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Car Bomb Blast Kills Two People in Spain
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
"Work Accident" in Kabul
Two suspected supporters of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime were killed by an exploding mine at Kabul's ruined former royal palace, apparently while planting the device, Afghan police said on Friday. Local commander Abdul Hadi told Reuters he heard a blast at around 8:15 p.m. on Thursday and went to investigate.
"Now was it bury the mine and arm it, or arm it and then bury the mine?"
He found one badly mutilated body and a pickaxe nearby and called international peacekeepers to the scene. The next morning Hadi found the remains of a second person.
"Ah jeez, look what I just stepped in. That'll never wash out."
"In my opinion this was Taliban sympathizers planting a mine. This is a site where lots of people go," he said, adding that the visitors included foreigners.
That was the idea.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 08:58 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, they might still get the 72 virgins. But, the word is, they won't be allowed to get it up.
Maybe that's Islamic Hell.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 9:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember, kids, safety first!
Posted by: Mike || 05/30/2003 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Unfortunately some "work accidents" are less amusing:

A German soldier was killed and another injured when their jeep drove over a mine outside Kabul on Thursday afternoon. The soldier, part of the U.N.-sponsored International Security Assistance Force, became the 10th German soldier to die in Afghanistan - all through accidents. (Deutsche Welle)
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/30/2003 19:00 Comments || Top||

#4  True German Ally:

I'm sorry to hear that. But it wasn't a "work accident" - it was murder. Now if the bastard who set this mine had run over it himself......
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/30/2003 22:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Barb beat me to it.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 6:03 Comments || Top||


Britain
Allied use of cluster bombs illegal, minister admits
The Government admitted during the war on Iraq that the use of cluster bombs against civilian targets would "not be legal." Anti-landmine charities claimed last night that the letter by Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces minister, proved that the Ministry of Defence had broken international law by using the munitions in towns and cities. Mr Ingram admitted for the first time yesterday that cluster bombs were dropped on "built-up areas" in Iraq in an attempt to protect British servicemen. After initially denying the charge in an interview with the BBC, the minister said the unguided weapons, which release hundreds of bomblets, were used "in specific circumstances where there is a threat to our troops".
Seems like a good idea to me.
But on 25 March, five days after the conflict began, Mr Ingram responded on behalf of Tony Blair to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to set out the Government's position on the weapons. Mr Ingram stressed that the British armed forces strove to act in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. "It is clear that when we apply these principles there will be occasions when the use of cluster bombs against certain targets would not be legal," he wrote. "There will be occasions when the use of other munitions would be legal but the use of cluster bombs would not."
This would be the Geneva Conventions from the mid 1970's and not the 1948-9 convention. The Brits signed the ones from the 70's, the US did not.
Richard Lloyd, director of the charity Landmine Action, said the letter, with yesterday's admission, proved the Geneva Conventions were knowingly breached. "Mr Ingram has admitted the Government acted outside the law," he said.
The GC from the 70's does not ban cluster bombs per se, and it's a big stretch by the loonies to claim that it does. It's what Steve DenBeste scornfully calls "emerging international law."
Posted by: Steve White || 05/30/2003 12:18 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The text of the report does not support the headline. The Minister does not 'admit' to illegal use of cluster bombs.

Also if the USA did not sign the relevant treaty then the Aliied part of the heading is clearly misleading.

Sticking to the facts is not a strong point of the Independent.
Posted by: Phil B || 05/30/2003 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  To me the whole concept that one kind of bomb the goes KABOOM is more legal than another bomb that goes KABOOM is nonsense. I don't care what we used as long as we killed the bad guys and minimized losses to the good guys.

Cluster bombs are a highly effective munition. I am not so naive as too say they never landed on civilian targets, but I would suggest the United States took great pains to minimize civilian casualties at the risk of their forces.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 05/30/2003 7:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Show me the casualties.
Posted by: Anomalus || 05/30/2003 7:21 Comments || Top||

#4  They're lucky it was Tommy Franks in charge and not me. Fallujah would be a smoking hole in the ground 12 hours after a "get out of town - it's time to pay the price, you Baathist a**holes" broadcast
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 8:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Douglas De Bono, the problem with cluster bombs is that they do not always explode on impact and then act sort of like mines.

They need to ensure that the bombs explode when they are suppossed to, not remove the bombs from the arsenal.
Posted by: Yank || 05/30/2003 11:46 Comments || Top||

#6  What's Landmine Action's position on Palestinian human bombs or hijacked civilian airliner missiles?
Did they send pissy little letters to Yasshole and Binny protesting that?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 12:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Actually a percentage of the submunitions in a CBU are normally set with a time delay. If I recall correctly that can be up to 12 hours. (Don't bet the farm on that number)
Consider a prime target for a CBU, an artillery battery. The submunitions won't, except as a matter of pure luck, destroy the gun tubes. Instead they blow up the ready ammo and hash up the cannon cockers. The delayed fuse submunitions then make it difficult and dangerous to salvage the tubes and put them back in use. That's a good thing.
CBUs are not particularly well suited for destroying targets in a city setting, the bomblets are too small to take down a building and you can't aim the individual bomblets. They are an area weapon.
I would submit that the only way a CBU would be used in an urban warfare setting would be to close the streets.
Posted by: Peter || 05/30/2003 13:00 Comments || Top||

#8 
with yesterday's admission, proved the Geneva Conventions were knowingly breached. "Mr Ingram has admitted the Government acted outside the law," he said.

So?

Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 18:11 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australian charged over flight attack
EFL
A man has appeared in court in Melbourne, charged with attempting to hijack an Australian Qantas airliner, and wounding crew with sharpened wooden stakes. Thursday's incident, during which a 40-year-old unemployed computer analyst from Melbourne tried to break into the cockpit of a Qantas Boeing 717, has prompted airline authorities to launch a full review of airport security.
David Mark Robinson faces a possible life sentence if found guilty. He was remanded to appear in court again in August, and was not asked to enter a plea. Two flight attendants were stabbed and two passengers injured as Mr Robinson tried to break into the cockpit of a Boeing 717, Qantas flight QF1737, from Melbourne to Tasmania with 53 passengers and crew on board. A purser tackled him and several passengers helped subdue the attacker. Transport Minister John Anderson said the hijack attempt did not appear to be "terrorist-related", and said that Mr Robinson appeared to be "less than stable". Government sources quoted in the Australian press said that Mr Robinson told interrogators that "God had spoken to him" before he launched his attack.
"Hey, Dave! This is God speaking. You're a real loon, you know that?"
He spoke to police about "God and the end of the world" when questioned after his arrest. The weapons were described by an airline spokesperson as two stakes, about 15 centimetres (6 inches) long. Police believe he was also hoping to use an aerosol can as an improvised flamethrower to attack the pilot.
Just a nut job, it appears.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 07:31 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Headline: Vampire Slayer Nabbed in Attack

All vampires on plane safe... Watchers' Council on run.
Posted by: Chuck || 05/30/2003 7:46 Comments || Top||


Europe
The Ultimate Polish Joke
Anti-War Polish Mayor Banned from Bush Visit
Thu May 29, 6:42 AM ET

WARSAW (Reuters) - The mayor of the Polish city of Krakow said Thursday he had been excluded from President Bush's visit to the city this weekend because of his [virulent] opposition to the war on Iraq.
Well maybe, but it could be because you look like Lenin with a bad rug. See:
http://www.majchrowski.pl/

"It is customary that the mayor, as the host of this city, should take part in the welcoming ceremony. But the Americans have said they will not have it," Mayor Jacek Majchrowski told private radio RMF. Jacek ... Jacque ... just a strange coincidence? Hmmmmm.
"It is strange that guests dictate where the host should or should not be," he added.

Majchrowski wrote a newspaper article entitled "Pax Americana" in March, harshly criticizing the U.S.-led war to topple Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), in which Poland also took part. I couldn't find this article but I did find this website where Majchrowski is mentioned several times. Although I can't read Polish you can get the gist by looking at some of border "art" (Iraq Body Count, a defaced American flag), the links (Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders) and the names that pop up (Cheney and Halliburton, etc.) I think it a fair assumption that Mr. Mayor is a hard leftist anti-American type who would be quite comfortable rubbing elbows with Michael Moore and Cynthia McKinney.

One of the purposes of the trip is for the President to thank the Poles for their support on Iraq. You, Mr. Majchrowski, not only did not support America you openly opposed us. Why would the President want to honor and thank you? In turn, why would you want to honor and thank the President. Such would be hypocrisy. You are the ultimate Polish joke!

He has welcomed anti-war marches in Krakow, lauding the demonstrators as having "saved the honor of the city."

If you want to write to Mr. Mayor, his e-mail address is: Jacek.Majchrowski@um.krakow.pl. I don't know how well expletives translate into Polish, but heck give it a shot.



Posted by: ColoradoConservative || 05/30/2003 04:29 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ahem, I forgot the website: http://www.orient.art.pl/
Posted by: ColoradoConservative || 05/30/2003 16:49 Comments || Top||

#2  just as there's protocol for gracious guests, there's also a protocol for gracious hosts. In this case, Jacek, understand that your presence is as welcome as a fart in church and stay the f*&k away
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 17:11 Comments || Top||

#3  I took a short look at the site and it seemed to me that if I dug deeper I would find anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian propaganda. Surely as the Pope is Catholic, I did.
My guess is that the owner of the site is one of those pathological anti-Israeli types, who claims that the entire Polish government, and anyone else who doesn't agree with him, is a Jew. There is a list of names circulating, that matches the supposedly real Jewish names of such people.
Unfortunately a lot of Poles fall into the trap that groups them together with the types of idiots who put up that website.
"Do you think that war is bad?"
"Yes!"
"So do we! You're with us!"
BTW, there's a whole other world to the Polish anti-Jew crowd and their attitude that would put anything coming out of the Arab Street to shame. Some examples: Israel caused 9-11, American Jews funded Hitler, Communists were Jewish... and on, and on.
Posted by: RW || 05/30/2003 20:43 Comments || Top||

#4  "One of the purposes of the trip is for the President to thank the Poles for their support on Iraq."

You mean to thank those specific Poles that supported you, don't you? And ostracize the rest.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 05/31/2003 8:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds like Aris has a clue.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 9:16 Comments || Top||


European Rapid Reaction Force
EFL
May 30, 2003: While the European Union recently declared its 60,000-strong Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) operational, it currently has a laundry list of shortcomings: air-to-air refueling; combat search and rescue; nuclear, biological, and chemical protection; special operations forces; theater missile defense; unmanned aerial vehicles; space-based assets; and (more seriously) strategic airlift.
It can't get there, and if it got there, it couldn't protect itself, let alone fight.
Without it's own strategic lift capability, the RRF would be dependent of NATO to move anywhere. The first step was taken when seven European countries sealed a long-awaited $23.8 billion order for 180 Airbus military transport planes, although they aren't expected to enter service by 2010.
2010 = never. I hear that there's plenty of excess capacity on the C-17 line...
The RRF was declared operational on May 19, more than three years after it was first announced and six months after the deadline expired,...
Neither rapid nor ready, it seems.
The RRF could soon be asked to face a much more serious test than its current ongoing observer mission in Macedonia. In mid-May, Kofi Annan has approached the EU about troops for a peacekeeping force in the eastern part of the Congo. However, the major stumbling block to RRF deployments may be finding a consensus, not suitable transport planes. The EU could send a small force for a short period of time, but added that the decision would take them "months, not days." I guess that Ukrainian Mediterranean Air is all booked up.
Posted by: 11A5S || 05/30/2003 01:16 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Months, not days" For the EUnuchs, I guess that counts as rapid.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 05/30/2003 14:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh, yeah. They're ready. Kinda. Maybe. Well, maybe if the Poles act up. Nah, not really.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 14:24 Comments || Top||

#3  I see a real livewire joint venture getting ramped up: Kofi and the UN supported by the EU "RRFs" and their strategic lifters. If you depend up them in a crisis, better give yourself last rites and save everyone time. Geeze! What a bunch of clowns. They don't even have any hanger queens to do anything with.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/30/2003 16:38 Comments || Top||

#4 
Without it's own strategic lift capability, the RRF would be dependent of NATO to move anywhere.

