A Newark, Del., teenager is recovering from a gunshot wound and facing felony charges after police say his attempt at a home invasion went awry. New Castle County police say Jonathan Rodriguez, 17, and two others were allegedly breaking into a Wilmington home Sunday when Rodriguez accidentally shot himself in the groin. Rodriguez was arrested after undergoing emergency surgery at Christiana Hospital. Another suspect was arrested outside the hospital, and a third was taken into custody later. Police say Rodriguez's injuries don't appear to be life-threatening.
Important safety tip here: when you go to burgle somebody's house, and you stick your rod in the waistband of your pants, put the damned safety on!
If you don't, remember to retrieve all that's left of your doinker after you blow it off. Put it in a baggy with some ice, and repair to the nearest hospital.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 16:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sounds like he might be up for a Darwin for that one. Depends on exactly what damage was done, of course.
#2
Good. Hopefully he won't be able to breed and pass his ignorant genes onto the next generation.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/21/2003 17:32 Comments ||
Top||
#3
In his case that sounds like it could be a brain injury
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 18:51 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I cut off a finger back when I was a kid - and we put it in ice and approx 1.5 hrs later they sewed it back on. But about 1/2 inch "died". Kind of a stumpy-looking thing, now.
Picture this - then think about Mr Asshat in the story.
So, uh, is this guy looking at a Bobbit-style transplant, or what? Mebbe he'll become famous and make a porno! (snicker)
Follows up yesterday's story...
US-led troops in Afghanistan have killed up to 24 Afghan fighters who attacked a coalition convoy in southern Afghanistan overnight, the US military says. The exchange happened near the town of Spin Boldak on the Pakistani border. A statement said coalition forces engaged the attackers, killing approximately five of them. It said up to 19 more fighters were killed as AH-64 Apache helicopters were called in as air support to raid the surrounding hills. No coalition casualties were reported. Earlier, a local Afghan commissioner told the BBC that a group of about 100 fighters suspected to be loyal to Afghanistanâs former rulers, the Taleban, crossed the border from Pakistan on Saturday night. The commissioner, Fazluddin Agha, said five were captured. If confirmed, the fighting would be the bloodiest in Afghanistan since June, when government forces reported killing 40 suspected Taleban fighters in the Spin Boldak area. The attack happened near a US base in the town, the US statement from Bagram Air Base said. "The coalition forces drove through the kill zone, requested close air support and engaged the enemy forces, killing approximately five enemy and pursuing the remaining forces into the surrounding hills," it said. "AH-64 Apaches provided the air support, making several passes on the hill, killing approximately 17-19 more enemy," the statement added. Good work, guys. Keep it up.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 9:05:20 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
UPDATE: Attackers fired on U.S. and Afghan troops surveying the scene of a weekend battle in southern Afghanistan in which some two dozen insurgents were killed, the U.S. military said Monday. No casualties were reported in the incident Sunday in Spinboldak, a town on the Pakistan border in Kandahar province, said U.S. Col. Rodney Davis, a spokesman for coalition forces. "The special operations forces pursued the enemy, who broke contact," Davis said.
"Run away!" The joint patrol was assessing the scene of a battle on Saturday in Spinboldak in which U.S. forces, backed by helicopter gunships, killed up to 24 suspected Taliban insurgents after their convoy came under attack. The patrol found discarded clothing, shoes, equipment and used ammunition. Afghan forces searching a nearby village found a weapons cache in several buildings that included mines, machine gun ammunition, 82 mm mortar rounds and 300 yards of detonation cord, Davis said. Five people were detained by the Afghans and handed over to coalition forces, he said, giving no other details.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 10:42 Comments ||
Top||
#2
also today, Dostum of all people presents a plan for disarming militias.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2003 11:24 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Nice cache find as well. It gives me great satisfaction to hear that 24 ummmm...not-afghans (?) got their 72 raisins. I know we don't wanna do the body-count thing in Iraq, but it would be good to hear how many ummmm... not-iraqis are getting their raisins every time we also hear about one of our guys getting a shot to the neck
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 11:31 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Oh my god!! Heaven forbid, we actually killed one of those little darlings of the Taliban. I wonder if we should notify Amnesty International so they can write another meaningless and thoroughly slanted piece of yellow journalism about American Imperialism???
I can almost feel the sky getting bluer.
Saudi Arabia said it will use its regional and international influence to work for the establishment of world peace and security and will strongly support efforts aimed at bringing peace to areas of conflict in the world. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd gave these assurances at the weekly session of the Saudi Council of Ministers, which met here. The king said Saudi Arabia would back all efforts aimed at enabling the people of the world to live a decent and stable life. Well, thatâs a load off my mind. We no longer have to worry about all those Wahhabi institutions all over the world that the Saudi entity funds or all the money the Saudis have given to Bin Laden or other terrorists or all the overheated "pigs and monkeys" rhetoric coming out of Saudi entity mosques. What a relief!
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
07/21/2003 8:06:20 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Are they going to tell all of those drooling madmen writing Fatwahs and screaming for Jihads against us to chill out?
When they drag one of those blithering idiot Imans out in the town square and shoot him, I'll believe it.
Just another piece in the Saudi PR campaign.
Only a newman from CBS should believe this crap.
#2
Fred - Given the pronunciation, fah-HAD, we all called him fathead.
"The king said Saudi Arabia would back all efforts aimed at enabling the people of the world to live a decent and stable life."
Right. As good little Izzoids. Izbots. Right. Hey, no crowding there, get in line! Everyone will get their lobotomy, just be patient!
This is about the biggest load ever on Rantburg. Nudges out the Faisal thing about not offering Saoodi "troops" for operations in Iraq. Same level of total insanity.
Yemeni authorities investigated the disappearance of $650,000 from the safe of the Iraqi embassy in the the capital of Sanaa, it was reported Monday. The weekly magazine al-Naas quoted sources as saying at least three embassy employees were interrogated by security forces. "Ali, weâre having some employees of the Iraqi embassy over for an interrogation. Break out the good truncheons."
No charges had been filed but it was apparent the theft was carried out by people inside the embassy, the sources said. Ya think?
A team from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry arrived in Sanaa to help in the investigation. "Hello, I"m Agent, er, Undersecretary Smith from the new Iraqi Foreign Ministry."
"Funny, you donât look Iraqi."
"Iâm from the Langley branch of the Ministry."
A similar theft occurred at the Iraqi embassy in Beijing. Check with the Ambassador, heâs the one holded up with the guns.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 12:40:34 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Seems like a lot of cash to have on hand,it would also seem that the number of people with the combination to the safe would be limited.
Where did they keep it in a shoe box?
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it had arrested a group of militants planning "terrorist attacks" against Saudi targets and seized large amounts of arms and explosives. Saudi television, quoting an Interior Ministry official, said: "A terrorist cell of 16 people was uncovered and arrested. Security forces were able to foil a terrorist plot planned against vital Saudi installations and targets." It said Saudi security forces were chasing other militants linked to the cell, but gave no details of what the targets were. The television showed arms, including rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and large amounts of chemicals it said could be used to make explosives. "A number of bags filled with more than 20 tons of chemical substances to make explosives were found hidden underground," the television said. 20 tons? Thatâs one hell of a cache.
The television said the chemicals and weapons were found in the capital Riyadh, in the countryâs eastern province and in a province north of Riyadh. A little too close to home for the princes.
The footage also showed automatic rifles, weapons, binoculars, mobile phones, surveillance cameras, bullet-proof vests, passports for several nationalities, forged identity cards, cars, motorcycles, audio tapes, computers as well as cash boxes to collect donations. "cash boxes to collect donations" - been looking in mosques again, have we?
Western sources in Saudi Arabia say authorities are providing unprecedented security cooperation in tackling Saudi-based al Qaeda elements and those who helped finance the group, blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. Iâll believe they are helping when we see heads roll.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 9:30:52 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
20 tons of exposives ?!! In downtown Riyadh ?!!
Oh, how I would dearly love a "work accident"....
Posted by: Carl in NH ||
07/21/2003 10:00 Comments ||
Top||
#2
how many bags and how big of a hole in the ground would they have to hold 20 tons? Yikes!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 11:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Riyadh, that frontline position on the ALLOUT war on terrorism. Prince Bandar "the world wonders" who is teaching the faithful in your paradise?
#5
The biggest blast I ever made with one load in one spot was 20,000 lb (10 tons) of soupy 60% dynamite in a gravel pit to get rid of it quickly. It made a hole about 30 ft dia x 12 ft deep, and that was just with boxes piled on top of the ground. Made a righteous mushroom cloud of dust that was seen 17 miles away in a village. They thought that an atomic bomb had gone off. We laced the whole thing in primacord and used 4 cap and fuses 'cause we were not going back for hang fires! The shock wave was awesome. MOAB Junior. Glad the Saudis got 20 tons out of circulation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 14:41 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Details coming in: The Saudi authorities defused "terrorist" operations which were about to be carried out against vital installations and arrested a number of suspects, after searching their hide-outs in farms and homes in the regions of Riyadh, Qaseem and the Eastern Province, an official source at the Ministry of Interior announced Monday.
"Those farms and houses included under ground warehouses that contained a number of bags, weighed 20 tons and 76 kilograms, full of chemical mixtures designed to make explosives," the source added, according to SPA. "The authorities found also a large amount of big boxes, buried under the ground, that contained arms. The boxes contained 72 kilograms of an explosive material of RDX, explosive match cord of 981 meters long, 524 electric sparks, a number of machine guns and 18 RPG's with five launchers," the source disclosed. The source said that they found in those sites night vision binoculars, sewing machines for sewing the bags, communication devices, computer C.D's, donation collection boxes, SR 300,000, motorbikes and cars prepared to carry out terrorist operations.
According to the report, the number of persons, who were arrested amounted to 16. "The Ministry of Interior is exerting all efforts "strictly" to defuse and arrest all terrorist cells and all those who would contribute and finance them and cover them," the source concluded.
Looks the the 20 tons was a total of all the sites raided, not one big cache.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 15:09 Comments ||
Top||
#7
20 Tons???
My goodness, ole Abdul has been a busy boy.
I'd like to see them take these guys to the aquarium and feed them to sharks....and then have the Saudi national soccer team play a quick match with their heads.
When I see the head of one of these Wafdist miscreats as a hood ornament on the Crown Prince's Bentley, I'll take those Saudi dilitantes seriously, but until then, it is all a really big show for american television.
Former Ugandan leader Idi Amin - whose 1971 to 1979 regime was one of the bloodiest in African history - reportedly remains in a coma after three days on a life support machine. A hospital official told the Associated Press news agency that his condition had deteriorated on Monday after stabilising on Sunday. "He is still alive. But he remains in critical condition in the intensive care unit" at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, one of Saudi Arabiaâs top medical centres, another medical source at the hospital was quoted as saying by local newspaper Arab News. Hurry up and die already.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 8:38:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Idi, I'm sure they reserved a special room down here where it is real warm.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
07/21/2003 8:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Looks like the syphillis has finally completely eaten his brain. Buh-bye, Idi.
#4
Looks like the original source (Simba Radio) has pulled the story. In the one they've got up now he's still in a coma.
Looking forward to running his obituary any time now, though...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2003 11:27 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I remember when Idi was the face of modern progressive African politics. What an ass. You know, he should have exiled himself to Cuba due to that country's excellent medical care. Hey if you missed it, Armstrong made like an angel today.
#6
"In other news, there is no change in Idi Amin's condition . . . he is still dead."
Posted by: Mike ||
07/21/2003 12:34 Comments ||
Top||
#7
"hospital official told the Associated Press news agency that his condition had deteriorated"
You mean he's worse than dead? Oh, no! You mean the corpse is shuffling around, alternately gnawing on people's skulls and moaning "Brains...brains...mmmmm..."?
Ms Madina Amin yesterday said that her husband is ailing because of advanced age and overweight. She said that Mr Idi Amin Dada, 80, who was yesterday still in coma, weighs about 220 kilogrammes.
âAt his age and then the fact that he is overweight there is little hope that he will fully recover. Salongo is so overweight that am sure it is part of the problem,â Madina told The Monitor yesterday as she prepared to travel to Saudi Arabia to attend her husband.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2003 19:18 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Jeebus Fred! that's 484 lbs. What'ya wanna bet he was, like, 5'6" tall too? a big ol' bowling ball....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 23:36 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Mr Idi Amin Dada, 80, who was yesterday still in coma, weighs about 220 kilogrammes.
But it was all muscle!
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/21/2003 23:43 Comments ||
Top||
#12
...well, don't forget that Fransisco Franco is STILL dead after 27 years. Idi's got a LONG way to go for that record.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/22/2003 2:57 Comments ||
Top||
A SOPHISTICATED internet sting has provided fresh evidence linking Abu Hamza to terror camps. Hamza is said to have been so convinced by a British undercover investigator posing as an extremist website operator that he allegedly sent him several secret propaganda films designed to attract new recruits. The videos were used to convince British Muslims to undergo jihad training at camps in Afghanistan and Bosnia. The tapes and e-mails were obtained by Glen Jenvey, a 38-year-old freelance counterintelligence investigator from Wiltshire, over a period of more than a year. As the evidence flowed in, Jenvey forwarded it to the FBI, which is now building a case to extradite Hamza to America.
Thank you, Times, for publishing his name and location. I hope his survivors sue your ass off...
Last week Scotland Yard confirmed that anti-terrorist branch officers had taken a statement from Jenvey and sent a copy to the FBI. The evidence is being marshalled by US government prosecutors in New York, where Hamza is part of a grand jury investigation into a plot to provide weapons training to American mujaheddin on a cattle ranch in Bly, Oregon. If the grand jury charges Hamza with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, which carries a 25-year jail sentence, sources close to the case say they will press for his extradition to America.
I'd guess that the grand jury's going to indict him, unless the DA's been dropped on his head...
According to statements given to the anti-terrorist branch in March, Jenvey set up an internet site called islamic-news.co.uk in 2002 using the fictitious name Pervez Khan. He published news items on the site from Kashmiri extremist groups and other hardline Islamic propaganda. Once established, he sent the material to Hamzaâs website — supportersofshariah.org, which is now shut down. âHe was so pleased with this he decided to put a link to my site from his site. That was his first big mistake,â said Jenvey last week. As a consequence, Jenvey was able to monitor everyone who logged on to Hamzaâs website, a facility he passed on to the FBI so that it could also monitor Hamzaâs activities.
Being a dope, I'd only know how to monitor everyone who clicked through. But go on...
He then decided to take the operation a step further. âBy now I was getting close to Hamza. He trusted me,â said Jenvey. âWe had been e-mailing each other a lot and I had been passing the e-mails to the FBI. We also started to speak on the phone. âI started to suggest I could help him recruit people for his jihad. He became very excited by this. He would burble prayers down the phone in an almost demented fashion. I thought he must be a bit mad.
"A bit." That's British understatement, y'know...
