Posted 3/21/2003 11:21:00 PM by Sid link


Sticker Shock

Our best bumper sticker customer, Betty from San Francisco, ordered ten more today. I wrote to thank her and got this reply back.

They are popular, although many I give them to will not actually display them on their cars, fearing reprisals. My car is OK, but my sticker has been ripped off. So much for my freedom of speech . . . only theirs is allowed. Maybe I'll go out and vomit and defecate in the streets, like our "peace protestors" are doing. Our mayor has definitely lost control!

I'm deep into the 4th printing now, and sales are surprisingly steady, on the order of 10+ a night. It's not a torrid pace, but it adds up, and every time some tidbit of news like this pops up sales jump up a bit.

Interestingly, the majority of the sales have been to residents of the blue states, especially California and New Jersey. There's a good chunk of people out there totally alienated by the protestors, and they're getting angrier.

Posted 3/21/2003 02:27:00 PM by Sid link


Protesting The Sentiments, Or The Art?

A Rachel Corrie cartoon is causing all sorts of ruckus on the University of Maryland's campus.

Update: Salon has a Corrie profile mentioning the cartoon and the bulldozer pictures, which they apparently accept as genuine. Oddly the article also claims that Rachel would have graduated this semester, though according to Evergreen she was not enrolled this semester. The dove picture Salon mentions, and others, can be found here.

Posted 3/21/2003 12:22:00 PM by Sid link


P.O.....J?

I expect Ted Koppel to bring in a string of them any day now.



Iraqi soldiers, waving white flag and raising their arms, attempt to surrender to passing journalists

Taken from Yahoo, where link half-life is measured in minutes.

Posted 3/21/2003 11:41:00 AM by Sid link


Fee Fie Fo Fum

Christ, we're giants.

Posted 3/21/2003 12:18:00 AM by Sid link


The Best Damn Thing

CNN is interviewing the wife of tank commander Clay Lyle as they show live video of his company driving through the Iraqi desert towards Baghdad.

Later: Story on this is here.

Posted 3/21/2003 12:14:00 AM by Sid link


The Ernie Pyle Assembly Line

Bill Quick on embedding:

The media may have created a monster it didn't intend, and won't understand for some time yet. Take a look at who is doing the reporting as "embedded" reporters: the young, the male, the up-and-coming.

And have you noticed how, over the past 48 hours, these embedded reporters have gone from, "The men I am with are eager to fight..." to, "We engaged the enemy, our LAV fired a dozen rounds and we destroyed the target."

There's nothing like putting your life on the line and sharing battle to create bonds, loyalties, and memories that will never fade or break. The next generation of media stars will have a considerably different view of the military than the last one.

The last time the military really let reporters mix with front line troops was in WW II,* which has become known as "the good war". The image of the American soldier reached the acme of its popularity at that time, and that image lasted a good twenty years before Vietnam killed it, a length of time due primarily to reporters like Ernie Pyle. He wrote the following:

In this war I have known a lot of officers who were loved and respected by the soldiers under them. But never have I crossed the trail of any man as beloved as Capt. Henry T. Waskow of Belton, Texas.

Capt. Waskow was a company commander in the Thirty-Sixth Division. He had led his company since long before it left the States. He was very young, only in his middle twenties, but he carried in him a sincerity and gentleness that made people want to be guided by him.

"After my own father, he came next," a sergeant told me.

"He always looked after us," a soldier said. "He'd go to bat for us every time."

"I've never knowed him to do anything unfair," another one said.

I was at the foot of the mule trail the night they brought Capt. Waskow's body down. The moon was nearly full at the time, and you could see far up the trail, and even part way across the valley below. Soldiers made shadows in the moonlight as they walked.

Dead men had been coming down the mountain all evening, lashed to the backs of mules. They came lying belly-down across the wooden packsaddles, their heads hanging down on the left side of the mule, their stiffened legs sticking awkwardly from the other side. bobbing up and down as the mule walked.

The Italian mule-skinners were afraid to walk beside the dead men, so Americans had to lead the mules down that night. Even the Americans were reluctant to unlash and lift off the bodies at the bottom, so an officer had to do it himself, and ask others to help.

The first one came early in the morning. They slid him down from the mule and stood him on his feet for a moment, while they got a new grip. In the half light he might have been merely a sick man standing there, leaning on the others. Then they laid him on the ground in the shadow of the low stone wall alongside the road.

I don't know who that first one was. You feel small in the presence of dead men, and ashamed at being alive, and you don't ask silly questions.

We left him there beside the road, that first one, and we all went back into the cowshed and sat on water cans or lay in the straw, waiting for the next batch of mules.

Somebody said the dead soldier had been dead for four days, and then nobody said anything more about it. We talked soldier talk for an hour or more. The dead men lay all alone outside in the shadow of the low stone wall.

Then a soldier came into the cowshed and said there were some more bodies outside. We went out into the road. Four mules stood there, in the moonlight, in the road where the trail came down off the mountain. The soldiers who led them stood there waiting. "This one is Captain Waskow," one of them said quietly.

Two men unlashed his body from the mule and lifted it off and laid it in the shadow beside the low stone wall. Other men took the other bodies off. Finally there were five lying end to end in a long row, alongside the road. You don't cover up dead men in the combat zone. They just lie there in the shadows until somebody else comes after them.
The unburdened mules moved off to their olive orchard. The men in the road seemed reluctant to leave. They stood around, and gradually one by one I could sense them moving close to Capt. Waskow's body. Not so much to look, I think, as to say something in finality to him, and to themselves. I stood close by and I could hear.

One soldier came and looked down, and he said out loud, "God damn it." That's all he said, and then he walked away. Another one came. He said, "God damn it to hell anyway." He looked down for a few last moments, and then he turned and left.

Another man came; I think he was an officer. It was hard to tell officers from men in the half light, for all were bearded and grimy dirty. The man looked down into the dead captain's face, and then he spoke directly to him, as though he were alive. He said: "I sure am sorry, old man."

Then a soldier came and stood beside the officer, and bent over, and he too spoke to his dead captain, not in a whisper but awfully tenderly, and he said:

"I sure am sorry, sir."

Then the first man squatted down, and he reached down and took the dead hand, and he sat there for a full five minutes, holding the dead hand in his own and looking intently into the dead face, and he never uttered a sound all the time he sat there.

And finally he put the hand down, and then he reached up and gently straightened the points of the captain's shirt collar, and then he sort of rearranged the tattered edges of his uniform around the wound. And then he got up and walked away down the road in the moonlight, all alone.

After that the rest of us went back into the cowshed, leaving the five dead men lying in a line, end to end, in the shadow of the low stone wall. We lay down on the straw in the cowshed, and pretty soon we were all asleep.

The second Iraqi war likely won't last long enough to produce a reporter with the same stature of Pyle, but it will produce dozens reporters with knowledge of the military and friends in the military, men who will explain and personify the inner life of the grunt and swabbie and tanker and flyboy. Their stories will do more damage to the anti-war movement over time than all the fiskings in the world.

*Some might disagree and cite Vietnam as a counter example, but the reporters tended to ride out on missions then go back to the hotel during that war. They didn't stay with the troops 24/7. Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie is my source for this, though I don't have it at hand.

