Blog of the day

Transterrestrial Musings is the blog of the day.

As we roll along, I reflect that it's already been a long war for those of us in action, a harsh life, deprived of many of the most ordinary comforts. For many, it's been at least three hours since the last taste of biscotti and cappuccino macchiato. There is little to protect us from the brutal weather or road conditions, except a well-sealed vehicle with a soft suspension and air conditioning. We have scant access to information about anything outside of our immediate area, other than twenty-four hour cable news, a satellite dish, cell phones, and the internet.

Saddam replacement - Two.

Meet Sharif Ali bin Hussein.

This is the leader of the Constitutional Monarchy Movement. Based in London (what is it about London they like so much?) they want a return of a monarchy. It has loose ties with the INC and is very unlikely to get anywhere. The USA would not look kindly to establishing a replacement for the Caliph, no matter how Western. A pity really. A monarch would have the advantage of holding some power strings and keeping them away from future Saddam's.
They have their own website.
He is cousin of the late King Faisal II, his father is Sharif AlHussein bin Ali (whose father was Emir of Mecca until 1908 and uncle of King Faisal I), and his mother is Princess Badia, daughter of King Ali bin Hussein I and aunt of the late King Faisal II.

No room here

The recession bites ever harder these days and workplace is closing down. It's dust off the CV and job hunting for me. I couldn't think of a worse time right now. Two large Israeli potential customers have frozen all projects including ours with IBM. No, I'm not going to blame the war.

Weapons Inspectors

Have you noticed anything fishy about the inspection
teams who have arrived in Iraq?



They're all men! How in the name of the United Nations does
anyone expect men to find Saddam's stash? We all know that
men have a blind spot when it comes to finding things.



For crying' out loud! Men can't find the dirty clothes hamper.
Men can't find the jar of honey until it falls out of the cupboard
and splatters on the floor. Men can't find the butter in the
fridge in the front row - if it's on the wrong shelf!



And these are the people we have sent into Iraq to search for
hidden weapons of mass destruction?



I keep wondering why groups of mothers weren't sent in.



Mothers can sniff out secrets quicker than a drug dog can find
a gram of dope.



Mothers can find gin bottles that dads have stashed in the attic
beneath the rafters.



They can sniff out a diary two rooms and one floor away.



They can tell when the lid of a cookie jar has been disturbed and
notice when a quarter inch slice has been shaved off a chocolate cake.



A mother can smell alcohol on your breath before you get your key
in the front door and can smell cigarette smoke from a block away.



By examining laundry, a mother knows more about their kids than
Sherlock Holmes.



And if a mother wants an answer to a question, she can read an
offender's eyes quicker than a homicide detective.



So, considering the value a mother could bring to an inspection team,
why are we sending a bunch of old men who will rely on
electronic equipment to scout out hidden threats?



If you sent my mother, she would walk in with a wooden soup spoon
in one hand, grab Saddam by the ear, give it a good twist,
glare at him and ask, 'Young man, do you have any weapons of mass
destruction?'



And God help him if he tried to lie to her! She'd march him down
the street to some secret bunker and shove his nose into a nuclear
bomb and say, 'Uh, huh! And what do you call this, mister?'



Whap! Thump! Whap! Whap! Whap! Then she'd lay some stripes across
his bare bottom with that soup spoon, and march him home in front
of the whole of Baghdad. He'd not only come clean and apologize for
lying about it, he'd cut every lawn in Baghdad for free for the whole summer.



Inspectors my ass... You want the job done? Send my mother!


The author is unknown.

Sad Room

Air Marshal Brian Burridge is not happy. He's the number one Brit guy in the Gulf at the moment. You can find out why here but pro war supporters may prefer to keep their beliefs intact by going somewhere else. There's also a 'we told you so' bit about Richard Perle, a.k.a 'The Prince of Darkness'. Rather overdone I thought. Peter Mandelson earned that title. Who is this upstart Perle to take it away from him?

Pièce avec une attitude

Blog of the day is Pave France. It's not that I agree with the sentiment, it's just funny. It might be nice for the UK to have all that space as a car park though.

Room for more inside.

US plans to add 100,000 more troops over the next month.

Oh, dear. At lunch yesterday , a IDF Intelligence officer I know gave his opinion that US troops will still be there in 2007. I raised him one year to 2008 which is the Presidental election year.

Collateral Damage

I see from the Grauniad that Richard Perle, Chairman of the Defence Policy Board and advisor to Donald Rumsfeld , has resigned over a conflict of interest issue. That was an unpaid post. He'll be back.


