I mentioned last week the possibility of a new role, still with my current employer.
Well, I’ve been offered it and decided to take it on. While I’ll be travelling in Asia mostly, I’m off in about 3 weeks to here:
Still haven’t worked it out? What about this?
I wonder how much more will come out regarding the alleged massacre by US marines of 20 plus unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November. The details of what happened last November 19 are still murky. What is known is that a bomb rocked a military convoy and left one Marine dead. Marines then shot and killed unarmed civilians in a taxi at the scene and went into two homes and shot other people. The Marine Corps had initially attributed 15 civilian deaths to the car bombing and a firefight with insurgents, eight of whom the Marines reported had been killed.
According to CNN, some Congress members have been told to brace for the fallout from potential charges of murder and cover-up following a military investigation into what happened. Military investigators strongly suspect that what happened was a rampage by a small number of Marines who snapped after one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb.
It seems the incident wasn’t taken seriously by commanders until Time magazine published a story in March and a video taken by a local resident surfaced. As well as the investigation of the murders, officials are also investigating senior Marine officers concerning covering up the incident. 3 Marine officers have been relieved of their commands over this. Now it seems to be taken very seriously, with some heads likely to roll – just how high up the command chain will be the interesting question? The immediate investigation into the massacre itself seems to be focussed on a marine sergeant and corporal, with 3 other marines also possibly implicated.
The murder charges are a capital offence so some of those involved could face execution. I have a feeling that a couple of marines may (deservedly, if the reports of what they did are correct) be sacrificed to salve public opinion in the US and particularly the Arab world. What will be more interesting is how much interest the US authorities have in pursuing and dealing with those further up the food chain who learned of the massacre and either took no action, turned a blind eye to it, or actively participated in a cover-up.
What would lend the US more credibility in its efforts to clean up war crimes committed by its soldiers would be submitting them to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court rather than handling it via internal investigations. I can’t understand why the US doesn’t ratify the ICC and submit its military personnel to its jurisdiction. What have they got to be afraid of?
There is much barbarism in Iraq, mostly committed by the insurgency. But that does not justify the murder of innocent civilians. The US, and by association, Australia, are the good guys. We should never stoop to the level of the terrorists, and if anybody does, they need to be rooted out and punished ruthlessly, to clearly demonstrate our abhorrence of war crimes.
Technorati Tags: Haditha, massacre, murder, Marines, Iraq, International Criminal Court
Samuel Marc Barnes Siddall, 21, of Beldon, a suburb of Perth, is one.
He was minding his girlfriend’s 13 month old baby while she went out. The baby spilt some liquid on herself.
What did he do? Put her in the clothes dryer of course! She suffered severe bruising and burns as a result.
Siddell appeared in court today charged with causing bodily harm or danger – and was granted bail conditional on not approaching or contacting the child and her mother ….presumably now his ex-girlfriend.
I suppose it is lucky for the baby that braniac didn’t think of putting her in the microwave to dry her out.
Technorati Tags: baby, clothes dryer
Good to see that Todd Russell and Brant Webb, the two miners rescued from the Beaconsfield mine, have their heads screwed on right. Speaking at a reception held in Canberra today to honour the rescuers and others involved with the recent events in Beaconsfield, they showed refreshing modesty and commonsense.
Said Brant Webb:
“We’re not heroes of course. People that saved us are the heroes
but at the end of the day we’re just really glad, really happy to
be here and I think we’ll just go for the ride if that’s alright,
Todd.”
and from Todd Russell:
“All the people in this room today, they’re the true heroes,
they’re the ones that risked their lives to free Brant and myself.
They’re the ones that left loved ones at home knowing the dangers
were there,”
Technorati Tags: Brant Webb, Todd Russell, Beaconsfield, Canberra
Almost pissed myself laughing when I read this.
2 NZ All Blacks were drinking in a bar in Christchurch after the Super 14 final. Chris Masoe reportedly punched a man at the bar after tripping over his leg. Tana Umaga then picked up a woman’s handbag and hit Masoe over the head with it. According to a witness:
“When that happened, Masoe burst into tears and created a bit of
a scene at the bar,”
The 2 players were then asked to leave by a female bouncer, and “left without too much trouble”.
