De Doc’s Institute for Memetic Engineering And Polymaths’ Pursuits

It isn’t, really.

Just as it isn’t really a holiday, either.

I’m not trying to be contrary, here. See… I survived my service.

Today is for my shipmates, my friends, my brothers and sisters at arms… who didn’t.

Eric saved me the trouble of having to do the research. Here’s a citation from the original document, which first called for this commemoration:

HEADQUARTERS
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

General Orders No.11,
WASHINGTON, D.C.,
May 5, 1868

i. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

…

ii. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

If you can’t go to a Veterans’ Cemetary, at least do what Kate suggested.. and take some time, today. Stop and reflect, at 3 pm, your time. Stop, and remember our fallen, who died that we might live in liberty.

Remember them…

Remember.

... quoth De Doc @ 11:45 am

I have been remiss in updating my colophon, and now’s as good a time as any to give due credit.

The CSS style for version 3.x of De Doc’s Doings is based on “metaldreams”, designed by AKA for the WordPress CSS Style Competition hosted recently by Alex King. The original brushed silver was altered to a Titanium-jewel-alloy look with some help from my friend and unindicted co-conspirator Roger Siggs. (Roger, when you read this, drop me a URL for your current website, neh?)

If you’ve recently changed to WordPress, I strongly recommend looking at the Style Competition for your blog. There are styles for nearly every esthetic; and if you just can’t make up your mind, Alex has thoughtfully provided a CSS Style Switcher hack which will allow you to offer multiple skins. (The hack is available for WP 1.2, 1.02, 0.72, and earlier builds.)

De Doc says: Check it out.

... quoth De Doc @ 9:13 am

Overwrought, adj. :

Velociman nails it cold:

… Gore did not used to be like this. He was a sane, sober, well-bought politician. Now he is a spittle-flecked lunatic, a raving psychotic, who 3.5 years ago was 600-odd votes away from the nukular football.

Good God Almighty.

AMEN.

... quoth De Doc @ 11:28 am

For today’s koan, let me cite Darth Misha, who notes an interesting story…

Newly uncovered files examined by U.S. military investigators in Baghdad show what is being described as “a direct link” between Saddam Hussein’s elite Fedayeen military unit and the terrorist attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001.

Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, who attended a January 2000 al-Qaida summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the 9/11 attacks were planned, is listed among the officers on three Fedayeen rosters reviewed by U.S. probers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

I note in passing that the actual WSJ article is in their “subscribers only” section, but other news sources are now taking the story off the WSJ wire.

I was minded to call this story “developing”, or “breaking”, but those terms misstate the case. Shakir’s name has surfaced before… in earlier press revelations which link Hussein to Al-Qaeda. Consider this article by Williscroft:

… A recent story in The Weekly Standard (Nov. 24, 2003), has given administration opponents serious cause for reflection. Standard reporter Stephen Hayes wrote under the title, “Case Closed,” about a secret memo prepared for Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. In response to questions put to him in October by Senate Intelligence Panel members Sen. Pat Roberts, R-KS, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, Feith forwarded them the memo. From there it found its way into Hayes’s hands.

Spinsanity.org attempted to downplay the significance of this memo, raising questions about Shakir’s actual role:

…The memo also details the actions of Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, an Iraqi living in Malaysia. Yet the only documented contact between Shakir and the Iraqi government is Shakir’s own claim that he obtained a job at an airport “through an Iraqi embassy employee.” …

That may have been disingenious. From the Standard article:

… 24. According to sensitive reporting, a Malaysia-based Iraqi national (Shakir) facilitated the arrival of one of the Sept 11 hijackers for an operational meeting in Kuala Lumpur (Jan 2000). Sensitive reporting indicates Shakir’s travel and contacts link him to a worldwide network of terrorists, including al Qaeda. Shakir worked at the Kuala Lumpur airport–a job he claimed to have obtained through an Iraqi embassy employee.