Which means, as usual, the EUridiots will be dependent on UK and US assets to do anything.
I'm certain we will help the ungrateful bastards.
I just can't figure out why.

I feel horrible, but I just despise the letters E and U, and I gag everytime I hear the word "France" or "Europe".
I'd never known what if felt like to hate someone or something, but now I do.

the major stumbling block to RRF deployments may be finding a consensus, not suitable transport planes. The EU could send a small force for a short period of time, but added that the decision would take them "months, not days.

See how useless they are?

How much would you bet that they could reach a consensus on how much they hate Americans and Jews?
God, I really do despise these asshats.
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 18:30 Comments || Top||

#5  I hear that there's plenty of excess capacity on the C-17 line...

Let them wait for their Airbus military transport. After all, they're probably subsidizing that too....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/30/2003 21:50 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd say you are too hard on European forces. Never forget our armies were trained to withstand a continental onslaught and fight back Soviet invaders. And I guess NATO would have done quite a good job (although maybe Europe might have gone up in nuclear smoke).
European military still has to adapt to a new role (it hasn't really found yet).
I'd say you find some damn good pilots in the German Luftwaffe (their Texan friends will agree with me) and other parts of the (German) military do a fine job as well. (The Germany Navy divers are some of the toughest guys you will find (including the Navy Seals)
For example German military did a good job patrolling the Horn of Africa, bringing relief to flood stricken Mozambique, leading ISAF in Afghanistan.
It's easy to laugh at the current state of European military. The U.S. always assumed a global role, hence its superiority. Europe does not want this global role (which could only lead to conflict with the U.S.).
And before you laugh too hard at all this: Can't you spare a few troops for Congo? After all, the U.S. is pretty much involved with liberating countries, so stopping a genocide with a few of the best troops in the world might do wonders in international opinion.
After all, Iraq wasn't about oil, right? (No sarcasm intended).
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/30/2003 23:46 Comments || Top||

#7  "And I guess NATO would have done quite a good job (although maybe Europe might have gone up in nuclear smoke). European military still has to adapt to a new role (it hasn't really found yet)."

Problems with that statement:

Have you noticed the rather heavy contingient of US forces that were and are still in Europe to support NATO (The # has gone down with the Soviet collapse but we're still here.) We are the backbone of NATO.

Great Britian aside, the European military has had no real role since the cold war. and even then it was basically "look tough, try to survive, and give'em hell." but at the same time they spent, and continue to spend, squat on their military. The entire European continent doesn't spend as much as the US in defense and related areas. Until they realize that the speed factor for their RRF will be directly propotional to the money they put into it, they will be doomed! If RRF is the role they want, fine, but they can't be half hearted about it.

As for the Congo...

1) Spank you colonial Europe for creating this mess to begin with.

2) Yeah, I'll probably come into work on Monday and the boss will tell me that that's the next NATO meals on wheels project and I get to help...
Posted by: Tremor || 05/31/2003 0:32 Comments || Top||

#8  But TGA,wouldn't that make the U.S.a bunch of Unilaterial,Hegmonic,Imperialist bastards.

It's all about diamonds(opps oil)don't ya know.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 6:48 Comments || Top||

#9  One more thing(if memory serves me right)the lion's share of blame lays with"Good King Leopold"(you know our"good friends"the Belgians)
who considered the Congo his own,personel fiefdom.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 7:17 Comments || Top||

#10  "Which means, as usual, the EUridiots will be dependent on UK and US assets to do anything. "

UK is part of the EU, you idiot. But why should I expect you to know that. And why should I expect you to show any gratitude to your Spanish or Polish "allies", also part of the EU (or soon to be). No, you'll call them all idiots.

The RRF may not currently have the power to "rapidly" support South Korea on a different hemisphere. What it may have is the power to rapidly move to support places closer at home, such EU's member states and its neighbours.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 05/31/2003 7:59 Comments || Top||


Iran embassy in Norway targeted
OSLO - A car went up in flames outside the Iranian embassy in Norway Friday in what police said was a criminal act targeting the mission. No one was injured in the attack, in which three unidentified people set fire to a Mercedes car parked less than one metre from one of the embassy gates at 0430 GMT, according to witnesses. They then broke a window in the embassy and emptied a fire extinguisher into a room where one member of staff was sleeping. "We believe that the aim of this act was to cause injury," the head of the central Oslo crime squad, Stein Hustad said. Police were still uncertain whether the motive was political or personal.
Or any combination of the two...
The three got away on foot, but police believe that they have already identified one of the attackers and hope to make arrests later on Friday, Hustad said.

FOLLOWUP: From Aftenposten...
A man has told Aftenposten's evening edition that he was responsible for the attack on the Iranian embassy in Oslo and he burned his own car, an antique Mercedes Benz, to protest Iran's role in the prevention of a Palestinian state. "Iran supports Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. They are ruining the formation of a Palestinian state," the man told Aftenposten Aften. The man also admitted to throwing the white powder, which came from a fire extinguisher, into the embassy. This is not the first time the man has protested in this fashion. On April 31, 1999 he set his own car ablaze in front of the Israeli embassy, his third protest action there.
Doesn't seem to care who he protests, does he? As long as he's protesting...
The man said that he would turn himself in to police and that he acted alone, even though eyewitnesses claimed to have seen three men running from the scene.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:21 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe he just hates antique cars? More likely... nuts.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 12:37 Comments || Top||


Spanish military shift from Ukrainian to Russian aircraft after crash
Spain has annuled a contract with Joe's Airline and Drygoods, Inc. Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines. It will use Antonov 124 and Ilyushin 76 aircraft of the Russian Volga-Dnepr airlines to transport its soldiers to Afghanistan and other places for humanitarian missions, said Spanish Defence Minister Federico Trillo, according to El Mundo newspaper. Spanish experts believe ex-USSR-made aircraft have good characteristics, successfully fly at low heights, and can take off from and land on poorly maintained aerodromes. According to aviation expert Carlos Toro, the Russian aircraft are in a better technical condition than those in Ukraine. In addition, Ukrainian pilots often exceed the flight load norm, therefore often get tired and are more likely to leave holes in the ground commit mistakes. Three Ukrainian Yak 42s have crashed over the past six months. Almost all Spanish peacekeepers who flew in Ukrainian aircraft confessed that even their exterior inspired apprehension. Previously, the Norwegian defence ministry cancelled its contract with the Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines.
"Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines" sounds like it should be making regular runs for Club Med or something, not smashing into the ground with 50 screaming people on board. What's in a name?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 10:36 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe they should switch to the Free Mexican Air Force. Their aircraft also have good characteristics, successfully fly at low heights, and can take off from and land on poorly maintained aerodromes.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 11:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Tupolevs. The TU95 was always nice...
Posted by: mojo || 05/30/2003 12:38 Comments || Top||

#3  This makes sense. Cancel the contract with a poorly maintained airline, and switch to an airline where the Russian Mafyia might have sold off the air brakes.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 05/30/2003 17:15 Comments || Top||


Car Bomb Blast Kills Two People in Spain
A car bomb exploded in northern Spain on Friday, killing two police officers and prompting the prime minister to cancel plans to attend a summit in Russia. A third police officer was severely wounded and a fourth man who was standing near their car suffered minor injuries in the early afternoon attack in the town of Sanguesa in Navarra province. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the bomb was set by ETA, a group that often uses car bombs in its campaign for a Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France.
Got their fingerprints all over it
"ETA has murdered once again," Rajoy said in Madrid, vowing to use "all means at our disposal" to fight the group. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar called off his trip to St. Petersburg, where he planned to attend a summit with Russia and the European Union, officials said. Navarra province borders the troubled Basque region and is home to many Basque nationalists. The explosion came five days after Basque local elections that excluded hundreds of pro-independence candidates allegedly linked to ETA's outlawed political wing.
Lose an election, resume the bombing. SOP.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 07:59 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Bush: Not Clear France Concerned With US Security
President George W. Bush said Thursday he was ready to move on when it comes to Franco-U.S. ties, but then slammed the French government with one of the most damning indictments of an ally possible by saying it wasn't clear that France cares whether U.S. citizens live in safety and security.
Who says that they're an ally?
"I have work to do to convince the skeptics in France that the intentions of the United States are positive, and the French leadership has got work to do to convince the American people that they are concerned about the security of our country," Bush said.
Ouch, that has got to hurt.
Bush made the comment in an interview with a handful of foreign news organizations ahead of his trip to Europe and the Middle East. Bush will go to France during the trip to attend the Group of Eight leading nations summit in Evian, but will cut short his stay and leave the summit a day before it ends.
"I have more important business elsewhere."
Bush said that when people in the U.S. watched the escalating diplomatic brawl before the U.S.-led military effort to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein, many in the U.S. took a dim view of France's actions. "Let me be realistic, there is a sense of frustration and disappointment amongst the American people toward the French position," Bush said. "People didn't understand the decision by the French leadership to thwart America's desire to work on security and freedom: Security for our country and freedom for Iraq," Bush added.
We understand the French position, and we won't forget it.
Despite this, Bush insisted that France's opposition to the invasion of France "wouldn't influence my policies."
I swear to God, the story says "invasion of France". Wishful thinking, misprint, or do they know something we don't?
Instead, Bush said the U.S. and France will cooperate where it benefits both countries. "I will have a good discussion with Jacques Chirac," Bush said.
"Hey Jacque, how bout them Spurs?"
However, when asked directly if he had "forgiven" France, Bush sidestepped the question. "I look forward to working with France to achieve common objectives," Bush said.
"Can't think of any right now."
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 07:43 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Despite this, Bush insisted that France's opposition to the invasion of France...

All right! When are we going in?!
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 8:03 Comments || Top||

#2  "I have work to do to convince the skeptics in France that the intentions of the United States are positive, and the French leadership has got work to do to convince the American people that they are concerned about the security of our country," Bush said.


Damn. THAT'S the money quote. "We're concerned with your security, but are you equally concerned about OURS?"

Litimus test time.
Posted by: Ptah || 05/30/2003 8:57 Comments || Top||

#3  You shoulda seen the speech before the State Department got through with it.
Posted by: Matt || 05/30/2003 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  "I swear to God, the story says 'invasion of France.'"

Personally, I fully support regime change in Paris. One can only hope.
Posted by: Mike || 05/30/2003 10:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Elsewhere Americans with real short hair were having fun driving on the beach in Normandy. Finding out it was "just like Daytona - really hardpacked - like a highway" and taking many soil souvenirs and lots of pictures.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/30/2003 10:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Once again, our president gets staight to the point.
Also our congress has authourized him to invade france or belgium, if necessary, resulting from any action by the ICC. for example. to rescue an American seerviceman they might try to put on trial. Invasion of france is only a matter of time.
Posted by: myron || 05/30/2003 10:58 Comments || Top||

#7  I've got ten bucks that says the Frogs fall faster then the Iraqis.
Posted by: Mike N. || 05/30/2003 11:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Nobody here would take that bet.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 12:39 Comments || Top||

#9  We can only hope that the regime in Paris and their supporters will continue in Judas' footsteps after he betrayed Christ: Hang themselves over a cliff, fall to the ground, and their entrails splattered all over the pages of history.
Posted by: matinum || 05/30/2003 12:47 Comments || Top||

#10  The French republics have never opposed the invasion of France, except for their proud resistance to cheap Japanese VCRs in 1981 (they gathered them at a customs centre in Poitiers, of all places).
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 05/30/2003 14:06 Comments || Top||

#11  ..but then slammed the French government with one of the most damning indictments of an ally possible by saying it wasn't clear that France cares whether U.S. citizens live in safety and security.

