Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • CNN Producer Abducted in Gaza

    CNN is reporting that one of its Gaza Strip contingent was brazenly kidnapped today.

    A group of armed men abducted a CNN producer [Riad Ali] in Gaza City on Monday.

    ….

    CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman said he, Ali and CNN photographer Mary Rogers had left their Gaza office in a taxi when a white Peugeot pulled in front of them, blocking their way, around 6:35 p.m. (11:35 a.m. ET).

    Wedeman said a man in his early 20s and dressed in civilian clothes emerged from the car, stuck a revolver through the taxi window and “said to me in Arabic, ‘Which one of you is Riad?’ ”

    “We were dumbstruck at first, but Riad then said, ‘I am Riad.’ And then other men got out of the car that had pulled in front of us, and they were carrying AK-47 assault rifles, and they said to Riad, ‘Get out of the car,’ ” Wedeman said.

    He said Ali was forced into the back of the Peugeot, which then drove away. No one was injured.

    Wedeman said the kidnappers made no attempt to cover their faces.

    Wedeman said CNN has contacted Palestinian security authorities in Gaza, but there was no new information on Ali’s status.

    Ali, who is an Arab, has worked for the network for about two years, traveling extensively in Gaza and the West Bank as part of his assignments.

    The article states that no claims of responsibility have been made. Hamas has condemned the act, stating “this ugly incident is a violation of the sanctity of journalism and contradicts the morals of the Palestinian people.”

    I have little faith in Hamas’ concern with contradicting morals. However, I do have a couple of thoughts on this, which should be pretty obvious or I wouldn’t have blogged it.

    First, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have to disavow involvement and, if it turns out they have any influence on these bandits, will work to ensure a safe and quick release. They have to avoid biting the hand that feeds them which, in this case, is a friendly international media.

    Unless, of course, I’m right about my second thought. Noting that Ali was specifically targeted, he may be suspected of collaborating with the Israelis. If this is the case, and it should be noted I base this possibility on little but suspicion, Riad Ali is a dead man.

  • France Wants U.S. Pullout on Agenda

    France is placing restrictions on its participation in a possible international conference on Iraq. The unusual thing is that I have no problems with the French demands, as they are stated in this article.

    France said Monday that it would take part in a proposed international conference on Iraq only if the agenda included a possible U.S. troop withdrawal, thus complicating the planning for a meeting that has drawn mixed reactions.

    Fine, a possible U.S. withdrawal can be discussed. Our representatives, however, are allowed to smirk and chuckle at will. During this portion of the conference, speaking with a mockingly silly French accent is encouraged.

    Paris also wants representatives of Iraq’s insurgent groups to be invited to a conference in October or November, a call that would seem difficult for the Bush administration to accept.

    Fine, we’ll invite the terrorists. There will be no promises of safe passage, or even survival. Body cavity searches to be expected prior to each session.

    Otherwise, I couldn’t care less if France participates. They bring no value to the table unless they are bearing croissants.

    France needs to realize that, short of a Kerry victory in November, they could be whining and cringing their way into international obsolescence. I, personally, do not think of them as an ally. Instead, they are an obstruction, freely selling arms to any country, be that customer friend or foe to the U.S., and occasionally asking us to rescue them or take over their messes.

  • U.S. to Enter Iraq No-go Zones

    Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the U.S. will soon move to put an end to the “no-go” zones that currently dot several areas in Iraq.

    The U.S. military in Iraq will move into insurgent-filled “no-go zones” to stabilize them in advance of elections in January, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday.

    The Bush administration is hoping free elections will help stabilize the country and build a sense of legitimacy for the new government.

    Administration officials have acknowledged that violence in many parts of the country could make voting dangerous or perhaps even impossible in some places.

    This move, while needed for the long-term success of the Iraqi venture, will most assuredly be bloody and may have an impact on the November U.S. elections. That said, it needs to be done despite this danger for the Bush administration.

    “The major thrust of our political and military and diplomatic efforts over the next several months will be to make sure there are no ‘no-go zones,’” [Powell] added.

    U.S.-led forces have been avoiding those areas of Iraq.

    Powell said the military is putting together plans to “return these zones to government control.”

    The man in charge of winning the war in Iraq, Gen. John Abizaid of U.S. Central Command, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “we will have to fight our way all the way through elections.”

    He would not say where U.S. forces would go on the offensive.

    “We never want to tip off our hands about what we want to do,” he said. “It’s clear, however, that, through a combination of political and military action, we will do whatever is necessary to bring areas of Iraq under the control of the Iraqi government … by the January elections.”

    Best wishes to those men in uniform, be they American, Iraqi, or some of our other allies, in this endeavor. On a personal note, this is the kind of steadfastness I honestly don’t expect to see from a possible Kerry administration but it is exactly the kind needed in the long term for our nation’s security.

