Today's Cool News

Advice from Uncle Binnie

Current affairs got you down?  Tired of hearing the same old tired opinions from the blowhard pundits about Obama's preacher or Geraldine Ferraro or Eliot Spitzer or any of the other names in the news these days?

Well you're in luck because soon we will be enjoying the wit and wisdom of Uncle Binnie.  Not sure if we'll be saying "Hey Man, Ayman"... but this is a message you'll want to see and not hear whateverthefuck that means.

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is expected to release a new message within the next two days, the U.S.-based terrorism monitoring service SITE Institute said on Wednesday.

The message is entitled, "The Response Will Be What You See, Not What You Hear," SITE said in a release.

It said an announcement of the pending message was posted on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, by the administrator of the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Ekhlaas Internet forum.

       

This is more exciting than getting a sneak peak at John Hagee's next rant.

Whatever happened to Ayman's offer to answer our questions?  It seems he doesn't want to be rushed.

More Proof the War in Iraq Has Nothing to Do with Corporate Profits

Have you heard about the latest part of the new Bush stimulus package?  Let's sell some weapons to the Iraqis.  That should guarantee some American jobs.. and what are the Iraqis going to say, "No, we don't want your weapons."???

From Military.com:

In a move that could be the most enduring imprint of U.S. influence in the Arab world, American military officials in Baghdad have begun a crash program to outfit the entire Iraqi army with M-16 rifles.

The initiative marks a sharp break for a culture steeped in the traditions of the Soviet-era AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle, a symbol of revolutionary zeal and third-world simplicity that is ubiquitous among the militaries of the Middle East.

"We in the U.S. know that the M-16 is superior to the AK ... it's more durable," said Army Col. Stephen Scott, who's in charge of helping the Iraqi army get all the equipment it needs to outfit its forces.

"The Iraqis have embraced that ... and the fact that it is U.S. manufactured and supplied. They are very big on U.S.-produced [foreign military sales] materials," he said in an interview with military bloggers this month.

So far, the U.S. military has helped the Iraqi army purchase 43,000 rifles - a mix of full-stock M-16A2s and compact M-4 carbines. Another 50,000 rifles are currently on order, and the objective is to outfit the entire Iraqi army with 165,000 American rifles in a one-for-one replacement of the AK-47.

(snip)

A system that registers each rifle with the individual who receives it using biometric data such as thumb prints and eye scans is meant to address concerns over U.S. weapons winding up in enemy hands. A July 2007 Government Accountability Office report concluded that as many as 190,000 weapons delivered to the Iraqi army were not accounted for and could've wound up in terrorist caches.

A New Year, A New Day, The Same Ole War

Ever think of how the world might have been different if George McGovern had won the presidency in 1972.  We might be living in a world of free love, free pot, and universal brotherhood.  More likely we would be a much less free satellite of the Soviet Union.

Well, George is still with us... and like many before him... has concluded in a column Sunday in the Washington Post... that that piker Dick Nixon was an amateur when it comes to high crimes and misdemeanors compared to our current pres and vice.

As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president.

After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me.

Today I have made a different choice.

(snip)

Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard.

(snip)

I believe we have a chance to heal the wounds the nation has suffered in the opening decade of the 21st century. This recovery may take a generation and will depend on the election of a series of rational presidents and Congresses. At age 85, I won't be around to witness the completion of the difficult rebuilding of our sorely damaged country, but I'd like to hold on long enough to see the healing begin.

There has never been a day in my adult life when I would not have sacrificed that life to save the United States from genuine danger, such as the ones we faced when I served as a bomber pilot in World War II. We must be a great nation because from time to time, we make gigantic blunders, but so far, we have survived and recovered.

Andrew Olmsted can't say the same.  The U.S. Soldier and blogger submitted his final post from beyond the grave.  Just don't use his death in one of your slogans on either side in this war.

This is an entry I would have preferred not to have published, but there are limits to what we can control in life, and apparently I have passed one of those limits.

(snip)

What I don't want this to be is a chance for me, or anyone else, to be maudlin. I'm dead. That sucks, at least for me and my family and friends. But all the tears in the world aren't going to bring me back, so I would prefer that people remember the good things about me rather than mourning my loss. (If it turns out a specific number of tears will, in fact, bring me back to life, then by all means, break out the onions.)

(snip)

I suppose I should speak to the circumstances of my death. It would be nice to believe that I died leading men in battle, preferably saving their lives at the cost of my own. More likely I was caught by a marksman or an IED. But if there is an afterlife, I'm telling anyone who asks that I went down surrounded by hundreds of insurgents defending a village composed solely of innocent women and children. It'll be our little secret, ok?