Another victim seems to be BBC World. My cable provider, Tevel, has announced on screen that they will stop broadcasting BBC World 1/4/2003. I thought it was CNN they didn't like. So, it's byebye Tevel from me and hello --- well I'm not sure to be honest.

Saddam replacement - One.

Ahmed Chalabi in the Jerusalem Post today.

Chalabi praised the allied advance, but said that "the coalition has not been able to win the confidence of the Iraqi people, who feel completely disempowered.

I have a feeling that when the first phase of this war is finally over Ahmed Chalabi will be there , somewhere in Baghdad, manouvering for power. The slight problem of a 22 year jail sentence in Jordan for bank fraud is easily overcome with a Royal Pardon. He can then get down to the job of ripping off Iraqi oil wealth in a serious fashion.


There are four options:

Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Douglas Feith dump him for someone a bit more acceptable to the Arab opinion and who is a local rather than a London based Armani suit type.

He gets assasinated by Sunni militants.

He gets assasinated by Shia militants.

The INC(Iraqi National Accord) get him jail time in Jordan.

My bet is on number one and he spends a comfortable exile in London spending the loot from the Petra Bank heist.
So who else could there be?

First of a number of posts on future Iraqi leaders (a.ka sock puppets).

Blog of the Day

Saddam has his own blog right here.. Thanks to Daghtator blog who got it from Site Essential.

President Bush has announced that his war will cost at least $75 Billion. WOW!!!! I am quite flattered that he is spending all that money on me.
I hope he's not going to expect anything in return. I mean, yeah, sure, I can be a flirt at times, but that's just talk. I'm really not THAT kind of despot.

News Flash

News just in


Units of the British 16th Air Assault brigade were finally relieved today by a heavily armed convoy of US logistic troops. Sergeant Fred Atkins of the Parachute Regiment said "They only just got here in time. The lads were down to their last tea bag."


Lorry after lorry pulled in the the perimeter bearing crates of PG Tips finest teas bags and Digestive biscuits. Rumours filled the air that supplies of green mushy peas were also on board together with deep fried Mars Bars.


RSM Jack Jones from Brigade HQ said "The Royal Welsh Fusiliers didn't mind the endless desolate wastes, the lack of beer, and no woman as most of Wales is like that anyway. Also, the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry didn't mind drinking camel urine as they've been based down South in the UK for a while so it tastes just like the beer there. But when the tea ran out, well, things got very sticky."


Cheering squadies applauded as the last of the lorries rolled past the happy soldiers.

Past Rooms

Back in September 1940, Britain was militarily weak, our defeated army was rebuilding and the RAF was fighting a losing battle against the Luftwaffe. An invasion fleet was gathering on the French coast and plans were being made in Berlin for the forcible deportation of all males in the UK between the ages of 16 and 45 to the continent as slave labour.


So it was an obvious time for a small committee to gather in Whitehall, with tin hats and gas masks to discuss the outlines of a plan for the type of nation Britain should be after the war.


So when someone says, as I heard on the radio this morning, that normal life cannot go on because of the war, smile and gently remind them that this is the best time to carry on with life as normal. To abandon planning for the future because people are dying in a war is to betray them.


For further reading I recommend P. Addison. The Road to 1945 . Alas , out of print it seems.

Computer Room

Paul Boutin, a technology writer, does a geek job on the question Is the Baghdad Blogger for real?. He concludes he is.

Roomy

It's after midnight here, in the beautiful North of Israel and it's still raining. Today, we are promised more rain, thunderstorms, hail and strong winds.Wonderful. I feel just like I'm in England

Various personages have been hammering home the message that we need to carry the masks at all times and the danger isn't over yet. Rebellious teenager promises to take his mask tomorrow. Hooray.


A Nathan Guttman in Ha'Aretz seems to think that the USA could do something to make Israel acceptable to Iraqis after the war. Dream on.


Aluf Benn , also in Ha'Aretz mentions the the CIA will be responsible for implementing the road map. No thank you very much.


Various people are making much of the chemical plant near Najah. That's the one that got bombed back in 1996. I heard on Sky News one reporter say 'It may be suspicious. It has a fire engine parked outside.'. Ho, ho.


The IDF has dismantled a settlement in the West Bank. With a bull dozer no less. Well done. Not that Hamas will care one jot. I know who my enemies are.


US aid to Israel continues to be in ping pong mode. Hmmm. Shades of Shamir and Bush again I think. What did Bush promise Blair at the Azores?


Finally , for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of Private Eye I bring you the story of the man who is suing Mr Ridge and the Department of Homeland Security. He listened to the advice, brought a shed load of duct tape and plastic, taped up his house and then for good measure, taped up his private parts. The problems started when he removed the tape some days later.

