NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story has a decent treatment of whether the Fallujah Four are more properly called mercenaries or security forces. This question is heating up in Blogdomania, but the "normal" news is still behind on the question.

Should have known from the start that there was a problem with their status. 1st stories talked of "foreign" contractors, possibly involving Americans, then on to "American contractors," next "US private security personnel." History (and this blog) will call them merc's, not that there's anything wrong with that.

From NewsMax:

According to the Progressive Review, the international convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries defines a mercenary as any person who:

* Is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
* Is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar rank and functions in the armed forces of that party. ...

A mercenary is also any person who, in any other situation:

* Is specially recruited locally or abroad for the purpose of participating in a concerted act of violence aimed at
* Overthrowing a Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State; or
* Undermining the territorial integrity of a State;
* Is motivated to take part therein essentially by the desire for significant private gain and is prompted by the promise or payment of material compensation. ...

The bottom line of the rule of war: "A mercenary, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, who participates directly in hostilities or in a concerted act of violence, as the case may be, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention."

Paid? they better be. Merc's? debatable. Illegal merc's? Nah, not these guys anyway. Doesn't fit the UN Convetion's definition, and the US didn't sign the thing. nor was it ratified by the UN. It's not good law.

Kos boldly states that he is a Rantaholic in his subject Tag: "Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation." The state of the Blogosphere is still strong. Fear not kids. Kos lives in the the world of reality governed by the rules of the Commercial Republic

From: Daily Kos

I took their best shot, and... that was it?
by kos
Sat Apr 3rd, 2004 at 15:55:07 GMT
So I said something pretty stupid last week. I served up the wingnuts a big, juicy softball. They went into a tizzy, led by Instapundit.

And for a while, I was actually pretty worried.

But the final tally was -- about 30 hate-filled emails, about 15,000 hate-filled visitors, and the pulling of three advertising spots that are going to be replaced in less than a week. (I had two emails today about people wanting to advertise despite the controversy.)

That was it. Oh, they're doing their best to turn me into the devil, and they're making racist comments about my heritage and family and threatening to kick my ass -- you know, typical right-wing shit.

But if that's the best they can throw at me, I'll simply echo Kerry.

Bring it on.

Advertisers come, advertisers go. Just as the Right suffers the foolish things their base says and does, the Left tolerates theirs. Islam must put up with its clerics caring more about corpse mutilation that murder.

My first reaction to the notion that the victims in Fallujah, Iraq, were "mercenaries" (which I heard on Air America) was that they may have perferred the term "bodyguards," but hired guns don't care what they're called when they're dead. Read this before you decide if they were "mercenaries."

You have to admit that there is something nefarious about companies like
Blackwater USA operating in Iraq. On the other hand, unlike many of our ROTC reservists and Weekend Warriors, these guys are very well paid, know exactly where they're going, what the dangers are, and presumably possess the training and experience to do the job. KOS said "screw 'em." He could have been more polite, but I understand the sentiment..

Better them providing security for private interests there than our taxpayers (although we probably pay for it anyway, just not directly). I'm sure Haliburton's budget includes significant funds for just this kind of "security."

Outrage? There's enough to go around. For the murderers themselves, of course, for our armed forces, public and private, being there at all, for a culture that condemns desecration. buy not murder and suicide, or the leathal combination of both. Leave KOS alone.

Jerry Springer for Ohio :: Back-page Blogs

On JerryForOhio.com there's fresh daily info about Jerry Springer's travels around the state as well as informative blogs where you can be a part of the strategy and debate.

Full welcome message

America needs the Buckeye State, and the Buckeye State need Jerry Springer. (I know, I know...now stop giggling and read the rest.) Springer is a scholar, a lawyer (which I like), a journalist (which should please Blogs4Bush), a midwesterner with an international pedigree, witty, somber, unique, and talk about name recognition.

I suggest Jerry put together a quick compilation (say 5 minutes worth) of his trademark bits of wisdom from the end of his shows. They are truly inspirational at times. No, I don't watch, but my wife and kids love him. I can't stand the guests. They're such idiots.

Talk about "Liberal Tolerance." Jerry Springer has demonstrated this in spades.

Americans live in a huge tent, with ample room for everybody. Springer has taught us that over the years. If there's room in the tent to elect the likes of Jesse Ventura and Schwartzenegger, surely there is room under the Big Top for the Ringmaster.

Jerry Springer, a Passionate Lib

The Dispassionate Lib is proud to include Jerry in the blogroll

toledoblade.com

Article published Saturday, April 3, 2004

TOLEDO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Schools chief says he will give $2,000 bonus back

By SANDRA SVOBODA
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Eugene Sanders will return his $2,000 merit payment to the district's general operating fund on Monday, he said last night.

TPS is in trouble, like so many urban school districts. This action by Super, albeit more symbolic than practical, and done under pressure from the three unions the district employs who were complaining of administration bonuses, was genuinely thoughful and unselfish.

Atta Boy.

I'll try to find a public figure every week who deserves an "Atta Boy" (or Girl). We spend so much time bashing politicians and celebrities, that every once in a while a pat on the back needs the spotlight.

