He'd taken on the US/UN, and lived - though he lost Kuwait and a lot of autonomy in the process. He got himself into a war with Iran, and didn't QUITE lose. He had his sons all primed to inherit the family business, until it was forced into bankrupcy by Bush&Coalition.

I'm also not surprised at all that the local regimes didn't want Saddam to be taken out. Their little dictatorships are dependent on two things - the appearance of overwhelming force to keep the population in control, and a lack of hope for change in the population. Shake the table, and the house of cards that's been so carefully propped up starts to quiver... and fall it did in Lebanon while Syria's shakey and Libya just plain gave up any pretense of hiding their WMD programs. With elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, with FREQUENT elections, not the 'one man, one vote, one time' variety used to maintain the illusions of legitimacy that are a staple of voting in the ME, the dictators in that region are seeing a possible end to their free ride. Soon they won't be able to blame everything on the US any more - because Iraq and Afghanistan are starting to show what a free society and capitalistic economy can provide their people. They've tried the quaint ethnic tribal customs of never-ending warfare, and they just plain don't work for larger groups.

I will confess that we're further along than I thought we'd be. I didn't figure Iraq would be ready for elections until close to 5 years after our invasion. And Afghanistan's a lot further along than that. I'm glad to see it. Things aren't perfect - but for the vast majority of the people they're better than they were.

And I'll confess to disappointment in the UN. The UN thought that harshly worded sanctions would be a good substitute for actually doing something to remove Saddam from power. We were willing to go along with the status quo - until 9/11 showed us that the status quo wasn't going to cut it any more. And we had a lot of sympathy for the attack... until we stood up and said "Okay, that's all we're going to take of THAT." When we started actually DOING something, the sympathy evaporated pretty quick. We weren't being good victims. We fought back.

I'd sure like to believe in the UN again. I'd like to believe in Islam being the 'Religion of Peace' I thought it was. But there comes a time when you've got to face reality, and one of the sad things about reality is that it doesn't care one bit about what you want to believe. YOU have to come to grips with reality and cope with it.

And I confess, that's a hard thing to do.

J.

It doesn't look like things are damping down.

Violence flares again in France, deepening sense of crisis - Yahoo! Australia & NZ News

Overwhelmed police have found themselves powerless to stop the conflagration, which has seen a total of over 1,000 vehicles torched and more than 200 people arrested.

Those responsible are groups of young Muslim men, the sons of families from France's former Arab and African colonial territories, who have said in interviews that they are protesting economic misery, racial discrimination and provocative policing.

The leader of one police union, Bruno Beschizza, has described the riots as "urban terrorism", but Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe of the opposition Socialist Party warned against hastily lumping together "one religion, Islam, and a few extremists" in apportioning blame.

I'm sure that'll make people feel kindly disposed towards them, and willing to help them out any way they can. Or are they simply trying to terrorize the government, to get more handouts and fewer obligations?

J.

No answers in sight. I'm not optimisitic there's going to be a solution without serious bloodshed.

France rioters: 'Each night we make this place Baghdad'

Paris - 'We burned 15 cars. How many do you have?' A grim contest is under way in France as kids from disadvantaged suburbs vie with each other to see who can riot the hardest.

On Internet websites, young arsonists brag about their successes. Rioting, it seems, has become a trend sport, as youths in immigrant areas of provincial cities begin to rally to the call from Paris.

While political slogans hold no sway among these youngsters, hatred for Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is palpable. 'Now we're the ones chasing you with the Karcher (high-pressure hoses),' they say, referring to Sarkozy's pledge to clean the suburbs of 'scum'.

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Paris Riots Spread Throughout France

On Saturday morning, more than 1,000 people marched through one of the worst-hit suburbs, Aulnay-sous-Bois (search). Local officials wore sashes in the red, white and blue of the French flag as they filed past housing projects and the wrecks of burned cars. One white banner read, "No to violence."

J.

There's apparently been an amusement park, constructed with Coalition help, in the middle of Baghdad?

Omar over at Iraq the Model has more info. But take a look at the pictures here - الظافر - It's not Six Flags, but it's a start. And take a close look at the sign here - see any familiar logos?

No roller coasters, though. Darn.

If you take a look at the top of the inflatable slide, you'll also notice an interesting image. Wonder if it's been licensed?

More pictures of Iraq here - of the Eid celebration. And voting photos, too.

Might be worth your time...

Democratic Peace

Seeing events in the glare of the struggle between freedom and power -- between the democratic peace and a power that corrupts and kills

on Radio Blogger.

Upshot? Not good.

HH: What is your assessment of the significance of what is underway, the Francefada, or the intifada in France as we speak?

VDH: Well, there's two messages. One, that we in America can see where an unassimilated un-integrated a population goes, and where that leads to, it leads to a sort of an apartheid. And two, we can see what happens with an EU that can't create real economic growth, and has high stagnant unemployment of 10%. And three, this is I think a little bit more controversial, that we can see what happens to a society that doesn't ask the immigrant to integrate, and the immigrant doesn't feel that he has to integrate, or to learn the language, or learn the traditions of the West. So you have this Orwellian situation when thousands of people are rioting, you want to say let me get this straight. You do not want to go back to the country, an hour or two away by air, that you praise in the abstract, but you surely want to stay in a country that you want to burn down to the concrete. It doesn't make any sense, other than this strong, psychological urges of envy, jealousy, wanting something you can't have. Then, besides all that landscape, you get the impression there's something very wrong in Europe that has high unemployement and generous joblessness benefits, so that it allows people not really to have to go look for a job, because there isn't any, but to stay home and sort of nurse these wounds, with enough money to survive.