Well of course France doesn't care. But this doesn't really mean much. It has been pretty evident that France's interests are its only concern, all else be damned. And that includes actively trying to undermine the U.S. That is all GWB needs to know and keep in mind, and all his dealings with the French should be tempered accordingly.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/30/2003 22:04 Comments || Top||

#12  I said months ago that we should get Iraq first, then France. GW got it right the first time!
Posted by: Anonymous Troll || 05/30/2003 22:10 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Saudis seek Ontario man in Riyadh bombings
I've been neglecting Canada's contributions to the war on terror lately.
Saudi authorities have informed the Canadian government they are seeking an Ontario man as part of their investigation into an al-Qaeda cell believed to have staged truck bombings in Riyadh two weeks ago that left 34 dead.
Of course, it doesn't have to be a positive contribution.
The Saudis officially confirmed reports that Abdul Rahman Jabarah, 23, is a suspected member of the terror cell they allege was behind the May 12 blasts at three Western housing compounds in the capital. "We have received confirmation from the Saudis that Abdul Rahman Jabarah, a Canadian citizen, is a suspect sought in Saudi Arabia," said Marie-Christine Lilkoff, a Foreign Affairs spokeswoman. She said the Saudis said they had linked the bombings to a group of 19 terror suspects who escaped after their base was raided by police on May 6. Mr. Jabarah is one of the 19 but Saudi authorities have not yet provided any details to Canada concerning his possible involvement in the bombings. Mr. Jabarah, 23, was raised in St. Catharines, Ont., where he attended high school and volunteered at the local mosque before allegedly venturing to Afghanistan and joining al-Qaeda. He is the older brother of Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a Canadian al-Qaeda operative being held in the United States.
There's that family thing again.
The brothers were followers of Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a Kuwaiti teacher who served as the spokesman for al-Qaeda, according to Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda. It was Ghaith who brought the brothers close to bin Laden, he said. Following his training, Mohammed was sent to organize bombings at embassies in Manila and Singapore. Abdul Rahman went to Saudi Arabia about a year ago to study computers, Mr. Gunaratna said.
When I think of world class computer training, Saudi comes in right above, er, North Korea.
"We do not know the whereabouts of Abdul Rahman Jabarah at this time," Ms. Lilkoff added.
Try turning over a rock.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 08:36 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A Canadian involved in Islamic terrorism and murder? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/30/2003 8:57 Comments || Top||

#2  The Canadian policy of open borders, asylum, easy immigration is beginning to bite them in the ass. And now that they have all these nutcases snug and cozy in the Dominion, if the govt cracks down, they will have their own boomers to deal with. Again, it is good to periodically check your messkit to see that it has not filled full of s--t.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/30/2003 15:08 Comments || Top||

#3  You see, in these men's minds, they are NOT Canadian.
They are Muslim.
Where they live has nothing to do with anything.
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 18:40 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Bangladesh Police Get OK to Shoot at Will
"Which one's Will?" (rimshot) Thank you.
Bangladesh has authorized police to shoot at will as part of its anti-crime campaign, an official said Friday after reporting more than 350 deaths to gang violence in the past two months. ``We have asked our officers not to hesitate to open fire if they are attacked by gangsters,'' senior police official Ashraful Huda said. Huda said the country's criminal law allows police ``the right to shoot on sight'' while pursuing criminals. ``We are resuming the provision which has rarely been used.'' Gangsters killed at least six police officers in gun battles this month.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 08:47 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Riyadh Bomb Suspects Sought in Pakistan
Pakistani authorities are searching for two United Arab Emirates nationals suspected of involvement in the May 12 suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia, an official said Friday. The two suspects are believed to have flown to Karachi earlier this month after the bombings in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
I hear Karachi is beautiful this time of year
An official at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency, which enforces immigration laws, said his department had received a letter from the Interior Ministry passing along a request by the United Arab Emirates to find and extradite the men.
Interesting, why is the UAE asking for them and not Saudi?
The official allowed The Associated Press to see a copy of the Interior Ministry letter. Saudi officials have arrested at least 11 people for the attacks, and intelligence officials believe al-Qaida may have been behind the attacks. It was not clear what role the two suspects are alleged to have had in the bombings. A top police investigator in Karachi, Fayyaz Leghari, had no immediate comment on the extradition request, or on whether the two men were in Pakistan. The Interior Ministry in Islamabad also had no immediate comment.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 08:16 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Which MMA?
THE Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s unprecedented electoral strides are due largely to the Pakistan military establishment. This nexus between the military and the mullahs (Military Mullah Alliance) is the “other’ MMA that defines the ideological-security parameters of the military-bureaucratic state establishment of Pakistan. Their relationship is best articulated by putting certain current developments in a political context.

The MMA government of the NWFP has tabled a Shariat Bill seeking to amend 71 laws as advised by the Islamic Ideology Council. The new law will be implemented by a committee of hardline mullahs who will freely use the organs of the state to enforce their fanatical definition of “what is good and what is bad” in society. The bill follows a campaign of vigilante action by extremists of the Jamaat-e-Islami in the province who first defaced and then wrecked advertising hoardings displaying the “visage” of women. It is linked to the Jamaat’s attack on other policies and practices that allegedly smack of moderation or tolerance in any form — a witch hunt against the English language at the Punjab university, a blockade against the construction of a food street in the vicinity of the Grand Mosque in Lahore’s old city, the attempt to replace English with Arabic as a compulsory subject in higher education, and so on.

Although the opposition in the NWFP assembly has objected to the shariat bill, its voice is much too weak to carry conviction. Well-meaning NGOs and other civil society organizations like the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan are alarmed. But the mullahs see them as outposts of western imperialism and are targeting them no less as vices to be abolished. The interesting point, however, is that there hasn’t been a squeak out of the federal government in Islamabad whose “boss”, General Pervez Musharraf, is proud to bill himself as the great and enlightened voice of moderation, flexibility and modernity in the country.

In fact, far from criticizing the MMA or reining in its militants, the military’s intelligence agencies have worked overtime to pave the way for their forceful entry into the corridors of power. Indeed, even as we write these lines, the military leadership is trying to woo the MMA to give up its personalized opposition to General Musharraf in exchange for a freer hand to run their governments with greater federal financial support. Why does the military see Pakistan’s religious forces as allies to be cultivated and used even though it knows that they are inimical to the sort of modern, moderate and flexible civil society that wannabe Ataturks among the military yearn for? What is the relationship between the MMA’s relentless drive for Islamisation and the military’s domestic and regional agendas?

As the scholar and political scientist Vali Nasr has explained, the Pakistani military’s acquiescence to Islamisation actually transcends its fear of it by seeking opportunities in it to establish the military’s hegemony and expand its control over society. While the MMA has been given the political space to mobilize Islamic symbols and tenets (destroying billboards, extolling the veil, etc), to exploit anti-Americanism to garner votes, and to formulate Islamic laws as in the NWFP to make inroads into civil society, it has been ensured that Islamism is only opposed to civil society transgressions of the national security state and not to military hegemony or extensive state intervention in the economy and society. Indeed, the military-bureaucratic state is constantly trying to harness the energies of Islamists to subdue the political opposition and to expand state power. Islamisation has therefore become a proactive process rather than a reactive one in which the military-bureaucratic state’s interests continue to serve as a causal factor. This happens first through the appropriation of the Islamic discourse, through PTV and state owned and controlled media, and then through implementation of Islamic policies, as happened during Ziaist times and is now taking place in the NWFP and Balochistan. That is why both periods of Islamisation have been periods of unprecedented expansion of military power. The need for increasing revenues for enhanced military budgets rather than large-scale poverty alleviation, coupled with the requirement of political hegemony, has led the military-bureaucratic state to create and interact with the “other” MMA. Can this “other” MMA last?

The first cracks are beginning to appear. The religious forces are no longer interested only in challenging attempts by the state to become less ideological and more secular in the new global WTO village. They are now seeking to challenge the state’s monopoly over political control. The MMA’s strategy of forcing General Musharraf to take off his uniform is aimed at achieving this objective. The continuing tragedy is that neither General Musharraf nor the mainstream political parties currently realize who stands to benefit the most from their mutual hostility and antagonism.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 05/30/2003 03:28 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Nuggets from the Urdu press
The coming of the One-Eyed Dajjal
A detailed article published in daily Pakistan explained how the Prophet PBUH had predicted the coming of One-Eyed Dajjal. He would [come] from the east of the house of Islam (possible meaning India) and would claim prophethood and godhead. He would possess great stores of food and would control rain, turn people blind and restore eyesight and turn the dead to living. He would be like Christ in miraculous powers but he would ride a donkey the distance between whose ears would be forty hands (wide-bodied aircraft) and “kefir” would be written between his eyes. (Israel has named a plane thus). Dajjal would first attract Muslim women then Muslim men; and the Prophet PBUH predicted that a large part of the Muslim umma would convert in favour of Dajjal and would become very rich. Dajjal would be of wheatish complexion with curly hair without sight in his left eye. Dajjal would be able to go to all places in the world except Madina. Outside Madina he would be challenged by a virtuous man but Dajjal would tear him into two pieces only to make him alive again. But the pious man would deny Dajjal and will not be defeated by him. No one but Christ himself would kill Dajjal near the door of ‘Ladd’ (This is a place called Lydde near Tel Aviv).

The coming of Imam Mehdi
According to daily Pakistan, the One-Eyed Dajjal would be opposed by Imam Mehdi who would arrive in Arabia but his armies would arise in Khurasan (Afghanistan) wearing black turbans. Imam Mehdi would not be able to kill the Dajjal because that would be done by Jesus Christ who would return to earth to do this.

Saddam’s expensive sword
Columnist K.M. Azam wrote in Nawa-e-Waqt that he slept on the night of 9 April 2003 and saw a dream. He saw that the people of Iraq had finished their ammunition fighting against the Americans and went down fighting with swords and lances. After the battle a woman found the sword called Rafideen still held in the hand of a handsome corpse that did not look dead. This was the sword that was made in Italy and was imported for Rs 50 lakh. He then saw that the world of Islam arose in anger at the death of Saddam Hussein and killed its dictators and pro-American rulers and the world rang with the cry marg bar America (Death to America).
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 05/30/2003 03:23 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "PBUH"Just regular"PBUH"not a Grand Pbuh.Wouldn"t the return of Christ prove he is the"Son of God".
Posted by: Raptor || 05/30/2003 6:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Obviously not. The return of Elijah is after also expected by certain Christians I've known. That doesn't mean they consider Elijah to be the "Son of God".

(It only means that wackos can be found in every religion.)
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 05/30/2003 6:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Every one of these wackos want to be like Jesus, why not check out the original and be part of the real thing.

Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 05/30/2003 7:05 Comments || Top||

#4  I take it hallucinogens are cheap and plentiful in the Urdu land? Or is it just "Islam Gone Wild"?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 7:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Never heard about Elijah returning,from what I understand(from reading the Bible)only Christ is supposed to return.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/30/2003 8:54 Comments || Top||

#6  The "One-Eyed Dajjal" seems to be the Islamic analogue of the Antichrist, which does come before the Second Coming, and who's slain only by Jesus Christ.

*Shakes head* I have no idea why the Koran gives the nod to Jesus Christ to conduct the Second Coming, but it does.
Posted by: Ptah || 05/30/2003 10:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Raptor: The return of Elijah is a an old and persistent Judeo-Christian belief. Check out Matthew verses 17.9 to 17.13 for an example.
Posted by: 11A5S || 05/30/2003 10:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Wasn't Elijah the one who got "taken up whilst still living" in a wheel of fire? Didn't the UFO nuts latch onto him as an abductee?

