Thank you, Rangers
posted by Thomas Nephew at 5:50:00 PM -- |    

 
I see the light
Reuters: Gaddafi Says U.S. Anthrax 'Worst Form of Terrorism'
If you needed more evidence that the 9/11 atrocities changed everything:

"I cannot imagine that humans can use germs against other humans, whatever the degree of animosity between them,'' [Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi] said. "It is a cowardly, evil and irresponsible action putting in danger the whole of humanity.'' ...

Gaddafi has said Washington has the right to seek revenge for the September 11 attacks and offered his condolences for the victims.

Almost makes you forget about Pan Am 103 exploding over Lockerbie. But maybe the Trade Center death toll was so ghastly that even people like Gaddafi and Arafat want to turn over a new leaf. Also, they are more in the nation-state variety of Arab nationalism, instead of the Islamicist revival version that Bin Laden, the Wahhabites, the Taliban and their ilk want to peddle.

Of course, it could be insincere propaganda by Gaddafi, but it certainly seems to swim against the tide of the "Muslim street" these days. I wonder if he might be willing to back up his words with some tangible undercover help.

Also: while it's not just revenge -- it's simple justice and simple prevention -- to think that Muammar Gaddafi could get it right and so many others, from Chomsky to Falwell, could get it wrong... posted by Thomas Nephew at 4:55:00 PM -- |    

 

Have you seen my two brothers


A few photos off the web. The first is from the New York Times Magazine, two weekends later. It's a photomontage proposal for a WTC memorial: pillars of light. The second is just some fifty of the missing people posters that went up; it was part of the New Yorker photo memorial posted online. The last is the Trade Center as it was, seen through the Brooklyn Bridge; a German photographer took it on her trip to New York. It was posted in the Die Zeit photo memorial. They're not mine, I'll remove them if anyone ever cares.

I'm looking for something but can't find it online anymore. So I'll tell it as I remember it: a man walked the halls of a hospital with his own sign, among all the people hoping they'd find someone with their sign. His sign said

"Have you seen my two brothers. They stood tall over the city, and now they are gone."

posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:10:00 AM -- |    

 

We do have real Muslim friends: guess where
From Time Magazine: Friends in Need: Doing right by Bosnia and Kosovo pays some unexpected dividends; doing right (even belatedly) often does. As a senior Bosnian official put it: "This is not a war between civilizations. It is a war between civilization and terrorists — and we are on the side of civilization."

In another interesting incident possibly along these lines, Der Spiegel (10/15/2001) reported that a Kosovar Albanian thief turned himself in to German authorities in Hamburg -- along with papers he had pilfered from the offices of Mamoun Darkazanli, a Syrian businessman in Hamburg who has been connected to Mohammed Atta and his co-conspirators in that city.

Spiegel may be right to imply that this story is too good to be true: ...an ordinary burglar just happens to steal documents pertaining to the biggest terrorist attack in history? And then just nicely delivers them to the police? It's like something from a bad spy novel.. Also, there is no clear indication how valuable the documents have actually been in the continuing investigation. But whether "Zeljko E." did it on his own, or was a useful go-between for some spy agency, he helped.

This article is also notable for some less noble, but understandable sentiments about whether "we're all Americans" now:

"...If Bin Laden is killed, the BKA* predicts major terrorist attacks in Germany. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, security experts were quite relieved to read Al Qaeda pronouncements: the talk there was only about the battle with America.

The tension between international solidarity and and domestic security is complicated by the higher likelihood of terrorist attacks if the Bundeswehr joins in the fighting. "The degree of risk will depend in large part on the kind and scope of military participation," concludes the BKA.

