Friday 25 June 2010
They called it the "Death Star" because according to one source who worked inside it, "you could just reach out with a finger and eliminate" somebody. On the walls were banks of television screens, known by the special forces boys as "Kill TV", where footage from image-intensifier cameras of the enemy being blown up by air strikes, or being gunned down by undercover hit teams was shown.
This place was "the Machine", a state-of-the-art military command centre hidden away in an airbase in Balad, a desolate stretch of land north of Baghdad. It was created by Major General Stanley McChrystal, the chief of US Special Forces, the most secretive force in the American military. Here, in the permanently darkened communications cockpit, dozens of US and British (SAS) personnel would gather around as nightly raids took place against al-Qa'ida and their insurgent allies.
Sometimes McChrystal would lead the raids himself, his squad of elite undercover combat troops, known as Delta Force, being told at the last minute that the commander was coming along for the ride. No one was quite sure what the Pentagon policy was on two star generals going on such dangerous missions, but then very few people in the US Department of Defence, and even fewer outside it in Washington, were even aware of these shadowy operations going on in Iraq.
This was the secret and violent world which shaped Stanley McChrystal, who on Wednesday was sacked from his job as commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan. The irony, as his colleagues were pointing out yesterday, was that his spectacular downfall was not due to some illicit military action, but because of a magazine article his aides had arranged in order to publicise his most recent high-profile public career.
Nevertheless, the seeds of what was to bring him down may have been planted at his time running "black ops" [operations], the head of a close- knit team answerable to very few, where decisions were made about life and death on a daily basis. The autonomy was not just military. McChrystal and his men would go into the badlands – at that time most of Iraq – to make deals with local tribal leaders, pay out money, organise allies and informants. There was no question of practical civilian oversight as no diplomat, American or British, would venture into these areas.
Thus McChrystal and the group around him, many of whom would follow him to Kabul, would have little to do with US or British civilian leaders. Their mistrust of what one of them described to Rolling Stone magazine as, "the wimps in the White House" was almost inevitable because of the shadowy nature of their work. When they did meet the civilians, the men did not have much to say to them, because so much of what they knew was classified, and thus could not be imparted.
One American officer recalled for example how much McChrystal disliked entering the Green Zone, the heavily fortified conurbation in Baghdad where Western administrative officials were based. "Stan always looked uncomfortable, he hated all the red tape. I guess, if anything, he was happier talking to the Iraqis than to most of our own people from State [the State department]; he wasn't a networker." The General's preference for cultivating local leaders rather than Western officials continued in Afghanistan, where the President, Hamid Karzai, and others would speak of their regret at his departure.
But friends of McChrystal's say his time in Iraq should be put in context. It was the most ferocious period in the conflict following the US-led invasion, with Sunni and Shia militias killing each other and Iraqi and foreign troops. Armed criminal gangs were on the rampage, kidnapping and extorting money from an unprotected population.
McChrystal had been told, goes the lore: "The gates of hell had been opened and you have got to help to shut them". The US forces, stuck behind their heavily guarded bases, only able to move around in heavy armoured convoys, were not the answer: the war would have to be taken to the insurgents in the streets and fields.
Over cups of coffee at the main US base, Camp Victory, McChrystal described to fellow officers, like the British Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, then leading an SAS unit in Baghdad, his plans to carry out relentless rounds of night raids, killing or capturing insurgents, especially their commanders, and break the cycle of the militant groups "organically" reproducing themselves.
There were many figures among the coalition forces who questioned the approach. One senior British officer dismissed the notion that such "industrial counter-insurgency" could work. But the targeted attacks began, and along with prisoners came intelligence vital in the programme of "decapitation" against al-Qa'ida.
General McChrystal was in his element, eating just one meal a day, sleeping no more than four hours a night, constantly demanding more information on the militant networks. Among the few "artefacts" in his spartan accommodation was a prosthetic limb, belonging to a Sunni sheikh his men had gone to hunt but failed to find. The false arm had been abandoned during the man's hurried getaway.
However, questions were being asked about how information was being obtained. There was an unofficial inquiry into the treatment of detainees at Balad. McChrystal was absolved because he was not there when the alleged abuses had taken place.
But then came information from a captured suspect which vindicated the commander's approach in the eyes of the US military. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qa'ida in Iraq, had been blamed for hundreds of bombings. It is highly unlikely that all of them were his group's handiwork, but the publicity helped create a myth of a master terrorist and Washington was demanding he must be stopped.
