Low Earth Orbit

Embrace the suck

[source, source, source]

the tank unit fired two 120 mm high velocity depleted uranium rounds straight down the main road, creating a powerful vacuum that literally sucked guerrillas out from their hideaways into the street, where they were shot down by small arms fire or run over by the tanks.

Fatah declares war on US, allies with Ba'ath

Fatah, Yasser Arafat's primary brownshirt organization, has sent psychopaths fighters to Iraq to engage in combat and suicide mission against US forces. Excellent – our boys can clean up some trash for our friends in Israel. [source]

India goes pacifist

The Prime Minister of India says that “India believed war was not a solution to any problem”. I am sure that the Chiefs of Staff in Pakistan and China were overjoyed to hear that. [source]

Letting France help in post-invasion Iraq

Call me contrarian but I don't object so much to allowing France to occupy part of Iraq - say, Tikrit. One lesson from postwar Germany is that few things make people appreciate America more than being occupied by the French.

    – The Wax Tadpole

America vs. the EU

As Mark Steyn says,

Indeed, given the way Mr Patten’s ‘smart development assistance’ to Yasser Arafat appears to have wound up funding the intifada, America’s smart bombs now cause fewer deaths than the EU development budget.

BBC reporting biased claims BBC reporter

Story.

Who dreamed up the line that the coalition are achieving ‘small victories at a very high price?’ The truth is exactly the opposite. The gains are huge and costs still relatively low. This is real warfare, however one-sided, and losses are to be expected

US steel tariffs illegal, rules WTO

[source] The US said that it would appeal the decision. Time to give it up. The tariffs aren't good for the US or for its foreign relations.

Out best giving their all in Afghanistan

[source]

Look. These are the coffins of six members of the United States Air Force. They did not die as a result of enemy fire. They died while attempting to transport Afghani children to a US medical facility for treatment. That is what the United States does.

NY Times bias watch

The Volokh Conspiracy lays out another example of the NY Times spinning its own poll results. The poll shows that Americans support the decision to invade Iraq 70% to 24%. This fact is placed in the last paragraph of the article which is headlined “Opinions Begin to Shift as Public Weighs War Costs”. As accurate and unbiased as ever. [source]

Sleeper agent at CNN revealed!

Oliver Willis has detected yet another of the sleeper agents that the VRWC has planted in media organizations to make them look stupid and foolish. CNN, apparently realizing that Connie Chung was just such an agent, has fired her.

Media bias watch

The San Francisco Chronicle engages in a spin campaign against the invasion. The headline says it all: “PARTY LINE: Bush leads U.S. chorus stressing ‘we will win’ message ”

Journalist infiltrates Caliphascists

I'd like to just despise all journalists for their bias and stupidity but then I see something like this [source]:

Three years after he left his native Algeria, the Muslim journalist began to serendipitously infiltrate France’s extremist Islamic circles last fall. Sifaoui spent four months with the followers of al Qaeda, praying with them and listening to them discuss attacks, secretly taping them.

The result was a book and two television documentaries — and a new life as a marked man.

Umberto Eco on the Caliphascists

Umberto Eco describes Ur-Fascism, the root version of Fascism and how the Caliphascists have most (if not all) of the characteristics. [source]

Removing the blinders of transnationalism

James Bennet lays out the case for the end of the UN and the struggle between civilization and transnationalism.

I try to be cynical but it's hard to keep up

The Saddamites human shields in Iraq are even more deranged than I had thought. This picture shows that one of them has taken a young boy (~10 years old) to Iraq to be a shield as well.

The ethics of journalism

Back in 1989 some journalists were asked if they would warn US troops of an ambush by enemy troops and they [Peter Jennings and Mike Wallace] said “no” because they were journalists first, Americans second. [source]

George Connell, a Marine Corps Colonel, responded: “I feel utter contempt. Two days later they're both walking off my hilltop, they're two hundred yards away and they get ambushed. And they're lying there wounded. And they're going to expect I'm going to send Marines up there to get them. They're just journalists, they're not Americans.” The discussion concluded as Connell said: “But I'll do it. And that's what makes me so contemptuous of them. And Marines will die, going to get a couple of journalists.”

Winning the war, losing the peace

Junkyard Blog is wondering if the Bush administration is preparing to appoint Arabist appeasers to head the occupation of Iraq.

NY Times bias watch

I commented on the substance of this editorial in The Spectator [source], but there's even more interesting stuff behind it. After it was written an editor for the NY Times objected to some of the language.

But I started to get a floaty, out-of-body sensation when he said that he had made a change to a sentence about donations of US overseas aid to key members of the UN Security Council. I had said something to the effect that you don’t make international law by giving new squash courts to the President of Guinea. This now read “the President of Chile”. Come again? I said. Qué?