This is not at all to snipe at the BKA for analyzing when and why German domestic security might suffer: that's their job. Nor do I see a problem with Spiegel reporting about it. I assume similar debates and discussions are happening throughout the world, especially in functioning, healthy democracies like Germany. Since 9/11, Germany has shown real solidarity with the US, and Chancellor Schroeder seems determined to have German actions speak louder than words, starting with the huge investigation now underway in Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany seems likely to commit significant resources and even risk its soldier's lives to help us, at some very real risk to its own security. I, for one, am really grateful. Still, there may well come a time or times when we may have to go it alone, and we should not let the self-interested calculations of our allies stop us from doing so. As comforting as it is to be part of an international coalition, it is never a prerequisite for acting in self-defense.

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* Bundeskriminalamt: +/- German FBI. posted by Thomas Nephew at 11:33:00 PM -- |    

 

German special forces units and equipment requested by U.S.
Deutsche Beteiligung: USA forderten offenbar KSK-Einheiten an - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE (German participation: USA apparently requested units)

The article picks up the Braunschweiger Zeitung report that "KSK" (Kommando Spezialkraefte: Commando Special Forces) units have already been requested by the Pentagon, citing "reliable sources" in Washington:

...U.S. defense experts explained that, along with US elite units, the KSK is considered an ideal commando for taking particular terrorists in to custody, or for freeing the "Shelter Now" workers imprisoned in Afghanistan since August.

According to the Braunschweiger Zeitung, the US has also asked for the deployment of German "Fuchs" (Fox) reconnaissance tanks for defense against atomic, biological or chemical attacks, and ABC troops*. Government circles in Berlin confirmed the US request to the paper. The American wishes were characterized as being more concrete than officially acknowledged, and would certainly be granted.

=====
* ABC=Atomic, biological, chemical; presumably these troops are specially trained for the "Fuchs" tanks. "Reconnaissance tanks" is my amateur translation for "Spuerpanzer." posted by Thomas Nephew at 2:02:00 PM -- |    

 

Either they're stupid, they think we're stupid, or both
NYPOST.COM: HIJACKERS' CREDIT CARDS STILL IN USE
Noticed this via the "Little Green Footballs" (really) weblog, which adds "Well, it's the New York Post, so who really knows if it's true?" If true, I would hope the FBI knows about it within about 1 second, and the local police department within 2 seconds, and the nearest squad car in 3 seconds. But that's just me. posted by Thomas Nephew at 10:42:00 AM -- |    

 
Good anthrax news happens, too
AP: Progress Made in Anthrax Cure Search
...human testing could start within a year. Those would be some very brave humans. I suppose they have ways of doing tests like that in teensy little steps, but I would think that at some point you'd really have to just try it out "for real." In the meantime, how's that screwed up vaccine program coming along? Speeding up a bit says the Detroit Free Press, how about that. posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:16:00 PM -- |    

 

Todd Gitlin spanks Edward Said, Arundhati Roy
The Ordinariness of American Feelings
Another "usually" reliable progressive speaks up for truth, justice, and the notion that the American "way" might not be all bad all the time. I mentioned Ms. Roy's reprehensible column in the Guardian earlier this month. Thanks to Matt Welch for noticing Mr. Gitlin's article. Welch highlights many of his favorite passages; here are two of mine:

The terrorist logic of Osama bin Laden is transpolitical – that is to say, nihilistic. Issues are fodder for his apocalyptic imagination. He wants power and calls it God. Were Palestinians to win all their demands, he would move on, in his next video, to his next issue. ...

From the Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, who has admirably criticised her country’s nuclear weapons and development policies, there is a tender concern that “American people ought to know that it is not them but their government's policies that are so hated.” One reason why Americans are not exactly clear about the difference is that the murderers of 11 September did not trouble themselves to make such a nice distinction. (Just what were some 300 firefighters’ views of American bases in Saudi Arabia?).

"He wants power and calls it God." That might be a pretty good message to stick with in that propaganda war we seem to be losing. posted by Thomas Nephew at 11:56:00 AM -- |    

 

Go ahead, make my day
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Defiant Karadzic in suicide pledge
Nato intelligence officers tracking Radovan Karadzic, the fomer Bosnian Serb president, have been told that the indicted war criminal has vowed to shoot himself rather than surrender to international justice.

