Target Centermass

Category: War on Terror

  • Iraqi Stampede: Mass Tragedy with Questions

    Today’s story of a mass stampede, driven by panic, grew more horrific as the announced death tolls grew. First 600. Then 800. Then this.

    A thousand pilgrims crushed and drowned in ‘bomb’ panic

    The death toll in the worst single loss of life since the start of the Iraq war was last night heading towards 1,000 after a crowd of about one million Shiite pilgrims making their way across a bridge in Baghdad panicked at reports of a suicide bomber in their midst and stampeded.

    Most of the dead were women and children.

    Insurgents had already targeted the pilgrims with mortars earlier in the day, killing at least seven, and there were rumours circulating in the crowd that a number of people had also died after eating poisoned food.

    But according to Iraq’s interior minister Bayan Jabor, and two leading Shiite officials, the stampede was triggered by a rumour of a suicide bomber in the crowd. Mr Jabor blamed terrorists for starting the rumour.

    Hundreds of thousands of Shiites had been marching across the Azamiyah bridge, which links a Sunni and Shiite neighbourhood, heading for the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kadhim, a 9th century Shiite saint.

    As the crowd panicked and began to push and shove to get away, many were trapped against a security checkpoint at the western end. Some fell, only to be trampled under foot, and others plunged off the sides of the bridge into the waters of the Tigris river below. Some reports suggested that the railings at the side of the bridge had given way.

    “We were on the bridge. It was so crowded. Thousands of people were surrounding me,” said a survivor, Fadhel Ali, 28, barefoot and soaking wet. “We heard that a suicide attacker was among the crowd. Everybody was yelling, so I jumped from the bridge into the river, swam and reached the bank. I saw women, children and old men falling after me into the water.”

    Abdul-Mutalib Mohammed, the health minister, said that there were “huge crowds on the bridge and the disaster happened when someone shouted that there is a suicide bomber on the bridge”.

    “This led to a state of panic among the pilgrims and they started to push each other and there were many cases of suffocation,” he said.

    Police said hundreds of people started running and throwing themselves off the bridge into the river.

    “Many elderly died immediately as a result of the stampede but dozens drowned. Many bodies are still in the river and boats are working on picking them up,” said one police officer.

    However, at least one report raises questions after surveys of the aftermath.

    Questions Arising about Alleged Bridge Stampede in Baghdad

    Accompanied by both U.S. and Iraqi army officials, VOA arrived at the Kadhimiya bridge about two o’clock Wednesday afternoon, roughly three hours after news agencies and television news stations began reporting that a deadly stampede had occurred at the site.

    […]

    The Iraqi army brigadier general in charge of security on the Kadhimiya side, Jaleel Khalaf Shuail, says he did not witness the stampede, but was told how it began. General Shuail says someone apparently screamed that a suicide bomber was among the crowd of people and triggered the panic.

    On the bridge itself Wednesday afternoon, there was one striking sight, which did suggest that something catastrophic had occurred earlier. Hundreds of pairs of shoes littered both sides of the two-lane bridge, which some Iraqis said belonged to the more than 900 Shi’ites who allegedly perished in the stampede.

    But there was also a strange absence of ambulances, medical personnel and rescue activities on the bridge or in the river. There was no sign of blood anywhere on the bridge and not a drop of blood could be found on a row of knee-high concrete barriers, which many of the victims were said to have been crushed against.

    The barriers had been placed there the day before to deter suicide car bombings. Iraqi and U.S. military personnel, stationed at guard towers at a nearby base with a clear view of the bridge, report that they saw nothing out of the ordinary occurring on the bridge all morning.

    Footage of the bridge from an American reconnaissance plane also shows no activity consistent with the reports of mass panic and deaths. The only confirmed incident on Wednesday in Kadhimiya was an early morning mortar and rocket attack, targeting the Shi’ite shrine where an estimated one million Shi’ites from around the country had gathered by day’s end.

