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FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS.
ISIS' growing foothold in Afghanistan is captured on film.
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FRONTLINE: "Chasing Saddam's Weapons"
Air date: January 22, 2004
ANNOUNCER: Just one year ago, the Bush
administration was telling the world Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
POWELL, Secretary of State: Our conservative estimate is that Iraq
today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agents.
ANNOUNCER: But today the White House is under
increasing attack for the claims it made.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: There's been no evidence from any of the interviews or statements of
former Iraqi officials that such stockpiles, in fact, exist.
ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE, the inside story on the search
for what happened to Saddam's most deadly weapons.
DAVID KAY, Iraq Survey Group: The entire credibility of U.S. foreign
policy and intelligence has been called into question by our inability to find
the weapons.
CORBIN, BBC Correspondent: The team is hoping that they're going
to find--
ANNOUNCER: BBC correspondent Jane Corbin was given
exclusive access inside the secretive Iraq Survey Group whose missing is to
find Saddam's weapons.
CORBIN: You've found no weapons at all so far,
actual weapons.
KAY: We've found no actual weapons of mass
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, the exclusive story of the frustrations,
the pressures and the astonishing discoveries inside America's desperate chase
for Saddam's weapons.
JANE CORBIN, BBC Correspondent: [voice-over] On the outskirts of Baghdad lie the
rusted remains of Iraq's once-feared armory: old tanks, battlefield rockets and
artillery. But amidst the
wreckage, there is no evidence of the weapons coalition forces had feared the
most, Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Before the war, the politicians had been adamant that Saddam Hussein had
those weapons and might give them to terrorists. The danger, they implied, was imminent.
26, 2002]
GEORGE W. BUSH: The danger to our country is
grave. The danger to our country
is growing. The Iraqi regime
possesses biological and chemical weapons.
24, 2002]
Minister TONY BLAIR: The weapons of mass destruction program
is not shut down, it is up and running now.
3, 2002]
RUMSFELD, Secretary of Defense: The United States knows that Iraq has
weapons of mass destruction. The
U.K. knows that they have weapons of mass destruction. Any country on the face of the Earth
with an active intelligence program knows that Iraq has weapons of mass
JANE CORBIN: But as coalition troops advanced on
Baghdad, there had been no Iraqi order to fire weapons of mass
destruction. The chemical and
biological shells the U.S. confidently expected to find within days have never
materialized. So for the past
seven months, a special coalition military and intelligence unit, the Iraq
Survey Group, has been scouring the country, hunting for the weapons the
politicians said existed.
I was granted unique access to observe their work. It's the first time any outsider has
been on a mission with the ISG.
[on camera] This is a surprise trip right into the
heart of downtown Baghdad. The
team is hoping that they're going to find not only relevant documents but also
Iraqis who can tell them something about the programs of mass destruction.
Today the ISG has received a tip-off that this small Iraqi
pharmaceutical company was secretly importing materials to make long-range
missiles for Saddam Hussein. The
company's own Web site makes clear its view of America's war against terror.
SOLDIER: It's got a bullseye on Bush, with a
note to make this the home page.
SOLDIER: Some uniforms--
JANE CORBIN: The public was led to expect that
coalition soldiers would unearth warheads filled with nerve gas and anthrax,
but today they're dismantling computers instead.
Maj. JOHN SUTTER, Iraq Survey Group: The
good thing is, we found a lot of email addresses. We found a lot of names of individuals that we're already
aware of and other contacts that they've worked with. So that's a good start right there.
JANE CORBIN: Then they find blueprints which reveal
this drug firm was really a front company for military procurement.
Maj. JOHN SUTTER: We're finding a lot of standard
pharmaceutical stuff on the top of each pile, and usually when you go down
further, you find more about military applications-- radar, body armor, a number
of other items in here. A lot of
chemicals mentioned here. Probably
most are pharmaceuticals. We're
interested in certain ones that could be used for propellant applications.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] The ISG group's been here for about two
hours now, and they say it is worth taking these boxes back. There are files of interest to
them. But the big question is, how
significant would all this turn out to be?
[voice-over] Now, months into their mission, the
prospect of finding the smoking gun is fading. There's just a giant puzzle the ISG has to piece together.
Maj. JOHN SUTTER: We found lots of documents where they
were trying to go around legal ways to purchase these things. And again, it's a front company, so
we've got lots of information. We
did find the things we're looking for, but we're going to have to sit down and
do the research to try to link it to the missile programs. And so yes, no single large missile
that we've found or chemicals, but we've found a lot of small pieces so far,
and we just need to continue this hunt.
JANE CORBIN: It took two months from the end of the
war to set up the Iraq Survey Group and begin the systematic search for the
weapons. A thousand experts from
America, Britain and Australia were brought together. The U.S.-led group took over an old palace of Saddam's,
renamed Camp Slayer. It was
trashed and looted, like many of the places in Iraq they were interested
in. The coalition's failure to
secure sites and preserve evidence created a problem for the ISG from the
start. In the new command center,
the murals proclaimed Iraq's military might. But what was the truth? Did they possess forbidden weapons? It was the ISG's task to find out.
Dr. DAVID KAY, Iraq Survey Group: This balcony gives you a good view of the grandeur of this complex. And in fact, you can't even see all of
it here. That was a Ba'ath
convention center.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] What, in the middle of the lake?
DAVID KAY: In the middle of the lake. This is what was to be a main
presidential palace, still under construction at the time of the war.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] Under fire for its intelligence
estimates before the war, the CIA chose a man they called their "ramrod" to
head up the ISG. Dr. David Kay, an
ex-U.N. inspector who had helped uncover Iraq's past nuclear program, began
work knowing political futures could rest on his findings.
DAVID KAY: The entire credibility of both the
U.S., and I must say, I think British foreign policy and intelligence, has been
called into question by our inability to find the weapons immediately. I think we all realize after Iraq, we
really do have to readjust our intelligence services for the new demands posed
by countries like Iraq and others. We're not going to know how to make that adjustment until we know what
the lessons learned here. What was
the ground truth?
JANE CORBIN: David Kay had been searching for the
truth about Saddam's weapons programs since the first Gulf war in 1991. After that war, Kay was put in charge
of one of the U.N. missions to investigate Iraq's nuclear weapons program.
DAVID KAY: So we suddenly appeared at the gate of
a military facility at a place called Abu Ghraib and demanded access. The poor commander of the base that day
said, "I have no orders to let you in," but he made what turned out to be a
genuinely fatal mistake for him. He said, "You can put up as many members of your team as you want to on
this water tower, which is right inside the gate."
JANE CORBIN: The inspectors on the water tower
spotted Iraqi trucks slipping out the back gate. Kay immediately ordered his team to chase after them.
[June 28, 1991]
INSPECTOR: Go get 'em, Pee Wee! Go get
'em, boy!
JANE CORBIN: The U.N. Land Rovers caught up with the
trucks and tried to pull them over. The Iraqis refused to stop.
DAVID KAY: In the process, the Iraqis decided to
fire shots over their head, but we did get the photographs, and the photographs
are damning as to what the Iraqis were doing.
JANE CORBIN: The photographs showed the trucks were
carrying calutrons, giant iron magnets which can be used to enrich uranium.
DAVID KAY: Well, this was the proof that no one
could deny. It was physical
evidence of a very, very large uranium enrichment program. And it was also the evidence of
concealment, that from the very beginning, the Iraqis had not been living up to
their obligations.
INSPECTOR: --that you are in serious violation, a
flagrant violation of Resolution 687, and it will be up to the Security Council
members and the secretary general of the United Nations to determine how they
DAVID KAY: It turned out they had spent over $10
billion in the 1980s to develop a program that explored practically every known
way to enrich uranium and to craft a nuclear weapon. This was not a small program, it was one that was so
extensive that, as an inspector, when you faced it, your mind just boggled.
JANE CORBIN: U.N. inspectors spent seven years in
Iraq. They uncovered thousands of
chemical and biological munitions. They unearthed WMD research programs and destroyed laboratories and
production facilities. But by
1998, they reached an impasse. Denied access to Saddam's palaces, accused of spying, the U.N.
inspectors had to leave.
Iraq's intransigence convinced many, including David Kay,
that Saddam was still hiding weapons of mass destruction. In the lead-up to the second war in
Iraq, David Kay, now a consultant to NBC, argued publicly that the U.S. should
remove Saddam from power.
Nightly News," September 17, 2002]
KAY: If you want to disarm Iraq, remove its
weapons of mass destruction, there is no alternative to replacing the regime.
[NBC "Meet
the Press," December 18, 2002]
everyone who runs an active intelligence service knows this regime has been
seeking weapons of mass destruction.
[CNBC, "The
News With Brian Williams," April 14, 2003]
Well, I
think it's there, and it's got to be found. And that is the new priority. The administration has to invest the effort and the people
into doing it.
JANE CORBIN: So when, after the war, the CIA put Dr.
Kay in charge of finding those weapons, some seasoned observers were concerned.
DAVID ALBRIGHT, Former UN Nuclear Weapons Inspector: David
Kay was a very big advocate that Iraq had large WMD programs, and he's had that
attitude for quite a while. And in
fact, I was surprised that he was appointed to this position. I mean, if you really want to have a
credible, objective job done, don't bring in one of the strongest advocates
that Iraq has massive WMD programs, and "Give me time, and I'll find it."
JANE CORBIN: Dr. Kay's critics pointed to remarks
he'd made just after the war, before he joined the ISG, about two captured
Iraqi trailers.
KAY: --nutrients. Think of it sort of as a chicken soup for biological
JANE CORBIN: Dr. Kay said these vehicles were very
likely mobile production facilities for biological weapons.
KAY: Literally, there's nothing else you
would do this way on a mobile facility. It is it.
JANE CORBIN: The Bush administration was quick to
seize on the find and declare the trailers part of Iraq's biological weapons
30, 2003]
GEORGE W. BUSH: We found the weapons of mass
destruction. You know, we found
biological laboratories.