Small Room

In spite of the plethora of war news, I shall refrain for saying anything until things become clearer. Interestingly I'm now getting more hits from France than the UK or Israel. I wonder why that is. It's still raining and them up North are staying nice and quiet for now.

Masks and Rooms

It's wet here again. Very wet. This is good for two reasons. The first is that Israel needs the water. Secondly, rain is a good first line of defence against gas attack. It's hard to get a good aerosol going during rain. Rain also decomposes VS gas for example. However, those that know are concerned with the public's apathy to instructions. A good case in point is the youngest teenager in the house. "Why should I be the only kid in school to carry a gas mask?". Well - indeed so. Threats by the teachers to send the kids home turned out to be a bluff. Most of them come on a special bus. Threats to get the parents to bring the mask in also haven't worked.


Mine is still in the car. It's a cool dry place as it says on the box.

New Flash

News just in



Texas has launched a surprise pre-emptive attack on the United States of America, claiming that it was acting in 'self defence' to prevent a takeover by 'liberal, pinko, communists faggots of the UN' a spokesman claimed this afternoon.

A heavily armed convoy of pickup trucks laden with hunting rifles and six packs of Shiner Bock beer crossed into
Louisiana at around 3 p.m. Eastern time.


"First I'm going to learn to spell Massachusetts ,' said R.T 'Bubba' Alan of Calhoun County. 'Then I'm gonna shoot it'.

"UN out of the USA and Texas out of the USA," said one unidentified Texan carefully carving a juicy steak from a
passing Democrat. 'Don't suppose you know where Al Gore lives , do you?"


Reports are coming in of another convoy travelling up to California via New Mexico and Arizona. A passing TV crew was
forced to spend several hours chewing tobacco before being released said Sheriff John Stone of the Highway patrol. The reporter and camerawoman are being treated for shock and dental staining.


A press release from a previously unknown group calling itself 'Red Neck Bastards Against the World' stated that March
23rd was open season for hunting San Francisco anti war demonstrators, gays, Democrats and anyone who eats quiche. It promised to abide by hunting quota limits (if any) and to preserve a viable breeding stock for next year.

End Room

A UK plane may have been shot down by a Patriot it says here. I hope they managed to bang out and that people don't make too much of it. Fraticide happens in war as my Father told me once. He depth charged a British submarine once.

Room for blogs

I've just noticed that Ha'Aretz has mentioned blogs for what I believe is the first time. Cunningly there were no links. I wonder if the seed I planted with the HaAretz journalist is starting to grow.

Roomless

I note that Clare Short, the UK development minister hasn't got anywhere with getting the UN to join in with reconstruction in Iraq. Between a threatened French veto and USA do-it-ourself , the UN won't be there. Will she resign now or later? I suspect that Tony Blair won't get anywhere with the Road Map either. After Likud have rewritten it, the PA will reject it out of hand and it will join the long, long list of failed 'plans'.

The comments are back after their weekend break and I can't get Raed's blog again.

Wet Room

I'm still carrying my mask around but it's been banished to the car boot. I see that enetation have lost my comments again. Please Sir; could I have them back?

A fine wet soggy day up here in the North with a cloudy day to come and getting warmer. I've had a surfeit of TV pundits for now. As this war seems to be likely to drag on for some days yet, normal service will resume, or what passes for normal here in Israel.


Yesterday, spent the day with some old friends looking at properties in a Moshav. I'm struck by the divergence of viewpoints between husband and wife. He's old Labour, comes from a Yechi family and is left, left wing. She comes from the Betar tradition and is an enthusiastic Likudnik.


As they have four fine kids, I suppose they must have worked it out between them.

Messy Room

More dead Royal Marines in a helicopter crash. My template is back thank goodness. Time to take the dog for a walk and switch off from the news..

Salle a manger

President Chirac has done it again. Now he's threatening to veto any UN vote on letting the USA/UK to administer Iraq. That makes the job of the humanitarian agencies that much harder of course.

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not against him because of his opposition to war. I hate the bastard because he's an opportunist , money grabbing power tripper. The only thing that keeps him out from jail was being able to beat Le Pen in an election that should have been a slam dunk.


I only use nasty words in this post because it's a crime to insult the President of France. See here for details. My brother-in-law was done for that over a book he wrote. Calling President Juan Antonio Samaranch of the IOC a nasty little fascist is perfectly true, but against the law in Switzerland.

No room left

Ha'Aretz is reporting that Turkish troops have entered Northern Iraq. This link has more details.

