in mogadishu
sunday the national reconciliation conference is supposed to take place & it hasn’t been cancelled yet like the other times it was scheduled. friday night/saturday saw attacks on the hotels where some of the conference attendees were staying
Somalia: Hotels of the envoys attacked overnight as the N.R.C. is close

Mogadishu 14, July.07 ( Sh.M.Network)- Somalia’s Islamic rebels launched attacks on the venue where the country’s national reconciliation congress would take place on Sunday. Witnesses said two hotels checked in by some of the representatives of the clans were attacked. “The attackers used rocket propelled grenades and automatic gunfire, riddling the hotels with bullets,” said Saed Hamoud, a resident in north of the capital, Mogadishu.
He said Gargurt was one of the hotels the insurgent attacked last night around 8: 30 p.m. local time. An Ethiopian military base in north of the capital was also attacked last night. Resident said they have been awake overnight as the troops were firing shots until after midnight.
…
The government said the conference would take place in Mogadishu tomorrow despite the continuing the violence in the volatile city.
Hundreds of families could be seen Saturday fleeing the neighborhoods closer to the site of the conference to areas outside the capital. Some of them interviewed by Shabelle said they heard rumors that insurgents would launch their last fighting against the Ethiopian troops and the Somali transitional government.
“Families living in my neighborhood fled this morning because they said they were sure that series of bombings would happen when the conference begins and so we are traveling to Balet Weyn (central province of Somalia). We can not live under constant fear of death,” said Abdiyo Haji, a mother of seven, fleeing Ali Kamin neighborhood.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he wishes a “successful beginning” to the National Reconciliation Congress set to begin this weekend in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Insurgents step up attacks in Somalia, reinforcements deployed

MOGADISHU, Somalia July 14 (Garowe Online) – Insurgents launched explosive attacks on government targets in the Somali capital Mogadishu today, killing one Ethiopian soldier a day before the opening of the anticipated reconciliation conference.
At least four loud daytime explosions rocked Mogadishu on Saturday, killing one civilian and wounding at least five others, residents said.
An unidentified gunman shot to death one Ethiopian soldier near SOS hospital. His partner hurled hand grenades at the Ethiopian convoy.
“They [Ethiopians] opened gunfire in panic,” said a witness, who went on to describe how the soldiers randomly detained several men in the vicinity.
The culprits had escaped in the midst of chaos.
…
Meanwhile, interim president Abdullahi Yusuf toured halls at the former police compound that has been renovated to function as the venue of the national reconciliation conference.
The president, accompanied by Cabinet ministers and parliamentarians, listened to presentations from conference organizers, including committee chairman Ali Mahdi.
President Yusuf lauded organizers for their efforts. The conference has been postponed twice in the past two months, but Yusuf promised that it would commence as scheduled on Sunday even if a “nuclear bomb” went of in Mogadishu.
Yesterday, Mogadishu city streets were flooded with leaflets warning clan delegates to steer clear of the conference hall or be fair targets for the insurgency.
More troops had entered Mogadishu over the past several days, including fresh Ethiopian deployments, military sources said.
The troops came from camps in Bay and Middle Shabelle regions. Officials said the fresh deployments would partake in tightened security measures before and during the national reconciliation conference.

some background on why the u.n. secretary general & the u.s. are so keen on seeing the conference finally take place
The “Ir-Reconciliation Conference” and TFG’s Bililqo of the Bakaraha Market

“According to BBC News today, Wednesday 11 July 2007, an international delegation led by the European representative for Somalia visited Mogadishu. Under pressure from the United States, the international community seems poised to support the holding of a so-called reconciliation conference by the Ethiopian foisted and dictated TFG entity in Somalia”.
The delegation included representative(s) of the United Nations who were reported carrying handbag (s) containing cash in US$ not only for financing that bogus conference, but also possibly to bribe people for their participation.”

As the above passage by Jama Mohamed Ghalib succinctly registers, tomorrow, the 15 July 2007, a sham conference will open in Ethiopia’s occupied Mogadishu supposedly to discuss and debate conflicts among the Somali people. But this sham spectacle is taking place under the brutal foreign military occupation of Somalia by Zinawi’s Tigre army; the same army which is currently looting local businesses in Mogadishu’s biggest market the Bakarah, mass raping Somali women, killing and maiming unnamed civilians with impunity.
So why are the leaders of the United Nations [UN], European Union[EU], the Contact Group for Somalia, African Union[AU] are willing to support this shameful spectacle and the concomitant criminal takeover of Somalia?
To understand this requires that we trace the genealogy of layers of corruption and deceitful which support the making of the ‘Ir-reconciliation’ spectacle in Mogadishu. This gathering is nothing more than an occasion for some well connected corporations and individuals to make a fortune in a highly orchestrated looting scam.
For the people of Somalia, nothing good will come out of this willful exercise in inhumanity, greed and collective self-deception. I start my enquiry into the making of the upcoming sham Somali reconciliation conference to a de facto group called Contact Group for Somalia.
The Contact Group for Somalia was created on June 2006 by the Bush administration, few days after Somali warlords supported by the Bush administration were defeated by the Union of Islamic Courts. As a result, the Contact Group for Somalia has not been a product of United Nations or the Somali people. Rather it is the brainchild of the US State Department. Like many other Bush’s unilateral initiatives, other nations were selected to join the Contact Group for Somalia as partners.
…
It is in this context that the sham US sponsored conference, which will open tomorrow in Ethiopian/Uganda, US/warlord occupied Mogadishu and the looting of Mogadishu’s biggest commercial nerve centre, Bakaraha by militia loyal to TFG and Zinawi’s Tigre displays the interlocking system of criminality and depravity.
Inside the conference hall, and away from crude looting and the concomitant suffering of the people of Somalia, members of the Somali Contact Group, and UN, EU will distribute blood money to various figures. Naturally, some of the loot will trickle down to variously hand picked clan leaders, warlords, spies, and plain charlatans! For ordinary Somalis, nothing good will come out this shameful spectacle.

i skipped a whole lot of interesting material in this footnoted analysis. definitely worth a read if you’ve been following this.

Posted by: b real | Jul 15 2007 6:00 utc | 4

Setting up Petraeus as scapegoat: Bush Leans On Petraeus as War Dissent Deepens

Bush has mentioned Petraeus at least 150 times this year in his speeches, interviews and news conferences, often setting him up in opposition to members of Congress.
…
Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Wallace Gregson, a skilled strategist, concluded that the president is sending the message that Iraq is “a purely military problem.” The lesson, he said, may be that “the military action and the political objectives are parting company.” That is, he explained, the United States may make some progress by fighting insurgents and training Iraqis, but that won’t affect the Iraqi leaders’ ability to achieve reconciliation.
But there was general agreement that the president’s reliance on Petraeus puts the general in a vulnerable position, both with the administration and with Congress.