More Pyle columns can be found here.

Posted 3/20/2003 11:06:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Siwwy Wabbit

Did we get him? A day after the first bombing, the Washington Post is reporting that U.S. intelligence officials still believe that Saddam and one or both of his sons were in that bunker. Let's pray we got him.

Hussein's Fate Still Uncertain
By Walter Pincus, Bob Woodward and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 21, 2003; Page A01

U.S. intelligence officials believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, possibly accompanied by one or both of his powerful sons, was still inside a compound in southern Baghdad early yesterday when it was struck by a barrage of U.S. bombs and cruise missiles.

But intelligence analysts in Washington and operatives working in the region were not certain whether the Iraqi leader was killed or injured or escaped the attack, according to senior Bush administration officials, who worked yesterday to analyze a videotape of an appearance by Hussein broadcast on Iraqi television within hours of the pre-dawn bombardment.

The whole story is found here.

Posted 3/20/2003 09:55:00 PM by Katie Bug link


U.S. Casualties

Just saw on tv that a US helicopter has gone down in Kuwait I believe, killing all 16 on board, 12 US soldiers and 4 British soldiers. Not the news I was hoping to hear.

UPDATE: This is all that I have been able to find so far on any website, it came from the CBS website.

The Pentagon confirmed that a U.S. Marine helicopter crashed in Kuwait, with 16 British and Americans on board. There were an unknown number of fatalities.

Here is more.

UPDATE 2: As noted in the comments, other news agencies are reporting that it was 12 Britons, 4 Americans killed. Thanks for the update.

Posted 3/20/2003 09:40:00 PM by Sid link


Toasted Mush

Slightly burned out after last night, what with the war and servers crashing left and right. I was paged at midnight, four and six in the morning. As it takes at least half hour for my brain to spin back down, I didn't get much in the way of quality snooze. Wasn't much in the way of grab-your-lapels-and-pull-you-in news for most of the day*, between that and my Frankenstein-like shambling through work, nothing struck a spark other than one line in Slate breakfast table discussion on the war.

I think it grieves their national pride to discover that their loud "non" has had no effect whatsoever.

It was enough of a spark, I suppose. Certainly it's most likely all I'm going produce in the way of creativity today. You can hear the original here.

Froggy went A-Thwartin'

A Froggy started thwartin' old Uncle Sam, uh-huh, uh-huh.
A Froggy told him he didn't give a dam, uh-huh, uh-huh.
A Froggy started thwartin' old Uncle Sam,
Said "That rez was just a sham." uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

He stepped out on the U.N floor, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Swore that he would stop the war, uh-huh, uh-huh.
He stepped out on the the U.N floor, uh-huh, uh-huh.
To preen and pose for the press corp, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
 
"When I say 'Non', that's it you zee," uh-huh, uh-huh
"Nussing can you do to to get a 'Oui'," uh-huh, uh-huh.
"When I say 'Non', that's it you zee,"
"It make me full of joi de vive." uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
 
Without my Premier Jacques' consent, uh-huh, uh-huh.
You must the war give up for Lent, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Yes for my Premier Jacques' assent,
Grovel and beg must your President. uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
 
Then uncle Sam laughed at his pride, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Laughed until he nearly cried, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Uncle Sam laughed right in his face
And he put Froggy in his place, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh

Froggy was important, or so he thought, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Till he found it was all for naught, uh-huh, uh-huh.
Froggy was important, or so he thought,
Should have left him under the Krauts, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.

*It's been three hours since I last saw a report, so for all I know Saddam has ridden out of Baghdad on a black Harley with a knife in his teeth to play chicken with a Bradley. Wouldn't that be nice?

Update: Because I am anal about these things. Crambone!

Now tell me where it came from.

Posted 3/20/2003 07:02:00 PM by Katie Bug link


DAMN THE WAR!!!!!

I am totally pissed about the war today!! Not because I am against it, or because I hate Bush, but because of what this news has done to the rest of us. Today was supposed to be "National Steak and Blowjob Day" and I totally forgot about it. Dammit!!! The one day of the year I was REALLY looking forward to and it has been taken away from us. Now my wife is gone for the day and my chances of really "celebrating" this day correctly are gone. Unless.........didn't Bill Clinton teach us that a blowjob is not really cheating?.........I'll get back to you.

Posted 3/20/2003 06:55:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Tony's Awards

I realize that Bush must be under an amazing amount of pressure with all of the decisions he has had to make over the past few weeks, but listening to NPR today, my thoughts seemed to turn to Tony Blair. I don't know if most of us can really understand the sacrifices that Blair has made in an effort to stand with the U.S. Simply put, the man has put his political career on the line by standing with Bush, and while this may pail in comparison to our troops putting their lives on the line for freedom, in today's world it is almost.....ALMOST, as impressive. I realize that he may be doing so for a number of reasons, not the least of which may be to stay on our good side, but I'm impressed, and I'm appreciative. Without a doubt he has been our greatest ally and friend, and I hope that his efforts and personal risks will be remembered.

Posted 3/20/2003 11:47:00 AM by Katie Bug link


Blowing Up Our Own Shit

Our military is so awesome. I don't know why I find this so funny, but I read this earlier on CNN.com:

• Officials confirm that U.S. Special Forces are performing reconnaissance missions in southern Iraq, CNN's Barbara Starr reported Thursday. "They call it preparing the battlefield," Starr said. A Special Forces helicopter crashed in the southern Iraqi "no-fly" zone Wednesday before the attack began, a Pentagon official said. No one on board was injured, and all were evacuated, CNN has learned. The wreckage later was destroyed by a coalition airstrike (picture here).

For some reason the thought of us blowing up our own helicopter is funny to me. You know the Iraqis thought they had a helicopter to salvage and try to get information from so they were probably driving to it when all of a sudden..... BOOM!!! They must have thought "WTF????" We have so much military strength we can afford the bombs to blow up our own equipment. I love the image.

Posted 3/20/2003 11:38:00 AM by Katie Bug link


Saddam: Dead or Alive

In honor of my trip to see Bon Jovi this Friday night at the RBC Center in Raleigh (yes, I am going, you can stop laughing now and go back to listening to your Yanni), these words popped into my head. They should be sung to the tune of “Dead or Alive.”

It’s all the same, Saddam will never change,
Everyday, his power will be wasting away.
In Iraq, where the desert gets so hot,
He will die, if he surrenders or not.

Georgie’s a cowboy,
In the White House he resides,
Saddam’s wanted, dead or alive.
Wanted, dead or alive.

Iraq’s troops won’t sleep, we’ll put them in a daze,
The Iraqi leaders are starting to go their separate ways.
Sometimes you’ll tell the day, by the targets that we shell,
Tell Saddam we’re coming, and that we’re bringing hell.

Georgie’s a cowboy,
In the White House he resides,
Saddam’s wanted, dead or alive.
Wanted, dead or alive.

We’ll walk those streets, break down his palace gates,.
We’re playing for keeps, and we’re there to liberate.
As for Saddam, the bastard doesn’t stand a chance,
We’ll kick his ass, then we’ll say “fuck you” to France..

Georgie’s a cowboy,
Without a teleprompter he can’t speak,
We’ll defeat Iraq,
Hopefully within the week.
He’s a cowboy,
The Iraqi people will cheer,
He should call up Jacques Chirac, and yell “I got your veto right here!!!”

He’s a cowboy,
On a golf cart he rides,
Saddam’s wanted………….dead or alive.

Posted 3/19/2003 09:58:00 PM by Sid link


Back to the Basics

Ok, I'm done. I hope I've left you enough reading.

Johnnie, get your gun, we're going over there.

Ithaca College coeds, ripe for terror sex.

Nice pic of the USS Curtis Wilber.

More photo comparison on the Corrie death, and a list of the differing accounts of what happened.

CNN - Well, he's not dead yet. You know that as well as me, I would think. Unless that's a double, or he's prerecorded that speech once for each day of the month. References to Jihad and Palestine, so he's trying to whip up the arab street.

Iraq's 51st mechanised division and the 11th infantry, "set to surrender"?

USS Donald Cook, launching Tomahawks

Slate has a live report from Baghdad.
At exactly 4:31 a.m., I saw the first strike. An oil refinery on the banks of the River Tigris blew up, throwing up huge flames that have since turned to pillars of smoke. The oil refinery, which looks destroyed, is about 1 kilometer from the hotel where I'm staying.
..........
The Iraqi government has started turning on the 200-odd foreign journalists who remain here. German and Austrian TV crews were expelled yesterday, and a number of people, including Russian reporters, have been arrested for illegal use of satellite phones.

1000 members of the N.C. basaed 82nd airborne are rading villages in Afghanistan, looking for al-Qaida .

MSNBC - Brian Williams is hiccuping like mad

Dick Cheney called South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun specifically to tell him that war was breaking out. Are we expecting something?
Update: Yes. South Korea elevates alert against North Korea amid war in Iraq

CNN 11:48 pm - Ground forces "the huge land armada" not to move for at least the next 12 hours. Armada? Not a particulary apt choice of term. And, if they do hold for 12 or more hours, not like Panama at all.

A little song

Airplanes we have heard on high.
Bombs are falling from the sky!
Look! there drops one overhead.
Pray it lands in Saddam's bed.

The FBI asks that state and local law enforcement agencies watch for suspicious activity by Iraqi diplomatic vehicles, which are apparently free to roam the country at will.

Baghdad is leaking people. Also, nice explosion pic

Asian Muslims wake up, find urine on cornflakes.

A list of others blogging now, over at Vodkapundit.

CNN - Iraqi TV is saying that Sadaam will address the Iraqi people soon. That's right, give us another shot at him.

Another satisfied buyer of the First Iraq, Then France bumper sticker.

One target in Baghdad hit "three to four times"

William Saletan is not doing a very good job at blogging the war, if you ask me. I may stop checking him in another couple of hours.

Iraqi Kurdish militia fighters stand guard as they listen to the radio during the last moment of the President Bush.

MSNBC - Saddam Hussein was the target of the cruise missile attack. F117 dropping a Bunker Buster. Be dead. Be dead. Be dead. Be dead. Be dead.

Photo of surrendering Iraqis.

Raed - there is still nothing happening im baghdad we can only hear distant expolsions and there still is no all clear siren. someone in the BBC said that the state radio has been overtaken by US broadcast, that didn't happen the 3 state broadcasters still operate. So this article is wrong, apparently

More than one "target of opportunity" was attacked, reports CNN. Sounds like very refined command and control strikes.
MSNBC - British military officials were "stunned" at the action.
Caveat: Much of what we will hear today will be wrong.

Columbia's Destruction May Be Tied to Mystery Object
IMHO: Too much junk in space made them dismiss information that could have saved the crew.

Star Dies in Giant Gamma Ray Burst

Raed in Baghdad is still connected. Yes, I've gone to the Robot Wisdom blogstyle for a while. Much more into an information gathering mode than is my normal habit. Regular functioning will resume soon, I hope.

N.Korea fires surface-to-ship cruise missile

Posted 3/19/2003 09:46:00 PM by Sid link


Cliche Count = 1

We're attacking at...dawn?

Maybe shock and awe are more more impressive in the daytime.

Cnn is reporting an cruise missile attack on a Baghdad "target of opportunity." I wonder who.

Fired from a Predator?

Update: Cnn says it was a "decapitation" strike, via cruise missiles fired by stealth fighters, targeting a building "known to be" a leadership location.

Posted 3/19/2003 05:00:00 PM by Sid link


War Lynx


Anti-War Protestor numbers take a dive.

Britain's Foreign Office has issued a global terror warning.

Prepared for terrorism in Washington, as long as we don't have to move.

Saddam may disguise himself as a woman in order to escape U.S. forces. Here's a computer generated image of what he should look like.

Israel citizens have been ordered to carry gas masks with them at all times. Check Imshin, Expat Egghead, Tal G and Israpundit for local updates.

So much for dark of the moon.

If CNN loses its Baghdad feed, this will be why.

Christians in Pakistan are asking for government protection in case of war.

"Saddam Hussein has given his military commanders the authority to use chemical weapons without further directives from Baghdad"

Mass desertions along the northern border.

Anti-war clergymen: Pissing into the wind.

A history of the Daisy Cutter.

Logistics officers are afraid that U.S. forces are going to outrun their fuel supplies.

Sudanese volunteers for Iraq standing guard in Baghdad.

Combat pilots on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt have been ordered to sleep in today, so they can work tonight.

The British logistics landing ship Sir Bedivere and the minehunter USS Ardent faced off against a Iraqi vessel last night.

Night has fallen in Baghdad. You can check the time here.

Odds are that Australian troops are taking part in the rumored fight around Basra. The article hints of an official attack taking place around 8pm est. The Prime Minister of Australia is scheduled to address that nation about an hour after that.

390 Iraqi POWs have been released by Iran. No word on how pissed off they are at the timing.

Satellite Sandstorm Picture

The war may be delayed, as the Canadian Natural Resources Minister isn't on board yet. Canadian businesses are not amused with their government's position.

Iraq is thought to be planning chemical attacks on Iraqi civilians in order to blame their deaths on the coalition forces.

Iraq has deployed its most sophisticated cruise missile defense in Baghdad.

The fighting in Basra may be in the leading edge of an amphibious assault, involving trops from the Special Boat Service. Other troops are driving on the old Iraqi naval base at Umm Qasr. Lots of other info here.

British troops taking up "forward battle positions" were ordered to switch off satellite phones and allied warplanes bombed targets in Iraq after coming under fire in the no-fly zone.
..............
The first flight of B52s were expected to take off two hours before sunset to give them enough flying time to identify their targets and drop their first devastating payload before heading for home.

Iraqi Troops have started to defect, and there was a naval clash outside of Basra last night.

The President has determined that
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and

(2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Iraqi Helicopters have attacked Kurdish villages outside of Kirkuk

The Delta Force has been ordered to capture or kill Saddam Hussein

Stories are starting to come in thick and fast. I'll add them as I can. New links will appear at the top.

Some links in this post via:
Instapundit
Rantburg

Posted 3/19/2003 04:50:00 PM by Sid link


Go Easy, Step Lightly. Stay Free.

Where is Raed, blogging from Iraq.

It is even too late for last minute things to buy, there are too few shops open. We went again for a drive thru Baghdad’s main streets. Too depressing. I have never seen Baghdad like this. Today the Ba’ath party people started taking their places in the trenches and main squares and intersections, fully armed and freshly shaven. They looked too clean and well groomed to defend anything. And the most shocking thing was the number of kids. They couldn’t be older than 20, sitting in trenches sipping Miranda fizzy drinks and eating chocolate (that was at the end of our street) other places you would see them sitting bored in the sun. more cars with guns and loads of Kalashnikovs everywhere.

The worst is seeing and feeling the city come to a halt. Nothing. No buying, no selling, no people running after buses. We drove home quickly. At least inside it did not feel so sad.

The ultimatum ends at 4 in the morning her in Baghdad, and the big question is will the attack be at the same night or not. Stories about the first gulf war are being told for the 100th time.

The Syrian border is now closed to Iraqis. They are being turned back. What is worse is that people wanting to go to Deyala which is in Iraq are being told to drive back to baghdad, there was a runor going around that baghdad will be "closed" no one goes in or out [check the map go from Baghdad in a N/E direction until you reach Baqubah, this is the center of Deyala governerate] people are being turned back at the borders of Baghdad city. There is a checkpoint and they will not let you pass it. there are rumors that many people have taken the path thru Deyala to go to the Iranian border. Maybe, maybe not.

If you remember I told you a while ago that you can get 14 satellite channels sanctioned by the state, retransmitted and decoded by receivers you have to buy from a state company. This service has been suspended. Internet will follow I am sure.

Posted 3/19/2003 03:07:00 PM by Katie Bug link


An Offer He Shouldn't Refuse

It shouldn't matter if it is Bahrain or South Central Los Angeles. At this point the important word in this offer is SAFE exile. Hey motherfucker, take what is behind door number 3 and get the hell out while you still can!!!

Posted 3/19/2003 02:45:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Email Frenzy - Supporting The U.S.

Typically, unless the email comes from a good friend whose choice of emails to forward I can trust, I delete a good deal of forwarded mail. I just got this one as I am sure many of you have or soon will. It was somewhat interesting so I decided to post it here. It supposedly comes from an English journalist, and is reportedly found in the Daily Mirror. The email read as follows:

Just a word of background for those of you who aren't familiar with the UK's Daily Mirror. This is a notoriously left-wing daily that is normally not supportive of the Colonials across the Atlantic.

Tony Parsons... Daily Mirror...

One year ago, the world witnessed a unique kind of broadcasting -- the mass murder of thousands, live on television. As a lesson in the pitiless cruelty of the human race, September 11 was up there with Pol Pot's

Mountain of Skulls in Cambodia, or the skeletal bodies stacked like garbage in the Nazi concentration camps.

An unspeakable act so cruel, so calculated and so utterly merciless that surely the world could agree on one thing - nobody deserves this fate. Surely there could be consensus: The victims were truly innocent, the perpetrators truly evil.

But to the world's eternal shame, 9/11 is increasingly seen as America's comeuppance. Incredibly, anti-Americanism has increased over the last year.

There has always been a simmering resentment to the USA in this country; too loud, too rich, too full of themselves, and so much happier than Europeans -- but it has become an epidemic. And it seems incredible to me. More than that, it turns my stomach.

America is this country's greatest friend and our staunchest ally. We are bonded to the US by culture, language and blood. A little over half a century ago, around half a million Americans died for our freedoms, as well as their own. Have we forgotten so soon? And exactly a year ago, thousands of ordinary men, women and children -- not just Americans, but from dozens of countries -- were butchered by a small group of religious fanatics. Are we so quick to betray them?

What touched the heart about those who died in the Twin Towers and on the planes, was that we recognized them. Young fathers and mothers, somebody's son and somebody's daughter, husbands, wives, and children, some unborn.

And these people brought it on themselves? Their nation is to blame for their meticulously planned slaughter?

These days you don't have to be some dust-encrusted nut job in Kabul or Karachi or Finsbury Park to see America as the Great Satan. The anti-American alliance is made up of self-loathing liberals who blame the Americans for every ill in the Third World, and conservatives suffering from power-envy, bitter that the world's only superpower can do what it likes without having to ask permission.

The truth is that America has behaved with enormous restraint since September 11.

Remember ... remember ... remember ... the gut-wrenching tapes of weeping men phoning their wives to say, "I love you," before they were burned alive.

Remember those people leaping to their deaths from the top of burning sky scrapers. Remember the hundreds of firemen buried alive.

Remember the smiling face of that beautiful little girl who was on one of the planes with her mum.

Remember ... remember ...

And realize that America has never retaliated for 9/11 in anything like the way it could have.

So a few al-Qaeda tourists got locked up without a trial in Camp X-ray? Pass the Kleenex ...

So some Afghan wedding receptions were shot up after they merrily fired their semi-automatics in a sky full of American planes? A shame, but maybe next time they should stick to confetti.

AMERICA could have turned a large chunk of the world into a parking lot. That it didn't is a sign of strength. American voices are already being raised against attacking Iraq -- that's what a democracy is for. How many in the Islamic world will have a minute's silence for the slaughtered innocents of 9/11? How many Islamic leaders will have the guts to say that the mass murder of 9/11 was an abomination?

When the news of 9/11 broke on the West Bank, those freedom-loving Palestinians were dancing in the street. America watched all of that -- and didn't push the button. We should thank the stars that America is the most powerful nation in the world. I still find it incredible that 9/11 did not provoke all-out war. Not a "war on terrorism." A real war.

The fundamentalist dudes are talking about "opening the gates of hell" if America attacks Iraq. Well, America could have opened the gates of hell like you wouldn't believe.

The US is the most militarily powerful nation that ever strode the face of the earth. The campaign in Afghanistan may have been less than perfect and the planned war on Iraq may be misconceived.

But don't blame America for not bringing peace and light to these wretched countries. How many democracies are there in the Middle East, or in

the Muslim world? You can count them on the fingers of one hand -- assuming you haven't had any chopped off for minor shoplifting.

I love America, yet America is hated. I guess that makes me Bush's poodle. But I would rather be a dog in New York City than a Prince in Riyadh.

Above all, America is hated because it is what every country wants to be -- rich, free, strong, open, optimistic. Not ground down by the past, or religion, or some caste system. America is the best friend this country ever had and we should start remembering that.

Or do you really think the USA is the root of all evil? Tell it to the loved ones of the men and women who leaped to their death from the burning towers.

Tell it to the nursing mothers whose husbands died on one of the hijacked planes, or were ripped apart in a collapsing skyscraper. And tell it to the hundreds of young widows whose husbands worked for the New York Fire Department.

To our shame, George Bush gets a worse press than Saddam Hussein. Once we were told that Saddam gassed the Kurds, tortured his own people and set up rape-camps in Kuwait. Now we are told he likes Quality Street. Save me, Oh Mighty One!

Remember ... remember ... September 11. One of the greatest atrocities in human history was committed against America.

No, do more than remember. Never forget.

Posted 3/19/2003 01:53:00 PM by Sid link


The Hraka Advantage

The mainstream media discovers what we knew yesterday.

Posted 3/19/2003 12:36:00 PM by Sid link


Legal!

This week's Carnival of the Vanities is at Wylie Blog.

Upcoming Carnival stops include;

March 26th Dancing with Dogs
April 2nd Go Fish
April 9th Solonor's Ink Well
April 16th Billegible
April 23th The Kitchen Cabinet
April 30th Clubbeaux
May 7th Common Sense and Wonder
May 14th The Inscrutable American
May 21st Cut On The Bias
May 28th Dean's World

If you'd like to host the Carnival, drop us a line. Information on how to join the Carnival can be found here.

Posted 3/19/2003 11:11:00 AM by Sid link


One From Clover

Hello, stranger. You look....Hungry.

If you eat my Fluffy Mackerel Pudding, then I'll partake of your Frankfurter Spectacular.

The rest can be seen here.

Zod: Spectacular Spectacular!
The words of no vernacular
Can describe this great event.
You'll be dumb with wonderment.
Rewards are fixed at ten percent.
You must agree that's excellent.

You have got to stop singing that. What is it with you and gaudy costume musicals?

Posted 3/19/2003 10:48:00 AM by Sid link


Societal Hacks: We Do It So You Don't Have To

If you'd like to read the LA Times article on blogging and war, but don't want to go through the horribly complicated registration page, use this account:

name: guest23
password: guest23

Whenever you're confronted with one of these annoying sign in pages, try the guest/guest combination. It works far more often than you would think. E-mail me any open account/password combinations for sites like that of the Times that you know of, or drop them into the comments, and I'll add them as they show up.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:25:00 AM by Sid link


Oh, I Love Trash...

I doubt that George will wait that long, but given the general anti-war tenor of various celebrities, I think it would be an excellent idea to time the first attack on Baghdad for Sunday night. Would sometime, say around 8:30e/5:30p be good for you?

Posted 3/19/2003 10:02:00 AM by Katie Bug link


France May Help After All

France suggested they could help in the war with Iraq if chemical or biological weapons are used. Why do I have such an urge to tell President Jacques Chirac to kiss my ass? It's not that I don't appreciate it, but what message does this send? We don't support you, we think you are wrong, but if your skin is burning from your bones we may step in.

Posted 3/19/2003 10:02:00 AM by Sid link


Willard Told Him To

Tariq Aziz has attempted to defect. No one is sure if he is dead or not.


Link via Instapundit.

Update: Fog O'War claims another victim.

Posted 3/19/2003 09:42:00 AM by Katie Bug link


War With Iraq

With the war possibly hours away, rumors are beginning to circulate about what our troops can expect and how the war may go. My friend Prarie Dog told me of a rumor that Saddam will possibly blow up dams south of Baghdad, and the mess and loss of life could be great from such a move. I hope that our troops are truly prepared for anything, because I think Saddam will resort to anything he can think of. When his removal is inevitable (I realize it already is, but I mean when Saddam finally realizes that he must go), he will probably throw everything at us that he can. His troops may be throwing chemical weapons, dirty bombs, rocks, chickens, whatever by that time. I would expect his palaces may be booby-trapped and that he may seriously consider blowing himself up rather than being captured...........let's be careful out there.

I have another theory on why we are going to war, and it has nothing to do with Saddam or oil. Once I stumbled on this idea it became so clear to me. Who stands to benefit the most from this war? Not the U.S., or England, or the varous countries of the Middle East.................CNN. Perhaps this war has been manufactured so that CNN can regain the national spotlight as it did the last time we fought Iraq. Perhaps the most powerful dictator is not Saddam, but Ted Turner.

Posted 3/18/2003 11:36:00 PM by Sid link


Annoying the Wife, Beer of the Night

Tonight we sample from Young Brewery's Dirty Dick's ale, the beer name that begs to be mistyped; the beer that the wife wants me to take elsewhere, anywhere, as long as it is away from her.

Just like regime change in Iraq, the Ibook is producing unforeseen consequences. In the era B.L., blogging to her was a solitary, second floor endeavor, annoying in that took me away, but at least quiet. No longer.

Today she opened the door to the downstairs bathroom and there on the toilet sat I, hunched over in all my glory, laptop on the floor before me, chuckling over Doggerel Pundit's lovely Babs poem.

If there is such a thing as a look of incredulous disdain, she wore it. "I cannot believe you took that to the bathroom with you."

"Why not? I've read all the magazines. Gotta read something."

"It's a laptop!"

I grinned at her, full of pith and vinegar. Well, full of vinegar at least, if possessing somewhat less pith than before, and remarked. "Don't you mean.....craptop?"

Which ended the conversation, as she flounced upstairs in annoyance, leaving me to giggle inanely over my exquisite bon mot.

Dealing with a husband who has apparently grown a new appendage is one thing. Dealing with him while he blogs beside you in the marital bed at night is where she draws the line. The beer posts bother her the most, thanks to my lead fingered typing, omnipresent beer smell, and the horrible sounds that accompany every other sip.

Usually there's a sniff, and then a bigger sniff, and I try to coax my crippled olfactory receptors into detecting a bouquet, followed by an inverse raspberry, one created by me pooling a sip of beer on the front of my tongue and drawing in air across it. This is supposedly done to spread the beer out over the taste buds, to pick out some of the subtler flavors. It sounds like Hannibal Lector discussing fava beans and niche chianti.

thipthipthipthip.

Wine tasters and beer judges do it a lot, and manage to look fairly professional about the whole thing.

I tend to cough a lot, and drool.

thipthip Hack. hack. Nice....hack.caramel...overtone....hack, wipe. Not a pretty sound or sight if you happen to be a seven months pregnant woman finally drifting off to sleep after an hour of arranging things so that neither your sore hips nor your bulging, gravid belly is complaining about the extra heavy nighttime gravity.

So I was dismissed, and sent to the computer room/guest bedroom to finish my beer and record my thoughts there.

"Please don't throw me in dat dere briar patch," I said, and was rewarded with a face full of pillow.

Married life is so romantic.

Speaking of marriage, back to the Dirty Dick's. It's a very nice reddish brown ale with a fairly fast disappearing head. As always, not much of a bouquet, but that's my fault, not the beer's. I can smell it, of course, but I don't have the nose to separate out any specific themes. Smooth, glassy mouth feel, with an initial faint taste of spun sugar. It's a fairly hoppy ale, though far less so than the Brutal Bitter of the previous night, with a strong citrus note, something you should find in almost all bitters. (I prefer bitters at the moment, and bought a number of them on the last trip to the beer store, which is why there's been several reviewed. Alts, whites and hefewiezens also grab the spotlight now and again as well.) There's kind of a slight charcoal type finish, reminiscent of mesquite chips. I think this is probably what most people would call "oaky." A good beer with peanuts, but then again, what beer isn't?

Here's another review.

And we have a request in, to review a child of the Philippines, San Miguel Dark Lager. I'll see if I can locate some.

Posted 3/18/2003 04:45:00 PM by Sid link


Something to Sing At The Peace Demonstration

We shall bomb Saddam
We shall bomb Saddam
We shall bomb Saddam some day

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall bomb Saddam some day

We'll walk Glock in hand
We'll walk Glock in hand
We'll walk Glock in hand some day

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall bomb Saddam some day

He shall not be free
He shall not be free
He shall not be free some day

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall bomb Saddam some day

He shall be betrayed
He shall be betrayed
He shall be betrayed some day*

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall bomb Saddam some day

We won't stand alone
We won't stand alone
We won't stand alone some day

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall bomb Saddam some day

The whole free world around
The whole free world around
The whole free world around some day

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall bomb Saddam some day

We shall bomb Saddam
We shall bomb Saddam
We shall bomb Saddam some day

*Alternative verse to sing at the demonstrators;

Ye should all be spayed
Ye should all be spayed
Ye should all be spayed some day

Update: Blog O'Dob chimes in with something to sing at a Dixie Chicks concert.
Zod: Update, for a freaking lyrics post? What are you, the Dan Rather of the Dr. Demento set?

Posted 3/18/2003 02:43:00 PM by Sid link


How Exactly Does Leaving Saddam In Power Promote Peace and Justice In Iraq?

Peace and Justice spokesperson, Andrea Buffa, confounded by Mohammed.

The D.J.'s page is here.

Posted 3/18/2003 02:26:00 PM by Sid link


Playing Clue

Want to know why Dwight Watson is holding the Reflecting Pool hostage?

Here's a clue

Farmer Dwight Watson of Whitakers said his quota has been cut in half over the past five years, from about 120 acres to 55 acres. The business is regulated by the government, Watson said, and the government can turn the farmers' problems around.

"Why is the American tobacco farmer being put out of business when we grow the best tobacco in the world?" he asked.

Here's another

Dwight Watson told me that when he sells a 700-pound bale of tobacco, he clears about $150 after expenses. That bale makes about 16,000 packs of cigarettes. If those packs are sold in New York City, the federal, state and local governments will have pocketed $58,000 in taxes on Watson's bale of tobacco. Each year, the tobacco industry generates about $13 billion in taxes.

If someone dies at the end of this standoff, and odds are it will be Mr. Watson, then the culprit will be the Government, in the House, with a gavel. If we deny farmers the right to grow a crop of their choice on their own land, and then in effect indefinitely refuse to compensate them, then we'll see more tractors in the reflecting pool.

Mr. Watson will just be the first in a series.

Posted 3/18/2003 02:05:00 PM by Sid link


Round and Round She Goes, Where She Stops, Nobody Knows

Must install more ceiling fans.

Don't think I need a Nokia, though.

Posted 3/18/2003 01:44:00 PM by Sid link


God Help Me, I Do Love It So

I love the smell of Patton in the morning. Smells like....victory.

Zod:You're quite the schizophrenic, you know that?
No, I had not a single clue.

Posted 3/18/2003 11:14:00 AM by Katie Bug link


Going to Hell

Over the course of the past year, all 3 of us here at Silflay Hraka have written things that will probably get us a one-way ticket straight to hell. No sense in stopping that now.. For some reason the image of President Bush giving us his "what I pray for" speech a week or so ago has stuck in my mind. So, here is the latest prayer that may have been offered up by Bush.

Prayer 3-17-2003

Dear God:

Did you see me up there tonight? It was so cool, instead of walking down that long corridor to the podium I just sort of appeared from stage right, kind of like "BAM!", here I am America. Probably had Saddam jumping in his seat with that one. Lord, thank you for giving me wisdom during these tough times. Please continue to guide me in the decisions that I make, and help me to protect as many of our men and women in the armed services as possible. Thank you for giving me the patience to get through these last few months, and for letting me live in such a big house with a bowling alley. I like the sound it makes when the ball hits those pins..........CRASH!!!!! That is really neat.

Lord, please let this campaign in Iraq be a quick one, one that causes few casualties. Please allow our military to be victorious, and give me another opportunity to use the term "evildoers" in public. Please take care of my family, especially those that have taken to drinking like a greyhound takes to racing. Father, I hope that you will continue to protect the U.S., and give me the strength to take care of what needs to be done. For Lord, the world thinks I am a cowboy..............on a steel horse I ride. I'm going to get Saddam, dead or alive.

Lord, if you can find a way for me to fit that into a speech I would really appreciate it.

Amen

See you in hell.

Posted 3/18/2003 10:55:00 AM by Katie Bug link


The Oscars Will Go On

Officials have said that the impending war with Iraq will not affect the plan to hold the 75th Oscar awards show on Sunday..................WHOOPIDEEDOO!!!!! Oh, those brave men and women of Hollywood. Bless them for being brave enough to still put on their ugly ass dresses and expensive tuxes and still have the fortitude to get into that limo and take that ride all the way to the venue. I admire them so much for continuing with this program when there is such a threat of............well, when there is the possibility of...................maybe some woman will charge the stage and protest the wearing of furs or something of that nature. God Bless Hollywood!!!

Posted 3/18/2003 01:40:00 AM by Sid link


Beer of the Night

A quick review, for I'm already looking at only five hours sleep. Rogue Brutal Bitter - It's brutal indeed. Most people would use the "very hoppy, very citrusy" phrase in describing it. They're correct, but misleading. It tastes like the white stuff Mother Nature wraps grapefruit wedges in.

This is not necessarily bad. It's just not a beer to drink alone. It needs accompaniment. I'd say it would go well with Brie and Townhouse crackers, if I was eating Brie.

That's my review. Here's a real one.

Posted 3/18/2003 01:33:00 AM by Sid link


New Clear Days

Go a Letter to Osama in my inbox yesterday. The title reminded me of a Vapors song from 20 years ago. No, not "Turning Japanese".

Letter from Hiro.

I went googling for the lyrics, but apparently no one has thought to transcribe them for eternity yet. I thought that was a shame, if for no other reason than it was a piece of my youth in danger of being lost.

I think it was Thursday, I think it was late.......1938
Got a letter from Hiro, he'd left out the date
He said he was waiting for an outbreak

Took a look in the mirror, it should have been me
But there was nothing to see
Pulled a thought from the curtains and I went downstairs
It was utterly futile, so I combed my hair

All the kids in the factory say
My letter from Hiro came too late

Communication leaves me out of touch
You say it means nothing, well, nothing much
Like the sign on the door, too hard too see too soft to touch
The Age of Reason is out to lunch

All the kids in the factory say
My letter from Hiro came too late

5 o'clock in the morning sun rising in my hand
And I'm not quite sure if I'm just insecure or if the problem
Is simply that I really don't understand
'bout the guns and the crossfire and the social disease
And when the sun was rising somewhere in the East
And when a flag meant more to Hiro than to me

All the kids in the factory say
My letter from Hiro came too late

I've always thought it a haunting lyric (though I fear what that implies about my musical taste) and slightly more representative of the Vapors sound than "Turning Japanese" , though their fascination with the East is clearly evident in "Letter to Hiro" as well.

Posted 3/18/2003 12:41:00 AM by Sid link


We Should Have Thought Of This

Personally, I blame Woundwort. He's the sports beat reporter.

Posted 3/17/2003 10:55:00 PM by Sid link


Birds of a Feather, Kill Together

Given the ubiquitous coverage and discussion of the Middle East, I thought we could relax and talk about a less stressful subject tonight, say....deadly hemorrhagic fevers. Like Ebola, for instance. That feels relaxing to me. Does it feel relaxing to you?

I thought so.

A new theory that groups Ebola in with a family of avian retroviruses on the basis of its physical appearance and history has prompted an expedition to the Congo in hopes of finally discovering the elusive host of the virus.

Birds were implicated as a possible host to the deadly virus by David Sanders and Scott Jeffers at Purdue University, Indiana, and Anthony Sanchez, at the US Centers of Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, who showed in December that there are strong structural similarities between Ebola and some bird retroviruses.

"The biochemistry of entry of Ebola [into a cell] is really similar to bird retroviruses. It is clear that they have a common ancestor." Sanders told New Scientist."We suggest the possibility that the current natural reservoir is a bird host - it's consistent with Ebola's epidemiology."

The central African rift valley separates the ranges of bird species into distinct western and eastern groupings. Ebola outbreaks occur in central and western Africa but not in the east - consistent with being confined to the bird populations on one side of the rift valley.

Most human cases of Ebola are the result of a hunter who has eaten infected bushmeat, the flesh of either gorillas or chimpanzees. The hunter then comes down with the virus and passes it along to those in close contact with him, both before and after his death. The main, and possibly only, transmission route of the virus among primates and humans (yes, redundant, I know) is through contact with the fluids or flesh of an infected person. What is not known is how the virus infects the primates the hunter ate to begin with, though obviously it can also be spread by close contact among the members of a specific primate population as easily as it can be among a comparable human group.

The distinct disadvantage that researchers have been at in tracing the disease reservoir has been that it's nigh on impossible to observe a primate group at the level of detail necessary to even develop a theory about the transmission route. A researcher would not only have to catalog all the daily food items eaten over the course of several months if not years to even have a chance of observing a infected chimp, but also somehow account for all the insects the primates came in contact with over the same period.

If the bird theory holds, then the most likely vector of transmission is bird feces, most likely ingested along with leaves or vegetation. The avian host would probably not be a common species, or one that gorillas and chimps come into regular contact with, as the primates in the specific area that Ebola is found in would either have died out or become immune to the virus over time. So, a rare to uncommon forest species, as it certainly has to share the same ecosystem in order to pass along the virus. Or, if Ebola outbreaks are seasonal, which is as yet undetermined, then possibly a migratory species might be to blame. That would be bad news for the researchers, as the host species would have already passed through the area.

The argument against a migratory species being the Ebola is that the virus should be present over the entire migratory route, and there just aren't many avian species that migrate over that short an area. If the Ebola host is a bird, it's probably a resident species for central and western sub-Saharan Africa, not one that moves in and out of the area. It would also be one not normally used as a food source by the natives, (else the connection between birds and Ebola would have been made earlier) and consequently a species that not much is known about. For other reasons, it would also be nice if the species frequented caves as well as forests.

There actually is a avian family that fits all of those requirements, the Rockfowls, or Picathartidae, which inhabit the requisite habitat (caves and forests) and overall range, are uncommon to rare and about whom very little is known.

There's no guarantee that one or all of the species in the Picathartidae family actually is the Ebola reservoir, but given the relative congruence of what is known about those avians with what is known and theorized about Ebola, researchers would be extremely remiss if they didn't try very hard to capture a Rockfowl sample.

But, just in case, you heard it here first.

Posted 3/17/2003 08:01:00 PM by Sid link


Carnival Update

Wylie in Oklahoma is this week's host, and needs your posts in his mailbox 6 pm Tuesday. The address to send them to: wcm3 AT yahoo.com.

Posted 3/17/2003 04:06:00 PM by Katie Bug link


The First Casualty

Oh, I'm sorry, not in the war with Iraq, but in the coaching ranks of the NCAA. I never trusted this guy anyway.

Posted 3/17/2003 11:51:00 AM by Katie Bug link


Throwing Down the Gauntlet

Sounds as if Bush has come to the end of his diplomatic journey. The president will speak to the nation tonight and reportedly suggest that the ONLY way war will be avoided is for Saddam to leave the country.

Translation: The shit is about to hit the fan.

The interesting part about all of this is that we have been allowed to Monday morning quarterback this issue with Iraq for months now, and we may get our opportunity to see who was right and who was wrong. So, if you are religious in nature, what should you be praying for? When asked that question a week or so ago at his last televised speech, Bush told us a number of things he is praying for, which included peace and the Iraqi people. I bet at this minute he is also praying that our troops find some irrefutable evidence that Saddam has been working on developing weapons of mass destruction. If we do not find such evidence, our reputation as global bullies who just seek to destroy all people we disagree with will be further solidified.

I am not too concerned about our success with this war. I am certain that we can defeat Saddam’s army (some of whom have already tried to surrender), and will probably do so rather quickly, but I am apprehensive about what we will find. Do I think Saddam is a big ol’ A-hole who is a brutal dictator? You bet. Do I believe that the Iraqi people would be better off without him in power? Absolutely. Do I think the world would be a safer place with him dead or in exile? Damn straight. But I also think it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY that we find evidence of all that we have accused him of, including illegal arms and weapons of mass destruction. Otherwise, this president will most likely be a one term cowboy, just like his father.

His prayer may go as follows:

Dear Lord:

Please protect our men and women whom I am about to put in harm’s way. Let this be a swift and decisive war that ends with our side being victorious. Please let all of our big guns work, and allow all those cool laser guided thingies go where they are supposed to and hit as few churches and schools as possible. I pray for the Iraqi people, and pray that I can actually pronounce all of the words I will see on the teleprompter tonight. I pray for the safety of my family, and all of the American families, and I REALLY, REALLY pray that our troops will find at least one weapon of mass destruction so that I can call the French president, yell into the phone “I told you so” and hang up quickly before he knows that it was me. I am thankful for the brave men and women of our military who protect our country and keep it free, and I’m also thankful for the Texas Rangers and foreign leaders with simple names.

Amen.

Posted 3/16/2003 11:19:00 PM by Sid link


Jumping To....Conclusions

Remember this picture when the inevitable hosannas to Rachel Corrie's gentle nature and peaceful spirit start appearing.




Original photo here

Rachel Corrie, 23, from Olympia, Wash., a member of the 'International Solidarity Movement,' burns a mock U.S. flag during a rally in the southern Gaza Strip (news - web sites) town of Rafah in this Feb. 15, 2003 file photo. Corrie was run over and crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer Sunday, March 16, 2003, while she was trying to stop it from tearing down a building in the Rafah refugee camp, witnesses said.

Update: This is how Rachel described the rally (more below). Note that there's no mention of a"mock" flag. Was the above staged at a later time, were there no photos taken of the real burning, or was she prevaricating to impress her audience?

As this speech was delivered, a British national burned a large British flag, and a US national burned a large US flag. Both activists then burned numerous images of US president George W. Bush.

And remember how she died

According to the ISM activist, Corrie was wearing a bright jacket and climbed onto the bulldozer shovel-plow and began shouting at the driver. "There's no way he didn't see her, since she was practically looking into the cabin. At one stage, he turned around toward the building. The bulldozer kept moving, and she slipped and fell off the plow. But the bulldozer kept moving, the shovel above her. I guess it was about 10 or 15 meters that it dragged her and for some reason didn't stop. We shouted like crazy to the driver through loudspeakers that he should stop, but he just kept going and didn't lift the shovel. Then it stopped and backed up. We ran to Rachel. She was still breathing."

After climbing up onto the blade of a heavy earth moving machine, she either fell, or jumped off, though of course no one mentions that, and the distracted driver drove over her.* She wasn't sitting in front of the house, she wasn't running alongside the bulldozer, she was bronco busting. If you think a bulldozer blade is an easy place to keep your feet, go watch a construction site one day. On level ground a bulldozer will bounce enough to put that blade through a couple of feet of vertical movement. I can only imagine what it's like over rubble, and that's why I wonder if she didn't jump off or not. It would take a person with a deathwish just to jump onto the blade.

Remember, because her movement is already spinning the facts about her death. This picture was released earlier today by the International Solidarity Movement, the Palestinian front organization that Rachel belonged to.




Here's my original source, with an attached story

The picture shows someone, ostensibly Rachel Corrie just before she died, standing off to the side of a bulldozer.

The clear implication is that the bulldozer not only ran her down, but swerved to do it, as she stood motionless, a picture in direct contradiction of the eyewitness statement of one of her fellow shields. Now look at this picture, taken just afterwards a news reporter, rather than an organization with an interest in using Rachel Corrie's death as a club to pummel the Jews with.



original source

Note the differences in terrain? In the first picture, the terrain is as flat as a pancake. Note the blade of the bulldozer, though. That's what she was standing on. Not a flat surface on it.

The terrain is much more disturbed in the second photo, which I think speaks to the veracity of the one above. The girl is not even cold, and ISM is already lying about how she died. Anything moving over those piles of dirt is going to move violently up and down, even at slow speeds. You would have to be seriously deranged to jump onto a bulldozer blade in those conditions.

Also, don't any of those idiots know first aid?


* the statement is unclear, but to me indicates that the driver turned around in his seat, away from the front of the vehicle where Ms. Corrie was just prior to when she fell, or jumped. If she did jump, The ISM certainly won't tell you.

Update: Rachel Corrie, in her own words.

Note that she doesn't call herself an American, nor does she use that appellation, or "British", for any of her comrades. Everyone's an "international." She only became an American again after she died, because "International Run Over By Bulldozer" doesn't sell newspapers.

She's only an American when it suits her movement, and she'll be far more valuable dead than alive to them.

There's also a ton of references to Israeli Army anti-tunnel activity, directed against Palestinian tunnels under the border. There's never a word of condemnation of the tunnels themselves, just of the Israeli actions taken against them. Cleary she didn't feel that defending Israeli civilians against suicide bombers was a legitimate exercise.

The whole article is full of tidbits, including the email address and phone numbers of the Media Co-ordinator for ISM. There's also advice for members on contacting the American media, though not written by Rachel

"Obviously, don't mention ISM or any media co-ordinator's name."

Yeah, they wouldn't want to sully their propaganda with any confusing facts. Remember that tidbit when you read what ISM has to say in the coming days.

More Update: Here's another bulldozer picture, one that palsolidarity hasn't bothered to show to the world*, perhaps because it is somewhat inconsistent with the ones they and others have already published. Note the bulldozer blade, for instance, and the pile of detritus in front of it as compared to the "before" picture above.




In case you're wondering why I have it, palsolidarity has failed to secure their images directory, here. There are more images there than I can look at right now, so feel free to click around.

*They have since been published here.

Posted 3/16/2003 06:41:00 PM by Sid link


Forgive Me, Father...

You know, it reads like a "j'accuse!", but I think it's actually a "j'avoue!"

Posted 3/16/2003 04:50:00 PM by Sid link


All French Bashing, All The Time

I don't mean it to be a theme, I really don't. I just keep running across excellent examples of frog quashing, like this graphic from the Sun.

Posted 3/16/2003 04:02:00 PM by Sid link


Rutting Behavior

My schedule's been off all weekend. I must be getting old, as I found this frustrating. All I ask out of life is that I get to do about the same thing I do every day at about the same time each day, regardless of what is happening in the outside world. I realize this is normally the exception rather than the rule, but every now and then life allows me a day or three in a row where it doesn't bounce me out of my warm and snuggly rut, and I become complacent. Then the cart hits a a rock, and I bounce out, and grow increasingly petulant until I can scurry back in.

Spent all of Friday night at work applying server patches and wrestling with recalcitrant Apache builds.

The initial estimate for our maintenance downtime was an hour, as we had postponed some of the more unwieldy data backups to a later date. Four and a half hours after that, we were done, though not finished. I'll spend a good part of next week investigating why a particular vendor's Apache config script would compile and make without complaint, yet refuse to add any of the modules listed in the configuration script to the final binary.

Yes, I know that was so much gobbledegook. Here's a quick explication. A webserver is the computer that gives files to your browser when you surf the web. The program that starts and stops the web server is called a binary. You could also call it a program, or an executable, but that would be far too easily understood, and we geeks have to protect our job status somehow. The binary is built by something like a software assembly line, where you first define what it will look like (config script), build it (make) and put it where it needs to be to function (make install). Modules are additions to the basic webserver code that allow it to do extra things, like ask you for a password or understand requests for non-standard files. The various modules a person wants to add to a webserver are specified in the config script, and if process that builds the webserver binary doesn't understand what you want, or can't find something that it needs, it's supposed to break, ideally with a message that tells you exactly what the problem is. Bridging the gap between ideally and what actually happens is what a system administrator does.

Spent all of Saturday laboring under the lash of a pregnant woman with a newly awakened nesting instinct.

I can understand why a new baby might necessitate a rearrangement of the furniture in the new nursery (old guest bedroom) and new guest bedroom (old computer room/library), or why this would also call for a new coat of paint in the guest bedroom. Bookshelves and computers leave marks, after all. What I can't understand is why the baby felt it important that I also reseed and fertilize the lawn.

I also cooked dinner. Veal Saltimbocca, for those of you who will somehow miss the posts just below this one.

By the time all that was done it was late, and there were bedtime stories to read and Netflix DVDs to watch with the nester, who had the temerity to suggest what a long and tiring day it had been, what with watching Peter Pan and having to drive Ngnat to the playground.

I refrained from comment. I'm all about the superhuman restraint.

Spent this morning and early afternoon with the inlaws, who had came with new furniture for Ngnat, who is losing large chunks of her rooms to the new nursery. We installed the Sainted wife's childhood chest of drawers set by way of recompense, not that she seemed to mind much. She can climb up the changing table just as easily in the next room as in her own, after all.

You would think that the nesting would be done, at this point. You would be wrong. This weekend's activities were only preliminary to the actual nesting, merely creating the upstairs context for later nesting. Next weekend Aspiring Actress and the Menead cousins are coming to paint the entire downstairs, to set that context. Presumably then the actual nesting can start.

I live in fear that I'll be required to whiten the mortar lines in the foundation with toothpaste at that point. If so, I'm only doing the outside. The crawlspace can fend for itself.