Target Centermass

Month: April 2005

  • 18 U.S. Troops Killed in Helicopter Crash

    Bad news indeed.

    At least 18 American soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan yesterday, the biggest single loss of US life since Operation Enduring Freedom began in autumn 2001.

    The army Chinook came down in bad weather in featureless desert near the south-eastern city of Ghazni.

    Afghan officials said the bodies were all in US military uniform. The army said last night that 18 people, including crew members and passengers, were listed on the flight manifest and that two remained unaccounted for.

    Lieutenant Cindy Moore said that the Chinook was on a routine flight from the troubled south-east of the country to the main US airbase at Bagram, north of Kabul.

    A second Chinook on the mission arrived unscathed.

    Ghazni’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Sarjang, said that the weather at the time of the crash was cloudy with strong winds. Witnesses said one of the helicopter’s two sets of rotor blades appeared to be damaged before it hit the ground.

    There were no reports or indications of ground fire and no claim of responsibility from any militant organisation.

    Americas’s previous highest single loss of life was when eight soldiers died in an arms dump explosion in January last year.

    My gratitude to these soldiers for their sacrifices in a theater that, barring one election, only seems to receive attention in times of trouble. My sorrow and best wishes to the families for their losses.

    UPDATE, 7 APR 05: Per CNN, of the 18 aboard, 13 soldiers and 3 American contractors are confirmed killed. 2 soldiers are currently classified as missing.

  • For Those of Scottish Roots

    Today is Tartan Day, 2005 edition. And here’s my family tartan:

    I’m still researching to find any clan affiliation, as my surname is a sept to multiple clans.

    The Scots of the blogosphere are celebrating the day with a Gathering of the Blogs, so feel free to peruse those links for a wealth of Scottish-related postings.

  • Iraqi Parties Break Deadlock on Candidates

    I expected that, after Sunday’s artful compromise on a Sunni speaker for the National Assembly, the pieces of the next Iraqi government would quickly fall into place. And so they have.

    The major political parties of Iraq agreed Tuesday evening to appoint a president and two vice presidents at a meeting of the national assembly on Wednesday, breaking a two-month deadlock and taking the first significant step in forming a new government.

    The presidency council will have two weeks from its appointment to name a prime minister, who will select a cabinet. The new government would then have to be approved by a majority vote of the assembly, according to the interim constitution.

    The main Shiite and Kurdish political blocs have agreed to name Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, as president; Adel Abdul Mehdi, a prominent Shiite Arab politician as one vice president; and Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, the Sunni Arab president of the interim government, as the other vice president, said Hussein al-Shahristani, a vice speaker of the assembly.

    The agreement breaks an enormous impasse between the main parties that had threatened to destroy the confidence built up during the Jan. 30 elections, when Iraqis defied insurgent threats to walk in droves to polling stations.

    A two-thirds vote by the 275-member assembly is required to install the presidency council, and so the Shiite and Kurdish blocs, which together can meet the two-thirds requirement, haggled for weeks over a range of issues, from control of oil revenues to the role of Islam in the new government.

    […]

    Shahristani, a nuclear physicist and prominent member of the Shiite bloc, said the presidency council could officially appoint the prime minister as soon as late Wednesday or Thursday. The leading candidate for that job is Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the head of the Dawa Islamic Party, a religious Shiite party.

    A government of the Iraqi people, by the Iraqi people, and for the future of the Iraqi people and, quite possibly, all of the people of the global community.

    Gee, no pressure there.

  • Anti-Terror Forces Ready for Pope Funeral

    Much like the recent Athens Olympics, one has to feel a tinge of angst at the pending gathering of luminaries and throngs of masses heading to pay their respects and show their love for the late Pope John Paul II. Obviously, the Italians are concerned about security.

    Italian air force jets are ready to scramble. Police are burrowing through the labyrinth of drains and aqueducts under the city looking for bombs. Snipers are staked out on strategic rooftops.

    The millions of people and the 200 foreign delegations expected for Pope John Paul II’s funeral Friday offer a tempting target for any terrorist group hoping to score a spectacular strike. Authorities insist they have taken all possible measures to prevent such an attack.

    “Precautions have been taken for airports, stations and all the other places where people gather,” said an official of the Rome prefect’s office, which is responsible for coordinating the security apparatus.

    Air traffic over central Rome likely will be banned Friday, the official said on condition of anonymity.

