The Rumble in Iraq, more Rope-a-Dope.

One of the great all time fights was dubbed "The Rumble in the Jungle" between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in Zaire, Africa on October 30, 1974. It is the most famous and most heavily depicted heavyweight fight in history. Two former Olympic Gold Medal winners, heavily favored Foreman against the underdog, Ali.

Prior to the fight, George Foreman was undefeated but Ali defeated Foreman in the 8th round. Ali allowed Foreman to punch himself out as Ali performed his famous "Rope-A-Dope" technique. This BBC story details a couple of incidents that hints at a new Rope-a-Dope.



Iraqi PM condemns 'illegal' raid
Last Updated: Monday, 5 March 2007, 06:11 GMT BBC

The facility was entered because of information gained in earlier raids
Iraq's prime minister has called for an investigation into Sunday's raid by Iraqi and British forces in Basra on an intelligence agency detention centre.
Nouri Maliki issued a statement calling for those behind the "illegal and irresponsible act" to be punished.

The British military said the raid was part of an operation led by Iraqi counter-terrorist forces who were seeking a "known death squad leader".

It said evidence of torture had been found at the southern Iraqi facility.

"The prime minister has ordered a prompt investigation into the incident of breaking into the security complex headquarters in Basra," a statement released by Mr Maliki's office said.


During the operation, Iraqi forces discovered around 30 prisoners, many of whom showed signs of torture and abuse
British military statement

The British military responded with a statement saying the National Iraqi Intelligence Agency headquarters was not deliberately targeted and was only entered because of information gained in preceding raids.

"During the operation, Iraqi forces discovered around 30 prisoners, including a woman and two children, who were being held, and many of whom showed signs of torture and abuse," the statement said.

It went on to say that Iraqi forces broke down locked doors, which led to the escape of a number of prisoners but rejected reports Iraqi forces deliberately released the prisoners.

Earlier in Basra, five people were held on suspicion of involvement in roadside bomb attacks against the multinational forces and Iraqi civilians, as well as kidnaps, torture and murder.

'Political consensus'

Earlier on Sunday more than 1,100 Iraqi and US troops carried out an operation in Baghdad's Shia stronghold of Sadr City, the US military said.

It said no weapons cache had been found or suspected militant arrested.

The raids came as the Iraqi prime minister said he was offering an olive branch to insurgents who accepted the language of reconciliation and dialogue.

Those who did not would fall foul of a security crackdown which would "cover every inch of Iraq", he said.

He did not specify whether insurgents who stopped fighting would be given an amnesty.

Mr Maliki has said he will reshuffle his cabinet within the next two weeks.

No details have been given, but reports quote unnamed officials as saying he is expected to dismiss all six ministers loyal to the Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr, who has been criticised by the United States.

Mr Maliki said political consensus could only be achieved in Iraq once the country was stable.

Converting to Islam.

For some time, I have worried about the next wave of Islamist terrorists being home grown converts. Converts and zealotry often go hand in hand. There is little new in that. American prisons are filled with black converts to Islam. The same is happening in many parts of Europe.

German attraction to radicalism and anti-Americanism is always alive and well. This video clip is a reminder of the complexity of what awaits us in the future in dealing with the consequences of Islamic conversions, yet there is nothing in the clip that hints at a problem. It is about a German physician and his wife converting to Islam. It seems to be straight forward religious conversion but I find it viscerally disturbing.

As The World Turns and Mars Wobbles

According to Al Gore and Company, the science and the debate are settled and man is the cause of global warming. The inconvenient truth is, as this National Geographic article indicates, the debate is anything but settled.

Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human- induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.

Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (Get an overview: "Global Warming Fast Facts".)

Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.

In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row.

Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.

"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said.

Of course, the article went on to quote a couple of GW adherents labeling Abdussamatov as being "outside of mainstream science." They also claimed that the simultaneous warming is coincidental and attributed Mars' warming to its "rotational wobble."