HH: Now Victor Davis Hanson, you've studied ancient civilizations, you've studied modern civilizations. When radicalization occurs, and you start having this economic dislocation, and these sorts of riots, does this provide fertile ground for the Islamist to go in and proselytize, and recruit?

VDH: Absolutely. So what's going to happen if you have a hundred thousand of these youths, there's going to be a small cohort. Who knows how many? One, two, three percent. But given the aggregate number of protesters is so large, you may find a hundred or two hundred or three hundred that will want to take this one step further. And if you're already now shooting and burning cars, what's to stop you? You've crossed that barrier, so what's to stop you from blowing up somebody in a...and it'll all depend on the reaction of the French police and the French government. If they can put this down and show that there's zero tolerance for this, then they can reverse the course a little bit. If they appease it, and try to find so-called root causes, which are there, but nevertheless, during a riot, you don't want talk about them.

HH: What's interesting is Chirac and de Villipin have not done anything significant like calling out the army. They are so far from zero tolerance. It's more like 95% tolerance.

VDH: Yeah. I was reading a lot of French papers, you know, when I was in Europe the last three weeks, and I think I would...I guess I would sum it up as just absolute bafflement. It's almost as if don't these people know that in the abstract, we help Hamas? Don't we know that we appease the Arab world? And why in the world since we are so pro-Arab, would they care whether they have a job in Paris or not? We are beyond criticism, because we're against the United States, and here they are attacking us, of all people.

I also like this line: "You do not want to go back to the country, an hour or two away by air, that you praise in the abstract, but you surely want to stay in a country that you want to burn down to the concrete. It doesn't make any sense, other than this strong, psychological urges of envy, jealousy, wanting something you can't have. " That about nails it. But the thing is, after it's burnt to the ground and the French have abandoned it... they'll still be there occupying it.

Hope like hell we aren't about to see another Dunkirk - with the French evacuating to England and letting the Arabs have France.

J.

The Corner on National Review Online

I've now heard or read bits and pieces of several Carter interviews. I am simply flummoxed by the amount time and space wasted asking him what he thinks the Democratic Party should do. Now, to be fair, I don't think his advice is terrible at least on the religious stuff. But I'm wondering: Where did Jimmy Carter get the reputation of being a savvy political operator?

His Presidency saw home loan interest rates rise to way above 15%. A severe recession hit during his time in office, and he responded by raising taxes - which prolonged the recession. He was very ineffectual as far as it came to international relations. And he was President during the disco era.

He looks good - because the others in the party look so bad....

Don't get me wrong - I've got a fair amount of respect for the man. But only a fair amount - not all that much - and having lived through his time in office I don't see him as a sucessful elder statesman in the Democratic party. He wasn't a complete disaster - though he didn't do all that much for the country - but he's pretty shiny compared to today's possibilities...

J.

J.

In the beginning, there were 2, or 3, or 4 channels of broadcast television.

And no VCRs. DVDs were a SF dream. If you wanted to watch a show, you had to plop your ass down in front of the TV (and your own rear end, too - if the ass didn't want to watch TV) at the scheduled time and actually WATCH the show.

Cable TV gave you a wider variety to choose from, but again, you had to schedule your viewing around the time the shows were on.

And then came VCRs. Suddenly you no longer needed to be in front of a TV to watch something, you could record and watch it later. Then we jump to TIVO and other such devices, and you needed them to help cull through all the stuff you might want to watch.

Now, it looks like the major broadcasters have caught on and are willing to sell you the shows directly.

My Way News

NEW YORK (AP) - CBS and NBC have announced deals to offer replays of prime-time programs for 99 cents per episode, shifting television toward a sales model that gained popularity with downloaded music.

CBS is teaming up with Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and NBC with satellite operator DirecTV to offer the on-demand replays.

But it's good to see the broadcasters moving off their old model of layering in commercials to pay for programming. Maybe this'll be the start of a new trend, where programs that are worth paying for survive, while the ones that aren't - don't. I can't think how many times I've seen promising series die out midway through a season because they were pitted against a competitor's top-rated show and didn't get good enough ratings.

J.

Looks like Blacklight Power is getting a bit more press, and may be a bit closer to actually being a commercially feasible thing.

Guardian Unlimited | Science | Fuel's paradise? Power source that turns physics on its head

Can't say I'll be sorry to see that - and if my next car is a 'steamer', I think I could live with that.

J.

Kind of. They're paying danegeld.

ROUNDUP French PM announces raft of measures for riot-hit poor suburbs - Forbes.com

But he added that 'the reestablishment of public order is a prerequisite' to the measures being implemented -- something he admitted would 'take some time.'

The intiatives are:

- the creation of an anti-discrimination agency with special officials appointed to be in charge of certain regions, and making the fight against discrimination a national priority;

- 20,000 job contracts with local government bodies or associations paid a minimum wage would be reserved for those in the suburbs struggling to find work;

- an extra 100 million euros (120 million dollars) for associations that work in the neighbourhoods;

- 5,000 more teaching assistant posts in the 1,200 schools in districts designated as troublespots;

- the creation of 15 more special economic zones that provide tax breaks to companies that set up inside them as an incentive to boost local employment.

IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:—
“We invaded you last night—we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:—
“Though we know we should defeat you,
we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to says:—

“We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”

J.

New Scientist Breaking News - US military sets laser PHASRs to stun

The US government has unveiled a "non-lethal" laser rifle designed to dazzle enemy personnel without causing them permanent harm. But the device will require close scrutiny to ensure compliance with a United Nations protocol on blinding laser weapons.

The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response (PHASR) rifle was developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, US, and two prototypes have been delivered to military bases in Texas and Virginia for further testing.

The US Department of Defense (DoD) believes the weapon could be used, for example, to temporarily blind suspects who drive through a roadblock. However, the DoD has yet to reveal details of how the laser works and has yet to respond to New Scientist’s requests for further information.

Laser weapons capable of blinding enemies have been developed in the past but were banned under a 1995 UN convention called the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons. The wording of this protocol, however, does not prohibit lasers that temporarily dazzle a foe.

You can employ flamethrowers, grenades, bullets, bombs and shells of all sorts of tonnages and killing power... leaving a body in bits and pieces, blowing off a hand or arm or leg, or causing severe burns - and all that's okay and acceptable according to the laws of war. But you can't blind someone.

All righty then! Everyone clear on that? Kill, but don't blind!

J.

To have China and Japan in a pissing contest.

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Japan Scrambles Fighters 30 Times to Repel Chinese

TOKYO — Japanese fighter jets have been scrambled 30 times to turn away Chinese planes approaching Japan's airspace in the last six months, more than twice the 13 times in the same period last year, officials said Wednesday.

The increased defensive posture reflects the growing tensions between Japan and China, which are squabbling over interpretations of their wartime past, undersea gas deposits, and ownership of East China Sea islands.

An ARABIC wedding, no less.

From what I've heard, they're his preferred target in Iraq, also - since security is such that the hard targets aren't available he has to try for softer ones. Needless to say, this is making him much beloved among the Iraqi people, and now he's trying to get that same love in Jordan.

BREITBART.COM - Just The News

Al-Qaida claimed responsibility Thursday for three suicide bomb attacks on Western hotels that killed at least 56 people, linking the deadly blasts to the war in Iraq and calling Amman the "backyard garden" for U.S. operations. Police continued a broad security lockdown and authorities sent DNA samples for testing to identify the attackers. Land borders were reopened after being closed for nearly 12 hours.

Update: Oh, the Arabic Street's feelin' the love all right.

Jordanians to al-Zarqawi: ‘Burn in hell’ - International Terrorism - MSNBC.com

AMMAN, Jordan - Hundreds of angry Jordanians rallied Thursday outside one of three U.S.-based hotels attacked by suicide bombers, shouting, “Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!” — a reference to the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq, the terrorist group tied to the blasts that killed at least 56 people.

J.

We've got a bit of tradition in our family, at least on the paternal side, of military service. Not so much so on my mother's side - we've got a distant relative who served in the Civil War, but that's about it. So let's get on with a bit of history.

My paternal grandfather died in the mid-'60s. He'd been in a veteran's hospital for a number of years and finally succumbed to lung damage from being gassed in WW1. I don't know much about his service - father won't talk about him.

My father served in WW2 - when he got a notice from the draft board for the Army he beat feet to the Navy recruiter. He got training as a radar technician, and was in the Pacific when Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred. From what he's told me and piecing together bits of history of that time, it's pretty likely he'd have been on a ship in the flotilla for Operation Olympic. He doesn't think the Japanese were about to surrender - but it's all kind of moot now. In the last few years he's mentioned several times that he wished he'd stayed in rather than getting out when he could after WW2 - I dare say my choice of career paths would have been affected if he'd been career Navy.

My brother enlisted in the Navy in the '60s. He did 3 two-year enlistments, then just got out and bummed around in a lot of menial jobs. He's also said he wished he'd stayed in - but cleaning toilets at Wal Mart's not all that bad.

I enlisted in the AF after high school - didn't know what I wanted to do with myself, but I was pretty sure that college wasn't it. Got out after 9 1/2 years, bopped from job to job and found myself a career with computers. Got into the AF reserve just in time for Gulf War 1, didn't get activated for that. Did 13 more years... and figured that was enough. As an aging paper-pusher, it was time to step down and let someone else move up a rank.

23 years. (22 and a half.) Man, I'll tell you - it looks like a long time when it's ahead of you, but looking back - it was pretty short. Funny how that works.

I sometimes wish I could get into my 18-year old head and knock some sense into myself. I see a lot of opportunities wasted along the way, a lot of things I should have done differently. But overall, I guess I did okay. Did what I was supposed to, did my job and kept the paper flowing - and that's what really matters. (Well, at least from the standpoint of the job!)

I am hoping that when Aaron's of an age to enlist that there's no need for him to do so. It'll be his choice, however... and it is, after all, a family tradition.

On a lighter note... A tribute.

J.

Over on Instapundit there's varying reactions here and here and here.

My own take one it (and I figure you're here for my take on it all) is very slightly mixed.

