Air Force investigates mistaken transport of nuclear warheads

The Air Force announced that all flights of fighters and bombers in the United States will be halted on September 14 to allow for a review of procedures.

uh, mhmmmm? *ears pull back like a cautious cat*
Also don’t miss my earlier post: Congressional oversight is just helping the terrorists! sez Chertoff as well as others comments on this particular topic from last ot.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 6 2007 11:43 utc | 3

Israel launched a strike on syria. The ‘bombs’ may have been ammunition

Posted by: Debs is Dead | Sep 6 2007 11:58 utc | 5

Haaretz reports this as “Syria says Israel bombed Syrian targets” at midnight. Israel, of course, refuses all comment on the matter.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 6 2007 12:13 utc | 7

Human Rights Watch issues damning report on last year’s Lebanon War

In its latest report on the 34-day conflict, the rights group said that “in critical respects, Israel conducted the war with reckless indifference to the fate of Lebanese civilians and violated the laws of war.
“Responsibility for the high civilian death toll of the war in Lebanon lies squarely with Israeli policies and targeting decisions in the conduct of its military operations,” the report adds.
The report accuses Israel of undertaking a deliberate campaign not only against Hezbollah’s military wing, but its political and social welfare institutions in Beirut and southern Lebanon.
“Israel targeted people or structures associated in any way with Hezbollah’s military, political, or social structures — regardless of whether they constituted valid military objectives.”
“Israel’s treatment of all parts of Hezbollah as legitimate military targets flies in the face of international legal standards and sets a dangerous precedent,” said Kenneth Roth, HRW executive director, in a press release.
The rights watchdog also rejected Israeli claims that the high civilian death toll resulted from Hezbollah operating in civilian areas and using human shields.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 6 2007 12:40 utc | 9

Nahr al-Bared residents in despair over complete destruction of the camp.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 6 2007 12:50 utc | 11

Lebanon’s presidential elections have now officially been scheduled for September 25. Here are some pieces that help provide more background into understanding the complex political issues surrounding the all-important presidential election:
Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berry, calls for parliament to convene and elect a new President Sept. 25.

[Current President pro-Syrian] Lahoud’s mandate was extended for three years in September 2004 under a controversial constitutional amendment passed with the support of Syria, which at the time was the key power-broker in Lebanon.
While the anti-Syrian camp holds the majority in parliament, the opposition led by the Hezbollah party walked out of the Siniora cabinet in November, leaving the government paralyszed.
Berri, who himself heads the pro-Syrian Amal party, has since refused to convene parliament on the grounds that the rump Siniora government was no longer legitimate….
The vote for a successor to Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud has exacerbated the country’s political crisis which has split Beirut into pro- and anti-Damascus camps.
If the necessary two-thirds majority quorum – or at least 86 members present in the 128-seat parliament – is not guaranteed on September 25, Berri will have to call for another session before Lahoud’s term expires on November 24.
“We hope that you attend the session,” Berri told MPs in the official invitation, the spokesman said.

An in-depth piece from the Lebanese press on this development. Some key points:

Last week, Berri called for a consensus candidate [ie, someone who would be acceptable to both sides, thereby breaking the deadlock that had ensued from the walkout, and threatened to produce two separate governments if each side elected its own President.] The ruling majority hasn’t officially responded, but according to Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat, they are not against the idea of a consensus candidate.
“There has been an overall positive reaction to Berri’s initiative by the leading figures in the ruling camp,” Fatfat told The Daily Star on Wednesday.
“It is a positive step,” he said. “This could be the step needed to open the doors for dialogue between the rical politicians.”
“We are willing to head to dialogue, and discuss Berri’s initiative but without any preconditions,” Fatfat said.
“However, we do not want to give up our political right to elect the next president by a half plus one [majority],” he added.
Fatfat explained that once there is agreement on a consensus president, controversy on how the election actually happens won’t matter.
At the same time, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea’s reaction to the initiative can be characterized as skeptical.
“Why does the Berri initiative stress the two-thirds quorum for the election of the next president when it calls for a consensus president?” Geagea asked on Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. TV late Tuesday.
To garner the necessary quorum for electing a president, a compromise must be reached by the feuding parties in Lebanon, as the ruling majority of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has just 69 MPs.
The opposition has threatened to boycott the vote and deny Parliament a two-thirds quorum, thus blocking the process.
In return, the majority has threatened to go ahead and choose a president from its own ranks with its majority….
Lahoud has said he would appoint an interim government headed by army chief General Michel Suleiman [the newly minted “hero of Nahr al-Bared,” as we noted earlier] if rival Lebanese factions cannot agree on a new head of a state before the presidential term ends.

