Qatar's foreign minister said on Sunday his country, a political maverick among Gulf Arab states, could consider signing a peace treaty with Israel if it suited its interests. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani's comments are rare for a senior official in a region which rules out any normal ties with Israel before it withdraws from Arab land occupied since the 1967 Middle East War. "If we think it will serve our purpose and our country, we can study this (peace treaty)," Sheikh Hamad told CNN. But he said that Qatar, which does not share a border with the Jewish state, was satisfied for now with its low-level trade ties with Israel, which have angered many Arab countries. Qatar set up trade ties with Israel after a landmark Arab-Israeli peace conference in 1991. But one month after the Palestinian uprising erupted in September 2001, Doha shut the Israeli representative office in Doha to avoid the collapse of an Islamic summit it was hosting that year after several Arab and Muslim countries threatened to boycott the meeting.
That "Arab solidarity" stuff does tend to inhibit cutting away from the herd, doesn't it? Not a good thing, when the herd tends to stampede off cliffs...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 03:57 pm ||
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The British army's top intelligence agent inside the IRA, a suspect in up to 40 murders, was reported to be in hiding after several Sunday newspapers in Ireland and Britain blew his cover. Newspapers said British intelligence services had spirited the man, codenamed "Stakeknife", out of Ireland just hours before the papers published his name. As a double agent, "Stakeknife" served as the head of the Irish Republican Army's internal security unit — known as the "nutting squad". His job was to track down, interrogate, torture and kill suspected informers in the ranks. The man is suspected in up to 40 murders, carried out on both sides of the Irish border with the permission of his British army "handlers" to protect his position within the IRA. A British government spokesman declined to comment on the reports. "We don't comment on security matters," the Northern Ireland Office spokesman said. The Dublin-based Sunday Tribune, one of four newspapers to name the agent, said "Stakeknife" initially approached British military intelligence as a junior IRA volunteer in 1978 wanting revenge for a severe beating he had received from one of the guerrilla group's top Belfast members.
That should certainly make things go better. Who needs intel, when there's a paper to get out?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 02:50 pm ||
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Well, except 40 seems a little bit excessive. Wonder if they used him to take out the more incorrigible of the IRA hard boys from within?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 15:09 Comments ||
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They still have the Official Secrets Act over there, don't they? If ever a case called for a prosecution it's this one -- newspapers deliberately taking out an active intelligence source.
Posted by: Ray ||
05/11/2003 21:28 Comments ||
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What are the chances that this was stage-managed? As in 1) his cover was about to be blown by the Provos anyway, so let it leak and shock/scare those Provos who weren't in on it, or 2) they had gotten everything they could get out of him and keeping him inside wasn't the right strategy anymore, or 3) having it leak causes the Provos to do something really stupid (reveal an operation, blow another source, blow a double, etc.) that is more useful than keeping him in.
Just food for thought. Brits are very smart intel players; while it's possible that the newspapers actually did the work on their own, it could be a managed leak designed to make something else happen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/11/2003 23:21 Comments ||
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Looks like Short's future in Blair's government is, well, short...
Actions sometimes speak louder than words. With one gesture, Tony Blair made clear to colleagues at last week's Cabinet meeting that he thought Clare Short was — in every sense — not all there. The Prime Minister pointed to the International Development Secretary's empty seat at the table on Thursday and then gestured to Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff, circling a finger by his head. One Cabinet minister told The Telegraph: "He just thinks she's lost it. She's a prominent British anti-war leftie: course she's lost it. Though it's doubtful she ever had it in the first place. We're talking about the likes of Dalyell, Benn, Cook, Livingstone and Jackson. Not to put too fine a point on it: they're all completely stark raving mad (those who weren't on the take, that is).
He turned to Jonathan and just did this gesture with his finger. That said it all." Mr Blair's display reinforced the suspicion among Ms Short's colleagues that he intends to axe her in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle. Ms Short, 57, who was not available for comment last night, is renowned for her mercurial temperament. Mr Blair has long tolerated her rebellious nature and regarded her as a useful idiot ally in his attempts to pacify the Labour Left. But the Prime Minister now appears to have lost the need for patience with her. Ministers believe that her fate was sealed when she accused Mr Blair of being "reckless" over Iraq. He was urged to sack her immediately, they say, but stayed her execution to avoid making her a martyr before the Commons vote on the war, when he faced the biggest government rebellion in a century. She asked to be excused from last week's Cabinet session to prepare for a meeting with the presidents of Rwanda and Uganda. The night before, however, she had failed to turn up to support the Government against a backbench rebellion over its controversial hospitals Bill. Her aides insisted she had made a mistake about the timing of the votes, but allies of the Prime Minister say they do not believe her excuses. It was also noted that Dennis Turner, Ms Short's loyal parliamentary private secretary, who usually escorts her in the Commons, voted for the Government three times — making her claim that she had forgotten the time of the vote all the more implausible.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/11/2003 05:52 am ||
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I am Deeply Saddened (TM) that Blair thinks Claire is crazy. She isn't crazy.
Short is a dedicated commie pinko whose goal is the overthrow of the British government and the establishment of a communist government in its place.
Short holds a minor government post. Why doesn't Blair just send her packing?
#2
I suppose that depends on your definition of crazy. I'd say that being out of touch with reality is grounds for being labelled crazy. Tony has to work with her, and I assume knows her better than you or I do. I trust his judgement.
Could you imagine being trapped in a lift with the people I mentioned in the post? Do you think you could cope for more than five minutes? Do you think you'd understand them? They live in a different world. And, compared to the others, to be honest, Short is fruitcake lite.
An Iranian opposition group began turning in its weapons Sunday under a U.S. surrender agreement reached after American forces ordered it to lay down arms or face attack. The deal reached Saturday gave the Mujahedeen Khalq seven days to consolidate its troops in one area and its weaponry in another near Baqubah, 45 miles northeast of the capital, Baghdad. "They are, in effect, turning over their equipment to coalition control," said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division. "They have been very cooperative." The group began moving equipment on Sunday and was expected to start moving troops within 24 hours, Odierno said.
They've been very cooperative because they don't want to get blown away. Can we do the Badr Brigade next? Or PKK?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 04:08 pm ||
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These Mujahedeen seem to fighting against the fascists of Iran. I admit that I don't know their tactics or long-term ambitions but why should they be "blown away" just for existing... Though of course, it's not very convenient having an army launch attacks from Iraqi soil against Iran, and giving Iran reasons to counterattack...
Anyway I just hope that the US won't play a dirty game and surrender them to the Iranians in exchange for Al-Qaeda members... That'd be horrible.
One top U.S. occupation official left her post Sunday, another was preparing to leave, and a new administrator arrived in the region, ready to take over, less than three weeks after their newborn reconstruction agency opened for business in the postwar chaos of Baghdad. Besides the rapid-fire changes at the top, there was other unsettling news Sunday for Iraqi rebuilding: Oil production, vital for recovery, may resume more slowly than thought, and it may take two more months to get full electricity back in Baghdad.
As if to underscore the challenges facing the Americans, new arson fires broke out Sunday, sending palls of smoke billowing over a city wracked by looting and other lawlessness since a U.S.-British invasion toppled President Saddam Hussein's government last month. The departed official, ex-ambassador Barbara Bodine, was coordinator for central Iraq, including Baghdad, within the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. The office thus far has assembled some 800 specialists from U.S. government agencies and allied governments to organize aid, reconstruction and the establishment of a new government for Iraq.
An ORHA spokesman, U.S. Army Maj. John Cornelio, confirmed that Bodine was leaving Baghdad on Sunday. But the agency issued no statement explaining the reason for her swift departure, just two weeks after she chaired a familiarization meeting with top bureaucrats of the former Baghdad city administration. The Washington Post reported Sunday that Bodine, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, was being reassigned as deputy director of the State Department's political-military division. No replacement for her has been named yet, Cornelio said. The replacement for chief U.S. administrator Jay Garner, on the other hand, has been known for more than a week.
