Category — Uncategorized

Maru liked the headline, Manatee reacts to al-Zarqawi death, but I saw it as another example of rudeness, when local Republicans literally toasted the man’s death at a meeting.

I’m reminded of the essay, “Of Cannibals”, by Michel Eyquem de Montaigne. Living at a time of religious wars and plague, de Montaigne would immediately understand 21^st century America.

The article also highlights a problem of entrusting the military to mortgage brokers:

NANCY DETERT, U.S. congressional candidate: “I was delighted to hear the news. I can think of no better punishment than a 500-pound bomb falling on his head. Hopefully, it will help cutting off the head of the snake. Still, it’s hard fighting a guerrilla war when the enemy is not wearing a uniform.”

Excuse me, Ms. Detert, but the lack of uniforms is a defining element of guerrilla wars and capturing him and trying him for his crimes would have reduced his status in the Muslim world.

While it is definitely a “good thing” that he has been “neutralized”, that doesn’t always mean killing someone. From an intelligence standpoint, he would have been more useful alive. Even if he never talked, his network couldn’t be sure, and that uncertainty would have been more disruptive than his death. It would have been nice, but local conditions may have made it impossible.

53^rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron [USAFR]
403^rd Wing, Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi

Because of the damage caused by hurricane Katrina to Keesler AFB, the “Hurricane Hunters” are having to fly from Dobbins Air Reserve Base near Atlanta, Georgia.

While Bobby is correct in his post, Offending Canada, I like the way Canadian Broadcasting is dealing with issue.

In an article in the Entertainment section they note: Alleged bomb plot ripe for comedians Stewart, Letterman

The arrests were reported by media around the world and, during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, U.S. congressman John Hostettler said that Canada is in denial about the threat of terrorism within its own borders.

“The alleged planned targets today may be in Canada, but the way the law is now and the ease of travel between the two countries will allow for the next series of targets to potentially be in the United States,” Hostettler, an Indiana Republican, said in an interview with CBC News on Friday.

“There is a porous border between the United States and Canada,” Hostettler said, adding it’s “of tremendous concern to myself and a lot of other legislators here.”

This on a day when the Department of Energy revealed that their nuclear weapons computers were hacked. It would appear that the Canadian border isn’t quite as porous as US computer security or the Congressman’s head.

To help Rep. Hostettler feel more secure, I think we should give life without parole to people who attempt to get on commercial airliners with a loaded gun in their carry-on bag. Failing that, a pacifier with an elephant on it.

The eternal war between the owners of bird feeders and squirrels has reached a new level with the sighting of squirrels in body armor. Reliable sources indicate that the squirrels have managed to obtain the vests through hamsters associated with Adnan Khashoggi.

Dr. Laurie Mylroie has claimed that the escalation is being financed by protection money paid by Iranian pistachio growers to the squirrels.

Dr. Mylorie noted that this entire affair is covered in her latest collaboration with Judith Miller, The Prophecies of Beatrix Potter, which explains the real identity of Squirrel Nutkin and Old Brown.

At 8:00AM CDT the National Hurricane Center began issuing advisories on Tropical Depression #1 currently located between the western tip of Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula. At this time it is predicted to become Tropical Storm Alberto and cross into Florida north of Tampa Bay on Monday.

What is wrong with these people?

Zarqawi had multiple warrants from multiple countries out for him. Jordan had convicted him in absentia for capital offenses that he bragged about committing. There was no one claiming he was innocent.

He was killed for his crimes, which included intentionally targeting innocent children to further his cause. Understand, these were in no way “collateral damage”: the gruesome deaths of the children were the object of some of his attacks near schools.

No one needed to know how he was located, only that he was located and killed; news that was celebrated by Muslims in many countries, including people who hate the US.

Why has the world been treated to a series of officials talking about the “sources and methods” used to track him down? “Sources and methods” are the crown jewels of intelligence. These are the things you spend the most resources protecting from discovery. These are precisely what you do not want the opposition to know.

You don’t have to use duress to get these people to tell you everything they know; you just have to stick a microphone in their face.

I can hang with the US in the first stage, but when they are eliminated where do I go? Which grandparent do I annoy?

Frankly, I think my grandmothers [England & the Netherlands] are poised for more success.

The security forces and King of Jordan are breathing a lot easier today, the number one name on their most wanted list has been eliminated and they are not faced with tribal unrest as a result.

Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalaylehof of the Beni Hassan tribe of Bedouin [AKA Abu Musab al-Zarqawi] has died and the government cannot be tied to his death. Even though the al-Khalaylehof clan had disowned him after the bombing in Amman, some in the clan might have felt obliged to revenge the death. It could have gotten messy as the Beni Hassan Bedouin are 10% of the Jordanian population.

Taking his nom de bomb from his native city and state, Zarqa, Zarqawi’s stated goal was to “purify” the Islamic governments, beginning with Jordan. He claimed to be a Salafi Muslim which is about as fundamental as it gets.