A piece by a Syrian analyst, posted on Syria Comment, offering a different perspective on Berri’s call for a “consensus candidate.”

Posted by: Bea | Sep 6 2007 13:10 utc | 13

Just to add to Bea’s post #11:
“These politicians allowed the Lebanese army to destroy the whole camp,” said former Nahr al-Bared resident Abdel Salaam Khader, who lost a brother in the fighting. “We have been exposed many, many times to Israeli bombs, but even the Israelis destroyed certain places and not a whole camp.”
Hamas Flag Goes Up in Lebanon Camps
Ever notice how America’s “moderate” friends in the ME seem to be exceedingly bloodthirsty? Even the Sabra and Chatila massacres, which the Arabs generally like to blame Israel for, was actually done by Lebanese Arabs. The real irony about the siege was the crowd of white people in Lebanon protesting the brutality of the siege.

Posted by: Sam | Sep 6 2007 13:51 utc | 15

Hannah K. O’Luthon:
The bit about Cheney sleeping a different bed every night feels demonstrably false. Is there any corroboration?
I’m sure he didn’t do it every night since 9/11, but when Joe Galloway says it you can bet there is something behind it. As far I’m concerned Joe is one of the best reporters in the US.
Incidently your comments about the Baathists in the OT 07-61 thread:
The U.S. electorate, alas, will very probably fail to note that its sons and daughters are slaughtering and being slaughtered in Iraq on behalf of the very group whose ouster justified the beginning of the slaughter.
How do you tell that to a mother that sacrificed her child for that? Pretty powerful stuff.
accidentally posted this in that thread sorry

Posted by: Sam | Sep 6 2007 14:05 utc | 17

would like to write something about the german terror plot”, but i’m leaving for holidays at the very moment…
the media is blowing up the story like no good, but when you look closely to what actually happened, its totally nonsense. the group has been observated for a long time, and their actually have been several articles about their plans in the media some months ago… to go on after that doesn’t sound like they are the well organized, international linked islamic gods of terror. they are said to have contact with the “Islamic Jihad Union”, an orginasation which Craig Murray believes only exists as an multi-purpose propaganda tool.
it stinks to heaven. behind the apparent inconsistencies, the big media just goes like “the end is near, have fear”. and bavarian hero beckstein calls for the observation of anybody who converts to islam. its spinning faster…
now that i learned this is not an “american” blog, here is a german source giving some background. may be somone is interestet to write about it.

Posted by: snafu | Sep 6 2007 15:15 utc | 19

snafu,
I had to ask myself: “why would they want to attack a ‘hard target’ like a US military base in Germany when there are so many less well-guarded targets about?”.
But don’t forget, Uncle Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Minister of Interior Affairs, has been pushing for the right to send fake e-mails to implant “Trojan horse” viruses on suspected computers.
So now it looks like he has a lot more support for sending Love Letters from Uncle Wolfgang. I will never open another mail ever again…

Posted by: ralphieboy | Sep 6 2007 16:33 utc | 21

I’m not a gambler but I put a red ‘x’ on my calendar (the 14th) per Uncle’s #3.