Or, if you like, Shakir was placed in a position to subvert airport security, customs, and immigration, by the actions of an Iraqi embassy “employee”… and did so.

If there was no “link” between Hussein’s regime and international terrorist groups, why did the Iraqi intelligence service go to such efforts?

Oh, by the way, let’s look at who was at the meeting in question … that meeting which Iraqi intelligence helped bring off:

… Among the al-Qaida operatives in attendance were the two who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon – Khalid al Midhar and Nawaz al Hamzi – and Ramzi bin al Shibh, the operational planner of the 9-11 attacks.

Also in attendance was Tawfiz al Atash, a high-ranking Osama bin Laden lieutenant and mastermind of the USS Cole bombing.

Shakir wasted no time being elsewhere:

sia four days after the summit finished, Jan. 13, 2000, then turned up in Qatar, where he was arrested Sept. 17, 2001, four days after the attacks.

A search uncovered phone numbers of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers’ safe houses and contacts and information related to a 1995 al-Qaida plot to blow up a dozen commercial airliners over the Pacific.

But Shakir, inexplicably, was released after a brief detention and flew to Amman, Jordan, where he was arrested again. The Jordanians released him, however, with the OK of the CIA, after pressure from the Iraqis and Amensty International.

He was last seen returning to Baghdad.

That certainly bespeaks a certain failure of intelligence… on Amnesty international’s part, as well as George Tenet’s CIA. But it hardly casts doubts on Shakir’s role as a operative for Iraqi intelligence, whose mission in Malaysia was in direct support of Al Qaeda operations.

Operations which led to the attack of September the 11th.

And now we have further verification of Shakir’s standing in the Baathist regime.

And that soft, slapping sound, in various college classrooms, newsrooms, salons, across our country?

That would be people proceeding to wilfully ignore the mounting evidence that Iraqi intelligence was an active assistant in the attacks of 9/11… evidence which would render moot all further discussion of why Hussein’s regime was a legitimate target for US military action *as a response to an act of war*.

Can’t have that, of course. It might interfere with the anti-US intifadeh here at home.

... quoth De Doc @ 10:41 am

To Sharpie, my spice.

Even if it’s a bit delayed… which it is, because we were celebrating it at Disney World.

But we’re back, and none the worse for wear. So let me stop coasting and see what’s going on in the world.

... quoth De Doc @ 8:36 am

Major Terror Attack Possible This Summer

(CNN) – Several U.S. officials said Tuesday that intelligence indicates there is increasing concern about the possibility of a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil, perhaps as early as this summer.

Such an attack might take place before the November presidential election in an attempt to affect the outcome, the officials said.

Not like it hasn’t happened before, right?

... quoth De Doc @ 2:11 am

Tests Confirm Sarin Gas in Baghdad Bomb.

WASHINGTON - Comprehensive testing has confirmed the presence of the chemical weapon sarin in the remains of a roadside bomb discovered this month in Baghdad, a defense official said Tuesday.

The determination, made by a laboratory in the United States that the official would not identify, verifies what earlier, less-thorough field tests had found: the bomb was made from an artillery shell designed to disperse the deadly nerve agent on the battlefield.

Note to the “Bush Lied” crowd: You can apologize now…

(deafening silence)

Please note that this sarin came from an artillery shell… and you don’t hand build them.

Hussein’s regime had obviously gone to the trouble to build or buy a job lot of these weapons. They’re designed to carry binary-storage nerve gas, not explosives. The conclusion should be obvious to anyone but a petulant jury at Cannes: there was plenty of sarin to load in those shells.

And they were easy enough to find that the current bandit gangs in Iraq could locate one.

Someone lied, and people died… but it sure wasn’t Bush.

... quoth De Doc @ 2:03 am

I’ve been remiss in updating my bloglinks after the move. It’s HIGH time I tackle that… so I am “hand coding for your protection”, as Nathan is fond of saying.

