Why report on actual massacres committed by Al Qaeda when you can invent fictitious massacres which undermine, rather than underscore, the seriousness of the war against Al Qaeda?

[F]or those publications who actually had people embedded in Baqubah when the story first broke and still failed to cover it, their malaise is inexplicable. I do not know why all failed to report the murders and booby-trapped village: apparently no reporters bothered to go out there, even though itÂ’s only about 3.5 miles from this base. Any one of the reporters currently in Baqubah could still go to these coordinates and follow his or her nose and find the gravesites.

On this question of media selectivity, the blogosphere has become incensed that big media mostly ignored the murders, especially given that there are reporters currently in Baqubah. Newsbusters and countless others are on it. More disturbing to many bloggers is that major mainstream players were busted (again) by Pajamas Media just days ago for reporting outright fabrications of a “massacre” that never occurred.

Although I canÂ’t answer to the cause of the problem, I humbly offer permission to media outlets to republish excerpts of the dispatch or the dispatch in its entirety, including my photographs from the story (if used as they are in the dispatch) at no cost during the month of July 2007. I only ask that the site receive proper attribution and that any publication taking me up on the offer email the website with the details.

If much of mainstream media does not recognize barbarity, clearly their readers can and do. Readers throughout the world might consider contacting their local papers and favorite websites with the link to this update. The story is very important in that it is well-documented with photos and video, and the Iraqi and American soldiers who were present are named and easily reachable. Those mainstream reporters currently in Baqubah could readily take up the baton.

Michael Yon's only got pictures and names of sources and names of victims to back up his story.

The media is naturally suspicious -- they prefer stories from shady unnamed police sources and terrorist-sympathizing huckster stringers.

Posted by: Ace at 03:08 PM | Comments (8)
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Actually, it's pretty cute. Lipstick Dynamite does one of the jobs Americans aren't willing to do -- go to the scene of a story and accurately document it.

A lot of the little slogans and displays are actually grin-worthy. I hope they have plans to cycle in new displays, though, because, you know, you can only read this so many times before the magic wears off.

Posted by: Ace at 12:54 PM | Comments (23)
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Mesablue demonstrates what can happen if you pass out around untrustworthy people.

The finale cracks me up every time.

Posted by: LauraW. at 12:42 PM | Comments (17)
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Cool news, but then, everyone freaks at the idea of using ballistic missiles for just about anything.

Plus: Magic Missile! Battlefield lasers -- almost here?

It's a problem of power -- it's been assumed you need at least 100 kw of power to do anything useful, destruction wise, with a laser. A power level not easily obtained.

But now they think they can get serious punch out of 10-20 kw lasers, using "fiber lasers" directed through (I guess) optical cables rather than through crystals or chemicals.

"It is," Project Crossbow team leader Chris Knight said, "like lasing a stick of dynamite."

Wait. I think I'm mixing up reality with Real Genius again. I do that a lot.

Although, seriously, God does sometimes tell me to stop playing with myself.

Posted by: Ace at 12:07 PM | Comments (23)
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The is a Kissingerian-style amoral foreign policy, and then there is the vicious French mutate of that.

The former French president François Mitterrand supported the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide despite clear warnings that mass killings of the Tutsi population were being orchestrated, according to declassified French documents.

...

The previously secret diplomatic telegrams and government memos also suggest the late French president was obsessed with the danger of "Anglo-Saxon" influence gripping Rwanda.

...

The documents, obtained by lawyers for six Tutsi survivors who are bringing a case against France for "complicity with genocide'' at the Paris Army Tribunal, suggest the late President Mitterrand's support for the Hutus was informed by an obsession with maintaining a French foothold in the region. One of the lawyers, Antoine Compte, said France was aware of the potential danger of its support for the pre-genocide Rwandan government. "Massacres on an ethnic basis were going on and we have evidence that France knew this from at least January 1993. The French military executed the orders of French politicians. The motivation was an obsession with the idea of an Anglo-Saxon plot to oust France from the region."

