April 2003 – Richard Bennett

Pure Myth

The Chronicle: 5/2/2003: The Neoconservative-Conspiracy Theory: Pure Myth is a good summary of one of the most pervasive recent conspiracy theories: The ruins of Saddam Hussein’s shattered tyranny may provide additional evidence of chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, but one poisonous by-product has already begun to seep from under the rubble. It … Continue reading “Pure Myth”

The Chronicle: 5/2/2003: The Neoconservative-Conspiracy Theory: Pure Myth is a good summary of one of the most pervasive recent conspiracy theories:

The ruins of Saddam Hussein’s shattered tyranny may provide additional evidence of chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, but one poisonous by-product has already begun to seep from under the rubble. It is a conspiracy theory purporting to explain how the foreign policy of the world’s greatest power, the United States, has been captured by a sinister and hitherto little-known cabal.

It has lots of good “I told you so” material.

Puppies and kittens

This blog is too mean. Please enjoy this inspiring pitcher of the way things can be if we all visualize Whirled Peas:

Wireless switch standards war

It’s already received wisdom that the right way to build an enterprise WiFi network is with a small number of smart switches and a large number of dumb (and cheap) access points that do little more than act as remote radios for the switch. Symbol pioneered the concept, and now everybody else (especially switch and … Continue reading “Wireless switch standards war”

It’s already received wisdom that the right way to build an enterprise WiFi network is with a small number of smart switches and a large number of dumb (and cheap) access points that do little more than act as remote radios for the switch. Symbol pioneered the concept, and now everybody else (especially switch and router companies like Cisco, Extreme, and Juniper,) has climbed on board. Is the industry ready to standardize a management protocol for dumb access points? These folks say yes:

Engineers from Airespace, Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO – message board), and NTT DoCoMo Inc. (NYSE: DCM – message board) have presented the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) with a memo proposing a standard protocol for controlling 802.11 “lightweight” or “thin” access points via a wireless LAN switch.

Following the trend towards wireless LAN switching that is happening in the industry, the authors are proposing a “standardized, interoperable” lightweight access point protocol (LWAPP) that can “radically simplify the deployment and management of wireless networks.”

But others, like Trapeze, the Extreme spin-off in Pleasanton funded by kiss-of-death VC Accel Partners, think not:

Like most draft standards, this one already has its critics. Trapeze Networks Inc., for example, questions the need to develop a lightweight protocol at all. “If you architect your system correctly? then why do you need it?” asks George Prodan, senior VP of worldwide marketing at Trapeze.

Prediction (worth what you paid for it): Cisco, Airespace, and NTT will win, Trapeze and Accel will lose, and this isn’t the end of wireless engineering, by a long shot. Airespace’s Systems Enginnering director, Bob O’Hara, has been a long-time leader in the 802.11 standards process, from the early days when Greg Ennis and Phil Belanger presented the DFWMAC amalgam of wireless protocols (including my Plink II) to the committee for approval, so this would be slam-dunk in that arena. He doesn’t have that kind of weight in the highly-political IETF, but Cisco does, and the idea has the added benefit of actually making sense, which still counts for something these days.

Blogging the blogs

UPDATED 2008: This is a silly post, isn’t it? InfoWorld reports that Google is already using Blogger internally: Craig Silverstein, Google’s director of technology, told an audience here at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference that the company has started using Pyra’sblog tool for internal communications and product development. Good for them, blog tools make for … Continue reading “Blogging the blogs”

UPDATED 2008: This is a silly post, isn’t it?

InfoWorld reports that Google is already using Blogger internally:

Craig Silverstein, Google’s director of technology, told an audience here at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference that the company has started using Pyra’sblog tool for internal communications and product development.

Good for them, blog tools make for good intra-company communication for a lot of reasons.

At the other end of the Blog Toolosphere, Six Apart’s (Movable Type’s) announcements this week were one step forward and two backwards: giving Anil Dash a job in Business Development was a good move, because he’s got all the qualifications to do well in that kind of job: lots of connections, understands the technology, and people like him. Taking on the idiotic Joi Ito as an investor will damage them much more than Anil can help them, however, because he’s the kind of guy who will end up trying to run the company, and he’s not nearly smart enough to do it well. He’ll bowl Ben and Mena over, and it’ll be up to Anil to face him down. Soap opera in the making.

Shiites cooperating

ABC News reports that Shiite Muslims in Iraq are beginning to cooperate with Garner in the run-up to Monday’s conference: Monday’s conference, second in a series likely to extend well into May, was expected to attract 300 to 400 delegates from political organizations that had opposed Saddam Hussein and from other Iraqi interest groups, said … Continue reading “Shiites cooperating”

ABC News reports that Shiite Muslims in Iraq are beginning to cooperate with Garner in the run-up to Monday’s conference:

Monday’s conference, second in a series likely to extend well into May, was expected to attract 300 to 400 delegates from political organizations that had opposed Saddam Hussein and from other Iraqi interest groups, said a Garner deputy, Barbara Bodine.

The first meeting was held April 15 in Ur, in southern Iraq, just a week after U.S. troops took control of the Iraqi capital and ousted the Saddam government. Fewer than 100 Iraqis participated, many of them exiles, as some Shiites and others stayed away in protest of potential U.S. influence over selection of a new Iraqi president.

Bodine told reporters that, on Monday, “I think we are going to see more of an indigenous representation, simply because we’ve had more time to organize.”

It’s common sense, isn’t it?