If you thought you fell off because I delinked you, please be assured it was sloth, and not malice.

So, back to the salt WP mines!

... quoth De Doc @ 2:15 am

The fat laddie sang.

... quoth De Doc @ 8:17 am

Our House.

Go read both essays. All of them. I cannot isolate a single “money quote” in either. Read them both, every single word.

OUR House.

... quoth De Doc @ 4:56 pm

“I believe that Western civilization, after some disgusting glitches, has become almost civilized.

I believe it is our first duty to protect that civilization.

I believe it is our second duty to improve it.

I believe it is our third duty to extend it if we can.”

- P. J. O’Rourke

... quoth De Doc @ 11:17 pm

By way of Collin Levey of the Seattle Times:

It hadn’t been but a few hours since the news broke when former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix grabbed a microphone somewhere to huff that the discovery meant nothing. …

… But even forgetting the potency of one drop of liquid sarin, when did the prospect of the accidental use of loose WMDs become reassuring?

Let’s look at this for a moment.

Some pundits have already apparently dismissed the sarin artillery round as a lucky find. Is anyone else concerned that the Islamicists in Iraq had no difficulty finding one?

Given the relentless yammering from the 9/11 commission of late, isn’t it the height of irresponsibility to treat this as anything less than a sentinel event?

How many bodies need to be stacked like cordwood, awating decontamination, before people stop chanting political slogans and look at the facts?

Ask the Kurds if Hussein had sarin. Then think about the implications of the insurgents “just getting lucky”…

... quoth De Doc @ 10:48 pm

…has caught up with us here at the Institute;

the one about living in “interesting times”, that is.

I’ll be back later tomorrow, I think; right now I need to check on the recuperatees. Everyone’s going to be fine, but we’ve been beset by Real Life ™ the last 36 hrs.

... quoth De Doc @ 1:36 pm

not normally.

Every once in a while, though, I am minded to make an exception.

Wish I could drop in… but since I can’t, I’ll have some mojitos in honor of the occasion.

Happy Birthday, Kate; and may many happier ones follow!

... quoth De Doc @ 9:30 am

..to get bitten, that is:

Welcome to the new home of dedoc.net.

I’ve made the move to Venom Pages, and WordPress, and I feel *grand*.

Now, for a little tidying, and importing diverse and sundry images which go with my old posts, imported from MT… and we’re off!

... quoth De Doc @ 12:29 am

To quote Senator Lieberman again:

… those responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, never apologized. Those who have killed hundreds of Americans in uniform in Iraq, working to liberate Iraq and protect our security, have never apologized. And those who murdered and burned and humiliated four Americans in Fallujah a while ago never (apologized)….

Michelle neatly sums up everything I feel about the latest Islamicist snuff-film:

I am pissed at the soldiers who committed abuses because we don’t do that. At least, we aren’t supposed to. …

But this. This is different. This is in-your-face terrorism. And you can bet your ass we won’t get an apology for it.

No bet there, sorry.

... quoth De Doc @ 1:26 pm

The honorable gentleman from Connecticut deserves the appelation:

“The behavior by Americans at the prison in Iraq is, as we all acknowledge, immoral, intolerable and un-American … I cannot help but say, however, that those responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, never apologized. Those who have killed hundreds of Americans in uniform in Iraq, working to liberate Iraq and protect our security, have never apologized. And those who murdered and burned and humiliated four Americans in Fallujah a while ago never (apologized)….

There is a refreshing moral clarity demonstrated in that statement. It is NOT a cynical use of the tu quoque “defense”, because Lieberman isn’t interesting in defending such contemptible behavior. It is, simply, telling truth to infamy.

... quoth De Doc @ 4:27 am

so strap in and hold on – as I start learning WordPress and shift my flag!

Hopefully, it won’t take too long to get moved in… but if Real Life ™ intervenes, the process might slow down a bit. If that happens, I beg your indulgence.