The news was met with astonishment from concerned Western diplomats, who not only questioned Ankara's legal right to cross the border but openly doubted Turkey's motives.

One Turkish source talks about 'The region should not be a nest of terrorists.
He wasn't taking about Bin Laden.
Best of luck in getting them out. Somebody is going to need it.

Back Room

According to this Gallup Poll, 79% of Left Pondians would consider the war to be a success if it removed Saddam from power.


Wrong. The world will judge this to be a success only if:

Functional WMDs are found and shown to the press.

A working democracy is established.

Iraq stays intact.

If fact, I will eat this rather attractive Aussie style hat that hangs by the front door if that all pans out. With Piccalilli if that's all right with you. Apologies if the comments are slow. I see enetation are upgrading to a new set of servers. The template has been chewed again as well. Alisa, how did I fix this last time?

No room here

I got this from Ruminate this, a piece by Richard Perle in the Grauniad.[1]

As we sift the debris, it will be important to preserve, the better to understand, the intellectual wreckage of the liberal conceit of safety through international law administered by international institutions.

So, no treaties, no UN, no NATO, no SEATO. All fatally flawed. The world is getting ever more dangerous and the USA is bent on making it worse, not better.


[1] No , I didn't spell it wrong.

Quiet Room

Shabbat is here at last and with the dark, all my fears seem to come back from their daytime hideyhole.

We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

Don't raise the Stars and Bars there please. It doesn't belong to you.


Correction:

I got that wrong. The Stars and Bars refers to the ex Confederate flag, not the current flag of the United States of America. In passing I deplore the action of the Canadian hockey fans who booed the national anthem. That is never justified.

Room for a talk

If you want to read a rather moving address by a UK Battalion commander then this is where.

"If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.

"The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please."

Room for Israelis

I should have been demonstrating this morning at Haifa court. This is to stop the municipality demolishing a very old Arab house in Haifa to make room for a road. The house is question was built at the end of the last century and is one of several fine pieces of architecture. The link by the way made me want to cry for this country. Illegal settlements in the West Bank get IDF guards. Israeli Bedouins get crop sprayers with herbicides.

Eu Room

The Register a.k.a Vulture Central points out that EURid has won the contract to administer the new eu tld. Before you all rush out to drop the ip range into your deny tables, we will be having one of those here at work so don't. Also, we still have high hopes for some R&D money from the EU. See, it's not all bad.

Room block

Tal G has a piece on the IDF censor warning Israeli BBS sites not to publish classified information about the war. Perhaps they haven't heard of blogs yet. The only newspaper journalist I know hadn't heard of them. Weather Reports are continuing as normal. I remember some talk about stopping those during a war.

Back Room

Raed is back. Don't know why his blog was down. Just heard about the helicopter crash which is bad news. The smake over Kuwait city looks very bad. At least there won't be oil dumped into the Arabian/Persian Gulf this time.


It's still raining here up North and on the traffic was very light on the way to work.

TTFN.

Room with a drip

The rain we've had here in Israel has done wonders for the Kinneret. It's risen 3.31 metres this winter. More details here but the decimal point editor was out to lunch. I'm waiting for the right moment to go skiiing and boost Israel's GDP a bit. Sleep time now.

Room needs sweeping

I wondered what happened to Shmuely Boteach, who made such a name for himself in the UK.

So when they hear that a genocidal murderer named Saddam Hussein has slaughtered more than a million of his own people, they do not immediately spring into action.

Yes I did and so did thousands of others. I seem to remember that it was the USA and the UK who said 'tut, tut' and privately smiled. He's the one who wrote Kosher Adultery. A good book.

Empty Rooms

Ha'Aretz reports that Eilat hostelers are disappointed that Israelis are staying at home.

The roads are even emptier than on Saturday morning," said Chief Superintendent Yitzhak Ayash, head of Eilat's traffic police.

Briefing Room

Teenager Number 2 has returned reporting all quiet. He also mentioned another child rushed to hospital after injecting himself with those atropine tubes that come with the gas masks. If I had young children, those would come out.

Blog of the day

Why Your wife won't have Sex With You. Not for the faint hearted. Viewer discretion advised. Not for children. Probably not for most husbands either.


Makes a nice change from the continuos stream of babble from the TV. I can't leave it alone. Also, Rebellious Teenager Number 2 has gone walkabout without his phone. Damn.

Not a Scud

I note that a number of bloggers mentioned that Scuds have landed in Kuwait. As I thought, they've been found to be Frogs (Free Rocket Over Ground).

Pedants may take comfort that those would have been 'Laith' improved Frogs. Extreme pedants point out that Iraq didn't have Scuds but 'al-Hussein' missiles based on a North Korean variant of the original Scud design , which was in turn, a lineal descendant of the German V2.