Just remember, One "Oh Crap!" can wipe out ten "Atta Boys."

Here's the full text of my essay (which stubbornly won't link correctly):

Our eyes were wide open! The world was riveted to the continuing pronouncements coming from Washington D.C. and the intrigue at the United Nations. When the bombing started it came as no surprise, except maybe the delusional "Butcher of Baghdad" sitting in his lavish palace. The U.N. Ambassador from Iraq said, "the game is over," then quietly entered his apartment and booked the next flight for Syria.

Our eyes got wider! To those who are fascinated by watching things blow up, the game had just got interesting. Televised live, the images of Saddam's Palace exploding in the night was spectacular. The breathless commentary from the on-the-scene reporters could hardly capture the moment adequately. Maybe it wasn't quite "Shock and Awe," but it was spectacular.

Our eyes are still open, aided by the ubiquitous TV camera. What we see now unfortunately, is not the fireworks display of precision munitions, but the aftermath of homemade bombs aimed at us instead of by us. The game has changed. Broken bodies attest to broken dreams of an easily secured postwar Iraq. Broken promises that the dangers fought were real and present. Broken faith that it was a "just" war when the fears confronted were not justified.

Close your eyes. The image of the Trade Center Towers falling is still there, still haunting. Listen closely and hear the Palestinian women shrieking with delight at the slaughter of people a world away jumping to their doom from the 93rd floor. Take a deep breath and smell the money from Iraq being handed to the "martyr's" family after he blows himself up in a Tel Aviv market. This is no game.

Hussein was caged but his roar could still frighten. No, he didn't order the 9/11 attacks. No, he was unable to attack Israel or his other neighbors with nukes or germs or nerve gas. But he liked what he saw happen in New York and the Pentagon. His ultimate dream would have included the genocidal slaughter of every Jew, every-where; every American, any-where. He had to go, period.

President Bush will pay a political price for getting everyone's hopes up that he was bringing a tyrant to justice for scoffing at the orders of the United Nations; that the U.S. was protecting the free world from a menace of "unique urgency." The weapons of mass destruction would have been a great argument for war IF ONLY those darn thing could be found. Even with the WMD case laid before the U.N. and a unanimous statement that "serious consequences" would follow if Iraq did not disarm, major allies weren't convinced that war couldn't wait. Now the "I told you so's" are deafening.

Of course Bush couldn't wait. The army couldn't wait for the full heat of summer to attack. The election season couldn't wait for the commander-in-chief to be second guessed by the democratic party caucuses while conducting major combat operations. Kuwait and Israel couldn't wait for Saddam to reconstitute his weapons programs, or find a place to hide them. The men and women at the Pentagon couldn't wait to try out some of their latest gadgets and wreck some "kick-ass" on people who looked like the vermin who drove a plane into the side of their building. America couldn't wait while the President did nothing to squash the dictator that should have been destroyed by the President's dad.

Hussein was left in charge of Baghdad because the first President Bush didn't think it would be prudent to go beyond the UN mandate to repel the invaders from Kuwait -- "not gonna do it." The second Bush did not serve as a UN ambassador and did not have any lingering respect for the institution. Indeed he all but proved the UN to be irrelevant, at least where the decision to use B-1 bombers is concerned. Prudent, no: not for someone who wants the trust an cooperation of friendly nations to hunt down and destroy terrorists; not when spending uncounted billions of dollars on an overseas adventure during a recession; not for someone who wants to be reelected some day. However, prudence should be demanded of someone who sends out our children to be killed while killing other children.

It's fantastic that Hussein is gone without having to turn the desert into radioactive glass, but Osama better be served up on a plate before November or else. Even if he is found the opposition will cry foul. But this will probably be the legacy of this administration: the glass half empty, but tasty nonetheless -- recovery but no jobs, domestic security but no privacy, tax cuts but no revenue enhancement; supply-side support but no trickle-down, record deficits but no spending restraint, medicare reform but no cost savings, education reform but no funding, marriage but no homosexuals, veto power but not a single veto, honorable discharge but no records, election but no majority, war but no WMD's.


Mark W. Adams, Esq.
Attorney at Law
--Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny-- Edmund Burke

Japan Support of Missile Shield Could Tilt Asia Power Balance

TOKYO, April 2 NYTimes.com -- As the United States races to erect a ballistic missile defense system by the end of the year, it is quietly enlisting Japan and other allies in Asia to take part in the network, which could reshape the balance of power in the region.

Containment, Containment, Containment. Don't you conservatives know that containment doesn't work? That's what you said about Saddam, why not Kim? But then again neither does that missile shield you want to deploy. More snake oil.

Oh, that's right, N.Koreaa has REAL WMD's, really, they do -- no kidding. I'm not foolin' this time. Honest!

Shhh, don't tell Tiawan that the missile shield technology they're buying is junk, er, I mean, it isn't quite ready for deployment. This is how we get even for all those crappy toys we got as kids for Christmas that fell apart by New Years.

Phil Althouse is a rebel, a brilliant and truly ethical attorney, and a great friend:

philip althouse's comments:
-----------------------------------------------------------
GOP HAS EDGE IN MORALE, POLL SAYS
By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
-----------------------------------------------------------


The Bush administration has boosted the morale of the Republican Party in no uncertain terms.

