Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

Which old witch?

The wicked witch.

Alas, this calls into question the efficacy of Tiger Hand.

Pen Missile was always lame.

Hang 'Em High

Just finished watching a bit of Fox news, where the commentators were bemoaning the lack of publicity surrounding Saddam's atrocities. For some reason they seemed to believe this was the Bush administration's fault, not, um... , theirs. Bizarre logic, but just in case anyone needs reminding why hanging Saddam is a good thing, Halabja is why. Warning: link has disturbing pictures.

Prince Harry to Iraq

Britain's Prince Harry is set to serve with the military in Iraq. Good on 'em. The primary argument against this seems to have been that the Prince would be a target for terrorism, bringing his troops into increased danger.

Prince Harry has been a target for terrorists since he was born.

British troops have been a target for terrorists for at least the last 100 years.

They're kinda MFEO, don't you think?

Kinda looks like he has the same taste in hats as his stepmother. Any chance she's going to Iraq?

Michigan's Feelings Hurt

Some Michigan senators are very upset because the University of Michigan was left out of the BCS championship game, so they are demanding that the NCAA adopt a play-off system for Division-I football.

Sens. Mark Schauer and Mike Bishop, the incoming Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate, say subjectivity should be removed from a process that has financial and emotional repercussions. The pro-playoff resolution they introduced Thursday is purely symbolic. (My emphasis.)

Nobody should ever have to have hurt feelings. It's just not fair.

"The whole purpose of the BCS was to ensure a championship game between the best two teams in college football," he said.

And you guys aren't one of 'em. Nope, nope, nope. You've already lost to Ohio State. Deal with it.

Maybe the Military Should Hire Better Publicists

This story of young men who risked their lives to save a baby Iraqi girl deserves more press. But it's not likely to get it.

"An IED exploded immediately adjacent to Chris' vehicle, so they all piled out to chase the trigger man," said Capt. Sean Donovan.

But the Marines had a surprise encounter in their pursuit.

"And as they did so, a woman came from one of the houses calling to them that the baby was sick. So they stopped, and Chris came up and looked at the baby," Donovan said. "And this was baby Mariam, and it was immediately clear to him that this baby desperately needed care."

Baby Mariam was just 2 months old and suffering from a rare intestinal abnormality. Under the threat of another attack, Walsh had to make a quick decision.

"Right on the spot, the mission changed from the trigger man to the baby girl," Donovan said.

And these guys know at least as much about Iraq as James Baker and Friends, but they won't receive half the publicity the ISG gets.

"You have to occupy ground and stay there," said Capt. Greg Pavlichko, commander of a company involved in "Squeeze Play." "You have to live where you're fighting and let the people see you're committed to an area."

Commanders also say that any progress in Ramadi will evaporate almost overnight if U.S. forces pull out of the city. There is speculation the U.S. may scale back its operations here and throughout Anbar to focus on the violence and chaos in Baghdad.

Because the violence and chaos in Baghdad is getting more press.

That last is from the AP, so take it with a grain of salt. We can only hope there really is a Capt. Greg Pavlichko.

Kofi Annan Says UN Not Really All That Good at Peacekeeping

Okay, he didn't say that exactly. Here's what he did say:

"We must do better," Annan says. "We must develop the responsibility to protect into a powerful international norm that is not only quoted but put into practice, whenever and wherever it is needed."

Granted, I'm no ambassador, but I'm pretty sure that's Standard Diplomatic for "We suck at peacekeeping." Or maybe that's what this means:

"Above all we must not wait to take action until genocide is actually happening, by which time it is often too late to do anything effective about it."

Or maybe not. Perhaps I'm just confused by the seeming similarity between Standard Diplomatic and English, which everybody knows are not the same language at all.

Maybe this means "the UN sucks at peacekeeping."

The news comes just a day after the UN was forced to evacuate all non-essential staff from El-Fasher, a major town in north Darfur, amid soaring violence between Janjaweed militias and armed rebel units.

But that's not something Kofi said. It's something he did.

And, how come no one's asking where the Janjaweed got all those shiny new 4x4's?

US Airways Acted Correctly

Probes Dismiss Imam's Claims.