Hope he got a transfer ticket...
Posted by: mojo || 05/30/2003 13:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Raptor: During the Tribulation period, two witnesses will prophesy against the anti-Christ. Although they are not named, some people believe they will be Elijah and Moses, due to them being present at the Transfiguration and by the miracles they will perform:
Elijah - fire, no rain
Moses - water into blood, plagues
Posted by: BibleGuy || 05/30/2003 13:21 Comments || Top||

#10  in jewish tradition elijah appears often to help the Jewish people in time of troubles, and as a mystical character generally. He will appear to announce the age of the messiah.

sings:"eliyahu, hanavi, eliyahu, hatishbi, eliyahu, eliyahu, eliyahu hagiladi.
yavo alenu, bimharo, biyamanu .
Im moshiach, ben david, im moshiach, ben david"

Elijah, the prophet, the tishibite, the gileadite. will come to us, speedily, in our days, with the messiah, the son of David.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 05/30/2003 15:43 Comments || Top||

#11  Jesus' disciples asked Him the question, (Matt 17) "why do the scribes say that Elijah must some first?" (before the Messiah - Malachi 4) Jesus said, "Elijah truly is coming first and will restore all things... but Elijah has come already and they did not know him..." Then the disciples understood He spoke of John the Baptist.

Elijah's coming is a principle. Those in the spirit and power of Elijah, (like John, like others) come to prepare the way of the Lord.

In that, strangely enough, I agree will L-hawk.

Ptah - The scriptures of many ancient religions refer to the person and work of the Messiah, (Koran, Bhagavad Gita, many oral tribal traditions) Something about Him not being without a testimony in all nations.
Posted by: Scott || 05/30/2003 18:18 Comments || Top||

#12 

Some Christians believe the two witnesses in Revelation will be Elijah and Enoch. Both of them were taken straight into God's presence without undergoing physical death. Gen 5:24 (Enoch) II Kings 2:11 (Elijah)


The book of Hebrews (9:27) states "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment". Some Christians reason that Elijah and Enoch, having not yet faced physical death, will be the the two witnesses. For those of you who haven't read Revelation, the witnesses die and then are raised to life.

Posted by: John || 05/30/2003 19:25 Comments || Top||

#13  Ok I can accept the general consenseus here.I still find it suprising that Muslems espouse any part of the new testemant,or is this just my own ignorance talking?
Anybody read the"Left Behind"series of novels?
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 7:25 Comments || Top||

#14  Muslims don't espouse any part of the new testament, the same way they don't espouse any part of the old testament. But characters such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Solomon, John the Baptist, Jesus and so on are all characters that can also be found in the Koran.

"He has enjoined upon you for religion what He prescribed to Noah and what we inspired thee with, and what we inspired Abraham and Moses and Jesus,-to be steadfast in religion, and not to part into sects therein-a great thing to the idolaters is that which ye call them to! God elects for Himself whom He pleases and guides unto Himself him who turns repentant."
-XLII.

"O ye people of the Book! do not exceed in your religion, nor say against God aught save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is but the apostle of God and His Word, which He cast into Mary and a spirit from Him; believe then in God and His apostles, and say not ‘Three.’ Have done! it were better for you. God is only one God, celebrated be His praise that He should beget a Son! His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth and God sufficeth for a guardian."
-IV.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 05/31/2003 8:22 Comments || Top||

#15  An honest question for you Aris:
Muslims don't espouse any part of the new testament, the same way they don't espouse any part of the old testament. But characters such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Solomon, John the Baptist, Jesus and so on are all characters that can also be found in the Koran. "He has enjoined upon you for religion what He prescribed to Noah and what we inspired thee with, and what we inspired Abraham and Moses and Jesus,-to be steadfast in religion, and not to part into sects therein-a great thing to the idolaters is that which ye call them to! God elects for Himself whom He pleases and guides unto Himself him who turns repentant." -XLII. "O ye people of the Book! do not exceed in your religion, nor say against God aught save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is but the apostle of God and His Word, which He cast into Mary and a spirit from Him; believe then in God and His apostles, and say not ‘Three.’ Have done! it were better for you. God is only one God, celebrated be His praise that He should beget a Son! His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth and God sufficeth for a guardian." -IV.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris 5/31/2003 8:22:24 AM

Does all this mean that the Quran declares that Jesus is the son of God?
Explain for me please?
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 9:28 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Barzani makes nice with Turks
In a bid to strengthen ties in Iraq, the Turkish Foreign Affairs Delegation met with Iraq Kurdistan Democratic Party (IKDP) leader Massoud Barzani in Selahaddin yesterday. Having issued harsh statements against Turkey before and during the Iraq War, Barzani has now softened his approach. He welcomed the Turkish delegation, saying, "My old friends" and "We want to take relations with Turkey further. We will never forget what Turkey has done for us. A new page will be opened for IKDP and Turkey [relations]."
Turkey, after all, was instrumental in preventing Sammy from destroying autonomous Kurdistan...
Barzani hosted the Turkish Delegation, led by ambassador Ecvet Tezcan and including ambassador Selim Karaosmanoglu and Foreign Affairs Middle East Department Head, Kerim Uras, at the Selahaddin Party Meeting Room last night. Barzani said, 'We will never forget Turkey's important role in protecting our region for 12 years.'
They can patch up and make nice now. Turkey's been held back from meddling, and it's to their advantage to see a stable Iraq on their border.
After Barzani, head of the delegation Ecvet Tezcan said: "Years have added good qualities to Mr Barzani. As Mr Barzani said, freedom and democracy have prevailed in this part of Iraq for 11 years. Today, I would like to thank him for saying that this has been realized with the support of Turkey and the Turkish Army. As Mr Barzani said, we are for a democratic and secular Iraq. I believe that the IKDP will contribute to Iraq, as a whole, with its experience in democracy and freedom."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:50 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wasn't Barzani the head of one of the Five Families in The Godfather?
Posted by: Hermetic || 05/30/2003 12:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Don Barzini. They got him on the church steps when Mike settled all family business.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 13:08 Comments || Top||

#3  If these quotes are legit, Northern Iraq will be one less trouble spot. Maybe focus more on Fallujah.
Posted by: Michael || 05/30/2003 13:28 Comments || Top||


Mass grave found near ’Chemical Ali’s’ old home
London: Kurdish peshmergas discovered yesterday a mass grave in a field close to the old home of Ali Hassan al-Majid, nicknamed "Chemical Ali." According to the Knight Ridder News agency, human remains were found in four deep trenches, surrounded by barbed-wire fences, about 100 yards from a compound that belonged to Ali Hassan al Majid, who led a chemical weapons campaign that killed tens of thousands of Kurds in south Kurdistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:36 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I guess he liked to do a little Dahmerism.
Posted by: Scott || 05/30/2003 18:23 Comments || Top||

#2  And we are supposed to be suprised?
Posted by: Anonymous Troll || 05/30/2003 22:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Corpses male or female?
Posted by: mojo || 05/31/2003 0:33 Comments || Top||


Foreign hardliners pouring into Iraq
BAGHDAD - The governing US-led coalition said on its Baghdad radio station on Friday that Islamist hardliners are pouring into Iraq in a bid to destabilise the country, in what appeared to be a clear warning to Iran. "Fundamentalists under foreign command have entered Iraq with aggressive intent and it is in the interest of the Iraqi people to help the coalition," it said, without specifying from where they came. It asked Iraqis to inform the coalition of the names and whereabouts of any infiltrators in their areas and said those who come forward should have no fear of speaking out. "If necessary the coalition can protect you and your family," the announcement said. "Do what is right for your family, your neighbours and your future."

The coalition has stepped up the pressure on Iran in recent days and the top British official in Iraq, John Sawers, told Prime Minister Tony Blair in the southern city of Basra on Thursday that the Islamic regime was active there. "There is clear evidence of the Iranians trying to put in place a mechanism for them to exert influence," he said.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charged Thursday that Iran was trying to stir up opposition to US and British forces in Iraq with radio broadcasts and by sending Revolutionary Guards into the country. Asked in a radio interview whether the United States was gearing up for war against Iran, Rumsfeld said, "Not to my knowledge."
If anyone should know, it would be him...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:14 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course that doesn't mean we aren't looking at that option. Just not 'gearing up'...
Posted by: Kathy K || 05/30/2003 11:39 Comments || Top||

#2  We need to send a strong message to the Islamists: We will not recognize any safe zones for terrorists. We need to stop leaning on the Israelis and Indians with regard to Lebanon/West Bank/Gaza and Pakistan and set them loose.
Posted by: 11A5S || 05/30/2003 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  So many targets, so little time. What say we help the wanna be martyrs achieve their goal?
Posted by: Anonymous Troll || 05/30/2003 22:14 Comments || Top||

#4  How many of these morons do we have to kill before they realize that America is in this for the long haul?
Apparently, they were led by Clinton's incessant mewling, lip-biting, and empty promises of retaliation, that Americans can't stand to sacrifice or see some body bags.
Wrong.
While I might sound cold, my heart aches for those fine Americans we have lost and their families who sacrificed.

It won't be in vain.

To Iran and all the other Islamofascists who want to destroy my nation, my family, my hopes, my dreams, and those of other freedom loving people:

We will win.
We will outlast you and your imbecilic, backward, barbaric, and inhumane ideology.
Americans will fight.
We will fight to the last man, woman, and child to preserve our way of life.
Doubt that at your own peril.
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 23:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Put a couple of JSTARS on the border and kill/destroy anything comming across the border.Destroy any military or associated installations within 100miles of the border.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 8:08 Comments || Top||


500 bodies recovered from mass grave
At least 500 bodies have been unearthed from a mass grave near the central city of Najaf, in the latest such find in post-Saddam Iraq. An AFP journalist at the site in Makhazen, 20 kilometres from the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, saw the remains of about 200 bodies laid out on plastic bags. Bones of women, children, elderly people and soldiers were identifiable by scraps of clothing or identity papers. A committee for freed Iraqi prisoners, supervising the exhumations, said the bodies were of Iraqis executed by Saddam Hussein's security forces, who put down a Shiite uprising in the wake of Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War. More than 500 bodies have been found, a member of the committee said, pointing out that families had already taken away 300 remains from the desert mass grave.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
10 killed as MILF Fighters Stage Attack After Declaring Truce
COTABATO CITY — Separatist guerrillas yesterday attacked two army positions in the southern Philippines, killing at least five civilians nearby, a day after announcing a unilateral 10-day cease-fire starting next week, the military said.
That's what usually happens when Islamists declare a truce, isn't it?
Soldiers also retrieved the bodies of five rebels killed in a clash after 70 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at the army detachments in Carmen, North Cotabato, 900 kilometers south of Manila, said Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the army’s 6th Infantry Division. He said at least five residents were killed when the rebels set fire to 10 houses nearby. No soldiers were hurt, Senga said. “It appears that the MILF leadership has no control over (its) men in the field,” he said.
What an odd idea. I'd say it's a lot more likely they do, which is why the attacks happened...
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the cease-fire order has yet to reach some of their fighters in the field. Still, he said, the five killed were militiamen and were considered combatants. He said two rebels and several soldiers were also killed. “If there were houses burned, that’s because they are situated beside the detachment and are owned by soldiers or (civilian militia),” he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 01:01 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I know this group is serious, but could they just watch american pie and pick a different acronym?
Posted by: flash91 || 05/30/2003 13:33 Comments || Top||

#2  I was wondering when somebody would catch on to that. I thought it was just me.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 14:40 Comments || Top||

#3 
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)

Shouldn't that read Moron Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)?
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 19:04 Comments || Top||


Indonesian military clashes with Aceh rebels
Settling in for the long, bloody haul...
The Indonesian military has reported clashes in eight locations in Aceh (map) province as troops cornered separatist rebels in a bid to separate the guerrillas from the population. "We are mounting pressure on the rebel strongholds to narrow their room for movement and trying to separate the rebels from civilians," said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Yani Basuki. Martial law administrator Endang Suwarya said one soldier and two rebels were killed in a mountainous area in Aceh Besar district in one of eight firefights that erupted Friday. At least 92 Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels have been killed since the start of the campaign, according to military figures. Twelve soldiers and police and 15 civilians have been killed. The military blamed most of the civilian deaths on rebels. Lieutenant Colonel Suwarya said starting on Friday foreign ships were banned from Aceh waters and any foreign vessel entering the territory would be warned to leave and be sunk if the warning was ignored. He said the move was aimed at curbing arms smuggling into Aceh. Private radio stations are also banned from broadcasting under martial law rule, Lieutenant Colonel Suwarya announced, adding that communication radios such as walkie-talkies owned by the public should by handed over to the military authorities.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:01 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  guerrillas separated from the civilian population = dead guys without uniforms
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 17:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Pernicious trend in the media: to report on "rebels" "separatists" or the "free aceh movement" without explaining WHY they are fighting: what's their angle?

