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U.S. Forces In Iraq Ban GPS Phones

Brian Enigma writes "According to a report last night on NPR and these two articles, Central Command has banned a particular satellite phone from reporters. It seems that it not only has a GPS--to help locate which satellite to use--but also (if activated) transmits the users location back to the phone company. Eavesdropping this signal is nontrivial, but still possible."

339 comments

  1. Good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And why shouldn't they?

    1. Re:Good. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      "And why shouldn't they?"

      There isn't a reason they shouldn't. They're doing the right thing. I think the point of posting this story was to rile up the knee-jerk "banning technology is oppression!" ppl. It's kind of like running into a crowd of Mac people, putting on a helmet, and shouting "3 gigahertz!!"

      *hoping the mods are open to a little humor today*

    2. Re:Good. by ImpTech · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or going to the Annual "Big Science Thing" and shouting "Pi is exactly 3!"

    3. Re:Good. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      "Or going to the Annual "Big Science Thing" and shouting "Pi is exactly 3!"

      Or going to a Linux conference and shouting "Grand Theft Auto 3!"

      Woo boy, I'm going to get beat up for that.

    4. Re:Good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or going to a Linux conference and shouting "Grand Theft Auto 3!"

      And watching everyone dualboot back to Windows? Not that interesting.

    5. Re:Good. by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 1

      and watch them all load WineX?

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
    6. Re:Good. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      "and watch them all load WineX [transgaming.com]?" .. and then complain that it doesn't work.

      You could have chosen your reply a little more carefully. :)

    7. Re:Good. by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 1

      Most people reported success, there were a few people that bought cards by companys that don't care about customers (ATI), and some people that dont know how to properly debug stuff. Either way, I personally play GTA3 on my PS2 and use my computer for purely productive things(...like counterstrike;))

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
    8. Re:Good. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      heh I hear ya.

      I like playing GTA3 on my laptop, though. I doubt that game will be on my GBA anytime soon. :(

  2. In related news... by neocon · · Score: 5, Funny

    In related news, embedded reporters are also being instructed not to carry Iraqi homing beacons, or gigantic signs saying ``US Troops Here ----->>''

    I mean, why is this news?

    1. Re:In related news... by napa1m · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously.. if the Iraqis want to know exactly where a lot of US troops are, what they're doing, and where thery're going, all they need is a TV with CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.

      I'm all for freedom of information, but the ammount of apparently strategically useful information being flooded over public airwaves is a bit disturbing.

    2. Re:In related news... by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      1. It isn't news because it's a story that's at least two weeks old.

      I had a heated discussion with at least one sceptic who didn't believe it was at all possible just here on slashdot only last week.

      Suffice to say that Twirlip of the Mists didn't believe that the US military would do anything to harm journalists going about their daily business of informing us about this war and that the journalists who first reported this story must have "misunderstood" what the Pentagon meant when they said that all independent transmissions were legitimate targets. Bless his cotton little socks.

      2. It is news because not all journalists in Iraq are "embedded" with US or British units.

      A journalists main objective (the bias of his or her parent organisation aside) is to get to the truth. It's pretty hard to do that if you only see what the US and British commanders on the ground want you to see. Just as you shouldn't trust everything that's broadcast by Saddam Hussein's propaganda machine on Iraqi TV, you also shouldn't trust everything that the mainstream press's embedded journalists report. To get a more accurate picture you have to do what the military themselves teach their commanders to do with their intelligence reports; look at lots of different news sources, filter out the garbage and actively search for the truth rather than just accept what's handed to you on a plate.

      Accordingly, the less superficial news gathering services and agencies have a lot of journalists in Iraq that aren't embedded.

      (Remember, CNN, NBC, CBS or whoever are commercial news broadcasters. It's in their interests to tell the American public what they believe the American public wants to hear. Nobody wants to eat their dinner whilst hearing about how a US patrol killed fleeing women and children, so the networks don't show them that side of the war.)

      Sorry if this seems like a rant but the amount of ignorance that the general public has about this war (and, unfortunately, this is especially true of the average American) is frightening.

      --

      "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
    3. Re:In related news... by ebuite37 · · Score: 1

      A scene in Baghdad..."Hey Akmed, look on TV, Fox News has that guy with the 3rd ID. Three of my wives spent a summer in that same place two years ago. I know exactly were that place is where they are filming. Let's bomb it."

      Of course the military is going to restrict their broadcast!!!!

    4. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I read the heated discussion, and thought you both came off looking like two pansies that have never and will never see action, sitting there passing judgement on a situation that you only peripherally know about. The guys that opened fire were quite possibly scared shitless by a fast moving vehicle coming at them. Put yourself there for a minute, jackass.

    5. Re:In related news... by Fnkmaster · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Oh come on. Nobody's going to deny that bad things happen all around, and they aren't all being shown by the American media. But you sound like a moronic Chomskyite when you start making claims that a "US patrol killed fleeing women and children". That's absurd on the face of it. Did bad things happen in Vietnam? Yes, under the stress of extended conflict, soldiers broke down psychologically and committed some real atrocities. I simply don't believe and there is no reason to believe that any such things have been done intentionally on the ground in Iraq. I have heard no such credible reports - and mind you, I don't consider Arab propaganda news sites that claim the US is intentionally targetting civilian marketplaces or using nuclear weapons in Iraq to be credible sources for anything. These are fodder for the rabid, irrational Arab street, and nobody with half a brain or a modicum of education would buy any of it.


      Maybe you should stop reading so much Chomsky and come back down to reality here. We all recognize the fallibility and bias inherent to any reporting, and that most commercial American media outlets are very cautious about specific images of dead people and blown up babies they are willing to put on the screen because of how the public would perceive it. But normal people don't see conspiracies to withold information from the American public around every corner - most journalists still have basic integrity and dedication to the truth, and try to police their own bias (sources like Fox News, who embrace their bias, excluded - but even then, at least you know it's there and can filter out all the gungho patriotic fervor stuff).

    6. Re:In related news... by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      A scene in Baghdad..."Hey Akmed, look on TV, Fox News has that guy with the 3rd ID. Three of my wives spent a summer in that same place two years ago. I know exactly were that place is where they are filming. Let's bomb it."

      Funny-- I have seen Fox, et al. show plenty of distinctive landmarks in their shooting (roadsign/bridge combinations, etc.) that could be easily used by Iraqi intelligence. So no, the US forces have not censored these things.

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    7. Re:In related news... by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      And something similar to this happened when the first Bin Laden video came out in '01.

      A US geologist who'd been in on the project to do a geo survey and atlas in the 70s said "I know exactly where those rocks are."

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1608272.stm

      "An American geologist who spent years in Afghanistan believes he has narrowed down the location of terror suspect Osama Bin Laden to sandstone caves south of Kabul.

      Jack Shroder, from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, reported his conclusions to US security agencies after assessing a cave that featured in a Bin Laden video released after the first US bombs fell on the Afghanistan on 7 October."

      Or as soon as an embed makes the comment along the lines of "These Marines have left thier NBC gear behind so they can carry more food and ammo..." Someone decides it'd be a good idea to slam some mustard gas in thier direction.

    8. Re:In related news... by Mac+Degger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ever since 9/11/01, the american media self-censors. And it has said that publically. Grandparent post isn't a 'commie', he's just telling it like it is...and if you accessed multiple news sources, you'd know that too.

      One real good example is a friendly fire incident (yet another one, but this one was quite hefty) that happened three days ago. Got one mention on the BBC, /none!/ on CNN and was blasted all over the middle eastern press. In my estimate, the casualty rate was anywhere between the UK and the middle eastern estimates...but at least I know it happened, unlike many in the US.

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
    9. Re:In related news... by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Times of London
      Sunday March 30, 2003
      US Marines turn fire on civilians at the bridge of death
      Mark Franchetti, Nasiriya

      THE light was a strange yellowy grey and the wind was coming up, the
      beginnings of a sandstorm. The silence felt almost eerie after a night of
      shooting so intense it hurt the eardrums and shattered the nerves. My
      footsteps felt heavy on the hot, dusty asphalt as I walked slowly towards
      the bridge at Nasiriya. A horrific scene lay ahead.

      Some 15 vehicles, including a minivan and a couple of trucks, blocked the
      road. They were riddled with bullet holes. Some had caught fire and turned
      into piles of black twisted metal. Others were still burning.

      Amid the wreckage I counted 12 dead civilians, lying in the road or in
      nearby ditches. All had been trying to leave this southern town overnight,
      probably for fear of being killed by US helicopter attacks and heavy
      artillery.

      Their mistake had been to flee over a bridge that is crucial to the
      coalition's supply lines and to run into a group of shell-shocked young
      American marines with orders to shoot anything that moved.

      One man's body was still in flames. It gave out a hissing sound. Tucked
      away in his breast pocket, thick wads of banknotes were turning to ashes.
      His savings, perhaps.

      Down the road, a little girl, no older than five and dressed in a pretty
      orange and gold dress, lay dead in a ditch next to the body of a man who
      may have been her father. Half his head was missing.

      Nearby, in a battered old Volga, peppered with ammunition holes, an Iraqi
      woman - perhaps the girl's mother - was dead, slumped in the back seat. A
      US Abrams tank nicknamed Ghetto Fabulous drove past the bodies.

      This was not the only family who had taken what they thought was a last
      chance for safety. A father, baby girl and boy lay in a shallow grave. On
      the bridge itself a dead Iraqi civilian lay next to the carcass of a
      donkey.

      As I walked away, Lieutenant Matt Martin, whose third child, Isabella, was
      born while he was on board ship en route to the Gulf, appeared beside me.

      "Did you see all that?" he asked, his eyes filled with tears. "Did you see
      that little baby girl? I carried her body and buried it as best I could but
      I had no time. It really gets to me to see children being killed like this,
      but we had no choice."
      Martin's distress was in contrast to the bitter satisfaction of some of his
      fellow marines as they surveyed the scene. "The Iraqis are sick people and
      we are the chemotherapy," said Corporal Ryan Dupre. "I am starting to hate
      this country. Wait till I get hold of a friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get
      hold of one. I'll just kill him."

      Original URL: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-62825 8,00.html, currently doesn't work.

      --
      Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
    10. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahhhh...nothing like good ol' objective journalism...

    11. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I didn't believe this, and assumed it was a troll or some propaganda, but it is covered in other places, such as The Scotsman.

      The U.S. Marine Corps blindly firing into carloads of civilians is *not a good look*.

      And the (mainstream US) media not even mentioning stuff like this is almost as bad.

    12. Re:In related news... by Fnkmaster · · Score: 1
      I didn't believe this, and assumed it was a troll or some propaganda, but it is covered in other places, such as The Scotsman [thescotsman.co.uk].


      Yes, and the coverage it gets there is quite different. A carload of Iraqi civilians rushed towards a military patrol on a bridge in the middle of the night and was mistaken for a potential car bomber or hostile vehicle. Very different from what this article insinuates - intentional killing of Iraqi women and children.

    13. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      At the risk of pointing out the obvious, `self-censor' is a contradiction of terms. Every time you open your mouth, you choose what to say and what not to say. How is it `censorship' if you make one choice instead of another?

      No, really, what do you mean?

    14. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Uh-huh. And given the dozens of reports, even in the Middle Eastern media, of Iraqi Fedayeen militias firing on Iraqi civilians who tried to leave cities, how do you know that these were shot by US Marines?

      Eh? Did you go check the caliber of the bullets used? Or do you just always Blame America First?

    15. Re:In related news... by JordanH · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Thanks for that reference.

      It is important to get this news. You're right that American media isn't carrying it.

      Just curious. Does anyone know if the Arab media carrying the reports that Iraqi Military and Paramilitary are firing on civilians trying to leave Basra? I couldn't find any reference to it from English-language Arabic news sources on news.google.com, but then the English-language Arabic news sources don't seem to be much referenced on news.google.com, lately

      There were lots of English-language Arabic News source there a few days ago. Somebody mentioned this this here, and I have to say it does seem like these source have dried up on news.google.com.

    16. Re:In related news... by Wingnut64 · · Score: 1

      I don't think they are in a position to bomb anything, seeing as they have little or no air force. I mean we've shot down more British planes then Iraqi ones.

      --
      echo 'Header append X-HD-DVD "0x09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0"' >> /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
    17. Re:In related news... by j3110 · · Score: 1

      What you need is the LINK channel. They have a program called Mosaic that is news from around the world, about 4 times a day. They translate some, and some are broadcast in English. It's a great source for good news for those of you that haven't looked into getting it. I know some satelite providers carry it. DirecTV I think has it on channel 375 I am told.

      --
      Karma Clown
    18. Re:In related news... by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      Did you go check the caliber of the bullets used?

      Yeah, they should have found a body in a war zone that has been shot as opposed to killed by blast, one that just happens to have retained a bullet (not very likely with military rifles), dig the bullet out of the corpse, and then get out the calipers and measure the slug.

      How dare those journalists not do that!! They must be anti-american!

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    19. Re:In related news... by Malcontent · · Score: 1

      Only if there was an arabic news channel that broadcast in english or had an english web site. Opps wait a minute al jeezera tried and were shut down.

      --

      War is necrophilia.

    20. Re:In related news... by EzInKy · · Score: 1

      What happened to Who, What, Where, When, and How in journalism. That article reads like piece of fiction.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    21. Re:In related news... by UranusReallyHertz · · Score: 1

      That quote seems a very accurate description of what is going on in Iraq.

      --
      Smoking is an expensive, slow, and unreliable method of suicide.
    22. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      Hey, I'm not the one preemptively declaring that these civilians were killed by our side. Those who do wish to do so should provide evidence...

    23. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you to miss the point?

      A private individual choosing what and what not to say is an entirely different and separate matter from those organizations claiming to report the truth while removing large portions of it. They censor their own reporting of the truth.

      A child of five could grasp that.

    24. Re:In related news... by ftobin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This kind of story perfectly illustrates why combatants dressing as civilians is morally apprehensible; it makes the innocent civilian population more suspect to this sort of attack.

    25. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Crap. One typo on an HTML character, and everything goes to hell. That'll teach me to use preview.

      Are you trying to miss the point?

      A private individual choosing what and what not to say is an entirely different and separate matter from those organizations claiming to report the truth while removing large portions of it. They censor their own reporting of the truth.

      A child of five could grasp that.

    26. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      Umm, no. What you describe is not `censorship'. If I decide what to discuss, or what to use my money to put on TV, that's free speech -- the opposite of censorship. If the government tries to tell me what to choose to discuss, that would be censorship.

      But more than that, in addition to not being `censorship', what you describe is entirely normal and entirely desirable. The entire function of a reporter is to distill a day or several days worth of events in to a five-to-twenty minute reportage. This necessarily involves choosing what to focus on. When I have time to read all of what congress discussed in a given day, I go read the congressional record. In the far greater number of cases where I do not have that time, I rely on a wide range of news sources to give me that information.

      Don't like what a particular network chooses to focus on? Change the channel! This is your right, just as it is the right of a broadcaster to focus on the news which he considers important.

      Not sure if `a child of five could grasp that', but in a free society, not all important concepts can be reduced to things a child of five (or you, perhaps) can grasp.

    27. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is important to get this news. You're right that American media isn't carrying it.

      I read a much longer version of this story in the rabidly pro-war NY Post (print version only, oddly enough). The article also talks about the carnage in a Marine APC hit by a rocket and a Marine shooting a woman.

    28. Re:In related news... by Nanoda · · Score: 1

      Self-censorship is when you want to, and can, say something, but don't. Why would you do this? How about this: CNN reports something the current administration doesn't like very much. CNN finds that their reporters don't get their questions answered as often anymore. CNN falls behind on domestic reporting. All because they ran something that only a few people had interest in watching anyways. Might as well turf it.

      This phenomenon is/was hotly debated in the case of Hong Kong reverting to Chinese rule. It's claimed news was ditched to avoid attracting gov't attention that might impose more strict censorship, what I mentioned above, or other.

      Any time you bite your tongue to curry favour, there it is. The difference is that disclosing information isn't your entire job. For others it is.

    29. Re:In related news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reprehensible.

    30. Re:In related news... by Evil+Adrian · · Score: 1

      If presenting half of the truth to fulfill your own agenda is not censorship, then it is lying.

      Both have the same effect; the truth is simply not being presented.

      --
      evil adrian
    31. Re:In related news... by ckedge · · Score: 3, Informative
      .
      Here is another article found using Google News that confirms the story:

      http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=37892200 3

      In An Nasiriyah, the fear created by the attack had more tragic consequences. Bodies of men, women and children, including two babies, lay in a ditch next to the wreckage of burnt-out vehicles on a bridge being held by coalition forces.

      The victims, believed to be trying to escape heavy artillery fire, made the mistake of moving at night across a bridge crucial to the coalition's supply lines and were killed by US Marines.
      That is a damn shame for sure. But I wouldn't go out driving around in vehicles in the middle of a war zone in the dead of night...
    32. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And again, to call your choice of what you say `censorship' is an act of doublespeak of which Orwell's MiniTrue would be proud indeed.

      Of course you choose what you say based on your audience. If you say `I eat puppies' in polite company you will be stared at. This doesn't mean that you have been `censored' from saying it. As long as you make the choice, however, you have not been censored.

    33. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Umm, no. Summarizing events necessarily results in loss of detail.

      Or are you suggesting that every time you take less than eight hours to answer the question `what did you do at work today' you are lying?

    34. Re:In related news... by cheezedawg · · Score: 2, Informative

      So is this Saudi news site not good enough?

      http://www.arabnews.com

      This series from a reporter that managed to get inside of Iraq is pretty interesting. That link is to part 2 of the daily series. Notice that no matter how critical that guy is about the US, when the bullets start flying, there is no doubt in his mind who the good guys and the bad guys are.

      --
      "The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
    35. Re:In related news... by Malcontent · · Score: 1

      "So is this Saudi news site not good enough?"

      I didn't know I was limited to just one.

      --

      War is necrophilia.

    36. Re:In related news... by spickus · · Score: 1

      "That is a damn shame for sure. But I wouldn't go out driving around in vehicles in the middle of a war zone in the dead of night..."

      Don't confuse the issue with logic.

      --
      Indecision is the key to flexibility.
    37. Re:In related news... by shdragon · · Score: 1
      Self-censorship is not a contradiction. Censor(v) merely means to examine and expurgate. Every time you speak, you achieve self-censorship if your intentions are to withold information of value to your enemy.

      counter-intelligence achieved by banning or deleting any information of value to the enemy
      Princeton Review

      To answer your question directly, it is generally considered censorship to make repeated, deliberate choices that fail to give the audience a complete and honest representation of the events while at the same time making claims as such.
      --
      "...we dont care about the economics; we just want to be able to hack great stuff."
    38. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      If `self-censor' were to mean anything at all, it would still be a term so vague as to be useless. Every time you open your mouth, you choose what to say. To try to assign some negative connotation to this choice is downright absurd.

      Likewise, a network by definition cannot report every event which occurs -- to do so would require it to broadcast twenty-four hours a day on as many channels as it had reporters, and would still be open to accusations of selectivity, since those reporters cannot be in every place at every time. So, networks select. To call this selection `censorship' is to trivilaize the very real censorship which is carried out by repressive governments in many parts of the world -- but demonstrably not here.

    39. Re:In related news... by zsmooth · · Score: 1

      Only if there was an arabic news channel that broadcast in english or had an english web site.

      You only asked for one.

    40. Re:In related news... by shdragon · · Score: 1

      neocon,
      First, let me praise you for responding intelligibly (a rare occurence here). Now, while I can appreciate your belief that self-censor is vague & useless, I believe that the networks selection (the choices they have made & continue to make) is self-censorship as the view of events which they purport to be whole story are not. It is not the act of selection but the spirit behind it that makes it self-censorship.

      It is in my view and many others here, that the freedom of the press, freedom to not take things at face value, freedom to find out what the real intentions, motives, and beliefs is not being exercised which angers so many on here. And though I respect your opinion to consider this trivial, I do not agree. Governments are not the only ones who censor materials.

      --
      "...we dont care about the economics; we just want to be able to hack great stuff."
    41. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      There are two parts of your post I'd like to respond to. First is the continuing question of the term `self-censorship'. I continue to hold that this term remains meaningless, since what you see as `self-censorship' is no different a process than what you do every time you open your mouth. To call this `censorship' is, let me repeat, an attempt to put a negative spin on a positive fact (that we select what to say instead of babbling non-stop), and an insult to all those around the world who are suffering under real censorship.

      The second issue is that of `honesty' in the media. Basically, you are asserting here that the press is explicitly promoting a picture of events different from what they believe to be reality. I just don't see this. What I do see is a wide range of different publications with honest differences as to what the facts actually are, each doing their best to present the facts as they see them.