Doesn't that sound familiar? They must all share the same media and political advisers. Have many times have we heard the Democrat leadership claim that Republicans were out of the main stream? The rotational wobble bit.....I don't know 'dog, sounds pitchy.'

ht: Tiger at Observanda

Following on the heels of Vice-President Cheney's recent visits to Australia and south Asia here's more news of the consequence of man's actions.

In this case, a loser from Australia who got involved with Islam and in 2001 was rounded up by "irregulars" in Afghanistan is about to once again be a free man.

SYDNEY, Australia, Saturday, March 3 — The decision by the United States military to charge an Australian citizen, David Hicks, with one terrorism-related offense comes as Prime Minister John Howard is under mounting pressure, even from conservatives in his own party, to have Mr. Hicks charged, tried and brought home.

Mr. Hicks is the first detainee from the American base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to be charged under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. But the single charge, of providing “material support for terrorism,” after Mr. Hicks has been held for five years in Guantánamo, has been met with skepticism, disbelief and some anger here, from conservatives and liberals alike.

The charge, which was announced by the Pentagon in Washington on Thursday, represents a substantial reduction in the case the Bush administration has claimed it has against Mr. Hicks, a high-school dropout who was captured in Afghanistan after the American invasion in 2001.

Described by one Australian police official as a “lost soul,” Mr. Hicks was a kangaroo skinner in the Australian outback, went to Japan to train horses, and joined the Kosovo Liberation Army, which had the support of NATO in the war against Slobodan Milosevic.

Back in Australia, he tried unsuccessfully to enlist in the army. He joined an evangelical church, but eventually converted to Islam and went to Pakistan. There, he first joined up with Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was not declared a terrorist organization by the United States or Australia until the last week of 2001.

He was picked up by Afghan irregulars and turned over to the American troops for a ransom of several thousand dollars, according to his father, Terry Hicks, a printer by trade.

Human rights groups claim that Mr. Hick is not a dangerous man. He only suffers from 'rotational wobble.'

Execution of Eighteen Captured Employees of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior by the Islamic State of Iraq. (no video)

Iraq, issued to jihadist forums today, Saturday, March 3, 2007, the execution video of the eighteen captured employees of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The Islamic State had announced the capture of these individuals on Thursday, March 1, claiming it to be primarily in response to the rape accusations of a Sunni woman, Sabrin al-Janabi, towards Shi’ite security forces. In that prior message, two demands were made of the Iraqi government to secure the release of these men within a 24-hour period. The following day, the group issued a second statement, announcing that due to the refusal of the Iraqi government to negotiate for the release, instead being “arrogant”, the Shari’a Courts of the Islamic State of Iraq ordered the execution of Allah’s Orders on the captured employees.


The video opens with footage of the men blindfolded and sitting in rows, and a message is shown on-screen that is also dictated. Its words are similar to those of the two prior statements, but add that the Mujahideen rose to action after the appeal of the Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, which he presented in an audio message addressing Sabrin. They add: “This operation is only a drop in the bucket, and what will come is more wicked and bitter, with the permission of Allah the Almighty.”
SITE Institute

News From the War and Media Fronts

Some interesting media viewpoints on what is occuring in Iraq, and a short commentary on what it all means.

From Iraq the Model:

Operation “Imposing Law” continues in Baghdad. In contrast with previous operations to secure the city, this one is managing to not only keep the initial momentum, but the operation’s effects seem to be growing as well. . . I read today that the count of various death squads’ victims for this month is one half that of January, and little more than one third that of December of last year. This comes from the official figures reported by the Baghdad morgue.

The other number that’s become one of the important parameters for assessing the situation in the Baghdad is the number of displaced families that have returned to their homes since the beginning of Operation “Imposing Law.” This one too is giving a positive sign. The last official count by the authorities brought the total to little over 1,020 families in just two weeks.

