Archive for November, 2003
The pictures of the M1 tank destroyed by anti-tank mines have been removed from Strategy Page because they are classified. MO didn’t save copies, and would not make them available if it did.
Apparently, though, the picutes of the mystery projectile penetration aren’t classified. Weird.
James Rummel at Hell in a Handbasket (which has been one of MO’s biggest supporters by the way) linked to my earlier post about desperate terrorists and called it “a different take on the situation.” Although I don’t agree 100% with the point that the terrorists are getting desperate, I felt that I should clarify my position a bit.
I wrote in his comments
Let’s just say I’m cautious. Born a skeptic, and all. Thanks for your support. It’s appreciated.
and
Actually, I think ALL of the terrorist attacks have a certain desperation about them. Suicide bombing a checkpoint or attacking a tank with a machine gun and a pick-up truck certainly has an air of desperation about it, doesn’t it? Regular guys, or even regular Iraq Army types, don’t attack United States soldiers if they aren’t desperate.However, I’m hesitant to think the recent bombings are any more desperate than previous attacks. I’m just not quite ready to figure that we’ve turned some sort of corner here. That’s all.
As a matter of fact, a corner may have been turned a while back when more and more foreign terrorists began entering Iraq to attack our troops. Attacks on UN and Red Cross facilities aren’t carried out by warriors who think they’re doing well.
What I’m not ready to accept, though, is that we should claim we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe we think we can, but at this point we shouldn’t be making a big deal out of it. If we’re close to pacifying the country, that’s great. When the attacks slow to a trickle, everyone will know. But what if attackers keep up their current pace, or even increase? Then we’ll just look back at any proclamations of victory as errors, or worse, as lies.
How many times has the media announced some statistic measured in reference to when Bush landed on that carrier and announced the end of major combat? We don’t really need another event like that at this point, do we?
I think, overall, that we’re continuing to make headway in Iraq. And few have mentioned that, in some areas at least, patrols and security were relaxed a little due to Ramadan. This could explain at least some of the increased bravery of our enemies. Still, our adversaries remain tenacious, cunning, and well-armed. I’d rather we announce things are going to get worse and be mistaken than announce they’re about to improve a week before everything goes to hell in a, um, handbasket. (Sorry, James. Couldn’t resist.)
And as for the Saudis, who were the original subject of my original post, I remain convinced that Mr. Rummel is 100% dead on target when he says “Until the money is shut off there won’t be any real change.”
Bullseye.
Guess the Dictator or Sit-Com Character
This thing is 3 for 3 against me.
Mint unveils new nickel design
I’m trying to figure out if this is a serious story or not. It’s about the new designs for the back of the nickel, and it’s just plain bizarre. Here is some of the “news” quotes about this subject from Floridatoday.com:
- Businesses and consumers said it’s good the nickel — the penny’s big brother and dime’s bulkier cousin — is getting a face-, er, tail-lift, because it is a highly undervalued and unappreciated member of the coin family.
- “People don’t use nickels enough,” she said. “I think it’s because it’s just as easy to get five pennies out of your pocket. But, with a new nickel, everyone would want one. It was time for a change.”
- Sandie Leonard routinely uses excess change — including nickels — to grab some handfuls of goodies at Candy Candy.
- Nickels are a necessity at Candy Candy, said Kayte Van Dyne, the store’s assistant manager. She said so many people need change with their confections, she keeps an extra store of hard currency in the back. “That way, if we ever need more change, we can go to the back and get it,” she said. “People use change to buy candy all the time.”
- On the new nickel, Van Dyne had to admit, “I think it’s cool,” but she had hoped the front of the coin was changed as well. “I am tired of seeing dead presidents on our money. I am over it,” Van Dyne said.
- “They [nickels] are nice and fat,” she said, adding that pennies should be “done away with and dimes always fall because they are littler.”
- Gary Overton, owner of The Coin Shop in Satellite Beach for the past 14 years, is not a fan of the nickel himself, saying, “It’s a waste to even have them. What are they good for?”
- But he said new coins “enthuse collectors because we have the most-boring money in the world. Before, we had artistic money — Liberty with flowing hair. Now, it’s all politicians.”
- Nickels weren’t always so scoffed at, said Kay Decker, a retiree living in West Melbourne.
(I just realized that I cut and pasted over half of the article.)