Maybe NATO hasn't just been a bunch of gutless wonders for failing to arrest this scumball (and Mladic, his Srbrenice butcher). The clever psychological pressure of waiting for years and years may have finally gotten to Karadzic. Who knows, another ten or twenty years and Mladic might crack, too. posted by Thomas Nephew at 11:54:00 AM -- |    

 

Sacrifices worth making
Yesterday, R.W. Apple wrote a piece for the New York Times pointing out how little Americans have been asked to sacrifice*. It's worth thinking about.

For starters, we must address our growing consumption of oil. It's becoming clear that the Arabian peninsula is both the homeland of and often the financial supporter of the terrorists who committed the 9/11 atrocities, and that the region's rulers are not inclined to help us appreciably. Let's stop helping them. As The New Republic points out in its "re-release" of Gregg Easterbrook's 10/8/2001 column on the topic**, the average gas mileage of US passenger vehicles hit a 21 year low of 20.4 miles per gallon in 2000***. This figure seems all the more remarkably pathetic when one learns that the 1996-2003 CAFE (corporate average fuel efficiency) standard is 20.7 mpg for SUVs and 27.5 for passenger cars. CAFE standards for both passenger cars and "light trucks" (SUVs etc), particularly the latter, should be substantially increased and vigorously enforced. Otherwise, as the TNR introduction puts it, "we are blithely pumping dollars into states that sponsor terrorism and essentially financing terrorism against ourselves." At minimum, this should be the price of opening up ANWAR to oil exploration -- my new position on that topic. At the end of the day, I'm much more concerned about the North American hominid population than the caribou or polar bear population. Do it well and do it safely, of course.

Likewise, many of us may want to reconsider our reflexive opposition to nuclear energy -- although looking at the Pentagon, I was not reassured by a nuclear booster's comment on TV the other day that these buildings are much harder to hit than the World Trade Center. Assuming we can make air travel safe, and reactors even more sturdy and secure, nuclear energy doesn't pollute the atmosphere and it can be done safely. And we will need the electricity. Maybe in the long run, we can build solar and wind generator farms and curtail our consumption enough that we can get by without nuclear power; apparently, wind power is becoming an appreciable source of energy in Europe. But we need something else until then; just do it well and do it safely. A fair trade would be to subsidize wind and solar power, mass transit, and hybrid cars. The latter combine gasoline and batteries, and use braking energy to recharge those batteries, resulting in phenomenal gas mileage, 60+ mpg.

The sacrifices should be borne by everyone: environmentalists, the oil industry, the car industry, all of us. We should consider national "don't drive, take a bus, take a train" days, weekends, and months, more HOV lanes, and reduce-your-use campaigns for home lighting, appliances and (gasp) computers. In World War II, citizens participated in all sorts of campaigns like this: rubber and scrap metal was collected, and so forth. I think there could be widespread support for a comprehensive energy plan that asked something of everyone. I wish I could believe the Bush administration were capable of it, but I don't. That's fine: let the Democrats seize this issue, and become a constructive opposition again.

I also think that there may be some value to a draft. I know that the U.S. military doesn't apparently want a draft, preferring the self-motivated soldiers it has now. It may be right about that. But there are other places for draftees: homeland defense posts, such as those federalized airport security positions we're set to create, and other jobs of this sort guarding critical installations around the country. Coupled with some ongoing education and post-service educational grants, this might be a worthwhile idea as well.


=====
* The NYTimes articles are free to the public for 7 days, after which they cost a couple of bucks.
** Great quote from the Easterbrook article: Today Americans burn through 875 gallons of gasoline per year per licensed driver, and of that about 100 gallons comes from the Persian Gulf. This works out to roughly $75 per year transferred from the typical American driver to Saddam and the desert princes who smile as their allies chant "death to America."
*** Their link actually doesn't show this. Mine (a PDF document also provided by the EPA) does. See also www.fueleconomy.gov for comprehensive fuel economy listings. posted by Thomas Nephew at 2:02:00 PM -- |    

 

You go, girls
See the ABC NEWS video Women of War: Of course we'll beat "Bert" Laden and his Al Qaeda/Taliban: we're not fighting with one hand tied behind our back.