L. Paul Bremer, a longtime State Department aide, flew to Qatar this weekend as he prepared to take over in Baghdad as head of ORHA. Bremer, 61, whose new agency is essentially a military administration reporting to the U.S. Central Command, flew to Qatar with the Pentagon's top soldier, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers. Spokesman Cornelio said Garner also was in Qatar, presumably meeting with his successor. The 65-year-old retired Army lieutenant general, who arrived in Baghdad on April 21, had said his assignment here would be short-term, but it had been expected to last three months. Now, Garner has said, he will depart after making a "good handoff" to Bremer â probably by late May. Bremer is expected in Baghdad this week.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 03:40 pm ||
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Ten to one Bodine left because some of the Iraqi mullahs couldn't stand to work with or for a woman, and raised a stink. I think the best way to have handled it would to be break a few heads, but I guess Washington is "above" that.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/11/2003 16:31 Comments ||
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Bodine is the one who would not cooperate with the team investigating the Cole bombing when she was stationed in Yemen. Based on that, I won't miss her. Garner seemed to have a good resume for his job, however, so something is not right behind the scenes.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Massoud Barzani has resumed publication of its Arabic-language daily in the Iraqi capital for the first time in nearly 30 years. Al-Taakhi (Brotherhood) carried an interview with Mr Barzani in the first edition to appear in Baghdad since the newspaper was banned in the mid-1970s. Copies of the newspaper were also available in KDP-controlled Arbil, capital of the Kurdish region that had been outside the control of the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein since 1991. Jalal Talabani'sPatriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which shared control of the Western-protected Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq with the KDP since 1991, resumed publishing its Arabic-language weekly newspaper Al-Ittihad (Union) in Baghdad in late April.
Having a free press running will do as much to achieve our ends in Iraq as anything else we do — except for implementing freedom of religion...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 02:54 pm ||
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Also of prime importance must be the education system. If hatred of the West (and Jews) is NOT taught in Iraq's schools then the next generation will prosper.
Posted by: A ||
05/11/2003 15:44 Comments ||
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Their private schools. If we use our public school model on them, my God...how do "Cripps" and "Bloods" translate into Arabic?
Posted by: Brian ||
05/11/2003 22:36 Comments ||
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The commander of coalition forces in Iraq has told Iraqis that Saddam Hussein's Baath Party has been dissolved. In a message read in Arabic on American-run radio, General Tommy Franks said anyone who possesses documents related to the Baath Party must hand them in to the coalition. The move follows last week's request by the US administration that senior employees at various ministries sign a document denouncing the party.
Some people will miss it. Not many...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 01:28 pm ||
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"Jihad should be declared by the legally-appointed leader of the country. Otherwise, it is up to Allah to deal with the American occupiers," said Muqtada al-Sadr, a Hawza scholar and a son of Shiite religious leader Mohamed Sadeq Sadr who was assassinated in 1999.
Kind of a stretch, calling a 22-year-old gang leader a scholar...
Al-Sadr sent it clear that Hawza, the head of religious and political identity for millions of Iraqâs Shiite majority, would not join any government imposed by the U.S. forces in Iraq. "It is rather preferable to be called a terrorist than to collaborate with the Americans. We refuse their presence in our country," he said, urging Shiite parties to be act in unison and evade prospects for tension among them "which will only act in the interest of the West".
"We could deal with Sammy's presense in our country, 'cuz we could understand him. His goals were different, but his methods were the same as ours. These infidels, though â ewww! Ucky!"
The Hawza functions as a training ground for aspiring Shiite scholars and is home to the most respected Ayatollahs, who are seen as models for common folks. The ayatollahs can issue fatwas, or edicts, that dictate rules of behavior for Iraq's long-repressed sect that made up more than 60 percent of the countryâs population. "We stay as neutral as to the U.S. presence here. We keep a watchful eye on the movement of occupation forces. If they come for reconstruction, we do not mind; if for occupation we will express condemnation," said Ali al-Rabei, a secretary of the Ayatollah Ishaq Fayad.
That's one opinion...
"U.S. forces should get out of our country immediately. We refuse their presence here," said Ali Nijm, son of Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi.
"What do we need them for, now that Sammy's gone? It's not like somebody just like him is waiting in the wings to take over..."
The U.S. forces said they would stay in Iraq as long as it is necessary to stabilize situation in the war-torn country, amid fears Shiite ulema (scholars) might push for an Iranian-styled Islamic regime into the helm of Iraq. Washington has already rejected allowing a Shiite-led Islamic rule, similar to the system in neighboring Iran, to take root in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 01:24 pm ||
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Interesting that this little prick has so little education yet thinks he can run Iraq-south same as his gang. Kill him now, publicly
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 15:26 Comments ||
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He needs to be found hanging from a telephone pole by piano wire, with a chain-saw wound from toes to chin. I think only one example will be needed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/11/2003 16:26 Comments ||
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Whats the story here with comments calling for assassination and vigilante death squads? A Google search reveals "kill or cure medicine" is pretty well a thing of the past, and last time I checked, democracy was rooted in the rule of law.
#4
reality bites sassafras. Or did you not notice this prick had the coalition (an educated) liaison assassinated? You keep your hands clean - I'll accept success instead
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 16:51 Comments ||
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Death squads certainly aren't the way to handle this nimrod.
Isolate him as much as possable,cut off his funding,cut his followers from any role in reconstruction.Throw massive support behind his opponents,then wait till he get's pissed and starts pushing his people to violence and arrest his ass for terrorisiam and incitement of violence.
It's an article from the Observer on the PKK in northern Iraq. Edited for brevity.
She is five foot nothing in her trainers with hair pulled into a ponytail that reaches the small of her back and a multicoloured thread round one slim wrist. She is wearing green combat fatigues with a radio antenna sticking out from one pocket of her well-worn, olive-drab jacket. She has an AK47 over one shoulder and she is talking about killing men. All for the good of the Revolution, no doubt ...
Comrade Gulbar is a military commander, in charge of a unit of 30 young men and women of the Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan (the Kurdish Workers Party or PKK). Her struggle, she tells me, is twofold. She is fighting for the Kurdish people and for the liberation of women. She says that the two issues are inextricably connected. All part of the Armed Struggle(TM) no doubt
To those who have suffered most from their activities, the PKK is a brutal, criminal terrorist organisation given to indiscriminate attacks on civilians and motivated by a fanaticism paralleled only by Osama bin Laden's Islamic militants. Birds of a feather ...
To many Kurds, either in the diaspora or in the heartland Kurdish areas of southeastern Turkey, western Iran, northern Iraq and eastern Syria, the PKK are freedom fighters, battling for a homeland, or at least better rights, for a people without a nation. Up to half the PKK are women and, throughout the group's 30-year history, the 'struggle for women's freedom' as Comrade Gulbar terms it, has been an integral part of its campaign.
The PKK's ideology is, to coin a phrase, very last century. Were it not for its propensity for extreme violence, self-immolation, bombing towns and kidnapping journalists and tourists, there would be something quaint about its talk of dialectic materialism, the struggle against imperialism, false consciousness, the alienated capitalist self and so on. When you talk about 'gender issues' with PKK members (they don't have cadres, I am told, but volunteers), you are suddenly returned to agitprop feminist debate, circa 1980.