    VOA visited the nearby Kadhimiya Hospital and found eight bodies and 33 civilians being treated for wounds.

    While certainly not a refutation of the story of mass death, the scene shortly afterwards does raise some points to ponder.

  • You Want Links?

    I got links.

    Carnival of Liberty IX

    I’d like to point that the latest installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community‘s Carnival of Liberty. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

    US air strikes on Syrian border kill ‘known terrorist’

    The United States launched air strikes near the Iraq-Syria border yesterday, destroying three houses and killing a “known terrorist”, according to the US military.

    Iraqi authorities said fighting had broken out in the area between a tribe that supports foreign fighters and another that backs the government.

    The attacks by F-16 jets began in a cluster of towns along the Syrian border, near Qaim, 200 miles north-west of Baghdad. The US said four bombs were used to destroy a house occupied by “terrorists” outside the town of Husaybah. Two further bombs destroyed a second house, said to be occupied by Abu Islam, described as “a known terrorist”.

    Scratch at least one bad guy. However, I find it interesting, in a disturbing kind of way, that we have identified a tribe that supports foreign terrorists and haven’t hit it with an iron fist.

    Sunni leap of faith

    Iraq’s proposed constitution can be faulted for its contradictions and ambiguities. If those were its only problems, however, the outlook for this democracy-founding document would look a lot better than it now does, for constitutions the world over share these characteristics.

    The greatest flaw is not what’s in this draft, but how it was handled: presented to Iraq’s National Assembly on Sunday over the objections of Sunni negotiators. In effect, one of the major groups in the three-legged stool that makes up Iraq is missing.

    A constitution derives legitimacy and power from national consensus. The document hammered out in Baghdad this summer rightly declares it is “the people” who are “the source of authority” for constitutional rule of law. No consensus, no country.

    Leaders of the minority Sunnis, who ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and who make up about 20 percent of Iraq’s population, now vow to wage a campaign of opposition to the constitution, which comes to voters for approval in October. If two-thirds of voters in three Iraqi provinces reject it, then a newly elected parliament would have to write a new document. With enough votes this fall, the Sunnis could indeed put the process back at square one.

    But it’s not too late for a Sunni buy-in. And surprisingly, it’s the contradictory and ambiguous nature of the proposed constitution that could help bring Sunnis on board.

    It’s an interesting look at the proposed Iraqi constitution and what it’s wording may mean to the Sunnis. Although I have not perused the constitution yet, I see that Sunnis as having two choices: mildly support the document and become more of a player on the scene or oppose it outright. Should they oppose it and it is still ratified, the Sunnis run the risk of perpetuating their errors of turning out in low numbers in January’s elections.

    Arroyo likely to escape ousting

    Lawmakers in the Philippines are due to resume their deliberations about which of three impeachment complaints to take up against President Gloria Arroyo.

    They are expected to choose the weakest option, and are then highly likely to vote it down, effectively thwarting any attempt to oust her from office.

    Mrs Arroyo faces accusations of corruption and electoral fraud.

    She denies any wrongdoing but admits to a “lapse in judgement” in phoning an election officer during the 2004 poll.

    This is truly looking like a shame. The Philippines are passing by an opportunity to remove a center of corruption. I will never forgive this woman, the Manila folder whose willingness to retreat from Iraq for one life while throwing money at the terrorists has quite probably cost lives, both innocent Iraqis and brave Americans.

    Bush enters immigration debate

    President Bush flew into the heart of the nation’s volatile debate over illegal immigration Monday and defended his administration’s efforts to control the nearby border with Mexico after a surge of criticism from across the political spectrum.

    Two weeks after the Democratic governors of Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency along the border, Bush used a Medicare speech here to promise local residents an increasingly robust federal campaign that will deploy more agents and provide more detention space to stop those trying to sneak into the country.