Intelligence agents working with McChrystal spent weeks winning the confidence of a suspect captured in the "Sunni Triangle" south of Baghdad. They eventually got a location where Zarqawi was staying, enabling the Americans to carry out an attack mortally wounding the al-Qa'ida leader. The body was brought to Balad. As it was being taken off the flight, McChrystal appeared, to stand and look at his enemy "as if trying some kind of silent communion", according to one of the crew members.
There were other successful operations, with the British SAS taking part in some of them, like the freeing of the missionary Norman Kember and Shia sheikhs supplying arms to be used against UK forces in Basra. Like their American boss, the SAS reported the bare minimum back to London.
In Afghanistan, McChrystal initiated policies which may have been an attempt to curb the lethal violence of his past. He brought in the doctrine of "courageous restraint" to minimise civilian casualties. He ordered air strikes, which had killed hundreds, to be significantly reduced in scale.
But he demanded control of the special forces operations, which had been run by a separate command under his predecessor, General David McKiernan. Iraq-style night raids dramatically increased, causing outcry from human rights groups, which complained that innocent civilians were often being killed by masked assailants.
It was only in recent days that General McChrystal ordered them to halt, saying the killings of insurgents could not justify the local alienation. It was one of his last actions as commander before he was ordered back to face the wrath of his Commander in Chief.
Kim Sengupta @'The Independent'
Scandinavian Jazz Special January 2010 DJ Offbeat Chris Galvan OdDio
1. Fertile Ground - Another Day (Povo Jazz Rework)
2. Povo - We Are Povo
3. Five Corners Quintent feat. Mark Murphy - Jamming (with Mr. Hoagland)(Nicola Conte "For Friends and Relatives" Version)
4. Soular Sound - Things We Do (Nils Krough Alternative Take)
5. Hi-Fly Orchestra - Violet (Povo Rework)
6. Jukka Eskola - Kulo (Studio Live, Take 4)
7. Dalindeo - Solifer-Lento
8. Nostalgia 77 - Wildflower (Povo Remix)
9. Shaun Escoffery - Breaking Away (Koop Remix)
10. Jukka Eskola - 1974
11. Dalindeo - Poseidon
12. Five Corners Quintet - Blueprint
13. High Five Quintet - Conversation (Nicola Conte New Jazz Club Mix)
14. Timo Lassy - African Rumble
15. Auteur Jazz - Two Jaguars In Warsaw
16. Koop-Never Gonna Let You Go
17. Jimi Tenor & Kabu Kabu - Black January
19. A Bossa Eletrica - Consolocao
20. Timo Lassy ft Jose James - The More I Look At You
21. Bobby Hughes Combination - Magnificent Mr. Morgan
22. Povo - Bennie's Groove
23. Five Corners Quintet - Rich In Time
24. Timo Lassy - Early Move
25. Oddjob - Bloodstream
26. Jukka Eskola - Chip 'n' Charge
download link
via Blogrebellen
World Cup 2010: One-sided rivalry remains football's grand illusion
Germany have been in 11 major tournament finals since 1966 – England have made it to two semi-finals
Alan Shearer celebrates his winner at Euro 2000, the only time England have beaten Germany in competition since 1966. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Alan Shearer celebrates his winner at Euro 2000, the only time England have beaten Germany in competition since 1966. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the GuardianOne of the many splendours of modern technology is that it is able to transmit round-robin witticisms to those who might otherwise find themselves short of an aperçu at the most opportune of moments. Consider the embarrassment averted this morning at Port Elizabeth airport, when the BlackBerry of an England supporter beeped obligingly into life. The screen was consulted.
"This is great," he bellowed to assembled travellers, sweetly extending the bounty to those who were not in his touring party – and indeed those not fortunate enough to have won first prize in the lottery of life and been born an Englishman. "This World Cup is exactly like the second world war," he guffawed. "The French surrender early, the US turn up late, and we're left to deal with the bloody Germans."
It brought the house down. Unfortunately, he wasn't buried in the rubble.
But by now, a welter of Don't Mention The Score headlines should have convinced you that you're in for a beguiling few days until England meet Germany in Bloemfontein on Sunday. With his last minute, group-winning goal against Algeria yesterday, the USA's Landon Donovan effectively assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and invaded Poland. England now face the old enemy – the old enemy being the one within, namely some people's pathological inability to view football games with Germany through any other prism than war. Yet if this enemy has an ally – an Axis buddy, if you will – it is the idea that our nation enjoys a serious football rivalry with Germany.
