Target Zone
We'll try to stay on target this morning, and we apolgize for yesterday's sockdolager of a posting. We won't do that again—at least, not until we get good and riled up.
They Are Expendable
Seems to be the message from the fun-loving bunch at Hamas to their gigglesome pals in Iraq.
 According to CBS News today, Hamas (who are responsible for most of the suicide bombings you read about) has been urging the Iraqi government to get with the program and follow suit. They say Iraq should "send thousands of attackers with explosives strapped to their bodies into a battle against the West."
Funny, but we do that too. In our case, the explosives are called "ammunition" and are normally detonated at some distance from the carrier.
We're Jammin'
And we hope you don't like jammin', too, says a worried Pentagon this morning. Turns out that the Iraqis may have obtained up to 400 electronic GPS jamming devices from a Russian company that sells these things to anyone worried about being hit by a "smart bomb."
 Turns out that our precision-guided bombs and missiles use the GPS system for targeting purposes. The jammers, one of which is shown at left, disrupt the sensitive electronics aboard an incoming piece of ordnance, causing it to go wildly astray.
- Officials said that if the smart bombs are diverted from their designated targets, no one knows what, or whom, they might hit instead. The worst-case scenario is they might fall on civilian sites and kill innocent people, causing collateral damage.
And then the Iraqis get an edge in the media war when they show all the civilian casualties. Rather amusing, really, when you consider that most governments take some pains to protect their populations, whereas Hussein is trying to ensure that we kill as many innocent non-combatants as possible.
We're Spammin'
Last week we mentioned our country's PsyOps campaign against Iraq, currently in the air-dropped-leaflets phase. In this CNN article, we learn that our military and "other U.S. government agencies" (my, I wonder who they could be?) are engaged a fierce e-mail campaign inside Iraq.
- The disguised e-mails, being sent to key Iraqi leaders, urge them to give up, to dissent and to defect. If they do not, the messages warn, the United States will go to war against them.
How about that? Spam as a weapon of war. CNN was told by "senior military sources" that this is the first time we've ever tried this kind of "information warfare campaign." Come to think of it, most of us can agree how tough it is to defend against unwanted e-mail, and how psychologically demoralizing it is.
Count Your Blessings
 Is what we say to the hundreds of people who were protesting against INS registration procedures in San Francisco yesterday.
- Facing a Friday deadline, thousands of men from 13 countries lined up to register with the INS under a post-Sept. 11 crackdown that has alarmed civil liberties groups and stirred fears of mass arrests.
Why did all these guys wait until the very last day to come in and register? We have a theory that the underground buzz is circulating a rumor that if everyone goes together at the last minute, INS workers will be overwhelmed and start rushing, making mistakes, and be more likely to let stuff go than otherwise. Unfortunately, what happens is that said INS staff get irritable, cranky, and more likely to make somebody pay—which would be you, Mr. Expired Visa-holder.
11:36:49 AM 
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Saturday, January 11, 2003