  • Battleship Texas in Jeopardy

    I’ve previously posted about the christening of the latest USS Texas, the second member of the Virginia class of submarines. In that post, I briefly mentioned one of her predecessors, the battleship Texas. The Dallas Morning News did a feature piece today on the aging vessel, describing the dire condition and expensive needs she faces (registration required, try bugmenot.com).

    Age, relentless saltwater corrosion and tight budgets are doing what no bombs, torpedoes or bullets could – destroying the Battleship Texas.

    Sixteen years after the state spent $14 million to help preserve it, the nearly century-old Texas – the only remaining battleship to survive World Wars I and II – needs an overhaul to keep it from rusting away.

    “The ship is in need of significant repair,” said Steve Whiston, director of the infrastructure division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The department maintains the 573-foot-long, 34,000-ton vessel in a berth on the Houston Ship Channel. “There is corrosion at the water line. We’re continuing to experience problems that cause us concern. And the ship, given its age, is pretty fragile.”

    This ship has quite the storied past, serving significantly in both World War I and II.

    The Texas is the oldest of the eight remaining American battlewagons and the last of the Dreadnought class, patterned after the British battleship that featured unprecedented speed and armaments at the turn of the 20th century. Launched in 1912 and commissioned two years later, the Texas was touted as the world’s most powerful weapon.

    In World War I, it served as U.S. flagship in the British Grand Fleet. In 1940, it was named flagship of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, took part in D-Day in 1944, later experienced casualties when hit by German artillery off France and provided Pacific support for World War II battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

    Alas! The current outlook for the Texas is not good, with funding not the only issue.

    In 1988, the ship underwent its first major restoration in 40 years. It was towed to a Galveston shipyard where the hull essentially was replaced.

    The ship again needs extensive renovations, but there is no money or a convenient place for repairs.

    “A ship like that really needs significant dry-dock repairs every eight to 10 years, so we’re really past our cycle,” Mr. Whiston said.

    The Texas Legislature approved about $12 million for bonds to pay for renovations but didn’t provide a way to pay off the bonds, Mr. Whiston said. Park officials hope to remedy that with a budget request during the legislative session that begins in January.

    But since the last round of repairs, the Galveston dry-dock where the Texas was towed closed, and there’s doubt any shipyard in Texas can do the job. Officials are also not sure that the ship could survive a move.

    “It’s fine floating in one place, but when you put a ship of that age in open water, that stress, we were concerned we may lose it,” Mr. Whiston said.

    One proposal calls for building a dam around where the ship’s now docked, along with a dry dock, allowing engineers to remove the water as needed to make repairs. Another idea is to permanently raise the ship from the water on a kind of cradle.

    It would be a tragedy to lose this piece of our state and national history. I honestly do not see the Lone Star State failing to take care of this lady, though. At least that’s what I’m hoping.

    More on the battleship Texas can be found here.

  • Amarillo Sues Prostitute to Get HIV Treatment

    I’ll put this story in the “What the hell is in the water in west Texas?!!” file.

    In an attempt to get an HIV-positive prostitute to seek treatment and stop spreading the infection, Amarillo officials have filed a lawsuit.

    “The Public Health Department assists many people with AIDS, and this single case is the very rare exception where a person who is HIV contagious is noncompliant with the health authority,” Amarillo City Attorney Marcus Norris, whose office filed the civil action in Potter County on Wednesday, told the Amarillo Globe-News for its Saturday online editions.

    “We believe that by her conduct, she poses a health threat to the community, and so we’re going to have to try to get the court to intervene and help.”

    The woman, identified in court papers only by the initials T.T., has infected at least one person with HIV by engaging in prostitution and has refused efforts by local health officials to get her to act responsibly and seek treatment, according to court documents.

    “This is a very last-ditch effort,” said Dr. J. Rush Pierce, public health authority for the Bi-City-County Health Department. “We would not be doing this if we had been able to get this woman to behave responsibly with regard to sexual activity any other way.”

    According to documents included in the suit, the woman was diagnosed with HIV in January 2000 and was counseled at the Department of Health on ways to prevent spread of the virus. But in 2001 a case of HIV was traced back to T.T., and the patient informed officials that T.T. had not disclosed her HIV status prior to sexual contact.

    In early 2003, Health Department officials discovered that T.T. was engaged in prostitution to support a cocaine habit, so the department issued a warning letter ordering her to enroll in treatment, according to documents in the lawsuit.

    But after attending counseling for several months, she dropped out in 2004 and reverted to prostitution again, the documents say.

    Okay, let me get this straight. T.T. is a lethal, cocaine-addled whore, so we slap a lawsuit on her ass? I’m wagering she isn’t the brightest porchlight on the block; it should be pretty easy to catch her in any number of illegal activities and lock her $5 dollar (estimated) ass away from the society she is choosing to endanger.

  • U.S. Navy to Deploy Ships Near N. Korea

    The AP is reporting that the first pieces of the U.S.’s planned defenses against a ballistic missile threat are readying to sail into place.

    In the first step toward erecting a multi-billion-dollar shield to protect the United States from foreign missiles, the U.S. Navy will begin deploying state-of-the-art destroyers to patrol the waters off North Korea as early as next week.

