The link is now up, to the right, in the little yellow box...
Some comments from last night, when I was sitting helplessly with a hosed internet connection...
Now, if we just have a standard deviation calculation, wait, belay that.........
Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-8-18 11:00:54 PM
Belayed for awhile. I'm still working on it and I'll probably be rewriting the whole thing to do some of the things I'd like to do...
So who is going to handle the site for off-line betting? We could incorporate pay-pal or something........watch the monster grow.
Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-8-18 11:03:30 PM
I'm still thinking about that one. Or I could provide the mechanism and you guys could place your bets. I'm not really into online casinos â I get enough spam, and I don't have any experience as a bookie.
Fred-
What prevents people from entering in many different aliases to skew the results? I know that this sounds sophomoric, but another web site allowed members to numerically rate other members based on their posts. Some idiots created over twenty different handles to flame the posters they despised and rate them negatively. And in the case of the other website, you had to register a unique email address.
The website owners had to pull the rating system because of it was screwing up the purpose of the website.
Because there is no money up front, the posts in Futuristic Toy will be skewed by idiots. And it won't be interesting anymore. And that would be a shame.
Ways to prevent this are probably easy to come up with, but too complex to manage.
Hopefully some of you smart people will come up with a plan.
Posted by: Penguin 2003-8-18 11:19:12 PM
I think phase two is going to take the last half dozen (approximately) quotes as the current probability, with the overall probability being shown next to it and a +/- figure given. That way the system will be self-correcting over time. I'd also like to take the entries when they expire and post them here on the main page for comment.
You could filter the regulars from the ones that never posted here before. Or have a condition that you have to be "known" to Rantburg (but not necessarily have to register). Or something... I'm not smart with these things so I'll pass the mic on to someone else...
Posted by: Raphael 2003-8-18 11:38:10 PM
I'd like to leave them open to anyone who has an opinion. It's kind of like polling, only using an informed base. The wider the opinion range among informed readers, the more checks and balances we get. I think. Unless it leaves us at 50-50 on every item. Then we'll have to think of something else.
If the system's self-correcting, trolls â even Stevey â won't be a problem, at least not for more than a day or so, because their opinions will age off even though they'll go into the overall prob.
If we create an item on the main page along with who said what, it'll be open to comments just like any other article. The trolls â and those who were generally off the mark â could end up collecting razzberries, and the occasional reminders will keep us all honest.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/19/2003 11:55 ||
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IMHO this doesn't work very well without the money, for Penguinâs reasons and others. Anyone can vote his* preference or his optimism, consciously or sub. People won't necessarily vote their real predictions if there are no repercussions (of their vote) that effect them. Many people wonât even think it through if there is nothing in it for them. Why should they?
It's the market again.
*Please, no protests about sexist adjectives. As Winston Churchill said, âMale embraces female, which is just as it should be.â.
The aging algorithm based on post history is the best idea so far. Especially if troll posts are culled by you or assistant moderators.
The ony problem will be for the spouses and family of hardcore Rantburgers. Since the hardcore will refuse to take a vacation if they think their status will drop. :D
Edited For Length
MEN are doomed to extinction, victims of the decaying human Y-chromosome, the only piece of DNA men possess and women do not. Yikes! Er, Y-yikes!
So says Bryan Sykes, professor of human genetics at Oxford University, in a book that envisages the "Sapphic reproduction" of women by genetic manipulation. A "genetic ruin littered with molecular damage", the Y-chromosome cannot repair itself, nor arrest the steadily accumulating damage, he reports in Adamâs Curse. "Like the face of the moon, still pitted by all the craters from all the meteors that have ever fallen onto its surface, Y-chromosomes cannot heal their own scars. It is a dying chromosome and one day it will become extinct."
That's why there aren't any male lizards or marmosets or spiders, y'know. All their Y chromosomes fell out and there's nothing left but the female of the species. It's a scientific fact. You could look it up somewhere.
The decline of the Y-chromosome has been well chronicled. What is new is Professor Sykesâs description of the implications and the stark choices for the human race. He says that because the chromosomeâs main function is switching on male embryos in the womb, its demise means the final curtain for men. By his estimate, the male will go belly-up in about 125,000 years.
That does it! I'm leaving!
"From the genetic point of view, very little stands in its way," he says. His strategy for perpetuating a new female race depends on tweaking the proven technique of injecting sperm into eggs. Instead, the nucleus from a second egg would be injected. The only difference from any other birth would be that the baby would always be a girl. "The entire process has been accomplished without sperm, without Y-chromosomes and without men," Professor Sykes says.
"'Cuz they're ucky anyway..."
The girls would not be clones, but would comprise the same mixture of their parentsâ genes, shuffled by recombination, as todayâs children. But there would be one major difference: both parents would be women.
So would their uncles. Monkeys' uncles are all women, y'know. That's 'cuz all those Y chromosomes fell out. They just litter the landscape all over the African savannah. When you walk, monkey chromosomes crunch underfoot. There's places in the heart of the steamy jungle where no trees grow because there's so many used chromosomes stacked up.
It is almost bound to happen, says the professor, who can find no moral objection. "Men are now on notice," he says.
"Moral objection? Why would I find one of those? I'm a perfessor..."
However, Professor Sykes does not speculate on what would pass for sex once men disappear. Well, judging from this the Australian government has some creative solutions!
#3
And yet sexual reproduction has been around for how long, exactly?
Sounds to me like the professor's taken a ride on the Nutbar Express.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/19/2003 18:05 Comments ||
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Er, that "Y-chromosome cannot repair itself" bit flies against what I've read. As I understand it, the Y-chromosome has its own internal repair mechanism that can stich it back together in case of damage.
That was published in Nature a few months back. Any researchers out there know what a coup it is to get an article published in Nature - well, this one made the cover!
#5
There's something very fishy about this article. Don't other mammals share similar characteristics with humans? And yet I have yet to hear of other mammals not having any male offspring.
Posted by: Stephen ||
08/19/2003 20:07 Comments ||
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#7
Better put us guys on the endangered species-- er, endangered genders list right now. I'm gonna get me some sweet government subsidy on account of my suicidal chromos.
Posted by: (lowercase) matt ||
08/19/2003 20:48 Comments ||
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#9
monkey's uncles? hahahahaha! But where is the Coffee Alert? I am now wearing a cup! oh that was hot!
What I want to know is with all this genetic technology, why we are just going to sit around for 125000years and let men dissappear. Not enough time to come up with a solution? Or is this another FCC (Feminist Chromazonal Conspiracy) issue?
Next time my wife claims I'm not listening, I'll just blame it on the Y.
Posted by: john ||
08/19/2003 22:33 Comments ||
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Sharon e-mailed me this, from dpa. There's no link to go with it, but who could pass it up?
A frightened English burglar went straight to the police when he found a severed head in a jar while out on a job, press reports said Tuesday. The unnamed thief broke into the home of Richard Morrison in the Liverpool area but fled when he saw the head. Acting on his information, police secured a warrant and also broke into the house, fearing they had stumbled on an English Hannibal Lecter, but closer examination revealed the ``head'' had been put together from bacon.
"I-i-i-i-it's BACON! Bacon, bacon, BACON!"
Morrison, 37, a part-time conceptual artist, who works for the Criminal Records Bureau, returned home to find his front door broken in. Police offered a full apology and said they would fix the door. Morrison devised his artwork â bacon in an old-fashioned sweet jar preserved in formaldehyde â while attending an art foundation course two years ago. The work is in the style of that of Damien Hirst, a British artist who made a name for himself by preserving animals in formaldehyde.
"Mmmmm... Pickled lizards! My favorite!"
Morrison told the Times he was quite proud of his ``naive conceptualist'' creation and acknowledged it had been inspired by Hirst and Tracey Emin, another conceptual artist. ``The police told me that the burglar was terrified. He pooped himself had a crisis of conscience and confessed to his mother,'' he said.
"Mom, where's the toilet paper?"
"Is there something you want to tell me, son?"
Merseyside Chief Inspector Stephen Naylor said the burglar had been arrested for a separate offence.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/19/2003 14:45 ||
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Britain's tentative answer to the prohibition of firearms to be used to thwart burglaries. Unfortunately, its time value is limited, and it is not due to the formhadehyde, but rather the lack of suprise after one or two heads are, ahem, let out of the jar.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/19/2003 15:44 Comments ||
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An explosion of gerbils is decimating vast areas of grasslands in Chinaâs north-western Xinjiang region, with some of the prairies completely destroyed by hundreds of rodent burrows, according to authorities in the region. The Great Gerbil found in many parts of Central Asia can be up to 16 inches long from head to tail. Officials say the gerbils have damaged more than 11m acres of grassland about the size of Switzerland. This is reported to be the worst rodent disaster to hit this region of Xinjiang in 10 years. Authorities are trying to combat the gerbils, not only by using poison, but also by breeding eagles to devour them. Of course, after the eagles run out of gerbils theyâll start eating people.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 8:54:23 AM ||
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In Chinese, the word gerbil is spelled "tribble". Odd, that...
#2
Hollywood special forces has already dispatched a task force led by Richard Gere to deal with the problem. Probably gonna stop by the "bachelor" villages too...
#17
Reuters Flash! CIA Scientists develop new breed of Y-Chromasome-free Gerbil! (Available with parachutes in pastealth colors!)
Posted by: john ||
08/19/2003 22:44 Comments ||
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#18
the gerbils are coming to my country they are taking over the towns and villages. we have no food or fresh water to drink. the gerbils are keeping us in tiny cages and feeding us catnip and elephat feisies
Posted by: fred gunnniidddyyy ||
09/03/2003 20:46 Comments ||
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The Afghan presidentâs younger brother says an explosion at his house Tuesday "was a very bad accident." Police had earlier said the explosion was a bomb. A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai says a servant was moving ammunition and it "suddenly for some reason exploded." "Honey, mom is coming to spend the weekend. Can you have the butler move the mortar rounds out of the guest bedroom?"