The Fourth Rail provides some insight on the upcoming regional security summit to be held in Iraq with its neighbors and the U.S. in attendance:

While much of coverage on the upcoming regional summit in Iraq has focused on the rare convergence of U.S., Iranian, and Syria diplomats, the Iraqis are showing they plan on using the conference to pressure Syria. Hamid Al Bayati, Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations has said Syria's failure to prevent al Qaeda and Islamist terrorists from crossing the border will be on the agenda. "Most of the terrorists, especially suicide bombers" pass through the Syrian border, said Al Bayati, during a conference at New York University.

The relatively new Small Wars Journal blog has a trip report from a recent excursion to Iraq, and assesses the current situation there:

Overview. What is shaping up in Iraq? There are four ongoing wars. 1) Shiite mafias in the south, 2) Anbar Sunni extremists 3) Shiite ethnic cleansing around Baghdad 4) Sunni extremist car bombings in Baghdad.

What, then, is the biggest problem? How the Americans can infuse into the Iraqi army and police in Baghdad a sense of mission and even-handedness such that the Americans can withdraw from neighborhoods in eight to twelve months without backsliding.

The Online Version of the New York Times passes on analysis of exactly what is going on in Iraq right now, and stays with the body count/BDA theme to drive hits and visits. CBS News chimes in with more of the same, as does MSNBC. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Not surprisingly, small town papers like The Fayetteville Observer (which admittedly has a slight advantage on the NYT, with it's stone's throw distance from Fort Bragg's gate) trumps the Gray Lady with some decent coverage of local 82d Airborne units deployed to Iraq; check out this account of an infantry company's raid on a suspected kidnapping and torture cell ringleader:

Al-Akabi [the suspected insurgent leader] had heard the paratroopers outside his house and opened the door just a crack to see out. When he saw Ciro at the door, the soldiers said, Al-Akabi went for a small silver pistol. Ciro fired and quickly forced his way into the house where Al-Akabi, wounded, was on the floor. Inside, Al-Akabi’s wife jumped on the sergeant and Al-Akabi reached for his rifle, Ciro said later. “I felt threatened, so I shot him again,” he said.

Al-Akabi was hit twice in the stomach. Other paratroopers rushed in and immediately started first aid. Minutes after the raid, the paratroopers carried the obese and naked Al-Akabi — bandages across his belly — out of the house to a waiting Humvee that raced him to a military hospital.

In the foyer of the house, Al-Akabi’s robes lay in the corner, next to several bloody bandages. Paratroopers fanned out, searching for weapons and evidence linking Al-Akabi to the kidnapping cell.

Several paratroopers stood in the house’s plush living room bagging up pamphlets and a CD. Al-Akabi’s cell phone was confiscated — a major find since it likely contains numbers to his associates and other leaders of the militia. Everything taken from the house was photographed and documented. The paratroopers call the process “CSI: Baghdad” because it’s more like police work than soldiering. But they have to be careful — Iraqi judges release suspects when the evidence is shoddy.

The paratroopers returned to Combat Outpost War Eagle elated.

“There is a buzz in this town: The Americans are here, and they are not messing around,” said 1st Sgt. Harold Reynolds. “The sooner they can embrace us and we can embrace them, the sooner the country will turn around.”

The purpose of the above linkfest was not to sway opinions one way or the other on the war; rather, the linked articles and posts illustrate the comprehensive coverage provided by the newer media, especially when compared to the Iraq stories posted by mainstream, staid outlets. If one really wants to have an idea of what's going on in the war, scanning through some of the many excellent bloggers and regional media accounts is now the most effective way to get information (short of donning a uniform and going there yourself, of course!).

My guess is that the example of the old vs new media war coverage is intersubjective, too; that is, potential readers with interests other things, such as business, technology, and the like are probably relying more and more on new media outlets to gather and share information on their favorite topics.

It's a good time to be a blogger, but it's a better time than ever before to find and read your favorite blogs as well!