What kind of “news” is this? Is it me, or is this totally nuts? I mean, the nickel ” highly undervalued and unappreciated member of the coin family”? Undervalued?
Isn’t it still worth five cents?
It’s money folks. I’ve got nothing against the new design. But this is just the weirdest news story I’ve ever read.
Maybe it’s just me.
Compared to this, the Scrappleface story that tipped me off seems to be perfectly reasonable.
James Rummel over at Hell in a Handbasket points out a James Lileks post about the recent bombing in Saudi Arabia. Lileks writes
“And it would seem to be an act of audacious stupidity by Al Qaeda — this isn’t just biting the hand that feeds them. This is biting it, tearing it off, chewing it up, and blowing smoke rings with the bone powder.“And it makes me wonder: They stick the shiv in the ribs of their richest and most enthusiastic backers.
“What makes them this confident?”
Rummel responds with
It’s not confidence. It’s desperation. It’s crunch time. It’s “use it or lose it” for the terrorists. Or at least a faction of them.Those of us interested in military and law enforcement matters have known that the Saudis have been cracking down on al Queda for awhile now, but they’ve never really been all that serious about it. As Winds of Change points out, there’s been all sorts of gun battles between the police and the terrorists inside Saudi Arabia of late, but none of the real support for the organization has been touched. Until the money is shut off there won’t be any real change.
This is a great point. I’m not totally convinced that the bombing was an act of desperation, but I’m open to the possibility. And I’m not at all convinced that Saudi Arabia is really acting like a friend of ours. Their efforts to cut down on terrorism funding and other support in their country haven’t really impressed me yet.
I’m open to the idea that the lack of serious pressure from us may be due to behind-the-scenes negotiating, though. Maybe we’ve allowed them to publicly hem and haw while they work to get their house in order. We have a serious interest in that black liquid they’re sitting on top of, and I’m sure that we don’t want to risk upsetting them too much. (You’re either FOR us or AGAINST us in this war. Unless you’ve got proven oil reserves. Then it’s negotiable.)
I do hope this bombing is a sign of desperation. I do hope that the Saudis begin cooperating in earnest. But I’ll believe it when I see it. Like Mr. Rummel says, “Until the money is shut off there won’t be any real change.”
Incidentally, I haven’t seen any claims that the CIA planted the bomb to nudge the Saudis and to keep everyone afraid. Weird. Someone must be slipping.
DefenseTech pointed out last week that funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) has been cut in half. The weapon is a nuke-u-ler bomb designed to penetrate and take out buried, hardened bunkers. And caves, I imagine. The sorts of places where the leaders of our enemies spend a lot of their time.
It just occurred to me today that this is a double whammy for everyone’s favorite Military-Industrial Complex. Not only do they not get to research and build the bombs, but they also lose the potiential business of building RNEP-resistant bunkers for our enemies or rebuilding the enemy bunkers our RNEPs might have taken out.
Bummer.
1,300 reservists allege job discrimination after demobilization
Phil Carter at Intel Dump points out a report in the WaPo.
About 1,300 National Guardsmen and reservists filed complaints with the Labor Department in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, saying they suffered discrimination at work when they returned to their regular jobs after their tours of duty, government officials said. It couldn’t be learned whether any were returning from Iraq.
This is a DISGRACE.
Let’s see a list of offending companies. The article mentions the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado, Stevens Transport Inc., a Dallas-based trucking firm, and Pert Andreassi Construction Management in New York.
I’m not suggesting that we just go out and raise hell about this right now. First, let’s make sure that the companies acted improperly. If they did, let’s just go out and raise some hell. A boycott of some American companies by angry Americans, for instance, would have a far greater effect than calling those little potato things you get with your burger “freedom fries.”
Carte notes
At the end of the day, our soldiers pay a heavy price for their decisions to serve in the military, especially those with jobs in the private sector. If we want reservists who are able to make a good living as civilians and serve their country as part-time warriors, we need to take a hard look at these legal protections and see if they need adjustment for today’s reservists. The laws were written at a time when a major mobilization was only expected in the case of another world war — that’s no longer the case. Today’s reservist must live with constant mobilizations, and I think these legal protections are probably insufficient for that situation.
As they say…Indeed. Very Indeed.
Six. (One to cut the power to the entire city, one to blow the main bridge, one to call in the air strike, and three to organize resistance among the partisans. At this point you’re basically buggered.)