Are they simply tired of living under Indo's colonial rule or are they (as intimated once on Rantburg) Islamofascists who want to set up a Pure Islamonazi State TM?

If it is the latter, we should remind others with every article as the global threat of the Islamonazi ideology (as opposed to moderate muslims who are not the problem) is stirring up trouble all around the world and needs to be dealt with.

People are being kept ignorant due to fears of
"white pride" style neonazi racism. These fears may be exaggerated and/or groundless but just the fear is enough in our PC culture to muzzle valid and necessary criticism.
Posted by: Anon1 || 05/30/2003 17:35 Comments || Top||


Japan Official Resigns Over Pinball
EFL Who's this guy think he is, a Mass. State Rep...
A deputy governor in northern Japan resigned Friday under fire for continuing to play pachinko pinball slot machines for a half hour after a powerful 7-magnitude earthquake rocked the region earlier this week.
Couldn't have been that bad if it didn't "tilt" the machine. He must've been on a roll.
Takashi Chiba, who was acting governor of Akita prefecture when the quake struck because the top official was in South Korea hope he wasn't "going reckless" for business, stepped down citing "personal reasons," prefectural spokesman Hideo Fujii said.
Pinball addiction claims another victim...
Chiba was widely panned for playing pachinko, a pinball-style gambling game, for more than 30 minutes after the temblor hit.
They probably wouldn't have had a problem with him sitting in a bar getting trashed.
The Monday evening quake injured more than 100 people but did relatively little damage, an outcome scientists called lucky. Chiba, 63, told local newspapers he had been killing time at the pachinko parlor while waiting for an acquaintance. He eventually made contact with prefectural officials and returned to the office about one hour after the quake.
I guess hack jobs for politicians are universal.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 03:23 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ever since I was a young boy,
I've played the silver ball.
From Osaka to the Ginza
I must have played them all.
But I ain't seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall...
In the middle of an earthquake
He sure plays a mean pin ball !

He stands like a statue,
Becomes part of the machine.
Ignores disaster warnings
And crowds and panicked screams.
Plays without interruption,
As the building 'round him falls.
Obsessive, compulsive,--
But sure plays a mean pin ball !
Posted by: Mike || 05/30/2003 16:33 Comments || Top||

#2  BRAVO MIKE!!!!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/30/2003 16:39 Comments || Top||


Iran
Russia: U.S. Should Help Build Iranian Nuke Plant
Was it Lenin who said we'd sell them the rope they'd hang us with?
MOSCOW - Russia suggested on Friday that the United States join it in building a nuclear power plant in Iran, calling it a way to ease Washington's concern that Tehran would use the Russian reactor to develop atomic weapons.
See, cuz then they could use the U.S. reactor to build nukes. Simplisme!
As President Vladimir Putin prepared to host President Bush, Moscow's atomic energy minister floated the seemingly improbable idea in an interview with Itar-Tass news agency. U.S. officials say Russian cooperation with Iran, part of Bush's "axis of evil," is on the agenda for Sunday's talks.
Been sampling Yeltsin's beverage supply?
Another agency quoted an official in the ministry as saying a multinational effort in building Iran's first atomic power station at Bushehr could ensure that Tehran's Islamic rulers stick to treaty commitments not to develop nuclear weapons. "We have asked our American colleagues this question a few times while having top-level discussions. But so far they have only said they need to think about it," Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev told Tass. Noting that Russia was building only one reactor out of a possible six at Bushehr, on Iran's Gulf coast, he said there was plenty of room for U.S. involvement. Moscow is keen for trade profits from its long experience with nuclear power technology. There was no immediate reaction from U.S. officials.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, asked about the Russian proposal to bring in Americans, told a news conference: "Russians or Westerners who want to be involved can come." Washington, which questions the insistence of oil- and gas-rich Iran that it needs nuclear energy, has stepped up its criticism of Tehran since U.S. forces took over neighboring Iraq in an invasion strongly criticized by Moscow. The United States wants the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to declare Iran in violation of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Tehran has signed. Russia has also expressed concern about Iran's nuclear program. But Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said this week that no one could object to Moscow's involvement at Bushehr. Another Russian official said that only the United Nations could decide if Washington was right in saying the civilian program was a front for developing nuclear weapons.
What if we say we don't give a sh$t what the UN says?
Interfax news agency quoted a source at the atomic energy ministry saying other countries' involvement would help ensure Iran adhered to its NPT obligations: "This would increase control over the nuclear programs," the source said. Rumyantsev was adamant that Russian help to Iran was above board and noted IAEA experts regularly check Iran's activities: "Why do we have to stop building power stations if we stick to the rules and violate nothing?" he said.
Good question, chum. I think this is a non-issue, myself — but verification's called for, just in case.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 02:32 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe we should help out and contaminate the whole bloody core with cadmium so it won't work.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/30/2003 15:22 Comments || Top||

#2  One possible way this might not be too bad of an idea. Build all of the proposed experimental type reactors that we know the Greens will never let be built here. The Pebble Bed type for instance. But we run and control the facility
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire || 05/30/2003 15:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Anybody got the plans for the old French "Pheonix" FBR's? I think the liquid sodium working fluid would look real nice all over an Iranian reactor floor...
Posted by: mojo || 05/30/2003 16:21 Comments || Top||

#4  "Moscow is keen for trade profits from its long experience with nuclear power technology"
Does Chernobyal ring a bell.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 7:31 Comments || Top||


U.S. Judge Says Iran Liable for 1983 Beirut Bombing
A federal judge on Friday ruled that Iran was responsible for the 1983 truck bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and should pay damages to relatives of the victims. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, noting that the U.S. government has designated Iran as a "state sponsor of terrorism" since 1984, said Iran and its Ministry of Information were liable to the 661 relatives of the victims who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The bombing on Oct. 23, 1983, killed 241 U.S. military members and wounded many others. The lawsuit was filed at the end of 2001. Lamberth ruled in December 2002 that the lawsuit could go forward under a 1996 law used by U.S. citizens to sue nations found to sponsor terrorism. Iran never responded to the lawsuit and was not represented in the case. The country has not responded to other similar lawsuits brought in the past.
Don't we still have their funds that were frozen from the embassy takeover?
The plaintiffs filed claims for wrongful death and common-law claims for battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress — all resulting from an act of state-sponsored terrorism. Lamberth cited testimony from the trial in March showing that past top Iranian government officials and some currently in senior roles in the government knew of and helped plan the bombing, in conjunction with Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. "The court finds that MOIS, acting as an agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran, performed acts on or about October 23, 1983, within the scope of its agency ... which acts caused the deaths of over 241 peacekeeping servicemen at the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon," he wrote.
That's something that's not often mentioned: the Marines weren't combat troops on an operation, but were peacekeeping forces there under agreement — UN auspices, if I recall correctly...
"The court therefore concludes that MOIS actively participated in the attack on October 23, 1983, which was carried out by MOIS agents with the assistance of Hezbollah." Lamberth ordered the plaintiffs to submit damage claims to "Special Masters" appointed by the court to calculate damages. The process is expected to last months and it will be up to Lamberth to set the total amount of damages. At the two-day trial in March the lawyers did not mention a specific amount being sought but they have estimated it could end up exceeding $2 billion, based on other past cases. It was not clear how much, if any of the damages would ever be collected even though the U.S. government has frozen certain Iranian assets.

In 1997 a German court ruled Iran's political leadership had ordered the killings of four Iranian Kurdish dissidents in Berlin's Mykonos restaurant in 1992. The court avoided names but said the assassinations were ordered by a secret special operations committee whose members included Iran's president, religious leader, intelligence minister and head of foreign policy. Iran repeatedly denied all responsibility for the killings.
Wudn't us! It was...somebody else©
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 02:18 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iran Clueless If It Captured Saif Al-Adel
TEHRAN — Iran said yesterday it was unaware if Al-Qaeda’s presumed No. 3 is among several members of the network in custody, dismissing reports it was seeking to swap him with the United States for leaders of the Iraq-based People’s Mujahedeen armed opposition group. US officials have alleged that Egyptian-born Saif Al-Adel is in Iran and took part in the planning of the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 25 people, including seven US nationals. Adel, a senior figure in both Al-Qaeda and Egypt’s outlawed Islamic Jihad, is also wanted in connection with attacks on US embassies in East Africa in 1998. A $25 million reward has been offered for information leading to his capture. “For the moment we do not know if Saif Al-Adel is in Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. He said Al-Qaeda members held here “have not yet been fully identified, so we cannot say yet who they are.”
"You know how many passports these guys carry? How many aliases they have?"
“If it emerges that he is in Iran, we will react according to our obligations and in the same way as in the past, when we sent Al-Qaeda members arrested by us back to their country of origin,” Asefi added.
Ummm... That would be Egypt? Or Pakistan?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 12:09 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
Burqa Girl Update: Judge holds fate of veil
EFL.I figure she's on about Minute 13...
Sultaana Freeman, her face hidden behind a black veil, said Thursday that neither she nor her husband sought the national attention that her three-day civil trial generated.
Of, course not. Have Oprah's people called yet? Springer? Jenny Jones?
Attorneys finished their closing arguments Thursday, and Orange Circuit Judge Janet Thorpe said she would rule next week on the Muslim woman's quest to reinstate her drivers license — with a photo of her face covered by the veil.
Do the right thing, judgey.
Minutes after the end of the nonjury trial, Freeman, 35, reaffirmed that she is only following her faith by refusing to bare her face in a photograph.
I think she only does that for mug shots.
"It's a command from Allah. I veil to obey my Lord," said the Winter Park woman, whose soft voice could barely be heard. "I want there to be no confusion as to why I veil. It's an act of modesty."
"Hey, y'all! Lookit how modest I am! Betch'all wish you could be this modest!"
But some Central Florida Muslim advocates rejected Freeman's cause, saying it is further damaging an already bruised image of American Muslims. "On the surface this is a very frivolous case," said Omar Dajani, a board member of Orlando's Arab American Community Center and a Muslim. "If the law says you have to have your picture on your drivers license, you show your face. I'm not even sure what version of Islamic law she's using — certainly not the version that the Muslim world uses."
When even the Muslims think you're nuts...
Freeman's fight also belittles the struggles facing many American Muslims, who are combating very real civil-rights abuses, she said. "Muslims right now are seeing their civil rights eroded," she said. "Muslims are being detained without due process. Muslims are being visited by the FBI without warning and Muslims are losing their jobs and not getting hired."
Sounds like she wants to work for CAIR. Too bad she could never be a "made member".
Freeman, a former utilities-company engineer and Pentecostal churchgoer from Illinois, converted to Islam in 1997 and began wearing a veil shortly after that. Testifying Wednesday, she said she does not believe in graven images or photographs and goes as far as scratching faces from cereal boxes for her 2-year-old daughter and 6-month-old son.
Lucky kids. Great life they've got to look forward to, huh?
In closing arguments a day later, lawyers for the state repeated their public-safety arguments. Allowing Freeman to wear her veil for a drivers license photo, they asserted, would open the door to others who might disguise themselves or use veils as covers for terrorism.
Oh, no... that could never happen. The ACLU said it couldn't.
Howard Marks, Freeman's Winter Park lawyer, who is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, told Thorpe that his client's case is supported by Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act that protects the rights of religious minorities. "My client would not be sitting in a court of law for three days and would not subject herself to the ridicule around the country if she did not have a sincerely held religious belief," Marks said.
3 days for this bullshit? How much is this costing Florida?
Marks also reminded Thorpe of at least three other civil cases decided in the 1970s and 1980s that allowed members of Christian sects to avoid having their photographs on drivers licenses because they said the Bible forbids graven images. "I'm pleading with you not to be the first one who infringes upon religious rights when it comes to drivers licenses, your honor," Marks said.
Calm down, Clarence Darrow. This ain't exactly "Inherit The Wind".
For much of the trial, Marks played down testimony by an Islamic expert that his client could remove her veil under certain circumstances. He contends that driving is a right or a government benefit that should not be taken away from his client simply because she is following her faith. "I'm sick of hearing that it's a privilege to drive in Florida, that it is a right," Marks said in closing arguments. State statutes say the operation of a motor vehicle is a privilege and that the drivers license bureau issues full-face digital images to license applicants.
Looks like the statutes got you beat there, counselor.
Freeman runs a Web site for Muslims of the conservative Salaffiyah group that follows the strict Wahabbi teachings of Sunni Islam, which dominates Saudi Arabia. She has written a brochure explaining her beliefs: "Why I Veil: Liberated by Islam." Told that women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, Freeman and her lawyer had no comment.
Who? Where? What? Well what do THEY know about Islam???
Born in Washington, Freeman grew up as Sandra Keller in a Christian environment and was active in her church. "I was put on the pulpit actually quite often," she told reporters Thursday. She said she discovered Islam because she kept "an open mind" and began reading the Quran six months before converting in late 1997. She changed her name after marrying Mark Freeman, a 41-year-old Winter Park native who also is known as Abdul-Maalik Freeman. A representative for one national Muslim group said Freeman was fighting for her individual right, not for Islam. Ahmed Bedier, a Tampa resident and communications director for the Florida office of the national Council on American-Islamic Relations, also said Muslims should be treated the same as Christian minorities.
There they are. I knew they'd be checking in.
"If certain Christians are allowed not to have their faces photographed on drivers licenses, then the Muslims should have the right to wear the veil," he said.
It might come in very handy for us in... certain circumstances. And it's a nice test to see what we can possiblity get away with by using the system.
Since Sept. 11, civil-rights activists have been fighting government policies that they say single out Muslims, while combating ignorance and misunderstanding of their faith. Then there is the suspicion that American Muslims say they combat daily, from job discrimination and hate crimes to name calling on school playgrounds and bad mouthing on conservative airwaves.
Yeah, come and see me after we start crashing planes into Medina and Mecca. Until then, deal with it.
"I think someone like Sultana Freeman really hurts our cause," Dajani said, adding that even in the most conservative of Muslim countries, women are required to show their faces for photo identifications. Zufari added that the issue especially misrepresents the role of women in Muslim society. "The face veil is a cultural practice, not a religious one," she said. "Islam is a fluid and accommodating religion — it's not meant to be a burden."
Could've fooled me...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 11:36 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sorry, but I really have to laugh. Guess who came up with the mendaciously named "Religious Freedom Restoration Act", and why. Now it occurs to them that other religous zealots can ALSO use the Act to cause problems.

