Sometimes little statements, off—handedly uttered and little—noted, tell us about important changes that have snuck up on us. Such was the case yesterday in an AP dispatch from Baghdad. Iraq's National Security Adviser Mouwafak al—Rubaie was speaking about the treasure trove of information recovered from the site of Zarqawi's destruction.

He called it a "huge treasure ... a huge amount of information."

When asked how he could be sure the information was authentic, al—Rubaie said "there is nothing more authentic than finding a thumbdrive in his pocket." [emphasis added]

"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al—Qaida in Iraq," al—Rubaie said, adding that the documents showed al—Qaida is in "pretty bad shape," politically and in terms of training, weapons and media.

Thumbdrives, aka USB flash drives, aka memory sticks, and many other nicknames yet to be invented, are marvelous inventions, simplifying and improving life in many ways. My latest purchase gave me a gigabite of capacity for about fifty bucks. The sheer portability, not to mention the privacy, makes these wonders ideal for conveying information of all sorts, textual, visual, or audio.

Now our popular culture has a new icon of sorts, the dead man's thumbdrive, as a source of intelligence data. Move aside microdots and Enigma machines.

Hat tip: Mike G.

Thomas Lifson    6 16 06