MO is a big fan of the Polish GROM special forces units. They quietly played a part in the invasion of Iraq, capturing an oil rig in the early days of the campaign.
As they advanced towards the rig’s control centre, it was far from clear if Saddam would use chemical weapons or even if the platform itself was a booby-trapped.“Suddenly an old telephone we passed on the platform began to ring. We held our breath thinking the ringer could be a fuse mechanism for a bomb,” recalled an officer who took part in the mission.
“After a few rings it went quiet. Probably a wrong number,” said the 31-year-old commando from his base on Poland’s Baltic Sea coast.
GROM troopers also helped clear the port of Umm Qasar, captured a key dam, and took part in the hunt for Saddam. Poland had wanted to keep its combat participation in Iraq quiet, but was forced to admit that it was kicking some serious ass when a few GROM troopers showed up in news photos.
I’m a little unclear about the current status of GROM units in Iraq. I thought that I had read earlier that they all were back home. A Reuters story last Friday indicates that they’re still hunting the Big ‘S’, but the entire story is a verbatim copy of a the SwissInfo story I linked to above the quote. The SwissInfo story is dated last Thursday, but the byline indicates it’s from July. I believe that I’ve read the story before, but I cannot be certain. Yahoo!UK-Ireland also carries the story with a recent date. I’m not sure what’s going on.
In any event, the GROM forces were a welcome addition to the allied army and have earned themselves a reputation for being serious, skilled professionals.
Strategy Page has a post (11/11 entry) about the GROM forces.
GROM members tend to be older than the average soldier, the average age being closer to 30 than 20. Applicant must speak at least two foreign languages and be in above average physical shape. The training program takes about three years and is said to cost close to a million dollars per trainee.GROM troops operate in four man cells, which is patterned after the British SAS. A lot of their work is done in civilian clothes and it is believed that the female members do most of their work in reconnaissance and stake outs.
Yeah. And if you get the bounce on one of those girls they probably kill you DEAD in about three seconds.
The SP post points out that there are political problems surrounding the unit. Although they are definitely a military-type unit, they report to Poland’s Interior Ministry, not the Ministry of Defense. There have been some attempts to break GROM up, but they are becoming too good and well-known to do that now. Good. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I think Poland is an important ally of ours, and I think they will be for years to come. I think they understand some things about the world that many others choose to ignore, and they appreciate many things about the world that some others take for granted.
Also check out this excellent Weekly Standard piece on GROM. I’ve linked to it before, but it’s worth pointing out again.
And here’s a big page on FreeRepublic with a ton of pics.
School drug raid causes uproar
If you haven’t seen the video of the big drug raid at the Goose Creek, SC, high school, you should check it out at the link above. I don’t know how long it will be available.
Police officers, guns drawn, line up students face-down and search them. What appear to by school officials look on as officers, some with dogs, make their way down the line.
The principal, George McCrackin, received “tips” from “informants” that campus drug dealers might be armed. He has a vast network of surveillance equipment available to him. They’ve been working the case for weeks. Despite the sensationalism, the bust went off without a hitch. Only one problem. (Wait for it!)
No drugs were found. (badda-boom.)
Is this school an example of George Orwell’s 1984 coming to pass? Maybe. But how often do we hear complaints that school officials are clueless about what happens in their halls? Is this perhaps just the world we live in today? In any case, the row of computer monitors, each with sixteen camera images on the screen, creeps me out. And when does tattling on fellow students cross the line from “neighborhood watch” to “informing?” I believe that these are very difficult issues, but issues that need to be discussed.
Was the way police conducted the raid overkill? Looking at the results, of course it was. But what if there had been armed dealers who were prepared to fight? What if a police officer and three bystander students were killed, along with three drug dealers, in a surprise shoot-out? Wouldn’t police then be questioned about why they didn’t use more force to prevent such an event from beginning?
Or should using police to raid schools be forbidden? There are so many things that can go wrong, and so many children that could be caught in the middle of a bad situation, that maybe they should be outlawed. But how, then, do you get the bad guys?
And have no doubt that there are bad guys in school. Every school. Do the particular dealers that McCrackin and the police were after last week exist? I don’t know. But to imagine that there are no drugs in that school, or in any school anywhere, is simply ignorant.