Take the issue of marriage. PKK volunteers are not allowed to marry because truly free gender relations are impossible given the oppression inherent in the capitalist world system that is currently dominant. In that system, individuals and their emotions are reduced to commodities and so marriage, a bourgeois concept based on ownership, can only aid the continued dominance of patriarchal (and imperialist) power. As no truly power-free gender relations are possible (and here the revolutionary Marxism shades into French existentialism) until capitalism is replaced by a system which allows truly free relations between individuals, no marriage between PKK volunteers is permissible. Instead, all must strive for the revolution. As an added incentive, sex is banned, too, also until the revolution. It is 'not included in the programme plans of the party'. Looks like Occalan's was reading 1984 when thought up his mob
Such sophomoric Leftism is understandable given the origins of the movement. The PKK was formed in 1974 by Abdullah Ocalan, a charismatic Kurdish political activist from Turkey. They were based in Syria through the 80s, but moved to their current bases in the mountains of northern Iraq in the chaos following the first Gulf War of 1991. With the local Kurdish parties weakened by the war on Saddam Hussein and by internecine rivalry, the PKK was able to hack out a substantial and effectively self-ruled feifdom. The early and mid-90s saw horrific violence in southeastern Turkey as the Turkish state attempted to force the PKK out of its enclave and to crush dissent among its own restive Kurdish minority.
Both sides committed terrible atrocities, burning villages and killing civilians. Around 40,000 people died and the Turkish government's brutality was condemned by a series of international human rights organisations. The PKK took to suicide operations and explosions in Turkish cities and swiftly earned themselves a place on British and American lists of banned terrorist organisations. Did the same human rights groups that condemned Turkey also condemn the PKK? Nah, they get a pass like the Paleos cause they have an Armed Struggle(TM)
A series of military operations during the 90s involving thousands of Turkish troops backed by Kurdish groups and auxiliaries failed to dislodge the group from its mountain stronghold. Once again, casualties on both sides were heavy. In all, Ankara says, more than 20,000 PKK fighters have been killed and several thousand Turkish soldiers and security militia men.
In 1999, there was something of a breakthrough. Abdullah Ocalan was captured in Kenya and, from his Turkish prison cell, issued a directive saying that the military strategy pursued by the PKK hitherto had been misguided. The PKK renounced violence, except in self-defence. Last year, it renamed itself Kadek, the Kurdish Freedom and Democracy Congress, and the hammer and sickle was dropped from its flag, though the red, yellow and green motif featuring a five-pointed star remains. Kadek now says it wants to pursue Kurdish and women's rights through democratic means. They all say that, just until the shooting starts ...
Up in its enclave, it exacts customs duties and taxes on the local people, builds roads and the occasional clinic, runs a standing army of about 10,000 fighters, directs a sophisticated international network of activists and fundraisers (and extortionists) and overall acts like a mini-state. Most of us Westerners call that a "kleptocracy." Sounds a lot like Chechnya back during the good old days ...
'We are not terrorists. We are a liberated people in a liberated land,' said Comrade Gulbar. Many disagree. The PKK is still banned almost all over the world. Funny how suicide bombings'll do that to you
Given that the Americans are committed to a 'war on terror' and are now in power in Baghdad this is an important point that seems to have escaped the notice of most PKK cadres. Gotta love the scare quotes. The PKK seems to be primarily a Kurdish mess though, so let the PUK and DPK clean knock them up. They sure cleaned Ansar al-Islam's clock in short order.
I had first tried to see the PKK in 1991. The group was in the process of launching its guerrilla war against the Turkish security forces and meeting them had proved too difficult and too dangerous. Twelve years later, back in Kurdistan to cover the US-led war on Baghdad, things were easier. As Kadek, the group is keener on media exposure. We were told the days of kidnapping journalists are long gone. Contacts in the northeastern Iraqi city of Sulaimania carried our request up to the mountains and came back with an invitation.
She explains that in almost all of the Middle East women are repressed. Their basic human rights are denied and they are treated as the property of their husbands. To fight the repression of women in the Middle East and in the world more generally, Actac says, is a significant part of the PKK's mission. 'Our revolutionary struggle means that here men and women are equal, standing shoulder to shoulder,' she says. 'Only in our party is this the case and so we are an example of how men and women should work and live together. Our role is to inspire and mobilise. When women see us they will understand that there is an alternative to the way they are forced to live their lives.'
Until a decade or so ago it was the Soviet Union that performed this role, Actac says, until the leadership's 'deviation into dogmatism' caused the Communist regime to collapse. Actac is adamant. 'The failure of the USSR is one of the main reasons for the continuing reactionary ignorance among the masses, both the dominant men and the unconscious women,' she says. 'We have to be the standard bearers of liberation now.' So does that mean the hermit kingdom over in North Korea has dropped the ball?
Spending time with the PKK is disorientating. It is impossible to get a firm grasp on what is going on. One moment they resemble a joint girl guides/boy scouts summer camp led by someone with a worrying interest in rifle-shooting, the next they are back to talking, seriously, of martyrs, self-immolation, death and the struggle. The combination is disconcerting. Even moments of levity - a girls' game which involves hurling a ball at each other and screaming with high-pitched giggles if hit, a surreptitious cigarette out of the commander's sight, a fit of bashfulness when faced by a Western photographer - are tainted by an underlying darkness.
Who are these teenage cadres? Why do they make their way to the mountains in the knowledge that to go back to their homes will be, given the attention of the security services in their own countries, very hard? Few are in contact with their families. All profess a willingness to kill and die for the cause. All have made huge sacrifices, though they may not know it yet. All appear to be having tremendous fun.
The day I stood at the memorial, Jay Garner, the retired general appointed by Washington to govern Iraq, arrived in Baghdad. The implications of this do not appear to have sunk in up in the Qandil mountains. Comrade Jamal was very sanguine about the prospects for Kadek. Capitalism was entering its final stage, he told me. All other forms of government were being swept aside. The autocracy in Iraq had gone. The monarchy in Saudi Arabia was next. Then would come the oligarchy of Turkey. The maps of the Middle East were being withdrawn and the old borders of the colonial era dissolving. This was a tremendous opportunity for the party, he said. Victory was drawing close. Uh-huh. You just wait have to wait it out like the Ruskies did and then it'll all fall apart ...
There is another reading of the current situation of the PKK. The PKK is a terrorist organisation. It exists on a piece of land which is now directly governed by America. America is in the middle of a war on terror. Turkey and the other local Kurdish groups are, despite occasional differences, strategic allies. In short, it is only a matter of time before the US, with willing auxiliaries, moves to destroy the PKK, Kadek, its mountain enclave and comrades Gulbar, Rosa, Chedam and everyone else. And good riddance to them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/11/2003 11:46 am ||
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"so let the PUK and DPK clean knock them up"
heh heh Freudian slip Dan?
I'd like to see the reporter ask Comrade Gerbil: "Do you think your fondness for AK47's represents penis envy? " They sound like an armed Smith College alumni meeting
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 12:37 Comments ||
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Just for sport, let's reassign these young women to security detail for a network of battered womens' shelters in Afghanistan ... those Afghan machistas deserve a worthy opponent.
#4
I can applaud that as long as they keep their marxist drivel at home, not likely tho'. Some groups need to proselytize/coerce at the point of a gun, non?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 16:58 Comments ||
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Reminds me of the Kymer Rouge and we know what happen to Cambodia(Campuchea).
Don't know if it's related,but caught a glimpse(on tv-news)of young ladys17-22)training in weapons,1 group traning with a tank.They were very pretty!
Wonder if this is where Mommar got his b-gaurds?
A senior Shiite cleric returning from decades of exile called for a government free of foreign influence on Saturday. Ayatollah Mohammad Baqr al-Hakim, leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite Muslim group, crossed the border from Iran near the southern city of Basra to a jubilant welcome from crowds of emotional supporters. Shortly afterwards some 100,000 people packed a stadium in Basra to listen to him call for an independent government chosen wholly by Iraqis to replace ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, who was toppled by US-led forces in a war launched on March 20. "This government must be chosen by Iraqis and totally independent," Hakim told them in his first address in Iraq in 23 years. "We will not accept a government that is imposed on us."