And now, into the lab…

... quoth De Doc @ 8:35 pm

But how are people supposed to welcome you back, Rachel, without E-mail?

On the other hand, I suspect your in-box would break faster than Micah’s credibility with all the “Welcome Back!” notes… so I’ll just say it here.

Welcome back!

And thanks unto Bill, and The Emperor, from whom I had the good news.

... quoth De Doc @ 9:45 am

I want you to enjoy some snarkiness.

... quoth De Doc @ 7:32 am

Rumsfeld may be wondering just that:

… Bush said he retained confidence in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, but White House aides said the president let the secretary know he was not satisfied with the way he was informed about the unfolding controversy. In particular, Bush was unhappy he was not told about incriminating pictures before they were shown on television or about a 2-month-old Pentagon report before it turned up in the news. (emphasis added)

Some years ago, I was assigned to an admiral’s staff as the group medical officer. One of the first things my chief of staff told me was “a good staff officer NEVER lets The Old Man get surprised. NEVER. You may make him happy. You may make him upset. But NEVER let him be surprised by things he should have known, but didn’t.”

I would not be surprised to see Rumsfeld go. This goes past disagreements on the mix of forces used in Iraq, the timing of their deployments, and the like.

My friend Barbara hit the nail dead on: This is no way to run a liberation.

... quoth De Doc @ 8:00 am

As the revelations about Abu Ghraib continue, and the military justice system works it’s way through the cases at hand, and more sunlight is let in,

can more be done to make it clear that We Do Not Do These Things?

Tacitus offers some interesting suggestions, which I think well worth the reading.

(Hat tip to .)

as Venomous Kate snarks away to a 70’s beat…

and try to answer the burning question: Captain? Teneille?

... quoth De Doc @ 5:32 pm

… and I am betting that Sir Benjamin Kingsley was a big childhood fan too.

This summer, Thunderbirds ARE Go!

... quoth De Doc @ 11:40 am

To: Al Franken
From: De Doc

Subj: Liars

Al: I know you’re busy, what with suing radio stations who can’t understand why they should give you airtime for free. But when have a moment, just thought you might be interested in a FINE example of political lies:

Or perhaps… not.

... quoth De Doc @ 10:26 am

There’s a lot of discussion about what to do in Fallujah of late. Michelle is not the only one to weigh in with a call for a more aggressive strategy, though she’s certainly one of the most restrained. Her calls to act with “more force” are focused on our reluctance to bomb mosques which are being used to stockpile arms. Other critics of the current stance have been substantially less restrained… as in “raze the city to the ground”.

I think that the Marine theatre commander might have a better answer, though… one more in keeping with our goals for Iraq. Wretchard agrees, and makes the case with such clarity that I can scarcely add more to his tactical analysis.

As we help the peoples of Iraq in the fractious business of forging a new civil order, we cannot succumb to the temptation to fall back on “tried and true” answers to partisan warfare. “Kill them all, let God sort them” was a miserable answer even in the days of the Albigensian Crusade. We can do better.

We ARE better.

If the Abu Ghraib debacle was shameful – and it was, make no mistake – what would be said of us if we slaughtered innocent women and children, wholesale?

“I can’t describe what I felt when I saw those scenes; they revolted me and proved the barbarity of the occupation forces,” said Mohammad Salman, a traffic policeman, Reuters reported. “What’s the difference between them and Saddam? They are finishing what he started,” he said.

Salman is mistaken… but he’s mistaken in his facts, not in the morals he appeals to.

“Finishing what (Saddam) started” would in fact entail beating the prisoners of Abu Ghraib to death, electrocuting them, putting them in shredders. It would entail making large sections of Fallujah and Najaf into graveyards.

We are engaged, even as I write, in prosecuting the worthless scum who soiled the honor or American arms in Abu Ghraib. Why in G_D’s name should we then turn around and do the same thing on the grand strategic scale?

We are better than that.

... quoth De Doc @ 10:06 am