âHe said he would send me some material to help me win supporters and prepare them for jihad. He said he had some special tapes but that they were somewhere secret and he did not keep them in the mosque. He said they would be sent to me.â Less than a month later a package arrived at Jenveyâs home. Inside were 20 audio tapes. A second package arrived a week later with six two-hour video tapes. Jenvey was shocked by what he saw. One tape starts by showing a training camp in Bosnia and scenes of urban combat training. Jihad anthems play in the background and a voice in English says: âMake ready to continue to terrorise the enemy of Allah.â
Ummm... Has anyone sought out those training camps in Bosnia, by chance?
The tape later cuts to Hamza speaking to a private audience in London about âso-calledâ suicide bombers. He appears to use the Koran to justify the tactic. âIt is to inflict suffering, it is in the time, in the methodology of suicide, it is there and at its peak,â says Hamza. In another tape, three British volunteers are interviewed in Bosnia about their experiences. All three urge Muslims at home to undergo jihad training and criticise those who are content to merely donate money or lend moral support. The first volunteer identifies himself as being from north London. He says he is a third-year medical student at Birmingham University. Hiding his face behind a black scarf, he holds an assault rifle aloft as he speaks to the camera and talks about the satisfaction of seeing âhundreds of dead bodiesâ in Bosnia. Another tape opens with scenes of what appears to be a massacre of Serbian civilians in a village in Bosnia. The camera roves around the scene, focusing on corpses that litter the ground. Some of the bodies are being taken away on stretchers by distraught relatives. A jihad anthem plays in the background. Another tape, allegedly provided by Hamza, is a documentary in Arabic about the building of the World Trade Center in New York and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. It was made prior to September 11. Jenvey continued to monitor Hamzaâs website. In April this year he noticed a film showing Russian soldiers being blown up by Chechnyan terrorists. The rest off the film was available through a link from Hamzaâs website. It showed training with live ammunition at a camp in Afghanistan and appears to be an exercise for would-be assassins. Some of the target images projected on to a screen are of western politicians.
And this is from a "freelance counterintelligence investigator." If the pros don't have much more and better than this, we're all wasting our tax dollars — and we're going to lose the WOT...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 12:43 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Nah. Freelancers like this is why we'll win the WOT: can you imagine any Pak citizen doing something like this? And if he did, what would happen to him?
We have 290 million people; excluding Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin and the Ditzy Chicks (okay, a few others) we have plenty of intellectual and moral horsepower outside the government that will come up with ways to help. There's something the Islamists will never have.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/21/2003 14:45 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Glen Jenvey was luckey he did not get a package bomb instead of a box of videotape. Better watch your six from now on, Glen. Though your effort is much appreciated.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 14:49 Comments ||
Top||
#3
please help complain about abu hamza. write to british embassy.yes i can monitor anyone who says anything about my sites.hamza will soon find out...
#5
wasn't this guy the bastard who went on tv after 9-11 whinning that he was be denied his rights and due process because he is muslim? anyone who supports killers does not desreve due process. if i were to kill someone or help facilitate the killing of someone my rights would also be taken away!
Posted by: Dan ||
07/21/2003 19:15 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Hook Boy
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 19:52 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The way to monitor everyone is to get him to post an image link to your site. Then everyone who goes to the page with that image will fetch it from your site. Instant tracking - also known as a web bug when the image is too small to be seen. This can also be used in HTML email.
Posted by: John Moore (Useful Fools) ||
07/21/2003 23:42 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Yikes, I had this site bookmarked and was monitoring it for quite some time. SOS of course. Overjoyed they have been shut down. Also noticed at least one of their sister sites down also.
The first phase of the Australian-led mission to restore law and order in the Solomon Islands is underway, with HMAS Manoora departing Townsville this afternoon. The ship will arrive in the Solomons at the same time as Australian Federal Police officers who will fly out on Thursday as part of the multinational mission to restore law and order. Commander Martin Brooker says the crew will play a key support role in the operation. "The Manoora's got a lot of capabilities and our primary role over there is going to be logistic support to the police forces and military elements that are there, to support them on the ground," he said.
Personnel have spent today loading police and military vehicles and equipment. "It's about being prepared and right to go once the formal decision is made," Commander Brooker said. "Manoora is a key part of the logistic support, as evidenced today by the embarkation of police vehicles and stores to enable them to perform the important work once the formal approval is given." The Federal Government is expected to give the official go-ahead for the operation at a Cabinet meeting tomorrow. The intervention force will include Australian soldiers and Australian Federal Police alongside New Zealand and Fijian military personnel.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 09:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Anglos stepping up again. If not them, who dares?
Australiaâs government refused to release information on a terror suspect held by the United States for fear of harming relations with Washington, the defense minister said Monday. The Australian newspaper filed a Freedom of Information request with the government for details on the legality of David Hicksâ detention but was denied. Hicks, 27, was allegedly captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been imprisoned without charge at Guantanamo Bay for 18 months. Defense Minister Robert Hill said the government can refuse a Freedom of Information request if it could harm Australiaâs relationship with a foreign government. ``As I understand it, thatâs one of the reasons why the application has been declined,ââ Hill told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. Australia has been one of Washingtonâs closest allies since long before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, sending troops to the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Australian officials have said they are satisfied with the legal process followed by the U.S. military in regard to Hicks and a second Australian — Mamdouh Habib, 46 — arrested last year in Pakistan for allegedly training with al-Qaida and also held at the U.S. base in Cuba. However, the government is under pressure from opposition parties, church and human rights groups to lodge a stronger protest with Washington. The United States agreed last week to temporarily suspend legal action against Hicks and two British citizens held at Guantanamo Bay. The three were among six men set to face military tribunals as ``enemy combatantsââ against the United States. Brit trials will move forward soon. Wonder if Hicks will follow shortly thereafter?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/21/2003 12:52:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
All these phony human rights groups like to focus on is our treatment of prisoners at Gitmo. Not a bloody peep is heard on behalf of the victims of terrorism. Terrorists do not subscribe to the Geneva Convention, so they are not covered by it. These groups need to be told FOAD and they need to be told in Voice of America Special English that they are phonies and hypocrates, and that they are aiding and abetting terrorists. Like Frank G sez in a recent post that we need to see more video of the horrors of 9-11 so we all remember. That was a free intro into what could really happen to alot more of us if we let the Gitmo Guys loose.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 2:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
You know what I'd do? Release Hicks into the custody of Australian authorities and have him taken home just to see if those "opposition parties, church and human rights groups" in Oz try to absolve the creep of any responsibility for his actions.
#3
Those people are already doing that. Don't release Hicks to us - he cannot be charged under any Australian law that was in force at the time he was captured and those who are calling for him to be tried in Australia know this. Keep the creep! Unfortunately he has aleady managed to breed.
Posted by: Aussie Mike ||
07/21/2003 17:58 Comments ||
Top||
#4
He wanted Australian law, he bloody well should have stayed in Australia. Ditto for the 2 from Britain.
EFL
A German court said Monday it had approved the extradition to the United States of two Yemeni citizens suspected of links to the al Qaeda network who were arrested in Frankfurt in January on a U.S. request. The men are Yemeni Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Mouyad and his assistant, Mohammed Moshen Yahya Zayed. U.S. authorities accuse the two of being al Qaeda supporters, but have not linked them directly with the September 11, 2001 hijacked airliner attacks on the United States. U.S. officials accuse Sheikh Mohammed, a preacher at Al Ihsan Mosque, one of the main mosques in Yemenâs capital, Sanaa, of being a significant fund-raiser for al Qaeda but not a financial official for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. I guess that means heâs lower on the food chain.
The Frankfurt court said in a statement the two men were suspected of membership of a "terrorist organization" and said one of the two was suspected of helping finance al Qaeda and the extremist wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, contributing to festive send-offs for suicide bombers. Both men belong to Yemenâs Islamic opposition Islah party, whose members have denounced the arrests and said the pair had no connection to al Qaeda. Sheikh Mohammedâs son has said the cleric went to Germany for medical treatment and denied he had any links to terrorist groups. Heâs a preacher in a Yemeni mosque, I think membership in a terrorist group is part of the job description.
The Frankfurt court said the United States had guaranteed that the men would not be tried by a military or any other extraordinary court and said the German government had to make a final decision on extradition. A normal federal court will do just fine.
German law does not allow the extradition of suspects if they could face the death penalty in the state they are extradited to, but the court approved extradition in this case. If heâs only charged with fund raising, he wouldnât be up for the death penalty anyway.
"The international community must be able to use extraordinary, cross-border investigative measures to fight serious crimes of globally organized terrorist organizations," the court statement said. The court said the accused could appeal against the decision on the basis of new information or appeal to Germanyâs highest court, the Constitutional Court. Thanks are on hold till they are handed over.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 9:46:22 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
What's with the "quotes", Beebs?
A man claiming to represent Corsican separatists has admitted responsibility for two bomb attacks in Nice and another in Corsica. The Nice attacks, early on Sunday, targeted public buildings, injuring 16 people. The Corsica blast came later in the day at a warehouse near Bastia airport. The attacks appear to confirm fears that an upsurge in separatist violence might follow the rejection of limited autonomy for the Mediterranean island in a referendum held earlier this month. The caller claimed to represent the banned FLNC (Corsican National Liberation Front) which has officially been observing a truce for the past seven months. Tension on the island has been increased by the arrest of militant suspect Yvan Colonna and the jailing of eight men for the murder of Corsicaâs prefect in 1998. French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy attacked the "mafia-style" path the bombers were taking. Corsicans can give the mafia lessons on terror.
"The perpetrators will be tracked down...and they will be punished," Mr Sarkozy said. Militant separatists have been campaigning for three decades to break away from France. One of their main tactics has been the bombing of holiday homes owned by non-Corsicans. Another villa, owned by people from mainland France, was bombed late on Sunday, police say. The Nice attacks targeted the treasury and customs buildings.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 8:54:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Will France give the same due dilligence to this problem as they did to Saddam and his butchers?
Yeah right.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
07/21/2003 8:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'm pretty sure I saw Saddam running with bulls in Pamplona last night on OLN. He was moving pretty good too. Looked like red wine all down his white shirt.
Two grenade blasts by suspected Islamic guerrillas on route to one of the most revered Hindu shrines in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed seven pilgrims and wounded 25 others Monday, police said. The explosions occurred at a community kitchen on the route where thousands of people were making the steep climb to the mountaintop shrine of Vaishno Devi, near Katra town, police said. ``This is the work of militants,ââ Inspector-General P.L. Gupta, the head of police force in the Jammu region, told The Associated Press. Itâs deep thinking like that that got him the top job.
Swami Chinmayananda, Indiaâs junior interior minister, blamed Pakistan for the blasts.
``Pakistan is behind this. We do not know yet if it is the ISI (Pakistani intelligence agency) or the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (outlawed militant group), but some forces of this kind are behind it,ââ he told the private NDTV India television channel.
``It has become a tradition that whenever relations are improving between India and Pakistan, things like this take place,ââ Chinmayananda told the private Aaj Tak channel. ``This has been done to wreck religious harmony between Hindus and Muslims.ââ More deep thinking.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 2:22:31 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Tissues are over there. You'll probably need three or four...
Family members of Adil Al-JAZEERI, an alleged Al-Qaeda operative, have denied his links with terrorist outfits and have requested the US government to release him. The father-in-law and wife of Al Jazeeri told Dawn that he was innocent and had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. "After the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan, he returned to Pakistan and was in hiding since then," said Sufi Hameed Khan, father-in-law of Al Jazeeri.
"Really! He's pure as the driven snow!"
Recent reports suggested that Adil Al Jazeeri, arrested by the agencies on July 16, had been shifted to Afghanistan four days ago after being handed over to the US government. Three of five daughters of Sufi Hameed are married to Arabs.
Sufi Hameed wants to maintain strong links with the Master Race...
One of his son-in-law, Mustapha, belonging to Algeria, was arrested last year from Hameed's residence in Regi village northwest of Peshawar.
So obviously the coppers are just picking on his family for no reason...
"Where is my father," asked Somiya, six-year-old daughter of Al Jazeri. She said that she missed her father and was waiting for his return.
How could you resist a face like that? Oh, let him go!
His other daughters — Hajira of 4 and Asma of 2 — were in the lap of their mother, Riazat Bibi, who claimed that her daughters missed their father. "As Somiya now understands things, she often ask about her father."
"Oh, where is my Daddy? I miss my Daddy!"
Sufi Hameed, a prayer leader in a small mosque in Regi, said that they were passing through a critical phase. He questioned; "who is going to feed these small girls as I am a poor man."
"Yes. They'll starve without their Daddy and those mean Merkins hauled him away!"
Bibi Riazat claimed that her husband was not involved in any objectionable activity.
"Certainly not! He's a paragon of virtue!"
Her father, an old man with a white beard, said that Al Jazeeri came to Afghanistan in aid of his Afghan brothers in their fight against the Russians. later on, he said he returned back to Pakistan and seven years back he arranged marriage of her daughter with him.
"Yep. The minute he saw her burka, he fell in love with her..."
During government of Taliban, he added, Al Jazeri shifted to Afghanistan with his family as the Taliban paid respect to Arabs.
"Ah, yes. He was a big shot then! The natives used to bow and scrape when he walked by..."
However, he had to flee Afghanistan after the fall of Taliban's government there in 2001.
"Cheese it! It's the infidels!"
Sufi Hameed believed that his son-in-law had been illegally shifted from Pakistan, adding that no human rights organisation was capable of helping him against the Americans, who he said were powerful people who did not care for innocence of people.
"They pick on me so!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 10:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
After the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan, he returned to Pakistan and was in hiding since then," said Sufi Hameed Khan, father-in-law of Al Jazeeri.
Now why would someone go into hiding once the Taliban were finished off? Something to hide perhaps? Hmmm???
#2
What I'd like to ask Mr Sufi is, can you dance when your a Taliband? I know us Souhern Babtists don't go for that sort of stuff. Its not in my DNA anyway. But Talibanies dancing a jig, is that cool. Flowing robes and glistening beards, the shreiks and gigles.
#3
It wudn't Adil, it was....it was...ummmm...Oh! Oh!...it was his EVIL TWIN! (See Ma! We told the mullah that watching all that "General Hospital" would come in handy!)
Hey Guys, sorry itâs been so long since Iâve sent anything but a quick note to you individually. However things have been pretty hectic since the end of hostilities and the start of the real war. Despite what the assholes in the press like to say over and over:
1. We did expect some armed resistance from the Baâath Party and Feydaheen;
2. It isnât any worse than expected;
3. Things are getting better each day, and
4. The morale of the troops is A-1, except for the normal bitching and griping.
My brief love affair with the press, especially the guys who had the cajones to be embedded with the troops during the fighting, is probably over, especially since we are back being criticized by the same Roland Headly types that used to hang around the Palestine Hotel drinking Baghdad Bobâs whiskey and parroting his ridiculous B.S. ...
