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There is some remarkable information in a larger article about Basra, relating to how Royal Marine infantry and 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards with light reconnaissance vehicles successfully took on Iraqi battle tanks yesterday. Whilst the Soviet era T-55 is an older tank, facing such heavy armour and 100mm guns in an agile vehicle armed with a 30mm RARDEN cannon and designed only to protect the crew against small arms fire and fragmentation does not leave a whole lot of room for error. March 26th, 2003 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
 Our faithful readers may have noticed that Samizdata.net was down. Hopefully, the problem is fixed now and we shall be blogging our hearts out… from a critically rational libertarian perspective, obviously. Some of us have also joined the ranks of warbloggers at The Command Post as we collectively surf the breaking news. 
Click for on-target news March 26th, 2003 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
Polish Ambassador Maciej Kozlowski said yesterday that Europe should remember what America has done in the last 80 years, twice saving Europe from calamity. He brushed aside French President Jacques Chirac’s harsh criticism of those European countries which support the war, insisting that France and Germany are misreading the political situation. In a mostly symbolic move that exemplifies the pro-American stance that Poland has taken, the Polish army sent some 200 troops including special commando forces, navy, and chemical warfare experts to buttress the primarily American and British forces. The country’s small contingent of special forces, which also operated in Afghanistan, is reportedly now in action in Iraq. Declaring that each country has deeply different historical remembrances, Kozlowski, who came to Jerusalem without a gas mask, said that Poland remembers America opposing communist and other brutal dictatorships.
Refreshingly straightforward. March 25th, 2003 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
The vigilant police in many countries, applying themselves at last, have raided a number of Muslim charities and Islamic banks, which stand accused of subsidizing the terrorists. These raids have advanced the war on still another front, which has been good to see. But the raids have also shown that Al Qaeda is not only popular; it is also institutionally solid, with a worldwide network of clandestine resources. This is not the Symbionese Liberation Army. This is an organization with ties to the ruling elites in a number of countries; an organization that, were it given the chance to strike up an alliance with Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath movement, would be doubly terrifying; an organization that, in any case, will surely survive the outcome in Iraq… And at the heart of that single school of thought stood, until his execution in 1966, was a philosopher named Sayyid Qutb – the intellectual hero of every one of the groups that eventually went into Al Qaeda, he was their ‘Karl Marx’ (to put it that way), their guide… → Continue reading: The ideologicial roots of terrorism March 25th, 2003 | Comments are closed
Earlier this year, Britain refused to supply crucial parts for Israel’s aging Phantom aircraft. So what one might ask? Its hardly the most nimble of modern warplanes. It is, it should be noted. reputedly the backbone of Israel’s nuclear capability. Tough call for Samizdatistas… I am a great supporter of Israel, but I am not sure Western interests would not be complicated by the mere potential of an Israeli nuclear offensive. However, something tells me that the Israelis would not be hampered by missing British ejector seats. There is the legendary tear jerking story of the request to the 1981 Israeli Air Force Academy intake for what was possibly a one-way ticket to bomb the Osiraq research reactor in Iraq. It was not certain whether the Phantom’s would have the range to return. The commanding officer called for volunteers for what he frankly admitted was possibly a suicide mission. When volunteers were asked to step forward, to a man, all did. Paul Staines March 25th, 2003 | 11 comments - (Comments are closed)
Looks like Jacques Chirac has given up on all hope of having an influence on temporal matters:
What is the difference between Jacques Chirac and John Paul II? Well, one of them is deeply spiritual and holy man appointed as God’s representative on earth and an inspiration and guide to millions of people across the world. And the other is the Pope.
Who cares about isolation in this world when you can have rapture in the next?
Yes, yes Belgium would have bestrode the earth like a colossus if it hadn’t been for those pesky Anglo-Saxons. I expect Michael Moore is sitting by the telephone today waiting for the call from Jacques. Together they can build a better world. March 25th, 2003 | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)
Our present day military commanders probably think in private that Old Nosey had it about hundred times easier on the PR front than they do. March 24th, 2003 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
Last Friday, the Mises Institute published a special edition of their daily article containing nothing else but quotes by von Mises on the subject of war. The quotes are hard to disagree with, apart from their mistaken application to the current situation. No distinction is made between using war as a means of conquest, expanding one’s power and using war as a defensive measure, protecting one’s security, freedom etc. For those who believe the US and the UK are engaged in the former, I shall leave them to their struggle against the neo-imperialists… For the rest, I retaliate with a small collection of quotes that make such a distinction:
OK, this is not going to win the war, but it will have to do while we are waiting for our logins for The Command Post warblog! March 24th, 2003 | 7 comments - (Comments are closed)
When Robin Cook resigned from the Cabinet last week in protest at Tony Blair’s decision to authorise military action without the backing of the United Nations, it was obvious he was positioning himself as the potential leader of the Labour Party. The calculation runs as follows:
And they need a leader! – Mr Cook concludes and exactly a week after his ‘principled’ resignation he hints that “he is prepared to act as leader of centre-Left discontent in the Labour Party as he promised to fight for more ‘radical’ and ‘progressive’ policies from the backbenches”. How public spirited of him! Cook says that Britain now finds itself in a diplomatic position ‘that it will come to regret’. Too close to America, too far away from Europe. This is his worldview:
I smell a rat. Or a Tranzi. Oh, wait, it is the same thing…  image by the amazing Scrofula! March 24th, 2003 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
An authoritative analysis of the ups and downs of the US-UK coalition campaign in Iraq. Puts all the dispiriting or bad news into perspective.
(via The Command Post) March 24th, 2003 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
An article in the Telegraph argues that Britain should seek maximum political capital through institutionalising a re-invigorated permanent alliance with America. France and Germany should be left to take care of the neccessary fence-mending; since when has it been in Britains interests to increase French political influence? So far, so very Samizdata. And not at all suprising for a Telegraph op-ed. However, down at the bottom of the web page is this significant byline:
You do not have to believe in ‘argument from authority’ to realise that sometimes who is making an argument is as important as anything they say. Malcolm Hutty March 24th, 2003 | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)
In a depressingly predictable turn of events, Michael Moore has received the Academy Award for Best Documentary for his mendacious anti-self-defence agit-prop effort Bowling for Columbine. Equally predictably he used the occasion of the acceptance to do a bit of Grand-standing:
The ‘Oscar’ ceremony is showing here live in the UK right now so I was treated to the singular displeasure of watching the Michigan Land-Cow being given both an award and a platform. I have to add though, and in fairness to the audience, the initial standing ovation did turn into a resounding wall of boos and jeers and somebody or other wisely grabbed the microphone off him and ushered him off the stage before the whole thing descended into an irredeemable farce. I daresay that none of that will phase Mr.Moore though. His fictitious documentary has been endorsed with the highest possible accolade with the bonus that he was given a global audience (albeit briefly) for his steaming pile of insights. What more could he possibly desire? March 24th, 2003 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
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