News Post
I'm sitting here watching the NBC news, and there have been a number of interesting stories that deserve comment. In order of introduction:
Bush is sending more troops to Iraq, even though most of the generals I've heard interviewed (including Colin Powell, former Bush puppet) think it's a bad idea and Congress is not behind the idea. Plus, as far as I'm aware, the elections in November were a clear statement by voters that they wanted out of Iraq, despite all the dire warnings about "defeat" that the parties have been manufacturing. Bush'll be chattering tomorrow.
The second story gave an example of what will be coming out of this increase. US planes and helicopters were bombing a heavily populated neighborhood in Baghdad, killing 50 "insurgents" as the correspondent unflinchingly stated. Last time I checked, dropping 500-pound bombs in densely populated slums kills a lot more than just the intended target.
Next, the United States has decided it has the right to start dropping bombs and releasing special forces in Somalia while hunting "terrorists." The evidence the White House gave (and once again, presented unquestioningly by the media) was a grainy photo of a bunch of nutjobs prancing about in the desert. Supposedly they were training in Somalia. Therefore, we can bomb the country. The Somalis, who have plenty of experience with US troops (estimates of civilian casualties during the occupation are around 10000), are very wary about whether the US being even in the area. And of course, we just kicked out the only stable government the Somalis have had in nearly 20 years.
The final story I'm going to deal with is a story about military hardware. The Israelis developed a system (named TROPHY) that detects and intercepts incoming RPGs. They didn't go into much detail on the news, but according to the WP page it basically discharges a shotgun blast at the incoming projectile to disable it. The system would work great in Iraq, but it is being opposed by the US military on very questionable grounds, including such frivilous questions such as "does it offer 360ยบ protection?" and "does it autoload?" A demonstration was provided as an answer to the second question, and the first question can easily be addressed by mounting multiple systems on a vehicle. A more cynical (and probably accurate) reason for the oppostion was given by MSNBC, stating that the Pentagon is against adopting the system because they would have to then cancel a contract with Raytheon to develop a similiar system, which won't be ready until 2011 at the earliest. Once again, business concerns over all else.
So, there's the news for tonight.
Bush is sending more troops to Iraq, even though most of the generals I've heard interviewed (including Colin Powell, former Bush puppet) think it's a bad idea and Congress is not behind the idea. Plus, as far as I'm aware, the elections in November were a clear statement by voters that they wanted out of Iraq, despite all the dire warnings about "defeat" that the parties have been manufacturing. Bush'll be chattering tomorrow.
The second story gave an example of what will be coming out of this increase. US planes and helicopters were bombing a heavily populated neighborhood in Baghdad, killing 50 "insurgents" as the correspondent unflinchingly stated. Last time I checked, dropping 500-pound bombs in densely populated slums kills a lot more than just the intended target.
Next, the United States has decided it has the right to start dropping bombs and releasing special forces in Somalia while hunting "terrorists." The evidence the White House gave (and once again, presented unquestioningly by the media) was a grainy photo of a bunch of nutjobs prancing about in the desert. Supposedly they were training in Somalia. Therefore, we can bomb the country. The Somalis, who have plenty of experience with US troops (estimates of civilian casualties during the occupation are around 10000), are very wary about whether the US being even in the area. And of course, we just kicked out the only stable government the Somalis have had in nearly 20 years.
The final story I'm going to deal with is a story about military hardware. The Israelis developed a system (named TROPHY) that detects and intercepts incoming RPGs. They didn't go into much detail on the news, but according to the WP page it basically discharges a shotgun blast at the incoming projectile to disable it. The system would work great in Iraq, but it is being opposed by the US military on very questionable grounds, including such frivilous questions such as "does it offer 360ยบ protection?" and "does it autoload?" A demonstration was provided as an answer to the second question, and the first question can easily be addressed by mounting multiple systems on a vehicle. A more cynical (and probably accurate) reason for the oppostion was given by MSNBC, stating that the Pentagon is against adopting the system because they would have to then cancel a contract with Raytheon to develop a similiar system, which won't be ready until 2011 at the earliest. Once again, business concerns over all else.
So, there's the news for tonight.
posted by Jimmy at 6:48 PM
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