Iâm no longer baby-sitting the pukes from CNN and the canned hams from the networks, but have a combat mission coordinating a bunch of A teams, seeking, finding and rooting out the mostly non-Iraqis that are well-armed, well-paid (in U.S. dollars) and always waiting to wail for the press and then shoot some GI in the back in the midst of a crowd.
The only reason the GIs are pissed (not demoralized) is that they cannot touch, must less waste, those taunting bags of gas that scream in their faces and riot on cue when they spot a camera man from ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN or NBC. If they did, then they know the next nightly news will be about how chaotic things are and how much the Iraqi people hate us.
Some do. But the vast majority donât and more and more see that the GIs donât start anything, are by-and-large friendly, and very compassionate, especially to kids and old people. I saw a bunch of 19 year-olds [deleted] not return fire coming from a mosque until they got a group of elderly civilians out of harmâs way. So did the Iraqis.
A bunch of bad guys used a group of women and children as human shields. The GIs surrounded them and negotiated their surrender fifteen hours later and when they discovered a three year-old girl had been injured by the big tough guys throwing her down a flight of stairs, the GIs called in a MedVac helicopter to take her and her mother to the nearest field hospital. The Iraqis watched it all, and there hasnât been a problem in that neighborhood since. How many such stories, and there are hundreds of them, ever get reported in the fair and balanced press? You know, nada. ...
The place is still a mess but most of it has been for years. But the Hospitals are open and are in the process of being brought into the 21st Century. The MOs and visiting surgeons from home are teaching their docs new techniques and One American pharmaceutical company (you know, the kind that all the hippies like to scream about as greedy) donated enough medicine to stock 45 hospital pharmacies for a year.
Safe water is more available. Electricity has been restored to pre-war levels but saboteurs keep cutting the lines. And The old Baâath big shots are upset because they canât get fuel for their private generators. One actually complained to General McKeirnan, who told him it was a rough world. ...
Our search and destroy missions are largely at night, free of reporters and generally terrifying to those brave warriors of Allah.
The only thing that frightens them more is hearing the word "Gitmo". The word is out that a trip to Guantanimo Bay is not a Caribbean vacation and they usually start squealing like the little mice they are, when an interrogator mentions "Gitmo". ...
As the movie quoted old General Patton, "God help me, I love it." I do. Nothing more satisfying than working with the BEST damn soldiers in the world, flushing real human poop down the drain and giving some folks a chance at trying freedom for a change.
They may learn to like it and then my great-great-grandson wonât have to worry about some maniac trying to destroy the planet. ...
P.S. A couple of you asked me about Curly and his two sons, Dumb and Dumber. I still think we got him and one son, but the slugs may have gotten away. If they are alive, I canât believe they are hanging around here. Even Curly isnât that stupid ... then again. He might be in Syria or Lebanon. If he is, heâs too moronic to keep quiet, then weâll get him. I promise.
Go read it all!
Posted by: Dar ||
07/21/2003 2:25:58 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Add'l SF news from StrategyPage: July 21, 2003: The U.S. Army Special Forces is trying to expand their A-Teams from 12 to 14 men. The two new positions would specialize in sniping and controlling air strikes. Both jobs require the use of long range sensors (day/night sights). But thereâs a problem, in that the U.S. Air Force only wants its own personnel to call in air strikes. The air force also does not want to expand itâs air controller force to provide as many controllers as the Special Forces (and the rest of the Army) wants. The Special Operations Command will probably have to go right to the top (Secretary of Defense or President) to get the air force to loosen up on their air controller monopoly.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/21/2003 15:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Unless the Air Force attached their own SF to the teams for joint "training" they'll have to be forced. The head wing nuts really do believe that air power is the all powerful war winning weapon, even though it's been proven time and time again that it's not. (Quite the force multiplier, however, I must say.) (Us infantry guys love you Warthog and B-52 pilots!)
There's no "I" in "TEAM", but the delusional higher ups in the Air Force can only see the "m" and the "e".
Posted by: Paul ||
07/21/2003 15:50 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Drudge played many times last night the ABC report from last week in which the one Army guy said he would ask for Rumsfeld's resignation if Rummy were in the same room with the soldier. Others didn't care for Iraqis anymore, felt like they had been kicked in the gut since their departure has been set back a few times. Then I noticed the report was coming from guys in Fallujah. I guess if you're a GI in that place, then feeling depressed and unappreciated might be natural.
Eleanor Clift signed off on the McLaughlin show by stating how there would be a rising hue and cry from Americans on the mistake that Bush made to go into Iraq. The result? We will start withdrawing Americans in the face of the "quagmire". Her source? All the e-mails that the troops are sending home stating how much Iraq sucks and how it's a quagmire.
I remember Eleanor stating before the Nov mid-terms that once voters saw their 401K's reduced in value, they'd all vote to kick out the Repubs. from House and surely it all meant a larger majority for Dems in the senate. We know the result, so I'm not particularly worried re Iraq/troop morale if E Clift is harping on it.
But what about our guys? Are they really that bitter about staying in Iraq? I note the writer of the letter is Special Forces, not regular Army.
Does that make a difference? I was talking to my uncle over the weekend, and this guy was a Ranger, saw Morocco, somehow made it out of Anzio/Italian, southern France campaigns without being wounded. About 14 months of real heavy stuff. He understands the GI's feelings, but he says he had it alot worse than the guys do in Iraq. As a guy who's never served, I'm hesitant to start pointing fingers at guys whose lives are on the line, but who signed up nevertheless. How about it you vetrans? Are the stories of low morale something to be concerned about?
Posted by: Michael ||
07/21/2003 16:26 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Michael: Unless you've been there, you have no idea what a culture of complaint exists in the Army. (I can't vouch for the other services.) I recently completed a reserve tour in support of Operation Noble Eagle. I had absolutely forgotten what it was like. There is nothing that compares with it in the private sector. And don't think its just the privates. If you want to find out what mid-career officers and NCOs bitch about, go read Hackworth's site. And do you think that Barry McCafferty just came up with his complaints on his own? Ha! His general officer buddies call him and say, "I can't go public on this, but if you don't take this to the press, the mission is in danger!" And Barry goes on Meet the Press
I could go into a unit that had just had an all-expenses paid trip to a cat house, followed by four weeks of leave, and I can guarantee you that I could find ten privates and a couple of E-5/E-6's who would bad mouth their commander, the US Army, the food, and the Pope. Griping is just not an indicator of unit morale.
The primary statistics to look at are AWOL, desertion, and reenlistment rates. I call these the active stats since they reflect being pissed off enough to take action. The passive stats are STDs, petty disciplne violations, and drug use. These are cop outs rather than f*** you's and are less tightly correlated with poor morale.
When should you be worried as a citizen and a tax payer? If the NYT prints an article saying that AWOL rates have doubled since the start of the war, don't be alarmed. Since the adoption of an all-volunteer force, AWOL rates have dropped to lows unheard of for any military in history. If an article says rates have increased 500-1000%, then you might get worried.
#6
Great letter - gives the feel as well as the fact.
And written by a man who is thinking - not the incessant griping of weenies - that 11A5S describes so well. (I never got a cat-house TDY, shit!) This guy is aware - self, situationally, and the big picture. A Class Act.
Michael - You should be worried about their gullibility, not their morale. Those stupid schmoes told the reporter what he wanted to hear because they're just fucking kids foolishly "impressed" with the asshat who was fulfilling the assigned editorial agenda: Get me a story on bitching GI's. Reduced from soldiers to the lowest point in civilization: tools of the agenda trade.
I no longer subscribe to newspapers and, for the most part, don't read their sites except by linkage from a blog or story on NRO, TCS, etc. I am not alone, of course, and the "fall" of the establishment news organizations is far from over.
#8
I would really and trully give my left testacle to lead this bunch of kids in combat....not taking anything away from the draftees I led in Viet Nam but this generation of soldier is better trained, better motivated and more professional than anything I had at my disposal....
They are a great bunch of kids and true heroes, everyday they do more for our country than all of the scotch sipping media nebishes in New York.
I tip my hat to these young men, we should be danged proud of them and they are proof positive that given half a chance, maybe the next generation will undo the damage the SDS and closet Weathermen are now doing to our society.
SANAA, Yemen: Yemeni authorities investigated the disappearance of $650,000 from the safe of the Iraqi embassy in the the capital of Sanaa, it was reported Monday. The weekly magazine al-Naas quoted sources as saying at least three embassy employees were interrogated by security forces.
Sounds painful. Pray continue...
No charges had been filed but it was apparent the theft was carried out by crooks people inside the embassy, the sources said. A team from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry arrived in Sanaa to help in the investigation. A similar theft occurred at the Iraqi embassy in Beijing.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 12:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ah, Arabs. Doing what they do best. Not exactly the tomb of Ramses, but they steal whatever isn't nailed down work with what's available.
EFL
Captured Saddam Hussein loyalists in Iraq are proving adept at beating lie-detector tests, frustrating attempts to find banned weapons and to learn what happened to Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher. U.S. officials and military officers say trained interrogators in Baghdad have caught Iraqi Baâath Party loyalists lying while hooked up to the machine, which showed they were not being deceptive. Officials attribute the lying to many factors. They say it may have become part of the culture of Saddamâs regime to lie routinely. In other cases, the Iraqi intelligence service and Special Security Organization trained operators how to "beat" the machine. And there is the issue that polygraphs, which measure changes in heartbeat, respiration and perspiration, are simply not accurate. And then there is the other factor that they are too PC to mention. Islam sez itâs OK to lie to infidels.
In one incident, an Iraqi involved in a weapons program was shown two pictures. In one, officials cut his image out of a photo of workers at a weapons factory. He agreed that the cut-out image was of him. They then showed him the full photo, with his image restored. This time, he denied that he was in the photo. The polygraph did not catch him in this blatant lie. "Lies, all lies! Thatâs not me, in fact, Iâm not even here."
"Polygraphs are being used in the interrogation process with mixed results," a military officer in Iraq said. "Many of the suspects being interrogated were formerly part of the Baâath Party intelligence apparatus, so they would reasonably understand how the device works." Asked to comment, a defense official at the Pentagon said, "We do not discuss such matters of intelligence as a matter of policy." I had read someplace that polygraphs were of little use on someone who was raised in a culture where lying was no big deal. Anyone have info on that?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 12:17:40 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Milli and microvolt sensors should be traded in for kilovolt electrodes. Heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 12:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Psychopaths usually do quite well with lie detctors.
#3
I thought it was a proven fact that sociopaths can beat a polygraph with ease. Why waste the time? We need mustachioes and truncheons...and maybe the executioner from Blazing Saddles ("Never fear, all are equal in my eye!").
#5
Polygraphs measure the nervous system response to lying. They don't work on pathological liars or anyone else who lies as SOP.
I suppose a way to detect Ba'athists would be to put them in a position to lie and if there's no response, they're busted.
#6
Now's the time to bring in the ROK. I heard stories from guys in Vietnam about how they skillfully beat extracted information from the VC. I'm sure they'll beg for a free trip to GITMO in less than 5 minutes flat.
Posted by: Paul ||
07/21/2003 15:06 Comments ||
Top||
#7
There was a fairly acclaimed exchange between Ehud Barak/Benny Morris and Rob Malley/Hussein Agha in the New York Review of Books about the failure of Camp David. In the course of scoring Arafat for his outsized mendacity, Barak mentioned that polygraphs are ineffectual in Arab society because, not to put too fine a point on it, untruth is integral to Arab sociey. Barak was obviously mau-maued by his interlocutors, and I thought the charge was impolitic, but in light of this, I'll rethink.
Posted by: af ||
07/21/2003 15:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
af: Wow, this from the man who "sold out Israel"? I know we all don't like how he performed when Bill Clinton forced Camp David on him, but when we also consider his record prior to that ... Hero of Eretz Yisrael, anyone? (He has already recanted his premiership's dovishness.)
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
07/21/2003 16:55 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Need information? Give the prisoners to the Mossad.
There is a saying in Iraq of which many are proud. âEgypt writes, Lebanon prints and Iraq reads.â This is borne out in the sudden eruption of over 150 newspapers since the war ended. Papers are selling fast in Baghdad: on street corners, in shops and even in the middle of the road. Hassan Abook, 25, sells newspapers on the Al-Rubiyeh Street. He works from six in the morning to four in the afternoon. People buy from him all day. His most popular newspapers are Azzaman and Al-Sabah, although Al-Adala and Tarik Al-Shabe are also popular.
'Twasn't long ago that all they had was al-Thawra and Babil, which are presumably gone...
Despite the popularity of these newspapers, many readers distrust them. âAll the newspapers that are published in Iraq are liars,â said Akeel Najim Abid, 41, a computer assistant in a Baghdad bookshop and former pilot. âI read in Al-Sabah that Bremer will pay ex-pilots a salary of three months but I don't get anything â I read in other papers that they are calling all pilots up, but when I go I found that there is nothing. Just lies,â said Abid.
Don't believe everything you read in the papers. In Iraq, this applies doubly...
Ishmail Zahir, editor of Al-Sabah, puts this down to lack of training and free speech under the ex-regime. âWe inherited a media which had nothing to do with ethics or conduct. Media men were always officials â journalists don't know the value of facts here. Journalists are people who preach or extremists â the people in Iraq hate newspapers. They have a joke that newspapers are just for eating food off.â
We'd use them for wrapping fish. But go on...
Many papers are simply sensationalist, printing headlines to grab readers attentions, without printing the story. Others print rumors, hearsay and opinion. But Sheikh Ahmed Al-Qubeisi is a hopeful example of how Iraq is willing to monitor its own press. In edition 11 of Al-Saah, the paper owned by Qubeisi, a story was printed claiming American soldiers raped two girls in Al-Kut. Col. William Thurman, PR senior advisor to CPA, described the troops as âvery, very upsetâ to hear this news. But the report was found to be false, and a full apology made. Mohammad Ahmed Rajap was then appointed as a middle man between the party and the paper in order to ensure the reporting was responsible. Sitting in Sheikh Kubeisiâs office, he describes how the problems with false stories began. âA man named Adeep Shaban came to Sheikh Qubeisi, offering his services as a specialist in journalism. He had worked for Uday but wanted to start a new newspaper. More then a month after we started printing Adeep was arrested by the army, we don't know why, perhaps because he worked with Uday. The staff then began to write irresponsibly because there was no control over them,â he said. Although Kubeisi dismissed the staff responsible, this was not the end of Al-Saah's troubles. The journalists dismissed set up a rival Al-Saah, which can only be distinguished from the original by a small endorsement by Qubeisi at the top of the front page. The second Al-Saah are actually printing in a building owned by Kubeisi at the moment. âIf there was a government, I would sue the newspaper for the rights and the money. We gave them ID 27.5 million and they took it all.â The old staff eventually came back to Rajap and asked his forgiveness. He agreed that they could return if they followed his rules.
Slanderous statements about short-tempered men with guns can be a minus in the news business...
Zahir believes Al-Sabah has been so successful because he made sure from the start his journalists only reported on facts.
