The 8/6 PDB: Looks Like a Smoking Gun to Me

Condoleeza Rice may not have lied about the contents of the 8/6 PDB, but given what is contained in that memo, she might as well have.

Although the memo didn't warn specifically of the tactic of using planes as missiles, it does warn that hijackings were possible (to secure the release of Islamic militants, including Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman). It also warns of possible attacks on U.S. soil involving explosives and calls attention to Osama Bin Laden's support network in the U.S. All of this runs under the heading of a warning of possible attacks in the U.S.

Somebody tell me how this memo wasn't enough to warrant action in the U.S. At the very least we should have seen increased security at the airports. I understand the pre-9/11 context and that hindsight is 20/20, but does our government make a regular habit of dismissing reasonably credible information about serious threats, particularly when that information lines up in such a fashion as to suggest that something big is on the horizon?

Screw This. I'm Going Geocaching

I've just been sick for four days and have been holed up at Hespos Central Command working on my laptop and trying to get some rest. I feel quite a bit better than I did on Tuesday night, but I'm still coughing and my head's sort of congested.

I've gotta get out of here! I can take only so much bed rest and after-hours Playstation. It's time to get outside.

My girlfriend hates geocaching, so I haven't done it in a few months. But I really want to get back into it. Lately, I've spent weekends working or going to weddings, so I'm overdue for some time for myself. Alone. In the woods. With my backpack. Looking for hidden Tupperware.

I'm bringing the digital camera, so maybe I'll post some photos when I get back.

Rice Testimony

I'm going to reserve judgment right now on whether or not the Bush administration had actionable warning on imminent attacks on U.S. soil. Some are praising Condoleeza Rice as if she passed some sort of test with flying colors. Others are calling for perjury charges.

For me, it's tough to imagine that a Presidential daily briefing memo entitled "Bin Laden determined to attack inside United States" couldn't serve as adequate warning, but Rice claimed the content of the memo presented nothing new. I guess I'll just have to defer judgment until the memo is declassified.

Iraq or Vietnam?

If you've been watching the news lately, you know that Senator Ted Kennedy drew some parallels between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War. To rebut those claims, Senator John McCain, a former POW, said the following:

"I happen to know something about Vietnam, and I know we don't face another Vietnam."

If that's the case, tell me which war I'm referring to with the statements I make below.

1. Ostensibly, we're fighting to bring democracy to a nation thousands of miles away that has not known democracy. This nation is also strategically important to us.
2. There's significant controversy over whether we've committed enough troops to achieve our mission. Soldiers are being asked to stay longer than they were originally committed. Congress is considering whether or not we need to send more troops to accomplish our mission.
3. Soldiers are having a good deal of trouble in figuring out who the enemy is. The enemy is hiding among innocent civilians, using guerrilla tactics to strike at our troops. To determine who is friendly and who is an enemy, our soliders are searching for weapons from house to house.
4. Our soldiers are under constant threat of ambushes and guerrilla attacks. Curiously, the native security forces, which are supposed to be fighting for democracy alongside us, are absent or present only in small numbers.
5. Back home, the country is split over whether or not the war is justified.
6. Our troops are fighting against forces that utilize weapons made by the Soviet Union.
7. Our forces use air support to strike at concentrations of enemy troops (when and where they're able to identify those concentrations of troops) and then come in with infantry and tanks on the ground to take care of the close-quarters fighting.
8. If we pull out, the most likely scenario is civil war.
9. We've witnessed unexpected major offensives by the enemy on days that are considered holy.
10. Nations that border the one we're fighting in have taken political advantage of the situation and have backed the forces we're currently fighting against.
11. Our major fear is that, should we fail, the entire region will be destabilized. So we fight to make the region "safe for democracy."
12. Some of our soldiers are being exposed to health risks by a substance they use in fighting the enemy. Long-term effects of this substance on our troops are not yet fully understood.
13. Cities we thought we controlled at the time have been taken over by the enemy. We've underestimated the number of hostile forces threatening these cities.
14. Civilians who support us are often afraid to speak out in support of our efforts because they fear retaliation from underground forces and people who live side-by-side with them every day.

    So which war is it?