I do ask (not that I'm in a position to enforce this) that no one try to use my death to further their political purposes. I went to Iraq and did what I did for my reasons, not yours. My life isn't a chit to be used to bludgeon people to silence on either side. If you think the U.S. should stay in Iraq, don't drag me into it by claiming that somehow my death demands us staying in Iraq. If you think the U.S. ought to get out tomorrow, don't cite my name as an example of someone's life who was wasted by our mission in Iraq. I have my own opinions about what we should do about Iraq, but since I'm not around to expound on them I'd prefer others not try and use me as some kind of moral capital to support a position I probably didn't support. Further, this is tough enough on my family without their having to see my picture being used in some rally or my name being cited for some political purpose. You can fight political battles without hurting my family, and I'd prefer that you did so.

On a similar note, while you're free to think whatever you like about my life and death, if you think I wasted my life, I'll tell you you're wrong. We're all going to die of something. I died doing a job I loved. When your time comes, I hope you are as fortunate as I was.

Read the entire entry.  You'll be glad you did.  And sad too.

Can You Believe These Deadbeat Soldiers Are Ripping Off the Army By Getting Wounded in Iraq? The Noive...

This is a story that I'm surprised hasn't gotten more traction...
Kudos to former KXAS muckraker Marty Griffin for coming up with this: KDKA in Pittsburgh says the Pentagon is demanding part of its bonus money back from those soldiers who can't serve out their terms because they got wounded in Iraq.

The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.

To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back.

One of them is Jordan Fox, a young soldier from the South Hills.

(snip)

Fox was seriously injured when a roadside bomb blew up his vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. His back was injured and lost all vision in his right eye.

A few months later Fox was sent home. His injuries prohibited him from fulfilling three months of his commitment. A few days ago, he received a letter from the military demanding nearly $3,000 of his signing bonus back.

"I tried to do my best and serve my country. I was unfortunately hurt in the process. Now they're telling me they want their money back," he explained.

It's a slap for Fox's mother, Susan Wardezak, who met with President Bush in Pittsburgh last May. He thanked her for starting Operation Pittsburgh Pride which has sent approximately 4,000 care packages.

He then sent her a letter expressing his concern over her son's injuries, so she cannot understand the U.S. Government's apparent lack of concern over injuries to countless U.S. Soldiers and demands that they return their bonuses.

A New Term to Make You Shudder "Terrorist Media Operative"

A Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist for that wild radical organization, the Associated Press, is suddenly jailed without warning, denied access to his employer, his lawyer, and the "evidence" against him, and after a year incommunicado is suddenly put on trial.  You would think the US would at least protest.  Except it's the Pentagon doing this to Bilal Hussein,

You can do a search for the AP coverage of the story, but I wanted to see how the International press is handing it.

From the BBC:

The Pentagon says additional evidence has come to light proving Bilal Hussein is a "terrorist media operative" who infiltrated the news agency.

The case will be passed to Iraqi judges who will decide if he should be tried.

AP says its own investigation has found no evidence that he was anything but an Iraqi journalist working in a war zone.

(snip)

The US military said some of Hussein's work aroused suspicion

He did not disclose what the new evidence is. Mr Hussein could face the death penalty if convicted of aiding insurgents.

AP says in the past 19 months various allegations have been floated unofficially against Mr Hussein by the US military, but then withdrawn with little explanation.

"Whenever we ask to see what's so convincing we get back something that isn't convincing at all," said AP's lawyer Dave Tomlin.

AP says there is no evidence that any of Mr Hussein's images were co-ordinated with insurgents or showed the moment of an attack.

Refugees to "Iraq n Roll" in Instanbul

On the same day as Military.com reports "Turkish Invasion of Iraq 'Less Likely'", I come across the story of a different kind of Iraqi invasion of Turkey.

From The Turkish Daily News:

The story of Iraqi heavy metal music band Acrassicauda is an adventure of war, death threats and survival. Five youngsters, inspired by famous western metal bands, formed the band in Baghdad in 2001. Even though they are famous in Iraq they could only give live performances there six times due to security reasons. They have since taken the stage in Syria and Jordan.

  They will perform in Istanbul for the first time tomorrow in one of Istanbul's well-known rock bars, Kemancı. Faisal, who plays rhythm guitar, said they are thrilled about performing in Istanbul. The concert is more like a solidarity movement organized to support Acrassicauda. When the war in Iraq started in 2003, the band's singer Waleed fled the country. In 2005, the rest of the band's members Firas, Tony, Marwan and Faisal escaped to Syria through Jordan because they were faced with death threats. Their music studio was bombed and the only way to survive was to flee their homeland.

So the profile song on their MySpace page didn't do a lot for me, check out this very evocative guitar solo on this video:

Also check out this very nice NPR piece on Acrassicauda.