Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • Moussaoui Says He Was to Hijack 5th 9/11 Plane

    Prosecutors received a huge gift today in the sentencing phase of would-be terrorist and mass murderer Zacarias Moussaoui — the defendant’s own testimony.

    Laying out a stunning new version of his terrorist mission, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he was supposed to hijack a fifth jetliner on Sept. 11, 2001, with would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid and fly it into the White House.

    Testifying against the advice of his court-appointed lawyers, Moussaoui shocked the courtroom. Jurors who will decide whether he is executed or imprisoned for life were almost motionless during his nearly three hours on the stand. They didn’t look down to take notes; all eyes locked on the bearded 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent – the only person charged in this country in connection with 9/11.

    His testimony started in familiar territory. He denied that he was supposed to be the so-called missing 20th hijacker of Sept. 11. He testified he was not intended to be a fifth terrorist on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania field – the only plane hijacked by four instead of five terrorists.

    Then came the shock.

    Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin: “Before your arrest, were you scheduled to pilot a plane as part of the 9/11 operation?”

    Moussaoui: “Yes. I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House.”

    He said he didn’t know details of the other hijackings set for that day except that planes were to be flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

    I’m not necessarily sold on the truthfulness of Moussaoui’s new claims; instead, I suspect he has resigned himself to the futility of his position and, through self-aggrandizement, is hoping to at least achieve a degree of martyrdom. Indeed, it seems his testimony today may lock up the death penalty.

    Prosecutor [Rob] Spencer asked: “You knew on Aug. 16 that other al-Qaida members were in the United States?”

    “That’s correct,” Moussaoui replied.

    Spencer: “You knew there was a pending plot?”

    “That’s correct.”

    Spencer: “You lied because you wanted to conceal that you were a member of al-Qaida?”

    “That’s correct.”

    “You lied so the plan could go forward?”

    “That’s correct.”

    To get a death penalty, the government must show that an action of Moussaoui’s led directly to at least one of the nearly 3,000 deaths on 9/11. Prosecutors have said the act was his lying to the FBI after his Aug. 16, 2001, arrest, lies that they contend prevented the FBI and Federal Aviation Administration from detecting the plot and saving at least one life.

    The man wants to die a death to be celebrated by our enemies. Cool, let’s light this candle.

  • Quote of the Week, 27 MAR 06

    To put it bluntly, mushy descriptions of peace operations as humanitarian, and neutral efforts to promote peace, stability and motherhood don’t go far enough to explain why so many soldiers die in them or why they so strain the resources of intervening states.

    —Colonel Robert C. Owen

  • Veterans: To Salute or Not Salute?

    Sorry for the late posting, folks, but sometimes real life and work intrudes.

    That said, I’d like to point y’all towards a new debate going on some of the MilBlogs.

    Courtesy of Sgt. Hook, here’s an interesting discussion over at Blackfive about how military veterans should render honors to the flag. The issue started with an email from retired Major General Vernon B. Lewis:

    I gathered some 16 of my old military friends who agreed to sponsor a movement for Veterans to salute rather than place their hands over their heart when honoring the flag, fallen comrades, and/or the country. I have some from each of the four principal services. Three of them were former Vice Chiefs or Assistant Commandants of their services, and several were former CINC’s.

    We refer to saluting when we do the pledge to the flag, when the National Colors pass or are presented, when the National Anthem or honors are played, or when taps are played and firing squads or guns render honors.

    […]

    Just imagine thousands of fans salutiing at NFL, MBA, and Major League Baseball games when the National Anthem is plalyed. It will telegraph a message to all others of how many have served this country in the Armed Forces—it will be a positive and patroitic message.

    My initial thoughts were in line with Sgt. Hook’s, so start there. After that, however, I feel less sold on the idea as Hook seems. Go through the comments at Blackfive; there are compelling arguments for both sides. Feel free to chime in if you wish.

    Here’s my worthless two bits on the matter: I’d love to feel justified in saluting and rendering due honor to the colors again. However, I would not like to pretend that I am sacrificing in my life today like those currently in uniform. Also, contrary to some of the positive comments at Blackfive and Major General Lewis, I would not want it to be an issue of drawing attention to the person or total number of persons saluting; instead, I would rather feel that it is an earned opportunity to signify honor to the republic in a different but accepted manner, a manner I miss.

    If it was in general acceptance that veterans should salute, I would comply happily. Until then, I will go with what seems appropriate to a mix of how I’ve been raised and my military training. While at attendance in a couple of weeks at my first Frisco Roughriders game of the season, I will stand as always during the national anthem in a modified position of attention — hat over heart, facing the flag. And wanting to salute.