    42. Re:In related news... by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Not to detract from your main point, but bomb it with what?

    43. Re:In related news... by shdragon · · Score: 1
      I do not hold the process of selection to be censoring, but the reasoning behind the selection to be censoring. Also, though self-censorship may not be something you believe in, it would be foolish to say that this word has no meaning. A quick search on google of self-censorship yields over 43,000 results. Censorship is not merely the act of selection. While it may contain the process of selection, that process is just a piece of what makes up censorship.

      I am disappointed in the media at large for their failure to not question our elected represenatives. I see large media conglomerates internalizing values, something I see as a more realistic threat to our freedom than state censorship. I would like to give you a small selection on self-censorship in the Czechoslovakia from someone who lives there:

      "To be honest with you, there were no censors in sight", explained one former editor of an important daily in Prague. "We knew what we had to write, what the party line was. We knew our limits when we wanted to criticize something. Nobody had to bother to stand behind our back. We censured ourselves."

      In fact, journalists were expected to be critical of the system. They were encouraged to bash low-level corruption and other minor negative elements of the system. As long as they kept reminding their readers that the system itself was superior, they were on the right track.

      There were no gulags in Czechoslovakia in the sixties and seventies, no concentration camps, no torture chambers. Those who crossed the line by choosing honesty and professionalism were not kidnapped. Parents of dissidents were not tortured before their eyes. There were no extra-judicial executions (unlike in our colonies in, say, Central America). Those who decided to tell the truth simply lost their jobs, became unemployable or were forced to become manual workers or window washers. Only a few of those who decided to stand against the system were imprisoned. They included several dissidents, among them Vaclav Havel.

      The system in Czechoslovakia functioned almost flawlessly. Extreme violence was unnecessary. Fear of losing privileges did the trick. Almost all journalists knew their duties: they knew what was expected from them. Mostly they didn't have to be told what to think and what to write: they knew it intuitively. They may have lacked integrity, but they weren't stupid, after all. And they had families to feed and houses to furnish!

      source
      --
      "...we dont care about the economics; we just want to be able to hack great stuff."
    44. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      With due respect, if the fact that that article appears in ZMag (the same publication which alleged `millions' of civilian casualties in Afghanistan) weren't enough to tip you off that that allegation is bogus, I'll clue you in: the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, as any student could tell you, and thousands of people disappeared in the purges that followed for years thereafter. And yet ZMag alleges that there were no consequences of criticizing the government in Prague in the sixties and seventies? Take it from someone who has several friends there, this is an absurd claim, as even a little research would confirm to you.

      I know why ZMag is claiming this -- Chomsky's reputation for bizarre claims, including holocaust denial, is well established. What I don't know is why you are repeating this claim.

    45. Re:In related news... by superyooser · · Score: 1
      US Marines turn fire on civilians at the bridge of death

      It's hard to blame them. Iraqi units have forced civilians to run in front of their advancing allied units in attacks against allied troops. They have faked surrenders and then ambushed troops who came to accept the surrender. Hospitals and schools are being used to store military equipment. Iraqi soldiers have abandoned their uniforms and are fighting in civilian clothing. American and British soldiers are risking their own lives to protect Iraqi civilians despite the best efforts of Iraqi soldiers and militia fighters (and anti-America media) to pin civilian deaths as the fault of coalition forces.

      Iraqi Combatants Dressed as Civilians

      "We were engaged from the city by

      people dressed up in civilian clothes with AK-47s ... that's when I was shot in the hand," the 21-year-old corporal explained.

      Menard pointed out that local Iraqi civilians had at first seemed happy to see the Marines. That changed, he noted, when the civilians "turned on us and started firing on us."

      And, some of the enemy's fire came from a nearby hospital, the Marine remarked.
      ...
      The Army sergeant pointed out that neither he nor his fellow troops want to kill civilians or innocent people in Iraq. However, Horgan noted, the circumstance of Iraqi fighters dressing up as civilians is "going to make it really difficult for us to discern who is 'good' or 'bad.' That's a shame."

      Iraqi Civilians Blow up U.S. Troops in Suicide Attacks

      Four U.S. soldiers were blown up by a suicide bomber posing as a taxi driver Saturday.

      ...
      Iraqi soldiers have disguised themselves as civilians. They have faked surrendering to get the jump on coalition troops. They have used civilians as human shields.

      And now they are sending out suicide bombers. An Iraqi official warned Saturday that suicide attacks would be "routine military policy."

      In spite of the enemies' treacherous tactics...

      Two U.S. Soldiers Survive Week in Desert... and nearly starve after giving away most of their food to needy Iraqis.

      The soldiers said they were stranded when their truck's clutch failed on the way to tow an officer's Humvee that had broken down as the division was traveling toward Baghdad. They said a staff sergeant had ordered them to wait, and said they would be picked up.

      No one did. So the two dug trenches to defend their position, and took turns on watch.

      They gave most of their food to hungry Iraqi civilians, and watched nervously as white vehicles - a trademark of Saddam Hussein's paramilitary Fedayeen - passed by. Koppi had become a father 10 days before he was deployed, and he wrote poems to his wife.

      "It has been weeks since we have spoken, I know her heart is close to broken," went one couplet.

      You know the famous picture of a U.S. Army medic carrying an Iraqi boy?

      The child in his photo was hit in the leg by shrapnel after

      he and his family were used as a human shields by Iraqi irregulars.
      ...
      Mr. Zinn said the story began early on Tuesday morning, after the Third Squadron of the Seventh Cavalry spent a night of non-stop ambushes as it worked its way north along the Euphrates River towards Baghdad.

      "We'd spent about 24 hours being ambushed left and right.... I was sleeping in the back of

    46. Re:In related news... by Evil+Adrian · · Score: 1

      You are missing the point:

      Summarizing events, and leaving important details out to fulfill an agenda, is lying. You simply cannot deny that.

      The only question here is, "Are they leaving out important details to fulfill an agenda?" There is no arguing about what I have said above.

      --
      evil adrian
    47. Re:In related news... by darkonc · · Score: 1
      That is a damn shame for sure. But I wouldn't go out driving around in vehicles in the middle of a war zone in the dead of night...

      Remember that this is in a war zone, where a heavy firefight had unnerved soldiers who had received (in some cases) years of training to keep a cool head under fire.

      Consider the (fictional) scanario:
      The two houses to the north and south of you have been destroyed by the crossfire and the fighting is moving your way (i.e. your house is next)." Since some Iraqi soldiers have faked surrender and then started firing on troops, 'pretending' to surrender isn't an option. You have two obvious choices:

      • If you leave your house, you and your family will have to run a gauntlet of vicious crossfire.
      • If you stay, you know that a standard tactic of urban warfare is to throw in a couple of grenades and then shoot anything left moving.
      • You have 50 seconds to decide
      You tell me which is the 'stupid' choice.

      For civilians (and soldiers, for that matter), the choice in war is not always 'be safe or get killed'. It's often more like: "Which form of death would you rather risk?"

      I don't envy anybody a choice like that. Nor will I pretend to know any better from 10,000 miles away and in hindsight.

      --
      Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
    48. Re:In related news... by greenrd · · Score: 1
      Hey, I'm not the one preemptively declaring that these civilians were killed by our side.

      If you'd actually read the article, you'd know that the soldiers themselves told what happened.

    49. Re:In related news... by greenrd · · Score: 1
      Try using a dictionary sometime. The meaning of "censorship" is perfectly elementary.

    50. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      All reporting is summarizing, and all summarizing is leaving out some events. You may have a very different idea of which events are `important' than the reporter does. You may have a very different idea of what the `big picture' is than the reporter (who is actually there) does. He is not `lying' simply because his summary presents a big picture which is different than you wish it was.

      If you want to allege that the media are presenting a `big picture' which they know to be false, well, you simply haven't provided any evidence to back that claim.

    51. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      Actually, go back and read the article. Unless we are to believe that the soldiers told about a dozen words in total to the reporter, he has very carefully chosen his quotations, and presented them completely without context.

      Were the dead killed by the soldiers because they were `shooting anything that moves' as the reporter alleges? Were they caught in a crossfire? Were they being used as human shields? Were they shot by the other side, and the soldiers could not stop that? Nothing the reporter says, including those quotes, provides evidence for one of those possibilities as opposed to the others.

      Which leads us back to the basic fact here -- that the reporter is breathlessly interpolating from very little information, and presenting no evidence to back those interpolations.

    52. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      Yes, yes it is. And to apply that meaning to the common-sense practice of choosing for yourself what you yourself will say is simply nonsensical.

      Or do you believe that you are `censored' every single time you speak? By your definition, no speech is evey uncensored, and thus by pushing your definition, you insult all those who suffer under actual censorship.

      Nice try, but I'm not buying it.

    53. Re:In related news... by greenrd · · Score: 1
      Look, you idiot. This is from a pro-war newspaper stable (incidentally, in fact all English national newspaper editors are pro-war now, apart from the Daily Mirror's editor). Let us apply some basic common sense here: the reporter would have mentioned if the troops had offered an alternative explanation than "We killed them". They didn't even bother, so that's what happened.

      And the chances of Rupert Murdoch's ragsheets letting a reporter make up a headline like that, if it was unsubstantiated, are nil.

    54. Re:In related news... by neocon · · Score: 1

      Heh, nice try. You can't find any actual facts in the article itself, so you allege that it must be true because of the publication it appears in?

      So next time something not clearly true appears in the Sun, I'll point out to you that you said that Rupert Murdoch wouldn't let false things in a paper he owns?

      That's really not much of an argument, you know...

  3. Well considering... by Swift(void) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...how many bombs have been dropped in Iraq in the last 12 days, id find it hard to believe they still have the working technology left to eavesdrop these phones anyway.

    1. Re:Well considering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      How does dropping bombs on crowded markets prevent phone eavesdropping?

    2. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know. Why don't you ask the Iraqi General in charge of Air Defense who just got sacked yesterday, apparently due to the high incidence of Iraqi anti-aircraft missiles falling back on civilian areas? Or maybe you should ask the Iraqi Fedayeen fighters who have been piling explosives at the base of buildings in Shiite neighborhoods?

      No really -- do you have any evidence that these were US bombs?

    3. Re:Well considering... by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 1

      That whole imbroglio surprises me. Iraqi civilian casualties are thought to be a key part of the Hussein (or post-Hussein) battle plan. It seems to me that a general who bombs Iraqi citizens would be more likely to be promoted than fired, as long as he did it without getting caught.

      For that matter, Iraqi ministers and generals aren't usually fired. Unless by "fired" you mean "killed."

      The whole thing smells fishy. Not fishy in the "it was a US bomb" sense; if that had been a US munition, it would have made a much, much bigger crater and killed a hell of a lot more people, that much is for certain. But what it was, exactly, is still a mystery.

      Just out of sheer perversity, my money is on the meteor theory.

      --

      I write in my journal
    4. Re:Well considering... by isorox · · Score: 1

      For that matter, Iraqi ministers and generals aren't usually fired. Unless by "fired" you mean "killed."

      Perhaps he originally said "fired at"

      Just out of sheer perversity, my money is on the meteor theory.

      That would be an interesting co-incidence...

    5. Re:Well considering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem was he wasn't bombing the correct Iraqi people. Bombing people in Iraq the regime doesn't like is doubly good, because a. they're dead, and b. you can blame the US.

    6. Re:Well considering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      evidence ...

      http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/s to ry.jsp?story=392161

    7. Re:Well considering... by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 1

      It seems to me that a general who bombs Iraqi citizens would be more likely to be promoted than fired, as long as he did it without getting caught.

      Perhaps. However, he wasn't bombing Iraqi civilians. His anti-air fire was missing or otherwise malfunctioning and falling back on Baghdad, which is certainly bad for Iraqi air defence. Possibly his fault, possibly not. ... if that had been a US munition, it would have made a much, much bigger crater and killed a hell of a lot more people, that much is for certain.

      Not necessarily. A US bomb or missile would have made a much bigger crater, but a US cluster bomblet (probably not being dropped on Baghdad, but possible) or an artillery shell (much more likely) could have caused it.

      It could have been the Iraqis, it could have been the US. We'll probably never know.

      --
      I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
    8. Re:Well considering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "We'll never know"

      We might. But in the end, who cares?

    9. Re:Well considering... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1

      And we all know that hospitals are ideal places for parking tanks and stockpiling munitions too.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    10. Re:Well considering... by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 1

      a US cluster bomblet (probably not being dropped on Baghdad, but possible)

      Where, then, did the other 642 bomblets come down? (I just picked 644 as an example; different cluster munitions have different numbers of sub-munitions, but I'm not aware of any that just have one or two.)

      or an artillery shell (much more likely)

      We don't have any artillery in range of Baghdad. At least as far as is publicly known; it's hard to believe that we could have gotten an M109 within about 20 miles of Baghdad without the Iraqis making one hell of a stink about it.

      It could have been the Iraqis, it could have been the US. We'll probably never know.

      Unfortunately, I think that's the one and only absolute truth in this: that we may never know.

      --

      I write in my journal
    11. Re:Well considering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hehehehe. People like you crack me up. Three hours after the bomb hits, the Iraqi censors finally let journalists in the area, and they hold up a chunk of metal with english writing on it. You think that is reliable evidence?

      Look at the other side of the issue. The US is trying to win the hearts of the Iraqi people to promote an uprising or to get nice pictures of Iraqis hugging US Marines on Al Jazeera. They can't do that buy bombing civilian areas, so you can rest assured that they are doing everything they can to avoid that.

      Saddam, on the other hand, gets blockbuster PR by parading injured civilians, stirs up people against the coalition, and helps prevent the uprisings that the US is hoping for. He has the motive and the means to pull off his deception (3 hours before journalists could come look? And I am sure that there are thousands of bomb fragments with english writing on them laying around his Presidential palaces...)

      In other words, Saddam has put himself in a place where he benefits from the suffering of his people. I wouldn't put it past him to have done this on purpose.

    12. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      AC already pretty much summed it up. I said `evidence', not `announcements of the Iraqi Ministry of Information'.

      Do you have any?

    13. Re:Well considering... by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

      you guys crack me up. Does it really matter who is right here? The fact that the Americans are bombing Iraq, and that a market in Baghdad exploded, is enough "evidence" for most of the Iraqi people, as well as for most of the world. Whether or not it was an American bomb (which seems a lot more likely than the alternatives suggested here), the fact is that from a public relations viewpoint, the US is blamed for this whether we like it or not. And it is being used by Arab state TV stations throughout the Middle East to inflame Muslims against the US. And it's working. The big winner from this war is al Qaeda and other Islamist extremists. What is really just unconscionable is that American war planners didn't see this coming before getting us into this mess.

    14. Re:Well considering... by tres · · Score: 1
      Where do you come up with outlandish claims like that?
      Was that a Donny Rumsfeld quote, or a tricky Dick Cheney line?

      Oh, and since you didn't manage to watch the news, let me catch you up on current events:

      The bush administration bombed a crowded marketplace.

      --
      Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
    15. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      On the contrary. Al Qaeda loses a major state sponsor, and is shown as ineffectual (c'mon -- bin Laden claimed to have ten thousand suicide bombers lined up to act when the US entered Iraq, so far he's been able to produce one).

      The Iraqi people, on the other hand, get freedom from a brutal tyrant, and a chance (which they may or may not take) to show the people of the middle east that they can live in a democratic society, and that their rulers (who are the main sources of a Qaeda funding) are the source of their misery.

      And you think this is good for al Qaeda? Okaay...

    16. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      Go read your own links -- not one of them provides evidence that it was a US missile which landed in the marketplace, though some of them spin pretty hard trying to sound that way.

      Although it may have been, that is far from clear at this point, especially as the explosion was far smaller than any of the ordinance we were using, and since the Iraqis have, in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, been firing surface to air missiles from residential blocks in exactly the area that was hit.

      So again, what's your evidence? It's one thing to always Blame America First, but if you want to make a rational argument, you'll need to either provide evidence, or admit that the jury is still very much out on this one.

    17. Re:Well considering... by tres · · Score: 1

      First of all, since the bush administration is partaking of an illegal act by invading Iraq, utlimately whatever caused the blast, the responsibility still lies with them.

      Second, since the bush administration has consistently lied about the status of what's happening, I'm more apt to believe the pictures, the reports and the eyewitness accounts of people on the ground than anything the bush administration says.

      Third, I did provide evidence. Yes, the links aren't conclusive, but I certainly can find some that will state with certainty and have "proof" that the US did bomb both marketplaces. Since I understand you are quite sceptical of the Iraqi media (as you well should be), I picked links from Western media sources. You are right, none of them have provided damning proof, but neither has the bush administration provided proof that it didn't bomb those marketplaces. The bush administration, by invading illegally, has put itself in the position that it needs to provide credible proof against it.

      Are all the bombs dropped on Iraq the same size? And how do you know the explosion was smaller than any of the ordinance the bush administration is using?

      --
      Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
    18. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      OK, let's go through what you're claiming here:

      First of all, since the bush administration is partaking of an illegal act by invading Iraq, utlimately whatever caused the blast, the responsibility still lies with them.
      OK, wise guy, what is illegal about our actions? Eh? The UN charter explicitly includes the right to independent action in self defense, and the UN ceasefire which ended the first gulf war explicitly stated that the hostilities were ended only on the condition of Hussein's compliance with resolutions to disarm.

      If the UNSC were to pass a resolution stating that they no longer wish that to be the case, then we can talk about `illegal'. Until then, our action is perfectly legal (and necessary to boot).

      Second, since the bush administration has consistently lied about the status of what's happening,
      Nonsense. Can you provide any example to back this claim? Any, at all?

      I'm more apt to believe the pictures, the reports and the eyewitness accounts of people on the ground than anything the bush administration says.
      Uh-huh. And you have `eyewitness accounts'? The `witnesses' you have are those provided by the Iraqi ministry of information, which has been demonstrably lying since the war began. Nice `evidence'. Not one of the reports you linked had any more `evidence' than that. Not one.
    19. Re:Well considering... by tres · · Score: 1
      The UN charte explicity includes the right to independent action as long as a state is being attacked by another.

      You have some real warped sense of 'self defense.' Or maybe you can provide some evidence of when and where the US was attacked.

      The UN has authority in this situation, not the bush administration.

      The bush administration has lied about aluminum tubes supposedly acquired for enriching uranium, "the war will take weeks, not months", Iraq was actively trying to acquire uranium, the "coallition of convenience" is made up of nations who support the bush administration's invasion, 35 countries are providing "critical support" in the coallition of convenience, the "coallition of convenience" is larger than the 1991 gulf war, 8000 soldiers of the 51st division surrendered, Umm Qasr was taken on Sunday, er... no, Monday... no, make that Tuesday.9 times Umm Qasr was "taken."
      I could go on and on and on, but I know I'm probably just wasting my time.

      Since this thread started, you've consistently said, "show me proof" while making outlandish claims about bombs strapped to buildings and misfiring SAM launcers. Since this thread began, you haven't provided a whit of evidence to support your position. Since this thread began, I've consistently provided links. So unless you want to start posting evidence to support your claims, don't bother asking for it anymore.

      --
      Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
    20. Re:Well considering... by Asdex · · Score: 1
      • Second, since the bush administration has consistently lied about the status of what's happening,
      Nonsense. Can you provide any example to back this claim? Any, at all?

      What about the supposed purchase of large quantities of uranium from Niger? - Fake
      http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/0/0,1872,2037280,00 .html(

      What about the british report which is mostly a copy of the work of an student - they only changed "opposition" with "terrorist"?
      http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-w obrit043121322feb08,0,3874735.story?coll=ny-worldn ews-print
      http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page1470.asp
      http://www.dailycollegian.com/vnews/display.v/ART/ 2003/02/13/3e4af6c69e18e

      What about...
    21. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      While the concept of `anticipatory self defense' is well-enshrined in international law, this is rather beside the point in Iraq, where the ceasefire ending the first gulf war explicitly authorized military action if Iraq did not comply with the UN resolutions demanding disarmament. Of course, you chose not to respond to this point. Were the UN Security Council to issue a resolution withdrawing this authorization (and withdrawing resolution 1441's explicit call for `serious consequences' if Iraq did not `immediately' comply), then you could talk about this war going against the will of the UN. Until then, we are doing exactly what the UN called for in seventeen resolutions over twelve years.

      We are also, of course, acting to disarm a tyrant armed with WMD who has well-documented ties to those who attacked us on September 11.

