Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • Gallipoli Dead Remembered at Dawn

    Ninety years ago tomorrow, one of the bloodiest blunders in military history began. At dawn, the World War I star-crossed campaign of Gallipoli will be honored.

    The bloody World War I landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in Gallipoli will be remembered at a solemn dawn ceremony on Monday.

    Australian Prime Minister John Howard, his New Zealand counterpart Helen Clark and Britain’s Prince Charles will make the pilgrimage to the Turkish bay.

    The campaign was aimed at capturing Istanbul and providing a supply line to Russia 90 years ago.

    But more than 100,000, including 20,000 Irish and British, never returned home.

    The site of the down service is named Anzac cove after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who landed there on 25 April 1915.

    Thousands of visitors from the two countries are expected to attend the largest gathering ever at the site.

    The campaign ended eight months later, when the Allied Forces abandoned the peninsula.

    “To walk on the battlefields of Gallipoli is to walk on ground where so much blood was shed it has become almost sacred soil,” Helen Clark said at a ceremony to honour Turkey’s fallen troops on Sunday.

    “For New Zealand as for Australia it was at Gallipoli that our young nations came of age.”

    Go read for much more on the tragic campaign. I would also recommend the Mel Gibson flick of the same name.

    I, for one, will mark the day with the haunting tune “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” by the Pogues.

    But the band played Waltzing Matilda
    As we stopped to bury our slain
    We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
    Then we started all over again

    Full lyrics can be found here.

  • Quote of the Week, 24 APR 05

    I don’t know what the hell this “logistics” is that Marshall is always talking about, but I want some of it.

    —Admiral Ernest Joseph King, 1942

  • Oui or Non, EU Constitution Will Persist

    Even if the French vote down the European Union’s proposed constitution, which may well happen next month and would theoretically doom the proposal, its supporters in the EU have a plan to carry on with the ratification process.

    The key to their “Plan B” is to insist that countries due to hold votes later this year – or even next year, like Britain – carry on regardless of the result in France until all 25 member states have been given a chance to ratify the treaty.

    On the surface, there is no basis for holding further referendums if the French vote No. The draft European Union constitution must be ratified by all member states, and a French No should effectively kill the treaty.

    However, the EU was not built by letting details like No votes sway its founding fathers from their mission. After the Maastricht Treaty was voted down in Denmark and Ireland, both countries were invited to vote again, and finally voted Yes.

    “No means no” has no meaning to the EU. Instead it means keep plying the subject with drinks until the subject slurs yes or passes out. Either is taken as acquiescence and means that the EU can have its way and then proceed to its next target.

    Faced with 21 consecutive opinion polls showing the No camp ahead in France, pro-constitution EU leaders have begun asserting that there is a moral, political and even a legal obligation to carry on voting – an argument aimed squarely at Britain.

    Reversing his previous categorical assurances that a referendum would be held in Britain come what may, Tony Blair is now hinting at a change of course. He said on Monday that if France were to reject the constitutional treaty on May 29 there might be nothing for the British electorate to vote on.

    Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, whose tiny nation holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said: “The French vote is important but I don’t believe it should stop the ratification process under way in other countries.”

    A vote that should, in theory, derail the constitution is “important but” not enough to stop the process. Trust me, in the eyes of the EU supporters, no votes in all 25 countries would be a “hurdle but” nothing that couldn’t be overcome.

    Senior eurocrats have started murmuring that Britain and other waverers are obliged to continue the ratification process.

    Their argument is founded on an obscure declaration tacked on to the end of the draft constitution that says that if, by December 2006, four fifths of the 25 states have ratified the treaty but “one of more member states have encountered difficulties in proceeding with ratification”, then “the matter will be referred” to a summit of EU heads of state and government.

    Ah yes, the little-known codicil that will allow them to place non-ratifying countries on double-secret probation.

    Françoise le Bail, the chief spokesman of the commission, yesterday insisted that such a summit could only gauge the true depth of EU support for the constitution if voting continued, making that clause “the tangible element, if you will, that seems to suggest that the process of ratification should continue to the end”.

