1. Where is all the money from the UNâs Oil for Food Program?
2. How many people have now lived at least six months longer than they would have under Saddam?
3. How many civilians were really killed in the major combat portion of the war?
4. How many civilians have been killed since the end of major combat?
5. How unreliable is the Iraqi electric distribution system in comparison to, say, the Washington, D.C., area system?
6. How many people (estimates allowed) are crossing into Iraq from its neighbors each month?
7. How many people entering Iraq are Iraqis returning after escaping Saddam in the past?
8. How many Iraqis are suffering for lack of health care, lack of food, lack of potable water, etc.? (Not individual hard luck cases - good figures.)
9. How many Iraqis are directly involved in the âguerilla warâ campaign against coalition forces?
10. How many non-Iraqis are directly involved in the âguerilla warâ campaign against coalition forces?
11. What precisely has Bremerâs administration been spending billions of dollars on? (Show us the buildings, bridges, factories, power plants, oil fields, etc., assuming they exist.)
12. What was the average Iraqiâs income prior to the war, and what is it now?
13. What did Saddam do with his weapons of mass destruction and the component programs? (Donât ask what âpeopleâ think; go find out!)
14. How many American and British service men and women in Iraq believe the cause of Iraqi democracy is hopeless?
15. Was the âlootingâ of the National Museum and Library an inside job?
16. How would international troops change the minds of the âguerillaâ fighters?
17. How would additional American troops be useful in the 15 or so attacks and firefights per day now experienced by the 150,000 troops (10,000 per attack) in Iraq?
18. Is Saddam Hussein actually dead, and the tapes and such are all a hoax?
19. What is an average day in Iraq like for an America soldier? (Remember, the ratio of attacks to soldiers is 1:10,000, so a bloody firefight is clearly NOT average.)
20. What would Iraq be like if the coalition pulled out early and left things to the U.N. and Iraqi players? (Explore this with examples and a wide range of experts, please.)
NOTE: Some answers might validate my opinions on Iraq; some might blow them to pieces. Either way, I need to know, and so do Americans in general. Why wonât the media ask these questions? Because they fear the answers.
(Edited for the juicy babble - and right off the bat weâve got a beaut...)
The perspective planning department is a top secret structure in the US Defense Department, which deals with the development of weapons of the future. There are such departments in the Russian Defense Ministry of course, as well as in other military departments of other countries. Needless to mention that all those developments make a state secret. (But we mention it anyway, just to show weâre "in" with all the top mad-scientist type dudes. Got that? Good. Next, some really depressing statistics of doubtful veracity and provenance...)
The first question about the military future of humanity is definitely connected with wars. One may not say that there will be absolutely no wars in the future. According to scientific calculations, about 15,000 wars have taken place on the planet during the recent 5,5 thousand years. More than 3.5 billion people have been killed in the wars. There were only 292 peaceful years in the entire history of the mankind. (Didnât somebody once say "Peace is the ideal we imply from the fact that there have been lulls between wars"? Cynical bastard.)
Genetic poison will probably be used in the future as the most optimal variant to destroy a part of the population, even a certain specific part. Each human race has an individual genetic code. Genetic differences may lay the ground of the genetic weapon. It will be possible to create genetic viruses to exterminate a certain group of people on the planet. (Starts with...Donât tell me...Iâm keen to guess...)
Terrorism of the 21st century will enter the new technological level too. As it is well known, spy satellites can read the title of a newspaper on the ground. (But not pick it up and throw it away. Maybe next year. Litterbugs...)
A laser of a killer satellite can destroy any target on the Earthâs surface, which is rather convenient for large terrorist acts â it will not be possible to identify the "nation" of the satellite, because a laser can be shot from any location in space filled with other countriesâ satellites. (Getting your al-QaedaSat lofted and maintained is a different matter.)
New discoveries and technologies will be gradually coming out of secret laboratories. Most probable weapons of the future include: (Wait for it!...)
Bioelectronical weapon. Professor G.Bogdanov patented the generator to fight termites. The generatorâs radiation kills insects paralyzing their nerve system. One shall assume, a certain frequency of the appliance can kill people too. (All Hail the Bogdanov Bug Zapper! Emperor Ming will be pleased...)
Meteorological weapon. It is possible to make specified weather on a specified territory changing the electric charge of the air. Hard rains, droughts, blizzards can cause a very serious damage to an enemy. It is known that Russian scientists were working in the field of the meteorological war in the city of Obninsk. (Unfortunately, they all died in a freak rain-of-herefords incident, which was quicky hushed up...)