"I mean, we did okay for 30 years with the government Sammy imposed on us, but that's all over now. Now we need something different. We need pious government, government by pious men, men with turbans, men with automatic weapons! Men like, well, me...
Hakim's close ties to Iran and the armed militia known as the Badr Forces which he commands have aroused some alarm in Washington, but he has sought to play down those fears. "We have gone such a long way in such hard times, we are now on the road to security and stability. This is a jihad (holy war) of reconstruction after the destruction of the oppressors," 63-year-old Hakim said in his address in Basra. "This must be a march for independence ... We used to say yes yes to freedom, now we say yes yes to independence," Hakim told his Shiite supporters, who across Iraq form a majority over Sunni Muslims and other religious groups.
But the Hakim family was saying "yes, yes" from Teheran...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 11:00 am ||
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(Suicide Hot line)
(There's this crazy mullah out here, stirring up trouble.)
(We'll get right on it. He'll be gone tomorrow.)
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/11/2003 13:01 Comments ||
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SINCE SADDAMâS FALL, Muqtada al-Sadr has become one of the most strident anti-American voices in Iraq. His ties to a powerful Iran-based Iraqi cleric who has called for a violent campaign against U.S. forces have raised concerns of radicalization among Iraqi Shiites. Al-Sadr denies any relation to the cleric in Iran. âHe is not a friend,â al-Sadr insists. Still, al-Sadr makes no attempt to conceal his antipathy toward America. Asked if he was grateful to U.S. forces for ridding Iraq of Saddam, he shrugs. âWe are grateful to God,â he says. âEverything that happens is determined by God.â
Some now say that al-Sadr considers himself Godâs agent of vengeance. In recent days the young cleric has emerged as the central figure in a dark tale of jealousy and murder that has caused other religious leaders in Najaf to barricade themselves behind locked doors. It is a story involving CIA operatives, a large stash of dollars hidden in clerical robes and a slaughter at one of the most sacred shrines of Shiite Islam. The principal victim, Abdel Majid al-Khoei, 41, was a Shiite leader and London-based Iraqi exile who had returned to Najaf under U.S. military protection. Al-Khoei was a key figure in U.S. efforts to nurture moderate leaders in post-Saddam Iraqâand a counterweight to radical clerics backed by Iran. At first, al-Khoeiâs murder seemed the spontaneous act of a mob incensed about his U.S. ties and his association with a Baathist clericâwho was killed alongside him. But evidence suggests the murder, which occurred at the doorway of al-Sadrâs headquarters, was part of a vicious power struggle that is likely to continue...
As the group finished prayers and retired to the custodianâs guest quarters for tea, an angry mob armed with hand grenades, swords and assault rifles surrounded the building. âRaifee is back!â some shouted. âLong live Muqtada al-Sadr!â The mob smashed the windows; al-Khoei urged them to retreat. âThis is sacrilege,â he told them. âWe are all Shiites and you must respect the shrine.â An aide managed to get outside and call the U.S. commander in Najaf on a Thuraya satellite phone, but the officer said he had no orders to rescue them. Then members of the crowd sprayed the hall with AK-47 fire, fatally injuring a member of al-Khoeiâs entourage. Al-Khoei grabbed a gun that the night guards stored inside the building and fired at least one warning shot through the window, to no avail. A grenade sailed through the window and blew off three of al-Khoeiâs fingers; soon the mob entered the building, led by a man called Sheik Riyadh, the manager of al-Sadrâs office. âDonât say a word,â he warned. âYouâre all prisoners of Muqtada.â
The assailants snatched Raifeeâs ceremonial fez off his head, seized al-Khoeiâs phones and a bag stuffed with cash, bound the hands of al-Khoei and Raifee with cotton strips and marched them through the eastern gate. According to a witness, members of the group later explained that al-Sadr had ordered them not to carry out the killings inside the shrine. Raifee was shot and hacked to death at the gate. Witnesses say al-Khoei broke free and fled up a muddy alley that led to al-Sadrâs headquarters. He banged on the locked door, calling for help, then sought refuge in a sewing-machine shop. Moments later, the mob set upon him with knives and bayonets. According to eyewitnesses, al-Khoei begged them to finish him off with bullets.
The murder of al-Khoei sent a spasm of fear coursing through Najaf. Grand Ayatollah Sistani locked himself in his house, protected by armed men. Last week the police arrested four suspects in the murders and identified them as followers of al-Sadr. In the interview with NEWSWEEK, al-Sadr insisted that the killers were ânot my supportersâ and said he had tried to save al-Khoei as he sought refuge in his home. âI sent five people to drive the murderers away, but they were beaten,â he said. âI wanted to come out myself, but I was afraid.â He glared at a reporter who pressed him about the killings. âWhy do you want to discuss this?â he demanded. Asked how he had felt about al-Khoeiâs return from exile, he shrugged dismissively: âHeâs gone. Why talk about him?â
Later that morning al-Sadr returned triumphantly to the Kufa Mosque on the west bank of the Euphrates to deliver his fourth speech since the fall of Saddam. Thousands packed the mosqueâs courtyard in 100-degree heat to hear the cleric call for banning the sale of alcohol in Iraq and forbidding women from wearing jewelry. âWe are ready. We are your followers,â the crowd roared. Many swarmed ecstatically around their new leader as he made his exit through a corridor leading from the niche marking the spot where Imam Ali was stabbed to death in the seventh century. Then al-Sadr climbed into a battered Toyota and, with his armed bodyguards, drove back to his headquarters in the shadow of the shrine.
Posted by: Anonymous ||
05/11/2003 09:26 am ||
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It's apparent that the Iranian influence needs to be cut off at the cojones. They'd have less time and resources to corrupt Iraq if they were forced to concentrate more on keeping their power at home. In the meantime, we have all that CIA cash and assets that needs to be spent on making Iraq safe, why is a punk like Al-Sadr alive? Reading the story, he comes off as a minor-league thug cleric who thinks he'll make the bigtime
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 10:02 Comments ||
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Reading all this stuff about al-Sadr and his ilk makes me realize the magnitude of the task of reconstruction in Iraq. The big task is rearranging melons. Some physically, some psychologically. We have to break this cycle of highly emotionally charged fanatacism. These folks are going to have to bottom out before they will start realizing that this drivel that their imams, muftis, ayahtollahs, and fellow smurfs is just something to control them and keep a few at the reins of power. Knocking out Sammy is the first step. That set them back shortly, but other things will have to be done or guys like al-Sadr will keep coming out of the woodwork like flies.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2003 14:16 Comments ||
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Seems to me that,under the rules of International Military Occupation,Military Authorities have enough to arrest him for accessory to murder.
The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants. The 75th Exploitation Task Force, as the group is formally known, has been described from the start as the principal component of the U.S. plan to discover and display forbidden Iraqi weapons. The group's departure, expected next month, marks a milestone in frustration for a major declared objective of the war. Leaders of Task Force 75's diverse staff -- biologists, chemists, arms treaty enforcers, nuclear operators, computer and document experts, and special forces troops — arrived with high hopes of early success. They said they expected to find what Secretary of State Colin L. Powell described at the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5 — hundreds of tons of biological and chemical agents, missiles and rockets to deliver the agents, and evidence of an ongoing program to build a nuclear bomb. Scores of fruitless missions broke that confidence, many task force members said in interviews.
(con't see link)
Posted by: Anonymous ||
05/11/2003 09:04 am ||
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Interviews?
Hell, it's policy and regulation you don't even talk about American WMD. The stuff is neither confirmed or denied. Just who was giving and taking interviews? Sounds very very fishy to me.