    “We have an obligation to enforce the borders,” Bush said to applause. “I understand it’s putting a strain on your resources. What I’m telling you is there’s a lot of people working hard to get the job done, but there is more we can do.”

    Of course there’s more we can do. After this, I want a lot more done. Maybe it’s finally time we start considering our borders as one of the front lines in the war against radical Islamist terror.

  • On the Scene in Crawford

    On the return from my weekend escape in San Antonio, I was able to briefly swing out of the way and stop by Crawford, Texas, and the site of Cindy Sheehan’s “Camp Casey.” You just may have heard of them — seems they’ve been in the news a little of late. As I promised last night, here is my photoblogging of my little adventure.

    I want to note that yesterday was a relatively quiet day, especially compared to the hubbub just the day before when Rev. Al Sharpton and president-of-television-land Martin Sheen stopped by to lend their support to Cindy, she of bottomless and rather public grief for a brave son. Also in the mix Saturday were more than three thousand who rolled into town to express their opposition to Cindy’s defeatist stance. Believe you me, Sunday was much more serene, with Sharpton having long since sped away from this quaint piece of small-town Texas.

    Our visit started in downtown Crawford. Prominent on the scene was the store front of the Yellow Rose (as with all photos to follow, click to enlarge).

    Just a week before, the store had been evacuated because of a bomb threat.

    On the street-facing south side of the Yellow Rose, a sign had been hung for Proclaim Liberty.us.

    Did you note the subtle vandalism? Here’s a closer look.

    Ah, yes, a nice little Hitler moustache has been cut out of the picture. How very clever. And just what is the Proclaim Liberty site? Just the website of the travelling Liberty Bell tribute on display in front of the Yellow Rose. How very Naziesque.

    All around downtown Crawford, there were displays of support for President Bush, the troops and the war efforts.

    Support from bikers.

    Support from a trucker.

    Even support from twins.

    There was a small contingent of opposition to the president on one corner.

    They apparently had some unwelcome Protest Warrior accompaniment.

    On the north side of the Yellow Rose, in a small vacant lot, a handful of displays and tents can be found. As I wandered into the area, a man approached me and quietly sought to engage me in conversation. He humbly introduced himself and I was taken aback. The site, now dubbed Fort Qualls, is the result of the efforts of the man who stood before me, Gary Qualls, a Gold Star parent like Cindy Sheehan. The Gold Star is where the similarities end, however. Ft. Qualls came about after Mr. Qualls grew tired of quietly trying to prevent the Sheehan crowd’s efforts to exploit his son’s death. After repeatedly removing crosses with his son’s name from the “Camp Casey” displays, Mr. Qualls decided to express his opinion a little more openly.

    Mr. Quall’s objective is two-fold: to honor his son’s wishes by supporting the efforts for which his Marine son voluntarily fought and unfortunately paid the ultimate sacrifice, and to pay an honorable and lasting tribute to his son through a memorial fund.

    The sad, yet heart-warming, story behind the shirt pictured above is here.

    In front of Ft. Qualls stands an updated dry-erase board that shows that other families are also tired of the usage of the memories of their fallen loved ones by the Sheehan cross-planting camp.

    After leaving the Ft. Qualls site, my companions and I piled into the car and headed out of town towards the sites of the anti-war gatherings. Along the way, it was clear that the president and the military had the support of most of the neighboring residents.

    Before I continue with the photoblogging, I’d like to suggest that you read this description of life at the site of Camp Casey, courtesy the Indepundit. The author spent two days on site, as opposed to my Cindy-less one hour. After you’ve read that, I hope my few photos can flesh out the feel of the tale.

    Eventually, we passed the infamous original site of Camp Casey and its roadside crosses, a display that may very well be actually illegal in Texas.

    The protestors at the original infestation made their views obvious — they were fighting against the fight against radical Islamist terror.

    Across the road, those in support of the military efforts in Iraq expressed their opinions.



    Now, on to the main site of the Sheehan insurrection. First, the field of crosses.

