Crossed SWORDS – Robot Soldiers in Iraq

Back in 2005, the BBC ran this piece about Robot Soldiers being deployed in Iraq.Foster-Miller, the firm which developed these machines, has received a ton of new orders lately. The cash pile is growing with every Iraqi corpse. War is a beautiful thing. Foster-Miller is the Baby Bear. QinetiQ is the Papa Bear.

background on the Papa Bear firm: QinetiQ Roots. They have 5,000 engineers and a Board of Directors with guess who – George Tenet!!! You think all of those Brits on the Board are conflicted about killing Iraqis as a prelude to killing Iranians and restoring the former BP – the former British Petroleum – the former Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to its former station as arbiter of all that is green, gold and black in the desert? Not a chance. Thank god for subsidiaries.

the Baby Bear firm:

“Foster-Miller, Inc., is a technology and product development company with an international reputation for delivering and supporting innovative products and systems that perform under the most demanding conditions. Our TALON robots and LAST Armor are both used worldwide to better protect our armed forces. Principally located in suburban Boston, MA, on Rte. 95, “America’s Technology Highway” we also have offices in Washington, DC and Albany, NY. Our firm was founded in 1956 by three graduates of MIT who believed there was a need for a company that could solve clients’ difficult technical problems through first-class analysis and design.We are certified to Aerospace Quality Management Standard AS9100 and have SW-CMM Level 3 software certification from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Our staff includes 300 engineers, scientists and support personnel with backgrounds in a cross section of technical disciplines and professional services. We structure our projects using multi-disciplinary teams of the in-house experts best able to solve the problem at hand. Our staff produces creative and practical solutions to real-world problems, always working in concert with the client. We are best known for taking our innovations from concept through production and field support.”

the shooter:

the head of the hired guns:

Sir John Chisholm Chairman
Sir John became the Chairman of QinetiQ in 2005, after transforming the company in his time as its Chief Executive. He is widely credited with turning the organisation from a collection of research laboratories into a successful commercial business which floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 2006. A Cambridge graduate, Sir John’s career took flight when he formed CAP Scientific Ltd, which grew rapidly to become a core part of the CAP Group plc. He is the immediate past president of the IET and holds a number of Fellowships, including the Royal Academy of Engineering, and became Chairman of the Medical Research Council in October 2006. He was knighted in 1999.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq. Eighteen of the 1m-high robots, equipped with cameras and operated by remote control, are going to Iraq this spring, the Associated Press reports. The machine is based on a robot already used by the military to disable bombs. Unlike its human counterparts, the armed robot does not require food, clothing, training, motivation or a pension. When not needed in war, it can be mothballed in a warehouse. According to Bob Quinn, a manager with Foster-Miller, the US-based company which worked with the military to develop the robot, the only difference for a soldier is that “his weapon is not at his shoulder, it’s up to half a mile away”. The robot fighter has been named Swords, after the acronym for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems.

And then there’s George Tenet, making that smooth transition from public to private sector:

“George Tenet was sworn in as the 18th director of Central Intelligence in July 1997, and under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush led efforts to rebuild and modernise the CIA’s capacity to acquire, analyse and disseminate critical intelligence information. Prior to this appointment he held the positions of CIA deputy director and acting director.

Other senior posts held during Tenet’s distinguished career in US federal government include staff director of the Senate Committee on Intelligence and membership of the National Security Council. He is currently a professor at Washington’s Georgetown University, a board director of Guidance Software Inc and L-1 Identity Solutions and sits on the advisory board of The Analysis Corporation.

Tenet was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honour, in December 2004. He has received numerous foreign decorations, being the first American to receive the Egyptian Order of Merit (First Class) and the first non-Canadian to be awarded the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Gold Medal.”

Cutting to the Chase 101

From the movie Tombstone (1993):

Doc Holliday: And you must be Ringo. Look, darling, Johnny Ringo. The deadliest pistoleer since Wild Bill, they say. What do you think, darling? Should I hate him?
Kate: You don’t even know him.
Doc Holliday: Yes, but there’s just something about him. Something around the eyes, I don’t know, reminds me of… me. No. I’m sure of it, I hate him.