Tectonic weapon. Artificial earthquakes will probably be used in the future as a weapon to level cities and towns. Military departments of Russia and the USA strongly reject such a possibility at present. However, Professor E. Kerimov of the Earth Physics Institute believes that scheduled natural disasters are quite real. Yet, official departments reject the existence of all above-mentioned weapons. (Lies! All lies!...)
Letâs imagine that a country is waging war against an enemy, using tectonic and meteorological weapons: an earthquake is followed with hard rains and draughts. An enemy will most likely ask for help after such a powerful impact. It will be the best moment to use the power of money. (Bwahahahahahahah! Eeeeex-cellent, Smithers!)
(And now a word from our sponsors...)
The weapons of the future will be a lot more efficient than the nuclear weapon. It does not matter, if they are going to be used as the prime or the extra weapon in a war - people will suffer and die anyway. The weapons of the new technologies pose a great danger to life on planet Earth. All present developments and research works must be strictly controlled by the state and by the society. A victory in a war is good for the government of the winning state, first and foremost. Common people have to survive a disastrous tragedy for a victory.
"World ends at noon tomorrow. Women and minorities hardest hit!"
As experience shows, all anomalous or inexplicable phenomena are hidden from the public eye.
This is the Smoke-filled Room view of history. All Bad Things are traceable to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Learned Elders of Zion, the Illuminati, the Masons, or Bilderberg...
Such a policy is understandable, because secret or unexplored knowledge can be used for someoneâs selfish needs. On the other hand, concealing or misrepresenting facts, separating science into "official" and "unofficial" categories is extremely dangerous for the whole humanity. Science helps people find answers to questions, it is not meant to incite wars and hostilities.
Posted by: mojo ||
09/28/2003 4:37:34 AM ||
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You know, I'm almost certain "bioelectronical" isn't a real word.
#4
This is a real boon for nutjobs that like to seethe at the US. Now they can rage over any earthquakes and typhoons as (secret) acts of US imperialism. Sweet.
#5
Tectonic weapon. Artificial earthquakes will probably be used in the future as a weapon to level cities and towns. Military departments of Russia and the USA strongly reject such a possibility at present. However, Professor E. Kerimov of the Earth Physics Institute believes that scheduled natural disasters are quite real. Yet, official departments reject the existence of all above-mentioned weapons.
This sounds like a re-enactment of that movie "The Core". Personally, I don't see why we get a small asteriod and use it like what happened in "Armegeddon". The best part was when Paris was wiped out.
" It wasn't us! Honest! We didn't cause that tiny rock to go through Arafish's head either! "
Posted by: Charles ||
09/28/2003 10:50 Comments ||
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This is a real boon for nutjobs that like to seethe at the US. Now they can rage over any earthquakes and typhoons as (secret) acts of US imperialism. Sweet.
Wasn't there a Russian "scientist" blaming some Asian earthquakes on US bombing in Afghanistan?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/28/2003 11:04 Comments ||
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you don't need scheduled natural disasters to wipe a country out - ask anyone living in Zimbabwe
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2003 11:24 Comments ||
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Wasn't the US accused a few years ago of starting earthquakes from the Shuttle?
Interviewed by Scientific American, Dr Strangelove, Chief of Research at the US Defense Department's Planning Group Alpha Labs in Rancho Fellatio outside San Diego, confirmed the public's worst fears, "Zees secret veapons, zey are already heeeeere! Zey are amazing! Vy, just last year, vee vere tinking maybe eet vould be fun to zap zee Democratic Candidates to see if vee would schkramble zeyr brains. Eet vas too eezy. Zap! Zap! Zap! Moonbat Central, now. Vee are looking for ozer tests which pose a greater challenge."
#9
hey! I live in San Diego! How come I never heard of Rancho Fellatio? I wanna go!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2003 12:09 Comments ||
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Shhhh! It's a secret uh, Lab. Yeah, that's the ticket, secret. You know they always keep the best stuff for themselves, man. I heard from a friend of a friend (removed 4 times) it's not far from Rancho Lesbonio...
#11
The guys that invented the false idea of race ought to be laughing their ass of in hell at this one. Guess I'll factor this race extermination possibility into my fantasy baseball picks next year. Derek Jeter is toast if negros or Caucasians are targetted, but Ichora is a definite no if asians start keeling over in large numbers.
