Damien points to this milk-squirtingly funny gem of excruciatingly critical thought â almost missed it, because he was making a different (but similar) point:
"This thing called 'the Economy' is a gigantic conspiracy, driven by greed and encompassing the entire human race; a conspiracy in which most participants enjoy a perfect illusion of autonomy. No central "Greed Bureaucracy" is coordinating a master plan to erase all other forms of life so that ours can achieve a psychotic and pointless "supremacy," but this is in fact what's happening. This is by far the most evil thing humans have ever done, and yet few seem able to clearly see this. Interestingly, the present status of the environmental debate is very much like that of racial theories before the Holocaust: a vocal minority expresses their outrage while most people quietly practice the self-serving complacence that was Hitler's ticket to power. The racism evident in Mein Kampf provoked little comment in America, even after its translation in 1939, when Hitler became Time Magazine's 'Man of the Year.'"
Really, now. Where do they find these people? But wait... Does he have a point? Yes! Yes! By God, he's right! Economies must be abolished for true freedumb! And gravity should be voluntary...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 07:25 am ||
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Kevin Holtsberry has a poll up on which country makes the best beer. Now, beer being one of my favorite fruits, I happen to have some empirical knowledge of the subject.
One can't ask "where's the best beer made?" One has to ask, "where does the best lager come from?" And pilsner. And alt (dark beer to the cola drinkers). And ale. And "best" is a slippery term. I favor an ice cold Coors Lite on a hot day. The tastiest beer I've ever had was Thurn und Taxis, a German dark that was so smooth I kept wanting more. With a good meal, Budvar â which Budweiser is named after but doesn't taste like â is fair tasty, as well, with a good bite. In the mood, I enjoyed cold Sapporo â it has a faint taste of apples, believe it or not, in Japan. In Vietnam I enjoyed 33 (ba muoi ba) over ice, despite its faint formaldehyde overtones. I find Canadian beers quite enjoyable, but not as memorable as German brands. Heinekin in overrated, as is Kronenbourg, but Sankt Pauli Girl is tasty in Germany. I understand it doesn't travel well, though. Wheat beer is an acquired taste (I've only seen it in Germany), but once acquired, it's pretty fine, as are most of the bocks I've had.
How about worst beers? Ballentine, a local Pennsylvania beer, has (maybe had â it's been awhile) one of the worst tastes I've ever encountered, and Ballentine ale was worse. In Germany, if you go to Berlin stay away from Schultheiss (aka Scheisshaus). Most Mexican beers are crummy, in Mexico anyway, and Italians shouldn't be allowed to make beer. I heard for years how good Anchor Steam Beer is, and when I finally tried it I was disappointed and ordered a Beck's next round. English beer is best in England, by the way; I don't like Bass that I've had in the USA, but I can't remember ever having it in England, so maybe it's overrated there, too.
In a class all its own is Schmidt's of Philadelphia. In Pennsylvania, this is a perfectly respectable brand, with a taste kind of like PBR. In Vietnam, back in days of old, it became notorious for its taste. Typically a pallet of beer would sit in the sun on a dock in Saigon or Cholon on wherever the hell it came in. Eventually it would be sent north, loaded off the dock by wallopers with horny hands and no IQs and no finer feelings â you cannot toss beer; you cannot thump beer. It would either fly or be trucked, stopping and sloshing in the cans many times, to eventually end up in some base camp. There is could be chilled for the first time in six months or longer. To truly enjoy it, Schmidt's had to be poured into a glass, though in an emergency it could be drunk from the can. Bets were sometimes laid on who got the biggest blob of unidentified oily substance floating on the top where the foam was supposed to be. But it was, technically, beer. If you had no other beer, it was the staff of life, a taste treat that couldn't be beat...
Just my opinion, and worth every penny you paid for it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 09:44 pm ||
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As one who has aquired a taste for wheat beer, I would like to endorse a couple of American microbrews: Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat and Abita Turbo Dog. Not sure how they compare to old-country Weissbier (or is that Weitzenbier?)
Agree, Heineken is overrated. And Rantburg cannot be overrated :)
Posted by: Stone ||
06/07/2002 6:17 Comments ||
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Three cheers for Budvar! It is a Czech beer made in Budvar in that country. The bottles say "Budweiser," which is how the say, "of Budweiser." The Czech version has nothing to do with the American version, I promise.
