Toes up

Or as the military says, "Tango Uniform".

US Iraq Ambassador Khalilzad told a news conference, "Today is a good day. Zarqawi has been killed" as CNN reports. By now Abu Musab is learning the horrible truth about the virgins.

According to people who actually live in Iraq, like Omar, it IS a good day, indeed. He reminds us that the little village where they killed him had been the scene of some very grisly violence of late, like heads left in fruit boxes, for example. Sounds like this common thug's MO, and it sounds like he finally crossed the line.

But we'll have to wait and see what effect, if any, this has on the insurgency. Ironically, Glenn Reynolds just had a feature on Z-man last night, linking to a Michael Totten interview with a Hizballah leader in Lebanon. Totten was intrigued at the hatred this man had for Zarqawi, but it's that old sectarian thing again--Hizballah is Shiite, Zarqawi was Salafi/Sunni. More later.

Sir, no sir

Today's hot topic is the story about the Fort Lewis soldier refusing his orders to deploy to Iraq. 1st Lt. Ehren Watada said:

"I feel that we have been lied to and betrayed by this administration,"

Illegal wars. Hmm. Didn't General Wesley Clark call our action in the Balkans illegal? Yes, I believe he did. Guess that assignment is off his list, too.

Watada said he was a war supporter when he signed up in 2003 (after we'd taken Baghdad) and was giving Bush the benefit of the doubt on the WMDs. But,

Over the past year, his feeling changed as he read up on the war and became convinced that there was "intentional manipulation of intelligence" by the Bush administration.

We can only imagine his reading list-- Counterpunch? Commondreams? Daily Kos? Huffpo? New York Times?

Look, the kid deserves praise for signing up during a war. And, there's nothing wrong with reading up on what you're about to get into. But all he has is an opinion, and like that well-known anatomical nether region, we all have one. Unless his security clearance reads top secret codeword he can't claim to know everything.

But the moon children don't care. They're already flocking to this guy like moths to the bug zapper, so we've hardly heard the last of it.


Michelle Malkin and Wizbang are the go-to places for info. But why am I telling you that? You already know it.

The untold tale of Sergio de Mello

Veteran diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello was the point man for the new UN mission to Iraq. Shortly after the invasion, and after the UN passed resolution 1483 regarding post-war operations in Iraq:

A truck packed with about 300 kilograms of Soviet-made munitions was driven up to the building and detonated in the close proximity of Vieira de Mello's office.

Mr. de Mello was generally thought to be the target of the attack. The UN subsequently bailed out of Baghdad, despite tough talk from Kofi Annan about not being intimidated.

There was considerable speculation about who carried out the attacks and why. According to terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky the bomb was constructed at a terrorism support base near Abu-Kamel in Syria and the suicide bomber was a twenty four year old Tunisian named Fadhal Nassim, who received his training at clandestine camps in southern France.

However, trying to corroborate the above using open source data from the search engines produced a big fat goose egg, so take it for what it's worth. It seems clear that both the Saddamists and the Islamists wanted de Mello out of Iraq, and it's doubtful Iran would have been too broken-hearted about his departure, either.

The UN empaneled a commission to examine the pre-blast 'threat assessment' and issue an after-action report. Newsmax is now reporting that Kofi Annan is sitting on the report and won't even give it to the Security Council states, however the story also includes a rather strange sidebar about a UN security officer onsite shortly after the blast. Seems this gentleman obtained a copy of a 'personal report' of the assessment:

The officer still maintains possession of the file almost three years later. The U.N. can offer no explanation for the officer's actions, and it has not sought possession of the "personal" document last seen by co-workers in his locker at New York headquarters.

Efforts to reach the officer have been unsuccessful.

The story goes on to quote UN officials as saying the officer is now taking some 'sick leave'.

Speculating wildly here, if Bodansky is correct and the terrorist was trained in France, perhaps they have asked Annan to keep the lid on it. Maybe it would expose more of the web of connections the Islamists maintain on the continent, or maybe something more towards Oil-for-Food. Perhaps Benan Sevan might have some information about it. Where is that guy, anyway?

9387

Today is the so-called "day of evil", 06/06/06. Hollywood is even releasing a new version of "The Omen" in mock commemoration. Schools in some areas took steps to increase security, most likely due to jokes disguised as threats. But there's another significant number associated with today--9387.

That's the number of United States servicemen buried in the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France seen in the picture below.

For most of us it's impossible to imagine the terror, bravery and toil of that day, but thankfully, the results were pretty obvious:

Don't forget that we accomplished much of this with "inferior" battlefield hardware such as the Sherman tank, which amounted to a tin can compared with the Tiger or Panther tanks used by the Germans. We probably lost a lot of men due to that imbalance, but they improvised, perservered, and did the job anyway.

Thanks go to the D-Day troops and all the others associated with winning that fateful war and defeating ideologies that threatened the planet. Thanks also to those fighting today against modern variants of the same.

Here's a good summary of some other tributes.

MORE 6/6/06

Here's something else we should remember, as it's quite relevent to the threats we face today.

In defense of Pujols

I don't normally do sports here, but this seems somewhat newsworthy. Besides, I'm ticked off and need to vent.

