Newsweek Retracts Quran Flushing Story

From ABC News Online:

A retraction has been issued by Newsweek magazine for an article alleging abuse of the Koran at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which sparked deadly protests in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries.

"Based on what we know now, we are retracting our original story that an internal military investigation had uncovered Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay," the magazine said in a one-sentence statement from editor Mark Whitaker.

Excellent. Now resurrect the 17 people who died and restore the United States' reputation in large parts of the Muslim world.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman had this to say today about the Newsweek story:

"Newsweek's story about Koran desecration is demonstrably false, and there havethus far been no credible allegations of willful Koran desecration, and Newsweek has produced no such evidence."

[The Newsweek article]"...was irresponsible and had significant
consequences that reverberated throughout Muslim communities around the world."

[Newsweek]"...hid behind anonymous sources, which by their own admission do not withstand scrutiny."

[Newsweek cannot]"...retract the damage they have done to this
nation or those that were viciously attacked by those false allegations."

This is much worse than the Rathergate Texas Air National Guard forged memo scandal. No one died during that.

Newsweek Blames Cricket Player For Rioting

Newsweek: "This guy did it."

A former cricket player turned politician is the latest feeble excuse Newsweek has come up with for their failure to corroborate the Quran-flushing story. Imran Khan, a critic of Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, quoted from the Newsweek story at a press conference in Pakistan on May 6.

From The Times of India:

"The spark was apparently lit at a press conference held on Friday, May 6, by Imran Khan, a Pakistani cricket legend and strident critic of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf," the magazine said in its latest issue reviewing last week's turbulent events.

"Brandishing a copy of that week's Newsweek (dated May 9), Khan read a report that US interrogators at Guantanamo prison had placed the Quran on toilet seats and even flushed one.

"This is what the US is doing," the magazine quoted Khan as exclaiming, "desecrating the Koran."

Khan's remarks, as well as the outraged comments of Muslim clerics and Pakistani government officials, were picked up on local radio and played throughout neighboring Afghanistan, it said.

This is a rather unique position for a news outlet to take: blaming a reader for not realizing that the news outlet's story wasn't true. Okay. I haven't seen this much flailing around since Eason Jordan accused American soldiers of "targeting" journalists.

Newsweek "Regrets" Getting Quran Story Wrong, Sort of

Of course that horse is already out of the barn. Fifteen people have died in Afghan riots sparked by Newsweek's story accusing Americans of desecrating the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by ripping out pages and flushing them down a toilet. Now Newsweek has admitted that their source erred and they have no corroboration for the charge originally made by a detainee. In fact, a guard has alleged that a detainee was ripping pages from a copy of the Quran and putting them in a toilet in an effort to plug it as a protest.

From The New York Times:

"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," Mark Whitaker, Newsweek's editor, wrote in the issue of the magazine that goes on sale at newsstands today. In an accompanying article, the magazine wrote that its reporters had relied on an American government official, whom it has not named, who had incomplete knowledge of the situation.

Well, that does sound contrite of them, as if they're really, really sorry for causing the riots in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths and put US troops in jeopardy. Good for them. But wait a minute:

"But," Mr. Whitaker said in an interview later, "We're not retracting anything. We don't know for certain what we got wrong."

So Newsweek has just apologized for a story that they're not retracting. I see.

Update: Here's another nasty little piece of innuendo from Newsweek that I first reported in January: Four Degrees of Propaganda.

Related: Citzcom reports that radical Muslim clerics are calling for a holy war over the Newsweek story.

Reports of Zarqawi Seriously Wounded Corroborated By Doctor

On May 11 I posted a story with a link to the Italian news agency AKI reporting a rumor from an Iraqi colonel that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been seriously wounded, possible killed, during Operation Matador. At that time, as this was the only report, I urged caution, especially as many Italian news sources are notoriously unreliable and quick on the draw. Now Fox News and others are quoting, with further corroboration from a senior terrorist, a doctor who claims to have treated Zarqawi last week:

"He was bleeding heavily and his escorts were well dressed with a look about them that was different from the casualties and family members we had been receiving from the al-Qaim offensive.

"I treated his injury and asked that he remain in hospital for further observations and told him that we would have to register him and take down his name and details. But he became very nervous and agitated. He refused and told me he would not be staying.

"The three men with him asked me politely that he be allowed to leave hospital immediately and that I supply them with a prescription and a list of medication that he may need."

Centcom Zarqawi Wanted Poster

The Dread Pundit Bluto hopes that no pain medication is available for this slimy POS, and that he dies in agony.

Other media are reporting that Zarqawi has been seriously injured (most via the wire service Agence France Presse):

Herald Sun (Australia)

Channel News Asia

Interactive Investor (UK)

Iraqi Kids Lead Troops to Weapons

According to a Centcom press release, on May 13, US soldiers were lead to a weapons cache by a group of Iraqi children. The cache, in southeast Baghdad, consisted of three rocket propelled grenades and some fuses, which were destroyed by an explosives ordinance team. But the press release seeks to emphasize the fact that the so-called insurgency has lost most of whatever popular backing it had in the wake of violent terrorist attacks aimed at civilians. Many releases now speak of detaining "specifically targeted" terror suspects. That means they were turned in by Iraqis, fed up with daily terror attacks. And a growing number of Iraqis are identifying the insurgency with foreign fanatics who come to Iraq seeking martyrdom. From the Washington Post:

Who are the suicide bombers of Iraq? By the radicals' account, they are an internationalist brigade of Arabs, with the largest share in the online lists from Saudi Arabia and a significant minority from other countries on Iraq's borders, such as Syria and Kuwait.

Among the dead are students of engineering and English, the son of a Moroccan restaurateur and a smattering of Europeanized Arabs. There are also long lists of names about whom nothing more is recorded than a country of origin and the word "martyr."

Probably a typo for "maniac", but whatever you call them, the world is a better place without them.

Pilot Who Violated Capital Airspace "Froze" in Flight: FAA

I once took a defense driving course called the "Smith System". During the class the instructor cited a survey naming as the most feared driver on the road, the "little old man wearing a hat". Well now it seems the little old men wearing hats are flying. From the Washington Post

The pilot who caused a midday panic in Washington on Wednesday failed to get briefings about the weather and restricted airspace and became lost minutes after leaving a Pennsylvania airport, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

Hayden "Jim" Sheaffer, 69, froze when he saw a Black Hawk helicopter appear near his right wing while flying toward the White House and had difficulty operating his small, single-engine aircraft, officials said yesterday. It took the valiant effort of Sheaffer's student-pilot companion, Troy D. Martin, who had only 30 logged hours of flight time, to take over the controls and land the plane at an airport in Frederick, officials said.

The FAA plans to revoke Sheaffer's pilot certificate.

Via The Jawa Report.

AP's Mohammed Barakat: Reporter or Propagandist?

Associated Press writer Mohammed Barakat, who is covering Operation Matador in western Iraq, displays a gross anti-American bias in his reporting. This "reporter" seems interested only in emphasizing civilian casualties (but not ones caused by terrorist activity) and trying to find evidence that the Marines aren't being successful. Following are a few examples of Barakat's writing. I was unable to find a story by Barakat that portrayed the US in a positive, or even neutral light, which is always a huge red flag.

Houston Chronicle:

JAZIRAH DESERT, IRAQ - On the first day of a major U.S. offensive, two shells landed in Um Mazin's house. Grabbing what she could, she fled with four other women and 21 children.

Baltimore Sun:

Frightened residents retreated indoors as a large convoy of mainly Marines, backed by tanks redeployed several miles from Rommana to Obeidi, on the northern bank.

Chicago Tribune:

The U.S. military says the remote desert region is a haven for foreign combatants who slip across the border along ancient smuggling routes and collect weapons to use in some of Iraq's deadliest attacks. But the fighters who remain in this Sunni town about 200 miles west of Baghdad insist there are no foreigners.

"We are all Iraqis," said one gunman, his face covered with a scarf. He said the fighters were trying to prevent U.S. forces from entering.

ABC News:

But in the bomb-blasted streets of Qaim, where the offensive began Saturday, fighters armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades roamed the streets, checking vehicles as they entered and left the town.

"We are trying to protect our city's entrances, and we will prevent the U.S. forces from entering the city," declared one fighter, who covered his face with a scarf.

As you can see, Barakat approaches, or claims to approach, insurgents with impunity. Barakat's name indicates that he may be a local hired by AP to cover events in Iraq. Unfortunately, writing for the Associated Press guarantees a wide dissemination of Barakat's opinions, while providing little insight into what's actually happening during Operation Matador. If AP hired Barakat to write opinion with local flavor, fine, but they should label commentary for what it is, not put it on the wire as news.