From the minute England's round of 16 destiny was clear, you will have heard much about this sainted antagonism with Germany. Yet the so-called rivalry is quite obviously an illusion, existing only in the minds of those wishful to the point of insanity – which is to say, the English. We are rivals with Germany in the same way Christine Bleakley is rivals with Oprah.
How to put it even more starkly? Since 1966, Germany have been in 11 major tournament finals, of which they have won five. We've been in two semi-finals, and it hardly needs pointing out how that ended. The only time we beat them in tournament football is when it didn't matter, during Euro 2000 when both England and Germany went out in the first round anyway.
As for that 5-1 victory in Munich, there may be some who think that venerating a qualifying game in this way makes them look a force to reckoned with. But on one of the news channels the other day, a German living in England was asked about that night in 2001. If the question was meant as the most hamfisted of provocations – and I think it was Sky News, so it would have been – the reply was a study in understated fly-squashing. "Yes," said the German, gently. "I see the DVD is still selling in shops."
Wise heads have long since outsourced the settling of this ancient and hilariously one-sided blood feud. A friend swears that for him the greatest moment in English football in the last couple of decades came in 1994, at the World Cup in the US, when the Bulgarian Yordan Letchkov scored a brilliant header in the 78th minute that put Germany out in the quarter-finals. Letchkov, he reasons, was English footballer of that year, and if he was only named so on the honours boards of ironist publicans, then that is to our self-deceiving nation's discredit.
Harold Wilson blaming his 1970 election defeat on England's exit at the hands of West Germany in the World Cup in Mexico, Kevin Keegan resigning in the Wembley bogs – these are the sorts of things that happen after inevitable German wins, and there is a reassuringly traditional quality to them. In a world that has changed bewilderingly in recent decades, England losing to Germany in major tournaments is one of the few certainties.
The consequences of an upset of this natural order can only be immense. Watching that relatively insignificant 5-1 victory in 2001, the father of the then German coach Rudi Völler suffered a heart attack inside the stadium – and it is difficult not to think that a comparatively enormous upset in Bloemfontein could unleash such a dangerous collective euphoria in England that it could tear the very fabric of space and time itself. It would be like blasting gigawatts of power into the nation's flux capacitor – indeed, it might quite literally blast us back to 1966. Do let's be careful what we wish for.
Marina Hyde @'The Guardian'
Public Enemy - Shut 'Em Down (CSR Mix)
"Colin Spencer Reid sends over to us this impressive mix he created, blending in the sounds of Arthur Verocai, Bob Marley and the infamous vocals of Public Enemy. "
direct download link
via hypetrak
The Dub Chamber 14.05.2008 Full Session
"So heres an old set from 2008 to chill out & spark one up to, it’s from a wednesday nite Blunt Beats radio session, theme for the nite was “The Dub Chamber” & thats exactly what it turned out to be. Download & listen now links after the tracklisting, theres the whole 4 hour set aswell as just my hour & 20 min set. 1st up was the Erbalist followed by myself & last but by no means least Agent M waded in with some heavy tunes. A spankinly fat dub excursion covering 4 decades of reverbed bass heaven." (DJ Herb)
Part 1 – Erbalist
1. Nation Of Dub – Joe Gibbs & The Professionals (Crazy Joe Records)
2. Round 7 – Scientist (Greensleeves)
3. Weep Not Dub – Reggae On Top All Stars (Reggae On Top)
4. Raw Dub – Vibronics (Scoops Records)
5. Undertaker Dub – Vibes Master (Reggae On Top)
6. Funky Dub – Lee Perry (Jamaican Recordings)
7. Burn Pipe Dub – Sly & The Revolutionaries (Original Music)
8. Set Dub Free – Niney The Observer (Jamaican Recordings)
9. Way Out Rockers – Augustus Pablo (Jamaican Recordings)
10. Want Peace Dub – Bush Chemists (Conscious Sounds)
11. Stop The War Dub – Iration Steppas (Tandoori Dub Plate)
12. Star Dub – The Bush Chemists (Jah Tubbys)
13. Buck Up (Sci Fi Dub) – High Tone (Jarring Effects)
14. Us & Them – Easy Star All Stars (Easy Star Records)
15. Pop Goes The Dread Dub – Lee Perry (Walboomers)
16. Hail Up The Selector – Zion Train (Dubhead)
17. Natty Dread Kung Fu – Dub Funk Association (Tanty Records)
18. Sufferers Dub – Dub Funk Association (Tanty Records)
Part 2 – DJ Herb
1. 555 Dub Street – Augustus Pablo (Rockers Int)
2. 132 Version – Augustus Pablo (Hot Stuff)