    The military-civilian airport of Ciampino may be closed to commercial flights, and traffic to and from the main airport at Fiumicino, 16 miles from Rome, may be curtailed, the official said.

    Radar is scanning the air for any irregular activity, ready to alert pilots on standby. Helicopters have begun regular patrols.

    Italy has not been a direct target of international terrorism in recent years. But in the 1970s and 1980s, the Italian Red Brigades cowed the nation, and Palestinian groups struck with devastating effectiveness.

    Methinks communists fighting the Cold War and Palestinians begging for international attention aren’t really the feared parties that are driving these measures. Could it be … ahem … Islamist terrorists?!!

    But like all European security networks, Italy has heightened its anti-terror efforts following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States and last year’s train bombings in Madrid.

    The Europeans have strengthened their cross-border cooperation and the sharing of information, though many experts say it has not gone far enough.

    Italian authorities have arrested dozens of suspects, aided by a new international terrorism charge introduced following the New York attacks.

    In Milan, where prosecutors have investigated Muslim extremist cells based in the north of Italy, a judge handed down the first al-Qaida-related guilty verdict since the Sept. 11 attacks, convicting seven Tunisians for helping recruits for al-Qaida get fake documents.

    The suspects included Essid Sami Ben Khemais, the alleged logistics head of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist operations in Europe.

    Hmmm … an al-Quida presence is known in Italy and throughout Europe. However, I’m sure if you ask commie Italian journalist and part-time faux-hostage Giuliana Sgrena, she of the ever-morphing tale of horror (hat tip to the Jawa Report), the real danger is the expected presence of those dastardly Americans.

    Dozens of monarchs, presidents and prime ministers will attend John Paul II’s funeral, including President Bush, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

    Authorities also are expecting as many as 4 million pilgrims, mourners and tourists. Poland’s Foreign Ministry said 2 million people were expected from that country alone.

    Such an inviting target of massed infidels for the Islamists. The pope’s fading health was no secret and his passing has been but an eventuality for some time, possibly adequate time to have laid groundplans for an action.

    Despite this, I have a good vibe about this, speaking strictly from a security point of view, for several reasons. First, it would have been extremely difficult to plan anything on a concrete basis, as actual timing was unknown. Second, despite all the talk of the American military’s being stretched thin, so too is the effective reach of the terrorists, who are slowly being forced to decide between exporting serious bloodshed or keeping any kind of credible threat in the current theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan. Third, Pope John Paul II was loved by a great many, and his life full of devotion and effort was respected practically across the board. To target this moment could spell the death knell of the radical Islamic movement.

  • And The Army Goes Rolling Along

    Sure, I was a treadhead, but even I know the Army needs wheels. And wheeled vehicles, specifically the Humvees and Strykers, have certainly been in the news as a result of their participation in the Iraqi theater. Let’s check the latest, shall we?

    U.S. Commanders Seek More Armored Humvees

    For the fifth time in the past year, U.S. commanders running the war in Iraq have told the Army to send more armored Humvee utility vehicles to protect U.S. troops.

    Just as the Army was reaching its target of 8,279 factory-built armored Humvees for delivery to Iraq, U.S. Central Command last month raised the bar again, to 10,079, Army officials disclosed Tuesday.

    The Army has been accused by many in Congress of lagging behind in providing armor protection for troops, hundreds of whom have been killed or wounded in ambushes and roadside bombs in Iraq. The Army says it has pressed the vehicle manufacturer for as many as possible, and it has been chasing a moving target set initially at 1,407 by commanders in Iraq in August 2003.

    When the war began in March 2003, few might have imagined that the all-purpose Humvee, the modern version of the unarmored Jeep, would need to be reinforced in large numbers. But soon they became a prime target of the insurgents’ roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.

    By April 2004 the requirement for factory-built armored Humvees had reached 4,454, and commanders in Iraq subsequently raised it to 6,223 in June, 8,105 in August and then to 8,279 in December.

    Those are in addition to thousands of regular Humvees to which makeshift armor and ballistic glass have been added to reinforce their doors and windows against the blast from roadside bombs and land mines. Armor also has been added to supply trucks and older troop carriers.

    The new armored Humvee target of 10,079 is not expected to be achieved before July, according to Army projections based on the factory’s recently increased production rate of 550 vehicles per month. It will take a few additional weeks beyond July to ship the extras to Iraq.