âWhen we began our work here, I said I wanted no opinions in my paper... Three or four weeks later we found that people were buying our paper. We are now number one in journalism.â But Zahir does face another hurdle â some readers see Al-Sabah as the mouthpiece of the Coalition Provisional Authority because they are funding the paper. Zahir is adamant that the CPA have no control over the content, but he is already planning to become independent.
That'd be an objective point against it, if that was the only paper available. When I lived in the Far East, Stars and Stripes was my usual news source. But it was also balanced by BBC Radio, Bangkok Post (which used to be an excellent newspaper, by the way), Overseas Weekly (aka Oversexed Weekly), Radio Peking, and whatever else came to hand. In Germany there were more news sources than one could shake a stick at. The danger comes in relying on a source that's usually predictive, but slips in an occasional bit that's driven by ideology. That's the real problem with Beebs, NY Times, and CNN. If they were consistently Indymedia, the world would ignore them...
A large proportion of papers are funded by religious or political parties. The Independent Iraqi Media Assessment Report see this as dangerous, stating that a âhighly partisan media â could be destabilizing in a fragile post-conflict environment.â But Thurman sees the politicization of the media as inevitable and healthy. âYou find lots of propaganda in emerging democracies. People use the press to espouse positions, bias and unbias are technically inappropriate terms for media,â he said.
I agree with him. The wide range of opinions balance each other out in the long run. Anyone who read Pravda or Izvestie in the Soviet era knew they had an ax to grind. You had to wade through some pretty stultifying prose to find any hard news items, and you always knew they'd been thoroughly scrubbed. But unless a news source is predictive, people don't rely on it, any more than the Russians relied on Tass. The sources that make statements that are clearly at variance with what actually happened become marginalized or read for amusement. Lots of people rely on Weekly World News, but not many actually rely on it.
Al-Adala is funded by the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The editor, Khalib Al-Musawee, said he did not think a paper could be independent and without a political backer. His main aim is to get as many Iraqis to read it as possible to read Al-Adala. âWe write independently and truthfully, and never say any bad words and want to gather all of Iraq around us,â said Musawee. But he does admit that paper has its own idea of what is âtruthful.â âMost newspapers belong to a party and tell the truth in order to reflect the thought of the party,â he said.
One man's truth is another man's slander...
The same is true at the Communist paper Tarik Al-Shabeh. None of their material has been denied as untruthful, however their idea of âtruthâ is a particular one. âWe are always looking for the truth. My idea as a journalist exactly compares to my idea as a Communist. In both ways I am looking for the truth,â said Noah Ibrahim, a correspondent on the paper.
Procrustes is no doubt reading both papers and laughing his ass off, assuming he had an ass...
In his proclamation of June 10, CPA head Paul Bremer banned the printing of incitement to violence. According to Feras Azar, Press Officer for the Supreme Council for Iraqi Liberation in Najaf, their right to free speech is being denied in the name of this proclamation. In the first issue of Sabba Al-Aaiba, the party paper, a heading appeared disputing the occupation of America in Iraq. Azar recounts how three American army officers came to their office in Najaf about a week later, to investigate whether this was a âmistakeâ or the paper had âmeant it.â âWe contacted the head of the Supreme Council, Sheikh Al-Said Al-Awadi, and asked him what we should say. He said âWe wrote it on purpose. We mean it.â The soldiers became threatening. One became very angry and said âYouâve made your bed now you'll have to lie in it,ââ said Azar. Azar said US troops raided the office on in mid June and arrested 11 staff members. He describes how they were made to lie on the ground with their hands behind their backs, while sacks were put over their heads, and were detained for three days.
Hand me the tissues, please...
âWe wanted to go to the toilet but they didnât take us. We werenât allowed to wash out hands before praying. I asked for some dust from the window sill to clean myself but the soldier wouldnât give me it. We had to pray with our hands tied behind our backs,â he said. Majid Hammid, another detainee, talks about the interview he had with an officer there. âHe asked me âWhy did you write jihad?â I said âIf you come here as liberators why are you afraid of jihad?â Then he made me get on my knees and put my head against the floor. He then said âDo you know what the Marines means? It means if you shoot a bullet at me I will shoot the whole of Najaf,ââ said Hammid.
Yep. That sounds zackly like what any responsible Marine would have said... What? You doubt Majid's veracity? Tusk tusk...
âI heard one of George Bushâs speeches on justice as the base of building society. But this is the same as under Saddam, when you couldnât say anything,â said Hammid.
No. It just means you can't incite to violence...
In this hotbed of political papers, Fagr Baghdad claims to be âIraq's first democratic and independent newspaper.â It is run and funded by Ali Al Nashmi, presenter of âAsk the Radioâ and âAsk the TV.â Despite the paper's unique selling point, Nashmi is determined to join the political circus. âEverything I do is for one goal. For politics. Media is a bridge to say something to your country,â he said. âPeople don't ask for Fagr Baghdad, they ask for Ali Nashmi. They want to read someone they like â they love me,â said Nashmi.
"Yeah. I'm somebody, by Gawd!"
This suprises Abook, the newspaper seller. âI never, never, sell it,â he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 11:20 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Idiot Marxists. Fanatics. Egomaniacs playing fast and loose with the truth. Politically motivated reporting. Wow, they really are westernizing quickly!
Amnesty International accused U.S. troops on Sunday of "very severe" human rights abuses in Iraq and complained that it had been denied access to thousands of prisoners held without charge in "appalling" conditions." (No curtains, TV, or Phone OMG!)
Amnesty spokeswoman Judit Arenas Licea said some Iraqis had been forced to stand under the blistering sun for up to 48 hours in U.S.-run detention centers that lack proper sanitation and that relatives had no information on their plight. One detainee was shot dead by U.S. troops during a prison riot last month, she told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad. (Shot during a riot? Hmmm I will call this a clean one)
"We are disappointed that human rights were used as an excuse to go to war in Iraq and now the human rights of Iraqis are being violated," she said, condemning conditions at among other sites Saddam Husseinâs once notorious Abu Ghraib prison. (And during Saddamâs rein, where were these accusations?)
A Left-Wing team from the London-based independent rights watchdog is visiting Iraq to take testimony from those held and released by U.S. forces and to try and speak to some of those still held. (Iâm sure these fellows were treated badly..THEY'RE ALIVE!)
It is also investigating abuses under Saddam, although most of those imprisoned by him are now free (to join the anti-U.S. crowd).
While some Iraqis detained by invading troops have been released, many remain in prisons with no access to a lawyer or families, Licea said. (Um there stil is NOT a legal system in Iraq. What law would a lawyer practice?)
The U.S. military authorities have repeatedly turned down Amnestyâs requests for access to those jails, Licea said. Some Iraqis are being held by the Americans at the Abu Ghraib complex near Baghdad, one of the most feared prisons under Saddam. Today it is heavily guarded by U.S. troops. Licea alleged that American soldiers shot and killed detainee Alaa Jassem there on June 13 while trying to contain prisoners rioting against poor conditions. (One person? Isnât that genocide in Arab press?)
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz visited Abu Ghraib prison on Sunday as part of a five-day tour of Iraq. Saddam and his associates had "murdered" 30,000 people in Abu Ghraib, Wolfowitz told reporters, adding that he believed that most Iraqis were now behind the United States. When Amnesty tried to investigate prison conditions it got similar
answers from U.S. soldiers every time, Licea said: "They just cite security reasons for not giving information. But we know from ex-prisoners that many have not bathed properly for months and there is no sanitation." (I doubt this, We DO NOT like stinky prisoners)
Amnesty has also been denied access to a temporary American prison set up at Baghdadâs main airport where it believes some of Saddamâs top officials are held. U.S. troops, who have lost 37 of their comrades to attacks since major combat was declared over on May 1, have struggled to impose order since they toppled Saddam. Many fear for their lives and so prefer to trust no one on the streets. But Licea said this was prolonging a vicious circle of mistrust as soldiers were heavy handed in arrests and searches. "People are handcuffed and put on their knees and humiliated. There was one case where a 12-year-old child was handcuffed behind his back with a group of adults. The Americans treat the children like adults," she said. (Honey if he had a gun he IS an adult)
This story is SOOO slanted itâs almost comical. You notice the most (of not all) the âchargesâ sound an awful lot like Saddamâs treatment of prisoners. I know itâs not a country club, but are ours guys supposed to entertain these yahoos? Where was this âhuman rightsâ group when Saddam and family were in power? Practicing the CNN reporting method I bet.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge ||
07/21/2003 11:00:01 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
When you walk up behind a troopie waiting to buy a soda and shoot him in the back of the head or kindap and murder 2 American soldiers, would Amnesia International consider that a human rights violation or the act of resistance by "freedom fighters"?
I'd be real interested in their answer to that one.
#2
This story is SOOO slanted itâs almost comical.
The leaning tower of Pisa used to be slanted. This story just plain topples over.
Of course, they would ignore your question tu. But by refusing to answer it, they would be telling all.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/21/2003 13:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Amazing. We run the world's only "concentration camps" in Gitmo (to go by Amnesty International's claims) where the prisoners leave a good dozen pounds heavier than when they went in.
Hmm, I can see where the McDonalds lawsuit teams will go next.
#5
How do they "stand under the blistering sun for up to 48 hours" when there is only 14 hours of sunlight in Baghdad?
Posted by: Bob ||
07/21/2003 16:11 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"How do they "stand under the blistering sun for up to 48 hours" when there is only 14 hours of sunlight in Baghdad?"
This is America, don't you know, and we obviously spare no expense to harm others. Could be we reflect sunlight off the International Space Station. I don't know how we do it, but if "human rights" activists say we are doing something wrong, who are we to argue?
#7
yea we sure are mistreating them iraqi's what no bath -- seems to me that it would be the troops who are being mistreated - forced to smell those rats!
Posted by: Dan ||
07/21/2003 19:20 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Okay so what, Amnesty International comes out from under their rock in Hyde Park and writes another diatribe as fodder for the "America Last" crowd on the left.
These idiots are tiresome, they waste my time, they irritate rational people and they waste newsprint.
When these knaves and fools actually come out and make a politically incorrect pronouncement about something profound like the millions of people killed in central Africa, I might take them seriously.
They step over the bodies of thousands of poor murdered souls in Iraq and bellyache when we marginally mistreat or bruise some Baath party thug with an RPG in his garage. They whine about how we treat the Taliban when they killed and brutalized an entire country.
They are so predictable. They could have written this from under the safety of their warren in Hyde Park or on the train going to their mummies for tea, ala Jason Blair. Do we have proof they even went to Iraq.
I notice there is a complete absence of any remorse or outrage over the 30,000 bodies we have found in mass graves in the Shi'ite south and the Kurdish north of Iraq. AND I do not have any recollection of them making any pronouncements on Saddam's little auto de fey that he held for the Shi'ites in 1991.
These dimwits disgust me. There is nothing worse than selective morality that an act is only bad when a certain group committs them but if you are part of the politically correct and on the left's holy and blest list you can exterminate whole populations, like in Africa, heaven forbid anyone criticize those darling little marxists in Africa. After all, colonialism was so BAD...and dull too, there were no mass murders to write about.
I am also irritated that we even bother to post this stuff. I am also irritated that I even post my objections.
#9
SOG475 - ever notice that they only bitch about countries that have lots of 5-star hotels - just like reporters? You won't see them in Basra or Baghdad - they'll file from Kuwait City or Dubai or London (I like the Savoy, myself) or NY. ;->
#10
Nothing to get excited about, folks. Just plain old jealous hypocrisy.
Posted by: Old Tom ||
07/21/2003 23:16 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Anyone see the story about the latest "investigation" of the Justice Department and the Patriot Act? Seems there have been 32 whole cases of alleged "mistreatment" of people acknowledged to be illegal aliens who were rounded up after 9/11.
You know what the big disclosure was (the full "report" comes out next week). That a guard with the federal Bureau of Prisons made a detainee take off his shirt and wipe the guard's shoes clean. Talk about brutality!
No context, no sense of history, and a complete unwillingness to cut the Bush Administration a break.
That's the left, that's the pacificists.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
07/22/2003 3:22 Comments ||
Top||
BAGHDAD, July 20 -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has given a report to members of the U.N. Security Council urging them to endorse the new Governing Council created by the U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq, calling it "a broadly representative partner with whom the United Nations and the international community at large can engage." Okay, which Rantburger performed the spine transplant operation on Kofi?
Annanâs recommendation, which was delivered to Security Council members Friday but is not to be released to the public until Monday, is an important show of support for the Governing Council, a 25-member body whose members were selected by the occupation authority to assume responsibility for numerous day-to-day tasks.
SomeA fewA very few Many Iraqis, including an estimated 10,000 people who turned out to protest in the city of Najaf today, have dismissed the councilâs members as puppets of the United States, and some of Iraqâs neighbors have been equally skeptical. But Annanâs recommendation could help to garner Security Council approval of the new Iraqi body, a key step in building international legitimacy and recruiting much-needed foreign aid. The Security Council is scheduled to hear a report Tuesday from Annanâs special representative in Iraq, Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, and is likely to decide shortly after that whether to support the Governing Council.
Annanâs report to the Security Council asks the body to consider the Governing Council equivalent to an interim government, called for in a recent Security Council resolution. "This is the interim Iraqi authority that Resolution 1483 urged," Fawzi said. If the Security Council endorses the Governing Council, he said it would "clear the way" for foreign governments to start donating funds for Iraqâs reconstruction. Many countries have been reluctant to give directly to the occupation authority and have insisted on dealing with a U.N.-approved transitional government. A U.N. endorsement also would give the Iraqi council "more authority and independence," Vieira de Mello said in a recent interview. "It would take away the stigma of being puppets of the Americans," he said. Funny how most Iraqis donât have a problem with us.
Despite Annanâs backing, it is not certain that the Security Council will give the Governing Council an enthusiastic endorsement. Diplomats representing some nations on the Security Council, which passed a resolution in May allowing the United States and Britain to administer Iraq until it has a permanent government, have questioned whether the Governing Council will have sufficient power and enough independence from the U.S.-led occupation authority, which selected the members and will retain veto power over the councilâs decisions. Thatâs why itâs an interim council.
Annanâs report echoes several arguments in support of the Governing Council made by U.S. officials, including the top U.S. civil administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer. A copy of Annanâs report was provided to a reporter.
In an effort to win over Security Council members, the Governing Council dispatched a three-person delegation to New York that included Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi and Akila Hashimi, a woman who had served as an Iraqi diplomat under Saddam Husseinâs government, members of the council said. Although Chalabi had pulled out of the trip late last week, U.N. officials said that he changed his mind over the weekend and agreed to join the delegation.
