Chad on Thursday accused Khartoum of engineering the ongoing military offensive by dissident forces to unseat President Idriss Deby, an allegation echoed in Sudan by the Darfur rebels but denied by the government. "We have always said there was a premeditated aggression from Khartoum against Chad," Foreign Minister Ahmat Allami told AFP. "What we have been witnessing over the past 72 hours is only the continuation of the Khartoum regime's aggressive policies against Chad," he said in Cairo after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit.
I think Bashir's boyz must have studied foreign policy in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
It's about time someone gave the rebels in southern Sudan more arms and political support.
Personally I think the US should work behind the scenes to get the South African government to take responsibility for their continent, at least the subsaharan part. If South Africa wants to be treated as a world power that would be the place to start.
#3
Besides which, the ANC is in bed with the Islamists in SA, and has consistently voiced support for the various terrorists and thugs in the Middle East, and beyond. The ANC is the worst possible choice for a continent-spanning regional power, at least for America. Might work out nicely for the Red Chinese. Never forget that the African National Congress is made up of hardcore Communists and other assorted nasties.
#4
Yes Sudan is in the North, South Africa is in the south. The US is in the Western Hemisphere and we are able to act around the globe, I don't think the distance is too far for South Africa to show influence. If you are questioning if Sahara is part of sub-sahara africa do a google search and you'll find that half the time maps show it as part of sub sahara africa and the other half show it as not. Basically the line should go through the middle of the Sudan since the south of that nation is non-Islamic and much more to do with the rest of Africa than it does with the Islamic North.
And the ANC and company are fools, I will grant you that, but the opportunity to become the heros of black Africa could be the one inducement to get them to stop playing with the enemy. Nigeria would be a better bet but they've actually got that Islamic/non-Islamic line running right through their nation which would make it far harder.
Britain and the United States announced that four Sudanese were named for United Nations sanctions over war crimes in Darfur, but Russia and China signalled disapproval. The four, reduced from a longer British list, are one Sudanese government official, one pro-government militia member and two rebel leaders, UN diplomats said.
John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, told reporters on Wednesday that a 48-hour silence procedure kicked in to secure required unanimous approval by all 15 council members of the list of four deemed to be impeding the peace process and violating international human rights law. The list was submitted more than a year after the council adopted Resolution 1591, which authorises measures against people committing atrocities or undermining peace efforts in Sudan's western region. Bolton said the fact that only four people were named did not mean that others would not be considered. "The investigation and consideration of other individuals continue," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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France has denied claims it has bombed the strongholds of rebels trying to oust the Chadian President, Idriss Deby.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't nous."
Rebels from the United Front for Change, who accuse Mr Deby of being a dictator, have launched an assault on the capital, N'Djamena. The Government of Chad claims to have thwarted the attack. "The rebel columns have been completely destroyed. The situation is completely under control," Mr Deby told Radio France Internationale (RFI).
Isn't that what they usually say just before the rebels take the capital and hang them from lamp posts?
The rebels accuse French forces based in Chad of bombing their strongholds. However, the French have denied the claim.
"Who? Nous? Certainment non!"
The Chadian Government says the rebels are being supported by neighbouring Sudan and they have been operating out of Darfur.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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The United States is enlisting the help or armed militiamen and factional leaders in its campaign to track down five al Qaeda members in hiding in Somalia.
CIA agents have asked local Somali chiefs to assist them in their search, according to a high-ranking official in the transitional Somali government. He told Asharq al Awsat in a telephone conversation his government had information that a series of meetings were held between US government representatives and tribal and militia leaders in order to prepare for a large-scale operation to detain the five men. At least three of them are believed to hold non-Somali passports, the official added.
The official, who asked not be identified, said Prime Minister Mohammed Ghedi had repeatedly requested the U.S authorities refrain from contacting any Somali group or individual without his governments knowledge.
The latest US campaign comes amid fear of an imminent clash in Mogadishu between militants loyal to the Islamic religious courts and other militias belonging to the anti-terrorism coalition, which the interim government claims is financially and logistically supported by the Americans.
For its part, US intelligence says Sheikh Taher Uways, one of the most prominent extremist Somali leaders, is harboring terrorists in the area under his militias control in the Somali capital.
Uways denied these accusations in a telephone conversation with Asharq al Awsat and blamed the US for holding a grudge against the Somali people. The 60-year old said al Qaeda maintained no presence in Somalia as the tribal system in place made it impossible for foreigners to hide in a country ravaged by civil war. Al Qaedas existence in Somalia was a figment of the USs imagination, he added.
Wanted by the Ethiopian and US intelligence services in connection with his support for terrorist activity, Uways said he was being accused for championing an Islamic government in Somalia. He has fiercely opposed plans by the current interim government to request peacekeepers from neighboring countries, especially Ethiopia, describing them as an occupation force.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 02:49 ||
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#1
Nothin like gettin outed by an Arab news group. Ouch!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/14/2006 15:25 Comments ||
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The official, who asked not be identified, said Prime Minister Mohammed Ghedi had repeatedly requested the U.S authorities refrain from contacting any Somali group or individual without his governments knowledge.
Security forces in Saudi Arabia are on the lookout for unknown persons in the Al Qaseem region, who are believed to have distributed envelopes with CDs inside, containing models of Al Qaeda military works, anthems of suicide bombers, and advice by some men wanted by the authorities in the kingdom.
According to a report carried by the Arabic daily Al Riyadh yesterday, a teacher at the Al Ras Secondary School in Al Qaseem was shocked when he found an envelope inside his motor vehicle.
He contacted his colleague telling him of what he had found and asked him whether he had found a similar envelope. The latter, who teaches Islamic studies, moved to the car parking lot where he found a number of CDs in the car trunks, and collected a number of them.
The paper said the two teachers informed police patrols in Al Ras province, which searched the scene. The school management and the security patrols had collected nearly 59 envelopes, each containing two CDs with matters related to the military activities of Al Qaeda, the paper said.
The school management had filed a report on the incident and notified the education department in the region.
The incident was not the first of its kind in the region as Al Moznib province had experienced a similar incident sometime ago.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 02:48 ||
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#2
I am a slave to this cave
Sung to "Wichita Lineman"
(Glenn Campbell)
I am a slave to this cave
And Great Satan's bearing down
Tora Bora's just to place that makes me wear a frown
I know I need to get infidel Bush
I just wanna take my time
And Big Bad Osama
Is Still this cave...
Strap yourself with TNT
Sung to Sunny Side of the Street
(Louis Armstrong)
Make sure that belt fits just right
Filled with plenty O' Dynamite
Ya got some infidels to kill
And we'll drive them right to hell...
Nightmare of Swine
Sung to "We Are The Champions"
(Queen)
This is the Nightmare of Swine
To and fro in the streets
Swine are all over
Swine are all over
And we dare not touch them
For cooties will infest us
From the swine...
JMB chief Abdur Rahman yesterday said that he had directed his followers to kill the lawyers who practise in 'worldly' courts. He made the comment when a lawyer asked him whether he would appoint a lawyer to defend him during the hearing on a five-day remand petition. The JMB chief made the same statement on March 23 and April 3 during the hearings on his remands.
The Detective Branch (DB) of police accompanied by the members of Rab took Rahman to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court amid tight security on expiry of his 10-day remand in the case filed for the August 17 blast near the Jatiya Press Club. In his forwarding report, DB Inspector Shah Mohammad Moshiur Rahman, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, said that Rahman was directly involved in the countrywide bomb blasts on August 17 last year, including the one near the Jatiya Press Club. He needs to be quizzed further to find out vital information about the bombings and the whereabouts of other JMB leaders and members, the IO added. After the hearing, Metropolitan Magistrate M A Salam granted the remand prayer.
Earlier, JMB military commander Ataur Rahman Sunny, operations commander of banned Harkatul Jihad (HuJi) Bangladesh chapter Mufti Abdul Hannan and JMB Gazipur regional commander Enayet Ullah were shown arrested in the same case and placed on remand.
JMB military commander Sunny and its Majlish-e-Shura member Abdul Awal were placed on fresh remands yesterday. Sunny was placed on a five-day remand while Awal on a seven-day remand in the case filed with Ramna Police Station for August 17 blast on the Supreme Court premises.
Another Dhaka court yesterday could not frame charges against Sunny and eight others in two cases filed with Sabujbagh Police Station on September 12 last year, as they were not produced before it. Judge Mohammad Shamsul Alam Khan of the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court fixed May 16 as the hearing date and directed the authorities concerned to produce the accused before it on that day.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Rahman admits to ordering killing of lawyers
Abdur, for this singular act done for the betterment of humanity we grant you 5 seconds of redemption...5...4...3...2..
(1) was this order issued to Dick Cheney? (/moonbat channeling off/) and
(2) a military leader named Sunny? Maybe a translation error, but anyways...bwahahahaha! Man, we just might win this war after all.
Posted by: BA ||
04/14/2006 8:55 Comments ||
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#5
Oh, I beg to differ, gromgoru. Some people are entirely bad, from the hairs on their head to the toenails of their murderous rampaging feet. Oh, wait a minute...too strong?
A SYDNEY church leader has used a Good Friday address to tell his congregation that Christianity and Islam cannot both lead to God. Compare with the Catholic view "NOSTRA AETATE"
3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.
Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.
Anglican Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen told a service at St Andrew's Cathedral that Islam denies some of the Christian beliefs about Jesus.
Islam views Jesus as a prophet but does not believe he was the son of God who died on Good Friday to save humanity from its sins and was resurrected on Easter Sunday. "Now that Islam has become more common in our society, you need to know the difference between Christianity and Islam," he said. "For the Koran, and therefore Islam, denies that Christ dies."
But Dean Jensen said that the two religions cannot both be right. "Either both are wrong or one is right and the other is wrong," hw said. "But both of them cannot be right."
Bishop of South Sydney Robert Forsyth said the comments were in no way inflammatory towards Muslims, but instead were an attack on the naive who believed all religion was the same. "What he was attacking was not Muslims," Archbishop Forsyth said. "The thing he was attacking was the unwise who people think that all religions are part of the same thing so he was attacking the seculars."
#1
The difference between Christianity and Moslems is that Christianity is a religion based on the sunny side of life; faith, hope, repentance, forgiveness, charity, and tolerance. Christians share with you in the hopes that you too can share in the goodness.
Islam is faith based on submission not to just to God, but to Islam itself. It does not separate church and state, so they must submit to members of the state and their clerics, who are men. The Moslem must submit to men to get to God, but the Christian does not have to. Islam demands death to those who do not participate. It is not a religion of tolerance, but of intolerance. It does not seek to understand others but demands you follow the will of the men who have established themselves as the Allah's representatives.
In the form that is being put forth by Islamists today, it is not compatible with a tolerant society.
I think the most Moslem people are great people and if they could get rid of the radical clerics could easily move into the 21st century and be great neighbors. But I think they are a century away from ridding themselves of the destructive 7th Century beliefs and in the mean time - we are going to have one big and bloody clash to sort it all out.
#2
One thing both Christianity and Islam have in common is that they deny the essential message of the other side. Traditional Christianity asserts the Trinity, the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, and Islam asserts the Prophet's message has supplanted both Judaism and Christianity. Might as well say it plainly.
Never forget that for islam, Jesus IS NOT the son of God, he's just *a* prophet to whom lip service is given, but who has been made obselete by The Prophet(tm), and he DIDN'T DIE on the cross, he was remplaced by a stunt double, basically, and went on to perform the haj.
Not only islam denies the Trinity (which for them is The Father, the Holy Spirit and... Mary; someone got mixed up, this comes from early chrisitan heresies IIUC), but its basic tenet is that it is the SAME religion as judaism and christianity (whose followers are muslim, in fact, just as everyone else, since islam is the religion "by default" of humanity, every baby is born muslim), BUT the jewish and the christians maliciously altered their scriptures and do not follow the voice of allan anymore... so The Prophet(tm) came to correct that, and is the ultimate word on everything... when the koran(tm) lifts the Bible and misquotes it, it is actually the koran(tm) which is right, the christian version has been forged.
In short, the basis of the muslim faith is that it is a superior religion, and that its two parents are FALSE. Oecumenism and interfaith dialog is trivial from this point of view.
Btw, the muslim Jesus is far from the christian Jesus; not only does he worship The Prophet(tm), but at the end of times, he will come back to *serve* the mahdi(tm), and his first action will be to break all crosses, IE to destroy christianism (he will also kill all pigs...).
One thing both Christianity and Islam have in common is that they deny the essential message of the other side
My point is that in Christianity, even if you don't believe in the Trinity - then there is no repercussion. No one will cut your head off.
Christians just believe it is your loss. They feel bad you don't get to share in the power that a belief in Christ and following his teachings will bring to you.
Forgive me for going into sensitive ground here, and if I'm wrong, don't get mad - it's just how I see it, but it seems to me that for Jews, it's less about a religion than it is a shared heritage. Basically, one is born a Jew and remains one through their shared heritage, as well as DNA. If a Jew converts to Christianity - they still remain Jewish. But if a Christian converts to Judiasm, they are no longer a Christian, and not truly a Jew.
And though Moslem's, Christians, Americans, Germans, etc. all share common heritage - to be a Moslem or a Christian or most other religions, is not determined by birth, but by a shared belief.
But my point is that Jews and Christians and Moslems all believe in the same God. Supposedly, we all believe in the God of Abraham. But there are differing opinions on who'se entitled to walk on the alabaster stones in the afterlife.
The Moslem religion demands no difference between church and state and punishes the non-believer in this life - not the next. It's not about the power you can obtain by believing - but that they will kill you if you do not.
As it stands today, Islam is not compatible with a tolerant society. I'm not saying that Moslems themselves aren't compatible - I'm saying their belief in Sharia is not compatible with a tolerant society. It's worked fine until recently when they were over there and we were over here. Now our world's collide.
#5
5089 - I don't have time to read the link. But if I were to predict, I think we'll see a battle. I don't think the Islamists will win. For several reasons, but primarily because they don't have the better way. Good ideas usually win in the end.
Does that mean that we won't have a bloody conflict. No. I think we will. If history is any guide, it will become very ugly before it becomes better.
I'm just hoping, that after centuries of making fun of people on street corners holding signs that say, "the end is near", that we aren't really entering end times. Certainly we have the capability today to make Revelations come true - more so than ever before in the recorded history of makind. But I'm an optimist and I don't think so. We in this generation have just lived in peace for so long that we don't really believe a world war will happen to us. Unfortunately, a look at history shows us that the odds are not on our favor and the idea that we are immune to a global conflict is just a happy face fantasy that has little basis in reality.
#6
Islam is and will be the primary vehicle of the Antichrist and his system that will overwhelm much of the world just prior to Christ's return. Although not a popular position today, it is a position that has been held by many notable Christian leaders throughout history begining from the first great Islamic Jihad/conquest. Not only is the position quite defendable biblically, it is quite likely.
Posted by: Joel Richardson ||
04/14/2006 21:09 Comments ||
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#7
Here's my take: Mohammed had to deny Jesus died, not out of a sense of piety, but because Jesus is TOO BIG OF AN ACT TO FOLLOW.
Mohammed tells the faithful what to do in order to be saved. Not coincidentally, what he told them to do profited himself quite a bit. Jesus, on the other hand, DID HIMSELF what it took to save the faithful. Forget about being ABLE to save the faithful by dying: Mohammed would NEVER have done ANYTHING for his faithful, while Jesus lived for the day he would die for you and me.
Italy's prime minister-in-waiting, Romano Prodi, yesterday stumbled into his first big row since winning this week's general election when he was quoted as saying he would try to get the European Union to change its approach to Hamas.
The centre-left leader's aides rushed to correct what they said was a mis-translation. But by then he had come under fire from his opponents in Italy, and even the accurate version of his remarks prompted criticism from a Jewish representative.
The left wing of Mr Prodi's broad alliance made big advances in the vote and can block legislation in either chamber of parliament. There was speculation that its influence was already showing up in Mr Prodi's foreign policy after he was quoted by news agencies as having told the Arab satellite channel, Al-Jazeera: "I shall commit myself at the European level to shape a new position with respect to the new Palestinian government. I am looking with great attention at the signs of an opening being made by Hamas."
A spokesman for the right accused Mr Prodi of complicity in "the worst sort of anti-westernism". The remarks had been translated into Italian from the Arabic voiceover and what Mr Prodi actually said was: "Now I'll get to work in an active way in Europe and we shall see the position in future. Beside, there have been openings by Hamas that are very interesting."
He meant it and it didn't take long for him to say it.
Yasha Reibman, the spokesman for the Jewish community in Milan, was unimpressed. "I was expecting a better start," he told the daily Corriere della Sera.
The incident is unlikely to further Mr Prodi's stated aim of building a cordial relationship with Washington and, at the same time, re-aligning Italian foreign policy more with Europe. Two days after official figures showed he had won the election, Mr Prodi had been congratulated by France's president, Jacques Chirac, Spain's prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel. But Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, and the US president, George Bush, were waiting for the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to concede defeat.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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#5
So personages within the great State of Florida is now firing at poor little Fort Sumter too - gee whiz, Mr. Wilson, unlike a few other states its even after 9-11 too, not before. Dare the US NINTH renew its infamous decision to declare America, its own country/venue of jurisdiction, an illegal and unconstitutional nation ??? YES DENNIS, YES GILLIGAN, YES DOBY GILLIS, LASSIE, FARAH AND COSBY, ....... ETAL. YER ALL CRIMINALS IN A NATION THAT HAS NO LEGAL STANDING TO DO ANYTHING, AND NEVER DID.
Retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste, one of several high-ranking military men urging the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said Friday there is no coordinated effort to get him fired, calling a recent series of critical statements "absolutely coincidental." And so is the sudden media attention to us five.
"I have not talked to the other generals," Batiste, interviewed from Rochester, N.Y., said on NBC"s "Today" show. Nevertheless, he said he thinks the clamor for Rumsfeld to step down is "happening for a reason." Never see 'em at the VFW, never talk to 'em. Nothin.
Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division forces in Iraq, said he declined an opportunity to get a promotion to the rank of lieutenant general and return to the wartorn country as the No. 2 U.S. military officer because he could not accept Rumsfeld's tough management style. Rumsfeld is too tough for him, but he commanded the Big Red One? Sorry, something doesn't compute. We should replace the Big Red One with Rummy or this guy should never have been in the job.
He said he does not believe Rumsfeld has been sufficiently accountable for the plan that led to the invasion of Iraq and the ouster of Saddam Hussein, although he also said that "we have no option but to succeed in Iraq." Being crudified daily by the MSM is insufficient accountaiblity? And this guy is till wuss enough to say "we have no option but to succeed in Iraq." But just without Rummy.
"I support civilian control (of the military) completely," Batiste told interviewers on CBS's "The Early Show." Especially now that I'm a civilian.
But, he added, "we went to war with a flawed plan that didn't account for the hard work to build the piece after we took down the regime. We also served under a secretary of defense who didn't understand leadership, who was abusive, who was arrogant, and who didn't build a strong team." "That's why I served without protest or without any statement of protest when I turned down the last star they offered me." Riiight.
The White House insisted that Rumsfeld continues to have President Bush's confidence. New White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten settles into his job starting next week, but few expect any moves regarding Rumsfeld.
"The president believes Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a very fine job during a challenging period in our nation's history," Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said as two more retired generals called for the secretary's resignation Thursday, bringing the number this month to six.
"I have not talked to the other generals," Batiste told NBC Friday. "I think it is absolutely coincidental. ... I think it's healthy for democracy. I have nothing to gain in doing this. There is no political agenda at all." Nope. None.
Retired Army Major Gen. John Riggs told National Public Radio that Rumsfeld fostered an "atmosphere of arrogance." And retired Army Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack told CNN that Rumsfeld micromanaged the war. "We need a new secretary of defense," he said. "We liked it more when we could be ther arrogant ones adn Bill Cohen would stick to writing poetry." Democrat Military experts say the parade of recently retired military brass calling for Rumsfeld's resignation is troubling and threatens to undermine strong support that Bush has enjoyed among the officer corps and troops. Sounds like time for Bush to go to Tehran or Ft Bragg to see what the men in the field have to say.
With public anti-war sentiment increasing, "the president and his team cannot afford to lose that support," said Kurt Campbell, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Bill Clinton.
Earlier calls for Rumsfeld's replacement came from retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold and retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton.
Rumsfeld has been a lightning rod for criticism since the war began in March 2003. I'd say it started a lot earlier than that. Like when Rummy told the Army the cold war was over and Crusader was history.
He was blamed for committing too few U.S. troops and for underestimating the strength of the insurgency. He took heat in 2004 over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the U.S. Army-run Abu Ghraib prison, and for a brusque response he gave to an Army National Guard soldier in Kuwait who questioned him on inadequate armor.
Republicans in Congress have offered Rumsfeld little in the way of public support. Big surprise there. They're a real disappointment.
Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff said Thursday that Rumsfeld has not talked to the White House about resigning and is not considering it. Good.
#1
Defense Secretaries fire generals. Not the other way around. There are countries where generals fire Defense Secretaries. They are located mainly in Africa and Latin America.
#2
My humble opinion: When this many recently retired generals - from two different services - all with "boots on the ground" time in one or both theaters, leading divisions or higher - say that the 74 year old SECDEF is "going sideways" and needs to be replaced, that's good enough for me. Better Rumsfeld steps down now, before things get worse - if he is actually inspiring key leaders to depart the service DURING WARTIME - then something is seriously wrong.
Until all this came up, I was pretty accepting of Rumsfeld. But - if there is this much heatburn, then the situation needs fixing pronto.
And - (as someone who is an alumnus of the same undergraduate institution that Eaton, Swannack, and Batiste graduated from), I feel comfortable with the generals airing their criticisms AFTER leaving active duty. That is the only way such comments should ever be aired - when it is clearly not a challenge to the concept of total civilian control over military commanders.
#3
that's true lone ranger, you make a good point. But I still don't agree in the principle of going to the media - who is clearly on the side of our enemy to bring attention to this matter. Five isn't very many. In an arena with egos this big, you can always find five that will disagree with the method to move forward. It happens in war and it happens in school boards, and city councils etc., etc.
The difference here is that the ONLY people being given the microphone are those who thought it should be done differently.
Even if Rumsfeld made mistakes - then I'd have to say ....well, duh. Mistakes are always made in war. I always tire of the bastards that grandstand and say, if only they had done it my way ..... because if it had been done their way, then it would be the others standing up bitching about how they didn't plan the immaculate war.
Clearly, Rummy has made enemies. I don't know if these complaints are valid or not, but I sure as heck am not going to make my decision that based on only 5 guys. What say we wait until we hear from the other 8,9995?
#4
That is the only way such comments should ever be aired - when it is clearly not a challenge to the concept of total civilian control over military commanders.
I'd agree if the comments were made the day after he left the service. That was the message of McMasters book about how the generals should have behaved in Vietnam. But this game of let's-gang-up-with-the-MSM-to-get-even strikes me as low office politics. I've read nothing positive from these guys in the sense of "this is what we should be doing" beyond get rid of Rummy because he intimidated me.
If they thought something was going down that was bad for the country, they owe it to the country to resign and explain what the bad thing is in real time. Not to skulk around and a year later say this is what 20-20 hindsight shows the boss who wasn't nice to me did wrong.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/14/2006 15:40 Comments ||
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#6
he declined an opportunity to get a promotion to the rank of lieutenant general and return to the wartorn country as the No. 2 U.S. military officer because he could not accept Rumsfeld's tough management style. This really sounds like someone whining that he doesn't like taking orders. HE should be in charge, dammit! How dare the Secretary of Defense order him around! He's General!! He may very well have done a marvelous job commanding for which he should be commended but you just don't air your grievences in public like that. Patton didn't like how Eisenhower was running things but he did not complain to the press.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/14/2006 16:08 Comments ||
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#7
Obviously these retirees must be Democrats. Only Republican generals and servicemen "get it".
#8
So, he's a military man who can't accept a tough management style...hmmm...
Should we call him Courtney or Wesley.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
04/14/2006 16:40 Comments ||
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#9
I had to take DW to the hospital this morning for a routine medical appointment. I caught part of the Fox News broadcast while I was there. One of the guests on the show was a total a$$hole, and blamed Bush for everything from eggs not cooking properly to forcing the Iranians to build nuclear weapons. The other guest said something that caught my attention. Basically, she said that most of the generals whining about Rumsfeld were those that didn't like the SecDef coming in and making wholesale changes in the military, trying to reorganize and reconstitute the forces to something more in line to what the nation needs. Those generals are uncomfortable with change, and take their discomfort out on Rumsfeld. That struck me as very plausible, because I've known several dozen general officers during my military career, and many of them were like that. That could also be why many are retiring: they can't accommodate themselves to the changes taking place as the result of Rumsfeld's reorganization. Now they're retired and bitching. They need to be cognisant of the fact that, although they're retired, they still fall under the auspices of the UCMJ, and CAN be held accountable for violating the military's rules.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/14/2006 16:43 Comments ||
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#10
Mark Larson on KOGO radio sez there are 875 active Generals in the latest Census. 9000 retired Generals still living. These should get that same % of attention.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/14/2006 18:02 Comments ||
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#11
Ernest Brown, I recommend calling him General George McClellan.
Posted by: Scott R ||
04/14/2006 18:02 Comments ||
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#12
Secretary of War Elihu Root Part Deux.
Secretary Root had to drag the Army into the 20th century with all the moaners and groaners, particularly the old generals and colonels, who didn't want change. Go read up on it. Its basically the same 'critics' playing the same game.
We're not going to refight WWII again for a long while. Meantime we need a force structure to support what we are actually are going to be doing with some degree of fiscal responsibility. I've never seen a general who didn't think he needed more troops, more money, more resources.
#13
We have some Generals that had no problem with Rumsfield when they were doing their job, and getting good intel from the military. Then in civilian life they getting their intel from CNN and the NY Times and suddenly their opinions on the war change.
#14
I'm with you Ranger. Anyone with any sense knows you can't speak up while serving. Gen. Shinseki did and they forced him out even though he was correct. Truth is, Dummy (er, Rummy) is the worst Defense Sec'ty since McNamara. He's arrogant like Mac and his whole scope of the problem was wrong. Now we have another unending mess. Time to gather our guys and go. If problems continue, time to start mass eliminations.
#15
Well the white house website from the President just said he is keeping Rummy, so this is mute like I said yesterday McArthur was a poular general pissed off the boss, lost job end of story
#16
LR: My humble opinion: When this many recently retired generals - from two different services - all with "boots on the ground" time in one or both theaters, leading divisions or higher - say that the 74 year old SECDEF is "going sideways" and needs to be replaced, that's good enough for me. Better Rumsfeld steps down now, before things get worse - if he is actually inspiring key leaders to depart the service DURING WARTIME - then something is seriously wrong.
I don't worship military men. A few dozen generals supported Kerry. Should I have voted for Kerry?
I don't worship Bush or Rumsfeld either. But the facts on the ground tell me that the war in Iraq could not have been better-run. By all historical measures, this is the lowest-casualty large scale guerrilla war I have seen. The retired generals who accuse Rumsfeld of incompetence are telling us that they could have done better. I seriously doubt it.
The guerrilla war in Iraq has been going on for several years not because our people, civilian or military, can't hack it. It's going on because there is nothing we could have done to convince Arab Sunnis that it is better for Arab Shias and Kurds to rule Arab Sunnis than it is for Arab Sunnis to rule Arab Shias and Kurds. It's also been going on for three years because that's the nature of guerrilla wars - the whole guerrilla strategy is to draw out the conflict over years - decades if necessary - and avoid decisive battles so as to psychologically wear down the government (but primarily to avoid getting destroyed by government forces).
Malaya's (now Malaysia and Singapore) guerrilla war is often quoted as an example of how counter-insurgency operations should be run. And yet British involvement that war lasted for ten years - against a few thousand guerrillas fighting with looted Japanese military equipment from the end of the war. Note that Malaya had no porous borders in evey direction - just a short border of under 500 miles with Thailand to the north. Iraq's borders are thousands of miles long. Unlike Iraq, Malaya had no adjoining neighbors supporting the guerrillas with bases and rest areas - just Communist China almost 2000 miles north. Malaya's guerrillas also had nothing like Saddam's tens of billions of dollars of oil money to spend on personnel and weaponry. And British involvement in Malaya not only lasted ten years, the guerrilla war went on for another twenty years, until the Chinese government stopped spending billions on communist guerrilla movements in Southeast Asia, around the time of the Chinese invasion of Vietnam in 1979.
Of the smattering of retired generals who have called on Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign, none has surprised the Pentagon's inner circle more than retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste.
Gen. Batiste commanded the 1st Infantry Division, responsible in Iraq for the hot spots of Tikrit and Samarra, north of Baghdad. On a chilly December night in 2004, he introduced Mr. Rumsfeld to his soldiers thus: "This is a man with the courage and the conviction to win the war on terrorism."
A Rumsfeld aide said that when the two talked privately, the general voiced no complaints on how Washington, or Mr. Rumsfeld, was waging war.
But Gen. Batiste has now called on Mr. Rumsfeld to resign, one of five retired generals who have done so in recent weeks.
"I believe we need a fresh start in the Pentagon," Gen. Batiste said Wednesday on CNN. "We need a leader who understands teamwork, a leader who knows how to build teams, a leader that does it without intimidation."
Of the Iraqi people, he told CNN, "Iraqis, frankly, in my experience, do not understand democracy. Nor do they understand their responsibility for a free society."
But in Iraq last year, Gen. Batiste said: "The Iraqi 4th Division represents what is and what is meant to be in Iraq. The soldiers of the division not only reflect the rich ethnic/religious diversity of Iraq, but they also imbue with the energy, courage and determination which the vast majority of the Iraqi people have for freedom and representative government."
Yesterday, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Riggs also made the resignation plea, this time on National Public Radio.
The acting Army secretary at the time demoted Gen. Riggs and forced him to retire in 2004 because he let a civilian contractor do congressional liaison work that rules said should have been done by a government employee. The forced retirement infuriated some retired officers, who saw the infraction as minor.
Five retired generals hardly constitute a groundswell among what the Pentagon estimates are 9,000 active and retired generals and admirals. But Pentagon officials fear there will be more such calls against Mr. Rumsfeld.
The list now reads: Gen. Batiste; Gen. Riggs; retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, who opposed the Iraq invasion from the start; Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold and Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton.
"I was particularly taken aback by Batiste," said Larry Di Rita, a senior Rumsfeld adviser. "It seemed very contrary to the interaction I saw in Iraq."
Gen. Batiste, who now runs a steel company, did not return a phone message for comment.
As to criticism that Mr. Rumsfeld does not meet with senior officials, Mr. Di Rita said the secretary has met more than 60 times this year with Joint Chiefs of Staff members and four-star combatant commanders. In the winter, he conducted a three-day conference with those officers and other Pentagon leaders. The group sat in a conference room, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for three days, hashing out strategies.
Mr. Rumsfeld is known as a direct, some would say brash, manager who will dress down subordinates. He also encourages aides and officers to push back and challenge him, former advisers say.
Interviews reveal deep-seated resentment toward him within the retired Army officer corps for the way he has managed the war and the Army.
An Army officer who asked not to be named said he wished Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the Joint Chiefs chairman, would "distance himself from Rumsfeld" to show displeasure with the Iraq war planning. But Gen. Pace on Wednesday delivered a spirited defense alongside his boss.
Retired officers say Mr. Rumsfeld failed to plan for the ongoing insurgency in Iraq that has killed hundreds of soldiers and kept too few troops there after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, a former commander of the Army War College, said the Army, Marines and special operations need 100,000 more troops.
"If you're going to fight a long war," Gen. Scales said, "if this war is generational, and if our grandchildren are going to be fighting this war, and if this war continues to be principally ground warfare, then it just seems overwhelmingly obvious that over the long term we are going to need a bigger ground force."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 02:40 ||
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#1
Monday-morning-quarterbacking and sour grapes.
Maybe general Pace likes Rummy.
He encourages subordinates to push back? I bet that does intimidate some folks!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/14/2006 7:11 Comments ||
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#2
Under Rumsfeld, Marines command Strategic Command (!) and hold the Chair of the Joint Staff.
A Special Ops guy was brought back FROM RETIREMENT, over the heads of serving regular generals, to be Chief of Staff of the Army.
In Fallujah, we used a joint ops structure in which marines reported to soldiers and v.v.
It's a revolutionary change for the Army and not one that some officers are comfortable with, it would appear.
Note that the Marines - in part because their smaller force size and expeditionary organization makes it possible - have pioneered the use of a lot of high tech in Iraq - for instance, the Raven mini-UAV for tactical recon. And in some places in Iraq, Marine style small wars doctrine has replaced Army doctrine with what some would say was greater success.
Note also the increased emphasis on Special Opns and the move to smaller units of deployment/action (from division to brigade). Again, a move away from the massive army force-on-force doctrine to a doctrine a lot closer to what the Marines do well.
Change isn't easy and revolutionaries aren't necessarily correct. But it would seem these changes have a lot to do with the discomfort of many old school Army leaders. I'll leave it to others to argue whether they or Rumsfeld are more right.
#3
Good summary, lotp. And, i'd note that (at least) 1 of these 5 got "screwed" (in his mind) in being forced to retire. Wonder how many others will be writing "insider" books soon? If so, that could very well be the motive.
Posted by: BA ||
04/14/2006 9:01 Comments ||
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#4
lotp, did the transfer of primacy from the division to the brigade have any impact on the number of high level slots available?
Also don't forget sacking Crusader.
I predict Rumsfled will be the first Sec Def to serve two full terms. That ina an of itself says something about the old man.
#5
I assume all of these Generals attended West Point or Annapolis. As graduates, they were perfect gentlemen. They're not such gentlemen any more. That doesn't say much for 30 or 40 years in the service, does it ?
#6
The leader takes the arrows, particularly when instituting change into a tired, Cold War era military.
There will be many more who didn't have the balls to challenge Rummy while in service who will strike out against him in the media. Rummy's got big shoulders; Prez Bush knows the important role Rummy plays in history, so fuck the (not soon enough) retired generals.
Besides, retirement of the Old School brings opportunity for those capable of adapting to 21C demands.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/14/2006 12:47 Comments ||
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#7
"brown people Iraqis, frankly, in my experience, do not understand democracy. Nor do they understand their responsibility for a free society."
OK, he's officially announced he's a liberal.
Also a bigot. But I repeat myself. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/14/2006 12:51 Comments ||
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#8
here's the meat of the story right here.
Five retired generals hardly constitute a groundswell among what the Pentagon estimates are 9,000 active and retired generals and admirals.
#14
As graduates, they were perfect gentlemen. They're not such gentlemen any more.
Yes, combat experience changes a man. Also makes you second guess the dupes in Washington, especially when they fuck up like Rumsfeld. Another way to look at it, is that combat turns Republicans into Democrats. :-)
#15
Oh and, there's no converse. Democrats are turned into even bigger weenies. It's like a political red shift of sorts, except the shift is in the blue direction.
#16
Change isn't easy and revolutionaries aren't necessarily correct.
Oh yeah, Rumsfeld a revolutionary. A regular Che Guevara. That's why Iraq and Afghanistan are such examples of success. Iraqi insurgents deserve more credit than Rummy for all the changes in the US armed forces.
To the recent anon poster with various names and the IP address of 85.195.123.22: we don't put up with trolling or taunting around here. If you have a point to make, make it. Differing opinions are fine, even strongly dissenting opinions. But trolls end up banned.
Steve White (AoS), moderator, Rantburg
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/14/2006 19:41 Comments ||
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#20
Yep..that qualifies. Hint: your parents weren't evil. They were prophetic.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/14/2006 19:41 Comments ||
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#21
Well you have my apologies SW...y'all can catch me at the tip jar ;]
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/14/2006 19:45 Comments ||
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#22
Why if Americans were just more like the Germans. Germans REALLY KNEW how to take of the primitives.
2008? That's the year muslims begin massive head removal in your shitty little country. Try not to scream like a little girl. It ruins the audio on the video.
Posted by: ed ||
04/14/2006 20:02 Comments ||
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#23
how to take care of the primitives.
Posted by: ed ||
04/14/2006 20:02 Comments ||
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#24
To the recent anon poster with various names and the IP address of 85.195.123.22: we don't put up with trolling or taunting around here.
So I take it Republican commenters can make whatever comments they like without opposition, because, as I'm sure you've noticed, all my "taunts" have been directed at statements made previously by others here, and I'm the one singled out as the troll.
If you have a point to make, make it.
Can I make my point through satire? Honest question.
But if you insist, here's my point: I've seen pretty much every regular at RB at one time or another exalt our service men and women. I've seen comments such as "they get it". Well it seems that's been a pretty thin veneer because the many comments that we see today clearly indicate that Democrat soldiers don't count. And there's a lot of them. Most of them critical of Rumsfeld and Bush. I know, it's hard to believe and it's even harder to accept...for Republicans.
#25
Ok. Batiste is confusing. There are only 2 critical sentences by Batiste in the whole article.
1. He calls for more teamwork, not leadership. That's just a recipe for paralysis.
2. So does he want to kill them all or fence the muslims off so they can kill each other. Or does he want to withdraw and wait for the next mega-attack? If he has a plan, he should let the public know about it. People will follow a plan. They tune out general criticism.
Posted by: ed ||
04/14/2006 20:12 Comments ||
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#26
since active soldiers are not allowed to criticize the C-in-C or SecDef - I call Bullshit on your statements - wishful thinking. There are, no doubt, many many Democratic party voters in the ranks - I doubt they support the same party views as you
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/14/2006 20:18 Comments ||
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#27
I would imagine that the use of a smaller force overall would limit the number of general officers needed IN COMBAT. All Army officers know that combat is an essential ingredient in getting promoted. It seems the generals wanted a Vietnam-style deployment, with 500,000 troops and a corrseponding number of general officers. A lot of this may be nothing more than sour grapes.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/14/2006 20:20 Comments ||
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#28
OK Fritz, what are the valid points that Batiste is trying to make? What would you do you suddenly became the US Secretary of War?
Posted by: ed ||
04/14/2006 20:20 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
04/14/2006 20:37 Comments ||
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#31
Elmiling U - I'll make a deal with you. I won't discuss Celebrity Gossip (since I don't know anything about it) and you stick with what you know. Clearly you know absolutely NOTHING about the military and it shows. Go back to one of those chat sites where you can be the hero just by making really witty jokes along the lines that Bush looks like a Chimp and doesn't know how to read. That seems to be the height of humor and wit on the left these days.
April 14, 2006: In the last six months, the U.S. Army is seeing 15 percent more soldiers re-enlist than expected. This continues a trend that began in 2001. Every year since then, the rate at which existing soldiers have re-enlisted has increased. This despite the fact that 69 percent of the troops killed in Iraq have been from the army. New recruits continue to exceed join up at higher rates as well. All this is extremely important, especially when there is a war going on. Experience saves lives in combat, and more of the most experienced troops are staying in. This means that, a decade from now, the army will have a large and experienced corps of senior NCOs. That, in turn, means the younger troops are likely to well trained and led.
The army makes a big thing, internally, about the number of troops re-enlisting, especially within combat units that are in Iraq or Afghanistan. Pictures of mass re-enlistments are published in military media, but the civilian media has generally ignored this phenomena. Also ignored, except by some local media interviewing locals who are in the army, is the positive attitude of the troops, especially those in combat units. The large number of re-enlistments occur because the troops believe they are making a difference, and winning. This is especially true for soldiers who have come back to Iraq on a second tour, and noted the improvements since the first tour.
The large re-enlistment bonuses, paid to some specialists, does get some media attention, as do those who did not re-enlist, as do the wounded and the families of the dead. But the attitudes of the troops themselves, the people closest to the war, are generally ignored by the mass media. If these attitudes are noted at all, they are dismissed as misguided, because the troops are too close to what is going on.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/14/2006 09:46 ||
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#1
"This means that, a decade from now, the army will have a large and experienced corps of senior NCOs."
Not if the LLL get back in power. If Kerry, or Gore, or Hillary, or Russ Feingold becomes President in 2008, don't count on anybody being left in the military 10 years from now.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/14/2006 10:22 Comments ||
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#2
Not much of an endorsement of the patriotism of the troops. The Army serves America, not a particular President. Luckily, the soldiers know that better than you.
#3
The occupant of the White House has little bearing on re-enlistment. Pay, benefits, advancement, and opportunity have EVERYTHING to do with re-enlistment. I also think the same reasons are true for someones decision to stay with a civilian job. I started my career with Jimmy Carter and ended with Bill Clinton and at no time did the President, his policies, or his party had no bearing on my decision to stay one enlistment to the next. People in the military today are getting nice (deservedly so) bonuses, better pay, more benefits, and lots of opportunities to advance in rank. That is why they are staying in record numbers.
But the reasons are that such an LLL predicetn woudl be a disaster for morale, pay, equipment and employment of the military.
Which military do you wast, the timid one under Jimmy Carter (Iran Afghanistan), or the resurgent one under Reagan that wonthe cold war? The babysitter military under Clinton (hands tied in Bosnia, Kosovo, Somolia, Afghanistan, Sudan), or the Hunter military under Bush II (even tho Bush now seems to be wavering)?
#7
Unless we are involved in a conflict the pay and benifits don't get increased under any administration (Dem or Rep). Actually Bush 41 rifted a large number of people from the services and started the "Peace Dividend" reduction. There was a time when few in the military were sure IF we could re-enlist let alone if we wanted. We closed a lot of bases after the Berlin wall fell and cut our intelligence structure to the bone under Clinton. It made sense at the time because NOBODY saw the rising tide of Islamofacists as a threat (even after the first WTC bombing). I am sure that some people serve because they love the country, are patriotic, or have a sense of duty but they are very small group. That doesn't mean that those serving are not motivated by pride or sense of duty because they are and I respect them for that. I doubt very seriously that there would be large re-enlistments if pay and benifits were cut or remained stagnant.
#8
The administration in power has a great deal to do with the makeup of the senior officer corp. It should come as no surprise that generals promoted under Clinton do not like the aggressive use of force. Clinton was not looking for fighters.
The expectation can be that the military, including the senior ranks, will be much more geared to war fighting as the current crop of senior and mid-level officers rise. The next administration will then determine what qualities it chooses to promote.
#9
...or have a sense of duty but they are very small group.
CS I have to disagree with you on this statement, the rest is spot on. Units that had a genuine mission and where the soldiers were performing their missions experienced great re-up rates, even during the bad times. Soldiers join for many reasons, school, adventure, etc..., but most stay because of the love for their country and their honor of being able to defend it. For example I was lucky enough to serve in a company, in USASOC, in the mid 90's. I did not have or need a reenlistment folder on the soldiers. We had a 100% reenlistment rate for the years I was there. Even though it was tough times with the drawdown and all, these troops had a good mission and they loved what they were doing, and they stayed as long as we could let them. The troops today do not enlist for the college or a bonus, they have no misconceptions about their roll in the military, their risks, and why they are there. As long as we let them do their missions they will continue to re-up.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/14/2006 15:19 Comments ||
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#10
49 Pan, your right but USASOC isn't a small select group? I did not infer that those that serve are any less dedicated and your are correct that when the shit hit the fan we were ALL dedicated to the mission. I only had experience in the Balkans and EVERYONE worked hard to ensure success. FYI many (if not most) of us were dumbfounded by the lack of a planned ground campaign and by the Russians showing up (seeming uninvited). I think Wes Clark, Clinton, and Half-Bright really should explain that strategery to the rest of the world.
#11
CS, I think Wes Clark, Clinton, and Half-Bright really should explain that strategery to the rest of the world. As well as Short, who burned Belgrade to the ground in order to shut down a radio tower, who should go to jail for it in my opinion.
I did not take insult, I probably did not get my point across right and would never infur any one soldier is better than another one. My poor explaination was I really think most soldiers stay in from a sence of honor and duty, and thats all. I was in 1AD during the start up of the Balkans and was stunned as well by the lack of attention to mission planning by the CORPS HQ while our soldiers, you and I included, busted our asses.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/14/2006 18:01 Comments ||
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#12
My son just enlisted - graduates HS and enters in September. He has a SAT rating at 86% percentile, a GPA at 3.76 and could've got into college easily. I asked him why he chose the Army and when he decided, he said 9/11/01. He's not in for the money, hopefullly will get to use the College money, but he's there for each and every one of us.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/14/2006 18:09 Comments ||
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#13
CS,
I still remember the late 70s with Carter. I saw a lot of good NCOs and officers leave because their pay was crap. Don't you recall how may of the troops qualified for food stamps. And the guys overseas were screwed because they didn't have access at that time to the stamps. The guys had to feed their families and the amount of pay that the Carter Administration was budgeting wasn't doing the job. They left to feed their families. Carter didn't recommend a decent pay increase till the election year when it became an issue. At the same time the inflation had started to head to double digits because of the impact of the oil embargo. Troops getting 2 and 3 percent pay increases with prices going double digit didn't cut it.
#14
I left the Air Force in 1977, due primarily to President Carter's words and deeds. My wife and I wanted to adopt a couple of children, and knew we'd never be able to do so in the military. I joined the Reserves shortly after I left active duty. We adopted one child, tried to adopt another and were turned down. When Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980, I re-enlisted in the Regular AF, and stayed until 1991, when I was forced to retire for medical reasons.
A president and his attitude toward the military can have a HUGE influence on whether people reenlist or not. I know dozens that bailed on Carter, and more that left under the Clintons. Most of the people I knew on active duty were highly patriotic, knew the work they were doing was important, and would work 20-hour shifts for weeks at a time to accomplish the mission. They also have a very distinct impression on Congress, the Presidency, and the government in general. The pay and promotion isn't enough to compensate for the work required. It's only the sense of pride, honor, and duty that keeps most of the military in uniform. Show open disrespect for those people, as Carter and the Clintons did, and watch the best of them leave in droves.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/14/2006 21:02 Comments ||
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#15
All things equal, NUMBERS BEATS QUALITY - iff as Jerry Corsi, author of ATOMIC IRAN, that any US-Iran regional war may induce or trigger a potentially worldwide nuclear confrontation and war amongst the major nuke powers, i.e. against Russia andor China, etal. then for America and its USDOD going back to Cold War levels of volunteer manpower may no longer be sufficient. We will eventually need a draft, andor in the alternate a raising of Reserve and Guard allotments - the Guard as example can be stratified into younger men [Ready Guard]for immediate or ready military service in suppor of the Reserves and Regulars, while the older men [Inactive/Reserve Guard]can be put for State and Community defense and policing in suppor of non-activated Guard or Reserve units. GREAT BRITAIN during WW2 had its HOME GUARD while even NAZI GERMANY had its VOLKSTSTURM. iff memory is correct, during WW2 the maxi legal limit for drafted Amer men was age 45 or 47, of which the US Army by itself was able to form approxi 100 well-trained divisions, not all or most of which saw actual combat, and NOT including the then US Army Air Corps/USAAF or Sea Service. Its not well known in America that during WW2, and many years afterwards, the Army actually controlled more planes, ships, and crafts than the US Navy or its child the USAF. My point is - AMERICA IS IN A WAR FOR CONTROL OF THE WORLD, THE NWO, AND FUTURE OWG,AND WHERE ITS VERY EXISTENCE, SURVIVAL, BELIEFS SYSTEMS, COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES/
ENDOWMENTS, AND SOVEREIGNTY, ETC. IS UNDER THREAT!
GOP-CONSERVATIVES AND ALL AMERICANS MUST DO WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR OUR SIDE TO PREVAIL AND WIN, AND TO DO SO DESPITE WHAT THE WAFFLING, DIALECTICAL, POLICRATIC, HYPER-CORRECT, BIG GOVT.-, LAISSEZ FAIRE = TOTALITARIANISM, ETC. LOVING LEFTIES DO OR DESIRE AGAINST ANYONE AND ANYTHING.The Right wants AMerica to win, the Left wants America to win and then to surrender, where winning = surrendering and vice versa, but somehow is also not the same. The Dems and Lefties are going hell-bent for that handful of special reserved seat(s) on the future Socialist-Communist Amerikan Politburo, Presidium, and People's Congress which the Commies from Russia-China never promised them.
AL-Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui said he had "no remorse" for September 11, dismissed grief-stricken survivors as "disgusting" and hoped new attacks would bring America more pain. "It make my day," Moussaoui replied when asked at his death penalty trial for his reaction to the heartbreak of families shattered by the loss of loved ones in the 2001 attacks.
On the witness stand in his death penalty trial, days before jurors will be asked to decide whether he should be executed, Moussaoui said he dreamed that President George W. Bush would release him before he leaves office in 2009.
Amid signs that the jury would be handed the case early next week, he justified Al-Qaeda's strikes with Koranic verses. In an anti-Israel tirade, he argued the United States is "the head of the snake" that acts as "life support" for "The Jewish State of Palestine."
Asked by prosecutor Rob Spencer about September 11, Moussaoui replied quickly, "No regret, no remorse." "I just wish it had happened on the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th, we can go on and on."
"So would you be happy to see 9/11 again?" Mr Spencer asked. "Every day," Moussaoui answered.
Mr Spencer asked Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection with the attacks, if he had enjoyed video of the Pentagon in flames. "I would have laughed but I knew I would have been kicked out of court," he replied.
One officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Thurman, described on Wednesday terrible scenes moments after a hijacked jet slammed into the Pentagon and how he crawled out of the inferno. "It was pathetic. I was regretful he didn't die," said Moussaoui.
Asked about sobs on the witness stand from navy Lieutenant Nancy McKeown, who lost two subordinates in the Pentagon, he replied: "I think it was disgusting."
While the defence has been urging jurors to send him to prison for life so that he does not become a martyr, the Al-Qaeda operative said he dreamt Mr Bush would release him. "I have 100 per cent belief that you will never get my blood because I will be free," he said.
The jury has ruled that Moussaoui, already in jail at the time of the attacks, is eligible for execution, accepting prosecution arguments his "lies" let his Al-Qaeda "brothers" go ahead with the attacks. They must now decide whether the sentence should be carried out.
The defence plans to portray Moussaoui as a paranoid schizophrenic and highlight his tough upbringing to support pleas for life imprisonment. But Mr Spencer asked Moussaoui to diagnose his own condition. "Are you crazy Mr Moussaoui?" he asked. "Thank God, I am not," the defendant answered.
Asked by the prosecutor if he wanted to die, Moussaoui replied: "I want to fight." Did he want to stay alive to kill Americans? "Any time, anywhere," Moussaoui answered.
Moussaoui lambasted US support for Israel, which he said was little more than a US colony and "the missing star in the American flag". "You (Americans) are the head of the snake for me. If we want to destroy the Jewish State of Palestine, we have to destroy you first," Moussaoui told the court.
Moussaoui leafed through the Koran, finding chapter nine, which he said calls on Muslims to fight for supremacy.
Defence lawyer Gerald Zerkin asked Moussaoui why he hates the United States and Americans, apparently working from a list of questions that Moussaoui said he was prepared to answer. "It is going to be long," he said. "You are on a crusade, like George W. Bush says. In Europe, they call New York 'little Israel'," he replied.
Moussaoui condemned the United States for being the first country, in 1948, to recognise Israel, which he referred to as the "Jewish State of Palestine". "There is no difference between the Jewish State of Palestine and Hawaii," declared Moussaoui.
Moussaoui was in detention during the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. But the jury agreed in an earlier part of the trial that he was eligible for the death penalty because his lies about the planned attacks contributed to the almost 3000 deaths that day.
The first defence witness was a senior former prison officer, James Aiken, who said if he was jailed for life, Moussaoui would "rot" in isolation in the most secure US prison.
#1
From an AP report yesterday on Moussaoui's trial:
In a lengthy explanation of why he hates Americans, Moussaoui said Islam requires Muslims to be the world's superpower as he flipped through a copy of the Quran searching for verses to support his assertion. He said one verse requires Muslims "to fight against all who believe not in Allah."
"We have an obligation to be the superpower. You have to be subdued," Moussaoui said. "America is a superpower and you want to eradicate Islam."
It's either them, or us.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/14/2006 7:15 Comments ||
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#3
I saw in a different post, someone stateing "he dose'nt live in our world". And that's right. But if we don't fight this, someday we will be living in his.
Go South Park, at least you got nads.
#5
I'm usually for zapping everybody, but this guys trying a little too hard.
Throw him in a cell with Ramzi Yussef and Richard Reid and a Penthouse and see if they can circle jerk each other to death.
#6
We've got a nice, 14,110-foot-tall mountain here near Colorado Springs. I suggest we bolt old Moussaoui up there in his birthday suit around the first of November, and go back and hunt for the pieces somewhere around the 15th of May. I'm sure he'll experience a LOT of "pain" before his rosy pink rear freezes solid.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/14/2006 21:07 Comments ||
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Confessed 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui has lashed out at his own defence team after taking the witness stand in his death-penalty trial. "You have put your vested interest in keeping this case in your hands, above my interest to save my life," Moussaoui said on Thursday in response to questions from defence lawyer Gerald Zerkin.
Zerkin had asked Moussaoui if he believed his court-appointed defence team was in a conspiracy to kill him. Moussaoui responded that they had been engaged in "criminal non-assistance". Specifically, he said, the lawyers should have sought a change of venue from Virginia because jurors there were more likely to give the death penalty because of the proximity of the Pentagon, one of the targets of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
One of the first motions Moussaoui filed when he won the right to represent himself in 2002 was seeking a change of venue. Moussaoui also said he no longer wanted to be executed as the death penalty was not in line with Islamic teaching, but doubted that his testimony held any sway with the jurors considering his sentence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Moussaoui also said he no longer wanted to be executed as the death penalty was not in line with Islamic teaching,
Unless, of course, you're an infidel. Funny how many people who are suddenly caught are all the sudden against the death penalty. And, why in the world would he say these things right after laughing at the Navy witness yesterday and all of his recent outbursts about more 9/11's? Maybe he is trying for the insanity plea. Me? I'm beginning to wonder if we should rule Islam itself as insanity.
Posted by: BA ||
04/14/2006 8:47 Comments ||
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NEW YORK: About three dozen of Al Qaeda's worst will likely remain in secret CIA prisons indefinitely, US spy chief John Negroponte said in an interview published Wednesday. "These people are being held. And they're bad actors. And as long as this situation continues, this war on terror continues, I'm not sure I can tell you what the ultimate disposition of those detainees will be," Negroponte told Time magazine, admitting to the existence of a secret system of CIA prisons. Prisoners such as Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, who was involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks are likely to remain jailed for a long time.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Pump em for intel, than kill em
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/14/2006 0:55 Comments ||
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President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday directed all federal intelligence agencies to investigate the Karachi suicide bombing on Eid Miladun Nabi and bring the people behind it to justice, sources said.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the president expressed firm resolve to fight terrorism. The prime minister briefed the president on his Karachi visit. The president and the prime minister reviewed the overall law and order situation in the country, especially in the context of the terrorist act in Karachi. They expressed the government's determination to punish the culprits. They appealed to the people to show restraint and calm and assist the government in its efforts to deal with the terrorists. The prime minister informed the president about his visit to Karachi and his meetings and discussions with the political leadership.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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RAMADI, Iraq (AP) -- The young Marine had just shot a suspected insurgent and was walking back across the villa's rooftop when he keeled over from a terrific thud to the back of his head. A sniper had fired a single, well-aimed bullet that tore through the top of Lance Cpl. Richard Caseltine's helmet, traced a path along the edge of his skull and buried burning bullet fragments in the back of his neck. Less than a minute later, the 20-year-old from Aurora, Ind., was up on his feet - crouching, shaking and miraculously, still alive.
"You expect when somebody gets shot in the head, they're dead," the soft-spoken Caseltine told The Associated Press in an interview, cradling the battered camouflage helmet that saved his life Saturday. "I consider myself very lucky."
Caseltine was among two squads from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment's India Company moving through the rocket-blasted streets of downtown Ramadi on a joint foot patrol with the Iraqi army. Caseltine and several others were tasked with providing "overwatch" - finding a place from where they could watch over the rest of the patrol. They entered the front gate of a two-story villa and herded a man, his wife and their children into a room. Four Marines then climbed the stairs to a rooftop enclosed by shoulder-high walls, each taking positions in separate corners to scan adjacent buildings and streets.
Half an hour later, Lance Cpl. Benjamin Congleton, 22, of Lexington, Ky., spotted a man in a black T-shirt crouching on the ground near a light pole. He was fiddling with a tangle of wires and looking from side to side. Congleton called Caseltine over for a second opinion. They agreed the man was trying to plant a bomb. Congleton fired his M-16, but missed. The startled man tried to stand up. Caseltine fired his M-4 Carbine, hitting the man in the leg. Congleton then shot the man in the head as he tried to flee down an alleyway, apparently killing him. Caseltine took three or four steps back to his position in the rooftop corner when he felt something strike the top backside of his helmet.
"It felt like somebody came from behind and punched me in the back of the head as hard as they could," Caseltine said. "It just rocked me. I went forward and my ears started ringing really bad. I couldn't hear anything." It wasn't clear at first if one of the Marines had misfired one of their weapons. But in a split-second, they understood the sole shot had not come from them. Ducking to the ground, they rushed to Caseltine's aid.
"He was yelling, 'I got hit! I got hit!' Congleton said. A cursory check revealed blood at the back of Caseltine's neck but no serious wounds. Caseltine was still conscious. Able to walk, he got up and, crouching, moved to the relative safety of a room downstairs, where a Navy medic examined him. The back of his neck burned, but he was fine otherwise. "He had this big smile on his face," said Lance Cpl. Jefferson Ortiz, 21, of Miami. "He knew he'd gotten very, very lucky." As troops popped smoke grenades, a Humvee arrived to evacuated the wounded Marine.
Congleton said he believed the sniper had been providing "overwatch" for insurgents planting bombs in preparation for a major assault on the Marine-protected provincial government headquarters. The attack began the minute the rest of the squad exited the villa. "We were taking fire from every street corner," Congleton said. "It seemed like we were fighting the entire city."
Bounding across rubble-strewn intersections nearby, one Iraqi soldier was hit by a bomb that blew other Iraqis into the air. Some got up and kept running, but one soldier lay writhing and bloodied - one of legs was partially detached. A couple Iraqi soldiers began dragging him by his clothes, but a Marine lifted the soldier onto his back and carried him away, Congleton said.
Caseltine, meanwhile, was flown to a military medical facility at nearby Balad air base, where medics removed fragments from the bullet that were lodged a quarter-inch into the back of his neck. "They said I was lucky it didn't go in deeper. My luck was running pretty good that day," Caseltine said. "If I had bought a lottery ticket, I probably would have won."
On Tuesday, three days later, Caseltine was back on base, hours away from rejoining his squad at an outpost elsewhere in Ramadi. Sitting outside his sandbagged tent, he pulled out a photo that showed him cradling his wife. It had been ripped in two by the bullet - right down the middle. Caseltine had stuffed it into the netting inside the top of his helmet, known as Kevlar for the protective material, "so my wife would be with me."
"They always tell us not to throw our Kevlars around or bang them on the ground. I usually do, but I ain't gonna' be throwing my new one down," Caseltine said. "I ain't gonna' take it for granted anymore because I know they work."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/14/2006 09:36 ||
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"The young Marine had just shot a suspected insurgent and was walking back across the villa's rooftop when he keeled over from a terrific thud to the back of his head."
Typical fighting tactics of the brave Lions of Islam -- shot the Marine in the back of the head as he walked away.
#4
Cpl. Caseltine's guardian angel gets the "Employee of the Month" certificate, a 10% bonus in his next paycheck, and the use of the Boss' parking space for the month of May.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/14/2006 12:48 Comments ||
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#5
This reminds me of that video that one of the Brave Lions of Islam(tm) shot and our boyz got a hold of afterwards of them lining up on one of our boyz (in front of a hummer) at basically what looks like point blank range (across the street). You hear Machmoud chanting something as the pulls the trigger, and our boy goes down. But, then the unthinkable...he hops up quickly, M-16 aiming for whatever hit him and dashes behind the hummer. You hear the stress in Machmoud's voice as he's chanting more and more because he realizes he either missed or didn't take our guy out permanently. Backups swoop in, and the rest is history (not on tape) from what I understood.
Posted by: BA ||
04/14/2006 15:25 Comments ||
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BERLIN - Kidnappers of two German engineers seized in Iraq 11 weeks ago are seeking a ransom of 12 million dollars, the news magazine Focus reported on Friday. The sum was conveyed to the German Foreign Ministry by Iraqi mediators working to obtain the mens release, the magazine quoted sources in the security services as saying. A Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report.
After studying a video released by the kidnappers April 9, the government in Berlin believes the two hostages might have been sold by their original abductors to a criminal gang, Focus said in its online edition. Changing political demands by the kidnappers were seen in Berlin as a possible attempt to cover up the criminal background to the abduction, the report said.
Thomas Nitzschke, 28, and Rene Braeunlich, 32, were seized on January 24 in Bayji while they were on their way to do contract work at an Iraqi factory.
In the latest video, Nitzschke appealed for help to the German government. Weve been in captivity here for more than 60 days. We are at the end of our tether. We cant stand it any longer. Help us please, Nitzschke said in German in the video which appeared on an Islamist website. There had been no word on their fate since an early February video message.
The video, only a few seconds long, was the fourth to be issued by the abductors, who have not identified themselves. The film appeared to have been made on March 28. A printed message in Arabic appeared to threaten the men with murder. A banner running through the video said in Arabic, In the name of God the Merciful, Battalion of the Supporters of Tawhid and Sunna. It also contained a black panel with a final ultimatum demanding US forces release prisoners in Iraq. If you do not meet our demands to release the detained men and women from the prisons and if you do not cease all support for the Americans and their helpers, you will immediately suffer the just penalty, it said, according to one translation.
Relatives and friends of the two engineers staged a vigil in support of the men in their home town of Leipzig on Thursday evening. The employer of the two, Peter Bienert of the firm Cryotec near Leipzig, had earlier complained that he was not receiving enough information from the foreign ministry about efforts to gain the mens release. Bienert had been criticized for sending the men to Iraq.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/14/2006 09:32 ||
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Unarmed young people, along with the police, are keeping watch over Catholic churches in Baghdad during the Easter triduum celebrations.
"In this way, we would like to convey a feeling of tranquility and give a sign of peace in this special time of prayer and meditation," Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad told the SIR news agency.
"Our youth will help, pointing out people who are not known to the community or suspect vehicles that want to stop in front of the places of worship," he explained.
The bishop said that for the initial celebrations this Holy Week the "churches were brimming with people and everything is going in the best possible way, without any problems."
On Jan. 29, a series of attacks took place against six Christian churches of Iraq, leaving three people dead, including a 13-year-old altar server.
"We trust ... that everything will go in the best possible way," Bishop Warduni said. "We will offer all our Masses for peace in the world and for the rebirth and security of Iraq."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 03:11 ||
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Thank you, guys.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/14/2006 12:48 Comments ||
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Could you imagine this in Iran?
Coudl you imagine seeing this as a Page 1 Item in tne Wash Post or NYT?
Sad thing is the former is probably more likely than the latter. This is *news* - Islamic youth protecting a Christian church! But to them, its B-7 material, below the fold, for the anti-Bush/Anti_Iraq/anti-US agenda driven MSM.
Al Qaeda in Iraq and its presumed leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, have conceded strategic defeat and are on their way out of the country, a top U.S. military official contended yesterday.
The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commands the XVIII Airborne Corps.
"They no longer view Iraq as fertile ground to establish a caliphate and as a place to conduct international terrorism," he said in an address at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Gen. Vines' statement came as news broke that coalition and Iraqi forces had killed an associate of Osama bin Laden's during an early morning raid near Abu Ghraib about two weeks ago.
Rafid Ibrahim Fattah aka Abu Umar al Kurdi served as a liaison between terrorist networks and was linked to Taliban members in Afghanistan, Pakistani-based extremists and other senior al Qaeda leaders, the military said yesterday.
In the past six months, al Kurdi had worked as a terrorist cell leader in Baqouba. Prior to that, he had traveled extensively Pakistan, Iran and Iraq and formed a relationship with al Qaeda senior leaders in 1999 while in Afghanistan.
He also had ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, formed while he was in Iran and Pakistan, and joined the jihad in Afghanistan in 1989, the military said. He was killed March 27.
Gen. Vines said the foreign terrorists had made a strategic mistake when they tried to intimidate and deny Iraqis a way to vote.
"I believe Zarqawi discredited himself with the Iraqi people because of his willingness to slaughter Iraqi people," he said.
Huthayafa Azzam, whose father was seen as a political mentor of bin Laden, told reporters in Jordan in early April that Zarqawi had been replaced as head of the terrorist fight in Iraq in an effort to put an Iraqi at the head of the organization.
Azzam said Zarqawi had "made many political mistakes," including excessive violence and the bombing last November of a Jordanian hotel, and as a result was being "confined to military action."
Gen. Vines, who from January 2005 to January 2006 led all coalition forces in Iraq, did not comment on those reports. But he did caution that although the foreign extremists were leaving Iraq "looking for more fertile ground," they could come back.
"The question now is what kind of government is going to be formed and is it going to be credible," he said, acknowledging that Iran had significant influence over Iraq's religious Shi'ite population.
"Iran wants us out, but not too soon -- after a Shi'ite government friendly to Iran is established," Gen. Vines said. "Iran's view is that the current government is not strong enough, and if we pulled out now, there would be a low-level civil war."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 02:52 ||
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IOW, they'll be waiting for us in IRAN, alongst wid "Saladin" Osama???, and definitely MadMoud of the Apocalypse. * DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR HILLARY-GORE!?
An Iraqi businessman linked to Saddam Hussein told a US television network the kidnapping of US journalist Jill Carroll was a mistake and a ransom was paid for her release. Sheikh Sattam al-Gaood, a middleman behind Carroll's release on March 30 and self-proclaimed insurgency leader, told ABC News in an exclusive interview how her release was arranged and why he supports the insurgency in Iraq. "They are defending their country," he said in an interview at his summer house outside Amman, Jordan. "They are an honest resistance. And sometimes they do mistakes."
One of those mistakes was kidnapping Carroll, a 28-year-old freelance journalist mainly working for The Christian Science Monitor, Gaood said. Carroll was abducted in Baghdad on January 7 by an armed group, which shot dead her Iraqi translator and was held hostage for 12 weeks. Gaood, once one of Saddam Hussein's closest business associates, said he used his influence to help free Carroll, even refusing kidnappers' demands for a huge ransom. "There was a demand for eight million dollars," he said.
Instead, at the kidnappers' request, he told ABC News he agreed to arrange payment to widows and orphans tied to the resistance. "We did good donations," he said. "I don't want it to go into the wrong hands, the money."
He did not say how much was given, but says he was willing to arrange payment for as much as one million dollars. Within a few weeks, the kidnappers contacted him saying she was going to be released, and 10 hours later she was freed.
The editor of The Christian Science Monitor said Wednesday he was unaware of any ransom paid by anyone. "While we are grateful for the efforts made by so many people to obtain Jill's release, as of today, with the information we have, neither The Christian Science Monitor nor Jill's family is aware of any evidence to support that claim," Richard Bergenheim said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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ABC News, home for thugs, murders, kidnappers, and extortionists.
America's sworn enemies are welcome at ABC News.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/14/2006 0:53 Comments ||
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And, of course, ABC tried to verify all this stuff to make sure it wasn't all, you know, bullshit?
April 14, 2006: Comparing notes with the Israelis, it was found that al Qaeda and the Palestinian terrorists agreed that, in general, the "best" candidates to recruit for suicide operations are poor, uneducated young men with low self-esteem. These poor lads can be easily indoctrinated. Since they are uneducated, but not stupid, they can be quickly taught the necessary skills to enhance their chances of carrying out their attacks successfully.
One reason for Western nations cutting off over a billion dollars in annual aid to the Palestinians, unless Hamas (the new terrorist group that got elected as the new Palestinian leaders) makes some convincing noises about not being terrorists, is because paying large sums of money to the families of suicide bombers, is a big inducement for poor young guys to sign up. Young Palestinian, and Iraqi Sunni men, know that their future is bleak without cash to get married and start some kind of business. Arabs tend to put family before self, so it's a reasonable choice for a son to do a suicide bomber thing, knowing that the family will get respect, and a large chunk of change, because of it. The likeliest volunteer for this kind of job is the son with the most meager prospects. Namely, the one that did poorly at school, and has a low opinion of himself. Being a suicide bomber is one way to finally get some respect. And once you volunteer, and then until the time you actually do the deed (which might be weeks or months in the future), you get to enjoy the respect.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/14/2006 10:14 ||
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no wonder that woman wants all her sons to become suicide bombers. she has her eye on a really sweet bmw.
In an another sign of the Palestinian leadership growing alliance with al-Qaida, Damascus-based Hamas head Khaled Mashaal recently met in Yemen with a representative of Osama bin Laden's organization who is wanted by the US for his involvement in supporting and funding global terror, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
During a visit to Yemen two weeks ago, the local Hamas branch organized a fund-raising event to recruit financial aid for the new Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government. During the event, Mashaal met with Sheikh Abd al-Majid al-Zindani - suspected by the US as being a "loyalist to Osama bin Laden and supporter of al-Qaida" - who even donated 200,000 Yemenite rials to Hamas, the equivalent of a little over $1,000.
"This meeting reinforces the fact that Hamas and al-Qaida come out of the same ideological well-spring of global jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood," said former ambassador to the UN Dore Gold, whose Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs carefully followed the meeting and recently published a paper on the Hamas-al-Qaida alliance. "They still share the same financial infrastructure to this day."
At the fund-raising event, Zindani praised Hamas suicide bombers and called on his followers to donate money to assist the Palestinian people. "The Hamas government is the Palestinian people's government today," he told the crowd of several thousand. "It is the jihad-fighting, steadfast, resolute government of Palestine."
In 2004, US authorities designated Zindani as a terror supporter and a spiritual figure for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Zindani, the authorities claimed, played a key role in the 2004 purchasing of weapons on behalf of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
"The US has credible evidence that Zindani, a Yemeni national, supports designated terrorists and terrorist organizations," a statement released by the US Treasury Department said. "Zindani has a long history of working with bin Laden, notably serving as one of his spiritual leaders. In this leadership capacity, he has been able to influence and support many terrorist causes, including actively recruiting for al-Qaida training camps."
Senior IDF officers have confirmed that al-Qaida has already established terror cells in the Gaza Strip and has begun working on creating a similar infrastructure in the West Bank. Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Harel, head of the IDF's Planning Directorate, told the Post recently that al-Qaida was operating within the PA territories.
"Al-Qaida is about money," he said. "There is always a flow of funds to terrorism in the territories and it is difficult to get our hands on the money."
Last week, the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported that 10 al-Qaida activists who had recently entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt had been captured by PA security forces. Citing Jordanian security sources, the paper said that the cells were in the midst of planning "large-scale" terror attacks on sensitive and strategic targets - possible the crossings from Gaza into Israel.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 03:04 ||
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Nice work, Khaled. You've single-handedly guaranteed that the US will NEVER play "nice government" with your bunch of lunatics the way they did with ol' Yasser's mob. The kiss of freakin' death, baby!
The Hamas-led Palestinian government is willing to recognise Israel if the latter withdraws fully from West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera.net has reliably learnt. Sources close to Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, described the Hamas decision as a "significant change in policy".
"What it means is that the Palestinian government is willing to recognise Israel if Israel met certain conditions, including a complete withdrawal from the territories Israel occupied in 1967," a source told Al Jazeera.net on Wednesday. Speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, the source added that he expected the "new posture" to be announced officially by Haniya in the coming few days.
The Hamas-led government is coming under intense international pressure to recognise Israel, abandon armed resistance and accept outstanding agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. If true, the new development will constitute a significant departure from Hamas' dogged refusal to accept Israel's right to exist. Hamas' officials and spokespersons in the West Bank have refused to comment on the movement's willingness to recognise Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on 100% of the occupied territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Hamas willing to recognize Israel if all Israelis voluntarily jump into the ocean but leave their purses and wallets behind. -- Such a deal.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/14/2006 0:43 Comments ||
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There's a 50/50 chance that the EU and US State Department would push for it.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/14/2006 0:45 Comments ||
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#3
Demands: A viable Palestinian state on 100% of West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.
90 Would-be Suicide Bombers Apprehended
(IsraelNN.com) According to security officials, 90 would-be suicide bombers were taken into custody during the first three months of 2006. Officials report this represents a sharp increase in the number of potential suicide bombers, adding the 90 terrorists in custody represent over one-half of the total number arrested in all of 2005.
and, in responce, Security Establishment Approves Wheat Shipment to Gaza
(IsraelNN.com) Security establishment officials are confirming that for the first time, goods will be permitted into Gaza via the Sufah Crossing in southern Gaza.
The crossing will be opened on Sunday for 48 hours, during which time 3,000 tons of wheat are expected to be brought into Gaza, providing basics towards the production of flour.
#6
That "viable" is a real problem and a big laugh. No word on renouncing violence against this newly-recognized Israel, I note. Or keeping to the word once spoken.
"New posture" indeed. That's all it is. Heads still firmly up their butts, same posture. What's new? Rocking from side to side?
#7
TW, you forgot the lack of funds coming in. I imagine if we keep that pressure up, eventually they'll even run out of bullets or RPGs (that is, if the Israeli force field thingy doesn't make RPGs obsolete first). Gawd, I love being on the winning team!
Posted by: BA ||
04/14/2006 8:51 Comments ||
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#8
Israel is in charge of borders. Hamas is in charge of terror, false doctrine, and hiding behind women and children.
#9
Why would anyone believe "Hamas"? Oh, that's right, they're the government now, not a bunch of AK-47 weilding baby-murdering religious fanatics. Of course they'd never lie....
#10
Let's make it a reality show. Tell Hamas the length of time till the money spigot gets turned back on will be equal to the time it takes them to recognize Israel. We could have a fast moving ounter showing the delay time till money gets restarted and the amount saved thus far. Each day Rice or Rummy could come out and talk about what happened over the last day with pictures of Paleos crying, etc. Great ratings opportunity.
#12
Funny how Hamas has hardly absorbed the fact that they'd won the election when their hand was out for more money from the West - the same West that they despise. Great moral fibre there.
And where is it written that the West is obliged to give them money? Now they are making civilized noises about recognising Israel. But it's just a ploy to lull the West into complacently handing over more millions.
Hamas will never civilize themselves. It's like expecting Neanderthals to have manners.
#14
I think they are wise to send in the wheat. It's not going to bother their Arab brothers and sisters if the babies starve, but it will bother us in the west. So if they don't have food, then it becomes a big PR thing and the RFSP will send them money, which won't go to food, but to bombs. Giving wheat is like handing leftovers to the bum on the corner. If that's all everyone ever did, he'd only sit there if he was hungry and after awhile, he'd get full and go home.
Give em' food and water and leave them strong enough to demand from their government more than just a daily ration of gruel.
The new Hamas government, broke and increasingly isolated, has turned to ordinary people for financial help, launching a fundraising drive on websites and Arab satellite TV stations, a spokesman said Thursday. The appeal, which is sponsored by the Arab League, comes at a time when the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority is not only being shunned by the West, but Hamas leaders are also getting the cold shoulder in some Arab capitals.
Arab governments have been reluctant to make good on pledges of financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, apparently in part because they see Hamas as part of a global Islamic movement that is challenging autocratic Arab regimes. In addition, some Arab countries are reluctant to cross the United States. Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas was to embark on a fundraising tour of five Arab nations on Friday, but was expected to be snubbed by officials in at least two countries, Egypt and Jordan.
By sheer coincidence, Hamastan has borders on both Jordan and Egypt. Who may have good reason to keep Paleos on a very short leash
Other stops include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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I know, let's have a bake sale!
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
04/14/2006 0:59 Comments ||
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The words:
Old Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard to get her poor doggy a bone
But when she got there the cupboard was bare and so the poor doggy had none
The second performance of the Hubbard Saga - commissioned by Trafford Council for Sale Festival - was at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester in October 2001.
The performers were Moorlands Junior School Choir under Pat Quirk, the Owen Wynne Chorale under Owen Wynne and the Sale Festival Orchestra (leader Esther Laing)
#4
Oh an arabic fundraiser! They'll call in their pledges like good muslims - millions and billions of dollars promised; the fundraiser is declared a huge success. And like good muslims, no-one will actually send any money. Still broke Hamistan - but can't you just feeeel the love?
#8
Maybe the left can put together something like a "Concert for Bangladesh", except for Hamas. It could headline acts like The Dixie Chicks and Barbara Streisand could use it to kick off another one of her farewell tours.
The US Treasury says it has blacklisted the spiritual leader and three other members of Indonesia's al-Qaeda-linked militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is in jail for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings, but is to be freed in June.
The US Treasury said the members had "been trained, funded and directed by al-Qaeda to pursue a like-minded terrorist agenda". The move freezes assets and bans US citizens from transacting with the men. Although the Treasury froze the assets of the four men in the US it did not give any details of their accounts, if any.
The others blacklisted are:
* Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan, said to be the younger brother of Jemaah Islamiah operations head Hambali who was arrested in Thailand and is now in US custody.
* Taufik Rifki, believed to be the group's ex-finance officer in the Philippines and currently detained there.
* Abdullah Anshori, head of a Jemaah Islamiah branch called Mantiq II, the Treasury says. He is one of the most senior leaders still free, it says.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 02:51 ||
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The United States has frozen the funds of jailed Jemaah Islamiah leader Abu Bakar Bashir and three other members of the Al Qaeda-linked militant network.
The Treasury Department, acting on a presidential order, has officially froze the assets of the four Indonesian men and prohibited Americans from conducting any transactions with them. A Treasury statement says the Government will also join other countries, including Australia, in seeking to have the men's names added to a United Nations list of terrorists tied to Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Thursday they will attend peace talks in Switzerland, surprising diplomats who had taken recent attacks to mean the meeting was off. Repeated suspected rebel attacks on government forces and ethnic violence have killed more than 40 people over the past week, sharply raising fears of a return to civil war.
"The Geneva talks will happen," head of the rebel peace secretariat, S Puleedevan, told Reuters by satellite phone from Kilinochchi, the de facto rebel capital. "But the dates will have to be moved by a bit. We will go once we have met our eastern commanders from April 15 to 22."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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TEHERAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday once again rejected a demand by the UNs International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to suspend its uranium enrichment process. This is a legitimate and irrevocable right of the Iranian nation which we will decisively pursue regardless of threats and pressures, Ahmadinejad said on state-television during the last day of his visit to the north-eastern Khorassan province. While terming uranium enrichment as a red line over which Iran would not compromise with anyone, the president proclaimed Thursday that Iran had already joined the worlds nuclear states and there would be no way back.
Despite defying international demands to suspend uranium enrichment, Iran on Friday still hoped that the final report by the head of the to the United Nations Security Council would be fair. Iranian officials hope that (Mohamed) ElBaradeis report would be fair, logical and satisfactory for both sides, said Mohammed Saedi, deputy of Irans Atomic Energy Agency.
Although Iran on Thursday promised the visiting IAEA chief further cooperation, it termed his demand to suspend the uranium enrichment process as irrational.
Irans nuclear programmes are in no way contradictory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and this is a fact which even even ElBaradei confirms, Saeidi told the Iranian news network al-Alam. He reiterated that the IAEA could still use all its legal capacities to make sure that the Iranian nuclear projects followed a peaceful course.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/14/2006 09:28 ||
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In a hairbrained scheme that was personally approved by then-President Clinton, the CIA deliberately gave Iranian physicists blueprints for part of a nuclear bomb that likely helped Tehran advance its nuclear weapons development program.
The allegation, detailed recently in the book "State of War," by New York Times reporter James Risen, comes as the Iranian nuclear crisis turns white hot, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasting ominously on Wednesday that his nation has joined the world's nuclear club.
Reports Risen: "It's not clear who originally came up with the idea [to give Tehran nuclear blueprints], but the plan was first approved by Clinton."
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/14/2006 09:15 ||
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#1
My surprise meter groaned, but didn't move.
Clinton is an anti-American oddball. Come to think of it, so is Carter and Gore and Kerry.
Where do these peculiar queerbates come from ?
#3
This is bad news. Now the left will twist themselves into a pretzel to try an explain how BOTH Kimmie and Ahmadisnutz are now sabre atom rattling because of Billy Boy and his sidekick, Lil' Jimmuh.
#5
Will say again, as said times before over the years, that the super-PC Clintons [and cabal]are not just Commies but de facto [silent/quiet/
shadow] enemies to both major Parties and America in general - the only real good news for the Dems-US Left is that the GOP-Right have a higher prob of being fractionalized and destroyed first, before its the Dems-USLeft's turn. IN THE END, HOWEVER, IT COMES DOWN TO BOTH PARTIES, OR ANY AMER PARTY(S) AND POLITICIANS-ACTIVISTS THEREIN, AMERICA AND THE AMERICAN NATION, ETC. MUST LOSE AND BE DESTROYED. As also said before, no matter where Americans are in the world, running back to America in LT may not save you becuz the Commies, Socialists, and aligned will be trying to take over AMerica as well. STAND AND FIGHT FOR YOUR BELIEFS AND COUNTRY, OR YOU AND YOURS WILL DIE. 9-11 was the opening shot of the "Final Conflict/Struggle" between Communist and Capitalist, West vs East, Right vs Left, etal. - NO MATTER WHAT INDIVID AMERICANS BELIEVE OR VALUE, ANY EACH EVERY and ALL AMERICANS AND AMERICA-ALLIES MUST EITHER DE FACTO RULE THE WORLD, OR BE DESTROYED IN THE NAME AND SAKE OF ANOTHER, AND BE SO NO MATTER HOW MUCH APPEASIN', CONCEDIN', PAYIN' OR ISOLATIN' AMERICANS DO FOR THE SAKE OF [SHORT-TERM] "PEACE". No matter the PC. diplomatic rhetoric to the contrary, America's enemies [e.g. IRAN] as a class are "goin' for broke" - Mainstream Americans are already being PC told our holocaust and destruction is good for everyone, space aliens and the environment, even for us. Americans are supposed to be "Me first, D*** you!" happy when we report to our local mass extermination death camps and gulags.
Iran remains years away from obtaining the materials and technology necessary for a nuclear weapon despite its announcement this week that it has begun enriching uranium, several top U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday.
Kenneth Brill, the head of the newly created National Counterproliferation Center, said the U.S. assessment on the timeframe of Iran's weapons development was sufficiently broad that it does not need to be modified.
Senior intelligence officials alternatively say Tehran will have a nuclear weapon within a decade, or within several years.
"What the Iranians have announced, is what they've announced," said Brill, speaking alongside nine senior intelligence officials at a discussion of the Office of the National Intelligence Director's first year. "They need to let the (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors in there to see it, because they have obligations."
He noted that the regime has blustered before about developments that did not readily materialize.
"We really have to see what's happened in Iran," Brill said. "There is still a very significant amount of time that needs to be worked through by the Iranians to get to where they want to go."
Defending the quality of intelligence assessments, Brill said much of what the intelligence agencies have predicted has been validated by the IAEA and others.
U.S. intelligence officials are scrubbing their information and analysis on Iran as tensions increase over its nuclear program. Tehran insists its work is solely for peaceful, civilian purposes, but the U.S. and a number of its allies believe it is after a nuclear arsenal.
The nation's No. 2 intelligence official, Gen. Michael Hayden, said the Iran intelligence has benefited from the lessons-learned exercises on estimates about
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Based on all the data available to spy agencies, he said confidently that Iran is intent on developing a nuclear weapon. Over time, he added, "We are able to be more clear." He declined to offer specifics about the information or the gaps in information.
The top U.S. intelligence analyst, Thomas Fingar, said changes have been made in how analysis is done. "All of us have greater confidence in the judgments that we are making and bringing forward on Iran," Fingar said.
He said the various intelligence agencies took to heart the various reports on the flawed intelligence leading up to Iraq. "We get it," Fingar said. "We realize we have got to rebuild confidence."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 03:21 ||
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#1
"We realize we have got to rebuild confidence."
Yup and all of that confidence building activity will go down the drain the moment the Iranians explode a nuke somewhere.
#4
Yep, Anon the same one who didn't see that collapse comin', but that old-west Cowboy of a President did, lol! We miss you, Ronnie!
Posted by: BA ||
04/14/2006 9:07 Comments ||
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I wonder whether Iran has not been attempting to draw the U.S.'s fire, trying to encourage a strike that, even if successful, will show a nuclear program only in relative infancy. The result could be to innoculate the regime against steps that might be taken in the future. My guess is that (1) Iran is making slow progress toward going nuclear; and that (2) the Bush administration has no intention of doing much about it because if Iran gets nukes and doesn't use them, we don't much care, and if they do use them, we don't have to pussyfoot around how to respond. For those who wonder whether it makes sense to wait until we (or someone else) gets nuked in order to respond, I cannot say, but I believe that this is current U.S. policy. Speak loudly, offer no carrots, but threaten no sticks.
On May 18, 1974 to the surprise of the U.S. Intelligence Community, India conducted an underground nuclear test at a site in the desert at Pokhran - making it the world's seventh nuclear power and the sixth to test
Posted by: john ||
04/14/2006 9:51 Comments ||
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Note that Iran doesn't have to do ANY of this.
It already has detailed blueprints of the (tested) chinese U235 implosion bomb, suitable for a missile warhead, provided by the AQ Khan network.
The blueprint copies from Libya had detailed notes
on the fabrication of various parts of the weapon.
From
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaFirstBomb.html
Late in 1967 the scientific leadership at BARC led by Homi Sethna and Raja Ramanna undertook a new effort to develop nuclear explosives, one that was larger and more intense than any previous efforts. One that would lead to the successful design of a nuclear device, a device that India would successfully test.
It is not completely clear why they decided to revive the effort and move forward at that time, but due to the convergence of a number of trends perhaps the time simply seemed ripe. China had just exploded a thermonuclear device in 1967, and had become very belligerent - moving troops into disputed areas and making threats. And India's supply of separated plutonium, necessary for anything beyond purely theoretical work, was slowly accumulating. Some researchers (like Perkovich) have concluded that the new effort was begun at the initiative of the scientists involved. Chengappa however states that Gandhi directly approved the new effort at the urging of her new secretary Parmeshwar Narain Haksar [Chengappa 2000, pg. 112], and that she specifically told Vikram Sarabhai, chairman of the IAEC, not to interfere. In any case Sarabhai did not try to stop this work when he became aware of it and appears by the spring of 1969 to have become at least a moderate supporter of the program.
That fall Rajagopala Chidambaram - then a researcher in molecular biology at BARC - was recruited by Raja Ramanna to investigate the equation of state of plutonium (how its density varies with temperature and pressure) - knowledge essential for designing an implosion bomb. Chidambaram would later become the chairman of the IAEC, and head of India's nuclear weapons program leading up to the 1998 test series.
Other key researcher's who became involved in the project in 1967-68 include P.K. Iyengar, Ramanna's deputy, and Satinder Kumar Sikka, who would lead the development of India's hydrogen bomb in the 90s. The team would eventually grow to between fifty and seventy five scientists.
1970 saw expansion of the nuclear weapons program in many ways. Due to the requirements of Purnima the program needed to develop facilities and experience in handling large amounts of plutonium (developed under the supervision of P.R. Roy), and work also began on fabricating plutonium metal alloys for the eventual construction of the bomb core. To advance the development of the essential implosion system V.S. Ramamurthy also began performing numerical implosion simulations on an antiquated Soviet Besm 6 computer
Development of the technology for implosion got underway in April 1970 when Ramanna sent Pranab Rebatiranjan Dastidar, the electronics expert at BARC, to Waman Dattatreya Patwardhan at the Explosive Research and Development laboratory (ERDL) at Pune to begin work on the detonation system for the bomb. Patwardhan was well known to the BARC scientists, since he helped them with the explosives tests years before as part of SNEPP. In July nuclear physicist Dr. Basanti Dulal Nag Chaudhuri took over as science adviser to the Defense Minister, and as Director of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The following month, he and Ramanna began working together to recruit the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), located in Chandigarh, to develop the explosive lenses for the implosion system.
During 1971 work on weapon design continued. Srinivasan working with K. Subba Rao developed models of the fission process on a nuclear bomb, and equations to predict its efficiency. Chidamabaram completed his work on the plutonium equation of state, and Ramamurthy developed computational models of the implosion, nuclear reaction, and disassembly process to predict the devices behavior. Throughout this period Ramanna and his lieutenant, P.K. Iyengar, held frequest reviews of the projects progress.
By the beginning of 1972 the basic design for India's first nuclear device was complete, and other parts of the program for developing the necessary expertise to implement the design were coming along. During that year the data from operating Purnima (starting in May) began flowing in allowing confirmation and refinement of the device's nuclear design; and the work in plutonium metallurgy reached the point where the device could be successfully fabricated.
Posted by: john ||
04/14/2006 10:14 Comments ||
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Sarabhai was a follower of Mohandas Gandhi and a pacifist who opposed nuclear arms. His selection was probably politically motivated as Sarabhai hailed from a rich and politically powerful family.
At the beginning of June 1966 Sarabhai ordered a halt to SNEPP, and the confiscation of the papers that had been generated on the project. It appears that this was Sarabhai's personal decision, rather than a reflection of PM Gandhi's policies at this time, and he may not have even consulted with her on it.
The bomb makers recovered from Sarabhai's attempt to shut down the bomb project (who BTW was the father of India's rocket program) and it took them five years to produce a working design. They actually tested two years later (after getting approval from Indira Gandhi).
5 years - starting from scratch.
Iran doesn't have to do the physics or most of the engineering - they already have a proven design.
An this is not the 1960s - computers are vastly more powerful now and mathematical simulation techniques far more advanced.
Question is - are there other centrifge cascades in operation? How fast are they accumulating HEU?
Posted by: john ||
04/14/2006 10:54 Comments ||
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To he|| with "years". How about "decades" or "centuries"?
#13
All the hard stuff is already done for them...
I don't know about that. Have you tried to translate Chinese?
Posted by: ed ||
04/14/2006 20:46 Comments ||
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#14
I don't know about that. Have you tried to translate Chinese?
Already done for them.
Thank AQ Khan.
Posted by: john ||
04/14/2006 21:26 Comments ||
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Its only Uranium, NOT Plutonium, ergo NO WMDS IN IRAN = NO WMDS IN NORTH KOREA, etal. Unreliable, defective, dishonest, MOther Hillary/Cindy-less Fascist=HalfCommunist SOCIALIST AMERIKA made, or will soon make, yet another l'serieuse international mistake ergo SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH, SOcialist AMerika must surrender and submit to full-fledged, Holocaust-centric, Motherly Communism and OWG in order to save our imperfect, anti-Utopian Male Brute souls.
Botched CIA operations may have handed Iran vital information on how to make nuclear weapons and betrayed the identities of America's spies in the country, according to a new book on US intelligence. The latest account of American intelligence failures includes details of how the CIA allegedly tried to slip Teheran some Russian designs for an atomic bomb, which contained hidden flaws that would have made any device inoperable. The Iranians, however, were tipped off by the very agent sent to give them the documents. In a separate incident, the book claims a CIA officer mistakenly sent an Iranian agent - who turned out to be a double agent - information that was used to arrest virtually all of the agency's spies in Iran.
The claims are made in State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, by James Risen, the New York Times reporter who also revealed that the National Security Agency had tapped phone calls and e-mails of some US citizens without warrants. The CIA says the book contains "serious inaccuracies", but has not elaborated. The claims about Iran are startling because of the scale of bungling that Mr Risen claims has taken place.
He highlights one operation, known as Merlin, in February 2000, when the CIA allegedly sent a Soviet-era defector to Vienna where, posing an unemployed scientist selling nuclear secrets, he was supposed to contact the Iranians. The Russian scientist, who had previously worked as an engineer on the Soviet nuclear weapons programme, was given Soviet documents for a key bomb component. These had been provided by another Russian defector and then doctored by the CIA. Had they used the documents, "instead of a mushroom cloud the Iranian scientists would witness a disappointing fizzle", Mr Risen writes.
But the Russian scientist immediately spotted the flaw and told his CIA handlers: "This isn't right." When told to go ahead with his mission, he apparently feared the Iranians would find the errors and decided to include a letter that alerted them to the flaws in the designs. Mr Risen describes Operation Merlin as "one of the most reckless operations in the modern history of the CIA, one that may have helped put nuclear weapons in the hands of a charter member of what President George W Bush has called the 'axis of evil' ".
Mr Risen also claims that in 2004 a CIA officer mistakenly sent one of its agents some information that was used by Iran to "roll up" the CIA espionage network in Iran. "It left the CIA virtually blind in Iran, unable to provide any significant intelligence on one of the critical issues facing the United States - whether Teheran was about to go nuclear," Mr Risen writes. Such tales of incompetence coming after the fiasco over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, will inevitably raise fresh doubts about the accuracy of Western intelligence reports that claim Iran is bent on building nuclear weapons.