“Uh, Boris,” said [NY Times editor] Tobin, ”it’s just easier in principle if we don’t say anything deprecatory about a black African country, and since Guinea and Chile are both members of the UN Security Council, and since it doesn’t affect your point, we would like to say Chile.” In the end, I gave way on this, since it was getting cold and I was worried about the battery of my mobile. But my views of the NY Times were starting to evolve.

[...] I began the piece with the words, ‘Gee, thanks, guys,’ and Tobin wanted those words removed. For the life of me, I couldn’t see why.

“OK, Boris, I’ll tell you what the problem is. Our problem is that ‘Gee’ is an abbreviation for Jesus. For a century this has been a Jewish-owned paper, and we have to be extremely sensitive about anything that might offend Christian sensibilities.”

I try to be cynical but it's hard to keep up

William Saletan lays down the smackie on the latest UN Security Council meeting. [source]

The council was meeting to discuss the latest update from weapons inspector Hans Blix. [...]

“The Security Council has not failed,” [German Foreign Minister] Fischer told fellow council members. “The Security Council has made available the instruments to disarm Iraq peacefully. The Security Council is not responsible for what is happening outside the U.N.”

Wait, let's hear that again. The Security Council is not responsible for what is happening outside the U.N.

And to think some people said the United Nations was useless.

Go to the experts to get it done right

[source] The Sun brings out the heavy artillery in that distinctive British way. Nobody bashes the French like they do. A couple of staffers went to Paris to hand out copies. Some excerpts:

Sadly but predictably, the poor, misled French people backed their spineless president to the hilt.

Emilie Lamotte, 19, said “All Chirac is doing is protecting us. You English have no one to protect you. If I were English I would be very scared”

That's right, Emilie, you've got Black Jacque Chirac and the poor Brits have only their own small forces and the pitiful US military to watch over them.
 

France sends troops to Iraq

I have heard several independent reports of this quote from NPR. This source has a link to the audio.[source, source]

Journalists were taken outside Baghdad to see a group of Muslim fighters from France, Algeria, Morocco, and Libya.

Iranian students' view of the Iraqi invasion

"It will be a good thing to have American troops in Iraq. Perhaps that will bring change to Iran," said Namin, a lanky engineering student strolling to class.

[source]

They're not really people after all...

Joshua Marshall, the leading lefty blogger, is now complaining that President Bush's plans for Iraq are not blood thirsty enough. His view is that massive civilian casualties are required in order to teach the buggers a lesson. [source]

French warnings

[source] The Washington Post reports:

Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin denounced the United States, Britain and Spain today for planning to wage war against Iraq, saying such a conflict ran counter to international opinion and risked “serious consequences” for the Middle East and the world.

Ah, but we know what the French mean by “serious consequences” – nothing.

The crushing of dissent

Dissidents are being arrested and silenced, just as many of the anti-war protestors have predicted. I'm sure that they will continue to bravely raise their voices on behalf of these oppressed Cubans. [source]

Tony Blair survives war vote in the House of Commons

Prime Minister Tony Blair had some problems with Labor back benchers but still scored a strong victory, 412 to 149, in favor of invading Iraq with the US. Blair gave a very powerful speech, saying among things “Who will celebrate and who will weep if we pull our troops back now?”. The BBC of course spun this as a loss for Blair because of the large number of Labor back benchers who voted against. Still, carrying with over two thirds doesn't sound like a hair splitting time to me.

France's real interests in Iraq

A good article discussing the fact that France was playing cynical politics over the invasion of Iraq.

The French definition of multi-lateralism

[source, source]

The French Bioethics Bill is particularly contrary to the Biotech Directive [...] French Health Minister Professor Matthei, a sponsor of the bill, suggests that the best way forward would be for the Biotech Directive to be interpreted in accordance with the Bioethics Bill.

The absurdity of this suggestion is clear: a European Directive which was duly passed after over a decade of negotiations, and which was unsuccessfully challenged in the highest European Court, should now be effectively scrapped and replaced with the French Senate's view

UN-insured

The United Nations withdrew 5 of 8 helicopters used in Iraq for the UN inspectors because the insurance company canceled coverage. [source]

Rumsfeld speaks

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said “it's difficult to take the French seriously”. Sometimes, though, it's just difficult to take the French at all.

NY Times bias watch

The case for bias at the NY Times against Israel.

Clinton without Clue™

Bill Clinton fails to grasp cause and effect yet again [source]. Clinton said that

right after winning UN Security Council support in November for weapons inspections, the White House "sent 150,000 troops to the gulf, which convinced everybody we weren't serious about UN inspections. That's how we got into this political mess."

I guess you're only serious if you lob cruise missiles at pharmacuetical factories.

How to tell if you're a conservative

Orin Judd explains his blog in one post.

Saddam Hussein funds Palestinian terror

The Iraqi regime has donated at least $260,000 to the families of suicide bombers.