I've contacted AP for a bio on Barakat, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for a response.

Update: If the Associated Press does choose to respond to my request for a bio of Mr. Barakat, perhaps we'll know if the snippets below refer to the same Mohammed Barakat who is currently writing for AP (and seems to have begun only around May 13, 2005)

From a Vermont-based anti-Israel website:

Zionist prison authority isolates prisoner for delivering Khutba
Palestinian Information Center 9/15/2003
Askalan - The Zionist prison authority of Askalan in southern occupied Palestine has isolated Palestinian detainee Mohammed Barakat after delivering a Friday Khutba (sermon) in the jail. The prison administration claimed that Barakat touched on political questions in his Khutba. It further alleged that his address contained incitement.

From a European anti-Israel website

At approximately 12:00 on the same day, Israeli occupation forced attacked some journalists, including those of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel, and denied them access to Jenin refugee camp to cover violations of human rights daily perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians. Israeli forces chased the staff of the Spanish Television and intimidated its correspondent Mohammed Barakat and searched his car. They also attacked Walid al-'Emari, correspondent of Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel and confiscated film from his camera.

If the Associated Press has hired someone with this much evidence of an inherent anti-western bias they have an ethical obligation to present his writing as opinion, not objective fact. Of course, that's assuming one can reasonably expect ethical behavior from mainstream media sources.

Senior al Qaeda Terrorist Executed By CIA Predator

ABC News reports that the CIA has killed Haitham al-Yemeni, a high level al Qaeda member, using a Predator drone.

Haitham al-Yemeni, a native of Yemen known for his bomb-making skills, had been tracked for some time in the hope that he would help lead the United States to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, intelligence officials said. But with the recent capture in northwest Pakistan of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, thought to be al Qaeda's No. 3 man, officials worried al-Yemeni would soon go into hiding, and decided to take action.

The CIA has declined to comment.

Predators can be used to fire Hellfire missiles
U.S. Army photo by Spc. Leah R. Burton

Pantano Nightmare May Be Over At Last

The Washington Times reports that the officer serving as de facto grand jury in the case of Marine Second Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, accused of pre-meditated murder in the deaths of two Iraqi insurgents, has recommended that the charges against Pantano be dropped:

An investigating officer has recommended that the Marine Corps drop murder charges against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, who shot to death two Iraqi insurgents a year ago during a raid on an insurgent hideout in the "Triangle of Death."

Col. Winn had this to say about the prosecution's chief witness:

"I think now [Sgt. Coburn] is in a position where he has told his story so many times, in so many versions that he cannot keep his facts straight anymore."

If the charges are dropped, as recommended, a new investigation should begin into how this Marine ended up fighting for his life in court based on such slipshod evidence.

Via The Jawa Report.

Brigade Commander Relieved Over Abu Ghraib Scandal

The American Forces Press Service reports that an Army colonel has been relieved of his command for dereliction of duty in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, in a nonjudicial proceeding (the colonel could have demanded a court martial, but chose administrative action).

Army Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, was relieved of his command by Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of U.S. Army Europe, after the colonel was administratively punished for two instances of dereliction of duty.

The action alleged that Pappas failed to ensure that subordinates received adequately information, training and supervision in the applying interrogation procedures. He also allegedly failed to obtain the approval of superior commanders before authorizing a nonsanctioned interrogation technique, specifically the presence of military working dogs during the questioning of a detainee.

Pappas was relieved of his command, issued a written reprimand, and ordered to forfeit $8,000 in pay.

Maj. Gen. Bennie E. Williams, who presided, also chose to place a record of the proceedings in Pappas' official military records, effectively driving a stake through the heart of Pappas' career.

Sgrena Lies During Interview, Admits Italian Violation of Policy

Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian communist "journalist" who was kidnapped in Iraq, and whose release resulted in the shooting death of an Italian secret service agent when her car tried to run a US roadblock, was interviewed by Newsweek. During the interview, Sgrena demonstrated the remarkable malleability of her story once again, was caught in a lie by the interviewer, and admitted outright that the Italians have been undermining anti-terrorism efforts in Iraq by negotiating with terrorists and paying ransoms.

Did you see a light signal?
No. There was no light signal.
What happened when the car approached the roadblock?
We didn’t see any roadblock. We saw nothing. At a certain point, we were on this road and there was a curve. The driver had just said that we were 700 meters [about 770 yards] away from the airport and suddenly we were hit by a light and strafed by a machine gun. [Sgrena originally insisted that her car was attacked by a "tank".]
So there was a light?
It was at the same time we were hit, at the time we were shot. The bullets and a beam of light hit us simultaneously.

It's a pity the interview wasn't videotaped. One can imagine Sgrena at this point licking her lips and sweating like a hapless tobacco executive on Sixty Minutes. Soon after this, Sgrena admits that the Italians have been routinely violating Coalition policy regarding negotiating with terrorists and paying ransoms:

Why would the incident been intentional?
The big controversy is the Italian policy toward hostages: the fact that Italians negotiate with kidnappers and pay ransoms. Americans don’t want it, they’ve always been opposed to it.

This is true. Coalition policy has always been not to negotiate with terrorists. The reason is simple, negotiating and paying ransoms encourages further terrorist incidents.

Adolph Hitler learned quickly that the Italians make horrible, incompetent allies (unless facing Ethiopean tribesmen armed with spears). It's time the US learned the same lesson.

Dems: Conservative Speech is Illegal

From The Drudge Report as heard on the Rush Limbaugh show:

Two congressional Democrats called Wednesday for an investigation into recent activities by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, suggesting that efforts by the Republican chairman of the private nonprofit to add more conservative programs onto PBS may violate federal law.

That's right, illegal. I'm sure there are various and sundry nuances that these two congressvermin will expound at great length, but the bottom line is that they're happy with PBS as a federally funded Democrat party house organ and don't want any changes made to PBS' gross liberal bias.

I'm with Slate's Jack Shafer on the issue of federal funds for PBS. Cut them off and let them compete.

Student Suspended for Wearing Pro-Life T-Shirt

According to the Cybercast News Network a student at Fillmore Central High near Buffalo is suing for being forced to remove a pro-life t-shirt. The shirt reportedly reads, "Abortion is Homicide. You will not silence my message. You will not mock my God. You will stop killing my generation. Rock for Life."

This message does seem unnecessarily provocative in a high school, especially with all the unstable liberal militants likely to be among the staff and student body. However, the student was reportedly not only told to remove the shirt, but suspended. If the suspension was not for disciplinary reasons separate from the message on the shirt, then it was unjust, but a federal lawsuit seems excessive.

Would "I ♥ Partial Birth Abortions" be considered acceptable?

New Terrorist Tactic in Anbar Offensive?

The Marine Corps has released more details on an incident Tuesday, in which a woman and child were killed at a checkpoint in Anbar province, Iraq. From a Marine Corps press release:

The driver, approaching the check point ignored the posted warning signs to stop and bypassed an obstacle barrier, continued toward the post. At 200 meters from the checkpoint, Marines used hand and arm signals then fired a warning flare towards the vehicle, both which the driver ignored. The Marines next fired warning shots in front of the vehicle.

The driver then jumped out of his moving car and fled away on foot, leaving his car, and its passengers, to continue towards the checkpoint. The Marines then fired at the vehicle’s engine block to disable it. The vehicle rolled to a stop in front of the checkpoint. At the time the vehicle was heading toward the checkpoint, the Marines were unaware of the gender of the passenger or that there was a child in the vehicle. The Marines stated that they believed the vehicle was a suicide car bomb.

The driver of the vehicle was apprehended and is being held for questioning in a nearby detention facility.

So, not only did the driver bypass an obstacle and ignore warning shots, he jumped out of the car and left the woman and child to their fate. This smells like a particularly odious tactic designed to generate propaganda. It will be interesting to see how Islamic propaganda sites, particularly ones endorsed by GoogleNews, like uruknet, play this up.

White House and Capitol Building Evacuated

Reports of an "enemy aircraft" prompted the rapid evacuation of the White House and Capitol building shortly after noon today. Witnesses reported fighter jets flying over the capital and radio reports indicate that a plane was successfully warned out of the restricted airspace over the capital with flares. From CNN:

"Run, this is no joke, leave the grounds," a U.S. Secret Service agent told CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. An all-clear announcement was issued a few minutes later. No other details of the evacuation were immediately available.

