tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post3485701080044891290..comments2024-03-28T06:32:24.557-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: US report on Idlib Sarin attack ‘misinterprets evidence - Was politically motivated – MIT Professor Theodore PostolDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-10838660410128190682017-04-15T03:47:12.797-04:002017-04-15T03:47:12.797-04:00How bad is this? It's so bad that an independe...<br />How bad is this? It's so bad that an independent review panel commissioned by the government once recommended reducing GMD flight tests—<b>because the inevitable failures would undermine its deterrent value against foreign attacks.</b><br /><br />And those GMD interceptor missiles already deployed in California and Alaska? They don't work, but the National Academy of Sciences has a spiffy idea on how to recycle them: remove them from their silos and use them as practice targets when the Missile Defense Agency finally figures out a better system.<br /><br />How Did This Happen?<br /><br />If the GMD system were suddenly endowed with the power of speech, its first words would likely be those of Admiral James Stockdale: "Who am I? Why am I here?"<br /><br />The answer is President George W. Bush, who made construction of a national antimissile system a priority after taking office. Beginning in 2001, his administration spent billions per year to develop various missile defense technologies. The White House envisioned a scaled-down version of President Ronald Reagan's "Strategic Defense Initiative," which had sought to create a shield against a massive Soviet attack. The Bush administration favored a limited system, whose main purpose would be thwarting a small number of ballistic missiles that might be fired at the United States by adversaries such as North Korea or Iran.<br /><br />http://io9.gizmodo.com/heres-why-the-u-s-missile-defense-system-is-utterly-br-1573758902Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-34754224706898129452017-04-15T03:32:26.399-04:002017-04-15T03:32:26.399-04:00Patriots are small potatoes when compared to the m...Patriots are small potatoes when compared to the megabucks spent on anti-ICBM junk with equally invalid claims of success.<br /><br /><br />https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1CAACAO_enUS720US720&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=anti+ICBM+missiles+with+faulty<br />Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770268554450465514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-2322907147254642202017-04-15T02:45:17.495-04:002017-04-15T02:45:17.495-04:00If anyone decodes what Trump is doing in Syria, pl...If anyone decodes what Trump is doing in Syria, please share. Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-17390900294258935932017-04-15T02:34:18.736-04:002017-04-15T02:34:18.736-04:00Those ISIS met Allah before their suicide rests co...Those ISIS met Allah before their suicide rests could go off.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-83286605600589702017-04-15T02:27:59.443-04:002017-04-15T02:27:59.443-04:00Say what?
Remember the adage, "dead men tell...Say what?<br /><br />Remember the adage, "dead men tell no tales"? Evaporated men tell less:<br /><br /><i>The blast detonated at 7.32pm local time in the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, according to the US military.<br /><br />Sarab, a local resident from Asadkhel in Achin, close to the mountain where the bomb targeted Isis tunnels, said he saw a giant flame before the blast made the ground shake. “It was the biggest blast I have ever heard,” he said. Sarab added that the targeted area had recently been completely occupied by Isis fighters.<br /><br />“There is no way that civilians were still living there,” he said.<br /><br />However, a parliamentarian from Nangarhar, Esmatullah Shinwari, said locals had told him one teacher and his young son had been killed. One man, the MP recounted, had told him before the phone lines went down: “I have grown up in the war, and I have heard different kinds of explosions through 30 years: suicide attacks, earthquakes different kinds of blasts. I have never heard anything like this.” Phone connections are regularly interrupted in Achin and there were no immediate indication of casualties.</i><br /><br />Reports claimed 36 killed. How could they know? Probably less so than the sarin bomb in Syria.<br />Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-15700609169686254232017-04-15T02:18:14.725-04:002017-04-15T02:18:14.725-04:00Just how far are we in the "fucked department...Just how far are we in the "fucked department"? By this statement, I would judge pretty far:<br /><br /><i>Trump on MOAB: I've Given Military "Total Authorization," "That's Why They've Been So Successful"</i>Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-71516933846199556212017-04-15T02:02:24.841-04:002017-04-15T02:02:24.841-04:00DISCLOSURE:
