Tuesday, August 02, 2005
365 and a Wakeup: Desert Creatures
365 and a Wakeup: Desert Creatures: "The sun has been pitiless these last few days, doubling and redoubling its radiant energy until everything stationary shimmers in its own invisible pyre. The sputtering coughs of wind that limp across the cracked soil lack any real force; it’s as if the temperatures have cowed the air into refusing to stir. In these temperatures nothing moves without purpose. The troops that have to move back and forth across the FOB move along deliberate paths, their heads slightly bowed in unconscious deference to the flashbulb brilliance.
Now that we are several weeks into this withering season our cycles of work and rest have come to mirror the desert creatures that creep and slither through this harsh land. As is so often the case, we’ve had to slowly relearn the lessons nature hardwired into the native wildlife. The biggest key to surviving the temperatures is to (surprise, surprise) avoid the sun. Our barracks serve the same purpose as the desert creatures underground haunts – they both offer reservoirs of chill air. The only difference is our concrete berths hum to the steady whir of overworked air conditioning units.
Soldiers who decide to be infantryman don't join for the luxurious acomodations. That doesn't make it any easier to leave the air conditioned barracks, but it does help muster the will to keep heading out those doors into the atmospheric inferno. The sun isn't the only cruel taskmaster, the sheer weight of our combat equipment more then doubles the misery index. The thick ballistic carapace that we all wear is a life saver, but on days like this it seems to be a karmic bank selling protection in exchange for hour after hour of broiling misery. When you are wearing slabs of ceramic armor evaporative cooling becomes impossible, the sweat just soaks through layer after layer until your uniform is a sodden, salt encrusted mess. It is a pain, but nobody really worries to much about coming away from a mission soaked. We have a lot more to worry about then how to leach salt from a uniform."
Now that we are several weeks into this withering season our cycles of work and rest have come to mirror the desert creatures that creep and slither through this harsh land. As is so often the case, we’ve had to slowly relearn the lessons nature hardwired into the native wildlife. The biggest key to surviving the temperatures is to (surprise, surprise) avoid the sun. Our barracks serve the same purpose as the desert creatures underground haunts – they both offer reservoirs of chill air. The only difference is our concrete berths hum to the steady whir of overworked air conditioning units.
Soldiers who decide to be infantryman don't join for the luxurious acomodations. That doesn't make it any easier to leave the air conditioned barracks, but it does help muster the will to keep heading out those doors into the atmospheric inferno. The sun isn't the only cruel taskmaster, the sheer weight of our combat equipment more then doubles the misery index. The thick ballistic carapace that we all wear is a life saver, but on days like this it seems to be a karmic bank selling protection in exchange for hour after hour of broiling misery. When you are wearing slabs of ceramic armor evaporative cooling becomes impossible, the sweat just soaks through layer after layer until your uniform is a sodden, salt encrusted mess. It is a pain, but nobody really worries to much about coming away from a mission soaked. We have a lot more to worry about then how to leach salt from a uniform."
2Slick's Forum: To Paradise and Back Again
2Slick's Forum: To Paradise and Back Again: "Let's tee up a big screaming match about whether a high official of the White House committed a crime by breaching security in a dust-up over terrorists like Saddam Hussein and Usama bin Laden.
No, I'm not talking about Karl Rove. I'm talking about Sandy Berger stuffing secrets into his socks so the 9/11 Commission wouldn't be able to see what he and Bill Clinton were really thinking and saying and doing about Usama bin Laden.
Let's see now, what happened when Berger got caught with the secrets in his socks?
Hmmm. Did we hear the Democratic senators and congressmen wailing about breaking national security? No, we did not."
No, I'm not talking about Karl Rove. I'm talking about Sandy Berger stuffing secrets into his socks so the 9/11 Commission wouldn't be able to see what he and Bill Clinton were really thinking and saying and doing about Usama bin Laden.
Let's see now, what happened when Berger got caught with the secrets in his socks?
