IHT: If Saddam were to go, experts still see violence. It’s going to be a mess.
General
21
Feb 03
This crazy world
The statement which was published by what is known as the Vilnius 10 on February 5 is considered as a way to help seven out of the 10 countries, which are not yet members of NATO, to join the Atlantic alliance, says the paper.
20
Feb 03
Secret Saudi Plan
Obviously, not much of a secret. What’s the real deal?
Secret Saudi Plan: Crown Prince Floats Islamic Occupation Force for Iraq:
The Saudis are proposing that after Saddam Hussein’s fall, Saudi Arabia should lead a coalition of Islamic nations to occupy Iraq while a transitional Iraqi government is established, with Turkey playing the leading role in the Islamic force.
Senior government officials told ABCNEWS that according to the Crown Prince, an Islamic occupation force would defuse the anti-American hostility that is sweeping the Middle East and putting pressure on moderate Arab governments that are allied with the United States.
The Saudis would then be free to crack down on the extremist Jihadis in the Kingdom who are allied with al Qaeda or are sympathetic to Osama bin Laden.
Right now, Saudis feel a full scale crackdown would look like the Kingdom is doing American bidding, at a time when President Bush is very unpopular there.
20
Feb 03
More GPS jamming jitters
Had a visitor to the site from some desk jockey in the army.
20 Feb, Thu, 12:24:18 trac.wsmr.army.mil Netscape 4 Windows 2000
For a search on the Russian military’s cheap GPS jammer, the AviaConversia (150-200km effective radius in the size of a large flashlight). trac.wsmr.army.mil is the domain name of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command Analysis Center, White Sands Missile Range.
TRAC at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico (TRAC-WSMR) conducts a wide variety of analyses for TRADOC and HQDA, and DoD agencies, including military system Program Managers and the Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC). TRAC-WSMR is responsible for highly resolved analysis of brigade and battalion operations, life cycle costs of new equipment, and training effectiveness. TRAC-WSMR develops, maintains, verifies and validates, and exports a suite of combat models and simulations to support analyses of battlefield functional areas and weapon systems, and stimulation of field exercises, experiments, and training; and operational testing of new equipment under development.
I guess they’re simulating what would happen if someone cracked military encryption and blocked their GPS guidance systems which would cause confusion and increase friendly fire accidents and expose assets to threat.
20
Feb 03
Odds and ends
After the rapid collapse of the Taliban in Afghanistan was achieved with minimal allied losses, senior officials are concerned that President George W Bush should prepare the public for what one called “the very real possibility that [Iraq] will not look like Afghanistan”. Afghanistan was nothing. This will be very bad. It’s unfortunate we have leaders who are foolish and egomaniacal.
But the most urgent problem facing the US in its push to war is Turkey, traditionally a staunch Nato partner. The Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, indicated yesterday there was little sign of the impasse being resolved quickly, saying there were no plans for a parliamentary vote this week on allowing US troops on Turkish soil.
Failure by Turkey to open its bases to American troops would mean that US transport ships carrying thousands of servicemen and essential equipment would have to be re-routed to the Gulf or elsewhere. Any diversionary attack against Baghdad from the north may then have to be scaled back dramatically. The block on US servicemen might also leave the Kurds vulnerable to an Iraqi counter-attack.
Still, an administration official said other issues were in contention in negotiating with the Turks — namely, the future of the Turkish military presence in northern Iraq and the Turkish desire for some oil concession at Kirkuk in Iraq.
“The Turks want to control the operation at Kirkuk, at a minimum through a pipeline,” the official said. “That’s in a way a better deal for them than American aid.”
But Mr. Bush and his aides have often said Iraq’s oil is for the benefit of the Iraqi people, and they realize that any discussion of guaranteeing access to the oil to Turkey — or any other nation — would make it appear that the war is about oil rights, not weapons of mass destruction. This is too funny.
There is though one major obstacle to this happening: oil. Oil is not just by far the most important commodity traded internationally, it is the lifeblood of all modern industrialised economies. If you don’t have oil, you have to buy it. And if you want to buy oil on the international markets, you usually have to have dollars. Until recently all OPEC countries agreed to sell their oil for dollars only. So long as this remained the case, the euro was unlikely to become the major reserve currency: there is not a lot of point in stockpiling euros if every time you need to buy oil you have to change them into dollars. This arrangement also meant that the US effectively part-controlled the entire world oil market: you could only buy oil if you had dollars, and only one country had the right to print dollars – the US.
20
Feb 03
Pakistan air force chief killed in plane crash
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A plane has crashed into a mountainside in a remote region west of Islamabad, killing Pakistan’s air force chief and all 16 others on board.
Air force chief Mushaf Ali Mir, his wife Bilqees, and several other top-ranking officials were killed in the crash in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. …
In 1988, Pakistan’s then-president, General Mohammad Zia- ul-Haq, died in a mysterious crash of a military plane in the Punjab province. The cause of the crash was never established.
I’m not saying that this wasn’t an accident like the article suggests, however accidents don’t generally happen to high-ranking members of a nation’s military.
- Air Combat Command News Service: Pakistan air chief marshal visits Nellis:
“We hope to have more mutual understandings and interests with the United States,” Mir said. Mutual interests include fighting terrorism, he said. “This is a global evil and we have got to fight it together,” Mir said. “We are also the victims. This is very important to our country and it is my government’s goal to support America fully so global terrorism is taken out from the entire world.” - Air Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir’s Interview: Islamabad, The News, September 5, 2001:
“We are establishing deterrence at all levels, though Americans are supplying weapons to India through proxy as India is buying huge military weapons from Israel,” he said: “Events put us slightly behind, but we are still better than India.” - Growing Discontent, Army Unhappy, ISI vs FBI , PAF Officers Happy:
Khawaja had come out with his fully documented story two weeks ago in SA Tribune, alleging that PAF Chief Mushaf Ali Mir had snatched his genuine business and given it to a friend because kickbacks of some five million dollars were being offered by the Indonesian suppliers. Khawaja knew about it because he was the one to receive the Emailed bribes offer in the first place. - Israel using India for sensitive Pakistan Data: ISLAMABAD June 11 (PNS): Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall Mushaf Ali Mir Monday told journalist that the downed unmanned air vehicle (UAV), Searcher Mk II, by Pakistan Air Force near Kasur was in fact an Israeli plane which had taken off from India.
20
Feb 03
Quotation of the Day
This not really a quotation per se. I was just recently reminded of the powerful and vital language of the Declaration of Independence. It almost makes it seem like 1776 was just yesterday.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.“
20
Feb 03
A military machine run amok
New Scientist.com: US plans for mini-nuke arsenal revealed:
A leaked Pentagon document has confirmed that the US is considering the introduction of a new breed of smaller nuclear weapons designed for use in conventional warfare. Such a move would mean abandoning global arms treaties.
The document, obtained by the Los Alamos Study Group, a nuclear weapons watchdog based in the US, describes plans for a gathering of senior military officials and nuclear scientists at the US Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska, during the week of 4 August. …