    I can only assume that, in their efforts to honor the fallen, the protestors actually cared enough to verify that every single fallen soldier was actually a Christian. I certainly saw no sign of any of our honored dead having any other faith or lack of faith. Of course the anti-war group bothered to check that, right? After all, they’re supposedly only trying to pay honor and all that jazz.

    I found the press sign-in sheet interesting. Apparently High Times digs the happening scene, though drug usage is posted as forbidden.

    Funny, no press sign-in sheet at Ft. Qualls. Ah, but now we see the evidence of the difference between a man’s heart-felt outpouring and a political public relations campaign. That, and unlike Camp Casey 2, Ft. Qualls didn’t have a highspeed internet access.

    There was no sign of Cindy during our brief visit. The residents of Camp Casey 2 were polite, almost in a Stepford Wives kind of way. They seem to have a recipe for protest and are following it, however chafing it must have been for the person who was chastised for throwing water at a passing car.

    As we left, I admired the love of the left for bumper stickers.

    I mean, we’re talking about a love of stickers, even if those stickers reinforce the love of the left for defeat, be it Texas, South Dakota or Iraq.

    Oh yeah, as I left, a sculpture arrived. Cindy Sheehan is such an ispiration. I wonder what happened to that chunk of sandstone.

    I want to close this by re-posting a tribute to the memory of Casey Sheehan, courtesy of Blackfive. This is a far better tribute than any I saw at his mom’s current digs.

  • New Sculpture on the Battlefield

    Well, I’ve returned from my weekend get-away in San Antonio. All in all, it was a fairly pleasant weekend. SeaWorld was enjoyable, great barbecue was devoured and slight progress was made on the wedding plans.

    On the return trip to Dallas, my fiancee and I, along with the couple we car-pooled with, took a slight detour. As a military history buff, I have visited several Civil War battlefields. Obviously, these explorations were several years after the actual conflict. Today, with our little side jaunt, I was able to walk on a battlefield as the conflict was unfolding — Crawford, Texas. The conflict of ideas between surrender and support continues, as the circus around Cindy Sheehan’s vigil to annoy the president and impair our nation’s international efforts limps onwards towards its fifteenth minute.

    I plan on photoblogging what I witnessed tomorrow, but tonight I wanted to post breaking news: Camp Casey has received the gift of a new piece of art. As we were leaving Camp Casey, a pickup truck arrived hauling a sizable stone artifact. Below can be found the first photo taken of the sculpture after its arrival in Crawford (click to enlarge).

    I spoke very briefly with the artist, Ron. I apologize for not catching Ron’s last name. Ron professed to being so inspired by the saga of Cindy that he carved the sandstone piece in just over three days and toted it down from his home in Green County, Pa. Ron, below, estimated the sculpture to weigh between 800 and 900 pounds.

    Ron had no idea what will be done with his weighty work of, well, whatever. Who cares? Crank up the nutfest, there’s something to pay homage to besides politically-motivated crosses and flag-draped fake caskets.

    UPDATE: Planned photoblogging of my Crawford visit is here.

  • On the Road Again

    Well, nothing tonight but a couple of links as I’m currently packing for a company get-away to San Antonio. Blogging this weekend will be unpredictable.

    First and foremost, I’m spending my breaks from packing reading the latest posting from Michael Yon on the ground in Iraq, Gates of Fire. It’s lengthy and, so far and as expected, fascinating. I especially like this early observation:

    Although the situation in Mosul is better, our troops still fight here every day. This may not be the war some folks had in mind a few years ago. But once the shooting starts, a plan is just a guess in a party dress.

    I’d also like to point that the latest installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community‘s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Searchlight Crusade. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.

    Lastly, I wanted to point y’all to a new blogger, the Gunn Nutt. I have to say that I love the “about me” verbage.

    Flag-waiving, gun-toting, unabashed patriot. I love the Constitution, the Founding Fathers and all the members of the U.S. Armed Services. I hate Commies more than broccoli.