My favortie parts of the whole race thing is that Ethiopanians and Egyptians get short changed with respect to admissions into the University of Michigan because they didn't have enough negro traits when races were set up in the 20's. Also a Sudanesse immagrant former slaveowner would qualify for reparations payments under Jesse Jackson's plan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:23 Comments ||
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. You do realize that Dr. Strangelove had a hand in the infamous mineshaft gap scare circa 1964. He is no friend of America.
#13
"Cunning linked us." was the credo the secret cell of female bioelectronic zapper sappers as they infiltrated the heart of the inifidel's military-industrial complex near Rancho Fellatio (but a few leagues distance from Frank's home, unbeknownst to him).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/28/2003 14:25 Comments ||
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My spies tell me that Rancho Fellatio is a cover for the entrance of one of the 10-1 sex ratio bunkers from which the true leaders of america wil emerge in um, (scratch, scribble...carry the 2...) 2126.
#16
I take real exception to Pravda ignoring my Blimp idea. These fools probably laughed at Tesla when he proposed the raygun. Now they cook their popcorn in a microwave. My weapon will rain fire from teh sky at a very stately pace as long as the headwinds are not too high.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 16:19 Comments ||
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"...NOW we get moose and squirrel!!"
- Professor G. Bogdanov
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/28/2003 17:48 Comments ||
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A new constitution that will be put forward soon for ratification declares Afghanistan a Muslim state but stops short of imposing Islamic Shariah law, a contentious issue in this conservative nation, an Afghan official told The Associated Press on Sunday. So long, Karzai, nice knowing you.
As they draw up a constitution aimed at unifying the fragmented nation, conservatives and secularists have been hotly debating how to enshrine Islam into law after years under the Taliban, who enforced a harsh version of Shariah that some Afghans recall with horror but others support. The hard-line Taliban militia banned women from working, barred girls from school and ordered men to grow their beards long and pray five times a day, as well as carried out executions and amputations for a range of crimes. They had their bad points, too.
Ratifying a constitution is crucial for Afghanistan as it lays the foundations for its first democratic elections in decades, scheduled for June. The rebuilders of Afghanistan hope that vote will be a cornerstone for political stability after 23 years of war. A 10-day meeting of a 500-member loya jirga, or grand council, will debate and ratify the constitution. The gathering was pushed back by two months to December after President Hamid Karzai demanded more time to finish the document. After 11 months of work by dozens of constitutional experts and three months of public consultations in which 150,000 people submitted suggestions, a draft will likely be released this week. The question of Shariah has been ``a huge struggleââ in the work on the constitution, said an Afghan official involved in the drafting. ``So far, the focus has been on trying to find a consensus,ââ the official told the AP. But, he said, ``a balance has been found.ââ Theyâll only chop off the ring fingers of thieves?
The documentâs preamble declares, ``Afghanistan is an Islamic stateââ and says its laws must be in accordance with Islam, but it does not impose Shariah, the official said. How else do you make laws âin accordance with Islamâ if not the good oleâ Shariah way?
The Taliban, who ruled most of the country from 1996 to 2001, ignored the former constitution altogether and imposed their interpretation of Shariah. After their removal, an interim administration was established and Shariah law was dropped. It is operating under an amended version of a 1964 constitution drafted under former King Mohammad Zaher Shah. Which is a problem because ...
Some in Afghanistan support the version of Shariah imposed by the Taliban, others argue that Islamic law should be the law of the land - even if itâs not the interpretation practiced by the Taliban, who emerged from hard-line religious schools in Pakistan. While most Arab states define themselves as Muslim nations in their constitution, some call Shariah the basis of their laws and some make no mention of Shariah at all. Saudi Arabia enforces a version of Islamic law that is somewhat less strict than the Talibanâs. The result of which has been rampant alk-running!
Karzai has been given a draft of the constitution for review and will release it to the public ``in the next few days,ââ Constitutional Review Commission spokesman Abdul Ghafoor Lewal said. He declined to comment on the content of the document. Another official said it would be released Thursday or Friday, after Karzai returns from an overseas trip. First get the money from the donors lined up, then release the new constitution.
Even though the 35 members of the Constitutional Review Commission have finally agreed to the wording of the text, it is far from certain whether members of the loya jirga will reach a consensus. Many of the councilâs members are warlords and may feel their authority will be undermined by a strong national constitution. "Why yes, Mr. President, Iâll be happy to cede all my power to you, give up my protection rackets tax revenues and personal milita bodyguards for the sake of the new constitution!"