Pictured left is the best player in baseball, Albert Pujols, in pain from a pulled oblique muscle suffered in a game on Saturday. Nodoby knows when he might return.

Before being injured he was on pace to hit about 323 home runs this season. Alright, maybe 74. In this his sixth major league season, he's never missed more than a few games in a row due to injury, although he's often played in pain (unlike others). It's sad for baseball fans since he'll probably miss the All Star game. His hitting display in the home run contest a couple of years ago was otherworldly.

But because of the above, and because of Bonds, some people wonder if all he's "for real". Here's one such schmuck, who is chiding St. Louis sportswriters for not immediately launching investigations of Pujols for possible steroid use (or perhaps coating his bat with flubber).

I've been watching Pujols since his first at-bat in 2001. He looks the same, hits the same, and acts the same since that first day. His work ethic second to none and he lives, eats and sleeps baseball. Some even say he takes that darn bat to bed. He's been tested repeatedly for steroids and there's no evidence he's dabbling.

So let me recommend to mister "sports nut" that before throwing anymore high and tight fastballs towards the Arch, try checking some stats. For example, you might want to take a look at this guy, who accumulated MORE home runs than Pujols did in his first five seasons.

Think he was on roids, too, Mr. Pearlman, or were all those HRs just cheap shots to the short porch? You can ask him yourself--he's in the broadcast booth of a team close to Slate's headquarters.

TIP OF THE ICEBERG? 6/7/06

Former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley is in trouble, and the substance called Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is why. The FBI just finished raiding his home and he's been singing like a bird.

His tale of woe apparently includes a few juicy allegations. Other than narc-ing out other major league players he's also passed on a few stories, like how the clubhouse coffee pots were labeled "leaded" and "unleaded" to differentiate between ones loaded with amphetamines. He claims the Latin players and Southern California players were the best sources of banned substances due to their connections with Mexico or Latin America.

Meanwhile Bug Selig continues to whistle Dixie and hope everyhing goes away. He knows that home runs put butts in the seats, and those fans also buy seven dollar beers and four dollar hot dogs. Who would want to give up that racket? It's just too bad Selig didn't get his arms around the problem years ago without having to let the Feds come in and clean everything up.

American Zeitgeist

Like others I've been getting an occasional email promoting "American Zeitgeist: Crisis & Conscience in an Age of Terror", which will premiere in New York City, Thursday June 15, 2006.

There are some pretty hefty names on the guest list, such as Richard Clarke and James Woolsey, but the main attraction seems to be the debate between Christopher Hitchens and Eric S. Margolis following the show.

As to their agenda (everyone has one) I have no idea. I did notice that Noam Chomsky was among those interviewed for the film, for what it's worth. They stayed away from the likes of Laurie Mylroie, Yossef Bodansky and Peter Lance, who would have provided different and interesting perspectives. But nonetheless the event might be worth a look if you're near the Big Apple. Besides, if it gets boring or preachy they're giving away free beer (to the paying cutstomers).

Joe "the mouth"?

Senator and likely presidential candidate Joe Biden was interviewed by Meet the Press host Tim Russert on Sunday. When asked about diplomacy in Iran, here's part of what he said:

SEN. BIDEN: No, we shouldn’t undertake military action now. It should be the absolute last resort. And one of the things that—I’ve gotten all the briefings, as most of the people in my position have, and there is no imminent threat at this point. There is a looming threat, there is a threat of a capacity to be able to demonstrate a real threat to the United States and our allies down the road, but there’s nothing imminent at this point.

Does "I've gotten all the briefings" mean "intelligence briefings"? Surely he knows better, but perhaps not, since he follows with this:

SEN. BIDEN: You don’t except try to build confidence by the way—look, as I understand it—and you usually have better sources than I do, and I’m not being facetious—but as I understand it, this was a bit of a knock-down, drag-out fight between Cheney and, and Condoleezza Rice, and Rice won this round as to how to proceed with regard to Iraq.

State Department gossip, perhaps? Sounds familiar.

Unless the adminstration wanted him to blubber this to send Tehran a message, it seems hard to defend in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic challenge involing nukes. In my mind it's further evidence he has no business being a candidate for president, especially with double-talk like this on the record.

One more thing. Check out this interesting exchange:

MR. RUSSERT: But is the Iraq war a dilemma for her within the Democratic Party?

SEN. BIDEN: I don’t know. Look, I think the, I think the Democratic Party understands Mrs. Clinton’s—Senator Clinton’s instincts that are consistent with theirs. I will be surprised if the vote on the war in Iraq becomes the defining issue in a Democratic nominating process.

"Mrs." Clinton's refusal to reverse her Iraq War decision at this late date can go two ways. If Iraq's government improves and things settle down, which includes finding a way to deal with Tehran, Hillary will easily wipe candidates like Biden and Kerry right off the board. However, if Iraq falls into worse chaos and the government collapses, she'll have some big-time splainin to do.

The dems have nothing else. Iraq simply has to be the issue, since all the other ones are pretty weak. The economy is decent, unemployment is low, and their culture of corruption campaign has been derailed by the likes of Congressman Jefferson. The only people keeping track of the Plame/Libby story are the fringes of both parties and the MSM, whose votes won't change.