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Zero Tolerance For UN Zero Tolerance Policy

I'm having a real tough time accepting the zero tolerance policy implemented by the UN relating to the sexual abuse/harassment/assault cases that continue to pop up wherever the UN engages in 'peacekeeping operations.'

"The policy — as you have certainly heard — is zero tolerance. That's really the policy," said M'Hand Ladjouzi, the program chief of the U.N. Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (search) in the city of Goma. "Measures were taken by the military themselves, the commandant of those forces and the leadership of the United Nations, both locally and in New York."

But the world body's pledge to crack down appears to be having little effect. When night falls in Goma, U.N. peacekeepers can still be seen leaving their base in search of sex.

Zero tolerance by day, 100 percent chance of violating policy by night.

Why is this the case when the 'world' is supposedly cracking down on this kind of action? Because the UN doesn't particularly care to train its peacekeepers since it's damn lucky that anyone volunteers their military to serve in the first place. Those that do come into the peacekeeping corps are ill equipped and ill prepared to deal with the horrors that they are supposed to be dealing with. Then, there's the fact that the peacekeepers can do little to stop violence because of limited mission statements. None of that excuses the horrible behavior. It just reinforces a culture at the UN that is permissive and overlooks rampant sexual misconduct.

Photo of the Day

 


Clouds over San Francisco Bay, taken March 2002. This is one of a group of photos taken on a boat cruise of San Francisco bay. It was amazing watching the clouds roll in and change the seascape on a moment by moment basis. This particular shot looked interesting because the clouds were so ominous over Sausalito while the rest of the bay was sunlit.

A Big Mistake

Mayor Bloomberg announces opposition to freight tunnel. That's a huge mistake on his part. The NY metro region has a very poor infrastructure connecting Long Island with the mainland for handling goods. Practically everything travelling through the region must be on trucks because of a circuitous route necessary to bring containerized items onto Long Island. There is no direct route, which means the regions tunnels, bridges and roads suffer as a result.

Construction of the freight tunnel under New York harbor would relieve the congestion and allow for tremendous future economic growth and improve the durability of bridges and roads that are pounded incessantly by the truck traffic. The mayor is opposing the tunnel because of the effects on Maspeth, Queens where the tunnel would have its transfer facility.

Planning for the tunnel began under Mr. Bloomberg's predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and has advanced in the last three years. Last April, the city's Economic Development Corporation, in a study known as a draft environmental impact statement, endorsed the project. It concluded that the tunnel should be built between Jersey City and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Financing for the multibillion project has yet to be determined. In a sense, the project does not depend on the mayor's support, since most of the funding is to come from the federal government. Aides to the mayor consider the support of middle-class voters in Queens and Brooklyn important to his bid for re-election.

The project's major champion, Representative Jerrold L. Nadler, said he was unfazed by the mayor's remarks.

"In light of the city's own findings that the cross-harbor tunnel would bring crucial economic, health, environmental and national security benefits to New York, it's disappointing that the mayor feels compelled to back down from his full-on support of the project," Mr. Nadler, a Manhattan Democrat, said in a telephone interview. "His public stance, however, is not a central force in the advancement of the project."

He said he expected the Economic Development Corporation, which is working on the final environmental impact statement, to "actively look for ways of mitigating the impact on Maspeth, as it should."

Every truck taken off the roads in the City means countless tons of pollutants removed, improved health for residents who suffer from asthma and other lung ailments, and improved traffic that in turn leads to greater efficiencies. The mayor's opposition is unfortunately shortsighted and based solely on political purposes.

Why Is MSNBC Shilling for Cuba?

An MSNBC article paints a rather flattering portrait of those who are making due in Cuba with ingenuity and determination to deal with the bad economic situation. Instead of showing that the ingenuity is an essential necessity of survival under Fidel Castro's disasterous economic policies from the past 40 years, MSNBC would rather tout the ingenuity of those who have had to cope with the outcome of the failed policies as though this is something that should be emulated.

That's why the focus is on an individual who managed to put together a working car for $70 over a period of years. Yes, that's certainly commendable, but why should MSNBC want to highlight this over the reality that Cuba's economy is worse than awful and that there is absolutely no industry worth speaking of besides sugar cane and tobacco production, that the situation is even worse now that the former Soviet Union cannot subsidize the economy, and the only reason that the country loves all those classic US cars from the 1950s is because the overwhelming majority of people don't have the capital to actually buy modern cars (or anything else for that matter).

This is a society that has been reduced to scrounging for survival. The Cuban people deserve more than this.

And MSNBC should have known better.

An EOD's Job Is Never Done

EODs, explosive ordnance disposal technicans, are military experts at destroying munitions left by enemies and dealing with IEDs and other explosives. They're in harm's way all the time, as their job is to deal with large quantities of explosives and dispose of them safely. One of the regulars at LGF who goes by the name reaganite is an EOD who sent in the following report and picture from an EOD stationed in Iraq. I guess Verizon Wireless will get a commendation for failing to connect that particular call. Many IEDs are set up similar to this particular image, with a phone call used to trip the bomb. Allied convoys are using cell phone blockers in an attempt to prevent IEDs from being called in.