Zarqawi Reported "...seriously injured, possibly dead"

Italian news agency AKI is quoting an Iraqi colonel as saying that Zarqawi may have been seriously injured or killed during Operation Matador, the major Coalition offensive targeting foreign fighter smuggling sites, safe houses, and camps on the Syrian border.

Baghdad, 11 May (AKI) - The Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is "serious injured, possibly dead" according to Colonel Fouad Hani Hassan, commander of the fifth division of the Iraqi armed forces, cited by 'Elaph', a popular website in the Arab world. Al-Zarqawi, considered al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, is believed to have been injured in the major offensive US-led forces have been carrying out in the western Anbar province over the last few days.

Before anyone gets too excited however, it's important to note that the Italian press is notoriously unreliable, having pronounced the Pope dead prior to his actual demise, among other gaffes. However, AKI has reported dispassionately in the past, even helping break the news of the Italian government's ransom payment for the release of hostage Giuliana Sgrena.

AKI also quotes Brigadier General James Conway as saying of al-Zarqawi: "...it would be a welcome event to come across him or his body." Indeed it would.

Via Captain's Quarters.

The Huffington Post - Day Two

Who knew that a "celebrity blog" could be this intensely, mind-numbingly boring? After all the breathless pre-blog publicity this is what the public gets? At least Cousin Hubert's family blog has some pictures, for crying out loud.

The Huffington Post may accomplish what the mainstream media thus far has been unable to do: suck the life out of blogs. And btw, Arianna, it's not really a "blog" if you don't allow comments and trackbacks.

Nikki Finke of LA Weekly agrees:

Judging from today's horrific debut of the humongously pre-hyped celebrity blog the Huffington Post, the Madonna of the mediapolitic world has gone one reinvention too many. She has now made an online ass of herself. What Arianna Huffington's bizarre guru-cult association, 180-degree conservative-to-liberal conversion, and failed run in the California gubernatorial-recall race couldn't accomplish, her blog has now done: She is finally played out publicly. This Web-site venture is the sort of failure that is simply unsurvivable, because of all the advance publicity touting its success as inevitable. Her blog is such a bomb that it's the box-office equivalent of Gigli, Ishtar and Heaven's Gate rolled into one. In magazine terms, it's the disastrous clone of Tina Brown's Talk, JFK Jr.'s George or Maer Roshan's Radar. No matter what happens to Huffington, it's clear Hollywood will suffer the consequences.

Outside the Beltway has a different take. But then again, OTB is on Arianna's blogroll...

Terrorists Abduct Governor of Iraq's Anbar Province

Terrorists have kidnapped Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, governor of the Iraqi province of Anbar. They're demanding that US troops leave the area. An assault by approximately 1,000 US Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers has killed upwards of 100 foreign insurgent terrorists in an ongoing offensive near the Syrian border.

From WCBS-TV

BAGHDAD (AP) Gunmen kidnapped the governor of Iraq’s western Anbar province Tuesday and told his family he would be released when U.S. forces withdraw from Qaim, the site of a major offensive against followers of Iraq’s most-wanted militant, relatives said.

Gov. Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was seized as he drove from Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi, his brother, Hammad, told The Associated Press.

The kidnappers later called the family and said they were holding the governor until U.S. forces pull out of the Syrian border town about 200 miles west of Baghdad, Hammad Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi said.

The foreign militants, believed to be followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have come from Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia to cross the border from Syria in this remote area.

The reversion to terrorist tactics is a clear indication that they are losing the battle badly against the Marines. Embedded journalists with the assault force have reported insurgents hiding in the basements of houses and firing up at Marines through floor grates.

This is the latest press release issued by the Marine Corps:

Marines continuing combat operations in northwestern Al Anbar province
May 10, 2005

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq -- Marines, Sailors and Soldiers from Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division, are continuing combat operations in northwestern Al Anbar province.

The offensive is aimed at eliminating insurgents and foreign fighters from the area. The region, a known smuggling route and sanctuary for foreign fighters, is also used as a staging area where foreign fighters receive weapons and equipment for their attacks in the more populated key cities of Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah and Mosul.

Yesterday, Soldiers from the Army's 814th Multi-Role Bridge Company constructed a pontoon bridge across the Euphrates River where intelligence reports indicate the enemy is located. Marines crossed over from the southern banks to the north and are now operating in the northern Jazirah Desert and in pursuit of the enemy.

Last night, insurgents attempted to launch a counter-attack seven kilometers from nearby Camp Gannon, in Al Qaim. They attacked a Marine convoy with small arms fire, RPGs, roadside bombs and two suicide car bombers. One car bomb damaged an armored humvee. The second suicide car bomber was destroyed by a Marine M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. No Marines were killed in the attack. The two car bombers died in the engagement.

Ten insurgents who surrendered to the Marines are at a nearby detention center.

Coalition and Marine Corps aircraft are participating in the operation.

Carbombs are weapons usually used against soft targets - civilians. Their use against a well-armed assault force, and the subsequent surrender by the other members of the counter-attack, suggests growing desperation on the part of the foreign fighters, who had come to view the Anbar province as a safe staging ground for their activities.

Gray Lady Begins to Smell the Coffee

From Editor & Publisher:

NEW YORK An internal committee at The New York Times has recommended steps to increase readers' confidence in the newspaper, including reducing errors, increasing coverage of religion, "rural areas" and "middle America," making reporters and editors more accessible, and possibly starting a blog.

No, no, not that...anything but a blog from the New York Times. Here's a radical idea: stop with the interpretive reporting and advocacy journalism and just...report the news, accurately. Stop endorsing political candidates. Stop promoting causes. Just report the news without bias.

Via The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, where Emperor Darth Misha I did an excellent fisking of the NYT's self-important self-examination.

100 Terrorists Killed in Iraq

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News

BAGHDAD, Iraq - American troops backed by helicopters and war planes launched a major offensive against followers of Iraq's most wanted insurgent, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a desert area near the Syrian border, and as many as 100 militants were killed, U.S. officials said Monday.

As always, I note the reluctance of the mainstream media to call a spade a spade. Terrorists are referred to variously as "insurgents", "militants", "fighters", and (better not use this one in my earshot) "the Resistance". This stupidity is usually explained by saying that "terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology", and therefore doesn't define those who use it. Does that mean we need to start calling "rapists" something else?

Abu Abbas Captured in Baghdad - But Wait a Minute

According to the Washington Post:

Monday, May 9, 2005; 8:03 AM

Amar Adnan Muhammad Hamzah Zubaydi, detained Thursday in an early morning raid on his home, was described as an associate of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, according to separate statements issued by the Iraqi government and U.S. military officials.

And The Gulf Daily News (Bahrain) points out that he was also known by the name Abu Abbas:

Monday 9 May 2005

BAGHDAD: A top aide of Al Qaeda frontman Abu Musab Al Zarqawi who planned an attack on Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and organised a string of suicide car bombs has been arrested, Iraqi and US military forces said yesterday.

Ammar Adnan Mohammad Hamza Zubaidi, known as Abu Abbas, was arrested in a raid in a Baghdad district.

In fact, the capture of "Abu Abbas" is being widely reported. But wait a minute, Abu Abbas, one of the architects of the infamous Achille Lauro terrorist incident was arrested in 2003, as CNN reported:

CNN
Wednesday, April 16, 2003 Posted: 5:10 AM EDT (0910 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Abu Abbas, a convicted Palestinian terrorist who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro on which a wheelchair-bound American was killed, was captured by U.S. Special Forces in the outskirts of Baghdad, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.

And, according to the Wikipedia, Abu Abbas died of natural causes on March 8, 2004, while in US custody.

Can someone help me out here? Is there more than one terrorist known as "Abu Abbas"?

Traveling Wall

Escorted from Binghamton by thousands of motorcyclists, the Traveling Wall, a three-quarter scale replica of the Wall in Washington, came to the Syracuse Fairgrounds.

The Wall itself is almost lost in a sea of flags

In the joy of celebrating Mother's Day we don't usually think of the grim sacrifices too often demanded of mothers. Thirty years ago those sacrifices were made harder by a society, many of whose members had lost their way, that turned on its own soldiers and sought only to forget them.

Remembering

Here, in the respect shown by the general public, is a measure of vindication, and perhaps, comfort, for those mothers whose children's names appear on this wall.

I am indebted to reader Sig94 for sending these photos to me.