    Commies, broccoli … close call. Broccoli hasn’t killed millions, but if gross was fatal ….

    Also, pay attention to the Gunn Nutt’s banner — that tartan is Gunn Modern, and the badge is that of the clan Gunn. The motto Aut Pax Aut Bellum translates to “Either peace or war” and is fitting for the fighting history of the clan. I should say that I’ve grown more partial to the Gunn Ancient version of the tartan, but tastes may vary. I’m looking forward to the Nutt’s blogging next April 6.

  • Six in Calif. Guard to Face Courts-martial

    And the hits just keep on coming for the California National Guard.

    Six members of a California Army National Guard unit will face courts-martial for allegedly mistreating detainees in Iraq, military officials said Tuesday.

    The trials were ordered after investigators reviewed allegations of prisoner abuse by 12 soldiers with the 1st Battalion of the 184th Infantry Regiment.

    Two cases involve a so-called general court-martial, reserved for the most serious infractions, while four involve a midlevel court called a special court-martial, according to Lt. Col. Robert Whetstone, a Task Force Baghdad spokesman.

    Two additional cases have been completed in what is known as a summary court-martial, which hears lesser offenses, but the outcomes were not immediately available, Whetstone said. Four remaining cases were still under investigation, he said.

    The soldiers, who were not identified, belong to the battalion’s Fullerton-based Alpha Company. Some face charges of mistreatment of a person under their control, assault and making a false statement, while one soldier was charged with obstruction of justice, military officials have said.

    “We are confident that the military justice system will address these charges fairly and appropriately, and that a just outcome will be reached,” the guard said in a statement.

    The announcement of these prosecutions comes just on the heels of a brief moment of good news for the Cali Guardsmen.

    I first mentioned this alleged abuse story in this post and its effect on MilBlogger Major K., who rightly pointed out the problem of a few bad apples, in this follow-on post.

    May justice be met, and I have confidence that it will be.

  • Quick Hits, 23 AUG 05

    Young Muslims choose Sept 11 for day of action

    Islamic youth organisations that were not part of Prime Minister John Howard’s summit yesterday say they have been working against extremism behind the scenes.

    They have chosen a date for a planned day of action – September 11.

    The group says it wants to try to change the date’s association with extreme Islamic violence, and to highlight how mainstream Muslims have become victims of prejudice and bias.

    Granted, 9/11 is rather obvious, but it should be noted that there is no shortage of anniversaries of bloody radical Islamist terror strikes. Methinks these folks are moving too slowly, and that by years.

    Army Specialist Casey Sheehan – Someone You Should (Have) Know(n)

    Casey Sheehan’s Sergeant asked for volunteers. Sheehan had just returned from Mass. After Sheehan volunteered once, the Sergeant asked Sheehan again if he wanted to go on the mission. According to many reports (and according to his own mother), Casey responded, “Where my Chief goes, I go.”

    Blackfive pays tribute to a fallen soldier who deserves far more attention for far better reasons than his own mother, the media’s story of the month and the anti-war movement’s latest hope to undercut our current military efforts.

    Suicide bombs breakthrough gives police vital clues

    The four terrorists who killed 56 people in London on July 7 triggered the bombs themselves by pressing a device similar to a button, senior police sources have told the Guardian.

    The discovery scotches the theory that the four British-born men may have been duped into carrying the rucksack bombs on to three crowded tube trains and one bus, unaware they were going to explode.

    This is an interesting development — the London bombers apparently were not duped as some had theorized. This only should compound European fear of the true danger of the radical Islamist threat in its midst. Ah, but will it?

    Military History Wiki

    Blogs of War readers may be interested in participating in a new Military History Wiki.

    Not much of a quote there, but John Little at Blogs of War points us to an interesting fledgling internet project — an open-source military history site. I’ve bookmarked it already and will certainly be paying attention to its growth.