Posted by: Donald S. ||
06/07/2002 7:44 Comments ||
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I have tried Warsteiner, touted as the most popular brand in Germany, but found it only OK (but just about anything beats Budweiser, I think). Just tried some Staropramen from Prague, but it didn't keep well so I can't give it a fair assessment. :(
Posted by: Stone ||
06/07/2002 11:06 Comments ||
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The best Schmidts I ever had was in a bar across the Schuylkill River from UPenn one summer day when a ROTC friend and I went to that bar which catered to the UPenn janitors and didn't check ID. The first was great, the next left something to be desired. I'd guess that coming in out of the 95F/95% humidity added to the perception.
Best beer I've ever had: Reichsadlerbrauery in Steppach, Bavaria by Augsburg. The brewery runs a great butchershop also. My wife and I used to walk to the brewery, eat dinner at the gasthaus, and carry back 20 bottles of beer and kgs of wursts on a nice summer night.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
06/07/2002 11:32 Comments ||
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Posters plastered on polls and walls in the area along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan declare that Osama bin Laden is alive and urge the faithful to wage war against the U.S.-led coalition. "I am alive. My friend, Mullah Omar, is alive and it is the duty of all Muslims to wage a war on non-Muslims," the posters read. Sure you're alive. There, there... Impotent, but alive.
It was impossible to determine whether the posters were really from bin Laden or from followers using his name to rally Taliban and al-Qaida sympathizers. Posters and handbills calling for jihad against the U.S.-led coalition have appeared intermittently since the collapse of the Taliban last year. What makes these unusual is that they were written in the Pakistani language Urdu. That could well imply they're running out of Afghans willing to put up with this nonsense, and they're trying to fire the Paks, those with short memories who are sprung from jug, to get a little jihad goin'.
The fresh call for recruits coincides with a decision by Pakistan to redeploy troops to its tense eastern border with neighbor India, where the world worries about an all-out nuclear war over the disputed territory of Kashmir. The posters, seen on both sides of the border, call bin Laden the "lion of Islam." Other handbills feature a picture of the elusive terror mastermind. On the other side is a drawing of Mullah Omar with one eye blackened. The troops are being thinned. Now's the chance for Fazl to get his own jihad going in NWFP...
Also in the drawing is the black and white flag of Pakistan's right-wing Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party, a vocal critic of Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and ideologically akin to the Taliban. Followers of Pakistan's JUI have spearheaded attacks on theaters and music shops in the tribal regions, charging they violated Islam, a belief propagated by the Taliban. JUI is headed by Fazlur Rehman. JUI is a signator of Binny's declaration of Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, though the Fazlur Rehman who signed it is actually Fazlur Rehman Khalil.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 10:42 am ||
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Yes, the JUI is a signatory partner in the al-Qaeda/Islamic Jihad "jihad" against "Jews and Crusaders". As is the JUI a partner in the anti-secular, MMA of Pakistan, a movement which plans to participate in the Fall elections. Another partner is the Jamaat-i-Islami, which is the puppet organization, which directs the Islamic Society (Jamaat) of North America and the Muslim Students Assn. According to the JI website - www.jamaat.org - their Deputy Director - Khurshid Ahmad - has been operating ISNA/MSA operations in the US, at ISNA conventions, for the past "Twenty years". In fact, the JI leader - Qazi Hussain Ahmad - accepted an invitation to counsel US State Dept diplomats, shortly before 911. At one ISNA convention, Qazi operated dawah sessions with ISNA leader - Muzammil Siddiqi - who was invited to attend US memorial ceremonies for the victims of the September massacres. The Jamaati puppet also counseled Bush-Junior at the Whitehouse, one day before Junior called Islam a "religion of peace". Thus, there are only two degrees of separation between the US President and the al-Qaeda terrorists. Conspiracy? No. Stupidity? Yes. Once an evangelical, always an evangelical. I am disgusted by the serial accession to Junior's redundant sallies against separation of church and state.
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I'd doubt if GWB's overtures encouraging the better lights of Islam represent a contravention of the First Amendment.