Fun With Real "News" Stories

Sometimes a story from a supposedly objective mainstream media source is just so grossly biased that it screams out for parody. As someone who studied journalism in college, back in the day, I really don't know how creatures like Ian Simpson of Reuters can live with themselves. But that's just me, having been taught by an old school print journalist who had little use for "interpretive reporting" and especially detested "advocacy journalism", which he considered to be blatant propaganda.

Basic News Slanting Techniques
a lecture by Ian Simpson of Reuters
(Parody...duh)
Now remember class, it's inevitable that the imperialists will have military successes in Iraq; after all, they have the most powerful war machine in the world. Your job is to minimise those successes, and always, always, always...dwell on the negative. As an example, here's the lead of a recent story I posted from Iraq:

U.S. leans more on Iraq troops to fight insurgents

MUQDADIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - When Major Mark Borowski
plunged with Iraqi troops into a date palm grove notorious as an insurgent hideout, he did something a U.S. officer would not have done a year ago -- almost nothing.

Now class, as you might imagine, this assignment was particularly distasteful, pointing out as it does the success of the Forces of Occupation and Suppression against the glorious Resistance. But notice how I turned that around. Instead of emphasizing the Iraqis' successful operation, I say that the American is doing nothing, even though he's in the middle of a combat situation, which is of course, dangerous in its own right. Also he's trying to survive in this environment while simultaneously observing and evaluating his Iraqi counterpart's performance. And how often have we printed stories about valiant journalists doing essentially the same thing? No Matter!- always look for the negative! Let's continue:

Borowski's hands-off approach during the dawn sweep by hundreds of Iraqi soldiers marked the changing role of U.S. troops as they shift the burden of fighting insurgents onto under-equipped, barely trained Iraqi troops and police.

I've managed to slip a couple of extremely negative value judgments in here - it helps when the editors are on the team - even though I have absolutely no expertise in evaluating the effectiveness of military operations. As you will learn, it doesn't matter. The public unquestioningly accepts the word of "journalists", because "journalists" tell them to do so. Lovely bit of closed loop feedback there, what?

The brigade-size raid through dusty streets and a maze of towering palm trees, irrigation ditches and thickets at Buhriz, a town about 50 km (35 miles) north of Baghdad, was judged by U.S. officers to have been a success.

Isolate the imperialists every chance you get, lads. And imply that what you just saw with your own eyes is some sort of propaganda.

I was pretty happy, this is a complex mission," Borowski, a battalion operations officer in the 3rd Infantry Division, told Reuters. "You saw the terrain. It was like the land that time forgot back there."

U.S. aircraft and artillery were available for support. But most of the few U.S. troops on the ground stayed close to their Humvees as Iraqi soldiers kicked down gates, searched through brush and bashed open the doors of uninhabited huts.

This is the most troublesome part of the story, because I was obliged to use some actual quotes, and these colonial wankers are just a bit too articulate. But I was able to bury it several paragraphs deep and minimise the damage. Plus, I slipped in that "uninhabited", just to make it all look like a wild goose chase, even though I admit at the end of the story that several suspects were detained, so, of course, not all of the huts were actually "uninhabited". Poetic license, lads.

Notice that we're already five paragraphs deep. Most people have stopped reading now, but, just to be sure, I've put the successful aspects of the raid at the very end, in the twentieth through twenty-third paragraphs. Right after six paragraphs (actually single sentences stretched into paragraphs for emphasis) of negative opinion about the Iraqis' equipment and training.

But despite the difficulties, the raid netted a heap of munitions, including an anti-aircraft gun and an army motorcycle with sidecar that a U.S. soldier rode down Buhriz's main street.

Several suspects were detained.

Iraqi commander Brigadier General Haad Ibrahim al-Tamimi was pleased with the result.

"With the help of the U.S. and relying on our soldiers we have driven the criminals out of here," he said.

And there you have it class. The successes of the American warmongers and that odious Blair wanker have been themselves successfully buried deep into the propag...journalism.

Photos Released of Blackmailed Suicide Bomber, Car

The Army's Digital Video Distribution System (DVIDS) has released photos of the scene after a would-be suicide bomber's car was stopped fifteen feet from a US base on May 1st. The bomber survived, and is cooperating with Coalition forces after telling them that he had been blackmailed into driving the car after terrorists kidnapped his wife and children.

US soldiers attend to wounded would-be suicide bomber

Remains of carbomb stopped 15 feet from entrance to US base

Good News: Earth's Air is Less Polluted

Bad News: Global Warming Will Increase

Two studies from Science magazine indicate that reductions in the pollution of Earth's atmosphere in the past two decades have reduced "global dimming", meaning more sunlight reaches the ground.

From Nature.com:

Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more transparent.

Wow, that's good news! But wait a minute:

But the researchers say that more solar energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and this may add to the problems of global warming. More sunlight will also have knock-on effects on cloud cover, winds, rainfall and air temperature that are difficult to predict.

So, even though we followed the environmentalists' advice and significantly reduced pollution, we're still screwed. I see, and so did renegade environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg
and author Michael Crichton.

It seems clear that there are those in the environmentalist movement who are using global warming as a profit source, and others who worship at its altar.

Brazil Spurns US AIDS Grant

Sherry at Bittersweet links a BBC story reporting that the government of Brazil has turned down a grant from USAid to combat AIDS. The problem is that a condition of the grant was that it not be used to fund abortions or treat prostitutes. Brazilians believe that their "sex workers" deserve access to state welfare and pensions like any other citizen. So they turned down the $40 million. In other words, screw the non-prostitute AIDS patients.

Update: Behind Enemy Lines has new information that puts the whole thrust of the BBC story in doubt.

UK Consulate in NYC Targeted by Makeshift Bombs - No Injuries Reported

Authorities are not singling out the British Consulate as the target, because other countries have missions there, and businesses operate in the building, but the coincidence of the blasts coming on the UK's election day would seem to indicate that the British diplomatic mission was the target. From BBC News:

The blast shattered the consulate's windows
New York police are looking for clues as to who set off two explosive devices outside the UK consulate in Manhattan.
The blast in the early hours of the morning shattered windows but did not cause any injuries.

The two devices, described by police as novelty hand-grenades packed with gunpowder, were put in a concrete flower tub in front of the building.

There were no witnesses, but New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said evidence from CCTV cameras was being checked.

The amateurish nature of the improvised explosive devices used would seem to point away from organized terrorist groups.

The Jawa Report has a roundup of blogs and other news sources reporting on the incident.

Secret Aubenas Ransom Imminent?

Is the French government about to make a ransom payment to secure the release of Florence Aubenas, the French journalist kidnapped on January 5th in Baghdad? The Italian government reportedly paid six to eight million dollars in ransom to obtain the release of communist propagandist Giuliana Sgrena, money that will undoubtedly be used to buy weapons to kill US troops. Sgrena's release lead to the infamous friendly fire incident in which Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari was killed; in large part because the Italian government did not coordinate the release with US military authorities. The US, as a matter of policy, does not sanction negotiations with terrorists. The Italians didn't want to advertise the fact that they were flouting this policy.

Now, after weeks of silence about Florence Aubenas, there are suddenly whispers in the press about "secret" French efforts to win her release.

From News 24 (Australia):

The French government has been leading a secret effort to free Aubenas. Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said last month that French officials are facing "difficult conditions" largely because of violence on the ground.

From Pravda:

The French government has mobilized a team of more than 100 people to secure the release of a kidnapped reporter in Iraq and has made stable but intermittent contact in the case, the prime minister said Tuesday.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin did not specify with whom officials were communicating, but told parliament that contacts had been established in efforts to free Florence Aubenas.

And this, from the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia):

Mr Zadaan revealed he had been asked by an activist group in France to help rescue French journalist Florence Aubenas, who disappeared in Baghdad on January 5.

Mr Zadaan was named as a Sunni contender for deputy prime minister in the new government, but as one of Saddam's generals he was sidelined after a vitriolic Shiite campaign that included this memorable quote from the high-profile Shiite Ahmed Chalabi: "Bring back Uday and Qusay [Saddam's sons], but never Zadaan."

However, as a sheikh of the Al-Lehabi tribe and a towering figure in Saddam's military, Mr Zadaan has a vast network of tribal contacts, particularly among Sunnis who back the insurgency, and of former military men, who are often assumed to be the organisational backbone of the armed opposition. Also, his National Iraqi Dialogue Committee claims to have 264 offices across the country.

Hassan Zadaan is a mysterious figure who doesn't even show up in news records until May 3, 2005. The last thing our troops need is another half-baked ransom episode that transfers millions of dollars into the hands of the terrorist insurgency.

In the News 24 story cited above, it's also noted that a poll shows that 60% of the French think their journalists should stay out of Iraq. Finally, something I can agree with them about.