Koreans Get Eviction Notice

Taliban tells South Korea, “Get the fuck out. And stay out!!” Korea says, “Okay, okay, don’t push. We’re leaving.” Boy, that missionary work sure is peligroso.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_South_Korean_hostage_crisis_in_Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) – Nineteen newly-freed South Korean hostages flew
out of the Afghan capital on Friday after a six-week kidnap drama
following a deal with Taliban insurgents critics fear could spur more
abductions.

The South Korean Christian volunteers, part of a group of 23
missionaries kidnapped in southeast Afghanistan in mid-July, left Kabul
on a chartered United Nations plane bound for Dubai en route to Seoul,
a Korean embassy official said.

and this interesting tidbit:

“Foreign media was barred from talking to the hostages in line with South Korean government policy”

and this (Hit the Bricks, Buddy….tell you’re story walkin’!!):
“The Taliban agreed to release the remaining hostages after Seoul agreed
to pull all its nationals out of the central Asian country.”

and it seems that not everyone has lost their minds – contrast this assessment of what will ensue in Korea with how this will be portrayed in most MSM outlets:

“The freed hostages are expected to face a cool reception at home.

Some South Koreans say the group are partly to blame after they
ignored their government’s own advice not to travel to areas where the
Taliban are active.”

 

And, here they come…

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A Little R & R in Texas

A nice story in the SFGate about Aaron Ross and Olympian Sanya Richards.

clipped from sfgate.com Aaron Ross, New York Giants rookie cornerback, once blazed the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds. During training camp, he spends two practices a day speeding around the field, stride-for-stride with NFL wide receivers.Ross can’t beat his girlfriend in a race. Nor can he endure one of her workouts. Ross, the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2007, dates Sanya Richards, an Olympics-bound runner who holds the American record in the 400 meters. Ross and Richards have not raced. Ross said he probably can edge his girlfriend in a short race but added, “Anything more than 100 meters, she can have.” Asked if she thinks Ross is scared to race her, Richards laughed and said, “I think so.”They met at the University of Texas almost four years ago. Their starting line was the cafeteria. Richards spotted Ross walking through the door and asked a friend, “Who is that boy?” She acted fast, true to form, and called him over to say hello.

 

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AFRICA

Olympus photo essay with a purpose. One day, one hundred photographers.

“The main objective of this years project is the increasing of awareness of the crisis situation on the African continent with more than 25 million HIV positive males and females, including children, and currently increasing at a rate of 2 people infected every minute. Lee holds the post of chairman of the “Day in the Life of Africa AIDS Education Fund” and all profits from sales of the photo book are being used in the African AIDS Education Program Fund.”

clipped from www.olympus-global.com

The Value of Michelle Obama

The HNIC has it right. In an insightful, clear and compelling post, the HNIC shows who is in charge. Regardless of the outcome of the election, Michelle Obama may well be worth her weight in gold. Maureen Dowd tries to cross the real Continental Divide and sees the bottom of the abyss.

 

Do You Need a Hot Stove To Learn?

I am coming around to the opinion that there are three types of people in the world:

Sages

Fools

and Everyone else.

Most times I am like everyone else, but there are times when I am a sage and times when I am a fool. There is nothing like being a fool to make you wonder what you’ve been doing with your life. I believe a fool is someone who does not learn from their OWN experiences. Now, I believe there are far too many fools out there. A fool can make the same mistake over and over again and over again. A fool needs a hot stove to learn, but seems to not benefit from the hot stove. After awhile, the fool ceases to lift his or her hand after placing it on the stove. The snap reaction of pulling away is gone. All that remains are burn scars and dazed looks. I’m guessing about 15-20% of the population fit this bill. Conversely, the number could be half that size – but fools seem to get around an awful lot.

Thankfully, I don’t live with that group. I just visit the neighborhood every once in awhile.

Sages learn from the experience of others. If you tell a sage not to touch a hot stove, they not only do not touch the stove, they understand that to do so would be harmful to them. The sage has no desire to touch the stove – not even for an instant. The fool wants to touch the hot stove. The fool wants to see how long they can keep their hands on the stove before it is too hot to touch. The sage does not merely take your word for it – they internalize what you’ve said and actually get it. Sages can usually be told something once. Sages rarely find themselves in circumstances which require a great deal of explanation, clarification, justification or elucidation. I’m guessing that less than 10% of the population fits this bill.