3. Skanking Easy – Augustus Pablo (Rockers)
4. Each Version – Jacob Miller (Rockers)
5. Satan Side – Keith Hudson and Chuckles (Satanic)
6. The Last of Jestering – Augustus Pablo and Santic Allstars (Santic)
7. Black Gunn – Augustus Pablo (Rockers)
8. Our Man Flint – Augustus Pablo and Lloyd Young (Black Art)
9. Hot and Cold Version – Augustus Pablo (Black Art)
10. Episode 11 – Niney and The Observers (Observers)
11. Bearded Man Feast – Observer (Observers)
12. Woodpecker – Observer (Observers)
13. Rasta Bandwagon – Max Romeo (?)
14. Mercy Dub – King Tubby (Lees Gold)
15. Zig Zag – Bob Marley and The Wailers (Upsetter)
16. Ammunition – Bob Marley and The Wailers (Tuff Gong)
17. Cloak and Dagger (Dubplate 10? mix) – Tommy McCook and The Upsetters (?)
18. King Tubby Inna Jamdung – King Tubby (Black Art)
19. Kingdom Of Dub – Upsetters (Upsetter)
20. Black Panta 10? dubplate mix – The Upsetters (?)
21. Bucky Skank – Lee Perry and The Upsetters (Justice League)
22. Doctor Demand – Lee Perry and The Upsetters (Upsetter)
23. Bad Lamp – Lee Perry and The Upsetters (Upsetter)
24. Come Along – Blue Bells (Upsetter)
25. Necotine – Upsetters (Upstter)
26. Militant Rock – The Upsetters (Black Art)
27. Every Dub Is A Star – Harry J (Jamaican Recordings)
28. 2 Bad Bull Inna Dub – The Revolutionaries at Channel 1 (Dubplate)
Part 3 – Agent M
1. Sleeping In The Park (version) – Winston Jarrett (?)
2. Good Thing Going (version) – Sugar Minott (Black Roots)
3. Jah Love Dub – Dr, Alimantado (Vital Foods)
4. Step Forward Youth (version) – Prince Jazzbo (Mr Funny)
5. Herb – Sly and The Revolutionaries (Trojan)
6. Simeon Tradition – Augustus Pablo/King Tubbys (Wallboomers)
7. Undying Dub – The Aggravators (Jamaican Recordings)
8. Rebel Dance – King Tubby (Trojan)
9. Only Lover (version) – Gregory Isaacs (African Museum)
10. Wolf and Leopard/No Conscience – Dennis Brown/Niney the Observer (Trojan)
11. Bathroom Skank – Lee Perry (Black Art)
12. The Gorgon Of Drums And Horns – Tommy McCook and The Aggravators (Trojan)
13. Natty Dread In Greenwich Farm (extended dub) – Cornell Campbell/King Tubby (Attack Gold)
14. Tappa Rhythm – Sly and Robbie (Tappa)
15. Drifting Ting (version) – Junior Delgano (Star Trail)
16. Perilous Dub – Max Romeo (Jah Creator)
17. Wilmot Meets Lord Scruffage – Sabres Of Paradise (Warp)
18. Officer – DMZ (DMZ)
19. Rise Up – Sub Version feat. Paul St. Hilare (Soul Jazz)
20. Surround Me – Midas Sound System (Soul Jazz)
21. One Blood, One Source – Pinch feat. Rudey Lee (Tetonic)
22. That Feeling (dub) – Mushtaq (Ariwa)
23. King Tubbys Special – King Tubby, the Observer Allstars and The Aggravators (Trojan)
Download it HERE (220 MB; 4 hours)
Hommage to Miriam Makeba @ Festival Rio Loco 21.06.2010
Hugh Masekela (bugle), Erickson Paliani (guitare), Sibongiseni Zulu (basse), Randal Skippers (piano), Lee-Roy Sauls (batterie), Francis Fuster (percussions) Thandiswa Mazwai (voix), The Mahotella Queens (voix), Vusi Mahlasela (voix), Zolani Mahola (voix)
3 hours 40 minutes playing time
Mick Karn is ill...
This is sad news. According to his website, Mick Karn, who we remember from Japan and Dali's Car among other projects, has been diagnosed with "advanced stage of cancer". To add insult to illness, Mick Karn's website has announced that the musician was in financial difficulties and needed to gather funds for treatment.
Anybody interested to participate in any way should scuttle over to Mick Karn's website for more info.
Hopefully the web can work its magic and support will show up. Let's wish Mick Karn the best.
(Thanks to mUSISTENz for the info.)
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