Iraq and Nuclear and Chemical Weapons

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A review of the book “Atomic Obsession:  Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al-Qaeda” by John Mueller was recently posted, and there were a few comments in that book  about Iraq’s  interest in chemical and nuclear weapons that, in my opinion, give an incomplete picture.

There is a comment that the Israeli attack on a nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981 was ineffective. Wikipedia has extensive information about the reactor and the attack. The reactor was purchased from France in 1976 along with 72 kilograms of 93% enriched uranium. The purchase agreement stipulated that the reactor would not be used for military purposes, and French engineers said the reactor was “…unsuitable for making bombs.”

The Israelis were not the first to attack the facility. Iran had attacked and damaged the site with two bombers in 1980 shortly after the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Israeli officials had encouraged the Iranian attack. The Israelis attack involved eight bombers that flew through Saudi and Jordanian airspace in their attack speaking in Saudi Arabic and using Jordanian signals for cover. Eight of the sixteen bombs struck the containment dome of the reactor. On the issue of whether the attack had disabled the reactor, the French originally agreed to aid in reconstruction, but withdrew from the project in 1984. The reactor “…remained in its damaged state until the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when it was completely destroyed by coalition air strikes…”

Perhaps the reference to the ineffectiveness of the strike did not refer to the reactor that was damaged and not rebuilt. Saddam Hussein ordered “…a much larger underground program…” The reactor that was attacked was estimated to have been able to produce enough plutonium to construct one nuclear weapon per year and the new program was designed to make six bombs a year.

An article titled “Papers From Iraqi Archive Reveal Conspiratorial Mind-Set of Hussein” by Michael R. Gordon published in the New York Times on October 25, 2011 provides some interesting information about Iraq and chemical and nuclear weapons. American forces captured extensive archives of discussions between Hussein and government officials during the 2003 invasion. One document quoted Hussein boasting “…that Iraq had a chemical weapons arsenal (during the Iraq-Iran war) that would ‘exterminate by the thousands’.” He also said “Once Iraq walks out victorious (over Iran) there will be no Israel.” He said of the Israeli attack on the reactor, “Technically, they are right in all of their attempts to harm Iraq.”

On the subject of chemical weapons, there was a post titled “Which President Lied About Weapons of Mass Destruction” dated December 31, 2010 that gives details of Saddam Hussein using chemical agents both in the war with Iran and against Kurds in his own country. According to a report on 60 Minutes Hussein admitted to his U.S. interrogator George L. Piro that he had feared he could not survive an inevitable attack from Iran “without the perception he had weapons of mass destruction. He told his generals that he would order the use of chemical weapons if Iraq was attacked, and he did that to hold Iran at bay. Saddam Hussein lied, and Bush and his advisors believed the lie.”

Quality of College Education

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President Obama said in a speech at a college in Boca Raton, FL where he showcased his “Buffet Rule” to tax millionaires that college is the most important investment a young American can make. I suggest that parents and prospective college students think be a bit skeptical about that comment. There have been numerous recent reports with different conclusions. I’ll mention first a post from last year that had the title, “What are Young Americans Getting from College?” That posting documents studies that many college students haven’t improved their critical thinking or writing skills after four years in college. What they have done is rack up tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, and tuition rates are still increasing. Those who graduate with less “marketable” degrees often aren’t able to find a job with a salary that will pay both living expenses and the interest due on those loans. Those who have student loans and don’t finish their degree are in an even worse position.

Money Magazine had a short article by Ali Velshi in the March 2012 edition titled “It’s Time to Give College a Rethink.” He warns “Americans are too concerned with whether their kids are ‘finding themselves’—at an average yearly tab of $17,100 (public in-state) to $38,600 (private).” The costs are justifiable if the student graduates with a degree in engineering or sciences. They would seem not to be justifiable if the course of studies is early childhood education (average annual pay $36,000), counseling/psychology ($29,000) and probably a long list of liberal arts degrees. I liked his closing sentence, which points out quite nicely that not all degrees are equal when it comes to finding a job in the real world. “At the least, make sure your kid knows the highest-paid English majors aren’t poets; they’re technical writers.”

There were some interesting facts about student loan debt in an article by Kevin Simpson on the front page of the February 29, 2012 Denver Post titled “A degree in debt.” There is a warning that student loans can’t be wiped out by bankruptcy. “The joke is there’s treason, murder, kidnapping, and student loans—no statute of limitations.” The article suggests that students consider the less expensive option of getting an associate’s degree at a community college before transferring to a four-year institution. That would reduce the overall costs, and the student would at least have the associate’s degree if for some reason they can’t complete the full degree program.