JANE CORBIN: The infamous trailers are parked on a
back lot at Camp Slayer, but you don't hear much about them now. The Iraqis claim they produced hydrogen
to fill weather balloons on an artillery range. Because some pipes are missing, experts can't tell if they
carried a gas or a liquid biological agent. The vessel at the center of each trailer is the biggest
mystery of all.
[on camera] The experts are pretty much split 50-50
on this bit of kit. Is it a fermenter
to brew deadly germs or a vessel to produce hydrogen? Some have even suggested it resembles a giant coffee
[voice-over] Exhaustive testing of the equipment has
failed to reveal any trace of biological weapons agent. Reluctantly, by July, the new ISG
leader conceded everyone had been rather hasty.
DAVID KAY: I wish that news hadn't come out.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] It was premature to announce them as
being that definitely, and embarrassing?
DAVID KAY: I think it was premature and
embarrassing. That's exactly what
we're trying to do. That's why I'm
so reticent in my discussion with you, essentially, in early July, when we're
talking now, because I don't want this-- I don't want the mobile biological
production facilities fiasco of May to be the model of the future.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] As they moved into Camp Slayer in the
summer of 2003, the ISG adopted a forensic approach to the hunt. U.S. troops had already failed to find
any weapons at sites that were suspicious before the war, so the ISG
concentrated its search on people and records. Iraq had been a bureaucratic nation. Members of Saddam's regime tried to
destroy many documents as they fled, but mountains of paperwork from
ministries, barracks and factories were soon collected at Camp Slayer.
SOLDIER: There's no exact figure been done, but
we estimate it's about seven-and-half miles, if it was laid end to end.
JANE CORBIN: Twelve years earlier, after the first
Gulf war, it had been a paper trail which led the U.N. inspectors to Iraq's
hidden weapons programs. Although
denial and deception had been built into the very fabric of the regime, clues
had inadvertently been revealed in documents. So that's where the ISG began, sifting through tons of
paper. Selected documents were
passed to the heart of the operation, the secret intelligence analysts working
with translators. Their job: to
identify any Iraqi who might be involved in producing, storing or moving
weapons of mass destruction.
OFFICER: Could I get everybody's attention again? What we're looking for are high-ranking officials, starting
with major and above, working with the Special Republican Guard, Republican
SOLDIER: This is a Special Security Force, and it's about information.
JANE CORBIN: The mood at the Iraq Survey Group in
July was upbeat, but a change of language was already detectable, with less
emphasis on finding actual weapons.
DAVID KAY: I can say that we've already found
enough evidence to convince me that we will be successful, if you judge success
by finding a weapons program that involved weapons of mass destruction.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] What about the weapons themselves? Because I think the public expected to
see weapons lined up, ready to use against our troops.
DAVID KAY: Well, if I'd found weapons ready to be
used and lined up, I would-- I'd be breaking news. I just don't know. We're looking for them. The
Iraqis engaged in quite a bit of destruction and dispersal effort prior to the
war, certainly during the war and after the war, and that's why it's not an
easy task.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] In New York, just as Dr Kay was
beginning his hunt, another weapons inspector, who had found Iraq no easy task,
was retiring. Dr. Hans Blix's U.N.
teams had searched Iraq for weapons of mass destruction just before the
war. He had suspected Saddam might
have forbidden programs but came under fire from the Americans for failing to
find stockpiles of anthrax and other weapons. Watching the ISG, Blix, too, had noted how the Americans now
talked, not about actual weapons, but only about WMD programs.
HANS BLIX, Exec. Chmn UN Inspectors, 2000-'03: I've
even seen American spokesmen sort of veering in that direction, rather than
talking about big stocks of these supplies, talking about the capability and
programs. That's conceivable. Saddam might have said that, One day
we'll be out of sanctions and then we can do-- can do these programs again. That is possible. But that doesn't-- did not make them
into an imminent danger at all.
JANE CORBIN: Two years earlier, before September 11,
the Bush Administration seemed to agree Saddam Hussein and his weapons did not
pose a serious threat.
24, 2001]
POWELL, Secretary of State: He has not developed any significant
capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional
power against his neighbors.
JANE CORBIN: But by the fall of 2002, when President
Bush came to the U.N., everything had changed.
12, 2002]
GEORGE W. BUSH: The history, the logic and the facts
lead to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering
danger. To suggest otherwise is to
hope against the evidence. To
assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace
of the world in a reckless gamble.
JANE CORBIN: It was American insistence that Iraq
now had to be disarmed that led to a new U.N. resolution and the return of U.N.
inspectors to Iraq. Hans Blix's
team searched hundreds of sites but found no active programs, no stockpiles of
weapons. But the Iraqis did not
produce complete documentation proving they had destroyed all their old stocks
of chemical and biological agents, as they claimed.
HANS BLIX: I never said that what is unaccounted
for exists. But there was a
tendency among governors to say that, Well, it is unaccounted for, so where is
it? Well, the Iraqis said they had
destroyed it all in the summer of 1991. Maybe they did. I don't
know yet, but maybe they did. And
one can simply not jump to the conclusion that it exists.
JANE CORBIN: During their four months in Iraq before
the war, U.N. inspectors found nothing to back up American claims that Iraq was
still producing weapons of mass destruction. But this did not lead to any change in the U.S. assessment
of the threat that Saddam posed.
DAVID ALBRIGHT, Pres. Inst. for Science & Int'l
Security: I think that it's one of the mysteries, is why the
administration could not change its assessment as new information became
available. And you're left to
conclude, unfortunately, that perhaps the WMD was somewhat an excuse, that they
had made up their mind they were going to attack Iraq, and they needed a
reason. This was the sellable
reason. This is why people would
get behind a war.
JANE CORBIN: In Washington, as President Bush and
his deputies sold their policy of regime change in Iraq, they frequently raised
the ultimate specter of modern warfare: the nuclear bomb.
7, 2002]
GEORGE W. BUSH: Facing clear evidence of peril, we
cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of
a mushroom cloud.
5, 2003]
POWELL: Saddam Hussein is determined to get his
hands on a nuclear bomb. He is so
determined that he has made repeated covert attempts to acquire
high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries.
JANE CORBIN: These aluminum tubes became a weapon in
Washington's armory to make its case that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear
program. The U.N. nuclear inspectors
believed Iraq's explanation: the tubes were for conventional battlefield
rockets. But at that time, David
Kay agreed with the president's officials, who said the tubes were for
centrifuges to enrich uranium for a bomb.
DAVID KAY: The centrifuge tubes look like they're of the design, which is
German-derived, that the Iraqis acquired some time in the 1980s and
developed. They're for enriching
uranium. That is, taking natural
uranium up to the level that makes it useful for a weapon.
JANE CORBIN: But Kay's statement glossed over an
intense debate in Washington. Energy Department officials, the foremost experts, said the tubes were
not suitable for centrifuges. And
many in the State Department believed Iraq's nuclear program was dormant.
GREG THIELMANN, State Dept Intelligence Bureau 1998-'02: The
State Department Intelligence Bureau was convinced by some of the best experts
in the U.S. government and elsewhere on centrifuges that this particular type
of aluminum was not suitable for use in centrifuges in a nuclear weapons
JANE CORBIN: But in his keynote speech at the U.N.
before the war, President Bush used the tubes as proof Iraq was reactivating
its nuclear weapons program.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Today Iraq continues to withhold
important information about its nuclear program. Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum
tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to
build a nuclear weapon within a year.
GREG THIELMANN, State Dept. Intel. Bureau '98-'02: The
president, in his speech to the United Nations in September of 2002, just made
a flat assertion this aluminum was for a nuclear weapons program. No acknowledgment whatsoever that there
was any controversy.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] Why was that? What was he trying to do, do you think?
GREG THIELMANN: Well, he was trying to build a case
that Iraq posed an imminent danger, and there's no better way to scare the
American people than to conjure up mushroom clouds.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] After the war, the ISG's first missions
went out looking for evidence of nuclear weapons facilities. But after several months, the ISG
concluded -- and then stated publicly -- there was no evidence Iraq had an active
nuclear program. Still, Dr Kay is
reluctant to concede there was nothing to the pre-war claims made by him and
some American officials.
DAVID KAY: To date, we have found only small
indications of interest in centrifusion, not even anything I would call a
restart of the centrifuge program.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] So pretty dormant.
DAVID KAY: I wouldn't say it was dormant. There are signs of new interest in it,
but it was certainly not a vigorous, ongoing program.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] Though Saddam was no doubt still
interested in nuclear weapons, the U.N. had dismantled his nuclear
infrastructure and placed his raw stocks of uranium under guard in 1991. Sanctions appear to have made it impossible
for Saddam to reactivate his nuclear program. So where did that leave Dr. Kay's certainty about the tubes?
DAVID KAY: Well, the problem we have with the
tubes is the tubes-- a year ago, two years ago, when we weren't in the country,
we were just looking at the tubes themselves, and the tubes looked like they
were suitable for centrifuge. And
in fact, I still think, if I were only looking at the tubes, they were suitable
for the centrifuge. Now, we've got
a great advantage now. We're
inside the country, so we don't have to grasp at straws of evidence.
JANE CORBIN: "Straws of evidence." That's the way Dr. Kay now describes
what he and the Bush administration once presented as clear proof Iraq was
rebuilding its nuclear program.
By August, the heat was on the Iraq Survey Group at Camp
Slayer. It was now three months
since the end of the war and no weapons of mass destruction had been found. Missions got underway to follow up information found in the
documents. People had been traced
and some Iraqis had come forward to offer tips on where the weapons might be
found. Twelve ISG teams spread out
to begin searching 120 huge ammunition dumps. They were looking for hidden stockpiles of chemical weapons
which the politicians and intelligence agencies said existed before the war.
POWELL: A conservative estimate is that Iraq
today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons
agent. That is enough agent to
fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.