Posted by: beq | Sep 6 2007 16:56 utc | 23

Vanity Fair: Billions over Baghdad

But after the money was delivered to Iraq, oversight and control evaporated. Of the $12 billion in U.S. banknotes delivered to Iraq in 2003 and 2004, at least $9 billion cannot be accounted for. A portion of that money may have been spent wisely and honestly; much of it probably wasn’t. Some of it was stolen.
Once the money arrived in Iraq it entered a free-for-all environment where virtually anyone with fingers could take some of it. Moreover, the company that was hired to keep tabs on the outflow of money existed mainly on paper. Based in a private home in San Diego, it was a shell corporation with no certified public accountants. Its address of record is a post-office box in the Bahamas, where it is legally incorporated. That post-office box has been associated with shadowy offshore activities.
…

Plus a Q&A with the authors of the piece: The Booty Vanishes

. The thing here is, nobody wants to talk about it in any way. And it does raise the question: Is there something beyond the waste, the fraud, and the basic corruption? Was some of this money used for purposes we can’t even imagine? You just don’t know. Because of the unique nature of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which wasn’t an entity of the United States government and wasn’t an entity of the United Nations, it was not subject to the normal auditing and budgetary constraints of a lot of our defense programs. There was even less oversight with them than in the usual process, and that’s why the fraud was so rampant, and the corruption, and so forth. Add to that the chaos in Baghdad and Iraq that first year. Oh gosh, that must seem like the good ol’ days now. The other thing that struck us is that nobody in any kind of official capacity seems to be upset by this. And that’s amazed us as much as anything.

Posted by: b | Sep 6 2007 17:30 utc | 25

Uh, you may want to sit down for this one, pour your self a tall stiff drink, take a couple of deep long breaths, drink that drink, then pour another…
“Torture Bible” now online (you might want to get this file before it’s gone)
Psychological “torture bible” published in 1961 reappears online

If you were to begin researching interrogation, interviewing, and brainwashing techniques, you would eventually notice that one particular interesting-sounding volume appears over and over again in the relevant bibliographies: something called The Manipulation of Human Behavior, published in 1961 [by John Wiley & Sons].
Based on the compelling title and the fact that just about every publication in the subject area cites it, you would then probably try to seek it out for yourself–only to discover that it has never been reprinted.
Then you’d find out a bit more: the book is a compilation of seven research reports, and funded at least in large part by the United States government. You can even track down the table of contents online, and your jaw may drop when you read the chapter titles:
* The Physiological State of the Interrogation Subject as it Affects Brain Function
* The Effects of Reduced Environmental Stimulation on Human Behavior: A Review
* The Use of Drugs in Interrogation
* Physiological Responses as a Means of Evaluating Information
* The Potential Uses of Hypnosis in Interrogation
* The Experimental Investigation of Interpersonal Influence
* Countermanipulation through Malingering
These articles were written by the people who were paid by the US government, mostly in the 1950s, to research brainwashing and interrogation techniques by giving people drugs, placing them under sensory deprivation, hypnotizing them, etc. etc. Many of these experiments essentially involve torture and are likely to be widely regarded as highly unethical. This is fundamental research, and if there was any followup research done, it has not yet been published for public consumption.
This book is of enormous historical importance, and yet is largely unavailable. If you live in the United States, this is some of what your government was up to in the fifties. I doubt that their funding of these ideas stopped with the publication of this volume.

Also see, Biderman’s Chart of Coercion.’

Air Force psychologist Alfred Biderman examined the US prisoners from the Korean War to see why so many had been complicit with their captors.
Biderman codified the 8 tactics used to defeat human will and this is called
‘Biderman’s Chart of Coercion.’

A study was conducted in the 1950s after the release of US prisoners of the Korean War to learn about their experiences and the behaviors of their captors. Biderman’s Chart of Coercion was developed from that study and shows the methods used by captors to brainwash prisoners and force compliance. Several decades later, when more was known about family violence and abuse in relationships, it was recognized that for many people experience abuse the methods appeared to be the same.
This chart was adapted from Biderman’s Chart of Coercion to reflect methods of brainwashing in an abusive relationship. The second column was taken directly from Biderman’s Chart of Coercion, and the third column was adapted for abusive relationships. Parts of this chart may reflect your experience in your relationship.