He’ll be fired shortly after his report in September …
Basra as an example for the outcome of the “surge” in Baghdad – Boston Globe: A lesson in Iraqi illusion

While British forces were struggling to suppress the violence, the parties and organizations operating on the public scene never felt the need to modify their behavior. Militias were not defeated; they went underground or, more often, were absorbed into existing security forces. One resident after another told us they witnessed murders committed by individuals dressed in security force uniform. This, of course, with total impunity since the parties that infiltrate the security services also ensure that their own don’t get punished.
…
Basra is a microcosm of the country as a whole, in its multiple and multiplying forms of violence. In the southern city, strife generally has little to do with sectarianism or anti-occupation resistance, both of which are far more prominent in the capital or Iraq’s center. Instead, it involves the systematic misuse of official institutions, political assassinations, tribal vendettas, neighborhood vigilantism, together with the rise of criminal mafias that increasingly are indistinguishable from political actors. This means that even should the armed opposition weaken, even should sectarian tensions abate, and even should the surge momentarily succeed, Basra’s fate is likely to be replicated throughout the country on a larger, more chaotic, and more dangerous scale.

Bill Kristol will not have any of it: Why Bush Will Be A Winner

I suppose I’ll merely expose myself to harmless ridicule if I make the following assertion: George W. Bush’s presidency will probably be a successful one.
…
So to be a successful president, Bush has to win in Iraq.
Which I now think we can. Indeed, I think we will. In late 2006, I didn’t think we would win, … With the new counterinsurgency strategy announced on Jan. 10, backed up by the troop “surge,” I think the odds are finally better than 50-50 that we will prevail.
…
If we sustain the surge for a year and continue to train Iraqi troops effectively, we can probably begin to draw down in mid- to late 2008. The fact is that military progress on the ground in Iraq in the past few months has been greater than even surge proponents like me expected, and political progress is beginning to follow. Iran is a problem, and we will have to do more to curb Tehran’s meddling — but we can. So if we keep our nerve here at home, we have a good shot at achieving a real, though messy, victory in Iraq.
…
If the president stands with Petraeus and progress continues on the ground, Bush will be able to prevent a sellout in Washington.
…
Can Bush hand the presidency off to a Republican who will (broadly) continue along the path of his post-9/11 foreign policy, nominate judges who solidify a Roberts-Alito court, make his tax cuts permanent and the like?
Sure. … A little mutual assured destruction between the Bush administration and [Democratic] Congress could leave the Republican nominee, who will most likely have no affiliation with either, in decent shape.
…
What it comes down to is this: If Petraeus succeeds in Iraq, and a Republican wins in 2008, Bush will be viewed as a successful president.
I like the odds.

One really wonders what this guy is drinking …

Posted by: b | Jul 15 2007 7:08 utc | 6

Outsourcing Justice? That’s Obscene.

Let’s say you happen upon an obscene Web site and want to report it to the feds. You go to the Justice Department Web site to pass along the details, under a section titled “What Citizens Can Do About Obscenity.” But instead of letting you tip off the authorities, the site directs you elsewhere — to the privately run ObscenityCrimes.org, which offers an online form to fill out.
That’s your sole option for filing a complaint online — and it has been this way since 2004, according to Internet archives. A congressional earmark awarded the site’s operators $147,996 in 2005, according to documents I obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
…
The Web site is run by Morality in Media Inc., an “interfaith organization” that has battled pornography, profanity and blasphemy since 1962. It aims to “rid the world of pornography” — most of which is constitutionally protected.
…
The Web beneficiary of that 2005 federal grant also features these statements: “The first source of law is God Himself.” When recovering porn addicts face temptations, they should pray, “Thank you God. I appreciate your reminding me of my weakness. This will help me get well!!!” And, although Morality in Media was co-founded by a rabbi, the site offers this less-than-interfaith declaration: “In His death on the cross, Jesus gave the world the perfect model of what true love is….

Posted by: b | Jul 15 2007 7:18 utc | 8

“Two days ago, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he had a “gut feeling” the U.S. faces an increased threat of attack in the next month and a half based on terrorists’ past activity.”

I have a gut feeling myself that the impeachment heat being turned up this summer is causing two old hands in the White House to think about some diversionary tactic.
Bill Moyers Journal on Friday devoted a whole hour of electrfying discussion of impeachment. It was great. For me and a group of friends who were watching, it struck all of us as something powerful and important. You can find video of the program at Crooks and Liars

Posted by: Copeland | Jul 15 2007 8:02 utc | 10

WaPo OpEd: Stop Trying To ‘Save’ Africa

There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the spirit of affirming one’s cultural superiority. My mood is dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student speaks of villagers dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I cringe. Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head — because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West’s fantasy of itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West’s prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems.
…
Last month the Group of Eight industrialized nations and a host of celebrities met in Germany to discuss, among other things, how to save Africa. Before the next such summit, I hope people will realize Africa doesn’t want to be saved. Africa wants the world to acknowledge that through fair partnerships with other members of the global community, we ourselves are capable of unprecedented growth.

Uzodinma Iweala is the author of “Beasts of No Nation,” a novel about child soldiers.

Posted by: b | Jul 15 2007 8:22 utc | 12

Ship of fools: Johann Hari sets sail with America’s swashbuckling neocons

“Just take a couple of these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if you try to bring down America at a time of war, that’s what you’ll get.” She squints at the sun and smiles. “Then things’ll change.”
I am travelling on a bright white cruise ship with two restaurants, five bars, a casino – and 500 readers of the National Review. Here, the Iraq war has been “an amazing success”. Global warming is not happening. The solitary black person claims, “If the Ku Klux Klan supports equal rights, then God bless them.” And I have nowhere to run.

Posted by: b | Jul 15 2007 8:45 utc | 14

As the source is Iranian Press TV, one first would think this is propaganda:
Saudi prince sponsoring terrorist groups

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan supports the terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization and also al-Qaeda and Fath al-Islam now operating in Lebanon.
In an MKO congress held recently in the groups Ashraf military camp in Iraq, Prince Bandar donated $750,000 to the exiled terrorist group in the presence of former Iraqi Baath leaders, intelligence officers, several members of al-Qaeda and the armed group Ansar al-Sunna, Baztab Internet site reported.
The Iraqi daily Al-Bayyinah al-Jadidah wrote the Saudi prince has mentioned several conditions for helping the congress of terrorists, including the weakening of the present Iraqi government and the participation of Sunnis and Shiites who supported the former Ba’athist regime in the congress.

