By now you have heard about the massive 'document dump' staged by the owner and founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange. The documents are being pawed over by the usual leftist crowd, including the New York Times and the Guardian, with the hope of finding documents that will embarrass the United States.
The NYT has published several articles about these documents this weekend that we point to at the Burg, and they in turn point to several original source documents, to which we also point.
Why?
It is not because we have secretly joined the Kos Kiddies, nor have we developed a sudden admiration for the NYT.
To be fair, they do have a few very good reporters. It's just that the others, and the editorial staff, far prefer really good creative writing.
Rather, as you'll see from the articles and documents, if this is the best the NYT and Guardian can do, the Wikileaks crowd has shot themselves in both feet.
Yesterday I pointed out to a few open minded liberal friends the "Bush lied" claims that I noticed Wikileaks proved true. Now that Dr. Steve has done the work for us, I shall point them to the articles. I shall have to work very hard to be tactful, because that's more effective when one wishes to persuade.
The documents presented so far prove two things. First, that Iraqis were and are far more savage to each other than Americans have ever been to them. The sectarian violence, the insurgent violence, and Saddam's violence were far more brutal than anything we ever did. You'll not get Human Rights Watch or the Lancet to admit that, of course, but the documents speak for themselves.
The Lancet hasn't been good at distilling truth from data for a while, nor at demanding the generation of honest data. Human Rights Watch wears polarized glasses -- or perhaps it was done with laser surgery -- and truthfully records what it sees.
Second, Iran has been stirring the pot in Iraq since the day Baghdad fell. They have been providing Shi'a militias and killers with weapons, training and support. Their strategic goals were to try and bend the country to their will, and to fight America. Iran sees Iraq as a battleground in that fight.
It will be no surprise to regular readers of Rantburg that the Middle East is a savage region of the world. It will be no surprise to know that America, never perfect, is far better than those who have ruled in that unhappy region.
And it will be no surprise at all to our regular readers that Iran is at war with us, and has been since the Shah fell.
Just wait until the regular readers of the NYT figure that out.
Exploding heads everywhere. It's going to be a bloody mess.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Just wait until the regular readers of the NYT figure that out.
#5
[Putting on a tin hat] Unless the NYT et al are laying the ground work to save FDR Part II with casus belli. However [the infamous However], it would be more like the Argentinian Junta trying to distract its population from the severe domestic problems with a foreign adventure [which would then cement another lefty Freudian projection which it traditionally accuses others of - though it would be entertaining to watch Code Pink spin on it].
#8
It would take a lot more troops than that to "win" militarily. And that won't happen. Our victory will come as the culture of Islam is destroyed modernized. In addition to participating in the process of modernization, the military will keep the worst elements from our door. But they can never achieve victory in the sense of Potsdam or Appomattox. The next victory will be along the lines of the Indian Wars or the Cold War. Long, slow, and ultimately unidentifiable.
Regarding this issue Glenn Reynolds asks the question cui bono? Leaking is the District sport.
#9
Just wait until the regular readers of the NYT figure that out.
Well, the Sunday NYT has an article up on what a weird little dude Assange is. As of right now, there are about 350 comments to the article, and a whole bunch of them accuse the NYT of running a "hit piece" on the heroic Assange (presumably in contrast to the public service articles the NYT runs on Palin.)
As for the papers: The purpose of their release is not to disclose Iran's role but to attack the conduct of the US and UK militaries. All I've done is to look at the summaries in the leftist media, but my reaction is: Is that all you got? Has any military in history looked so good after having its secure communications publicly dissected by the ideological enemy? The best the Guardian can come up with is that one Apache crew opened fire when the Guardian says they shouldn't have. Also, the army and Marines forgot to say "Mother May I?" before storming Fallujah. Bo-ring.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/24/2010 11:51 Comments ||
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#10
The purpose of their release is not to disclose Iran's role but to attack the conduct of the US and UK militaries. All I've done is to look at the summaries in the leftist media, but my reaction is: Is that all you got?
#11
Borrowing P2k's tin foil hat for a moment, let's overlay the leak chronology on the political chronology:
2003-2008 -- Evil Boosh launches war based on lies. Runs around Iraq stealing toys from Iraqi children and giving wedgies to old Iraqi men. Result: No Leaks. Robert Redford threatens to leave the country but forgets to do so.
2009- Evil Boosh is replaced as POTUS by The One. Seas stop rising.
Summer 2010- Unexpectedly, The One starts tanking and it becomes clear that the mid-terms will be tough. Result: Big Leak by a single dissident intelligence analyst, a/k/a The Lone Gunmen.
Fall 2010- Unexpectedly, The One keeps tanking and is taking Nancy/Harry/Bawney down with him. Result: Really Big Leak by the Lone Gunmen.