Biderman’s Chart of Coercion
Isolation
Deprives victim of all social support for the ability to resist
Develops an intense concern with self
Makes victim dependent upon the interrogator
Monopolization of perception
Fixes attention upon immediate predicament; fosters introspection
Eliminates stimuli competing with those controlled by captor
Frustrates all actions not consistent with compliance
Induced physical and mental exhaustion
Weakens physical and mental ability to resist
Threats
Cultivates anxiety and despair
Occasional indulgences
Provides positive motivation for compliance
Hinders adjustment to deprivation

Demonstrating ‘omnipotence’
Suggests futility of resistance
Degradation
Makes cost of resistance appear more damaging to self esteem than capitulation
Reduces prisoner to “animal level” concerns
Enforcing trivial demands
Develops habit compliance

A shorter version of Biderman’s Chart of Coercion is DRTC.
(I remember this with a mnemonic device as “Dirt, see?”)
Disorientation = inflict intense stimuli to disrupt autonomy
Regression = push into a submissive role of seeking relief
Transference = offer the source of relief
Compliance = obtain cooperation in exchange for relief
Recommended book- ‘Coercion: Why We Listen to What ‘They’ Say’ by Douglas Rushkoff.
He does a good job of showing the commonalities in CIA interrogation techniques and corporate sales scripts used by car dealers, retail, and even cults.
_________________

Torture For Fun and Profit
If torture doesn’t work, as is demonstrated below, it must be done for reasons other than intellligence gathering. Those reasons may vary, though all of them must violate basic human dignity, not only for the victims, but for the perpetrators as well.
The CIA’s Torture Teachers: Psychologists Helped the CIA Exploit a Secret Military Program to Develop Brutal Interrogation Tactics
Oh, just in case your not sick yet:
I posted about this a few ago, and I was surprized that it didn’t get nary a comment, behold:
Torture school subjects children to lethal punishments in America no doubt…
Finally, Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault
Indeed, here is a soundtrack/youtoobz link to listen to while perusing the above info… Frank Zappa: ‘The Torture Never Stops’
Question: If by using the figure above i.e., Biderman’s Chart of Coercion, more specifically, DRTC is used on a micro individual level, how does one expand it via compare and contrast to encompass the micro level? E.g, the population? Grep wot I sed!?
Discuss…

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 6 2007 17:45 utc | 27

*Macro

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 6 2007 17:56 utc | 29

Chemical ‘WMD’ found at U.N. may be little more than cleaner
As usual, the retraction comes two weeks later when the sheep are busy looking at the next little morality play concocted for their eternal training and edification.
We should keep a scoreboard of these events and chart and analyze the outcomes for each new shocking story over time. Then we could find patterns — reporters, newspapers, the need for changing the topic, whatever — to these stories.
Would be a good tool to share with the wingnuts out there.

Posted by: Malooga | Sep 6 2007 18:37 utc | 31

Mortgages in foreclosure at record high

The rate of home loans in foreclosure rose to a record high in the second quarter of 2007 as more homeowners in California, Florida and other states could not refinance their adjustable-rate mortgages, a trade group said on Thursday.
…
It was the third straight quarter in which the foreclosure rate rose to a record-setting level and the worst is likely still ahead, the MBA said.

There are some five variations of headlines now at Yahoo news that say something like Stocks advance with economy optimism
There is no headline on Yahoo or Bloomberg that really explains why the markets are up on bad news. So we have to turn to the Canadian Press to learn: Fed steps up money market cash inflows amid ABCP rollover woes

The Federal Reserve injected $31.25 billion into money markets through three repurchase agreements on Thursday – the largest amount it’s injected in weeks in its effort to ease credit tightness.

Fuck. Inflation. Can’t. Let. The. Markets. Down.

Posted by: b | Sep 6 2007 18:39 utc | 33

Bwaahhhh – they put up 15 feet metal fences all around Sydney to protect Bush’s ass and then happens this:

Members of an Australian TV comedy show, one dressed as Osama bin Laden, drove through two security checkpoints Thursday before being stopped near the Sydney hotel where President Bush is staying.
The stunt embarrassed Sydney police who have imposed the tightest security measures in city history for a summit of leaders from Pacific Rim countries, including Bush.
Police arrested 11 cast and crew from the TV program, “The Chaser’s War on Everything,” and impounded three vehicles, the Australian Broadcasting Corp., which airs the show, said on its Web site.
Cast members put together a sham motorcade, hiring two motorcycles and three large cars on which they put Canadian flags. Police waved the motorcade through two checkpoints before pulling it over near the Intercontinental Hotel where Bush is staying.
Cast member Chas Licciardello got out of the car dressed in a white tunic and cap and wearing a long fake Osama bin Laden-style beard.