I had the chance to listen to some of the speech at lunch, and it was a powerful one. He explained clearly what was going on, he also wasn't afraid (as he has been in the past) to finally start swinging at the folks who've been obstructionist in ways that hurt the country and the war effort more than help. This was very good to see and much overdue in my thinking. The historical revisionism being attempted at the present time is neither helpful or constructive, and is soley an attempt to get a political advantage later on. And I'll be honest here, I think it's a damn shabby pile of tricks that makes it much less likely for me to ever consider a Democratic candidate again, regardless of the faults of any other candidate. Enough is just plain enough - and this latest crap from the Democratic side is just too damn much.

At the same time I find myself thinking - why now? Is Bush tired of being 'Mr. Nice President' who wouldn't say shit about his opponents if he had a mouthful, while they gleefully fling any crap they can find? I'm a firm believer in the truth being the best defense against a lie, but silence isn't a substitute for truth in that conflict. Bush seemed to believe otherwise.

I'm wondering if the suicide bombings in Jordan caused the more strident tone in today's speech. I particularly like this bit:

Over the years these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence: the Israeli presence on the West Bank, the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, the defeat of the Taliban, or the Crusades of a thousand years ago. In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world. No act of ours invited the rage of killers — and no concession, bribe, or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence. Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response: We will never back down, we will never give in, we will never accept anything less than complete victory.

There seems to be a sub-group in the peace movement that believes that we can co-exist with the radical elements in Islam. I don't agree that such a thing is possible. Attempts to appease aren't seen as anything but weakness - and weakness is seen as a lever to be used to get what they want.

And what they want is the whole ball of wax. One world, united under the flag of Islam. (Damn, where HAVE I heard that sort of aim before?)

So it seems to me there's two choices at this point. Take them on while their power and influence is low. Attempt to exterminate the movement completely, which I'll admit could take years or decades - by changing the governments in the ME to be much more democratic instead of autocratic. Or we accept the status quo, allow them to build - to influence countries to be passive when faced with violence. You've seen it in France. You've seen it in Spain. Afghanistan was ignored after the USSR pulled out - and the cockroaches moved in. We didn't do shit about them - after all, who'd believe such a screwed-up offshoot of Islam as the Taliban would exist? Nobody believed the stories... but they weren't stories, we just didn't want to believe that such unsane behavior would be tolerated.

And that's what they depend on - tolerance. It's been pretty difficult finding Imams and mullahs who've been willing to speak against the extremists. The attack in Jordan seems to have knocked some sense into them, but it's hard to tell how long that'll last. Al Quaeda could be forgiven simply by attacking some US interests - or they might be permanently on the outs - it's hard to tell.

One problem is that Al Quaeda central's planning for the long-term. This isn't a simple "Do the job and go home" sort of thing. This is something they'red dedicated to completely - and if it takes 20, 50, or 100 years to do the job then they'll move slowly. One disadvantage they've got is Zarqawi - HE wants to see the Caliphate created in his lifetime, and he's pushing the schedule.

Which brings us back to Bush's speech. He outlines what he wants to do. He's giving a clear outline for what needs to be done.

It remains to be seen whether we're farsighted enough to commit to it, or whether politics as usual will rule the day. It's hard to fight an enemy who thinks in terms of decades, when you're too busy maneuvering to get advantage at the next election. Our politicians MUST start thinking long-term - further ahead than the next election. If they don't - we're in deep trouble.

So what am I upset about with this speech? That he's taken so damn long to give it.

J.

Scotsman.com News - International - Al-Qaeda on defensive as bombs begin to backfire

Al-Qaeda's volte-face was caused by an unprecedented emotional outpouring of anger against the terrorist organisation in Jordan. On Thursday thousands of Jordanians protested across the country to denounce the head of the al-Qaeda terrorist group in Iraq, Zarqawi, America's most wanted enemy. They marched through Amman chanting: "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!"

There were even larger demonstrations on Friday after the weekly midday mosque sermons in Amman and at a mass funeral for victims. "We came to support our nation and our unity," said Ibrahim Haniya, 22, who marched with a group of friends. "These bombers didn't differentiate between Muslims, Christians or Jews. They were against the world."

And Zarqawi's bombing - well, that was all just good clean fun against the infidel (both the Coalition and the Iraqis trying to get their country back on it's feet) until he started hitting easy targets just a LITTLE too close to home.

But that may have been the straw that broke the metaphorical camel's back. We'll see - but I think that was ta real bad move on his part.

J.

Democrats Losing Race For Funds Under Dean

Now, the latest financial numbers are prompting new doubts. From January through September, the Republican National Committee raised $81.5 million, with $34 million remaining in the bank. The Democratic National Committee, by contrast, showed $42 million raised and $6.8 million in the bank.

"The degree to which the fundraising has not been competitive is obviously troublesome," said former congressman Vic Fazio (D-Calif.), who is now a lobbyist here. He expressed confidence in Tom McMahon, Dean's executive director at the DNC.

One House Democratic leadership aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve relations with Dean's operation, put it more bluntly: "There is plenty of time, but the red flashing sirens should be going off there."

As critics see it, Dean has disappointed on two fronts. The DNC has not replicated the success of Dean's presidential campaign two years ago in tapping vast numbers of new and smaller contributors over the Internet. And skeptics say he has not yet established rapport with and won the confidence of high-dollar donors.