Posted by: Tom Roberts ||
06/07/2002 6:29 Comments ||
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MMA - Muttahida Majlis i Amal - is the successor to the Afghan Defense Council, then Pak-Afghan Defense Council. Qazi, Fazl and Samiul Haq are the three drivers of the fundo political fronts, and all three make very comfortable livings at it. That JI has been able to set up North American front organizations is an indication of how Saudi seed money can be used to push their brand of fascist Islam.
Post 9-11 Bush - president of the entire country, not just the part he likes - was concerned about anti-Muslim violence. Part of this was the currently fashionable PC "be nize to everybody" attitude that's expected. More important at that moment was the fact that we were about to stomp a Muslim nation that was surrounded by Muslim nations, and that was hollering for all Muslims, everywhere to join the jihad and coincidentally pull the Taliban's chestnuts out of the fire. Americans slaughtering Muslims in the streets might actually have made that happen - and don't forget that the fascists were perfectly happy to lie about the facts of the pogroms and continue to do so. So Bush's moves in respect to presenting a "nice" image were perfectly understandable, and to have done otherwise wouldn't have been wise.
The "two degrees of separation" statement is meaningless. I know a Catholic, the Pope's Catholic, so there are only two degrees of separation between us. I still don't know the Pope. And Bush, from what I understand, is a United Methodist rather than an evangelical; there is "one degree of separation" between a United Methodist and an Episcopalian, and both are members of the National Council of Churches, which by some interpretations could make them one and the same. Even if he were a Free Methodist, a more sensible conservative branch of Methodism (most members and all preachers can tell you who John Wesley was), he's still be several "degrees separated" from snake handling holy rollers, who are themselves still quite away from the head-chopping Taliban.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2002 7:51 Comments ||
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John Walker Lindh joined the Taliban to commit violence rather than to assert his freedom of expression, the government argued Wednesday in opposing an effort to dismiss his indictment. The government said joining the Taliban militia was not like joining a political party, and argued the U.S.-born Lindh had no "combat immunity" from criminal prosecution that is granted enemy soldiers fighting for a lawful army. There's today's statement of the obvious out of the way...
Lindh's lawyers had portrayed him as an American who asserted his constitutional rights when he decided to fight for Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers. They asked U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III to dismiss the indictment that charges Lindh with conspiring to murder Americans, providing services to the Taliban and al-Qaida and using firearms during crimes of violence. He could face life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges. Oh, sure. It sez right in Article 28 1/2, Section 4002: "No Merkin citizen can be barred from running off to foreign parts to kill people, lord it over the natives, and beat women." So there's today's abysmally stoopid statement out of the way, too.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 07:42 am ||
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India's military is seeking final authorisation to invade the Pakistani side of divided Kashmir in the middle of this month to destroy the camps of Islamic militants. The planned campaign would be similar to the American attack in Afghanistan, in which air strikes would be followed by ground assaults by special forces transported by helicopter, military sources said yesterday. Smart bombs and other advanced ordnance are reported to have been loaded on to French-made Mirage 2000H and Russian-built MiG-27 aircraft at bases in northern and western India. The Telegraph was in the habit of publishing scenarios of U.S. operations in Afghanistan before the war that didn't quite pan out. See this one. And this one.
As Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, strengthened his warning to Britons to leave the region, military planners in Delhi expressed confidence that a war would not boil over into a nuclear exchange. A senior Indian official accused Britain, America and other western countries of "adding their weight to Pakistan's nuclear blackmail" by telling their citizens to leave. "This is jumping the gun," he said. "Our intention is not to have an all-out war. It would be a limited action." Just on the off chance significant numbers of Indians and Paks turn into radioactive debris, we'll move out of range for awhile, if it's okay with you...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 11:56 am ||
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Security forces shot dead a top terrorist commander Wednesday night in Kashmir. Mohammed Rafiq Lone, commander of the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami, was killed in an encounter with security forces on the outskirts of Srinagar, police said. Lone, from the southern Kashmir district of Doda, was wanted over a number of attacks and had escaped police custody two years ago. They'll be ululating in Srinagar 2-nite! The Indos are on aroll!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 02:01 pm ||
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Terrorists killed an abducted civilian after chopping off parts of his body in Banihal area of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir, a police spokesman said here on Thursday. One Mohammad Yousif of Sanigam village was kidnapped by thugs on the night of June 2 and 3. The abductee was tortured and later killed. Police found deceased's cut off head and left arm wrapped in a gunny bag near J and K Bank office in Neel village on Wednesday. Since he was beheaded, we can be pretty sure the kidnappers were Muslims...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 02:04 pm ||
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The Federal Shariat Court on Thursday exonerated Zafaran Bibi who was earlier sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. The civil court verdict against Zafran Bibi, 26, was dismissed by a three-judge bench of the Federal Shariat Court.