Anti-Terrorist Action Roundup

I offer these stories because they don't fit the currently fashionable memes of the mainstream media, and might otherwise go unreported. They are from official US military press releases, easily available to members of the media.

Raids Result in Apprehension of Targeted Terrorist Suspects
On May 2, Iraqi Army Soldiers captured a terrorist specifically targeted for planning and carrying out a number of terror attacks on Haifa Street. The Iraqi Soldiers also found a small weapons cache at one of the sites.

Later that night, acting on a tip from Iraqi sources, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, arrested five suspected terrorists, including a specifically targeted individual, in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad.

“The terrorists efforts to intimidate Iraqis are failing,” said Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, a Task Force Baghdad spokesperson. “We know this because more and more Iraqis are joining the police force every day.

Furthermore, private Iraqi citizens are joining the fight by coming forward with information that often leads directly to capturing terrorists and their weapons.”

Yeah, you folks up there at Fort Drum, those are your compadres at work. Be proud.

Terrorists and Weapons Cache Seized
May 2: Iraqi intervention forces detained three notorious members of the Ansa Al Sunna terrorist group in east Baghdad in an operation supported by 1st Battalion 64th Armor Regiment. The three men are known to plot terrorist actions against Iraqi civilians.

“Based on the outstanding work of the young Soldiers who work in the intelligence shop of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team we were able to get these terrorists off the street,” said Capt. James Osborne, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.

Estonia Makes Itself Heard
May 2: An Estonian Army platoon operating in west Baghdad detained nine suspects and located a large weapons cache in a grove of palm trees near a military supply route.

Estonian Soldiers detained nine suspects during their search and confiscated 37 hand grenades, three rocket propelled grenade launchers and 12 RPG rounds.

There are only 55 Estonian troops serving in Iraq.

The Sounds of Silence From Pelosi

Captain's Quarters points out today the abject hypocrisy of Nancy Pelosi's pursuit of majority leader Tom Delay for alleged ethics violations and current silence on the issue of Democratic congresscritters who seem to have done exactly the same things for which Delay is being raked over the coals. Captain Ed expects the whole ethics controversy to quietly go away now that Democrats are exposed, and he's probably right.

Pelosi may not be the brightest intellectual star in the Democratic firmament. On Sunday, when pressed by George Stephanopolous to explain why Americans should trust her party to fix Social Security when the Dems have offered no proposals, Pelosi replied, "Americans should trust Democrats because we created Social Security."

I see. Does that mean we should trust the Democrats on voter fraud?

Is PBS Too Liberal?

Who cares? It's PBS. Personally, I've been shunning them since they took Monty Python and The Goodies off. Well, maybe the occasional Nova gets watched, like Tuesday night when they had a cool one about "supertwisters" with some great stormchaser footage of F4s and F5s, and it reminded me of one night I was staying in Oklahoma City and the tornado sirens went off, then around two o'clock in the morning the TV said it was "inadvertent", but by then I wasn't going to get any sleep anyway...but I digress.

Jack Shafer of Slate cares, and he sees Kenneth Tomlinson's (the new chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) move to restore fairness and balance as a reason to...cut PBS off from government funding.

Shafer writes:

For the longest time, calling for the defunding of public broadcasting was a Republican pastime. Now that the GOP rules public broadcasters, who will be the first Democrat brave enough to call for the end of PBS and NPR as we know them?

That's right, Shafer wants PBS to be subject to local market forces just like the commercial networks. I'm inclined to agree.

How Stress, Inexperience, and Fatigue Lead to the Sgrena Incident

The official Italian report on the incident that left Italian secret serviceman Nicola Calipari dead, and alleged hostage Giuliana Sgrena and the driver wounded, has been released. According to Boston.com News:

ROME (AP) Italian investigators blamed U.S. military authorities for failing to signal there was a checkpoint ahead on the Baghdad road where American soldiers killed an Italian agent, concluding in a report that stress, inexperience and fatigue played a role in the shooting.

Now, this may surprise my regular readers, who know that I have been steadfast in defending the actions of our troops in this incident, but I agree with the Italians on the points of stress, inexperience, and fatigue.

Stress undoubtedly played a factor, no question about it. Just imagine you are manning a checkpoint on what has been described as the most dangerous highway in the world when, without warning, a braindead imbecile (that would be the Italian driver) suddenly appears, speeding toward your position.

How stressful is that? Very, especially since you are completely inexperienced with dealing with the sort of arrogant moron who would try to run a checkpoint, disregarding flashing lights and warning shots. In fact, the only people who do that, in your experience, are crazed suicide bombers, looking to blow themselves, and you, to smithereens.

Now the fatigue sets in. And it doesn't affect only our troops, but everyone who has had to listen to the stupidity and outright lies told by shrieking, hysterical, communist-propagandist Giuliana Sgrena, whose story has mutated more often than frogs in a nuke plant cooling pond. And more fatigue is in store when troops start dealing with the weapons and materiél that terrorists will now purchase with the estimated six to eight million dollars handed to them by the irresponsible boobs in the Italian government to secure the release of shrieking, hysterical, communist-propagandist Giuliana Sgrena.

Iraqi Government Sworn In

In another major collateral benefit of the war on terror, Iraq's first democratically elected government was sworn in today. From Yahoo! News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari pledged to unite Iraq's rival ethnic and religious factions and fight terrorism as the nation's first democratically elected government was sworn in Tuesday amid escalating violence.

"You all know the heavy legacy inherited by this government. We are afflicted by corruption, lack of services, unemployment and mass graves," al-Jaafari told lawmakers after taking the oath of office before the National Assembly. "I would like to tell the widows and orphans ... your sacrifices have not gone in vain."

One by one, al-Jaafari and members of his Cabinet walked to a podium and pledged to defend Iraq and its people as Iraqis faced a surge of violence that has killed nearly 170 people in six days.

Man Blackmailed Into Suicide Mission: Carbomb a Dud

A man who tried to detonate a car bomb near a coalition base in Iraq survived when the explosives failed to detonate properly and set the car on fire. Upon being questioned by Coalition Forces the man told them that his family had been kidnapped and he was told the suicide mission was the only way to save them. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is being blamed. From ARCENT

An initial investigation revealed that terrorists had kidnapped the driver's family and that he was forced to carry out this suicide-bombing mission to protect his wife and children, coalition officials said.

No soldiers were injured in the attack. The driver is being treated at a military hospital and is cooperating with authorities.

It seems that volunteers for Zarqawi's murderous missions aren't as numerous as some would have us believe.

Prosecutor Accuses Pantano of Killing Iraqis to Set an Example

Prosecutor not calling for death penalty
Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, the Marine facing capital murder charges in the deaths of two detainees who he says were a threat to him, has been accused by prosecutors at his military hearing of killing the Iraqis to set an example. From the Scotsman (UK)

Speaking at the hearing in North Carolina, prosecutor Major Stephen Keane said: "There’s no other reason why this stellar lieutenant would have used such poor judgment. It is not up to a second lieutenant to violate the law of war and make an example of people he believes are bad."

Pantano claims he acted in self-defence after the men moved towards him. "Lt Pantano has told this to virtually every person who asked him," defence lawyer Charles Gittins said in his closing statement. "He did exactly what he was required to do under the circumstances."

After his closing argument, Major Keane said he did not believe the crime deserved the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Pantano's chief accuser had this to say:

However, Sgt Coburn also acknowledged that Pantano had stripped him of his job as squad leader and elevated a lower-ranking marine to replace him. He said he believed his last evaluation, written by Pantano and reviewed by two higher-ranking officers, was a "career-ender".

Again, President Bush has the authority to end these proceedings and the investigation of Pantano. He should do so.

Are the Italians Still Stonewalling the Iraqi Sgrena Investigation?

On March 16 I wrote about complaints from Iraqi Colonel Jabbar Anwar, head of the major crimes unit in the section of Baghdad where Giuliana Sgrena was held. At that time, the Italians were refusing to cooperate with Anwar's investigation. There has been no news since then to indicate whether or not Italian officials have supplied him with the information he needs.

With an Italian report on the Sgrena incident due out today that is expected to disagree with the US one, it would be a good time for mainstream journalists to question Italians closely on their cooperation, or lack of it, with the Iraqi authorities who have jurisdiction in the case.

A major sticking point is quite likely that the Italians do not want to disclose the amount of the ransom they paid for Sgrena's release, in violation of established Coalition policy on the issue of ransoms. The reported six to eight million dollars will pay for a lot of weapons to kill Coalition soldiers and Iraqi police and civilians.