DNC officials acknowledge that elements of their fundraising operation have started more slowly than expected. But they and other Dean defenders say his record should be viewed in context.

The explanation most offered by Dean allies for the sluggish start is that donors are tired of giving after watching Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) fail to deliver the White House. Kerry's fundraising success last year raised expectations among Democrats that the days of competing at a financial disadvantage with the GOP were over. For now, they are not.

"We will have the resources to do what we need to do," said Karen Finney, a DNC spokeswoman. "We are committed to investing in state parties and rebuilding the grass roots from the bottom up."

Dean's first eight months at the committee have also been marked by the departure of several members of the fundraising staff, including finance director -- and longtime Dean loyalist -- Lindsay Lewis, who resigned in late September and has yet to be replaced.

DNC sources said the post will be filled by the end of the month and point out that Joseph "Jody" Trapasso, a longtime party fundraiser, has stepped in.

Several Washington Democrats not favorably inclined toward Dean said the party was willing to gamble on his "potential for hoof in mouth disease" -- in the words of one lobbyist -- because of the unexpected fundraising prowess he showed in the 2004 race.

I'm thinking he might have been a bad choice. But then, the Democratic Party's facing some choices right now - it'll be instructive to see how they go.

J.

Man, talk about an interesting mix.

Today was my day to come up with something for the Den. Pseudonyms will be used to protect the innocent.

I was supposed to do something on religion today for the Den. This can be pretty difficult these days, so I started out with the Cub Scout Promise.

I asked them what they thought their duty to God was - one said "Don't smoke!" The other answers were pretty good - pick up trash and throw things away properly, help other people, go to church and the like.Then I asked if anyone knew what the Golden Rule was. (And no, it's not the "He who has the Gold makes the Rules" we're used to as an adult - it was the "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you" one.) One guy said there were '8' of them - I said I wasn't looking for the 10 Commandments!

Two raised their hands and kind of garbled the explanation. I consider the Golden rule to be a pretty decent way of living your life - if you conduct yourself honestly and with integrity, you find life's a lot easier. If you lie, you find life more difficult because you not only have to remember what you told to whom, when the lie gets found out you find it's usually better to have told the truth in the first place and take your lumps for that - because things will be worse because you lied. We talked about honesty, and treating each other right.

Next I asked the scouts what their religions are. (One was Jewish, one was Methodist-Catholic, one wasn't, and two were Christian, methodist.) Then I had the kids tell me what they want to be. Abe is going to run a big company. Bart is going to be a geologist. Carl wants to be a vet. Dan wants to be a video game tester. Evan wants to be a pilot. So then I asked them what their favorite subjects were. And I was surprised at the answers...

All 5 said "Math". Huh. At that age, it would have been reading or science for me. But, good on them if they can manage it. (We won't talk about how dismal my math skills are.)

Then I talked about how God had given them certain gifts to help attain their goals. I asked them what the 5 senses were - and then I had their parents blindfold them. We sat a moement listening (we were outside) and I asked them to tell me what they heard. They didn't hear anything at first... then I pointed out birds singing, a jet flying overhead, the air conditioner in the building next to us... then told them that their senses were a gift from God. (Actually, more standard issue than a gift.) But what they actually DID with them was up to them. I asked Bart if the senses were important - he said "No..." and I asked him if he could be a geologist if he couldn't see the rocks. THAT was something he'd never considered - and he shook his head. I asked Evan if he could be a pilot - or Dan if he could be a video game tester if he couldn't see.

The point I made was that these gifts weren't to be taken lightly, and thie gifts could get them where they wanted to go. Then I pulled out some Easy-Spins and started assembling them - which gave the guys a good ten minutes of play while the adults talked about things.

Then I pulled out a blindfold and put it on one of the boys, and we played Blind-man's Bluff. (I suppose to be PC that should be 'Visually Challenged Person's Equivocation', but what the heck.) This is something the kids LOVED.

All in all, a pretty sucessful meeting... I was really wondering if it was going to come off okay, and it seemed to.

But there was a real surprise. Bart, in the past, has struck me more as the type who'd have "First in Jail for Murder and Mayhem" in his yearbook. Want to talk about anger? The kid had it in spades last year. Today, however, he was interested, attentive and alert - and polite. I almost thought about asking his mother if she'd brought the wrong kid!

So much for handling 7-year olds and religion and ethics. Talked about how many religions there were, how they should be honest and treat others as they'd want to be treated, and had some fun. No heads epxloded - and that was a good thing...

J.

Is detailed out by the post at All Things Beautiful: "Don't Get Captured..."

Here is a proud father giving a truly amazing and chillingly 'matter-of-fact' expert account of the current situation of the war in Iraq as told by his son, whilst on his first leave since returning from Iraq. You can tell his father is a senior military man -- small wonder as a former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- and you can also tell, no better even, you just know, it's all absolutely true.

The first thing our guys are told is don't get captured. They know that if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. [...] As such, for our guys, every fight is to the death. Surrender is not an option.

With that in mind, get a rare glimpse through this spin-free account of what is actually really going on; it's an absolute must read (the original is in the form of an email to a personal friend, published by 'Media Lies', which I have edited in lenghth and sequence in a genuine attempt to accomodate the Blogosphere's notoriously short attention span):

J.