    Her analysis is not shared by all EU governments. One EU diplomat said: “It’s obvious that if the French vote No there will be an immediate discussion between the governments. If President Chirac says the French won’t vote twice, then the idea that other countries are going to go on to ratify is laughable. For one thing, how exactly do you go about winning a Yes campaign in another country, if the French have made clear they are going to veto the constitution at the end?”

    It is my opinion that this diplomat has not read the writing on the wall. This constitution will, one way or another, be ratified in its current or a very slightly modified form. The national referendums are only a formality, one especially easily overcome if the EU can get 20 yes votes by December 2006.

    This is not exactly without precedent. The United States’ Articles of Confederation required approval by all states for amendment. However, the Constitution set is own lower barrier for acceptance, declaring the Articles moot and itself the supreme law of the land at the approval of only nine of the thirteen states. The EU’s proposed constitution has set itself up for a similar maneuver, though I don’t expect the reward to be anywhere near as great for following generations who will live under its law.

  • Watsamadder with Kids These Days?

    Well, nothing really, generally speaking. It’s a question that has been bemoaned for generations and will be for generations to come. Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t some occasional jackassery that needs questioning.

    Should women love their vaginas? Yes, especially if the women in question are hot. Should high school girls wear buttons advertising said love in school? Hell no. And Guy over at Snugg Harbor also doesn’t think so. And with conviction (don’t just skip over the beginning stuff about the hosed state of math instruction).

    There are two female high schoolers in Winona, Minnesota. Both are excelling in their studies, and up to now, were exemplary in their standings in school.

    Well, it seems one of the two, had seen the theatrical production of “The Vagina Monologues”. She came away with a very positive feeling about the play’s message, and in talking to her friend, passed those positive feelings on to her. In fact, they were both so positive about the event, they chose to wear buttons to school which said “I Love (big red heart) My Vagina”.

    There was one school official, who worked in the schools administration, took strong exception to the buttons, and reported same. There was also a teacher of one of the girls who would not let the young lady into class should she be wearing the button. The bottom line is both were told they faced suspension should they continue to wear the buttons. They have continued to do so, and countered with the administrations actions being in violation of, you guessed it, their “constitutional right to free speech.”

    It seems the ACLU has also started to take an interest in this, which should send red flags (no pun intended) up about what should be the correct way to deal with this.

    In my perfect world, here is what should be done. (And would have been, done in real life, 40-50 years ago.)

    Guy goes on to explain and justify his ideal solution to the matter. The weakness of Guy’s stance is that it’s based upon real-life experience, tried-and-true educational practices and common sense. These are all things viewed as mere impediments to be overcome by the ACLU and, unfortunately, many of today’s judicial rulings. Go read and feel free to chime in on his comments.

    But, hey, enough about kids at school. How about those afterschool video game sessions? Well, lucky for them there’s the game Narc, wherein they can learn that doing drugs can assist in fighting crime.

    In the first-person video game “Narc,” published by Midway, you play an undercover police officer busting drug dealers.

    Except in this game, your cop character can take the drugs he confiscates — and the illicit substances can enhance performance.

    Narc’s publishers at Midway say the game is all about choices, and the consequences of those choices. The following is an excerpt of a statement released to CNN by the company’s chief marketing officer, Steve Allison:

    “The drugs in Narc affect game play — addiction, and crime and punishment are predominant themes in the story. Ultimately, the players who choose to take drugs will face consequences; they will experience the highs and lows of this culture, but following this path will ultimately lead to failure.”

    […]

    “I would normally say ‘just say no’ to drugs, except in this case they’ve been replaced for power-ups. If you were playing Super Mario Bros., a ‘magic mushroom’ would make you bigger and more powerful. Here, it’s kind of the same theory,” says video game reviewer Scott Steinberg.

    Marijuana, as you light a virtual joint and take a long drag, causes the screen to become a hazy green. The drug slows time for criminals in the game, allowing your cop character to chase down and arrest them easier.