Add to this the fact that the folks being attacked by the Leaks-- the military -- aren't exactly part of The One's base and are possessed of the strange notion that the US is an honorable nation worthy of defending.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/24/2010 12:24 Comments ||
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#12
the folks being attacked by the Leaks-- the military
It is a really effective attack, too. I see the opinion of the American people in their military as a result of this leak...utterly unchanged. If you wanted to attack the military, this was a lousy way to do it. Almost no one's opinion will be changed as a result of this leak.
#13
I fully agree. But the left doesn't seem to have grasped the fact that a very considerable majority of Americans see their sons and daughters in uniform as heroes. The One smiles big when he greets soldiers but the hostility and suspicion just oozes out.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/24/2010 12:58 Comments ||
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#14
It will be no surprise to know that America, never perfect, is far better than those who have ruled in that unhappy region.
I remember the Sunni insurgents themselves saying:
"compared to Al Qaeda, the Americans are just and kind".
Then they joined the Sons of Iraq. Now they want the Americans to stay.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/24/2010 13:32 Comments ||
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WIKIA CITY, California--In the wake of the disclosure of gigabytes of classified military intelligence by WikiLeaks, UnNews has resolved to return to its position as the world's principal purveyor of dangerous disclosures.
"As for document releases that threaten the allied fighting forces," said UnNews publisher Morris Greeley, "we're sure we can do better. Gigabytes? We can give them--What comes after Gigabytes?"
Greeley added that the veracity of the disclosures need not be a factor in giving aid and comfort to the enemy. "Given the shrewdness of modern consumers of mass media, we feel that a mass dump of total bollocks would be equally effective."
The WikiLeaks data dump covers the period from January 20, 2001 through the same date in 2009--oddly, the exact Bush presidency. It portrays a chaotic and divided Iraq. Unbiased counterintelligence experts at the Associated Press have concluded that Mr. Bush was both ignorant and malevolent to send troops there, but that President Obama is both shrewd and guileless to leave them there, and probably should leave them there forever. The dump says that, compared to 2003, when Iraq had more tanks than perennial enemy Iran, democratic Iraq is at an 11-to-1 disadvantage. And now has one fewer nuke. The conventional wisdom had been that propping up Saddam Hussein against Iran was also both ignorant and malevolent. In short, the U.S. has been kibitzing there for two decades, and things are more screwed up than ever, which means we should do more.
UnNews administrators are currently inserting right-wing bias into this related old news article:
UnWikiLeaks and the media
WikiLeaks president Julian Melange, himself a veteran of the Spice Wars, said he released a redacted version to the wire services for analysis, but not the originals, which are only being released to every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the Internet. (Nifty Dune reference)
The U.S. Department of Defense, by comparison, got nothing. "They didn't want to talk about redaction, partial release, or even my newest recipe for Raspberry Shrimp," he said. "They insisted on no release at all."
The nature of the imminent UnNews data dump is unclear, except that it will be twice the size, in bytes, of the WikiLeaks cache. Some of it will be in hexadecimal, some will be animated GIFs that don't play, and some will be Zip files with bad checksums. "Far from harming the war effort," UnNews's Mr. Greeley explained, "this cryptic package might take so much effort for the terrorists that it will totally prevent them from planning their next attack on the West."
#1
Iff they didn't know it already or have thier own, many Muslims read SUN TZU, MACHIAVELLI, VOLTAIRE, etal. espec given that many Muslim young adults attend Western Universities includ ROTC.
Heh This is not an election on November 2. This is a restraining order.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/24/2010 11:55 ||
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#1
They don't hate anyone. They can't they're sociopaths. They just use people and make them useful to them and fight without principle against those who wish to constrain their power.
#2
I'm still thinking "Toxoplasmosis brain damage", as what they do seems to fit the pathology. It also close to matches the number of far leftists in the US.
#3
Very interesting about Toxoplasmosis. I must thank the Anonymoose for posting this, because I had no idea a seemingly insignificant condition for non pregnant women could cause that many issues.
Viktor Ivanov: "I'm afraid that the consequences will be catastrophic. Even the Netherlands, where they sell marijuana legally in coffee shops, they are now reversing on this. Because there, and everywhere, drug addiction is becoming stronger and the people who are addicted develop psychiatric deviations. They say, 'What does God do when he wants to punish a person? He deprives him of his mind.'" You couldn't just let anyone buy it. Not kids. Not folks in certain jobs. Not folks with over-usage problems.
But even at current prices it is certainly quite available, and folks who want it can easily get it.
What is the price for marijuana in the Netherlands? Are the Netherlands considering outlawing the drug or just further regulating its sales?