Whadda ya say we put FIVE bullets in the revolver this time, huh?
Posted by: mojo || 05/30/2003 12:43 Comments || Top||

#2  She didn't seem to mind showing her face for the mugshot when she was convicted of assault.... for beating up a foster child. She seems the perfect candidate for the Religion of Peace™. BTW, Zufari is right....that kind of face covering is cultural so she should STFD and STFU.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 05/30/2003 14:23 Comments || Top||

#3  "If certain Christians are allowed not to have their faces photographed on drivers licenses, then the Muslims should have the right to wear the veil," he said.

Excuse me? I've never heard of such a thing. Is this CAIR guy talking out his ass even more than the usual CAIR spokesliar?
Posted by: growler || 05/30/2003 14:28 Comments || Top||

#4  growler See here for a fairly spirited analysis of the issue. You will have to page down for several entries over a few days.

http://volokh.com/
Posted by: DORF || 05/30/2003 16:57 Comments || Top||

#5 
said the Winter Park woman, whose soft voice could barely be heard

Yeah, she only raises her voice when screaming at the children she's beating...
Skank hag...
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 18:42 Comments || Top||

#6  "Dajani said, adding that even in the most conservative of Muslim countries, women are required to show their faces for photo identifications"

That's not true.

As reported on Rantburg, Soddie women do not have any ID card of their own. They are put on the bottom of their husbands (or nearest male relative's) ID card.

They are not real human beings, after all, are they?

I mean they are only of slave-status in Soddie.

All those people who cried out at the injustice of Apartheid between blacks and whites in South Africa couldn't give two f*ing hoots about the actual physical and social enslavement of an entire gender.

At least under apartheid, south african blacks were allowed to drive and have their very own identity. So they were actually better off than Saudi women.
Posted by: Anon1 || 05/31/2003 6:58 Comments || Top||


Middle East
One Invites Occupation While the Other Perpetuates It
Muhammad Al-Shibani, Arab News
The United States has so far effectively finished off two Arab leaders. The first, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, was destroyed by military force. The second, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was sidelined and slowly stripped of any effective role. Both leaders dragged their countries into their present situation. Both excelled at allowing chances to slip away, wasting opportunity after opportunity, stalling and failing to use the resources at their disposal to serve their cause. Saddam’s inept actions led his country being invaded and occupied by foreign forces while he simply disappeared from the scene. The other thought he held all the cards in his hand and set the rules for the game. The result was that the Palestinian cause now stands no chance of winning anything.
Hmmm... An accurate summation in the Arab News. This guy'll probably be fired, too...
During 35 years of struggle, Arafat continued to reject whatever was offered on the grounds that it fell short of Palestinian and Arab expectations. What amounted to treason and a stab in the back is now viewed as victory by a Palestinian government not even sure of the little it may finally get. It is indeed regrettable to see the main concern of the Palestinian leader being confined to proving he is still active and has not been sidelined or marginalized. Arafat is acting as if he embodies the Palestinian cause and that without him there will be no cause. Everyone, including the Arabs, knows very well the man has effectively been shelved and that all that can be done about this is to retain him as a symbol of the Palestinian struggle. A national cause requires a symbol.
Along with the Paleostinian cause, Yasser symbolizes mindless, unrelenting murder, day in and day out. He symbolizes hypocrisy and narcissism. He symbolizes, with Sammy, large-scale corruption while his people starve. Nice symbol y'got there, Muhammad...
Who will call Saddam to account for the crimes he committed? No one. Who will hold Arafat responsible for all the opportunities that were lost as a result of misjudgments and perceptions that in the end were proved wrong? Again, no one.
Nope. The Arabs were too busy justifying them. Thirty or forty years from now, there will be Arabs — and their western apologists — telling the world that neither Sammy nor Yasser was all that bad.
Almighty God will summon all leaders on the Day of Judgment and they will be held accountable for their actions. Those who believe in Divine judgment will work to save themselves and those who fail to understand what awaits them will wish they had never assumed public office.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 12:05 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are you sure this isn't the Arab version of The Onion or Scrappleface? I wish a few elite Hollywood leftists would read this.
Posted by: Anonymous_in_TN || 05/30/2003 13:30 Comments || Top||

#2  I said something like this yesterday. Once again proof of Rantburg's global reach.
Posted by: Scott || 05/30/2003 18:30 Comments || Top||

#3 
It is indeed regrettable to see the main concern of the Palestinian leader being confined to proving he is still active and has not been sidelined or marginalized.

I think it's hilarious.
LOL
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 18:57 Comments || Top||


North Africa
Moroccan king: The hour of truth has come
RABAT - Morocco's King Mohammed VI vowed on Thursday to tighten the screw on extremists following the devastating suicide blasts in the country's largest city Casablanca earlier this month. "The hour of truth has come," the king said in an address broadcast on radio and television, vowing to ensure that the bombings, in which 43 people were killed including 12 assailants, would be the country's last. In his first public address since the blasts on May 16, the king promised to "confront those who seek to drag Morocco into the past".
There's lots of them, King. Good luck to you...
"Terrorism will not deviate us from our path and Morocco will continue to work towards democracy and modernity," said the king, who in his three years on the throne has forged a reputation as a moderniser of the monarchy. Branding as cowards those responsible for the attacks, Mohammed VI said they had betrayed their country and belonged neither to Morocco nor to Islam. The king condemned "those whose ideas represent a breeding ground for the thorns of division, fanaticism and discord" and vowed to clamp down on "those who exploit democracy to strike at the authority of the state". He said that in order to build a democracy, Morocco needed to act under "a strong state and the rule of law."
It sounds like a contradiction, but it isn't. There's a difference between anarchy and liberty. Have a look at Pakistan or Yemen.
Mohammed VI also announced that generous compensation would be made available to the families of the victims.
And that's a matter of acting kingly...
In the wake of the attacks, the Moroccan parliament on Tuesday adopted a controversial anti-terrorism law, which will stiffen penalties and ease police work in terrorism cases. The law, which also broadens the definition of terrorism, had been strongly criticised by human rights groups.
But naturally. They strongly defend the rights of religious lunatics to slaughter people by the dozens, even hundreds...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:32 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  even thousands..
Posted by: Mike N. || 05/30/2003 11:55 Comments || Top||

#2  If only the "hour of truth" would come to Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative || 05/30/2003 12:41 Comments || Top||


Middle East
U.S. Embassy Warns of Kidnap Threats Against Americans in Gaza
Our Roadmap Partners in Peace - The Paleos
JERUSALEM — The U.S. Embassy has received "credible reports" of plans to kidnap U.S. citizens in Gaza, the Embassy announced on its Web site Friday.

"At this time, Americans are advised to be particularly cautious," the announcement said, adding that citizens should also follow already-existing recommendations on the site to defer travel to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.

The Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad are mainly based in Gaza. Both groups have claimed responsibility for scores of attacks in Israel that have killed more than 350 people in the past 32 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

"Ongoing violence has caused numerous civilian deaths and injuries, including to some American tourists, students and residents," the already-existing travel advisory stated. "The potential for further terrorist acts remains high."

The advisory urges all American citizens in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem to "consider relocating to a safe location," or to avoid crowded public places such as malls, restaurants, bus stops that have been targets for suicide-bomb attacks by the militants.

The warning also came after the deadly May 12 attacks on three housing compounds for foreigners in Saudi Arabia and a deadly series of attacks in Morocco on May 16.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 11:24 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dont think anyones actually suggested Hamas or IJ are our partners in peace. Does raise further concerns about Abu Mazens strat of ceasefire with Hamas, instead of attacking it. His problem is he cant attack it in force yet. So he can accept that he can only make tiny steps against terror and get only tiny concessions back - or he can hope to use a ceasefire to stop terror and hope to press for large concessions - problem is this leaves Hamas armed and in position to regroup.

