Archive for August, 2005

Reality Check for Sunni Arabs (08/28/2005 entry)

Here’s a good post, especially the lengthy discussion of the border patrol situation:

The newly reconstituted border guards are short of radios, sensors (night vision goggles, motion sensors, searchlights), weapons, vehicles, food and fuel. Part of this is just the getting everyone everything while the border guard force is rapidly built from nothing. Saddam’s border guard was pretty corrupt and incompetent, and no great loss. A new one is still being formed.

But a major reason for the material shortages is corruption. An old Iraqi tradition is that, at every level of the bureaucracy, the guy in charge takes a cut of the budget. Not a lot of the money gets down to the individual border guard level. Cracking down on the corruption has been viewed as something of an unnatural act. Iraqis are still split on the corruption issue. Many Iraqis believe that eliminating corruption, in an abstract sense, is a good thing. But when it comes down to the their level, and leaving a bribe on the table, there is much less enthusiasm for clean government. But the American advisors are rubbing everyone’s noses into the results, pointing out that the border guards are ill-equipped because Iraqi officials up the line stole the money. Many Iraqis are not happy with having this pointed out to them, but most make the connection and accept the fact that there is a problem that only Iraqis can solve.

There’s much more and you should go read it.

Deployment blues

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:

With the last five soldiers of the 3,800 member Stryker Brigade Combat Team leaving today for an anticipated yearlong deployment to Iraq, Fairbanks is already experiencing a noticeable void. While the greatest pains will be felt by friends and families of the soldiers, the local economy is already noticing the effects of the largest Army deployment out of Alaska since the Vietnam War, which not only means thousands of soldiers are deployed for the year, but that some of their families are also leaving the area.

The loss of 3,800 Stryker Brigade soldiers and about 20% of their families (who are moving to the Lower 48, at least temporarily) will have a significant impact on local businesses over the next year. Fortunately for Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks, a couple of Aviation units will be arriving in a few months, one back from Iraq and one transferred from Korea, so that the blow should be softened a bit.

As has been noted in virtually every single news story on the 172nd over the past year, this is the largest military deployment from Alaska since the Vietnam War.

New Orleans is being evacuated.

Girl’s story of dad was a hoax, paper says

While maybe not as disgusting and morally bereft as some of the hooligans at funerals or outside military hospitals, I think that this stunt take the cake:

CARBONDALE, Ill. – For two years, Carbondale residents have been riveted by the writing of a little girl imploring her father in Iraq: “Don’t die, OK?”

Only now are they learning there was never any danger of that.

The Daily Egyptian, Southern Illinois University’s student-run newspaper, today will admit to its readers that the saga – of a little girl’s published letters to her father serving in Iraq – was apparently an elaborate hoax perpetrated by a woman who claimed to be the girl’s aunt.

The woman dreamed the whole thing up, even taking the girl to the newsroom on occasion and once getting a man to play the part of the girls dad “back home on furlough”. Then they claimed he had been killed and held a little memorial service…with pictures of a man who didn’t look like the other man.

I can’t really excerpt parts that stand out, because it would be most of the article. Go read.

More here, including:

There is no soldier named Dan Kennings. The charming girl people came to know as Kodee Kennings is someone else entirely, a child from an out-of-state family led to believe she was playing a part in a documentary about a soldier.

Using role players, including an employee of a local Christian radio station, the woman at the center of the hoax spun a remarkable wartime tale so compelling it grabbed the hearts of young journalists, university faculty members and readers, and left them blind to the possibility it could all be a ruse. There appears never to have been a monetary motive. In fact, the reasons behind all the lies remain unclear.

And the memorial service:

On Saturday morning, cars began pulling into the gravel parking lot of a one-story American Legion hall in Orient, Ill., about 30 miles northeast of Carbondale. Hastings and Kodee got out of a red Grand Am, the little girl wearing an Army uniform shirt that hung down to her knees.

People inside the memorial service said both Hastings and Kodee were in tears. A video showing Dan Kennings in his fatigues speaking with a group of children at a church was playing, and there was a scrapbook filled with pictures of Kennings straddling a tank cannon or huddling with other soldiers.

This story has a lot of additional info so check it out as well.

Looking through some of the “Kenningsology” columns (examples here, here, and here), I can see how people got sucked into this. I’m not quite so sure about how the reporter(s) got suckered into it.

Just plain weird. (via Malkin)

A Hoist to the Heavens
I have long been a proponent of the “space elevator” and “beanstalk” approach. While I think in the long term this method of reaching earth orbit will be used greatly, I don’t share the optimism of those that think it’s going to happen soon.

Environmental Warship: HMS Northumberland
Enviro-friendly anti-fouling.

$2 for water for a year
A straw-like system that is good for sucking up and filtering 700 liters of water. Buy in bulk and distribute.

Air Force investigates data breach
You’d think this would be a far more severe crime than your run-of-the-mill illegal identity theft. By several orders of magnitude.

Goalie attends concert; team loses 50-1
Ouch.

National Electric Drag Racing Association
I really don’t have anything to say about this one.

Amazon.com Starts Selling Digital ‘Shorts’
Check ‘em out here.

Talks on single next-gen DVD format said over
Jerks.