[www.pbs.org: FAQs on the hunt]
JANE CORBIN: Again and again, ISG teams returned to
Camp Slayer without finding any weapons of mass destruction. It was an exhausting, frustrating task. It was a familiar story to Hans Blix,
now home in Sweden writing a book. By now, the ISG had had the same time on the ground in post-Saddam Iraq
as the U.N. had been given before the war and had found no weapons. But Dr. Blix himself had been
suspicious. He had not received
satisfactory proof from the Iraqis that they had destroyed their WMD a decade
earlier, as they claimed.
[on camera] You helped to create this impression
they were there.
HANS BLIX: In a way, we did, because we certainly
didn't exclude that they had them. But it's true that we did say that this is unaccounted for. And I also warned the Security Council
that you cannot jump from that to saying that they have it.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] So could it be that Iraqi officials
were telling the truth when they insisted they had long since destroyed all of
the weapons? Before the war, I had
gone to lunch in Baghdad with the man responsible for satisfying the U.N. that
Iraq no longer had WMD. A key
figure in the weapons programs in the past, Dr. Amer al Sa'adi claimed they had
destroyed all the stockpiles in 1991, but there were no records or independent
CORBIN: [on camera] The West still doesn't seem to believe Iraq. There's still this feeling you're hiding something, you're
not really laying out your cards on the table.
Gen. AMER
AL SA'ADI, Adviser to Saddam Hussein: Well, how else can they justify their
military build-up? They must
portray things as not being satisfactory, that Iraq is holding back, Iraq is
hiding things. How else can they
justify their actions to their public? If we have something, we will produce it. We will be happy to produce it, to get rid of it and get
done. But we don't. We don't. What do we do?
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] When I returned to Baghdad after the
war, the restaurant had escaped the bombs and the looting, but my host was no
longer available for lunch. He'd
discovered he was one of the infamous deck of cards, the U.S. wanted List, and
so Dr. Amer al Sa'adi chose to give himself up. The city was still violent and lawless, and the doctor's
family had been hold up for weeks at home in a suburb of Baghdad. Helma, Dr. Sa'adi's German wife, had
heard nothing from him for months, since he disappeared into U.S. custody. She insisted he was innocent and
couldn't understand why he hadn't been released.
HELMA AL SA'ADI, Wife of Iraqi Scientist: He was
so convinced about what he had always said. And up to the-- half an hour before he left and he went to
the Americans, he said that, "I know there is nothing to be found and I've
always said that, and I'm repeating it again. And time will bear me out." These were his sort of last words. I remember very well.
JANE CORBIN: Dr. al Sa'adi is being held at Camp
Slayer in a special prison. He is
one of the "high value detainees," as the ISG calls them, top officials and
scientists from Saddam Hussein's regime.
[on camera] What about Dr. Amer al Sa'adi? You're now holding him. Is he saying anything? And what do you really think about his
DAVID KAY: Well, we are talking to him. And he is talking. Do I think it's the whole truth and
nothing but the truth? [laughs] No, indeed, I do not. I think Dr. Sa'adi continues to
withhold vital pieces of information. But we're actively talking to him. As you know, Dr. Sa'adi was involved in a missile chemical program in
the 1980s, the deception effort beginning in 1991, after some of my first
missions. So I have a personal
interest in him. And he continued throughout
the 12 years being a public face. So he knows a great deal, and we would like him to tell us what he
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] By the autumn of 2003, the
interrogations of Dr. Sa'adi and other high ranking Iraqis hadn't led to the
discovery of any weapons.
The ISG team, now 1,400 strong, was about to deliver its
first report. Public criticism of
the Bush administration over Iraq was growing, and so was the pressure on David
DAVID KAY: I just want to produce the facts, and
others have to draw the answers of what were the differences and what are the
implications of any differences that exist.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] You've found no weapons at all so far,
actual weapons.
DAVID KAY: We've found no actual weapons of mass
destruction that exist, at this point. But having said that-- and I know that sounds like a pretty startling
statement -- you know how large this country is. The situation that we found ourselves in, for example-- we
didn't start until June. There had
been widespread looting in April and May. Material had disappeared. It's a huge country. It's not
possible to easily move around.
[www.pbs.org: Read David Kay's interview]
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] In October, I went with David Kay to
visit one of his ISG teams as they investigated suspicions Iraq had a
continuing biological weapons program. Before the war, the politicians insisted on the basis of intelligence
that Iraq was producing such weapons.
POWELL: There can be no doubt that Saddam
Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many
more. And he has the ability to
dispense these lethal poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death
and destruction.
KILLIP, Iraq Survey Group: We've been through this headquarters
building here. It's taken us quite
a long time to go through all the documents.
KAY: Any documents left?
KILLIP: Lots of documents.
JANE CORBIN: The ISG was looking at evidence Iraq
had misled the U.N. at this agricultural research center south of Baghdad.
KILLIP: OK, what you've got down this side is a
whole series of laboratories--
JANE CORBIN: A former U.N. inspector with long
experience of Iraq's WMD, Hamish Killip, had been conducting an inventory to
see what was here and determine if anything had been removed.
HAMISH KILLIP: There's a bit of looting here. Clearly, things that have been ripped
out from the wall like that-- that looks like looting. On the other hand, there are buildings that we do find here
where you come into a place like this, and it is suspiciously clean. There is absolutely nothing left, and
you know that was done some time ago.
JANE CORBIN: In the past, Iraqi scientists lied,
denying they had developed a military bio-weapons program while hiding it
behind civilian facilities.
HAMISH KILLIP: There are one or two bits of equipment
here which do interest us.
JANE CORBIN: Under a crucial U.N. resolution, 1441,
Iraq was given one last chance to declare equipment which could be used in
forbidden programs. Here the ISG
says it's found evidence of Iraq's deception.
DAVID KAY: It is interesting that this fermenter
was not declared. I mean, that in
and of itself is a violation of 1441. That fermenter was subject to declaration.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] And it ends up in a biological
laboratory context.
HAMISH KILLIP: It ends up in one-- a highly secure,
highly competent center of excellence of Iraqi science, which is, as you saw,
you came in, extremely well protected, one of their secret enclaves in the
country. Yes, I mean, the context
of this is very strange.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] The ISG now says the fermenter was
suitable for culturing bio-warfare germs, but testing hasn't shown that it was
used for this purpose. So far, the
strongest indication that Iraq may have continued a clandestine program is the
ISG's discovery of 97 samples-- reference strains. A scientist had kept them hidden in his refrigerator at home
for the past 10 years. One of the
test tubes, or vials, contained an organism called botulinum.
[on camera] What about the vial of botulinum that
was found? I mean how dangerous is
it? I mean, could it have been
used for biological weapons?
HAMISH KILLIP: No, that was for diagnostic
purposes. It was not one of the
strains that Iraq weaponized.
JANE CORBIN: But the suggestion is that it could
have been used.
HAMISH KILLIP: It's something that Iraq should have
declared to us. This is-- it's like
other bits of equipment you've seen here today. Iraq had an obligation to tell us about these things and it
did not do so, and that in itself breaks 1441.
JANE CORBIN: But not a substance that could have
been weaponized.
HAMISH KILLIP: Not as a vial, no.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] This Iraqi ministry was responsible for
declaring to the U.N. any items remaining from Iraq's past weapons
program. I'd been here before the
war, when U.N. inspectors were searching the country.
[on camera] This place has been pretty much cleared
out, hasn't it? There's nothing
[voice-over] In January, 2003, in this same
ministry, I'd been allowed to meet a Ba'ath Party official and senior
scientist, who, it now turned out, had given the botulinum to her colleague to
hide. Dr. Rihab Taha, the woman
U.N. inspectors called "Dr. Germ," had used her skills in Iraq's past
bio-weapons program. She admitted
that in the 1980s, she'd played a key role in developing anthrax and botulinum--
for Iraq's self-defense, she claimed.
RIHAB TAHA, Iraqi Scientist:: I think it is our right to have a
capability and be able to defend ourselves and to have something as a
CORBIN: [on camera] So even though you were producing toxins and bacteria that could kill
hundreds of thousands of people?
TAHA:: Well, we never have this intention to
use it.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] But the ISG say it has now been told by
Dr. Taha's colleague that as well as botulinum she wanted him to hide other
samples, including anthrax, an agent Iraq had weaponized.
DAVID KAY: This scientist turned back after two
days the larger box of samples, he says, to Dr. Taha and said -- he was keeping
it in his refrigerator -- "It's too dangerous. I have a small child in the house. Take it back." We've not been able to find that group of samples, and we need to.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] And what does she say? What does Rihab Taha say about this?
DAVID KAY: She says absolutely nothing about this.
JANE CORBIN: She denies it?
DAVID KAY: No, she just doesn't talk about
it. She just won't respond to
questions on this issue.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] Another Iraqi scientist has told us Dr.
Taha gave samples of a third bio-warfare agent, aflatoxin, to a colleague to
keep at home. But there was still
no proof Iraq had restarted a bio-weapons program, and the ISG's language was
changing again. They weren't
talking so much about programs, but Iraq's violation of the U.N. resolution.
[on camera] But those who would say that this war
was fought on faulty intelligence would point to the fact that you found a few
old vials of material. This doesn't
constitute a biological program or even, really, proof of an intention to start
DAVID KAY: We haven't said that it constitutes a
biological program or the intention. What we have said, and I think it's undeniable, is that this was a clear
violation of U.N. Resolution 1441. The Iraqis, under the resolution, were required to give up all of this
material, to declare it to the U.N. For over 10 years, they failed to declare it and failed to return
it. That's all we've said about
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] Last October, David Kay came back to
Washington to deliver the ISG's first interim report.
2, 2003]
KAY: At this point, we have found
substantial evidence of an intent of senior-level Iraqi officials, including
Saddam, to continue production, at some future point in time, of weapons of
mass destruction. We have not
found yet-- we have not found, at this point, actual weapons. It does not mean we've concluded there
are no actual weapons. It means,
at this point in time -- and it's a huge country with a lot to do -- that we have
not yet found weapons.
