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I've written before about the problems with Brinkley's research, but this takes the cake! Brinkley published an article in American History that was posted on the web today. The title of the article is John Kerry's Final Mission in Vietnam. It deals with the much discussed "No Man Left Behind" incident of March 13, 1969. If you think Jim Rassmann has his facts confused, read this narrative: Almost casually, the Swifts formed up and headed out from the village. The five boats had gone about half a mile when the blast came. Right where they had been hit on an...

I have been a Navy intelligence specialist for 20 years and have extensive background in analysis and archival investigations. One of my most enjoyable tours was with the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office from 1994 to 1998. Senator John Kerry was the Vietnam War Working Group Co-Chairman for the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on POW/MIAs of which I was an integral member. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I "served" with Senator Kerry as I "served" with Senator Smith (NH), Congressman Peterson (FL), and Congressman Johnson (TX), who were also Co-Chairmen of the Commission. Why I can't say I served...

A few days ago while having lunch at a bar/grill, several TVs were tuned into CNN or one of the cable news channels. A democratic pundit was asked the question: "What would John Kerry have done differently than President Bush in Iraq?" The pundit responded the exact same way I have seen Kerry himself respond 100% of the time he is asked this question. "I would have gotten a much broader multilateral coalition....blah...blah...blah." I piped up rather rudely and loudly as asked the TV.... "Then why didn't he? We are at war and even the President would welcome help." Everyone...

Chrissy no shows Hardball tonight

New video apparently released showing parts coming off shuttle during launch. Nothing further...video was inconclusive due to MSNBC screwup.

Please forgive the length of this post, but the topic of forced evacuations of persons of Japanese heritage from exclusion areas during WWII is one subject to much distortion and fantasy. In order to make an honest appraisal of the events one must open their mind to the historical record, not a version sanitized for other causes. Please, do us both a favor and read the whole post before you comment. Also, to all you PM's out there, don't try and ascribe thoughts and motivations that do not exist in my text. If you do, you will most likely find...

[...] 59. Iraq has also admitted the development of prototypes of binary sarin- filled artillery shells, 122 mm rockets and aerial bombs. However, the new documentation shows production in quantities well beyond prototype levels. Iraq has also admitted three flight tests of long-range missiles with chemical warheads, including one, in April 1990, with sarin.

[...] At around 0115z on 4 March 2002, I was told that a military member was on the ground in a hostile area in Afghanistan after falling out of a helicopter. My team was told that another team was attempting to go in and get him, but if they were not successful, my team would go in. We were waiting to find out if we would go in to try to get to our lost military member. My team was in a helicopter in route and our estimated time of arrival was 0150z. My team consisted of ten people plus...

By a Concerned Officer I am writing to DefenseWatch because the U.S. Marines serving in Djibouti need help. Here's the situation: I am currently serving with the Combined Joint Task Force/Horn of Africa. The majority of the task force is currently embarked on the command ship USS Mount Whitney but the rest of us are based at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, located on the Horn of Africa at the southern end of the Red Sea. Camp Lemonier is horribly defended. The front gate has nothing higher than a 5.56mm covering it, and is only yards away from the base operations center....

HMM. SPEAKING OF CBS, this AP story says that three people protested outside an NRA rally in Tucson featuring Charlton Heston. But the version on the CBS website, which is otherwise the same, raises that number to "a few dozen." Wonder what accounts for the difference?

Out of respect for Lileks' rights to the material, please just shift-click on the link above.

The 'engineer' An engineer of the fiercest battle waged by the Palestinians during the invasion of the West Bank spoke to Jonathan Cook about the days of defiance in Jenin Omar sits restlessly on his chair in the safe-house. He is an "engineer" from Jenin refugee camp: one of the revered bomb-makers from the City of the Bombers. To the Israelis he is the most lethal, and wanted, of terrorists. The poison from the Cobra's head. We meet late last Thursday, hours after he escaped from the camp as Israeli soldiers took control of the area. We are still close...

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, embarks on a series of crucial meetings on Friday to end Middle East violence that could lead to the dispatch of a small US force to monitor a ceasefire, diplomats said on Thursday. As the Israeli army pursued its two-week-old offensive with incursions into two more towns and a refugee camp near Nablus, Mr Powell again warned that the offensive would not end the conflict. Israeli officials said more than 4,000 people had been detained in the offensive. Relief agencies said several thousand had been left homeless around the Jenin refugee camp, scene...

Does anyone know if CNN and Christiane Amanpour have turned over the materials related to nuclear materials production that they found in that house in Kabul? Are you with me on this? That would be very valuable intelligence information, and I can see these media-types trying to keep the information from U.S. intelligence. If they are withholding it, CNN should be run out of this country.

Find the airport nearest you: http://www.landings.com/_landings/pages/search/ap-info.html

If you had it all over again would you change your vote in 2000 election?

FAIRFAX, Va. — John Thoburn owns a golf-range business in suburban Washington, but he now spends his days and nights in jail among thieves and hardened criminals. The Fairfax County, Va., zoning board claims Thoburn planted some trees improperly on his golf range, a charge he denies. Thoburn refused to comply when the board ordered him to move some of the trees in question, so it ordered him to shut down his range. Thoburn refused, so last month a Fairfax County judge threw him in jail on contempt-of-court charges. Nicknamed "Shrub" by his fellow inmates, he has been locked up ...

Boortz is comparing audio clips of part of Bush's speech as delivered and as reported by WSB-TV news in Atlanta. In the part that goes something like: Some think the tax cut is too big (Dem hoots) Others think it's too small (Rep cheers) I respectfully disagree; this plan is just right The WSB reporter cut out 5 seconds of applause in the Republican response. Not often you find such blatant, quantitative examples of media bias.

There's a knockoff of the popular AmIHotorNot web site based on the presidential election. Gore is currently winning! What can be done about that? Go here and check it out.