My reading of history gives me another reason: there is absolutely no fate in the world worse than running into really motivated United States military forces, the more so when they are underestimated by their foes. Ask Yamamoto after Midway and Guadalcanal, Rundstedt after D-Day and the Falaise Gap, Hussein after the mother of all headlong retreats: the Taliban and Al Qaeda are in for the nastiest and final shock of their not-short-enough lives.

For more on this subject (motivated democratic armies bent on decisively rooting out their enemies), have a look at the previously mentioned, quite excellent book The Soul of Battle, by Victor David Hanson. This will be different than the campaigns Hanson mentions (Sherman, Patton, and an ancient Greek general Epaminondas); it may be more of a series of cavalry raids than a full-fledged army campaign with columns stomping forward 20 miles by foot or 50 by jeep. But it may share the key aspects of his thesis: for successful, enemy-ending campaigns by democratic armies (1) mobility is paramount, (2) casualties, while not shirked, are also not sought for their own sake, (3) a deeply shared cause makes such armies fight harder.

Really, the main question will be as with the Gulf War: Will we again be too clever by half, and fail to wage a truly decisive war against Al Qaeda, just to stay in the good graces of the Saud dynasty and other Arab and world elites? There are some disheartening signs along those lines. Oddly, this is where I actually pin some hopes on Dubya. He may not have the patience to try to figure out the "clever" thing to do with Afghanistan, the Taliban, and the Northern Alliance, or the temperament to "manage" the problem the way George Sr. attempted to do with Iraq. He may just plow on in there and do the right thing: annihilate Al Qaeda and roll up its allies and allied groups around the world. posted by Thomas Nephew at 3:35:00 PM -- |    

 

Department of Corporate Greed
Airlines Flunk First Security Test

...in checks at seven of the nation's 20 highest-risk airports over the past week, the inspector general found widespread noncompliance with orders to run all bags through sophisticated bomb detection machines...

The FAA has spent $441 million for 164 of the machines, most of which were installed at nearly 50 airports for use by 20 airlines. About 20 machines remain idle in a warehouse but are to be put to use in coming months.

James F. O'Bryon, deputy director of the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s live fire testing program, said FAA security chief Michael A. Canavan had told him the machines must test for nearly 100 different types of explosives.

But as of July, the latest month for which figures are available, the machines screened an average of only 350 bags per day, well below their capacity to screen 150 bags an hour, Mead said.

He said air carriers were reluctant to increase their use because it was feared that passengers would not put up with the inconvenience.

Dear United Airlines (American, Delta, Northwest...),

I am enraged at your wilful flouting of FAA regulations, and your reckless endangerment of the public. I am writing my Congressman to demand that your company's CEO and board members be hauled before a Congressional committee and threatened with contempt of Congress unless you immediately comply with the letter and the spirit of these regulations. Indeed, unless you compete to find additional and effective ways on your own to improve the dangerous, inept, and criminally negligent performance of the airports you fly from, I will urge my Congressman to have your industry investigated for violation of antitrust laws preventing industry collusion.

You may be right to believe that some passengers will not put up with the inconvenience of new baggage checking procedures; those passengers will find other means of travel and/or reduce their travel -- and that will mean less revenue for you. However, that is not your concern; obeying the law is. Moreover, be aware that other potential customers are not going to put up with air travel that doesn't make drastic and visible improvements in its approach to air travel security.

See to it that the airports you fly from make truly continuous use of the new CAT-scan bomb-detection machines. Or know that you will continue to not get my business.
posted by Thomas Nephew at 2:19:00 AM -- |