DAVID ALBRIGHT, Former UN Nuclear Weapons Inspector: Well,
I think what the ISG has shown but is not willing to say it, is that the
administration was wrong. The
administration claim there were large stocks of chemical and biological
weapons, there was an active nuclear weapons program. And the ISG, I think, has proven that those programs did not
JANE CORBIN: The Iraq Survey Group did have one
revelation to make in its October report. It concerned long-range missiles, another weapon which the politicians
had insisted before the war that Saddam was developing.
POWELL: Saddam Hussein's intentions have never
changed. He is not developing the missiles
for self-defense. These are
missiles that Iraq wants in order to project power, to threaten, and to deliver
chemical, biological and, if we let him, nuclear warheads.
JANE CORBIN: The ISG had been gathering up Iraq's
battlefield rockets, weapons with a range up to 150 kilometers, which were
allowed under U.N. resolutions. But Iraq had been secretly developing several long-range missiles and
seeking forbidden technology from North Korea. There was no sign of Iraq's old Scuds, but the ISG discovered
evidence that engineers had continued to produce fuel for those rockets.
DAVID KAY: Missiles are very significant to us
because they're the long pole in the tent. They're the thing that takes the longest to produce. You do not get a 1,000-kilometer-range
missile in a matter of weeks or even months. The Iraqis had started in late '99, 2000 to produce a family
of missiles that would have gotten to 1,000 kilometers.
JANE CORBIN: Valuable information was coming from an
Iraqi engineer prepared to risk his life to expose Iraq's illicit missile
programs. I set off to meet him in
a safe house in Baghdad. He didn't
want to be identified. The
engineer explained his team had been given orders in April, 2001, to begin
secretly to design a long-range missile.
[on camera] So how far was this missile designed to
ENGINEER: [through interpreter] Five hundred kilometers.
JANE CORBIN: Five hundred kilometers. That's beyond the permitted range.
ENGINEER: [through interpreter] Yes.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] The design involved adding an extra
engine to a short-range rocket. The Iraqis reckoned they'd be able to hide things more successfully
inside an existing program that was allowed. Then the team were told to double the missile's range.
ENGINEER: [through interpreter]
This rocket from 1,000 kilometers.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] So this was even further, 1,000
ENGINEER: [through interpreter] A
thousand kilometers, yes.
JANE CORBIN: And how many engines?
ENGINEER: [through
interpreter] Five engines.
JANE CORBIN: Why did you work on this forbidden
ENGINEER: [through interpreter] Our regime here was harsh. We could not refuse to work. When the state ordered us to make a
missile with a range of 500 kilometers, we couldn't say we would not work on it
because we would have been killed or imprisoned.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] The missile was never built. The designs we've seen show only a
conventional warhead. But when the
U.N. visited last year, everything was hidden.
ENGINEER: [through interpreter] We were told that we must hand
documents and designs for long-range missiles to the project director-- that is,
the director general. We would
hand them over to him, and he would hide them. When the U.N. left, these documents would be returned to us
and we would start work again.
JANE CORBIN: I wanted to talk to another missile
scientist to find further evidence for the engineer's story. It meant traveling to another part of
town. Baghdad is a dangerous place
for Westerners and Iraqis alike.
[on camera] I have just come back from talking to a
second Iraqi scientist. He's a
more senior individual, and he confirms he was involved, too, in this illicit
missile program. He won't let me
film him, however. He won't even
let me say who he is. He's
absolutely terrified. He's scared
of retribution, he says, from members of Saddam's old regime.
[voice-over] Iraqi scientists have learned the risks
of talking. One man who had
cooperated with the ISG has already paid the ultimate price.
DAVID KAY: One was killed right after being talked
to by us. Someone came up to him
in front of his house, put a gun to the back of his head and blew his brains
out. Another source, very
important source to us on the biological program, took six bullets into his
body, and it's only by the grace of God that he's still alive. Others report routinely that they're
under threats, and we're trying to deal with that.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] So what's the answer? I mean, this reign of fear, it's likely
to continue. Will you ever really
get to the bottom of this?
DAVID KAY: Well, we all have hopes that when
Saddam is captured, the pressure will go off somewhat.
BREMER: Saddam Hussein was captured Saturday
December, 13th, at about 8:30 PM local in a cellar in the town of Adwar, which
is about 15 kilometers south of Tikrit.
1st SOLDIER: Two
hands appeared. The individual
clearly wanted to surrender. That
individual was removed from the hole.
2nd SOLDIER: He
said that, "I'm Saddam Hussein. I
am the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate." And then the response from the U.S. soldiers was, "President
Bush sends his regards."
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] The capture of Saddam Hussein elated
the Bush administration and many Iraqis. The ISG tells me it has diminished the violent reprisals and fear
amongst their Iraqi sources who worked in Saddam's weapons programs. But would Saddam himself reveal vital
information about what happened to his weapons of mass destruction?
15, 2003]
GEORGE W. BUSH: I don't trust Saddam Hussein, I don't
believe he'll tell the truth. He
didn't tell the truth for over a decade. I just can't believe he's going to change his ways just because he
happens to be captured.
JANE CORBIN: Saddam has now been in U.S. custody for
more than a month and has reportedly revealed nothing about the elusive
So what was Saddam's game? Why hadn't he come clean with the U.N. inspectors?
[on camera] What do you think might have been going
through Saddam Hussein's mind, personally, when it came to this whole question
of weapons of mass destruction, if he didn't have them?
HANS BLIX, Exec. Chmn UN Inspectors, 2000-'03: I
think a lot of pride. I think that
he thought of himself as the Nebuchadnezzar of Mesopotamia, and I think that he
regarded us inspectors as sort of creepy-crawlies that came in. He never received either Ekeus or
Butler or myself. I think we're
far too lowly creatures to be seen by this emperor.
JANE CORBIN: In the center of Baghdad lies Iraq's
most important war memorial. It
commemorates the million lives lost in the bloody struggle with Iran in the
1980s. It was during that conflict
that Saddam developed most of his weapons of mass destruction. Iran is Iraq's great historic enemy,
Israel its ideological foe. These
regional conflicts are the most likely reason Saddam continued to develop his
forbidden missile program. It's a
view confirmed by the Iraqi engineer I'd interviewed.
ENGINEER: [through interpreter] The minister said that Iran had fired a
750-kilometer-range missile. So
within six months, we had to design one that went 500 kilometers. The government wasn't on the best of
terms with Iran, and a missile like that could reach Israel.
JANE CORBIN: And if Saddam still had chemical
weapons, as the U.S. believed, why hadn't he used them when coalition forces
crossed the "Red Line" on their approach into Baghdad? We spoke to an officer from the elite
Special Republican Guard who was there defending the city. He believes Saddam's way of countering
all his enemies was to bluff.
OFFICER, SPECIAL REPUBLICAN GUARD: [through
interpreter] He used chemical weapons at Halabja. Everybody was afraid of him using them,
even during the war with Iran. People in Kuwait were afraid of chemical weapons. Israel was afraid of them. So everybody was afraid that Iraq would
use chemical weapons against them, so they avoided him.
JANE CORBIN: The officer says he ran his unit's
weapons inventory. Western
intelligence believed the Special Republican Guard had responsibility for
Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
OFFICER: [through interpreter] After the sanctions -- that is to say,
from 1991 onwards -- there were no stocks of chemical weapons, neither with the
Special Republican Guard nor other units. There were none available at all. It was no more than talk, a lot of hot air.
JANE CORBIN: If it was a bluff, it was also a
massive miscalculation. Saddam
lost his army, his family and his country. And many of the scientists who served Saddam, like Dr. al
Sa'adi, have lost their freedom.
HELMA AL SA'ADI, Wife of Iraqi Scientist: [reading
from letter] "My only
regrets for the life I have lived so far: Was it all futile? I tend to think so now."
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] Why didn't Saddam Hussein come
clean? What happened? What is-- there is a big mystery here. What's the answer?
HELMA AL SA'ADI: My husband was fighting on two
fronts. He was trying to convince
the U.N., and also he was trying to convince the government, the regime, to
cooperate with him. But somehow,
they always kept decisions or admissions right to the last moment. Maybe the president was bluffing, thinking
they will be afraid.
[www.pbs.org: Read an interview with Jane Corbin]
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] For more than a decade, I had covered
the story of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. The first Gulf War had revealed the
frightening reality of his aggressive chemical, biological and nuclear
programs. The aftermath of this
new war was revealing something quite different. Despite his intention to rebuild a weapons program, Saddam's
imperial dreams had turned to dust, his country impoverished by sanctions, his
pariah regime held in check by intrusive U.N. inspections. Like the man himself, who emerged from
his spider hole still claiming to be president of Iraq, his long-feared weapons
seem to have been a shabby illusion conjured up by an unquestioning mindset in
the West and by the arrogance of Saddam's last, fatal bluff.
Back at Camp Slayer, the hunt for Iraq's weapons was running
out of steam by the end of 2003. Saddam's capture had not led to any breakthroughs, and David Kay was
fighting to keep the full resources of the ISG. Increasingly, his intelligence analysts were being diverted
to the bunt for the insurgents, as attacks against U.S. troops
intensified. In my last interview
with him, Kay made it clear he was already downgrading expectations.
[on camera] Do you ever think that you may have got
it completely wrong, there may be nothing to this at the end of the day,
nothing really substantial, nothing current and really threatening?
DAVID KAY: I think we have a process that, if we
get to the end of the day and we find nothing, we will all be able to say,
"This is the evidence that led-- leads us to the conclusion that there was
nothing there or there was something there."
JANE CORBIN: You're prepared to be proved wrong,
that there was nothing, at the end of the day?
DAVID KAY: Absolutely. If that turns out to be the truth, you know, so be it.
JANE CORBIN: [voice-over] Meanwhile, back in Washington,
President Bush used a media interview to send a new message that seemed to say,
with Saddam now in prison, actually finding his weapons no longer mattered.
[ABC News
"Primetime," December 16, 2003]
SAWYER, ABC News: --stated as a hard fact that there were
weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to
acquire those weapons still.
GEORGE W. BUSH: So what's the difference?
