Archive for April, 2007

Danger sign.

One of the early battles of what I’ve come to call the Fourth World War was played out in the streets of Tehran in 1979. Obviously the storming of the US Embassy, the taking of hostages, and the failed military rescue attempt were big stories and pivotal events in the early stages of one World War which began even as the previous one was still being fought.

But a lot of folks don’t realize that not all US personnel were taken hostage that day, and that though these few managed to escape the immediate danger in the Embassy itself, they were unable to get out of Iran.

Here’s one amazing story of how some of our folks did some amazing things under some amazing pressure: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran.

Tony Mendez and the CIA created a fake film studio (Studio Six Productions) and project as a cover to get in and out of revolution-torn Iran. They took a stagnating film project, ‘Lord of Light’, and renamed it ‘Argo’. Then they arranged to enter Iran to scout for filming locations.

Really, if you don’t know this story (and I didn’t) you will want to take the time to read the whole thing.

It’s far too good to excerpt meaningfully, but here’s one bit that stuck out a bit:

As time passed, the threat of discovery was mounting. The militants had been combing embassy records and figuring out who was CIA. They had even hired teams of carpet weavers to successfully reassemble shredded documents. (The recovered papers would later be published by the Iranian government in a series of books called Documents From the US Espionage Den.) They might eventually figure out the true number of embassy staff, count heads, and come up short…Back home, the US and Canadian governments were nervous, too. Hints about the escapees had leaked, and several journalists were on the verge of piecing together the story. [emphasis Murdoc's]

So who was the CIA working against? Let’s see, there were the Islamic militants, of course. Oh, and the media.

No doubt it would have been front page news, with names and maps and everything. The American public has a right to know. Freedom of the press, and all.

I don’t know the details of who was figuring what out, how close they were, or if they would have published. But if it all happened again today, I have little doubt that the cat would be let out of the bag by someone.

Any way, go read.

A survey sponsored by Telles(TM), a joint venture of Metabolix, Inc. (MBLX) and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM): National Survey Reveals More than 70% of Americans Don’t Know Plastic is Made from Oil

Press Release covering an InsightExpress survey:

Plastics are everywhere and most Americans have come to rely on plastics in all aspects of their lives. However, very few people realize that plastics are made from oil, further contributing to the problems of energy dependence, greenhouse gas emissions and depleting resources. In fact, nearly 10 percent of U.S. oil consumption – approximately 2 million barrels a day – is used to make plastic.

I happened to know conventional plastics are petroleum-based, and I’m pretty sure that I learned it in the early pages of Alan Dean Foster’s novelization of the film ‘Alien’.

The things you learn if you read as a kid. And I was always fond of Alan Dean Foster’s novelizations.

Buckethead, Minister of Minor Perfidy, had a post up last week about Plan Red, the inter-war plan for a war against Canada. (Yes, you read that right…I’ve railed on and on about the sheer volume of military planning. No time to do so again right now.)

I wanted to dig into the details of Plan Red and comment, but there’s just so much time. So go check out Buckethead’s excellent quick summary. And just remember that when some news organization gets its panties in a bunch because they’ve learned of military plans to bomb Iran or raid Venezuela or land Special Forces on North Korean beaches, we’ve got plans for all sorts of stuff. Some are just in case. Some are just because.

And, while we’re on the subject, Murdoc’s got a Plan Red of his own for the US:

1. Invade Canada from Detroit.

6. Lay mines.

Sequel to ’28 Days Later’. In theaters May 11.

Russian Navy tests Panther Plus submersible

The Panther Plus remotely operated vehicle, made by Britain’s Seaeye Marine, is designed to search for and examine sunken objects as well as perform other underwater missions, both on its own and together with divers or manned submersibles, at depths up to 1,000 meters (3,000 feet).

This is probably a wise move, considering that the Rooskies just launched the Yuri Dolgoruky, the first Borei-class (Arctic Wind) nuclear missile submarine. The boat has been delayed over a decade and the missiles haven’t faired terribly well in testing. Maybe this Panther Plus is on hand to be ready in case of disaster.

From ABC (Australian) Online:

The Yuri Dolgoruky, which takes its name from a Slavic prince who helped defend Moscow, can descend to a depth of 450 metres and can carry 107 sailors.

