Let the Wedding Bells Ring

Looks like the "Dear Leader" has new love in his life besides firing missiles:

North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il has taken his former private secretary as his new companion, after his purported former wife died of cancer two years ago, reliable sources said yesterday. The marital status of Mr. Kim, who turned 64 in February, has never been officially confirmed, but it has been widely believed that three women have been treated as his wives. "I heard Mr. Kim has lived with a woman named Kim Ok, who served as his secretary, as Ko Yong-hi died two years ago," said a South Korean government source privy to information on the North's ruling family. "She is virtually North Korea's first lady," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Kim Ok, 42, has frequently accompanied the North Korean leader on inspection visits to army bases and industrial complexes, and sat with him when he met visiting foreign dignitaries, the source said. The woman also traveled with the leader when he made a secret visit to China in January, received a cordial reception as the North's first lady and exchanged civilities with Chinese leader Hu Jintao, he said.

All well wishes for a happy marriage for the Dear Leader, if you could possibly have any, can be sent here.

Picking sides is easy

Any old Cold Warrior can tell you. When you see these guys on one side,

..you get on the other. Simple. Allons-y Israel, allons-y!

Story here.

Human Rights Watch Report On "Torture" In Iraq

Human Rights Watch just came out with a report titled "No Blood, No Foul", which they say consists of "Soldiers' Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq". The report seems to consist mostly of interviews with three supposed soldiers, two of which go by pseudonyms: Sergeant "Jeff Perry" and "Nick Forrester", supposedly a Sergeant with the 82nd Airborne. The third is the more-well-known Tony Lagouranis, described as "an Army interrogator at the rank of Specialist with the 202nd Military Intelligence Battalion", who's given out lots of interviews. He's frequently described as "retired" after four years in the Army, but I couldn't find any accounts of how he may have gotten injured to get the early retirement.

The part of the article the initially struck me was the explanation HRW gave for why they seem to be more concerned with "forced exercise" and "sleep deprivation" than things like electric drills used on eyes and joints, beheadings, and mass executions. Here's what they say:

Human Rights Watch is aware that U.S. forces in Iraq are fighting armed groups who themselves have shown little willingness to abide by international humanitarian law. As Human Rights Watch has detailed in previous reports, Iraqi insurgent groups routinely violate international humanitarian law, carrying out abductions and attacks against civilians and humanitarian aid workers, and detonating hundreds of bombs in bazaars, mosques, and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch has previously stated that those responsible for violations, including the leaders of these groups, should, if captured, be investigated and prosecuted for violations of Iraqi law and the laws of war.
But the activities of these groups are no excuse for U.S. violations. Abuses by one party to a conflict, no matter how egregious, do not justify violations by the other side. This is a fundamental principle of international humanitarian law.

Homage to planners: How about some sealift?

Some long-range planning that can make the short term planner's job easier - Behold the LMSR.

Let's Be Fair...

I can't understand why anyone would dare to question the objective, Pulitzer Prize-winning war reporting
of The Washington Post and the New York Times. I mean, it's not as though their Senior Pentagon correspondents are publishing book-length screeds with titles like FIASCO: The Military Misadventure in Iraq, a book whose front cover has a flag-drapped dead soldier plastered across its face, and whose book description gleefully promises readers "a spellbinding account of an epic disaster."

"Yippie!" scream patchouli-smelling hippies everywhere.

I mean, let's be fair. It's not as if reporters at the New York Times, are writing books that expose our national security secrets.

I support these "journalists'" First Amendment rights to the hilt. But can we please dispense with the banal canard that these so-called Senior Pentagon correspondents are "serious" journalists who "objectively" pursue only the story?

Maybe that's asking too much. Perhaps we should just heed the wisdom of David McCullough and be grateful that this crowd wasn't around during the Revolutionary War.

Over at Castle Argghhh! this morning...

The Top 10 Reasons I Became A Planner.

Cry Me a River

Saddam has been hospitalized on day 17 of his hunger strike.

Doesn't he know about ice cream shakes and Jamba Juice?

So Maybe Me Trying For That ADUSD Job Isn't Such A Good Idea

Hansford T. Johnson, we hardly knew ye. A federal lawsuit's forthcoming for fraud.

I can't wait for the blast from Phibian.