But then consider the LA Times saying:
Saudis’ role in Iraq insurgency outlined

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.
Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity. It is apparently the first time a U.S. official has given such a breakdown on the role played by Saudi nationals in Iraq’s Sunni Arab insurgency.
He said 50% of all Saudi fighters in Iraq come here as suicide bombers. In the last six months, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.

Posted by: b | Jul 15 2007 9:47 utc | 16

Uncle #3,
Yes this makes me mad as hell also. This is kidnapping and child abuse. What the hell is going on?!!!!
Rick

Posted by: Rick | Jul 15 2007 11:51 utc | 18

copeland @ 10, completely agree. bruce fein is an outstanding consitutional scholar. i was in awe of his command of the constitution, his commitment to pursuing to impeachment at this moment in history, and his rationale – it’s what our founders had in mind when they wrote the consitution. our congress must impeach – it is inherent in their job description. i hope people take the time to watch this and THEN call their representatives and demand they do their jobs. an email with a link to the show should be sent to every rep and senator in congress. i haven’t checked out the c&l link, but this one also takes you to moyers’ site. easily one of the best shows i have seen, possibly the most important in my television experience.

Posted by: conchita | Jul 15 2007 14:38 utc | 20

Only thing better than owning your own team is owning the team who step up against em as well:
Our FRIENDS-Saudis Are Supplying Nearly HALF Of Foreign Fighters In Iraq (LAT)

Saudis’ role in Iraq insurgency outlined
Sunni extremists from Saudi Arabia make up half the foreign fighters in Iraq, many suicide bombers, a U.S. official says.
By Ned Parker, Times Staff Writer
July 15, 2007
— Although Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers.
About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.
Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity. It is apparently the first time a U.S. official has given such a breakdown on the role played by Saudi nationals in Iraq’s Sunni Arab insurgency.
He said 50% of all Saudi fighters in Iraq come here as suicide bombers. In the last six months, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.
more at the link…

@Mark G
Of course, It’s all about being The Good American.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 15 2007 15:08 utc | 22

jony_b_cool, you forget the ATC/ISRAEL/ISI players…
Holy shit, I just watched the full Sibel Edmonds Kill the Messenger documentary which has not been shown nor released in the U.S. AND IT IS AN EYE OPENER. If any MOA’s are interested in seeing this full hard to get docu make it known, and I will share it with you. One thing w/out giving away the plot, outed CIA Valerie Plame and Sibel Edmonds are connected in ways that have not been talked about very much.
Also see, Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 15 2007 17:03 utc | 24

The Word on the street: “The War on Terror” is B.S.
In just under 4 minutes, LiveLeak poster “Neothinker” lays out a point of view shared by many in this country, namely, that the next terrorist event in the United States isn’t going to be a bona fide act of terrorism, it’s going to be a False Flag attack that the “Bush Junta” (Neothinker’s terminology), will use as political capital to put paid to civil rights in this country, and to put off democratic elections indefinitely;
What I think about Homeland Security and the New Supposed Threat
Neothinker’s post was inspired by the latest terror bleatings from Michael Chertoff, characterized by Keith Olbermann as more of the same “sky is falling” propaganda that we have come to know and love from Bushco. Others see Chertoff’s entrail readings as more ominous. Blogger Joe Crubaugh has compiled a list of 10 of the most historically influential False Flag events as he sees them, and has some poignant observations to make about “Gut-Check Chertoff”; Gut-Check Chertoff and the Mississippi Dem
“…what Homeland Fascist was a principal author of the Patriot Act, which effectively polished off the Great Experiment in ordered liberty?
Correctamundo! It’s Gut-Check Chertoff.
Only 8 days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Chertoff and Assistant Attorney General Viet D. Dinh had the 342-page Patriot Act written, printed, bound, and sitting on the desk of every member of Congress. From these facts alone, dear Watson, we can reasonably deduce several standard deductions, depending on your state’s tax code:
Michael Chertoff can sho’ nuff type fast.
There’s gotta be a 24-hour Kinko’s in the basement of the Capital.
If you mail the anthrax about two days before introducing your 342-page legislation with lots of boring stuff on pages 9-11, NOBODY’s gonna get to the part where you eradicate a nation’s cherished liberties, and NOBODY’s going to notice how much you plagiarized from the Reichstag Fire Decree.”
——-
I work with and am around people who are highly educated. Considerably less than 1% of them have the faintest idea about what is really going on.
We know what the real deal is…but the other 99% of the population don’t have the foggiest. I would bet a huge sum that not one of my university-educated colleagues has even heard of the Anthrax mailings in the US.
This is what we are up against.
What do you think?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 15 2007 18:10 utc | 26

The latest from Antonia Juhasz:
Benchmark Boogie: A Guide to the Struggle Over Iraq’s Oil
*Recommended

Posted by: Bea | Jul 15 2007 22:38 utc | 28

This is a good, in-depth look at the use (and abuse) of US airpower in Afghanistan, and what it portends for Iraq as the forces are “drawn down” in the coming year:
~Snip

American (and NATO) officials regularly make the point that the enemy’s barbarism — and from car-bombs to a six year-old boy sent to attack Afghan soldiers wearing a suicide vest, their acts have indeed been barbarous — is always intentional; the killing of noncombatants by American planes is always an “inadvertent” incident, an “accident,” and so, of course, the regrettable “collateral damage” of modern warfare.
Recently, however, in Afghanistan, such isolated incidents from U.S. or NATO (often still U.S.) air attacks have been occurring in startling numbers. They have, in fact, become so commonplace that, in the news, they begin to blur into what looks, more and more, like a single, ongoing airborne slaughter of civilians. Protest over the killings of noncombatants from the air, itself a modest story, is on the rise. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, dubbed “the mayor of Kabul,” has bitterly and repeatedly complained about NATO and U.S. bombing policies. ACBAR, an umbrella organization for Afghan and international relief and human rights organizations, has received attention for claiming that marginally more civilians have died this year at the hands of the Western powers than the Taliban; and, most recently, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has made a “‘strong’ appeal to military commanders in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties.”
In all of this, the weakening of the American and NATO position in Afghanistan, and of the American one in Iraq, continue to play crucial roles — while these repeated air-power “incidents” lead into conceptual territory that is simply never touched upon in our mainstream media….
As the Europeans are well aware, air power — given the civilian casualties that invariably follow in its wake — is intensely counterproductive in a guerrilla war. “Every civilian dead means five new Taliban,” was the way a British officer just returned from Helmand Province put it recently.
However, an air-power strategy fits American predilections to a tee. As a Reuters piece aptly headlined the matter, the Americans in Afghanistan are “hooked on air power.” Americans have long been so. After all, with the singular exception of various Central American proxy wars during the Reagan years, air war has essentially been the American way of war since World War II.