      But let's go through the alleged `lies' you point to, anyway:

      • Aluminum tubes -- your source for the claim that the Bush administration lied is ... Madeleine Albright?! That doesn't even pass the laugh test, but if you want the other view, go read the testimony of David Kay, former head of the nuclear inspections program in Iraq.
      • weeks not months -- even the article you point to notes that Cheney said `weeks, not months if no complications arise', and of course the administration has never said that the war would be easy, or necessarily short. On the contrary, the administratin has repeatedly said that `the only sure thing in war is sacrifice', and that the war will go on `as long as it takes'. On the other hand, since it has currently been less than two weeks, you are mighty quick to assert the war will take `months' in any case.
      • `Iraq was actively trying to acquire uranium' -- again, go read Kay's testimony above, and go read Hans Blix's statements to the UN, which confirmed that Iraq was indeed attempting to acquire uranium. No one, not even the UN is denying that Iraq has tried to get uranium. Initial reports that they had gotten some from South Africa turned out to be incorrect, sure, but even Iraq's own declaration to the UN on December 7, 2002 acknowledges their attempts to get uranium.
      • the coalition -- again, dozens of nations have quite vocally voiced their support for Operation Iraqi Freedom, not least eighteen of the nations of Europe in open letters. Over two dozen have provided hard support, including the UK, Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and many more. Dozens more have voiced support openly for the war. So what, exactly, are you claiming is `a lie'? Eh?
      • the 51st division -- in the early days of the war, the entire senior leadership of the 51st surrendered to allied troops, and the rest of the division disbanded. Since then, many troops from the division have re-appeared in fighting, often against their own will, propelled by Fedayeen officers with guns to their heads and to the heads of their families. Even the Arab media are reporting that many of those fighting are being forced to do so under threats to themselves and their families. So again, what are you claiming was `a lie'?
      • Umm Qasr -- likewise here, allied troops took control of this town very early, but later Fedayeen militiament dressed as civilians opened fire at several points in the town. Although existing only in cut-off pockets, some of these units took a few days to clear out, primarily due to our own concern to minimize harm to bystanders and to the town. What are you claiming is `a lie' about this?
      Since all of these are stretches by any estimation, it seems pretty clear that you are looking to find ways to Blame America First, rather than looking for the truth of the matter.
    22. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      What about your claims here, actually?

      So far, you produce two alleged `lies'. The first is the fact that parts of a document produced by the British government and passed on by ours was plagiarized. Not `wrong', mind you. Not `unbacked by evidence'. Merely copied. While this is clearly sloppiness on the part of Blair's government, it has precious little to do with Bush, and is not a `lie' in any case.

      Likewise, although the intelligence leading to the assertion that Iraq had already obtained uranium from South Africa turned out to be bad -- something we immediately pointed out when it became clear -- this is hardly a `lie'. Saddam's attempts to get uranium from a wide range of sources, including in Africa, are well documented, not least in the 12,000 page dossier which he himself provided to the UN. More information on this can be found in the testimony of David Kay, former head of the UN weapons inspection program in Iraq. If he did not get it in this case, we can be glad that our information was bad -- but that does not make it `a lie'.

    23. Re:Well considering... by tres · · Score: 1

      Sure, Saddam Hussein has a well established history with Al Qaeda. They tried to assassinate him at least twice. That's got to be the finest example of 'merikan ignorance about the Middle East I've read in a long time.

      And I'm sure you know a lot more about proliferation of nuclear weapons in Iraq than Muhammad ElBaradei (who said that there was overwhelming evidence that the tubes were intended for conventional weapons) or Madeline Albright.

      Who the hell is David Kay? A guy that was in Iraq at least five years ago... He has no authority or legitimacy in stating anything about the present situation.

      The "coalition" is a band of third-world nations hoping for a handout. Real world powers among them, Micronesia, Ethiopia... other countries that have 19,000 people in them. To say that it equates to more support than the 1991 is just plain stupid at best, and at worst is an outright lie.

      Right, that's why the 51st is fighting again. That's why the Pentagon admitted that the 8000 number was more like 400. The people who surrendered lied about their rank in order to get better treatment.

      Umm Qasr was supposed to be an early victory--a town of eight-hundred. The town wasn't "taken early." Or maybe you think if you grab a pistol and sneak into your neighbor's living room while he's in his bedroom that his house is yours.

      Muhammad ElBaradei, the chief weapons inspector in charge of investigating Iraq's nuclear program has specifically stated that the "evidence" provided by the bush administration was forged and that there is no evidence of a renewed nuclear program.

      I can see that this is going to lead nowhere.

      I disagree with you, that's okay. But don't try pushing propaganda like it's fact. If you've got resources that give the evidence, than do it. Don't just recite propaganda and expect me to believe that it's anything but propaganda.

      If you've got the links to back up your position, then post them.

      --
      Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
    24. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      That's your argument? That in the five years since Iraq kicked out the inspectors, they just threw up their hands in dismay and unilaterally disarmed? C'mon, that's absurd. Iraq has still not accounted for any of the tens of thousands of tons of WMD materials which they had when they kicked out inspectors the first time. UNSC resolution 1441 gave them until December 7, 2002 to do so, and they still didn't. But you have `proof' that they actually disposed of them all? Again, that's your argument?

      And David Kay? He's only the guy who headed the nuclear inspections in Iraq for several years -- and unlike Mr. El-Baradei, he doesn't have the distinction of having declared North Korea nuke-free a month before they announced they had the bomb...

      Here you can find links to plenty of press accounts demonstrating the al-Qaeda Iraq connection. Simply waving your hands and throwing around insults because this connection does not support the argument which you wish to make does not make those links go away.

      Likewise, I'm sure that the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Australia, Portugal, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, or Italy would be rather surprised to see you characterize them as `third world nations' -- and you're the one calling people `ignorant'. But hey, if it's really your argument that A coalition of fifty nations is `isolated' because it doesn't have the agreement of France, Germany, Angola, and Cameroon, well...

      And you say I'm pushing a propaganda line. Okaaay...

    25. Re:Well considering... by tres · · Score: 1

      The proof is in the inspection process that hadn't found anything.

      I've seen the links. Thanks for posting them. As an aside: I may have missed it, but I didn't see anything regarding the Al Qaeda assasination attempt of Saddam Hussein.

      Oh, and was Slovenia on the list of "50?" The leader just outright said that the bush administration is wrong. Slovenia does not support the bush administration's invasion (even though the bush administrtation set aside bribe money for them).

      The point is that the number 35, or 45 or 50 or whatever the bush administrtion decides it is today is not larger than the '91 coalition. The number is contrived. The coallition of '91 never needed to contrive coalition status via overfligt rights. Turkey outright said that they don't support the effort by not letting US troops be stationed there. But still, Turkey is on the bush administration's list. The number is meaningless; personally I think it's as legitmate as this 'president' and the action itself.

      But since some people think the number is so important, we'll okay then. Let's see, right now there are 271 countries in the world. And if all things are equal and the number of countries is the only thing that matters, then there are 226 countries that do not support this action.

      So 30, 45 50, it doesn't matter. The coallition of 1991 counted the number of countries that actively took part in the action. In '91 they didn't try to tally votes because there was true support of the world community.

      David Kay may have been the guy who headed nuclear inspections in Iraq for several years, but that's not the point. There's someone else who was on the same job more recently and who has much more recent information about the state of Iraq.

      Let's say I worked for a company five years ago as quality control and inspecting the equipment they have, then I leave. Five years later things have changed. Someone else comes in who has all my documentation, who also has intimate knowledge of how the systems work. Who do you think is better qualified to say what state the systems are in? Even though I knew how things were set up five years ago, all I can say for certainty is what they were like five years ago.

      I don't recall ever insulting you. One way or another I never meant to (I think maybe this refers to the 'merikan ignorance statement and the "stupid statement" reference. Both of them were directed towards the talking heads that, I believe, want to convince us of the truth that suits their interests).

      Honestly, we all hope that this turns out better than it has started. None of us support Saddam or want to preserve the way things were, but I fear the way the bush administration is bumbling into this, we'll be paying for this with blood for decades to come.

      I don't know whether you've been in the military or not. I spent four years in the Army. I consciously made the decision that I was willing to pay the ultimate price to defend "America." From my perspective, all the things that I had pledged my very existence to defend are being quickly destroyed from within.

      Like I said, we disagree. What it comes down to is that neither of us can do a damn thing about what's happening. I believe that even if you, I and every other citizen were to disagree with this too, the bush administration wouldn't care.

      Anyway, thanks for your time and your viewpoint.

      --
      Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
    26. Re:Well considering... by neocon · · Score: 1

      Two notes further, otherwise, I think enough has been said in this thread:

      First, the fact that inspectors didn't find anything with 58 people in a nation the side of California doesn't `prove' anything. That's because inspectors aren't there to find anything that Mr. Hussein doesn't want found. Rather than being there to play a cat-and-mouse game, they are there to observe Mr. Hussein's disarmament effort, and receive his accounts of where the tens of thousands of tons of WMD materials he previously admitted to having have gone. Since he refuses to say where they went, there is nothing for the inspectors to do.

      Second, `so far', things have gone pretty darn well. In forty hours, coalition troops travelled as far as Patton did in four months -- and Patton's advance is still, rightly, called the `race accross France'. These things take time, and two weeks into a war is a poor time to start judging. It is unfortunate that the 24/7 news cycle blurs how short a time has actually passed...

    27. Re:Well considering... by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

      Al Qaeda loses a possible state sponsor whom even the CIA considers marginal at best, especially when compared to the members of the state apparatuses of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Pakistan who have been funding and training al Qaeda all along. Al Qaeda will not go broke without Saddam Hussein's money. And Iraq under Saddam is hardly bin Laden's vision of an ideal Islamic state.

      In exchange, they gain the kind of instability, chaos, and corruption that such extremists thrive on. If anything, Iraq without Saddam is probably more attractive to al Qaeda, since they can exploit the resulting disorder. They also get the benefit of a lot more anti-Western sentiment to exploit for their cause, and a lot more potential terrorist recruits. And as you can see this doesn't just affect the immediate theater. The suicide bombing in Israel was a "gift" to the Iraqis. Not al Qaeda linked of course, but the point is I think it helps al Qaeda if other Arab groups find common cause with them, as they are now doing (e.g. the Syrian Mufti declaring jihad on Americans).

      It gets worse. If the Iraqis (and the Arab world in general, not just its corrupt venal leaders) perceive that the US is hitting lots of civilians, al Qaeda also gains an incredible amount of free advertising in the form of propaganda run on state TVs in Syria, Egypt, etc., not to mention Al-Jazeera. It doesn't matter if the US really didn't hit this market or that bus full of women and children. It doesn't matter that Saddam Hussein, miserable cretinous thug that he is, is putting Iraqi civilians in harm's way. All that will matter is that Arabs everywhere, especially those whose only media is state TV, will be seeing a parade of civilian bodies blamed on America.

      If this war brings democracy to Iraq, you're right, it will be bad for al Qaeda in the long run, and I will be only too thrilled to eat my words. Honestly. I think some form of democratization of the Middle East will be its only hope for survival.

  4. Don't have to intercept the signal by UltraMagic · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Maybe they don't have to intercept the signal. Maybe they only have to hack into the telephone company and read their locations from their computers.

    1. Re:Don't have to intercept the signal by wirelessbuzzers · · Score: 1

      Maybe they don't have to intercept the signal. Maybe they only have to hack into the telephone company and read their locations from their computers.

      Maybe they just have to ask the telephone company. I think that the US would be a bit suspicious of giving out their coordinates to any phone company, but particularly one in Abu Dhabi.

      --
      I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
  5. Re:http://www.aeronautics.ru by neocon · · Score: 3, Funny

    <sarcasm> Oh yes. You can tell that's a serious and accurate site from the article on the front page claiming they have a working anti-gravity device. </sarcasm>

  6. *ring* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (US Forces)Hello?
    Who is it?
    (other side of the phone) "This is not a sales call, for more information call 1800....."

    When will they have an war against "Phone Terror" ? ;-)

  7. For a moment... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...I thought congress had started their push for the CDMA standard in Iraq... a re-read through the dope-haze sorted that one out for me.

    Doh!

    GSM GPS GPRS blaaah.....

  8. My phone has this feature by JPriest · · Score: 1

    My Sprint Samsung A460 has this but you can turn it off. It's the "location" option in the setup tool.

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
    1. Re:My phone has this feature by deanj · · Score: 1
      True...but considering the number of "normals" out there that can't even program their VCR, I doubt most of them would even realize there's a location option in the phone.


      The worse thing is, some of these dorks would have just ignored the instructions if they had just been told to turn it off.

    2. Re:My phone has this feature by phreak03 · · Score: 1

      yah, but "emergency" people can still track it silly (it says so when you click on the "info") so that means the signal still goes up (although our phones arn't GPS, they are digital triangulation or something)

      --
      come comment on the madness at http://slashdot.org/~phreak03/journal/
  9. About the new ban... by El+Camino+SS · · Score: 1


    Did anyone notice that there is a brand new /. article about GPS being a new tech in phones about three slots down? And the military is already banning them?

    Wowzers! I didn't realize that the Department of Defense was that fast...!!!

    1. Re:About the new ban... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      " Did anyone notice that there is a brand new /. article about GPS being a new tech in phones about three slots down? And the military is already banning them?"

      Yeah, it really sucks for all the Slashdot visitors in Iraq that are embedded reporters for the US Army. /sarcasm

    2. Re:About the new ban... by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 1

      Did anyone notice that there is a brand new /. article about GPS being a new tech in phones about three slots down? And the military is already banning them?

      GPS in a cellular phone is new and fancy. GPS in a satellite phone is old hat.

      --

      I write in my journal
    3. Re:About the new ban... by hughk · · Score: 1
      GPS in a cellular phone is new
      Actually, it is quite old hat, Benefon, the other Finnish mobile phone company has been making them for outdoor freaks and rescue workers. The phone has two modes, one as a straight GPS and the other as a locator using the lat/long info from another so equipped phone to tell you how to get to it.

      There is even a variant for hunting dogs, so that hunters can keep track of their dogs through the dense forests.

      --
      See my journal, I write things there
  10. Handing over phones... by Fritz+Benwalla · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Officers have ordered me to hand my phone in and I am giving it to one of the officers," correspondent Matthew Green said.

    In a related story, the U.S. military seems to have growing concerns that the printing inks used in reporters' copies of Maxim and the smoke from reporters marijuana cigarettes could be detected by sophisticated equipment in Iraqi possesion.

    "Officers have ordered me to hand my copies of Maxim and my marijuana cigarettes in and I am giving them to one of the officers," correspondent Matthew Green said.

    ------

    --

    Believe me, I'm as surprised by my comment as you are.
  11. I knew it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I knew that al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, and ATT Global were in partnership! Buhwhahahah!

  12. And they were allowed in the first place? by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Geesh, somone dropped the ball, or was just stupid.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  13. What ever you do, don't say where we are! by LostCluster · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For the embedded reporters, in order to be where they are they had to agree to follow a few common sense rules... some of the most important being that they aren't allowed to report on any future movements they may know of, and that they're never allowed to reveal the exact location of the unit.

    These particular phones do just that... transmit the GPS location back to the telecom provider, people outside of the military who have no clearance to be handling such secret info. Yeah, it's likely that the telecom provider can be trusted, but why trust somebody to keep a secret when you can just not tell them the info in the first place?

    The exact GPS location of our troops is a military secret, and for a good reason too!

  14. Surveillance implications of E911 Phones in US by virtigex · · Score: 1
    The US has mandated that all cellular phones be equipped with location devices. This should have been done by November 2002, but almost all companies missed this deadline. Still things seem to be on track to meeting this requirement later this year. The stated reason is that emergency services will be able to locate you if you dial 911 (the US emergency number).

    However, they do not state if the authorities will be able to locate you even if you are not making an emergency call (or even not making a call at all).

    Obviously, from this article, you can be located at all times which turns your cellular phone into mechanism the authorities can use to track you.

    One wonders if they are going to go the extra mile and enable enable the authorities to eavesdrop on conversations via the phone's microphone. This should not be hard to do and I'd be willing to bet that the code to do this has been slipped in the phones already.

    1. Re:Surveillance implications of E911 Phones in US by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      "Obviously, from this article, you can be located at all times which turns your cellular phone into mechanism the authorities can use to track you."

      You can't have it both ways. Either the phone can be traced or it can't. You can't say "Well, it should be available to firefighters but not police."

      You're not required to own a cell phone. If you're worried about being tracked, then don't use one. Just don't cry if a disaster happens and nobody can find you.

      On the flip side, it makes a cell phone much harder to use as a tool for criminals. If you're on the FBI's most wanted, you're not going to carry a cell phone around. You shouldn't anyway, that's how the pipe bomber was caught last year.

      Sorry, I'm not willing to join the knee-jerk club over that mandate. I mean seriously, what's new here? If you're at home and your landline rings, should the gov't be disallowed from making the assumption that you're home?

    2. Re:Surveillance implications of E911 Phones in US by curious.corn · · Score: 1

      Cellular phone networks (not the case of sat but still...) are intrinsically tracking. Ever broke into the service menus of a phone? It keeps track of 4 to 6 stations and their strenght, obviously for cell/freq hopping. If authorized a network operator can easily select the stations linked to your device and guess your whereabouts to building resolution.
      GPS is only useful in rural areas where antenna density is lower.

      --
      Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
    3. Re:Surveillance implications of E911 Phones in US by Kenneth · · Score: 1


      One wonders if they are going to go the extra mile and enable enable the authorities to eavesdrop on conversations via the phone's microphone. This should not be hard to do and I'd be willing to bet that the code to do this has been slipped in the phones already.


      Why go to the effort? Lots of people have been nailed by using cell phones. You only have to sniff the broadcast to 'tap' a cell phone. That's done fairly commonly already, and isn't even difficult for civilians to do.

      --
      There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns
  15. Wasn't there just a case by sielwolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Where Iraq said it caught some spies with satellite phones and some think that this is related to satellite phones some UK reporters had taken from them by the Iraqi government?

    --
    What is music when you despise all sound?
  16. this seems like overkill by cyril3 · · Score: 1
    I cannot believe that the US with the ability to recognize the voiceprint of individual whales or pickup bad words in 1000's of simultaneous voice transmissions cannot identify individual cell or sat phone signatures out of iraq.

    As for letting iraquis know where the embedded reporters and their units are I reckon the iraquis already know where the americans are ... every f**king where, just let one off man and it'll hit something and if it's one of ours even better.

  17. More worried about "friendly fire" by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 1

    "But with U.S. signal interceptors targeting satphone transmissions to locate Iraqi military commanders, analysts worry that phone calls from civilians could appear as beacons for bombers."

    And this makes good sense.
    Last thing the Gov't wants is for an embedded CNN correspondant and their unit getting fragged live on prime time coverage. (though I'm sure Fox wouldn't mind, due to ratings and all) because a guided munition homed in on their location while broadcasting.

    Let's face it, though our bombs are smarter, war is still hell.
    We have no way of knowing the precise location of friendlies and enemies at any given time and some international reporters have already been killed by US ground troops.

    1. Re:More worried about "friendly fire" by houseofmore · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Considering over half of the fatalities have been from the US, I'd be worried to.

      It's no wonder Canada refused to be a part of this war considering they were bombed by the US in Afghanistan.

    2. Re:More worried about "friendly fire" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Just look at the stats. US forces kill more allies than the enemy in the last three conflicts by a factor of 3 to 4.

      When the US citizens finally realise they've been duped by slick fascists (as Blair is _slowly_ realising) they can't expect aid from Europe. Well not for a few years eh? - payback is sweet. Yanks aren't welcome these days. I tapped a couple on Sat. Not much good in a scrap either.

    3. Re:More worried about "friendly fire" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Reasons Canada is not in the war
      1) we consider Afganistan more important

      At the same time as Canada refused to join the war in Iraq we sent 2000 troops to Afganistan.

      2) Canada cannot get involved in another operation.

      At the same time as above Canada admitted it was over extended (I mean come on we have 31 million people we can't be everywhere)
      I think this was the main reason, its just less embarassing to say no then to admit that we're weak. (coupled with three anyway)

      3) Canada believes that this will further isolate the Arab nations from the west and incourage the Islamic fundamentalists to join terror organisations and to attack the allies of the US.

      The friendly fire thing is not an issue, it happens and NATO is working on better coordination.

      I think that the friendly fire thing was a stupid preventable mistake, but Canada is sticking by the US and helping as much as we can, we just arn't doing it in Iraq.

    4. Re:More worried about "friendly fire" by houseofmore · · Score: 1

      "I think that the friendly fire thing was a stupid preventable mistake, but Canada is sticking by the US and helping as much as we can, we just arn't doing it in Iraq."

      Hey wasn't there a deal with Washington and Ottawa where Canada would continue to supply the US with talented hockey players if the US would inisit Celine Dion was American?

  18. Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by Effugas · · Score: 4, Informative

    The satphones are effectively really high power transmitters, attempting to transmit a signal to an antenna hundreds of miles ahead. If it's possible to sniff the GPS signal, it's possible to triangulate the location of its emitter.