Karzaiâs administration has little authority outside of the capital, Kabul, and many initiatives to expand his power have failed because of opposition from the warlords, who have private militias and rule their territory as if they are fiefdoms. Other contentious issues have included ensuring women have rights equal to men in a society where they have long been discriminated against; and which of Afghanistanâs many ethnic languages will be made the national one. Looks like Ladies Night at the Kabul Hooters isnât going to happen.
The structure the future government will take has also been hotly debated. It is expected to have a president and prime minister, however, how much authority each post will have is yet to be decided. Karzai, who is widely expected to win the June elections instead of Hek, is pushing for the presidency to have broad powers. As a Pashtun, Afghanistanâs largest ethnic group, Karzai would then be expected to appoint a Tajik, the second largest ethnic group, as prime minister - and Tajik politicians have been pushing for the prime ministerâs position to be powerful. Gosh, Hek got left out again!
The commission sent 460,000 questionnaires out to the public this year and held meetings in villages across the country seeking public input. ``So many people replied, including women who said they wanted more rights and good education,ââ Lewal said. ``The illiterate sent cassette tapes and we got tens of thousands of letters.ââ "Which we burned after first recording the addresses for the new Ministry for Protection of Religious Virtue. Canât be too careful in an Islamic state, you know."
He said the commission has also studied the constitutions of 80 other countries - especially those nations with large Muslim populations or ones that have recently emerged from years of war. The Liberians have a model constitution.
Any constitution that doesn't include freedom of religion should result in the U.S.' immediate withdrawal of all contact, starting with cash assistance. As a matter of principle, we should regard any state that doesn't respect freedom of religion as an abomination. Obviously their input was that they like that hand-chopping, shot-to-the-back-of-the-head-in-the-stadium stuff. So I agree: G'bye, Karzai. G'bye, mullahs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2003 3:52:23 PM ||
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I disagree Steve. I'm pretty pragmatic about what comes out of the loya jurga.
If a bunch of muslims want to form an Islamic state they are free to form such a state. A moderate Islamic state where people aren't being executed is a step up. Especially one that includes centralized authority.
Several cracks at a non-Islamic centralized authorized have been tried in Afganistan even prior to teh Communist government that the Soviets installed. None of theose governments held much power beyond Kabul for any longer than a couple of years.
Let's set the bar low in Afghanistan (but higher in the secular society of Iraq.) Here are some goals:
1. No starvation.
2. Elimination of opium as a cash crop for the government.
3. No heavy or crew supplied weapons not owned by the central government.
4. No welcome mats for terrorists.
5. Education for women that want education.
6. Elimination of tribal excesses like honor and dowry killing over time.
Let's make that the base and try to encourage Afgahnistan to progress byond that slowly. The proverbial GREAT LEAP FORWARD always ends up in disaster.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 21:08 Comments ||
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Appreciate your comments, SH, but I'm with Fred on the freedom of religion thing. To quote that great American philosopher, Tom Clancy: "any person who can't respect another person's religion is a barbarian."
I understand we're not going to get a liberal democratic state (note the small 'l' and small 'd') in Afghanland any time soon, but F of R is not negotiable. If you don't have it, we can't be friends with you.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2003 22:40 Comments ||
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Suspected Islamic insurgents burned down a school for girls in eastern Afghanistan because they oppose education for women, a government official said Sunday. No injuries were reported. The single-story Shaga Primary School was left in ruins after the arson attack late Saturday in the Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar province, information ministry official Zubair Khaksar said in a telephone interview from the province's capital of Jalalabad. The attackers tied up the school's guard and set the building on fire before fleeing, Khaksar said. "This is the work of the Taliban," he said. "Nobody else burns schools."
Easy call, Zubair...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 10:38 ||
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And only the Taliban have perfected how to burn adobe and stone buildings.
Investigator: "What did they look like?" Guard: "The usual, sir, long beards and dresses, er, thobes."
Abdul Rahman Al Rashed
Editor-in-chief, Asharq Al-Awsat
Sheikh Saleh bin Abdel Azziz Al-Sheikh, the Saudi Minister for Islamic Affairs, has criticized certain practices that threaten to turn mosques from centers of worship to ones of incitement. Does a preacher have the right to say what he likes and to reflect his personal opinions in public issues?
Seems like the right to do so comes with the turban...