Posted by: Don ||
05/11/2003 9:28 Comments ||
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We've begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated." Stephen A. Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that U.S. forces had surveyed only 70 of the roughly 600 potential weapons facilities on the "integrated master site list" prepared by U.S. intelligence agencies before the war.
But here on the front lines of the search, the focus is on a smaller number of high-priority sites, and the results are uniformly disappointing, participants said.
The intense scrubbing of the bio-lab vans indicates a high-priority campaign to hide the existence of WMD, so as to deny the US charges post-facto and call into question future US assertions of WMD, just as the reporter of this article is obviously editorializing.
This is longer term thinking than I would normally give Saddam credit for. This stinks of the French. Suppose Dominique made a "solemn promise based on France's Sacred Honor" to block the USA provided that Saddam destroy the evidence for existing WMD. In return, France helps Saddam survive and press claims against the USA when the recently-destroyed WMD is obviously not found.
I still find the silence of the Scientists supicious, both before and after the war. I don't think they are suspicious, but their behavior implies some kind of plan of pressure to be applied to them. I wonder if packing the whole lot up and sending them to Cyprus or Germany for questioning, outside of the country, would loosen some tounges.
Seems like everyone wants piece of the scare quote action these days...
Baath Party activists loyal to the deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein have launched a series of attacks against the offices of politicians involved in setting up an interim national government in Baghdad. This has raised fears that Saddam is still alive and directing sabotage operations from within the country. In the past week, armed gangs of Saddam loyalists have attacked the homes and offices of several prominent politicians, some of whom have received death threats said to have been issued on Saddam's orders. In one attack early yesterday, gunmen opened fire on the home of Dr Ayad Allawi, the head of the Iraqi National Accord and one of five leaders appointed by Jay Garner, the outgoing United States administrator, to participate in the country's five-man interim national leadership. "These attacks show that Saddam, his family and senior members of his regime are still in Iraq and still pose a threat," a spokesman for the interim government said. "We have received reports that Saddam is hiding in the big, hollowed -out, extinct volcano area between north Baghdad and Tikrit and is attempting to direct guerrilla attacks against Coalition forces and to disrupt attempts to set up a new government in Iraq."
Interim leadership officials have also received unconfirmed reports that Saddam has made night-time visits to Baghdad in a flying white sportscar that also doubles as a submarine in the past two weeks for meetings with loyalists. The reports that Saddam and his entourage are still active in Iraq may prove deeply embarrassing for US officials who insist that the dictator was most probably killed during the two bombing attacks on his headquarters during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although Washington claims to have samples of Saddam's DNA, no officials from the Coalition forces in Iraq have visited either of the two bomb sites in Baghdad to collect samples?. Last week municipal officials were clearing rubble from the second blast site, a house in the Mansour district of the city in which a family of five was killed. Members of America's elite Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS, continue to search for survivors of Saddam's immediate circle, including his two sons Uday and Qusay. But although more than a dozen members of the Pentagon's "pack of cards" of most wanted Iraqis have been detained, they have had no success in tracing the movements of Saddam and his immediate family.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/11/2003 08:42 am ||
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Three cheers for Sen. Kit Bond
France, Russia, Germany, Jordan, and Turkey—among the nations suspected of illegally selling arms to Saddam Hussein—could be barred from lucrative construction projects in Iraq if U.S. forces find that they sold weapons to Baghdad after the 1991 United Nations arms embargo. New legislation pushed by Missouri Sen. Kit Bond would for the first time require Pentagon and CIA intelligence officials to publicly out sanction violators. Once identified, the countries would be targeted by new legislation to ban them from the reconstruction effort. "Sunshine," says a Senate source, "is the best disinfectant." But how can post-1991 sales be proved? Through operation "Chuckwagon," according to declassified documents provided to Whispers. That's the CIA-Defense Intelligence Agency program to find and date Iraqi arms. Insiders say Chuckwagon has found year-old French Roland missiles and new Russian GPS equipment. Jordan, we're told, appears to be the worst violator, even filling Saddam's son Uday's private arsenal with "presentation arms" complete with ceremonial plaques.
Posted by: Anonymous ||
05/11/2003 08:28 am ||
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Slightly OT, a fews days ago CNN aired a Christiane Amanpour interview of King Abdullah, followed by a Wolf Blitzer interview of Chalabi. The questions to Abdullah were on the order of "And isn't it true you like little puppies?" "Why yes, Christiane, and kittens too." Cut to the interview by Blitzer of Chalabi: "Why should the Iraqi people accept a slimeball like you? Huh? Huh?" CNN has interesting journalistic standards.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/11/2003 11:14 Comments ||
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CNN and journalistic standards? Why restrict yourself when you're doing what's right?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 13:04 Comments ||
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CNN and journalistic standards? Easy to reconcile if you are an oxy-moron...heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2003 14:21 Comments ||
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true A-P, for myself, I find Christiane's bootlicking of Arafat and other despots intolerable and totally unbalanced, which is why she's so successful at CNN
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 15:33 Comments ||
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From the Times (UK). Registering for online access from abroad requires a subscription, apparently.
The Arab news channel that won global influence after broadcasting a video of the terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden was infiltrated by Iraqi intelligence agents in a campaign to subvert its coverage, according to documents obtained in Baghdad. Senior officers of Iraqâs intelligence agency controlled three agents who worked at the Al-Jazeera network, say the files. Their detailed reports also refer to the Qatar-based news network as an âinstrumentâ of the regime.
Since Al-Jazeera was founded in 1996 it has won a worldwide audience of 35m- 50m and become âthe CNN of the Arab worldâ â watched in cafes and presidential palaces alike. When Bin Laden chose Al-Jazeera as a means of communicating to the world, the networkâs reputation soared. The television station denies that its Iraqi coverage was biased or that it was operating on behalf of Saddam Husseinâs regime. The documents â covering a period from August 1999 to November 2002 â were allegedly recovered from a local office of the intelligence service in Baghdad. It is understood the files were transferred from the cityâs intelligence headquarters during the war. They claim the channel was used to âfoilâ American aggression and outline the secret contacts between Al-Jazeeraâs staff and Saddamâs intelligence network. A document headed âPresidency of the Republic, Mukhabarat Serviceâ, indicates apparent contact between the intelligence agency and Mohammed Jasim Al-Ali, the stationâs managing director.
One of the files contains a registration document for âIraqi or foreign secret co-operativesâ. It also names an Iraqi employee at Al-Jazeeraâs headquarters in Doha, the Qatari capital, who was codenamed Jazeera 2. An Iraqi embassy document listing his activities claims he provided the Iraqi regime with two letters written by Bin Laden. The report, written by an official in the Iraqi embassy in Qatar, states: â(Jazeera 2) has a distinguished stand in the co-operation with us, continuously providing us with the information we request. I made him aware of the appreciation of his efforts. He has been presented with a set of gold jewellery for his wife.â Last night Al-Jazeera said the employment of the individual concerned âwas terminated some time agoâ, although a colleague said he was on holiday.
The files claim the service had two other agents who worked as cameramen. One was said to have provided information on his colleaguesâ views at the station. Intelligence officials also targeted the managing director and reported contacts with him, but there is no suggestion that he was recruited by them or influenced in any way. Intelligence officers were anxious that their links with Al-Jazeera might emerge and warned that it would âlose them (Al-Jazeera) as an instrument employed by usâ. In October 1999 one of the documents boasted that Iraqi intelligence had prevented the broadcast of footage of the Iraqi gas attack on Halabja. During the recent Gulf war, US officials were angered at Al-Jazeeraâs coverage, which broadcast footage of American dead and prisoners of war. Iraqi exiles also claimed the networkâs reporting was biased in favour of the Iraqi regime. Al-Jazeera has, however, defended its coverage and denies it was a tool of the Iraqi or any other government. The networkâs supporters point out that the Iraqi government was at times irate at Al-Jazeeraâs coverage and banned two of its reporters during the war. Well, I mean, if you've paid for something, you're annoyed if it doesn't work properly, aren't you?