Wishing Upon a Star - hattip Allen

Allen posted a link to LGF on what is a superb rendition of a sentimental classic. What a joy. What a pleasure. A memory of the famous children's book by Carlo Collodi and the Disney cartoon. Scroll down. Start it. Play it while you read. A little tear will work just fine.
- Deuce

This film is undoubtedly the most perfect example of cartoon work ever seen on the screen, and is a great advance on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with which comparison is inevitable. The characters, to all intents and purposes, "live and breathe", and, with very rare exceptions, there is none of the jerky flicker in their movement which has hitherto been characteristic of such pictures.

From the first it is difficult to realize that the scenes on the screen - with their delicate nuances of shade and their illusion of depth - are only drawings and not colour photographs of actual events. Only in the music, which, with the exception of a cheerful marching song "Hi-Diddle-De-Dee, an Actor's Life for Me", seems pedestrian and uninspired, does Pinocchio fail to excel Disney's best work to date.

Of the characters, Jiminy Cricket, with his dry, matter-of-fact humour and complete resourcefulness, takes his place with Dopey, Mickey Mouse and FIeischer's Gabby as one of the immortal screen drawings. Figaro and Cleo follow him closely, while the three stages in Pinocchio's life - from puppet to living doll and finally to little boy - are cleverly contrasted. There is only one scene which might frighten a very nervous child, when, in the deserted and desolate Pleasure Island, a small "tough guy" is turned into a donkey among the ruined merry-go-rounds. Otherwise, in technique, wit, humour and poetry it is difficult to see how this adaptation of a fairy story could have been bettered.

Jiminy Cricket, a philosophic little insect, one night finds himself in a strange town, and, peeping through a lighted window, sees Gepetto, the kindly old-woodcarver, putting the finishing touches to a new marionette. Gepetto names the puppet Pinocchio, much to the disgust of his two pets, Figaro the kitten and Cleo the goldfish, and prays on the wishing star that the little wooden figure may be given life.

When Gepetto, Cleo and Figaro have gone to sleep, Jiminy makes himself at home by the comfortable warmth of the fire. But he spends a disturbed night, being woken up first by the ticking of Gepetto's innumerable clocks, then by Cleo's watery snores, and finally by the arrival of the Blue Fairy.

Because Gepetto has given so much happiness to others, the Fairy grants Pinocchio life and appoints Jiminy Cricket as his conscience - "Lord High Keeper of Knowledge of Right and Wrong". The job is no sinecure, and Jiminy has to rescue Pinocchio first from the clutches of Stromboli, a rascally puppet-master, and then from Pleasure Island, a fun fair to which naughty little boys are enticed in order to be turned into donkeys for sale to the mines.

When Jiminy, exhausted, finally gets Pinocchio home, it is only to find that Gepetto, Cleo and Figaro - who have set out to search for him - have been eaten by Monstro a huge whale. Pinocchio and Jiminy determine to rescue them, and, after much danger, succeed in doing so. For their unselfish courage the Blue Fairy rewards Pinocchio by turning him into a real little boy while Jiminy Cricket receives a huge gold medal of which he is inordinately proud.

-Synopsis and Review from Monthly Film Bulletin Vol.7 No.75 1940 p.41

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Time to talk with Iran and Syria? Why now?

There is little support for a US attack on Iran. The United States has taken notice and agreed to do what it once insisted it would not and has agreed to talk directly to Iran about Iraq, without preconditions. That in itself will diminish remaining support for a US strike against Iran.

What happened?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to sit down in April with the foreign ministers of 20 countries, including Iran and Syria.

In the words of The Christian Science Monitor the days of working from an "our-way-or-the-highway" stance is over.

Why after all the bombast and posturing has the Bush Administration decided to do what the critics have been demanding for many, many months, and will now open a dialog with Iran and Syria?

Could it be articles and opinion such as this scathing attack that appeared in The Telegraph this morning?


We must not let Bush wage war against Iran

By Boris Johnson
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 01/03/2007

No, no, let's be fair. Let's show the iron logic for which this column is famed. It is time to set on one side the catastrophic record of Bush, Cheney and the neocons, and look dispassionately at what they are now proposing. In considering the case for an attack on Iran, let us try to ignore the results of the demented adventure in Iraq.