Russia may have an interest in us continuing to pour our treasure into criminal punishments for marijuana users, when it may be a far better course to just make the problematic folks do enough community service that it makes it too much of a pain to indulge in the habit.
As it is, the high prices for any drugs contribute to the producers, distributors and users committing crime to feed and fund their habits, and the war on drugs is contributing to high drug prices and all kinds of other related crimes that are tearing away at society. Whatever we are doing now isn't working.
If we aren't willing to spray marijuana and poppy fields with armored KC-10s filled with Agent Orange, we're going to have to decriminalize it.
Is Victor equating marijuana to Russia's opium problem that is a result of the US not going directly after Afghanistan's opium production? Maybe Russia could step in here. I doubt the US would do much more than whine a bit if they did.
#2
The Financial Times has an article on the Netherlands 'reconsideration'. If it pops behind registration, try googling 'Financial Times article Netherlands drugs'.
Let's drop the absolutist argument. We haven't stopped murder or rape with all the laws over human history, so should we simply drop enforcement because 1 - it hasn't effectively stopped and 2 - the enforcement results in both significant costs and in some cases wrongful prosecution? The practical intent is abatement not eradication.
#4
Putting as much pot in prison as possible, for the use of the inmates, has several advantages.
They spend all day stoned, not making trouble. So fewer guards are needed and they are attacked less often. They also fight among themselves less. If they don't want weed, offer them free tranquilizers.
Six months before release, they are sent to a "health prison", with no drugs, a vegetarian diet, exercise and lots of counseling. Those ex-prisoners that are unemployable can work and live at the prison growing food and earning minimum wage, with free housing and meals.
Though on the surface this sounds very hippie, the truth is that it keeps them out of trouble while in prison, and reintroduces them to society, or not, in a way to lessen recidivism.
#5
The Dutch have seen some problems as their neighbours haven't gone down the decriminalisation route, hence druggies flock to Amsterdam. Portugal has seen drug use decrease since it decriminalised - as Portugal doesn't yet have the same reputation as the Netherlands as a drug mecca.
But even at current prices it is certainly quite available, and folks who want it can easily get it.
Indeed - you can get the stuff anywhere, you just can't take it out in the open except in places like Amsterdam.
We haven't stopped murder or rape with all the laws over human history, so should we simply drop enforcement because 1 - it hasn't effectively stopped and 2 - the enforcement results in both significant costs and in some cases wrongful prosecution? The practical intent is abatement not eradication.
But as Portugal, and all our simple observations prove, it doesn't abate. In fact there's evidence for the opposite. And you can hardly compare drug taking to murder and rape. The state's responsibility should lie at preventing people doing harm to others; it's way beyond its sensible remit to prevent people doing harm to themselves. There's a word for infantilised society, where the state subverts individual responsibility, and that's socialised.
#12
Proposition 19 might be a good thing for Calipornia. It might keep all the stoners from electing the likes of nutjob politicians such as Barbara Boxer, Jerry Brown, and Nancy Pelosi/sarc on.
[Al Jazeera] There are thousands of reports of "foreign fighters" detained by US troops, but it is often extremely difficult to determine their identities. Many were arrested carrying false passports, or no paperwork at all; US forces routinely guess their nationalities based on accent, dress and mannerisms. Thus, while a vast number of foreigners are detained by the US military, only a small fraction are positively identified as coming from one country or another.
A review of the documents -- in which only the fighters with positive identification are counted -- suggests, not surprisingly, that Syria and Saudi Arabia were the main sources of foreign fighters for the Sunni insurgency. In 2004, at least 20 Syrian fighters were either detained or killed in Iraq. That number jumps to 55 in 2005, and then begins to decrease: 43 in 2006, 34 in 2007 (including several "facilitators"), 12 in 2008, and five in 2009. (These numbers, again, are obviously an underestimate: The US National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper in 2006 that counted at least 66 Syrian foreign fighters in an eight-month period in 2005.)
Still, the pattern reflected in the documents mirrors statements from US military officers: They criticised Syria for years for allowing smugglers to operate a "pipeline" of foreign fighters into Iraq, but began praising Syria in early 2008 for better co-operation. Admiral Gregory Smith told reporters in early 2008 that the flow of foreign fighters from Syria had more than halved since early 2007.
Saudi Arabia, Iraq's neighbour to the south, was also the source of a significant number of foreign fighters -- at least 58 of them were positively identified over the six-year period covered by the documents, plus seven high-level facilitators or financiers. More than 40 other fighters were also presumed to be Saudis, based on their accents or their names.
Fighters from Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan and Algeria are also mentioned in the documents. And there are a handful of fighters from Western countries: several from the United Kingdom, at least two from Canada, and at least three Americans.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
it all comes from their education in schools,mosques or the mighty koran!