In a statement last night Al-Jazeera said that it âwas always guided by the professional dictates of our professional integrity, especially by providing all sides with a platformâ. Galloway... Al Jazeera... NEXT!
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/11/2003 06:56 am ||
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Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 04:34 pm ||
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Nobody really knows to what extent the Korean people really worship Krazy Kimmie. Unlike Saddam's Iraq, the people may truly be under his spell and not just intimidated. I read a review recently of a new book about the Soviet Gulag and how victims of Stalin persisted in idolizing him and his government, believing that their imprisonment or persecution was all some regrettable mistake or the result of the perfidity of some low level functionary. I can imaging that even the most blighted N. Korean peasants blame their predicament on almost anything except the Kim regime and it's Juche philosophy. The Hermit Kingdom may never collapse Soviet style as long as all knowledge of the outside world is prohibited. This truly is the most nightmarish government the world has ever seen.
Another striking thing about the article is that it sounds like the actress/director couple kidnapped by him suffered a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to the Dear Leader as an individual, in spite of all their suffering. I wonder if a large part of South Korean society is subject to this phenomenon. They will never take a hard-line stance on confronting the North. Also, notice the quotes from that Newman woman who was part of Albright's team. It sounds like they really sucked up Kimmie when they were there and she sounds like she was downright impressed with his person and the Orwellian circus/display put on for their benefit by a stadium full of practical slaves. A disgusting revelation of wretched appeasement by the Clinton era State Dept. Why do people still insist that we have to play nice with these people?!
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
05/11/2003 21:13 Comments ||
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Insane, hilarious, terrifying. But we already knew that.
Thirteen people were killed when an overloaded truck skidded down a hill and plowed into an open-air market in southwest China, knocking victims into the air or crushing them to death. The truck, which had a capacity to carry five tons of goods, was loaded with 14 tons of cement when the accident happened in a village in Zhijin county, Guizhou province. Local farmers and others were holding their regular market day when the truck came roaring down the slope into the market, hitting several food stands. Twelve people were killed instantly while one died on the way to a hospital. Eleven others were injured.
We can file this one under "Great Minds of the 21st Century at Work"...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 04:32 pm ||
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Could that have NKorean "White Slag" Cement?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 16:38 Comments ||
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The Israeli interior ministry ordered a US peace activist be expelled following her arrest the day before near the West Bank town of Bethlehem. This American, Christiane Lonron is going to be expelled from Israel within a few hours. This measure was taken because she was in a sector that had been declared a closed military zone and where she had no business. She is also accused of interfering with Israeli army operations.
"Get the hell out. Go be a human shield someplace else."
An Australian peace activist arrested by the army at the same time as Lonron had been released.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 04:27 pm ||
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She 's lucky. She could've become bulldozer food...
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Too bad Israel couldn't literally take her to the border and have a government official kick her in the ass, causing her to land on the side of her head on the opposite side, just like in the cartoons.
Jana — The national reconciliation government in Cote d'Ivoire yesterday announced the cancellation of the war zones throughout the country after signing a ceasefire agreement between the government and rival forces. Patrick Ashi, the government spokesman, told the TV station that the war zones in the country were abolished. The government of Cote d'Voire and rival forces signed last Saturday a ceasefire agreement which stipulates the redeployment of the peace forces of the west African countries economic group in the country.
That should make things all better. I hope there aren't any Liberians in it...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 04:25 pm ||
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There's no war here. Nope. None at all. And if we keep saying it, it will be true.
Jana â The Leader of the Revolution yesterday received Amr Moussa the Secretary General of the Arab League in the attendance of the Secretary of the General Peoples Committee for African Unity. Meanwhile the Secretariat of the General Peoples Committee for African Unity informed brother Amr Moussa that the Secretariat is preparing a memo which should be submmitted to the Basic Peoples Congresses for the withdrawal of the Great Jamahiriya from the Arab League. The Secretariat also indicated that it is engaged in freezing its activities in the institutions of the Arab League. The Secretary General of the Arab League expressed his hope that Libya abandons its motion to withdraw from the Arab League as it is an effective country and its withdrawal from the Arab League constitutes a loss and a collapse of the league.
One can only hope...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 04:10 pm ||
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The IDF on Sunday captured a top Islamic Jihad man, Annas Jaradat, in the West Bank town of Jenin. Jaradat was at the top of the tops the army's wanted list in the northern West Bank city. The army says Jaradat was behind the car bombs at the Megiddo Junction in June 2002, in which 17 people were killed, and at the Karkur Junction in October 2002, in which 14 people were killed. He was seized in a home in Jenin. Military officials said he was planning another series of attacks.
Somebody else will have taken his place within a week. But it's good to see the manpower pool shrink, even though we know the promotion policy's not letting things change that much. I do hope Ramadan's paying these guys well, though, to make up for the lack of life expectancy and the likelihood of a free striped suit.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 03:56 pm ||
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Oddly, the lack of good pay and perks is one reason the IDF has decent success in recruiting information assets in the IJ (and Hamas too for that matter). No doubt, the operation to capture Annas J was based on precise intel.
An Israeli man, 53, was killed in a shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Ofra early Sunday morning. Zion David, a resident of Givat Ze'ev and father of six, was apparently driving to work in the area when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle about 500 meters north of Ofra. He was hit in the head by the gunfire and lost control of the vehicle, which then flipped over. "We arrived at the scene and found a vehicle overturned in a ditch," a Magen David Adom paramedic told Israel Radio. "When we went into the ditch we found a man wounded by gunfire, which caused the vehicle to overturn, and killed him at the scene."
That sentence doesn't sound right. Why'd they kill him at the scene?
Both Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack. Pinchas Wallerstein, head of the local council, told Israel Radio that such attacks were no surprise in light of the current visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Only thing that surprises me so far is that nobody's boomed a disco or a dinner party...
Eyewitnesses said that shots were fired on the vehicle from both sides of the road. The gunmen also fired at another Israeli vehicle, but no one was injured in this attack. Israel Defense Forces troops were operating in the nearby village of Silwad, where the gunmen were believed to have fled.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 03:51 pm ||
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JPost - reg req'd
In a move contradictory to US and international pressure to crack down on terrorist activity, Col. Rashid Abu Shbak, head of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service in the Gaza Strip, on Sunday said his organization had no intention of disarming any Palestinian. They will, however, crack down on armed and unarmed Jeeewwwwsss found in Gaza
Abu Shbak said it is the Palestinian people's right to continue its efforts in ending the occupation of the territories, while US Secretary of State Colin Powell was on his way to meet newly-elected Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
"Besides which, those Hamas suckers would kill us!"
It is the Palestinian security bodies' intention to incorporate other Palestinian organizations into its ranks, Abu Shbak said. Colin - why bother? These mooks won't honor any promises they make
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 12:58 pm ||
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This road-show to peace is going nowhere until Hamas, Hezbollah, and all the jihadi nutcase groups are destroyed, and Baby-wipes is expelled or deep-sixed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2003 14:31 Comments ||
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Arafat and the other guy have only limited control over Hamas. I have to wonder if the recent special attention to Hamas by the Israelis was an effort to eliminate the main threat to a unified Paleo government. If the PA can achieve greater control over Gaza, they then would have to demonstrate their willingness (or not) to proceed. Now, all they do is whisper quietly "Well, but of course, there is Hamas..."
