Archive for: February 2008

I have made various comments here in agreement with our host et al regarding McCain’s history with various issues I think are important. I have also stated in agreement with our host et al that I would not be voting …

Go read this and then come back.

I’ll wait.

So the key to US Mid-East relations is respect. What I want to know, and what the article does not address, is in what way that respect should manifest?

When we deploy, we …

…that I couldn’t quite get, to satisfaction.

Jeff’s phraseology…well, you know.

How self-centered have Americans become? How does something like this happen?

On a school bus carrying 60 students (and the bus driver) a 14-year-old girl was molested and, Police say, raped by an 18-year-old Riverdale High School student, surrounded by other students who payed no attention.

No other student said anything or even tried to help her.

What sort of country are we living in?

From WSMV-4 NBC News…

See who I mean here.

Charges against Ron Meier have been dropped.

Banas said the Drews’ lawyer told him they no longer wanted to pursue the case because the Drews hadn’t suspected Meier of any other alleged incidents of property damage.

This seems to …

Iraq: Security

Multinational Force

Gates hopes to continue Iraq drawdown
Source: Yahoo News, AP
22 February, ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT–Defense Secretary Gates said on February 22 that he hopes to be able to continue to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq over the next 10 months, even as he and his military commanders lean toward a pause in troop cuts in July. Secretary Gates, who is traveling to Australia for defense and diplomatic meetings, said that he thinks a “brief pause” to evaluate the security situation in Iraq “is probably necessary in order to be able to assess the pacing of any subsequent drawdowns.” While Secretary Gates still would not say how long a brief interruption in troop cuts might be, his comments signaled that reductions could begin again before the end of the year.

US troops attack al-Qa’eda’s Iraq stronghold
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
20 February, MOSUL–American and Iraqi forces have begun their final offensive against Al Qaeda in Iraq having surrounded the organization’s last major stronghold in Mosul. After setting up a security cordon around the outskirts of the city and an inner ring of police stations, a joint force of almost 11,000 troops is now mounting strikes on hundreds of terrorist sanctuaries between the two rings in an effort to eradicate the Al Qaeda threat.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Leaders Killed or Captured, But Threat Continues
Source: American Forces Press Service
20 February, WASHINGTON–Coalition forces in recent days have killed or captured three terrorist leaders responsible for planning or conducting attacks in Iraq or supplying other terrorists with supplies or training to attack, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Adm. Gregory J. Smith reported on February 20. U.S. troops killed a senior al Qaeda in Iraq intelligence leader responsible for deadly attacks in Baghdad on February 17, Smith said. Abu Karrar was a senior intelligence leader and facilitator for the Diyala suicide-bombing network, the admiral said. Karrar, also known as Arkan Khalaf Khudayyir, reportedly was a key player in the network that included female suicide bombers.

It sure sounds like him:
“It is impossible to become a spoiler based on past experience when one examines the past.

“In the 2000 election, 6 million votes were not counted.  They were cast …

I was in the middle of this.  Shooting at me and other soldiers is one thing.  Blowing up families of innocent people is another.  Anyone want to leave Iraq to the mercies of those that would do this?  Not …

This won’t mean anything unless you’ve read Jeff G’s post “Of pots, kettles, and the making of “blackness”: some thoughts on identity politics” .

I didn’t read it. I studied it.

From Ernst Mayer’s “This is Biology”, 1997, p.247…