The War - a strategic overview

Den Beste did an overview of the war a couple of years back - causes, responses and so on - and it's been shined up and re-chromed by Tigerhawk. Long, comprehensive, and pretty detailed... it's worth a read if you've got an hour or two...

(You might also find the rebuttal to it in comment #8 quite indicative of the scholarship (with annotations and footnotes) of the anti-war crowd. Telling in it's complex nuances, it's not something that should be missed.)

J.

TCS: Tech Central Station - Did Bush Lie? Ask Google

President Bush came out swinging on Veterans Day in a speech accusing his Democratic war critics of re-writing history. Some war critics have mounted a campaign against him by boiling the entire pre-war history and post-invasion violence down to a two-word phrase: "Bush Lied". They say he lied us into war by distorting intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to convince Americans to fight an unnecessary war. The "Bush Lied" accusation is, if true, an indictment of the entire war itself, and one could reasonably argue we should cut our losses and get out of it.

The president could have destroyed the entire "Bush Lied" attack a long time ago. And he could have done it in a way that showed what a wired, technologically savvy president he is; and in a way that would have simplified his side of the debate down to three words and a number:

Google "Clinton Iraq 1998"

Targeting Al Quaeda and Osama only would have been like burning a local warehouse in McDonald's supply chain – a few stores shut down for a short time, but they'll reopen soon enough. It's a quick fix, slapping on a band-aid and hoping it doesn't get worse.

Bush decided on a different tactic - dismantle the corporation. You want to end terrorism, you shut it down all over as you can manage. Build democracies instead of accepting dictatorships all over and terrorism will end. It won't be fast or easy, but it'll be sure.

The main problem is - Bush is actually doing more than mouthing platitudes and making a half-hearted token attempt at solving the problem. This just plain isn't acceptable to some, who'd prefer the status quo and would rather have problems left unsolved so they can be used for election fodder later.

And what we're seeing with this "Bush Lied" stuff, IMHO, is a group that's gotten to a point where they don't see any way to back up out of the quagmire they've slid into. They were for the war 100% when it looked like a cakewalk, despite Bush saying it wouldn't be easy. Now that it looks like it'll take time, they're saying they were lied to.

Okay, figure (just for argument's sake, because it's verifiably incorrect) that Bush lied... what does it say about how gullible they were in the first place? And if they're that gullible, what does that say about how well they could lead the country?

J.

joelshepherd.com: SF and Economics

He takes a brief look at the economics of robotics, space travel, and flying cars. (Hey, Daniel! A flying car post!)

Might have to keep an eye on this one - he thinks pretty clearly.

J.

There's apparently a 'bit' of interest in this at Disney World. But they're kind of committed to a large bus fleet and their monorail system. (They really need to expand the monorail, IMHO, but it may cost too much.) This is fairly cheap, and would be visually impressive to boot. And isn't that what Disney is all about? (Well, aside from making money. But heck, charge a buck a ride for this and you'd likely pay off the entire system in a year.)

SkyWeb Express Personal Rapid Transit - A revolution in urban transportation

J.

Or is there something vaguely unsettling about watching porn on an IPod?

Mini-porn could turn into mega-business - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

Apple Computer Inc. took 20 days to reach 1 million downloads of video files from its online store; the Web site SuicideGirls, offering free videos of unclothed models, hit the mark in about a week.

One of the quickest industries to take advantage of the new video iPod, and other new gadgets, is one that has often been at the forefront of other technological innovations: porn.

However, there's something kind of, well, sad about watching something like that on a 2-inch screen. What about eyestrain? Hand-eye coordination (so to speak) juggling your Ipod and whatever else you might be doing at the time?

Guess there's a market for it, though thechnophile I am I guess I'll just have to miss out on this one...

J.

This is an interesting spoof...

Nothing for eyesight, though. Dang.

J.

As some of you know, der frau is an oncology research coordinator. Yep, she's the one who handles the studies to see whether the stuff the medical companies come out with to fight various kinds of cancer actually work. It's a damn tough job, one that I wouldn't want - because she has to meet with each patient, get consent forms signed, have all sorts of contact with the patient... and she gets to feel for them.

Most days she can leave it at the office. But some days... well, the Cheerful Oncologist has some thoughts over at The Cheerful Oncologist :: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Today she found out that the wife of one of her favorite doctors has ovarian cancer. He's a really nice guy, she says, and all his patients that she's worked with think he's great. (Yep, he's an oncologist also...) They don't know just how far it's advanced, they'll find out Thursday. She says he's a real family guy and they've got three kids.

The youngest one's about a year old.

So, today's been pretty rough for her. She has her ways of coping, of being detatched - but this one blindsided her. If you've got a prayer or two to send her way, well, I don't think it'd be wasted. I'm not too sure about how useful prayer is myself - but it won't hurt.

J.

I'm trying to find a source for shallow bowls (or domes) about 3 to 5 feet wide. They must be lightweight plastic, but not terribly flimsy. I've been trying Froogle, but no real luck. Anyone got any ideas on proper key words?

J.

Over at OpinionJournal - The Real World, Claudia Rosett details why she thinks it'd be a bad idea. I find her argument pretty persuasive, and have yet to see any real benefits to having the UN control things.