    This ban makes it harder to track down the journalists, but not impossible. It does require three sensors in mutual contact, instead of one lone sniffer -- this is true.

    I suspect there are signs they know where we are, and we're worried these phones are the reason why.

    --Dan

    1. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by buffy · · Score: 1
      This ban makes it harder to track down the journalists, but not impossible. It does require three sensors in mutual contact, instead of one lone sniffer -- this is true.

      Hmm...why three? Triangulation requires only two. A third is necessary only if you're worried about altitude--that is, a third dimension.

      The desert is pretty flat, so I don't think it matters.

      -buf

    2. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by davidu · · Score: 1

      Hmm...why three? Triangulation requires only two.
      I'm not so sure...think of a venn diagram -- With two intersecting circles picking up frequency readings, you would get two potential points of origin. A third receptor will pinpoint the location as desired.

      I am pretty sure this is how earthquake epicenters are also triangulated (often with many sensors, not just three). The depth of an earthquake (the "altitude") is calculated using various other means not involving triangulation.

      --davidu
      --

      # Hack the planet, it's important.
    3. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by Mac+Degger · · Score: 1

      Actually, triangulation does require three, unless you don't mind having two equally possible solutions to your location.

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
    4. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      usually, triangulation is done in motion -- by the time you've moved around alot, you've gotten the general direction the signal is coming from (that whole 1/distance^2 thing).

    5. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, but you're just wrong.

      It only requires two points with directional antennas and this is how direction finding is typically done.

    6. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by buffy · · Score: 1

      Nope. Two points...the third in the "triangle" is the point you are locating.

      With two directional antennas in separate locations, you end up with two lines that intersect at the origin.

    7. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by Mac+Degger · · Score: 1

      No, again...you end up with two circles that intersect (remember, you have no positional data about the third point...that's the one you're trying to locate...you don't know it's signal strenght at the point of transmission, only at the point of recieval)...and unless you're really lucky, those two circles have two points where they intersect. What you end up with with two antennae is a circle (in 3 dimensions) where the third antenna could be; transposed, that circle gets you two points on a 2 dimensional plane where that point could be, at oposite ends of the 3d circle.

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
    8. Re:Sniffing the GPS signal not entirely necessary by buffy · · Score: 1
      No, again...you end up with two circles that intersect (remember, you have no positional data about the third point...that's the one you're trying to locate...you don't know it's signal strenght at the point of transmission, only at the point of recieval)...

      Umm...you use DIRECTIONAL ANTENNE. From point A, you line up with the strongest signal direction. From point B you do the same. Where the lines formed from point A and B intersect is C--your target. If the antenne were NOT directional, then yes...you'd have a couple of circles.

      Sigh...I'm done now.

      For further information, check out this as a starting point.

  19. On GPS Phones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GPS phones suck balls.

  20. Re:Good .... but .... by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Perhaps the point isn't that they shouldn't, but that this is the same government that is mandating cell phone suppliers in this country to put GPS equipment in our cell phones. Supposedly this is for my own good, so when I get kidnapped and make a cell call from the trunk I have been stuffed in, my local police can track me down and release me. But there are those of us wearing our tin foil hats that suspect the technology might be used against us as well and don't like the idea of a mandated GPS system in our cell phones at all. Now here is the same government that is making us have GPS enabled phones suddenly deciding that it doesn't like the GPS technology in a reporter's phone because it might be used against them. Yes, they are right, and good move. But perhaps that should cause them to reconsider forcing U.S. cell makers from making all U.S. cell phone users from buying into the new technology in the future, even if the customer doesn't want it. I doubt that they will. That's a bit of hypocrisy.

    By the way, a simple "fix" would have been to tell the reporters to turn off the GPS feature, but guess what: by mandate of the U.S. government the user can not disable it!

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  21. Re:http://www.aeronautics.ru by pyrote · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't know, I played red-alert 2. those russians have alot of technologies we don't have... now where the hell are our chrono troops?

    --
    THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!!!! eventually.
  22. In othernews... by UniverseIsADoughnut · · Score: 1

    The Iraqi military anounced they have a new plane on how to find the US troops in Iraq after reading how they can use GPS phones. Iraqi officials report they had no clue about this or ever thought it possible till it was reported when people flipped out over something and went nuts telling the world the flaw in GPS phones.

    1. Re:In othernews... by bonch · · Score: 1

      How many "in other news" posts is this article going to receive?

  23. And in other news by Derg · · Score: 3, Funny
    The Pentagon released a report today announcing the ban of all light emiitting sources by anyone near any military action. The reason for such a move is that it makes it easier for the terrorist/enemy to locate American troops in the field by usin a little known technology called "Vision". This technology, only used by evil evil terrorists is somehow connected to the mutation of devices scientists are now calling "eyes". Donald Rumsfeld announced new investigations into the linkage of this mutation and the Al Quaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and McDonalds french fries. He also said today that America would be launching a preventive strike against this new evil terroist weapon, its now 5th on the list, after Iraq, Osama, Kim Jong Il, and rap music.

    More on this breaking story as it happens. Coming up next, How to eat all the fat and preservatives you want and still lose 40lbs a day.

    --
    I'm a little tea pot.
    1. Re:And in other news by Pharmboy · · Score: 1

      Coming up next, How to eat all the fat and preservatives you want and still lose 40lbs a day.


      I eat all the fat I want, and I am losing lots of weight.

      Oh, and I disagree with your other premise as well. The purpose of the ban is to keep US from killing US. This is not a bad thing.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    2. Re:And in other news by cyril3 · · Score: 1
      It was also reported that to to ensure that Iraqi special forces could not develop night vision technology as the next step in their research efforts Carrots were being classified as Munitions and are now banned from export to beligerent countries. The US will be seeking the addition of Carrots to the Chemical Nuclear and Biological Weapons Treaty.

      In a separate totally unrelated story Donald Rumsfeld has stated that he will soon release details of discoveries by US troops of whole fields of biological weapons precurser materials which will totally justify the invasion, sorry liberation of Iraq.

  24. US communications are already intercepted by virtigex · · Score: 1
    Why bother with GPS signals when US communications are routinely intercepted? That way, you can know where they are going to be, instead of where they are now.

    Kuro5hin has an article on Russian news reports derived from intercepted coalition communication. They even tell you how to do it and where to buy the equipment.

    I'm really saddened by the recklessness of the Bush administration, endangering not only Iraqi civilians, but also British and American troops.

    1. Re:US communications are already intercepted by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 3, Informative

      The webmaster of aeronautics.ru, Venik, is a well known loon.

      Ask about him in rec.aviation.mil

      Some of his past spewings have been "2 B-2's and 3 B-52's shot down in Bosnia."
      Russian plasma stealth technology
      Russian antigrav technology deployed on current aircraft.

      Take everything he says with several large grains of salt.

  25. Its about more than Iraq. by theNote · · Score: 1

    As many people have said, there is little chance of Iraq being able to eavesdrop on the GPS locations.

    However, it presents a sigint boon to countries who do have the capability.

    China is probably building a massive database of US infantry move and coutermove strategy as we speak.

  26. Re:Good .... but .... by deanj · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or, they could just use Iridum (however you spell it) like the other journalists in the NPR piece.

  27. Ok... so.. by miketang16 · · Score: 3, Funny

    which part of the camel do they use to trace those GPS signals? maybe it's that advanced sand technology...

    --
    -------
    "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
    -- George Orwell
    1. Re:Ok... so.. by curious.corn · · Score: 0

      is it supposed to be a joke? Liberty fries too can be offensive but let's not overheat, take it as a sorry joke. This comment though is irritating: derisive, racially bigoted, arrogant. Mod me down it you choose so...

      --
      Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
    2. Re:Ok... so.. by sql*kitten · · Score: 1

      which part of the camel do they use to trace those GPS signals?

      The parts that the French and the Russians sold 'em, I'd expect.

    3. Re:Ok... so.. by curious.corn · · Score: 1

      Tsk... modded down to the level of an AC... FYI it got a +1 simply because I posted logged in and not because I was "overrated" by somebody else; it's an incentive to post openly. Curious though that the offensive post that caused mine is still getting +3 Funny; ah, the chilling effect of a community democratically choosing to shut someone up. Folks, you are embracing an attitude that only makes things worse than what they are. What next: "nuke 'em ragheads"?

      --
      Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
  28. Someone tell Congress!! by neurostar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...but why trust somebody to keep a secret when you can just not tell them the info in the first place?

    Exactly. Someone should tell congress this before they pass anymore privacy-invading laws!

    neurostar
  29. Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by chemstar · · Score: 0, Flamebait


    Thousands of Iraqis have died ( 100,000 died in the first war), 34 Americans have died due to the arrogant miscalculation of Donald Rumsfield and his "small footprint."

    1. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      So score 100,000 for us and 34 for the bad guys.

      What again was your question, you rifle dropping francophile?

    2. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Interesting

      While that is the good kneejerk response, it's not based in fact.

      By US military estimates the US has destroyed perhaps a Brigade worth of Iraqi soldiers. I'd guess it's closer to an Iraqi Division or 6-9,000. It's in the "thousands" but it's thousands of combatants who are using tactics that lead to large number of combatant deaths. Assaulting superior equipment, house to house fighting and not having capable air defense to attrit the American and British bombers and strike aircraft.

      The Iraqi government has tossed out numbers in the hundreds and the International Red Cross says an average of about 100 people are killed or wounded every day in Baghdad because of bombing by U.S. and British forces. Iraqi AAA and SAMs falling back into the city aren't helping matters much either I suspect.

      Less are dying this time than the last time because the Allies aren't carpet bombing Iraqi units in the field.

      This ban on these comm devices isn't censorship in a war gone bad, its called lowering the emissions of the units in the field.

      If anyone here really thought a military operation to defeat a large army in the field in a country the size of Oregon and Washington was going to happen in 3-10 days is an idiot. If Rummy thought that, he is an idiot as well.

      There is a list as long as my arm of tiny cutoff islands in Japan whos capture cost the Americans a 100 times more casualties an hour than Iraq and many of them had been shelled and bombed for days before the first soldiers set foot there.

      The current campaign on Iraqi isn't an "arrogant miscalculation" it's a remarkably well organized and carried out operation to this point.

    3. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Thousands of Iraqis have died ( 100,000 died in the first war)

      That was the initial estimate during the war. Afterwards, the number was found to be a couple of orders of magnitude lower. Iraqi units that were bombed had far fewer soldiers than had been estimated, and they were smart enough to mostly stay away from where the bombs were dropping.

    4. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You may not have gotten first post, but you certainly got BEST POST

    5. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The current campaign on Iraqi isn't an "arrogant miscalculation" it's a remarkably well organized and carried out operation to this point.

      You must be watching a different channel than me.

    6. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually the more accurate figure was around 200,000. And of course that says nothing about the many who died after as a result of sanctions (the figure often heard is at least 500,000 Iraqi children alone, that according to the UN) or those who died after the war as a result of the intentional bombing of Iraqi water supplies.

    7. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by EastCoastSurfer · · Score: 1

      And of course that says nothing about the many who died after as a result of sanctions (the figure often heard is at least 500,000 Iraqi children alone, that according to the UN)

      To me this is more of a reason to get Saddam out. Many programs were set up to get food and medical supplies to Iraq, but Saddam either used them for himself or, as we recently found out, smuggled in military supplies in the foods place. No one wants war, but at this juncture it is the only way to truly help the Iraqi people.

    8. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps he doesn't get Al Jazeera.

    9. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was the initial estimate during the war. Afterwards, the number was found to be a couple of orders of magnitude lower.

      Don't feel bad, over half a million civilian deaths have been attributed to the illegal destruction of infrastructure during and since the first war.

    10. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 2, Informative

      The United States has moved a force to within 50-60 miles of Bagdhad and lost a platoon worth of combat soldiers in fighting.

      When the 173rd airborne can appear out of no where and take important airfields without anyone thinking that was possible is a sign of a well organized and carried out operation.

    11. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by tigheig · · Score: 1
      ... the number was found to be a couple of orders of magnitude lower.

      That would make it about 1000. Are you sure that's what you meant?

    12. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 1
      That would make it about 1000. Are you sure that's what you meant?

      yes.

    13. Re:Beacause It Is Censorship On A War Gone Bad by commodoresloat · · Score: 1
      No one wants war, but at this juncture it is the only way to truly help the Iraqi people.

      I'd be a little more likely to believe this if the Iraqi people were actually asking for our help. Many of the few Iraqis who did -- for example, the exiled Iraqi opposition group -- are now begging us to get out of Iraq. And many Iraqis who escaped Saddam's tyranny are now running back to Iraq to fight alongside his forces.

  30. Not completely true by Flamesplash · · Score: 4, Informative

    A lot of times the reporters aren't allowed to reveal where they are and sometimes simply aren't told. I've listened to a lot of NPR reports where the journalists state that they can't reveal their locations

    --
    "Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
    1. Re:Not completely true by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      A lot of times the reporters aren't allowed to reveal where they are and sometimes simply aren't told. I've listened to a lot of NPR reports where the journalists state that they can't reveal their locations

      After all, it is not like someone who knows the countryside couldn't recognize an area by photos of a bridge, etc. is it?

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    2. Re:Not completely true by Ryan+Amos · · Score: 3, Informative

      Which is why you'll often see reporters doing their stories in front of a tank or an APC. That way all you see in the picture is the vehicle, not any of the surrounding terrain.

    3. Re:Not completely true by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      Or desert. Can't tell much about desert, it all looks pretty much like desert. :)

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    4. Re:Not completely true by marksven · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but sometimes the reporters give away so many clues, their location is obvious. "I can't say exactly where I am, but we're about 150 miles away from Baghdad at an oil field that is resposible for 30% of the oil production in Iraq."

      Uh, yeah. The Iraqis will have no idea where you're at.

    5. Re:Not completely true by Flamesplash · · Score: 1

      hehe, yeah

      I often wonder if there's a military guy sitting there with his hand on the transmission equipments power switch.

      --
      "Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
  31. Damn, a missed opportunity� by mpthompson · · Score: 1

    Too bad the Syrians and Iranians weren't clandestinely smuggling these phones in to be used by the Iraqi military along with the night vision goggles and anti-tank weapons. It would have made the coalition's job of ferreting these guys out of civilian neighborhoods a tad bit easier.

    1. Re:Damn, a missed opportunity� by meehawl · · Score: 1
      Some people really will believe everything the neocons spew, won't you? Uncritically believing everything your Leaders tell you makes as delusional as the Saddamists.
      Three days after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charged night-vision goggles had been supplied by Syria to Iraq, a top US commander said Monday he was unaware of any Iraqi battlefield use of such devices. "What I know is that we have not to my knowledge seen any at this point," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at the Central Command's forward headquarters in Qatar in reply to a question. "I'm just not aware of any that have been encountered."
      --

      Da Blog
    2. Re:Damn, a missed opportunity� by mpthompson · · Score: 1

      Please. A link to the Washington Monthly? Best described as a farm club for would be liberal journalists. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Even liberals don't pretend the journal is unbiased. Some people really believe everything the neo-liberals spew...

  32. Re:http://www.aeronautics.ru by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Welcome to the special Wartime Edition of the Aeronautics.Ru What you see is the lighter version of the usual main page. This is a temporary measure designed to improve the response time of this site. The server was overloaded by unexpected increase in traffic as well as by attempted denial of service attacks coming mainly from US-based domains.

    I do believe they are being /.'ed ;)

  33. you don't need the same tech to target them by jpellino · · Score: 3, Insightful

    someone mentironed the iraqis prolly don't have gps weapons - and that's irrelevant.

    if you hand me your lat/lon within 100m, i can find you - maybe with a missile, maybe with a truck, maybe with a lot of stuff. and i can do it with a $100 gps, close enough to kill you. i don't want this happening to our troops so that some media diva can be avant garde.

    truth is the npr story mentioned some whiney reporters having to use a plain old sat phone and dictate stories to a copy desk and pitching a fit. they need to understand they are just barely able to do this period, they do not have a god given right to be ther, and that there is a more than acceptable risk of becoming pink mist on no notice.

    suck it up, do your job, and listen to the professional warriors.

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
  34. Re: Fast Defense Department by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll say it's fast! It already tried to get to third base with me, and it's only our second date!

  35. BANNED? by dogbox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why were these phones allowed in the first place? Wouldn't it have made more sense to simply give them a list of things they CAN take rather than giving them a list of things they can't take and possibly missing something?

    1. Re:BANNED? by PigleT · · Score: 1

      "Why were these phones allowed in the first place?"

      Quite. I'm not so stupid as to use a device where GPS data is actively fed into the data-stream back to my provider in the first place.

      I mean, GPS is receive-only, right? Why should integrating that with a phone be a privacy invasion? Sure, it'd be nice to be able to link GPS data into an outgoing SMS or something, but you don't need a continual stream flying back of which you're unaware.

      --
      ~Tim
      --
      .|` Clouds cross the black moonlight,
      Rushing on down to the circle of the turn
  36. Re:Good .... but .... by ebuite37 · · Score: 5, Funny

    First, I think you have to realize that certain press people are with certain American forces using a certain technology...hint hint.

    Second, just because the government doesn't tell everyone its intentions behind mandates doesn't mean there is a huge conspiracy behind it. What if Washington were honest in its intent to pusue justice and freedom for the Iraqi people? Whoah! Perhaps there are people in power who actually care about oppressed people and
    Americans who are risking their lives to stop it!!!

  37. Intelligence problem by rjamestaylor · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The problem, if you think about it, is not merely that the conversation could be non-trivially intercepted by Iraqis, but something more insidious. These phones hunt for the closest processing center via GPS and every so often broadcast their position to that center. For the Iraqi desert, the closest center is in United Arab Emerates (sp?), which is a colalition ally but susceptable to intelligence inflitration. So, it's not just the US being paranoid that the waky Iraqis can intercept and interpret the code its that there very well could be a sympathetic listener in the UAE, or elsewhere that GPS position is recorded.

    Signal Ops with Hum Int is very powerful. In this case the Hum Int may be the bigger concern.

    --
    -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  38. Those aren't reporters anyway ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please, take all their phones and cameras away!Then maybe they'll get some guts, and go look for stories out in the real world, away from the censorship-for-security deal they have with the military.

    1. Re:Those aren't reporters anyway ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heaven forbid we protect our troops. Freedom of press!

  39. No way! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " Nobody wants to eat their dinner whilst hearing about how a US patrol killed fleeing women and children, "

    I'd rather be cheering and hoping all the motherfuckers die.

    Just kidding, of course.

    You have a point, but overall you have such a "I know more than you" attitude, that I'm hoping a "smart" bomb misses and takes out you and your "loved" ones.

    Heh

  40. U.S. Forces In Iraq Ban GPS Phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Triangulation does NOT require 3 receivers - only 2.
    The signal is tracked from 2 receivers, and a line drawn from the receivers towards the transmitted signal (rotate antenna, and the strongest signal indicates direction of transmitter) . . . where the lines cross is the location.
    Seems even the 'geeks' are a bit weak on basic radio navigation theory.

    1. Re:U.S. Forces In Iraq Ban GPS Phones by Qender · · Score: 1

      Well, that's not much of a "triangle" is it. I guess if you wanted to you could use a single receiver and simple move it to three different points, then you could build your "triangle".

      Of course, you don't really need the triangle, you could just head toward the direction from which the signal was strongest.

    2. Re:U.S. Forces In Iraq Ban GPS Phones by The+Monster · · Score: 2, Informative
      The signal is tracked from 2 receivers, and a line drawn from the receivers towards the transmitted signal (rotate antenna, and the strongest signal indicates direction of transmitter) . . . where the lines cross is the location.
      Well, that's not much of a "triangle" is it.
      Two recievers + one transmitters = three points. That's why it's called 'triangulation' It is a BIT of a misnomer, in that there are really only two angles being used to find the third point. But the two angles in question aren't angles of the triangle formed by the three points, they are bearings - angles relative to north.
      --

      [100% ISO 646 Compliant]
      SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.

    3. Re:U.S. Forces In Iraq Ban GPS Phones by Qender · · Score: 1

      When you're dealing with calculation of locations on a flat plane, you will most always have triangles, you will have a lot of other shapes too. I personally only think that you "triangulate" when you have three recievers. triangulation with two recievers is using another dimension, time, to create three recievers.

  41. OT: Smuggling irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The GPS jammers smuggled into Iraq by the Russians were destroyed by GPS guided bombs.

  42. Russians by N8F8 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We heard earlier this week that Russian contractors were in Bagdhad training Iraqi military how to use GPS satellite blocking devices. I assume they could have also sold the Iraquis other technologies as well.

