Friday, May 14, 2004

Two interesting items from Reuters today.  First, the Iraqi general the US put in charge of Fallujah is proving difficult: U.S. patience also showed signs of fraying in Falluja, the flashpoint town west of Baghdad, after Mohammed Latif, the Iraqi general put in charge of security to end a bloody month-long Marine siege, said he had no plans to disarm insurgents.  Major-General James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division encircling Falluja, said time was running out for that demand, one of several by U.S. commanders, to be fulfilled. "Weapons are not the problem. They are easy to collect," Latif said. "What we need to do is rebuild our country. There is no need for American soldiers. I am sure the Americans would be happy to go to their homes.". Second, Bremer sets the conditions for a US pull-out (this is big): Paul Bremer, the U.S. governor of Iraq, did raise the possibility of an American pullout, saying the United States did not stay where it was "not welcome".   "If the provisional government asks us to leave we will leave," he said of a post-June 30 administration after the handover of sovereignty. "I don't think that will happen, but obviously we don't stay in countries where we're not welcome," he told Iraqi officials. [John Robb's Weblog] I don't think the "condition" is big, so much as it is amusing. These Crusaders are such bad liars that they embarrass themselves constantly. 12:41:01 PM    comment () Closing in on the Edge of Space. On May 13th, Mike Melville piloted Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne to an altitude of 40 miles. At 50 miles a USAF pilot would be granted their Astronaut Wings. The Federation Aeronautique International (FAI) defines the boundary of space as 100 kilometers, just over 62 miles. Here is the Scaled Composites flight report: Objectives: The third powered flight of SpaceShipOne. 55 seconds motor burn time. Handling qualities during boost and performance verification. Reaction control system use for... [Samizdata.net] This is great news! I particularly like the part where the computer crashed, and the pilot just flew without it until it rebooted. Try that with one of NASA's white elephants! 12:36:20 PM    comment ()

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/15/2006; 2:01:24 PM.