  • 40 Suspected Rebels Killed in Afghanistan

    It’s been quite bloody in Afghanistan lately, and that bloodshed has been largely one-sided.

    U.S. and Afghan troops killed at least 40 suspected rebels in an offensive targeting militants who ambushed Navy SEAL commandos and shot down a special-forces helicopter — the deadliest attacks on American forces in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Monday.

    The military declared the weeklong operation in lawless Kunar province near Pakistan a success, following the spate of insurgent attacks that already has made 2005 the bloodiest year for American forces in the country since the Taliban’s ouster.

    This year alone, 66 American service members have been killed — more than a third of the 187 who have died in and around Afghanistan since 2001. Four were slain Sunday when a massive roadside bomb blew up an under armored Humvee.

    The number of U.S. casualties is a fraction of those suffered in Iraq, yet the barrage of near-daily ambushes, bombings and execution-style killings here has raised fears that almost four years of nation-building is under threat.

    Most of the recent fatalities have occurred during coalition operations aimed at preventing militants from subverting crucial legislative elections Sept. 18, seen as Afghanistan’s next step toward democracy after more than two decades of war and civil strife.

    Well, that story, on its face the reporting of a successful series of offensive operations, quickly turned to a rather negative tone.

    Never one to be outdone in its negativity, the New York Times devotes an entire piece to the American losses for the year to date in Afghanistan.

    This year is already the deadliest for American soldiers in Afghanistan since the war of 2001, and the violence is likely to intensify before the nation’s legislative elections on Sept. 18.

    Feel free to read the rest. As is the norm when the Times covers the American military, anti-depressants are optional.

    This brings to mind a recent point by Paul Mirengoff over at Power Line.

    Have you ever read a history of war that focused almost entirely on casualty figures (with an occasional torture story and grieving parent thrown in), to the exclusion of any real discussion of tactics, operations, and actual battles? I haven’t. But that’s what our self-proclaimed “rough drafters” of history are serving up with respect to Iraq.

    So true. The first filters of the history of the day are, in my opinion, doing a great disservice to the public. The typical American is receiving no information about the overall competence and professionalism of our troops. Little is said of what life is like for our boots on the ground, their successes and sacrifices (unless they die, that is).

    Should the U.S. fail in its endeavors in Iraq and Afghanistan, it will not be because the mission could not be successfully accomplished. It will not be because the American fighting soldier was not able to attain victory after victory. Rather, it will be because the American public’s willingness to sustain the effort will have been sapped by the near-constant bleakness in the media and the harping of the far left. Should we fail, however, expect a rousing chorus of “we told you so” from these entities instead of the apology to the public and our future generations for the defeat, a defeat to which they will have contributed to as much or more than the terrorists our forces face in the field.

  • L.A. Terror Plot May Be Linked to Gang

    Islamist terror will return to American shores. Frankly, and I’ve stated this repeatedly, I’m surprised that it hasn’t already. When it finally does, it may be in our malls, our nightclubs, our restaurants, or among the sites on a recently discovered list of possible targets in the Los Angeles area. Sadly, along with this list comes the not-too-shocking revelation that the next attack may well have a home-grown element to it.

    Officials are investigating whether an alleged terrorist plot to attack Los Angeles-area targets on Sept. 11 or Jewish holidays was organized by members of a militant Islamic state prison gang, a top law enforcement official said Wednesday.

    Federal and local counterterrorism officials are examining possible ties between a Pakistani man arrested in Los Angeles and a prison gang known as Jamat Ul-Islam Is Saheeh, said George Gascon, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.

    Investigators believe Hammad Riaz Samana, who was arrested Aug. 2, has communicated with former or current inmates at California State Prison, Sacramento, involved with the gang, Gascon said.

    Samana’s arrest followed an investigation in which authorities found what they believe was a terrorist target list after they arrested two men on suspicion of a series of gas station robberies in Los Angeles County. That list included three National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and several synagogues.

