Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
More on the sarin nerve agent and mustard gas stories FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Sarin, Mustard Gas Discovered Separately in Iraq
A very complete summary of the WMD hunt that covers the situation prior to yesterday's announcement of the exposure of two coalition soldiers to Sarin gas from an exploding shell and the reported find of Mustard gas two weeks earlier FrontPage magazine.com :: Found: Saddam's WMDs by Kenneth R. Timmerman
If the Sarin gas report holds up after investigation, won't it be the first time that an American soldier has been attacked with a chemical weapon since WWI?
If the Sarin gas report holds up after investigation, won't it be the first time that an American soldier has been attacked with a chemical weapon since WWI?
Saturday, May 15, 2004
There's no better source on the lives of average Iraqi citizens and their opinions on the aftermath of major combat operations than this site IRAQ THE MODEL I usually check it out a few times each week.
The author is an Iraqi doctor who is living through the days--good and bad--of Iraq's historic reconstruction. He's muddling through, as we all do, but doing so successfully. His stories are inspiring.
The author is an Iraqi doctor who is living through the days--good and bad--of Iraq's historic reconstruction. He's muddling through, as we all do, but doing so successfully. His stories are inspiring.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Andrew Sullivan's quote of the day features the remarks of one of our greatest Presidents:
"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbled, or where a doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. The man who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew victory or defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt.
The slaughter of Nick Berg should snap us out of our funk over the acts of the unprincipled prison guards at Abu Ghraib. We now clearly see the hand of the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq in action, and it is the hand of a monster. I looked at still images of the murder on the web earlier this week, and was shocked. I didn't want to watch the video. However, while driving home, I accidentally turned to a radio station that at that very moment started to play the audio of the murder. It was the most horrible thing I have ever heard. No human could commit that act. No other human could fail to condemn that act.
Our enemy is not human. That is, not in the sense that humanity has come to mean in the civilized world. Fanatic is not a sufficient description of them. The Memri web site has a transcript of part of the first recorded remarks made by Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi. He is the author of the letter to fellow Islamics calling for reinforcements, saying that the US-led coalition was defeating Al Qaeda, the B'aathist remnants, and the other insurgents in Iraq. His rhetoric has obviously escalated in its mad call for murder by any means; the more, the better.
Civilization cannot ignore these monsters. We cannot show weakness, or uncertain resolve. We must steel ourselves for the long slog to win, and win decisively. They are patient, they are determined, and they are usually skilled in using propaganda to try to make their point. At times, our domestic media seems more of an outlet for their cause than ours since it seems to take the statements of these monsters at face value while questioning the genuine resolve and honest intent of the President's. I can only hope that the legacy of Nick Berg's last moments captured in that video will be a call to arms to the sane part of humanity to act in the defense of the civilized world. There must be an end to them, or they will make an end to us.
"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbled, or where a doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. The man who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew victory or defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt.
The slaughter of Nick Berg should snap us out of our funk over the acts of the unprincipled prison guards at Abu Ghraib. We now clearly see the hand of the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq in action, and it is the hand of a monster. I looked at still images of the murder on the web earlier this week, and was shocked. I didn't want to watch the video. However, while driving home, I accidentally turned to a radio station that at that very moment started to play the audio of the murder. It was the most horrible thing I have ever heard. No human could commit that act. No other human could fail to condemn that act.
Our enemy is not human. That is, not in the sense that humanity has come to mean in the civilized world. Fanatic is not a sufficient description of them. The Memri web site has a transcript of part of the first recorded remarks made by Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi. He is the author of the letter to fellow Islamics calling for reinforcements, saying that the US-led coalition was defeating Al Qaeda, the B'aathist remnants, and the other insurgents in Iraq. His rhetoric has obviously escalated in its mad call for murder by any means; the more, the better.
