Month: December 2004

Abu Ghraib detainees fed rotten food by contractor. Rotten food crawling with bugs, traces of rats and dirt. Rancid meats and spoiled food resulting in diarrhea and food poisoning.

So went another sad chapter in the story of the Abu Ghraib prison, where U.S. military personnel and private contractors would make headlines and ignite international outrage over allegations of torture psychological abuse in May of this year. (link)

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, some new revelation comes out. [Al-Muhajabah’s Islamic Blogs]

There is a good side in this story, rather unusually. The man who ran this operation for this was killed, apparently by Iraqi rebels, making this quite probably the only time anyone connected with Abu Ghraib actually got what was coming to him.

A Message from the Iraqi Resistance. Editor’s Note: The following message began to circulate via various sites yesterday (December 13th,2004). We at Rational Review have satisfied ourselves that it is authentic and that it represents the sentiments of a real Iraqi resistance, rather than of any international terrorist organization or other actual enemy of the United States. With the exception of one reference to “Zionism” and one to “globalism” (references that are not unusual in Arab communiques), it appears to be a reasoned ap [Rational Review]

I haven’t seen anything on where this came from, but it’s consistent with what I’ve read from various noncombatant Iraqis. I particularly like the closing:

bq. And to George W. Bush, we say — you have asked us to bring it on, and so have we, like never expected. Have you another challenge?

North Korea embraces capitalism by default. Writing in the Asia Times, Andrei Lankov, Australian National University, tells the remarkable story of how North Korea is making the transition from socialist-made famine in the 1990s to a de facto market economy. It began with a slight relaxation in domestic travel permits, and the propensity of officials to take a bribe. Other factors combined to set in motion the logic of markets: the move the masses of people into the cities for food, the establishment of informal businesses (run mostly by women), the rise of a merchant class, access to foreign currency, underground money lenders, and the inability of the government to fight back for lack of resources. This is a remarkable case study. As the author says: “In the Soviet Union of the late 1950s and in China of the late 1970s, Stalinism-Maoism was dismantled from above, through a chain of deliberate reforms planned and implemented by the government. In North Korea the same thing happened, but the system disintegrated from below, despite weak and ineffectual attempts to keep it intact.” [Mises Economics Blog]

Very interesting!

Ever wonder who has the most scary stormtroopers?

A Taste of the System. Since the election, as you’ve doubtless noticed, I haven’t had much to say here. Having lost that crusade – and I do think we lost, election skullduggery notwithstanding – I have been quietly gathering myself up for the countless smaller contests arrayed before us that, taken collectively, will determine the future of freedom in America. We can’t afford to lose many of those, and we will have to emulate our authoritarian adversaries’ disciplined resolve if we are are to prevail. As it happens, I am already personally engaged in one of these battles, and it has been testing my resolve for over a year. Now that it seems to be coming to a head, I want to tell you about it. My own liberty is at stake, but so, I think, is the liberty of anyone who wishes to travel in America without fear of humiliation or arrest. On September 15, 2003, shortly after Burning Man, I was hauled off an airplane that was about to depart San Francisco for New York and charged with the misdemeanor possession of controlled substances that had allegedly been discovered during a search of my checked baggage. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to relate this event. Embarrassment certainly played no part. Generally, I like to be fully disclosed, no matter how far I may wander beyond the normative fringe. I suppose that, for legal reasons, I wanted to avoid any apparent admission of guilt, and only now do I realize that it’s possible to tell this tale without making one. This is because, in most cases – and this is almost certainly one of them – contraband that is illegally discovered does not legally exist. If that seems a technicality to you, you may want to re-read the 4th Amendment, as well as the subsequent case law (notably Mapp v. Ohio) which sets forth the “exclusionary rule.” However shredded by the War on Some Drugs, the 4th Amendment remains part of the Constitution. In order to see that it goes on meaning something, I decided to fight this charge and have spent the last 14 months doing so. Now I will tell you my story…. [BarlowFriendz]

Another story about a disgusting encounter with the Gestapo.