Actually, the Dolgoruky can descend far, far deeper than 450 meters. It’s the getting back up that’s sometimes a bit of a trick for Russian boats.

Pravda says that the Dolgoruky will not get missiles for at least a year. The Bulava-M is advertised to be able to dodge anti-missile systems. So far, it’s been pretty good at dodging successful tests, too.

That Pravda article also says that all nuclear naval forces will be based on the Kamchatka Peninsula, though the main surface fleet will remain based at Vladivostok.

Ron Coleman: W-M-Denial?

For all the cynical talk about that the –runup to war,” the process was in fact absurdly shlepped out, as anyone who was reading the agonized writings of Andrew Sullivan at the time will recall. The main thing that those of us who favored military action at the time were thinking was that given this amount of time, if there’s anywhere Saddam can stash this stuff, he’s certainly been given ample opportunity to do so.

Although I initially believed that this scenario had a high likelihood of truth to it, I’ve become quite skeptical as the years have gone by. Last summer I had a brief suspicion that Israel’s move into Lebanon may have been related to this idea, but that turned out not to be the case.

A commenter on Coleman’s says that WMDs couldn’t have been smuggled to Syria before the invasion, however, because the border “was watched carefully”. Here’s Murdoc’s response:

Though not really a strong supporter of the “they shipped the WMD to Syria” theory, the “we were watching the border” theory is even more laughable.

C’mon, folks. Four years after the invasion, with Marines all over the place and undenied air supremacy, drones by the hundreds, and Iraqi allies, we still can’t keep that border all the way closed.

My skepticism comes mainly from the fact that, though some evidence of ongoing programs has been uncovered, I just don’t think they could have hidden 99.9% of it so well that it’s still not been found.

But if you’re just dead set on knowing what really happened, be sure to check out The Real Story of Jessica Lynch, starting on Op-For.

This sorta reminds me of that early 1980s two-parter about a Soviet raid into Alaska. Part 1 ended with US troops (I think National Guard led by David Soul and Cathy Lee Crosby) hunkered down in oil pipeline segments awaiting the Rooskie attack:

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Larry Clapper and Spc. Christopher Dotson take a break while an Iraqi army soldier searches unused sewage pipes at a factory in Mansour, Iraq, April 14, 2007. Clapper and Dotson are both from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. DoD photo by Sgt. Tierney P. Nowland, U.S. Army. (Released)

Speaking of Alaska and the Rooskies, a reader had this comment on the Russian proposal to build a tunnel under the Bering Sea:

If they actually do this, you’ll be able to drive from/to pretty much anywhere in the world except Antarctica and that weird penal continent down under!

Training the Iraqi Army and the Order of Battle

Bill Roggio:

The fact is that the U.S. and Iraqi government continue to push the training of additional Iraqi combat and support troops, and are funding a dramatic growth in the capabilities in the Iraqi Security Forces. The Congress’ failure to pass the Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) Supplemental Budget is the only thing holding up the growth and training of the Iraqi military.

The Iraqi forces appear to be improving by leaps and bounds, though that is threatened, just like everything else, by the spending impasse.

We’ve talked at length in the past of the difference between ‘Level 1′ and ‘Level 2′ Iraqi units. A huge part of that difference is the logistical capability of the Iraqi forces.

Currently, the Iraqi Army has about 13,000 support personnel to sustain a 138,000 man force. The expansion of support personnel by 33,000 troops by the end of 2007 would provide the bare minimum support necessary for independent operations. The money to train the support units cannot be legally reappropriated from U.S. budgets to fund a foreign military equipment/training program, so the programs has stopped. This weakness in current Iraqi Security Forces structure is the focus of U.S. training in the “Year of Logistics.”

Many who still pretend to “support the troops” say the deadlines and threats to cut funding are for the good of the Iraqi forces. By arbitrarily surrendering the battlefield, the story seems to go, US forces will push the Iraqis into the deep end of the pool to sink or swim on their own. But cutting the funding, stopping the training, is hurting the very capability of the Iraqi forces deadline demanders say should be fighting instead of Americans.

Roggio also discusses the plans to expand the armored and mechanized capability of the Iraqi army, including the addition of several hundred M60 tanks. Go read.