The Governing Council has been criticized by a few many Iraqis, foremost among them Moqtada Sadr, an influential Shiite Muslim cleric in Najaf, a center of religious scholarship 90 miles south of Baghdad. Thousands of Sadrâs followers marched for six miles to the U.S. government compound in Najaf, shouting slogans against the Governing Council and the Americans. "Long live Sadr. America and the Council are infidels," the protesters chanted, according to an Associated Press report. "Moqtada, go ahead. We are your soldiers of liberation." Sure, boys. Whatever. By the way, did you talk with your cousins, the ones who were in the Iraqi army and who saw what an American mechanized infantry battalion can do? No? You might try asking.
Annanâs report also urges the United States and Britain to "set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of military occupation," and a "clear timetable leafing to the full restoration of sovereignty." Weâll leave when the jobâs done. Howâs that?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/21/2003 1:19:57 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I confess I did it.Used a cadaver transplant from the Cowardly Lion(late of the Wizard of Oz)
seriously, the next step is another UNSC res explicitly accepting the governing council as interim authority and encouraging nations to donate troops and money. France will probably still lobby against that, but will Germany, eager for reconciliation, stand with France after Kofi's statement??? I cant see it. And with Germany gone can France and Russia stop this from going forward? More interesting times ahead, but this seems like the best news in a couple of weeks.
#3
"U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has given a report to members of the U.N. Security Council urging them to endorse the new Governing Council created by the U.S"
O.K. Where did we fuck up? Did we appoint former employees of the Iraqui mission to the UN to this council? Are they all Sadaam in-laws? Has to be a major screw up for this type of endorsement.
#4
Hodadenon - This is a real crisis: the Phrench are against it and Kofi's (sorta) for it - whatever shall we do? Our tried and true gut-check to be on the opposite side is inconclusive!
Without the list of proviso's, I'd say Kofi's head just came out of his ass... but there they are: "must" specify a timetable, major role for nay-sayers, legitimacy, moral authority, American Puppets - the whole BS litany from a crowd that hasn't the sense to skate to where the puck's gonna be, instead of where it is now. Same old shit. Fuck the UN. Oh, I almost forgot, Fuck Turkey, too.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030721_1614.html
There's the catch.
Sorry about the bare link, but your preview kept giving me a "http://rantburg.com/http://... on a perfectly good link...
Posted by: Kathy K ||
07/21/2003 20:21 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Kathy K - that link problem happened to me, as well, on a story I posted yesterday - but I was stupid and didn't notice it had happened. Good catch!
"In Toughly Worded Iraq Report, U.N. Chief Kofi Annan Urges U.S. to Return Iraq to Self-Rule" (ABC News Spin is still running heavy)
"There is an overwhelming demand for self-rule and democracy cannot be imposed from the outside."
Lessee, does Kofi have a single clue what he's talking about? Does his resume include bringing democracy to a bunch of factionalized goatherders, most of whom long for a return to the 7th century? Has he ever faced anything like this - anything at all?
Didn't think so.
This is one more nail in the UN coffin, IMHO. Not a clue in the whole lot.
#8
OMG we have must done something wrong! Next France will be offering to surrender to police Iraq! Quick someone call The President and get those troops home!
EFL
Until now, interactions between the Americans and the Iraqis in Najaf have been calm, free of the random violence rampant in the countryâs Sunni heartland. Why Moktada isnât wearing an orange jumpsuit by now is beyond me. Yeah, I know. Thereâd be a big uprising. But you know what? Heâs already instigating a big uprising. Pay the bill now, or pay it later with interest. I donât think the people who hang out with al Sadr really care about the case that weâre no doubt putting together against him right now.
But a sudden storm erupted on Saturday after Moktada al-Sadr, the scion of a clan of beloved clerics and the most vocal supporter of Iranian-style theocracy in Iraq, asserted that American forces were encircling his home. They were bent on arresting him, his aides announced, after an incendiary sermon on Friday in which he rejected the American-appointed Governing Council and called for the formation of an Islamic army.
Posted by: 11A5S ||
07/21/2003 12:18:58 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He's inviting arrest; we ought to give him what he wants. He'd look good in orange.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/21/2003 0:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Interesting take on this over at Tacitus.
"LTC Christopher C. Conlin, refused to back down before Sadr's demonstration, eventually compelling an angry crowd of thousands to disperse with only two dozen Marines and a show of resolution. Did I say this was bad news? As I write, it seems more like good news. A major Shi'a leader has declared himself in opposition, made his move, failed to catch fire beyond his narrow base, and had his demonstration thwarted by a handful of Americans. One can't draw too many lessons from the events of a single day, but we can say that the day ended well."
Posted by: Dave ||
07/21/2003 0:56 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"called for the formation of an Islamic army"
That should be enough to arrest his ass.
#5
I disagree with giving this guy the attention he craves. He's claiming he's dangerous and the Americans want to stifle him, and there's no sense in giving him undeserved credibility.
Two dozen Marines and a colonel with a loud speaker were enough for the demonstrators to back down. They could have called in reinforcements, surrounded Al Sadr and took him into custody, and that would have only shown his supporters his claims were true.
Let him keep crying wolf--the crowd will figure it out. Judging from the comments in the story, most of them already have.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/21/2003 14:07 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Dave,
Read that post at Tacitus, as well. I feel it wasn't just the Marines, it was the command their officer issued..."Fix Bayonets!" seems to work real well with the sand fleas.
#7
That's the wonderful thing about the Marines...when they say MOVE, you jump, crawl move,scoot,skip, etc. just to make sure you cover all of the bases.
In Cuba (1994) the riot rundown went like this. If the riot got out of control or the resistance to the Marine frontline riot line became stiif they simply called out a word "Lightning" (for example). The riot line would immediately break back a few steps break right and left and then back behind the RIFLEMEN (Smile). The riflemen were already on a knee locked and loaded. On the command to fire end game for the bad guys. Us Army guys would then fill the body bags.
Fortunately for the Cubans, they had learned early on that the Marines don't bluff.
Much to my dissapointment, the Army politicians officers didn't have the nuts guts to make that type of decision even at the 0-4 grade and higher (Major and above) It hurts to say it, but God I love those Jarheads!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
07/21/2003 15:42 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"Much to my dissapointment, the Army politicians officers didn't have the nuts guts to make that type of decision even at the 0-4 grade and higher (Major and above) It hurts to say it, but God I love those Jarheads!!!"
Gotta love Marines, sure, but I'd say 3rd ID's 3-7 CAV could give lessons in cojones. Suppressing the Saddam thugs takes brains too. Opening fire on a crowd formed to absorb a few score 5.56 is a recipe for getting a lot of people mad who were previously accepting of our presence. As strategypage notes, our special ops guys are quietly fighting this war at night away from the TV weenies. We will win this. Just don't screw it up by going postal on the locals.
Check out this for some discussion of provoking a massacre. Shoot, we still bitch about the Boston Massacre, don't we?
#9
BJD >>> I wasn't advocating a massacre. The point was that the Marines don't play politics. When they're on the scene THEY'RE in charge. I don't doubt for a second that the order for fix bayonets was given. They wouldn't back down, period.
I also agree that Army units have cojones as well. Believe me they do. Unfortunately, in the last war I only saw them on the enlisted side.
To compare the Marine and Army officer is like comparing apples to coconuts. I've worked with both in real world situations. There IS a difference. It's sad to say that and only more frustrating because it doesn't have to be that way.
Just look at the difference in the ROE for the soldiers and Marines. Typical of the Army treating the soldiers like irresponsible kids. We had the same dumb A** ROE the first time. It was ridiculous.
That's why you don't hear about Marine causalties on a daily basis. There's a common phrase in the Army. "The way you train is the way you fight." Never have words more true ever been spoken. Sometimes with tragic results.
It too doesn't have to be that way either.
Posted by: Paul ||
07/21/2003 18:27 Comments ||
Top||
#10
It's all about leadership - real leadership, not the tripe they "teach" in corporate team-building workshops.
Raptor's got it right - LtCol Conlin is the real deal. And real soldiers will follow the right guy through anything you can throw at them. Some command and some demand. Conlin commands. His guys know they'll be proud to have been there. And seeing it done right when the heat's on will create a couple of new leaders from his outfit, too. Nothing teaches as well as experience and positive real-world examples.
#11
Shit - not getting refreshed. I missed your comments, Paul, when writing mine.
You called it - very accurate. Regards leadership, I was RA and we had good ones - and really really bad ones.
A comment on this from SOG475 (I think that's right) indicated he wishes he'd had such professional soldiers to lead - and I certainly understand him and sympathize. When I was in, 90% were just passing time and ducking everything they could - and that includes officers. Not a Pro in sight, most of the time. Butter Bar guys were dangerous if they had ambition - not taught to listen to the NCO's back then.
Now it's obviously much much better, but the Army probably does lag behind. Totaly asinine interservice rivalry is one of the remaining problems.
Thailand expressed opposition Monday to a suggestion from Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed that Myanmar (Burma) might have to be expelled from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) because of its abysmal human rights record.
It's seldom I agree with Mahathir, but in this case I'll make an exception...
Mahathir was quoted as saying over the weekend he was disappointed in Myanmar's ruling junta for crushing the country's democracy movement and jailing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He said the other nine members of ASEAN would have to reconsider Myanmar's membership in the grouping, if the junta continued to reject worldwide demands for Suu Kyi's release. "Mahathir has the right to express his own opinion, but ASEAN has so far made no decision on this issue," Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said when asked by reporters about Mahathir's remarks. "For Thailand, we believe it's better if Burma stays in ASEAN, because this gives them a channel for discussion," Surakiart said. "This benefits Thailand because we have a long border with Burma."
Which boils down to the old argument: is it better to isolate the diseased state, or remain in contact and try to guide it toward reform? I can't think of any states that have been talked out of authoritarian kleptocracy, but maybe there's been one or two...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 11:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Extensive Thai business interests in Burma mean that Thailand will not rock the boat anytime soon. Doing business with a pariah state has its benefits - no competition. If the Burmese regime is toppled and replaced with democratic rulers, all the dirty deals signed by Thais with the Burmese junta will suddenly come up for bid. This is why these countries are always accusing us of dirty dealing - they are merely projecting their existing behavior onto us.
EFL
The trial of the fourth key suspect accused of involvement in last yearâs Bali bombings has opened on the island. Ali Imron, a 30-year-old Indonesian, has admitted building one of the two bombs that destroyed a nightclub in October, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Unlike the other suspects, Ali Imron has expressed regret for the bombings. He appeared in court in a Western-style suit and sat quietly as charges were read. Earlier, the court said that the first suspect to go on trial — Amrozi - will be given his verdict on 7 August. Mark your calendar.
Ali Imronâs lawyer says his client is not like the other defendants — who have shown no remorse. "He believes that jihad in Bali is wrong," the lawyer said. "He is not proud of what he did." Shortly after his arrest, Imron took part in a news conference organised by Indonesian police, in which he demonstrated how he and others assembled the bombs. He said he felt sorry for the families of the victims — most of whom were Australians — but that the US and its allies were legitimate targets. On Sunday his lawyer said Imron was asking forgiveness from the victimsâ families, and suggested that he was expecting his client to receive the death penalty. "If he feels that society has forgiven him, he will happily receive a death sentence," he said. We wonât forgive him and we donât care if heâs happy or not.
Last week, Imam Samudra told the court that the attacks were justified under Islam because they avenged the deaths of innocent Muslims. He admits that he was involved in the bombings but denies that he masterminded them. Thatâs OK, we shoot cannon fodder as well as masterminds.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 8:47:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
ELIZABETH, W.Va. - Former POW Jessica Lynch was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in Washington Monday.
Lynch, who returns to the hills of West Virigina Tuesday, also received the Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The Bronze Star is given for meritorious combat service, a Purple Heart is most often awarded to those wounded in combat, and the POW for being held captive during wartime.
What exactly did she do in combat that was meritorious? A Company Commander in my BN is currently nominated for a Meritorious Bronze Star. His summary of action has excerpts like" Entusted to plan, coordinate and execute combat operations as the lead element of the battalion, his performance under fire helped to ensure the BNâs success, minimizing casualties while engaged with the enemy. His performance during 4 weeks of sustained combat warrants special recognition......
"Minus all the hype, this mission is about being able to participate in the homecoming of one of our own," said Chief Warrant Officer Robert McClure, who will co-pilot the Black Hawk helicopter with Chief Warrant Officer Jim McPeak. "Itâs a real honor."
Lynch, still recuperating from multiple broken bones and other injuries, and her parents are scheduled to fly from the medical center to Elizabeth.
"Sheâs a strong, disciplined young lady," 1stSgt Little said. "Her injuries are long healing, and that can be hard if you dwell on it. But sheâs not allowed that to happen."
She is definitely deserving of all the media and home front attention.
With hundreds of news media and others descending on this Wirt County seat of about 1,000 for Lynchâs first public comments about her ordeal, area residents have been painting, pruning and preening for weeks.
American flags and yellow bows line the route Lynchâs military motorcade will take from Elizabeth to her home in Palestine, a community of about 300 residents some five miles away.
Lynchâs convoy was ambushed near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah after it made a wrong turn. Eleven soldiers from the convoy were killed and Lynch, a supply clerk, was severely injured.
U.S. forces recovered Lynch at a Nasiriyah hospital April 1. Five other 507th Maintenance Company soldiers who were captured and held apart from Lynch were freed April 13.
The influx of hundreds of visitors, including many journalists here to report Lynchâs first public words since her March wounding, capture and rescue in Iraq (news - web sites), is bringing needed cash to Wirt County, which has West Virginiaâs highest unemployment rate â 15.1 percent.
"Theyâre anxious to see you come, and theyâll be anxious to see you leave," said Keith Burdette, Gov. Bob Wiseâs legislative liaison and the countyâs former state senator.
#2
Let's not judge before we have read the citation, and had an overview of the awards given to others in the same action.
Posted by: Steve Ramsey ||
07/21/2003 22:30 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Medals have lost some of their meaning. I know that this is mostly political but if it does something for the troops I am for it. I doubt that after PFC Lynch's HumVEE crashed she did too many heroic things. However, I do applaud the young woman's spunk to live through what had to be a very painful experience. I just hope she uses that PR for Military and not for herself.
#4
PD: "Hoping to bask in a little reflected glory"?
I am neither the nominator or the BN Cmdr. I was shown the SOA by the BN Adjutant. The Company Cmdr clearly influenced his BN's performance in numerous engagements during the war. The nomination states this and myself along with several others witnessed it. The Cmdr deserves the award and there is no "glory" in it. it states "minimized" casualties.....people were lost. Glory? You definitely wern't there, nor do I think you have ever been in combat. What impact did the PFC have on her units mission? Her fellow POWs did not receive Bronze Stars. Yes, the "PC BS machine" is running, afterall, the Army just gave the Bronze Star to a former POW for surviving battle and captivity.
Californiaâs premier university system is considering charging rich students more tuition to offset deep funding cuts resulting from the stateâs $38 billion budget deficit.
The Board of Regents of the University of California examined a proposal for a surcharge on wealthy students at a meeting Thursday. The university would be the first in the country to target wealthy students with a surcharge.