French supporters strike back

A web site has been set up to defend France from its multitudinous detractors. It seems filled with that wounded arrogance that pervades the aspect of France I despise, the hurt confusion about why anyone would not think that France the pinnacle of civilization. [source]

No other national or ethnic group appears to get the same continually negative treatment in print media reserved for France and the French

Yeah, sure, whatever. Hey, did you catch that Egyptian TV series Horseman without a horse?

The French position on Iraq explained

• Opposition to inspections
• Opposition to ending inspections
• Opposition to continuing inspections
• Categorical opposition to military option
• Clear support for military option
• Opposition to sanctions
• Need for a timetable
• Refusal of any deadline
• Opposition to any Iraqi noncompliance
• Permission of various types of Iraqi noncompliance

[source, source]

Iraqi troops attempt to surrender during training exercise

There is a report that some Iraqi troops tried to surrender to British forces in Kuwait. The Brits were doing a live fire exercise and this caused the Iraqi troops to think that the invasion had started. [source, source]

Oh, Canada!

Apparently the prospective next Prime Minister of Canada's shipping firm owns more ships than Canadian Navy. [source]

Comparing the Clinton and Bush administrations from the inside

An audio recording of comments on the internal structure of the Clinton and Bush adminstrations. Oddly enough, the Bush team comes off as far more serious than its predecessor.[source]

And now, idiots

US Representative Marcy Kaptur finds an equivalence between Al Qaeda and the Founding Fathers. [source]

A good answer to a stupid question

James Lileks provides a much better response for a reporter's question. [source]

Terry (arrogant idiot reporter)

May I ask, what went wrong that so many governments and peoples around the world now not only disagree with you very strongly but see the U.S. under your leadership as an arrogant power?

President Bush:

Oh, many things went wrong, Terry. We failed to understand the extent to which the French are economically entwined with Iraq, and how this war would make their knees vibrate like orgasmic hummingbirds. While we realized the power of Anti-Americanism as a cudgel with which to beat the rest of Europe into accepting a Franco-German hegemony, we didn’t think they’d screw us this hard for short-term political gain. We misunderestimated Turkish protestations of support - although, as you no doubt noted from my earlier comments supporting their EU membership and lauding their role in NATO, we’re certainly not going to kick them in the nads in public like some of our allies have done to us. And while I agree that ordinary citizens have protested our government in foreign capitals, I’d ask you why American security should be determined by 26 year old Belgian college students, and I’d also note that these rallies have been organized by people who’d dance in the street if someone set off a tactical nuclear device in the lobby of the Monsanto corporate office. But more to the point, Terry, I’d ask: What went wrong in your education that you believe that the disapproval of China constitutes failure?

The way press conferences should be handled

Rumsfeld tells the reporters the real truth. [source]

Rumsfeld laughed heartily, striking fear in the hearts of all the reporters. "After Iraq is obliterated, we will turn our vengeance on the U.N. and all those unfaithful to America. Most of Europe will be stripped mined and Canada changed into a prison camp."

Middle East scholars ignore Iraq with taxpayer money

A defender of Middle Eastern studies in the US admits that no one in the field has done a study of the Ba'ath in Iraq after receiving large grants from the federal government to study security threats to the US. [source]

THIS JUST IN:

Powell accuses Hussein of trying to divide UN Security Council.

The NY Times mourns one of its heroes

A fawning obituary for Josef Stalin. [source]

Bad customer relations

An infamous UK online business kept records of people who sent flowers on St. Valentine's day and sent them e-mail about sending them again. Not all of them had sent the flowers to their wives...[source]

UPDATE: It wasn't a flower shop. The description has been updated. Also the reference to Samizdata in the blog list has been corrected (it was just a typo, I swear!) What actually concerned me the most was the double trackback. I tested that with posts from other of my blogs and didn't see it happen.

The bottom of the slippery slope of drug prohibition

The Prime Minister of Thailand says that the Thai public needs to adjust its point of view and accept a large number of violent deaths as the price for waging a successful war on drugs.

South Koreans rally for US, against North Korean regime

Some better news from Korea [source]

100,000 members from the 114 conservative civic bodies, such as the Korean War Abductees’ Family Union and the National Council for Freedom and Democracy, gathered to protest against the North Korean nuclear plans and against Kim Jong-il on the occasion of the 84th anniversary of March 1 Independence Day

THIS JUST IN:

The Iraqi regime feels free to boss around the weapon factory human shields in Iraq. Some of them may actually be in physical danger!

The barbarians of France

The plight of girls in the ghettos of Paris [source]

A short bus ride from Paris, a world capital of romance, teen-age girls trapped in soulless, Soviet-style housing complexes are too scared to wear skirts and balk at the idea of dating ...

Turkey backs the wrong horse

Apparently Turkey has refused to allow US troops to be based there for the invasion of Iraq. [source]

Accessories to Evil

Mohammed Al-Dura was a young boy killed in the crossfire between Israeli and Palestinians whose death was used a propaganda tool by the Palestinians with the acquiesence (and sometimes active help) of the world media. A documentary has produced that lays out the story.