DIANE SAWYER: Well--
GEORGE W. BUSH: The possibility that he could acquire
weapons-- if he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger.
SAWYER: What would it take to convince you he
didn't have weapons of mass destruction?
Pres. GEORGE
W. BUSH: Saddam Hussein was a threat, and the
fact that he has gone means America is a safer country.
SAWYER: And if he doesn't have weapons of mass
destruction, someday--
GEORGE W. BUSH: You can keep asking the question. I'm telling you, I made the right
decision for America.
JANE CORBIN: When David Kay returned to Washington
to spend Christmas with his family, he threatened to resign his post heading up
the ISG. He was frustrated that
chasing Iraq's weapons was no longer America's top priority.
The ISG is scheduled to deliver its next interim report in
February. It is likely to be
David Kay's final word on his long hunt for Saddam's elusive weapons and an
ending that might just suit the politicians.
HANS BLIX: They would rather end the whole thing
by controversy than by an admission that it was wrong.
JANE CORBIN: [on camera] So in other words, they want to leave
it hanging, so--
HANS BLIX: Yes, I think so.
JANE CORBIN: --so no one can say, "Oh, there
definitely weren't weapons."
HANS BLIX: I think so. Controversy will be preferable to a judgment.
JANE CORBIN: And what's your view of that?
HANS BLIX: Well, I think that-- again, I'd like to
get to the truth. What is the
reality, and looking at the evidence. I mean, it may take time, but I think we will get there. Maybe the historians will have to do
it. Politicians will prefer to
retreat under a cloud of dust or mist, but we ordinary people I think would
like to have some real clarity.
Jane Corbin
Fiona Campbell
Thea Guest
Bob Hayward
Joanna Lee
Eleanor Plowden
Nikki Millard
Grant Lawson
Ginny Williams
Laura Govett
Boyd Nagle
Andrew Sears
Rosa Rudnicka
Karen Sadler
Sophie Lhernoult
Kate Redman
Kathlyn Posner
Key Yip Lam
Alex Newbery
Andrew Bell
Sam Collyns
Mike Robinson
Copyright 2004 BBC
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Chasing Saddam's Weapons
is a BBC production in association with WGBH/FRONTLINE.
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ANNOUNCER: There's more to explore about this
report on our Web site, including a talk with BBC reporter Jane Corbin about
her work and access on this story, the extended interviews with chief weapons
inspectors David Kay and Hans Blix, some frequently asked questions about the
hunt for Iraq's banned weapons, plus the chance to join the discussion and more
at pbs.org.
Next time on FRONTLINE:
GEORGE W. BUSH: Right here in our neighborhood, we have
ANNOUNCER: Six American citizens--
ASHCROFT, Attorney General: We must prevent first, prosecute
ANNOUNCER: --arrested in the name of homeland
GEORGE W. BUSH: One by one, the terrorists are learning
the meaning of American justice.
ANNOUNCER: Were they really a threat?
ALWAN: We were definitely no sleeper
cell. I'm not a terrorist. I love my country. My son lives here.
ANNOUNCER: Chasing the Sleeper Cell next time on FRONTLINE.
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text:
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text:
Dylan Lauren, age 36, daughter of fashion designer Ralph Lauren, is the founder of Dylan's Candy Bar--an up-market candy store, carrying more than 5,000 kinds of candy, apparel and beauty products.
She spoke to Forbes recently about her starting her own business, her goals for the future and being her father's daughter.
Being the daughter of such an iconic fashion designer, what made you think of getting into the candy business?
My aim for Dylan's Candy Bar was to merge fashion, art and pop candy culture. We do carry a lot of non-edible items related to fashion such as T-shirts, pajamas and designing motifs. I do support my dad and his business by giving him ideas and attending his events. My father was supportive from the start and wanted me to do something that I loved.
Everyone in my family is entrepreneurial. I learned how to be entrepreneurial from my dad and wanted to start my own business.
What was the biggest challenge when you first started Dylan's Candy Bar?
I am a creative person and have many ideas. I had to learn about issues such as real estate, and I had to learn how to convince people how creativity would lead to numbers.
What has been your biggest achievement?
Opening the flagship store in New York was a big achievement. Now our stores are considered a tourist destination, which is exciting to hear. Also, being on shows such as Oprah and Martha Stewart. I look up to both of them and hearing them appreciative of our products has been great.
In what ways has the company expanded?
We are now featured in wholesale shops such as Yankee Stadium and Neiman Marcus. Our New York store has now expanded to 15,000 sq feet, making it the largest candy store in the world. We also do a lot of events and movie launches. For example, we launched the Wonka Candy and have had cross-promotion partnerships with movies such as Harry Potter.
Given the rough economic climate how has the business fared?
Despite the economic climate, we have been successful as candy is not very expensive, and everyone likes to give it as gifts. Our expansion in the New York stores shows that we are doing well.
See Also: The Billionaire Mayor's Daughter
What are your plans for the future?
We are looking to expand and open stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London and Japan. I have a book coming out in the fall. This will be a coffee table book called Dylan's Candy Bar: Unwrap Your Sweet Life, which will be full of ways in which candy has become so iconic.
What would you say it is like to be the daughter of a billionaire?
My dad is very down to earth, and I view him as a creative genius and I am very proud of that. He continues to launch successful brands, which are very exciting for me to see. For me, it's not about the money. The money allows me to be charitable and give back. What I've really learned being his daughter is how to be entrepreneurial and the importance of working hard.
What are some of your interests? How do you stay fit given you are working in a candy-filled environment?
I like to live a healthy life. I write for Self magazine sometimes. I am very athletic and like to play tennis, run, hike and work out with my trainer. I also enjoy traveling, and given that it's a part of my job, I get to do it a lot.
What charities are you involved with?
I am involved with the ASPCA, and we recently held an animal-themed store event for them. I also am involved with cancer organizations.
See Also: Billionaire Heiresses To Watch


text:
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The height of the tree
The height of the tree to be removed is a factor that will matter a lot when it comes to overall cost of removal. The only thing that one will need to know is that most of the tree removal service firms will have their price vary depending on what they have set as the charges. Many of the will set their fee as per the foot. This means that the more height a tree has, the much it will cost.
Nearby hazards
These are those factors that will make the removal of the tree more difficult for the firm that is doing the work. For instance, when the tree is located near some power lines, then one should expect that removing the tree will be more costly. For those trees that are already dead, many companies will charge more for these than the ones which are alive.


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text:
Rule #3, the top 5% rule
Rule #3 is the top 5% rule. This is an HR and staffing rule. Hire to raise the mean of the team, each and every time you hire. Hire the smartest candidates you interview – the top 5%. Microsoft sees, on average, 14,000 resumes per month. Of those, less than 100 are hired. The company could grow much faster, but doesn't. Instead, it relentlessly focuses on the quality of the candidates, and hiring only the very brightest it can get. As Dave Thielen, a former Microsoft development lead puts it, "The single most important contributor to productivity is the quality of the employees. Everything else is secondary." Dan Dodge, President and CTO of QNX Software, used to say that some of his staff were 10Xers – people who were 10 times as productive as others. Those were the ones he wanted to hire.
Aside from the fact that a lot of people want to work at Microsoft, which lets Microsoft pick and choose among the available candidates, how do they do it? Interview questions are legendary, and the process itself is grueling. The most important factor in the Microsoft interview process is idea of using the whole team to interview. Candidate interviews are conducted by a selection of peers, and management. The process consists of several steps.
1) Initial candidate selection is done by a combination of HR screening resumes, telephone screening interviews, and on-campus recruiting interviews at universities and colleges.
2) From these initial candidates, the hiring manager will select a subset of three or four potentials to interview at Microsoft headquarters.
3) On the interview day, HR and the hiring manager will select a group of three to six interviewers, including one senior interviewer designated as the "as appropriate". The day is a packed schedule of individual one hour long interviews. Someone will take the candidate to lunch, which is a 90 minute slot, but this is still an interview. There may also be a dinner.
4) At the conclusion of each interview, the interviewer returns the candidate to the building lobby, and then writes detailed feedback on the interview in email. The feedback mail begins with one or two simple words – either HIRE or NO HIRE. This mail is then sent to the HR representative responsible for the candidate.
5) By early afternoon, the HR representative makes a call on whether or not the candidate will meet the "as appropriate" interviewer, depending on how the interviews have been going. This interviewer has final say on whether or not the candidate is made an offer or not.
Typically, each interviewer will have specific characteristics that they are interviewing for – drive, creativity, bias for action and so on. The feedback mail will highlight the interviewers impression of the individual based on those characteristics, plus any other characteristic which the interviewer thinks are notable about the candidate. The interviewer may also request, in the feedback mail, that another interviewer drill more deeply on a potential weakness or point that lacks clarity. The rules vary from organization to organization inside Microsoft, but some organizations require unanimous HIRE recommendations before they will hire a particular candidate. Some people have tried to say MAYBE HIRE, and qualify the recommendation in some way, but most organizations consider this wishy-washy response as a NO HIRE.
This system works well, not because Microsoft hires every good candidate it sees, but because it enhances Microsoft's ability to screen out the bad potential hires. Microsoft estimates that each employee it hires costs the corporation about $5,000,000 (including those stock options) over the lifetime of the employee. It's seen as a costly mistake to hire poorly, and then have to correct that error later.
At QNX we also implemented some of these hiring rules. Over a period of 12 months, it was possible to change the culture of the marketing department by focusing on hiring the very best candidates we could afford, and empowering and supporting those individuals. We tended to interview in groups of 2 or 3 as opposed to one-on-one, primarily because the HR department wanted to participate in the interview process. In a company the size of QNX it is possible to do this, but including the HR person in every interview obviously doesn't scale as the organization gets larger.