    LSD helps differentiate friend from foe, so your character knows whom to confront; allies grow wacky court jester heads, and enemies become devil-headed cartoons. Trippy music and psychedelic colors accompany your computer-generated acid trip.

    Other drugs in Narc include speed, ecstasy and crack. Crack, after the distinct sound of someone huffing on a pipe, gives players a one-shot-one-kill skill. Your crackhead cop character suddenly becomes an expert marksman.

    Drug use may give you super powers in the game, but abuse can cause addiction. Protodone — the game’s version of methodone, can curb your cravings. Otherwise, addiction can lead to withdrawal.

    But unlike real-life, you can kick your virtual habit after a few skillful clicks on the game controller.

    Great lesson. I guess it’s a good thing an M-rating will keep all kids from playing this beauty. Wait, the M-rating is actually just an enticement, but we won’t deal with that reality.

    As an aside, today’s video games may seem more real and graphically far superior to the old-school games of my youth, but they really do seem to lack a key element the old games possessed — fun.

  • Courts Take on Terrorists

    Moussaoui Pleads Guilty, Says bin Laden Chose Him for Attacks

    Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty today to conspiring with the September Eleventh hijackers to kill Americans and declared that he was personally chosen by Osama bin Laden to fly a plane into the White House during a later attack.
    Moussaoui admitted guilt in front of a packed courtroom only a few miles from where one of the four hijacked planes crashed into the Pentagon in 2001.

    He pleaded to six counts, four of which could bring the death penalty, and said he had not been promised a lighter sentence for his pleas and expected no leniency.

    The judge accepted the plea, making the French citizen the lone person convicted in a U.S. court in connection with the attacks that killed nearly three thousand.

    Moussaoui will have his sentence determined at a later date.

    Chad at In the Bullpen notes that Moussaoui expects no leniency in his sentencing. Chad then goes on to take the court to task.

    In my view this trial took completely too long […] Moussaoui should have served as a lesson to terrorists around the world that the American justice system will react harshly when this country is attacked, but it did not.

    You may also find the case’s Statement of Facts an interesting read.

    13 Years for Shoe Bomb Plotter

    A British Muslim who took part in a “shoe bomb” plot to blow up two transatlantic airliners was jailed for 13 years yesterday.

    Saajid Badat, 25, an Islamic scholar whose anger at the treatment of Muslims led him to become a potential “courier of death” after attending Taliban training camps in Afghanistan, would have faced a 50-year sentence had he not backed out of the conspiracy.

    His fellow potential shoe bomber, Richard Reid, a former Brixton street criminal who converted to Islam and became a follower of the al-Qa’eda leader Osama bin Laden, tried and failed to detonate his footwear on a Paris-Miami flight just months after the September 11 attacks on New York. Reid has been jailed for life in the US.

    Badat, however, threw away his shoe and hid an amount of explosive at his family home in Gloucester in December 2001. Like Reid’s device it would have been capable of blowing a hole in the fuselage of an aircraft, almost certainly bringing it down.

    At the Old Bailey yesterday Mr Justice Fulford told Badat, who had admitted conspiring to blow up an airliner at a hearing in February, “that the plot was truly appalling”.

    ”Your joint objective was the murder of hundreds of unsuspecting men, women and children who happened by chance and bad luck to be travelling on the airliner selected by the conspiracy.”

    Badat had remained in the plot, which involved him and Reid blowing themselves up on flights from Europe to America, shortly before Christmas 2001, until “very late in its evolution”, the court heard. His continued participation may have encouraged Reid. However, in the end Badat turned his back on the plan and tried to return to a normal life and hoped the affair would “go away”.

    […]

    [Michael Mansfield, QC, defending,] said: “It was his faith which in a sense took him to the brink of disaster and at the same time it was his faith in the end which pulled him back.” Badat, he added, wanted to send a message to those minded to use force, that “they should have the courage to turn away”.