    Gascon said authorities believe the attacks were to be carried out on Sept. 11, the Jewish High Holidays or other dates, and warned the consulate and guard that their buildings were on the list.

    […]

    The list was found at the apartment of Levar Haney Washington, 25, of Los Angeles. Washington and Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21 were arrested July 5 and have pleaded not guilty to robbery charges. They have not been charged in the terrorism probe.

    […]

    Washington was previously an inmate at the prison outside Sacramento and investigators are examining whether the suspected plot was organized by two inmates there: Peter Martinez, 36, who is serving a 40-year sentence for second-degree murder, and cellmate Kevin James, 29.

    Investigators have briefed prison officials around California and are trying to determine whether other inmates were involved, Gascon said.

    It was unclear what led authorities from Washington and Patterson to Samana.

    The three men attended the same mosque in Inglewood, though they were not seen meeting as a group, according to Arshed Quazi, president of the Jamat-E-Masijidul Islam mosque.

    Samana attended the mosque after arriving in Los Angeles several years ago, Quazi said. He is from the Karachi area of Pakistan and was studying at Santa Monica College.

    Wait, out of the obligation of tradition, we have to include the following:

    “He’s such a nice kid … I’m shocked,” said Quazi, adding that Samana stayed with his family across the street from the mosque.

    They always are. I’m sure Mohhamed Atta would have gladly held a World Trade Center elevator door open for a late-arriving passenger, had he only arrived at the building through one of the regular entrances and with far less force and jet fuel. Oh yeah, and innocent victims.

  • Army Report Rejects Guard Spying Claims

    After a rough summer, there’s a bit of good news for the California National Guard.

    An Army report has cleared the California National Guard of allegations that it spied on citizens, accusations that triggered an ongoing state Senate investigation.

    The California Guard’s acting adjutant general, Brigadier Gen. John R. Alexander, said Monday that the Army’s inspector general determined in the confidential report that a Guard intelligence unit did nothing wrong.

    “There was never the intent, desire or decision to ever collect intelligence information on any U.S. citizen,” Alexander said in a written release. “Any statement to the contrary is flat wrong.”

    State Sen. Joseph Dunn launched an investigation after a series of e-mails and actions suggested the unit had resorted to the same type of civilian monitoring seen during Vietnam War-era protests. In the 1960s and 1970s, the military collected information on more than 100,000 Americans.

    The Guard and the state attorney general say the unit merely tries to assess threats to bridges, buildings and other structures and does no spying.

    A sister unit monitored a Mother’s Day anti-war demonstration at the state Capitol, but the Guard said that amounted to reviewing media accounts.

    The spying allegations are far from over, at least at the state level.

    Dunn was skeptical of the report’s conclusions, in part because he believes the terminology used in Alexander’s announcement could be used to hide indirect surveillance activity and record-keeping by the Guard.

    “I’m concerned that the Guard has been playing a game with us on this issue,” the lawmaker said Monday.

    As for the inspector general’s conclusion, “This is a little bit like the fox saying there aren’t any hens in the hen house — at least not anymore,” Dunn said.

    I know little of California’s in-state politics, but I’ve been suspicious of Dunn’s motivations since this story first broke and I was compelled to write the following:

    Dunn demands hearings. Guard cancels an interview because of those hearings. Dunn claims Guard is shutting up and casts a shadow on the military. Listen, Dunn, the Guard is not hiding from you; rather, they’re heeding your beck and call. Must you smear them with suspicion and questions of perception before they even sit before you at your hearing?

    I stand by my initial reaction that Dunn is driven by a distrust of the military. That, or he opportunistically sees an chance to make a name for himself on the Cali political stage at the expense of those in uniform. You know, big game hunter goes after big, bad military and all that rot.

    Still, after a summer of silly complaints at home and serious allegations for those deployed, the California Guard has to welcome today’s exoneration by the Army.