Couldn't someone have done something?

An anonymous poster commented on blog post Terror plot in Portland? expressing dismay at Portland's brush with "terrorism" last Friday. The comment closed with these words:

For some reason when things like this happen I don't ever feel afraid only very very sad.

Brother or sister, whoever you are, you are not alone.  That's exactly the way I feel.  Thank you for articulating it.

What a tragic waste of a life!

I don't understand how this kid, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, might have believed that detonating a car bomb in Portland, Oregon was the right thing to do. 

It's true that most young men are ardent.  I certainly was, at his age.  And sometimes they act rashly in order to make themselves heard in an indifferent world.  But this thing he did, or tried to do, anyway... I don't get it.

Now, his family and his Somali Muslim community will suffer because of his actions.  Now, his life is marred forever.

The trial to come will reveal much, I'm sure. Prime among the many questions for which I hope to learn answers is one that I would ask of the Justice Department:  Was there truly no other way?

ASL Red Barricades: Today the Volga, tomorrow the Vistula (Pt. II)

Note to readers: This post won't make a lick of sense to anyone who isn't familiar with the Advanced Squad Leader game system.

Dave Hauth and I are engaged in a playing of RBCGI:  Into the Factory.  I'm the Reds.  He's the Jerries.

We're each maintaining a blog correspondence as the game progresses.  We've a Gentleman's Agreement that neither of us will read his opponent's blog until given express permission to do so. 

Readers are encouraged to comment!  Speak your piece! Just be sure not to inadvertently reveal any information about Dave's plan to me or vice-versa. 

You can read Part I of my account here.

You can read Dave's blog here. 

Aftermath of CG Day 1

Ouch! These Germans mean business...

Here's how the perimeter looked at the end of CG Day 1. 

 Perimeter at end of CG Day 1

My Day 1 gamble (refer to Part I) didn't pay off.  Although Dave did attack building F5 with a rifle company, his main attack fell on the Russian left, where I was strongest.  He opened with a rocket barrage that blew a hole in my line.  But the barrage landed north of my dug-in KVII and 45LL ATG, plus my infantry was deployed in sufficient depth that I still had enough forces to give him a fight.
My ATG claimed a Panzer, and my platoon of infantry in the B12 building slowed him down, but when my KV was destroyed by a Stuka, my forces were overwhelmed.  By the end of Turn 3, it was off to the races for the Germans.  The game lasted seven (eternal) turns, at the end of which Dave took control of the Power Station, completely unopposed.

In the north, my barrage of Katy didn't do much of anything, but my rifle company in the north held their ground.  My troops by the riverbank made a break for the west and, in spite of the Stukas managed to get in front of the Germans on the last 2 turns of the game, preventing him from penetrating deeply into the factories.

The Germans suffered 35 CVP; the Russians suffered 42 CVP.  I killed four of his tanks, which kept the CVP totals close, but my infantry was decimated and I now find myself with half the number of squads as the Germans! 

Well, after all, I knew that my Day 1 gamble (buying a Katy module rather than an infantry company) might blow up in my face.  It certainly has.  I've dug myself quite a hole.  Let's see if I can get out of it.

Day 2:  Bend, don't break

My forces are reeling.  The best thing to do, I believe, is to give ground.  Set my stand-and-fight line well back from the perimeter and fall back to it.  I want to start the day with a buffer between my troops and the Germans.  Make him come to me; nick him once or twice on the way in. 

I don't need to kill Germans as much as preserve my own forces.  That is because the pressure never lets up for the German player.  He is compelled to take ground and destroy Russians at a frantic pace.  Numerically, his forces can't keep up.  I plan to purchase all 3 of my allowed infantry companies for the day.  So, as successful as he was on Day 1, Dave can't afford to let up.

Dave sees this...

My retained forces are these:

• 628 x 2
• 447 x 11
• 527
• 426
• 228
• 9-1 x 2, 9-0, 8-0, 7-0 x 2
• HMG x 2, MMG, LMG x 3, Lt. Mtr.
• 45LL ATG
• KVII M42 dug-in U9

Day 2 setup

I'm allotted 17 CPP for the day.  These are my purchases:

• A1 T60 Pltn Dug In 2 CPP
  T60 x 3
  
• I3 Rifle Coy (reserve) 4 CPP
  447 x 12
  HMG, MMG, LMG, Lt. Mtr, Atr
  9-1, 7-0
  
• I4 SMG Coy (reserve) (depleted) 3 CPP
  527 x 7
  10-0
  
• I5 Militia Coy 4 CPP
  426 x 12
  MMG, LMG, Lt. Mtr, Atr
  9-0
  
• M1 120 Fortification points 3 CPP
  Wire x 4
  12 factors AP mines
  HIP 2 squads
  ? x 18
  
• O2 80mm Btln Mortar (scarce ammo) 1 CPP

From such clay must I build my castle...

