Some folks are trying to rustle up a gathering of Texas bloggers. The festivities (few details decided as of yet, though they’ve apparently managed group hotel rates) are planned for Mar. 18-20 in the Addison/North Dallas area. As I currently reside in that vicinity, I’m probably good for some degree of participation. In the hopes that that doesn’t dissuade anyone, more information can be found here. (hat tip to TexasBug, queen of the Aggie Webring)
Ah, missed opportunities.
Twenty-three terror suspects tried to hang or strangle themselves at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay during a mass protest in 2003, the military confirmed Monday.
The incidents came during the same year the camp suffered a rash of suicide attempts after Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller took command of the prison with a mandate to get more information from prisoners accused of links to Al Qaeda or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered it.
Between Aug. 18 and Aug. 26, the 23 detainees tried to hang or strangle themselves with pieces of clothing and other items in their cells, demonstrating “self-injurious behavior,” the U.S. Southern Command in Miami said in a statement. Ten detainees made a mass attempt on Aug. 22 alone.
U.S. Southern Command described it as “a coordinated effort to disrupt camp operations and challenge a new group of security guards from the just-completed unit rotation.”
Guantanamo officials classified two of the incidents as attempted suicides and informed reporters. But they but did not previously release information about the mass hangings and stranglings during that period.
[…]
Alistair Hodgett, a spokesman for Amnesty International’s office in Washington, was critical Monday of the delay in reporting the incident.
“When you have suicide attempts or so-called self-harm incidents, it shows the type of impact indefinite detention can have, but it also points to the extreme measures the Pentagon is taking to cover up things that have happened in Guantanamo,” he said.
Amnesty International and the International Red Cross should immediately conduct investigations and rapidly condemn the prisoners for torturing themselves.
Officials said Monday they differentiated between a suicide attempt in which a detainee could have died without intervention and a “gesture” they considered aimed only at getting attention.
Army Gen. Jay Hood, who succeeded Miller as the detention mission’s commander last year, has said the number of incidents has decreased since 2003, when the military set up a psychiatric ward.
In 2003, there were 350 “self-harm” incidents, including 120 “hanging gestures,” according to Lt. Col. Leon Sumpter, a spokesman for the detention mission.
Last year, there were 110 self-harm incidents, he said.
[…]
The military has reported 34 suicide attempts since the camp opened in 2002, including one prisoner going into a coma and sustaining memory loss from brain damage.
Of the 23 men who tried to hang or strangle themselves during the 2003 protest, two required hospital treatment and then were transferred to the psychiatric ward, the military statement said.
Sixteen remain at Guantanamo Bay, while seven were transferred to other countries, the statement said without giving details. Some transferred detainees have been released while others continue to be detained in their native or other countries.
The problem here is a matter of effort. Either the detainees don’t really have their hearts in it, or we’re putting too much energy into saving them from themselves.
C’mon, ya terrorist bastards, step up and take one for the team.
The Associated Press paints a grim picture of the toll the war against Islamist terror is taking on the U.S. reserve components.
The strain of fighting a longer, bloodier war in Iraq than U.S. commanders originally foresaw brings forth a question that most would have dismissed only a year ago: Is the military in danger of running out of reserve troops?
At first glance the answer would appear to be a clear no. There are nearly 1.2 million men and women on the reserve rolls, and only about 70,000 are now in Iraq to supplement the regulars.
But a deeper look inside the Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve suggests a grimmer picture: At the current pace and size of American troop deployments to Iraq, the availability of suitable reserve combat troops could become a problem as early as next year.
The National Guard says it has about 86,000 citizen soldiers available for future deployments to Iraq, fewer than it has sent there over the past two years. And it has used up virtually all of its most readily deployable combat brigades.
In an indication of the concern about a thinning of its ranks, last month the National Guard tripled the re-enlistment bonuses offered to soldiers in Iraq who can fill critical skill shortages.
Similarly, the Army Reserve has about 37,500 deployable soldiers left — about 18 percent of its total troop strength.
The Marine Corps Reserve appears to be in a comparable position, because most of its 40,000 troops have been mobilized at least once already. Officials said they have no figures available on how many are available for future deployments to Iraq.
Both the Army and the Marines are soliciting reservists to volunteer for duty in Iraq.
“The reserves are pretty well shot” after the Pentagon makes the next troop rotation, starting this summer, said Robert Goldich, a defense analyst at the Congressional Research Service.
The story goes on to further detail the deployments and their inherent strain on the Guard and Reserve. It does, however, include a positive note about how the citizen-soldiers have carried out their missions.
In some respects, the use of Army and Marine reservists in Iraq has been a success story. Goldich, the defense analyst, said their performance has generally been excellent. Commanders sing their praise.
Hooahhh, troops, and thank you.
There was a wealth of good news out of Iraq today.
Iraqi security forces have arrested the “most lethal” top lieutenant of al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq — a man allegedly behind 75 percent of the car bombings in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion, the prime minister’s office said Monday.
Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, was arrested during a Jan. 15 raid in Baghdad, a government statement said Monday. Two other militants linked to Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terror group also have been arrested, authorities announced Monday.
Al-Jaaf was “the most lethal of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s lieutenants,” the statement said.
[…]
Al-Jaaf was responsible for 32 car bombing attacks that killed hundreds of Iraqis, the statement said.
“Abu Omar al-Kurdi claims responsibility for some of the most ruthless attacks on Iraqi police forces and police stations,” said Thaer al-Naqib, spokesman for interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
The statement said al-Jaaf “confessed to building approximately 75 percent of the car bombs used in attacks in Baghdad since March 2003,” al-Naqib said.
Authorities also announced Monday that Iraqi security forces had arrested a man described as the chief of al-Zarqawi’s propaganda operations.
And in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi forces seized one of al-Zarqawi’s weapons suppliers.
Excellent.