The proposed fee would force undergraduate students with family incomes exceeding $90,000 to pay as much as $3,000 more to attend one of the universityâs nine campuses. It is expected to affect 58,194 of the universityâs 160,000 undergraduate students.
"I think that is outrageous," said Republican state Sen. Dick Ackerman, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. "There is already a significant program of financial aid and scholarships for people who canât afford to go there. You shouldnât be charging rich people more just because you can."
The UC regents were forced last week to raise tuition 25 percent across the board to compensate for a budget shortfall that had already caused the university to cut spending by $360 million. The tuition increases were preceded by a 10 percent increase in December and might be followed by a 5 percent increase.
Universities across the country are grappling with shrinking budgets as state support and endowments dry up. Last year, tuition at public universities climbed an average of 10 percent, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. This year, 30 states are facing serious budget shortfalls forcing tax increases or spending cuts.
The surcharge was proposed by Regent Tom Sayles who did not return calls for comment Friday. The university administration has drawn up a plan that would raise $60 million by charging the rich students an additional $1,000. But the universityâs vice president in charge of the budget has said a $3,000 surcharge might be needed to make the program worthwhile.
Regent Matt Murray, the lone student on the 25-person governing board, said he supports a surcharge and lashed out at the stateâs Republican legislators who have resisted tax increases intended to offset the budget deficit. (Anyone want to hire Master Murray after he graduates?)
"Given the ridiculous nature of the budget situation and the limited options the university has, I think it is wise to pursue the idea," he said. "The goal is to make sure the university is accessible to all kinds of students of all kinds of backgrounds." (Whoops he already has a Job at Dem undy.com âAsk Aunty Pinkoâ)
The university study of the proposal states that a surcharge might be more acceptable to the public than across-the-board cuts because it would affect fewer people, but it also acknowledges that it would be contentious.
"The university needs to develop justifications for the proposed income-threshold level. Any income cutoff is arbitrary," the study states.
The study also considers setting the cutoff at $150,000. It stated that students who qualify for financial aid would be exempt from the fee, regardless of their parentsâ income.
Regent Velma Montoya called the surcharge proposal "offensive" and said the parents in the wealthy bracket whom she has spoken with feel "put upon."
"They already pay more into the system in terms of taxes," she said. "And most people donât consider a $90,000 income to be rich in California." (Since I am under that figure, am I technically âpoorâ) Mrs. Montoya said the university should look to make cuts at the administrative level. (With 25 regents I see room for cuts!)
Mr. Ackerman proposed cuts to outreach and diversity efforts, saying, "There are more students trying to get in than can as it is."
The state will continue to subsidize the bulk of the $16,900 it costs the university to educate each student per year. The university hadnât raised fees in seven years.
UC colleges are very affordable to ALL students. This is just another example of what LUNITICS in our (CA) state. President Bush, please invade our State and free us from this tyranny!
#1
This is one of many reasons that I won't be coming back to CA, if I do come back stateside. Believe me, I miss Del Mar - a drop dead gorgeous place. I think the best overall life for the $$$ appears to be Austin or San Antonio TX - after looking at the numbers all over the US for the last year.
#4
I guess that UC has to raise the rates because of the nasty letters of refusal for contributions to my alma martyr mater of UC Berkeley. Sorry I did not pay my fair share, folks, but one trip back to Berkeley pissed me off so bad that I've never been back to the campus. First clean it up physically, fiscally, and politically to make it a center for scholarship and not for indoctrination.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 18:37 Comments ||
Top||
#5
B-A-R - I love CO (lived in Utah & Idaho over 8 yr span) - but taxes ruled it out - you have a State Income Tax, IIRC. That was the first hard criterion I used to cut down the list. I looked long at CO, UT, ID, WY, MT, & NV (cuz I knew them so well) and Alaska, New Mex, TX, and Florida.
I wanted either mountains or the ocean, but that's what everyone else wants, too.
I miss the mountains and the fact that you can drive 20 minutes in any direction and be 10 minutes away from "civilization." Sweet. I used to go deer hunting in the Book Cliffs area, I think it was called. So long ago...
Are you in the 4 corners area? Grow pinto beans in Cortez, perhaps?
#6
PD come on up here. I live in the mountains. We have avalanches. Great fishing, trees, glaciers, Prince William Sound, the world's largest deep water picture postcard, Hike out your back yard and you are in the wilderness, bears attacking ones bird feeder. Snow in winter. The whole nine yards...heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 19:58 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Was anyone else irritated by the Times' uncritical use of the words "rich" and "wealthy"? We are talking about $90K FAMILY income, which means if hubby makes $60K and wifey $30K they qualify as "rich". Anyway, I live in L.A. and trust me, $90K is only making-ends-meet middle class around here.
No, although I am familiar with that area. I am currently in CA, and am seeking to get out if this hellhole sometime in the future. The only thing that keeps me here is my decent-paying job at some high tech firm. I had my eye on CO Springs, or Pueblo.
#10
AP - I:
1) "met" Anchorage Alice
2) experienced the wild time of 2 pipeline welders "buying out the bar" in the Capt Cook
3) drove over Turnagin Pass to Seward & back
4) slept in my client's A-frame on the foothills above Anch and woke up at 4:00 AM to see a bear going through his garbage 3 feet away through the wall of glass on the front of his "chalet"
5) had 6-egg omelettes with 2 lbs of fresh crabmeat smothered in mornay sauce costing $20
6) heard radio commercials directing the trappers to be at the Anch Sears parking lot on such and such day - the pelt buyers would be set up and loaded with cash
#11
Without the taxes, I'd love it. I agree CO Springs looks like an interesting place. Don't know Pueblo. I don't know what's important to you, but Austin is a fun / vibrant locale with UT - lots of hi-tech co's. I'm a programmer (30 yrs) - doing web apps for the last 7. I might even decide to work a little, if I go there, but Thailand is working out fine as a place to hang out till things improve in US.
#12
PD---We have bandwidth up the wazoo to Outside and Japan with fiber optic cables....I've got a Cessna 172 Stealth Chickenhawk, you know, just like the one that Matthias Rust landed in Red Square from Germany under Soviet Radar........
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 21:26 Comments ||
Top||
#13
AP- I don't have a license, but a friend's father was a Capt at American and taught me how to fly, more or less, when I was about 11. He was my "rich" friend. Did a little time in a Piper tail-dragger and an Aeronca (sp?) Air Coupe - but never tried his Piper TriPacer or his Waco biplane. The Waco would've been OK, but I was scared of the Piper's tricycle gear. Controlled crash was my landing style and it looked too fragile to me!
Getting a license is one of the things I'll do if I come back to The World.
#14
I did make 90K in CA, and felt far from rich. Stoopeds. CA wants to raise taxes on smokes, cut education, and now this. I guess Gov. Gray thinks that smokers, elementary school students, and middle class engineers/programmers/etc. caused the deficit, so they should pay for it. I will not miss the left coast ...
#15
Frank G - I'm gonna break this response into 2 parts - having problems with my connection...
Del Mar & Solana Beach was where I lived in the 3 yrs I was there. I stayed on the Western side of I-5 for that great "marine layer effect". 22 lanes? Hayzoos Christay! That's outrageous! They prolly still have that unwritten law that sez you can't change just one lane at a time, too. Wanna move over 1 lane to the left? You gotta go 2 right and then 3 left. I'm pretty sure it's a law. Everyone drives that way 'round there. Can't ALL be crazy, can they? (snicker)
SD is one beautiful place - if you're near the coast - with 350 days of motorcycle weather a year - real sigh.
#16
Frank G - Part 2
I looked at maps of NV to try to figure out where the biz is and concluded there just wasn't likely to be enough clients available unless I wanted Vegas. I do web apps - and there is some serious biz there in my game, but I don't know the place or anyone - and it's not like they don't have any unemployment. I thought Carson City / Reno looked best, regards living - Vegas is just reclaimed desert. Is CC/Reno big enough and busy enuff for yet another a guy doing web apps, you think? I DO like the tax game in NV - for biz, too.
I am currently thinking about TX cuz it's doing well, low COL, I know it inside out, and have some connections.
#17
Frank G - Shit, it takes 3 passes to complete...
Alaska IS a trip and, if you can find a job that covers what you want, an awesomely beautiful place. Unforgiving as hell, if you fuck up, but if you're on your toes, it's really cool.
Mortar bombs have rained down on Liberia's capital Monrovia, killing at least 60 people. Fighting between rebels and government forces has raged in the city as US Marines flew in to help defend the US embassy. US President George W Bush says he is working with west African leaders to decide when international peacekeepers would be able to move into Liberia.
I'd say early Thursday morning, but it might be a little sooner...
Dozens of mortar bombs smashed into Monrovia's diplomatic quarter as rebels fighting to topple President Charles Taylor thrust deep into the capital for the third time in two months. An angry crowd laid 18 bodies, one of them headless, in front of the US embassy. They hurled abuse at the mission for not intervening to stop the fighting in a country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century. "If they do not value our lives and come and help us, then they should just leave," said Josiah Dogbah.
Well, Josiah, we pretty much aren't there...
At least one mortar bomb hit the embassy, where a first batch of Marines flew in by helicopter to reinforce security and evacuate foreigners. The Marines leapt out with their guns as helicopter crews swivelled machineguns and kept the engines running. Aid workers and witnesses said at least 60 people had been killed by explosions in the sprawling city. Scores of wounded headed to the main hospital.
Chuck's bad boyz and LURD's bad boyz trade mortars and they bitch about us...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 16:42 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"If they do not value our lives and come and help us, then they should just leave," said Josiah Dogbah.
#2
Josiah >> Quit your whining, pick up your AK-47 and your wig and follow the soft Whoomp'ing sound of the enemy mortars. You're sure to find the other drag queens enemy.
Hey Josiah, what a novel idea! Fighting for YOUR OWN DAMN COUNTRY!!!
Oh, and another thing, you could always just get REAL mad and start shooting at the Marines. That way nobody will say that you didn't fight and die against the world's finest.
Posted by: Paul ||
07/21/2003 17:52 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Seems to me that given their experience in Africa, (ie the Congo), and their new-found concern for the prosecution of "war crimes", the Belgians would be the best outfit to show us how this "peace keeping" is done. ( Sorry; all one sentence.)
Posted by: Old Tom ||
07/21/2003 22:19 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Interestingly enuf: Bill O'Reilly on Fox actually had a telephone interview with the evil Chuck tonight, he (Chuck) was actually fairly calm, but sounding a little desperate as well. O'Reilly urged him to leave ASAP for his own ass's sake as well as the many civilians that'll be hit hard.... chas waffled (how unusual)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 23:09 Comments ||
Top||
In the infamous words of our man Fred: People, donât let me down. Edited for length.
I am interested in the title Edward Klein put on his new book "The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted Americaâs First Family for 150 Years." Is there any reason to believe such a thing -- a curse? Writer Kleinâs reputation has suffered from the sensation caused by his book. An excerpt in Vanity Fair on what he calls the faltering wedlock of John Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette put him on the firing line of those who feel heâs being unfair because the dead canât defend themselves. The pain of this coupleâs tragic end brings sympathy and heaps scorn on Klein. This is often what happens when the press seizes on and overemphasizes one part of the whole.
Ummmm.... like every time one of them puts their fingers on a keyboard?
The rest of Kleinâs book is fascinating. I read it in tandem with the serious, scholarly "An Unfinished Life" by Robert Dallek. The latter has won critical raves, delving into JFKâs illnesses and psychoanalyzing his super sex drive. Together, these books are an in-depth look at Americaâs most famous family. I donât see how anyone could resist both, but everyone isnât a pop-culture/history junkie.
Or a big fan of overblown, lying, adulterous "liberal" egomaniacs
Writer Evan Thomas noted that Bobby discovered "fate" and "hubris," and wondered if his family overreached, dared too greatly. He said Bobby had underlined this quote: " âAll arrogance will reap a harvest rich in tears. God calls men to a heavy reckoning for overweening prideâ ... the Kennedys were the House of Atreus, noble and doomed, and RFK began to see himself as Agamemnon." After Ted Kennedyâs 1964 plane crash, Bobby said, "Somebody up there doesnât like us." In 1968, Bobby was killed. His son Michael later said: "It was as if fate had turned against us. There was now a pattern that could not be ignored." A year later, Ted Kennedy used the word "curse" in public. After Chappaquiddick, he wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys?" This thought came from speechwriter Ted Sorensen, approved by advisers and family members.
Or, Teddy, you might simply be an irresponsible drunk.... Naw, has to be the gods punnishing his family for their classic hubris. Or trying to steal fire from Olympus or something. So long as eagles tear at his liver, Iâm none to picky myself.
Klein writes, "And so it was the Kennedys themselves -- not their detractors -- who were the first true believers in the curse." Comes with the territory of being self important.Time magazine commented that the Kennedy deaths were "commensurate with the drama and weight of their public life ... when their children die prematurely, it can seem almost as if fate were picking them off for sport."
Naw, it was the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (tm). Now that weâre done with them, itâs time for the Clintons!
Klein, who claims a long friendship with Jackie Onassis, says she was convinced that John and Caroline -- indeed, all the Kennedys -- were hapless victims of some inexplicable, malignant fate.
Itâs inexplicable! Well, except for the adultery, the alcoholism, the drug use, the smuggling, the power hungry egomania....
#2
If I never her the anme Kennedy on the news again it will be just fine with me. While the Assinations were trajic for the country and their family overall they have always struck me as a family that believes the rules do not apply to them and the nation owes them, what I don't have a clue, but certainly not my loyalty or votes
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
07/21/2003 19:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Oh, good! Another Kennedy book! Can't get enough of them!
IRNA -- Five cabinet ministers in charge of an inquiry into death of Iranian photojournalist Mrs Zahra Kazemi said on Sunday that she died from physical attack.
Some bully boy beat her head in. If she hadn't had a Canadian passport, who'da paid any attention? Mala suerte, turbans...
President Mohammad Khatami assigned four cabinet members to inquire into her death last week. In a directive to Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ahmad Masjed Jamei, Minister of Information Ali Yunessi, Minister of the Interior Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari and Minister of Justice Ismail Shushtari, the president sought to clarify every aspect the victim's sudden death. Minister of Heath and Medical Education Masoud Pezeshkian joined the team in the process of autopsy. "You should determine the reasons for her sudden death and who is responsible for it," President Khatami said in his directive in reaction to a statement from her family that she may have died of physical attack. President Khatami urged the four cabinet ministers to see whether there is a matter of culpability in the case. The report issued by the investigating committee said that Mrs Zahra Kazemi died of brain hemorrhage caused by a break in her skull.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 12:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Probably militant students upset at being photographed. Allah's will and all.
IRNA -- Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani stressed Sunday the need to reinforce solidarity among the Iranian and Syrian nations against increasing US pressures. Rafsanjani made the remark during a meeting with the newly appointed Syrian Ambassador to Tehran Hamed Hassan. He pointed to the two sides' friendly and consolidated ties and called for further consultations between Iranian and Syrian officials in order to harmonize stances on sensitive regional issues.