Posted by: b | Sep 6 2007 18:54 utc | 35

Haaretz on the bizarro midnight raid on Syria: The Question is, How Will Damascus Respond?

This could well be a one-off that will not develop into anything more, for the time being, but it does send shockwaves across the region. Every Arab media outlet is covering it intensely, simply because in the Mideast every incident can have unexpected consequences.
Syria, for its part, stressed from the first moment that the story broke that it is retaining the right to respond. The Syrian information minister further clarified that Damascus’ political and military leadership is weighing its reaction.
That Syrian response will determine considerably how the rest of the incident plays out. Since the end of the Second Lebanon War in August of last year, Syria has emphasized that it could well engage in “resistance” activities against Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights.
In the lexicon of Arab diplomatic language, the term “moqawama” (resistance) means violent but legitimate activity against Israel. Even so, it seems that Syria will stick to the usual course of action, namely a request for condemnation of Israel by the United Nations Security Council.
Many questions remain unanswered regarding details of the incident, among them the exact number of IAF planes that entered Syrian airspace, and where exactly they were when they drew anti-aircraft fire. According to the Reuters news agency, witnesses saw four planes close to the Syrian-Turkish frontier, while a lone report on the Al-Arabiya satellite channel said that the IAF plane was attacked in the region of Qamishli, not far from the Iraqi border.
It’s also hard to figure out the point of the mission. Syrian analysts, however, say that the aim was to examine flight paths inside their country which the IAF could use without discovery by Syrian radar.

Posted by: Bea | Sep 6 2007 19:33 utc | 37

There ought to be clowns.
Heehee.

Posted by: beq | Sep 6 2007 19:42 utc | 39

My collected works are available for the first time in print at Wolf DeVoon Lulu. Mostly theoretical stuff on liberty and the rule of law, addressed to future generations.
W.

Posted by: Wolf DeVoon | Sep 6 2007 20:41 utc | 41

In other news,
Look who else was behind a much celebrated *spontaneous* popular pro-democracy uprising:
Berezovsky wants “orange revolution” money back from Ukraine

Boris Berezovsky, the fugitive Russian oligarch, is suing Ukrainian politicians for nearly $23 million he says he provided to fund the country’s 2004 “orange revolution,” Ukrainian justice authorities said Monday.
(snip)

And here is the latest flare up of a chronic concern:
Is China quietly dumping US Treasuries?

A sharp drop in foreign holdings of US Treasury bonds over the last five weeks has raised concerns that China is quietly withdrawing its funds from the United States, leaving the dollar increasingly vulnerable.

Posted by: Alamet | Sep 6 2007 23:05 utc | 43

Regarding yesterday’s LOOSE NUKES story!!! Important update!

“…some disturbing information buried in an unclassified USAF budget document. Below you will find some of the significant text and a link to the entire ultra-dull report from the Pentagon. But here are some bullet points to consider (tin foil optional):
— We were TOLD these weapons were being moved to be decomissioned. THAT IS NOT TRUE! This current USAF doc says the missiles are being ‘refitted’ to extend their service life until fiscal year 2030! These are state of the art weapons. The service plan even includes upgrading the W-80 warheads to keep them IN SERVICE.
— If you read the first sentence below, you will see how the USAF decribes these weapons as “designed to evade air and ground-based defenses in order to strike heavily defended, hardened targets at any location within any enemy’s territory.” Humm… What sort of operation would require such ordanance?
— We have only 38 of these weapons, so 5 of them is a large chunk of the inventory to move at once.
— It is MY OPINION that some ‘patriot’ leaked the info about these weapons movements. A warning?
— It is also my opinion these weapons were being moved for some other reason, to Barksdale, and then possibly on to Diego Garcia, for obvious reasons.”