Doctor in trouble for calling patient obese
The patient says he was “hurtful, not helpful”. Unless the patient isn’t overweight, she wins a Five Dollar Rule award.

Expand offshore drilling? U.S. wants feedback
Although cautiously supportive of increased drilling efforts (such as ANWR) I believe that all such moves should only come tied to significant increases in automobile mileage requirements.

Lost – The Complete First Season (2004)
Trying to decide if I should get this and pore over it frame by frame or just drop the whole thing and not even bother with the second season.

Frog Baseball
Do not–I repeat: NOT–click this link. An itch upon the reader who sent it in.

Chopping

3 Sites:
No endorsement implied. But worth a click.

Live From The FDNF
“Analysis and discussion of the 7th Fleet AOR (Area Of Reponsibility) and the world beyond), along with the occasional sea story from a member of the FDNF (Forward Deployed Naval Forces).”

Gates of Vienna
“At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war.”

Mark A. R. Kleiman
“A weblog for the reality-based community. Politics, policy, and philosophy. Science and spirituality. Literature and life. Did I leave anything out?”
If you’re an MO regular and generally agree with me, you’re bound to disagree with a lot on this one. But I think it’s worth watching.

Panel rejects closing South Dakota air base

The BRAC hearings are full of emotion and are “politically delicate”, as the article states.

The only reason I note this particular result is that as a kid at summer Bible camp one year, the farm trailer that about 20 of us younglings were jammed onto for a hay ride or something suffered a flat tire. The camp was in South Dakota, though I don’t know exactly where. As we all sat there waiting for a counselor to run back to camp for a spare tire, a long line of B-52 bombers appeared and flew over, one after the other. They were LOW, and the ground shook as each one roared past trailing a fair amount of black exhaust.

And when I say LOW, I mean L-O-W. We could almost feel the heat as those BUFFs passed almost directly overhead our broken-down trailer.

I don’t know if we were close to Ellsworth and they were taking off or landing, or if they were on some sort of exercise, or what. But they about shook us out of our socks.

I must have been about 10 or 11 at the time, and when one flew past I shouted “B-52 STRAT-O-FORTress!!!” and held my arms up, fists clenched, in victory like some referee signaling a touchdown. Probably looked more than a bit goofy. But as each one followed in turn I repeated the arm pumping, though I refrained from yelling any more.

Remember. This was summer Bible camp for elementary-aged kids. And it was about 1979 or 1980, so visions of B-52 formations had a very different connotation for most adult Americans. One of the counselors told me to tone it down.

But who listens to camp counselors when they’re 10 or 11?

UPDATE: Just noticed this pic at Frontline Photos:

A decommissioned B-1 bomber with the markings of the 28th Bomb Wing is seen against the sunset on Wednesday at the Air and Space Museum at the Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., one of several bases under consideration on Thursday for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC).

I visited the museum last fall and don’t recall seeing a B-1, so this must a very recent addition. Ellsworth traded in B-52s for B-1s in the late 1980s.

Ma Duce Gunner is back in Iraq.

And it’s Time to Ride:

Then it happens. “Mount UP!!!!!” cries the Lieutentant, and circles of men scatter, striding quickly to their modern day up-armored chariots. The ‘riiiiiiiip’ of velcro can be heard, from body armor being adjusted and re-adjusted and thin, sturdy tactical gloves donned, the ‘snap’ of plastic buckles being connected, and gunners clamoring onto the roofs of their gunships. “Good to go!!!” can be heard throughout the motor pool, over slamming doors and idling engines, as final crew checks are done.

“RedCon 1″ comes over the radio, as the truck commanders check in with the Platoon leader. All is ready. Armor is on, ammo ready to be loaded into clean weapons, radios constantly chattering.

“Renegades, this is Renegade 6, follow my move.” The truck lurches forward as we pull out of our spot and into line. The dust fills my nostrils as we move; I grip the handles of Mama Deuce for stability… I am back, and it is time to ride. I love this stuff.

All engine, all the time. Image from Screaming Eagles.

Alleged Iraq bomber was denied entry into U.S.: Customs agents in Chicago turned back Jordanian in June 2003, memo says

Via a reader:

U.S. Customs authorities blocked a Jordanian man from entering the country 20 months before he was accused of carrying out an Iraq suicide bombing, according to an internal Homeland Security memo obtained Wednesday.

The Aug. 22 memo to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff credited Customs agents with identifying Ra’ed Mansour al-Banna as a suspicious traveler on June 14, 2003, when he flew into Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Yeah, but what about all the other Ra’ed Mansour al-Bannas on the list that are being needlessly hassled by The Man? How dare they protect us like that!

And get this:

Al-Banna has been accused of carrying out one of Iraq’s deadliest suicide bombing — the Feb. 28 attack in Hillah that killed 125 people.

But the Jordanian government and al-Banna’s family said he carried out a different suicide bombing in Iraq. The terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the Hillah bombing.

“Yeah! Our son didn’t blow those people…he blew up THOSE people! Get it right…”

Sheesh.

Troops rout Taliban in Afghan fighting

And here’s a pic from Frontline Photos:

Soldiers disembark from an Army helicopter on their way to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Tuesday.

Seems like we’re making slow but steady progress there. Must be, since we don’t ever hear about it.