Here I sat, no, not broken-hearted, but reading something awful about the shootout in Waziristan, when the phone rang. It was The Little Woman. "Honey," she said she always calls me Honey, 'cuz I'm so sweet "could you go to the store and get some hot dogs and chicken legs for dinner this evening?"
We have company this weekend, The Little Woman's Cousin David and his family, from Mississippi and Ohio. We're going to fire up the grill and do dawgs and chicken feet, so it'd be to our advantage to have some of each on hand. So I put on my yellow hat and got in The Little Blue Car and drove away. I noted on the way to the store that there were a lot of people sitting along side of the street in their beach chairs, but the store wasn't crowded and I soon had my yessir, yessir, three bags full, and headed for home.
I made it as far as the stop sign. 4th of July week is coming up, and it's the week yes, the entire week of the Riviera Beach Carnival, sponsored by the helpful fellows of Volunteer Company 13. And we start off the carnival in the traditional manner, with a real by-God American Firemen's Parade.
If you're a lover of firemen's parades, you know what I'm talking about. If you've never been to one, let me try to describe it. There is no purpose to a firemen's parade except to have a parade. It's not even, despite the 4th of July coming up, despite the flags on display, an especially patriotic event. Many places have theirs in August, or even in September. Usually a politician or two makes an appearance, but even that's not really necessary. What's essential is firetrucks: pumpers, ladder trucks, utility trucks, boats on their trailers, tankers, you name it. Fire companies from miles around send their trucks, polished and spiffy, to appear in The Big Parade. Manning them are the volunteer firemen, the guys who put in hours of training for the privilege of riding the trucks to fires and emergencies.
You can't have a parade with only trucks and ambulances and police cars, even though the visiting firemen blow their sirens and wave to people as they go by. So firemen's parades have a few marching bands from the local schools. And there are pom-pom girls. I love pom-pom girls. They range in age from pre-school to, I would guess, the upper reaches of junior high. There is no purpose to a pom-pom girl other than to look pleasant. They may have actual pom-poms or they may carry batons, but they serve no more useful purpose than a vase of flowers. I always want to hug them.
I say that firemen's parades aren't patriotic, but I mean that only in the national sense. They're an expression of a community's pride in itself. The hulking vehicles are our vehicles, paid for with a combination of tax dollars, bingo games, bake sales and teen dances. The guys manning them are our guys, guys and girls who live and work in the community and devote the time to doing the training, keeping up the trucks, and rushing to fires and emergencies. The marching bands are our kids, and the pom-pom girls our daughters. So we put them on display so we can admire ourselves. The trucks go by, lights flashing and sirens sounding. The bands march and play, often in tune. The pom-pom girls march, sometimes in step. Dogs bark, sing along with the sirens, and sometimes run alongside the trucks. Hat sellers and trinket salesmen will be happy to sell you things you don't need, but that you want because you don't want to forget that you went to the Big Parade. After the parade, the visiting firemen will drink beer out of plastic cups, swap stories, and flirt with the local girls.
There aren't any pom-pom girls in Waziristan. They might not even have any firetrucks. If they're really lucky, someday they might.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 06:57 pm ||
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Iran has recently stopped allowing tankers carrying smuggled Iraqi oil to dodge international monitoring ships in the Persian Gulf by staying inside Iran's territorial waters, the DPA quoted the Pentagon as saying on Thursday. The loss of the Iranian safe haven has led smugglers to change tactics, loading the oil from the large tankers onto smaller vessels in hopes of evading U.S. Navy ships trying to enforce United Nations sanctions against Iraq, said General Richard Myers, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to DPA, closing its territorial waters to Iraqi smugglers could be an overture to the United States from Iran, which was branded by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of his "axis of evil" allegedly for supporting terrorists and trying to attain weapons of mass destruction. Iran's been watching the War on Terror, too, and they've been noting what the nay-sayers have been missing: it's been pretty successful. Now they're stuck with Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah and they're probably arguing over what to do with them. If they ever do return to civilization, dumping them will be necessary.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:32 am ||
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And if we polish off Iraq, next stop will be Syria or Iran. Eeenie meenie minie moe
Posted by: Denny Wilson ||
06/29/2002 14:14 Comments ||
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Two men who work in New York for Iran's mission to the United Nations are being expelled from the United States, ABC News said on Friday. Sources told the network that the two Iranians were seen five days ago videotaping the Brooklyn Bridge, the entry point to the tunnels into Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The men, who have been in the United States only four months and are described as security workers for the mission, were stopped and questioned by New York police but were not arrested because of their diplomatic immunity. US officials plan to expel the men for suspicious activities, some of which are related to irregularities in their identification documents. A spokesman for the Iranian consulate in New York said the two individuals were filming each other and were briefly questioned by a New York police officer and released. "Security workers" is a pretty vague description of their duties. It also makes me think they're thugs, even though they may be nothing more than night watchmen. Good thing they've got diplomatic immunity in this case, since they can be expelled for "suspicious activities" without the entire ACLU calving.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:41 am ||
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A toothbrush shop with up-to-date equipment has been set up at the Pyongyang Daily Necessities Factory. It produces tens of millions of toothbrushes a year. Leader Kim Jong Il gave on-site guidance to the shop on June 17 and expressed satisfaction at the good quality of toothbrushes made to suit the different characters of ages and took measures to keep production on a high level. The factory is situated in Songyo district, Pyongyang. It, founded in May Juche 36 (1947), is one of creditable daily necessaries production bases contributing to the improvement of the standard of material and cultural living of the people. Don't forget to brush after every meal, if you ever have one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:46 am ||
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You'll work hard with a gun on your back, for a bowl of rice a day...
