This Christian Science Monitor article mentions a technology that I hadn’t heard of before. Some sort of magnetic tape that acts as indicator to US pilots that a target is friendly:

And each Alizai truck has a magnetic sticker provided by “the Americans.” The Alizais say they were told that the stickers signal to US jets that a vehicle belongs to “friendly” Afghans and not fleeing Taliban or Al Qaeda members.
…
“Don’t worry about the planes,” says Salim Alizai, a Pakistani lawyer and senior Alizai member. “They are searching for the [Al Qaeda] camps and the caves, and they are watching the borders. If you have the magnetic tape, you are fine. Even some of our troops put the tape on their shoulders, and at night, the planes can see them from up in the skies.”

Saudi Arabia is running out of patience with the US media, according to the state run media there and Saudi Arabia’s defense minister. What they should be asking themselves is why the US has given their miserable country a free pass for so long, despite the fact that their national sport is deflecting criticism from the government onto the US and Israel. The New York Times also has an article about the defense minister’s discontent.

Today, Salon Premium has an article on Fouad Ajami, the prominent Arab scholar and talking head who’s been discussed here before.

Hamas says it’s suspending suicide bombings and mortar attacks against targets inside Israel. Israel’s government has dismissed the announcement, saying that it’s a “ploy” and a “tactical move.” If Hamas goes through with the suspension, does it really matter what their motivation is as long as the suicide bombings stop? Obviously it would be better if they suddenly decided that suicide bombings are an atrocity and should never be used, but the first step toward stopping for good is stopping for now. I have no idea whether Hamas will really follow through, but I hope that they do. I think that Israel’s response has been counterproductive.

Going back to the questions about how al-Qaeda works that I had yesterday, the CS Monitor has an article today on the organization’s structure. It has alliances with many independent groups, but also obviously carries out its own operations as well. The article also points out that while some operations were centrally planned, others were planned and executed by the cells. It seems that there was some degree of guidance and perhaps funding offered for all of the operations of independent cells, though.

Slate’s Scott Shuger has a good little piece about interservice rivalry in the US military today.

I oftentimes consider posting what book I’m currently reading, or keeping some sort of log of books I’ve read and what I thought about them here, but I never do. I think that stems largely from the fact that I don’t read as many books as I’d like to, and I’m kind of ashamed of it. I spend far too much time at work, reading stuff on the Web, working on computer book projects (I haven’t written a book in a while, but I work on various smaller projects all the time), watching television, and playing Dark Age of Camelot to read as many books as I’d like to. In the meantime, I have a big stack of books under my nightstand that are slated for reading in the immediate future, more books around the house that I haven’t read but would like to read someday, and a massive Amazon.com wishlist that I can’t even think of winnowing down yet. Then there’s that huge list of books that I feel like I ought to have read that maybe I’ll read when I retire or something. The days are too short …

Salon has an interview with James Woolsey, the former CIA director who has Iraq on the brain. You might also say that Woolsey is part of the shadow government — he has no official job in the administration, but is nonetheless part of a lot of defense-related policy decisions. In the interview, he lays out the case for taking out Saddam Hussein sooner rather than later.

Mike Godwin: Coming Soon: Hollywood Versus the Internet

It doesn’t surprise me a bit that Tyson Foods was busted yesterday for running the largest corporate immigrant-smuggling ring in history. Anybody who’s read Fast Food Nation already knows that the meat processing industry is built on exploitation at every level and that its plants are filled with illegal immigrants. The fact that Tyson had actually created a system for bringing in illegal immigrants is just the next logical step. Given that Republicans are running things these days, the odds are low that this incident will actually motivate any sort of increased regulation for this severely dysfunctional industry.