Suspicious Passengers Questioned In France

We seem to have made it through just fine so far, and those passengers detained over the past couple of days have all apparently been released. I must admit that this one had me more than a bit jumpy. It was one of those “feelings,” and I kept turning on the news during our Christmas celebrations to make sure everything was still all right.

During an hour-long drive to visit with family after church on Wednesday, I voiced my fears. Here are some random thoughts of mine, and they don’t really apply just to this event, but to every single day for the rest of all history.

1. This news seems to have gone public pretty quickly. Although we may have been able to nab some bad guys by keeping a lid on things, I’m not sure how you could keep something like this quiet for any amount of time. With hundreds of passengers on each flight, the first thing they’ll do when they learn their flight is cancelled is call friends and relatives to make a change in plans. Even if we try to keep them quiet, the ubiquitous cell phone is going to make keeping them silent nearly impossible. This problem means that bad guys aren’t likely to show up and board until the last possible minute, when they’re as certain as they can be that the jig isn’t up.
2. The flights from Paris to the US would be fairly low on fuel by the time they reach our soil, wouldn’t they? Although obviously a great deal of damage could still be done, full tanks increase the warhead of a jetliner-bomb greatly. Maybe Paris flights could be targeting London?
3. Maybe the Air France “plot” is a diversion for the real operation. Al Qaeda knows that we’ve penetrated some of their cells and that we’ve compromised some of their communication lines. Perhaps they send groups that they think are being watched on a mission like this, expecting it to “fail” while the real group goes ahead with the real mission. AQ is out some operatives that were of limited value at most. And using Air France plays along with our distrust of the French. We’re just that much more likely to take the bait.
4. Similar to the above, maybe AQ is throwing away compromised cells to test our defenses and gauge our reactions. Something along the lines of a football team calling a pre-set number of scripted plays early in a game to see what the defense does against those formations. Then they take what they’ve learned and adjust the parts that didn’t work. Later in the game, they can go for the big bomb with a solid idea of the defense’s plan. But in this case, it won’t be a “Hail Mary.”
5. To disrupt things and score a victory against us, they don’t actually need to do anything. They simply need to make us think they’re doing something. Grounding six Air France flights will make the headlines and inconvenience a few hundred travellers. Not good, but bearable by all involved. What happens, though, if dozens of flights get cancelled? Especially around a travel-intense holiday like Christmas? For a relatively light effort, the bad guys could really cause some damage without killing a single person or blowing up anything at all. Sort of the World War Four version of some kids pulling the fire alarm or calling in a phony bomb-threat to get out of school for a day. We can’t not react seriously. But this could start happening every couple of weeks.
6. AQ could be manipulating the US and France into having even more strained relations. Although Americans like to joke that we’re stronger without the French than with them, the more we can cooperate and fight a common enemy together, the better. France has a very large Muslim population, and that could become increasingly important as this war drags on. The family connections and ideological sympathies that many Muslims in France have can be used against the West. If AQ can drive the wedge between France and the US deeper, that will only hurt our ability to help each other when needed.

As I said, I don’t know that any of this applies to the current Air France events, but it could. Our enemy is strong and cunning, and he knows that a direct confrontation can only end with his defeat. That is why he is fighting the way that he is fighting, and that is why we cannot let our guard down for even a moment. He is trying to use the very freedom that we hold so dear against us. We must be prepared for the possibilities that our victories may be strengthening him.

UPDATE: USS Clueless, admittedly anti-France, writes

OK, let me get this straight. Seven men on an American terrorist watch list were all found to have purchased tickets on the same Air France flight from Paris to Los Angeles. Our people alerted the French, who cancelled the flight, took them all into custody, and after briefly questioning them released them all. French action was big and showy and will have the effect of convincing those men and their friends to make their next attempt against us from somewhere else.

France is safe. We are not.

I hadn’t really thought of this in that light. Perhaps it was France that was being tested as much as the system in general?

Santa brought me the DVD of 12 Monkeys, a long-time favorite of mine and the only time travel movie that doesn’t seem to be filled with huge, obvious time travel plot holes big enough to drive a DeLorian through.

Brad Pitt, just emerging as a superstar, plays the part of a mentally-unstable asylum patient and animal-rights wacko to perfection. IMDb notes a rumor that
the persona was achieved by taking away Pitt’s cigarettes.

My favorite line (delivered by Pitt’s character Jeffery Goines):

Who cares what psychiatrists write on walls?

I haven’t listened to the commentary track with director Terry Gilliam yet, but I imagine that it’s going to be insightful and fun.