Hmmm. Did we hear the Democratic senators and congressmen wailing about breaking national security? No, we did not."
Sunday, July 31, 2005
normblog: So why...?
normblog: So why...?: "There are 250,000 Iraqis living in Great Britain - that's quarter of a million people, one of the biggest communities in Iraqi diaspora, and just under one sixth of the total British Muslim population of some 1.6 million.
So why, among the original 7/7 bombers, the next lot of recently captured bombers, and all the other people arrested in connection with the attacks, aren't there any British Iraqis?"
So why, among the original 7/7 bombers, the next lot of recently captured bombers, and all the other people arrested in connection with the attacks, aren't there any British Iraqis?"
Our extreme makeover
Our extreme makeover: "Favorable impressions of the U.S. are being detected around the world, including inside Muslim countries."
Read this from LA Times!
Read this from LA Times!
Iraqi Bloggers Central whence terrorism
Iraqi Bloggers Central: "Troubles have spread from the Middle East to get on planes and hit targets in New York, and wore explosive belts to blow up trains in Madrid and London and some have even went as far as hitting targets Indonesia.
The reasons (and theories) that explain the spreading (or export) of these troubles may vary; some say that the West's policy toward Israel is what inflamed the situation.
Ironically, the same people who adopted this theory a few years ago now say that war in Iraqis the main reason.
But I do believe that dictatorships are the main reason; the Arab regimes didn't accept Israel as a neighbor, of course not because they care about the Palestinians and their interests as everyone knows how Palestinians are treated in Arab countries and how many thousands on them were killed in Jordan and Lebanon and perhaps Arabs killed more Palestinians than the Israelis did.
Obviously, Arab regimes and leaders didn't like Israel because it's a democratic state and its presence in the region can threaten their thrones.
Actually I think that Arabs who live inside Israel and the Joulan heights know this better than I do and I don't think they'd like to replace their Israeli passports with passports from any Arab country; they know the difference and even people living inside Arab countries began to see the difference after the revolution in communications and news flow.
"
The reasons (and theories) that explain the spreading (or export) of these troubles may vary; some say that the West's policy toward Israel is what inflamed the situation.
Ironically, the same people who adopted this theory a few years ago now say that war in Iraqis the main reason.
But I do believe that dictatorships are the main reason; the Arab regimes didn't accept Israel as a neighbor, of course not because they care about the Palestinians and their interests as everyone knows how Palestinians are treated in Arab countries and how many thousands on them were killed in Jordan and Lebanon and perhaps Arabs killed more Palestinians than the Israelis did.
Obviously, Arab regimes and leaders didn't like Israel because it's a democratic state and its presence in the region can threaten their thrones.
Actually I think that Arabs who live inside Israel and the Joulan heights know this better than I do and I don't think they'd like to replace their Israeli passports with passports from any Arab country; they know the difference and even people living inside Arab countries began to see the difference after the revolution in communications and news flow.
"
Sunday, July 24, 2005
No Left Turns Archive
No Left Turns Archive: "Here is what Churchill said, in its entirety about the horrific battle to wrest the Sudan from the jihadists of the 19th century:
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.
—Sir Winston Churchill, from The River War,"
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities - but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.
—Sir Winston Churchill, from The River War,"
Saturday, July 23, 2005
On London Bombing
Iraqi Letters: "These people have found the ultimate weapon and the ultimate motivation. How can you defend yourself against people who are so bitter and angry that they are not only prepared to die in the process of killing you… but actually look forward to it? The vehicle? Faith! For these people, Faith has been effectively used to stun their own self-preservation mechanisms. Add to that the fact that there are numerous other people who are not willing to die themselves, but nevertheless equally angry to the extent that they are prepared to assist in whatever financial or logistical way that they can.
Frankly I do not see much difference between those people and the people who bomb cities full of innocent people. In fact the latter group is worse… because they are acting in that violently criminal manner from outside that ‘pit of despair’.
