http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ "endearingly macho" --Mark Steyn "wonderfully detailed analysis" --John Allemang, Globe and Mail en-us 2004-05-06T19:06:42-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_06.html Against my better judgment, I've gotten sucked into this "Greatest Canadian" contest. It's certainly an eclectic list the CBC has offered up for us to choose from... any list that puts Canada's one political assassination, D'Arcy McGee, and Sarah McLachlan... 4388@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-06T19:06:42-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_06.html In my limited circle, Muslims are just as angry about this little atrocity as they are about Abu Ghraib. More, even. An unlucky Indian was in all probability among the seven illegal immigrants from South Asia who were shot dead... 4381@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-06T09:51:51-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_05.html Bernard Cornwell, author of the Sharpe novels, is at U of T today, at Innis Town Hall at 7:30. I may drop in for a spell; I've liked the novels rather less as the years go on (and the TV... 4379@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-05T13:44:03-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_05.html Europeans are angry today apparently about the Iraq "helicopter video." I had thought everyone had seen this by now... I think I first saw it back in January. It's already aired on ABC, for that matter: just typical gun camera... 4378@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-05T12:54:44-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_05.html Wilbur's blog has more info on the British abuse photos, with a good link to photos and analysis. Still not seeing the slamdunk in either direction on this one... the photo "errors" are all individually explainable, although it is certainly... 4376@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-05T10:12:29-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_05.html Well, Tacitus has joined the large and growing number of bloggers who don't like me contaminating their fan-club comment threads, so you get to hear my thoughts on his Canadian Airborne Regiment analogy here. The argument is that disbanding the... 4373@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-05T00:34:03-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_04.html Foreign jihadists and terrorists may still lurk, but local populations are more likely to turn them INTO a security force whose presence they consider legitimate. --Fred Kaplan, today. I know what he means, that they'd "turn them in TO a... 4372@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-04T22:05:37-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_04.html I strongly suggest all readers take time to go through this. Even if you accept that civilians or military intelligence played a larger role than has yet been acknowledged in Abu Ghraib, the story within of a Military Police organization... 4370@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-04T21:15:32-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_04.html Apparently a rather sensationalist story of the Sadrist uprising was not quite accurate: At one point, a vehicle carrying four Salvadoran soldiers was caught outside the gate. Demonstrators overwhelmed its terrified occupants, seizing and killing one prisoner on the spot... 4369@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-04T17:01:10-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_04.html Phil Carter, May 1: The military should immediately apprehend these individuals [private military contractors at Abu Ghraib] and render them to Justice Department prosecution before a U.S. District Court in the United States. Nothing less -- not termination, not administrative... 4368@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-04T16:49:21-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_04.html One line in the Taguba report on the Abu Ghraib abuses refers to: Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees In a CNN interview, Sy Hersh elevated this to pouring "phosphoritic acid" on Iraqis... which isn't an... 4367@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-04T15:38:19-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_03.html One of my duties the last two years has been overseeing the first part of the Toronto-area Basic Officer Training course, which takes new army reserve officers from the street and tries to get the baseline military stuff into them,... 4358@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-03T18:44:14-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_03.html I'm as skeptical as the next guy, but MoD denials about the Daily Mirror photos of British soldier abuse seem hard to take on their face. The argument that the photos are fakes seem to be based on four things:... 4352@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-03T14:13:08-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_03.html No, you dope. I don't consider you an ineffective source of military analysis because you're "atmospherically optimistic." I consider you ineffective because you have difficulty with reading comprehension. To wit: Quoting an Iraqi source that says: It should be noted... 4351@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-03T13:29:30-05:00 http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/archives/2004_05_03.html Bush said his much-criticized speech from the deck of an aircraft carrier under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" had properly celebrated the achievement of "an important objective," the ouster of Saddam Hussein. "And as a result, there are no longer... 4350@http://www.snappingturtle.net/flit/ 2004-05-03T12:58:38-05:00