  • Texas Arresting People in Bars for Being Drunk

    Damn. I can just imagine what morons we Texans must look like to the Brit who reads this Reuters piece in a London pub while working his way through a pint.

    Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

    The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission’s Carolyn Beck.

    Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said.

    The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

    “We feel that the only way we’re going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this,” she said.

    “There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they’re intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car,” Beck said. “People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss.”

    Damn again. Drunks … in a bar … drinking. That is now a crime subject to arrest? Does the fact that bars are privately-owned establishments matter naught? Well, given the ballooning case of municipal smoking restrictions, apparently and unfortunately not. Also, it seems this is part of a state-wide effort. Still, people are being busted on the pretense of their current condition in hopes of preventing potential future-but-as-yet-uncommitted crimes. Good end, horrid means that lay waste to years of campaigns advocating designated-driver programs.

    I thought I’d throw out the thoughts of a few Texas bloggers on the matter.

    The Swanky Conservative [emphasis in original]:

    Those people could have driven somewhere. They could have done something harmful to themselves or others.

    Innocent until proven guilty means exactly jack-squat to those opposed to people doing things others don’t like. And the guys with the power – the cops – are running right along with with ‘em. All too happy to arrest those who could have committed a crime.

    Life follows art, eh?

    Methinks Swanky goes to far in calling Minority Report art, but the validity of his point remains the same.

    Boots and Sabers:

    All it will do is encourage people to stay home and get smashed or throw drunk parties. Drunks in bars may be annoying, but as long as they aren’t harming anyone, why not let them drink?

    Quite right, and it goes back to my point about public intoxication enforcement on what should be deemed private property.

    Finally, The Fat Guy [On the argument about stupid and dangerous drunk acts presented in the above article by the TABC’s Ms. Beck] :

    They make drunken bootie calls, too. They write drunken blog posts, too. They fall asleep with the lights and teevee on and run up the light bill, too. They put frozen pizza in the oven and wake up to a stinky kitchen and a carbonized disc, too. They stumble and bark their shins on the coffee table that someone mysteriously moved while they were out, too. Somehow, as a society, we have managed to hold it all together in the face of all the mayhem stemming from freedom of choice.

    Reading that, I feel I’m the guest of honor on an episode of This Is Your Life.

    Cheers, TABC, I’m at home right now so you can get screwed. However, please be so kind as to let me know if, in the next couple of months, you plan on raiding wedding receptions.

  • About That Galactica Season Two Finale

    Frak Baltar!

    Hat tip to Ace. Buttons now available from the folks at glarkware, who also offer this sweet cylon shirt.

    While I’m thinking about it and haven’t pimped it in a while, it’s good to see the Unofficial Battlestar Galactica Blog is still going strong.

  • Military Cheesecake and Eye Candy

    First, the cheesecake, and we do have two sweet collections of moving and motivating photos.

    Now for the oh-so-very-tasty military eye candy. The Jawa Report‘s Dr. Rusty brings us a visual comparison of the militaries of several nations. He also presents an intriguing survey for those interested. It does seem that Dr. Rusty have overwhelmed some hosting services; luckily, he points us to this forum thread where many other examples can be found.

  • Carnival of Liberty XXXVII

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Forward Biased. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

  • Senators Seek Smoother Military Voting

    Through all of the recent moves on election reform, it does seem as though the military has been overlooked. There may soon come a remedy to ease the balloting process for troops abroad.

    Twelve senators are asking Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to make it easier for troops abroad to vote, saying the current system is outdated.

    Seven Republicans and five Democrats wrote to Rumsfeld this month, asking the department to create a new voting system that would allow members of the military to easily “request, receive, download and print” absentee ballots regardless of their location.

    Under the current system, members of the military must contact local officials by regular mail and request a ballot, which is then mailed to them. The voter then must fill out the ballot by hand and send it back to his or her state, again by regular mail.

    “Military absentee voting is still conducted in the same way it was conducted during World War II and the Korean War,” the senators wrote.

    A Pentagon spokeswoman would not comment on the letter, saying it is Pentagon policy not to comment on correspondence between the secretary and members of Congress.

    Samuel Wright of the National Defense Committee, a group that advocates for electing more veterans to Congress, said he has counted 7,838 different state and local election offices that administer federal elections and communicate with troops overseas.

    Wright said it would be ideal if military abroad could receive ballots by e-mail, fill them out and send them to their local election offices by regular mail.

    “The military voter is a moving target,” said Wright. “The current system requires that they have to find the voter.”

    Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., prepared the letter and is planning legislation that would make the process easier.