Key mistakes that many organizations make:
- Hiring for the short term. Many companies choose to hire to fill a specific role, relying on the job description to guide them on whether the candidate is a fit. Much more important than whether or not the candidate can do a particular job well is the whether the candidate can do the next job you ask for well, and the job after that well. Hire smart generalists, not specialists. The biggest mistake you can make, as the hiring manager, is to hire someone you know you will need to replace in 12 to 24 months. If you can already see the candidate's weaknesses, and believe that the candidate won't be able to stretch to meet your future needs, then find another candidate.
- Letting HR make the hiring decision. The HR department doesn't have to work with, or manage, the potential employee on a day-to-day basis after the hire. You do. Make sure you are happy with the individual you hire, and that there's a good fit in terms of skills, smarts, culture, and team. Nothing is worse than taking a productive, but slightly understaffed organization, and making them unproductive by introducing a disruptive individual.
- Relying on the resumé. Newsflash: Resumés are designed to show the candidate in the best possible light. The resume is a screening tool, and nothing more.
- Requiring a degree. There are a lot of smart people out there without degrees. And, speaking from personal experience, I have interviewed plenty of dummies with Harvard MBA's. A degree is a screening tool, and nothing else. Look at the candidate's experience, question carefully during the interview, and listen hard to what the candidate says.
- Not checking references. Don't just check the references on the resume though. Plug into your own network of contacts. Ask questions that will help to confirm that you've got the right candidate, based on your interview criteria. Don't just take "He is a great guy" at face value.
That's it. Raise the mean of the team with each hire. Hire the best, not just the candidate that's available when you need them. Sometimes it will mean a painful wait, but it's cheaper in the long term to hire the right candidate.
Questions? Drop me a line at email@example.com if you want to clarify anything here.
Meeting and interviewing new people is one of Alec's passions. Alec has built teams at Microsoft, QNX Software, and Versatel Networks. During Alec's time at Microsoft he interviewed hundreds of candidates, and was responsible for creating several new brain-buster interview questions. While at QNX, Alec changed the company's hiring practices, and in the process recruited a team of marketing rock stars to launch the company's ground-breaking QNX Momentics develop
ment suite.


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Event Guide: Social & Enviornmental Change
Social Media Week is a leading news platform and worldwide conference that curates and shares the best ideas and insights into social media and technology's impact on business, society, and culture.
We're doing all that we can this week to help you optimize your #smw12 experience. While each of our hubs serve as homes for specific content areas, the number of sessions we host on a specific topic far exceeds the capacity we have in our Hubs.
To help you navigate the schedule and find sessions that are relevant and interesting for you, we're constructing a series of guides, which we hope will surface new and interesting content you might not have otherwise been aware of.
Your Guide to Social & Environmental Change
Monday February 13th 9-11am:
The Guardian Interviews, hosted on the Nokia Global Stage at Big Fuel: Don Tapscott
Tuesday February 14th 12-2pm:
Keynote: Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director & Founder of Girls Educational & Mentoring Services
Tuesday February 14th 3-5pm:
Social Media for Social Good
Tuesday February 14th 5:30-6:30pm:
Women, Money & Social Power: What Made The Komen Debacle A Win For Women
Wednesday February 15th 9-11am:
Keynote: Alex Bogusky followed by Social Innovators Collective's Innovative Models for Social Good Collaboration
Wednesday February 15th 1:30-2:30pm:
Crowd Sourcing Human and Monetary Capital for Social Impact, Hosted by LinkedIn
Thursday February 16th 12-2pm:
Panel: Weapons of Choice: The Design of Insurgency
Friday February 17th 10am-11am:
RAPP presents RAPPATHON – Hacking for Change: A New Way of Collaboration
Friday February 17th 1-2:30pm:
Social Media HAS Changed the World
Friday February 17th 3-4pm:
Leveraging online platforms to inspire social good
Coming up over the next couple of days, SMW Guides on Advertising & Marketing, Music, Science, Technology, Startups, Small Business & Health & Wellness.
Want to write for Social Media Week?
We're looking for individuals around the globe to contribute articles on marketing, media, technology, and more.


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Delux Parasite Pack
NZ$993.33Approx USD$727.53
Tonight Lynne and i watched a disturbing TV program on the growing ineffectiveness of antibiotics,the growing resistance to fungus and molds, parasites and bacteria, below are some interesting facts to help you stay informed
And now there is ebola ???
Health Effects and Symptoms Associated with Mold Exposure
studies have linked mold to the rapid rise of the asthma
rate over the past 20 years.
What is Mold?
Molds are fungi that reproduce by releasing tiny spores into the air. Spores lucky enough to land on moist objects may begin to grow. There are thousands of different types of mold and we encounter many of them every day, inside and out.
to Health from
What is Toxic Mold?
Toxic mold is a type of mold that produces hazardous byproducts,
called mycotoxins. While individuals with asthma and other
respiratory problems may have reactions to many types of
mold, it's thought that mycotoxins are more likely to trigger
health problems in even healthy individuals. These toxins
are believed to be linked to memory loss and
to severe lung problems in infants and
the elderly. Floating particles of mold are invisible
to the naked eye, so it's impossible to see where they
might have landed unless they begin to grow. Loose mold
particles that accumulate on items within a house are easily
inhaled and can be a constant irritation to the people
and pets who live there.
Virtually everyone has one type or another of mold somewhere in their home. Although not all types are toxic, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish types without lab testing. Thus it is imperative to treat and remove all molds as if they're potentially harmful. Regardless of the type of mold found, a home containing mold is not essentially a healthy home. Mold spores are very easily transported to different areas by attaching themselves to various hosts. These hosts would include people, animals, shoes and they even enter through open windows and doors. The spores then thrive and grow where it is damp and moist. Very toxic molds can develop from water seepage, and while black mold is "less common than other mold species it is not rare."
Fungi and their biological metabolites, the mycotoxins, are silent and relentless attackers of human health by causing the major "degenerative" and "cancerous" diseases which plague mankind. Fungi are masters at producing a wide array of biologically active substances which serve the producing fungus extremely well. These biological metabolites are anti-predatory and pro-territorial-protective and insure the fungus will have a perpetual existence in a quite hostile world. These metabolites are anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-protozoan, anti-insect, anti-animal and, of course, anti-human. These metabolites are referred to as the mycotoxins. The term is derived from the Greek words "mykes" meaning fungus, and "toxicum," meaning toxin or poison.
The major "naturally occurring carcinogens" present in food which are well documented to cause cancer are the fungi and their toxins. Furthermore, they are variably present such that the involved food correlates with cancer when fungal colonization and mycotoxin contamination is maximal, and does not when it is minimal or absent.
Cancer is Fungus1
It has already been documented that large percentage of German adults have ochratoxin in their blood, that leukemic children have aflatoxin in their blood, that patients with urinary tract cancers have ochratoxin in their blood, that patients with Crohn's Disease have aflatoxin in their blood, and finally, 18 to 90 % of nursing mothers have mycotoxins in their breast milk. Obviously, the problem of mycotoxins in human health is quite real and requires full elucidation, particularly since we all know that food is in some way connected to the major disease of humans.
Cancer is Fungus 2
Fungi are plant-like organisms that lack chlorophyll. Fungi are one of the five kingdoms of life. Many fungi are good and useful (edible mushrooms would be an example of these) while some cause problems (some fungi can injure plants and people). There are over 100,000 species of fungi.
Do You Have a Toxic Mold/Fungus in your body?
Since they do not have chlorophyll, fungi must absorb food from others. Since they don't use light to make food, fungi can live in damp and dark places. Fungi are supposed to "eat" things when they are dead but sometimes they start eating when the organism is still alive.
Bad fungus is just good fungus trying to do its job way too early to an organism. Most commonly, fungi cause something to happen on the skin of animals or people.
Mold is everywhere; inside and outside. Some molds are good (penicillin), some are very toxic and emit gases that can be inhaled (Stachybotrys "black mold"). Although some people apparently aren't bothered by mold, all varieties have the potential to cause illness. Mold reproduces by generating spores that are released into the air, where they land on moist surfaces. They can grow on any organic surface such as wallpaper, ceiling tiles, carpeting, wallboard and wood. They thrive in dark, warm, moist locations, like under carpets, inside walls and ceilings. They will also contaminate items that come in contact with those surfaces.
Mold can trigger allergic reactions and asthma attacks in many. Complaints of flu-like symptoms, chronic fatigue syndrome, memory impairment, migraines, sick building syndrome, dizziness and nosebleeds are common. These are the mild symptoms. Many researchers claim that mold can attack several main body systems, including the brain, central nervous and immune systems and have been the direct cause of some deaths. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, who wants to smell mold/mildew and inhale spores from household fungus? They can lodge in your lungs (remember dark, warm and moist). Asthmatics, infants and individuals suffering immune system deficiencies are particularly susceptible.
Finally, fungi can be helpful and not helpful, but they all are important and required in life. Fungi are one of the earth's big recyclers. Without them we could not live, and sometimes humans die because of them, but they are very important and required in life.
Cleaning and Infection Control (home fungus infections):
Dietary changes can bring immediate alleviation, but it is in together with a full program of holistic treatment for systemic yeast infection (such as Blood Zapping,ozonating, homeopathic remedies, changes in diet, lifestyle and detoxification) that this works much better than most classical treatments that only act superficially for this condition. It is the holistic approach that enables the treatment of the hidden reasons for systemic yeast infection.
Stop this Vicious Cycle
Parasites Fungi Yeast and Mold
Parasites Fungi Yeast and Mold
Our Latest High Power Multi-Pulsar V2
Delux Parasite Fungus Yeast and Mold Complete Package
Multipulser v2 + Water Ozonator 600mg/h/ Ioniser
Items made to order


text:
A best-selling author has turned down a $500,000 contract because he thinks he can make more money flogging the book online himself.
In a blogpost here, thriller writer Barry Eisler, who has been a NY Times Best Selling author, said the decision came down to money.
The system at the moment is like going to an insurance company and taking out a bet where the loser will always be you.
He said that many didn't realise that in paper publishing, with rare exceptions, there's a big upfront sales push, followed by either total evaporation or by years of low backlist sales.
However with digital sales, the thing can sell forever and the percentage is much higher.
