***Dave Does the Blog

An interesting couple of articles are linked and quoted here, to the effect that common “Western” gestures aren’t universal, and hinting that some of the Iraqi thumbs-up motions being made to Coalition forces may not be quite what they seem.

Or maybe they are.

The term “cruise missile” always seems oxymoronic. A cruise is supposed to be leisurely, relaxed, something managed by Capt. Steubing to induce romance, love, exciting and new …

A missle, on the other hand, is always hurrying, always focused, and anything but relaxing or leisurely.

Which is apropos of little but this report in the Guardian about British troops finding Russian-made cruise missiles in a bunker complex outside Basra.

But the most disturbing find was two Russian-made Harith cruise missiles, each six metres (20ft) long, and nine warheads hidden in two enormous, reinforced-concrete bunkers.
Another missile, as yet unidentified, was found still in its crate.
The scale and possible implications of the weapons find took British forces by surprise and raised fresh questions about the extent of the Iraqi war machine and the ability of weapons inspectors to cope with the task of scouring such a vast country for prohibited ordnance.
The discovery of the missiles – which were stamped with the year 2002 – came as British troops from the Black Watch regiment fought to secure the area around Iraqi’s second city, Basra, in preparation for the capture of the city.

Unless these are the shortest-range cruise missiles on record, it’s another sign of Stuff Inspectors Didn’t Find — even though it was in a large military complex outside of the second largest city in Iraq.

These things were stamped with the year 2002? Hmmm. Any comments from the Russians on that?

Of course, some boxes of rocket-propelled grenades from a British firm were also found there (although one suspects that cruise missiles are monitored more closely by their manufacturing country than RPGs).

An amusing aspect of the story is that the RPGs were manufactured by Wallop (“No Need to Say What Our Products Pack!”) Industries. I don’t know if it’s more or less amusing that the company is not named for its product line, but for its home in Middle Wallop, Hampshire.

Less amusing: “One unit from the Black Watch came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades four times yesterday morning, but there were no casualties.” It would be quite unamusing, I’m sure, to the folks of Hampshire if some of their RPGs were being fired at their own troops …

(via Volokh)

Perhaps it’s not enough sleep, or tummy rumbles, or worries about my trip today (not the flying part, the actual meetings part), but I’m finding little to write about, war-wise. Maybe for the best, but I feel like I should be ranting about something or another.

It’s still probably too early to throw some told-ya-sos about the chemical plant in the middle of the desert, surrounded by electrified fences, in command of a general, and highly camouflaged. Even if it was discussed on the news yesterday, and was part of the CENTCOM briefing this morning, NPR didn’t have all that much to say about it, so I guess it’s still unconfirmed. Right?

Actually, it was an interesting contrast going from relatively non-stop TV coverage (flipping between CNN, MSNBC and FNC) to listening to NPR this morning. Almost like it was a discussion of another world. NPR had doleful music, lots of doubts and fog of war and analysis as to what was “critical” for the Bush Administration to “succeed.”

Of course, that’s not to say that it’s any less accurate than the cable news stations with their blaring martial music and techno-triumph graphics. That gets a bit old, too.

Still, listening to NPR, you could almost hear whispers of “quagmire” in the background, almost think the war is already lost, just a few days after it started. There was no talk of Iraqi soldiers hiding among civilians, no talk of the videotaped interrogations and Americans shot in the forehead. Lots of talk about American casualties, though, and how the rapid pace of the first few days seems to have evaporated, signalling … the dreaded Q-word?

There were, in the 40-odd minutes I was in the car, six references to Saddam Hussein having appeared on Baghdad TV, though, to be fair, at least two of those discussed why there were “doubts” as to whether the spots were authentic or not. Still, maybe it was a slow news day for them, too.

On a related note, I started a mini-rant about Michael Moore, who seems to think what it means to be an American is to prove that the Thought Police haven’t won yet, and declare for 45 seconds how Bush didn’t really win the election in Florida, and “we” are all ashamed of him for his actions in Iraq. The definition of “we” was not given.

