Archive for May, 2007
Fortress America’s gate is open
If you’ve been bored beyond tears, it’s possible that you followed the comment thread on a recent post about the plot to attack Fort Dix. One of the main criticsims of, well, actually I’m not sure exactly what he was criticising, but one of the criticisms was that the alleged terrorists were apparently such amateurs. Also, their plan seems to have had only a slight chance for succees. Therefore, the criticsim goes, getting worked up over this plot is pointless and it doesn’t prove anything about the Long Global War on Terror (what I call World War 4).
Mark Steyn had this to say in a column in yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times:
Mohammed Atta and the 9/11 gang would have seemed pretty funny if you’d run into them in that lap-dance club they went to before the big day where the girls remembered them only as very small tippers. Most terrorists are jokes until the bomb goes off.
So, when we’re fortunate enough to catch them in advance, it’s worth pausing to consider what they tell us about the broader threat we face. According to genius New York Times headline writers, “Religion Guided Three Held In Fort Dix Plot.” You don’t say. Any religion in particular?
Murdoc’s rather fond of pointing out that if we had arrested the 9/11 hijackers on 9/10, a very large segment of the population would have not believed the charges of plotting to hijack four airliners to kamikaze the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the White House or Capitol Building sounded reasonable at all and that the hijackers themselves were obviously incompetent boobs.
Also, I have very little doubt that many would be decrying the fact that all the alleged hijackers were Muslim, and why were we singling out Muslims?
I’m reminded of a post I wrote back in August of 2004 about the hue and cry after it turned out that a lot of the information a terror alert was based on was several years old:
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Top Taliban commander killed in Afghanistan
This is the sort of event where I used to say things like “I don’t really want to celebrate the death of another human being” and such.
You’ll notice I’m not saying anything like that.
Of course, the enemy we fight has the capability to replace leaders easily enough and replacement for this bastard is probably taking control as we speak. But it’s nice to knock a few of these guys off once in a while.
The fight in Afghanistan is going to go on for a long, long time. Longer, I think, than the fight in Iraq. But we’ll take every little victory we can get, and this one isn’t all that little.
Our troops, the NATO troops, Afghan troops, and the troops of other allied nations deserve a big pat on the back for this.
Happened to notice this:
When it comes to “tough”, “thankless, and “hot” jobs, I guess everything’s relative…
Missile Defense 101 – ICBM Fundamentals
Steeljaw Scribe lays out the basics.
Strange Towers of the Third Reich
Lots of pictures of Nazi bomb shelter towers.
U.N.: Not so fast with ethanol, other biofuels
Unchecked growth could see new problems offset climate gains, report says
Murdoc doesn’t support biofuels for climate gains. He supports biofuels to cut dependence upon oil.
The Diyala Salvation Front
It appears that the battle for Iraq may be shifting from Anbar and Baghdad toward Diyala.
Crossed Sabers
A blog dedicated to cavalry in the US Civil War.
Armored Vehicle Demand Blows Up
Danger Room on the MRAP and such.
WARNING: Much more Linkzookery below! Proceed with caution!
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U.S., Germans Fear Imminent Terror Attack
It seems that security assets have been alerted to possible plans to attack US and German by radical Islamist groups:
“The information behind the threat is very real,” a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble told reporters, “The danger level is high. We are part of the global threat by Islamist terrorism.”
Of particular concern, according to U.S. and German law enforcement officials, is Patch Barracks, the headquarters for U.S. European Command, near Stuttgart.
Security at all U.S. military and diplomatic facilities has been increased in the last month following reports that suspected terrorists had conducted surveillance of the Patch Barracks facility.
“The attack would be designed to create high numbers of casualties among both Germans and the U.S. military,” said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, a former White House counterterror official.
If this is a credible threat, I hope we get them first.
Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Tina Greer maintains an M61A1 20mm rotary canon on the flight deck of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Nimitz Carrier Strike Group and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11 are deployed in the 5th Fleet area of operations conducting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) and supporting the global war on terrorism. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Joseph Pol Sebastian Gocong
From Navy NewsStand.
In December of 2005 I noted an espionage case involving a Chinese-born naturalized US citizen. A couple of months later a reader left this comment:
Original charges against Chi Mak et al have been dropped. Government’s petition to hold without bail has been denied.
It seems the prosecution have lied on so many things, it’s beginning to smell like another Wen Ho Lee…Shame on us America
Whoops: Engineer convicted of stealing U.S. secrets.
The conviction of “conspiring to export U.S. defense technology to China” carries up to 35 years in prison. Now, I certainly don’t know all the fact of this case, and I don’t claim to be anything resembling a legal expert. I’m just wondering:
Why does a conviction for stealing and planning to give away military secrets, including advanced submarine propulsion design information, only bring up to 35 years?
Ana Marie Cox, aka “Wonkette”, was at last weekend’s MilBlog Conference and assured us all that she “got” the military and then asked if reporting positive things ignored by Legacy Media wasn’t “politicizing” the issue. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense to Murdoc at the time for a number of reasons, but then we get this about the Ft. Dix story:
Ok. So, the plot was: six dudes from New Jersey buy some guns and storm Fort Dix. The Fort Dix that is full of lots and lots of Army reservists with way, way more guns. And, like, extensive military training and shit. Yes, thank god these terrorists have been caught and locked up before they could be killed within minutes of deciding to carry out the dumbest fucking terrorist plot we’ve ever heard of.
Seems to Murdoc that A) she might be trying to make a wee bit of a political point here, and B) she obviously doesn’t “get” it when it comes to the usual situation on military bases.
It’s not like everyone is walking around in body armor with loaded M16s and air support a radio call away. C’mon. Weapons are usually secured (as in locked up) and ammunition generally isn’t issued. As far as I can tell, this is the standard procedure at Dix.
No, these bastards wouldn’t have been able to “take over” the base, and when the response arrived they would have been toast. But they would have probably been able to cause a fair number of casualties in the meantime.
Not terribly impressive commentary.
UPDATE: Pick of Cox at the MilBlog Conference via Pinch’s collection.
Scrolling through Wonkette (which Murdoc doesn’t frequent, to say the least) reveals that my conception of what a ‘big time’ professional blogger does is way off base…
UPDATE 3: Actually, I can’t tell for sure if this post was written by Cox or not. She’s moved on from Wonkette, only posting occasionally if I understand correctly. There’s no byline on post.
UPDATE 2: I read The terrorists next door? Fort Dix plot suspects lived quietly in N.J. suburb this morning on MSNBC.com.
This bit made me wonder:
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General Petraeus during a teleconference with AP reporters yesterday:
Our new approach is also based on a firm conviction that in order to provide security, we must do more than just clear neighborhoods of terrorists and extremists. We must then help our Iraqi counterparts hold these neighborhoods and help build them back up to a sustained, visible presence of Iraqi and coalition forces. And if you’re going to ensure security for a neighborhood, you have to live in it. You can’t commute to this fight.
Quote via Dave at Dean’s.