Zafaran was sentenced for her failure to prove that she was raped after giving birth to a baby in jail. Zafaran Bibi was brought specially from prison in Kohat on the orders of the court, which wanted to hear her side of the story. After hearing her patiently, the court set aside the conviction and ordered her immediate acquittal.
The harsh sentence on Zafaran Bibi, a village woman from Kohat district in NWFP, had sparked a bitter controversy in the country. Zafaran Bibi originally went to the police two years ago to register a case of rape. But instead of arresting the rapist, she herself was charged with having an adulterous affair. Boy, that's gonna cheese 'em off down at the mosque...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 02:21 pm ||
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Ugandan troops killed 67 rebels in a battle inside southern Sudan, an army spokesman said Thursday, as part of a continuing offensive to wipe out the 15-year old rebel group. A contingent of 150 Lord's Resistance Army rebels came down from their hiding place in the Imatong mountains to search for food and were followed by Ugandan troops, Maj. Shaban Bantariza said. The two sides fought this week at Owiny-Kibul, 30 miles north of the Uganda border, he said; he did not specify a date. Lt. Col. Otim Okello Lumumba, the LRA's communications chief, was captured but died of bullet wounds as he was flown to Gulu, northern Uganda's main town, for treatment, Bantariza said. Good riddance to the lot of them. In an area where there are no good guys, these are black-belt bad guys.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 11:31 am ||
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Increased military spending and stricter border controls in an effort to combat terrorism could slow economic growth in developed nations, an OECD report released Thursday shows. Okay. Let's examine the implications both ways...
Economic growth resumed as business and consumer confidence recovered from the shock of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, said in a 24-page study entitled ''Economic Consequences of Terrorism.'' However, higher military spending by governments and increased security spending by private companies could reduce productivity and growth in the world's biggest economies. This is more Raghu's area of expertise than mine, but I'll give it a whack and he can correct if he pleases. Economic growth took a hit because of market uncertainty caused by the terrorists' acts. Markets take similar hits in the wake of fire, flood, earthquakes, and hurricanes, among other reasons. Historically, higher military spending increases employment both in defense and support industries during wartime. Real productivity goes down because of the diversion of goods and services from the market, but increased and stable employment actually produces a wartime prosperity. It's when the war is over that the consequences set in: demobilization of forces throws a large number of men back into a labor pool while at the same time government orders for implements of destruction are dropping off and the requirement for warm bodies drops with it. This causes a predictable rise in unemployment and may produce the illusion of a constricting economy. Witness post-1918 and post-1945 contractions and, less pronounced, post-1989. The step following that is a real expansion of the economy: the men who were in uniform start additional businesses, employ each other, and take all the innovations that went into the war effort and apply them to the civilian economy. In 1948 it was the construction advances that allowed the creation of billets for large numbers of men within a very short time that produced tract housing, for instance. The telecommunications industry was transformed â to include giving us Uncle Milty and Howdy Doody â and computers made an appearance; you can see an antique wartime computer in the National Cryptologic Museum, at Fort Meade, Maryland; it was used in code breaking and it takes up a whole wall. In the 1990s it was all those guys who were employed producing C3I systems for the government who applied them to civilian pursuits so the likes of me can blog about it.
The Paris-based research arm for 30 of the world's most developed economies added that it could also raise wages and divert research and development activities toward military projects. ''Measures to reduce the risk and the economic consequences of further attacks should be both security-effective and growth-friendly,'' the report said. I said that... I think.
The report also warned that the heightened border security, which has been relaxed since the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, could slow down the delivery of goods. Many companies have adopted just-in-time supply management systems, which count on short delivery periods. According to OECD estimates, if tighter border controls raised the costs of international trade by 1 percent to 3 percent, trade flows involving developed economies could fall by 2 percent to 3 percent. That could be adjusted for simply by lowering fuel taxes. A 2 to 3 percent cut in fuel costs would offset the additional shipping costs and make it more economically worthwhile to move those goods. Make the cut 3 to 4 percent or better just for funsies and see what happens.
