Somebody’s compiled 1000 quotes from Dos Equis’ classic ‘The Most Interesting Man in the World’ radio spots. They are of course not all genuine, which is part of the fun. Stay thirsty, my friends.
Taken last August 3, 2010. T minus seven months and a day.
Now and then I try to find a place in my mind
Where you can stay,
You can stay awake forever.
Via Foreign Policy:
Among the 79 commandos involved in Operation Neptune Spear that resulted in Osama bin Laden’s killing, there was one of the four-legged variety. And though the dog in question remains an enigma — another mysterious detail of the still-unfolding narrative of that historic mission — there should be little reason to speculate about why there was a dog involved: Man’s best friend is a pretty fearsome warrior.
It’s not the gear that makes the dog: Military working dogs (MWDs in Army parlance) may not enjoy all the privileges of being full-fledged soldiers, but the U.S. military no longer considers them mere equipment. (The war dogs deployed to Vietnam during that conflict were classified as “surplus equipment” and left behind.) Today, MWDs are outfitted with equipment of their own — a range of specialized gear that includes Doggles (protective eye wear), body armor, life vests, gas masks, long-range GPS-equipped vests, and high-tech canine “flak jackets.”
Today’s series of Google Doodles salutes Charles Roger Hargreaves, a British author and illustrator of children’s books.
In the wake of the announcement of the killing of Osama bin Laden, it seems people are at odds on a few things. The two ends of the spectrum being:
1. People who praise the execution, regarding it as a justified reason for celebration. They’re parading in the streets, chanting “USA! USA!”, supporting the President’s tactical decision as well as the message from CIA Director Leon Panetta that calls the execution “justice done”.
2. People who take offense to said celebration for various reasons. There are those who understandably feel uneasy about the whole topic of engaging with the enemy on any level; they see bin Laden’s killing as a reason to fear more retaliation, and argue that sacking the enemy’s self-professed quarterback may have opened up another can of worms. There are others who take issue with killing in general — even that of mass murderers with active agendas.
And then there are lots of us somewhere in the middle.
Regardless of these differences, it seems there’s one obvious thing that nobody’s arguing about: TERRORISM IS BAD. It must be stopped, or, at the very least, discouraged.
Here’s an idea:
From what I understand, the acts of the people behind 9/11 were driven by religious fervor. It’s not really much more complicated than that, and it’d be a waste of time to try to empathize with their intentions. In their eyes, the United States is The Great Satan, and it is their duty to kill The Great Satan. They are willing to strap bombs to their backs and pilot airplanes into our buildings, committing suicide in the name of their cause.
But such a suicide would not be just to prove a point. These martyrs have bigger dreams than simply going out with a bang. There’s an incentive: they believe that, as martyrs, they will earn their way into their version of Heaven. You know, the whole thousands of virgins thing.
With Heaven being their ultimate goal, and dying in the name of killing The Great Satan will supposedly earn them a ticket to Heaven, there aren’t many things in this physical world that could deter them from doing anything they can to fulfill their perceived duty. They are not deterred by threats of death. They couldn’t care less about imprisonment. And learning that The Great Satan has executed their leader isn’t going to change their way of thinking.
So I wonder, and I’m serious:
What if we punished them by keeping them from getting into Heaven? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Their twisted system of thought includes a belief that a body will not be permitted into Heaven if it makes contact with the blood of pigs. (Unverified.)
Imagine you were a Muslim terrorist, and in the name of killing The Great Satan, you were willing to be a martyr on a suicide mission with the promise of getting into Heaven and having an endless supply of virgins at your disposal. (Why they wouldn’t prefer an endless supply of sluts would be another blog post.) If you also believed that pig’s blood trumps any chance of getting into Heaven, what would be going through your mind if your leader were captured by The Great Satan and dunked in pig’s blood on a live webcam?
NOVA has a cool little interactive app that allows you to see your name spelled in runes and learn the meaning of each of the letters of the Viking alphabet. For instance, in not so many words, JACED translates to something like “Horse God of the Autumn Sun”.
J (Jera): Year or Harvest
A (Ansuz): Deity
C (Sowilo): Sun
E (Ehwaz): Horse
D (Dagaz): Daylight
Runes are the characters of the alphabet used by the Vikings and other Germanic peoples from about the second to the 15th centuries A.D. Some runes vaguely resemble letters in our own alphabet; others look more like symbols. All had meaning to the Vikings, who carved them into their so-called rune stones—large monuments that honor the memory, and the names, of Norsemen past. In this interactive, see your own name spelled out in runes, and learn the meaning of each of the 24 runic characters.
Statement to Employees by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon E. Panetta on the Death of Usama Bin Ladin
Today, we have rid the world of the most infamous terrorist of our time. A US strike team stormed a compound in Abottabad, Pakistan and killed Usama Bin Ladin. Thankfully, no Americans were lost, and every effort was taken to avoid civilian casualties.
Nothing will ever compensate for the pain and suffering inflicted by this mass murderer and his henchmen. But just as evil never rests, neither does good. May the fact that Usama Bin Ladin no longer inhabits the earth be a source of comfort for the thousands of families, here in America and around the globe, who mourn the victims of al-Qa’ida’s barbarity.
Within our Agency family, our thoughts turn to those who died fighting to make this day possible. Our brothers and sisters who gave their lives in the war against al-Qa’ida—from Mike Spann to our heroes at Khowst—are with us, in memory and spirit, at this joyful moment. In all that we do, they are our constant inspiration.
My deepest thanks and congratulations go out to the officers of our CounterTerrorism Center and Office of South Asia Analysis for their outstanding expertise, amazing creativity, and excellent tradecraft. I also extend my profound appreciation and absolute respect to the strike team, whose great skill and courage brought our nation this historic triumph.
The raid was the culmination of intense and tireless effort on the part of many dedicated Agency officers over many years. Our men and women designed highly complex, innovative, and forward-leaning clandestine operations that led us to Bin Ladin. One operation would yield intelligence that was carefully analyzed and then used to drive further operations. Along with our partners at NGA, NSA, and ODNI, we applied the full range of our capabilities, collecting intelligence through both human and technical means and subjecting it to the most rigorous analysis by our government’s leading experts on Bin Ladin and his organization.
Persistent hard work produced the results that the American people expect of their intelligence service: We gave President Obama and his team accurate, relevant, timely intelligence—providing the information and insight they needed at key points as this mission developed. I offered my personal thanks to the President for his willingness to make the courageous decision to proceed with the operation.
Though Bin Ladin is dead, al-Qa’ida is not. The terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him, and we must—and will—remain vigilant and resolute. But we have struck a heavy blow against the enemy. The only leader they have ever known, whose hateful vision gave rise to their atrocities, is no more. The supposedly uncatchable one has been caught and killed. And we will not rest until every last one of them has been delivered to justice.
Remember how you felt in the anxious hours after the attacks of September 11th , and how our Agency vowed to run to ground a vicious foe. Whether you were here at the time or were inspired to serve at CIA in the months and years that followed, take heart in knowing that our Agency is doing its essential job for the American people, and for all humanity. A promise has been kept. And a war will be won.
God bless the United States of America.
Leon E. Panetta