GoogleNews: A Cabal of Lunatic Fringe Anti-American Editors

Super-blog The Jawa Report has been a target of GoogleNews censors for several weeks now. The Jawa Report was removed from GoogleNews searches without notice. When Dr. Rusty Shackleford, who posts The Jawa Report, contacted GoogleNews for the removal, he was told that "hate speech" on his site was the reason. Since then, Shackleford has contacted GoogleNews at least a dozen times asking them to cite any specific example of "hate speech". There has been no response.

If someone like Shackleford got bounced, it would follow that GoogleNews must have extraordinarily high standards for inclusion as a "news" source. Actually, they don't. GoogleNews includes a large number of propaganda and terrorist sympathizer sites in their "news" searches. A few examples:

Uruknet. An Italian anti-American website that gleefully passes on unsubstantiated anti-US propaganda, even adding their own unrelated pictures to spice things up.

Peace Link. Another Italian agitprop site dedicated to smearing US troops and leaders any way they can.

Iraq Occupation Watch. One wonders where these pinheads were while Saddam was murdering his citizens. Probably finishing grammar school, if the level of critical thinking apparent in their writing is any indication. GoogleNews considers them "news".

Peace Link, another ultra-leftist say-anything-outrageous-that-reflects-badly-on-America website that GoogleNews thinks represents good journalism.

Zmag.com. Their site headline reads: "The Spirit of Resistance Lives". That's really all you need to know about this "news" site.

And, just to make it clear that GoogleNews doesn't really have anything at all to do with "news", the editors offer Unconfirmed Sources a site that states clearly that they produce satire, not news.

Maybe it's time for a class-action false advertising suit against GoogleNews.

Pantano Accuser Granted Immunity

Marine Sgt. Daniel Coburn, the chief accuser of Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, was granted immunity by the prosecution after refusing to testify earlier for fear that he would incriminate himself for disobeying orders not to talk to media about the case. From the Boston Globe [emphasis added]:

...Coburn abruptly left the stand Wednesday when he was told he was suspected of violating orders forbidding him from giving interviews about the case. He told Marine officials he wouldn't return unless he was granted immunity from prosecution, and came back briefly Friday only to invoke his right to avoid incriminating himself.

Military lawyers said that was unnecessary because they have no plans to charge Coburn. They indicated they will instead submit written statements he gave to investigators.

Gittins, the defense attorney, asked a pair of generals to grant Coburn immunity so that the defense can complete its cross-examination. He said Coburn should be compelled to testify, and a failure to put him on the stand "makes this proceeding a sham."

Gittins is quite correct. Allowing the chief prosecution witness to avoid cross-examination would turn the hearing into a kangaroo court. With such outrageous behavior from the chief accuser, it's unclear why charges against Pantano were ever raised.

Coburn had been removed from his supervisory duties prior to the incident under investigation for performance issues. Other members of Pantano's and Coburn's unit have described Coburn as a "weak" Marine, bitter about Pantano's decision to remove him from a leadership role.

Stone the Crows, Exploding Toads Explained...Maybe

A veterinarian who has examined the mysterious exploding toads of Hamburg says that crows are responsible. From the Pakistan Daily Times:

Now a veterinary surgeon, Frank Mutschmann, who has examined the remains of the toads, said they had been pierced with a single peck by crows trying to eat their livers. This in turn caused the toads to explode. “The toads swell up as a form of self-defence. But when their livers are taken away and their stomachs are punctured, their blood vessels explode, their lungs collapse and the other organs come out,” Mutschmann said. “Crows are intelligent animals. They learn very quickly how to eat the toads’ livers,” he said.

Mmm...paté de foie crapaud.

"Welcome to Ground Zero" - Ward Churchill

Churchill, the University of Colorado professor at the center of a firestorm concerning comments he has made about 9/11 victims (calling them "little Eichmanns", among other bon mots), is feeling victimized by officials looking into his suitability to continue teaching at the institution.

Churchill spoke at a rally for him Tuesday night (from the Denver Post

"Welcome to ground zero," Churchill said to loud cheers. "I do not back up an inch. My fight is your fight and vice versa. ... We go forward with this (expletive) committee and its process, and we defeat that."

The investigation into Churchill by University officials has decided that he can't be fired for what he said, but is looking into accusations of plagiarism and misrepresentation of his ethnic background.

Churchill probably doesn't realize it, but his invocation of Ground Zero is as deeply offensive as the slanderous things he had to say about the innocent victims of 9/11. The real Ground Zero has a quiet power evocative of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial or Arlington National Cemetery. It doesn't deserve to be sullied by having a creature like Churchill utter the words.

This ridiculous drama queen should be dropped like a noisome nugget from a diseased hog's buttocks. He has nothing of value to teach.

Pantano Accuser Invoking Fifth Amendment

According to News 14 Carolina Marine Sergeant Daniel Coburn, the man who accused Lieutenant Ilario Pantano of murder in the deaths of two Iraqis last year, refused to give testimony and instead invoked his Fifth Amendment (or UMCJ equivalent) right against self-incrimination:

(CAMP LEJEUNE) - The chief accuser of a Marine accused of murdering two Iraqi detainees took the stand long enough to invoke his right to avoid incriminating himself.

Coburn doesn't seem very popular with other members of his unit:

Other witnesses have heaped scorn on Coburn, describing him as a weak Marine who's bitter about Pantano removing him from a leadership role within his platoon and making him a radioman. That's a job usually reserved for the youngest Marines. They have described Pantano as a zealous, but not abusive, officer.

This case has sounded fishy from the beginning. Time for someone at Eight and Eye (Marine headquarters) to wake up and stop persecuting this officer. Alternatively, President Bush can invoke his powers as Commander-in-Chief to have the case dropped.

Akbar Sentenced to Death

US Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar has been sentenced to death by a military jury for murdering two officers in Kuwait just prior to the start of the US invasion of Iraq. Hasan rolled grenades into a tent and assaulted fellow soldiers with his rifle. 14 were wounded.

From News 14 Carolina:

"I want to apologize for the attack that occurred. I felt that my life was in jeopardy, and I had no other options. I also want to ask you for forgiveness,"

"He is a hate-filled, ideologically driven murderer," chief prosecutor Lt. Col. Michael Mulligan said. He added that Akbar wrote in his diary in 1997, "My life will not be complete unless America is destroyed."

Now your life really is in jeopardy, Hasan.

Latest Installment of "Damned of the West" at The Jawa Report

The latest installment of Dr. Rusty Shackleford's interview with the family of American hostage Roy Hallums has been posted at The Jawa Report. Go check it out and help make sure that our long term hostages aren't forgotten.

Pantano Accuser Read Rights During Hearing

The hearing investigating charges of pre-meditated murder against Marine 2nd lieutenant Ilario Pantano was stopped Wednesday to read Pantano's accuser his rights and offer him counsel. Sergeant Daniel Coburn is suspected of discussing details of the case with the media in violation of a direct order. From The Jacksonville Daily News:

Coburn was taken out of the courtroom and given the opportunity to speak with military counsel in Quantico, Va., by telephone. He was then released for the day as a witness, although Charles Gittins, Pantano's civilian defense attorney, made it clear to Winn that he wasn't done with his cross-examination of Coburn and wanted to continue it later.

Coburn, 28, was apprised of his rights after he admitted he violated orders, given to him by two Marine officers, that he shouldn't talk to the media about the case. Coburn gave interviews to CBS, the Daily News of New York and to New York magazine. He is also alleged to have posted his opinion about the case, using the name "Marine that knows," on a Web site.

Pantano could face the death penalty if convicted of murder in the deaths of two Iraqis in 2004.

Insanely Dangerous Internet Feedback Loop Experiment

James Joyner of Outside the Beltway has made a tradition of (and endeared himself to many bloggers with) his "Beltway Traffic Jams", which allow smaller blogs to link to a "Traffic Jam" post on his blog and share in some of the traffic Outside the Beltway generates. Here's the one for today:

Another do-it-yourselfer at the Traffic Jam today.

To join in, choose a post from your blog to highlight, edit it to add a link to this post, and then send a TrackBack. If your blog doesn't automatically generate one, use the Send TrackBack feature below. For more information, see this post.

This post will attempt a dangerous experiment. Stop reading now if you're a squeamish, fretful nancy boy, because things could go horribly wrong and get ugly fast.