"How can we keep doing what we've been doing without getting whacked for it?"
"US threats and enmity against Tehran and Damascus are indications of the two sides' common goals," he said, adding that "undoubtedly, no foreign power has the capacity to counter such goals due to the two nations' firm determination to defend justice and to seek justice."
"No one — no one — can stop us! 'Cuz we have turbans!"
Pointing to the Zionist regime's atrocities against the defenseless Palestinian people, the EC head said that the moves are in support of the US government. "The US seeks to suppress regional countries and push forward the Zionist regime's goals encouraged by their military victory in Iraq," he said. "Other US plots were foiled as a result of the Iraqi people's resistance against the occupation," he added.
"Yep. We sent 'em lotsa guns..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 12:08 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Funny.. I haven't heard much about the Syrians stressing their unity with the Iranians..
#2
"undoubtedly, no foreign power has the capacity to counter such goals due to the two nations' firm determination to defend justice and to seek justice."
Ummmm...you wouldn't, perhaps, be willing to lay a little cash on that? I'll even give you a point spread.
You might want to stop making this mistake. Arabs don't wear turbans, Indians do. Arabs wear keffiyah.
Posted by: John ||
07/21/2003 14:04 Comments ||
Top||
#4
John: Shiite clergy wear turbans (this article is about Iran). They don't wrap them the same way as Sikhs, but they do wear them. Anyway, the word has become shorthand at this site for any raving Islamist religious fanatic. Welcome to Rantburg.
#6
11A5S - correctomundo!
Stereotype for a turban: Spittle, check. Eye-Rolling, check. Jihad-spouting, check. Wife-beating, check. Gunsex, check. Turban, check.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 19:06 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Aye, Captain! They be Persians, not Arabs! Seriously crazy leadership, but better alphabet - and desperately in need of nukes so they can play the NorK game and sit at the Big Table as well as wipe out Israel, thus becoming relevant in the Izzoid World don't have any brownouts. That be them!
IRNA -- Majlis Speaker Mehdi Karroubi Sunday called on officials to "promptly and carefully" follow up the recent death of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, and report the outcomes to the people. Karroubi told reporters after the Majlis open session that Kazemi's death had been a bitter incident for the Islamic establishment, stressing that whoever is responsible for this must be brought before the justice.
"Surely you can find a scapegoat somewhere? The sentence will be light, I promise..."
He thanked President Mohammad Khatami for ordering a special committee to probe into the issue, and called on Khatami to present a comprehensive report in that connection to the people "as he deems right". Karroubi said the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) had decided in its Saturday meeting to forward a finalized report on the incident to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. "The Judiciary chief will accordingly appoint a competent judge to immediately study the case, and report the results as soon as possible," he said. "Of course, Mr. Shahroudi has agreed to this so that the issue is investigated to determine whether the official or officials involved in the case have perpetrated an offense or Kazemi's death had been an accident."
I don't think the "fell down the stairs" wheeze is gonna work this time...
The Majlis speaker further stressed that it must be determined who committed the possible offense, at what stage it happened and which institution or group was involved in the incident considering that Kazemi was held by "various" organizations. Karroubi also said that the issue should not be prejudged, and hoped that the details about Kazemi's death are clarified.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 12:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Stopping the U.S. Navy from conducting live-fire bombing exercises on the tiny Puerto Rican island of Vieques was a hot cause for leftist activists, Hollywood stars and Democrats in Congress in 2001. The pressure ultimately led to President Bush deciding to end 60 years of live bombing at Vieques â the final wisps of smoke blew in May â and conduct exercises elsewhere, such as the Florida Keys and the North Carolina coast.
But the victory in the Battle of Vieques came at a steep price to the people of Puerto Rico and created a largely unforeseen consequence, the closing of Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, the islandâs largest employer. "If you take the [bombing] mission away from Vieques, you donât need that base anymore," said Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, California Republican. "Sometimes you get what you wish for." Bwahahaha!
Tucked into the Defense spending bill for 2004 is a provision that will close the base six months after the bill is signed by Mr. Bush. The sprawling base, which once stationed more than 7,000 sailors and employs thousands of Puerto Ricans in support jobs, injects $250 million into the local economy.
"Sure, [Puerto Rico] would like to have the money, but we have other priorities," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, California Republican and chairman of the House Appropriations Committeeâs defense subcommittee. "Many of the protesting organizations had an idea" the base could be closed, "but probably not so quickly." Assuming any of them have enough brain cells to think at all.
Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat and ranking member of the defense subcommittee, said the Navy insisted that without live bombing exercises on Vieques, the base is not worth keeping. "The Navy is overly committed all over the world, and they need these 3,000 people in other places," Mr. Murtha said. Rep. Jose E. Serrano, New York Democrat, is outraged at what he calls the "arrogance" of the Navy. He said the people of Puerto Rico are "panicked" about their future without what is affectionately called "Rosey Roads."
"I think itâs punishment" for the protests, Mr. Serrano said. "We are being punished for winning an issue against the federal government. The Navy said, âOh yeah. Weâre going to fix you. Weâre going to close the base.â " Uh, Jose, what did you think was going to happen?
Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he feels sorry for the people of Puerto Rico but that they were "lied to by their politicians" and the protest movement. "Puerto Rico used every unethical and illegal means to kick us off that live range," Mr. Inhofe said. The Senate passed its version of the defense appropriations bill last week. It did not contain language closing the base, but Mr. Inhofe said he expects the base-closing provision to survive in the final version to emerge from conference committee in the coming weeks.
The property containing Roosevelt Roads has been appraised at $1.7 billion. After an environmental cleanup, which could cost around $300 million, the property will be sold with the proceeds going to the Department of Defense. Mr. Inhofe said not training at Vieques has increased the cost of necessary live-fire exercises elsewhere and has decreased the trainingâs effectiveness because it is harder to integrate the exercises among the services. The Vieques property has been turned over to the Interior Department, which will retain possession. The backers of the protestors were planning on putting hotels and condos on the range land, what they got was a wildlife refuge. Bwahahaha!
"Thereâs a huge cost associated with losing that range," Mr. Inhofe said. Mr. Lewis told Delegate Anibal Acevedo-Vila, Puerto Rico Democrat, that he would "give all the support we possibly can" to replace the economic loss of the base closing. Mr. Murtha said previous base closings have come with $50 million to $100 million aid packages. Acevedo-Vila spokesman Paul Weiss would not disclose what kind of aid will be sought for Puerto Rico, and still held out hope the Navy would reconsider "rushing away from such a strategic location." Without the range, it ainât strategic anymore.
Mr. Cunningham said he would oppose any aid package to make up for Roosevelt Roads. "They donât want us there," Mr. Cunningham said. "They had a chance to become a state and declined. They donât pay taxes." Mr. Inhofe said itâs now too late to start worrying about the "natural outcome" of the Vieques protests.
"Thatâs their problem," Mr. Inhofe said. "The time for them to be concerned about that was when they were kicking us off our range. I told them this would happen." Thatâs gonna leave a mark.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 11:45:43 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Once everything calms down things will pick back up around Vieques as bird watchers and those seeking solitude will flock, in droves, to the park like setting around that area.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 12:21 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"...things will pick back up around Vieques as bird watchers and those seeking solitude will flock, in droves, to the park like setting around that area."
Not for a long time. Remember, it was a live fire base; cleaning up unexploded shells will probably take a long time, not to mention a lot of money, and it's specialized work, so the locals won't get much work from it.
Too bad, so sad.... Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/21/2003 12:24 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Don't worry my Puerto Rican cousins. Al Sharpton will take care of everything for you when he becomes President. Al remembers his friends.
#5
De-mining the area could be interesting. France is still trying to clean up a huge amout of WWI battle Fields. See Aftermath: The Remnants of War by Donovan Webster (originally publilshed in 1996) the first chapter.
Posted by: Jim K ||
07/21/2003 13:04 Comments ||
Top||
#6
So when do they start the protests against the base closing? Will the same "stars" and politicians be attending in order to help all the people whose jobs they caused to evaporate?
#7
The developers were fools anyway. To the best of my knowledge, no ex-firing range has been opened for civilian development. A dud shell fired into marshy ground will penetrate all the way to the bedrock, making it impossible to economically clear the rounds. Even if you were to set some arbitary delay (50 years? 100?), the same environmentalists who wanted the range shut down would block you from building houses on it. I'm not sure I disagree with them. I wouldn't want to be the poor SOB with the house built over the 16-inch shell when it decides to go off.
#8
The protesters truly are shocked that the base will close down with the end of the mission. Shoot, they see military bases as jobs programs for the local communities, NOT bases for military units. Just an extension of their belief you can intervene militarily only if there are absolutely no US interests involved to corrupt the issue--Yes to Liberia and no to Iraq, right?
They wanted the base gone--they got it. Live with it.
#9
Typical liberal "feel good" solution. Instead of the fight or flight instinct, it's the fight AND flight instinct. Win the fight no matter what the cost and then take to flight when the resulting long term problems start to surface.
What did they think? The navy would still use it just to park their ships and lay on the beach?
The end result was a laugh too as 11A5S pointed out. The greedy developers would have to duke it out with the tree huggers.
I love it when a stupid liberal plan comes together!
Posted by: Paul ||
07/21/2003 14:51 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I am Shocked and Awed⢠how our government did the right thing this time, and gave the whinerssuckers concerned politicians and public of Puerto Rico exactly what they asked for. One atta-person⢠for Uncle Sam!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/21/2003 14:57 Comments ||
Top||
#11
See? A Compassionate Conservative Government⢠establishes a wildlife reserve, barring the development of those nasty condos and hotels by the Rapers-Of-The-Land developers and all they get from Serrano, and other "activists" is bitching and moaning...you just can't please some people...heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 15:47 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Hey Viequesians!! Hope you enjoy the peace and quiet, broken only the trilling of song birds as you wait in line at the unemployment office...
#13
The Navy only bombed the far Eastern tip of the island. The Navy owns both the Western third and the Eastern third of the island. Bad news for developers, though. This land will all become national wildlife refuge! Hah!
That said, Green Beach, Media Luna and the Bioluminescent Bay will still be there and very much worth seeing.
As for quality of life, the Navy hasn't used explosive bombs there in years, so the BOOM factor wasn't an argument.
Too bad 'mainland' Puerto Ricans have to pay for the Viequenses bad attitude.
Lotsa Monday morning quaterbacking here...
A congressional inquiry points to suspicion over a potential role played by Saudi Arabia in the September 11 attacks, Newsweek wrote in its Monday edition. The conclusions of a congressional joint intelligence inquiry, to be released Thursday, claim the FBI failed to follow through on important evidence relating to the al-Qaeda networkâs presence in the United States, the magazine said. The report to be released consists of evidence suggesting that Omar al-Bayoumi, a key associate of hijackers Khaled al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi may have been a Saudi government agent. Thatâll set some turbans spinning.
It documented extensive relations between al-Bayoumi and the hijackers, while claiming the FBI failed to keep tabs on al-Bayoumi though it had learned he was a secret Saudi agent. Among the evidence was the fact al-Bayoumi participated in a meeting in January 2001 at the Saudi Consulate in LA from there heading to a restaurant where he met future hijackers al-Mihdar and al-Hazmi, whom he took back with him to San Diego. The Bush administration refused to declassify several key passages from the 900-page report, including a section that outlines the role played by Riyadh, removed from the final version, Newsweek claims. Senator Bob Graham, a Democratic candidate for the 2004 presidential elections who supervised the inquiry maintains that the US administration was "protecting a foreign government," according to Newsweek. An attorney for victims of the attacks who are suing a group of suspected financiers of al-Qaeda, Jean-Charles Brisard, said the report shows that "at each stage in the preparation of the attacks" Saudi Arabia operated as an effective financial and logistical "patron" to the âterrorists.â Brisard said certain parts of the report mention "help provided by Saudi diplomats working in Washington to assist in several suicide (hijackers)â arrival and stay in the United States." No suprise here.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 10:03:25 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
They'll trot out that smarmy official apologist Al Jubair. Fashion Tip: wear the suit, dude, not the dress. I wonder if his voice will break on cue this time - or if the ticket will be indignance. Toss a halala.
Liberian President Charles Taylor's forces have vowed to launch a "battle for survival", saying the next two days could determine victory in the war.
Yep. All over by Wednesday...
Rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, fighting to overthrow Mr Taylor for more than three years, struck into the capital Monrovia on Saturday and have battled to the key bridges that lead to the heart of the city. "I myself have decided to involve myself in the battle to defend this sovereign country and my own life," army chief of staff General Benjamin Yeaten said. "Nobody retreats and nobody surrenders. This is a battle for survival. It may be the last battle for them. It may be the last battle for us."
You may be toast, Ben...
General Yeaten says the rebels have been held outside Monrovia's centre, where tens of thousands of people have scrambled for survival, and also on a road that bypasses the swampy city towards Mr Taylor's residence and the main airport. The sound of heavy gunfire, rocket and mortar fire continued through the night.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/21/2003 09:20 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yep. All over by Wednesday...
Due to the pressing shortage of wigs?
Posted by: Dar ||
07/21/2003 9:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Mortar bombs rained down near the U.S. embassy in Liberia's capital Monday as fighting between rebels and government forces raged in the city and U.S. marines flew to reinforce the U.S. compound. Witnesses said one of at least 20 mortar bombs to hit the area smashed into a building between the embassy and a hotel, killing three and injuring more. Another slammed into the sea less than 100 meters (yards) from the U.S. compound.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Wigs they got. They're running out of bustiers...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/21/2003 11:22 Comments ||
Top||
#4
They'll fight to the last man. As long as they're not the last man.
Nine suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA have been arrested in Mexico, authorities said Saturday. The arrests were carried out Friday and early Saturday in five Mexican states, said Jose Luis Santiago, head of the organized crime division for in the Mexican Attorney Generalâs Office. Seven bank accounts were frozen and manuals on how to make chemical weapons were seized in the operation, Santiago said. The suspects are believed to be part of an active ETA cell operating in Mexico, Santiago said. Six are Spanish citizens wanted in Spain on terrorism-related charges. Three others are Mexican. Spanish officials say Mexico has been long been a refuge for the ETA. Santiago said some of the Spaniards arrested might have been operating in Mexico since 1996. Tell me again why we should open that border.
"With these actions we are showing Mexico will not be a land of impunity for any criminal groups ... especially those dedicated to terrorism," Santiago said. The arrests were the product of a Spanish-Mexican investigation that began a year ago. As part of the same operation, a 71-year-old Spaniard was arrested in Guernica in the Basque province of Vizcaya, Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said. The Spaniards were indicted by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon on July 14. First I have heard of this link, but it makes sense. Good place for them to blend in and hide.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/21/2003 9:13:43 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
She is known as Black Fatima — the head of a ring of female Chechen suicide bombers who spikes the drinks of new recruits and sends them out to kill and maim. She is the most wanted woman in Russia. Her chilling role as the alleged mastermind of the bombing campaign terrorising Moscow was revealed last week by Zarema Muzhikhoyeva, the first would-be suicide bomber to be captured alive. Black Fatima was spotted by concertgoers at the Moscow pop festival where 14 music fans were killed by two female suicide bombers a fortnight ago.
