War links
A transcript of a radio broadcast by Colour Sergeant (as he was at the time) Bourne DCM of the defence of Rorke’s Drift.
The Obama Administration does not believe intelligence assessments that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapon program.
The murderous Assad hereditary regime is being rehabilitated.
About the principle of protection (pdf) in dealing with enemies. About the Gitmo mess. The forthcoming 9/11 trials in New York are estimated to cost $US400m and counting.
About the difficulty of false positives given the rarity of terrorists.
Danish police shoot a man trying to enter the home of one of the Danish cartoonists, a Somali national.
British police warn of likely Mumbai-style attack on London.
A quick-thinking (and acting) Dutch passenger frustrates the attempt by a Nigerian to blow up an American airliner. A first person account. The Nigerian’s father had reported his son to the US embassy. A Yemen-based al-Qaeda group claim responsibility. Two of the alleged organiser were released from Gitmo in 2007. More. Further details. About the magical thinking behind most airline security actions, with the best “war on terror” punchline ever:
I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can only foil by upgrading the passengers to first class and giving them free drinks.
About the corrosive effect of exaggerated fear. And also. Reason tv being very funny about the TSA. About the dysfunctional US system, the Israeli system and the utility of profiling. The TSA puts Joan Rivers (76, famous, Jewish) off a flight because of her passport being “fishy”. US official “border bullies” in action. Prominent US war-correspondent and former US soldier gets arrested by US Customs at Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money he makes. I wonder how much anti-big-government sentiment in the US is generated by experience with arrogant and dysfunctional US federal bureaucracies.
About the domestic partisan politics of it. Noting that there is not a lot of difference in the anti-terrorism policies of the Dubya and Obama Administrations. Hitch saying it with his usual verve:
Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent? The answer to the first question is: Because we can't-or won't. The answer to the second question is: Because we can. …
What nobody in authority thinks us grown-up enough to be told is this: We had better get used to being the civilians who are under a relentless and planned assault from the pledged supporters of a wicked theocratic ideology. These people will kill themselves to attack hotels, weddings, buses, subways, cinemas, and trains. They consider Jews, Christians, Hindus, women, homosexuals, and dissident Muslims (to give only the main instances) to be divinely mandated slaughter victims.
Some suggestions about what ought to be done.
Recent events in Yemen as a reprise of 2001-02.
The Obama Administration is using drone attacks more than its predecessor.
Seven CIA staff killed in suicide attack at Khost in Afghanistan. Reporter and four Canadian soldiers killed in bomb blast. Some PowerPoint™ slides used by Marines to explain some Afghanistan pointers to other Marines. A teepee memorial to killed soldiers in Afghanistan.
Iraq has its first month (since April 2003) without a US combat death.
The Obama Administration does not believe intelligence assessments that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapon program.
The murderous Assad hereditary regime is being rehabilitated.
About the principle of protection (pdf) in dealing with enemies. About the Gitmo mess. The forthcoming 9/11 trials in New York are estimated to cost $US400m and counting.
About the difficulty of false positives given the rarity of terrorists.
Danish police shoot a man trying to enter the home of one of the Danish cartoonists, a Somali national.
British police warn of likely Mumbai-style attack on London.
A quick-thinking (and acting) Dutch passenger frustrates the attempt by a Nigerian to blow up an American airliner. A first person account. The Nigerian’s father had reported his son to the US embassy. A Yemen-based al-Qaeda group claim responsibility. Two of the alleged organiser were released from Gitmo in 2007. More. Further details. About the magical thinking behind most airline security actions, with the best “war on terror” punchline ever:
I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can only foil by upgrading the passengers to first class and giving them free drinks.
About the corrosive effect of exaggerated fear. And also. Reason tv being very funny about the TSA. About the dysfunctional US system, the Israeli system and the utility of profiling. The TSA puts Joan Rivers (76, famous, Jewish) off a flight because of her passport being “fishy”. US official “border bullies” in action. Prominent US war-correspondent and former US soldier gets arrested by US Customs at Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money he makes. I wonder how much anti-big-government sentiment in the US is generated by experience with arrogant and dysfunctional US federal bureaucracies.
About the domestic partisan politics of it. Noting that there is not a lot of difference in the anti-terrorism policies of the Dubya and Obama Administrations. Hitch saying it with his usual verve:
Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent? The answer to the first question is: Because we can't-or won't. The answer to the second question is: Because we can. …
What nobody in authority thinks us grown-up enough to be told is this: We had better get used to being the civilians who are under a relentless and planned assault from the pledged supporters of a wicked theocratic ideology. These people will kill themselves to attack hotels, weddings, buses, subways, cinemas, and trains. They consider Jews, Christians, Hindus, women, homosexuals, and dissident Muslims (to give only the main instances) to be divinely mandated slaughter victims.
Some suggestions about what ought to be done.
Recent events in Yemen as a reprise of 2001-02.
The Obama Administration is using drone attacks more than its predecessor.
Seven CIA staff killed in suicide attack at Khost in Afghanistan. Reporter and four Canadian soldiers killed in bomb blast. Some PowerPoint™ slides used by Marines to explain some Afghanistan pointers to other Marines. A teepee memorial to killed soldiers in Afghanistan.
Iraq has its first month (since April 2003) without a US combat death.