J.

... might just be a clue here.

Space Cadets hoax out of this world | This is London

A new reality TV show is aiming to pull off the biggest hoax in TV history - by persuading a group of Britons that they have been blasted into space

The new Channel 4 series Space Cadets has been under wraps since the idea first came about 18-months ago.

Nine people will be told they are set to visit the final frontier as space tourists and that in preparation they will undergo intensive training in Russia courtesy of the Space Tourism Agency of Russia, but in reality the groups will be "trained" for space in a disused airbase in a secret location in the UK.

Unbeknown to them, their shuttle will be a Hollywood creation, made originally for the film Space Cowboys.

J.

Or would that be 'implode'?

New Documents Reveal Saddam Hid WMD, Was Tied to Al Qaida

Recently discovered Iraqi documents now being translated by U.S. intelligence analysts indicate that Saddam Hussein's government made extensive plans to hide Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before the U.S. invasion in March 2003 - and had deep ties to al Qaida before the 9/11 attacks.

The explosive evidence was discovered among "millions of pages of documents" unearthed by the Iraq Survey Group weapons search team, reports the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes.

In the magazine's Nov. 21 issue, Hayes reveals that the document cache now being examined contains "a thick stew of reports and findings from a variety of [Iraqi] intelligence agencies and military units."

I think what's happened is that folks in the White House have decided to take the gloves off. They've been patiently getting all their ducks in a row, getting all the info together, waiting for the proper time. And the Democrats have given them SO much to work with. Are you a leading politician, and want to call Bush a liar? Well, that's certainly your right, but it's then fair to have Bush defend his positions, and fair to remind the public of your own opinions at the time. Was he mistaken about WMD? It's possible - but acting on the consensus of numerous intelligence agencies and using that as one factor in the myriad of reasons to take out Saddam doesn't make him a liar - it makes him guilty of acting on mistaken intelligence.

But then again, maybe he WASN'T mistaken. Let's look at the released titles of the papers, shall we?

Though the Pentagon has so far declined to make the bombshell papers public, Hayes managed to obtain a list of titles on the reports.

Topics headlined in the still embargoed Iraqi documents include:

• Chemical Agent Purchase Orders (Dec. 2001)

• Formulas and information about Iraq's Chemical Weapons Agents

• Locations of Weapons/Ammunition Storage (with map)

• Denial and Deception of WMD and Killing of POWs

• Ricin research and improvement

• Chemical Gear for Fedayeen Saddam

• Memo from the [Iraqi Intelligence Service] to Hide Information from a U.N. Inspection team (1997)

• Iraq Ministry of Defense Calls for Investigation into why documents related to WMD were found by UN inspection team

• Correspondence between various Iraq organizations giving instructions to hide chemicals and equipment

• Correspondence from [Iraqi Intelligence Service] to [the Military Industrial Commission] regarding information gathered by foreign intelligence satellites on WMD (Dec. 2002) • Cleaning chemical suits and how to hide chemicals

• [Iraqi Intelligence Service] plan of what to do during UNSCOM inspections (1996)

Still other reports suggest that Iraq's ties to al Qaida were far deeper than previously known, featuring headlines like:

• Secret Meeting with Taliban Group Member and Iraqi Government (Nov. 2000)

• Document from Uday Hussein regarding Taliban activity

• Possible al Qaeda Terror Members in Iraq

• Iraqi Effort to Cooperate with Saudi Opposition Groups and Individuals

• Iraqi Intel report on Kurdish Activities: Mention of Kurdish Report on al Qaeda - reference to al Qaeda presence in Salman Pak

• [Iraqi Intelligence Service] report on Taliban-Iraq Connections Claims

• Money Transfers from Iraq to Afghanistan

While the document titles sound stunning enough to turn the Iraq war debate on its head, Hayes cautions that it's hard to know for certain until the full text is available.

Ricin may have therapeutic use in the treatment of cancer. Ricin may linked to a monoclonal antibody to target malignant cells recognized by the antibody. Genetic modification of ricin is believed to be possible to lessen its toxicity to humans, but not to the cancer cells.

/sarcasm, if it wasn't apparent.

Look, I've got no problem with political opportunism - within limits. That limit is when it seriously affects the country, or in time of war when it affects the prosecution of the war. And that limit's been hit pretty hard and fast lately with the foolishness coming from the Democratic side of the House. Admittedly it's a lot easier to think in slogans and sound bites than it is to examine all the issues and come up with substative thoughts and a decision on all this, because it's very complex and convoluted. However, the complexity and confusion MUST be dealt with and the issues that caused the war cannot be ignored or misrepresented as non-threatening. And it's also, to my thinking, a pretty stupid political tactic to come out and say "I was stupid and gullible, and fooled into voted for this war based on the intelligence we had at the time." What does this tell you about how perceptive that politician is, and how opportunistic they are? If they're so easily fooled, would you want them in charge of the country?

As long as I'm on a rant here, it's especially frustrating to me to see the current embracing by the left of the cult of victimhood in international politics when it comes to Fundamentalist Islam, and the subsequent excusal of the most heinous acts of violence. Four years ago, I believed the RoP PC stuff. I still do, to an extent - but the terrorists are CHOOSING to be terrorists, they're not trying to work within the local governments to get what they want, and that they're targeting their own should be enough reason to target their sorry asses and not 'try to understand where they're coming from'. Make them dead, and we won't have to worry about them bombing other Muslims, burning down churches and mosques and indulging in kidnapping and beheadings.