Maybe Masoe and Umaga could try their hand at playing AFL with the Geelong Cats when their rugby days are over?
Technorati Tags: Chris Masoe, Tana Umaga, handbag, Geelong Cats, NZ All Blacks, rugby union
Two interesting articles in today’s papers about the culture of rugby league.
First, this one about the problems of alcohol fuelled bad behaviour among the elite players in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL). This comes the week after a player, Tevita Latu, was fired by his club, Cronulla, for punching a woman in the face during a drunken night out. There have been 35 alcohol related incidents reported in the last 5 years, and 17 in the last year alone. During that time, more than $340,000 in fines has been meted out by the NRL and clubs for offences including harassing females, drink driving, assaulting police and urinating in public. This is despite the NRL supposedly working hard to ensure players adhere to community standards, show appropriate respect towards and treatment of women, and generally behave like civilised humans. Clearly more needs to be done. Brisbane Broncos’ CEO, Bruno Cullen, agrees:
“I firmly believe alcohol is the biggest problem in our game,” Cullen said.
“I can’t remember the last player who got into trouble who wasn’t influenced by alcohol.”
Now, given that rugby league players are young men, generally in their early to mid 20′s, its often said that their behaviour is no worse than any others of similar age, just that they are under more scrutiny. Maybe, although I’d say that when I’ve been out pissed I’ve never really felt great urges to get into fights, piss on ATM’s, cars, other people’s legs, flop my cock out, grope under-age girls etc. Think of all the extra fun I might have missed out on! I think there is a problem with the culture of rugby league – young men who are often put on a pedestal while still at school just because they can kick a footy, run fast and tackle hard, who then find themselves earning big dollars, and not having to face up to normal responsibilities, surrounded by sycophants who shelter them from many things that people normally face in their lives, tell them how wonderful they are, and similar. I’d suggest that many of them need a good kick up the arse when they fuck up …. some attitude adjustment from teachers, parents, coaches, officials and the like right from the word go.
Strange too, how the ones that do get the bullet for their behaviour are the fringe players, never really the marquee ones. What a message it would send if next time a really big name player fucked up, they got sacked from the game, never to be given another chance somewhere else. Bet you it never happens though.
The other story was about rugby league being far from a women-friendly spectator sport. Specifically it was about the cheerleaders, the sexist crowd behaviour, etc. I go to see the Raiders occasionally, and I find the fact that the main pre-game entertainment consists of skimpily dressed girls dancing around pretty embarassing. I can’t imagine what a visitor unfamiliar with the ways of rugby league and its followers would think …something along the lines of bogan ball? The dancing girls should have gone from the game about 30 years ago … but then, whatever entertainment is served up along with them is at least equally cringeworthy – at Canberra Stadium its usually some promotional crap connected with one of the local radio stations.
Doesn’t help in my view that the main broadcaster of rugby league clearly promotes itself and behaves like it is the yobbo channel – Channel Nine, you are guilty here. Is it encouraging yobbism through its efforts, like the Footy Show, or merely pandering to a pre-existing audience of idiots? (This is a bit like the correlation between low intelligence and country music. Does country music cause low intelligence, or do people with low intelligence just happen to like country music?)
Technorati Tags: rugby league, NRL, Tevita Latu sacking, sexism, drunken behaviour, alcohol problems, cheergirls, dancing girls, Canberra Raiders
My son and I saw this today, and enjoyed it. We’ve seen both the earlier X Men movies and they’re all good fun.
Clearly this was a wrap-up of the series – can’t see another movie after it being made. Ian McKellen more than anyone makes the movie, as Magneto, which he plays over the top. I would have liked to see more of Rebecca Romjin, but she was written out of the story fairly early in the piece.
While we were there, my daughter saw “Take the Lead” – her advice, don’t bother, it was really bad.
Another thing. The previews included “Poseidon” and “The Omen”. Hollywood producers, why not try some new ideas instead of making crap remakes of movies that were crap in the first place? Sad lack of imagination, and creative risk taking if you ask me.
Technorati Tags: X-Men 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, Rebecca Romjin, Ian McKellen
I said to my son this afternoon that I had a choice to make at 5.30 tonight. Watch the Super 14 final or watch the Raiders vs Cowboys NRL game. I chose the Raiders game. About 10 minutes in, I flicked over to the Super 14 final, and saw one of the funniest sporting events ever, fogball.
The Super 14 final was played in Christchurch in such a thick fog that you could hardly see the players on the field.
This photo gives you a bit of an idea what it was like, but what really broke me up on the TV was the wide shots …could hardly see anything going on. I’d be really pissed off if I paid to go to the game, and then could hardly see the action. The fog was so thick that the players had difficulties, and what should have been an open spectacle ended up being a tough slog. Anyway, the Canterbury Crusaders beat the Wellington Hurricanes 19-12. For the Crusaders, thats their 6th Super rugby title in the 11 years that the competition has been going.
Meanwhile, the mighty Canberra Raiders (jump on the bandwagon when they win) beat the North Queensland Cowboys 15-14 in an excellent game, courtesy of an extra time field goal from Todd Carney in the 2nd period of extra time. Glad I watched it!
Technorati Tags: Super 14, Canterbury Crusaders, Wellington Hurricanes, fog, Jade Stadium, rugby, Canberra Raiders
….is obviously pretty bad.
According to a survey, many dog owners feed their dogs a better diet than what they eat themselves. More than a quarter surveyed said they would eat the food they bought their dog.
Yummy!
Technorati Tags: English cuisine, dogs, diet
I’ve been following this debate in the press the last few days, about climbers on Mt Everest leaving a British man to die and continue to press on to the summit rather than trying to help him. Interesting moral dilemna isn’t it?
NZ climber Greg Inglis in particular is being criticised by many for his decision to leave David Sharp, who was seriously in trouble about 300 metres below the top of the mountain, apparently on his way down. Sharp had climbed the mountain alone and died on the way back down, apparently after running out of oxygen. Inglis’ group stopped to help Sharp but left him to die after deciding there was nothing they could do to help him.
“He had no oxygen, he had no proper gloves,” Inglis said. “He was effectively dead … so we carried on. Trouble is, at 8500 metres it’s extremely difficult to keep yourself alive, let alone keep anyone else alive.”
Sir Edmund Hilary, the first man to climb Mt Everest, was especially critical of the decision. He said:
“I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top. They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die.”
Others have said Inglis’ decision was reasonable. Hilary’s son, Peter, said climbers occasionally had to abandon companions to save their own lives:
“It’s tough. It’s not black and white out there — there are a lot of shades of grey.”
Australian climber, Brigitte Muir, agreed it was futile to attempt to help someone close to death.
So where do you stand on this? Its hard to say, never having been in such a life or death situation, but my thoughts were that in certain circumstances its not unreasonable to take the decision Inglis and his group did, that Sharp was going to die anyway so why put ourselves at risk in what was probably going to be a futile effort. The expected thing to do in most circles would have been to try to help, but this was clearly a risk decision that needed to be made in a highly risky environment. Its also clearly a risk vs reward scenario – ie climbing parties have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of preparation for what is for most a once in a lifetime shot at reaching the top – do we sacrifice that for someone else who clearly did not prepare properly, and who, by all reports, was too far gone to save?
Of course, this argument taken to more common situations in people’s lives, could equally be applied to such decisions as how much effort and cost do we put into trying to save someone who is critically ill or injured, how long do we search for missing people, etc.
Update (26/05/2006): More on Mt Everest in today’s press. I was going to add something about Lincoln Hall’s death, as reported this afternoon, but by the time I got home he has apparently been found alive and is being rescued.
Another update (26/05/2006): Hope this guy gets frostbite where it hurts most.
Technorati Tags: Mount Everest, Greg Inglis, Sir Edmund Hilary, moral dilemnas