The blast sent a plume of black smoke from the large compound in southern Afghanistan. One worker was seriously hurt and another had minor injuries. No one was killed. Itâs Afghanistan, what more is there to say?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 12:00:54 PM ||
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The Kandahar Government spokesman, Khaled Pushtun, said some of Afghanistanâs neighbours were supplying Taleban insurgents with money to carry out attacks aimed at destabilising the region. Heâs been reading Rantburg.
Mr Pushtun was speaking amidst calls for greater security measures in the border areas between the two countries following another attack on an Afghan Government post by suspected Taleban. He said that while Afghanistan had good relations with the Pakistani Government, Islamist political parties in Pakistan had always openly supported the Taleban, and they were continuing to provide funds and moral support now. Thatâs very diplomatic of him.
Islamist parties are in power in both of the Pakistani provinces which border Afghanistan. Itâs that cause - effect thing again.
Mr Pushtun said that a minority of Afghans in the south still favour the Taleban and outsiders were taking advantage of this to promote anti-government activity on the Afghan side of the border. He said there should be more international pressure on Afghanistanâs neighbours to prevent this. Agreed.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 9:14:20 AM ||
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A letter from Osama bin Laden and a telephone call made from Iran by his son Saad are linked to a series of al-Qaeda attacks on Westerners in Saudi Arabia, according to Western diplomats and Saudi intelligence officials. Dialed 10-10-821, did he? Or Collect?
The letter from al-Qaedaâs leader was found on the body of Yosif Salih Fahd Alayeeri, one of 19 attackers involved in a closely co-ordinated series of bombings in Riyadh on 12 May, who was killed in a shootout with security forces in central Saudi Arabia in May. The Saudi authorities have refused to divulge the contents of the letter, confirming only that it was found on the dead terrorist.
Dear Yosif,
I am fine. How are you? I'd really appreciate it if you'd get yourself killed doorknob dead subverting the Soddies.
Love,
Binny
Two days before the bombings, which killed 34 people, including nine Americans and two Britons, Saad bin Laden made a telephone call from somewhere in Iran to another member of the same al-Qaeda gang, according to a senior Western diplomat. The unidentified Saudi suspect was arrested as part of a crackdown on Islamist militants after the May bombings. Authorities said he had revealed the details of the telephone conversation between himself and Saad bin Laden under interrogation.
"Yes! Yes! I talked to him! I'll tell you everything! Just stop hitting me there!"
British Airways halted flights to the kingdom on Wednesday last week after Saudi authorities learnt of a plot to shoot down one of its planes with a missile. The plan is believed to have been the work of the same wide network, directed by Bin Laden and associates, including his son Saad, to which the Riyadh gang belonged. Intelligence about the plot probably came from CIA agents working in the kingdom, and with whom the Saudis are now sharing information on al-Qaeda. The attack was foiled when a Saudi police special forces ambushed 10 terrorist suspects who had escaped a shootout in Riyadh the night before. Three Saudi officers died and five suspects were captured.
The remaining Bad Guys are looking for an aircraft full of people to shoot down...
Details of the planned missile attack were found in documents in a car used by the gang, and BA announced it was suspending flights to Saudi Arabia the next day.
"To hell with it. Let them shoot down Air France."
Adel al-Jubeir, Atom Ant a Saudi foreign policy adviser, partly confirmed the details in an interview yesterday with CNN. "One of the cells that was broken up ... there were maps, there were certain things that indicated that there was a high level of interest in British Airways," Mr Jubeir said. "The conclusion that was arrived at by British Airways ... was that there may be a threat there."
I like Adel. You can always tell when he's lying, because he sucks in his breath so audibly.
There have been fears of a missile attack against a civilian airliner in Saudi Arabia since May last year, when a shoulder-launched SA-7 missile was fired at an American fighter plane taking off from the Prince Sultan air base. Earlier, explosives were found outside the base, with another al-Qaeda letter attached, demanding that all American forces withdraw.
"Go away! We don't like you! Yar!"
Much of the intelligence coming out of Saudi Arabia is emerging from CIA interrogations. This is given more credibility by international experts than details provided by the Saudi Interior Ministry.
... which is prone to telling lies just to keep in practice.
Some of the best information is believed to be from Ali Abdul Rahman al-Faqaasi al-Ghamdi, who is accused of masterminding the Riyadh attacks, and who surrendered in Jeddah. Mr Ghamdi met Bin Laden in southern Afghanistan before the Taliban regime fell. It has not been revealed whether Mr Ghamdi was the source of the information about Saad bin Ladenâs phone call, but the revelation has severely affected relations between Riyadh and Tehran. The Iranians have denied US claims that the Riyadh bombings were directed from their territory. Iran has declined to reveal the identities of terrorist suspects it is holding, other than saying they include "important and less important members" of al-Qaeda. But US officials and Arab press reports say Saad bin Laden, who has been stripped of Saudi citizenship, is among those being held. The Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, has confirmed that all the gangs arrested in the country since 12 May have links to al-Qaeda. Sounds like the blackhats want a spanking badly — calling John Clark
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 12:21:55 PM ||
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This reminds me of the note from the Mayor of Chicago Frank Nitti carried in "The Untouchables."
"Please be nice to Yosif as he is an orphan who hates Jooos and Yankee infidels. He also likes puppies, the smell of RPGs and long walks on the beach (anywhere but Gitmo)."
Posted by: Tibor ||
08/19/2003 13:37 Comments ||
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Two days before the bombings, which killed 34 people, including nine Americans and two Britons, Saad bin Laden made a telephone call from somewhere in Iran to another member of the same al-Qaeda gang, according to a senior Western diplomat.
Hello, Iran? Yeah, you're next. We'll let the Israelis clean up the animals in their neighborhood.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/19/2003 18:02 Comments ||
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EFL
The burglar shot by Tony Martin has been filmed cycling and climbing steps with little apparent difficulty. Brendon Fearon, who was shot in the legs at Martinâs Norfolk farmhouse, was filmed walking briskly and cycling near his home. Fearon, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, is seeking up to £100,000 compensation from Martin over the injuries he sustained. He said that he was crippled by the shooting and couldnât continue his "career".
The footage, taken over the past week by The Sun newspaper, shows that the 33-year-old cannot be trusted and is a conman, Martinâs friend and supporter Malcolm Starr said. He says Fearonâs claim for compensation against Martin should be thrown out. Martinâs mother, Hilary, said the film highlighted the "potty" nature of the legal system. "This demonstrates that itâs a crazy thing anyway. Itâs the system - itâs potty," she said. Couldnât agree more.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 9:19:39 AM ||
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Gee whiz - a criminal that lies in order to collect 100 grand? What a shocker!
Make a note, Tony. Shoot higher next time. This guy has way to much in the balls department.
who appointed him??? australia is going to hell in a handbasket, owned by the greens and those with no logic and no compassion and no morals
TASMANIAâS next governor Richard Butler has pledged to present the truth to a parliamentary inquiry into Iraqâs weapons of mass destruction, but will pass no comment on government policy.
Oh, that Richard Butler!
Mr Butler, a former United Nations chief weapons inspector in Iraq, was announced yesterday as the stateâs new governor to succeed Sir Guy Green. a podium from which to continue my spewtum and spittle against Howard, the US, asking illegal immigrants to apply at an embassy and wait in line like everybody else, and deposing Saddam!
An outspoken critic of the Howard Governmentâs decision to join the United States-led war in Iraq, Mr Butler has publicly accused Prime Minister John Howard of misleading Parliament over the issue....
"Liars and thieves, the lot of 'em! Liars and thieves!"
"I will answer their questions and present my informed view on the issue of weapons of mass destruction," he told ABC Radio last night. informed view? Didnât this guy do a bad job and hasnât even been in Iraq for years? heâs out of the loop
"I will offer no comment on government policy. I donât need to - you all know what I think, and I know the media will quote my past interviews so that makes it unnecessary for me to lower myself
However, he said his new role would not stop him from presenting the facts. Yarr Ha ha! gotcha! see, I can spray all the spittle I like by selectively quoting some facts! (and leaving out a mountain of evidence to the contrary)
"The only way it could be interpreted as political would be if I said things that werenât true, or if you quote facts selectively thus distorting the picture
which I donât intend to do, or if the Government decided that it didnât like the truth," he said. of course, being the sole arbiter of truth, the high pinnacle of all that is treu .. I am truth and, yea, verily I dispenseth all forgiveness
"Liars and thieves... Liars and thieves... Mutter mutter... rhubarb rhubarb..."
"I donât believe that being governor-designate of Tasmania relieves me, or any other person, of the necessity of speaking the truth. For verily you should get down and worship me for I am the great god Butlick recently returned from my glorious mission of TRUTH in Iraq, and I will speak truth to power: yes I will!
"Now, if the Government finds that uncomfortable, hehe watch me make Howard squirm
thatâs another matter, and it, of course, is free to say, âWell, we had a different viewâ... But I am not relieved from the business of saying what I think the facts are." Itâs the TRUTH i tell ya the truth! I am the teller of all truth and anybody who disagrees with MY point of view is a damned dirty liar!
muttermuttermutter
In the past he has been a vocal critic of the Howard Government over issues including the war in Iraq, the children overboard affair and asylum seekers. Mr Howard today offered no comment on Mr Butlerâs vice-regal appointment, due to officially begin on November 3. He offered no comment because he doesnât have to. Heâs better than that. He doesnât have to tell the world he is upright, courageous and full of integrity. He just is. He doesnât have to advertise 4 times in the same breath that he speaks the truth, unlike Dicky Butlick.