It is not easy. The Iraq war has led to the deaths of more than 3,000 US service personnel, about 133 British troops, and anything between 50,000 and 655,000 Iraqis, most of them innocent civilians. There are about 100 Iraqis dying every day, or being hideously maimed, in the course of suicide-bomb attacks. It is undeniable - or at least it is undeniable by anyone except Tony Blair - that the war in Iraq has greatly increased the threat of terrorist attacks in this country and across the world.

But let us momentarily shut our eyes to those truths, and let us decide whether the warmongers are right this time...It is utter madness, and it must not be allowed to happen. As for a conventional attack, it would be much less likely to succeed, and its consequences for the region would be scarcely less baleful - above all in Iraq.

What is the real reason for American rage with Teheran, apart from the nuclear programme? It is the knowledge that the Iranians have made them look like complete idiots, like orang-utans playing chess against a grandmaster.

The Shia exiles such as Ahmed Chalabi were instrumental in bamboozling the Americans to go to war in Iraq. They conned the administration into removing Iran's most ferocious opponent in the region, and the net result of the whole exercise is that neither Saddam Hussein nor George Bush is the dominant power in Iraq. The dominant power in Iraq is Iran...

...Any attack on Iran, in other words, would be answered by yet more viciousness in Iraq, yet more slaughter. Isn't that obvious?

By all means let us tighten the noose on Ahmadinejad. He is a grotesquely incompetent and socialistic buffoon who is already in deep political trouble. Let us target measures against him and his regime. I don't even mind a spot of sabre-rattling, if that will really help deter them from their nuclear programme. But for heaven's sake don't let Dubya draw that sabre again.

I look at these people in Washington, and I ask myself whether I trust them to embark on such a lunatically risky venture, and in the words of Amy Winehouse I say no, no, no.

Join me now. Say no to Dubya and a war on Iran.

Magnitude has nothing to do with meaning-Bobalharb

allen said...

bobalharb,

re: light

Astronomy was one of several things that reconnected me to Judaism. Specifically, the properties of light as understood in the present and how those properties are applicable to the Jewish creation myth.

Having repeatedly exhausted myself attempting to ferret out the significance of light in other mythologies, I have concluded that none approach the simple, plain physics described in Genesis. That text speaks to what could be called a "Big Bang" of light. No anthropomorphisms, no heroes or heroines, no creatures of nature, no gods and demigods battling away, etc., just the simple statement, "Light be!" And the Universe came into being. No other mythology comes remotely close to describing Einstein's conceptions.

All said, it seems to me that the anonymous scribe laboring away on his parchment in the 12th -15th centuries B.C.E. captured the essence of the mind of our modern age, so far as light goes. It is truly a unique melding.

Wed Feb 28, 11:13:00 PM EST

bobalharb said...

Allen--In my life I have gone through three attempts at understanding the universe. All have failed.

First, the idea of the big bang--a hard idea to get ones mind around. The cosmologists used to tell us this would either end in an

1) infinite expansion, or

2) a big crunch

There are two ideas.


Now I am reading the big bang is probably right, but it is boom, then a big expansion, then a slowing, and now some of them say, it is speeding up--and with dark energy, we might be in the
big s--t--r-----e-------t----------------c-----------h.

I have come to terms with the fact I will not know in this lifetime.

I think mythology is the only human way we can even start to get a handle on things. I hope for a peaceful mythology.

Wed Feb 28, 11:47:00 PM EST

Comment: I try read every post. Some are more interesting than others. All add to what goes on here at the EB.

Gems get sprinkled amongst the chaff. That happens in human conversation. Conversations are not lectures. They ramble and drift.

Stream of consciousness. Ideas that provoke, educate, irritate and entertain.

Thanks Bob and Allen. Thank you all. -Deuce