Decision at least month away on where to sink old carrier

The USS Oriskany, veteran of Korea and Vietnam, is going to be sunk as an artificial reef somewhere. The decision on where she’ll go has yet to be made. The 888 foot-long Essex-class carrier will be the largest ship ever purposefully sunk as an artificial reef. Depending where and how deep, I imagine that she will also become a favorite target for sport divers. Four spots are under consideration, three in the Gulf of Mexico and one on the Atlantic coast of Georgia and South Carolina.

The Oriskany was laid down in 1944 and launched in 1945, but she wasn’t completed or commissioned until 1950 after fighting broke out on the Korean penninsula. She incorporated many new design features that had been worked out during and after WW2.

It always makes me a little sad to see these veterans go. But I guess an artificial reef is a better fate than the breakers.

For some good personal sites about the Oriskany, including tons of good photos, check out THE USS ORISKANY – MEMORIES OF VIETNAM and In a class by herself….

The 101st Celebrates Christmas in Northern Iraq

Click the pic for a hi-res shot. Notice that every 5th round in the belt of ammo are orange-tipped tracers.

Japan and Fried Chicken: A New Christmas Tradition?

When Kentucky Fried Chicken opened up shop in Japan three decades ago, it wasn’t terribly popular. People in Japan ate very little meat, especially poultry, at the time.

What to do? Sell them what they DO eat? That would require changing menus and stuff. Expensive. The answer lies with the marketing department.

Just convince the Japanese that KFC is an American Christmas tradition.

Apparently marketing campaigns, special holiday menus, and misconceptions have managed to make the days around the Christian holiday the biggest sales days in Japan for KFC. And it’s because many people there think that Americans gobble the stuff up themselves.

A large chart on the wall lists customers’ reservations for the limited number of chicken dinners available on December 23, 24 and 25. Kentucky Fried Chicken is so popular on these three days that ordering ahead is the only way to guarantee getting the meal.

Americans are far more likely to be eating home-cooked ham and turkey, plum pudding and mince pies at Christmas. But thanks to a highly successful marketing formula, people here eat Kentucky Fried Chicken and believe they are taking part in an American tradition.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for exporting American values and ideas to others around the world. Just as I’m for importing the values and ideas of other cultures when they can enlighten and improve us. But this marketing scheme seems like outright dishonesty.

One housewife says she buys the fast food chicken every year at this time, and she expressed her surprise when she was told that people across America do not do the same. “Really?…I always crave this chicken at Christmas, and I enjoy bringing it to share at parties,” she says.

Captain Japan, who seems to be holding on by a very thin line, has some of his own observations about the issue:

“Are you going to eat at KFC for your Christmas dinner with your wife?” I asked, loosening a smoke from his pack on the desk.

“Yes,” he said, his left hand propping up his chin, his cigarette in between his middle and index finger.

“Why?” I lit the smoke and puffed twice.

“The size of the chicken is small,” he explained, releasing his grip to give a rough approximation of the chicken’s dimensions with both hands – roughly that of a brick.

This is indeed true and a positively brilliant marketing ploy on the part of KFC. How can a Japanese fit a regular butterball into one of their Mattel Barbie-sized ovens when they can’t even get it past the front door? Of course the answer is simple: provide small meager slabs of bone, skin, and fat, hence giving them what they want – less, and then charge them through the nose for the privilege. A stroke of pure genius, I say. Colonel Sanders was obviously thinking about more than just cornbread and coleslaw as side dishes when he popped his first Japanese bird in the oven on that fateful day in 1971. ‘Brigadier General Sanders’ wouldn’t have been a stretch at that point.

and

As I sipped my coke to soothe my nerves, I asked Junko, “So why can’t I get mashed potatoes here?”

“They are not easy to eat and not easy to make,” she answered positively.

I guess pouring a box of flakes into a bowl, adding hot water, and stirring could be extremely challenging, well at least as difficult as mastering the proper use of the fork.

“Wedge potatoes can be eaten with your fingers,” she said, just before demonstrating her point.

I suppose in the land of four convenience stores to a city block and more vending machines than trashcans, it is not surprising that expedience and ease are insisted upon when it comes to eating. But I still had to know: Why the Colonel’s chicken at Christmas?

“You can’t get a turkey easily in Japan,” she said. “KFC is close enough. Look at this (she pointed at her battered and fried breast). Can you immediately tell the difference?” If my Grandmother had been there at that moment, she would have walked outside, pulled off one of the Colonel’s arms, and banged her over the head with it.