His relationship with bin Laden was rather strained. Bin Laden has a larger viewpoint and wants to attack the “enemy” on his own turf, while Zarqawi felt that the Islamic governments must be purified before anything else. They came together in their agreement that foreign elements must be expelled from the Islamic world.

In military terms, Zarqawi’s organization was a battalion of a few hundred members at it’s largest. He would rank as a major or lieutenant colonel at most in a regular army. His effect was magnified by his totally ruthless tactics. It is very likely that those tactics are responsible for his death, as he was making enemies wholesale by killing the innocent. His clan renounced him to avoid being entangled in the revenge his actions required among the tribal groups.

The Shi’ia will breathe easier with this death, because he considered them heretics who needed to be removed to “purify” Islam.

As John notes, living with cats means that you must listen to them.

Sox is the most vocal of my “roommates” with a clear tenor powered by a heavily muscled chest. This is usually heard after he has been subjected to some indignity by Ringo, and is usually following by a noticeable thud as he projects his mass towards a gray streak.

His mid-volume voice accompanied by a snagging extended claw in your clothing indicates that it is time to cease and desist from whatever foolish thing you were engaged in to provide suitable scratching behind his ears, between his shoulders, and a thorough tummy rub.

He reserves his whispering voice for emergencies. You feel his bulk slam onto the mattress at the foot of the bed, but he creeps toward the head of the bed to locate any exposed body part. He then produces a barely audible mewling, as if he were a dying kitten, and lightly touches exposed skin with a velvet paw. This sounds like something you can ignore, but it is not. The sound of this voice slams into the brain stem of the female cats and if you don’t act immediately they will leap onto the bed with claws extended ready to do battle with something. They erupt into battle cries and people on the street will surely believe that murder is occurring.

You have no choice but to get up and add food to the not empty bowl, or replace the water. You will be rewarded by his taking two or three nibbles and a quick lap of water before he flops over to return to sleep.

In every era there are “celebrities”, people who are famous for being famous. They have no particular talent that qualifies them for their notoriety, but they seem to get paid to appear at media events, to get into movies, write columns and/or author books while people who have, at least, a modicum of actual talent go unknown outside of a circle of friends.

Recently the ranks of “celebrity” have been swelled by professional haters: people whose only identifiable trait is their bile. While they spew their venom, they attempt to resurrect many of the dead villains of the past, portraying them as misunderstood heroes who are victims of coordinated campaigns of traitors. These people would seem to believe that they can burnish their tarnished “shields” by claiming they are misunderstood like their dead idols.

There is no nadir to their behavior. Every time you think they have reached the bottom of baseness available to anything remotely human, they manage to dig deeper.

There are times when I truly regret my belief in the right of free speech.

11,000 flee Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano.

East Timor, Aceh, West Papua, the Bali bombing, the tsunami, the earthquake, and now Mount Merapi – at some point you have to wonder why anyone would want to be in the Indonesian government.

The islands are beautiful when they aren’t moving, melting, under water, or exploding. The people are nice when they aren’t trying to kill one another. The cost-benefit ratio of living in Indonesia has shifted significantly lately.

Update: I forgot about the Avian Influenza.

Via Maru a massive collection of stuff on “the Mark of the Beast”.

Uncle Al on the News groups had a similar collection up years ago, but this includes some light scholarly musings at the end that point to Sir Tim Berners-Lee as the Beast.

Canadian Broadcasting has an update on the arrest of 17 people, 12 adults and 5 juveniles, in the plot to bomb targets in and around Toronto. They also have a background article on the plot. Six of those arrested will face explosive charges in the alleged plot.

Before anyone asks, yes, “everything changed” in Canada after 9/11: the police can now hold suspects for 72 hours before charges have to be filed.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police executed warrants that were based on the intelligence and evidence gathered by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and their own officers.

The Canadians have evidence, warrants, all that old fashioned police stuff, and they are taking people to court for trials. This is possible because they didn’t violate anyone civil rights. This is how it’s done in civilized countries that believe in the rule of law.

I came across this public service advertising sticker from the German state of Baden-Wüttemberg, which the home of the Black Forest.

It says: We can speak everything – except standard German.

Germany has a standard form of the language, Hochdeutsch, that is taught in school and ignored outside of the media. “High German” doesn’t appeal to Southerners.

When people talk about English being the standard language in the US, I would ask “Whose English?” because the language certainly isn’t standardized. If you take someone from the south side of Boston and drop them in a Louisiana parish, you’d better include a translator.

Like most things, language grows or it dies.

One of the biggest problems we face in intelligence gathering is the lack of bi-lingual Americans. The “enemy” doesn’t have to learn encryption because Americans can’t understand their language. Foreign language study should be a national security asset, not a reason to discriminate.

[Edit to correct translation.]