Posted by: Anon1 ||
08/19/2003 6:11:16 AM ||
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Ok,one of you Aussie's help me out here.
Is it customary for Goveners in Australia to be appointed?
Here in the U.S. we elect our state goveners.
#3
Richard Butler, lead singer of Psychedelic Furs, would've been a better choice
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 9:50 Comments ||
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#4
So, the premier of Tasmania appointed him? Or the Governor General of Australia? The premier of Tasmania is a guy named Bacon, whose wife is called Honey. Mmm...honey bacon.
#5
I just recently learned that a distant relative of mine is or was in politics in Australia. I was personally wondering how often governor positions are changed? I love to learn about family and think it would be fun to tell my friends if he is still in politics on the other side of the world!
#6
rICHARD bUTLER HAS RESIGNED. hIS DIFFICULTY WAS IN NOT BEING ABLE TO DIVERCE HIS PERSONALITY FROM THE DEMANDING PROTOCL OF THE JOB. aNOTHER GOOD MAN DOWN FOR THE COUNT
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedenâs armed forces will operate only during office hours for the rest of the year to cut costs, military headquarters said. "Weâre under attack, sir!"
"Well, seeing as we donât have any budget for overtime, I guess youâll have to surrender and punch out."
[snipped, rerun from yesterday]
Posted by: Mike ||
08/19/2003 6:30:13 PM ||
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They're OK as long as they're attacked by France. Since France has a 35 hour work week, that'll give the Swedish army a 5 hour / week advantage over them.
Posted by: A Jackson ||
08/19/2003 19:31 Comments ||
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Gustavus Adolphus would roll over in his grave. Sweden's proud military tradition - from the Peace of Westphalia to this? Jesus wept...
The UN Security Council yesterday condemned escalating violence in Kosovo, as Serbia accused Albanians of "ethnic cleansing" after the machinegunning of Serbian children swimming in a river. Four years after NATO troops turfed Serbian forces out of Kosovo, ethnic bloodshed is rocking the UN-controlled province. UN-controlled = uncontrolled
A sniper killed an 11-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man and injured four others, as a group of Serbian teenagers played in a swimming hole in Gorazdevac, a village favoured by ethnic Serbs, last week. Snipers fired at the village again at the weekend, although no one was hurt. Enraged Serbs living in Kosovo took to the streets in protest, as the Government in the adjoining nation of Serbia and Montenegro — what is left of the former Republic of Yugoslavia — declared a national day of mourning. At a UN Security Council meeting in New York yesterday, Serbiaâs Deputy Prime Minister, Nebosja Covic, pointed the finger at the ethnic Albanians who make up 95 per cent of Kosovoâs population. He said the UNâs failure to bring stability to Kosovo would make it responsible for "a resurrection of fascism . . . and the creation of a monstrous mono-ethnic Albanian para-state". As opposed to a fascist Greater Serbia
The Albanian National Army, an underground rebel movement that wants to unify Kosovo with Albania, claimed responsibility on Sunday for an attack on a Serbian police station, although no one was hurt. The UN has declared the ANA a terrorist group. On Monday, an ethnic Serb died after being shot in the mouth while fishing near his village in eastern Kosovo.In an apparent payback, a mob of 30 Serbs attacked five Albanians as they drove through the Serb enclave of Gracanica on Monday. The violence flared early this month when gunmen murdered a UN policeman, Indian Satish Menon, in an ambush in northern Kosovo. UN investigators still have not found the assassins despite posting a â¬50,000 ($86,000) reward. Nobody will dare turn him in, Dire Revenge(tm) is a old and honored custom in this neck of the woods. Besides, nobody cares if a few UN types get killed.
The bloodshed coincides with the UNâs appointment of a new chief administrator for Kosovo, the former Finnish prime minister Harri Holkeri. "Welcome to Kosovo, hit the deck!"
One of his first tasks will be to organise a month-long amnesty to recover up to 460,000 weapons left over from the Balkans war. After the amnesty, Kosovars found with illegal firearms will face up to eight yearsâ jail. Thisâll work about as well as the disarming of Hamas.
An Australian diplomatic observer suggested yesterday the recent violence might be timed to coincide with Mr Holkeriâs arrival. "I think what has surprised people is that while you can expect the occasional grenade thrown at a Serbian military outpost or rocks thrown at police cars, to shoot young people swimming in a watering hole goes well beyond what anybody would have expected," he said. Anybody here suprised? Didnât think so.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 12:21:37 PM ||
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Well, they caught somebody: The United Nations arrested on Tuesday a Serb suspected of killing an Indian officer earlier this month in the first deadly attack on the U.N. police force in Kosovo.
The 21-year-old man was arrested without incident in the village of Slatina, in the area of Northern Mitrovica which is mainly populated by Serbs, the U.N. force said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 12:23 Comments ||
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#2
given the mess that kosovo was when the Serbs withdrew,and the political constrainst, I dont see that the UN has done badly in Kosovo. Would you rather that the UN wasnt there, and that Kosovo was strictly a US/UK responsibility?
#6
Wonder how long it will take our allies, the Texas Oilmen, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudis, to open up a new, huge Wahhabi(sic) mosque in Tirana and to start sending Jihadis into Kosovo?
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
08/19/2003 16:37 Comments ||
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#7
LH: the Swedes could take the day shift (9 to 5), and the French could take the nights and weekends. Should work out just fine.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2003 19:51 Comments ||
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Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 9:54:38 AM ||
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Well, shit. Just when I thought the world was conspiring to reinforce my anti-French bigotry, the French have to go and do something I respect, like spit in the collective eye of animal-rights moonbattry. Next thing you'll know, the French will be pulling their craniums out of their collective rectal cavity on GMO.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/19/2003 10:33 Comments ||
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#2
Don't worry, Mitch. Their only reason for doing this is to remove a restriction on one of their major companies. If they thought it would hurt companies from other countries without hurting them, they'd be all for it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/19/2003 10:42 Comments ||
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#3
They do this every time,whether it's energy deregulation,corporate subsidies,agriculture,you name it.The French attitude is that the laws don't apply to them,and if you want to play it straight and narrow,that's your problem,sucker.
Posted by: El Id ||
08/19/2003 12:25 Comments ||
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#4
Bwahaha RC! Heaven knows we never do anything in our country's business interests!! "Durn Europeons better start lettin' our Franken foods in err else!"-- and we ain't even gonna mention OIL INTERESTS-- no Siree, no Ma'am!
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
08/19/2003 16:46 Comments ||
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#5
But NMM, it is a well-known fact that we only act in the neo-con, law of the jungle version of capitalism. The French, OTOH, love Kyoto, ICC, UN, The Third Way, etc. In other words, they're being hypocritical by acting in their own interests. We are being normal Americans by acting in our own interest. Non?
Posted by: Michael ||
08/19/2003 17:03 Comments ||
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#6
NMM,I'm Finnish.My country follows the EU rules to the letter.Everytime the French and the Italians (the second-dodgiest nation) get away with breaking the law,we lose.
Posted by: El Id ||
08/19/2003 18:49 Comments ||
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#7
It doesn't surprise me. Probably the ONLY product American women might look the other way to purchase were their cosmetics. I confess, I actually broke down and bought one of their highlighting kits recently...but I mean...why not...It seemed almost appropriate to help delay the inevitable collapse of their economy by supporting the one thing the French actually do well...provide vanity products.
But supporting the animal testing is just too much. Jessh..how many rabbits do you have to poison to death to come up with the label..."keep product out of eyes"?
Quick..sell your stock in LOreal and check out Revlon or some cruelty-free alternative...this will kill LOreal faster than a bunny in an LD50/50 test.
The 55 most-wanted Iraqis and their status, according to U.S. Central Command. Thirty-six are in custody, 15 remain at large, two have been confirmed killed and two have been reported killed.
EFL
Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against US and UK forces, security and Islamist sources have warned. You donât hear about too many jihadis leaving Iraq, do you?
A statement purportedly from al-Qaeda was broadcast on Monday by the Arab satellite television channel al-Arabiya. It claimed the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the leader of the Afghanistanâs ousted Taliban regime Mullah Mohammed Omar were still alive.
We know Mullah Omar is still alive. Tell us something new. Is he still nuts?
But it also asserted that recent attacks on US forces in Iraq were the work of jihadis. The focus of concern for US counter-terrorist officials was at first on a reconstituted Ansar al-Islam, the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group based in northern Iraq before the war. But US officials have recently acknowledged the presence of other foreign fighters in Iraq. Any suicide bomber is most likely a foreign jihadi. Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, said recent raids, including one near al-Qaim last month, uncovered fighters "carrying travel documents from a variety of countries". Weâd like some details, please.
According to Saad al-Faguih, a UK-based Saudi dissident, the Saudi authorities are concerned that up to 3,000 Saudi men have gone "missing" in the kingdom in two months, although it is not clear how many have crossed into Iraq. How do you know they are "missing"? They fail to pick up their monthly check?
Saudis who have gone to Iraq have established links with sympathetic Iraqis in the northern area between Baghdad, Mosul and Tikrit, where they have hidden in safe-houses, a Saudi Islamist source said on Monday. The Iraqis will fight till the last (fill in the blank).
Pressure on Islamists in Saudi Arabia has grown since the bombing of an expatriate residential compound in May killed 35 people. The subsequent arrest of many Islamists has forced some underground while others are trying to flee to Iraq. From the frying pan to the fire.
A senior UK official said there was evidence of extremists from several countries focusing on Iraq, though it was unclear what role al-Qaeda played. "I donât know whether you can talk about an al-Qaeda strategy in Iraq, though there is great evidence of al-Qaeda involvement in the jihadi cause inside Iraq. But thereâs as much talk about other people doing things inside Iraq," the official said Like the Syrians, Iranians, Paleostinkiens, etc, etc..