There continue to be compelling reasons to go to college, and not the least is to learn the skills to do the work required in, for example, an engineering career. Another reason is described in an article in the April 1, 2012 Denver post written by Dave Maney titled, “College degrees, resumes so old-school.” The Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that employers are prohibited from giving prospective employees IQ tests. However, employers know that colleges determine whether someone is qualified to attend by their SAT and ACT scores. Attending and graduating therefore is important for employers who have to sort through the many candidates who applying for jobs. As a hiring manager I recognized for many positions a college degree was the ticket required to gain an interview.

The bottom line is that young people consider whether the degree program they want to pursue is marketable and whether the institutions being considered provide good value for the costs. In education as in everything else, it is advisable to be a smart consumer.

Stick in the Mud

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The Phrase Finder says that this expression refers to “A narrow-minded or unprogressive person; one who lacks initiative. I’ve more often heard it used as a put down for someone who isn’t willing to take part in some activity because they think it might be unwise. I recall circumstances where I thought the “stick in the mud” was taking the responsible approach. Regardless, it originated with earlier versions of “stick in the briers, clay, mire, etc. that date back to the mid-1500s. Being stuck in mud was referenced twice in writing in 1733.

After America: Get Ready for Armageddon

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This book by Mark Steyn is not for politically correct Liberals. There is humor mixed in with the dire predictions, but a friend said he didn’t finish the book because he tired of the “cutesy humor.”

On the dark side, the author writes, “America has caught up with Europe in the great rush to self destruction.” Financial collapse is predicted to be facilitated by “…hapless, indulgent people who think government has the answer for every problem…” An example of wit amidst the doomsday prophesies is that “Nobody writes a doomsday tome because they want it to come true. From an author’s point of view, the apocalypse is not helpful because the bookstores get looted and the collapse of the banking system makes it harder to cash the royalty check.”

To emphasize the insanity of our government and election process there is an insightful reference to Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, my home state. Bennett voted for all the “…trillion dollar binges…” He then said “We have managed to acquire $13 billion of debt on our balance sheet. In my view, we have nothing to show for it.” Colorado voters then reelected Bennet. The source of the debt is at least as troubling as the magnitude. “If the People’s Republic (of China) carries on buying American debt at the rate it has in recent times, then within a few years U.S. interest payments on that debt will be covering the entire cost of the Chinese armed forces.”

What did stimulus accomplish? Quite a bit if you were a government employee. At the start of the economic crisis there was one Department of Transportation employee earning more than $170,000 per year. Eighteen months later there were 1,690. “In the year after “stimulus” was passed the private sector had lost 2.5 million jobs and the federal bureaucracy had gained 416,000. In 2009 the average U.S. government employee was earning about $123,000 in salary and benefits while the average American in the private sector was earning a total of about $61,000.

The Chinese might be building a military to challenge America, but they have problems too. The one-child policy means that“…unless it’s planning on becoming the first gay superpower since Sparta, the millions of surplus young men…deprived of female companionship is a recipe either for wrenching social convulsions at home—or for war abroad, the traditional surplus inventory clearance method of great powers.”

I found one nugget of hope for America early in the book. Reports about protests of people who want the government to do more for them have dominated the European news. By comparison, millions of Americans have taken to the streets to tell the government they can do just fine if the government will “…just stay the hell out of my life and my pocket.” (Of course much of the media and some politicians have at a minimum made fun of those protestors, and in some circumstances called them racists.)

The book is filled with disturbing examples of how bureaucracy trumps common sense. It now takes so long for the FDA to approve new drugs that people are dying while they wait for the approval to take the drugs. Cynics are calling the new approval process “…the valley of death.”  FEMA sent volunteer firefighters who wanted to help out in the Katrina disaster to Atlanta for diversity training. An inspector prevented a Catholic church from selling homemade pies for a fund raiser unless the volunteer bakers paid $35 dollars apiece to be cleared by a health inspection. On the other side was a woman attending a “federal aid” gathering said she was there to get some money. When asked where the money would come from, she said “Obama money.” When asked the source of the money, she said, “I don’t know. His stash.”

Other disturbing signs of bureaucracy are the examples of emergency workers refusing to rescue people. Police wouldn’t rescue a drowning woman because that was the responsibility of the Fire and Rescue service. Three college students did save her. Police stood watching while a 5 year old girl was trapped in a submerged car, because they were prevented from diving in by safety regulations. A fireman did rescue a drowning girl and was sent to disciplinary investigation. A rescue crew stood by after a person fell into a mine shaft because a recent memo had banned the use of rope equipment. There has also been a loss of chivalry. The rule “women and children first” was mostly followed on the Titanic. When a German ferry sank recently only five percent of the women passengers lived. Forty-three percent of the young men 20 to 24 made it. (Apparently women objecting to doors being held for them has had a negative effect.)