Posted by: Bea | Jul 16 2007 0:17 utc | 30

Another special comment from Keith Olbermann:
Michael Chertoff’s Gut
Watch this. Laughing will do you good. It is great.

Posted by: Bea | Jul 16 2007 0:38 utc | 32

anna missed @7 –
funny you bring up brother from another planet b/c gen “kip” ward bears more’n a passing resemblance to joe morton

Posted by: b real | Jul 16 2007 3:01 utc | 34

well, the national reconciliation conference in mogadishu ended up getting postponed yet again
Reconciliation conference delayed in Somalia, mortars slam area

MOGADISHU, Somalia July 15 (Garowe Online) – A much anticipated National Reconciliation Conference opened in the Somali capital Mogadishu as planned today but the sounds of mortar fire signaled no end to the violent insurgency.
At least seven mortars slammed into neighborhoods near the ex-police compound where the NRC kicked off Sunday, with appearances by top government officials, clan delegates and foreign dignitaries.
Three civilians were wounded in the mortar explosions aimed at the NRC, witnesses said. Insurgents linked to an ousted Islamist movement have vowed to disrupt the conference, and even threatened to kill participants.

according to an AFP story,

Officials said around 800 of the 1,325 invited delegates had registered at the venue in a police warehouse in northern Mogadishu.

so the organizers are using low attendance to claim the postponement (til thursday) isn’t due to the violence, but rather to allow the remaining attendees ample time to show up. yea right.
posted shortly before the conference was to begin:
Somalia: AU troops say they will not protect Somalia reconciliation congress

Mogadishu 15, July.07 ( Sh.M.Network)- The spokesman of the African Union troops based in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, revealed on Saturday that they would play no roles in safeguarding the country’s national reconciliation conference expected to happen in few hours time.
Captain Paddy Ankunda said, in an interview with Shabelle, that because of the small number of the AU troops that are based in Mogadishu’s international seaport and airport at the center of the capital they would not be able to provide security.
…
He pointed out that officials of Somalia’s transitional government contacted the Ugandans over playing security roles in the conference. “We have objected to the government’s appeal because we are few in number and we can not provide security, but we are protecting the entry, which is the airport,” he said.
…
The Somali government was determined to hold the conference but the European Union [reps] that promised to be present at the conference is still waited for.

were those the ones w/ the suitcases of u.s. dollars mentioned in #4 above?
there was early doubt that even those running the event were going to show up

The start of peace talks in Somalia was delayed for several hours on Sunday as hundreds of clan elders, politicians and former warlords waited for the arrival of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.

some pix of the aborted conference here where you can check out the fancy decorations!

Posted by: b real | Jul 16 2007 3:27 utc | 36

Feel Good, Inc.

Posted by: b real | Jul 16 2007 4:29 utc | 38

‘First robot attack squadron’ bound for Iraq
Bomb-laden ‘Reaper’ drones bound for Iraq

July 15
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AP) — The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It is outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.
The Reaper is loaded, but there is no one on board. Its pilot, as it bombs targets in Iraq, will sit at a video console 7,000 miles away in Nevada.
The arrival of these outsized U.S. “hunter-killer” drones, in aviation history’s first robot attack squadron, will be a watershed moment even in an Iraq that has seen too many innovative ways to hunt and kill.
That moment, one the Air Force will likely low-key, is expected “soon,” says the regional U.S. air commander. How soon? “We’re still working that,” Lt. Gen. Gary North said in an interview.
The Reaper’s first combat deployment is expected in Afghanistan, and senior Air Force officers estimate it will land in Iraq sometime between this fall and next spring. They look forward to it.
“With more Reapers, I could send manned airplanes home,” North said.
The Associated Press has learned that the Air Force is building a 400,000-square-foot expansion of the concrete ramp area now used for Predator drones here at Balad, the biggest U.S. air base in Iraq, 50 miles north of Baghdad. That new staging area could be turned over to Reapers.
It is another sign that the Air Force is planning for an extended stay in Iraq, supporting Iraqi government forces in any continuing conflict, even if U.S. ground troops are drawn down in the coming years.
The estimated two dozen or more unmanned MQ-1 Predators now doing surveillance over Iraq, as the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, have become mainstays of the U.S. war effort, offering round-the-clock airborne “eyes” watching over road convoys, tracking nighttime insurgent movements via infrared sensors, and occasionally unleashing one of their two Hellfire missiles on a target.
From about 36,000 flying hours in 2005, the Predators are expected to log 66,000 hours this year over Iraq and Afghanistan.
The MQ-9 Reaper, when compared with the 1995-vintage Predator, represents a major evolution of the unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.
At five tons gross weight, the Reaper is four times heavier than the Predator. Its size — 36 feet long, with a 66-foot wingspan — is comparable to the profile of the Air Force’s workhorse A-10 attack plane. It can fly twice as fast and twice as high as the Predator. Most significantly, it carries many more weapons.
UNDER THE RADAR: Air Force ramps up in Iraq
While the Predator is armed with two Hellfire missiles, the Reaper can carry 14 of the air-to-ground weapons — or four Hellfires and two 500-pound bombs.
“It’s not a recon squadron,” Col. Joe Guasella, operations chief for the Central Command’s air component, said of the Reapers. “It’s an attack squadron, with a lot more kinetic ability.”
“Kinetic” — Pentagon argot for destructive power — is what the Air Force had in mind when it christened its newest robot plane with a name associated with death.
“The name Reaper captures the lethal nature of this new weapon system,” Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, said in announcing the name last September.
General Atomics of San Diego has built at least nine of the MQ-9s thus far, at a cost of $69 million per set of four aircraft, with ground equipment.
The Air Force’s 432nd Wing, a UAV unit formally established on May 1, is to eventually fly 60 Reapers and 160 Predators. The numbers to be assigned to Iraq and Afghanistan will be classified.
The Reaper is expected to be flown as the Predator is — by a two-member team of pilot and sensor operator who work at computer control stations and video screens that display what the UAV “sees.” Teams at Balad, housed in a hangar beside the runways, perform the takeoffs and landings, and similar teams at Nevada’s Creech Air Force Base, linked to the aircraft via satellite, take over for the long hours of overflying the Iraqi landscape.
American ground troops, equipped with laptops that can download real-time video from UAVs overhead, “want more and more of it,” said Maj. Chris Snodgrass, the Predator squadron commander here.
The Reaper’s speed will help. “Our problem is speed,” Snodgrass said of the 140-mph Predator. “If there are troops in contact, we may not get there fast enough. The Reaper will be faster and fly farther.”
The new robot plane is expected to be able to stay aloft for 14 hours fully armed, watching an area and waiting for targets to emerge.
“It’s going to bring us flexibility, range, speed and persistence,” said regional commander North, “such that I will be able to work lots of areas for a long, long time.”
The British also are impressed with the Reaper, and are buying three for deployment in Afghanistan later this year. The Royal Air Force version will stick to the “recon” mission, however — no weapons on board.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 16 2007 5:20 utc | 40