Civilization cannot ignore these monsters. We cannot show weakness, or uncertain resolve. We must steel ourselves for the long slog to win, and win decisively. They are patient, they are determined, and they are usually skilled in using propaganda to try to make their point. At times, our domestic media seems more of an outlet for their cause than ours since it seems to take the statements of these monsters at face value while questioning the genuine resolve and honest intent of the President's. I can only hope that the legacy of Nick Berg's last moments captured in that video will be a call to arms to the sane part of humanity to act in the defense of the civilized world. There must be an end to them, or they will make an end to us.
Monday, May 10, 2004
I'll be saving my money to see Spider-Man 2 twice Telegraph | Opinion | These Hollywood special effects may cost the world $15 trillion
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Abu Ghraib. Many would have us believe that the atrocities committed there will taint America's image among Arabs for generations. Some fairly senior members of Congress and other partisans lay the blame at the feet of Secretary Rumsfeld. Candidate Kerry blames the President, of course.
Let's agree that the acts of the 7 soldiers accused so far are reprehensible. Those acts do not represent the America that we hold as an ideal to the world. Those soldiers--and any who abetted them, ordered them, or photographed them--should be punished, if they are found guilty after a fair trial.
However, let's not forget that the general in charge did not spring into being in late January of 2000. Nor did the officers who commanded the reserve troops who are at the center of this scandal. They were all in the military for some time. The training that they received--or didn't receive--should have taken place earlier than the immediate maelstrom that the war on terror became after 9/11.
I am not blaming the Clinton Administration per se. I am pointing out that the so called "peace dividend", the task force to cut the size of government--those initiatives of the Clinton Administration cut military head count and material during the 90s. The rapid expansion of the economy in the 90s left military salaries behind the civilian sector as well. Many of the best NCOs (Sergeants and Navy Chiefs)--the ranks where the real "soldiering" takes place--left for better paying civilian jobs.
The situation reminds me of many wars in the past. At the beginning, incompetent, ill equipped, poorly led soldiers were thrown into battle and expected to make do as best they could. Kasserine Pass, the Battan Death March, early reversals of the Northern forces versus the Confederacy; take your pick, they fit the bill.
If the war is going to last a very long time, as everyone expects, we should expect failures like this as the strains on our forces wax and wane as they adapt from their former peacetime roles to combat conditions. There will be a weeding out of incompetent troops and commanders, of weak leaders and people of weak character. We will recruit many more Pat Tillmans to fill the ranks and serve honorably. We will show the world--the part of the world that can be shown anything that doesn't fit their preconceived view of America--how we can adapt, and how the vast, vast majority of our fighting men and women uphold the American ideal. Those who commit crimes will be tried and punished if found guilty, just as they are at home.
If the Iraqis as a whole have lost faith in us, the 25 million or so of them could wipe out the 140,000 US troops in a day or so unless we used nuclear weapons to defend them. That hasn't happened. That is enough of a "poll" for me to establish in my mind that most Iraqis--like most Americans--only hope for a peaceful, stable country that will provide them economic opportunity and a safe place to raise a family. The ideals that President Bush offers them--and by extension, all of us offer them--are the ideals that all mankind strive for, whether they can articulate them in a Jeffersonian fashion or not.
We will do the right thing to set this right. I like the idea of destroying Abu Ghraib, and rebuilding a more humanely designed prison in its stead. We are figuring out many aspects of the post war period as we go, just as we did in Germany and Japan nearly 60 years ago. Although we have no General George Marshal or General Douglas MacArthur to lead the occupation of Iraq through the trials of today towards a stable postwar entry into the family of civilized nations, let us prove by our deeds and words that we are willing to live up to the American ideal.
For my part, I don't need to see any more sick photos or any video to make that goal happen.
Let's agree that the acts of the 7 soldiers accused so far are reprehensible. Those acts do not represent the America that we hold as an ideal to the world. Those soldiers--and any who abetted them, ordered them, or photographed them--should be punished, if they are found guilty after a fair trial.
However, let's not forget that the general in charge did not spring into being in late January of 2000. Nor did the officers who commanded the reserve troops who are at the center of this scandal. They were all in the military for some time. The training that they received--or didn't receive--should have taken place earlier than the immediate maelstrom that the war on terror became after 9/11.
