"Those Hateful Airplanes"

[John Noonan]

This cracked me up. Where else but San Francisco?

Fleet Week farewells

Editor -- Thank you, Fleet Week. My preschool-aged daughter, having heard your airplanes overhead all week, is now completely traumatized and afraid to go outside. She just heard a commercial airliner in the sky and ran inside shrieking, shaking, and trying to close all the windows and doors. We tried to have a fun family weekend enjoying free music in our park, but it was ruined by the thundering sound of those hateful airplanes overhead, forcing her (and most of the other children I saw) to throw her hands over her face and cower.

If there is ever an opportunity for me to vote on any proposition keeping this ridiculous event and huge waste of resources from marring the skies of my city again, you can bet I'll be the first in line to get it voted in. DEMETRA DELÍA

Okay, if the "hateful" airplanes dropped a JDAM onto their hippy jamfest....maybe I could understand Demetra's point. Heh, everything is such a drama with these people.

By the way, those hateful airplanes "marred the skies" of Demetra's city again this week, running NORAD directed combat air patrols over the Golden Gate after the plane crash in NYC.

Hotel Tango: 4 Mile Creek.

The Blog of War – Recorded Live!

[Dadmanly]

I interviewed live this morning on the local Fox Affiliate, Fox 23, for their Daybreak Program, with a five minute interview running around 7:40.

The video of the interview is already up at their website. I don’t know if there’s a problem with the link or that the video is blocked where I am at present.

Daybreak Hosts Diane Lee and Mark Baker did a great job, were very animated, showed genuine interest, and otherwise gave me lots of room to talk about my experiences, and of course, plug the book. Diane even read a portion of my piece from the book, which I thought was very nice.

If anyone actually gets the video to run, you’ll have to let me know how it looks and sounds. It felt like it went fairly well, the Mrs. and Little Manly were very impressed – Little Manly missed his bus watching the segment and Mrs. had to run him off to school – but we know they’re big fans!

(Cross-posted at Dadmanly)

Methodology Of The Lancet Study

[Bubblehead]

Some cheerleaders for the recent study claiming over 600K "excess deaths" in Iraq since March 2003 have been complaining that people who recognize the study's conclusions are complete crap aren't providing a critique of the study's methodology. Well, in this post at my home blog, I do just that. Here's an except:

They also tried to verify each death; amazingly, in 90% of the cases they families of the "dead" were able to provide a death certificate. The problem with this is that the surveyors didn't record the names of the dead for comparison later. In the West, this might not be a problem, but it's different in the Middle East. Arab culture is built around the extended family; therefore, many people are likely to say that someone who had died (especially a "heroic" death) would have lived in their home. This is especially true when Iraqis know that Americans often pay "blood money" to the families of those who died accidentally in coalition attacks. So here's an Iraq family, and these Americans come to their door and ask if anyone has been killed lately by Americans. How do you think they'll respond?

More here.

Friday News o' Afghanistan

[Major John]

Once again, it's that time. Time for News.

"Yes, everyone, the News is up!"

British culminate in Iraq

[CDR Salamander]

Boy, I wouldn't want to be on his staff this AM.

The presence of UK armed forces in Iraq "exacerbates the security problems" and they should "get out some time soon", the head of the British Army has said.

The question is; is he right? If he doesn't have the right idea about what is happening in the British sector, who does? At least in the South, have they reached the point of diminishing returns?

"I think history will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful war fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning," he said.

"The original intention was that we put in place a liberal democracy that was an exemplar for the region, was pro West and might have a beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East.

"That was the hope, whether that was a sensible or naive hope history will judge. I don't think we are going to do that. I think we should aim for a lower ambition."

That is fair, but on both sides of the Atlantic - politicians are wondering when they will "loose control" of the messages coming out of "their" Flag Officers.

Farewell Mr. Blair

[Steve Schippert]

As British Prime Minister Tony Blair's time at the helm of the United Kingdom's government embarks on its final days, it appears others are becoming more bold in their public misgivings about the conduct of the War on Terror.

UK Foreign Minister says Guantanamo Bay Unacceptable

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett launched one of the British government's sharpest attacks on Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, saying the U.S. prison camp was ineffective and damaging.

"The continuing detention without fair trial of prisoners is unacceptable in terms of human rights. But it is also ineffective in terms of counter-terrorism," Beckett said at the launch of her department's annual human rights report.

"It is widely argued now that the existence of the camp is as much a radicalizing and discrediting influence as it is a safeguard to security," she added.

If imprisoning terrorists serves to readicalize others, color me in favor of motivation. 'Martyrdom' serves to radicalize as well. Perhaps we should just fold up tent and not **** them off any more and appeal to their peaceful, tolerant side...

Navy: 231

[Eagle1]

The U.S. Navy is one year older.

Who Killed Daniel Pearl?

[Andi]

According to some U.S. officials, we already have the man responsible.

A new HBO documentary, The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl, leaves the question unresolved; it focuses on the intersecting lives of Pearl and Sheik, the man convicted of the crime, but also cites unnamed U.S. and Pakistani officials who blame Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for the murder.

Now, several U.S. officials tell TIME that KSM's role in the Pearl murder appears more direct than previously acknowledged — and that the Bush Administration plans to try him for it. The officials tell TIME that KSM confessed under CIA interrogation that he personally committed the murder. Moreover, when he faces a military tribunal at Guantanamo, perhaps as soon as next year, the U.S. plans to charge him not only with the 9/11 plot, but also with direct responsibility for Pearl's death.

*****

One former U.S. national security official tells TIME there is no doubt that KSM personally wielded the knife that killed the Wall Street Journal reporter. This official says that Ahmad Omar Saed Sheik insisted under interrogation that taking Pearl's life was not at first part of the kidnap plot — though Sheik also told his questioners that Pearl's kidnappers could never have released him because he was Jewish. But as the scheme unfolded, someone senior to him in the al-Qaeda hierarchy, known as "the fat man," took control of the operation and beheade Pearl.

Story here.

Weed, eh?

[Major John]

I think I know what the Canadians had to deal with...

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