What we're going to do is mirror Joyner's Traffic Jam. That's right. Link to this post and send a trackback, and in the meantime, this post is linked and tracked back to the Traffic Jam, so a feedback vortex will be created that will...I'm not sure. Be brave and remember: It's for Science.

Terrorists Murder Iraqi Woman MP, Reuters Writer Blames Iraqi Legislature

The news of terrorist gunmen murdering Iraqi member of parliament Lame'a Abed Khadawi comes with a heavy-handed editorial message from Reuters writer Michael Georgy Yahoo! News (Reuters) [emphasis added]:

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament Wednesday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

Blaming the Iraqi parliament for Khadawi's murder is beyond bizarre, but par for the course for Georgy one of the most blatantly biased western "reporters" in Iraq, now that Giuliana Sgrena is back in Italy.

A Google search for Georgy stories reveals that Georgy virtually always loads his reporting with anti-US editorializing; so much so that he is a favorite source for leftist and terrorist sympathizer websites: Counterpunch, Countercurrents, LA Indy Media, Antiwar.com, uruknet.info.

I was unable to find a single story by Georgy that could be considered as portraying the US or Coalition Forces in a good light. This is a clear indication that Georgy is deliberately slanting his stories, rather than simply reporting what's happening - unless, of course, you happen to be one of the loons who thinks that all US soldiers are evil robots controlled by Halliburton implants.

Here's how Georgy describes Fallujah, where American civilian contractors were brutally murdered, and their charred corpses hung from a bridge: "Fallujah, regarded as a place with an independent streak..."

If Reuters were an honest organization they would label Georgy's Fables as what they are, opinion pieces. If Reuters were a competent organization, Georgy would have been fired long ago. Instead, Reuters passes Georgy's rants off as news reporting.

Toad Explosions Rock Hamburg

Thousands of toads have been swelling up and exploding in a Hamburg park, scattering their guts and limbs all over the place. This story first cropped up in the Ananova "Quirkies", but has since made its way onto the Associated Press wire. The toad explosions seem to be limited to a particular pond in the Hamburg park.

So far, there are no reports of toads shouting "Allahu akbar" prior to exploding.

Is Pantano Witness a Cook or a Spook?

Two major dailies offer conflicting descriptions of a chief witness in the Ilario Pantano hearing today. Pantano, a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps, may be charged with capital murder, pending the outcome of the hearing. A Marine identified only as "Corporal O" was a key witness for the prosecution today. This is how The New York Times describes him:

An Arabic translator who was at the scene of the killings, identified at the hearing only as Corporal O because of what officials said was his involvement with counterintelligence operations, said he questioned the two men after they were seized while leaving a house suspected of being an insurgent nest.

That makes Corporal O sound a lot more important than this paragraph from the Washington Post account:

"Corporal O," described as a cook working to be an Arabic linguist, said the men were scared and claimed to be visiting family in the residence. After the shooting, he testified, the men "looked like they were on their knees. They were shot in the backs."

Common sense would say that WaPo got it right, and the NYT reporter missed something.

Today's testimony focused on the positions of the bodies as described by Corporal O, and the so-called "death card" ("No better friend, no worse enemy") that Pantano admitted placing on the Iraqis' car after the shooting. The "death card" would seem to have no relevance at all to what occurred, but it is prejudicial to Pantano's case.

My understanding is that President George W. Bush, as Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, has the authority to stop these proceedings at any time and order charges against Pantano dropped. It's time he did so.

The Damned of the West, Part Three

Dr. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report has posted part three of The Damned of the West, his interview with the family of hostage Roy Hallums, who was abducted on November 1, 2004. Rusty wants to make sure that Americans don't forget those who, like Roy Hallums, who have been held hostage so long that the mainstream press has forgotten them.

Department of Bizarre News

Sherry over at Bittersweet reports that the singer Moby has decided he wants to turn his children gay.

In a post titled Pardon me while I go throw up..., Lord Spatula of the spatula city bbs! has found a revolting story about a 360 lb. pedophiliac Florida teacher.

Curt of Flopping Aces has been following the story of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal who believes that we are betraying the victims of 9/11 if we don't blame America for the attack.

Pentagon Clears Soldiers in Sgrena Friendly Fire Incident

US soldiers have been cleared by a Pentagon investigation looking into the incident involving Italian communist "journalist" Giuliana Sgrena that resulted in the death of Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari. Soldiers had said that the vehicle carrying Sgrena, who had just been picked up by Calipari and a driver following here alleged kidnapping, refused to stop at a US checkpoint on the Baghdad airport road. Soldiers flashed lights at the car, then fired warning shots, firing at the car when it failed to heed the warnings.

From CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. military investigation has cleared American troops of any wrongdoing in the shooting death last month of an Italian security agent in Baghdad, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Sgrena, who was wounded, made wild and inflammatory statements following the incident, alleging some sort of plot to murder her.

Via The Jawa Report,

Silver Star For Fallujah Veteran

"I just loaded my weapon and kept on firing..."

Sergeant Benny Alicea, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry, 1st Cavalry Division, a Specialist at the time of the Fallujah offensive, was awarded the Silver Star for singlehandedly protecting his wounded buddies from attacking insurgents. Alicea, wounded himself, held off as many as fifteen insurgents until his unit was relieved by a Bradley fighting vehicle.

Full story.

WaPo, Reuters, AP Getting Back in Stride

Major news services, caught by surprise and stunned by the success of the Iraqi elections in January, are beginning to recover and now feel safe to once again distort information from military sources into a litany of doom. This is how Ellen Knickmeyer of the Associated Press, writing for the Washington Post puts "local flavor" on events:

This week, at a checkpoint bunker in Tarmiya where insurgents downed a helicopter, a teenager in sunglasses clutching an AK-47 marked the limits of the Iraqi army's authority. "I wouldn't advise going there," the young Shiite Muslim recruit said, referring to Tarmiya, a Tigris River town a few hundred yards up the road that is dominated by Sunni Muslim landowners who were loyal to Saddam Hussein. "Those are some bad people there."

Up the road, insurgents run relatively free, and last week they appeared to have used a hilltop outside of town to fire what they later said was a shoulder-launched, heat-seeking missile. The missile hit a chartered Russian-made helicopter Thursday, killing six Americans and five other foreigners, including a survivor executed by the guerrillas afterward.

Well of course he doesn't want you running around near there, you stupid get. They don't need any more multi-million dollar ransoms paid out (thank you Giuliana Sgrena and Simonas). Reporting the news doesn't entitle you to take foolish risks that result in diverting resources to save your silly ass.

Meanwhile, military press releases paint a different story:

BAGHDAD –- In the [past] 24 hours, the number of captured terrorists suspected to have possible links to the shooting down of a civilian MI-8 helicopter has increased to 10.

Task Force Baghdad units, working in conjunction with Iraqi Security Forces and acting on tips from local residents, continue to investigate and detain individuals believed to have ties to the April 22 attack northwest of Baghdad.

Iraqi Police and Task Force Baghdad Soldiers have also apprehended 16 other terror suspects in the Baghdad area during the last 24 hours.

Task Force Baghdad Soldiers swept through a village in north Baghdad and captured 11 suspected terrorists during an early-morning raid April 24.

Reading between the lines, as the mainstream news likes to do, I surmise that the young man who spoke to Ellen assessed her as someone who would not only get in the way of ongoing, successful counter-terrorist operations, but someone who would slant the news to meet pre-conceived notions. I might further surmise that Ellen's story has the bias it does in part because of a fit of pique at being thwarted by an Iraqi teenager doing his job.

Hooray For Hollywood

Curt at Flopping Aces reports that actress Maggie Gyllenhaal (I know, I've never heard of her either), who appears in a new movie about 9/11, thinks that "...America has done reprehensible things and is responsible in some way..." for the carnage on that day of infamy.

One of the most reprehensible things America has done is to foster a culture in Hollywood that encourages ignorant parasites such as Miss Gyllenhaal to make idiotic public statements.

How Stupid Can They Be?

Very, very stupid. We may actually be seeing evolution in action here, with morons like these eliminating themselves from the gene pool. This is from an April 22 DVIDS press release about counter-terrorist activities around Baghdad [emphasis added]:

At the same time in northeast Baghdad an alert Soldier on patrol spotted an anti-U.S. bumper sticker on a parked car. The patrol investigated and found grenades, illegal weapons and a bloody machete in the house where the car was parked.

The Soldiers also detained two local nationals and took them into custody for questioning.

Please to come and arrest us immediately now.

Update: The DVIDS site is registration-only, but you can read the full release on line here.

Snake on a Stick...mmm!