    The mission, to be conducted in the Sea of Japan by ships assigned to the Navy’s 7th fleet, will help lay the foundation for a system to detect and intercept ballistic missiles launched by “rogue nations.”

    Washington hopes to complete the network over the next several years.

    “We are on track,” Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, commander of the 7th Fleet, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday aboard the USS Coronado, which is based just south of Tokyo. “We will be ready to conduct the mission when assigned.”

    The deployment will be the first in a controversial program that is high on President Bush’s defense agenda. Bush cleared the way to build the system two years ago by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned ship-based missile defenses.

    He said protecting America from ballistic missiles was “my highest priority as commander in chief, and the highest priority of my administration.”

    Cry not for the demise of the ABM Treaty, a piece of trash that only the good guys felt obliged to follow. The article goes on to detail criticism of the defense system on these vessels.

    The project — likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet, only at three times the speed — is exceedingly complex, prompting many critics to argue that it will never be reliable or effective. It is also expensive, with an estimated price tag of US$51 billion over the next five years.

    I see no validity in attacking the cost, especially if ones holds $51 billion to the cost of a successful missile strike on a major U.S. city. Also, I think “hit a bullet with a bullet” comparison is akin to saying there’s no point in attempting something difficult. I disagree with this and would rather put my faith in the growing might of our technology.

    Quite simply, a missile defense can be made to work. It won’t be easy, it won’t be fast, but it won’t be a waste to protect our homeland.

  • I’m Number One

    Apparently, Target Centermass is currently the top result when Googling “islamist bastards.” Mildly interesting. I would like to thank all the Islamist bastards who caused this achievement to happen.

  • Israel’s Bunker Bomb Buy Irks Iran

    Iran is rattling its scimitars at an announced sale of bunker-buster munitions from the U.S. to Israel.

    Iran has said it will react “most severely” to any Israeli action against its nuclear facilities, issuing the warning after Israel said the United States was selling it 500 bunker buster bombs.

    Israeli military officials said Tuesday that the Jewish state will receive nearly 5,000 smart bombs, including the 500 one-ton bombs that can destroy two-yard-thick (two-meter-thick) concrete walls.

    In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor before it could begin operating.

    On Wednesday Israel said that Iran would never abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons and called for quick action by the U.N. Security Council “to put an end to this nightmare.”

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, asked Wednesday about the sale of the monster bombs, told reporters: “Israel has always been a threat, not only against Iran, but all countries.”

    Look, the idea that Israel is a threat to “all countries” is absolutely ridiculous. Have they had a militaristic history? Of course. The Israelis have, since the birth of their nation, always faced game seven, lose-one-and-done. However, they have never seriously threatened to push any of their hostile neighbors into the sea.

    Iran’s position in this matter is equally dire. The oppressive Islamic government is not popular and, by focusing on Israel and the U.S., is keeping up the long-held Arab state tradition of trying to use misdirection in pointing outwards at the cause of internal problems. As is always the case, we’re talking about the Great and Little Satan, the U.S. and Israel. The future of Iran’s current ruling class is also further jeopardized by the threat of a possible democratic neighbor in Iraq.

    Simply put, without nukes, Iran and the rest of the Arab muslim world is no longer a serious, viable military threat to the existence of Israel. Israel knows this and is willing to make this purchase (and any strike thus enabled) to keep the balance as it is. Iran’s rulers need to proceed, at least with their support of the terrorists in Iraq, because time is not on their side.

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to a question about an Israeli attack on Iranian facilities similar to the Iraqi strike, said: “We’re talking about diplomacy and political efforts to stop this movement on the part of the Iranians toward a nuclear weapon.”

    “We’re not talking about strikes. But every option always, of course, remains on the table.”

    This is the correct U.S. position — take nothing off the table.

    Israel’s announcement of the purchase came after the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible military sale to Israel worth as much as $319 million.

    The agency said in a June 1 press release that the sale “will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.”

    The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday that funding for the sale will come from U.S. military aid to Israel.

    Sweet. Happy freakin’ early Channukah, amigos. Hopefully, you won’t need to do the world’s dirty work again, although, if so, we know how it feels.

  • Google News Dipping Its Toes into the Blogosphere?

    Maybe it’s happened before, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. Currently, the lead story about the confirmation of Porter Goss as CIA chief on Google News’ U.S. page is this.

    Okay, I’m not a fan of the Daily Kos. Sure, it’s the top liberal blog in terms of traffic, but I have not been impressed during my handful of visits. He’s well written, but strikes me as trapped in his Berkeley mindset and his commenters make the site Kool-Aid Central. Definitely behind the curve, actually way late in hitting the road while chilling in Denialville, on the Rathergate story.

    Despite this, I wonder how long until including established blogs side-by-side with MSM outlets becomes a regular practice at Google News. The times, they are a-changing.

  • Good Luck, Greyhawk

    Happy dragon hunting, and best wishes to those you’re leaving.