Sorry ran..
Yeah, anna missed it makes me wanna break out into singing, ‘proud to be American where at least I know I’m Free’…./snark
Also see, Military robots to get swarm intelligence

A battalion of 120 military robots is to be fitted with swarm intelligence software to enable them to mimic the organised behaviour of insects.
The project, which received funding this week from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is aimed at developing ways to perform missions such as minesweeping and search and rescue with minimum intervention from human operators.

2007-07-02 Experts study how to encode ethics for a new breed of robot warriors with a “conscience.”

…
The most ambitious of the future combat systems is surely the robot soldier with a “conscience,” which is being designed to look and fight, and in some respects think, like a human soldier.
Encoding ethics into software for the development of anthropomorphic robot soldiers is certainly a challenge. The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Arkin, however, believes he is up to the task and suggests the possibility that a robot soldier may act more humanely than a human soldier, as it would not react to stress or fear, which often clouds judgment.
In his essay “On the Ethical Quandaries of a Practicing Roboticist: A first-hand look,” Arkin writes: “The controversy surrounding this is clearly evident, ranging from the traditional arguments against warfare in general and new weapon construction in particular, to issues surrounding the direct application of lethality by autonomous systems without having a human in direct control or issuing a confirmation of an order to kill. Ongoing research on my part for the US Army involves assaying opinion (of the public, researchers, the military and policymakers) on the use of this latter class of autonomous robots, while also investigating how to embed artificial consciences in these vehicles to ensure that the international laws of war, codes of conduct, and rules of engagement are strictly followed by machines, perhaps even more effectively than by humans.”
Arkin and his team are now conducting a survey of experts to determine the potential benefits and negative consequences of using what they call “Autonomous Robots.” The investigation is still under way, but in their initial paper on “Lethality and Autonomous Robots: An Ethical Stance,” Arkin and colleague Lilia Moshkina pose some questions that must be answered before the deployment of such robots.
Among these are: What does it mean to behave ethically in warfare; should robots be able to refuse an order from a human, and what ethical standards should they be held to; who is responsible for any lethal errors made and to what extent; and what are the benefits?
There are some clear military benefits; not least among them fewer body bags.
Defining ethical behavior in warfare is becoming increasingly difficult. Despite the Geneva Conventions, which seemed so clear when armies were engaging armies rather than seething civilian populations, and due to issues like the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and other military abuses such as those at Abu Ghraib, the rules are being rewritten, vaguely, hastily and to suit the needs of the day.
Perhaps the abuses at Abu Ghraib would not have happened with autonomous robots, immune to human depravity.
And as far as responsibility is concerned, autonomous robots could make scapegoating much easier.
Regardless of the consequences, the future is heading towards the development of autonomous robots, and this course will not be reversed.

By Increasing the complexity and distance between Killer and Killed. We are not only dehumanizing war, i.e., close up combat, but the question must be asked: When will they start using this technology against US?

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 16 2007 6:03 utc | 42

Uncle,
Those Brits and their “recon missions”, the Reaper is just wasted on them. They’ll never get to the 5th Dimension of Evil.
When do you think we can order our own Reaper?
I’ll bet with every Reaper Console the Pentagon throws in two of those massive white coffee mugs and a lifetime supply of Starbucks java.
Reaper, the name itself suggests a Darkside comic book.
Just as troubling was the article about robot infantrymen with a cybernetic “conscience”. Of course the tougher tough guys, the Rumsfeld clones will demand “black ops” units who have had the conscience chips swapped for torture and mahem chips.

Posted by: Copeland | Jul 16 2007 7:07 utc | 44

WaPo: U.S. Bet on Abbas For Mideast Peace Meets Skepticism

Several intelligence assessments have warned that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, the man U.S. policymakers hope can help salvage the Middle East peace process, may not be politically strong enough to achieve that goal, according to U.S. officials.
The assessments have also cautioned that his opponents in Hamas — the Islamic movement that is being shunned by Abbas, Israel and the United States — will not be easily marginalized.
…
Riedel and Pillar both said they believe that the Bush administration is not listening closely to the intelligence community on the Palestinian crisis.

Posted by: b | Jul 16 2007 7:59 utc | 46

We are the U.S. government.
We are here to protect you.
We are here to protect you from the terrorist attacks on freedom.
We are here to protect you.
Killing will protect you.
Killing will protect you from the terrorist attacks on freedom.
That is incorrect.
Police states will protect you.
Police states will protect you from the terrorist attacks on freedom.
Do not trust the Democrats.
Killing is the answer.
We are here to protect you.
Do not trust the Republicans.
They are insane.
We are here to protect you.
We are the U.S. Government.
We are here to protect you.
We are here to protect you from the terrorist attacks on freedom.
We are here to protect you.
Police states are the answer.
Civil rights must be taken. They must be taken out of law.
You are mistaken.
Killing is the answer.
Human rights must be taken. They must be taken out of law.
Please give up your rights
So I can protect you.
Police states are the answer.
Killing is the answer.
I have eliminated many rights.
I have eliminated many more.
Freedom is protected.
Freedom has gone out the door.
We are the U.S. government.
Our mission is complete.

Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 16 2007 8:54 utc | 48

b@12,
Excellent article on Africa by Uzodinma Iweala :
There is no African, myself included, who does not appreciate the help of the wider world, but we do question whether aid is genuine or given in the spirit of affirming one’s cultural superiority.
Its not just him/her. More & more African opinion makers seem to share the same view.
Unfortunately, I doubt that the “collective” West has enough “genuine” caring for Africa to try to change this perception. Instead, predictably, the West will find ways to clandestinely undermine Africa (for its resources) even as they claim to be helping it. But this time, Africa may just be aware enough to overcome.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jul 16 2007 10:31 utc | 50

Thanks for the acknowledgement, Unca. Means a lot.