    --
    "God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
    1. Re:Russians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a conspiracy! No, wait! It's our old friend Adnan Khashoggi! Friend, there is a big difference from people working for Reagan's old buddy Adnan and people ordered there by Putie-poo Vladmir. Big difference. God Bless the Republican Propaganda Ministry!

  43. I've heard of reaching out and touching some one by cranos · · Score: 1

    But this is ridiculous. I'm surprised the Military didn't issue the reporters with standard phones at the start and ban anything else. And whats with the damn web cam shit on the news. Its like watching a really low bandwitdth version of a web clip. Come on people we must have a better compression scheme than that.

  44. Breaking news! by corvi42 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So this is why these reporters are always being attacked whenever they go to make a report by phone.

    --

    There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
  45. Re:Good .... but .... by isorox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Apparently Iridium isnt as reliable as immersat etc (which makes sense, as you are tracking lots of fast moving satelites instead of one stationary satelite).

  46. Someone Explain this to me... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1
    We have reporters traveling along with our armed forces, even so far as getting shot at.

    Just think, people were fleeing to Canada to avoid the front lines with a gun in their hand, and we have 600 morons who decided to tag along with a camera?

    Not only are these folks civilians, not only are they not armed, they picked the crankiest, self-rightious, blabbermouthiest population of poeple in the western world.

    No wait... there may be a plan in all this.

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    1. Re:Someone Explain this to me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      >they picked the crankiest, self-rightious, blabbermouthiest population of poeple in the western world.

      actually it looks like they missed one.

  47. I'll bet some folks were against letting this out by John+Jorsett · · Score: 1

    I'll bet that there are some people who didn't like seeing this news get out. The bad guys use sat phones too, and it would be pretty handy to have their exact location.

  48. Wow, smart. by No+Such+Agency · · Score: 1

    You should work for Rumsfeld and the US DOD. You're almost as good at underestimating the enemy as they are. You could order the marines sent in armed with baseball bats, after all the Iraqis couldn't possibly do more than throw rocks at them...

    ps: that box you typed this on is "advanced sand technology" ;-)

    --
    Freedom: "I won't!"
    1. Re:Wow, smart. by miketang16 · · Score: 1

      I apologize, I confused Iraqi's with Palestinians. Btw, I don't quite see how that was racist, but ok...

      --
      -------
      "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
      -- George Orwell
    2. Re:Wow, smart. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, maybe not actively racist, but it implies that Iraq is not a modern nation, which is untrue. They may not be up to US standards after so many years of sanction and low level bombing, but they do have more advanced technologies than camels or sand.

  49. Violation of freedoms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This is an unacceptable violation of Freedom of Speech.

    For example, if for your own advantage you intentionally and knowingly make a deal with a shady figure such that he will kill you in the event that I say to my mother, "Hello mother," it is an unacceptable violation of freedom of speech to restrict me from saying, "Hello mother."

    Further, in the event that I do say, "Hello mother," even if you have told me what the consequences of saying this will be, I am not morally responsible for the resulting death of you.

    The military can go screw themselves. And yes, I mean soldiers too. If you joined voluntarily, and accepted the sacrifices to your individuality that you did, then I hold you peronsally responsible for any actions you commit or are party to.

  50. How does it feel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To be afraid of your own shadow?

    You must have a vagina... if you had balls in the past, no doubt they have jumped off you and run away.

  51. I doubt that... by djupedal · · Score: 1

    You'd be surprised how much modern (coalition) military strategy is based on Chinese military strategy.

    They may not be as interested or surprised by what the US may or may not do as you think. After all, we've only been in the war business for a few hundred years, while China has thousands of years to look back on.

  52. Re:Good .... but .... by sgtsanity · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Apparently it's reliable enough for the Department of Defense.

  53. Direction Finding by Detritus · · Score: 1
    A direction finding station produces a bearing to the emitter. You only need bearings from two stations to localize the emitter. Additional bearings will improve the accuracy of the solution.

    Direction finding is why military commanders try to put their communications antennas at a distance from their headquarters and communications centers.

    The Iraqi army may not have GPS guided missiles and bombs, but they do have rockets and artillery pieces. Being on the receiving end of an artillery barrage can ruin your whole day.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  54. Gee the media giving away positions in a war.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Geee....where have we seen this???...hmmm, the media giving away the position of our troops has been a problem since WWI. How about letting our guys do their jobs with out the threat of what our stupid media does to them.

  55. Self-censorship by einhverfr · · Score: 3, Informative

    Of course they have self-censored to an extent that I personally find rediculous. For example, interrupting an Iraqi press conference because "of course the administration would disagree with what they have to say."

    Why is it that I have to go outside this country for good news? Why is it that CNN's coverage improves the instant you leave the USA? Why is it that although there is more widespread support for this war in Israel than there is in the US, that Ha'aretz is far more ballanced than even the New York Times?

    Why is it that when the American troups parachuted into Northern Iraq, the press portrays this as a glorious moment, rather than the result of a diplomatic failure (to get Turkey to let us use their land as a staging area for a northern front)?

    Here are some links I suggest people look into (all in English):

    http://www.haaretzdaily.com (a respected Israeli newspaper).
    http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly (an Egyptian weekly news magazine).
    http://www.bbc.co.uk

    --

    LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    1. Re:Self-censorship by mpe · · Score: 1

      Why is it that I have to go outside this country for good news?

      Somehow the much trumpeted "freedom of the press" in the US dosn't translate to much in practice. Even corporate ownership dosn't explain this, since the media in other parts of the world also has massive corporate ownership sometimes even the same ownership.

      Why is it that CNN's coverage improves the instant you leave the USA?

      Yet CNN is owned by the same corporation worldwide. Similarly Fox News and Sky News are both owned by Newscorp.

      Why is it that although there is more widespread support for this war in Israel than there is in the US, that Ha'aretz is far more ballanced than even the New York Times?

      IIRC Israel is the only country on the planet where there is majority support from the public. Anyway when it comes to anything to do with Israel in the US media you need a large bag of salt. Given the strange relationship the 2 countries have.

      Why is it that when the American troups parachuted into Northern Iraq, the press portrays this as a glorious moment, rather than the result of a diplomatic failure (to get Turkey to let us use their land as a staging area for a northern front)?

      Or to ask questions about how easily US forces can manage the logistics of supplying those troups. Especially in the light of resupply problems occuring in the South.

    2. Re:Self-censorship by ThatMadeNoSense · · Score: 0

      I personally find rediculous.

      That made no sense.

  56. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who cares....They've been warned."

    According to Ms. Adie, who twelve years ago covered the last Gulf War, the Pentagon attitude is: "entirely hostile to the the free spread of information."

    "I am enormously pessimistic of the chance of decent on-the-spot reporting, as the war occurs," she told Irish national broadcaster, Tom McGurk on the RTE1 Radio "Sunday Show."

  57. Re:Good .... but .... by damiam · · Score: 1

    Get a clue. These are not cell phones, and the GPS is not in there because of a government mandate, it's there because of technical need - so that the satillite can get a proper fx on where the phone is.

    --
    It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  58. War Gone Bad... by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    On slashdot, K5 and in the local and national press the words disaster, quagmire and miscalculation are thrown around less than 2 weeks after this war started.

    Well alot of people need to look at modern military history to see how fast armies move and how long it takes to eliminate enemy opposition.

    February and March 1945 the Marines attacked an island 2 miles by 4 miles in the Pacific. In 36 days 6,800 Marines died and 19,000 were wounded.

    21,000 Japanese soldiers were killed.

    For 70 days the island was bombed and for 3 days it was shelled by battleships.

    On 1 April 1945 the Marines and Navy attack Okinawa. The fighting for the most part ended on 30 June 1945. In 90 days of fighting 12,000 Americans died and more than 38,000 were wounded. 34 ships were sunk, 368 damaged and 763 aircraft lost. 26,000 American soldiers left the battle because of combat fatigue and other non-battle causes.

    And lets remeber how long the last wars took.

    Gulf War '91 - 44 days of bombing before a 3 day ground war.

    Serbia - 77 days of bombing before Milosevic threw in the towel.

    1. Re:War Gone Bad... by letxa2000 · · Score: 1
      Don't confuse these people with reality! :)

    2. Re:War Gone Bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Perhaps we remember those things, but we also remember the current administration constantly implying that we would be welcomed as liberators, that there would be no serious resistance, that the war would be one of days and weeks, not months and years.

      Perhaps we're realizing that our administration lied to us. Perhaps we're realizing that the whole war is a lie. Perhaps we're just pissed off because the Bush administration does nothing but tell half truths, regularly lies by omission, and does not allow the media to express controversial opinions.

      maybe we're just pissed that the administration has decided to do osama's recruitment for the next three decades, and wants us to support it without question. maybe we're pissed because our leaders have turned our nation into a terrorist nation.

      As for short wars.... the six day war: six days of war.

      if you think this war is a good thing, and that it's going well (particularly from an international relations point of view), then please give me the pills you're taking, because i think we're just busy proving that yes, we ARE the great satan.

    3. Re:War Gone Bad... by e_pluribus_funk · · Score: 1

      "Perhaps we remember those things, but we also remember the current administration constantly implying that we would be welcomed as liberators, that there would be no serious resistance, that the war would be one of days and weeks, not months and years." Not sure which administration officials you listened to, but I seem to recall them stating it wouldn't be easy, and it wouldn't be fast. The press and many "talking heads" claimed the above, but that bs wasn't coming out of the administration. A US Army general ten years retired does not represent the current administration. "Perhaps we're realizing that our administration lied to us. Perhaps we're realizing that the whole war is a lie. Perhaps we're just pissed off because the Bush administration does nothing but tell half truths, regularly lies by omission, and does not allow the media to express controversial opinions. " Perhaps your "realizations" are hallucinations.

    4. Re:War Gone Bad... by NetGyver · · Score: 1

      Just to be fair about this, It was said by either Rumsfield or Bush, not sure which, that the quote "the war would be one of days and weeks, not months and years." was taken directy from his mouth. I heard it as well. As far as liberation is concerned that's another thing i'd like to bring to the table.

      The premise for this war was to rid Iraq and Saddam Hussain of weapons of mass distruction. Since the U.N. couldn't seem to "resolve" the crisis at hand, the U.S. decided that it'd do it by force. If liberation and a new Iraqi government was stated in the early stages of this ordeal, it was a card that was seriously underplayed by the administration. But soon after the war started, and it got it's name: "Iraqi Freedom". That's when the story seemed to have changed. It's about Iraqi freedom now. If the U.S wanted to simply enforce U.N. resolution 1441 or any other resolution against iraq, the war could be considered by many to be a legal course of action.

      But it's way more than that. It's about removing Saddam Hussain and his regime, and building up a more friendlier pro-american, pro-deomocracy government. There's nothing in the U.N resolutions that said that would be a consequence if Iraq didn't comply with it's U.N. obligations.

      I don't mean to sound callous or unsympathetic to the iraqi people, but i'm looking at this from a technical stand point. If your going to go to war for something, like disarming Iraq, then go and do it. But don't tear up a country and rebuild it in your image while your at it. No wonder it sends the message it does to arab people. It's arrogent.

      Yes I hate Saddam as much as any other person, and yes i am an American. Yes, getting rid of Saddam and his regime would help the iraqi people. But that wasn't part of the plan. The plan was to get rid of Iraq's WMD. It was something everyone in the U.N. agreed to. Now if the U.S. was in Iraq to simply *remove* those WMD, then people like France, and all the other countries who oppose the war, could live with the use of force to reach their agreed consensus: Iraq must be disarmed.

      I support our troops reguardless, as well as the British troops and Aussies. It's the administration that i'm concerned about, and I cannot stress this point enough.

      --
      A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
    5. Re:War Gone Bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gulf War - 44 days of bombing before a 3 day ground war

      Bosnia - 77 days of bombing

      Gulf War 2 - 2 days of bombing before sending in ground forces (If you count the initial cruise missile strike as a day.)

      Notice the slight problem in tactics here?

    6. Re:War Gone Bad... by Gigs · · Score: 1, Interesting

      "the war would be one of days and weeks, not months and years."

      Last I checked its hasn't even been two weeks and we have, for all intents and purposes, Baghdad surrounded! But some in the media would have you believe that every time we have an idiot with an AK-47 fire a shot at our troops we are losing this war.

      There's nothing in the U.N resolutions that said that would be a consequence if Iraq didn't comply with it's U.N. obligations.

      Allow me to quote the resolution to you:

      13. Recalls, in that context, that the Council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations.

      I'm not sure what you thought Serious Consequences meant but it didn't mean we would send them milk and cookies and ask them to play nice! To remove the WMD you must remove those that wish to build and use them. Otherwise what will stop them from doing it again???

      I don't mean to sound callous or unsympathetic ...don't tear up a country...It's arrogant.

      Your argument is morally dead! Plain and simple! Your freedom and happiness is fine, but it's not worth anything to you! You are not willing to offer it to anyone else cause there's a chance they don't want it. I'm sure that everyone in Iraq is just waiting to hop into the plastic shredders and have their wives and daughters raped in front of them. You say we have no right to free these people! I say we've not only have the right, we as Human Beings have an OBLIGATION to stop this regime from treating Human Beings in such a manner!

      Yes I hate Saddam as much as any other person, and yes i am an American.

      You may live in America, but you are not an American! An American would never stand by while another human being was tortured in the ways the Iraqis are everyday! But hey you've got your MTV and Survivor so your life is fine. So if some Arab can't say a bad word about their leader with out having their tongue cut out, who cares really...

      ...simply *remove* those WMD, then people like France, and all the other countries who oppose the war, could live with the use of force to reach their agreed consensus.

      Ok this you're going to have trouble with because its a fact you'll not want to hear. FRANCE IS OWED OIL BY IRAQ TO PAY FOR THE REACTOR THAT JACQUES CHIRAC SOLD THEM! Now ask yourself why a country that has the second largest oil reserve in the world needs a reactor???? And if we secure the oil fields and allow Iraq to start selling it on the open market again at full price instead of france at a discount, who loses????

      Please don't fool yourself into believing that france has some moral reasons for their objections to the war. Its nothing but a staggering financial loss to them.

    7. Re:War Gone Bad... by hurtta · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There's nothing in the U.N resolutions that said that would be a consequence if Iraq didn't comply with it's U.N. obligations.

      Allow me to quote the resolution to you:

      13. Recalls, in that context, that the Council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations.

      I'm not sure what you thought Serious Consequences meant but it didn't mean we would send them milk and cookies and ask them to play nice! To remove the WMD you must remove those that wish to build and use them. Otherwise what will stop them from doing it again???

      Serious Consequences was not == Permission to start war

      It was more like next resolution may be permission to start war.

      (Remember that US have not got that resolution -- at least yet.)

    8. Re:War Gone Bad... by Vainglorious+Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
      Allow me to quote the resolution to you:... 13. Recalls, in that context, that the Council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations.... I'm not sure what you thought Serious Consequences meant but it didn't mean we would send them milk and cookies and ask them to play nice!

      You're quoting the resolution, but you're not understanding it (not that it's for you to determine what "serious consequences" means anyway; the language of diplomacy is a world away from /. babble). The resolution did not authorise automaticity of force, however much you would like it to be the case. The cororally to that : if the resolution had contained such language, it would never have been passed in the first place.

      There is no doubt whatsoever that the current action is in breach of the UN Charter and is therefore "illegal". What remains to be seen (and I think it will be 5, 10 years maybe more before we can truly know) is whether this action is the right thing to do.

      --
      My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
    9. Re:War Gone Bad... by Gigs · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is that Serious Consequences meant that we would "Seriously" talk about the "Consequences"?

      The resolution did not authorise automaticity of force, however much you would like it to be the case.

      But however much you would like it not to say what it says... it says "Serious Consequences" and the President of the US and the Prime Minister of the UK believed that it meant what it said. Those that disagreed on the UN Council did so because they have serious financial interest in keeping the current people in power in Iraq.

      There is no doubt whatsoever that the current action is in breach of the UN Charter and is therefore "illegal".

      Does this mean that the UK and US will have UN resolutions enacted against them that will carry the same weight as the 18 resolutions on Iraq carried? Oh boy I can tell ya I'm worried.

      I'll leave you with this quote:

      Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.
      --Blaise Pascal

    10. Re:War Gone Bad... by Vainglorious+Coward · · Score: 1

      You can do your hand waving, put words in my mouth and play semantic games all you like, but the fact remains that it is for the Security Council to decide these things; not you, not me, and not governments acting outside of the remit of the UN. Or are we going to do away with the UN now and replace it with a bully-boy, "might is right" approach to international relations? That would appear to be a perfect example of "force without justice" which your own quote defines as tyranny.

      --
      My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
    11. Re:War Gone Bad... by Gigs · · Score: 1

      I only put as many words you your mouth as you put in mine.

      Where our disagreement lies is in who's power it is to decided what course of action the US and UK may take to protect their citizens and provide a stable world for them to live in. You make the argument that it is upto the UN to decide. I argue that the UN's inaction is the reason that it lost that ability. After 18...18 ignored resolutions enough is enough. Say whatever you want but until you justify how the ignoring of 18 resolutions makes the US the bad guy your argument holds no water.

      Or are we going to do away with the UN now and replace it with a bully-boy, "might is right" approach to international relations?

      We did not make the UN irrevelant, France did! They are the ones who said that they would veto any resolution that would remove those in power in Iraq. They said they would veto the resolution before Iraq had even said that it would not agree to it. Why do you thing that was????

      That would appear to be a perfect example of "force without justice" which your own quote defines as tyranny.

      To justify that statement you would need to prove that the US is an unjust society. Where exactly is this lack of justice?

      The tyranny is not within the US but within Iraq and the Baath Party which took control and kills all those who oppose it. You have lived so long in a free society that you have lost touch with what tyranny is!

    12. Re:War Gone Bad... by Vainglorious+Coward · · Score: 1
      ...18 ignored resolutions

      If all the UN's resolutions were going to be applied with equal vigour, I wouldn't have a problem. It's the selective nature of enforcement that undermines any authority the UN has/had. The stench of hypocracy is quite overwhelming.

      [France] are the ones who said that they would veto any resolution that would remove those in power in Iraq.

      Absolutely wrong (though certainly US media portrayed the situation that way). The French (and others too, remember) would not support a resolution that led to automaticity of force - ie that any military action should only be with the approval of the Security Council. As for their financial motivations, I don't think anyone's dispusting that they are owed money by Iraq (many Western countries dealt with Saddam for many years, including *after* the incident at Halabja; Rumsfeld visited Baghdad personally to make arms deals). Then again, wasn't it the US administration that spent the first nine months of its existence unilaterally withdrawing from international treaties on the grounds that it wasn't in the financial interest of the US? (That approach to policy of course begs the question - is the US action in Iraq "in the financial interest of the US" - but we'd better not get side-tracked into that can of worms).

      ...prove that the US is an unjust society.

      Well, I'm not going to get sidetracked into how skewed the domestic US justice system is (eg black imprisonment rates). My point is that it should be the UN that decides international "justice", not a cabal in Washington. To put it more bluntly - who made Bush judge, jury and executioner? That's why so many individuals and governments are outraged about this.

      You seem to have bought fully into this "you're with us or against us" bullshit; that attitude may be expected from children in the playground, but it's astonishingly ignorant for a president. It's the language of the bully. The "coalition of the willing" is very much in the minority, globally, and I have a suspicion that this reckless go-it-alone attitude will come back to bite the US in the ass. I'm sure none of us wants that.

      All of which matters not, now. The war is on, illegal or not, and we can't go back. The real question now is whether this was the right thing to do. We won't be able to know for years, but I fear the legacy of damage will be very significant and long lasting, far longer lasting that the current administration.

      --
      My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
    13. Re:War Gone Bad... by Gigs · · Score: 1

      It's the selective nature of enforcement that undermines any authority the UN has/had. The stench of hypocracy is quite overwhelming.

      We seem to agree on this point. But it seems we disagree that when they proved that they were unable to react and were simple an talking club it was up to the US to react to protect its citizens.

      By they way where were you when Clinton did his bombing in 98' without UN approval?

      The French (and others too, remember) would not support a resolution that led to automaticity of force...

      No absolutely right. The French said they would Veto no matter what. The Russians and Chinese said that they would vote against it. A vote against is not a veto! Currently every country that was "on the fense" for that vote have commited assest to the war. Making it more than likely that the vote would have been in favor of the UK/US resolution. But alas we'll never know because France said they would use their veto no matter what.

      Well, I'm not going to get sidetracked into how skewed the domestic US justice system is (eg black imprisonment rates).

      Sure wouldn't want to go into the 40 years of Democratic Control and their social programs that destroyed the inner city leading to the unbalanced crime of those that were stuck in those inner cities.

      My point is that it should be the UN that decides international "justice", not a cabal in Washington.