Republicans are more patriotic, more religious and more content these days than their Democratic counterparts, according to a new survey of american political values released by the Pew Research Center on Nov. 5.

The poll of 4,000 adults taken from July 14 through Aug. 5 found that nine out of 10 respondents overall described themselves as "very patriotic."

But the survey detected a "patriotism gap" between the parties.

"There is a large and growing division in the intensity with which Republicans and Democrats express this sentiment," the survey noted. "Currently, 71 percent of Republicans and just 48 percent of Democrats say they completely agree with that statement."

The percentage of Republicans "strongly voicing feelings of patriotism has risen sharply in the past year, from 63 to 71 percent," the survey stated. "By comparison, Democratic opinion on this value has changed very little in recent years."

The survey also found that religion and ideology are becoming increasingly connected: 78 percent of Republicans affirmed "the importance of prayer, belief in Judgment Day and a strong belief in God."

The figure stood at 71 percent for Democrats.

"Religious commitment has increased substantially among self-identified conservatives," the survey also noted.

In that group, 81 percent affirmed their belief in prayer, Judgment Day and God.

"Liberals, on the other hand, have become somewhat less religiously oriented. Just over half of self-identified liberals (54 percent) agree with all three of the religious statements, down from 59 percent 15 years ago."

Democrats also are less confident in the nation and the future.

The poll, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, found that seven out of 10 Republicans agree with the statement, "I don't believe there are any real limits to growth in this country today," an opinion shared by only 51 percent of the Democrats.

A third of the Democratic respondents said success was beyond an individual's control, while 37 percent responded that "hard work" offered little guarantee of success.

Among Republicans, those numbers stood at 20 percent and 19 percent in the survey.

Republicans also are "more comfortable with government," with 69 percent saying they felt the government was run "for the benefit of the people." Among Democrats, 44 percent agreed with that idea, down 12 points since 1997, when President Clinton was in office.

Will these attitudes come into play come election time? Most likely.

The survey also found that 86 percent of Republicans believe voting gives them a "say in government." In 1994, only 68 percent felt that way. Among Democrats, 71 percent agreed that voting gave them power, down from 76 percent four years ago.

The complete survey, "The 2004 Political Landscape," can be viewed at the Pew Web site http://people-press.org

My "real" website has followed me from AOL to Mindspring and now to SBC-DSL. What a pain. I had to completely rewrite the code to eliminate uppercase references. I could have spent a little cash to make it easier and get my own domain, but that just goes against my Scotish roots. My old domains didn't insist on putting ads on my page and had far fewer limitations on outside linking and hosting of pictures. But the price was right.

A little googling paid off though and the few graphics I wanted to link to here on my blog are also hosted for free. Thanks to the folks at Photobucket.com you can now see my puss in it's full glory.

I still have some tinkering to do on my "real" site, but for all intents and purposes, it's up and running.

Yesterday's White House press briefing had Scott McClellan dancing in place, as usual.
He attempted to explain why NatSec Advisor Rice was so out of touch on the very day our nation's security, which she was sworn to defend, was so egregiously violated. The now classified speech she planned but did not give on 9/11 did not emphasize terrorists, or even mention islamic extermists, bin Laden or al Quada, even though it ironically was to address "the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of yesterday" -- but the focus was largely on missile defense, not terrorism from Islamic radicals."

To be fair, she was going to speak of terror threats from rogue nations, the meme of the day. But she was to state that the real threat was from balistic missiles.

The Washington Post did get a copy of the speech. But the White House refuses to turn the original text over to the 9/11 commission, as well as over 7,000 Clinton era documents.

ICBM's, scrapping the ABM, . . . even then they were trying to sell snake oil dressed up as champagne. Ratheon, however, and not Haliburton, would have been the prime beneficiary of this useless waste of treasure. This was the way they were dealing with today's threats and rejecting the old outdated way of looking at National Defense. Insert your own Reagan Star Wars joke here==>

Meanwhile, McClellan danced right into this ditch.

MR. McCLELLAN: *** But this administration doesn't measure commitment based on one speech or one conference call or one meeting. We look at the sum total of the strong actions that we take. Press Briefing by Scott McClellan

Scott, how do you measure committment if the meeting never takes place?

VPOTUS Cheney's Counter-Terrorism Task Force NEVER MET ONCE! Was he too busy drawing up plans for Mars missions or managing his stock portfolio?

Vote Kerry or move.

Don't read this, you do not have the necessary clearance.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Pressure mounts on Rice over 9/11 speech

Undelivered text adds fuel to row over whether Bush White House took al-Qaida threat seriously

Julian Borger in Washington
Friday April 2, 2004
The Guardian

The US national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was due to deliver a major national security speech on September 11 2001. But it dwelt not on terrorism but on the proposed Star Wars missile defence system.

The White House confirmed the existence of the draft speech, which was first reported by the Washington Post, but refused to release the full text. However, a spokesman argued that one speech focusing on missile defence did not mean the White House was ignoring the terrorist threat.

I can't take four more years of this.