Also, don’t miss:
Description/JustificationCommittee Staff Procurement Backup Book (pdf).FY 2008/2009 Budget Estimates

AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile (ACM) is a low-observable air-launched strategic missile with significant improvements over the Air Launched Cruise Missile B version (ALCM-B) in range, accuracy and
survivability. Armed with a W-80 warhead, it is designed to evade air and ground-based defenses in order to strike heavily defended, hardened targets at any location within any enemy’s territory. The ACM is
designed for B-52H external carriage and there are currently 394 ACM in the inventory. The ACM fleet design service life expires between the years 2003 and 2008. A Service Life Extension Plan (SLEP) was
developed to meet an AF Long Range Plan requirement to extend ACM Service Life to FY30.
Range Commanders Council (RCC) test range safety requirements (RCC-319) and Department of Energy’s (DOE) redesign of the Joint Test Assembly (JTA) is driving modification of existing Joint Test
Instrumentation Kit (JTIK) test doors. Newly modified JTIK test doors will incorporate Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking capability and components removed from the redesigned JTA package.
Without modified JTIK doors, the ACM cannot maintain its DOE nuclear certification, support the W-80 warhead Life Extension Program (LEP) or conduct flight testing used to collect weapon system
reliability data.
The requirement exists to provide modified Test Instrumentation Kits (TIKs) to support Functional Ground Test (FGT). FGT will provide a critical capability to the Air Force and provide a means of testing the
ACM without the loss of an asset. These tests will provide important reliability data for Service Life Extension analysis. Kit modification and unique spare components will be procured to support tests in the
FGT facility.
Missile Breakdown: Active 38, Reserve 0, ANG 0, Total 38
UPDATE: Some reports today claim it was 6 missiles, but yesterday’s report claimed 5. FYI

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 7 2007 0:17 utc | 45

The two Germans, who plotted to attack US installations in Germany, puzzle the average American person quite a bit, I believe.
Combined with the fact that the NPD had more votes in Saxony than the SPD, the two white native born Germans (how US CNN expressed it), who were so inspired by Al-Queda hate that they felt compelled to convert to Islam, is unfathomable to most Americans. Who would have thought that young white German guys would be so hateful against the Americans as to support, train and plot with Al-Queda? That’s a question I heard over and over from Americans in my work environment.
These events bring out old suspicions and distrust to the forefront of their minds. Things they had buried in some dark subconscious back corners. Most Americans I talked to felt their opinions about the Germans confirmed: radical extremists, either sozi or nazis and now jihadist, that’s what they are. Good Lord, where are we getting ourselves into?
I had the feeling that they almost were sad that the Germans actually caught those guys and had to admit that the Germans did a pretty good surveillance job. That almost makes them a bit jealous of our police and intelligence forces.
Now I wonder how good the cooperation between US and German security forces really are. I was kind of proud, when I heard they had them under surveillance for six month and caught them right on time. At least that part was “a job well done”.
I just hope everybody keeps cool heads here.
It would be good, if Germans wouldn’t generalize their political criticism vis a vis the Bush government as to sound like American bashers and haters and would confirm ever so often that one doesn’t hate Americans.
It’s much too easy (and cheap, IMO) to just bash the US. There is quite an arrogance beaming out from many Germans in the US, who think they know “why America doesn’t work” and aren’t shy to “say what they think”, even when they haven’t been asked.
I don’t think that the average German knows how sensitive American civilians are and how much they dislike some aspects of German behavior. They find us as least as arrogant and pompous as Germans think Americans are bullies and show offs.
It’s needed to take a step back and take a look at oneself from time to time.

Posted by: mimi | Sep 7 2007 2:06 utc | 47

@ beq 39
then these should be clowns too .
But they aren’t. Both aren’t. Don’t you think? Look here . Extremist supremacist and Nazi groups have increased quite dramatically in the last six years. They are in the midst of us over in Germany and over here.

Posted by: mimi | Sep 7 2007 2:17 utc | 49