In the most serious border clash in three years, a North Korean navy boat with heavy-caliber weapons sank a South Korean patrol boat in the western sea Saturday, the South Korean military said. At least four South Korean sailors died, 22 were wounded, and one was missing. There was no immediate word on North Korean casualties. A Northern warship was seen being towed in flames across the sea border, said Army Lt. Gen. Lee Sang-hee, chief operations officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That was stoopid. And Corsair the Pirate was just talking blogging about an article in the NKor papers saying how the South Koreans should subsidize the North Korean military because they're all brothers and the NKors protect the peninsula from ummm... somebody.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 01:20 pm ||
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Pakistani military authorities dispatched a contingent of 250 troops supported by air defence [sic] to launch fresh attacks on the suspected hideouts of Al Qaeda members in the Darmilan area, 75kms from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency on Friday afternoon. Cheesed about their guys getting shot up, are they?
The military reinforcement came when talks between a high-level team of military officials and tribal elders from the Ahmadzai tribe failed to make any headway over the handing over of the absconding men and women involved in the killing of ten army and militiamen broke down, a source informed Dawn from Wana. The operation, which was delayed for four days in the wake of tribesmen's attack on the army on Wednesday night, was planned a fortnight ago on the information of an FBI team about the presence of Al Qaeda suspects in the area. Soldiers were pressing tribal elders to lead them to the Al Qaeda fugitives, and threatening to destroy their homes if they were found to be sheltering the militants. Yup. That's a symptom of sharp cheddar. The mullahs are probably birthing entire herds over this one little incident...
Troops sealed off the bazaar in Azam Warsak, the village where the raid took place, and were taking "more punitive measures against" the local Sarke Khel tribe who are believed to have hidden the militants. "Lemme 'splain this to you, Mahmoud. You have a turban and an AK-47 with 40 rounds and a few buds to back you up. We have rockets, tanks, gunships, bulldozers and lotsa bombs, and two entire armies to back us up, and we're in a really crappy mood..."
Powerful local tribal chiefs met local military commanders on Friday and promised not to give refuge to the Al Qaeda men. What makes you assumed they've stopped being goddamned liars?
Some 15 tribesmen were rounded up Thursday for questioning about the location of the militants as paramilitaries demolished tribal homes in Khawaza Panga near Azam Warsak, tribal leader Purdil Wazir. Paramilitaries were conducting house-to-house searches in a 100-square kilometre stretch of mountainous terrain. Guess they'd really like to talk to those Chechen boys. It'll do them a lot more good to catch them and find out which of the holy men the Chechens have been taking their orders from.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 12:18 pm ||
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Intelligence reports put the number of Al Qaeda fugitives having regrouped in the Pakistani tribal belt at under 500 and suggest further operations in and around Waziristan to apprehend them. That's probably a low number, but it's more accurate than saying there aren't any there at all...
A military intelligence source told Dawn the estimates were based on intelligence reports obtained by both Pakistani and US security agencies that are collaborating closely in the ongoing operation to capture Al Qaeda members. Sources disclosed that "quite a few" unmanned UAV predators operative over the tribal belt have also contributed in the assessment of Al Qaeda presence there. "These UAVs essentially give real time, accurate information and have aided in search operations," sources said, adding that these flying objects, comparable to flying saucers, were also equipped to fire. Wonder if they've found anything to fire at yet? Or if all they're doing is collection? My guess would be the latter...