Back on topic, more or less ...

There's certain rules to our political system, perhaps mostly apparent when they're broken for a perceived advantage, but they're there for a reason. There's no good precedent served by Clinton and Carter criticising Bush - except to please the hardcore DNC supporters - and it seriously gives aid and comfort to our enemies. THEY remember Viet Nam, and THEY know the only chance they have of 'winning' is to get the US to pull out BEFORE Iraq can stand on it's own. And the only way to do that is by slow attrition of our forces. One here, five there, they're hoping to get the US discouraged, out and then try to take over Iraq. They're not concerned about the PEOPLE of Iraq, as their targeting markets, mosques and weddings show - they just want the bloodshed.

Now Clinton's saying that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake - yet he called for Saddam's removal by force as early as 1998. Carter... well, he means well, but his presidency wasn't exactly an inspired sucess either domestically or internationally. There's perhaps a reason why past presidents should stay silent on what their sucessors do. Do they consider that the folks trying to take over Iraq might be the least bit encouraged by their statements? Or do they even care? Iraq is, you know, on the other side of the world. Can't it be safely ignored?

Afghanistan was even further East. We ignored it. Look what happened.

J.

I found a reference to this article. It's pretty interesting, in my opinion...

FrontPage magazine.com :: Where the WMDs Went by Jamie Glazov

FP: With the Democrats now so viciously and hypocritically attacking Bush about WMDs, I’d like to discuss your own knowledge and expertise on this issue in connection to Iraq. You have always held that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Why? Can you discuss some actual finds?

Tierney: It was probably on my second inspection that I realized the Iraqis had no intention of ever cooperating. They had very successfully turned The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections during the eighties into tea parties, and had expected UNSCOM to turn out the same way. However, there was one fundamental difference between IAEA and UNSCOM that the Iraqis did not account for. There was a disincentive in IAEA inspections to be aggressive and intrusive, since the same standards could then be applied to the members states of the inspectors. IAEA had to consider the continued cooperation of all the member states. UNSCOM, however, was focused on enforcing and verifying one specific Security Council Resolution, 687, and the level of intrusiveness would depend on the cooperation from Iraq.

I came into the inspection program as an interrogator and Arabic linguist, so I crossed over various fields and spotted various deception techniques that may not have been noticed in only one field, such as chemical or biological. For instance, the Iraqis would ask in very reasonable tones that questionable documents be set aside until the end of the day, when a discussion would determine what was truly of interest to UNSCOM. The chief inspector, not wanting to appear like a knuckle-dragging ogre, would agree. Instead of setting the documents on a table in a stack, the Iraqis would set them side to side, filling the entire table top, and would place the most explosive documents on the edge of the table. At some point they would flood the room with people, and in the confusion abscond with the revealing documents.

This occurred at Tuwaitha Atomic Research Facility in 1996. A car tried to blow through an UNSCOM vehicle checkpoint at the gate. The car had a stack of documents about two feet high in the back seat. In the middle of the stack, I found a document with a Revolutionary Command Council letterhead that discussed Atomic projects with four number designations that were previously unknown. The Iraqis were extremely concerned. I turned the document over to the chief inspector, who then fell for the Iraqis’ “reasonable request” to lay it out on a table for later discussion. The Iraqis later flooded the room, and the document disappeared. Score one for the Iraqis.

On finds, the key word here is “find.” UNSCOM could pursue a lead and approach an inspection target from various angles to cut off an escape route, but at some point, the Iraqis would hold up their guns and keep us out.

A good example of this was the inspection of the 2nd Armored Battalion of the Special Republican Guards in June 1997. We came in from three directions, because we knew the Iraqis had an operational center that tracked our movement and issued warnings. The vehicle I was in arrived at the gate first. There were two guards when we arrived, and over twenty within a minute, all extremely nervous.

The Iraqis had stopped the third group of our inspection team before it could close off the back of the installation. A few minutes later, a soldier came from inside the installation, and all the other guards gathered around him. He said something, there was a big laugh, and all the guards relaxed. A few moments later there was a radio call from the team that had been stopped short. They could here truck engines through the tall (10”) grass in that area. When we were finally allowed in, our team went to the back gate. The Iraqis claimed the gate hadn’t been opened in months, but there was freshly ground rust at the gate hinges. There was a photo from overhead showing tractor trailers with missiles in the trailers leaving the facility.

When pressed, Tariq Aziz criticized the inspectors for not knowing the difference between a missile and a concrete guard tower. He never produced the guard towers for verification. It was during this period that Tariq Aziz pulled out his “no smoking gun” line. Tariq very cleverly changed the meaning of this phrase. The smoking gun refers to an indicator of what you are really looking for - the bullet. Tariq changed the meaning so smoking gun referred to the bullet, in this case the WMD, knowing that as long as there were armed guards between us and the weapons, we would never be able to “find,” as in “put our hands on,” the weapons of mass destruction. The western press mindlessly took this up and became the Iraqis’ tool. I will let the reader decide whether this inspection constitutes a smoking gun.