    Was it faith that stopped him? Not the faith of a man who would would travel to Afghanistan for terrorist training under bin Laden. No, I’d say it was more likely cowardice. Badat and Reid, coward and incompetent. Talk about your pair of jokers.

    Missile Accused a Clown, Says Lawyer

    A Briton charged with selling a shoulder-launched missile to terrorists for use in the US was described by his lawyer today as “a joke, a clown”, who was strung along by undercover agents in a case of entrapment.

    Defence lawyer Henry Klingeman portrayed Hemant Lakhani, 69, a British citizen born in India, as a failed businessman who “couldn’t finish a deal if his life depended on it”.

    Mr Lakhani, arrested in August 2003 after a two-year international sting operation, was charged with trying to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful arms sales, smuggling and money laundering. He could face 25 years in prison.

    US District Judge Katharine Hayden scheduled the New Jersey jury to begin deliberations on Tuesday.

    […]

    While the prosecution depicted him as an enthusiastic broker eager to supply a terrorist group, the defence said he was a victim of the Government’s overzealous law enforcement in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

    “He may be a fool, a charlatan, but he’s no arms dealer,” said Mr Klingeman, who said there was nothing in Lakhani’s background to suggest involvement with terrorists and no criminal record of that sort.

    The defence lawyer said Mr Lakhani was a failed businessman who had declared bankruptcy, owed taxes on his house, was evicted from the office where he ran his clothing business, and owed money on bounced cheques.

    Prosecutor Stuart Rabner countered that Mr Lakhani had freely offered to arrange the sale of 50 more missiles.

    “There was no coercion. No threats, no guns to the defendant’s head,” said Mr Rabner. “You don’t have to be sophisticated to be a criminal. You can be a dumb criminal.”

    The prosecution produced hours of videotapes and taped telephone conversations of Mr Lakhani allegedly making the deal with an undercover FBI informant posing as an Islamic militant, and evidence of negotiations with Russian law enforcement officers posing as Ukrainian arms suppliers.

    An interesting strategy there by the defense. It might have been effective had Lakhani been charged with being a genius. Unfortunately, willfully trying to aid terrorists is a bit more serious matter. It’s also something idiots are quite capable of doing. Since we can’t kill him, I hope the jury locks him away for the max. Maybe others behind bars can complete the justice Lakhani deserves.

    As an aside, isn’t that just a craptastic headline?

  • Earth Day 2005

    … and JohnL over at TexasBestGrok celebrates it as it should be — Heinlein-style.

    Plus, he’s got some interview questions for me that I hope to be able to answer sometime this weekend.

  • U.S. Soldier Convicted of Killing Comrades

    Sergeant Hasan Akbar — guilty as charged of premeditated murder.

    The U.S. army sergeant who rolled a grenade into a tent full of his own colleagues and fired at them as they ran outside has been convicted of murder and attempted murder.

    A military jury in Fort Bragg, N.C., ruled Hasan Akbar, a member of the famed 101st Airborne Division, was guilty in the 2003 attack on his comrades in Kuwait.

    Two officers were killed in the attack, which came just days before the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq.

    Akbar’s lawyers argued he has been suffering from a mental illness for years.

    Because the jury returned a unanimous verdict, the crime is punishable by death.

    A sentencing hearing will begin next Monday.

    As before, I’m hoping for a death sentence to be dealt to Akbar but wouldn’t be surprised if justice falls short.

  • Muslims Detained at U.S. Border File Suit

    Yikes, it looks like the United States may have been caught trying to find its enemies among a rich pool of potential enemies … err .. law-abiding citizens that dance on the edge of the terror pool.

    American Muslims detained at the border as they returned from a religious conference in Toronto sued the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday alleging they were targets of ethnic and religious profiling.

    The five Muslims, all U.S. citizens, say customs officials detained dozens of others from their conference in December, subjecting them to interrogations, fingerprinting and photographing. Four carried U.S.-issued passports; the other had a New York state driver’s license, which is an acceptable form of identification at the Canadian border.

