"With only two days remaining in September, U.S. forces are on pace for the lowest number of monthly fatalities in more than a year."
Good news, especially considering the pols and the MSM have made American casualties the primary metric of judging military campaigns. But check back in late Oct-Nov to see if this really is a trend.
Comments Off on Something to crow about
Speaking of weather forecasting, In From The Cold has a well-researched post on the global warming to-do sparked by the Weather Channel’s Heidi Cullen. I won’t call her Dr. Cullen, because she’s not a physician, and my journalism training makes me balk at giving apparent physician status to a doctorate in anything else. As for the issue at hand–Cullen’s endorsement of global warming as human-made and her cheeky call for meteorologists who don’t get in line with her to be decertified by the American Meteorological Society–I have yet to meet a broadcast, or for that matter National Weather Service, meteorologist who believes global warming is a human product. That’s not to say that it isn’t, although there’re good arguments that it isn’t. Just that I–and apparently most of them– think the jury is still out. As Alan Sullivan, the Seablogger, has said: the founder of the Weather Channel, John Coleman, must be spinning in his grave.
UPDATE Well, Coleman might be spinning in his grave, if he was dead. But he seems to be still doing the weather at KUSI-TV in San Diego.
Comments Off on Global warming battle
Posted in Weather/Climate
Tagged global warming, In From the Cold, meteorologists, The Weather Channel
The other side of that April National Intelligence Estimate, according to In From the Cold, which has its own annonymous intel sources. You know, the side the MSM did not report in the five-month-old news it rolled out just in time for the impending Congressional elections. Wonder why not.
"In one of its early paragraphs, the estimate notes progress in the struggle against terrorism, stating the U.S.-led efforts have ‘seriously damaged Al Qaida leadership and disrupted its operations.’ Didn’t see that in the NYT article.
"Or how about this statement, which–in part–reflects the impact of increased pressure on the terrorists: ‘A large body of reporting indicates that people identifying themselves as jihadists is increasing…however, they are largely decentralized, lack a coherent strategy and are becoming more diffuse.’ Hmm…doesn’t sound much like Al Qaida’s pre-9-11 game plan."
Via In From the Cold
UPDATE Via Instapundit, a Robert Kagan column in the WaPo questioning the NIE reports: "Since the Iraq war started, there have not been any successful terrorist attacks against the United States. That doesn’t mean the threat has diminished because of the Iraq war, but it does place the burden of proof on those who argue that it has increased."
LATER The NIE has been declassified. Smart move. Let’s see what, if anything, was exaggerated. Go here for a pdf on the key judgements of the April report.
FINALLY (I swear) Instapudit’s analysis of the material is intense: "While we should fire the leakers on general principles, we should probably also fire whoever wrote this — for producing a meaningless document full of empty bureaucratic twaddle. If the jihadists win, they’ll have more prestige! And they will probably use the internets! Do tell. Jesus Christ, if this is the quality of intelligence we’re getting, no wonder we haven’t won yet."
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 