Saturday, 29 March, 2003Why I was, and am, in favour of this warDiane commented the day before yesterday I wish Jurjen would tell us his reasons for supporting the war.I have been remiss in not doing this (at least, not doing it here; I've held forth at length over in the 3WA "Politics & Current Events" forum. I'm "Euromutt"). Actually, it's not so much that I support this war (though in certain aspects I do) as that I see no valid reasons to oppose it. posted 2229 Z-8 [more..] Friday, 28 March, 2003HuhThe Beeb's continuing to not do itself any favours: "US walks out of UN debate" For "UN debate" read "Iraqi tirade to the Council." I'd find something better to do than listen to that claptrap, too. Let's face it, it seems there is no Iraqi government official capable of giving a speech or a statement without telling at least one patently obvious lie in the process. posted 0004 Z-8 [link] Thursday, 27 March, 2003Broad?I was taking a shufti at this article in the NYT (I think I got the link from Jackie, but I could be wrong), and my eye was caught by the following passage: Mr. de Villepin became familiar to many Americans as the French diplomat who successfully led a broad coalition at the United Nations against attempts by the United States and Britain to secure Security Council authorization for last week's invasion of Iraq."Broad coalition"? Excuse me? Where did that come from? The last time I looked, that coalition consisted of five, count 'em, five countries. Three of these—France, Russia and China—have oil companies with provisional deals with Saddam, as well as unpaid bills for military hardware; another—Syria—makes, or at least, was making $2 million a day from smuggling Iraqi oil, and as for Germany, yeah, well. What's the criterium for a coalition in the UNSC to be "broad"? Five is "broad," four is not? posted 1950 Z-8 [link] A Glance at the Kremlin I've noticed this pattern regarding Russian policy towards the US; whenever there's something unpleasant to say, Putin's not the one to say it. He leaves that to that idiot Ivanov, and disavows himself of anything Ivanov may have said as soon as there's a change in policy. I note that despite claims on the part of Russia (in the form of Ivanov) and China that this war is "illegal," neither are in any rush to give up their respective grasps on Chechnya and Tibet. posted 1911 Z-8 [link] Admin update 27-Mar As you may notice, I've disabled the comments option; having comments was proving to be rather a burden on time I'd prefer to spend writing. Still, if there's an issue you'd like me to address, my email address is over there to the left, under the smiley with the beret. On the bright side, I can add Brazil, Finland, Italy, Kuwait (Ram), New Zealand, Norway and Sweden to my visitor list. (Grreat!) I'm hoping for some readers in Africa, but so far, all I've had is a South African spambot. posted 1107 Z-8 [link] From Guantanamo to Nasiriya "Friedel Craft" added a comment to this thread, suggesting I take a look at "One rule for them" by George Monbiot. Time for a trip into the world of PoWs' rights and duties. There are no easy parallels to be drawn between the Al-Qaeda and Taliban personnel captured in Afghanistan and the American soldiers captured in Iraq; certainly not as facile as the ones Mr. Monbiot draws. posted 0859 Z-8 [more..] Wednesday, 26 March, 2003Schools of thought on warfareAs other bloggers have noted, there's an amazing amount of bollocks being spoken, written, etc. about the supposed Coalition plan. A marvellous example was Robert Fisk (who, as ever, refuses to let himself be hampered by silly archaic concepts like "journalistic objectivity," separating fact from opinion, or at least formulating an informed opinion when failing to do so) in this column: It was Iraqi policy to let the Anglo-American armies "roam around" in the desert as long as they want, and attack them when they tried to enter the cities. Which seems to be pretty much what they are doing.Erm, no. In military terms, they would be outside Baghdad. It's called "maneuver warfare," and Mr. Fisk might do well to look into it. posted 2108 Z-8 [more..] Global Reach II Holy cow. I come back to my machine to find I've been mentioned by Glenn Reynolds—the "InstaPundit"—and The Agonist as well as Counterpoint, and traffic has