      And my point is that we should not wait for another smoking hole in the ground to be allowed to protect our interests. And fortunately, for me and 70+% of Americans the administration feels the same way.

      That's why so many individuals and governments are outraged about this.

      And they can be... The Russians were outraged by Reagan, but we still kicked their ass. And in the end forced them to respect us. And so will the Arab street.

      I can go on and sight history to prove all this but just look for yourself into past conflicts and you will see that there are plenty of examples of what I'm trying to explain to you. Mean while your kowtowing lead to some of the largest genocides of history.

      You worry that because of our actions we MAY face a terrorist in the future. I say that if we don't we WILL face it! Remember its the home of the Free BECAUSE it's the land of the Brave. You can't have one without the other.

    14. Re:War Gone Bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      [huff puff]...smoking hole in the ground!...[more chest beating]

      Sigh. Thanks anyway for reminding me why I've restrained myself from debating (or at least, attempting to) these issues in a forum like /. I should expect such naiivety on /., I just never expected it of "statesmen".

      Seeya

      -- We do not live in a meritocracy; both cream and shit float.
    15. Re:War Gone Bad... by Gigs · · Score: 1

      Not a problem! Please remember next time to come to the table with an understanding of the facts and a clear knowledge of the historic precidents that bear on the issues your are discussing.

      You failed to answer any questions I posed to you. You accusing me of hand waving and chest beating and never addressed the points except to run UN babble up the flag pole. The UN is not a world government and has no power over the US! You can yell and scream about that all you want but its the simple truth. The US has the right to protect itself, its citizens, and its national interests. Even a "naiive statesmen" could tell you that!

    16. Re:War Gone Bad... by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      And they can be... The Russians were outraged by Reagan, but we still kicked their ass. And in the end forced them to respect us. And so will the Arab street.

      Just like the Brits did to the Irish, or the Germans and Russians did to the good people of Poland? Or for that matter the way the various regimes of Iraq, Iran, and Turkey have done to the Kurds?

      The real issue here is the right makes might, not the other way arround. And if we focus on the might-end of the equasion, we will all suffer in the long run. This has been the mistake of North Korea, and quite frankly the USSR too (though to be fair they had vast amounts of damage to their cities in WWII that we never did). We are so powerful and respected because there are many in the world who think we do stand for freedom (even if that is not always the case). If we squander that goodwill, God help us all.

      Vietnam and many many other examples show that a determined population will always be victorious against an unpopular government even with the backing of a foreign army. And even if it takes 30 years.

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  59. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It has to be done, no matter how distasteful.

    And the young marine, while not politically correct, hit the nail on the head.

    The Iraqi's are a sick people, and they need to be roused from their slumber. They didn't get rid of Saddam, so we will.

    Don't like Bush? You can vote him out (he's outta there next time). Won't take a non-UN mandate to do it.

    Maybe the Iraqis will have that chance within a few years.

    1. Re:Good by Morpeth · · Score: 1
      "The Iraqi's are a sick people, and they need to be roused from their slumber. They didn't get rid of Saddam, so we will."

      Hey ignoramous - read a little more history before you shoot your mouth off. They DID try to oust Saddam, and the freakin US told them to rise up and do so (Bush Sr. that is, in 1981). When they asked for help, the US turned their backs on them, after we promised to help them - and they were brutally slaughtered.

      http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/kurds/battle.html

      "Bush then did nothing to help. He allowed Iraq tanks and Republican Guard units to move, to put down the rebels, IN SPITE of ceasefire conditions in which he was not allowed to move those units. In the north, he allowed Iraq to use helicopter gun ships, even though there was a ban on flights. These were not accidental decisions of the Bush administration. This was a conscious decision that it was better for Saddam Hussein to remain in power than for the Shiites in the south to succeed or for Kurds in north to succeed because they might be separatists and annoy Turkey."

      So before you cast all Iraqis in the same light, trying education yourself and get f*cking informed. I am so sick of people who yammer on without a f*cking fact in their head. And yeah, I do hope Bush looses the next election - like he did the last one... oops nm.

      --

      'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
    2. Re:Good by Commutative+Monoid · · Score: 1

      They DID try to oust Saddam, and the freakin US told them to rise up and do so (Bush Sr. that is, in 1981). When they asked for help, the US turned their backs on them, after we promised to help them - and they were brutally slaughtered.

      We had no U.N. mandate to enter Iraq and aid its citizens in overthrowing its Government. Do you really think if Bush had wanted to, and did so, that the same countries objecting to this war, wouldn't have objected then?
      The Gulf War was considerably less popular domestically than this war. The Bush administration didn't have the political credit to usurp the authority of a U.N. effort and extend it into a liberation campaign. The administration chose to do the easy thing instead.
      get f*cking informed. I am so sick of people who yammer on without a f*cking fact in their head.

      Me too. Take some of your own advice.

      The grandparent is a real piece of work, but things aren't really as simple as you'd like them to be.

      --
      You have exactly 314 seconds to come up with a less retarded plot.
    3. Re:Good by mpe · · Score: 1

      They DID try to oust Saddam, and the freakin US told them to rise up and do so (Bush Sr. that is, in 1981).

      More likely you mean 1991. In 1981 Iraq was still "best friends" with the US, since they were attacking "those nasty Iranians".

      When they asked for help, the US turned their backs on them, after we promised to help them - and they were brutally slaughtered.

      IIRC one of the things the US refused to do was give anti-Hussain generals control of capured military hardware.

      Bush then did nothing to help. He allowed Iraq tanks and Republican Guard units to move, to put down the rebels, IN SPITE of ceasefire conditions in which he was not allowed to move those units. In the north, he allowed Iraq to use helicopter gun ships, even though there was a ban on flights.

      Only later did the US government start making a big fuss about the "no fly zones", which were never endorsed by the UN in the first place.

      These were not accidental decisions of the Bush administration. This was a conscious decision that it was better for Saddam Hussein to remain in power than for the Shiites in the south to succeed

      With these same people not being too happy to be invaded. They might not like the government in Baghdad, but they don't like being invaded by soldiers from thousands of miles away either.

    4. Re:Good by ThatMadeNoSense · · Score: 0

      I do hope Bush looses the next election

      That made no sense.

  60. Track my Nextel phone by asmithmd1 · · Score: 1

    Check out the java midlet I wrote that allows anyone to track where my Nextel phone is

  61. Stupid. Let me show you how this "Soviet" stuff.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You would do it like this:

    In Soviet Iraq, GPS phones YOU!

    Do you see how its done? Ya stupid moron?

  62. You are a moron by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I tried to read this post and it is *completely* *incomprehensible*.

  63. for their own safety... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was watching the news about a week ago and they had one of the embedded journalists on and he was talking and all the sudden they came under fire and he immediately turned off his sat phone and they left. A couple hours later he came back on and he said that they thought the Iraqis had been tracking his sat phone because nobody was supposed to know where they were.

    1. Re:for their own safety... by cyril3 · · Score: 1

      Well it is a radio after all sending out a nice strong signal to a large part of the sky. That's why they have radio silence. Just because the Iraqis found them while he was making a phone call doesn't mean they heard his call at all or that they tracked him using a GPS signal.

  64. Re:http://www.aeronautics.ru by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1

    Quite.

    Venik, the webmaster, is a well known loon on rec.aviation.military.

    Root around enough his site long enough and you'll find references to B-2's and multiple B-52's shot down in Bosnia.

  65. American Friendly Fire. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bonjour, comment cava, mon ami?

    How many of those 34 are due to "friendly fire" vs enemy fire? The US military has a long tradition of shooting/bombing/crusing/burning/etc their own soldiers and their allies more than the enemy does.

    1. Re:American Friendly Fire. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The US military has a long tradition of shooting/bombing/crusing/burning/etc their own soldiers and their allies more than the enemy does.

      You know, that just sounds silly. Exactly how long is this "long tradition"? I rather suspect that it doesn't go back much further than the gulf war. Can you name another war that fits those parameters? Sure wasn't Vietnam, Korea, or WW2...

    2. Re:American Friendly Fire. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WAKE UP

      On the night of February 17th, 1970 five 105mm rockets
      slammed direct hits on several structures within the base camp
      area of a Top Secret U.S. Army communications unit. The
      Commanding Officer and Top Sergeant were not in the facility
      at the time. Two soldiers were killed and seventeen were
      wounded.
      MACV initially attributed the rocketing to "VC radiomen
      infiltrating US Army artillery frequencies." When
      news-reporters questioned why the enemy did not target more
      important installations within range, such as MACV Hq or
      the Presidential Palace, MACV stated the VC responsible were
      captured and killed before those installations were hit.
      Four hours after the first explosive salvos hit Company A44,
      another devastating strike erupted the compound. This time
      four soldiers were killed and thirteen were wounded.
      Within days after the strikes MACV abruptly changed Company
      A44's name to the 269th Signal Company. Journalists, such as
      CBS TV reporter Walter Cronkite, who visited the Co A44 on the
      morning after the strike and interviewed some of its
      personnel, including Phill Coleman, were later told that Co
      A44 had been "dis-established". Cronkite and others eventually
      learned the truth: MACV attempted to bury the episode.
      Ten years after the friendly fire strike CBS TV produced a film
      titled, "Friendly Fire", starring Carol Burnett
      and Ned Beatty. This film provided immense insight into the
      night of 17/18 February 1970 that took the lives of many
      innocent Americans.

      19th INFANTRY REGIMENT

      Before the Korean War began, I was with the 19th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Division stationed in Beppu, Japan. The 24th Division was the first American unit sent to Korea shortly after the North Koreans invaded South Korea. We loaded all of our equipment and personnel onto Navy LST's, and crossed the channel, landing in Pusan, Korea on July 4, 1950. After a few days of preparation for war, we next moved to Taegu for additional preparation. Shortly thereafter, we moved up and took up our first defensive positions somewhere just south of the Kum River. Shortly after that, the enemy attacked our positions, overwhelming our front line troops, creating a very disorderly retreat. Little did we know that the North Koreans were streaming south with little or no resistance. As personnel from our badly overrun, and inundated rifle companies were straggling past our positions, enemy troops that had somehow gotten behind our positions, started throwing down machine gun fire on to the one and only road out of there, effectively blocking the road. Everyone was ordered to first disable, then abandoned their vehicles and to get into this wide river bed just along side of the road, out of reach of the machine gun fire, and head south to who knew where.
      It is while hundreds of our troops were in this river bed straggling south, a P-51 with an American White Star marking, swooped down and strafed the troops in the river bed, killing and injuring many of them. Many of our soldiers up and down the river bed were trying to shoot the plane down but were not successful. How much damage this pilot did to our troops will never be known but it was pretty substantial. Eventually, the airplane departed and never returned.

      13 Killed When U.S. Destroyer Shells Three U.S. Landing Craft Pearl Harbor, 4-3-1944 - A tragic error which resulted in the death of 13 men and the wounding of 46 others when 3 landing craft were shelled by 1 of our own destroyers during landing ops on 2-22 at Parry Island, Eniwetok atoll, was revealed Sunday by Adml Chester W. Nimitz. Adml Nimitz revealed the details of the unfortunate accident following receipt of the report of a board of investigation convened to investigate the circumstances of the error. According to Adml Nimitz' announcement, the destroyer was providing fire support for the 1st wave of LCI's approaching Parry Island with assault troops through heavy smoke and dust caused by preparatory bombardment. "The primary

  66. Re:Good .... but .... by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's like when MS talks about improving the user experience or whatnot. They always have ulterior motives. The end result may be an improved user experience, but in the process it may involve bundling something to kill a competitor.

    Same deal with the government. Usually what they say is true prima facie, but there are usually many other things going on, and it's naive to assume otherwise.

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  67. Ban? EMP is better! by axxackall · · Score: 1
    Why ban? Just send few very strong impulseson a frequency of GPS and all GPS devices around are physically dead. Of course, don't forget to swith off your own GPS devices. But the trick is - you know the schedule of EMP, while journalists and other Iraqi don't.

    Ban is political way. US today does not use political methods anymore. So, EMP will be much more consistent to other methods of US administration.

    --

    Less is more !
  68. Re:Good .... but .... [Conspiracy Theories] by ZeLonewolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Second, just because the government doesn't tell everyone its intentions behind mandates doesn't mean there is a huge conspiracy behind it. What if Washington were honest in its intent to pusue justice and freedom for the Iraqi people? Whoah!

    You know, I've never quite sorted the politics of this whole situation out... I came across a really neat article in the Washington Monthly that points out a very interesting "conspiracy theory"... It's all about a supposed plan to topple virtually every government in the Middle East. A good read...

    --
    "If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards."
  69. Re:Good .... but .... by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Get a clue. These are not cell phones, and the GPS is not in there because of a government mandate, it's there because of technical need - so that the satillite can get a proper fx on where the phone is.

    It was never claimed that these were cell phones or that Uncle Sam had made the industry put the GPS receivers in these phones. I simply pointed out the irony that while they think it's great to impost this technology on a supposedly free society with basic privacy rights, they sure don't like it when the same technology might provide information on them.

    I personally like GPS technology, have had a GPS receiver for about 8 years. I think it would be great to have GPS technology in a cell phone, and the information available to the other party. Makes the "Where are you?" question so simple. But the owner of the phone should have the ability to disable the GPS information from being sent (not just to the other party but to the government as well) without having to completely disable their phone. It's a basic privacy issue.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  70. sheep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After reading the majority of the 191 comments posted so far ...it saddens me to see that only about a dozen or so individuals 'get it', as opposed to the majority of supposed intelligent posters who parrot what they hear on the nightly news, like so many sheep.

    I urge you to read alternate media reports of what is actually occurring in Iraq, and not the garbage that is being shoveled to you by the US media.
    www.whatreallyhappened.com is as a good a place as any to start.

    Mark my words: We will not win this 'war', (unless we are willing to massacre the citizens of Baghdad). We need to pull out our troops now, before it is too late.

  71. Interesting choice of articles... by aikido_kit · · Score: 1

    Guess you can't use this phone...

  72. Re:Good .... but .... by damiam · · Score: 1
    But the owner of the phone should have the ability to disable the GPS information from being sent (not just to the other party but to the government as well) without having to completely disable their phone.

    I agree that the owners of cell phones should have the ability to disable GPS if they so choose, but the GPS in these phones is not imposed by the government, it's a technological neccessity due to how the phones operate - it is impossible to build such a phone that doesn't broadcast its location (Iridium uses a different type of satelite setup, so it's not relevant).

    In any case, it's not hypocrisy - the military believes that the GPS satelite phones shouldn't be used in order to save troop's lives, while Congress believes that cell phones should have GPS, in order to save civilians lives (although there are less appealing uses also, of course). Those are two different entities making two different decisions in two different situations for two different reasons - a far cry from hypocrisy.

    --
    It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
  73. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What if Washington were honest in its intent to pusue justice and freedom for the Iraqi people?

    Yeah, what if?

    If that was the case, they might have made that argument right at the start, rather than switching to that story halfway through, after their support went south.

    And Bush just 'happened' to warn the Iraqis not to set fire to their oil wells. You know, as a sidenote.

  74. The honest reporter? by Decimal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Uh-huh. And given the dozens of reports, even in the Middle Eastern media, of Iraqi Fedayeen militias firing on Iraqi civilians who tried to leave cities, how do you know that these were shot by US Marines?

    These particular civilians, this particular story? Well, the reporter was stationed with U.S. troops and talked to those around him who had some semblence of an idea what had happened there. If there had been any mystery over what had happened there (and if there was some sort of cover-up attempted, that's what the reporter would have been told, that it was unknown who did it or believed that Iraqi fighters did it) the reporter would have reported it as such. At least you would expect so. There isn't any detail over whether the reporter arrived with new troops to be with troops already there or whether the reporter had arrived with troops who found that scene.

    It was a strategically important bridge, right? The US/UK troops would had to have been in control before the event happened, or there would have been a recent battle for the bridge while the 12 bodies were still lying there. There was no mention of a recent battle in the article.

    --

    Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
    1. Re:The honest reporter? by neocon · · Score: 1, Troll

      Again, the reporter simply asserts, with no sourcing that US troops are `shooting anything that moves' and are `shellshocked'. Given that the report is made from an area where there have been widespread incidences of Fedayeen Saddam militias shooting into crowds of civilians trying to get to US troops or to get out of the cities.

      Nor does the reporter say that he is embedded with this unit, or has talked to anyone in it but two privates in the scene -- where do you draw this conclusion from?

      So again, this is assertion and clearly biased interpolation of facts the reporter doesn't have. You do the same thing when you assert that they must have been killed by our troops if they were killed near them.

      That you make these assertions the same day that the reporters embedded with British troops at Basrah shot video of Fedayeen militiamen firing mortars and machine guns into crowds of civilians trying to reach the safety of allied lines, and the same day that four American soldiers died in a murder-suicide bombing exactly because they do ask questions first, shoot later only hilights the bald bias in those interpolations.

    2. Re:The honest reporter? by cyberformer · · Score: 1, Informative

      Note that The Times is actually a pro-war paper in its editorial line. It's owned by an American, Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News and is rarely described as a liberal.

      A pro-war, American-owned paper has reason to make up stories about Americans killing civilians or print Iraqi propaganda.

    3. Re:The honest reporter? by neocon · · Score: 0, Troll

      With due respect, the bias of the article is perfectly clear in its breathless tone and choice of language `shellshocked' troops firing at `anything that moves'? Was the reporter not moving?

      To paraphrase the punchline of an old joke, ``We've already settled what the bias of the article is. Now we're just haggling about the facts.'' And facts, as opposed to breathless interpolations, are something the reporter provides precious few of.

    4. Re:The honest reporter? by Commutative+Monoid · · Score: 1

      It's owned by an American, Rupert Murdoch

      While he is an American citizen, just for informational purposes, I'd like to point out that he is originally from Australia, and that his attainment of citizenship was part of some plan for his global media assets.

      who also owns Fox News and is rarely described as a liberal.

      I don't know why his political affiliation matters. It's not as if those with a 'liberal' ideology have any less bias.

      --
      You have exactly 314 seconds to come up with a less retarded plot.
    5. Re:The honest reporter? by Commutative+Monoid · · Score: 1

      Or for that matter those without it any more or less.

      Excuse me for not properly finishing my post.

      --
      You have exactly 314 seconds to come up with a less retarded plot.
    6. Re:The honest reporter? by crumley · · Score: 1

      Rupert Murdoch is Australian, not American. Not that that makes the news coming out of his company anymore reliable.

      --
      Preventive War is like committing suicide for fear of death. - Otto Von Bismarck
    7. Re:The honest reporter? by greenrd · · Score: 1
      Um, as a radical, I read that choice of words as a brazenly disgusting attempt by a pro-war paper to normalise the horrors of war.

      Fascinating how the two of us can come to such diametrically opposite readings of the reporter's intentions, no?

  75. The phone banned is Thuraya by gsfprez · · Score: 3, Informative

    Thuraya handsets are GSM phones which fallover to the Thuraya satellite system if one is outside the range of a ground-based GSM tower.

    The satellite-to-phone protocol is a very slightly modified GSM that runs in L-Band. This was done for two reasons. A - if it ain't broke, don't fit it. B - why put in totally separate comm gear if you don't need to? C - everybody knows GSM inside fscking out. (yes, that's three reasons)

    it also has a GPS receiver in it which provides the Thuraya satellite the information to decide which L-band spot beam(s) would be the correct beam to use (sometimes, you're in between beems, and if you are, and beam A is busier than beam B, then the Thuraya NOC will decide to put you on beam B)

    it also provides a means for Thuraya Inc. to payback the countries their cut... much like the mass confusion which plagued the licensing schema for Iridium, Thuraya phone calls are not all alike... if you're in country A, then you'll be paying country A's tarrif + the base cost you pay to Thuraya. The easiest way to keep track of where one is was to put a GPS in the handset, then calculate the tarrif charges abse on the absolute location.

    http://www.thuraya.com/tech/ will let you know some of this information. You'll also see there the increasingly missnamed "country code" for Thuraya calls, as well as the neeto tidbit that Thuraya was launched from Sea Launch - which is quite a sight to behold. Looking down the shaft of the laucher into the ocean 100+ feet down was quite a stomach-moving experience.

    Where i got the rest of this info is an exercise left to the reader to guess.

    As cool as computers will ever be, space shit is far cooler, y'all. Sorry.

    --
    guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
  76. Re:Good .... but .... by isorox · · Score: 1

    Ahh, here it is:

    BBC News: War reporting goes hi-tech

    Reporters are also equipped with Iridium satellite phones ... Mr Tyrrell said reporters were using these less because they tended to connect less reliably than the Inmarsat phones that link via the Thuraya network.