#
Sunni Maravillosa –

A So-called Third World Country Beats the U.S. – Most of the
prescription drugs available in America can be purchased in Mexico,
for less money, without a prescription. [sunni]
bq.
These experiences were revelatory for us; we knew that the FDA’s power
is overweening, but until one gets out from under it and experiences
greater liberty — and its concomitant responsibility — it’s hard to
grok just how controlling the FDA and resulting health-care system is
in this country. To be fair, though, the Mexican culture is quite
different from the U.S. At the time of our visit, the idea of popping
a pill for every little atypical twitch or potential problem with
one’s body was unheard of. Naturalistic remedies were much more
common, as is the very sound practice of allowing time and rest to
heal a body. It was very difficult for me to return to the U.S.,
knowing that I would again be subjected to the paternalistic,
power-sapping medical practices many Americans view as normal and
civilized. I’ll take the real civilization of Mexican health care any
day. If only they were more sensible on RKBA …
[End the War on Freedom]

A followup to the earlier post.

#
Sunni Maravillosa at The Price of Liberty –

The FDA is Going to Kill Me – Sunni could handle most of her
medical problems herself, if the f.d.a. were to disappear so that she
could purchase what she needs on the open market without the need to
consult an expensive licensed doctor, who doesn’t know nearly as much
about her problems or what works for her as she does herself. Once
again, democracy = murder without Bill of Rights enforcement to stop
these usurpers of private property rights (your body is your property,
hence you have the absolute right to imbibe anything you desire,
without signing one scrap of paper or asking anybody’s
permission). [sunni] [End the War on Freedom]

A Model City. Boston Globe. This segment is a must read.  US commanders and Iraqi leaders have declared their intention to make Fallujah a “model city,” where they can maintain the security that has eluded them elsewhere.  Under the plans, troops would funnel Fallujans to so-called citizen processing centers on the outskirts of the city to compile a database of their identities through DNA testing and retina scans. Residents would receive badges displaying their home addresses that they must wear at all times. Buses would ferry them into the city, where cars, the deadliest tool of suicide bombers, would be banned. [John Robb’s Weblog]

I noticed this line in the article:

bq. One idea that has stirred debate among Marine officers would require all men to work, for pay, in military-style battalions. Depending on their skills, they would be assigned jobs in construction, waterworks, or rubble-clearing platoons.

How do you say “work will make you free” in Arabic?

Myths About Discrimination. The ideology that informs the thinking of present-day “civil rights” agitation is cluttered with misconceptions. It is not true, for example, that discrimination must lead to poverty. As Thomas Sowell observes, the Chinese have never enjoyed an equal playing field in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, or Vietnam, yet the Chinese minority in these countries — a mere five percent of the population — owns most of these nations’ total investments in a variety of key industries. In Malaysia, the Chinese minority suffers official discrimination at the hands of the Malaysian constitution, and yet their incomes are still twice the national average. Italians in Argentina were subject to discrimination but ultimately outperformed native Argentines. Similar stories could be told about Jews, Armenians, and East Indians. In the United States, the Japanese were so badly discriminated against that 120,000 of them were confined in detention camps for much of World War II. Yet by 1959 Japanese households had equaled those of whites in income, and by 1969 they were earning one-third more. [Full Article] [Mises Economics Blog]

#
Steve Coll at The Washington Post via MSNBC –

Mistakes marked Tillman’s ‘friendly fire’ death – Pat Tillman, the
former Arizona Cardinals safety who “heroically” volunteered to fight
in Afghanistan, was killed on April 22 by friendly fire. [root]
bq.
The Ranger beside Tillman had been lying flat as Tillman initially
called out for a cease-fire, yelling out his name. Then Tillman went
silent as the firing continued. Now the young Ranger saw a “river of
blood” coming from Tillman’s position. He got up, looked at Tillman,
and saw that “his head was gone.”
[End the War on Freedom]

This story is starting to sound an awful lot like the “rescue” of Private Lynch, or (especially) the movie Courage Under Fire.