"
Frankly I do not see much difference between those people and the people who bomb cities full of innocent people. In fact the latter group is worse… because they are acting in that violently criminal manner from outside that ‘pit of despair’.
"
Monday, July 18, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Iraqi Bloggers Central
Iraqi Bloggers Central: "
Over at Trey Jackson you can watch a video of a Muslim fanatic in Baghdad shooting an American soldier from seventy-five yards. The Muslim jihadi is repeating over and over 'Allahu Akbar' as he pulls the trigger. The American soldier takes a bullet in the chest and goes down. He was, however, wearing a bullet-proof vest and he pops right back up and gets behind his Hummer.
The video that the Jihadis were taking goes black because the American soldiers locate the fricking idiots hiding in a van and wound the guy who had been chanting 'Allahu Akbar.'
The American soldier who was shot, Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer, it turns out, was a medic and he ended up treating the SCUMBAG who fired at him.
The video is very crisp and makes my blood run cold."
Over at Trey Jackson you can watch a video of a Muslim fanatic in Baghdad shooting an American soldier from seventy-five yards. The Muslim jihadi is repeating over and over 'Allahu Akbar' as he pulls the trigger. The American soldier takes a bullet in the chest and goes down. He was, however, wearing a bullet-proof vest and he pops right back up and gets behind his Hummer.
The video that the Jihadis were taking goes black because the American soldiers locate the fricking idiots hiding in a van and wound the guy who had been chanting 'Allahu Akbar.'
The American soldier who was shot, Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer, it turns out, was a medic and he ended up treating the SCUMBAG who fired at him.
The video is very crisp and makes my blood run cold."
Friday, July 15, 2005
Iraqi Blogger Testamony
Iraqi Bloggers Central: "I think many Iraqis know that Americans support them but not most and there's still a lot that Iraqis don't know. I feel lucky because I have this blog and because I can read English as it has shown me things I could never have known through our media. I never imagined Americans support and care about Iraqis this much before I started blogging. I thought they did but not this much and I feel I know Americans much more now and love them much more as well. More Iraqis need to see what I and other luckier Iraqis have and are seeing." here
Daily Pundit Individual Archive
Daily Pundit Individual Archive: "Texas federal Judge Janis Graham Jack is a former nurse who wondered how Silicosis, which causes just 200 deaths a year in the US, had suddenly created more than 20,000 claims against 250 companies. To find out, Judge Jack held 20 months of pretrial proceedings. In its subscriber-only article, the Wall Street Journal reports that “what she found was a gigantic attempted swindle:”"Read the whole thing here:
Thursday, July 14, 2005
WorldNetDaily: Al-Qaida nukes already in U.S.
WorldNetDaily: Al-Qaida nukes already in U.S.: "But the most disturbing news is that high level U.S. officials now believe at least some of those weapons have been smuggled into the U.S. for use in the near future in major cities as part of this 'American Hiroshima' plan, according to an upcoming book, 'The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse,' by Paul L. Williams, a former FBI consultant.
According to Williams, former CIA Director George Tenet informed President Bush one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that at least two suitcase nukes had reached al-Qaida operatives in the U.S.
'Each suitcase weighed between 50 and 80 kilograms (approximately 110 to 176 pounds) and contained enough fissionable plutonium and uranium to produce an explosive yield in excess of two kilotons,"
According to Williams, former CIA Director George Tenet informed President Bush one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that at least two suitcase nukes had reached al-Qaida operatives in the U.S.
'Each suitcase weighed between 50 and 80 kilograms (approximately 110 to 176 pounds) and contained enough fissionable plutonium and uranium to produce an explosive yield in excess of two kilotons,"
Melanie Phillips's Articles
Melanie Phillips's Articles: "Whether this represents a hijacking of the religion is matter for theological dispute. But the fact is that it has not been challenged by any leading Islamic religious authority; indeed, they have endorsed it."
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