Iran Building Underground Bunkers For Nuclear Program

Iran is using reinforced materials and tunneling deep underground to store nuclear components - measures meant to make the facility resistant to "bunker busters" and other special weaponry in case of an attack, diplomats said Thursday.

The diplomats spoke as a 35-country meeting of the UN atomic agency ended more than three days of deliberations focusing on Iran and North Korea, another nation of nuclear concern.

An agency review read at the meeting faulted Tehran for starting work on the tunnel at Isfahan without informing the International Atomic Energy Agency beforehand.

The review said Iran, following prodding by the IAEA, has over the past few months provided "preliminary design information" on the tunnel in the central city that is home to the country's uranium enrichment program, and said construction began in September "to increase capacity, safety and security of nuclear material."

The IAEA also said Iran was ignoring calls to scrap plans for a heavy water reactor and continuing construction. Commenting on that Thursday, a diplomat said satellite imagery had revealed that work in the city of Arak had progressed to the point where crews "were pouring the foundations."

Spent fuel from heavy water reactors can yield significant amounts of bomb-grade plutonium.

Asked for details on the tunnel, a diplomat familiar with Iran's dossier said parts of it would run as deep as nearly one kilometer, or about half a mile, below ground and would be constructed of hardened concrete and other special materials meant to withstand severe air attacks.

Still think this is all part of a peaceful nuclear program? If you do, you're deluded. If you don't, there are no easy answers, except to consider strikes against the facilities before they are completed.

Photo of the Day

 


Western Wall, Taken 7/1993. This is a common snapshot taken of the Western Wall. It is taken from a pathway that snakes alongside the Kotel where Jews can pray at the wall. In the distance, you can see a crane on the Temple Mount. At the time I was in Israel, Jordan was engaged in a rehabilitation of the Dome of the Rock, including reguilding the dome with gold leaf.

Eternally Grateful

Peter Malkin, who caught Adolf Eichmann in Argentina died at age 77

Peter Malkin, the Mossad agent who nabbed top Nazi official Adolf Eichmann on a Buenos Aires street in 1960, has died, Israeli media reported yesterday. He died in New York at 77.

The Mossad security agency tracked Eichmann to Argentina, and Malkin stopped him in the street. According to his memoirs, "Eichmann in My Hands," Malkin said to him simply, "Un momentito, señor" (just a moment, sir), before kidnapping him.

Those were the only words Malkin knew in Spanish, according to a Web site of the World Zionist Organization. He grabbed Eichmann's arm and wrestled him to the ground as another agent grabbed his legs, and they stuffed him into a car.

Eichmann was responsible for the death of millions as one of the prime architects of Hitler's Final Solution, which was penned at the Wanasee Conference. His capture was a high point for the Israeli Mossad, which managed to track down this heinous Nazi and brought him to justice years 15 years after the end of World War II.

This should be a reminder to anyone who thinks that the search for Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar or any of the other high profile terrorists has gone on for too long. As the cops on CSI are fond of saying, they never close. These terrorists will be found, just as the Nazis were tracked down years later.

Photo of the Day

 


A sun drenched streetscape in the Old City of Jerusalem. Taken with an idiot-proof camera in July 1993 (well before I became a photo junkie). I had to touch up the contrast a bit, but it gives you some idea of how a late afternoon July sun totally washes over everything.

Reasons and Goals

What is Howard Fineman talking about?

Like backgammon players in a bazaar, Middle East leaders are shuttling pieces around the geopolitical board with cunning dexterity, all in response to Bush’s response to 9/11. Transforming the region wasn’t the stated intent of the American-led invasion of Iraq; it was supposed to be about WMD and Al Qaeda. But it’s difficult to argue that there isn’t a causal connection between the upbeat news and the president’s insistence on what amounted to a military takeover of most of the Arabic-speaking world.

There's quite a few countries (20+) in the Middle East. Which ones has President Bush taken over militarily? Iraq. Any others? Nope. None.

So what is Howard Fineman talking about? The stated intent of the invasion of Iraq was to improve US security. AQ and WMD were just two reasons for it. The Bush Administration put forth a Four Freedoms Speech that set forth the necessity of democracy and freedom as grounds for improving US national security. People who are involved in a consensual government are less likely to breed fanatical terrorists, which thereby reduces the chances of said terrorists striking US interests.

Also, Fineman is having difficulty understanding the difference between reasons and goals. Improved US security was the goal - it was the implicit intent of the US going into Iraq. AQ and WMD were two reasons out of many. One can now add additional reasons to go into Iraq, and even subtract reasons for the invasion, but the intent and goal remained the same - improving US security. The upbeat news out of the region was spawned because of the success of the Iraqi elections and a realization that the other despots in the region were similarly despised by the overwhelming majority. Mubarak sees what is happening and is trying to change things in order to remain in power. Assad is too clumsy to be able to stem the tide of change in Lebanon, and has to worry about his own power base in Syria. Iran remains firmly entrenched, but there are signs that there is dissent growing there as well.