Eisler said that publishers were aware that they were fast being made redundant but they do not know any way out of it.
They recognise they're becoming non-essential, and are trying to keep themselves essential but are going about it in the wrong way, he said.
Publishers are trying all they can to slow the transition from paper to digital. However they should be using the advantages of e-publishing to make their business stronger.
If Eisler is right, then the book publishing industry might be making the same mistake that the recording industry made over MP3s – and the reason ebooks are so expensive is simply because the publishing industry does not want them to work.


text:
Radici's own farm-raised heirloom tomatoes, halved and packed with extra virgin olive oil and basil.
Organic and flavor-packed, delicious straight out of the jar. Crush or lightly blend to make an instantly superb red sauce. Ideal enhancement for pizzas, out-of-season caprese salads, soups and sauces.
An Italian food lover's 'must' for the pantry.


text:
Rags Setting Themselves Up For Massive Fall
And still they come. While City's management team and squad's comments focus on the job in hand, Sir Alex Ferguson and his players continue with wild threats and put downs...
Taggart has now swept aside the significance and meaning of a Manchester derby. A heinous dismissal of what it means and has meant to the legions of players and fans who have given their all for the fixture down the years:
'Liverpool will always be the derby game for me because of the history. It's been a bigger game for City over the years because they've not had the success. But they've been given a chance to be compared with us.'
The compliant, fawning hacks at his press conference then asked him if the modern day rags will ever go into the 'not really a derby' as underdogs:
'Not in my lifetime.'
There's more. We've already had Rio Ferdinand's dismissals of City and an admittedly more reasoned effort from Patrice Evra, but more rags are going to the hacks to threaten their total domination.
Nemanja Vidic, forgetful of Catalunyan humiliation last May said:
'They have improved their squad and look a much better team than last year, but to say they are the best team in Manchester is crazy. If they win the Premiership title for the next 10 years in a row then maybe we can talk again, but until then we don't just believe we are the best in Manchester but also the best in Europe.'
Up pops rag midfielder Anderson:
'However hard they work, City's attack will be inferior and this is a serious problem for them.'
Well, they've given Planet Blue shedloads of ammunition now. So brace yourselves Blues we're evidently about to be given a footballing lesson...or are we?
Vital Manchester City was the fastest growing Independent City Website last season and has a membership now standing at 1700 strong. There's more to come - Be Here Now and get on our popular Live Match Thread in the VMC Forums on Sunday as City take on the Evil Empire!


text:
Makari skin whitening cream is one of the most useful things that someone can have when they are trying to fix their skin complexion. The complexion that someone has to deal with every day could be bad if it is really uneven, and they might have other colors that get in the way. It can be very hard to change someone's skin, but now they can use Makari without any problem.
Makari is a skin cream that can go on every day without any problem, and someone who is trying to make sure that they are going to change their skin needs to use it every day. They can see the changes in their skin when they are using it, and they can keep using it until they are happy with what they got. Some people are not sure how far they are going to have to go to make their skin look good, but visually checking makes life easier.
It is also easy for people to use the cream when they end the day. Sometimes their skin is going to flare up, and that is when they need to use the skin cream to make sure that their skin is not changing too much. At night is a good time that people can check their skin, and then they can put on the Makari skin cream before they go to bed, for extra lightening.
A lot of people have not considered that they can change their skin with a cream, and it is important then they will have something in the bathroom to use. People can travel with Makari, and they will be able to change the way they look without any problem at all. They just need to make sure they are faithful in using it so that their skin will start looking better.


text: jjl at pobox.com (John J. Lee) writes: > I've never checked: how many LOC is Zope? I don't remember but the answer has been posted here before. > Of course, one has to remember that lower LOC (by a multiple of 5 or > so, according to some experienced C++, Java and Python developers > here) is one of the very reasons that people choose Python in the > first place, so some sort of correction has to be applied, or a more > sophisticated metric used. No, LOC is not perfect but IMO it's about as indicative as most anything else I can think of. No correction factor should be applied. It could be that a 100 KLOC Python program does more stuff than a comparably sized Java program, but that doesn't mean the Python program is bigger. I think Zope is in the 100 KLOC range within a factor of some small integer. A large application these days may mean 10 MLOC or more.


text:
Some of us still live in Canada, EH!
View Single Post
Stazon Splitcoast
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Yellowknife, NT, Canada
Posts: 10,250
Good Friday afternoon everyone! I am indeed in Montreal where the temperature is just right for me!!! It's a nice day, cloudy in parts but with plenty of blue sky and sunny intervals. I was exhausted when I got here, only had about 2 hours sleep the night before I left 'cos I was so anxious I'd not get up in time to get to the airport. I asked Rex to call me and he did at a little earlier than the appointed hour and I was soooo asleep! Good thing he did call!! We had a really lovely meal together yesterday evening and shared a nice bottle of wine too. I just couldn't get out of bed this morning and when I did eventually come to enough to take a shower, I could barely move! Too much time spent sitting on the flight to Montreal. Got out and met Rex for lunch then wandered around the shopping mall I used to frequent when I vsited here before. Even found my way there on the Metro!!
Now it's the weekend so we get to spend some time together.
Deb, I have my cards with me as I didn't quite get one set done in time to mail but if I don't get them assembled here, I'll do it as soon as I am in the UK and you will get them before the end of the month!!
Robin, that is not an 'old' lady thing!!! It just means you have a lot on your mind and got somewhat distracted. Essily done when people leave their carts and you're busy making your choices! How funny that he was parked next to you though.
Not much else to report, DH is back from work and I think it is time for a G&T in the bar before we go out to dinner! Have a good weekend, girls.
Word for November 2017: Choices
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text:
BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer introduced his three new assistant coaches Friday, one week after officially announcing the three new hires as part of a major staff shake-up.
New offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler, new offensive line coach Jeff Grimes and new receivers coach Aaron Moorehead met with the media for an hour at the Schott Media Center in Lane Stadium's South end zone. Those three take the spots vacated when receivers coach Kevin Sherman left to go to Purdue, and quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain and Curt Newsome left to pursue other opportunities.
"Change is not easy for me," Beamer said. "At the same time, you've got to do what you think is right for your overall organization, and that's what I've done in this case. I really liked the people I had, and I really like the people I'm bringing in. Both (sets) are good people and good coaches, but I think with different personalities and so forth, these guys can bring freshness to the organization."
Loeffler comes to Tech after spending this past season as the offensive coordinator at Auburn. In 2011, he spent the season at Temple as the coordinator, and the previous two seasons, he worked as the quarterbacks coach at Florida, where he tutored Tim Tebow. In 2008, he worked as the quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions, and from 2002-2007, he worked as the quarterbacks coach at Michigan, his alma mater.
Loeffler, who has worked with Tebow, Tom Brady, Brian Griese, Chad Henne, Drew Henson and John Navarre – all of whom play or played in the NFL – takes over the coordinator reins from Bryan Stinespring, who will remain on Tech's staff as the tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
"Not at all," Loeffler said when asked if there was any apprehension about working with the previous offensive coordinator. "Actually, I had the same situation occur to me at Temple. Matt Rhule was the offensive coordinator when I went there, and he became one of my best friends in the business. He went to the Giants when I was at Auburn, and now he's the head coach at Temple – and I'm ecstatic for him.
"Coaches are coaches, in my opinion. I know that we have a (staff) room where there are zero egos. It's not Scot Loeffler's offense. It's Virginia Tech's offense. We're all going to work together. I'm impressed with Bryan's knowledge, and he understands Virginia Tech. I'm really, really happy, walking into this situation, that he's in that room."
Loeffler takes over an offense that struggled much of last season. The Hokies finished 81st nationally in scoring offense (25.1 ppg), 79th in rushing offense (145.9 ypg) and 81st in total offense (376.8 ypg)
"We're going to play to our strengths as a team," Loeffler said. "We understand that Virginia Tech has always played great defense, and they've always played great special teams. We need to have an offense that runs the football effectively, play-action pass, be productive on third down, and in the red area, score touchdowns.
"There are some things that Bryan has done in the past in his system that are very similar to what we believe in also. I think the marriage between what they've done in the past and what we want to do in the future is excellent."
Grimes, a 1991 graduate of UTEP, comes to Tech after a four-year stint as the offensive line coach at Auburn, where he worked with Loeffler. His other stops included Colorado, BYU, Arizona State, Boise State and Hardin-Simmons.
Grimes takes over an offensive line that loses two starters and played inconsistently at times last year. The Hokies' offensive line has been a source of contention among the fan base over the past several years, and Grimes will be tasked with bringing some on-field consistency to the unit.
"I haven't taken inventory yet (of what Tech has on the offensive line), and I'm not worried about contention among the fan base," Grimes said. "What I'm worried about is developing the toughest offensive line in the ACC. That's something that is hard to measure and is one of those things that you can put a statistic with it, but you know it when you see it. That's going to be my No. 1 goal and approach.
"For us to do the things we want to do on offense, particularly running the football, we have got to have the approach that we're going to try and dominant the game from the offensive line position. That's the only way it works. That's the only way your offense takes a physical approach. We've got to be the big brothers of everyone else on the offense. We're the tip of the spear, so to speak. If we do our job with the right approach and right mindset, then I think the other guys will follow."
Moorehead moves into the role as the receivers coach. The 2003 Illinois graduate spent five seasons in the NFL playing with the Indianapolis Colts and won a Super Bowl ring in 2006. In 2009, he worked as a graduate assistant at New Mexico before moving to Stanford, where he has worked as an offensive assistant for receivers the past three seasons.
"We played these guys (the Hokies) three years ago in the bowl game (the Orange Bowl), and you just saw what athletes they had," Moorehead said. "They had athletes all over the field. The quarterback (Tyrod Taylor) was obviously a very good player. Anyone who is anyone knows that Virginia Tech has had very good players for a long time. It was an obvious choice for me (to come to Tech). I haven't had a chance to watch the receivers on tape, but I know we've got some good, young talented players, and I can't wait to work with them."