  77. Re:Good .... but .... by athakur999 · · Score: 1

    The government doesn't mandate phones have GPS receivers in them. Rather, it mandates that telcos be able to determine with a certain accuracy where a caller is. GPS is probably the easiest and most straightforward method of doing this, but it's not the only one.

    --
    "People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
  78. To any morons who are surprised by this by kaoshin · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    You are so stupid you make me look smart. Thanks.

  79. Location of phone by hurtta · · Score: 4, Informative

    GPS (Global Position System) is not necessary for locate phone. At least on Finland certain phone company provides location service which can locate GSM phone with just by receiving phone's signal via several link. Resolution is not as good as GPS, but is able to tell location better than on which "cell" user is. On towns resolution is quite good, on coutry side error is much larger.

  80. Thuraya by AlexCV · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The phones are using the Thuraya network. It covers Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and keeps going eastward with full coverage of India.

    They're pretty nifty. The 450 grams Hughes handset can do GSM mobile phone, Thuraya sat phone, GPS and can act as an Hayes compatible modem. Ideal for a journalist that mostly does print. Helps a lot that an Inmarsat Mini-M is typically the size of a table phone and that Iridium does not automatically fall back to GSM or do GPS. Did I mention it's cheaper to operate even for sat calls? And IIRC, modem speed is 9600 bps instead of 2400 or 4800 for Inmarsat and Iridium. And it can fax too.

    Thuraya is basically a Global Star with EMEA+India coverage instead of North and Central America. But it's much ahead technologically.

    Alex

  81. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    News flash, Sparky: Kate Adie is lying. I'm not sure yet whether she's deliberately lying, saying something that she knows isn't true, or whether she's just spewing nonsense, but either way, it's completely false.

    How do I know? Because I've spent considerably more time at the Pentagon than Kate Adie has, if you know what I mean.

  82. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If that was the case, they might have made that argument right at the start, rather than switching to that story halfway through, after their support went south.

    That's a lie. They never switched their story; they've been telling the same story since the inaugural address, even since the campaign. Hell, even the Clinton administration was telling the same story during the 1990s!

    You're just confused about this because you've never bothered to pay attention to anything even remotely like a primary source. Here's a hint for you, buddy: newspaper headlines do not tell you everything.

    And Bush just 'happened' to warn the Iraqis not to set fire to their oil wells. You know, as a sidenote.

    And the Iraqis just 'happened' to set fire to their own oil wells, and only stopped because the 3rd infantry division came charging over the hill. Every well-head in the Rumiliyah oil field was wired to blow, but they only got seven of them off before we stopped them.

    You know. As a sidenote.

    I don't know what planet the "it's all about the oil" crowd is living on, but I'm sure glad I don't live there.

  83. I'd like to see... by Confused · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'd really love to see the iraqi commando dressed up as a 5 year old girl in yellow dress.

    1. Re:I'd like to see... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pervert.....

  84. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You forgot to finish with "Not that it's about the oil."

    HTH

  85. Contrary to Popular Belief... by Greyfox · · Score: 1
    Journalists are not completely stupid. While they will go to occasionally bizarre lengths to get a story, if they thing doing something will get them a sniper bullet in the head, they're not particularly likely to do it.

    This is not a "Suppressing Freedom of Press" story. This is a "Wow! Using sattelite phones in Iraq could get you a sniper bullet in the head" story.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  86. Re:Good .... but .... by mgblst · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I suppose they are going to invade Turkey next?? More Kurds have died at the hands of the Turkish government than due to Iraq, this is the reason the EU are reluctant to accept Turkey.

  87. Re:http://www.aeronautics.ru by cheekyboy · · Score: 0

    Well, you can if BOEING pays for it....

    We could list 10000000000 lies by USA though...

    How about Denial Confronts Illiteracy:
    69 Mass Delusions:

    http://www.321gold.com/editorials/willie/willie0 32 003.html

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  88. Re:http://www.aeronautics.ru by cheekyboy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You idiots, he didnt WRITE THE STUFF, he quoted it from http://www.iraqwar.ru/

    Whos a MORON NOW.

    or is this guy YOU ?
    http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/prowarprot.jp g

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  89. working link here by gad_zuki! · · Score: 1

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-62825 8,00.html

    reg: cpunks/cpunks

  90. Re:Good .... but .... by afidel · · Score: 1

    In fact at least one cell phone provider is just adding triangulation equipment to their cell towers because it is cheaper then adding the backend for the GPS stuff AND subsidizing the new E-911 cellphones. Besides there are plenty of places where you can get a cell signal that you won't be able to get a GPS lock.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  91. Friendly Fire (again) by nmg196 · · Score: 2, Informative
    ...and in other related news:

    Americans are still bombing allies as usual. This one seems even more stupid than the plethora of those before him:

    BBC Article
    The Independent (newspaper) article

    Sorry, I couldn't find any references to this article in the US media... I wonder why...

    I quote:
    ...the US pilot apparently failed to recognise that their tanks were a British make, with special coalition identification aids and even a large Union flag on another machine in the five-vehicle convoy.
    ...and another:

    "Combat is what I've been trained for. I can command my vehicle. I can keep it from being attacked. What I have not been trained to do is look over my shoulder to see whether an American is shooting at me."

    I mean, loads of people in all countries all joke about Americans firing on their own and on their allies, but this is getting ridiculous. American's even supplied aids to the British to put on their vehicles "so you don't get shot" but they're still shooting at us.

    I think I'm right in saying that more British soldiers have died as a result of US friendly fire than they have by being shot by Iraqis.

    I quote from an article on canada.com:

    According to the American War Library, the number of friendly fire casualties involving the U.S. military has gone up dramatically: Second World War (21 per cent of all casualties), Korea (18 per cent), Vietnam (39 per cent) and Gulf War (49 per cent).

    Isn't there anything someone can do to improve on this situation? It seems the US pilots have aids to prevent this, but they're too trigger happy to actually use them.

    If you mod this as flamebait, then you haven't read the linked articles and haven't realised that this is a genuine problem and not some kind of war propaganda.
    1. Re:Friendly Fire (again) by Commutative+Monoid · · Score: 1

      Everyone has accidents.

      Now I could have said something snide like "Why would you expect the American forces to recognize a British tank when the British can't do it themselves," or something else equally disrespectful to mock your insinuations regarding the U.S. military, but I'm not going to. It's certainly not fair to them.
      I also don't think either of us is particularly qualified to comment on the difficulty of avoiding friendly fire incidents. It's embarrassing, regrettable, and hopefully preventable in the future.

      --
      You have exactly 314 seconds to come up with a less retarded plot.
    2. Re:Friendly Fire (again) by bgarcia · · Score: 1

      Well said.

      --
      I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
    3. Re:Friendly Fire (again) by nmg196 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      CNN/Reuters: News reports have filtered out early this morning that US
      forces have swooped on an Iraqi Primary School and detained 6th Grade
      teacher Mohammed Al-Hazar. Sources indicate that, when arrested, Al-Hazar
      was in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square and a calculator.
      US President George W Bush argued that this was clear and overwhelming
      evidence that Iraq indeed possessed weapons of maths instruction.

    4. Re:Friendly Fire (again) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the number of friendly fire casualties involving the U.S. military has gone up dramatically

      The statistics you gave do not indicate that the number of friendly fire incidents have gone up. They indicate that the percentage of casulties resulting from friendly fire has increased. If in war A 100,000 folks are killed, and 10,000 are from friendly fire, and in war B there are 25 casulties, 20 of which are from friendly fire, which would you consider a better result? War B has an 80% friendly fire rate, compared to war A's 10% rate, but I'd certainly rather be a soldier in war B (assuming total forces deployed were comparable).

      The reason the rates are increasing is because the total number of allied casulties in modern wars have been VERY low. The US has been employing overwhelming force, and the enemy doesn't really get a chance to kill many US soldiers (they seem to be doing better against fleeing women and children though).

      There will always be mistakes in war. We should aim to prevent them, but to think that they won't happen is just to put your head in the sand.

  92. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You said:
    "if Washington were honest in its intent to pusue justice and freedom for the Iraqi people?"

    Do you think really they are pursuing freedom and justice ? How long America waited before entering in the WW II ? They are doing their job only for money, forget justice and freedom; when there is some money to have back they are moving, otherwise they wait ....
    I suppose (if they win) that the America economy will boost for 10-15 years until they willfind some other good reason to attack again (history teach us)

  93. Who's interested by such localisation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It doesn't seem to be an Iraqi problem as their startegy is much simpler, a kind of 'think global, act local': Wherever you are, if you see an (alien) invader, shoot him.

    The question remains : should the american citizen pay for Theodor Herzl's dream?

    Come on, stop this silly war, it will just bring more terrorism.

    1. Re:Who's interested by such localisation? by mozkill · · Score: 1

      in reply to "Come on, stop this silly war, it will just bring more terrorism"...

      the whole point is to scare the world population into thinking terrorism is wrong. it doesn't matter if we create 100 bin-ladens because the important thing is that the governments that host these terrorists are afraid that the US will put a stop to it. that is the only way that we can coerce these terrorist supporting countries to police their own territories. unfortunately, these countries support terrorist networks and do not think they cause a domestic threat. by threatening US intervention, they may start thinking that mabye , just mabye, terrorism is a bad thing. go figure. who would have guessed?

      --

      -- Betting on the survival of the media industry is a serious risk. I advise investing elsewhere.
  94. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And why should they trust you? US forces have already killed one British reporter.

  95. Filtered News. by 1s44c · · Score: 2, Informative

    A lot of people here seem to think this is a good thing, that iraqi troops can monitor GPS signals and this is giving them an advantage.

    Rubbish.

    Isn't it more likely that the US army don't want the outside world to hear any news from Iraq that they haven't filtered?

    Try news.co.nz for news not CNN, you get a better view of world events.

    1. Re:Filtered News. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, if you RTFA you'll find out that the ban isn't theatre wide and doesn't count other more inaccurate sat phones. Sheesh.

    2. Re:Filtered News. by jmpugh · · Score: 1

      And exactly how does not wanting to broadcast the location of our troops 'filtering' what is getting reported? I'm not ignorant enough to claim that they don't filter what we see, in fact, I know they do. But not wanting the reporters to know exact locations does not interfer with their ability to report facts. It's a safety concern. Overkill? Maybe. But if I had an embedded reporter, I would be leary about giving him our exact position. You don't seem to trust CNN fully, and neither do they.

  96. Bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And why shouldn't they?

    And why shouldn't the US leave Iraq alone? Did anyone realize that the integer counter of U.S. casualities dissappeared at CNN?

    Maybe the quick end of this war is more important than an victorious end.

  97. Re:Good .... but .... by SavingPrivateNawak · · Score: 1

    Isn't GPS supposed to be available on the whole earth? Do satellites avoid certain parts of the country now?

  98. Re:Good .... but .... by pr0t3uS · · Score: 1

    AFAIK you don't need GPS to determine the position of a cell phone. You can calculate the position based on values from three transmittors and it's quite accurate. You can trace any signal like that. That's why there is a slim chance to see Saddam giving a live interview during the war.

  99. Re:failure rate by Asdex · · Score: 1
    No really -- do you have any evidence that these were US bombs?

    1. The failure rate of most "smart" bombs and cruise missiles is less then 100%. It's between 85% and 95%.
    2. Iraq does not use ground to air missiles inside Bagdad (It's a huge six million people town). They use anti-aircraft artillery because SAMs would have been already destroyed by anti radar missiles.
    http://www1.iraqwar.ru/iraq-analiz_lenta_w.php?ses id=2&archdts=2&sesid=2
  100. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because I've spent considerably more time at the Pentagon

    scrubbing the floor I suppose.

  101. Re:Good .... but .... by ckaminski · · Score: 1

    I think he means in buildings. GPS doesn't work very well through 1" plaster, 4" of fiberglass batt insulation and another 1" of plastic,

    My cellphone however, works from the center of most suburban steel structures.

  102. Re:Good .... but .... [Conspiracy Theories] by platypus · · Score: 1

    Well,

    this site tells us that the article you posted in now way decribes conspirady theories (I saw you quotation marks, just wanted to additionally point that out.). Especially check the older articles (pre 2000) about Iraq/Middle east, and the people behind these articles. You might find names you know.

  103. "Who cares... they've been warned." by jdfox · · Score: 1

    Both of those articles gave only a snippet of what Kate Adie said. Read the rest, and hear the audio stream of interview with Kate Adie available here:
    http://www.gulufuture.com/news/kate_adie030 310.htm

    'The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who cares.. ..They've been warned."

    According to Ms. Adie, who twelve years ago covered the last Gulf War, the Pentagon attitude is: "entirely hostile to the the free spread of information."

    "I am enormously pessimistic of the chance of decent on-the-spot reporting, as the war occurs," she told Irish national broadcaster, Tom McGurk on the RTE1 Radio "Sunday Show."

    Ms. Adie made the startling revelations during a discussion of media freedom issues in the likely upcoming war in Iraq. She also warned that the Pentagon is vetting journalists according to their stance on the war, and intends to take control of US journalists' satellite equipment --in order to control access to the airwaves.

    Another guest on the show, war author Phillip Knightley, reported that the Pentagon has also threatened they: "may find it necessary to bomb areas in which war correspondents are attempting to report from the Iraqi side."

    Tom McGurk:
    " Now, Kate Adie, you join us from the BBC in London. Thank you very much for going to all this trouble on a Sunday morning to come and join us. I suppose you are watching with a mixture of emotions this war beginning to happen, because you are not going to be covering it."
    Kate Adie:
    " Oh I will be. And what actually appalls me is the difference between twelve years ago and now. I've seen a complete erosion of any kind of acknowledgment that reporters should be able to report as they witness."

    " The Americans... and I've been talking to the Pentagon ...take the attitude which is entirely hostile to the free spread of information."

    " I was told by a senior officer in the Pentagon, that if uplinks --that is the television signals out of... Baghdad, for example-- were detected by any planes ...electronic media... mediums, of the military above Bhagdad... they'd be fired down on. Even if they were journalists ..' Who cares! ' said.. [inaudible] .."
    Tom McGurk: "...Kate ...sorry Kate ..just to underline that. Sorry to interrupt you. Just to explain for our listeners. Uplinks is where you have your own satellite telephone method of distributing information."
    Kate Adie: " The telephones and the television signals."
    Tom McGurk: " And they would be fired on? "
    Kate Adie: " Yes. They would be 'targeted down,' said the officer."
    Tom McGurk: " Extraordinary ! "
    Kate Adie: " Shameless! "

    He said: ' Well... they know this ... they've been warned.'

    This is threatening freedom of information, before you even get to a war.

    The second thing is there was a massive news blackout imposed.

    In the last Gulf war, where I was one of the pool correspondents with the British Army. We effectively had very, very light touch when it came to any kind of censorship.

    We were told that anything which was going to endanger troops lives which we understood we shouldn't broadcast. But other than that, we were relatively free.

    Unlike our American colleagues, who immediately left their pool, after about 48 hours, having just had enough of it.

    And this time the Americans are: a) Asking journalists who go with them, whether they are... have feelings against the war. And therefore if you have views that are skeptical, then you are not to be acceptable.

    Secondly, they are intending

  104. Re:Good .... but .... by operagost · · Score: 1

    We all know the real reason they don't want Turkey in the EU, and it has little to do with their human rights record. Hint: Turkey had a good shot until they began to support the US and UK against Iraq.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  105. Cell phone � Friend or Foe? by BobBoring · · Score: 3, Informative

    Look at this from the solders point of view. How _do_ you discriminate between friendly signals and signals from hostiles? US ground forces can detect and localize satellite cell phone signals; however, in general the intercepts are side lobe spill of digitized and compressed signal from a mostly directional antenna. Most of the time you know someone is talking and where they are but you can't listen in real time from the ground. Can't the Iraqi's use cell phones to relay information from scouts back to artillery units or headquarters? Guess what they all ready do. Any signal not from an imbedded journalist could be someone getting ready to kill you and your buddies. So warning the non-imbedded journalists that they may draw fire by using a technology known to be in enemy hands is somehow the wrong thing to do?

    According to Ms. Adie, who twelve years ago covered the last Gulf War, the Pentagon attitude is: "entirely hostile to the free spread of information."

    Ms. Adie thinks that she _should_ be able to report the exact location of the 3ID's headquarters and offsets the from those coordinates for the main briefing area and the exact time of the next command staff meeting. Should the people in that briefing let her? Should they feel hostile to someone whose actions may result in their death or dismemberment?

  106. Re:Good .... but .... by platypus · · Score: 1

    check your facts, because you are wrong.
    See for instance this link
    http://www.csis.org/turkey/TU020308.htm
    I quickly pulled from google.

  107. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't think that's it. America doesn't give a fuck about Iraqi people, it's just following its own agednda. Being nice to some Iraqis along the way is just some good PR. Let's not forget how this started, anyway.

  108. Re; In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This necessarily involves choosing what to focus on. When I have time to read all of what congress discussed in a given day, I go read the congressional record [loc.gov].

    You're kidding right? The Congressional "Record" can have information removed, amended or changed at the request of the person making the statement. If (former) Sen. Thurmond wanted to say in the Record that he danced a jig on the Senate floor while voting on proposition X, it would go in the Record, even if his festering corpse was wedged into his chair in his office while his handlers spoon-fed him.

  109. Re:Good .... but .... by jhigh · · Score: 1, Informative

    WHAT? Do you watch the news at all?? We're getting more "on the spot reporting" during this war than any conflict in history. Much of this is a DIRECT RESULT of the administration. The administration specifically requested that networks embed reporters, because it helps keep reporting honest. You can't say that the army is committing all of these horrible atrocities when we've got reporters watching every single move of the military. There's no room for the left to keep making up all of the idiotic stories that they love to tell about american soldiers slaughtering innocents.

    --
    Social Engineering Expert: Because there is no patch for stupidity.
  110. Sniffing not necessary at all! by wfolta · · Score: 1

    No technology is needed at all. The GPS info goes to a gulf state (Qatar?) and all it takes is one Iraqi sympathizer in the sat. phone company who has access to the info and can make a call from home each evening.

  111. JAG warned us that this could happen. by Lester67 · · Score: 1
  112. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's insightful!?!

  113. legal issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    as far as I know the most part of Iraq is still under controll of Saddams regime and he didn't ban GPS phones, so I don't see why idepentend reporters should pay any attention to that

  114. Here, for one. by Decimal · · Score: 1
    Again, the reporter simply asserts, with no sourcing that US troops are `shooting anything that moves' and are `shellshocked'. Given that the report is made from an area where there have been widespread incidences of Fedayeen Saddam militias shooting into crowds of civilians trying to get to US troops or to get out of the cities.

    Nor does the reporter say that he is embedded with this unit, or has talked to anyone in it but two privates in the scene -- where do you draw this conclusion from?


    Now that I look back at the article, it was staring me right in the face.

    As I walked away, Lieutenant Matt Martin, whose third child, Isabella, was born while he was on board ship en route to the Gulf, appeared beside me.

    "Did you see all that?" he asked, his eyes filled with tears. "Did you see that little baby girl? I carried her body and buried it as best I could but I had no time. It really gets to me to see children being killed like this, but we had no choice."


    This, the description that I gave above, and the idea that I'm not willing to believe that Americans are above accidental killing. That's why I think this happened the way the reporter described it. It sounds more like a story of a young soldier who fired thinking it was an Iraqi attack than someone merely regretting seeing the bodies of children. "Shooting at anything that moves" may have been an exaggeration that angered you, but if this is what really happened in this situation I think it is an appropriate description.
    --

    Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
    1. Re:Here, for one. by neocon · · Score: 1

      And again, it may have been an accidental killing by our side -- I'm not excluding that possibility, nor would I place blame for such a killing on anyone but the Fedayeen fighters who have been dressing as and hiding behind civilians throughout this fight -- but the reporter has not shown that it was.

      Instead, the reporter gives us quotes so out of context as to appear to support his position without being clear. Give us some more information. Did the US forces `just shoot'? Were the civilians caught in a crossfire? Were they being directly used as human shields, as has happened a number of times in this campaign? Were they in fact hit by US bullets? The reporter gives us none of this information in the form of evidence, only assertions of how it was, based purely on breathless interpolation.

  115. Re:Good .... but .... by IXI · · Score: 1

    We're getting more "on the spot reporting" during this war than any conflict in history

    You know why? This is called propaganda. There is a carefully selected group of reporters "in bed" with the military in order to produce the pictures the military wants. We had this in WW2 where Germany sent out so called "Kriegsberichterstatter" with their troops, the difference being that the Pentagon has outsourced these jobs.

    when we've got reporters watching every single move of the military

    you must be really naïve to believe that. And even if they did, what does it help if they don't report what they see?

