Patterico's Pontifications

12/31/2006

Year In Review Late This Year

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:39 pm



The Dog Trainer Year in Review post is traditionally published on December 31. Not this year. Things have been too busy.

It’s coming along, though. Expect it in the upcoming week. It should be a good one.

12/30/2006

Saddam’s Last Words: Three Different Versions (Plus Video)

Filed under: Scum,War — Patterico @ 7:05 am



In updates at the end of this post, Hot Air has video of Saddam being prepared for execution. As a bonus, there are three different stories about what Saddam’s last words were. He said “Allahu Akbar,” or something about Palestine being Arab, or a sarcastic “Muqtada.” Take your pick.

It just goes to show: you can’t get a consistent story about anything out of Iraq — even when the event is videotaped.

UPDATE: Xrlq says that this may be a link to a video of the execution. He can’t get it to load, and I can’t see it on a Treo anyway.

UPDATE x2: This is supposedly the embed code. Let me know if it works.

UPDATE x3: I removed the embed code, which was causing at least one commenter’s browser to malfunction. Hot Air has the whole video here, although I can’t view it on a Treo. Sounds like the cameraman was none too steady.

UPDATE x4: Replaced the link to Flopping Aces with a link to Hot Air, whose commentary sheds more light.

UPDATE x5: And from the light it sheds, it sounds like this was badly handled from a P.R. perspective.

Well, from our perspective, that is. From Sadr’s perspective, it sounds like it went great.

And isn’t that all that really matters?

12/29/2006

Saddam Hussein Executed

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:19 pm



It appears to be confirmed. Drudge is reporting that it’s done.

Does this mean that Iraq is fine now, or that we are at some kind of a turning point? Does it mean that Iraq will be different tomorrow in any perceptible way?

Of course not.

But in the grand scheme of things, this is a huge step forward. When the history of the war is written, this will be one of the pages. And this will remain so despite the best attempts to minimize it, by lefties both inside and outside Big Media.

Rot in Hell.

P.S. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the video that Big Media thinks you shouldn’t see.

Saddam May Be Hanged Within Hours

Filed under: Scum,War — Patterico @ 10:47 am



That’s the word from Allah at Hot Air. Look for an announcement later today.

This will be another example of the irrelevance of Big Media, as the networks refuse to air the video that is likely to be made — which will cause millions to flock to their computers to see it.

If I can post it, I will.

12/28/2006

L.A. Times (Almost) Admits Ramadi Airstrike Didn’t Happen

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:53 pm



The L.A. Times has finally reported the military’s denial of an airstrike in Ramadi on November 13 or 14, in this story.

The paper doesn’t exactly admit that no airstrike occurred in central Ramadi on November 13 or 14. But new interviews done by the paper’s mysterious unnamed Ramadi stringer have Iraqis saying they “assumed” that it was an airstrike that caused the deaths:

Several residents said that they saw helicopters and a jet fighter during the confrontations and assumed that some of the explosions were caused by airstrikes. U.S. ground units are often accompanied by air support during military operations.

The editors also appear to be backing off of the article’s original claim of 15 “pulverized” houses:

“Six houses were leveled to the ground and 10 others were damaged to varying degrees,” said Ahmad Hummadi, 50, a laborer. “But all of the houses were abandoned because they were no longer suitable for habitation.”

The editors appear to be demanding immediate answers from the military again:

Marines did not immediately respond to inquiries about the total number of civilian dead . . .

Why would Marines need to “immediately respond” to inquiries in a December 28 update to a November 15 story??

This whole issue came up because the L.A. Times demanded an immediate response to its reports of dozens of people killed by an airstrike — and never reported the eventual response, leaving it to me to report the military denial.

I have my own inquiries in to Lt. Col. Salas, and he needn’t respond “immediately.” I’ll give him whatever time he needs to give me an adequate response.

P.S. I hope to have a more extensive post about this soon. I’ve had information about the airstrike for a week, but haven’t been able to post it due to spotty Internet access and family obligations.