I am not blaming the Clinton Administration per se. I am pointing out that the so called "peace dividend", the task force to cut the size of government--those initiatives of the Clinton Administration cut military head count and material during the 90s. The rapid expansion of the economy in the 90s left military salaries behind the civilian sector as well. Many of the best NCOs (Sergeants and Navy Chiefs)--the ranks where the real "soldiering" takes place--left for better paying civilian jobs.
The situation reminds me of many wars in the past. At the beginning, incompetent, ill equipped, poorly led soldiers were thrown into battle and expected to make do as best they could. Kasserine Pass, the Battan Death March, early reversals of the Northern forces versus the Confederacy; take your pick, they fit the bill.
If the war is going to last a very long time, as everyone expects, we should expect failures like this as the strains on our forces wax and wane as they adapt from their former peacetime roles to combat conditions. There will be a weeding out of incompetent troops and commanders, of weak leaders and people of weak character. We will recruit many more Pat Tillmans to fill the ranks and serve honorably. We will show the world--the part of the world that can be shown anything that doesn't fit their preconceived view of America--how we can adapt, and how the vast, vast majority of our fighting men and women uphold the American ideal. Those who commit crimes will be tried and punished if found guilty, just as they are at home.
If the Iraqis as a whole have lost faith in us, the 25 million or so of them could wipe out the 140,000 US troops in a day or so unless we used nuclear weapons to defend them. That hasn't happened. That is enough of a "poll" for me to establish in my mind that most Iraqis--like most Americans--only hope for a peaceful, stable country that will provide them economic opportunity and a safe place to raise a family. The ideals that President Bush offers them--and by extension, all of us offer them--are the ideals that all mankind strive for, whether they can articulate them in a Jeffersonian fashion or not.
We will do the right thing to set this right. I like the idea of destroying Abu Ghraib, and rebuilding a more humanely designed prison in its stead. We are figuring out many aspects of the post war period as we go, just as we did in Germany and Japan nearly 60 years ago. Although we have no General George Marshal or General Douglas MacArthur to lead the occupation of Iraq through the trials of today towards a stable postwar entry into the family of civilized nations, let us prove by our deeds and words that we are willing to live up to the American ideal.
For my part, I don't need to see any more sick photos or any video to make that goal happen.
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Some specifics to bolster Michael Porter's points from last night USATODAY.com - Intel CEO: Let's end political games and compete
Michael Porter, the acclaimed author of such books as Competitive Advantage, Competitive Strategy, and The Competitive Advantage of Nations, dropped a bombshell on tonight's Charlie Rose show on PBS. He said--paraphrasing--that the single most important change in tax policy since WWII was the change in dividend taxation proposed and passed by the Bush Administration and the Republican-led Congress. He said that the benefits are only starting to show, but that it will have many benefits, among which will be a change in corporate management's focus from maximizing stock price to simply making the business perform at its best and earn money.
His next book is the third in his series on competitive aspects of corporate behavior. I look forward to adding it to my bookshelf alongside the three I already own and have owned since their first editions.
Professor Porter also said that Kerry's proposal for adjusting tax policy to try to affect outsourcing was of negligible value. His greater concern, as is that of Bill Gates, is that the graduation rates of engineers and scientists are down, and that the ability of people with average levels of education (high school) to actually fill the many jobs that will be created in the future is low at best. Clearly we need fewer courses on self esteem, and more hard facts and emphasis on critical thinking skills.
His next book is the third in his series on competitive aspects of corporate behavior. I look forward to adding it to my bookshelf alongside the three I already own and have owned since their first editions.
Professor Porter also said that Kerry's proposal for adjusting tax policy to try to affect outsourcing was of negligible value. His greater concern, as is that of Bill Gates, is that the graduation rates of engineers and scientists are down, and that the ability of people with average levels of education (high school) to actually fill the many jobs that will be created in the future is low at best. Clearly we need fewer courses on self esteem, and more hard facts and emphasis on critical thinking skills.
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