ABC-TV's Ted Koppel will dedicate a whole edition of Nightline to reading the names of US soldiers killed in Iraq [Only Iraq? Why not Afghanistan? - Ed. Makes you wonder right?]. Scrappleface muses that Koppel, in the interests if impartiality, next week will read the list of
"Iraqis who were raped, tortured and killed by Saddam Hussein's regime after President George H.W. Bush declared victory in the Gulf War on February 28, 1991."
Mr. Koppel said next week's Nightline will be a "special extended episode starting Friday and running non-stop until the day I retire from ABC."
Leftists still hung up in the Vietnam war are convinced that the way of assuring a coalition defeat in Iraq is to concentrate on the body count, be it the names or the coffins.
On March 23, the Defense Department proposed a rule saying that civilian contractors who accompany the military in battle areas can't carry private firearms unless they received permission by an order from the chief of U.S. forces in the area. That restriction has prompted heated discussions at the 45th annual National Contract Management Association convention.
Deidre Lee, the Pentagon's director of procurement and acquisition policy, whose office proposed the weapons restriction, said it's designed to settle one of the biggest questions facing contractors: "to arm or not to arm."
Lee said this is a life-or-death issue because "we don't have the military providing security for our contractors."
I hope this is not a response to stupid whining about "mercenaries."
PS: While we're on the topic, it is worth noting that the UN uses private contractors as police officers in Kosovo, as was revealed in the shooting incident some weeks ago. Are they "mercenaries" too, or does that term only apply to wars the loonie left hates?
The British Security Service MI5 is now officially on the net. The site is to provide information to the public about how to protect against security threats, including terrorism. It also, somewhat amusingly and in a very British way, tell us what the MI5 does not do. Regarding its members being prohibited from disclosing even trivial details to outsiders, it says,
But Section 1 is sometimes criticised as prohibiting disclosures even about such unimportant matters as the colour of the Thames House carpets (which are blue!) and the menu in the staff restaurant. These criticisms are misguided. Such matters do not fall within the scope of Section 1.
A bit sparse on specifics yet, but then again, MI5 very existence wasn't publicly acknowledged until a few years ago.
The new site has a welcome note from MI5 Director General Eliza Manningham-Buller I have actually mentioned her twiceearlier on my blog, both times reporting her warnings that the war on terror would be long, hard and involve probable successful terror attacks against the west.
I, at least, hope the "new Europe" can help bring some sense into the halls of Brussels, but I am not too optimistic. The free trade zone, the four freedoms, unification of standards, I am all for that, but a "United States of Europe" is a horribly bad idea that goes against the wishes of almost all Europeans.