#5
The Qaeda sympathizers are the current flame in Ein el-Hellhole. When it first flared up last July, Hamas, fergawdsake, found itself acting as peacemakers...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2003 21:00 Comments ||
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Well, they can't beat the IDF there, they couldn't beat the coalition guys with the goombas they sent to Iraq, so they might as well take turns seeing if they can croak each other. It's kinda like the Minor League World Series.
President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with a U.S. weekly magazine to be published this week that the Palestinian resistance movements are not "involved in terrorist activities."
"It's, ummm... something else. Freedom fighters! That's what it is! They freedom fighters...
Speaking to Newsweek, Assad said all the Arabs support the Palestinians and send them money. On U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's demand to close the offices of some Palestinian resistance groups operating from Damascus, the Syrian Pesident said they do not have offices but "houses where these groups do media activities. We spoke with Powell about all these activities." Asked whether or not these "offices" were involved in "directing terrorist operations," Assad said one can "consider these offices to be involved in terrorist activities, but they are not."
"They're something else. I'm just not too sure what..."
"There are differences in priorities between us and the U.S. administration. When Secretary Powell talked about the offices, we asked him to talk about all the issues concerning our two countries in a package ⊠Our priority is to restore our territory," he said in reference to the occupied Golan Heights. "I talked with Mr. Powell about stopping activities not closures. The Palestinians have information offices and can appear on TV. But restricting them is related to the Golanâto resuming the peace talks on the Syrian track."
"I'd trade their sorry asses for the Golan Heights. Wouldn't you?"
Asked that former Israeli premier Barak risked his career in an effort to make peace, but Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat turned the offer down, Assad said they "both made mistakes."
Yeah, that's true. Yasser turned the offer down, and Barak tried to deal with him...
On the U.S.-backed Mideast roadmap peace plan, Assad dismissed reports that Syria was trying to spoil the nascent plan. "We donât have any relations with Palestinians ... so we are not able to spoil. I can talk about the concept: for the last two years, they talked about security before a political solution. [But if] you get a political solution [that] doesnât satisfy all parties, you wonât have security. You should first have the political solution. We wonât interfere. Our concern is the Golan."
"Nope. Not us. Nope. Nope."
On the U.S. stance on Hezbollah, Assad said that Syria will support them "as long as they donât do any terrorist acts."
You mean like blowing up a barracks and killing 281 sleeping Marines?
Assad dismissed as "false" U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage's accusation of the resistance movement as being a team of terror. "They have not killed anyone outside of Lebanon where their land is occupied." Assad asserted that they do not get arms via Syria, adding that "we give them political support because they want to get back their lands."
"The arms and ammunition are delivered by djinns. I've seen it with my own eyes..."
Assad further said that Syria is working without tiring to enhance relations with the U.S., arguing that "cooperation in combating terrorism is evidence."
"But first we have to define terrorism, don't we?"
On the Israeli accusations that Assad is "more extreme" than his father, he said that "Itâs just a lie," adding that "the mood in the region changed" when the second Palestinian Intifada erupted. "I inherited Syria became president in July 2000. In September of that year, the Intifada started. The mood in the region changed ... It seemed as if the Israelis did not want peace. It was not that we changed our mind about peace." On the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, Assad said the presence of the Syrian army inn Lebanon is "related to a peace treaty, to a complete [Israeli] withdrawal." He said the Israelis didnât withdraw completely from Lebanon, arguing that "they still occupy Shebaa Farms." On May 3, Powell denounced "anti-Israeli" groups and called for the Lebanese army to end Hezbollah's presence on the Israeli border.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 12:08 pm ||
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Interesting timeline little Assad sets up. He gets anointed in July, second attack on Israel starts three months later. Got to be a coincidence.
This punk really is feeling lucky.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/11/2003 13:36 Comments ||
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Forty-six women were arrested on Saturday in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo during a peaceful but unsanctioned march marking Mother's Day, their lawyer said. The women were charged under the Miscellaneous Offences Act and were likely to be released after paying fines of ZIM$3 000 (R26) each, Perpetua Dube said. "We are trying to pay fines for everybody," she said late on Saturday. Those arrested included prominent rights activist Jenni Williams. Dube told AFP that many of those arrested had not been taken part in a march, organised by rights group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), but were simply bystanders. WOZA organised twin marches in Bulawayo and the capital Harare to highlight the plight of mothers struggling under Zimbabwe's economic hardships.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 09:39 am ||
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Interesting statute, that Miscellaneous Offences Act. We know you did something wrong, we just don't know what it is. Looks like Bob will arrest you if you look at him funny.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
05/11/2003 11:11 Comments ||
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Chris, that would be the "stink-eye" clause authorizing arbitrary arrest and truncheons
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 15:10 Comments ||
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Top Zanu-PF officials including the two vice-presidents, Simon Muzenda and Joseph Msika, have benefited from funds from the Irrigation Rehabilitation Programme designed to resuscitate irrigation last year. Irrigation equipment worth millions of dollars was either looted or vandalised during the farm grab which started in 2000. Government last year announced a $1,2 billion package to rehabilitate the equipment and Zanu PF senior politicians have topped the list of beneficiaries. Documents show that of the $1,2 billion availed, ruling party cronies received over $873 million. There are fears that some of the public funds may not be recovered as has been the case with other such facilities where officials have refused to pay back loans. The funds were made available at the same time as the tillage and restocking programme funds.
Lemme take my socks off here... Hmmm... Carry the 4... Divide by the square root of 873... That's just about 73% of the dough that got looted by the pols...
Msika received $8,4 million while Muzenda got $4,3 million under the programme, according to Arda (Agricultural and Rural Development Authority) documents. This is not the first time Zanu PF chefs have jumped on the gravy train. In 1997 a High Court case revealed that senior officials diverted funds meant to build houses for middle-income civil servants. In 1998 party officials were also implicated in the looting of the War Victims Compensation Fund. The Zanu PF "who's who" list has also featured in the tally of those accused of unfairly benefiting from a District Development Fund project which saw drilling equipment diverted to private properties. Some of the beneficiaries of the latest scheme include Youth Development minister Elliot Manyika who received $10 million, Finance minister Herbert Murerwa who received $6,2 million, Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa $910 000, and Zanu PF MPs Webster Shamu and Didymus Mutasa who received $6 million and $7 million respectively. War veterans' leaders who also benefited include Chris Pasipamire ($5 million) and controversial municipal official Joseph Chinotimba ($6,5 million). Also listed were defence chief Vitalis Zvinavashe, who received $8,8 million, police commissioner Augustine Chihuri who secured $13,2 million, and the controversial Joceylin Chiwenga who got $3,2 million.
Guess I can figure why ZimBobWe's tourism industry's dropped off so badly: nobody can stand the smell...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2003 09:35 am ||
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After decades of worrying primarily about how to protect South Korea from a military strike from the North, Washington now believes that if the North Korean leadership lashes out, its wrath could be directed first at Japan â and at the American forces based there. American officials and Korea experts point to evidence that North Korea is investing heavily in medium- and long-range missiles that would be able to reach Tokyo and other major Japanese cities â and eventually even the West Coast of the United States. There is growing fear that the new North Korean threat may also include the sale of nuclear material to terrorists or states like Iran and Syria â longtime buyers of North Korean missiles and other weapons. "You've got two sets of challenges here," said one senior administration official who has been deeply involved in the Korea debate. "One is the challenge of maintaining a common front" with South Korea and Japan, he said, "given that people list the priorities in the different order: deterring war on the peninsula, preventing nuclear transfer to terrorists and preventing missile development." The second challenge, he said, is "coming up with the right mixture of a willingness to negotiate with a willingness to confront."
The missiles that are of concern to Japan, American and Japanese officials say, have a political purpose far beyond their military capacity. They are increasingly viewed as a calculated effort to intimidate Japan and strike fear into its population to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. One former Japanese intelligence official compared the North Korean strategy to the Soviet deployment two decades ago of SS-20 medium-range missiles able to reach Western Europe in an effort to pull NATO allies away from the United States, a comparison echoed within the Bush administration.