Then, I got tired, and decided to do some real work.

Between 1 and 2.5 million more children will attend school in Afghanistan in 2003. And that’s beyond the huge upsurge (many of them girls) that attended for the first time in 2002.

It occurs to me that if the US, for some reason, were to fill long, deep trenches with oil and then set it ablaze as a tactic during this war, it would be roundly condemned as an environmental terrorist. Will we hear anyone condeming Iraq for that particular tactic?

(Especially since it doesn’t seem to be working?)

(via Ghost of a Flea)

The Anti-War movement has made a lot of subtle moves to try and distance themselves from ANSWER, though it still continues to participate and organize “peace” marches.

But if the “Anti-War” movement has any chance of swaying the majority of Americans, it needs to distance itself from assholes like the folks carrying this banner (which, in the interest of uttermost fairness, came during a march before the attack at Camp Pennsylvania).

That this is considered an acceptable sentiment both by the folks expressing it and by the folks just walking by, is abominable.

1. Soldiers who act outside of uniform are, per the Geneva Convention, war criminals. (Though fighting as resistance within their own country might be a loop hole.)

2. Shooting prisoners is a war crime, too.

3. Broadcasting POWs being intimidated into making statements is a war crime.

Will we get demonstrations in London and San Francisco and Beirut about this? Will the ICC and the UN leap in to intervene? Three guesses.

By the way, targeting a hospital would be considered a war crime, I think everyone would agree. Lobbing munitions into an area where there is a hospital, not caring whether you hit the hospital or not, may or may not be a war crime, but it’s certainly not a nice thing to do.

Is jamming GPS guidance systems on incoming cruise missiles so that instead of hitting a military target they hit a hospital also a war crime? Will we see demonstrations about that?

UPDATE: I’ve seen questions as to whether the Article 13 prohibition against “insults and public curiosity” also apply to the film we’ve seen of Iraqis surrendering, or Iraqi POWs, en masse, under guard.

Showing films of surrenders does not strike me as applicable here, simply a reporting of facts. If POWs were being marched down the street for folks to throw rotten vegetable at, that would certainly be a breach of Article 13. Showing that (a) there are POWs, and (b) they don’t appear to be being mistreated does not seem to be a matter of “public curiosity” — indeed, it would seem to be a proactive defense against charges under Article 13.

Observations on watching MSNBC.

1. An attack on a military encampment during wartime is not properly called “terrorism.” It’s possible that the folks who did it may be normally terrorists, or they may be commandos or Iraqi special operations units. But it’s wartime. It’s an attack, a raid, something like that. Let’s use our language carefully, folks.
2. If you go marching in protests and you have your kid up on your shoulder, you are putting your child in danger, asshole. You’ve read the papers. You know what’s going on in these protests. You know that there are fringe elements, committing vandalism and violence. You know that arrests are being made. What the fuck are you doing with your little kid on your shoulders in the middle of that, asshole?

   And if you get into a shouting match with the cops, and they feel the need to restrain you, don’t be outraged when they pull the kid off your shoulders. You’re lucky you’ll probably be getting the kid back.

3. Nice to see that ANSWER is still out there, printing banners and organizing these events. Lie down with pigs, get up with stink, folks.

4. “I will put my life on the line, every day, until this war is stopped!” How? By shouting into a microphone in the middle of San Francisco. Wooo — if that’s putting your life on the line, what’s that other guy doing there with his frickin’ kid on his shoulders?

UPDATE: Of course, item #1 is someone obsolete now, since it seems that the attack involved an American soldier, an NCO engineer. There are also some reports (online, not on any of the broadcast media I’ve seen) that he’s a black Muslim as well, which will have rather unfortunately consequences. At any rate, it still doesn’t look like terrorism. Attempted murder and treason, perhaps.