Sim-O

NY Times Blog:

“The whole debate about permanent bases is meaningless,” said John Pike, the director of Global Security, a Web site that collects information on defense and intelligence issues. “There is no such thing as a permanent base.”
For example, Mr. Pike said, the United States military is currently vacating “temporary” facilities in the center of Seoul, South Korea, for more secure and modern barracks to the south of the city. Those temporary facilities, built after the Korean War, are more than 50 years old

Patrick Cockburn, The Independent:

George Bush is willing to modify some of the demands so the Iraqi government can declare “a significant climbdown” by the American side allowing Baghdad to sign the treaty by 31 July.

But the US currently only maintains about 30 large bases in Iraq [originally the agreement wanted 58 bases], some the size of small cities; the rest are “forward operating bases”.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, denied The Independent’s report that the US wanted permanent bases in Iraq. But the reality of the US plan is that Iraqi authority would be purely nominal with a few Iraqi soldiers stationed outside the bases.

I may not be man enough to square up to Mrs -O, but I can still be subversive in my own little way.
So in a not-ripped-off-from-Sunny-at-all way, I give you LOL-Bush!

It’s, er, just the one at the moment, I’ll update if I do some more, or you let me know of yours.

And another mention for Stop The War, 15 June.

I’m not much of a fan of Chimpy McFlightsuit* and so I was pleased to get an invite to join Operation Manticore.

But after reading in their forum where it was heading, I’ll be following avidly, but not participating.

I’m all for a bit of gentle civil dis-obedience, but my bollocks aren’t as big as they once were and more frighteningly, Mrs -O would kill me.

Best of luck guys, and your secret’s safe with me.

I suppose I’d better take my Operation Manticore banner down now.

Oh, don’t forget to tell your mates:

Protest at Bush Visit – 5pm, 15 June, Parliament Square

*blatantly ripped from bloggerheads

Ten Percent: The rape of Iraq: Bribed with it’s own money

via Bloggerheads

The Independent:

…US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law…

So, is this like, “New, improved! Iraq 2.0, with integrated Americans”?

Via Manic

The Scum:

A HERO paratrooper attacked with an iron bar as he went to buy a pizza last night branded Broken Britain “more dangerous than Iraq”.

I think the expression used when on teh internets is ROFLMFAO!!1!

For a more considered response, try Septic Isle:

Quite so. By the lowest estimate, since the 2003 invasion 150,000 Iraqis have died in violent circumstances, with the numbers injured incalculable. By contrast, the murder rate in the UK stubbornly sticks in the region of the mid 700s, or at least has done now for quite some time.

What sort of wingnut actually believes this shit?
How the fuck can Britain be more dangerous than Iraq? For a start, we don’t have more than the population of Oxford running around the place with various types of explosives shooting anything that moves. And because of that, we also don’t have the people the Multi-National Force are trying to get, blowing shit up.

What we do have is a shrill fucking ‘news’ ‘paper’ latching onto anything and everything to get forward it’s agenda of [insert Murdochs latest whim here].

I have got to get me one of these toys!
It’s called a Silent Guardian and it:

• Provides a zone of protection
  that saves lives and protects
  assets
• Minimizes collateral damage
• Provides real-time ability to
  establish intent and
  de-escalate aggression
• Does not cause physical harm;
  prevents injury and death
• Provides precise effects at a
  longer range than current
  less-than-lethal systems

Sounds good don’t it?

I’ll let Raytheon tell you how it works from their flyer:

The system’s antenna emits a focused beam of millimeter wave energy. The beam travels
at the speed of light and penetrates the skin to a depth of 1/64 of an inch, producing an intolerable heating sensation that causes the targeted individuals to instinctively flee or take cover. The sensation ceases immediately when an individual moves out of the beam or the operator steers the beam away. Silent Guardian does not cause injury because of the shallow penetration depth of the millimeter wave.

I heard about it here, and the way this guy describes it, just makes it more appealing:

Imagine you’re at a protest – at a nuclear plant, perhaps, or a military installation. You approach the perimeter fence, carrying your placard. The loudhailers warn you to keep away. But you ignore them; this is a protest, after all. And then it happens. Your skin feels as if it’s on fire – a burning, relentless, intense pain as if you were touching a frying pan. You scream and jump back, trying to escape the sudden agony. You scrabble a few metres away and it stops. Then you look closer at the buildings that are the object of your protest. Did it come from there? You approach the fence again and the pain starts again – until you jump back.

“This technology is capable of rapidly heating a person’s skin to achieve a pain threshold that has been demonstrated by AFRL human subject testing to be very effective at repelling people, without burning the skin or causing other secondary effects.” The device, it adds, “is an alternative to lethal force.”

The human testing showed that the beams will penetrate even tiny openings and cracks in any physical barrier, including clothes, walls and shields. It is as though it wraps around corners to affect any piece of exposed body – the fingers or face, say, of those trying to hide.

Tests carried out with the Active Denial System at Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico between 2003 and 2004 raised questions about the safety of this technology in practice, since volunteers were asked to remove glasses and contact lenses to avoid the possibility of eye damage. Volunteers were also asked to remove metallic objects next to the skin to prevent hot spots forming. Demonstrators might not be so cooperative.

This is a sweet line: Raytheon: Aspiring to be the most admired defense and aerospace systems supplier