What Fires You Up?

7/30/2003

 

Remember Salam Pax? His blog here in Blogger/blogspot is here: http://dearraed.blogspot.com/ Today I found this lead from his post this week. He continues to report with his own voice. Recently he also became a regular correspondant for the Guardian Unlimited. This lead from Salam Pax was interesting reading today. Let's not forget that the US daily becomes more and more the "occupier" and the profiteer and a less-than-just war. Isam al-Khafaji, a former member of the Iraqi reconstruction council, explains his decision to resign http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1007288,00.html Monday July 28, 2003 The Guardian

"On July 9, with deep sorrow, I submitted my resignation as a member of the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council to US deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz. I did this with great sadness but, in doing so, I was able to leave Iraq with a clear conscience. If I had stayed any longer, I might not have been able to say that. I feared my role with the reconstruction council was sliding from what I had originally envisioned - working with allies in a democratic fashion - to collaborating with occupying forces."

BJ 7/30/2003 11:12:00 AM

 

Cellphones Mobile Phones? Not in IRAQ! Totalitarian Times pointed me towards am msnbc.com article about a new cellphone service provider in Iraq that given the public there access to telephone communication internally, a system that was never available to the Iraqi public, only the top Saddam Hussein administrators. It seems that there are competing technologies, one of which is sponsored by hopeful WorldCom who got the contract to provide phone service "following" the War. Since this contract is essential for the bankrupt WorldCom to net it millions and millions of dollars, the US military deemed it necessary to put pressure on Batel, the home-grown network who'd already put up millions of dollars in access technology. Of course there must be good reasons that the "freedoms" the US wants to give Iraq does not include phone service. Remember hearing about the satellite phones that some folks had to get messages out during the heavy bombing? Because of the US pressure to close down Batelco, these pricey and rare mobile phones are still the only phone service. It seems that the US would be putting forth a system based on old technology compared to the system used widely in Europe to communicate through a GSM communication standard that allows people to call between Middle Eastern and European countires without changing their cellphones or service. Here is what part of the msnbc.com article says: US Snuffs Out Brief Phone Fling -Firm

"The U.S.-led authority in Iraq -- which wants to hold a tender for three regional mobile phone licences -- asked Batelco to shut down. A renegade service provider could throw a spanner into its plans for a tender for the licences, among the most potentially lucrative contracts to be offered in Iraq. Iraq was frozen out of a global boom in personal portable phones by Saddam's secret state. But mobile phones sprang unexpectedly to life a week ago, delighting cellphone users who could make and receive calls around the world. Within days, mobiles replaced pricey satellite telephones as a major means of communicating abroad -- at least for foreign journalists and businessmen. Few Iraqis have suitable phones. Decrepit after years of international sanctions and badly disrupted by wartime bombing, landlines are not an option."

If WorldCom loses the millions dangled by the US administration, well that means the US loses those profiteer dollars too. Hmmmmmm.

BJ 7/30/2003 09:10:00 AM

7/29/2003

 

Lost Their Freaking Minds! I love this! The headlines are pretty much uniformly saying the same thing in much of the blogging world today - put best* (well, at least politely... heh heh!) by Nurse Ratched in her Notebook: It's official: Pentagon leaders have lost their freaking minds http://www.happyvalleyasylum.com/ratched/ Great stuff from my new favorite Nurtz! "Gambling on Terror" - what a story for the Pentagon and administration to live down. Er - I HOPE that they are having one heckuva spin party going on now. A peek through the pages of Nurse Ratched's notebook. Has she noticed YOU misbehaving? Happy Valley Asylum ... "Where the patients are in charge." The whole post is in http://resourcefull.antville.org and in connection with the earlier posts of today there on TIA and cybersurveillance - well somehow it is just fitting that they all go together! BTW, thanks Cowboy for introducing me to some great folks online this last week!

BJ 7/29/2003 05:25:00 PM

7/28/2003

 

A Lot of Empty Boots From Hellermountain http://www.hellermountain.com/the_latest.html Army Times.com publishes an online obituary with deaths of the servicemen and women in Iraq. There are some photos and local newspaper articles to go with many of them. Make of this what you will, but here is a snippet of some I found. As Hellermountain noted: a lot of empty boots. Armytime.com Obituaries ---Army Sgt. Juan M. Serrano, 31, of Manati, Puerto Rico; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Armor, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany; killed while changing a tire on an M998 vehicle, when it fell on him inflicting a fatal head injury on July 24 in Baghdad. Killed: July 24, 2003 ---Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class David J. Moreno, 26, of Gering, Neb.; assigned to the Naval Medical Center San Diego, 4th Marine Division Detachment; killed by a non-hostile gunshot wound July 17 in Hamishiyah, Iraq. Killed: July 17, 2003 ---Marine Lance Cpl. Cory Ryan Guerin, 18, of Santee, Calif.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Twentynine Palms, Calif.; died in an accident July 15 in Babylon, Iraq. Guerin was standing post on a palace roof when he fell approximately 60 feet. Killed: July 15, 2003 ---Army Capt. Paul J. Cassidy, 36, of Laingsburg, Mich.; assigned to the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion in Wis.; died July 13 as a result of non-combat injuries at Camp Babylon, Iraq. According to the Department of Defense, Capt. Paul J. Cassidy, 36, of Laingsburg, Mich. died July 13 from non-combat injuries in Camp Babylon, Iraq. His death is still being investigated, said Ben Abel, public affairs liaison for the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. Killed: July 13, 2003 ---Army Sgt. Jaror C. Puello-Coronado, 36, of Pocono Summit, Pa.; assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 310th Military Police Battalion, in Uniondale, N.Y.; killed in a traffic accident July 13 at Camp Edson, Iraq. Puello-Coronado was manning a traffic point when the operator of a dump truck lost control of the vehicle and struck him. Killed: July 13, 2003 ---Army Spc. Joshua M. Neusche, 20, of Montreal, Mo.; assigned to the 203rd Engineer Battalion, in Joplin, Mo.; died from a non-combat related cause in Homburg Hospital, Germany, on July 12. Killed: July 12, 2003 ---Army Spc. Christian C. Schulz, 20, of Colleyville, Texas; assigned to the 3rd Troop, 67th Armor Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas; died July 11 as a result of non-combat injuries in Baqubah, Iraq. Killed: July 11, 2003 ---Lance Cpl. Alan Dinh Lam, 19, of Snow Camp, N.C; assigned to the 8th Communication Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; killed in a non-hostile accident when a rocket-propelled grenade launcher being fired for familiarization malfunctioned near Kut, Iraq. The incident is under investigation. Killed: April 22, 2003

BJ 7/28/2003 03:54:00 PM