Part of our problem is that high schools are graduating young people who aren’t equipped to do a job. We then send them to years of college to that is costly and ineffective. Testing shows that many college students do not improve their critical thinking skills after two years or even by the time they graduate. The students do accumulate tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt.

The author is quite critical of the manner in which the world has dealt with the issue of Muslim extremism. He points out that there was a time when the Muslim world seemed to be becoming “Westernized,” but the radical Muslims have put an end to that. There was a photo of the Cairo University class of 1978 with every woman bare-headed. The 2004 class photo shows “…every woman hijabed to the hilt.”

The author makes his point about the comparison of private enterprise to the government with a story about a bridge in New Hampshire. The government studied the project for six years and estimated the total cost at $655,000. They estimated the bridge could be completed in another several years and admitted the cost would probably more than double. The town contracted with a private firm to build a bridge that complied with safety requirements for $30,000.

The book often refers to the H.G. Wells book “The Time Machine.” There are references to the elegant and oblivious Eloi who are living happy lives while the Morlocks also happily prey on the Eloi. Time travel is used to emphasize how much changed in the world from 1890 to 1950, and how relatively little technology has been developed since. However, the U.S. government has had massive growth.

The book ends with the observation that people still have a chance to change the path of the country if they would only stop voting for politicians who want more money to increase the size and reach of government. “This is the battle for the “American idea…to reprise the lamest of lame-o-lines—you can do anything you want to do. So do it.”

Wet Behind the Ears

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All of the sources I checked agree that this expression refers to someone inexperienced and/or naïve. My favorite explanation of the origin is from American farm language that refers to a foal or calf that is literally still wet behind the ears from the birth.

Global Warming is Causing Global Cooling

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A recent National Snow and Ice Data Center’s report on Arctic Sea Ice Extent must be confusing to those who have been telling us the melting of Arctic ice is proof that there is global warming caused by human activity.  The first graph shows that ice coverage is still below the 1979-2000 average, but is about a million square kilometers greater than 2006-2007. The written descriptions would seem to want people to think sea ice is still on the decline despite this recent increase. For example, it says, “This year’s maximum ice extent was the ninth lowest in the satellite record…” “Ninth lowest” is emphasized while the recent large increase in ice coverage is mentioned in passing.

The global warming theory is that increasing carbon dioxide levels will cause higher temperatures and more ice melting. That isn’t what has happened the last few years. One of the global warming advocates said that the fact temperatures aren’t rising with carbon dioxide levels is a “travesty.” The earth seems to be thumbing its nose at the theories, and that is considered to be a “travesty.”

I’ve written in previous posts that the only certainty is that the climate will change as it has throughout earth’s history. I now think there is another certainty, and that is the global warming advocates will use any data to justify their beliefs. In 2010 the fact that people on the East Coast were in their snowbound homes was “proof” of global warming. The actual words in the article “Climate Change Debate is Heating up in Deep Freeze” by John M. Broder were “…that occasional cooling is consistent with global warming, because ferocious storms and intense weather events are caused by global warming.” And now you know the source of the confusing title to this posting.

Global warming advocates have jumped at the chance to blame recent unusually warm weather in parts of  the U.S. and tornado outbreaks on global warming. I didn’t read that the brutal cold in Europe was also caused by global warming. However, I’ve learned to take for granted that any weather result can be attributed to global warming. Matt Drudge noted on his web site that a 2010 Senate hearing on global warming was canceled because of the weather. The federal government was shuttered by a snow storm.

There are numerous indications that the predicted global warming is not happening. There is a report by Dean Nelson and Richard Alleyne titled “Some Himalayan glaciers are advancing rather than melting, study finds.” The report challenges the 2007 UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the glaciers would be gone by 2035. The new report advocates that half of the 286 glaciers are increasing in size instead of melting. The report also observes that global warming has little to do with what happens to glaciers. The “…key factor affecting their advance or retreat is the amount of debris—rocks and mud—strewn on their surface.” The debris prevents the glaciers from melting.

My hope is that there is sufficient energy from the sun to cause warmer temperatures. Those higher temperatures along with higher carbon dioxide levels would have all manner of positive effects. There are correlations between warmer temperatures and lower human death rates. Warmer temperatures and higher carbon dioxide levels contribute to increased plant growth. Faster growth of forests is good. Increased food production is an even better.

I know that the core of global warming advocacy is directed at convincing us human activities, and especially activities that are involved with energy production and manufacturing, are bad for the earth. I selfishly appreciate having relatively low cost energy to heat and cool our home and keep the lights and computer running. I also appreciate the life style provided by a healthy economy. I wish I could believe that “climate science” is really about science and not about a political judgment that we humans are a scourge on the pristine earth on which we are imposing.