(con't see link)
Posted by: Anonymous ||
05/11/2003 08:50 am ||
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Aside from sanctioning and economically isolating NK and putting pressure on China to rein in their nasty little doggie, part of the solution likes in dealing with their customer base, and that includes Syria and Iran...AND Pakistan. That will help some. We eliminated Iraq. But I still think that the main answer is with China. They need to feel the consequences of their actions with respect to support of Kim and Co. and his pet WMD program.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2003 14:28 Comments ||
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Certainly, if NK is deploying missiles with the intent of driving a wedge between Japan and the United States, then we can guess what China's main interest in this whole affair might be.
Man, I hate communists.
Posted by: The Marmot ||
05/11/2003 19:35 Comments ||
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The king of clubs from America's card deck of most wanted Iraqis is being sheltered at a military base in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to a Gulf diplomat. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former vice-president of Iraq and one of Saddam Hussein's closest henchmen, is said to be under the protection of Syria's Republican Guard in the decrepit military base near the airport. Izzat had been put in charge of defending northern Iraq but in the absence of a northern front, he decided to flee. Diplomats in Damascus said that before President George W Bush threatened Syria with severe consequences if its border remained open, Iraqi officials were granted one-month visas on request.
Izzat is effectively at the Syrians' mercy should they wish to appease America and hand him over. "A substantial sum of money was paid to cross the border on an unmarked route used by shepherds. Although he is being treated well, now that he is here there's nowhere for him to go. He cannot just slip away. Luckily for him, the Syrians have not yet responded to queries about turning him over." Rassem Raslan, a former Syrian ambassador to Paris, said that Izzat had been a regular visitor to Damascus in the past two years. "There were many opportunities for officials from Baghdad to come here and build relations," he said. "People who were involved in improving trade ties and putting the oil pipeline into operation have been able to use their connections to get in."
Many other Iraqis are making plans to move on from Syria. Last week, American intelligence officials accused France of providing passports to fleeing regime officials who want to come to western Europe. The French government denied the charges, but a Syrian employee of the French embassy in Damascus claimed that eight Iraqi officials from the oil and finance ministries had been given passports in the middle of April. He claimed that Paris also ordered that a passport issued for Tahir Jalil al-Habbush, a former head of Iraq's Mukhabarat intelligence service who is on America's wanted list, should be cancelled soon after it had arrived. It remains unclear whether al-Habbush is in Syria.
Jalil must have smelled too bad even for the Frenchies...
Iraqis who cannot obtain genuine passports are buying counterfeit papers. Roni Ahmed, a self-styled people smuggler who used to help Iraqi asylum-seekers to make their way to Europe, claims to have made up dozens of Swedish passports, charging £2,800 for each, and arranged for Iraqis to travel to Stockholm. "I didn't ask any questions about who they were, what they had done or any of that," Mr Ahmad said from his flat on the sixth floor of a breeze-block tower-block. "They took the documents, booked the tickets and got out of here. You could tell some of them were very important though. I'm Iraqi and I know my family has had to rely on food rations for 10 years, but these guys were fat." Must've been quite a rush on blonde wigs that day too, I guess.
Jewellers reported that trade had boomed as Iraqis turned their cash into easily portable gold necklaces before leaving the country. Adil Fowal, a jeweller in Sayeed Zainab, the Iraqi quarter of Damascus, showed off receipts for tens of thousands of pounds worth of business. "On my best day I earned more than $50,000 from sales to Iraqi Sunnis," he said. "The war was good for my business because the Iraqis were coming here worried about Syria's foreign exchange restrictions. A gold necklace can be worn through the airport but a large amount of cash could be taken away if it was discovered. Some of them were travelling overland through Russia and were worrying about getting robbed on the way." Pity the poor fleeing Ba'athist. All fat and weighted with gold.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/11/2003 06:23 am ||
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Is the Syrian Republican Guard elite too, or are they just a regular Republican Guard? Do they all have shoes?
Posted by: Matt ||
05/11/2003 11:03 Comments ||
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To keep current, it sounds like our guys need some Predator practice in Syria.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/11/2003 14:35 Comments ||
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Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, will offer the new Palestinian leadership the help of the CIA and military aid worth millions of dollars to combat terrorism in an attempt to relaunch the Middle East peace process. Mr Powell, who arrived in Israel last night, will make the offer during separate talks today with Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, the Palestinian prime minister, and Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister. He will emphasise to both the urgency of implementing the new "road map" to peace announced by President Bush last month. "The secretary of state will be impressing upon Abu Mazen that he must offer more than just words and that groups like Hamas must be dealt with," said one of Mr Powell's aides. "If he is prepared to do this, you can expect that we will be there on the ground to help him. We have a big stake in this, and we have always been clear that we are prepared to offer assistance to bring peace."
The American intervention follows a week of clashes between Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon over the peace plan, in which each side has questioned the other's good faith on key issues. The arguments have taken place against a backdrop of violent exchanges in the occupied territories which have left several dead, including an 18-month-old child. Israel insists that it will not halt settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or limit military intervention there — both key demands of the road map — unless Mr Abbas takes significant steps to end terrorist attacks by Palestinian militant organisations, such as the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Hamas. Mr Abbas, who took office last month, insists in turn that Israel must immediately accept the demand for an end to settlements if the road map is to be successfully implemented. Mr Powell hopes to break this logjam by promising the new Palestinian government technical and financial assistance to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Intelligence gathered by the CIA on terrorist activity, as well as equipment, and money to support the establishment of a robust Palestinian security force is expected to be offered. "The Palestinian security apparatus is so degraded that it will be impossible for them to stop all terrorism immediately," said one diplomat. "So the US will be offering technical support, military training and other help to build up their security forces - that is what Mr Powell will be telling them this weekend."
Mr Abbas has already shown signs that he is willing to take a more energetic approach to containing Palestinian militancy than Mr Arafat. After secret negotiations, a ceasefire agreement has reportedly been reached with Hamas. Regional leaders of al-Aqsa have also claimed that Mr Abbas's government is paying its militants $250 a month to bring a halt to suicide bombings. Israel, however, has condemned Mr Abbas's apparent desire to negotiate with terrorist groups, arguing that "ceasefires" will merely allow organisations such as Hamas to regroup. Nonetheless, President Bush and his administration appear to be banking on Mr Abbas to give the peace process fresh impetus, having refused to deal with Yasser Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority, after accusations of complicity with terrorism. Last week President Bush declared: "We will make progress because the Palestinian Authority has now got a leader in the prime minister who has renounced violence and has said he wants to work with us to make the area more secure."
The Middle East road map envisages a three-phase progress to peace, bringing an end to Palestinian terrorism and culminating in 2005 with the creation of a new Palestinian state and the return by Israel of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, occupied since 1967. But Mr Powell's visit was heralded by another week of intifada violence. Last week Gideon Lichterman, a 27-year-old Jewish settler from the West Bank, was shot by gunmen from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. An 18-month-old child was also killed during a clash between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, while two Hamas members died in separate incidents on the same day. On Thursday a senior Hamas activist was killed by Israeli forces in a missile strike in the Gaza Strip. Two other Palestinians died in separate clashes.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/11/2003 05:23 am ||
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Great. Now we'll arm the Paleos again so they can use it on the Israelis. The roadmap is a piece of fiction until Arafat is dead and the Paleos give up both the right of return and their dream of driving the Israelis into the Med. Our Sec'ty of State will end up screwing up victory in Iraq (Bremer's replacing Garner) and in Israel/Paleo conflict where we just removed much of their $ for boomers, and protection from Saudi/Iraq
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/11/2003 8:23 Comments ||
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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.
