••• Third time’s a charm? Barry Eisler retorts.
On more than 40 occasions from June 2008 to October 2009, [Levon] Smith removed cables and other U.S. property from the AAI buildings, including replacement parts for the drones operated by the U.S. military… Smith stole approximately $340,000 worth of government materials and received approximately $22,000 from the recycling company.
••• How did this guy steal from a drone manufacturer 40 times before getting busted? No word on whether the copper thief was a tweaker, but that would complete the picture.
Recent reports from across Iraq suggest that attackers are increasingly using silencers to kill police and security officers, blowing up individual cars with magnetic bombs, and attacking vulnerable and cash-rich merchants — especially gold dealers.
••• These guys, probably not tweakers.
The U.S. Defense Department has concluded that China’s monopoly on rare-earth materials, used in military hardware such as missile guidance and radar systems, poses no threat to national security… [T]he Defense Department may help prospective U.S. providers such as Molycorp Inc.
••• Failing that, there’s always invasion.
If you really needed a beer that badly, all you really need to do is start hanging around with the Brits or the Aussies. Those guys are great at sniffing out booze…
••• A mercenary discusses the horrors of war: abstinence and sobriety).
While Russia has struggled to bring heroin use under control domestically, officials have criticized the United States for not doing enough to halt the production of the drug in Afghanistan. Some here have even suggested that the United States was abetting the drug trade in an effort to weaken Russia.