Posted by: Paul D ||
10/24/2010 9:39 Comments ||
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Jordan is an example of how the IMF can screwschizophrenic, socialist-lite economies that are productive members of the global economy. Jordan is a small country in the Middle East with a desert, oil and other natural resources but whose economy is based on three characteristics: dough from Jordanian labor in neighboring countries, especially in the Gulf states, which are an important source of national income equivalent to 15-20 percent of the GDP; Jordanian exports primarily destined for the region, which in turn supplies the bulk of Jordan's energy requirements; and charity.
Excuse me, I'm confused. How is a country that could not survive without charity from the neighbors a strong, stable economy?
Thus, oil inflation in the 1970s facilitated substantial transfers to Jordan that contributed to rapid growth. Conversely, falling oil prices and associated recessions in the oil-exporting countries of the regionadversely affected Jordan in the second half of the 1980s.
The IMF and Jordan put the wood to the average Jordanian as part of an agreement between Jordan and the IMF. Nevertheless, a highly growing population and the unstable political situation in the region have been major impediments to immediately reaping the benefits of IMF-introduced economic reforms.
Ahh. It's all the fault of the Juices.
The first and second Gulf wars of 1991 and 2003 had severe disruptive effects on the Jordanian economy.
Sorry: the Juices and America.
Jordan's opposition to the 1991 Gulf War led to the termination of aid from regional countries and the expulsion of Jordanian workforce. The "returnees" boosted the population by about 10 percent. After the 1991 war, Iraq provided Jordan with almost all of its oil needs, part of it free and the rest at discounted prices. Since 2003, however, regional oil producing countries have provided charity to facilitate Jordan's recovery from the negative economic consequences of the second war on Iraq.
More charity. I wonder why? Surely it's not because the Jordanian royal family used to own Mecca and the haj trade. That kind of sentimentality would be shocking in the Arab world, especially three generations after the fact.
In this regional context and in view of its grave economic situation, Jordan agreed to a series of five-year reforms sponsored by the IMF. By 2000, Jordan was admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and a year later it signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States. Jordan was also able to bring down its overall debt payment and restructure it at a manageable level.
Check your clothing labels. Some of it will have been made in Jordan.
According to Dominique Strauss-Khan, managing director of the IMF, "The Jordanian economy has proved resilient to the global economic downturn, thanks to sound economic management and prudent supervision of the kingdom's financial sector." At the conclusion of his recent visit to Jordan in April 2010, Strauss-Khan acknowledged that "looking beyond the immediate task of managing the impact of the global financial crisis, the Jordanian government's plans as outlined in its National Agenda head in the right direction towards the implementation of political, economic and social reforms designed to facilitate the further transformation of the kingdom into a highly-competitive, knowledge-based economy."
What lovely verbiage, flowing nearly endlessly.
As noted, towards the end of 2008, the world witnessed a financial crisis, but Jordan has dodged a bullet. The Central Bank of Jordan has ensured the stability of the banking system while inflation, which indicated that the economy would not face major problems. In fact, the setting of 12 percent as a percentage for capital adequacy has preserved the banks from any financial problems and led to a near impossibility of bankruptcy. The world standard for capital adequacy does not exceed 8 percent. Right after the world financial crisis, banks were requested to disclose all their toxic papers, which amounted to $40 million, an amount not considered a major loss taking into account the profits of over $1 billion for these banks in 2008.
In response to the recession, Jordan is executing several major infrastructure projects to be financed by public-private partnerships (PPPs) to stimulate the economy. One of these is a nuke,
Another friend of Kim? Syria didn't do so well out of their friendship...
the first such scheme to be built on a PPP basis. Since the start of 2010, Jordan's fortunes have turned a corner. Remittance levels have stabilized, and tourist arrivals have picked up. GDP growth is forecast to be 4.1 percent this year, rising to 4.5 percent in 2011.
Additional plans are in line, like grand tourism projects in Aqaba as well as two mega water projects. The first is the Disi water project, which will tap an aquifer near the Saudi border and pipe it to greater Amman where some 3 million out of the kingdom's 6 million population lives. The second is the "Red to Dead" project, which entails pumping water from the Red Sea to the rapidly falling Dead Sea, and along the way siphoning water for desalination and also for the cooling of nuclear projects. These are massive, multibillion-dollar projects that require bribes and charity.
Israel's got plenty of money to spare, I hear...
* Antonia Dimou is an associate at the Centre for Strategic Studies of the University of Jordan and head of the Middle East and Persian Gulf Unit at the Centre for Security and Defence Analyses based in Athens.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
WIKIA CITY, California--In the wake of the disclosure of gigabytes of classified military intelligence by WikiLeaks, UnNews has resolved to return to its position as the world's principal purveyor of dangerous disclosures.
By Melanie Phillips