Officials said the Al Qaeda members taking refuge in the tribal belt could be apprehended within days if they remained in the area. "They cannot go far and will be caught sooner or later," claimed a source closely involved with the search operations. That's assuming the Paks press the search for them. If they go back to pretending, then nothing will happen. If they chase them, there can be American forces waiting for them on the other side of the border — or the Paks could do the hot pursuit just as well as our forces and then look innocent if the Afghans ask about it, which they probably wouldn't.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 12:28 pm ||
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Sources said Pakistani forces had taken a number of steps to tighten their hold on the security situation in the Agency following Tuesday night's bloody gun-battle inside a house in South Waziristan. They said that at least one American security person was within firing range when Pakistani forces and Al Qaeda members exchanged fire killing 10 Pakistani soldiers and militia-men. That knowledge probably made Qazi's entire life flash before his eyes...
Security sources concede that the killing of the 10 army men in the shootout was due to a "slight miscalculation". "There was basically an error of judgment regarding assessment and intentions by the executing party," said a defence official, adding: "Given the tribal elders' assurances to them of full cooperation the raiding party did not expect such violent retaliation." He means the sonsofbitches lied to them and the OIC was dumb enough to believe them. Strangely, he doesn't sound surprised...
Dawn learnt on authority that at the time of the shootout two American intelligence communication experts were present close by. One of them, a middle-level officer, was in the firing range and had a narrow escape. That sort of thing's okay, as long as you live to tell your grandkids about it. Making sure you get to tell the story's the hard part.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 01:04 pm ||
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Five nations from the Arab world are on the UN's list of least developed countries' where millions of people live below the poverty line. These countries - Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - are inhabited by 59.3 million people, a major part of whom earn less than $1 a day, according to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report released here recently. UNCTAD has posted 49 countries on its 'Least Developed Countries Report 2002'. The UN selection criteria for the list of the least developed countries is low national income, weak human assets, and high economic vulnerability. What do they have in common? I don't know much about Djibouti â maybe I could find it on a map, and not much more about Mauretania, except that it's primitive, an area more than it is a country. Of the other three, the number of guns per capita is pretty breath-taking, as is the amount of tetchy, easily offended honor. Three out of five, and I'd guess five out of five, are what Bill Quick describes as Honor-Shame societies.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:36 am ||
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"An area more than a country." Classic! They used to contest the Western Sahara with Morocco but gave that up, what, a decade ago? And I think I've heard that GIA militants shelter over the border, as well as Western Saharan militants and their government-in-exile (which is a recognized member of the OAU, one reason Morocco isn't). But I don't think they do much on their own.
Djibouti used to be the key French port at the horn of Africa, but since the beret-wearers left I gather it's been in a steady decline, a city-state with no real reason for being. You can think of it as being a less-chaotic extension of Eritrea and Somalia, maybe one of the reasons the unrecognized government of what used to be British Somaliland has been able to pull itself together. If I'm not mistaken, the north coast of the horn is ethnically and culturally more Arab than the interior and east coast.
Posted by: Dan Hartung ||
06/29/2002 9:13 Comments ||
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Sudanese government planes bombed two church compounds in rebel-held southern Sudan, injuring more than four people. The Sudan Catholic Bishops Regional Conference said four bombs struck the residence of Bishop Johnson Akio Mutek, the auxiliary bishop of Torit diocese, in Ikotos on Tuesday night, "injuring many people including four Kenyans who are construction workers at St. Joseph Youth Center." In a statement released in neighboring Nairobi, the conference said the bishop's home and the youth center were destroyed in the attack.
Another 12 bombs were dropped near church schools in Isoke. A spokesman for the Torit diocese, Jervasio Okot, said no one was injured and the bombs did no damage, but that civilians in the area were frightened because it was the first time government planes bombed their town. No rebel units were near either target, church officials said. "Mahmoud, we've been working toward a resolution of our conflict with the Infidels in the south. Many in the international community applaud our efforts. I'd like to have a further demonstration of our good faith now that the Islamic conference has wound up in Khartoum."
"Yes, effendi."