    Will that delivery be the end of the prolonged controversy? I seriously doubt it. Hell, it probably won’t even be the end of the numbers game.

    Army officials acknowledge that putting armor on Humvees is not a perfect solution. For one thing, it has added to the wear-and-tear on the heavier vehicles and increased fuel consumption, thereby requiring even more supply convoys that are a common target of insurgents.

    “No amount of effort in armoring will make our soldiers completely invulnerable, but we owe it to them to provide the best possible protection,” Army Secretary Francis Harvey wrote in a letter to the editor of USA Today on Monday.

    Wise words, remaining true through every evolution of warfare.

    Soldiers Hail New Stryker Troop Transport

    For soldiers inside the U.S. Army’s newest troop transport vehicle, the armored combat Stryker rides like a cross-town bus as it sways softly atop its rubber tires, its brakes hissing quietly — before the back shoots open and troops leap onto the streets of one of Iraq’s most dangerous cities.

    Some 300 Strykers are patrolling northern Iraq after their September 2003 introduction — vanguard of a multibillion dollar program that commanders say boosts their chances in a largely hit-and-run battle with insurgents.

    Rank-and-file soldiers hailed the Stryker during recent patrols in Mosul as faster, quieter and safer than other combat vehicles — despite last week’s internal Army study that found numerous design flaws.

    “We’ve been hit with (roadside bombs) and rocket-propelled grenades several times. We have taken direct machine-gun fire,” said Spc. George May of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division based in Fort Lewis, Wash. “The Stryker has saved everyone’s lives at least once. It’s perfect for what we’re doing, which is urban warfare.”

    Strykers are designed to carry troops on patrols and into combat — like Bradley fighting vehicles, or the Humvees that have came under criticism for lacking proper armor. But while the boxy Strykers somewhat resemble tanks, they generally lack heavy cannons and are propelled by wheels instead of tracks.

    […]

    Soldiers say the Stryker is quieter, allowing them to sneak up on the enemy. And they say its partially jerry-rigged armor guards them better than Humvees.

    Unlike the tank-like, tracked personnel carriers that predominate across the rest of Iraq — such as the Bradley — the four wheels on either side of the 19-ton Stryker give it speed, stealth and mobility that allows it to outmaneuver insurgents, officers say.

    “For what we’re doing, I think the Stryker is excellent,” said May, a 27-year-old native of Upper Dublin, Pa.

    The Strykers themselves have also not beem free of concern.

    Still, an Army report from the Center for Army Lessons Learned found the vehicle bogs down in mud and the engine strains under 5,000-pound armor added by the Army.

    The metal mesh armor, designed to deflect rocket-propelled grenades and large shrapnel from improvised bombs, has earned it a nickname: “the bird cage.”

    The report also said the armor’s extra weight has caused problems with the automatic tire pressure system, requiring crews to check the tires three times a day.

    “The Army should not put inadequately tested equipment in the field, as it creates a false impression that the troops are properly equipped to fight in combat,” said Eric Miller, who investigates defense issues for the oversight group.

    It is interesting to read of the future force the Army plans to field.

    The $7 billion Stryker program is intended as a stepping stone to the ultimate goal: a high-tech family of fighting systems known as the Future Combat System, expected to include unmanned ground and aerial vehicles.

  • Dying for Another Tet in Iraq

    The Islamists and the Saddamites wanted another Mogadishu, hoping to bloody the American nose and move in after the subsequent withdrawal. They failed. Badly.

    And so, they turned to an earlier model of American failure — Viet Nam. And the American Left and the media were so glad to help, as calls of quagmire and failure rang out, intertwined with moaning for an “exit strategy” and plantings of draft rumors.

    Iraq is George Bush’s Vietnam

    —Sen. Edward Kennedy (source)

    Unfortunately for them, things haven’t been going the way of the terrorists. The terrorists, despite vows to the contrary, had to watch an Iraqi citizenry give the finger to fear and vote for their own future. The attacks against U.S. troops have repeatedly failed and casualties are declining. It is time for the terrorists to turn back to the Viet Nam playbook — they need another Tet.

    And what better place than Abu Ghraib, a prison tragically more known internationally for a handful of rogue American atrocities (prosecuted or being prosecuted) than for countless thousands of murders and horrors committed previously by the Saddam regime (blank check in the global community from prosecution or even reputation). The terrorist movement had learned they couldn’t really hurt the American military effort. The Iraqis’ disgust with their victimization by the foreign Islamists, criminals and Saddamists was growing fast. Luckily for the murderous bastards, the American and international media remained fascinated with all things Abu Ghraib. Well, all things post-conflict.