    --
    He saw some dirty arabs and fired. Too bad it was just some friendly kurds, BBC reporters and his fellow cowboys.
  116. this doesn't make sense. by LifesABeach · · Score: 0

    the d.o.d. bans use of a device that only the bad guys can use?

  117. Re:http://www.aeronautics.ru by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1

    That said, that does not change the fact that Venik, of www.aeronautics.ru, IS a loon of the first order.
    He may be translating verbatim, or, he may be 'translating', and putting his special spin on the exact wording.

    Go ask about him in rec.aviation.military.

    Antigravity, indeed.

  118. Re:Good .... but .... by jhigh · · Score: 0

    So I'm naive if I believe that our reporters are watching, at the request of our government, to ensure that the facts are reported accurately and that no atrocities are committed. Yet you are not naive to believe that there is some vast government conspiracy to cover up all of the horrible things that our soldiers (normal, everyday joes like you and me) are committing against the Iraqi people? Sounds a little backwards to me.

    --
    Social Engineering Expert: Because there is no patch for stupidity.
  119. Re:failure rate by neocon · · Score: 1

    Sorry to disappoint you, but even Iraq claims that they use surface-to-air missiles over Baghdad, and many media outlets, including in the Arab world have pointed out that they have placed such launchers in residential blocks in the city itself (a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, needless to say).

    Given that some of these launchers were in the very district that was hit, and that the explosion in the marketplace was far smaller than it would have been from one of our bombs, this seems at the least a likely explanation.

  120. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One British IDIOT who decided NOT to go through reporter boot camp and NOT to work with Coalition forces wandered out into the line of fire and got himself hamburgered. If you want to point to this as evidence of a massive conspiracy theory, go right ahead. It's a lot easier to just think of it as evidence of INCOMPREHENSIBLE stupidity, though.

  121. Fishing derby. by Eric+S.+Smith · · Score: 1
    An American would never stand by while another human being was tortured in the ways the Iraqis are everyday!

    I wonder how many suckers you'll catch, trolling this on the end of your line. There are probably quite a few people who're willing to "forget," for the purposes of jingoism, at least, all of the very bad men that Americans have helped to keep in power.

    All in the name of stability, of course. Difficult decisions, et cetera, and as we have now seen, it's always possible to take it back later and fix everything by offering peace and freedom from the end of a gun.

    1. Re:Fishing derby. by Gigs · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure how you can pervert my statement that the US does not throw people into plastic shredders and rape wives and daughters in front of their husbands and fathers, into jingoism. But if believing that such actions are wrong and make my country better then I guess it is.

      Difficult decisions, et cetera, and as we have now seen, it's always possible to take it back later and fix everything by offering peace and freedom from the end of a gun.

      So what your saying is that we should crawl to these third rate countries with our hat in our hand and beg forgiveness and allow them to fly planes into buildings and possibly bomb our cities with WMD, all because of failed policy?

      Show me where in history that has produced the desired results? Show me where in history kowtowing produced a stronger stance in the end?

      As I see it we have learned that leaving these people in power because "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" does not work. So we have taken a different tack. You may not agree with it but that's you right. In a free society you have the option to express that opinion and I'll listen to it... and not throw you in a plastic shredder for having it.

    2. Re:Fishing derby. by Eric+S.+Smith · · Score: 1
      I'm not sure how you can pervert my statement that the US does not throw people into plastic shredders...

      Bonus points for misdirection, since I was of course quoting your line: "An American would never stand by while another human being was tortured in the ways the Iraqis are everyday!"

      I suspect that people who'd eagerly agree with your "An American would never stand by..." assertion would be shocked and appalled even by the level of repression in Saudi Arabia, which is peanuts (seeing as people aren't actually disappearing left and right) compared to the conditions in some countries whose governments have been either propped up or practically installed by ever-so-clever U.S. foreign policy.

      ...we should crawl to these third rate countries with our hat in our hand and beg forgiveness and allow them to fly planes into buildings...?

      And of course the only alternative to this is to bomb them until they love you. Amazing, isn't it?

    3. Re:Fishing derby. by Gigs · · Score: 1

      You accused me of jingoism and then accuse me of misdirection when I make the point that we as americans don't throw people into plastic shredders as an example of how our country is better. And as such demonstrating that the US is a better country. The Extremizim is not in my belief that my country is better, instead its in the way that Iraq treats its own people.

      What I am confused about is that because the US operated with "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" style of foreign policy and as such dealt with people of less than quality track records for human rights, that this somehow means that we can not change our policy.

      And of course the only alternative to this is to bomb them until they love you.

      The may not love us but they will respect us. Foreign policy has nothing to do with liking or disliking. We will always have enemies. Their will always be those who wish to control those that they can. And there will always be those that wish to do away with freedom and liberty. And as such we can not get anyone to love us we can only make them respect us. This is one of those little lessons of history that many people fail to learn. The USSR did not like us but they certainly did respect us.

    4. Re:Fishing derby. by Eric+S.+Smith · · Score: 1
      You accused me of jingoism...

      No, I accused you of trolling for suckers. I did accuse the suckers of jingoism.

      ...demonstrating that the US is a better country...

      If one country is better than another, it doesn't mean that the better country's actions against the worse one will always be good and for the best.

      ...change our policy.

      I think that many people view the current war as a continuation of a bad history of international meddling.

      And of course the only alternative to this is to bomb them until they love you.
      The may not love us but they will respect us.

      And now it's my turn to ask when in history something has ever worked. How much respect did the IRA gain by blowing stuff up? How about the FLQ? Did Londoners respect the Luftwaffe? Does anyone respect the PLO?

      Dropping dynamite on cities from a great height is a guaranteed method of becoming feared and despised, but respect is not guaranteed.

    5. Re:Fishing derby. by Gigs · · Score: 1

      If one country is better than another, it doesn't mean that the better country's actions against the worse one will always be good and for the best.

      So we should have no involvment then? Please clarify what other options we have?

      As I see it we as human beings have an obligation as the number 1 superpower to attempt to stablize the world. Will we make mistakes in our attempts? Most certainly we are human and humans make mistakes. But does that mean we should not try? Absolutly not.

      You may remember a little war we had back in 1770's against the british. By your logic we should hate them now. We should be at each others necks. And yet we are not, why do you think that is?

      I think that many people view the current war as a continuation of a bad history of international meddling.

      And most historians believe that the US policy of isolationizm before WWII was a worse idea. Remember it was economic sanctions and trade restictions that forced the Japanese to attack us.

      So what is the magical third option that will save us from all of this?

      And now it's my turn to ask when in history something has ever worked.

      Isn't it funny how you can only point out terroist groups to make your point, Save for the Luftwaffe. To which I pose the equal question of did the Polish, once conquered respect their oppressors? I actually know through a family friend that saw men, women and children kill infront of him in WWII and that once they saw that the most certainly did. But alas they respected the American GI's who came through and freed them much much more. Yes they cause a great deal of destruction and my friend saw another of him relations crushed by a falling ceiling when the americans attacked and liberated his city. But as my friend explained, many more would have died at the hands of the Germans.

      Do you honestly believe that once the Iraqi people get a taste of freedom and are able to speak their mind they will hate us for bring it to them???

      I have showed my friend this thread and he feels that you have never seen oppression and pointed out to me that oppression is far far worse than any destruction that might fall from an aircraft.

  122. The real reason by Maxwell'sSilverLART · · Score: 1

    JAG viewers (you know, the show about the Navy lawyers, with David James Elliot and Catherine Bell) will be well familiar with the real reason for this. A very similar subject was treated in an episode last March (I caught it in December). There's a plot synopsis here (the episode was titled "First Casualty"), and the title is a link to the full script. If you go to the script, search for the word "Rivet" (as in "Rivet Joint") to get to the start of the really relevant part. It's all dialogue, so it's a quick read.

    For those who don't want to read, the short story is that Dunston (the reporter) used a sat phone against orders, and that his team was attacked shortly thereafter. The Navy charged Dunston with violating his orders not to use the phone, and, in the course of the trial, found out how the mission had been compromised: while talking to his producer, his sat phone had reported his GPS coordinates. Turns out his producer was working for the enemy. It wasn't the radiation that was detected--the information was conveyed by people in the news media who were opposed to the war (like that ever happens). The Law of Unintended Consequences rears it's ugly head.

    This is the reason the military has banned GPS phones: you don't know who's going to get the info. It's the same way you write firewall rules, really: you ban everybody, then allow those you want. Doing it the other way (allowing all, then denying specifics) leads to all kinds of unexpected vulnerabilities. Indeed, it seems to me I've heard complaints about MS along just those lines: their security model is allow-by-default, *nix is deny-by-default. If deny-by-default makes sense in software, doesn't it make even more sense when people's lives are on the line?

    BTW, to those of you who are going to complain "it's a TV show," yes, it is. That doesn't make it impossible, or even unlikely. Also, for those who are going to complain about the same thing, I've talked to my dad, who is a real-life JAG for the Air Force (works at Materiel Command at Wright-Patt), and he said that the law on that show is usually pretty accurate and well-researched.

    --
    Moderate drunk! It's more fun that way!
  123. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'I never want to hear that sound again'
    Five British soldiers have died under 'friendly fire'. Yesterday as General Richard Myers apologised for the three deaths caused by the US, saying it would be his 'quest' to ensure it did not happen again, the first full account emerged of the tragic incident in which a A-10 tankbuster fired on two British armoured vehicles
    Audrey Gillan with the Household Cavalry in Iraq
    Monday March 31, 2003
    The Guardian
    They will never forget the sound of the guns. A cross between a moan and a roar, a fierce rattling of heavy rounds of 30mm canon fire from two A10 Thunderbolts flying low overhead. Aircraft that shouldn't have been in the British-controlled area, "cowboying" at just 500ft and looking for something to have a crack at. Last Friday morning, two American pilots turned their guns on a convoy of five British vehicles from the Household Cavalry, killing one man just three days shy of his 26th birthday, injuring four others and wiping out two armoured reconnaissance vehicles from the squadron's Two Troop. Two Iraqi civilians, waving a large white flag, were also killed.
    Coloured smoke signs were sent up to indicate that they were friendly troops but it didn't stop the attack. The planes came back a second time, seriously injuring those who had managed to scramble out of their vehicles with only superficial wounds. The gunner, Corporal Matty Hull, however, was the victim of a direct hit into his gun turret.
    The men in the Scimitars were screaming over the radio "stop the friendly fire, we are being engaged by friendly fire" and "pop smoke, pop smoke". The forward air controller, who liaises with coalition air forces to bring in fire missions, was shouting "check fire, check fire". Frantic calls were made to 16 Air Assault Brigade headquarters to find out what was going on. But no one seemed to know.
    The A10s were about to take a third swing when they were told by the American air patroller working with the Household cavalry to stop firing.
    Instead of providing air cover while helicopters came in to evacuate the casualties, they baled out.
    The attack took place within the Household Cavalry's battlefield control line which means that everything in the air should be controlled by them and their embedded American air controller. The A10s were well out of their area and the matter is now being investigated amidst calls from some of the British troops that the pilots be prosecuted for manslaughter.
    So far in this conflict, Britain has suffered more casualties from friendly fire, five, than from assaults by the Iraqis.
    That morning's plan had been to use artillery, air and helicopter strikes against Iraqi positions in order to secure the area for future operations. D Squadron is an armoured reconnaissance unit and their job is to move in first and secure locations before other troops move in.
    You could hear the battle over the radio, with the guns rattling down the airwaves. The squadron leader's Spartan vehicle narrowly missed a hit by two mortars, a procedure known as bracketing. The whistling and explosion cannot be heard in these vehicles but the tremor of the earth could.
    The two Scimitars had been probing a road, checking for landmines, enemy locations, assault batteries.
    At this point, Two Troop was given orders to move forward. Squadron leader Richard Taylor said: "I remember saying 'move quickly through the urban area, as we will be vulnerable from civilians, make best speed, good luck'. I don't think I will be wishing anyone good luck again."
    Ears pricked up as shouting came over the radio. At first it seemed like someone had just lost their rag. Then the full horror dawned. One of the vehicles had been hit, no two, and by "friendly call signs".
    Manslaughter
    They stood still, stopping what they were doing. At first they thought it was one lad, then another. Whoever it was, it didn't ease the twist of knots that started knitting themselves in their stomachs. Later, they learned it was Matty Hull, who aside from being a gunner was als

  124. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what does it help if they don't report what they see?

    Why wouldn't they report what they see? They'd love to scoop the competition.

  125. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you forgetting that these are the same journalists who routinely pass their 'quotes' to the white house for editing and approval?

  126. Re:Good .... but .... by IXI · · Score: 1

    So I'm naive if I believe that our reporters are watching, at the request of our government, to ensure that the facts are reported accurately and that no atrocities are committed

    Yes. The reporters are sent out to produce nice patriotic imagery, like Hollywood but with an additional "reality" kick.

    Sounds a little backwards to me
    This may be true for the scenario you are constructing but that is your imagination and not my comment.

    --
    He saw some dirty arabs and fired. Too bad it was just some friendly kurds, BBC reporters and his fellow cowboys.
  127. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're lying - the rhetoric previously was all about what a madman Saddam is and how he has all these horrible (Made in the USA!) weapons.

    When support for that idea dwindled, suddenly the focus was on 'liberating' the Iraqi people.

    Thank God I don't live in a country where the media is at the beck and call of the whitehouse. I'm sure it's nice to let other people do all your thinking for you.

  128. Re:Good .... but .... by Suicyco · · Score: 1


    Idiotic stories? Just watch the friggin bombings being telecast to the entire world.

    I have never heard a story about american soldiers walking into a town and killing children with small arms fire, in this war at any rate. But I can certainly watch the bombs going off and know that we are slaughtering innocents. Err.... Freeing them.

  129. Re:Good .... but .... by jhigh · · Score: 0

    The reporters are sent out to produce nice patriotic imagery, like Hollywood but with an additional "reality" kick.

    You buy into this commie propaganda, and you're calling ME naive??

    --
    Social Engineering Expert: Because there is no patch for stupidity.
  130. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're lying

    Prove it.

    If the best you've got is the notion that Bush emphasized one aspect of the conflict on this day and emphasized a different aspect the next day, then let me be the first to tell you: you're full of shit.

    how he has all these horrible (Made in the USA!) weapons.

    Read this. Between 1973 and 1990, Iraq imported 57% of their weapons from the USSR, 13% from France, and 12% from China. Only 1% of their weapon imports came from the US.

    Thank God I don't live in a country where the media is at the beck and call of the whitehouse.

    I'm glad you're not an American, too. If you immigrated, the average IQ of the country would drop sharply.

  131. Did Saddam get Russian GPS jammers? The answer is by Bilb0 · · Score: 1

    Here is an interesting article published in The Advance-Titan, the weekly newspaper at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. It's written by an exchange student spending a semester at the Moscow State University. (For reasons apparent from the content, Swen Gwolkquist is a pen name.) Did Saddam get Russian GPS jammers? The answer is at a Moscow strip club. If Saddam did get Russian GPS jammers it was rusty rubbish. For the modern stuff, look at Moscow casinos, strip clubs and brothels. By Swen Gwolkquist "Honey, I never knew you were that fond of classical music," the voice of my girlfriend woke me up in my hotel room in Moscow, "I wouldn't expect you to go listen to Shostakovich Sixth Symphony on Friday night. Did you enjoy it?" "uh-hu... err... How did you know where I was last night?" "Easy, darling. Remember, when you arrived in Moscow and rented your mobile phone you subscribed for a people finder service. If something happens to you, well, kidnapped or in trouble, I would know where you are and would direct police or security guys to your rescue. Well, yesterday I felt uneasy and decided to check the web site of the mobile operator. It showed that you were at Bolshaya Nikitskaya 13, and that was Bolshoi Conservatory Hall." "Oh, well, it really works ... amazing... now I really feel protected. And you would no longer worry about me. Great." What the hell is going on, I asked myself. Conservatory Hall? Shostakovich Sixth Symphony? Damn, I was at Hungry Duck, the dirtiest hole in Moscow! Drunk Russian girls dancing on the table, completely naked. Hookers and stuff... vodka by the glasses... I rushed to the mobile operator's web site. Yes, indeed, the log showed that on Friday night I was at Bolshoi Conservatory Hall! It was worth an investigation. Calls to the Conservatory Hall and BeeLine, the mobile operator, lead to nowhere. Folks at Hungry Duck also refused to tell me anything over the phone but hinted that I may find out something if I'd drop by in person and talk to their security. "You should thank us, fellow. We probably saved your marriage. Or was it your girlfriend? You don't care? Whatever," the security guy laughed loudly, after he drank, in one gulp, a double shot of Stoli I bought him. "You, studs, tell your wives that you are at Bolshoi and come here to screw around. It takes them only one visit to BeeLine's web site to find out that you're cheating on them. Patrons do not like it. It's bad for business." "Well, luckily, we found a solution. One Russian company, formerly a top-secret defense contractor, makes great boxes. You hang one by the ceiling, and it jams the GPS satellite receiver in your mobile phone. You know, the old stuff like that would just make the GPS receiver inoperable. The stuff we got is smarter. It fools the receiver. The signal is so strong that it completely overwrites the faint signal from the satellite. I would enter any longitude / latitude in the box and your GPS receiver would obligingly report it back to the mobile operator." "Wait a minute," a dark thought crossed my mind, "A GPS jammer? A Russian defense contractor? One that was accused of selling GPS jammers to Saddam Hussein? What did they call it? Aviaconversia?" "Err..., no, buddy, I didn't tell you that," the security dude replied, quickly glancing around. "But I tell you one thing. If Saddam gets the box that hangs by my ceiling, you Americans are in deep trouble. Your Cruise missiles would fly back home. Funny, isn't that?" - he chuckled. "Or they would hit unexpected targets, whatever Saddam enters into the jammer. And, you know, the guy is wicked, he gassed his own people with Sarin. He could direct your missile on his folks again, to rally your greenie and leftie fools against the war, and Bush government." "But, you now, friend," the security guy continued. Three empty glasses were now lined up in front of him on the counter. "The old comrades, from the organization, you know, those comrades who build these smart boxes, I don't think they sold any of this stuff to Saddam lately

  132. Re:Good .... but .... by IXI · · Score: 1

    You buy into this commie propaganda

    So you think the BBC's world affairs editor is a "commie"? Mc Carthy I hear you coming ...

    --
    He saw some dirty arabs and fired. Too bad it was just some friendly kurds, BBC reporters and his fellow cowboys.
  133. Re:Good .... but .... by jhigh · · Score: 0

    The BBC is notorious for their left-wing propaganda. What do you live in a shoe? You probably think NPR is balanced, too.

    --
    Social Engineering Expert: Because there is no patch for stupidity.
  134. Re:Good .... but .... by IXI · · Score: 1

    ROTFLBTC

    --
    He saw some dirty arabs and fired. Too bad it was just some friendly kurds, BBC reporters and his fellow cowboys.
  135. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Prove it.

    I don't need to. I heard Bush's building-up-to-war speeches, and I think for myself. If you're saying I'm full of shit for noticing the difference in emphasis... well, hell! Excuse me for paying attention.

    Only 1% of their weapon imports came from the US.

    Except the chart only shows conventional weapons, as pointed out on the page you provided the link to. Thanks for that irrelevant graph.

    I'm glad you're not an American, too. If you immigrated, the average IQ of the country would drop sharply.

    Oh no! An Usonian thinks little of my intelligence while knowing nothing of me save a single post! My life is over, woe is me.

    Oh, sorry, I meant to say "Ignorant people's opinions hold no meaning for me".

  136. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a lot easier to just think of it as evidence of INCOMPREHENSIBLE stupidity, though.

    Indeed. Just like it's a lot easier to think of the war as a liberation of the Iraqi people, than as a hostile invasion of their country.

  137. Re:Good .... but .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're saying I'm full of shit for noticing the difference in emphasis... well, hell! Excuse me for paying attention.

    I'm saying you're full of shit for thinking that what you think you noticed means a damn thing to anybody.

    Oh, sorry, I meant to say "Ignorant people's opinions hold no meaning for me".

    The next time I run into one, I'll be sure to tell him.

  138. Beware of Fascists in Technorati Clothing by meehawl · · Score: 1

    So Brigadier General Vincent Brooks is a "liberal". You managed to squeeze in that word three times in your little vainglorious rant. I think you have a problem with labels and stereotyping.

    --

    Da Blog
  139. Don't believe all the propaganda you hear by einhverfr · · Score: 1

    The legal case to made for war is that the ceasefire authorized the use of force for all "subsequent, relavent resolutions." Whether there is a statute of limitations, and who gets to decide what is relavent is an open quesiton, but the Bush administration had decided that they could be judge, jury, and executioner on this matter, when many of us feel it *should* be interpreted by the security council.

    --

    LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP