Tags: OLPC, Sugar Labs, laptop per child, XO, open source, globalization, trends

Tags: Apple, Inc., design, Mac, Newton, iPod, iPhone, iPad, trends

Tags: Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Seadragon, Photosynth, design, TED, Virtual Reality, imaging, trends

Tags: experimental network, Google, Network, internet access, Research, Internet2, Broadbandt, gigabit, high speed, trends,

Broughton is the former Paris bureau chief for The Daily Telegraph of London. His writing was easy, flowing and pleasant.  Broughton was also very human in his approach to writing about the elite training ground for the high stress world of finance, venture capital and banking.

Broughton was also able to describe those MBA alums who spoke of those demands and losing wives and children to the long hours of business.  It was a bit odd to read that more than a few alums went through the divorce process four times.

Worse yet was those few who admitted their own children did not know who they were due to those demanding hours.  Most wanted their MBA to provide for their family while in fact they were losing touch with them in the process…all for the glory of wealth and fame.

And yes it was interesting to hear how his class of 2006 could land $400,000 jobs, his thirteen interviews with Google were pretty demanding.

In the end he skipped his graduation on a rainy Saturday in to take his infant son to his favorite Boston spot for cannoli.  At one point in my life I would have ridiculed this man for skipping his Harvard commencement.  For $175,000 (minus his new BMW — see below) you better be sure I would show up come rain or snow for that moment.  Today with two small children and a backdrop of a soggy event on Harvard Square I kinda understood his decision.

I was impressed with his review of their first year known as RC: required cirriculum.  The demands of Harvard’s case studies was rather impressive as their main tool for teaching.  And from the looks of it those case studies required round the clock research and planning.  The feel of his fellow students all aiming for post Harvard success was an interesting read, especially from the foreign students.  Most of his fellow students agreed they did not want to be called upon to review a case study.  The demands were extremely high and Broughton described a couple of painful episodes of his participation and those by his fellow students.

From his book the only real technology requirement was being an Microsoft Excel Jedi Knight, and that also meant writing your own macros.  Clearly Broughton was no computer wizard…somewhat surprised if he left off anything offered by the school to teach computing to these future business managers…beyond Excel.  But then again as he wrote about the case studies — when would he have had the time?

The personalities of the faculty and even some of his fellow students kept the story going but his experiences in the recruiting process and the hyped ‘treasure trove’ of MBA grads coming back to speak to his class was rather interesting.  From Enron’s Jeff Skilling to W. Bush Broughton was not a surprise W. Bush was never was asked back to Harvard Square.

The break before the beginning of 2nd year or EC elective curriculum was no less stressful.  The summer was all about landing a job.  And today Broughton acknowledges the competition is not within his section or other candidates at Harvard but Kellogg, Wharton and Tuck.  US News and World Report: Best Business Schools in America.  More important are the top university rankings in the world.

It was even refreshing to recognize that some of the textbooks from his classes just happen to also be sitting on my bookshelf.  My favorite (review here) is still probably Competing in a Flat World: Building Enterprises for a Borderless World.  I failed to recall that Dr. Victor Fung taught at HBS before returning back to Hong Kong to run his family business….I’m not sure many Americans would consider doing this — because as Broughton pointed out the foreign students really did not want to relocate to America following graduation.  That is a big change in the last decade.  India and China are hot locations.  Surprised?

You will even learn how to acquire a BMW before asking for financial aid 

Tags: Philip Delves Broughton, Ahead of the Curve, Reading, Research, MBA, Harvard business school, Case Studies, globalization, Elite education, MBA Candidate, venture capital, trends

Its easy to think this book is a political sequel to An Inconvenient Truth. That would be a mistake. The book has set off all the political rhetoric one would expect.

I found Chapter 11: Population rather interesting and worth the read alone.  Clearly we live in a world that is experiencing a sustained population boom in China and India.

This brings ultra-large scale social responsibility as well.  The impact of population on energy and food is obviously critical but the underlying issue on this still taboo subject must be moved to the forefront.

How will China and India care, feed and shelter their children?  More importantly how can green fuels be utilized in favor of coal and other cheap, outdated solutions?  There are options.

Gore has tapped into so many new technologies in Our Choice, its a bit overwhelming.  I was a bit taken back by the level of technical and engineering details and although this is a good new resource for the non-technical crowd, its a bit heavy on the engineering side.  From the the SuperGrid (Chapter 13) to Google’s real-time energy tool PowerMeter, new technology tapping the internet and mobile devices is clearly in play in our futures.

But the dramatic changes that are currently underway will surprise most readers.  If you think nuclear power is still a real option you need to consider Thorium.  It’s even hilighted in the January issue of Wired as the successor to nuclear power plants in America.

Gore has tapped the crowd to share and educate how we can help conserve our plant’s resources, help the environment and cut our carbon footprint.  All in all a good read.

Tags: Al Gore, Our Choice, Reading, Research, energy, change, education, population, India, China, green fuels, trends

In mid 2009 it was announced Chip and Dan were finishing a follow up book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard scheduled to be released February 16 2010 and have also launched a new website supporting both Switch and Made to Stick plus their Fast Company column and speaking engagements.
–Hint:  grab their RSS feed to stay ontop of their latest work.

Here is my review of their opening chapter.  Exactly how do we change?  How do individuals, organizations and societies change in a world of rapid news, technology and fast food?  Better understood its not only old dogs that don’t change but individuals, small groups and large complex organizations.

The Heath Brothers introduce fundamental research to introduce a three-step framework for identifying the types of change necessary for humans to not only believe in but actually accept.  Easier said than done right?

Welcome human psychology to the new evaluation of both rational and emotional sides of our brains.  This is where Chip and Dan really shined in Made to Stick!

They share lessons learned about company spending that is so amazing more companies will be following the lead from Jon Stegner’s gloves.  The basis of change is breaking through the feeling….but IF you want people to change you also need to provide crystal-clear direction.  This applies to different situations including family, work and even community.

The Heath Brothers provides a three-part framework for identifying change.  I believe Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard will be just as successful as Made to Stick which works as a perfect complement for business today.  Order your copy today!

Tags: Chip and Dan Heath, Switch, Reading, Research, Made to Stick, change, education, trends

In this video CERN technologists discuss the network’s requirements which supplies the TeraScale switches that connect 6,000 processors and 2,000 storage devices. TeraScale supports 672 line-rate Gigabit and 56 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports per system, allowing CERN to deploy fewer systems and simplify the architecture of its network.

Tags: Large Hadron Collider, CERN, Network, Research, Internet2, BoreasNet, WiscNet, reading

Tags: Visualization, information, Chart Wars, politics, trends

I must admit there was not a lot of excitement from his presentation.

Tags: Steve Ballmer, Microsoft, Tablet, CES, media player, magazine, trends

Tags: Movable Type, WordPress, imitation, Design, trends

The book includes a new epilogue by Reeve that mixes the ‘72 Games with America’s 9/11 regarding the confrontation with terrorists.  Speilberg focused his film upon a controversial book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team. A web search and reading a few blogs regarding the event pointed to Reeve’s work as a well written overview of that tragic summer.

Reeve includes a chapter of a tragic and sad event left out of Speilberg’s movie, The Lillehammer Affair when Israel’s Mossad agents killed an innocent man who they mistook for a Black September leader.  To this day Mossad has never apologized for the killing even though they reached a settlement with the family after more than 20 years.

Reeve’s focus surrounds Black September, Andre Spitzer and his wife Ankie who had just given birth to their daughter Anouk before the games.  Reeve brings Ankie’s life before, during and after into the book.  He writes about the impact of family members whose children, husbands and fathers were killed at Fürstenfeldbruck when German authorities attempted a poorly planned rescue of the athletes.

Reeve also reveals the battle between German police and the terrorists at the airport lasted over two hours while the movie suggests the confrontation lasted only minutes.  Learning the gunfire during the rescue lasted that long only made their deaths all the more tragic and horrifying.

The details of the unofficial war between Israel and the PLO is conveyed in rather intense details.  The number of assaults and murder by all sides before the games and the intelligence leading up to the games including an attempt on the life of Golda Mier.

Reeve, in his epilogue suggests the writing was on the wall — data regarding intelligence gathering and wiretaps should have set off warnings to keep athletes away from Munich but in 1972 did anyone think this was possible?  He and Ankie suggest this was the world’s “9/11″ and the beginning of terrorism as we know it today.

Tags: Simon Reeve, One Day in September, 1972 Munich Olympics, Black September, Olympic Games, scandal, Munich Olympics massacre, Wrath of God, terrorism, reading

The TechMate video automatically starts when the page loads — and their embed tag does not permit a video to begin when triggered by the user…..so here is the link

Tags: Michael Copeland, Fortune, Tablet, Apple, TechMate, Newton, trends

Tags: Sports Illustrated, Time, Inc., Tablet, design, wireless, magazine, trends

Krogh joined Nixon’s White House team after working in a Seattle law firm with John Ehrlichman.  Ehrlichman served Nixon as a senior consultant in the 1968 Presidential campaign and was rewarded with the role as Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs. Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman dominated the Nixon White House like no other executive staff.

Krogh was responsible for approving the break-in at Fielding’s office in order to dig up damaging evidence against Daniel Ellsberg who had leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.  Ellsberg served on Kissinger’s staff.  This event was the first of many illegal break-ins designed by G. Gordon Liddy’s Operation Gemstone.

Ellsberg wrote the introduction to Integrity.

Shortly thereafter Nixon’s men would invent a Special Investigative Unit, a Nixon/GOP “police force” known as “The Plumbers” to fix the leaking of government documents to the media.

It was not a total surprise to learn Liddy was willing to kill during the Fielding break-in.  Thankfully that did not happen but proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the zealots who were working for Nixon. Even Howard Hunt’s team from Miami did not ask to be paid to break into Fielding’s office — they saw it as a patriotic act.

Krogh shared his experience, soon after leaving prison about seeking out and meeting Dr. Fielding to express his remorse for his role authorizing the Plumbers to break into of his office and deprive him of his rights as a citizen.  I was surprised to learn how far and deep this man was moved to heal, to apologize to those he damaged in in the name of “national security” and to fully accept his actions as his own.  Clearly Krogh has come full circle.

He was one of the very few to actually plead guilty and accepted his sentencing before testifying so as not to look like he cut a deal for a shorter jail term.  Even Watergate Prosecutor Leon Jaworski was moved to address Krogh’s determination to take responsibility for his own actions while speaking at Berkeley almost 15 years later.  Krogh was teaching and happened to be in the audience.  A terrific story is told about this event.

Krogh’s story indicates Nixon’s entire political downfall occurred in a period of just 7 weeks.  Krogh under estimated the lack of discipline Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy would display in their actions as Plumbers.  He even wrote an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times about the Fielding break-in that has for the most part faded into history compared to the Plumbers second mission: Watergate.

A closing chapter covers his life after losing his license to practice law and his long road to regaining the support of the Washington law professional organization in order to regain his license in the 1980s.  He led a much different life after jail, even sharing how he was hiking up Mount Everest when news of Nixon’s resignation was revealed.  He has also established a leadership consulting company while practicing law.

Tags: Egil Krogh, E. Howard Hunt, Watergate, political espionage, Nixon, scandal, G. Gordon Liddy, John Ehrlichman, Dr. Lewis Fielding, Pentagon Papers, illegal wiretapping, Plumbers, reading

There is much advanced technologies in these devices.  The target goal is under $100 for the 3rd generation device which is projected to ship in 2012.

OLPC received much attention since its launch with the UN, but the release of the XO-2 was scene as a break through that never materialized.  With tough economic conditions and globalized part manufacturing I’m not sure OLPC will be able to ship a tablet device by 2012 but boy I would sure want them to succeed.

I believe OLPC and its supporting research groups have made a huge impact in the computing world.  Before OLPC there were no netbooks….Negroponte’s vision has already created a new marketplace.

The one real miss was the Sugar OS.  Sugar was designed for children yet due to the marketplace and influence of Microsoft, OLPC has adopted Windows as a supported OS.  I will never be convinced that children need to learn Microsoft Windows in order to use a child-friendly learning device.

Tags: OLPC, $100 computer, XO-3, tablet, open source, globalization, trends

He will always be known for his role in the Bay of Pigs and his reported involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy however his book’s focus is Watergate.

I cannot honestly believe how stupid the Republicans were in dealing with Hunt’s team from Miami.  G. Gordon Liddy was the mastermind of Operation Gemstone and directed the overall planning with the White House while Hunt ran the team.   Its amusing to see the amount of detail Hunt provided regarding the planning to break into DNC offices in the Watergate building.

Many believe the break-in was a one time event.  In the last twenty years it has become accepted that Liddy directed four break-ins at the Watergate.

Why?  A member of Hunt’s Miami team, Virgilio Gonzàlez the lock picker actually forgot to bring the correct tools to break into the DNC office.  Hunt’s team had to cancel the operation while Gonzàlez actually fly back to Miami over a weekend to located a correct set of tools to successfully pick the lock.

This just proves how stupid Hunt and Liddy were regarding this group of clowns….the guy who is in charge of picking the lock to get you inside the DNC forgets to bring his lock picking tools?

Another reason for a second break-in was CIA security specialist James W. McCord who participated in the first break-in but had to return to fix a faulty bug placed inside a telephone in the DNC offices. Clearly the GOP has learned much from this total failure…you have to be very professional when planning political espionage.

I cannot help but think today the FBI bugged the White House.  Hunt’s revelation that two FBI officers arrived at his home the morning following the Watergate break in was somewhat surprising.  Hunt only other recollection played out on-screen was the phone call from Bob Woodward the following morning as well.  He also had the benefit of writing his memoir following the disclosure of Mark Felt as Deep Throat.

Maybe it was surprising to see Hunt completely forget (or better yet) ignore a 1971 White House meeting regarding the Pentagon Papers and Nixon’s wish to bug those responsible.  Egil Krogh in his Watergate memoir Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House admits to attending this meeting with Hunt and Mark Felt representing the FBI.  How ironic is that?  Hunt was actually in the same room as Deep Throat?

Outside of his Watergate nightmare he continued to deny being in Dallas on November 22nd….

Tags: American Spy, E. Howard Hunt, Watergate, political espionage, Nixon, scandal, G. Gordon Liddy, CIA, reading

Lance reveals Al Qaeda had a mole in the NYFD who was able to steal blue prints of the World Trade Center before the 1993 bombing and that US authorities had been tracking Al Qaeda for more than 10 years.

The book’s primary focus is the role of Al Qaeda master spy Ali Mohamed and his work as a mole within US Army intelligence, the CIA and the FBI.  Lance brings a number of key points that were overlooked or more appropriately ignored by the 9/11 Commission. 

Patrick Fitzgerald, National Security Coordinator for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York met multiple times with Ali Mohamed years before 9/11.  During this timeframe Ali Mohamed declared his loyalty to Osama bin Ladin and told Fitzgerald that he did not need a fatwà to attack America.  And yet Fitzgerald did nothing.

Ali Mohamed was identified by the US State Department as Osama bin Ladin’s first security trainer and helped smuggle Al Qaeda’s co-leader Ayman al-Sawahiri into mosques located in California and North Carolina for recruiting and fund raising.  Lance reveals that even Bin Ladin recruited at mosques in Chicago in the late 1980s.

Ali Mohamed was a former Major in the Egyptian Army’s military intelligence unit which actually participated in the assassination of Anwar Sadat.  After leaving the Egyptian Army Mohamed was able to  enlist the US Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and worked with the Green Berets.  Even Mohamed’s commanding officer thought Ali Mohamed was working with the CIA:

“I think you or I would have a better chance of winning Powerball, than an Egyptian major in the unit that assassinated Sadat would have getting a visa, getting to California … getting into the Army and getting assigned to a Special Forces unit …. That just doesn’t happen.”

Lance indicates loosely there may be ties between Ali Mohamed and the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 which killed 220 American servicemen.  In 2000 Fitzgerald had Ali Mohamed arrested and charged with the August 7, 1998 bombings of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

At the same time Lance provides a rather detailed account of the role terrorist Ramzi Yousef played as a member of Al Qaeda.  A British-educated electrical engineer Yousef masterminded the initial terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. Yousef was also the mastermind of the Bojinka Plot which was aimed at exploding bombs on-board planes flying over the Atlantic.

Yousef “wet tested” a remote explosive device on PAL flight 434 (a Boeing 747) on December 11, 1994 which killed one person. Fortunately a veteran pilot was able to safely land the 747.  Yousef was arrested by US and Pakistani authorities and put on trial in New York City. According to Lance, Yousef coordinated the Al Qaeda bombing of TWA flight 800 while on trial.  Yousef hoped the bombing would result in a mistrial.  His work to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993 was to force the US Government to release Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who was on trial in New York City.

Triple Cross highlights the odd relationship Yousef had with Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols and New York City’s Colombo crime family killer Greg Scarpa Jr.  Today we know Yousef worked with New York’s Mafia and taught Nichols how to build bombs like the one he constructed that blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19 1995.  Lance details Yousef was funded by Osama bin Ladin, and was the primary architect of Al Qaeda’s planes-as-missiles plan that culminated in the 9/11 attacks.

Yousef is the nephew of Al Qaeda senior leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who was arrested in Pakistan and is now held by the US Government.  Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University with a degree in mechanical engineering and has confessed to participating in a series of terrorist attacks from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Operation Bojinka, 9/11 attacks, the Richard Reid shoe bombing, the murder of Daniel Pearl and responsibility for Al Qaeda’s Bali bombings.

The problem for US law enforcement, intelligence agencies and the 9/11 Commission is Lance establishes a much longer timeline of Al Qaeda’s presence in America  — primarily in New York City and Santa Clara California. This means our Government, CIA and FBI are more responsible for the failures to stop Al Qaeda’s terrorist activities in America.  Fitzgerald was the prosecutor in the case against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, known as “The Blind Sheikh” and 11 others charged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.  He had a long understanding of Al Qaeda’s aims.  Lance is able to trace Bin Ladin’s support for terrorist attacks back to the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City on November 5th 1990.

Lance questions how Jamie Gorelick and Dietrich Snell, lawyers on the 9/11 Commission staff ignored their previous work tracking Al Qaeda.  Snell was responsible for writing the Al Qaeda timeline in America but moved it up two full years to hide US intelligence work that brings into question serious laps in judgement by US law enforcement including his role in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York with Patrick Fitzgerald.

Gorelick permitted Osama bin Ladin’s brother in law Mohammed Jamil Khalifa to evade US prosecution in 1994 and wrote the infamous “wall memo” that “prevented communication between intelligence agents and criminal investigators” in regards to prosecuting terrorism.  The Commission indicates Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the key to 9/11. Lance clearly shows that responsibility belonged to Ramzi Yousef.

Triple Cross documents how FDNY Fire Marshall Ronald Bucca who was killed on the 78th floor of the South Tower held top secret military clearance and was able to document that Al Qaeda would return to take down the towers following their unsuccessful 1993 bombing.  Bucca was a part of the team that investigated the bombing and acknowledges Yousef (having access to blueprints of the World Trade Center) was not far off from actually bringing down the North Tower in 1993, missing a key support structure by less than 500 feet.  Bucca was shocked to learn Al Qaeda had a mole, Ahmed Amin Refai inside the New York City Fire Department.  Lance indicated that Bucca was able to gather enough data regarding Al Qaeda and their intentions to attack the World Trade Center again.  He submitted his research to the CIA — but was rebuffed.  The US military named their first prison in Iraq Camp Bucca in his memory.

One of the least understood and less known issues developed since 9/11 was the revelation of a US military intelligence database Able Danger.  Lance demonstrates how those running Able Danger in 1999 were able to construct Al Qaeda’s inner circle in America and displayed enough information to identify almost every terrorist who participated on 9/11.

A difficult book on a difficult topic that was difficult to put down.

Tags: Triple Cross, Peter Lance, 9/11 Commission, 9/11, Al Qaeda, Bin Ladin, Patrick Fitzgerald, Ali Mohamed, reading

Tags: Web Toolkit, Google, Developers, datasets, innovation, technology, trends

Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy,

Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House,

Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School,

Triple Cross: How bin Laden’s Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI–and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him,

The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business,

One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation “Wrath of God”,

American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate and Beyond

and Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War
The holiday should be very interesting…I’m looking forward to every book.

I really enjoyed what Levitt and Dubner’s research revealed in both books, it was very enjoyable reading.  Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (my review) and their recent followup SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (my review) are two can’t miss books!

Tags: SUPERFreakonomics, Stephen Dubner, Steven Levitt, Economics, datasets, innovation, energy, population, poverty, technology, Sudir Venkatesh, terrorist, trends

The 1.0 release was a very interesting read (my review here) and I’m looking forward to the update.

Check out Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 online in PDF format.

Tags: Tom Friedman, Hot, Flat and Crowded, environment, globalization, Green revolution, First Solar, Toledo, education, Germany, population, offshoring, Outsourcing, India, coal, manufacturing, technology, reading, trends

Jon Krakauer has written a sobering, powerful book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. This is about the life of a gifted patriot.  I finished this book on Veterans Day.

Krakauer’s focus is on the friendly fire killing and dishonor by the Cheney Bush Administration and Military towards Pat’s virtue, wife, mother and family.  As Krakauer points out the military conducted SEVEN investigations into his killing.

The opening chapter quickly introduces Tillman’s death then moves to his early childhood and life playing high school football. From there Krakauer traces his steps at Arizona State University where Pat was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and and Academic All-American.  He was drafted by the Phoenix Cardinals and turned down a $9 million dollar offer from the St. Louis Rams to stay in Phoenix.

Tillman proved time after time that he was able to overcome challenges placed before him and his measurement was not physical, but rather his heart and soul.  That is how Tillman was raised.  This even fell to brother Kevin Tillman.  Kevin and Pat both left professional sports careers (Kevin was playing pro baseball in the minor leagues) to join the Rangers shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

The White House’s interest in Pat

The Cheney Bush Administration and Military were very interested in Pat’s highly publicized enlistment, leaving a lucrative contract and lifestyle as an NFL player.  Secretary of Defense Donald Rusmfeld even wrote a personal letter to Tillman.  “According to Rumsfeld’s senior military assistant at the time, Lt. Gen. Bantz Craddock, this was the only time he could remember Rumsfeld ever writing a personal note commending the enlistment of an individual soldier.“  They desperately wanted Tillman for their poster boy but he would not allow himself to be played by them.

Pat entered the military with purpose and proven dedication to achieve at the highest levels of collegiate and professional sports.  What he found in the Army was less than inspiring.  From Pat’s journal:

“They’re resentful, ungrateful, lazy, weak and unvirtuous. … One thing I find myself despising is the sight of all these guns in the hands of children. … Of course, we all understand the necessity of defense but that does not excuse the fact that a young man I would not trust with my canteen is walking about armed.”

The region of Afghanistan where Tillman met his death was a known hostile region with difficult terrain for fighting.  A British officer wrote about how difficult the terrain was for soldiers and how the high ground in the region was used to defeat British forces in the late 1940s.  This area was the location of where the Mujahideen fought the Soviets in the 1980s.  History’s lessons are there for the taking.

Pat Tillman meets Jessica Lynch

Pat held no reservations about speaking his mind and due to his criticism of the war and it’s execution for the media, became known as a critic of the war while serving.  In contrast the Cheney Bush Administration was simply making up stories to sell the war and create heroes to help keep ratings and support for the war as high as possible.  Tillman was apart of the Ranger group that rescued Jessica Lynch.  Tillman noted in his journal that the government’s statement of her “rescue” was completely fake.  Tillman wrote about the incident in his journal on March 30, 2003 — the day before Lynch’s mission.  From Pat’s journal:

“This mission will be a POW rescue, a woman named Jessica Lynch. I do believe this to be a big public relations stunt. Do not mistake me, I wish everyone in trouble to be rescued but sending this many folks in for a single low-ranking soldier screams of media blitz in any case, I’m glad to be able to do my part and I hope we bring her home safe.”

Following Pat’s death and the news of falsified statements regarding Jessica Lynch, The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held hearings entitled “Misleading Information from the Battlefield”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kevin’s testimony was powerful and highly critical PDF Link.  Krakauer has even tracked the member of the Bush communications office who wrote her “hero” story and Krakauer pokes holes through his entire statement regarding Lynch.

Dishonoring the Tillman Family

First and foremost Pat’s brother Kevin was a member of the same Ranger team as Pat.  Within mintues of Pat’s death, team’s commanding officer took Kevin’s rifle and ordered him to stay away from Pat’s body.   Kevin was told Pat was shot by Taliban fighters even though his commanding officer immedately knew Pat was killed by friendly fire.  Krakauer even replay’s the medical examiner’s inital report that Tillman was murdered.  The two examiners refused to sign his death certificate.  The military broke policies and procedures repeatedly.

It is well known today that Pat’s company commander ordered a Ranger to burn Pat’s uniform and body armor.  Another ranger was ordered to burn Pat’s private property including his latest writing journal even as Kevin was asking that it be found and returned to the family.  Sadly Pat was shot multiple times in the forehead by a fellow Ranger.  Krakauer even described how the military had to return to the location of Pat’s death to retrieve large parts of his brain.  Regrettably that was also “lost” and never returned to his bodybag.

The commanding officer ordered all of his fellow Rangers to lie to Kevin regarding Pat’s death (regarding friendly fire) and ordered them to lie to the family during his funeral and public tribute.  The family was not told of his death by friendly fire for five weeks.