tripled over last Sunday's high point (after Diane linked to me). I'm starting to feel like a war profiteer somehow. posted 1759 Z-8 [more..] Weekly World GRUs Well, I've taken a brief look at that so called GRU stuff. I think this bit says it all: According to satellite reconnaissance it seems likely that the Iraqis had time to remove the captured Apache Longbow attack helicopter of the 11th Aviation Regiment.Right, that would be the helicopter in this picture, displaying 1st Cav Div markings. Sounds good. The problem arises from the fact that the "First Team"'s Apache Longbow battalion is the 1-227th Avn (the markings on the downed Longbow indicate A Company, the "Avengers"), which is not part of the 11th Avn Rgt. In fact, the 11th Avn Rgt isn't even part of the 1st Cav any more; it's part of V Corps in Germany (I worked with some guys from the 2-6th Cav back in September 1993; I still have the 6th Cav emblem pin one of them gave me... somewhere). The last time the 11th Avn Rgt was part of the 1st Cav was during Vietnam. "News you won't find on CNN," the page says. There's a very good reason for that. posted 0127 Z-8 [link] Oil, money and a lot of blood After receiving an e-mail from a reader (named Steven) on this issue, I realised I hadn't yet addressed corporate interests in Iraq in this weblog. Hang on to your hats, folks; arms sales ain't the half of it. posted 0051 Z-8 [more..] Tuesday, 25 March, 2003Global reachI'm glad I got round to installing a counter last weekend, because traffic has gone up heavily since then. Salam Pax I ain't, but let's face it, that guy has a way more legitimate claim to fame than I do (stay safe, Salam). Nevertheless, I'm pleased to say that, as far as I can tell from my exciting new counters, my material has been read around the world: in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Estonia, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the words of Louis Balfour, "tonight, we are the United Nations of Jazz." (Nice.) Coming up in the next few days, I hope to put up some essays regarding the rules and customs of land warfare; issues covered will include Camps X-Ray and Delta, the Israeli settlements policy, and the increasing number of rules reportedly being violated by Iraq. Stay tuned. Oh, and hey, regards go out to the reservists of A Co., 5-159th Aviation, which shipped out from Fort Lewis on Sunday, bound for Iraq. Apparently, these guys are quite the heroes. They operate CH-47D Chinooks, which are just awesome machines. Clear skies, guys, and come home in one piece. posted 1726 Z-8 [link] Illegal war? Say what? (cont'd) I received an e-mail from a Marjolein, in the Netherlands (it's nice to know I'm being read in my home country), regarding my "Illegal War?" entry, and perhaps "Unique Legitimacy" as well. On with the discussion... posted 0329 Z-8 [more..] Monday, 24 March, 2003Armchair military analysis 102Michael Voss of the BBC reports the suspected presence of three brigades of Republican Guard between Karbala and Baghdad, and British prime minister Tony Blair stated in the House of Commons that: "It is a little way from there that they will encounter the Medina division of the Republican Guard who are defending the route to Baghdad." I will take these statements as a cue to take a look at the Iraqi forces (following on from this previous entry, in which I neglected them).
Illegal war? Say what? The phrase "illegal war on Iraq" is being bandied about a fair bit. Greenpeace, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Canadian MP Svend Robinson (NDP) and Australian Senator Andrew Bartlett (Democrat), to name but a few from a long list, use the phrase as if there is no question about this war's legal status. Is this realistic? I think not. posted 0555 Z-8 [more..] Sunday, 23 March, 2003"Letter from Gotham" referralsIf you're looking for the word "Evergreen," you won't find it (anywhere else) on this page. But the entry you're looking for is this one. Thanks for visiting (and thanks for the write-up, Diane; traffic has simply skyrocketed). Oh, by the way, I think some people may have tried to post comments on stuff in the archives; I had inadvertently left that option turned off, but it's on now, so go wild. posted 2201 Z-8 [link] |
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