H&I* Fires 13 Aug 2006

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite. You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

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First up, the answer to the cockpit question below: According to the source for the picture - Typhoon. I was right, it took about 15 minutes for that answer to show up.

Iran says:

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran welcomed on Sunday a planned ceasefire to halt the month-long war between Lebanon's Hizbollah and Israel but described the U.N. Security Council's call for disarming the Iranian-backed group as "illogical."

Full story here.

Heh. The interesting thing is that the Iranians, with a straight face, would say the exact same thing about Hezbollah in the United States... Not that we haven't had some broadly similar organizations - at least in terms of Militias (and some with a religious basis) over here. (Fair and balanced, that's us. - oh, and I'm not putting the 51st in the same weight class as Hezbollah, just sayin').

I was going to comment on the Arms Embargo language in the UN Resolution on the current unpleasantness in Lebanon, but Andy McCarthy covers it succinctly enough:

Re: Arms Embargo? [Andy McCarthy]

How's this for fantasy-land?

Here again is Sec'y Rice in the statement Michael excerpted: "[T]his resolution has an arms embargo within it, and a responsibility of the Lebanese government to make sure that illegal arms are not coming into the country."

Now here is Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora less than three weeks ago on the capacities of his country's forces: "The Syrians are inside our home and we are still too weak to defend ourselves. The terrible memories of the civil war are still too alive and no one is ready to take up arms."

How hard must Ahmadinejad, Assad and Nasrallah be laughing at all this?

I admit, I'm just not smart enough, educated enough, and nuanced enough to understand the Grand Diplomatic Plan here. That Masters Degree was wasted. I want my cereal box tops back! Oh, other than "get 'em to stop shooting at all costs, right this minute." I got that part. Hudna, anyone? -the Armorer

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I see that Princess Crabby is... Princess Crabby.

The boys at The Torch note Canada's props for Boeing's stock.

Jack at Random Fate also comes to Everyday Stranger's defense from the Moonbats of Malkin (mind you - that's aimed at the a$$hats who left the hate in Helen's comments, *not* La Malkin herself). Jack just can't resist that "fair and balanced" bit.

Syrup-Sucking Alan invites us inside his mind for the week.

(Heh, the Denizens must be out having lives... judging from the lackaposting)

Over at Bow Ramp, some reunioning. (JTG - that's all the Civil War was, too - some re-Unioning).

Cassandra takes on the NYT. Poor babies, they didn't have a chance. But, like a dinosaur, the impulse letting them know their dead hasn't reached what passes for a brain.

Hmmm. Trias seems to have donned his tinfoil hat. He has a rather more thoughtful piece on Islam too, if you need seriousness today.

AFSis sharpens her blade...

That's the news from Lazy-Denizen Land - the Armorer

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As someone who had ancestors at Runnymeade thumbing their nose at King John, and who counts Meriwether Lewis among the dead people linked to me... eligible for membership in Sons of the American Revolution and Sons of the Confederacy (apparently my mother's family are contrarians) *this* article is a useful antidote to taking on airs... Chances are you are related to the formerly rich and famous, too. Ya just don't know it (all them bastard children and such, eh?). Which makes sense, when you think of it - if the estimates are correct... half the people who have ever lived... are alive right now. The whole 'blood' thing has always eluded me, anyway. The healthiest critters are the mutts. The purebreds... well, lets just say the Phaerohs lines failed because they kept it "all in the family..." -the Armorer

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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.

Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.

Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*

The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.

I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. It's also an open trackback, so if (Don Surber uses it this way a lot) someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".