Day 2 setup in the north

Northern sector

It is possible that Dave may choose this day to drive to the river.  If he does, well c'est un fait accompli.  There is little I can do beyond what I've done, which is to deploy my depleted reserve SMG company to serve as speed bumps to any determined German push.  Frankly, it won't hurt my feelings one bit if Dave does attack here.  He will establish himself on the river (an unhappy fact), but at least he won't kill too many of my troops.  I simply don't have that many over there for him to kill.

Basically, I'm abandoning factories J13 and J17 to the Germans, with only a couple platoons of unfortunate conscripts to stand in the way.  I'll give ground here faster than you can say "Heinrich, geben Sie mir jene Handgranate!"  I regret giving up building K10 without a fight, but there's nothing to be done for it.  I'll give up the buildings in the north against any serious German pressure, too.  That ground is German for the taking and I suspect Dave knows it.

My plan is to make my stand in the big O10 factory.  That's why I have an HMG, squad and leader in N5; to interdict Germans jumping off from the J13 factory.  I've deployed my active rifle company here.  The northernmost of my T60s is placed in N19, between the two factories, protected by wire and mines.  If it is in any way possible, I want to hold building O18.  If Dave wants a big fight, this is where he'll get it. 

Day 2 setup in the south

Southern sector

Here, too, I'm prepared to abandon everything west of hex row N.  I'm drawing my line east of that.  My 2 southern T60s are set up to help me make a stand for the P21 factory, which is where I've deployed my reserve rifle company.  I've set up two platoons of conscripts in the K27 factory, hoping to draw the Germans that way rather than see them charge eastward.

Over on the west edge of the map, in the area around Building F32, I've got more than meets the eye.  I've got 2 of my battle-hardened SMG squads hidden there, along with a mortar wielding 527 and my surviving 45LL ATG.  Lastly, I've got a hidden leader there, manning a field phone that will direct my 80mm mortar.  I'm hoping to use the mortar to smoke in any nasty German machine gun stacks.  Or, if the Germans enter the debris field, to drop HE on them.  I think this is a good position for my AT gun.  It could catch reinforcing German tanks as they drive toward the fight that is sure to develop along the N hex row or in the K27 factory.  My hidden machine-gunners have a good chance of ambushing German units that are looking to extend the perimeter southward.

After the whipping I took on Day 1, I'm feeling a little desperate.  But, if the Russian doesn't feel desperate on Day 2, the German has already lost.

We're scheduled to play again in about 2 weeks.  We'll see how it goes...

To be continued...

Terror plot in Portland?

On Friday, police and federal agents arrested a man in Portland whom they accused of plotting a terrorist attack.  From a US Department of Justice press release:

PORTLAND, OR—Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia and resident of Corvallis, Ore., has been arrested on charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives) in connection with a plot to detonate a vehicle bomb at an annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony earlier this evening in Portland, Ore., the Justice Department announced.

According to a criminal complaint signed in the District of Oregon, Mohamud was arrested by the FBI and Portland Police Bureau at approximately 5:40 p.m. (PST) Nov. 26, 2010 after he attempted to detonate what he believed to be an explosives-laden van that was parked near the tree lighting ceremony in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square. The arrest was the culmination of a long-term undercover operation, during which Mohamud had been monitored closely for months as his alleged bomb plot developed. The device was in fact inert; and the public was never in danger from the device.

Initially, when reports about the arrest hit the news, I didn't know what to think.  A terror attack right here in my home city? 

Hmm...  Apparently, an heroic save by the FBI...  Let's read a little further, shall we?

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, in August 2009, Mohamud was in e-mail contact with an unindicted associate (UA1) overseas who is believed to be involved in terrorist activities. In December 2009, while UA1 was located in the northwest frontier province of Pakistan, Mohamud and UA1 discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to engage in violent jihad. UAI allegedly referred Mohamud to a second unindicted associate (UA2) overseas and provided Mohamud with a name and email address to facilitate the process.

So, the kid actually went so far as to send email to an address in Pakistan which the FBI "believe[s] to be involved in terrorist activities." What do you suppose that means? What are the "terrorist activities" and how is UA1 "involved?" 