There’s suspicion that the dealers were tipped off about the raid by informants of their own. Bad guys are, by definition, bad. They are often very smart and usually very clever. The dumb ones don’t generally last very long.
Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit himself, writes about this issue on his MSNBC page.
There seem to be two possibilities here. Either the situation at Stratford High School is just as bad as Principal McCrackin and the police think, in spite of stormtrooper tactics and Big Brother surveillance, or it’s not. If it is that bad, well, I certainly wouldn’t want my kid going there. And if it’s not that bad, but the police and principal are too stupid, or too power-drunk, to admit it, well, then I wouldn’t want my kid going there either.
He notes that this event could helps those who support private schools or vouchers, which would allow parents to move their kids to a less dangerous school, and homeschoolers, who dispense with school altogether. I agree in principle, but I’m not sure that school choice will make a big impact overall. Wherever you go, especially if there’s money to be made, you will have this sort of problem. At home, homeschool parents have a gigantic amount of control and non-intrusive supervision/surveillance, but that simply isn’t an option for everyone. And even if it was, not all homeschool parents are created equal. I support both school-choice and the homeschool concept, but not primarily because I worry about this type of situation.
I hope I’m not making too big of a comparison when I bring up the WMD hunt in Iraq. When you look at it, this situation is remarkably similar to what has transpired in the Middle East. Like Principal McCrackin, we are absolutely sure in our minds that the bad guys had stuff that they weren’t supposed to have. We have a lot of evidence to back those beliefs up. But when the troops move in with weapons drawn, we get nothing at all and some of the leading bad guys are still at large. Does that mean that intelligence was wrong and there wasn’t any bad stuff? I don’t think so. Does that mean that we have to stop trying to get the bad guys since they’re so damn sneaky that we’ll never catch them red-handed? I don’t think so. Does that mean that we’re going to have to do a better job getting our facts straight, formulating a workable plan, and use force only when there’s no other way? I certainly hope so.
Like Iraq, I don’t think inspections for drugs at the high school in South Carolina would have worked. Sure, they would have rounded up a few things every now and again, but overall they would have failed miserably. Force is one way, and often the only way, to deal with some situations. But there are a lot of other options available most of the time and I hope that the decision makers, whether in the White House, Langley, VA, or in principal’s offices across the nation, work hard to make the right call at the right time.
That being said, I’m not sure how changing the Pledge of Allegiance is going to solve anything.
Kellen Winslow, Jr., the University of Miami star tight end, leveled two Tennessee players on one play during Miami’s loss to the Volunteers. When one of the players, injured, did not get up right away, Winslow stood over him and taunted him. When asked about his actions after the game, Winslow explained
“It’s war.”…”They’re out there to kill you, so I’m out there to kill them. We don’t care about anybody but this U. They’re going after my legs. I’m going to come right back at them. I’m a … soldier.”
Huh?
I commend his commitment to his team and to his school, but to compare a football game to a war is either ignorant or just plain dishonest.
I’m not sure what the elipsis represents, though. Does it mean he paused (either for dramatic effect or because he forgot the word ‘soldier’) or does it represent edited words? For all we know from this story, the last sentence of the quote could have been “I’m a humble American who has a great deal of respect for those overseas fighting so that I can go to college and prepare to play NFL football for millions of dollars per year instead of being a soldier.” Doesn’t seem likely, though.
The comparison to war reminds me of a New York Giants player, before the championship game against Buffalo in 1991, who said of the troops who were building up in Saudi Arabia to attack Iraq and free Kuwait, “They’ve got their war. We’ve got ours.” I don’t recall who the player was that said that, and a quick search returned nothing, but it has stuck in my mind ever since.
I always find it a more than a little offensive when someone says “I feel like I’ve been through a war” after a bad day or “Of course, you know this means war” after someone gets a practical joke played on him. Thankfully, the vast majority of us have never experienced war, so we can at least be forgiven for our ignorance. I’m thankful for mine. But we’ve all seen the first thirty minutes of Saving Private Ryan, haven’t we? I don’t know anyone who’s had a day at the office that was that bad. War metaphors can have their uses, but they are over-used, especially in the world of sports. And if you use them while there are actually some of your countrymen overseas fighting an actual war, they are particularly appalling. Even more so when used to explain actions of questionable sportsmanship.
The best thing I can say about Kellen Winslow, Jr. today is that I was a big fan of his dad.