Iraq has always enjoyed playing around with rockets. I was impressed when they successfully fired a 3-stage Tamouz 1 "space-launch vehicle," which was used to launch an object into space in 1989.

Dear Raed

The blog from Iraq, Dear Raed has a DNS error and is not available. Is it just here I wonder?
I also note that my more recent posts aren't showing up either but I suspect a difference in cache refresh at the two ISP's I use, one work, one home.

Seen on CNN

There are reports on Iraqi pilots being forced to fly 'suicide missions'. Given the total air supremacy enjoyed by the allies, I would have thought that any Iraqi who got in a cockpit would be automatically on a suicide mission.

Bent tape

Brian has an excellent post on the perils of sealed rooms.

But who’s going to pay for the marriage counseling afterward?

We've run out of tape here.

Room and board

I see the Ravening Hordes of Midanite have found the stash of biscuits set aside for emergencies. And the crisps, soft drinks and chocolate. There will be words.


Otherwise traffic has reduced to less than Shabbat levels again and my distant neighbour is doing something that requires an angle grinder and welding torch. I suspect a home built anti missile system.


'She who must be Adored' spooked the whole household when she thought she heard a siren. T'was only Sky TV live from Baghdad. If you Goggle for Baghdad you get '1,010,000' hits. London beats Paris though.


Yes, you're right, I'm bored.

Sale now on

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Room at the top

Bigwig has a great roundup of the news. Here, around half the people are carrying gas masks. Some have just shrugged and carried on. Mine is by my desk. A very strange feeling in the air. No other news worth mentioning except Mount Hermon is closed to skiers again due to excessive snow. You can check the snowcam here.


Yet another one of my old projects still carrying on. RAF Tornadoes still carry the Sky Shadow ECM pod which I worked on as an electronics Engineer back in the 1980's.

Room for rent

I spent this evening doing various maintenance work on the PC including cleaning the ratware that seems to have crept back.Ad Aware is best for this.. Went to get some cigarettes and for the first time in my life, the main road near where we live had no cars on it. Now that is unusual. Even on Shabbat, there are some cars. The large well known restaurant on the main road has no customers at all. The Staff were all sitting at a table doing not very much.


As the war doesn't seem to be starting today, I shall go to sleep.

Room with a view

So we've been told 'to open the box' and check the masks. Mrs ExpatEgghead's was fun. It didn't quite match up with the instructions but we got there in the end.


It's strangely quiet outside, very little traffic. More the weather than anything else I suspect. It's poured down with rain.


Rebellious Teenager No 2 has no school tomorrow. They've decided to close.


Sleep well all. Bets of luck to the troops and lets hope this one is over quickly.

Blog of the day

Tom Watson the Member of the UK Parliament for West Bromwich East. There should be more like him. Does any member of the Knesset have their own Web site?

More Room at work

As my office is also the shelter room, spent this morning making room for everyone and arrangements for pulling cables when we need to. As Microsoft has announced the normal crop of security updates and patches, went around the servers with $EverSoFragrantBossette getting them up to date.


Now we just wait. Interesting debate in the Commons. I can't for the life of me remember a similar occasion.

Room for improvment

The room is done. Probably won't be worth much. Masks ready and plenty of water, and the 'grab and run' bags are packed.

So, we went out to celebrate a birthday with friends and had a hilarious time. Rebellious teenager number 2 is so calm. Number 1 who is abroad is almost hysterical with worry.

As for me, I have 12 bottles of 650 ml Macabbe beer to hand. That's much more comfort than the mask.

Sealed rooms

Yesterday , we were told to get the stuff ready for a sealed room. Just now, I heard that we have to prepare one. I busy reading the excellent booklet prepared by Home Command. One set of family friends we know, haven't even renewed their gas masks. Oh well. I was a boy scout after all.


Death and injury still continues. A soldier has been killed in the West Bank and another wounded. There was a traffic accident at the junction close to us early this morning. Two dead and the traffic lights demolished. Yesterday ,more rockets were fired from Gaza.

Other blogs

Some other bloggers talk about the news.



Citizens not Spectators on media war opponents.

You know, I always say that if you want a war, then the case for war has been made. If you don't want a war, it hasn't been made. It's very, very hard to convince hawks
otherwise, and it's very, very hard to convince doves otherwise. So I sort of resent personally, as a citizen, being manipulated when the hawks in the administration
continually claim that Saddam is the biggest threat we face in the world today, and Saddam threatens the overwhelming military might of America.

The Talking dog is not happy.