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Monday, February 03, 2003
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Personally, I think we are making a mistake and not focusing on urban warfare scenarios in Iraq. If I was Saddam, I would be paying top $$ not for weapons of mass destruction but for urban warfare experts from Chechnya (total different spin from what you get from the big pubs). Chechen tiger teams (sniper, SMG, and RPG) were able to shut down Russian armoured columns and prevent a coup de main (within this context, it is a rapid siezure of a city by advancing mechanized forces) of Grozny.
One thing most people don't realize about the last Gulf War. At the end of the war, Baghdad was basically intact. We avoided casualties it by not confronting it (lots of people made assumptions to the contrary).
If Saddam concentrates his forces at the periphery, we win quickly. If he learned anything from the last Gulf War and Grozny, we will need to fight for urban real-estate. Our bet: is Saddam stupid or smart? He may be smart politically, but can that intelligence translate to military smarts? Will he build Chechen-style tiger teams?
Of course, I won the bet with my friends that Saddam would survive the last war intact. They all thought we would take the country (as well we should have). [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
There's also the lesson of Mogadishu, which is that if you send soldiers into a foreign city with orders to capture somebody, the people who live in that city are likely to object. Even if they don't care about the person you're after, they might just object so much to foreign soldiers invading their city that they all turn out to fight you.
10:57:03 PM 
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This past Saturday I went to the range with my new Smith and Wesson Model 1917. This particular revolver was made for the Army in 1918--Colt wasn't able to make enough M1911s, so some .45 ACP revolvers were purchased to make up the difference. It's in very good condition with all original parts, although the lanyard loop on the butt is missing.
I found that the pistol is very accurate, easily on par with my M1911 (which was also made in 1918 but has been refurbished since). It was easy to shoot accurately single-action, but the double-action trigger pull was so heavy it was hard to hold steady. In fact, after a short time my finger was so tired that I simply could not fire it double-action--I was forced to fire single-action instead. I'll investigate whether the trigger pull can be lightened.
The recoil of the .45 ACP cartridge is significantly heavier than in the various semi-auto pistols I've fired. That's not surprising, since there's no slide absorbing some of the recoil force. I found that the recoil actually pushed the pistol down in my hand--I'll have to practice more to get used to it.
Because .45 ACP is a rimless cartridge, the M1917 uses a moon clip to hold them at the base. All six round are loaded and ejected at the same time, which makes it very quick to load. Loading the cartridges into the moon clips proved rather tiring, though. It was actually very difficult to load the sixth round--I'd purchased a tool for unloading moon clips, and now it seems I need one to load them as well.
Because it uses the same ammo as my main carry pistol it makes a good backup. In theory I could carry both, but the six inch barrel of the M1917 really makes it too long for normal carry. Cutting the barrel down to four inches would help, but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea.
I also tried a Heckler and Koch USP in .45 ACP, but I didn't like it that much. It's a very bulky pistol (inevitable in a .45 with a double-column magazine), and the trigger was terrible. It had a springy feel that reminded me of the ping-pong ball guns I played with as a child. I also didn't like the way that pushing down to hard on the safety decocked it--this struck me as an incredibly bad idea. The sights and accuracy were just fine, though.
7:48:20 PM
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Suicide 101: Lessons Before Dying. On the alt.suicide.holiday website, suicide isn't taboo -- it's 'a choice.' The site advises suicidal users how to end their lives and has been linked to at least 10 deaths. Relatives say the forum encourages people to kill themselves. First in a series by Julia Scheeres. [Wired News]
It's obvious that "alt.suicide.holiday" is the name of a newsgroup, not a website. At any rate, it sounds like the newsgroup is providing a valuable service--although it's so politically incorrect that I doubt "free speech advocates" like the ACLU would do anything if the government tried to censor it.
1:21:45 PM
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Hyperactive Debate. Michael Fumento, an occasional Reason contributor, has just published an article in The New Republic; it's not simply a defense... [Hit & Run]
More on the debate over "Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder" and the forced drugging of children who are diagnosed with the "disorder." One of the comments to this post is particularly good:
I'm just glad I managed to get out of the gummint schools' mind control cult before ADHD and ritalin came into fashion. I might be walking around muttering to myself: "I'm GLAD to be a Beta. Gammas are so stupid, and Alphas have to work so frightfully hard..."
For those whose knowledge of literature comes from a government school, the author is quoting Brave New World, a book written in 1931 describing a utopian society which many modern politicians regard as some sort of ideal to work towards.
1:18:54 PM
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Kings of the High Frontier, by Victor Koman. Just two days ago, Friday, I received by mail my only copy of a book I'd lent out to a... [Survival Arts]
Koman's characters take that risk on themselves, as free men and women, and defy a government and its bureaucracy - NASA - that have no intention of allowing the final escape from tyranny that space truly represents. The viewpoint characters (there are quite a few of them) explore some wild and wonderful - and mostly fairly plausible - escape vehicles. The engineering efforts alone are fascinating stories, but the characters themselves, by the end of the story, are well fleshed-out and memorable.
This book really deserves a much larger audience than its initial 1250 print run. It's the Unintended Consequences of the free space movement. Pick up your copy before it becomes unavailable... then carefully lend it out to your friends!
I bought the earlier online version of the book (a folder full of HTML files), and it is indeed excellent. It's particularly relevant now, as a second shuttle disaster plays an important part in the story.
12:43:18 PM
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Palestinian Sentenced for al-Qaida Study [AP World News]
The case of Nabil Okal, 29, marked the first time Israel has convicted a Palestinian of having ties to al-Qaida, the Israeli military said. Other Palestinians who allegedly worked with the network have been arrested but not yet indicted.
As a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas operating in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites), Okal, traveled to Afghanistan (news - web sites) in 1998 where he met a deputy of bin Laden, and attended a training camp, according to the indictment.
So now we know that Hamas is definitely connected with al-Qaida, along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. No doubt the government will ignore this fact as an unwanted distraction from the effort to conquer Iraq, which isn't connected with al-Qaida.
9:30:34 AM
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The Wall Street Journal stands accused of committing journalism. We plead guilty. [OpinionJournal]
We've also come in for some criticism from the usual suspects in the U.S., in particular one Orville Schell, dean of something called Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. The "pro-Bush" op-ed "reminds one of the old adage: 'If you don't like the news, go out and make some yourself,'" Mr. Schell told the Los Angeles Times. We remember when journalism schools taught students how to find a story, not ignore one because it disagrees with their political views. His students should demand a refund.
Indeed, journalism has a history of drumming up wars, as critics of the Wall Street Journal should now. The Spanish-American War was essentially created by journalists such as Hearst and Pullitzer, as every American who knows anything about history is aware.
6:29:54 AM
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BBC Bias. From a post in IsraelForum: "The headlines of any news-source regarding Israel are the most blatantly biased in the world.... [The news, Uncensored.]
Despite the title, this is actually an overview of anti-Israeli bias in the US media.
6:21:39 AM
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Samizdata slogan of the day. Hear a speech declaring a holy war and, I assure you, your ears should catch the clink of evil's scales... [Samizdata.net]
An ironic slogan from a site which has itself called for a holy war against muslims and Iraq on more than one occasion.
6:11:30 AM
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© Copyright
2006
Ken Hagler.
Last update:
2/14/2006; 6:58:44 PM.
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