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Tuesday, January 04, 2005 |
Not An Insurgency, An Army
Not An Insurgency, An Army: "Shahwani: More than 200,000 insurgents in Iraq Iraq's insurgency counts more than 200,000 active fighters and sympathisers, the country's national intelligence chief told AFP, in the bleakest assessment to date of the armed revolt waged by Sunni Muslims.
'I think the resistance is bigger than the US military in Iraq. I think the resistance is more than 200,000 people,' Iraqi intelligence service director General Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani said in an interview ahead of the January 30 elections.
Shahwani said the number includes at least 40,000 hardcore fighters but rises to more than 200,000 members counting part-time fighters and volunteers who provide rebels everything from intelligence and logistics to shelter. "
(Via Oliver Willis - Like Kryptonite To Stupid.)
6:22:14 PM Permalink
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Military Commanders Opposed to Torture
Military Commanders Opposed to Torture: "
Sadly pulled from the 'it's come to this' file, a dozen retired military commanders have signed a letter to the Senate (.pdf) essentially to oppose the nomination of Al 'the Geneva Conventions are Quaint' Gonzales for AG:
Before Mr. Gonzales assumes the position of Attorney General, it is critical to understand whether he intends to adhere to the positions [on the legality of torture as a tool of U.S. military personnel] he adopted as White House Counsel, or chart a revised course more consistent with fulfilling our nation’s complex security interests, and maintaining a military that operates within the rule of law...
Mr. Gonzales’ reasoning [in the torture memos (.pdf)] was also on the wrong side of history. Repeatedly in our past, the United States has confronted foes that, at the time they emerged, posed threats of a scope or nature unlike any we had previously faced. But we have been far more steadfast in the past in keeping faith with our national commitment to the rule of law. During the Second World War, General Dwight D. Eisenhower explained that the allies adhered to the law of war in their treatment of prisoners because 'the Germans had some thousands of American and British prisoners and I did not want to give Hitler the excuse or justification for treating our prisoners more harshly than he already was doing.' In Vietnam, U.S. policy required that the Geneva Conventions be observed for all enemy prisoners of war – both North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong – even though the Viet Cong denied our own prisoners of war the same protections. And in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the United States afforded Geneva Convention protections to more than 86,000 Iraqi prisoners of war held in U.S. custody. The threats we face today – while grave and complex – no more warrant abandoning these basic principles than did the threats of enemies past.
Good stuff, that.
(Via JustinLogan.com.)
5:37:57 PM Permalink
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Close Up Images of Iapetus
Close Up Images of Iapetus: "Cassini made a relatively close flyby of Iapetus on December 31, 2004, and took photographs which show Saturn's third-largest moon in unprecedented detail. Iapetus is best known for its two-toned colour; one hemisphere is dark, while the other is bright. Cassini passed within 123,400 km (76,700 miles) of the moon, which is 10 times closer than Voyager 2. One possiblity for Iapetus' dark side is that it passed through a cloud of organic material which painted one side. Another idea is that the dark material originated from inside Iapetus, and was ejected in a series of volcanic eruptions. Hopefully this, or an upcoming flyby in 2007 will give scientists enough information to understand it better."
(Via Universe Today.)
3:37:14 PM Permalink
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© Copyright 2005 Steve Michel.
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