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 1:19:27 PM ||
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That would be a bunch of -ss holes. Use whatever's handy.
Do we really need an open border between SA and Iraq? Close the border and shoot anything that moves. Same with Syria. Want to visit? Get a visa and fly in.
Posted by: Tom ||
08/19/2003 16:40 Comments ||
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#3
Troops, it's "Jihadi Season" -- no permits needed, no bag limit, everything from .223 Remington to 120mm DU "super size deer slugs" is legal ammunition.
Good luck and good hunting . . . and come home safe.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/19/2003 16:45 Comments ||
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#4
It's like a big game of "Whack-A-Mole."
The .50 cal deer slug fired from a sniper rifle or Ma-Deuce is particularly good at this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2003 19:53 Comments ||
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#5
Kill them all, take no prisoners, show no remorse, let their bodies rot in the desert.
Bomb the mosques and the islamic schools, assassinate the clerics, kidnap and torture every mullah that writes a fatwah or advocates a jihad. Nail a hogs hide to every school or mosque that teaches hate, throw a hog's head through every window.
Fight terror with terror. Make them fear us, they will never respect us but they should fear us.
I am tired of trying to apply logic to the situation. Perhaps Kurtz in "Heart of Darkness" had the right idea.
EFL
BARRING a last-minute miracle, the pan-Arab Baath Socialist Party, one of Jordanâs oldest political organizations, is expected to file for bankruptcy within the next few weeks. The partyâs headquarters in Amman is a scene of daily demonstrations by creditors waving unpaid bills. To make matters worse, the party has to finance the repatriation from Iraq of over 3,000 Jordanian and Palestinians students it had sponsored. The students were sent to Iraq with scholarships from the Baathist regime in Baghdad; Iraq paid the Jordanian party $600 a year for each student. But last month, the newly appointed Iraqi Governing Council scrapped the scheme as part of a broader de-Baathification program. Bahahahaha!
"We are in a tight spot," says Ahmad al-Najdawi, a party leader. "People donât understand that no more money is flowing [from Iraq]." Donât they read the papers?
Two prominent Lebanese pan-Arabists have fled to France to avoid paying the mobs they hired for pro-Saddam demonstrations in Beirut last winter. And other pro-Saddam Baathists are facing unpaid bills for anti-war demonstrations they organized in Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. At the time, those efforts were seen in the West as a sign that the "Arab street" was about to explode against the U.S.-led coalition. The Arab Street(tm) was just another rent-a-mob.
Before he went into hiding last April, Saddam Hussein held 55 posts. One was secretary-general of the Arab Baath Socialist Party (ABSP). The partyâs program was aimed at creating a single pan-Arab state, stretching from Mauritania to Oman, led by Saddam. The ABSP claimed to have branches in all Arab states. But it was only in Jordan, the West Bank, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco and Yemen that it had a visible presence. Some pro-Saddam Baathists outside Iraq are already engaged in talks to switch to the rival branch of the party controlled by Syria. But that is no sure thing either. In a timid step away from one-party rule, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month ordered his branch of the Baath to distance itself from the government. In any case, Syria lacks the financial resources of Iraq and is itself dependent on handouts from Saudi Arabia and Iran among others. Syria is walking around with a tin cup asking for handouts
"What matters is to keep the flame of pan-Arabism burning," says Taysir al-Khamsi, leader of Jordanâs pro-Saddam faction. "We have lost Iraq to the enemy and must get together not to lose Syria." Iâm sure that your support will be of great comfort to them.
There was a time, in the 1950s, when the Baath appeared as the rising star of Arab politics. Founded in 1947 by a group of French-educated Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals, the Baath (meaning renaissance) offered a synthesis of fascism and communism. There are our good allies the French again.
Some Arab pundits believe that the fall of Saddamâs regime has spelled the end of Baathism as a political factor in the life of the Arabs. "Baathism died long ago, maybe as early as 1965 when it became a cover for military juntas," says Saleh al-Qallab, a Jordanian former information minister. "For years, Iraqi money enabled the Baath to maintain a presence. With Saddam gone, that presence will fade." No wonder they were all backing Sammy.
Baathists are not the only political and financial orphans left by Saddam. The Iraqi dictator financed hundreds of journalists, and supposedly independent politicians in virtually all Arab countries. Documents seized from the Iraqi Cultural Office in London include lists that read like a whoâs who of pan-Arab intellectual elite. Oooo, documents! I just love the way fascist regimes keep detailed records, it makes the trials so much fun.
Over the years, Saddam financed dozens of Arab publications, including weeklies and dailies based in Beirut, Paris and London. Some prominent Arab journalists received "presidential presents" in the form of luxury homes in Europe, expensive cars and costly gold watches, the standard Arab gift. Iraqi groups studying the documents estimate that Saddam spent more than $1 billion over 20 years to buy prominent Arabs, and finance Arab parties and politicians devoted to his personality cult. Arab writers were paid millions of dollars to produce hagiographical accounts of Saddamâs life. Film-makers and TV producers received cash in exchange for footage devoted to the "Great Leader of Arabs." And now that money well has gone dry.
Saddam also financed militant Palestinian groups, notably Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and terrorists such as Sabri al-Banna, Muhammad Abbas and Ahmad Jibril. In 2001, Saddam also started channeling funds to the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah (Party of God). The list of those who benefited from Saddamâs handouts includes several Iranian opposition groups, including the Mujahedin Khalq (Peopleâs Combatants) and the Iranian Kurdish Communist Party, both of which are classified as "terrorist organizations" by the United States and several European governments. Tell me again how the war on Saddam hurt the war on terror?
Documents now being studied by the Iraqi research group also reveal that Saddam had a network of support in several European countries, notably Britain, France and Austria. At least three French political parties received financial contributions from Saddam between 1975 and 1990. Several prominent French politicians, including former Cabinet ministers, received money from Saddam. Several British politicians, including at least one member of parliament, were among the recipients of Saddamâs largesse. George Galloway, your check just bounced.
Conducted by several groups, the current work on Saddamâs secret documents is largely chaotic. It is, perhaps, time for the Governing Council to take control of the project and make sure that the seized documents are not used, and abused, for selective leaks and the settling of personal scores. All those in favor of leaks and the settling of scores, please raise your hands.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 11:12:52 AM ||
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fled to France ? What a surprise! (/sarcasm)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 11:16 Comments ||
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#2
At last! An economic collapse you CAN blame on George Bush.
#4
"...the Baâath (meaning renaissance) offered a synthesis of fascism and communism."
Gee, what's not to like about that combination. A lot of syngergy can be generated and then spiced with the progressive precepts of Islam. Like Emeril- BAM, let's kick it up a notch!
Fox News reports big explosion at the Baghdad hotel that houses the U.N. mission. Most likely car bomb, reportedly many casualties. Developing.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 9:06:33 AM ||
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A huge explosion on Tuesday rocked a hotel housing the U.N. headquarters, injuring a number of people and severely damaging the building, a spokesman said. The force of the blast, which knocked out windows up to a mile away from the scene, destroyed several cars, including one that was on fire. The U.N. spokesman in Baghdad, Salim Lone, informed U.N. headquarters in New York that a number of people were hurt in the explosion, but no one was killed as far as he knew. Lone said the explosion destroyed a significant part of the Canal Hotel in northeast Baghdad, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York.
U.S. Black Hawk helicopters could be seen flying toward the scene of the explosion. Black smoke rose hundreds of feet into the air. U.S. military officials could not confirm what had happened.
United Nations weapons inspectors worked out of the hotel during the period before the war.
Fox is carrying footage now. Looks like three story building, section of front corner caved in. Wounded being carried away by chopper, ambulance and private cars. Army now reporting at least three dead.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 9:28 Comments ||
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#2
Oops, seems like Abdullah the Saddamite got a bit confused by all those "united"-things. You know, United Nations, United States, kind of difficult when you have the IQ of a demented goat.
#3
and the French begin their surrender to any parked cars in the vicinity? Could this be more than just a Schadenfreude moment? Possibly a hardening of UN attitudes to the Arab/Baathist/Persian bastards doing this crap?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 9:53 Comments ||
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#4
It's a quagmire. The imperialist U.N. occupiers must leave Iraq. I call on all Arabs to jihad the U.N. with all the jihad you can jihad.
#5
This shows that the opposition is a Baathist conspiracy against the people of Iraq, not a spontaneous resistance against US occupation - if it were the latter, why target the UN? OTOH it make perfect sense for the Baathists, who want to push out the UN that has recognized the Iraqi Governing Council, and which may yet provide reconstruction aid. They especially want to kill the Brazilian who heads the UN effort in Iraq, since he has been vocal in advocating that the UN should recognize the IGC.
A hardening of attitudes - I hope so Frank - more so on the part of Kofi and the UN pros, then on the part of the French, who put their own interests above the UN institutional interests every time. Shifting opinion in fence-sitting states - New Zealand, Canada, India, even Germany - would certainly help.
#6
The UN "hardening its attitudes"? Yeah, right. More likely, they'll blame it on the US "destabilizing" Iraq. Then they'll vote to condemn the US for "actions which resulted in the destruction seen in Baghdad".
Remember, the UN is on the side of the despots, not the side of the people.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/19/2003 10:22 Comments ||
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RC - my following of Kofi's actions throughout indicate that Kofi and the UN secretariat is on the side of the UN's institutional interests, period. Thats why the Kofi was less hostile to the US pre-war than Blix was - Blix was acting essentially for France and Russia, not for UN institutional interests - which looked less for stopping the war (the Franco-Russian line) then for insuring that it was done through the UN - US non-UN action was a pure loss for the UN - for France weakening the UNSC was worth it if it weakened the US. Similarly now, Kofi and especially Serge, have been more open towards the Iraqi Governing Council than have the French, etc. The UN's goal is NOT to undermine the US position or support despots - the UN's goal is to make the UN important, to get the UN involved, and generally to show the UN's importance. And to increase their budgets and payrolls. Their actions are not easily explicable otherwise.
