Paul E. Ester's Flogger

A Moroccan publication accused the government Monday of providing unusual assistance to U.S. troops fighting in Iraq by offering them 2,000 monkeys trained in detonating land mines. … Rest of Article

Richard Perle, a senior Pentagon official during President Ronald ReaganÕs administration, today quit as chairman of the Defence Policy Board that is a key advisory arm for Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
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This dusty, impoverished corner of Jordan is making the country’s authorities nervous. For one thing, there is the protest against the war in Iraq that the people of Maan plan to hold today Ð a protest they call the “march of the coffins”.

Then there is the military base at Jafr, 50 miles away in the desert, where locals say they have seen hundreds of US soldiers arrive in the last few months, plus trucks carrying tanks and armoured vehicles.

It encapsulates Jordan’s dilemma Ð how to juggle the pressure from its ally, the United States, to help with the war in Iraq, with the fury of a population that is opposed to it. … Rest of Article

9-11 Commission Funding Woes Questions arise concerning the administration’s funding of the congressional investigation into the September 11th attacks Ê

Some nice shots of SF finest guarding critical SF landmarks including the Gap, Anthropologie, Abercrombie & Fitch and Old Navy. The world could be coming to an end but the chess players on Market Street would not notice.

The top National Security Council official in the war on terror resigned this week for what a NSC spokesman said were personal reasons, but intelligence sources say the move reflects concern that the looming war with Iraq is hurting the fight against terrorism.

Rand Beers would not comment for this article, but he and several sources close to him are emphatic that the resignation was not a protest against an invasion of Iraq. But the same sources, and other current and former intelligence officials, described a broad consensus in the anti-terrorism and intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq would divert critical resources from the war on terror. … Rest of Article

BOGOTç, Colombia Ñ Two Americans helped direct a bombing attack that killed 18 civilians, including seven children, in a small Colombian village, according to court records and a recently discovered videotape that reveals for the first time the depth of U.S. involvement in the incident.

The two men, identified in court records as Joe Orta and Charles Denny, were flying in a surveillance plane owned by AirScan Inc., of Florida, with a third crewman, Maj. CŽsar G—mez, a Colombian air force officer. The men were helping direct an attack against leftist guerrillas fighting the Colombian army near the village of Santo Domingo on Dec. 13, 1998.

The three men, who were videotaping the operation from the sky, can be heard discussing guerrillas’ positions, directing air traffic and choosing the best place for a Huey helicopter to drop a U.S.-made cluster bomb to provide air support to troops on the ground. The videotape, which recently surfaced in a court proceeding, provides the fullest picture yet of the Americans’ participation in the operation. … Rest of Article

According to Weed, he was issued the rugged Panasonic Toughbook , but it didn’t work fast enough. Weed declined to specify what he does exactly, but said he works with giant satellite and reconnaissance images, presumably for battlefield planning. When he opened these giant image files on the Toughbook, it would slow to an excruciating crawl, he said.

“Frankly, lives are in the balance here, so the quicker I can get stuff done accurately, the better,” Weed said. “The Mac makes this work simple, quick and efficient. The other laptops either can’t open the files or lock up halfway through, losing whatever I was working on at the time, and then (I have) to restart the computer and start over.”

Weed’s PowerBook has a 1-GHz chip and runs Mac OS X. He had to write a special requisition order to get it, he said. … Rest of Article

In an extraordinary departure from the public unity that has characterized White House relations with congressional Republicans, House Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) wrote to urge White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. to “be responsible” and “move on from this pointless and harmful debate” over legislation passed last month that included money for “first responders” involved in homeland security.

A copy of the letter, dated March 6, was provided to The Washington Post.

Though lawmakers, even those in Bush’s party, often chafe at the administration’s hard-nosed tactics, the letter underscored the unusually raw feelings that have developed among House Republicans since Bush began blaming them for inadequate homeland security funds. Democrats have long criticized Bush for inaccurate statements on spending and other matters, but this is the most prominent case of a Republican accusing Bush of falsehoods. … Rest of Article

GEORGE Bush pulled out of a speech to the European Parliament when MEPs wouldn’t guarantee a standing ovation.

Senior White House officials said the President would only go to Strasbourg to talk about Iraq if he had a stage-managed welcome.

A source close to negotiations said last night: “President Bush agreed to a speech but insisted he get a standing ovation like at the State of the Union address.

“His people also insisted there were no protests, or heckling.

“I believe it would be a crucial speech for Mr Bush to make in light of the opposition here to war. But unless he only gets adulation and praise, then it will never happen.” … Rest of Article