Everyone else learns through their own mistakes. Sometimes, this mechanism for learning is highly inefficient, sometimes it is indispensable. Certainly we all need to learn the art of making love – but the best way is not through our own experiences. That would be like reinventing the wheel. It makes little sense to ignore the wisdom of the ancients here. There are some things, though, that each person and each generation must learn for themselves.

With the twins on the case, I’d like to find that balance between allowing them to be fools, encouraging their inner sage, and ensuring that they learn from their own experiences. Just a little balance for those four little feet.

“It was a big family. We were sixteen…”

 …now, we are two.”

- A survivor of the genocide in Rwanda speaking to Canadian General Romeo Dallaire in the documentary Shake Hands with the Devil.  There is a bit of hyperbole to the piece, a little too heavy on the Great White Hope angle, but he was there.  And that says it all – especially since the United States and everyone’s favorite liberal looked the other way.

“Why ‘never again’ is not enough”

Bystanders to Genocide

Iran, Japan and Your Depreciating Dollar

The story that CNN, WaPo, the New York Times are others WILL NOT report is that the nation of Iran has more than one strategy to forestall the spread of the US currency empire. The Iranians have established agreements with Chinese and Japanese firms to sell oil in non-dollar denominated currencies like the euro and the yen.Americans too seldom ask why the dollar continually loses value – and how is it that this depreciation is such good news on Wall Street and such bad news on Main Street.

The United States is willing to go to war over the “right” to enforce transactions in dollars. Saddam Hussein was proof of that. He was not removed from power and killed because he was a dictator or because he invaded Kuwait or because he used American chemical weapons or Iraqi derivatives of those American chemical weapons. He was not removed from power and killed because he was rude to Donald Rumsfeld during “Rummies” last visit to Baghdad. Mr. Hussein is pushing up daisies because he posed a direct economic challenge to currency hegemony of the US. In many circles, this is not news – but in the MSM, this is akin to the “discovery of a UFO.”

American media conglomerates have ignored this compelling aspect of the US-Iraq occupation for several reasons. It is precisely this formulation of the problem which clarifies what many consider a confusing relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia. It is precisely the question of currency hegemony (and oil, as a factor or subset) which defines the US’ economic relationships with China and Japan.

And it is precisely this question, not Israel, which is at the center of the inevitable RECONFLICT in Iran. This will not be the first time the US and Western powers have allied to attack and seize resources in Iran. In fact, these attacks will not cease until a permanent solution has been achieved.

What is the price of a gallon of gasoline? It’s nothing compared to the price of a monopoly on the currency of oil purchases. It’s nothing compared to the price of taxes paid by nation states forced to hold large quantities of a depreciating currency?

clipped from worldnetdaily.com Iran has intensified pressure on the falling U.S. dollar by demanding that Japan begin paying for Iranian oil in yen, instead of dollars. Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, the head of the National Iranian Oil Company, or NIOC, has confirmed the company has asked Japan to open letters of credit in yen in preparation for NOIC issuing oil invoices in Japanese currency. In April, WND reported Iran successfully pressured China to begin paying for Iranian oil in euros, not dollars. To date, Iran has not followed up on the announcement that Iran would create an Iranian oil bourse to quote oil in euros, instead of dollars.

Shake Up in Japan

The political and financial leadership of Japan are changing. This appears little more than reshuffling the same band of thieves (suicide watch continues). It is not insignificant that the Attorney General and the Finance Minister in two or the world’s great powers are leaving office at the same time.

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe replaced his finance minister and gave the No. 2 post in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to ally Taro Aso to rebuild a party routed in Upper House elections last month. Abe today reshuffled his Cabinet and top party positions to win back public trust after three ministers resigned and another committed suicide over money scandals and inappropriate remarks. Abe’s approval ratings fell to as low as 22 percent after the government said it mismanaged 50 million pension records, possibly resulting in millions of dollars in unpaid benefits. He appointed Fukushiro Nukaga to replace Finance Minister Koji Omi. Nobutaka Machimura, 62, becomes foreign minister, replacing Aso, who takes over as the LDP’s secretary general. Nukaga, 63, resigned from two previous government posts over allegations of bribery. He made no admittance of wrongdoing at the time and sent a letter of apology