    The plaintiffs traveled separately and arrived at the checkpoint throughout the afternoon and night. Travelers who told agents they had attended the conference titled “Reviving the Islamic Spirit” were held for questioning, and women wearing hijab were asked whether they had attended the conference, according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Council for American-Islamic Relations.

    “They were the victims once again of our government’s overzealous and counterproductive ethnic and religious profiling in the name of national security,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU.

    Well, I only hope that Ms. Lieberman is correct that is was a case of profiling based on the most likely profile of terrorists and terrorist supporters. Yes, profiling, yes! That would be a serious step in the right direction towards stopping people who would be just as happy lopping off Ms. Lieberman’s head with a knife as they would be offing you and me in a Chick-Fil-A suicide bombing.

    The lawsuit seeks to prevent government agencies from detaining, interrogating or photographing Muslims returning to the United States from religious conferences. The five Muslims want their fingerprints and photographs taken at the border destroyed or expunged.

    Provide a reason why anyone crossing the border shouldn’t be identified and remembered. Transportation within the states is a right for those who abide by the law; travel outside is a privelege that may be monitored.

    Homeland security officials said that 34 people were selected for the secondary questioning at Queenston Lewiston Bridge and four others at Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. None was charged with a crime.

    “In this instance, we had credible intelligence that conferences similar to the one from which these individuals were leaving were being used by terrorist organizations to fundraise and to hide the travel of terrorists themselves,” said Kristi Clemens, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

    Sounds like reasonable measures, in light of the current state of affairs. You know, 9/11 and war and all that.

    Clemens declined to elaborate on the sort of conferences that draw heightened scrutiny or whether people were held at other border crossings. She said U.S. citizens have the right to refuse fingerprinting and that the department has not received complaints about agents forcing citizens to submit fingerprints.

    Sawsan Tabbaa, 43, an orthodontist in Buffalo, took her four children in the family van for their third trip to the conference, which featured imam Hamza Yusuf. Yusuf is a prominent scholar who visited the White House in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to pray with President Bush and endorse his plans for military action.

    Tabbaa, who wears hijab, said that at 2 a.m. Dec. 27 she arrived at the border checkpoint where agents asked her about the conference and instructed her to wait inside the customs building. Inside, she said, “I saw all the people from my Islamic community.”

    Tabbaa, a Syrian-born naturalized citizen, said agents refused to let her leave unless she submitted to fingerprinting. After several hours, she said, a female agent escorted her to a room to demonstrate the procedure.

    “She just grabbed my hand and [began] fingerprinting it,” Tabbaa said. “I was just forced to do it. She grabbed my hand.”

    My guess is that her story would be contradicted by the female agent, a little she-said,she-said.

    If the courts feel this crap has any merit, then we are severely hampered in our war against radical Islamists. I feel no need to remind you that radical Islamists started the war and we have conducted our responses with incredible restraint.

    So far.

  • Bush to Name Marine Next Joint Chiefs Chair

    Coming soon to a Senate confirmation near you … General Pace.

    Senior U.S. officials say President Bush will name Marine General Peter Pace as the next chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

    The officials say Mr. Bush will make the announcement soon, although no date was given.

    General Pace has served as the Joint Chiefs’ vice chairman since 2001. In that post, he has helped to manage the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan while leading efforts to transform the military for the war on terror and other 21st century needs.

    The 59-year-old general was a rifle platoon leader during the Vietnam War and has served as head of the U.S. Southern Command.

    The Joint Chiefs chairman is the president’s top military adviser. If confirmed by the Senate, General Pace would succeed Air Force General Richard Myers, who is due to retire this year.

    I’ll be honest and say I know nothing of the man. I will try to find out more about the expected nominee and plan to return to the subject.

  • Reciprocity XVI

    I’d again like a moment to thank those who have blogrolled or linked to Target Centermass.

    First, thanks to the following fine blogs for adding TCm to their blogrolls:

    Second, thanks to the following for recent links to TCm:

    As always, if you’ve linked or blogrolled Target Centermass and I haven’t found you, please send an email or post a comment. No good deed should go unacknowledged.