I note you say "they'll vote" As should be clear, I was referring to the UN bureaucracy, not to the member states. When you talk of a vote, are you referring to the UNSC or the GA?
I cant really see either body voting to blame to this on the US - this is the US involved, not Israel.
If the UN is on the side of the despots,why were they targeted? In particular it looks like the Brazilian head of the UN mission in Iraq was personally targeted.
#8
One wounded man had a yard-long, inch-thick aluminum rod driven into his face just below his right eye. He was able to speak and identified himself as a security consultant for the International Monetary Fund, saying he had just arrived in the country over the weekend. Yahoo
#9
If the UN is on the side of the despots,why were they targeted?
Because jihadis are stupid. As far as they're concerned, it's all "western".
As for the vote: naturally it would be in the GA, where the US couldn't just veto it. Besides, it was mostly a joke.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/19/2003 10:53 Comments ||
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Time to run a binding vote on the IGC, whether they should be accepted in the UN as the legit representative of Iraq under US administration. Put the UNcrats on the spot
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 11:10 Comments ||
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#11
Fox News was just interviewing a former Deputy Assistant Under-Secretary General [sumpin like that] of the UN who said:
1) UN workers were probably naive about security because of course they're doing nothing but Good Work, so how could anyone hate them?
[Admittedly the interviewer asked this with a leading question, but Deputy Dog agreed to it.]
2) Despite the fact the UN fought tooth and nail to keep the US out of Iraq, the UN was now "associated" with the big bad evil Yankees, and so are now vulnerable to attacks prompted by hatred of the Americans.
I exaggerate slightly, but only slightly.
If we're vewy quiet, we can hear the first sounds of moonbats blaming this on the US, for not having subdued all the bad guys yet (kinda like the museum looting business), and on George "Bring 'em on" Bush.
#12
Frank - The UNcrats dont vote - the member states vote. You'd only be putting the UNSC members on the spot - and its pretty clear that without major concessions (that were not ready to give at this point) France and Russia would veto - how does this put Kofi on the spot? Kofi DOES NOT - repeat DOES NOT - control Chirac and Putin. He gets blamed for their actions here and in some other places, largely due to an ideological hatred for the UN (spiced by some legitimate frustration with Kofi) that transcends examination of what Kofi and the UNcrats actually do.
#13
Indymadia - Bush did it to get back at Hans Blix.
Baghdad Bob Corp. - the Iraqi people did it to get back at the UN sanctions that kept them down so long.
Everybody else - the US is at fault for not providing adequate security.
Posted by: El Id ||
08/19/2003 12:39 Comments ||
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My Two Cents Worth: While this WILL get blamed on the United States by the press using some weird rational or the other, this attack may very well help to solidify world opinion against the remaining Ba'athist elements in the country. Not to diminish the suffering of those victimized by the attack, but it [the attack] may very well turn out to be a serious miscalculation on their part.
#15
President Bush's comments just after the bombing referred to today's bombing of the UN offices as terrorism. This ties the increasingly ill-focussed and almost random post-invasion "anti-occupation" violence in Iraq: artillery into a prison, destruction of water supplies, and now the bombing of the UN offices. If one of the Iraqi children's hospitals hasn't been attacked, that will probably happen. The pre-war US claim that Saddam was in league with Al-Qaeda is in the process of being rendered moot. The talking heads on TV this afternoon are trying to distinguish anti-US activity, guerrilla warfare, Islamists, and terrorism, but a common-sense description of terrorism seems best. Would it really matter if the (inevitably) young Muslim men making bombs in Baghdad all carried officlal photo ID cards signed by Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar?
#16
The top U.N. envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was trapped in the building is now reported to have died.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 13:26 Comments ||
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What, like we asked the goddam Psychotic Dictators Club to hang around? Weren't they whining that we wouldn't give them enough power? Let's see you protect yourselves for starters, assholes.
#19
De Mello used to be UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He was Kofi's personal choice as Iraq high commissioner.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2003 15:40 Comments ||
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I must say I am a bit bewildered and saddened: 19 comments and not a single line of sympathy for the victims. Instead more bitching about the UN and preemptive speculations about the blame game.
Some answer me the question how the UN employees could have protected themselves properly if even the mightiest military on earth isn't able (and probably can't be able) to fend of attacks in Iraq.
Of course the attack on the UN "makes perfectly sense". People who attack pipelines, water supplies and other infrastructure don't want the U.S./infidels/occupants to succeed. The greater UN role in Iraq holds the "danger" (for the Saddamists/Islamists) that opposition against the occupants would fade because Iraqis might have more sympathy for the U.N. than for the U.S. and that the life of Iraqis would get better with international help. And of course since the U.N. has more or less "legitimized" U.S. action in Iraq, it can be no useful fool "friend" for the attackers any more. Non Saddamist Iraqis with a brain between their ears might think differently though.
#21
TGA,you should see the comments wars on LGF and nicedoggie.net.Some people were downright gloating at the news of dead UN workers.I tried to explain to them that the victims weren't the SS,to no avail.
RIP.
Posted by: El Id ||
08/19/2003 18:57 Comments ||
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TGA: the UN compound wasn't protected by U.S. military -- and the UN doesn't appear to have taken any measures to reduce access to their headquarters building (i.e., barriers between the street & front of the building, etc). Some survivors remarked that the truck simply drove in off the street and into the building, then blew up.
I feel all sorts of sympathy for the victims, but I also think the UN's arrogance about the "protection" provided just by virtue of being the UN played a major role here. Having seen what happened to the Jordanian embassy just a week ago, they needed to protect themselves a lot better than they did. The person who was responsible for protecting that building and its occupants failed, with disastrous consequences.
#23
The end result of this will be to pressure the US into giving the UN a greater role in post-Saddam Iraq. The UN's hardening of attitudes will not be against anyone else but the US. Get ready for an onslaught of condemnations coming from the UN & friends, against the US.
#24
TGA - point taken, however, how many of the UN/ and staff were opposed to the UN games which could've caused US GI deaths? We'll never know. I imagine most of the frustration is in "how does it feel now, Ass?" mode. I feel no hatred for the individuals harmed in today's bombing. I also feel no sympathy for the mother organization which sent them in harm's way with less than competent protection. This could've very well been our troops (Beirut, '80s?) but did we see any outrage or commission of UN troops to fight back? F&^k NO!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 19:49 Comments ||
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TGA is correct.
First and foremost: my sympathies to the wounded and to the families of each of the dead.
Losing de Mello is not good: he seemed to be fairly reasonable (in a UN way, but still) and was trying to herd the various NGOs to do something. That's a thankless job but he seemed to be good at it. And at least as far as we know, he wasn't making unreasonable demands on Bremer. So while few of us would want the UN in Iraq in any controlling capacity, de Mello was a decent guy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2003 19:58 Comments ||
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The former Iraqi vice-president known as "Saddamâs knuckles" has been captured by Kurdish fighters in Iraq. Taha Yassin Ramadan was seized in the northern city of Mosul on Monday and has now been handed over to the US Army. Mr Ramadan had been on Americaâs "most wanted" list of Iraqi officials and is accused of a role in the repression of Iraqi Kurds as well as Shia Muslims. According to unconfirmed reports, Mr Ramadan was dressed as a peasant at the time of his capture, and had been living among relatives or friends. The former vice-president figures as Number 20, or the 10 of Diamonds, in the "most-wanted" pack of cards issued by the US after this yearâs invasion of Iraq. He is suspected of involvement in some of the most lethal operations conducted by Saddamâs regime:
-the occupation of Kuwait which led to the first Gulf War in 1991
-the repression of the Shia Muslim uprising of the same year
-the killing of thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja in 1988 by poison gas
He is also said to have presided over political purges aimed at strengthening Saddamâs control. Heâll get a prime seat at the war crimes trial.
Now in his sixties, Mr Ramadan is originally from the region around Mosul, which has a mixed population of Arabs and Kurds. Mr Ramadan had a reputation for rhetoric even more anti-American than that of Saddam, once describing the US Congress as an extension of Israelâs Knesset, or parliament. His devotion to the leader appears to have been total and stretches back to the early days of the Baath partyâs rule. On a visit to Jordan in the 1980s, he was asked by Islamic fundamentalists what the regime ruling mainly Muslim Iraq thought of Islam. Muslims were free to follow their faith, he said, but: "If they try to harm the Baathist regime or ridicule its slogans, the regime will break their necks!" A true believer.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 9:03:48 AM ||
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Another good catch (this makes 38 of 55) but need to get Saddam to help reduce the continued attacks (i.e. UN bombing today)
THE soldiers had just cornered five Iraqi terror suspects in a house in Basra, southern Iraq. They began to search for weapons and quickly found a 90cm-long padlocked metal box. Gingerly they opened the box. Inside were rocket-propelled grenade launchers, guns and ammunition. Incredibly, the box also contained a baby girl. But the infant was no longer breathing. Two of the young British troopers desperately began giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. one of the benefits of being a westerner. You get taught technical, scientific things like FIRST AID instead of just being able to recite a koran and fire an RPG
For several agonising minutes the soldiers of Anzio Company thought they had arrived too late. Then the girl squeezed Private Damien Kennyâs finger â and breathed... "Itâs clear that the intervention of my soldiers saved this babyâs life," Anzio Company commander Major Paul Davies said.
They stuck here in a stinkin' weapons container? No... No... I'm not going to express my opinion. I always try to refrain from cursing on this blog...
Four men from the 1st Battalion The Queenâs Lancashire Regiment had chased the armed Iraqis into a house in the Al Jubaylah area of Basra early yesterday. The five Iraqis were suspected of carrying out the ambulance bombing last week that killed British Captain David Jones and had been discovered trying to destroy the cityâs water treatment plant. They were arrested and then the search for weapons and explosives began. Pte Kenny, 18, and Private Jonathan Hunt, 21, discovered a large dirty white bag. Inside they found several bundles of cash and the padlocked box. "They were very careful with the box because they suspected it contained weapons and explosives," Squadron Leader Lynda Sawers, at the British HQ in Basra, said. "It was the normal sort of box in which rifles and guns are stored." The soldiers slowly opened the box to discover the little girl lying alongside guns and knives.
"Wot the 'ell is this?"
"Ummm... It's my lunch, effendi!"
It is thought she had been inside for at least 10 minutes. The two privates, who were both trained in first aid, immediately began to attempt resuscitation. "At that time, the baby was not alive, she had stopped breathing," Squadron Leader Sawers said. Pte Kenny said: "We couldnât believe it when we saw it was a baby. We had to try something. We thought she would not recover until I felt her squeeze my finger." The soldiers also found the childâs mother. She could not tell why her baby â born prematurely two days before â was dumped in the box. well, Iâd expect her to have SOMETHING to say about the situation!
She said her daughter did not have a name so Anzio Company named her Rose after the red rose of the Lancashire Regiment. oh i see. It was only a baby girl. If it were a baby boy, it would be all: âkill the fatted calf, Mahmoud! Itâs a boy!â. Is Iraq like china, where the girls just get thrown away, is it?
Mother and child are now being cared for in hospital.
Posted by: Anon1 ||
08/19/2003 6:32:27 AM ||
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i forgot to add: god bless those british troops. Gorgeous, lovely young men just saved a baby girl. Her odds of surviving were nil but for them.
Wills: I hope they send the scumbags to meet a different God; Allah would probably approve of what they did.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/19/2003 10:43 Comments ||
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I'm sorry I didn't read about the summary execution of the 5 bastards..... hope it was just EFL? Oops...wouldn't want to "inflame islamic sensitivities" F&*kers
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 11:14 Comments ||
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#7
...Yet another reason There Will Always Be An England. God bless every Tommy (and Thomasina) over there.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/19/2003 13:22 Comments ||
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#8
"Okay. You five blokes get in that box now and see how well you like it. We'll be back in a couple of days..."
#9
Where are the social workers when you need them? Anyone who puts his daughter in a life-threatening situation like this is clearly unfit to be a father. And any mother who lets her husband do something like this isn't any great shakes as a mother either.
More details coming out of Thailand:
A Malaysian al-Qaeda member, who was arrested in Bangkok on Aug 11, was responsible for leading a joint Thai-CIA team to terror mastermind Hambaliâs hideout in Ayutthaya on the same day. The man, identified by regional intelligence officials by his nickname Li-Li, was a member of the al-Qaeda and not a member of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) as widely thought. Or he could be a member of both, Iâm sure they are not too picky about things like this.
Intelligence sources said the joint team was able to extract information within four hours of Li-Liâs arrest at 6pm and this allowed them to swoop in on Hambali without much problem. "Forget the truncheon, Iâm in a hurry. Pass me the bamboo splinters and the pliers."
Li-Li and another Malaysian, identified by his alias Zubair, captured in Bangkok in June, are believed to have been handed over to the CIA and taken away with Hambali for further interrogation. Sources said Zubair and Li-Li are said to be on the United Statesâ list of wanted al-Qaeda operatives in the region. Itâs a long list.
It is learnt that Malaysian intelligence officers had at the end of last year sent out dossiers on Zubair and Li-Li to their counterparts in the region following interrogation of arrested JI operatives in Malaysia. The sources said Zubair and Li-Li were close to Hambali and knew his movements well. Besides being scouts for his hideouts, they were also Hambaliâs messengers and al-Qaeda contacts. Sounds like they are a big catch by themselves.
The sources said Zubair, from Selangor, and Li-Li, from Johor, studied in Pakistan where they were recruited by the al-Qaeda. Everybody goes to Pakistan to "study".
They never returned to the country after their studies and shuttled from Indonesia to Thailand and Afghanistan passing information to JI members. They were aware that the Malaysian authorities were on to them, but kept in touch with their friends here. Whose phones were most likely bugged.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 12:39:26 PM ||
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Or he could be a member of both, Iâm sure they are not too picky about things like this.
The paperwork for his transfer got lost in the al-Qaeda bureaucracy (typical NGO)...
Indonesian police have named five suspects wanted in connection with the bombing of an international hotel in Jakarta two weeks ago. The list includes two Malaysians who are also key suspects in the investigation into the Bali bombings last October, which killed 202 people. Another 10 men are being held in detention for questioning over the 5 August Marriott hotel attack, which killed 12 people and wounded 150. Police also said they were investigating reports that top South East Asian terror suspect Hambali, who was arrested last week, transferred $45,000 to a Malaysian citizen as recently as June. The Malaysian suspects identified on Tuesday are Dr Azahari, who police believe put together the bombs used in both the Jakarta and Bali attacks, and Noordin Mohd Top, the alleged commander of the Marriott plot. Police said they were also looking for three Indonesians, two of whom bought the van used to transport the Marriott bomb. Tisk, tisk, used their own names again. Read they tried to remove identification numbers from the van, if they watched CSI theyâd know that doesnât work.
Of the 10 suspects currently being questioned, police said six were arrested in Sumatra in May - before the Marriott bombing — and have only subsequently become suspects. The other four have been detained since the attack but are only thought to have stored the explosives. The clarification of the suspects ends days of confusing, sometimes contradictory, information about the investigation into the attack, says the BBC correspondent in Jakarta, Rachel Harvey. It had earlier been reported that a 28-year-old man who died in the bomb, identified by police as Asmar Latin Sani, was believed to have carried out a suicide attack on the hotel. But police say they cannot confirm that it was a suicide bombing, our correspondent says. If it was detonated by cell phone like they say, Iâd say our boy Asmar got a big surprise after he parked the van. Do you still get the virgins if you hadnât planned on being a martyr?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 8:48:11 AM ||
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A MUSLIM charity leader whom prosecutors say is linked to Osama bin Laden has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for defrauding donors by diverting money intended for refugees to Islamic military groups. haha ESAL, Turban!
[snipped, rerun from yesterday]
Posted by: Anon1 ||
08/19/2003 6:22:50 AM ||
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#1
Arnaout, looking tired after more than a year in solitary confinement, spoke briefly before the court, saying the Government had kidnapped him. He insisted he was innocent.
Or at least he was until the prosecution began to present evidence.
#5
Revoke his citizenship and send him back to Syria after he serves his time.
Permanent residents get deported if they're convicted of a felony. This is why so many people are getting naturalized all of a sudden. We need to close this loophole - naturalized citizens who are convicted of a felony related to terrorism ought to be subject to denaturalization and deportation. We already do this to Nazis, who present no threat to our security - so why not terrorist sponsors?
In Canada, if the new Canada Immigration Act is instituted as it was tabled, it won't matter if you received citizenship the day before you committed a terrorist act, or are charged with terrorism etc; if you have another citizenship, you will be deported. This is why I've been saying that governments will now favour multiple-citizenship because it makes it possible to deport someone. No more loophole. The only smart thing the Liberal gov't in Canada did over the past couple of years.
#7
Duffy's contention that Are-not had to pay off the fighters to get access to the widows and children sounds like a croc to me. Duffy also said in today's Tribune, "That's all it was, access." An affadavit by the commander of the Bosnian Army said that other American charities, Protestant and Catholic did the same, said Duff. "You don't see them here."
Ok, Duff, we want names; otherwise, save it for the appeal.
Patrick Fitzgerald: "Mr. Arnaout can run around and blame everyone else, but he ought to look in the mirror and say,'Why am I here? I'm here because I lied, I deceived people, I was involved with people I shouldn't have been involved with, I supported fighters when I went around telling people that I didn't.'"
I read in the Trib sometime in the past 12 months that good-ol-boy Enaam met a Texas nurse in Afghanistan back in the 80's, whom he later married. As soon as they got back to States, and once he was OK document-wise, he dumped her and married a good traditional Syrian girl, and brought her to Chi-town. THEN, in Bosnia, he married a local Muslim girl, had a kid or two with her. IIRC, the Syrian gal said it was OK with her. Yeah, sure. The guy is scum. BTW, maybe Are-not can blame his predicament on the Protocols of the Sons and Daughters of Erin. Judge Conlon, Lawyer Duffy, Prosecutor Fitzgerald. How do I know? Peter Fitzgerald, US Senator (no relation) got Bush to appoint Patrick head honcho in N. Illinois district. It's the Irish, the Irish.
Posted by: Michael ||
08/19/2003 13:56 Comments ||
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Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
08/19/2003 2:46:34 AM ||
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I forgot to add that I got this link via Blogitorial, which as several other interesting posts, including one from a Frenchman discussing the problems in his home country.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
08/19/2003 3:07 Comments ||
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#2
9.9!!! *applauds wildly*
Golly, I sure miss sheik OBL's raving diatribes. "a day of terror and fear⦠a state of chaos and confusion"
...as evidenced by ordinary citizens, who took turns directing traffic at major intersections...
yup, had me all confused and quaking in my fruit-of-the-looms...
#5
I'm sure that'll come as a great relief to some 6-year-old kid in Manhattan who just happened to be playing with an electrical socket when the lights went out...