The Al Qaeda connection

London’s Daily Telegraph has turned up another interesting memo: Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden’s al-Qa’eda terrorist network and Saddam Hussein’s regime. Papers found yesterday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq’s intelligence service, reveal that an al-Qa’eda … Continue reading “The Al Qaeda connection”

London’s Daily Telegraph has turned up another interesting memo:

Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden’s al-Qa’eda terrorist network and Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Papers found yesterday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq’s intelligence service, reveal that an al-Qa’eda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in March 1998.

The documents show that the purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship between Baghdad and al-Qa’eda based on their mutual hatred of America and Saudi Arabia. The meeting apparently went so well that it was extended by a week and ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad.

In the life of a nation, there are thousands of interactions with other nations and organizations every month. It’s unlikely to the extreme that Saddam’s government, in all its years, never had anything at all to do with Al Qaeda, so those who insist that the two never had anything to do with each other are bound to be proved wrong. Adding to this, Chalabi has told Fox News that Saddam had advance knowledge of 9/11. Why wouldn’t he?

The memo

Lest we forget, Jay Garner’s office asked CENTCOM to guard that museum in Baghdad: KUWAIT CITY — In a memo sent two weeks before the fall of Baghdad, the Pentagon office charged with rebuilding Iraq urged top commanders of U.S. ground forces to protect the Iraqi National Museum and other cultural sites from looters. “Coalition … Continue reading “The memo”

Lest we forget, Jay Garner’s office asked CENTCOM to guard that museum in Baghdad:

KUWAIT CITY — In a memo sent two weeks before the fall of Baghdad, the Pentagon office charged with rebuilding Iraq urged top commanders of U.S. ground forces to protect the Iraqi National Museum and other cultural sites from looters.

“Coalition forces must secure these facilities in order to prevent looting and the resulting irreparable loss of cultural treasures,” says the March 26 memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

The Pentagon’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), led by retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, sent the five-page memo to senior commanders at the Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC).

Two weeks later, American forces pulled down the giant statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad to cheering crowds, and in the days that followed, looters pillaged Baghdad.

The museum was No. 2 on a list of 16 sites that ORHA deemed crucial to protect. Financial institutions topped the list, including the Iraqi Central Bank, which is now a burned-out shell filled with twisted metal beams from the collapse of the roof and all nine floors under it.

“We asked for just a few soldiers at each building, or if they feared snipers, then just one or two tanks,” said an angry ORHA official, one of several who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity.

So the question is why CENTCOM didn’t cooperate with ORHA, not why America doesn’t love clay pots, because we clearly do. I don’t expect this memo is going to quiet any of the critics of the Administration, but their official spokesman is off on an anti-Chalabi tirade now and can’t be bothered with any of this factual stuff.

America the Liberator

This post of Brink Lindsey’s is so good it bears repeating: America the Liberator A year and a half ago, monsters murdered 3,000 Americans. America’s response, thus far: to liberate 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq from two of the most hideous tyrannies on earth. Instead of revenge, beneficence. What a truly wonderful country … Continue reading “America the Liberator”

This post of Brink Lindsey’s is so good it bears repeating:

America the Liberator

A year and a half ago, monsters murdered 3,000 Americans. America’s response, thus far: to liberate 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq from two of the most hideous tyrannies on earth.

Instead of revenge, beneficence. What a truly wonderful country we live in.

Amen.

Playing God

Speaking of people who like to play God, Tim O’Reilly’s bizarre ETech conference is drawing heat from diverse corners of the Blogosphere. As I pointed out, the Warblogging panel excluded actual warbloggers, an observation that’s also been made by Jason Kottke, Glenn Reynolds, and Bill Quick. Brian Carnell takes it step further and notes in … Continue reading “Playing God”

The Warblogging panel isn’t the only place where we see O’Reilly’s bias and desire to manipulate reality on display. Andrew Orlowsky rips O’Reilly and minion Clay Shirky a new one over the exclusion of incorrect thought from the Social Software track, as does blogging legend Dave Winer. O’Reilly’s response to all of this? He’s ordered Orlowsky to call him up for a chewing-out.

Now why is it that the “new technology” conferences, especially those with hefty price-tags like Etech and Supernova, promote a thinly-disguised political agenda, and exclude genuine technology innovators who aren’t on the Cluetrain? One theory: once you’ve amassed a huge fortune, like O’Reilly has, your priorities shift and you want to be King of the World, rewarding flunkies, punishing dissidents, and measuring your wealth by the power you have over others.

So where to go if you’re just interested in the tech and don’t care for the side order of left-wing politics? Hmmm….more on this later.

UPDATE: Dan says Stuart Hughes joined the Warblogging panel by phone from London. Hughes is a BBC producer, reliably left-wing, and an amputee since he lost a leg to a landmine in Northern Iraq. So not only did he add another leftist perspective, he’s a “horrors of war” story, and the most authentic of the warbloggers. But this isn’t really what “warblogging” means, is it? The point about warblogging is that it’s the breakthrough phenomenon that made blogs interesting to people who don’t make their living working with computers, and you don’t have a get a left-media amputee to prove that simple point. I made this observation many months ago on O’Reilly’s web site as a comment to Meg Hourihan’s inane “What we’re doing when we blog” article, but it’s lost on the O’Reilly cult.

I give up.

Mr. Sterling central

An off-hand post on the demise of the idiotic Mr. Sterling show continues to generate heat from Sterling’s disappointed minions (45 messages so far), many of whom think I have to power to dictate NBC’s programming schedule. If I did, I’d cancel The West Wing and replace it with an hour-long version of South Park.

An off-hand post on the demise of the idiotic Mr. Sterling show continues to generate heat from Sterling’s disappointed minions (45 messages so far), many of whom think I have to power to dictate NBC’s programming schedule. If I did, I’d cancel The West Wing and replace it with an hour-long version of South Park.