Muzhikhoyevaâs statements to police have fuelled fears that Chechen gangs plan to send the widows of men killed in the insurgency in the southern Muslim republic on further suicide missions. These female bombers are known as the "black widows", and investigators have given the traditional Muslim name of Fatima to their mysterious mentor. Muzhikhoyeva, a 22-year-old from Chechnya who was charged on Friday with terrorism, murder and attempted murder, was arrested after a failed attempt to blow herself up in a restaurant in central Moscow on July 9. The young woman had been ripe for recruitment by the militants: her husband and father were both killed fighting Russian troops. In her confession, she identified a photofit of Black Fatima as "Lyuba". The images show a middle-aged woman wearing dark glasses. Police say that she is aged about 40, about 160 centimetres tall, with dyed blonde hair.
Good description. I think I saw her yesterday. She was walking a poodle...
Muzhikhoyeva says that Lyuba met her when she flew in from Ingushetia, a region bordering Chechnya. Lyuba took her to a safe house and gave her orange juice that left her dizzy and confused. Security officials believe the juice was laced with a mind-altering drug intended to break down any inhibitions as she prepared to die. They have sent blood samples for testing.
Scopalamine?
After a week, Lyuba gave Muzhikhoyeva a bomb in a rucksack and instructed her to blow herself up in the McDonaldâs restaurant in Pushkin Square. However, the young woman did not know Moscow well and entered a small cafe when she could not find the hamburger restaurant. Her attack was foiled when the TNT in her bag failed to detonate. Georgy Trofimov, a 29-year-old bomb disposal expert, died trying to make the bag safe.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/21/2003 5:59:29 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Widows of dead fighters being suicide bombers.
Ok, we check the enemy kills vs the local marriage certificates, and arrest. Survival trumps law.
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Palestinian Authority on Sunday outlawed groups that espouse violence, moving to meet a key Israeli demand for action against militants and boosting a U.S.-backed peace plan. In related news, the Palestinian Authority asked someone from Jordan to come into Ramallah to turn off the lights, since there was no one left.
The decree - which came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem - is identical to one issued in 1998 but effectively rendered invalid during 33 months of violence that followed the collapse of American peace efforts. Iâm sure we all have high hopes for the decree this time!
In violence late Sunday, a Palestinian was killed while setting off a bomb aimed at an Israeli army vehicle near Jenin in the West Bank, the military said. No one else was hurt. Thank goodness he wasnât a violent sort of fellow!
Sharon and Abbas met for two hours at the Israeli leaderâs official residence just days before twin summits in Washington between each leader and President Bush. Talks centered on Israelâs demand the Palestinians disarm militants, and Abbasâ demand for the release of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails. No bold steps came out of the meeting. The old surprise meter didnât budge on that one.
Sharonâs office said afterward that he had pledged to consider Palestinian requests for additional prisoner releases, further Israeli withdrawals from Palestinian towns and the dismantling of Israeli roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza. "Okay, Abbas, I considered them. The answer is NO!"
Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat said the delegation called the meeting ``a disappointmentââ because action was delayed until after the meetings in Washington. Abbas will hold White House talk with Bush on July 25; Sharon meets him July 29. This was a photo-op, nothing more.
The violence that has wracked the Mideast since September 2000 has dropped considerably since Palestinian militant groups declared cease-fires June 29. Islamic Jihad and Hamas declared a three-month truce; Arafatâs Fatah movement called a six-month one. But disagreements have stalled progress on the ``road mapââ peace plan, which calls for ending violence and creating a Palestinian state by 2005.
In an effort to satisfy Israel, the decree issued Sunday by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat bans ``incitement that encourages the use of violence that harms the relations with foreign countriesââ and says violators would be judged according to Palestinian law. "Hokay, hereâs the law yous guys. Kill a Zionist -- thatâs a class IV misdeamenor, one day in the pokey unless your pals stage a demonstration for your release. Wit me so far?"
[chorus] "Weâre with you!"
"Kill a gaggle oâ Zionists, thatâs a class II, thatâs three days in the pokey, but since we consider that hard time, you get TV and a coupla virgins. Got it?"
[chorus] "Got it, boss!"
"Awright den, git outa here and donâ let me catch yas gettinâ violent!"
[chorus] "You wonât catch us, boss!"
In language that seems directed at militant groups, it also bans ``illegal organizations that encourage violence and arouse the public to bring about change through forceââ and ``incitement that encourages the violation of the agreements signed by the PLO and foreign countries.ââ Did he just outlaws Hamas and Islamic Jihad?
The Palestinian news agency Wafa, which carried a text of the decree, said it was issued by Arafat to reaffirm the 1998 ban. The move follows a Palestinian statement Saturday pledging to restore law and order in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli statement after the Sharon-Abbas meeting did not mention the decree, but repeated the demand for more action against militants, who have killed hundreds of Israelis over the past three years. ``The prime minister told his counterpart that the Palestinian Authority must act immediately and in a clear-cut way to dismantle the terror organizations,ââ the statement said, setting such action as a condition for further Israeli moves.
Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr, speaking in Ramallah, appealed to the U.S. government for help in winning Israeli implementation of the plan. ``We need all the support from our friends the Americans,ââ Amr said. Weâre not your friends.
Hopes on the Palestinian side increased in recent days that Israel was growing more willing to consider releasing more of its estimated 7,700 Palestinian prisoners. Israel has agreed to free several hundred but so far resisted demands for a mass release. Israeli officials also had angered Palestinians by ruling out releasing members of the Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But on Sunday, Cabinet minister Gideon Ezra said it would be possible to free members of those groups not implicated in deadly attacks. Bad move, the Israelis will just have to round them up again.
The Israeli statement said a committee dealing with the releases would meet Wednesday, but added that releasing Islamic militants would not be considered until Sharon returns from Washington.
While the release of prisoners is not spelled out as an Israeli obligation in the road map, the Palestinians have made it a major issue. Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan said Sunday the releases were ``at the top of our agenda.ââ ``Until now, theyâre talking about only 400 prisoners. The Israelis right now can release 3,000 Palestinian prisoners without any serious security issues,ââ he said. Some 1,500 people demonstrated in Gaza City, calling for the release of all Palestinians held by Israel. Islamic Jihad spokesman Mohammed al-Hindi warned there would be ``no peace and securityââ unless all prisoners were freed. Thereâs no peace anyway!
Sharon aide Raanan Gissin said the Israelis rejected a Palestinian appeal to allow freedom of movement for Arafat. Israelâs position has been that he can leave the Ramallah compound where he has been for more than a year, but he might not be allowed to return. Gissin reiterated Israelâs position that Arafat is trying to ruin peace efforts. ``We want to be very cautious in the steps that we make,ââ he said. "Weâd like to tread on the old goatâs head especially carefully!"
The slow movement on the peace plan gives more importance to the meetings in Washington, said Ali Jerbawi, political scientist at Beir Zeit University on the West Bank. ``If the Americans can pressure the Israelis into delivering, I think that might save the road map,ââ he said. ``If the Americans cannot deliver the Israelis, then I think that the road map is doomed.ââ It was a chimera from the start.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/21/2003 1:04:26 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Did he just outlaw Hamas and Islamic Jihad?"
Steve, note the article mentions banning "illegal organizations" Are Hamas and IJ considered illegal in PA eyes? I don't think so. So I guess legal organizations can keep on inciting and fighting. Ho-hum.
Posted by: Michael ||
07/21/2003 9:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
From the article: "The Palestinian Authority on Sunday outlawed groups that espouse violence, moving to meet a key Israeli demand for action against militants and boosting a U.S.-backed peace plan."
These guys at the Guardian have got to be kidding. A serious effort on the road to a solution is to start arresting and prosecuting Hamas members and confiscating their armament, not making silly little proclamations that don't mean a hell of a whole lot. Note the next paragraph in the article: The decree - which came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas met in Jerusalem - is identical to one issued in 1998 but effectively rendered invalid during 33 months of violence that followed the collapse of American peace efforts.
Proclamations without corresponding actions means that little, if anything, has changed.
Tony Blair indicated yesterday that two of the British men being detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba will still stand trial before a US military court because national security would be at risk if they were returned to Britain. Thatâs why they were jugged in the first place.
With the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, expected to start talks today in Washington about the fate of the two men, Mr Blair hinted that their best hope would be a slight loosening of the military tribunalâs rules.
Meanwhile, Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer who has represented the British inmates at American hearings, said he had been told by US government sources that a deal had been done before Lord Goldsmith even arrived in the country. The only significant concession would be to lift the threat of the death penalty. Jugged for life at Gitmo? I can go with that.
The news will infuriate supporters of Moazzem Begg and Feroz Abbasi, whose hopes were raised last week when George Bush authorised a temporary halt in the legal proceedings to allow Lord Goldsmith to travel to the talks.
Speaking to Sky television during his trip to the far east, Mr Blair hinted that President Bush had handed him intelligence warning of the dangers of returning the men to Britain, where they would almost certainly be set free. "We have got to look at a whole range of considerations, not least our own national security," he said. His remarks show he has been persuaded by US concern that Mr Begg and Mr Abbasi would be free to return to Pakistan if they were repatriated because legal experts do not believe they could be charged with any offence in Britain. Theyâd return to Pakland with rose petals at their feet, and weâd spend lots of time and effort to nail them again somewhere in Afghanistan, or worse.
In his first public comment about the men since a White House dinner with Mr Bush on Thursday, Mr Blair indicated that he now supported a military trial as he called on people to give the US credit for the tribunal. "Any military commission that [the Americans] have is subject to rules that I think would be regarded as reasonably strict by anyone." But he said the Americans would have to go some way to observing legal norms. "Obviously if we have our own nationals tried in that way we would want to make sure that every single aspect of this was consistent with the proper rules."
Britain has expressed "strong reservations" about the trial, which would be conducted by a military judge and prosecution. The men would be entitled to appoint their own defence team but the lawyers would have to pass a strict vetting procedure, for which the lawyers themselves would have to pay. Let George Galloway pay for it -- doesnât he have a fund for this sort of thing?
The prosecution would be able to present as evidence testimony gained under duress and unsworn statements, and the tribunal has the power to impose the death penalty.
Mr Blairâs remarks indicate that President Bush has agreed to loosen the rules, but a normal criminal trial on the mainland, along the lines of the trial of the Californian supporter of the Taliban, John Walker Lindh, has been ruled out. Mr Blair qualified his remarks by saying that Lord Goldsmith would discuss two options in Washington - repatriating the two men to face trial in Britain or amending the rules of the US tribunal to bring them more into line with the British legal system. But Mr Blairâs warning about national security, and his praise for the "strict" rules governing the tribunal, indicated that he is prepared to face down a row by agreeing to a trial at Guantanamo Bay.
"Unfortunately, I am informed by the Americans that the rules have been set âfixâ is in, and that the result of your visit has already been determined," Mr Stafford Smith wrote to Lord Goldsmith yesterday.
"I understand that the only concession that President Bush will make is that the British will not be subject to the death penalty. Again, this would be no concession at all, since there is no evidence to date that our citizens committed any act that would justify a death sentence." Other than toting a rifle in a combat zone while participating as an irregular, you mean.
The menâs supporters are likely to be angered that Mr Blair came close to endorsing Mr Bushâs description of the two as "bad men". Mr Blair told Sky: "These cases all arise out the situation in Afghanistan where people were supporting al-Qaida, the terrorist network and the Taliban against British and American forces ... it is just worth pointing out that this came out of a situation of huge danger for ourselves and our armed forces."
Asked whether he agreed with Mr Bushâs controversial remarks, Mr Blair said: "I think what he was meaning by that was the situation in terms of people going over and supporting al-Qaida and the Taliban ... some of the discussion of this in the past few weeks has rather forgotten the context in which this arose." Funny how that happened!
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/21/2003 12:48:51 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A cheap and easy solution would be to wait until we had a raid/arrests based on other intel, then publicly thank these two asshats for their assistance and cooperation and release them. Let their cohorts kill them for us
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/21/2003 8:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The only significant concession would be to lift the threat of the death penalty.
As much as I like the Poms, I don't particularly care for their aversion to the death penalty. These guys got caught by U.S. forces, and as such, are U.S. prisoners and are subject to legal proceedings by the U.S. government. It's just like that kid that was caught in Singapore vandalizing cars; some people here complained that caning was a harsh penalty for what he did. The fact of the matter is, his actions came under the jurisdiction of Singaporean law, and he had to live with the consequences of his actions.
However, in light of the probability that the death penalty won't be imposed in the event that these Pom terrorists are convicted, they can then serve out their sentences somewhere else besides within U.S. territory. Someone has to feed them, and it doesn't need to be us.
#7
This is where the rubber meets the road. Either you mean what you say, or not. If you mean it as long as it has no cost to you, such as your countrymen facing what sounded really good 5 minutes ago for everyone else, then you don't mean it and your word is shit.
Blair is the real deal - Kudos to him. If he ever seeks asylum he'll be welcome in the US of A.
Probably a lot of "body count math" going on here. The statistic about the mini-refineries is interesting. The Chechensâ history over the last fifty years has been positively biblical. First Stalin deports their entire nation during WWII. Then the war after the fall of the USSR. Thereâs probably too much hatred here for any solution other than scorched earth.
GROZNY, July 20 (Itar-Tass) - Federal forces destroyed 52 gunmen in Chechnya over the last week and arrested 12 bandits, Tass learnt on Sunday at the regional headquarters on the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. Besides, commandoes and aviation wiped out seven major bases of gunmen as well as weapons and military property there. Over the same period, sappers warded off six terrorist acts. According to the headquarters, troops destroyed 107 caches with weapons and ammunition in various districts of the republic. They contained 58 submachineguns, 40 grenade launchers and the same number of shotguns, over 70 kilos of explosives, 29 home-made explosive devices, 13 walkie-talkies, nearly 100,000 cartridges to firearms, 494 hand grenades, 199 mines and artillery shells. Troops of the United Army Group and officers of the Federal Security Service and of the Chechen Interior Ministry smashed 98 mini oil refineries over the past week and seized 96 tonnes of petrol and diesel fuel.
Posted by: 11A5S ||
07/21/2003 12:09:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm pretty sure you could have read the same sort of thing 2 or 3 years ago. The problem for the Russkies is that everybody (right down to the cats and dogs) hates their guts in Chechnya.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
07/21/2003 9:03 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Federal forces destroyed 52 gunmen in Chechnya over the last week and arrested 12 bandits"
So, how does one tell the difference between a gunman and a bandit ? Are there ID cards issued ? Identifiying marks ?
Posted by: Carl in NH ||
07/21/2003 10:14 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