(I’m taking it to mean that “her battered and fried breast” refers to a piece of chicken.) Again, I’ve got no beef (so to speak) with KFC or anyone else setting up shop in Japan or anywhere else. But to deliberately mislead the natives about American traditions and to muscle in by utilizing cheap marketing tactics doesn’t reflect well upon us as a nation.

To be sure, this sort of stuff doesn’t warrant response by suicide missions using hijacked airliners or improvised explosive devices buried in the roadside, and the KFC “tradition” doesn’t seem to really be offending anyone. But if corporations could exercise a little more tact and try to “blend in with” instead of “take over” other cultures, I think that the returns we see in international opinion would definitely be worth it.

Burger King in Baghdad? Great. But let’s quietly fit in over there, not bully others into submission. (That’s what the Army is for.) If they really prefer American hamburgers, supply and demand will dictate expansion. American pop culture isn’t neccessarily better or worse than anyone else’s. Just let the people decide. I believe that American ideas will do quite well on their own.

These reports are all over. Who knows if they’re accurate? Instapundit seems to have a lot of good links.

If the bad guys were trying for Christmas attacks, do you think we stopped them all? It doesn’t seem possible, does it?

Michael Gilbert, the Tacoma, WA, News Tribune journalist embedded with the Stryker brigade in Iraq, was kind enough to respond to an e-mail about the burned out Stryker I posted on yesterday.

I took that photo about a week ago while the Stryker was still stored on the back of the HET they used to tow it in from Samarra. I can only assume the Army Times photo was taken later, as the vehicle is on the ground and as you note the slat armor has been removed. I have not walked back out to the site to see the vehicle again.

I imagine that the Army is interested in looking the wreck over, hoping to find a clue that might help them prevent a recurrence. As you may recall, an improvised explosive device started an engine compartment fire that the crew was unable to put out. The entire vehicle was eventually destroyed.

Mr. Gilbert also writes

I did go over and look at the second Stryker I mentioned in my story. You may be interested to know that literally the only damage to the vehicle was the destruction of the left front wheel. The crew drove the vehicle to safety. A mechanic was on site at the battalion motor pool the next day making repairs.

I’m impressed that Mr. Gilbert replied at all, let alone so quickly. His coverage of the Stryker brigade’s deployment has been top-notch and I recommend it to anyone interested in our newest armored vehicle and them men who man it.

His latest story covers the 1-14 Cavalry, which have stepped up patrols and reconnaissance since the rocket and mortar attack on FOB Pacesetter a couple of days ago. They much prefer being on the move to manning checkpoints, and they figure that they’ve been shot at more than anyone else in the brigade so far.

Gilbert also notes the muck and slime they encounter when it rains. We’re accustomed to seeing the dry, dusty Iraq, but

It doesn’t take much rain to turn the base camp into a muddy bog. In the 24 hours Monday through Tuesday evening, Camp Pacesetter had accumulated about one-tenth of an inch.

But just that little amount of water is enough to put 10 times that much mud on every soldier’s boots. It’s thick, sticky stuff – mostly clay that bakes dry in the sun and wind and then turns to instant sludge in the rain.

The Stryker guys made the Army Times photo gallery again today.

This picture is from today. We’re all gearing up for Christmas Eve while they’re loading up for operations. Let’s not forget them (and all the other servicemen and -women in Iraq and across the globe) while we celebrate.

Speaking of Christmas Eve, here is a pic of a Stryker brigade soldier receiving some gifts from home.

Merry Christmas.

This handy lunar-cycle compliant M&M container was made by using a discarded AA battery 4-pack. Here’s how to make one for yourself:

1. Buy a 4-pack of AA batteries. Brand isn’t important, but make sure it has a hard plastic shell for the batteries. (Hint: Other sized M&M containers may be constructed using other sized battery packs.)
2. Discard the batteries.
3. Load the now-empty plastic shell with your favorite plain M&Ms

These make excellent stocking-stuffers. Well, excellent may be exagerating a bit, but they’re definitely better than the gift of blog.

Merry Christmas.

‘Ghostly’ image on tape at Henry’s palace

I missed this story somehow. It seems that security cameras at Hampton Court Palace in London, home of King Henry VIII in the 16th century, have caught a ghost on film.

On several occasions security guards were alerted to an open fire door in an exhibition area of the palace. After securing the door each time, they returned to their office to view the CCTV footage to see who had opened them.

On the first occasion the footage showed the doors flying wide open, but no evidence of why they had.

On the second, the guards were stunned when a ghostly figure in period dress suddenly appeared on the screen and closed the doors. The same thing happened on a third day, but again no figure appeared.

Here’s another story on the event. and it includes a slideshow of the pictures and a link to the video, though I can’t get the video to work.