OECD also said tighter border controls could increase the costs of international trade and insurance premiums. In addition, the absence of cover for terrorist attacks could curb investment, the study said. That's a legitimate problem. War and other catastrophes are bound to hit insurors, since that's what insurors are insuring against. They also do risk analyses, which amounts to trying to figure the odds on a particular horrible event happening, and adjust their rates accordingly. The idea is for the pool of insured and the investment of the pool money to overcome the payout and produce a profit...
The organization said insurance industry losses from the Sept. 11 attacks ranged from $30 billion to $58 billion, representing the largest insurance payout in history. By comparison, the industry suffered losses of $20 billion when Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992. In the face of another attack of a similar magnitude, the OECD warned that several insurance companies would fail. Entirely possible. But I'd venture to say that other areas of the economy will expand correspondingly, starting with the security industry.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 07:39 pm ||
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Israeli troops stormed Chairman-for-Life Yasser Arafat (1929-2002?)'s headquarters early Thursday, blew up three buildings in the sprawling compound and shelled the Palestinian leader's living area in response to a Palestinian suicide attack on an Israeli bus that killed 17 passengers. A shell or rocket hit about five feet from Arafat's bed, punching a hole into the wall dividing his bedroom and an adjacent bathroom.
Pointing to his dust-covered bed, broken bedroom mirror and shattered bathroom tiles, Arafat suggested Israel was trying to harm him. "I was supposed to sleep here last night but I had some work downstairs," he said. "Of course they (the Israelis) knew where I was. Everybody knows this is my bedroom."
An Israeli army spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal, said Arafat was not the target of the operation. "If there had been any intention of harming Arafat, it would not have been a problem," Dallal said.
Thursday's assault with bulldozers and tanks came just a month after troops withdrew from the compound following a 34-day siege that confined Arafat to several rooms. Though Israel's stated goal at the time was to isolate Arafat and remove him from contacts with the outside world, the virtual house arrest turned him into a heroic figure in the eyes of Palestinians and much of the Arab world.
There has been speculation that another major Palestinian terror attack would prompt Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to expel Arafat. The Palestinian leader shrugged off such a scenario Thursday. "Expel me?" he said. "I will die here."
The Israeli daily Maariv wrote in an editorial Thursday that "the blood-boiling spectacle of the people who were burned to death in a bus ... needs to bring us very close to a decision to rid the region of Arafat's presence."
Yasser: "That was when I crapped myself..."
I can't get this vision out of my mind: Yasser, in his sweaty gold lame Dictator's Pyjamas, with the medal embroidered on the chest, and his nitey-nite headscarf, snuggled down next to a 12-year-old (just practicing for when he's a martyr, see?) suddenly leaping 4 feet into the air as the tank round goes by, taking the covers with him. The kid's sitting up in bed, buck (or maybe doe) nekkid, shrieking. The autographed copy of Zabibah and the King falls from the nightstand. The bodyguards come barging in to see if the Chief's alright, holding their large-caliber Fearless Fosdick automatics. One of them trips over the book, falling across the bed and accidentally plugging Yasser...
Is this how it will all end? Not with a bang, but with a snicker?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 10:09 am ||
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Did you have to say that? I'm going to be snickering in my dreams tonight.
Posted by: Kat ||
06/06/2002 18:37 Comments ||
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Exiling Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would not help bring peace to the Middle East, a White House spokesman said Thursday, hours after Israeli troops shelled Arafat's headquarters and blew a hole in his bedroom wall. A suicide attack that killed 17 Israelis this week intensified speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would expel Arafat. Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin said, however, that Arafat's ouster "would not solve the problem." Nope. But then you expel, or preferably kill, the next guy as soon as the next attack happens. Then the guy after him. By the 17th or 18th guy, they might start to catch on that acts of war won't be tolerated.
White House spokesman Sean McCormack agreed. "I don't think exiling Arafat solves anything," he said. "The issue is building Palestinian institutions and in the process, bringing the Palestinian people into the building of these institutions." Palestinian institutions to date include not much other than bomb factories. It's not a government, damn it. It's a general staff. They don't know how to do anything other than make â and lose at â war.