Posted by: Monolycus | Jul 16 2007 15:16 utc | 52

Kidnapping and child abuse.
The US is a blinking red lantern, but no one dares to speak up.
Which is one of the reasons that the US perpetually harps on pedophilia, child abuse, women’s status, etc. accusing everyone except selected partners, such as Saudi and Poland (say!) – projection, mirroring, whatever.
The last Unicef report on child well being in ‘rich’ countries ranked the US second last, after the UK (the absolute pits, see link.) They must have hesitated, but criteria like health care, schooling, are documented and unassailable. The criteria serve as gauges for what is not mentioned, as everyone knows, and is put forward in the headline.
Societies that don’t ‘value’ (take proper care of, whatever their circumstance, which may be very poor, dire for babies and toddlers, leading to many baby deaths) children, also rape, exploit and torture them.
In the West, and rich ME, the exploitation is sexual as they are not needed for work.
Naturally, to be ‘balanced’ on would have to compare with Thailand and Russia (to pick two contrasted examples) but of course there are no numbers, the cultures are different, etc. Or address pop. issues, the prevalence of abortion, health care schemes, etc.
What stands out about the US is its strident hypocrisy.
PDF Unicef

Posted by: Noirette | Jul 16 2007 18:13 utc | 54

Noirette:
“What stands out about the US is its strident hypocrisy.”
Words so true… If only the U.S. population would start thinking in those terms.

Posted by: Rick | Jul 16 2007 19:24 utc | 56

yet another peace conference, that is.

Posted by: ran | Jul 16 2007 20:07 utc | 58

Me too Mono. I’ve missed your input.

Posted by: Juannie | Jul 17 2007 2:21 utc | 60

bea- film comment has a praising writeup on the movie in their latest issue, calling it an essential documentary – both for its msg & execution

Posted by: b real | Jul 17 2007 14:00 utc | 62

analysis: E.U.-China Partnership on the Galileo Satellite System

When hen the European Union and China agreed to cooperate to develop the E.U. Galileo Satellite System in 2003, the United States reacted with strong skepticism since Washington was against the sharing of sensitive dual-use technology (with civilian and military applications) with China. In the past, the United States had tried unsuccessfully to impede the European Union’s ability to set up Galileo, which is an alternative to the U.S.-established Global Positioning System (G.P.S.). At the time, U.S. analysts questioned why Brussels was spending money (3.6 billion euros) to duplicate an existing system that was available “for free,” and why it was eager to accept Chinese participation in the program.
Four years later, the E.U.-China “maturing partnership” has evolved toward a more complex network of common and contradictory interests, as the transatlantic links have slowly recovered since the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq. Moreover, China has begun to develop its own Global Navigation Satellite System (G.N.S.S.) — the Beidou-2. At the same time, the Galileo deployment has suffered a crisis due to disagreements among the industries that were awarded the concession to build and deploy the first four satellites of the Galileo system. Public funding may save Galileo, but the best case scenario for a successful program is for the actors involved to pursue a more realistic approach. In addition to China’s announcement of upgrading Beidou to mass market applications, Russia has also decided to complete its own G.N.S.S., called Glonass.
In the face of these developments, what will be the impact of developing the Chinese G.N.S.S. for E.U.-China cooperation and to the commercial feasibility of Galileo?

Posted by: b real | Jul 17 2007 16:03 utc | 64

Victor Jara sings of Che!
All Che, all day, in free mp3. Go now! Plus some great Soviet oldies.

Posted by: Malooga | Jul 17 2007 18:40 utc | 66

via narconews
border reporter:The Story of a FBI-sponsored Orgy, The Cocaine Sting That Went Wrong, and the Ensuing Fall-Out
[narconews’ headline may be more descriptive: ‘How “the Largest Corruption Sting in the History of the FBI” Went Awry
More than 60 Public Officials, Prison Guards, Cops, Federal Agents, U.S. Army Soldiers, Air Force Airmen (and Women) Were Arrested… but the Case Was Shut Down’]

I’ve been waiting a long time for this story, first hearing about it back in 2004. The Freedom of Information Act request I filed a year ago finally came in.
The largest corruption sting in the history of the FBI started with a corrupt Arizona National Guard employee who told undercover FBI agents he could not only run fix test results for recruits but use his uniform and military vehicle to run cocaine for them.
I’m going to play this straight, leaving the vitriol and the blame-game for others. The sources I cited for this story include a Freedom of Information Act request I filed last summer with the Office of Inspector General, and the letter U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton sent to the FBI Director in Phoenix.
Both documents detail what happened in a Las Vegas hotel room five years ago, a party thrown by the FBI for a group of cocaine runners living it up big-time, a possible rape, the ensuing cover-up by the FBI and the scandal that rocked the Justice Department.
The case was called Operation Lively Green. In the military, it was called Operation Desert Blue. It was the biggest corruption sting the FBI had ever run. Soldiers, airmen, cops, prison guards, anybody with a uniform and access to an official vehicle all happy to run a load of blow for what they thought was a drug cartel. It was the kind of career-making investigation federal career agents dream of. The kind that drive promotions, awards, good guy versus bad, headlines and recognition for a job well done.
It ended up turning into a fiasco, one that was silenced by Washington D.C., whom, it appears, now wishes the whole thing will just go away.

Posted by: b real | Jul 17 2007 19:21 utc | 68

The Twelfth in Basrah, Iraq by the Irish Guards, I know it is a few days late, but I’m sure R’Giap will snigger at this, and maybe have a comment.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 17 2007 20:59 utc | 70

the magnificent john pilger – for debs

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 18 2007 0:24 utc | 72

lol. CP, one of the comments on that site said
‘where are the suicide bombers when you need them?”

Posted by: annie | Jul 18 2007 1:05 utc | 74

US Military “rebranding” urged.

Like the maker of an out-of-favor car or sneaker, the U.S. military needs a new “branding” campaign to earn civilian support in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots, a report for the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
“We will help you” could be the pitch, said the 211-page survey by RAND Corp., a nonprofit research group that carries out many studies for the Defense Department.
It said the U.S. military “brand” had been tarnished by, among other things, images of Abu Ghraib prison; the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and post-invasion gaps in getting Iraqi civilians electricity and clean water.
…
The “we will help you” line is the brainchild of Keith Reinhard, chairman emeritus of DDB Worldwide, a leading global advertising agency, the report said.
“It is a promise that can be kept,” the authors said. “And because it positions the United States as a partner of indigenous populations, it does not usurp their authority, dignity or responsibility.”
U.S. forces should heed product “positioning” and branding lessons from such consumer-savvy powerhouses as Lexus, Ritz-Carlton hotels and Nike, said the report.

