Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Finally

NYT: June 21, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — The new American commander in Afghanistan said he would sharply restrict the use of airstrikes here, in an effort to reduce the civilian deaths that he said were undermining the American-led mission.

The Truth of the Situation, Part II

LESSON: ALWAYS LISTEN TO RADICAL DOUBT

Fascinating and instructive:

It has now emerged that Mr Kurras, the former West Berlin police officer who shot the young student protester Benno Ohnesorg in 1967, was actually a spy working for East Germany's secret police, the Stasi.

For years, Mr Kurras deceived his colleagues in the West Berlin police service and the German public.

The death of Ohnesorg on 2 June 1967 during a demonstration against a visit by the Shah of Iran sparked the student protest movement in West Germany and the turmoil of 1968.

...

"The Stasi merely described the shooting as an 'unlucky accident' in the file and they broke off contact with Kurras after the shooting," he adds.

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Truth of the Situation

...is beyond our eyes.

But, in one version of it, a guy who was tortured by al-qa'ida - tortured - was held at Gitmo for ... wait for it ... being an al-qa'ida sympathizer / operative.

Of course, releasing someone in such circumstances quickly and unharmed would be more "proof" he was a spy, enough to keep him 'off the battlefield' or 'out of the hands of the enemy', so there would be little reason, absent other evidence, to detain them indefinitely ... unless you didn't know anything, in which case detention would be dicey anyway.

What a mess.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The living for the dead?

So far, this (U.S. frees suspect) doesn't look like it is working so well (two bodies named) ...