UPDATE: I’m sorry. Posting the information I have been sent and placing it in proper context is just too daunting a task given the limited time I have. I’m still learning information that is critical to understanding the pictures I’ve been sent, and I need to be able to explain it all, rather than simply throw it all out there for speculation. This story has waited long enough, and may have to wait a few more days. It’s more important to get it right than just to get it out there. Hopefully I’ll get more reaction from Lt. Col. Salas in the meantime.

In the meantime it’s sufficient to note that not even the L.A. Times is still claiming that the damage was done by an airstrike — only that residents assumed that it was. (Interesting that all these witnesses are now saying they assumed this. Does that seem credible to you — or does it seem like words were put in their mouths with leading questions?) I think that’s much closer to the actual truth, for reasons that should become more clear when I can finally find time to post the information I have received.

UPDATE x2: I will note this: it’s obvious that the only reason that there was any follow-up with Salas is because I did a post questioning the story. But, as with the story of the four burning mosques, there are plenty of other stories that bloggers haven’t questioned, but that might be flawed. I think we’ll never know the extent of the inaccuracies.

UPDATE x3: The L.A. Times story claimed 15 pulverized homes, not 15-20. It was another story (done by enemy propaganda sources) that claimed 15-20. I corrected the post to change “15-20” to “15.”

Bar Seeks Charges Against Nifong

Filed under: Crime,Current Events,Law,Scum — Patterico @ 5:46 pm



The North Carolina bar is pursuing ethics charges against Nifong.

Good. This will help drive home the point that behavior like his is not the norm for prosecutors.

(Link via David E.)

Gee, What A Surprise…

Filed under: General,Nobel Peace Prize,Scum,Terrorism — Justin Levine @ 12:24 pm



[published by Justin – not Patterico] 

It turns out that the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize murdered a couple of Americans in a terrorist attack.

Not that this news should be a surprise to anybody who is well read on the subject, but it is still astonishing to see primary source documents illustrating the depth of knowledge and cynicism from the U.S. State Department and the international community.

[published by Justin]

Saddam Not to Be Hanged Within a Month?

Filed under: International,Scum,War — Patterico @ 10:50 am



This Hot Air post suggests that Saddam may be hanged within the next three days — or, maybe, not even within the next thirty. There appears to be some confusion regarding the interpretation of the relevant statute. Allah says: “The Iraqi government can’t agree on anything else. Why should they agree on killing Saddam?”

12/27/2006

The Cells Are Dying at an Alarming Rate

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:53 pm



I can feel my brain dying, little by little.

Is it because of my undiagnosed sleep apnea? No . . . I’m sure that’s killing brain cells, but that’s not what I mean.

Is it because of the cheap weeks-old red wine I’ve been drinking at my Mom’s house? If you could taste it, you’d easily guess that stuff is capable of killing all kinds of brain cells . . . but that’s not what I mean either.

No, my brain is dying because we spent the last couple of hours watching TiVoed versions of some game show called “Deal or No Deal.”

This is the most mindless show you have ever seen. The squeezing sensation in your skull is the feeling of your brain atrophying at an alarming rate — like you’re the subject of a documentary on brain disease, filmed using time-lapse cinematography.

And it has Howie Mandel.

Oh, man.

We’re gonna watch a movie now: Thank You for Smoking. Time to get more of that cheap, cheap wine.

Hewitt Interviews Joe Rago — Plus John Kerry Mockery! (UPDATE: Spurious Mockery, As It Happens)

Filed under: Blogging Matters,Morons — Patterico @ 9:44 am



The interview with blog-hater Rago is here.

Two things jumped out at me: 1) he thinks that there was something original about his anti-blog piece (which was in fact the biggest collection of recycled complaints about blogs I’ve seen yet); and 2) he didn’t vote in the Bush-Gore election in 2000 . . . because he wasn’t 18 yet.

P.S. As part of the conservative blogosphere’s mission to pursue second-order distractions from the events in Iraq by posting irrelevant mockery of John Kerry, I direct your attention to this photo of Lonely John in Iraq. (H/t Malkin.)

kerry-alone.jpg

UPDATE: Kerry was deliberately lonely, it now turns out. The implication that he was avoided by the troops in the photo was not true.

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