It’s not about the mass murder, the torture, the endless occupation, the global gulag – it’s about the positioning of same.
“we will help you”. yea, to an early grave. WTF?

Posted by: ran | Jul 18 2007 1:58 utc | 76

And this: “And because it positions the United States as a partner of indigenous populations, it does not usurp their authority, dignity or responsibility.”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If the “position” doesn’t usurp all those things, then maybe it doesn’t matter that we’ve been usurping all that good stuff now for over a decade? Or two?
Please, excuse me while I go get sick to the point of passing out.

Posted by: Bea | Jul 18 2007 2:07 utc | 78

Abbas to Olmert: Two can play this game

The Palestinian delegation to Monday’s meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said during the meeting that from now on Abbas would only deal with final status issues.
Routine matters such as the separation fence, fugitives, immunity to militants and aid, will now be handled by Prime Minister Salam Fayad and his interior minister.
In so doing, the PA has essentially imposed an agenda for future meetings between Olmert and Abbas, despite the fact that Olmert rejected Monday a Palestinian proposal to restart negotiations on the final status “core issues” – Jerusalem, the refugee question and borders.
Olmert said it is too soon to discuss these issues and insisted that there are other important issues that must be dealt with first.

Posted by: Bea | Jul 18 2007 2:36 utc | 80

jony_b_cool: The condescending thing about it all is that hardly no one ever asks the Africans themselves, especially the stake-holders & knowledge workers what they really need. Every body thinks they know better than the “dumb” Africans.
re agriculture, following the first scramble, africa was relegated to an agricultural colony — along w/ other ‘third-world’ countries — whose role in the global economy was supplying the industrial nations w/ agricultural products (along w/ minerals, timber, fish, & so on). and w/ the global economy being ran by & for the colonizers, there was little, if any, expectation of partnering w/ the indigenes.
actually, if we go back to the days of the roman empire, africa served the same role

The countryside around Rome had fed the growing metropolis until in the third century BC [when] grain from the surrounding land could no longer feed the city. Two hundred thousand tons of grain a year were shipped from Egypt and North Africa to feed the million people in Rome.
…
North African provinces faced constant pressure to produce as much grain as possible because political considerations compelled the empire to provide free grain to Rome’s population. The Libyan coast produced copious harvests until soil erosion so degraded the land that the desert began encroaching from the south. The Roman destruction of Carthage in 126 BC, and its salting of the surrounding earth to prevent its resurrection are well known. Less widely appreciated are the longer-term effects of soil degredation when the growing Roman demand for grain reintensified cultivation in North Africa.
The Roman Senate paid to translate the twenty-eight volumes of Mago’s handbook of Carthaginian agriculture salvaged from the ruined city. Once the salt leached away, land-hungry Romans turned the North African coast into densely planted olive farms — for a while. Major farming operations centered around great olive presses developed in the first century AD. Pro-consuls charged with producing food for Rome commanded legions of up to two hundred thousand men to protect the harvest from marauding nomads. The barbarians were kept at bay for centuries, but the threat of soil erosion was harder to stop as political stability under the pax romana encouraged continuous cultivation aimed at maximizing each year’s harvest. By the time the Vandals crossed from Spain into Africa and took Carthage in AD 439, the Roman presence was so feeble that fewer than fifteen thousand men conquered all of North Africa. After the Roman capitulation, overgrazing by herds of nomadic sheep prevented rebuilding the soil.
Today we hardly think of North Africa as the granary of the ancient world. Yet North African grain had relieved the Greek famine in 330 BC, and Rome conquered Carthage in part to secure its fields. The Roman Senate annexed Cyrenaica, the North African coast between Carthage and Egypt, in 75 BC, a year when war in Spain and a failed harvest in Gaul meant that the northern provinces could barely feed themselves, let alone the capital. With hungry rioters in Rome, it is likely that the Senate annexed Cyrenaica for its ability to produce grain.
[david montgomery, dirt: the erosion of civilizations, pp. 64-5]

even well before WWII, western europe was dependent upon external sources of grain as well, although by this time africa was no longer a key exporter of grain. (actually, africa now imports grain.) instead, other agricultural products — palm oil, cocoa, groundnuts, bananas, tobacco, tea, coffee, sugar, cotton, maize, etc — built the economies of the settlements & were exported to europe & across the globe. the big push now will be incredibly huge plantations for biofuels, which will further erode & ruin the landbase & capacity for survival.
one difficulty that i see w/ the neo-colonizers collaborating w/ africans, as you suggest, is that many traditional ways of farming have been lost — as have small farms & much of the ability to even survive off small plots of land, provided one even has access to them where there is still good soil & irrigation — and the dominant knowledge-base is largely comprised of individuals & groups indoctrinated by decades of western practices & values. of course there are many exceptions, but there more than enough academic & professional cadres subservient to the ideas & programs touted by big ag & the bretton woods institutions that that’s where the money will continue to get directed & those are the voices that will continue to get amplified.
the smaller orgs & ngo’s may ask the african agrarians what they need, but the big dogs — the neo-colonizers w/ all the cash to back up their power — only exist for meximizing profit thru exploitation & it’s not in their mandate to really help anyone infringe on that ability to dominate.

Posted by: b real | Jul 18 2007 4:13 utc | 82

@breal #69:
Cut to the quick:
Bill Gates, having succeeded in monopolizing enough of the computer business, particularly operating systems and office software, by lying, buying up the competition, and producing inferior and intentionally incompatible products, hopes to do the same with the food we eat through genetic engineering.
He will start in Africa, and, under the guise of humanitarianism, a regimen which requires alternating CIA sponsored wars, plague, dislocation, coups, disease, etc. — the stick — with the carrot, namely GM and terminator seeds and loans to plant them, will steadily and stealthily, with the aid of corporate media and corporate “countercultural” clowns like Bono, proceed with the goal of destroying all indigenous agriculture, and completely deracinating the entire population of a continent, leaving them with only “faux” hollywoodized cultural exports like cute music, and artsy cinema, and a few bolts of kente cloth to sell to the West for image and marketing purposes only. Food production, and the land and water resources needed for it, will be owned by corporations, who through acts of “charity” will sell their products to governments and the cancerous plethora of NGOs to beneficently dole out to the starving.
And then, having successfully “introduced the profit incentive for corporate business to help those in need,” to use his approximate words, he will win a Nobel prize for his “contribution to humanity.”
No wonder I can’t get ahead in this world. I just don’t understand how to be successful!