Though they possess a lot of experience, both playing and coaching, the three new hires make Beamer's staff significantly younger. Moorehead is only 32, while Loeffler is 38 and Grimes is 44. O'Cain, Newsome and Sherman were 58, 54 and 44, respectively.
"Not only younger, but taller," Beamer joked. "Nah, first and foremost, you've got to have knowledge. You've got to know what you're talking about, and you can see it quickly if you don't. But I do think having a good blend of older guys and younger guys connecting with kids in recruiting can help. I feel very comfortable with where we are."
"I think the big thing is ending up with the right guys, and I feel comfortable we have. When I visited with these guys, and some of our other staff members visited with them … I'm a people guy. I kind of connect and get into what you are all about. I think these guys are good stuff, and I think we've got the right people."
The Hokies' revamped staff will be tested quickly. Tech opens the 2013 season against defending national champion Alabama at the Georgia Dome.
"Oh my goodness," Loeffler said, laughing. "They (the Crimson Tide) do a great job and have great players. We're going to go in there. We're Virginia Tech now. Let's go play. Let's roll out the ball and go play."
For updates on Virginia Tech football, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Football).
For updates on the Hokies, follow Jimmy Robertson on Twitter (@jrobIHS).


text:
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The United Veterans Council of Mahoning County recognized Mahoning County Auditor Mike Sciortino and his office for speaking to veterans about the Homestead exemption.
The recognition happened Thursday morning at the Mahoning County Commissioners meeting. The auditor's office also discussed the Veterans Property Tax exemption.
Sciortino said it is important to inform the public when changes like these happen. He said that anyone with questions can call the auditor's office for assistance.


text:
Before I get to the San Diego goodness, here's another comics-related post.
Recently I was asked by All Too Flat extended family member Dov to recommend comics to him. He's a complete newbie who got hooked on Bruce Jones's current (excellent) Incredible Hulk run due to the 25-cent promotional issue Marvel offered during the release of the film, and wanted to know what else he might dig. I wrote him a long message, just recommending a whole bunch of my favorites, and it occurred to me that this is the sort of thing I should put up on the old blog, too. Hopefully the choices will illustrate that there really is something for everyone in comics today. And I'm not doing this as Team Comix boosterism, honestly–I just feel like otherwise media-savvy people who don't read comics are driving down the art highway on only three wheels.
Here, then, are some of my favorites, all of which should be available at Amazon. Any one of them is a great way to start your comics-reading career.
We'll begin with some of the current crop of ongoing superhero monthlies:
NEW X-MEN w: Grant Morrison a: various–This is the best ongoing superhero series around, and maybe even ever. The hardcover collection of the first 12 issues or so is fantastic, but it's also available in smaller softcover editions (the first of which is called E is for Extinction). Morrison is a real visionary, very Burroughs or Pynchon or Dick. His ideas are just huge.
DAREDEVIL w: Brian Bendis a: Alex Maleev–another fantastic superhero comic, close in spirit and execution to the current Hulk series. Very pulp stories, with beautiful art; Bendis probably has the best ear for dialogue in comics today. Lots of collections of this creative team's run are available; the first is called Underboss.
ALIAS w: Brian Bendis a: Michael Gaydos–Bendis also writes this very dark look at the underbelly of the Marvel superheroes. It's a mature-readers book that's actually mature, which is saying something. Gaydos's art hooks you like nobody's business. It's about a private detective who used to be a superhero before some unnamed incident traumatized her. Again, you can find collections of this, the first one of which is I think just called Alias Volume 1.
THE ULTIMATES w: Mark Millar a: Bryan Hitch–an ultra-modern take on the superteam that consists of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk, this has probably the best art of any superhero book out there and is really unpredictable and large in scope. There's only one collection to date, but it's a killer.
Now moving on to altcomix and classic graphic novels:
JIMMY CORRIGAN w/a: Chris Ware–This is the best comic ever made, bar none. It's about this sad middle-aged man's journey to meet his father, which runs parallel to his grandfather's recounting of his own trouble childhood. The art, especially the incredibly complex layouts, is just unbelievable. The Citizen Kane of comics.
DAVID BORING w/a: Dan Clowes–Close in tone to the Coen Bros' darker movies, or David Lynch's less over-the-top, this is a strange noir tale about a man's sexual obsession with a woman during a tense period of terrorist attacks. Clowes's art has this creepy 1950s feel that works perfectly for the story.
WATCHMEN w: Alan Moore a: Dave Gibbons–Supercomplex, realistic, and incredibly involving story of a group of superheroes whose time is almost at an end. Conspiracies, mysteries, politics, sex–it's the highwater mark of the genre in many, many ways. Probably my third-favorite comic ever (after Jimmy Corrigan and…)
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS w/a: Frank Miller–My favorite comic. Batman returns from retirement to a world that doesn't want him anymore but needs him more than ever. Incredible art, searing satire, heroism on the grandest scale. This book is a juggernaut. The old saw is that if Watchmen performed the autopsy on the superhero genre, Dark Knight is its brass-band funeral. It's awesome.
FROM HELL w: Alan Moore a: Eddie Campbell–The movie version was okay, but it was the equivalent of making a movie of Hamlet that consisted of Hamlet and Laertes training for the duel at the end. The book, on the other hand, is this hugely complex examination of the Jack the Ripper killings, Victorian England, Freemasonry, patriarchy vs. feminism, the occult, and god knows what else. This will really challenge you.
SIN CITY w/a: Frank Miller–beautiful black-and-white comic noir about a huge loser's quest to avenge his lost love. Miller's art is rarely better than it is in this, and the story's got an almost primal momentum. Another favorite.
ARKHAM ASYLUM w: Grant Morrison a: Dave McKean–another genuinely beautiful book, this one is painted and uses remarkable collage techniques. It's a psychological horror story about Batman entering into the insane asylum where most of his big villains are kept. A really chilling examination of abnormal psychology, again rife with the kind of huge occult-influenced symbolism that Morrison specializes in.
HEY, WAIT… w/a: Jason–Translated from Norwegian, this book uses cute-animal characters to tell a really painful story about loss, grief, and regret. This guy's one of the best on the scene, and this story will haunt you.
THE FRANK BOOK w/a: Jim Woodring–Essentially they're the creepiest, scariest cute-animal stories ever. Frank is this sort of cross between a cat and a beaver and a mouse and a bear, who wanders around this hallucinogenic dreamscape getting into adventures and being pursued by various miscreants. If you like twisted children's stuff like Willy Wonka, this will appeal to you. Woodring's a hell of a cartoonist and has imagined his whole own cosmology with this book. Some of the material is available in much cheaper (but smaller) softcover editions.
BLANKETS w/a: Craig Thompson–I talk about this all the time on the blog, but to recap, it's a coming-of-age autobiography involving the parallel finding and losing of first love and religious faith. Elegantly illustrated and stirringly told. Damn, it's good. And sweet.
DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL w/a: Phoebe Gloeckner–Another one I talk about a lot. This is a combination thinly-veiled autobiography written in journal form with autobio comix and illustrations, telling the story of the brilliant but deeply troubled teenager Minnie Goetze as she navigates the free-wheeling San Franciscan 70's. I challenge you not to be deeply moved by this book.
Each gets my full recommendation. Happy reading!


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Fast wireless data rates
Lower routing speed than WNDR3700v2
Comprehensive feature-set
Good parental filtering tools
Easy to set up, Detailed management interface
Fast routing throughput
Amazingly cheap, NBN-ready, fast local networking
Exceptional range
User friendly admin layout
Menu is flawlessly designed
Excellent 2.4GHz wireless performance
Easy to set up and use
Supports both Ethernet and ADSL2+ WAN connections
Gigabit Ethernet
Very good throughput
Gigabit ethernet ports - the latest, fastest wired standard
Great wireless coverage
High performance
Easy setup
Relatively inexpensive
True dual-band
Chart-topping routing throughput
Attractive design
Superbly featured dual-band wireless router
Provides lots of wireless LAN bandwidth
Plenty of useful features
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text:
Ugly Betty Season 1 Episode 3: "Queens for a Day" Quotes
Marc: Have you seen [Betty] yet?
Wilhelmina: Yes I did and it looks as if queens threw up
I think I just found my new screen saver!Marc
Ignacio: You have such a big heart
Betty: Stop it with the big heart. The speech didn't work when I was cast as a rock in the school play... or when I was sitting at home with you and mom on prom night.. and it's not gonna work now
Ignacio: Betty you'll always be my special girl, you know that....just so you know you were a really terrific rock
I work in an office full of glamazon women who are all six feet tall and fully waxed...Betty
Daniel: Maybe we could both dress up on Monday...
Amanda: I think he meant natural fibers sweetie
Marc: I thought breast cancer was pink...
Wilhelmina: It is, but Alzheimer's goes better with the outfit
We missed you at the party last night. What, was there a sale at the 99 cent store?Amanda
Don't you look... sweatyAmanda
Betty: You're the one who dumped me!
Walter: Yeah for like two days. It takes longer than that to digest corn..


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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by maximus, Jan 24, 2007.
Does anybody have a program to convert MIDI to MP3.
google is your friend
I'm curious as to why anyone would want to do this.
If it's your own tracks in a sequencer, it will bounce the whole MIDI arrangement or specified parts to mp3 and other file types...wavs, aiff, ogg, etc.
If it's a basic GM file, who would want to listen to it? They sound like a child's keyboard demo.
A friend of mine needs me to convert her MIDI recording that was down on a electric piano to MP3 so the CD player at the Talent show will read the CD.
She needs it by Friday...and I just got it tonight
Aaaahhh...okay. GM will still read that as a piano....groovy.
What is GM?
General Midi. A non-proprietary MIDI decoder that translates everything as one set of basic sounds.
When you listen to a MIDI file on your computer, it's being played by GM. All the other types are used by pros to communicate only with specific manufacturer's instruments.
Hard to explain here, but that's the gist of it.
and so is Yahoo .
I prefer dogpile)