Read on:

In the months that followed, Mohamud allegedly made several unsuccessful attempts to contact UA2. Ultimately, an FBI undercover operative contacted Mohamud via e-mail in June 2010 under the guise of being an associate of UA1. Mohamud and the FBI undercover operative then agreed to meet in Portland in July 2010. At this meeting, Mohamud allegedly told the FBI undercover operative that he had written articles that were published in Jihad Recollections, an online magazine that advocated violent jihad. Mohamud also indicated that he wanted to become “operational.” Asked what he meant by “operational,” Mohamud stated that he wanted to put an “explosion” together, but needed help.

So, let's see... an angry American teenager (who happens to be Muslim) entertains fantasies about killing people and attracts the attention of the FBI.  Then, the FBI pretends to help the kid carry out his macabre fantasy so that they can throw the book at him.

The more I learn about the case, the more I'm inclined to view the entire FBI investigation with suspicion.

We'll see how this plays out as the facts come to light.  But it seems to me, at this moment, that the FBI spent a lot of time and money luring a misguided youth into a series of fateful mistakes.  I grant that a person expressing an interest in mass murder warrants careful observation.  But if the FBI had not been there to encourage the kid, who clearly had no real connections to any terrorist organization, is it possible he might have wised up, like so many other angry American boys?  (Ask yourself how many times you've heard rednecks expressing a desire to murder President Obama or Nancy Pelosi or "liberals.")

Expect the usual and inevitable anti-Muslim demagoguery and fear-mongering to kick into high gear in the wake of the arrest.   But, regardless of his intentions, Mohamed Osman Mohamud never hurt a soul.  In that sense, at least, he is less culpable than natural born Americans Kip Kinkel, Eric Rudolf, James Adkisson, or Scott Roeder.  In the long chronicle of American terrorists, he barely merits a footnote.  But he is Muslim and he is a naturalized citizen from Somalia.  That's two strikes against him in the eyes of the American public.

Update:   Just to clarify, I am suggesting that, although Mohamud certainly had motive, he had neither means nor opportunity to commit the crime of which he is accused until the FBI got involved.  That seems to be revealed in the US Justice Department press release, in which it states:

In the months that followed, Mohamud allegedly made several unsuccessful attempts to contact UA2. Ultimately, an FBI undercover operative contacted Mohamud via e-mail in June 2010 under the guise of being an associate of UA1.

Thanksgiving day ramble

And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. --Matthew 24:6

So urge the Gospels.

Christianity's allure is solace.  But the price... the price... 

War looms.  Darkness descends. 

To the west, Pacifica may indeed love us, but her hand is not gentle.  Neither wind nor water.  She scolds us with her icy breath.  She worries our coasts with her monstrous sharks.  She rages in cold fury.  She feeds us.  She feeds on us. 

To the east, Old Man Hood skirts himself in liard and whey, indifferent as a star to our flint-spark lives.  His stormy moods strike us dead.  When glimpsed through the nimbus, he is frowning.  His own war, he knows, is lost. 

Very well.  Whatever may come, I stand by these, which are forever apart from the Abyss:

Edenic city, nestled among tree-studded hills at the confluence of two mighty rivers.  Presently she is in Arctic jet stream stasis.  Winter's vanguard defrocked oak and maple, lulled Douglas-firs to early slumber.  Sleep then, my love.  Let us sleep.

Beloved wife who redeems and absolves me.  She fires the kiln of the clay of Creation.  She would not have me sing her praises so openly.  Enough, then.  Just a word and enough.

 My best to all on this Thanksgiving Day.

Eve of war?

Partyin' on the Pennisula

Day before Thanksgiving, and for the umpteenth time in the last 50 years, the North Korean bandit kingdom reminds us all that the peninsular conflict is still unresolved and smoldering like a red hot ember buried in cold ash.

On Monday, North Korea launched a shocking artillery shelling on a South Korean military installation.  Two South Korean military personnel were killed in the bombardment.  The action is only the latest in a series of dangerous escalations.  In March, a South Korean warship was torpedoed, killing 46 crewmen.  Although Pyongyang denies it, the South Koreans contend that North Korea was responsible.

North Korea has 5 decades of experience in brinkmanship.  And, really, short of full scale war, the international community has no leverage.  North Korea is already impoverished and isolated diplomatically.  There are no further economic measures that the world community can impose.

Last night, President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed to conduct joint military exercises --exercises that are to include the USS George Washington and her supporting armada --in response to the latest provocation.  Rattling sabers.  Another rung up the ladder toward Ragnarok.