Iran insists it seeks nuclear power only to generate electricity and has steadily dismantled its agreement with European countries to freeze activities linked to its uranium enrichment programme. Western countries have so far failed to muster enough political support to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council for breaches of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
European governments have given detailed intelligence briefings to Russian, Chinese, Indian and South African officials in an attempt to persuade them to back American claims that Iran has obtained designs for nuclear warheads, which could be fitted to its range of missiles.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 03:15 ||
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#1
Call me crazy but W. didn't assume the office until Jan 2001. Oh sorry - that doesn't fit the script. Maybe he does criticize Slick Willy but by reading the title one would not immediately get that. No surprise.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
04/14/2006 5:17 Comments ||
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#2
I didn't read that account of Merlin as a hit against Bush - I read it as saying Bush inherited a true mess.
#3
I know we don't hear the good news about them, but why oh why
do the CIA always come out looking like a bunch of fools?
Something wrong with their vetting process?
#7
The CIA was initially a branch off the military, and had integrity. Since then, politics has crept in and now the integrity level is low. May I remind you that it was the CIA that made a 'film'
of TWA 800 blowing up because of an electrical short. When hundreds of eyewitnesses saw a missle hit the plane. Yet another Slick Willy cover-his-ass effort ? One wonders if the CIA was involved in removing the evidence of the murders of Vincent Foster and Ron Brown. With the CIA and the Park Police, Slick Willy could have done a lot more damage than he did. Those sex breaks kept him busy.
#8
Selection bias is an issue, but it's also true that part of what makes a successful CIA operation a success is actually keeping it a secret. Sort of a sore spot with my father-in-law, a retired CIA lifer.
#10
Snens, I can sympathize with your dad, but the other half of "secret successes" is "public failures," and the latter in this case are PARTICULARLY ugly.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
04/14/2006 13:55 Comments ||
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Iran's recent declaration that it has successfully enriched uranium is bound to further increase tensions between Tehran and the United States. But the Iranian government also has an internal crisis on its hands. The country's high level of poverty has triggered a series of intense social struggles.
Increasing dissatisfaction about economic conditions in Iran is placing additional pressure on the regime in Tehran. Despite a ban on strikes in the country, the number of workers protesting poor conditions is increasing across Iran.
Angered by unpaid salaries and generally low wages, workers in the northern Iranian provincial capital Rasht blocked streets and protested in front of government offices a fortnight ago brandishing banners that read: "We are hungry!" It wasn't the first time that thousands of employees at the country's largest state-owned textile factory had laid down their tools. But this time they were joined by dam workers in the western province of Elam and employees of a pharmaceutical factory in Tehran. Recently, workers have also gone on strike against harsh work conditions and impending layoffs in mines and petrochemical plants across the country, with hundreds of coal miners from the northern province of Gilan protesting the fact that they have not been paid for 13 months. Workers were also on strike in the car factories of the Iran-Khodro company, already the site of a massive work stoppage on last year's Day of Social Welfare and Securities (July 16), when strikers demanded the introduction of a minimum wage.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised an improvement in living standards and income when he took office in August 2005, but the country's economic difficulties persist despite annual oil revenues of about $50 billion. Even though the government has introduced various measures to combat inflation and mass unemployment -- in addition to initiating projects designed to combat homelessness -- more than 50 percent of the Iranian population continues to live under the poverty line, according to official estimates provided by the Iranian Central Bank. The government institution sets the poverty line at an income of 230 ($280) per month for a family of five.
The current strike wave was initiated by Tehran bus drivers in January, and it immediately provoked a harsh response from the government. Several hundred bus drivers were arrested within a few hours of the beginning of the strike. The strike's leaders -- Mansur Hayat-Gheibi and Mansoor Ossanlou -- have been held ever since in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for, among other reasons, violating the national ban on unions by creating the "Wahed" organization of bus drivers. Hayat-Gheibi went on a hunger strike two weeks ago that is now being closely watched throughout Iran.
While Iran-related statements by Western politicans have largely focused on Iran's nuclear weapons program, some commentators are beginning to draw attention to the country's internal conflicts. "Iran's new government boasts of representing the interests of working men and women. But their violent crackdown on the bus workers' union make these words ring hollow," Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch, said earlier this year.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 03:14 ||
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#1
Arise ye prisoners of starvation
Arise ye toilers of the earth
For reason thunders new creation
`Tis a better world in birth.
Never more traditions' chains shall bind us
Arise ye toilers no more in thrall
The earth shall rise on new foundations
We are naught but we shall be all.
Then comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race.
#4
Uh...that war would be to dispense with the number of mouths who are hungry. A routine strategy of all leftist communist governments. When the population is reduced, fewer complaints and far more loot to divy up betwen the trough monitors.
Iran will ignore renewed international calls to halt uranium enrichment, its president said on Thursday. "Our answer to those who are angry about Iran obtaining the full nuclear cycle is one phrase, we say: Be angry and die of this anger," Ahmadinejad said late on Wednesday, in comments reported by the official IRNA news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/14/2006 00:00 ||
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Jerry Corsi, author of ATOMIC IRAN, was on CoasttoCoastAM radio show this early morn wid George Noory - Corsi emphasized that unless the West succeeds in stopping Iran, either diplomatically or militarily, IRAN WILL LIKELY HAVE A WORKING BOMB IN EIGHT MONTHS, and that the world will inevitably face a near term, very high risk of nuclear confrontation and conflict wid no assurances the world's major powers will be able to refrain from pushing the nuke button, nor distinguish between real or imagined enemies once ICBMS fly thru the air. Corsi made it very clear Iran's government, i.e. the Mullahs-MadMoud, are fanatical/radical enough to wilfully induce a deadly confrontation amongst the world's nuke powers, and that MadMoud wants his Apocalypse.
#2
Mahmoud Armagheddon is driving hard towards his goal. He is nuts. He does believe his life goal is to start the carnage that heralds the return of his beloved Mahdi. He is willing to sacrifice all to see his Apocalypse commence.
It's not the bombs he's building that scare me as much as the ones he has purchased. We are only weeks away from some action on his part, not the long months stated otherwise.
Terrorist groups, which for years have used the Internet and its various tools to organize and communicate, are paying more attention to addressing security and privacy concerns similar to those of other Web users, counterterrorism experts say.
The Internet has long been a convenient gathering place for radical Islamists advocating violence against Western influences, known as jihadists. Through online chat, e-mail and Web postings, communities of people have relied on one another for advice, political debate, even movie reviews and biographical information on suicide bombers and religious leaders.
Recently, postings on jihadist Web sites have expressed increasing concern about spyware, password protection, and surveillance on chat rooms and instant-messaging systems.
One forum recently posted a guide for Internet safety and anonymity on the Internet, advising readers of ways to circumvent hackers or government officials.
"The Shortened Way of How to be Cautious; To the User of the Jihadi Forums, In the Name of Allah, the most Gracious and Merciful" was posted last month by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group calling itself the Global Islamic Media Front and was translated by the SITE Institute, a group that tracks international terrorist groups.
The posting advised Internet cafe users to set up a proxy -- a software program that erases digital footsteps such as Web addresses or other identifiable information -- before Web surfing. "I advise you to carry this program in your e-mail and it should be with you anywhere you are," it said.
"There's a lot of things like that," said Evan Kohlmann, a consultant on international terrorism. Last month, Kohlmann said, he found a jihadist Web site posting pirated McAfee anti-spyware software, which the site encouraged users to download to avoid monitoring. "Technology is as much a part of their lives as it is part of our lives."
Google Inc. and its growing arsenal of powerful software tools, for example, are both a boon and a bane for terrorist technologists who are increasingly wary that the programs might be turned against them to gather information about their activities. One of the jihadist Web sites cautioned its readers to "Beware of Google!!!" with specific warnings about its relatively new product Google Toolbar. The posting cited another technology blog that said the tool could be configured to operate like spyware, finding data on computers remotely.
In recent months, Google Video has also become a favorite tool among jihadist groups for uploading and accessing videos, said Rita Katz, director and co-founder of the District-based SITE Institute.
Google said its privacy policy says the toolbar records keyword searches, the computer's Internet address and other identifying markers. Unless someone is using Google Toolbar's advanced features, it does not collect information about the Web addresses visited by the user, the policy says.
Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. declined to comment on their policies. Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the nonprofit research group Rand Corp., said that such postings indicate that electronic communication is still popular among terrorists but that they must constantly keep up with ways to avoid leaving electronic tracks.
"This kind of tradecraft is essential to survival," Hoffman said. They know the authorities are using wiretaps and monitoring satellite phones, so they are constantly trying to come up with ways to go around it, he said. When terrorist groups learned that the National Security Agency could track electronic communication only when it was in transit -- not when it was sitting in an inbox -- users started drafting messages in free e-mail accounts, then allowing others to log in to the accounts and read the drafts. No message ever had to be sent. "I would be surprised if this kind of electronic communication is diminished," Hoffman said. "They are just going to greater efforts to obfuscate it. They are hoping that with the volume of e-mail traffic, if they take the appropriate precautions, they can [communicate] undetected."
Like mainstream Internet users, terrorists have varying levels of technology knowledge, and plenty of other Web sites offer more prosaic advice for basic users.
"If an e-mail address ends with .sa, then this e-mail is registered [in] Saudi Arabia and can never be secure, and Saudi authorities can reach it at any time," said one recent posting, according to translations provided by SITE. The guide advocated, instead, use of anonymous accounts through Microsoft's Hotmail or through Yahoo. "It is preferable to use long and difficult passwords, and that it should be changed every now and then," the posting said.
Increased sophistication among users creates a kind of cat-and-mouse game between terrorists and law enforcement, experts said.
Chatter on jihadist Web sites often provides an important tactical and cultural window into how these group members think, communicate and coordinate, Kohlmann said. Shutting each site down would be almost impossible, and potentially counterproductive to U.S. homeland security interests, he said. But communications have become so vast, with so many outlets and in so many forms, it has also become increasingly difficult for government agencies to monitor it all, he said.
There is no evidence that Internet companies such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have cooperated with federal spy agencies to monitor terrorist communications. But privacy groups point out that it would be fairly easy for the federal government to subpoena any of these companies' records or issue a national security letter to them, essentially requiring them to turn over the data. In those instances, the companies would be precluded from disclosing publicly what they turned over to federal officials.
Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN are quiet about how much user data they save, and for how long, but Google makes clear that it wants to store more and more user data on its servers, said Daniel Brandt, founder of a privacy-advocacy Web site called Google Watch.
"From a jihadist perspective, they are absolutely right. They should avoid Google like the plague," Brandt said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 03:19 ||
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Wow, they're finally reaching a basic level of security. We had highly secure machines back in 1992, when I used to be on phone phreaking BBS-es. The only way to get in was to make the system operators trust you, usually by extensive teleconferencing or a face-to-face meeting. Same way these days, only AQ is about 15 years behind.
Al-Sahab, an al-Qaeda production company, released a 28:31 minute video of a speech by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri yesterday, April 12, 2006. The message titled: From Tora Bora to Iraq, is indicated to have been recorded in November 2005, and marks the four year anniversary of the American-led bombing campaign of the Tora Bora region in Afghanistan against Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership. Throughout his speech, Zawahiri continuously emphasizes the fabrications of the American government and its president, George W. Bush, to its people concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, in addition to purported lies of bring liberty to Muslim nations. These lies provided for the central theme of his message, stretching American actions in Tora Bora in 2001 to Iraq in 2005, and instances in between of Americas agents in Egypt and Jordan maintaining their power by alignment with the United States.
Zawahiri opens his speech by extending his condolences to the Muslims in Kashmir and Pakistan who were affected by the earthquake in October, reiterating his anger with his inability and that of Muslim charity organizations to assist in relief efforts as he made in a previous speech. He then moves a discussion of American cowardly actions in Afghanistan, refusing to station and move ground troops in Tora Bora to capture Usama bin laden and rather repeatedly bombing the terrain. Afghanistan, its presidential elections, in addition to Egypt and the reelection of President Hosni Mubarak are also highlighted to allegedly evince corruption in ballot counting.
A speech by President Bush concerning al-Qaeda strategy in reestablishing the Caliphate is also attacked, Zawahiri arguing that it is incumbent upon Muslims to strive to create the Caliphate and to eliminate Israel. He states: You have to understand that we are one nation and we don't recognize Sykes-Picot and the maps of Percy Cox, whether you like it or not. You won't have any peace or security unless you deal with the Muslim Nation on an equal basis of respect, and not on the basis of crimes and theft. You have to understand, Bush, the son of Bush, that removing Israel is a must on every Muslim, whether you like it or not. The Caliphate of which you conspired against and caused to collapse eight years ago is coming back in spite of you.
Turning to Iraq, Zawahiri states that its battlefield of jihad is the most difficult and its mujahideen and people are to be supported. In this part of his speech he urges support for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, stating: The Nation of Islam, I ask you to support your brothers, the mujahideen in Iraq, and our brother, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom I didn't see anything about but good things the whole period I knew him. Zawahiri also asks for support to the real scholars of Islam, as opposed to the new scholars who were charged with defending American and Iraqi Shiite policy.
The speech concludes with a call upon all Muslim states to provide material and financial support to the mujahideen in Iraq, hoping that their victory will provide for a continued drive to the doors of Palestine.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/14/2006 03:01 ||
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