Posted by: El Id ||
08/19/2003 12:53 Comments ||
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Al Qaeda never directly claims responsibility for terrorist acts. Now the rest of us know they had nothing to do with the Blackout of 2003, which was really caused by the Jooooos. I'm waiting for the publication of the next urban legend, which will describe how batteries and generators were distributed at northeastern synagogues on August 9th.
Pravda reads as stilted and unimaginative in English as it does in Russian...
Chechen woman Raisa Ganiyeva, a sister of the two female terrorists who were killed when the theatre building was stormed during the hostage crisis in October 2002, appealed to the law enforcement authorities on Monday. She says that her brother Rustam, who is a subordinate to terrorist Shamil Basayev, forces her to join vakhabits [wahhabism] and later become a kamikaze. According to Raisa Ganiyeva, her brother participated in organization of large-scale acts of terrorism. The Chechen woman says that Rustam "forces her to repeat the fate of her sisters Fatima and Milana" who became suicide bombers and were killed during the storm of the theatre in October 2002.
FSB representatives said in an interview with correspondents from Rossia television that a terrorist named Rustam Ganiyev was actually a member of Basayev's gang and he was allegedly connected with formation of a group consisting of female kamikazes. The Russian press calls the terrorist group formed by Ganiyev "Black widows". FSB officers learned that three months before the hostage taking at the Moscow theatre Rustam Ganiyev pressed two of his sisters adopt the vakhabism; a month before the tragedy the terrorist took the women away from home by force. According to results of the investigation, for participation of the sisters in the act of terrorism Rustam Ganiyev was paid $1,500 for each from Basayev.
Raisa Ganiyeva says there were ten brothers and sister in the family, but only four of them are now alive. "The parents strongly objected to joining the vakhabism by the children." Then she adds that despite of the persuasion and even the father's threats the children fell under the strong influence of vakhabism; the brothers became members of illegal armed groups. During the second Chechen campaign three brothers of Raisa Ganiyeva were killed. The news about a surrendered Chechen woman who didn't become a kamikaze was commented upon by Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, a representative of the regional operational headquarters for control over the North Caucasus anti-terrorist operation. "Being teenagers, the Ganiyevs' sons were involved into vakhabit communities, Jamaats. The results of it are quite obvious now. Two sisters were pressed into the gang headed by Movsar Barayev, and the women were delivered to the Moscow theatre where the hostage crisis occurred." According to the colonel, the military and law enforcement authorities will now protect the Chechen woman from her brother and other members of the Basayev gang stronger; it is not ruled out that she may be removed to other region of Russia.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/19/2003 22:41 ||
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A suicide bombermurderous bastard, blew himself up Tuesday on a packed bus on a main thoroughfare in Jerusalem, killing at least 20 people and wounding 80, Israel Army Radio said. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility. They are fighting over the privilege.
The blast on the extra long bus, which had two passenger sections that were full, went off shortly after 9 p.m. Another bus nearby also was hit by the explosion. The bus had started out at the Western Wall, Judaismâs holiest shrine, in the walled Old City, and was headed to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, radio reports said, making it likely that many of the passengers were ultra-Orthodox. The vermin probably dressed like one to hide the bomb.
The bus was badly damaged, with its windows blown out, and rescuers had to use blow torches to pry wounded from the wreckage. "What is clear is that it was a very big bomb," Jerusalem fire chief Amnon Amir said. Shocked survivors, including several crying children with blood-smeared faces, were led away from the scene. A paramedic cradled a little girl in his arms, and two others led away an older woman. Islam, Religion of Peace...
Paramedics treated wounded on the sidewalk, and body parts were strewn about. A rescue service said at least 20 people, including three children, were killed. Israeli officials donât include the bomber in the death toll. The bombing threatened to restart Restart? They never stopped!
the cycle of attacks and retaliationroach control that could derail a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan to Palestinian statehood.
Y'see, the important thing isn't the corpses, it's the peace plan...
Over the weekend, Israel and the Palestinians had reached agreement on the handover of four West Bank towns to Palestinian control. That deal was likely to be put on hold. The Palestinian Authority had no immediate comment. Too busy toasting one another
The explosion went off as Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was meeting with Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip to persuade them to halt attacks on Israelis. Right...
The militants had declared a unilateral truce on June 29 but have said they would continue taking revenge for Israeli killings of their operatives. Israel should just delare their own Dire Revenge and see how they like it.
Hamas said it was not involved. "We are commited to the truce. I donât know who carried out this action," said Abdel Aziz Rantissi, a Hamas leader. He said with a snicker...
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/19/2003 4:14:55 PM ||
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I understand IJ is claiming credit, but see no reason to limit Israel's congratulatory reply to that one group. Why deny the ululating to the other sick bastards? Little red dots on foreheads for all! Predators and Blackhawks in celebratory flight! Enjoy paleos...the end is nigh
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 16:41 Comments ||
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Drudge says now that Hamas is also now claiming responsibility, which makes me think (if they both are indeed claiming responsibility) that both of them have a jackass out there with a bomb and only one of them has gone off (and they don't know if it was "theirs" or not).
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/19/2003 16:52 Comments ||
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CNN.COM has a picture of rescue workers attempting to resuscitate a small child about my son's age. More than ever, I am convinced that Israel should pave the West Bank and Gaza and let Egypt, Jordan, et al. deal with the Paleos.
Posted by: Tibor ||
08/19/2003 17:07 Comments ||
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For a good explanation of how the Paleo "Refugee" game has been playing everyone for suckers, (and why the CAIR, et al hate Daniel Pipes so much, because he speaks the truth) see NYPost Column by Daniel Pipes
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 17:10 Comments ||
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#6
Time to hunt down the Paleos and dispose of them--sooner rather than later.
#8
Any organization stupid enough to claim responsibility for that atrocity ought to get one collectively between the eyes in a Shock and Awe⢠fashion. They will learn that claiming responsibility means consequences. It breaks my heart that ordinary Israelis must be cannon fodder to pursue a political end to show the EU or someone that the Paleo leadership is not worth a flying f--k.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/19/2003 17:50 Comments ||
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No, Paul.
Any population sick enough not to lynch the bastards who do this kind of thing has excused itself from the ranks of humanity. They ALL deserve Shock and Aweâ¢.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/19/2003 18:04 Comments ||
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#10
Rantisi was on the tube a bit ago, with his usual rant about how "Hamas (or IJ, can't remember his affiliation) will respond to all provocations", etc., etc., etc. -- I longed for a 50 mm slug to cross his mind whilst he was talking.
Israel ought to give Abbas 8 hours to get the civil war between the PA & Hamas/IJ he fears underway, before they start it for him. And that ought to include Yassin and the entire crowd of militants.
#11
Pick up all the pieces of the suicide bomber and wrap them in pig hide before burying them.
Get a C-130 fire fighting plane, fill its tanks with pig grease and spray both Gaza and the West Bank.
Find Arafat and shove a hog's pizzle up his butt.
Get the wives of all of the Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad leaders and make them ride buses in Isreal. Kidnap all of their children, put them on a boat and go out into the Med and tell the leaders that when the next bomb that goes off in Isreal, the kids will be fed to the sharks, one at a time and a video tape will be made and sent to them.
I cannot think of anything rational to say, I am intensely outraged at this crap. Can some one stand up and PLEASE call a spade a spade, Yasser Arafat is a terrorist, he is calling the shots and he is in charge of the entire thing.
Go to link above for details and pix. How refreshing!
Posted by: Dar ||
08/19/2003 3:24:06 PM ||
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Come on, this has got to be Photoshopped, right? I've never seen such a thing.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/19/2003 21:04 Comments ||
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The cardboard Big dong missles are a nice touch. Also, Kimmies 'dew is a scream, and has that Krameresque top, which when compared to Madeline Half-brite's looks like a mesa. Nice pics.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/19/2003 23:07 Comments ||
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Jpost - Reg Reqâd
IDF positions and patrols came under mortar and automatic weapons fire last night in both the West Bank and Gaza, a military source told The Jerusalem Post. "Our positions in Neve Dekalim in Gaza came under mortar and automatic weapons fire several times last night," said the source. "We returned fire and believe that we hit the gunmen. Being that it is a densely populated area we were careful not to harm innocent civilians who support the ceasefire," the source said. Of course, Paleos count on the humanity of the Jooos to operate
IDF and Israel security forces conducted anti-terror operations throughout the West Bank last, coming under fire and returning fire in Balaria, near Nablus. Eight Palestinian men were arrested by Nachal and Golani troops. One man was detained in Nablus, 3 were captured in Jenin, 2 men were arrested in Hebron and 2 suspected terrorists were handcuffed in Rahmallah, the source said. hmmm, Ramallah....is that near Arafatâs compound? Couldnât be...
There were no reports of any Israeli casualties in either the West Bank or Gaza.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 1:47:02 PM ||
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Fox just said Rooters has breaking news of a large explosion in Jerusalem - can't find anything on it yet....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 14:16 Comments ||
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A Bus full of Jooos exploded in downtown Jerusalem - must be on the Roadmap to Peace⢠just can't find it on my copy
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 14:22 Comments ||
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Fox is running a vieo clip over and over again of the zaka guys and paramedics running this way and that. Two of them are trying to administer CPR to an infant, who appears to just be staring upward blankly. One of the meds looks at the other and just shakes his head....
sorry, gang. I can't seem to work up a sarcastic quip at this time....
#5
it's time somebody drove a bus full of explosive into a certain compound in Ramallah and set it off. Well past time.
just following the "roadmap"? f__kers!