In 2003, Junior Bush initiated the Six-party Talks in an attempt to bring together the six regional powers (North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan, China, and the United States) to resolve outstanding issues.  Those talks haven't borne much fruit.  But they have made clear one prominent fact:  the Chinese, to whom North Korea is a client state, hold the trump card.  Beijing is the one power center that has any influence at all over the North Koreans.  And, to the extent that the Chinese allow North Korea to behave in this incredibly dangerous fashion, one must assume that China deems her client's actions to serve Chinese interests.

Analysts of every stripe struggle to attribute motives to the inscrutable North Korean leadership.  Some say that the North Koreans are demonstrating unity and political will in an attempt to warn off the outside world, to put to rest any rumors about instability as Krazy Kim prepares to depart this mortal plane.  Some say this is a primitive attempt at extorting international aid from the world community.  But no one knows for sure.  Perhaps not even the North Koreans.

Dangerous world.  Pray for peace.

Cold snap for the comic book convention

Phone rings, midday Sunday.  It's ol' Jim Kidwell.  They're having a comic book convention in the basement of the Memorial Coliseum.  Would I wanna go check it out?

Maty's all wrapped up in her housework and her cooking and her Lifetime Channel heroine housewife movies and I'm faced with the prospect of yard work, so, yeah, I think the comic book convention sounds like fun.

I layer up against the cold and pull my hood.  Cold is early this year.  There's the feel of snow in the air and here it is, not yet Thanksgiving Day.  The rain is falling in big, heavy drops pregnant with possibility.  And sure enough, I catch glimpses of wet flakes cutting through the corners of my vision, as I look out the fog-edged window of the MAX train.  Snow in November. That's unusual.

Greg Oden's image greets me as I walk into the Rose Quarter.  There is a sense of tragedy about that young man.  Unrealized potential. 

The air is bracing and fresh.  The West Hills are over there across the river.  Mist shrouds their pates in obscurity, like the befuddling thoughts of a mind at the meridian of waking and sleep.  Steel Bridge adds a splash of russet to the base of a portrait:  ghosts fading into the loving evergreen darkness.  Beyond, gray oblivion.

There are quite a few folks at the comic book convention, but Jim is easy to spot. He's a head taller than most.  We gander about for a while.  I'm on the lookout for something to read.  I've yet to find any comic book or graphic novel that can match Watchmen for craftsmanship and aesthetic value.  But I'm always looking.

Some folks have set up a Star Wars panorama for gag photos.  I snap a shot on the sly and shirk my moral responsibility by avoiding the tip jar.  Chewbacca looks grumpy and middle-aged, and I was never a fan of those flicks anyway.

Over in one corner, we find comic artist Pia Guerra.  Very nice woman, with immense talent.  She did some of the art for Y:  the Last Man, which Jim recommends if we can find a copy.

We look around, talk to the vendors, search the displays, but there is none to be had.  On Jim's recommendation, I pick up a copy of the Transmetropolitan:  Back on the Street instead.

Darkness is already coming down as I quick-step it to the MAX stop. Snow in November. We had a short summer this year, and winter's already crowding us. Well, so be it. It might be a little longer this year; it might be a little colder. But it's just another winter. Let it come.

Temporal transfigurations

Lacking ideas, I settle for a photographic chronicle...

The 60s

I was born in Corvallis, Oregon in 1962.  In 1963, Mom, Dad and I moved to Klamath Falls, where brother Eric and sister Paige were born.  

The 70s

In 1971, my parents divorced.  Mom, Eric, Paige and I moved to Salem.  We lived there for four years (1972-76) while Mom earned her teaching degree from Oregon College of Education (now Western Oregon State College).  We then moved to Redmond, Oregon for one year (1976-77).  At the end of that year, Eric, Paige and I went to live with Dad in Klamath Falls, where he and his new wife, Jeanne, had just been blessed with a daughter, my sister Mia.  At the end of the decade, they had a second child, my brother, Calee.

The 80s

I finished high school and went to college at Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls.  Then I moved to Portland in 1988.  My Grandma Metzger died in this decade.

The 90s

I lived on the west side of Portland through the 90s.  I was married in 1992, then divorced in 1995.  My siblings Chae and Seth, Dad's kids through his third marriage (with his wife Tami) were born during this time.  My three remaining grandparents (Ross, Jennie, and Bob) passed in this decade.

The 00s

I moved to the east side of Portland in late 1999.  I've been here ever since.  Dad died in 2001 and my Aunt Jenifer two years later.  Maty and I met in 2005 and were married in 2006.  My nephews Torin and Gino were born during this decade.

One hell of a trip... I tell ya... Any man who'd demand more is a damned fool.