    I don’t know about printing out email ballots, but certainly something can be done to improve an obviously antiquated system. Here in Texas, I now have several weeks prior to election day to cast my vote at any balloting location in my home county; certainly there is a way to facilitate the electoral voice of our uniformed citizens serving away from the homeland.

  • On Sheehans and Headstones

    Despite my willingness to blog about the foolish shenanigans of Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, I thought it wise to completely refrain when Gateway Pundit questioned the lack of headstone at the gravesite of her son, the fallen Army SPC Casey Sheehan.

    I decided the matter was far too personal for my taste, this despite the fact that Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan had already decided to use young Casey’s grave site for a magazine photo-op.

    Now, there is a video by Michelle Malkin of the demonstrations in D.C. marking the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion (hat tip to Ace). In the video, which I recommend for a good look at the utter silliness and idiocy of the hardcore anti-war movement, I was dismayed that Ms. Malkin asked Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan about the lack of headstone at Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s son’s grave. I found it in bad taste, but thankfully the matter was not pressed.

    Still, as bad as the moment was, it was an open opportunity for Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan to silence or rise above what should rightly be a personal and family issue. Instead, as the video continues, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan decided to utilize the headstone issue during her address to the “crowd,” blatantly stating that she had been too busy serving a calling that her son did not stand for to honor his death in one of the simplest and typically fundamental manners of American society. She could have ignored the matter or given a differing justification. Instead, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan once again chose to try to use her son’s grave for political advantage.

    Disgusting.

    Simply … disgusting.

    I feel dirty even writing about this matter. As an “Out, out, damn spot” hope for cleansing, I will link again to a true tribute to the soldier and hero that was and will always be Casey Sheehan.

  • Man Fleeing Police Sinks into Mud, Dies

    It was a very wet weekend here in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. Apparently, tragically, wet enough to kill more than just my scheduled engagement photo session.

    A Dallas man died early Tuesday as rescuers tried to free him from a quagmire of mud that swallowed him to the waist after he ran from Dallas County deputies during a traffic stop.

    A Sheriff’s Department spokesman noted that the frigid overnight temperatures, which had slipped into the mid-40s, could have caused Shawn Ellis Leflore, 33, to die of exposure.

    “There’s a good strong wind out of the north,” Sgt. Don Peritz said. “Exposure out here would be tough on healthy folks.

    “The guys are disappointed because they really wanted to get this guy out. You can see it in their faces.”

    Leflore died about two hours into the struggle, which began around 1:15 a.m. in a muddy, freshly plowed field near Combine in southern Dallas County, Peritz said.

    He said the Dallas County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.

    Deputies were perplexed about why the man ran after they stopped him because of “registration issues” related to the 2001 Chevrolet pickup that he was driving, Peritz said Tuesday morning.

    As the day progressed, the man’s relatives and friends told deputies that Leflore believed he was a wanted man, but Peritz said he had no outstanding warrants issued against him in Dallas County.

    He said Leflore had been convicted of aggravated assault, misdemeanor theft and felony theft in the 1980s and 1990s, but he already served penalties for those crimes.

    “We don’t show anything for him here,” Peritz said. “There may be something in another county, and of course we’re checking on that.”

    Leflore did not appear to be intoxicated, Peritz said, and deputies learned that the truck’s owner had probably loaned it to him.

    The deputies couldn’t find him in the dark field, Peritz said, until they used an infrared device to find him struggling in waist-high mud about 200 yards from the road. The man lost his jacket and a shoe during the chase, Peritz said.

    They tried lifting him out, “but the more they pulled, the more they started to sink,” Peritz said.

    Peritz said they realized that some kind of special vehicle was needed, and fire departments from Wilmer, Hutchins and Seagoville sent crews to help. He estimated that about 24 people participated in the rescue attempt.

    But no one had a rig that could roll into the mud without getting stuck, Peritz said. A helicopter rescue was ruled out because the stiff winds made flying dangerous.

    “In the meantime,” Peritz said, “he expires.”

    Finally, Kaufman County sent two all-terrain vehicles with huge tires that were used to tow the man’s body out of the mud on a backboard.

    Peritz said he did not know why the ATVs weren’t brought in sooner. He said he didn’t know if the rescuers tried to keep him warm with blankets or coats.

    “I’m assuming they did everything they could do,” Peritz said. “I think the preponderance of the evidence shows they really tried. They were really frustrated when I got out there.”

    It seems there may be more to this story than the tidbit I caught on the radio on the way home. I’m curious as to why Leflore fled and whether everything was done in a reasonable manner and timeframe to save him. Obviously, an investigation will ensue.

    It should be noted that this was not the only loss of life in DFW to this weekend’s weather.

    Still, it’s worth noting these days a story that utilizes the phrase “quagmire” without mentioning Iraq.