"Have the air force bomb some churches."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:32 am ||
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Sudan on Saturday said 29 abducted Sudanese have been freed and sent to their homes in the civil war-ravaged south of the country. The 29, all women and children, had been abducted in southern Darfur state, western Sudan, by Arab tribesmen. The Sudanese Commission for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children secured their release. Ahmed el-Mufti, who chairs the commission, told The Associated Press that the return followed last month's reunion of five women and children with their families.
El-Mufti said no action would be taken against the abductors. "What has been achieved was agreed on by the government, the tribes and the international organizations involved," Mufti said. Dinka tribesmen say 14,000 of their people have been abducted, while international organizations have put the number at 7,500, el-Mufti said. The Arab tribesmen say 3,500 of their people have been kidnapped. I think they's still got a little more work to do — 30 or 35 out of 7500 to 14,000 isn't a really good record.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:32 am ||
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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's mental faculties are progressively deteriorating, an Italian newspaper said on Friday, citing a report by several foreign intelligence services. "The same drugs which kept him calm and controlled his facial quivering are now aggravating Yasser Arafat's problems. Memory loss, spontaneous blackouts and concentration problems continue," the weekly Panorama wrote. Toldja so. It's becoming more noticeable, too. Pretty soon they won't be able to pretend it's not there...
Panorama said the report -- described as an analysis of international intelligence services reports -- was in the hands of the United States and formed the basis for US President George W Bush's call for the Palestinians to replace the veteran 72-year-old Arafat as their leader during his long-awaited speech on US Middle East policy. "Yasser Arafat's state of health played an important role in the frantic diplomatic negotiations which led to Bush's speech about the need to find a new leader for the Palestinians," wrote Panorama, which is owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. I'd say that was probably more a factor than a single, latest in a series, report that he was paying al-Aqsa, which is whatcha might call an open secret...
Contesting that claim, a senior Arab official speaking in Amman said Friday that he had met with the Palestinian leader recently and that he was in "excellent shape" and in possession of "all his mental faculties." The official said Arafat "carried on a good conversation, he showed evidence of a clear mind and was articulate in his speech. He was calm, and there was no evident sign of a deterioration in his health." He's been taking his meds, huh?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:32 am ||
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Those whom I chose to destroy, I first make mad, because I am a mean spirited god. Yasser: Satan has a dose of prickly heat for your sorry ass.
Peace Be Upon Me!!!
Posted by: Allah the Dis-Compassionate ||
06/29/2002 9:34 Comments ||
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Israeli military officials say they likely killed 15 wanted militants in two overnight explosions at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank City of Hebron. The powerful overnight blasts at the municipal and security offices completely flattened the building. The force of the explosions overturned cars and damaged nearby buildings. The Israeli army says it used two tons of explosives. Try strapping that on a 16-year-old, you al-Aqsa orifices!
Israeli forces first moved in on the headquarters last Tuesday before tearing into walls around the building, occasionally exchanging gunfire with those inside. Many Palestinian security personnel left the complex earlier this week, and at least 20 wanted men turned themselves in. But about 15 suspected militants refused to surrender. Too bad for them, wasn't it?
On Friday, a former Palestinian cabinet member (Talal Sidr) went into the headquarters to work on negotiations for a surrender, but said he did not find anyone in the parts of the badly damaged building he was able to reach. Israeli forces later intensified their attack on the building. Witnesses said a huge explosion sent sparks high in the air. The army says engineers set off a controlled blast late Friday, targeting those holed up inside. A second blast early today left the building in ruins. There are no reports that any bodies have been found. If they are, they can be picked up with a scraper...
Palestinian officials told the French news agency they are not sure if anyone was in the building when it was demolished. But they're hoping there weren't.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 08:32 am ||
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So supposedly there was no return fire for at least 24 hours, but the IDF insisted there were 15 gunnies inside. Meanwhile, a PA guy says he can't find anybody. That seems like an ironic reversal; wouldn't you expect the opposite?
In any case, one hopes the IDF sonar-mapped all the tunnels. Who knows, maybe the PA guy who went in ... was one of the 15 guys they said were still in there. Badaboom!
Posted by: Dan Hartung ||
06/29/2002 9:17 Comments ||
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The Palestinian organization Miftah, headed by PLC member and ex- minister Hanan Ashrawi, criticized the PNA for welcoming Bushâs speech describing it as âa pathetic attempt to reach out to an American president who does not view Palestinians as equal human beings.â Guess that raises the philosophical question: after you explode, are you still a human being? Or just leftovers?