While the White House forcefully condemned the suicide attack, McCormack declined to comment on whether Israel was justified in its incursion Thursday, saying the Israelis' objective was unclear. Two other U.S. officials said Israel had not notified the administration in advance of the attack. Neither official, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered any criticism of the way Israel responded to the deadly bombing in Megiddo. "We have no opinion. We're not authorized to have opinions. Having opinions is over our pay grade. We have... desks."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 11:47 am ||
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CIA chief George Tenet warned Arafat Tuesday - before the latest homicide bombing - that he'd be on his own if there was one more attack against Israel, according to a report citing Palestinian sources. Arafat was told that if there was another attack, Bush would give Israel a free hand to retaliate, according to a senior Palestinian official. That kinda contradicts the public White House reaction (see below). Maybe they don't have an opinion because Tenet made the brag and now they've got to either back it up or back down and make him look stoopid...
The dramatic Mideast moves vastly complicate Bush's talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who arrives today and goes to Camp David tomorrow - but some analysts think the marginalization or even ouster of Arafat could be a big opportunity. "Bush can turn around and tell Mubarak, we can go forward with exactly what you want - a timetable for a new Palestinian state - absent Arafat," said analyst Dan Goure of the Lexington Institute. "It's clear there's no prospect for reform as long as Arafat is there. His security operation is totally corrupt. He doesn't want peace, he can't make peace. Anything, even chaos, is better." Yet another statement of the obvious. Today must be the day for 'em.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 12:02 pm ||
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A bomb exploded inside a bus packed with commuters in central Indonesia, killing four people and injuring 17. The explosion occurred Wednesday afternoon as the bus carrying 25 people was headed toward Poso, the district capital of Central Sulawesi. Police said they were inspecting the badly damaged bus Thursday but could not say who was behind the bombing. They said they were looking for three unidentified passengers who got off the bus before the blast. Victims - some of them injured seriously - were rushed to a local hospital. Indonesian National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, who was on a visit to the island of Lombok, urged residents in Central Sulawesi to remain calm despite the blast. "Remain calm, ladies and gents. There's nothing to worry about. Only an explosion, with a few dead and wounded. Nothing out of the ordinary."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 09:58 am ||
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The Philippine military will form special rapid-response units to take over from U.S. Special Forces in dealing with terrorists and other armed threats on a southern island that is the base of Muslim extremist rebels. The two companies of 90 soldiers each would help maintain stability on the southern island of Basilan after the scheduled departure next month of the U.S. Special Forces at the end of their counterterrorism exercise. The U.S. and Philippine governments may, however, extend the operation. "Our American friends will not be here forever," said Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Teodosio. "We should be ready to react to threats on our own."
Teodosio said the two "strike forces" would undergo crash combat courses within the next few weeks in a camp in nearby Zamboanga city. They would be deployed to Basilan to quickly respond to threats before regular troops arrive. They will be strategically positioned with standby helicopters, he added. The new units would be separate from two army Light Reaction Companies trained and equipped by U.S. forces in assault, sniping and hostage rescue last year. U.S. military officials are planning to train two more companies during an ongoing counterterrorism exercise on Basilan. Thought the whole point of the U.S. presence in the P.I. was to train these guys?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 10:08 am ||
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The government kept hijacking ringleader Mohammed Atta's roommate from entering the United States on at least four occasions but didn't track his money transfers that led directly to the eventual hijackers, law enforcement officials say. Ramzi Bin al-Shibh - named in court papers as an unindicted hijacking co-conspirator and the focus of a worldwide manhunt - intended to join the hijackers on their mission but shifted to providing logistical support when he couldn't get into the country, the officials said. Officials said the Yemen citizen was refused a U.S. visa four times in 2000 because of suspicions he wouldn't leave America if he was let in.
FBI money tracking experts have reconstructed wire transfers he made from Germany and Yemen, some under an alias, that went to the eventual hijackers and to one of the flight schools where they trained, the officials told The Associated Press. Two of those transfers went last summer to Zacarias Moussaoui, the man U.S. officials believe was chosen to replace Bin al-Shibh as a hijacker but who was foiled when he was arrested at a Minnesota flight school last August, officials said. These guys do everything under an alias. When they're born, they're given forged birth certificates. They can go to the grave not being sure who they are, or if they were anyone. What a sad and pointless way to live.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/06/2002 07:37 am ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