What Became of the CIA

This is a thought provoking piece in the WSJ's Opinion Journal. It looks back on the myopic reining in of the CIA as the potential threats multiplied during the 1990s and how the CIA is populated with people who are less than capable of handling the task of national security.

A worthy read.

Photos From The Cedar Revolution

Hundred Percenter has a collection of photos from the protest marches in Lebanon. It truly is an amazing sight to behold.

Hat Tip: Wizbang!

Can't Change Stripes

It isn't much of a surprise that imprisoned terrorists at a SuperMax facility in Colorado were communicating with terrorists on the outside and never stopped advocating terrorism. These particular terrorists happened to be among those represented by former New York lawyer, Lynne Stewart, who was convicted for violating an agreement with the federal government not to pass conversations to third parties.

So the men were sent to America's most secure federal prisons, eventually ending up at Supermax in Colorado, supposedly unable to do further harm.

Or so we thought. Letters and articles obtained by NBC News show that while behind bars, the 1993 bombers continued their terrorist activities. They wrote letters to other suspected terrorists and brazenly praised Osama bin Laden in Arabic newspapers.

According to confidential Spanish court documents obtained by NBC, at least 14 letters went back and forth between the World Trade Center bombers and a Spanish terror cell.

What is surprising is that the federal government did nothing to stop the communications as soon as they became aware of this. Terrorists will trade tactics, receive encouragement and solicit advice on how to act and behave.

This is a colossal failure on the part of the Justice Department to underestimate the lengths to which these terrorists would go to initiate terrorist attacks around the world and domestically. We have no idea what else was spawned by this group of convicted terrorists, but we must demand that these individuals do not have any contact with the outside world that even hints at the possibility of terrorism.

Photo of the Day

 
This photo was taken July 1993, when I was on a 6-week fellowship in Israel. All my Israel photos were taken with an idiot proof fixed focus camera (hey, I wasn't into photography back then, so not much I could do about that now, except go back and take Mrs. Lawhawk with me and my camera equipment).

Anyhow, this is one of the most common types of photos taken of the Western Wall; taking a group of Orthodox Jews praying at the wall. It is truly a magical and spiritual place to be, and it is quite amazing the kind of passions it can bring out in people, including the most jaded non-religious types.

Iran: You've Been Chided

I'm not quite sure where chiding comes out on the scale of international diplomacy, but the Iranians should know that they're being chided by the IAEA because they are not complying with the IAEA. Iran wants nuclear weapons, and is openly flouting the IAEA wishes, desires, and hopes that Iran will not develop a nuclear program.

For the record, international diplomacy has several levels of warning:

a UN General Assembly resolution;

a UN Conference;

chided;

verbal warning;

strong verbal warning;

strong written warning;

very strongly written warning;

rebuke;

strong rebuke; and

UN Security Council resolution.

In other words, the Iranians know that the IAEA doesn't have the ability to stop their actions so the Iranians continue down the path to obtaining nuclear weapons.

Chiding is about all the IAEA can do.

The IAEA must hope that the Iranians reading the chiding report either die of a thousand papercuts or die from laughter as the Iranians contemplate the IAEA preparing a strongly worded warning in their next round of threats to the Iranians. All the while, the Iranians move closer to their goal.

Real World Effects of Rathergate

Russian leader Vladamir Putin asserted that the US government was behind Rather's demotion at CBS, which belies the fact that it was CBS acting on its own. It is as though Putin was getting intel from sources like Democratic Underground, which peddles such nonsensical ravings as fact.

But when Bush talked about the Kremlin's crackdown on the media and explained that democracies require a free press, the Russian leader gave a rebuttal that left the President nonplussed. If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed. "Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather," says a senior Administration official. "It was like something out of 1984."

The Russians did not let the matter drop. Later, during the leaders' joint press conference, one of the questioners Putin called on asked Bush about the very same firings, a coincidence the White House assumed had been orchestrated. The odd episode reinforced the Administration's view that Putin's impressions of America are often based on urban myths fed to him by ill-informed aides. (At a past summit, according to Administration aides, Putin asked Bush whether it was true that chicken producers split their production into plants that serve the U.S. and lower-quality ones that process substandard chicken for Russia.) U.S. aides say that to help fight against this kind of misinformation, they are struggling to build relationships that go beyond Putin. "We need to go deeper into the well into other levels of government,"

It's incredible the lack of accurate information that a national leader such as Putin has about the world. No wonder he's leading Russia down a dangerous path when dealing with the Iranians. If he can believe that the US is sending sub-level chickens overseas, then he likely believes that the Iranians are indeed using their nuclear program for peaceful purposes.

Photo of the Day

 


This was an interesting photo for a couple of reasons. In the months leading up to this trip in 2003, there was a lot of talk about religion in public places, and whether there was a place for religion in government controlled spaces. Well, what space is more public than the Grand Canyon National Park?

I found this plaque near Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim.

And you know what? The text is completely appropriate for the sheer majesty of the place, the moment, and the grandeur of the vista. I only wish I had come up with the language first.