Tens of thousands Over a million human beings needed massacring in order to give France a .1% advantage in dealing with "the Anglo-Saxons." Truly dispicable. And this is the country that lectures the world about peace, compromise, and international order brought about through UN consensus.

Update: I originally guessed "tens of thousands" as the death toll in Rwanda. I was afraid I'd guessed too high, so I bothered to check the article.

Over a million. Over a million.

All for France's delusional, deadly obsession with its "glory."

France's crimes against humanity may never rival the Soviet Union's, but one day some ambitious writer should try his hand at compiling The Black Book of Gaulism.

The Mot Juste:

Liberte,

Egalite,

Complicite

Thanks to BumperStickerist.

Posted by: Ace at 11:29 AM | Comments (45)
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Sounds about right to me!

The public believes the effects of global warming on the climate are not as bad as politicians and scientists claim, a poll has suggested.

The Ipsos Mori poll of 2,032 adults - interviewed between 14 and 20 June - found 56% believed scientists were still questioning climate change.

There was a feeling the problem was exaggerated to make money, it found.

The Royal Society said most climate scientists believed humans were having an "unprecedented" effect on climate.

The survey suggested that terrorism, graffiti, crime and dog mess were all of more concern than climate change.

The BBC doesn't specifically say this is a poll of the British public, but it stands to reason. I don't think graffiti has been worthy a mention as a problem in America since 1987.

Posted by: Ace at 09:46 AM | Comments (37)
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Reid and Pelosi seem to be going for the record.

Posted by: Ace at 09:32 AM | Comments (22)
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Not actual retractions or corrections; they're not honest enough for that. But they do note that the military has called the stories "wholly fabricated" and they offer no contrary evidence or resistance to that finding, apparently wishing now to walk slowly away from the story as if it were a public fart.

Retuers offers this excuse:

Verifying reports in Iraq is very hard for journalists, who have been systematically targeted by different militant groups and rely extensively on local sources for information.

Paris-based press freedom advocates Reporters Without Borders estimate that over 180 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, making Iraq the most dangerous place in the world to report.

Apparently if it's "very hard" to verify a story, it give the MSM license to forgo the verification process altogether and run hearsay and rumors as fact. Who knew?

Posted by: Ace at 09:13 AM | Comments (13)
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Background on the Red Mosque:

For months now, students at one of Islamabad's most radical mosques have been on a campaign to 'Talibanise' Pakistan - in other words, turn it into a state that enforces the strictest version of Islam as the country's law. The students have defied both the police and government authorities. Along the way, they have adopted violent vigilante tactics, including kidnapping and torture, and have even set up their own sharia courts, with mullahs performing the role of judge and jury. In his second Dateline report on the challenges currently facing Pakistan, Nick Lazaredes discovered that these new Islamic warriors are not only men, but also young women and girls who say they are prepared to die for their cause

The government, apparently, dares not take on these openly Taliban/Al Qaeda supporting thugs, for fear of popular revolt. The government attempted to enter the mosque after the 7/7 London Tube bombing, on suspicion of harboring conspirators; they were repelled.

Now they're fighting government troops in the streets, and still the government is afraid to do more than lob tear gas cannisters at them.

I'm afraid Pakistan is going down, to be lost to Al Qaeda. With its nukes.

And what then?

Well, I have no doubt this nation is prepared for toe-to-toe war with a 100-million strong, nuclear armed radical Islamic country. After all, Democrats have been telling us for five years how eager they were to charge in after bin Ladin and how Bush's dealings with the military junta in Pakistan were corrupt; so I'm sure Greenwald and all the other armchair warriors on the left will enlist immediately should this nightmare scenario come to pass.

Posted by: Ace at 08:50 AM | Comments (30)
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Middle of the week holidays are like getting socks for Christmas. Sure, it's a useful gift, but it could be better.

So here's an open thread for everyone pretending to work today.

Update - Important safety tips for the holiday, from Nice Deb and some, um, helpful commenters.

Posted by: Slublog at 06:39 AM | Comments (461)
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