Three parallel investigations into the removal of six imams from a US Airways flight last month have so far concluded that the airline acted properly, that the imams' claims they were merely praying and their eviction was racially inspired are without foundation.

We can only hope the imam's and their like-minded friends will continue their noble boycott of US Airways. Perhaps they should consider expanding it to other airlines.

Small Yappy Dog Alert

Follow God or Vanish, Ahmadinejad Tells West. Yap, Yap.

Let the Terraforming Begin!

This is so shiny. Water on Mars! The guys on the moon are gonna be so jealous.

Political Correctness Hampering Iraqi Army?

This article about an Iraqi army sergeant is very revealing, both as to the difficulties they encounter with sectarian politics, and the use of the media to pressure the Iraqi army by the different sects.

“We need to give the Americans back all the authority over the Iraqi Army like before.”

Concerns abound that Iraq’s Defence Ministry is being manipulated to serve the interests of powerful Sunni and Shia political parties. A decision by the US military to hand over full control of Iraq’s Army to a Government plagued by sectarian interests, could well spell its ruin.

The sergeant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears that his criticism of the Government’s handling of the military could get him fired or killed, is one of several officers who complained to The Times of government threats against army units that have led raids against Sunni and Shia armed groups.

Senior US military officers have also expressed concern over campaigns to remove defence officials and commanders considered to be tough on government-linked militias.

The sergeant, dressed in a US Army shirt, bemoaned the intensifying government pressure. He feels that the Americans have taught his men to be a professional, non-sectarian force and political parties are undermining them.

“If we detain Sunni terrorists, many of the Sunnis working for the Government will keep pushing us and our battalion commanders and ask us why you do that. Sometimes they will make a complaint against us. If we do the same thing in Sadr City, they (Shia officials) will make an announcement on television that we are doing the wrong thing and killing innocent people.”

He recalled two instances where high-profile raids against a suspected armed group led to requests from within the Defence Ministry to transfer a key officer. The sergeant was afraid things would only get worse as the Iraqi Government takes more power.

He thinks that putting the army back under American control would alleviate the problem. I wish I could be as sure.

Also of note, he plans to leave Iraq if the US withdraws.

Yet in his years with the Iraqi Army he has learnt one simple lesson: once the US military pulls back in Iraq, he should leave the country if he wants to survive. “As soon as it happens, I will quit my job and live outside Iraq,” the sergeant told The Times.

...A colleague concurred, shaking his head at the partisan situation. “Each party is fighting to make his party first in a ministry. All people are just fighting for their own interests. If the coalition forces withdraw, all the people really working closely with the coalition forces, will leave because we will all be targets.” Between them, the two soldiers have had 50 colleagues killed in the past three years and another 10 troops kidnapped by the al-Mahdi Army.

I've noticed that the biggest problem for the third world seems to be the lack of honorable men willing to serve for the good of their societies. It's understandable why they would want to leave when they find themselves severely out-numbered and in fear for their lives, and that is why it's so important that we not abandon them, even if it means staying for a very long time. How else can we expect anyone to take on the sort of risk it entails to reform a corrupt, failing society in a decent manner if we bail on these guys.

One thing the world is not short of is corrupt, failing societies.

It's not just honorable people we'd be abandoning, it's honor itself.

I'm a gangster

Iran is blocking access to YouTube. I'm pretty sure this video is the reason why.

Hat tip to The Daughter.

Live and let die

Guns 'N Roses cover of the Bond theme.

Calling 007

Come on, James. We know you're out there, and we need you. This Polonium-212 thing is getting really scary.

In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to suitcase nukes that were developed by U.S. and Soviet forces during the Cold War. Reliable sources, including Hans Blix of the United Nation, have confirmed that bin Laden purchased several of these devices from the Chechen rebels in 1996. According to Sharif al-Masri and other al Qaeda operatives who have been taken into custody, several of these weapons have been forward deployed to the United States in preparation for al Qaeda’s next attack on American soil.

So far, no extremely attractive, provocatively named, very inappropriately dressed young women are involved, but I'm sure you won't let that stop you.

Eeewww!

Bedbugs. This is why we wash our sheets more than once per semester.

Nobody Does It Better

Radiohead's cover of the Bond theme.

Where's James Bond When You Really Need Him?

Turns out that Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB agent who died recently of radiation poisoning had ties to the Chechen Rebels, the same group responsible for the Beslan school massacre. According to the TimesOnline:

Litvinenko's father, Walter, said in an interview published today that his son - who was born an Orthodox Christian but had close links to Islamist rebels in Chechnya - had requested to be buried according to Muslim tradition after converting to Islam on his deathbed.

Which gives some weight to suggestions that the Polonium-212 that poisoned him may have been intended for a bomb, not sushi. Could Putin actually be the good guy in this? I doubt it, but it's certainly an interesting twist, the sort only 007 can really get to the bottom of.

Maybe James will come if we play his theme song.

Sunni Fatwa Against Joining Terrorist Groups, Killing Shiites

In Basra.

Yes, that's the Basra in Iraq.

So far, no comment from the AP.

Really Bad Journalism: NYT vs. AP

Tom Zeller of the New York Times certainly seems to have his doubts about that AP story on the Sunnis who were allegedly burned alive. He starts with this knee-jerk response to anything which looks like it might require journalistic responsibility:

Iraq’s interior ministry wielded the article like a bludgeon and used it as an opportunity to create a press monitoring unit that suggested, in no uncertain terms, that reporters in Baghdad should come to its press officers for “real, true news.” A ministry spokesman promised “legal action” — whatever that might mean — against journalists who publish information the agency deemed wrong.

That may seem patently absurd. But in a country where most of the on-street, in-neighborhood reporting for Western news organizations is done by native Iraqis — working at great personal risk — the threat of “legal action” may reverberate with tones more menacing, and more damaging to a free press, than they seem at first blush.

I think he's being a bit disingenuous here. It seems far more likely that someone would be at risk of his or her life if they were telling stories harmful to the insurgents than to the Iraqi government. But he does get around to taking the AP to task.

Then there was The Associated Press itself, which by Friday had come to view the continued scrutiny of its article as evidence that everyone — the military, the blogosphere, even other media outlets tracking the back-and-forth — was either agenda-driven, insolent, or both, but not legitimately curious.

It's not a good sign when the New York Times thinks you're too self-righteous.

And this is from his blog, The Lede.

Hi Tom,

You ask me about what our own reporting shows about this incident. When we first heard of the event on Nov. 24, through the A.P. story and a man named Imad al-Hashemi talking about it on television, we had our Iraqi reporters make calls to people in the Hurriya neighborhood. Because of the curfew that day, everything had to be done by phone. We reached several people who told us about the mosque attacks, but said they had heard nothing of Sunni worshippers being burned alive. Any big news event travels quickly by word of mouth through Baghdad, aided by the enormous proliferation of cell phones here. Such an incident would have been so abominable that a great many of the residents in Hurriya, as well as in other Sunni Arab districts, would have been in an uproar over it. Hard-line Sunni Arab organizations such as the Muslim Scholars Association or the Iraqi Islamic Party would almost certainly have appeared on television that day or the next to denounce this specific incident. Iraqi clerics and politicians are not shy about doing this. Yet, as far as I know, there was no widespread talk of the incident. So I mentioned it only in passing in my report.

Best,

Edward Wong

Makes it pretty clear he thinks the AP is out to lunch on this one.

So, when does the shunning start?

Did You Get Enough to Eat Today?

If so, thank Norman Borlaug. He engineered a new ways of growing wheat and rice, saving more than a billion lives so far. That's billion, with a B. One in six people living today owe their lives to this man.

He's absolutely, positively the coolest geek ever, and he's sick, so Congress better hurry up and honor him.

Update: They have.

Shunning the AP

Another voice heard from. Maybe there is a chance.

Country French Rap

Marly-Gomont is by Kimini, the son of a Congolese doctor living in rural northern France.

Or Tennessee, maybe, if Tennesseans spoke French.

And we appear to have taught the world cow-tipping. I'm so proud.

This One's Just for the Daughter

Doogie Howser does Les Mis.