Sheikh Salehâs reply was a categorical no. The sermons in mosques are not supposed to be news or political reports. It is not a radio or television channel, nor is the preacher a newscaster or reporter. He added: âI admire the exceptional preacher who said: âMy sermons are in accordance with the Shariah and not listenersâ requests.ââ
How many of those do you find on a good day?
All over the Islamic world, people are complaining of preachers taking advantage of the pulpit. In Morocco, the minister of endowment and Islamic affairs said: âI will not allow a parliamentary speaker or leader of a party to preach the Friday sermon.â Several years ago in Jordan, the law of preaching and guidance was enacted after mosques became overt assemblies for political parties. Their disagreements were carried into centers of worship. It was in Egypt that this phenomenon first appeared sometime in the seventies. As a result the government interfered to the point of deciding on the length of the Friday sermon. The minister for endowments decided that they should not last more than twenty minutes. Naturally nobody wants all this interference, however repellent those who politicize matters and however important ridding mosques of them may be.
Personally, I don't think anybody should be subjected to more than 20 minutes of Islamic vitriol at a time. But then, I'm an infidel...
Today we face the same problem here. Schools have turned into political parties and the houses of God into political arenas. During the past few years, preachers and mosques have undergone a real change, turning sermons into some kind of popularity contest as a means of evaluating preachers and mosques. As with the newspaper business, circulation is a measure of popularity. Sheikh Saleh Al-Dusaimani, also a preacher, described the crisis in the following terms: âIt is regrettable that some preachers in some Islamic nations have corrupted the pulpit ... turning it into a platform for profanity, abuse and insulting people and nations. Yet this is not the way of the Prophet (peace be upon him) â his method was to not single out individuals but generalize in terms of a people who did such and such or said such and such. Some preachers have turned the pulpit into a place to spread rumors and news as though the sermon was a newscast or political analysis and you will often find among the listeners some that do not know about Wuduâ (ritual cleansing) or Salat (prayer) or the principles of the religion.â
But they can field-strip an AK-47 in 45 seconds or less and they can brew high explosives out of a box of corn starch and a cheese log...
The use of mosques in this political manner is due to the infiltration of a particular group of people. They want to turn houses of worship into subsidiaries to their parties and a platform for their ideologies, knowing full well that what is said in mosques will be wholeheartedly believed and therefore a campaign is being waged against those slackening in their duties.
Wonder who he could be talking about? You don't suppose it's them damn Sufis, do you?
As we all know and as Sheikh Dusaimani has said, the duty of the mosque is âas a pulpit offering guidance to people and calling on them to do good and to touch on the needs of people in their religious duties and in their everyday dealings.â As for those seeking incitement or political discussions, why hijack the mosque when they can avail themselves of the hundreds of television channels that spew vitriol preach politics every evening?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 21:50 ||
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When I was going to confirmation class, my preacher said he learned in seminary that no souls are saved after the first twenty minutes of any sermon.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
09/28/2003 23:22 Comments ||
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The Kingdomâs religious police have arrested 16 expatriate workers after raiding a house in Sakaka, the capital of the northern Al-Jouf region, for allegedly practicing sufism, Al-Madinah reported yesterday.
Oh, horrors! Not Sufism! Not in a Muslim country!
The paper said officials of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice entered the house at about 11 p.m. after receiving a tip-off. The officials seized a large number of videocassettes, magazines and other publications which the expatriates were using to spread sufism. Al-Madinah said it learned that the religious police had arrested the leader of the group and confiscated a picture of him which his supporters venerated. The group has lived in the area for several years and has been in the habit of distributing sufi writings among the expatriate community. The commissionâs officials have handed the group over to security authorities for further action.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 21:30 ||
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Remember, under Islam, "there is no compulsion in religion".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/28/2003 22:04 Comments ||
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A king, disenchanted with his subjects' dishonesty, decided to force them to tell the truth. When the city gates were opened one morning, gallows had been erected in front of them. A captain of the royal guard stood by.
A herald announced, "Whoever will enter the city must first answer a question which will be put to them by the captain of the guard."
Mullah Nasrudin, who had been waiting outside the gates of the city, stepped forward first.
The captain spoke: "Where are you going? Tell the truth ... the alternative is death by hanging."
"I am going," said Nasrudin, "to be hanged on those gallows."
"I don't believe you!" replied the guard.
Nasrudin calmly replied, "Very well then. If I have told a lie, hang me!"
"But that would make it the truth!" said the confused guard.