The military issued a total of SEVEN investigations into his death.  They broke protocol by appointing a low ranking officer to complete the report.  That report which stated friendly fire was the cause of death was officially ‘lost’ and a second was requested.  The second report stated his death the way the White House communications office and Military wanted his story to be told.  Though all SEVEN investigations the military rebuffed requests from the Tillman family for information regarding his death.  Many have written about seeking the truth of his death.  CBS 60 minutes interview regarding the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s killing:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Krakauer has drawn from Tillman’s family, fellow Rangers, military testimony and a Congressional investigation to write this book.  Regrettably it becomes apparent the Cheney Bush Administration and Military had the audacity to attempt to disgrace him in death.  Lt. Col Ralph Kauzlarich who wrote the second report stated in an ESPN interview Tillman was ‘worm dirt’ due to his atheist beliefs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

One of the most remarkable developments to arise since his death is a foreign report suggesting Pat was assassinated. Again Pat was critical of the war calling it “illegal” and Krakauer described how Pat intended to meet with Noam Chomsky following his deployment.  Krakauer and the Military’s multiple reports state Pat was shot three times in the forehead from a SAW M16 that was in a moving vehicle.  Three bullets in tight formation from a moving vehicle sounds absurd to believe. No wonder the two doctors responsible for his autopsy report refused to sign it suggesting Tillman was murdered.  The war on terror does not want dissenters.

Some have the blindness to write Krakauer places the Cheney Bush Administration and Military in a bad light during a time of war.  Clearly Cheney Bush Administration and Military have dishonored Pat Tillman’s virtue, memory, his wife and family and ultimately our country.  The lives of our men and women in uniform come before anyone’s politics or religion.

Pa-tri-ot

–noun
1. a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.
2. a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, esp. of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.

Tags: Jon Krakauer, Where Men win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, friendly fire, fratricide, Tillman, dishonor, Ranger, terrorism, war on terror, 9/11, Bush Cheney, Jessica Lynch, Afghanistan, reading, trends

Philip Shenon, the NYTimes staff writer in Washington DC has offered a behind the scenes look at the twisted politics and power in Washington and NYC regarding the Commission and events surrounding their investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Where do you start?  There is so much to consider.  Remember the Jersey Girls or those senior Cheney Bush Administration officials who actually fought against the formation of the commission?

Philip Zelikow was appointed Executive Director and throughout the book Shenon documents how Zelikow was viewed by the commission staff as a mole for the Cheney Bush White House.

Zelikow served President elect Bush as a member of his transition team prior to being appointed Executive Director.  To no surprise soon after the Commission’s report was published Zelikow accepted an offer from Condoleezza Rice to work in the White House.

Bush’s originally nominated Henry Kissinger to head the commission. But when victims families met with him including the Jersey Girls it was disclosed Kissinger’s own consulting company client list includes the Bin Ladin family.  This was met with outrage and Kissinger resigned the following day.

During public hearings in NYC Shenon documents how the commission was handicapped by the ego of newly elected mayor Michael Bloomberg.  Bloomberg saw the commission as something “from Washington” and wanted little to do with them while public testimony was scheduled in “his” city.

That was set against the tension filled events it took the commission to get ‘approval’ from the Cheney Bush White House to even have Condoleezza Rice appear.  Bush first issued ‘executive privilege’ as the reason he did not permit Rice to testify.  Also as part of the negotiation the White House won the consent that the commission would not ask for any further testimonials following Rice’s appearance.  Here is the tension filled ‘allotted time’ with commissioner Richard Ben-Veneste.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cheney and Bush even refused to testify under oath, and somehow they were able to ‘negotiate’ a meeting with the Commissioners without ANY written notes regarding their joint appearance.  There was no option to interview Bush individually.  That statement frustrated the Commission staff.

The commission also felt so mislead by the military that series discussion within the commission developed about submitting a request to the Justice Department regarding criminal actions against the Pentagon.  Is it any surprise that the final report issued by the Commission was not well received?

The book includes a number of eye-opening events that confuse the reader if the goals were to find why the terrorists caught America flat-footed.  My stomach was knotted several times where politics played-out as more important that the lives lost on 9/11.

Tags: 9/11 Commission, 9/11, Bush Administration, Kissinger, Jersey Girls, reading, trends