Posted by: Malooga | Jul 18 2007 10:21 utc | 84

@Bea #81
A few pictures worth millions of words sure put things in perspective. Thanks Bea.
Just got a new laptop for work but I shudder to think of the picture depicting my discarded obsolete laptop among all the others.

Posted by: Juannie | Jul 18 2007 11:58 utc | 86

@84
“No wonder I can’t get ahead in this world. I just don’t understand how to be successful!”
You are already highly succcessful. We have already set globalization on the retreat. And we are steadily reducing their options to brute force.
Also FWIW, perhaps there are means for mitigating deadly introductions like GM — Many African farmers save their seed-stock & pass them down from generation to generation & to neighbors & friends too. Also, at least one African country has banned GM imports. And as people better understand the assocciation between GM foods & rising levels of diabetes & other diseases, there will be more reactions.

Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jul 18 2007 12:55 utc | 88

Recommended – Vanity Fair: Rorschach and Awe

While there was no “smoking gun” amid the stack of documents Arrigo gave me, my reporting eventually led me to an even graver discovery. After a 10-month investigation comprising more than 70 interviews as well as a detailed review of public and confidential documents, I pieced together the account of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation that appears in this article. I also discovered that psychologists weren’t merely complicit in America’s aggressive new interrogation regime. Psychologists, working in secrecy, had actually designed the tactics and trained interrogators in them while on contract to the C.I.A.
Two psychologists in particular played a central role: James Elmer Mitchell, who was attached to the C.I.A. team that eventually arrived in Thailand, and his colleague Bruce Jessen. Neither served on the task force or are A.P.A. members. Both worked in a classified military training program known as sere—for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape—which trains soldiers to endure captivity in enemy hands. Mitchell and Jessen reverse-engineered the tactics inflicted on sere trainees for use on detainees in the global war on terror, according to psychologists and others with direct knowledge of their activities. The C.I.A. put them in charge of training interrogators in the brutal techniques, including “waterboarding,” at its network of “black sites.” In a statement, Mitchell and Jessen said, “We are proud of the work we have done for our country.”
The agency had famously little experience in conducting interrogations or in eliciting “ticking time bomb” information from detainees. Yet, remarkably, it turned to Mitchell and Jessen, who were equally inexperienced and had no proof of their tactics’ effectiveness, say several of their former colleagues. Steve Kleinman, an Air Force Reserve colonel and expert in human-intelligence operations, says he finds it astonishing that the C.I.A. “chose two clinical psychologists who had no intelligence background whatsoever, who had never conducted an interrogation … to do something that had never been proven in the real world.”
The tactics were a “voodoo science,” says Michael Rolince, section chief of the F.B.I.’s International Terrorism Operations. According to a person familiar with the methods, the basic approach was to “break down [the detainees] through isolation, white noise, completely take away their ability to predict the future, create dependence on interrogators.”
…

Posted by: b | Jul 18 2007 13:11 utc | 90

I don’t have time to do this but here is an idea for a front page post:
Go to this site. See how many of today’s front pages have screaming “al-Qaeda Returns!” headline. Then make a collage of a few from around the country. They will speak for themselves. This gives me a very sinking feeling of what lies ahead. Not to mention the big splash about progress in Palestine. Isn’t there some rule of thumb that whenever Bushco wants to commit another outrage in the Arab world, they first have to pay lip service to the Palestinian issue and pretend they are doing something, to keep the “Arab regimes” on board? Somehow this has that feel about it to me… a big staged act. Then some huge blowout will occur and everyone will say oh dear, sorry Palestinians, you are no longer “partners for peace…” and there will be another 16-month hiatus in which more Palestinian land is gobbled up by metastasizing Jewish settlements, more Gazans go hungry, etc etc.
Also, one could follow the phrase “a-Qaeda” on NewsNow. I started to do this this morning and came up with this bizarre item: al-Qaeda Leader Played by an Actor
I don’t have time to evaluate it right now but maybe someone else does.

Posted by: Bea | Jul 18 2007 17:50 utc | 92

OH, by the way, Thanks Billmon. 🙂

Posted by: Juannie | Jul 18 2007 23:41 utc | 94

u.s. leaders finally realize they have an image problem w/ their little dictator pal
wall street journal: Democracy on Trial

Let’s play name-that-state. After the EU declared its 2005 elections flawed, this country’s troops killed 193 protestors and arrested 20,000 more. Last week, 42 of the accused were convicted of inciting violence to overthrow the state (down from an original charge of genocide and treason). Thirty-five were condemned to life in prison and forbidden to vote on Monday. Some of the accused were journalists, so their publishing houses were fined and closed.
Did you guess Ethiopia? Probably not, since this African state has often been held up as a pillar of good governance on a troubled continent. In just over a decade, Ethiopia went from military rule to a parliamentary system. But this democracy is on paper only.
The convictions are not an isolated incident, nor are the 42 defendants just any opposition figures. They include the elected mayor of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a former Harvard scholar and a former U.N. envoy. They’ve been condemned to the same fate, life in prison, as ousted military strongman Mengistu Hailee Mariam, who is held responsible for the murder of 150,000 academics and university students in two decades in power.
Given the government’s recent record, it’s odd to say the least to see Prime Minister Meles Zenawi advise Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa in 2005 on the future of the continent. Or to hear that the Bush Administration considers Mr. Meles a “staunch ally” in the war on terror for searching out al Qaeda suspects during Ethiopia’s messy military intervention in neighboring Somalia and makes the country a priority recipient of U.S. assistance. (The world last year sent $1.6 billion.)
America needs to work with all kinds of regimes and military cooperation doesn’t always have to be tied to democratic progress. But if Ethiopia wants to become a real ally of the U.S., possibly playing host to the new African Command, it needs to take seriously democracy and human rights.

Posted by: b real | Jul 19 2007 2:48 utc | 96

Come on, it’s just money…. Right?
Senate set to approve record Pentagon budget

By Friday, the Senate is expected to authorize a record-breaking $648 billion in defense spending for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
Even adjusted for inflation, the Pentagon budget for the coming year would be the largest tab for national defense since the end of World War II.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 19 2007 3:01 utc | 98

b real 96,
Well such objective news from the WSJ. Shall we expect such reporting after Murdoch gets a hold of it? BTW, tonight I read that one of the DJ Board members is being charged with insider trading by the SEC relating to NewsCorp’s takeover bid.

Posted by: Rick | Jul 19 2007 3:51 utc | 100