The Washington Post: Defense Department officials announced yesterday that the Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has been deployed in Mosul since last summer, will be extended for as long as 120 days to boost security in Baghdad.
28 July 2006
progress in the WOT
slow and steady... this is encouraging: KOLKATA (Reuters) - Pakistan has sought the help of an Indian state to revamp its system of madrasas after accusations some of the Islamic schools teach religious hatred and are breeding grounds for militancy. ~ "We have read about the madrasas of West Bengal and hopefully we can replicate them in our reforms program," Mohammed Khalid Jamali, a first secretary at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, told Reuters late on Thursday.
"We have written to the West Bengal government to gather knowledge about religious tolerance practiced in the madrasas, the curriculum and the successful reforms program," he said.
27 July 2006
NEWSWEEK: Making Enemies
Hamas and Hizbullah should not be confused with Al Qaeda. Bush's insistence on doing so shows his failure to understand his foes. [definitely worth reading the full article]
"lefty spook du jour"
LOL! Labels are fun, aren't they? Nevermind that he was a FOX News consultant and contributor... it's inconvenient to tell the truth, ain't it Paul?
fraud, waste and abuse
Thy name is DHS. It's well past time to disband DHS, return its member agencies to their previous status, and simply make security and counter-terrorism programs a National priority. Enough is enough.
26 July 2006
Was your motorcycle stolen from your California home?
you're apparently not alone. C/o ResourceShelf's Docuticker:
“The National Insurance Crime Bureau today announced the top ten states for motorcycle thefts in 2005. They are, with theft totals in parentheses, as follows:”1. California (9,110) 2. Florida (6,324) 3. Texas (5,755) 4. North Carolina (3,053) 5. Ohio (2,573) 6. Arizona (2,464) 7. New York (2,195) 8. Indiana (2,186) 9. Georgia (2,159) 10. Pennsylvania (2,021)
25 July 2006
Judge: enough crying wolf about National security
Judge Denies Government and AT&T Motions to Dismiss NSA Case "The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one. But dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security."
200 year old whales
more from National Geographic:
Rare Whales Can Live to Nearly 200, Eye Tissue Reveals Scientists have looked into the eyes of rare bowhead whales and learned that some of them can outlive humans by generations—with at least one male pushing 200 years old. "About 5 percent of the population is over a hundred years old and in some cases 160 to 180 years old," said Jeffrey Bada, a marine chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.
cool
National Geographic: Radar images of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, reveal a continent-size region of river valleys, hills, plains, and mountains. The area looks remarkably similar to terrain here on Earth, scientists say.
blast from the past
Bush, 2000: "As president, should I become the president, I will rebuild the military power of the United States of America,´´ Bush told the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Milwaukee. ~ "The current administration inherited a military ready for the dangers and challenges facing our nation. The next president will inherit a military in decline,´´ Bush said. "The best intentions and the highest morale are undermined by back-to-back deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment and rapidly declining readiness.´´
FAS: DOD DOCTRINE ON MILITARY DECEPTION
The role of deception in military operations is illuminated and elaborated in a new Department of Defense doctrinal publication. Military deception refers to "those actions executed to deliberately mislead adversary decision makers as to friendly military capabilities, intentions, and operations, thereby causing the adversary to take specific actions (or inactions) that will contribute to the accomplishment of the friendly mission." The principles of deception and their execution are described in some detail in the 79 page publication. Some types of deception are "perfidious" and are prohibited by the laws of war. "Acts of perfidy include, but are not limited to: feigning surrender or waving a white flag in order to lure the enemy into a trap; misuse of protective signs, signals, and symbols in order to injure, kill, or capture the enemy;" and so on. Even when properly executed, a deception operation or cover story "may fail for many reasons. It is possible that the target will not receive the story, not believe the story, be unable to act, be indecisive even if the story is believed, act in unforeseen ways, or may discover the deception." Furthermore, the document explains, one must assume that the enemy is also engaged in deception, creating the need for "counterdeception" programs, both defensive and offensive. Offensive counterdeception "focuses on forcing an adversary to expend resources and continue deception operations that have been detected by reinforcing the perception that friendly forces are unaware of them." The new publication concludes with a series of maxims summarizing central lessons of experience in the field, and a suggested reading list. See "Military Deception," Joint Publication 3-13.4, July 13, 2006: http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/jp3_13_4.pdf
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