    The scene was set for another Tet-like defeat of the Americans — make statement-type attacks and let the media take it from there. Target: Abu Ghraib.

    I didn’t have time Saturday to do anything other than post the link to the initial attack on the prison. Mark that, failed attack, as there were no American deaths and no prisoners freed. There were headlines, though.

    And believe me, the Islamist bastards tried to milk it for all it was worth.

    Al-Qaeda in Iraq, meanwhile, posted a second internet statement boasting that its fighters carried out the bold attempt on Saturday to force their way into the prison. The statement, posted late on Sunday, said two fighters were injured and 10 more were killed in battle, including seven suicide bombers.

    It said a group of about 20 militants scaled the prison’s walls, and that one reached a prison tower and yelled: “God is great!”

    Today, the scumbags continued in their efforts for another Tet.

    Another attack around Abu Ghraib

    A suicide bomber driving a tractor blew himself up Monday in the second attack in three days near the Abu Ghraib prison.

    I argue that the operative word in that lead paragraph is “near,” signifying that the terrorists get ink and a gold star from the press just for trying.

    Are they making a dent with this latest rush of bloody sacrifice? No, but unfortunately that may only be a matter of timing. I have no doubt that editors across America and around the globe would salivate over the headlines they could trumpet about the attempts by the terrorists to right all of the American wrongs at Abu Ghraib.

    What’s stopping them? Simply and sadly, probably only timing.

    Minor skirmishes that achieve nothing cannot help but be overshadowed by the passing of Pope John Paul II.

    Maybe the pope’s last great accomplishment will be to stop another Tet-like failure, just as progress is taking hold in a region thirsting for it.

  • Afghan Officials Urge Donors to Shift Focus

    Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai understandably wants to up the pace of progress for his people. In those hopes, he is asking for greater national control over the incoming assistance in hopes of spurring the economy and helping the people of his war-ravaged country.

    President Hamid Karzai and his top ministers made an urgent plea to international donors at an annual aid conference in Kabul on Monday to shift their focus to helping the country’s struggling private sector and to let the Afghan government take a controlling lead in development planning.

    Mr. Karzai said his government considered building the infrastructure – including energy, aviation and telecommunications – to be an urgent priority to provide the foundation for private sector development. Urban development, completely neglected in the past three years, would be a priority too, he said.

    The conference follows months of debate and recriminations over why the billions of dollars in aid that have poured into Afghanistan since the former Taliban rulers were ousted more than three years ago have accomplished so little.

    The government contends that private aid groups, which control much of the donated money, have squandered it. Many business leaders say corruption and the lack of staff trained in government are largely to blame.

    The government will insist on a national unified budget for 2006, said the finance minister, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady. More than 93 percent of Afghanistan’s annual budget comes from international donors, but only a third of this year’s $4.7 billion budget will go through government hands, he said. “Let this government take full responsibility for our country’s development,” he told the donors.

    Muhammad Iashaq Naderi, the government’s chief economic adviser, said at the conference that the government would insist on greater control over foreign assistance flowing into the country and greater coordination with donors and private aid groups. Aid organizations will be monitored for the cost-effectiveness and impact of their programs, he said.

    Mr. Karzai said he had promised the Afghan people that he would raise the annual per capita income to $500 from $200 and reduce poverty during his five-year term. “We must now work together to overcome chronic poverty, and build Afghanistan into a stable and thriving economy in the region,” he said. “We are keenly aware of our people’s expectations, and our responsibility towards them.”

    Karzai seems reasonable and well-intentioned, as has been the norm, in this matter.

    For those individuals looking for ways to directly support the people of Afghanistan, I would recommend the fine programs at Spirit of America.

  • The Surreal Life of a Blogger

    I just had a coworker page me while I was watching the NCAA finals. The emergency? I had messed up the origami birds of peace link in my previous Thailand post.

    Thanks, Steve.

  • Thais Fear Bombs Mean Southern Unrest Spreading

    Well, once again reality bitchslaps the “peace in our time” approach as bombs rattle Thailand.

    Thai authorities imposed extra security measures on Monday amid fears that unrest in the Muslim far south is spreading after bombs hit an airport, hotel and supermarket just outside the violence-hit region.

    Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the almost simultaneous Sunday evening blasts, which security officials blamed on Islamic militants, had raised concern across the Buddhist country.

    The bombs, which police said consisted of dynamite and fertilizer and which were detonated by mobile phone, killed two people and wounded 60, seven critically, health officials said.

    “This doesn’t only worry me. It worries the whole nation,” Thaksin told reporters.

    I’m shocked, shocked to find that the origami birds of peace didn’t pacify the Islamists.

  • Red Out of Favor As Teacher’s Choice

    I’ll admit that when I saw the headline I thought it was a political reference regarding red states and liberal teachers. Upon reading the article, I found instead it was another glimpse into the watering down of our nation’s public education system.

    Of all the things that can make a person see red, school principal Gail Karwoski was not expecting parents to get huffy about, well, seeing red. At Daniels Farm Elementary School in Trumbull, Conn., Karwoski’s teachers grade papers by giving examples of better answers for those students who make mistakes. But that approach meant the kids often found their work covered in red, the color that teachers long have used to grade work.

    Parents objected. Red writing, they said, was “stressful.” The principal said teachers were just giving constructive advice and the color of ink used to convey that message should not matter. But some parents could not let it go.

    So the school put red on the blacklist. Blue and other colors are in.

    “It’s not an argument we want to have at this point because what we need is the parents’ understanding,” Karwoski said. “The color of the message should not be the issue.”

    Fine, if it’s not an argument worth having and the color is not the issue, simply avoid the argument rather than cratering into it. Surrender is not avoidance.

    In many other schools, it’s black and white when it comes to red. The color has become so symbolic of negativity that some principals and teachers will not touch it.

    “You could hold up a paper that says ‘Great work!’ and it won’t even matter if it’s written in red,” said Joseph Foriska, principal of Thaddeus Stevens Elementary in Pittsburgh.

    He has instructed his teachers to grade with colors featuring more “pleasant-feeling tones” so that their instructional messages do not come across as derogatory or demeaning.

    “The color is everything,” said Foriska, an educator for 31 years.

    The color is most assuredly not everything, nor is passing along pleasant vibes when returning an evaluation to a student.

    At Public School 188 in Manhattan, 25-year-old teacher Justin Kazmark grades with purple, which has emerged as a new color of choice for many educators, pen manufacturers confirm.

    “My generation was brought up on right or wrong with no in between, and red was always in your face,” Kazmark said. “It’s abrasive to me. Purple is just a little bit more gentle. Part of my job is to be attuned to what kids respond to, and red is not one of those colors.”

    My guess is that Kazmark saw a lot of “abrasive” red on his papers back in high school. He also probably carries esteem issues from elementary school stemming from poor dodgeball and kickball performances.

    When I was in school, there were right answers and wrong answers. There were also essay and short answer questions, wherein gray areas could actually exist. All of these could adequately be addressed in red ink.

    The disillusionment with red is part of broader shift in grading, said Vanessa Powell, a fifth-grade teacher at Snowshoe Elementary School in Wasilla, Alaska.

    “It’s taken a turn from ‘Here’s what you need to improve on’ to ‘Here’s what you’ve done right,’” Powell said. “It’s not that we’re not pointing out mistakes, it’s just that the method in which it’s delivered is more positive.”

    Her students, she said, probably would tune out red because they are so used to it. So she grades with whatever color — turquoise blue, hot pink, lime green — appeals to them.

    And at what age should students learn that life can be harsh, that it isn’t always about what appeals to them or what they’ve done right? Should they wait until college, where weed-out courses await them? Should we water down education at that level as well, based upon “feelings” and “esteem” and such? News flash: the real world can be harsh. The realm of business can be affected just as much by what one does right as well as by what one does wrong. Disappointment cannot be avoided, and allowing young students to confront it early can have a vaccinating effect to prepare for greater disappointments later in life. Oh no, my layoff notice wasn’t written in an appealing ink! What will I do?

    Life can be harsh and there’s no value in softening this lesson for kids who get things wrong. These kids need to learn two things. First, red ink is one of the lesser adversities they will face. Second, they are not all destined for greatness and equal success. As Judge Smails once said, the world needs ditch diggers, too.

    Use the red ink. Hell, use a red marker.

    UPDATE: As Eric points out in the comments, he’s blogged the same story and it’s almost frightening how of like minds we are on this matter. It’s strange how similar our view on this matter is and, yet, that view is completely ignored in the story.