I worked for Raytheon Co Burlington M...DISCLOSURE:<br /><br />I worked for Raytheon Co Burlington Mass Spencer Lab, in the late 60's. 90 % of my time was spent in Europe and I was frequently requested to gather technical analysis on various "events" that were used to justify and defend future military contracts and funding. I doubt the corporate defense contractor culture has changed much over the years.<br /><br />I had to smile at this ..."<i><b>The public and the Congress were misled by definitive statements of success issued by administration and Raytheon representatives during and after the war.</b></i><br />Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-85760339402422314732017-04-15T01:52:50.650-04:002017-04-15T01:52:50.650-04:00The professor has an interesting and accurate trac...The professor has an interesting and accurate track record:<br /><br />PATRIOT MISSILES IN OPERATION DESERT STORM<br /><br />Main article:<b> Patriot missile success rate</b><br /><br /><i>The Patriot Missile was used in Operation Desert Storm to intercept descent-phase SCUD missiles fired by Iraq. The U.S. Army claimed a success rate of 80% in Saudi Arabia and 50% in Israel, claims that were later reduced to 70% and 40%. But President George H. W. Bush claimed a success rate of more than 97 percent during a speech at Raytheon's Patriot manufacturing plant in Andover, Massachusetts during the Gulf War, declaring, the "Patriot is 41 for 42: 42 Scuds engaged, 41 intercepted!"</i><br /><br />In April 1992, Postol told a House committee that "the Patriot's intercept rate during the Gulf War was very low. The evidence from these preliminary studies indicates that Patriot's intercept rate could be much lower than 10 percent, possibly even zero."<br /><br />The House Government Operations Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security later reported,<br /><br /><b><i>The Patriot missile system was not the spectacular success in the Persian Gulf War that the American public was led to believe. There is little evidence to prove that the Patriot hit more than a few Scud missiles launched by Iraq during the Gulf War, and there are some doubts about even these engagements. The public and the Congress were misled by definitive statements of success issued by administration and Raytheon representatives during and after the war.</i></b><br /><br />Postol later went on to criticize the Army's "independent" Analysis of Video Tapes to Assess Patriot Effectiveness as being "seriously compromised" by the "selective" and "arbitrary" use of data. The Army ultimately downgraded its assessment of the systems' effectiveness.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-83266288138027698962017-04-15T01:48:43.979-04:002017-04-15T01:48:43.979-04:00We are beginning to understand who Donald Trump is...We are beginning to understand who Donald Trump is. What about Professor Pistol?<br /><i><br />He received his undergraduate degree in physics and his PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT. Postol worked at Argonne National Laboratory, where he studied the microscopic dynamics and structure of liquids and disordered solids using neutron, X-ray and light scattering techniques, along with molecular dynamics simulations . He also worked at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, where he studied methods of basing the MX missile, and later worked as a scientific adviser to the Chief of Naval Operations.<br /><br />After leaving the Pentagon, Postol helped build a program at Stanford University to train mid-career scientists to study weapons technology in relation to defense and arms control policy. In 1990, Postol received the Leo Szilard Prize from the American Physical Society. In 1995, he received the Hilliard Roderick Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 2001, he received the Norbert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for "uncovering numerous and important false claims about missile defenses." On September 28, 2016 the Federation of American Scientists awarded Professor Theodore Postol from MIT their annual Richard L. Garwin Award[1] for his work in assessing and critiquing the government's claims about missile defense.</i><br /><br />This guy is no dope.<br />Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-55677186166234071522017-04-15T01:43:56.037-04:002017-04-15T01:43:56.037-04:00I hope I'm very wrong.I hope I'm very wrong.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-88965804714504266862017-04-15T01:43:20.484-04:002017-04-15T01:43:20.484-04:00Trump has made so many adjustments, twists, turns,...Trump has made so many adjustments, twists, turns, backflips, somersaults, convolutions, be makes the old Slinky look like a laser beam.<br /><br />He is playing with explosives like a drunk with m80s and Budweiser on a 4th of July picnic at 9:00 PM.<br /><br />Military actions are notoriously FUBAR in execution. <br /><br />This will not end well.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-44809966685675764942017-04-15T01:36:41.604-04:002017-04-15T01:36:41.604-04:00What to believe?
There are two irrefutable facts...What to believe? <br /><br />There are two irrefutable facts:<br /><br />1. Sarin gas was used<br />2. However, this is the Middle East<br /><br />No proof has shown this was delivered by the Syrian or Russian Air Force. We know there was a bombing. We do not know if the bombing was the source of the sarin. If the MIT professor's analysis is correct, it was not.<br /><br />The event is illogical on a common sense level. (Stated here previously)<br /><br />Previous claims made during the lead-up to the Iraq war, by the British "Dodgy Dossier", were riddled with fabrications, distortions, unsubstantiated conjecture and out-right lies.<br /><br />To date, I remain unconvinced about the facts.Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.com