Miftah in a statement released on the Internet, accused the PNA of embracing Bushâs call to self-negate. Miftah stated that Bushâs speech was biased and did not serve peace. âBush,â the statement said, âwas very critical of the Palestinians and their leadership in his remarks but portrayed Israel, the occupiers, as the victims by describing their fears in depth and touching upon their human side. At the same time he failed to recognize the much greater human suffering imposed upon the Palestinian people by Israelâs military, apartheid like occupation,â Miftah stressed. Open elections, a judiciary that doesn't use a drumhead, leadership that's not armed and dangerous — the sure path to self-negation.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 10:12 am ||
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The United States has taken a "step back" from its support of a Saudi plan to achieve Mideast peace by launching its own blueprint to end the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, a top Saudi official said. Saudi intelligence chief Prince Nawaf also said President George W. Bush's call for a change in the Palestinian leadership was "illegitimate." It's legitimate to run a mob?
"Do the Americans accept to be told who they should elect and who should be their president?" Nawaf told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in comments published on Saturday. The Saudi official, who is the brother of King Fahd, questioned why Bush floated a plan to break the Mideast logjam after earlier supporting a Saudi peace proposal, which won wide Arab endorsement. "I wonder why the U.S. wants to take such a long shot when we have a ready-made initiative that has all the elements of success," Nawaf reportedly said. There's actually nothing in the Bush speech to prevent the Soddy plan from being implemented. Bush addressed the path to get there, not the destination. That path doesn't include Yasser, doesn't include the thugs, doesn't include the boomers. 'Course, from a certain point of view, one could ask, "What's Paleostine without them?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 11:19 am ||
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Israel has begun a campaign in the United States and the United Nations to urge a reconsideration of the way the UN Relief and Works Agency, which runs the Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, operates. Israel charges that UNRWA workers simply ignored the fact that Palestinian organizations were turning the camps into terrorist bases, and it is demanding the agency start reporting all military or terrorist actions within the camps to the UN. However, it insists it is not interested in evicting UNRWA from the camps. If they're supposed to control the camps, and there's supposed to be no military or terrorist actions in the areas under UNRWA control, and they're not controlling the camps, then they're complicit in the murder of Israelis, aren't they?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 11:26 am ||
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A 16-year-old Hamas member was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for attempting to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel. The youth was caught near the Galilee town of Tira in February. According to military prosecutor Liron Averbuch, he had originally intended to blow himself up on or near a bus. But when he saw he was about to be captured, he tried to blow himself up immediately in order to at least kill the policemen. However, the detonator mechanism proved faulty and when he pressed the button, nothing happened. He was arrested and indicted in the Samaria Military Court. Must be tough to expect 72 acrobatic virgins and end up with stripes for life. I wonder how many other suckers suicide bombers were illiterate.
The defense attorney asked the court for a lenient sentence - five years - in light of the defendant's youth, his family's poverty and the fact he was illiterate. The defendant himself argued he was dragged into the attempt by Hamas. "I was a minor and I don't know how they deceived me," he said. "I'm sorry for what I did. I almost lost my life." Well, now he's got it. For what it's worth.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 11:50 am ||
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Abu Sayyaf released a fisherman whom they kidnapped last year in Tawi-Tawi to representatives of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Suluâs capital town of Jolo. The fisherman, identified as Lydio Castro, was turned over to the MILF as a âgesture of goodwill,â said Ustadz Shariff Julabbi, spokesperson of the secessionist rebels for Western Mindanao. âWe were able to secure the release of Lydio Castro this morning (Saturday),â Jullabi told the TIMES in an early morning phone call. Jullabi said the terrorists released Castro, who was held hostage for seven months, because âhe is now a Muslim.â I think it would be a fine idea for any Muslims bandidos captured in the Philippines or anywhere to be held in jug at least until they decide they're agnostics. Nobody ever hears about "militant agnostics."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 01:29 pm ||
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Abu Sayyaf terrorists fleeing military pursuers in Sulu and Basilan are eyeing âfriendlyâ coastal barangays [villes] in the east coast of this city as possible sanctuaries, an Armed Forces (AFP) officer said yesterday. Col. Alexander Yapching, head of AFP Task Force Zamboanga, said intelligence reports indicate that at least 60 Abu Sayyaf members and sympathizers have been âcasingâ several barangays where their leaders and followers could go to ground until the military eased up on its operations.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/29/2002 01:31 pm ||
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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.