Posted by: john ||
08/19/2003 15:26 Comments ||
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#6
DS - I can't say anything witty or pithy about this either. It just makes me wanna rage and kill anything with a keffiyeh on and their f&*king apologists too. If we don't take the leash off Israel soon, we are no friends of Peace, Israel, Jews, or Democracy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/19/2003 15:47 Comments ||
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#7
Well the Paleofascists finally put the lie to the Roadmapâ¢. I hope that Powell, Bush and Sharon get the message. It was DOA. The Paleos were never going to adhere to it...it was all just theater. Now that we've crossed that point, it's time to take the gloves off, let Sharon do what he's gonna have to do.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/19/2003 16:14 Comments ||
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A Moroccan court on Tuesday sentenced four men to death for their involvement in a wave of suicide attacks in Casablanca in May that killed 32 bystanders. My, that was quick.
The four were convicted of having plotted to blow themselves up in the May 16 attacks, which also killed 12 suicide bombers. The four were among dozens of defendants in a trial of members of a clandestine Moroccan group, the Salafia Jihadia. Officials said 83 other defendants were convicted of being members of the outlawed group and handed sentences ranging from 10 months in prison to life. Other charges included threatening state security or taking part in a criminal association. Bet it was a mighty long hearing!
Security was extremely tight, with defendants lined up behind a bulletproof glass shield and a metal detector in the courtroom. When the verdict was announced, defendants cried ``God is great!ââ
That's Arabic for "hubba-hubba!"
The trial was the first of several expected for hundreds of suspects connected to the attacks in Casablanca that killed 32 bystanders and a dozen suicide bombers. The bombers used homemade explosives stuffed into backpacks and detonated at almost precisely the same time in five locations: a major downtown hotel as well as Jewish and Spanish sites. Investigators have said the suicide attackers were all drafted from a shantytown on the edge of Casablanca, Moroccoâs largest city. Splodeydopes recruited from a shantytown. How, um, typical.
Though they were all of Moroccan nationality, local authorities believe an international network was behind the attacks. None of the international leaders could hang around for the actual bombings, of course, they were off to other shantytowns.
Except for any al-Ghamdis, who were in jug...
The bombings stunned this North African kingdom, which had prided itself on the peace that prevailed here despite a deadly Islamic insurgency that has raged in neighboring Algeria for more than a decade. The four-judge panel deliberated for about 14 hours before announcing the verdict at around 1 a.m. Defendants have eight days to appeal.
And after that their necks stretch? Good idea.
During the trial, one of the would-be bombers — Mohamed El Omari, a 23-year-old night watchman — testified he was ``not happy with the (political) situation in Moroccoââ and had ``hoped to blow himself upââ at a major downtown hotel that was targeted. "Yeah, me and Ahmed were real unhappy âcause we couldnât beat our wimmin, and nobody was giving us money, and there was too many guards around the Zionist cemetery, so we decided to blow up a hotel instead. "
"Your honor you must acquit my clients! From their own testimony itâs clear that theyâre as pure as the driven snow!"
"Thereâs no snow in Morocco, counselor. Shuddup!"
Two others accused of plotting to act as suicide bombers were identified as Yassine Lahnach, a street vendor, and Rachid Jalil, a welder. A fourth man, Hassan Tawsi, unemployed, was accused of being a ``backupââ bomber. More than 30 people were sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in preparing unsuccessful attacks in tourist attractions, including the historic city of Marrakech and two beach resorts, Agadir and Essaouira. Three spiritual leaders of the Salafia Jihadia group were sentenced to 30 years in prison. "You canât put me in prison! Iâm holy!"
"Shuddup."
Justice Minister Mohammed Bouzoubaa has said that more than 1,000 suspected Islamic militants are facing legal proceedings for terrorism-related activities across the North African kingdom. Morocco has not carried out the death sentence since 1993. In July, a Moroccan court sentenced 10 Islamic extremists to death for their roles in a series of slayings, thefts and attacks. Here in the States we used to have "Sparky" the chair. Wonder if the Moroccan executioner has named his sword?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2003 3:12:15 AM ||
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He named it "Lop". It means, er... lop in Arabic.
Crews will enlist high-tech ocean searching and mapping gear to raise an American ``Flying Tigersââ jet that crashed in a lake during World War II, organizers said Monday. The P-40 from the legendary squadron went down in Lake Dian near the city of Kunming, one of Chinaâs wartime capitals, during a training missing in April 1942. The planeâs pilot, John Blackburn of Amarillo, Texas, was killed in the crash. His body was recovered shortly after the crash, but the plane has remained the lake for six decades, said the China Expedition Association, which hopes to raise the fighter by the end of the year. Association President Yan Jiangzheng said the plane lies under 16 feet of water and is covered with a deep layer of mud and silt. After recovery, the plane will be sent to America for repairs. But it will eventually be returned to China, the association said. The Tigers fought on behalf of China against Japanese invaders before the United States entered World War II. The group existed for only nine months, but is famous for its success in battle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2003 3:03:02 AM ||
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A P40 jet? Then I am really impressed by the Japanese pilots who were able to down some of them while flying mere Zeros.
#4
Jets of any kind at a front in 1942. And it still took us 3 years to finish winning the war! How did FDR and Churchill manage to screw it up?? Time for an investigation?
#7
Oh man, someone tell me how I missed "P40 jet" at 1 in the morning.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2003 10:41 Comments ||
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#8
Man, get one technical word rhong in an article and you guys are all over it like ants on spilled honey, LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/19/2003 13:52 Comments ||
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#9
The Red Chineese are gonna reverse engineer a Tomahawk?
Does that mean that we'll see cheap, imported P-40 replicas for sale at Wal-Mart and Super K-Mart?
Cool.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/19/2003 18:05 Comments ||
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#10
Not to be nit-picky,but the Flying Tigers actually didn't start fighting until after Pearl Harbor.First combat with Japanese occured on Dec.20,1941.
Posted by: Stephen ||
08/20/2003 0:04 Comments ||
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Okay folks, Fred has given you a new tool to estimate how long it will take for these jokers to break this peace deal. I say 99% in 30 days, and thatâs only because Fred didnât offer me 7 days. EFL.
Government officials and rebels signed a peace accord Monday to end a three-year insurgency that devastated Liberia, left thousands dead and drove out warlord-president Charles Taylor. ``The war is over,ââ declared one rebel leader.
... ducking, as bullets whizzed overhead.
Calm settled into Monrovia as shopkeepers opened for the first time in a month, though many residents and refugees who crowded the capital had little money with which to buy desperately needed food.
"How much for a rib?"
"A nickle"
"Gimme three cents worth."
The accord, signed in Accra, Ghana one week after Taylorâs flight into exile, calls for a two-year transition government meant to lead Liberia into elections — and out of 14 years of vicious warfare that left parts of virtually every city and town in this West African nation in ruins. ``I want to believe that with the signing of this agreement today, Liberia will never be plunged into another spiral of violence in the quest for political power, or under the false pretense of liberating the people,ââ said retired Nigerian Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, chief mediator in the 2 1/2 months of talks. And then — his lips fell off!
The two rebel movements — Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia — signed, along with representatives of Liberiaâs post-Taylor government. ``Today is a good day. Today is a happy day. The war is over for now,ââ Liberians United leader Sekou Conneh declared, exchanging copies of the deal with his rebel and government counterparts, and frisking embracing them. The signing of the accord comes in a fast-paced week of momentous events in Liberia, beginning with Taylorâs resignation and Aug. 11 departure from Liberia under pressure from rebels, West African leaders and the United States.
Thought that sucker'd never go...
Rebels on Thursday lifted their siege of Monrovia, allowing vital food and aid to flow. Under Mondayâs peace deal, rebels and government alike waive any claim on the top posts in the interim government — yielding control to non-combatants for the first stretch of rebuilding. Rebels and members of Taylorâs ex-government will be allowed lower-ranking positions — seats in Cabinet and the legislature — in the interim government. "Mr. Smith Goes to Monrovia."
Y'know, if they were serious about setting up a government that would actually rebuild their country, they'd ask for resumes from disinterested parties. They can't trust each other to be vice prez, or minister of defense, or minister of interior. Why not hire a Rumanian, a Thai, and a Samoan to fill the slots? They certainly couldn't do any worse than the guys they had in there before. I mean, if you're going to push a "multinational" approach, why not try it from an angle that has a chance of working?
Ghana President John Kufuor was on hand for the agreement, which saw representatives of the United Nations, European Union and African Union sign as witnesses. The United States also has had an influential delegation at the talks. "You better not make us come in there!"
Brig. Gen. Festus Okonkwo, leader of a two-week-old West African peace mission, said he expected to have a second full Nigerian battalion on the ground by the end of the week. The first troops from Ghana, Senegal and Mali would join them within the same period. And man are they going to be unhappy since the Nigerians have had a two week head start on the looting and the womenfolk.
About 150 American forces are on the ground as well. President Bush said Monday that the Marines have a limited mission and will be withdrawn by Oct. 1. "Their job is to help secure an airport and a port so food can be off-loaded and the delivery process begun to help people in Monrovia," Bush said in an interview last week with Armed Forces Radio and Television Service in Miramar, Calif., where he was visiting with thousands of Marines, sailors and Coast Guard personnel. Moses Blah, Taylorâs designated successor, is to resign in October to make way for the power-sharing government. Sure, and I have a copy of LGFâs flying pig just in case.
Liberiaâs combatants have broken all past peace accords, and returned to fighting. Liberians and the international community have held out hope that Taylorâs departure, and a promised U.N. peace force, will make a difference this time.
How do you say "Figger the odds on that happ'nin', Kemo-Sabe!" in Liberian?
Hours before the peace deal, Liberian Defense Minister Daniel Chea accused rebels of new attacks, saying rebels had pushed north Sunday from the former northern Taylor headquarters of Gbarnga. Like we was just saying ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/19/2003 3:01:07 AM ||
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Moses Blah is to resign in October to make way for the power-sharing government.
Somebody won't get as much power as they think they deserve and the fighting will start again. October is less than two months away.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/19/2003 12:43 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