I presume this is what Arik and AM have been discussing.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 05/30/2003 11:33 Comments || Top||

#2  AM is only playing that age-old Arafat game: "I can't stop them, I have no power - but - you can only negotiate with me". If Mazen and Arafat have no control, then they can't act as a representative of all the Paleos. A ceasefire means nothing - ask the IRA
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Yep: Israel: A cease-fire is not enough
Posted by: Frank G || 05/30/2003 12:24 Comments || Top||


East/Subsaharan Africa
Terror threat closes Norwegian embassy
Norway has closed its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya with immediate effect and until further notice after receiving a written threat of terrorist action. Al-Qaeda recently put Norway on its list of prime targets. The threat to the embassy in Kenya was reportedly delivered to the Italian embassy, which is located in the same building. According to NTB, the letter warned that the building, International House, which also houses the Swedish and Spanish embassies, would be blown up on Thursday. Ministry of Foreign Affairs press spokeswoman Anne Lene Dale Sandsten confirmed that the embassy would be shut until the situation clarified. "We take this very seriously," Sandsten said.
With good reason...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:24 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Abu Mazen confident of Hamas ceasefire
Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen has said he is confident he will reach a ceasefire with the radical Islamic movement Hamas by next week. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, Abu Mazen said Hamas would undertake to stop terrorism, both inside Israel and the occupied territories. Abu Mazen says he also hopes to strike similar agreements with other militia in coming weeks.
I don't imagine Yasser will let that happen, and if it does, I don't imagine he'll let it last...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 11:09 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This almost sounds proactive. If Hamas really wanted to stop terrorism they'd commit a mass suicide.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 05/30/2003 11:22 Comments || Top||


Hungry polar bear samples new kind of sub sandwich
It's Friday and I need a break from car bombings:
A polar bear gnawed on the rudder of a U.S. submarine and then attacked it after the sub surfaced in the ice pack during maneuvers between the North Pole and Alaska this spring, the U.S. Navy reported last week. The submarine Connecticut, a new Seawolf-class sub, had partly surfaced with its sail and rudder sticking through the ice on April 27. "When an officer looked around outside via the periscope, he noted that his sub was being stalked by a hostile polar bear," the Navy reported on its news Web site.
"OK, that settles it. No way I'm going outside."
In a series of pictures captured on the periscope's camera, the bear apparently chewed on the rudder, then batted it around. The Navy reported the damage was minor. "It wasn't designed as a polar bear snack, but that's how life is sometimes," the story said.
The bear most likely thought he'd found the biggest seal in the world. Good thing they got pictures. I can just imagine writing up the work order to get the chew marks on the rudder fixed.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 10:37 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmmm..... bear was looking for the Seal delivery hatch.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/30/2003 11:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Those pictures have to find their way to the web. Please, Navy, please?
Posted by: Steve White || 05/30/2003 13:18 Comments || Top||

#3  http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/default.asp?target=bear_sub1.htm

Three pictureshere, good stuff.
Posted by: Anonymous || 05/30/2003 13:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Let's see if this worked.

http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/default.asp?target=bear_sub1.htm
Posted by: ColoradoConservative || 05/30/2003 16:59 Comments || Top||


East/Subsaharan Africa
Mugabenomics
With an inflation rate probably nearer 500% than the official figure of 300%, prices are shooting up daily, making Zim-Bob-We possibly the world's fastest-documented contracting economy all thanks to Uncle Bob, who has always seemingly been bent on defying even the most basic laws of economics. Take for example his legendary dismissal of his finance ministers (the last one to taste his wrath was the literate but timid Simba Makoni, now tragically being touted as a presidential hopeful) and his passionate belief that the law of supply and demand does not apply to Zimbabwe.
That goes back to the disbelief in Cause and Effect. It's not only Arabs...
If anything is in short supply, Mugabe imposes price controls. The absurdity of Mugabenomics reached its zenith in the late 1980s when former cabinet minister Maurice Nyagumbo the liberation hero who had been incarcerated in prison the longest (20 years) by white minority leader Ian Smith committed suicide (or was he done in) after he could not understand why he was being humiliated in public for helping an agricultural co-operative to acquire a vehicle and selling it for above prescribed prices.
Making a profit is bad. Everybody to the left of anybody knows that...
One of the principal pillars of Mugabenomics, of course, is his apparent belief that a country cannot go broke. Under this misguided approach, he has used fixed assets to pay for recurrent expenditure: to the extent that he has even mortgaged land in his desperate attempts to get fuel from the Libyans — the same land that he says he is so keen to see get into the hands of ordinary Zimbabweans. Many Zimbabweans trace the beginning of their economic problems to payments made by Mugabe to war veterans in 1997, which cost the fiscus billions of unbudgeted Zimbabwe dollars. This launched the now official policy of printing paper money, which has fuelled inflation. Then there was the devastating blow dealt to the economy a year later, in 1998, when Mugabe greedily and expediently decided to get enmeshed in the Congo war. Although this war benefited many of his cronies as they looted the Congo's resources it proved to be a misadventure of monumental proportions; the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Zimbabwe has never been the same since then.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/30/2003 10:18 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  These clowns make Castro look like Donald Trump.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 10:21 Comments || Top||

#2  To the tune of "Bad" by Michael Jackson

Your dough is mine, yeah that is right.
'Cause I'm the man who has the might
I'll try to save economy
By printing out some more money.
'Cause I, run Zimbabwe, give it to me, all right!

My name is Bob; I'm number one!
The greatest tyrant 'neath the sun
If one of my cronies you are
Then in this life, you will go far.

Don't try me to limit
Or the boneyard you will see
When I get those luckily rare
Moments of clarity

I know I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
I know I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
I know I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
And I'll make my econ policies and I'll go and show the world
Who's mad!

From Libya I'll get our needs
The people's land pays for the deeds.
I'll use my policies racist
To tightly clench my iron fist
Anyone who dares to cross me
Lands in a cemetery
Don't try me to limit
Or the boneyard you will see
When I get those luckily rare
Moments of clarity

I know I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
I know I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
I know I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
And inflation's at an alarming rate; let me tell you one again
Who's mad!

I try to save my own 2@#
So why'm I in disgrace!?
Why have I in the global
Village lost much face!?

Because I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
Because I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
Because I'm mad! I'm mad! And I ruin Zimbabwe
And the whole world knows that I'm insane; with my actions I tell them
Who's mad!
Posted by: Korora || 05/30/2003 19:19 Comments || Top||


U.S. official confirms Angolan jet missing
The plane apparently departed from Angola several days ago on a flight to Burkina Faso, in northwestern Africa, but it never made it to its destination, and its whereabouts are unknown, this official said. The official said there is "no evidence or information to suggest this is terrorist-related," and suggested "it is most likely criminal." According to this official, the plane was leased, and the people involved were behind in their payments.
Like I thought yesterday, Repo Man strikes again, maybe.
U.S. law enforcement and the intelligence community are working with the Angolan government to help determine what happened to the plane. When asked if there had been any intelligence from the region suggesting any terrorist activity related to a plane, the official said, "Nothing I'm aware of."
Keep your eyes open for large smoking holes
U.S. officials have recently expressed concern that al Qaeda could use aircraft to carry out a terrorist attack against U.S. interests overseas. Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security issued an advisory to the U.S. aviation community citing "recent reliable reports" indicating al Qaeda was in the final stages of planning an aerial suicide attack against the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. According to a source who read the notice, it noted "al Qaeda's continuing fixation with using explosive-laden small aircraft."
A 727 is not what I'd call a small aircraft. Bet all our air defenses in the region are on high alert looking for this plane.
On the other hand, after over a year of sitting on the ground in Angola with no maintenance, it could also be an unintentional hole in the ground someplace on the way to Burkina Faso. But the avowed destination makes me suspicious. "Plane? What plane? We ain't seen no plane."
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 09:51 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's what you get for leaving your keys in the ignition in a high-crime neighborhood.
Posted by: Mike || 05/30/2003 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Does anyone think they left the plane on the runway with full tanks? Does anyone think the hijacker/repo man brought enough fuel? If he didn't have a runway in mind when he took off the plane he was scrambling to find one within an hour or two of takeoff.
Posted by: Yank || 05/30/2003 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  The 727 is a smaller Boeing, the one with the two engine nacelles at the tail and the rear drop-down stairs. Maybe it was D.B. Cooper, huh?
Posted by: mojo || 05/30/2003 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  YANK - Aircraft are almost always parked with full fuel tanks. 1, it limits corrosion. 2, a full tank of fuel is much less flammable than a tank partially full of fuel and partially full of fuel vapor - vapor is much more flammable. The only time you empty the tanks completely is to purge them for long-term storage. If that had been the case here, there wouldn't have been any way to start the aircraft regardless of fuel state. Take it from an Aero Engineer with 20 years flight test experience.
Posted by: Dan || 05/30/2003 15:36 Comments || Top||


18 foreigners arrested in Sudan
A Sudanese official said yesterday that some 19 foreigners and one Sudanese were arrested in a training camp to the west of Sudan, and found with them weapons and a mobile telephone. The Sudanese ministry of the interior on Tuesday evening said that the Sudanese forces launched an attack at a position to the west of Sudan and arrested several persons including foreigners who were "conducting suspicious activities." In a statement, the ministry said that the army and security forces launched an attack against "West Kardavan province" following leaked information that a group of persons were carrying out suspected activities giving no further details. Abdul Rahim said the Sudanese forces found with them 8 guns, ammunition, a mobile, religious book and sums including US dollars, Saudi riyals, UAE Dirhams and 120,000 Sudanese dinars ( USD 500). He added that the Sudanese forces also found three jeep cars with them. He said that the arrested persons stressed they do not belong to any organization and they follow the "path of the God."
Let's see, now which religion requires weapons training?
The London- based al-Hayat daily said four Saudis are among the arrested persons.
What a surprise, NOT!
Took a few days for this to bubble out, and it's still only in Arabic News. We carried it on the 28th. I'd guess, since they don't "belong to any organization" that they're Takfir wal-Hijra, who're unwelcome in Sudan because of their habit of shooting up mosques of sects they consider lax — which seems to be all of them. They tried to bump off bin Laden once, because of his frivolous approach to Islam.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 09:19 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus
3 Killed in Bus Station Blast in Chechnya
A radio-controlled land mine exploded at a bus station Friday in the Chechen capital Grozny, killing at least three people. The Chechen branch of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the mine went off close to a passenger bus and several other vehicles. The bus driver, Uvad Dzhamalayev, said the deaths occurred in the vehicles, not the bus. An official with Chechen Justice Ministry said on condition of anonymity that a car carrying Moscow Chechen police officers was riding in front of the bus when the explosion took place, and the mine may have targeted the car. He said that three people were killed and 12 wounded.
Posted by: Steve || 05/30/2003 08:03 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


East/Subsaharan Africa
UN ready to back French-led force to halt Congo carnage
EFL.
A French-led force of peace-keepers hoping to halt killings in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to receive United Nations approval today. The 1,000-strong battalion, including some British troops, could be deployed as early as next week.
Yep, any day now.
But in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, fears were growing of a fresh onslaught. A fierce battle for the town two weeks ago saw the ethnic Lendu population expelled by militia from the rival Hema group. Now the Lendu may be preparing a counter-attack. "Some of their positions are only five kilometres from here. They are regrouping for another attack," said an official in the razor-wire protected UN compound. "We think it's not a matter of if, but when."
"And they look hungry..."
Red Cross workers are still burying corpses from the latest attack, sparked by a Ugandan withdrawal from the town on 7 May. Tribal militiamen armed with guns, spears and machetes bludgeoned or shot to death more than 400 people. Some mutilated bodies bore evidence of cannibalism. Thousands of terrified civilians huddled under plastic shelters in the UN compound, manned by a deployment of about 700 peace-keepers, the majority of whom are Uruguayan. During the massacres, the troops obeyed orders to remain at the base.
"What, you want us to go out there? Are you nuts? We could get killed!"
I think it was more along the lines of "Don't make any aggressive moves, no matter what they do. It'll just make them worse. The memo authorizing use of force hasn't been signed off on yet..."
If there is quiet, it is only because the Lendu have fled. But there is a steady drip of violence — isolated shootings by night, some looting by day and the rape of girls as young as 10. Their uniformed male schoolmates roam the half-deserted streets, swinging sub-machine guns they are barely big enough to handle. There has been rightful steady criticism of the under-resourced DRC UN mission. "It is a long, bad story", said François Grignon of the International Crisis Group at Bunia airport. But the UN says that it is patrolling an area bigger than Sierra Leone or Kosovo, peace-keeping missions that are the responsibility of tens of thousands of troops. Lt-Col Daniel Vollon said: "We are already exceeding our mandate here. "Every day I receive new tasks from New York but I cannot perform miracles. My people are doing their best under very difficult circumstances."
700 peacekeepers for that area? Yep, you're under-manned.
The French resolution in the UN Security Council has met resistance from Uganda and Rwanda, which sparked the DRC war in 1998. Each has supported rival factions in Ituri. If the resolution is passed, the multinational force would be deployed until 1 September. After that, a 1,500-strong Bangladesh-led battalion is expected to police the DRC.
Everybody gets a turn. Wonder who's paying for the Bengladeshis to keep the "peace"? Oh wait, I know.
But to prevent further massacres, the question now is the strength of the mandate. France's ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de la SabliÚre, wants his men to have the right to open fire to protect endangered civilians.
Otherwise you might as well stay home.
Any strengthened mission would also have to examine the possibility of intervening in disputes outside the city in isolated villages that are difficult to reach. M. Grignon said: "Look, this town is bloody empty. The force needs to be able to stop massacres taking place in the rural areas." Atrocities such as the massacre at Nyakunde village last year, which left 1,200 dead, could be taking place. But for now, nobody knows because the area is inaccessible to UN troops and aid agencies.
Here you go, "United Europe": a chance to walk the walk. Put a brigade in there and clean the place out.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/30/2003 12:24 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is a piece of "United Europe" military that works. It's called Légion Étrangère.