Arabian Sand Boa Held By SSG Greene. Photo By SGT Flint.

Soldiers working on the perimeter of Camp Bucca rescued this large Arabian Sand Boa, which was endangered by construction work. A picture of the snake was sent to Robert George Sprackland, PhD, Director of The Virtual Museum of Natural History, who responded:

Thank you for the excellent photograph of one of the most exquisite specimens we have ever seen of the Arabian sand boa. The ones here that are exported from Egypt for zoos and pet shops pale in comparison. Sand boas are found across central North Africa east to India. All are characterized by blunt heads and tails, stout bodies, and an intricate upper pattern contrasting with a plain white belly. Like other boas, they are constrictors, which means they kill prey by holding its ribcage shut when the animal exhales. They feed on rodents and the occasional lizard, and are completely harmless to soldiers. Maximum size is about a meter. Males have a pair of claw-like spurs at the base of the tail. Sand boas spend most of their time under the sand, going deeper during the heat of the day, then lying in ambush for prey near the surface at night.

Shortly after this photo was taken, the boa crushed the stick holding it. The snake was then released a safe distance from the camp.

Welcome Birding Babylon readers.

I've just received another photo of the Arabian sand boa as it was released:

Six Detained in Helicopter Attack

The man whose murder was videotaped by the terrorists is being identified as the Bulgarian pilot of the helicopter. From Yahoo! News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said Saturday it detained six men suspected of shooting down a civilian helicopter carrying 11 civilians north of Baghdad two days earlier. All 11 people on board — including six Americans — were killed, with the Bulgarian pilot gunned down by insurgents.

Update: ABC reports that Iraqi citizens turned the men in:

An Iraqi civilian helped U.S. soldiers in Task Force Baghdad locate the suspects, who were apprehended at two houses Saturday afternoon, the military said in a statement. The military did not identify the suspects or specify where they were captured.

The Iraqi civilian told soldiers he knew where a blue pickup truck used in the attack was parked and led them to the site, the military said. When the soldiers reached the area, several other local residents confirmed the initial tip and showed them where the suspects lived, the statement said.

Soldiers started to search two houses at 12:30 a.m. (4:30 p.m. EDT Friday). At the first house, three men were captured and bomb-making materials were seized. At the second house, three more suspects were detained, the military said.

Oh, For the Love of [your belief system].

"...that they are endowed by their [insert your belief system] with certain inalienable rights..."

Valerie Richardson of the Washington Times reports:

DENVER -- The students in Vincent Pulciani's seventh-grade class were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance this week when they heard the voice over the intercom say something they'd never heard before, at least not during the Pledge.

Instead of "one nation, under God," the voice said, "one nation, under your belief system."

Margo Lucero, the eighth-grade guidance counselor at the school, substituted the phrase "under your belief system" as she led the recitation of the Pledge on Wednesday.

After irate phone calls poured in from parents, Principal Kathleen Norton, who normally leads the Pledge but was out of the building at the time, apologized to students Thursday and sent home letters of apology yesterday.

Do I really have to comment on the utter boneheadedness of this incident?

Via Michelle Malkin.

Search For Hostages in Madaen Yields Weapons Stockpiles

While it's still not clear whether or not the scores of bodies found floating in the Tigris River were hostages reportedly taken by Sunni terrorists, the massive search of the area has taken large supplies of weapons and explosives out of insurgent hands. From a press release (via DVIDS):

Staff Sgt. Craig Zentkovich
2nd BCT PAO

MADAIN, Iraq – Following an early-morning cordon and search of a city south of Baghdad, Iraqi Security Forces supported by Task Force Baghdad Soldiers, discovered weapons caches at two separate locations Monday.

Prior to Monday’s search, Madain (also known as Salman Pak) had for months been known as a terrorist staging ground for improvised explosive device attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces.

Items discovered and later destroyed by an explosive ordinance disposal team from Task Force Baghdad’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, included more than 50 82mm mortal shells, rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, rockets, high-explosive artillery shells, and a pair of 250-pound Russian-made bombs.

Additionally, dozens of rigged IED initiation devices and spools of wire were found in a nearby shack.

Video of Terrorists Murdering Injured Survivor of Helicopter Crash

Dr. Rusty Shackleford of The Jawa Report has posted graphic screen captures and a link to download video showing terrorists of the Islamic Army of Iraq murdering the lone survivor of a helicopter apparently downed by the group. Major western news sources are not showing the video, describing it as "too graphic".

Upon murdering the civilian, the terrorists cite Kevin Sites' infamous video of a Marine killing an insurgent feigning death in Fallujah.

The video is downloadable from a site called infovlad.net.

Update: I've finally been able to download and view the video. The infovlad site is obviously experiencing a high volume of traffic. Because they have cited the video of the Marine in Fallujah killing a wounded insurgent who he thought was feigning death, I wanted to see if it was possible that the IAI terrorists could have felt in any way threatened by the man they shot.

The man, wearing a blue coverall without visible insignia, is discovered lying in high grass an indeterminate distance from the crash site. When told to "stand up" in English he replies, "It's broken...give me a hand, it's broken", and is helped to his feet by a terrorist. The man keeps his hands out to the sides at all times, apparently to indicate he is not a threat to the terrorists. The terrorists tell him, "Go, go!" and he hobbles painfully away a few paces, then turns and raises his right hand in a defensive gesture as the first terrorist shoots him. More shots are fired as he falls onto his back, then the terrorists continue to fire into his body as he lays on the ground. At no time does the man pose a threat, or give the appearance of posing a threat. What sounds like "Allahu akbar!" (God is Great) is being shouted by the terrorists as they shoot the man.

Update and Clarification:

There was no mention of Fallujah on the videotape. I forgot to include a link to al-Jazeera, which quotes an Islamic website claiming responsibility for the murder:

"One of the crew members was captured alive and killed," it said.

The group said the crew member was killed to "avenge Muslims killed in cold blood in Falluja's mosques ... in front of the eyes of the world and on television screens without anyone protesting".

Don't Tell Mrs. Dread Pundit...

...but I've often fantasized about sharing a web page with Ann Coulter (look down under Ann's pic - AOL Newsroom Picks...keep going...a little further down...there). Anyway, this'll pay the wife back for making me sit through those Antonio Banderas movies. Don't get me started on Fabio.

Update: Awww...AOL replaced the Coulter picture with a couple of NFL players.

CIA Knowingly Held Innocent Man

NBC News has reported that German Muslim Khaled el-Masri was abducted and held for five months by the CIA:

Senior U.S. officials tell NBC News that CIA officers had concluded by Spring 2004 that el-Masri was the wrong man. But NBC News has learned that he was held for six more weeks while officials debated how to handle the mistake.

Condoleeza Rice had to order them twice to release the man. This is inexcusable and counter-productive to winning the war on terrorism.

I can understand the confusion over the similarity in names, especially since el-Masri's passport appeared to be fake. But the people responsible for keeping el-Masri imprisoned long after his innocence was established deserve to be cashiered. I gave the CIA the benefit of the doubt when I first posted on this, and they let me down. They let us all down.

US Plan to Control Overflights Angers Foreign Air Carriers

This should have been put into place years ago, right after 9/11, with the other added security measures. American authorities currently have little or no control over airliners that aren't landing in the US, but are overflying US soil. Foreign air carriers are not required to share passenger lists with the US, or check US no-fly lists to overfly our territory. Obviously, terrorists don't need to land here to do massive damage (unless you consider crashing into skyscrapers "landing").

From the Washington Post:

The U.S. government plans to force foreign airlines flying over American soil to turn over the names of passengers on board or check the names against U.S. government watch lists in an effort to prevent terrorists from entering U.S. airspace.

This action was prompted by an incident involving a KLR flight on April 8th that was scheduled to overfly the US enroute to Mexico. Two of the passengers on board were Saudis who had studied at the same flight school in Arizona as one of the 9/11 hijackers. Mexico alerted the US to their presence on the plane, and it ended up returning to its origination point, Amsterdam. This incident clearly points to the need to control our own airspace.

But our European allies don't see it that way, according to the same Washington Post story:

The proposal has angered European, Mexican and Canadian airlines, which operate most of the 500 estimated daily overflights. If foreign airlines do not comply with the order, which is expected to be issued in coming weeks, they could have to reroute flights, adding time and cost to the journeys. At least one carrier, Aeromexico, claims the rule would violate international aviation agreements.

Remember that heartwarming French headline right after 9/11 that said, "Today, we are all Americans"? Apparently it only applies if being honorary Americans doesn't cost money or cause inconvenience.