I'm afraid UN troops will just be fresh food. Literally.
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/30/2003 4:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Now, let me get this straight. A large group of civilians in Congo are committing genocide, and elements of the French Army are going to... what:
fly in and put up some concertina wire, break out the wine and the xbox?

The problem I have with this is that a French military unit is going to be deployed in a military situation, with no military orders and no military plans. The best way to stop the genocide to to overrun the country and take it over in a military operation, but instead this force will be flown in with at best unclear orders, with instructions that can be best described as making them spectators in a brutal event.

I also find it incredible the ambassador wants French forces to be able to open fire to stop massacres. I think once the French arrive they will be hard pressed not to open fire to protect their own people. And just who are the French going to fire upon? Un-uniformed civilians.
Posted by: badanov || 05/30/2003 6:44 Comments || Top||

#3  If there is quiet, it is only because the Lendu have fled. But there is a steady drip of violence - isolated shootings by night, some looting by day and the rape of girls as young as 10. Their uniformed male schoolmates roam the half-deserted streets, swinging sub-machine guns they are barely big enough to handle.


What's needed is a bit of the Second Amendment here. The superficial spin in this statement is that these 10 year old boys using guns to protect their classmates are part of the problem, not the solution.

Sorry I don't have a link to the article, but it was on Strategypage and talked about how, with a few weapons and unconventional tactics, a small village was able to keep itself secure from the chaos surrounding it when some muslims came calling.

Don't waste dough on peacekeepers. Send in choppers to distribute lots of guns, ammo, and radios to report attacks, and let the locals particiapte in sorting it out. Shoot to defend yourself and ALL defenders, regardless of side. This means being able to support Village A if they're being invaded on Monday, and then shooting their men up on Wednesday if they're invading Village B in revenge. The idea of "defend your village, don't go raiding" will eventually sink in.
Posted by: Ptah || 05/30/2003 7:27 Comments || Top||

#4  The UN AND the French? Oh, this'll work out just great.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/30/2003 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  I thought that violence never solves anything. Why then are the French sending soldiers?
Posted by: Hermetic || 05/30/2003 12:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Ptah, I saw that article as well, though I didn't save it or the URL. It was in the Sudan, I believe (Uganda maybe???). The village elders and adult men brought out their old Enfield rifles and put down a force of AK-armed muslim thugs, on their way to loot and destroy said village, in a running ambush and skirmish operation.

Hermetic: don't you know that it's different when the French do it? Just ask the rest of the EU.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/30/2003 13:27 Comments || Top||

#7  If I were the Congolese I would feel great knowing the UN and France are going to protect me. Just wait right there for your next meal, oh that's right you ARE the next meal!
Posted by: Anonymous || 05/30/2003 15:14 Comments || Top||

#8 
Some mutilated bodies bore evidence of cannibalism.

Come to Africa.
Delicious food.
Friendly people...
Um, I mean, friendly food, delicious people and blue helmets as far as the eye can see!
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 18:20 Comments || Top||

#9  hmmmm.
1. French military prowess
2. French cooking
3. Rampant cannibalism
.....
Does anyone else see a serendipitious connection here?

Posted by: Luigi || 05/30/2003 19:55 Comments || Top||

#10  UN ready to back French-led force to halt Congo carnage

Back it with WHAT?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/30/2003 22:07 Comments || Top||

#11  You know if I was standing there with automatic weapons watching innocent civilians being slaughtered and little girls being raped,then orders or no orders the bastards die.Personal consequences be damned,sometimes a person has to do the right thing.If these"soldiers"didn't do something then they are cowards.
Posted by: Raptor || 05/31/2003 6:39 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Jordan Urges Support for Mahmoud Abbas
Jordan, an ardent backer of President Bush's Mideast peace drive, is urging worldwide support for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as the key to countering terror and ending the conflict with Israel. ``There is no hope at all other than Abu Mazen,'' ambassador Karim Kawar said Thursday, even as he acknowledged Yasser Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian people.
That tears it — they're doomed, doomed!
Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, will play host for three-way talks next week in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba with Bush, Abbas, known also as Abu Mazen, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Bush hopes to get them started on a three-stage road designed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and set up a Palestinian state by 2005.
Or not, depending on the splodydopes.
In an interview Thursday, Bush said that during his visit to the Middle East, he will remind the Palestinian and Israeli leaders that he was the first U.S. president to publicly espouse the establishment of a Palestinian state. ``I am for two states, living side by side, in peace,'' he said. Bush also noted that he has consistently said that the Israelis are going to have to deal with the settlement issue.
Right after the Paleos deal with the right of return.
Ambassador Kawar, speaking before the Israel Policy Forum, a self-described pro-peace group of American Jews, said ``there is a real power struggle'' under way within the Palestinian movement. ``We are worried Abu Mazen doesn't have support from the Palestinians,'' he said. ``It is very important to give the new prime minister the support he needs to fight terrorism.''
He's not going to fight terrorism, he's going to give the Paleos some good PR until the Hamas guys get tired of playing around.
Calling on Israel to help, Kawar said lifting curfews and roadblocks on Palestinians, freezing construction of homes for Jews on the West Bank and halting the demolition of Palestinians' homes were crucial in supporting Abbas.
Also crucial for letting splodydopes through.
Edward S. Walker, a former assistant secretary of state and U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt, agreed that helping Abbas was essential. ``The bottom line is going to be how much support Mazen gets from us, from Israel and the Arab countries,'' said Walker, who is now president of the Middle East Institute. ``One thing is absolutely clear. Arafat can't deliver. He hasn't got the president and he hasn't got the Israelis,'' Walker said in an interview. ``The only person who can deliver is Mazen.''
They're doomed.
Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said at the White House that the president was going to ``look the leaders of the Israelis in the eye and look the leaders of the Palestinians in the eye and say to them, 'You must make progress, you must implement the road map, you must carry out your concrete obligations.''' The Palestinians must improve security and Israel must provide humane treatment to the Palestinians not wearing bomb vests, he said. ``This is serious work.'' On Wednesday, trying to lower expectations, Condoleezza Rice said, ``This is going to be a long process, and it is going to have its ups and downs as it always has.'' Similarly, ambassador Kawar said Thursday, ``We need to manage the expectations. This conflict is not going to be resolved in this meeting. Peace cannot be imposed; peace has to be negotiated.''
Both sides have to want it first.
Turning to one of the most difficult issues in the conflict, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians claiming a right to live in Israel, Kawar proposed a solution. Most of them should receive compensation, with a donors conference held to attract worldwide contributions, and a small number, perhaps 20,000 whose families live in Israel, should be permitted to live there, he said.
That will never fly: the Paleos will consider it an abandonment of what they've fought for and the Israelis will consider it the end of Israel. Paleos don't want to live in Israel, they want to live in Palestine.
The Palestinians claim they were forced to leave during Israel's 1948 war for independence or that they are descendants of Palestinians who fled.
I'm a descendant of (among others) French, Brit and Scot people who fled to the U.S. Does that give me a claim in Europe?
Barring a major disruption in the volatile region, Bush will meet in Egypt on Tuesday with President Hosni Mubarak, the leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and with Abbas. Then, on Wednesday, Bush is to meet with Sharon and Abbas, in Jordan. It is a high-stakes gamble by the president, who had been roundly criticized in Europe and the Arab world for not moving quickly into the Mideast morass and is now jumping in with both feet.
Remember what happened to Poppy.
Remember what happened to James A. Garfield. I have a bad feeling about this...
Posted by: Steve White || 05/30/2003 12:08 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Financial compensation is a perfectly good option, given that it worked so handsomely in getting palestinian moral support for Saddam. However, I agree it won't work in this case, since the Palestinian beef isn't the loss of the homes or land, but that the Joooooos will be their neighbors.

I won't make my final decision on Dubya until, say, October 1 of next year, so there's plenty of time for him to pull off one of his "Defining Moment" stunts that Steven Den Beste has noted he's prone to do. The fact that Abbas is seen as the key player, not Arafat, is something of a sea change that Bush started.

Sharon, I think, is deciding to take one of the most daring steps of his political career that is sure to doom it, in order to ensure the continued existence of Israel: He's letting down the nation's guard and is going to allow a terrible atrocity to take place against his people so that Dubya has the pretext he needs for that "Defining Moment". Know for sure that when that happens, the left and the Euros are going to make the accusation that the Israels caused it because they knew it would happen if they did what they, the left and the Euros, wanted them to do to show their "good will".
Posted by: Ptah || 05/30/2003 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's face it. There's going to have to be a bunch of dead guys before the Paleo side is ready to negotiate a settlement.

Our money is now on Abbas, not Arafat. Hamas is discovering that being a leader in their organization causes a fatal disease, lead poisoning. There is a tiny change here that may or may not be exploitable.

Abbas needs to decide that it's time for Arafat to be a martyr to the cause, before Arafat makes a similar decision.
Posted by: Chuck || 05/30/2003 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3 
Paleos don't want to live in Israel, they want to live in Palestine.

No.
They want the destruction of Israel and to drive all Jews into the sea (kill them).
You can't negotiate with these murderers.
Anyway, they have a state.
It's called Jordan.
Posted by: Celissa || 05/30/2003 19:01 Comments || Top||

#4  I do not believe there will ever be a lasting peace in the Mideast. There never has been. The best that can be hoped for is managable tension and workable logistics. Nor do I believe that Israel should allow Paleos back in to what is now Israel. Do you honestly think Israel would grant them full franchise? Heck, christians can't even get that now in Israel. Israel wants a jewish state. The salient fact is, they're gonna have it. What should be sought is an entirely new homeland for the Pals. Lebanon, Jordan, heck - Iraq, for crying out loud. What the rest of the civilized world needs to do is make it worthwhile for the host nation. That means money. Ideological crusades look a lot less attractive when you have a stake down and your family is fed. I don't think the occupied territories can support the whole Pal population. (The Gaza is ugly anyway)Revive the fertile crescent. Make it sort of a Fhlostan Paradise. Relocate Joe Ali Schmuck there.
Posted by: Scott || 05/30/2003 19:03 Comments || Top||



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Fri 2003-05-30
  Car Bomb Blast Kills Two People in Spain
Thu 2003-05-29
  Guy named Greg, passengers, thump would-be hijacker
Wed 2003-05-28
  Alleged Casablanca Mastermind Caught, Dies
Tue 2003-05-27
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Mon 2003-05-26
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Sun 2003-05-25
  Morocco arrests 3 over Casablanca blasts
Sat 2003-05-24
  14 Russian troops killed in Chechen attacks
Fri 2003-05-23
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Thu 2003-05-22
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Wed 2003-05-21
  Saudi Suspects Accused of Plotting Hijack
Tue 2003-05-20
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Mon 2003-05-19
  Fifth Paleoboom in three days
Sun 2003-05-18
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Sat 2003-05-17
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