Of course they canât -- all their soldiers are crossing as civieâs to become fedayeen!
RIYADH, Saudi-controlled Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia is unlikely to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq, even under a U.N. mandate, the Saudi deputy defense minister said in remarks published Saturday.
That's a relief...
Prince Khaled bin Sultan spoke to the Okas daily as the United States worked to secure a new U.N. resolution to persuade more countries to contribute troops and money to postwar Iraq. Prince Khaled said it would not be a good idea for neighboring states to send troops to Iraq.
... he said, stating the obvious.
``As a non professional military man, and an expert in heading joint palace scams troops, I say there is no benefit in having troops from neighboring countries (deployed) in Iraq,ââ said Prince Khaled, who commanded Arab and Islamic forces during the 1991 Gulf War in Kuwait. I have to agree with him — neighboring countries are Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi-controlled Arabia. Of all of them Iâd trust only the Kuwaitis.
Syria has said it would consider sending peacekeeping forces to Iraq if a deadline is set for a U.S. troop withdrawal and if the United Nations assumes control of its war-ravaged neighbor. Donât call us, we wonât call you.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told Al-Hayat while in New York for the U.N. General Assembly that Arab states will not send forces to Iraq to ``defend occupation troops... If any Arab country is considering sending troops, this will be after they get a request from those concerned, the Iraqis.ââ Given how their Arab brothers stood by and watched Saddam, I donât see this happening either.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2003 1:13:25 AM ||
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I guess they need all the manpower they can get to raid "farms" and arrest foreign terrorists. (Saudis aren't terrorists....they're our friends. Prince Bandar wouldn't lie.)
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/28/2003 2:58 Comments ||
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What are these "farms" something like Dachas? Country villas or some such.?
#3
The Saudis could participate by controlling the border from theirown side.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:25 Comments ||
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Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told Al-Hayat while in New York for the U.N. General Assembly that Arab states will not send forces to Iraq to ``defend occupation troops... If any Arab country is considering sending troops, this will be after they get a request from those concerned, the Iraqis.ââ
-the day we need the Saudis to defend us is the day we re-name our biggest cities "New Paris & Los Berlin."
#5
Jarhead, you have it all wrong. We don't want them to defend us, only too kill the terrorists the fund. After that, maybe Al-Quaeda will go after the Saudi Royals.
That or line up to be shot with Al-Quaeda, either one works.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/28/2003 15:02 Comments ||
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"Saudis Unlikely to Send Troops to Iraq"
Gott sie Dank!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/28/2003 19:14 Comments ||
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The looming Greek tragedy (continued).
Less than a year before the Athens Olympics, failures in Greek security have left the Games vulnerable to terrorist attack, both from conventional bombs and chemical or biological weapons. According to a leaked United States government report, an extensive security dry-run carried out in August exposed a disturbing series of problems. In one test, a woman pretending to be pregnant managed to carry a mock bomb through a security checkpoint in a stomach pouch. In another case, fake explosives were successfully placed on a ferry. "All the big stuff got through," one US security official told The Washington Post, referring to the fake explosives. "If you can get the big stuff through, getting chemical and biological stuff through is no problem." Hundreds of thousands of spectators and athletes are due to flood the Greek capital for the Games, which begin on August 13 next year. The Greek government has insisted that security is its top priority, and that the £370 million budget devoted to safety can be increased. How much of the £370m is going towards promoting World Peace(TM)?
Overall, the government has budgeted £3.2 billion for the Games, and, according to George Papandreou, the foreign minister, security spending could reach £600 million by the opening ceremony. This has not allayed fears of some participants, notably from Israel, which reportedly threatened a boycott unless its agents were allowed to protect its athletes. Understandably enough. The Israelis know what the Greeks donât, and that is, that there those out there who donât give a flying &@%! for the Olympic Ideal.
After initial reluctance to ask for outside help, Greece has set up a security advisory group which includes Britain, the US and Israel. None the less, problems remain. The port of Piraeus, for example, where cruise ships will house organisers, has yet to be secured and consultants fear that it is vulnerable to suicide attacks. In response to critics, Greece is drafting in 45,000 security officers from the police, army and special forces. Anti-aircraft missile batteries, fighter planes and "eye-in-the-sky" radar planes will also be deployed. This week, many agents were put through their paces in Operation Fiery Sword 2003 - a two-day exercise to test updated contingency plans for chemical or biological attacks. The Greek government will doubtless be hoping for a better report card this time around. Time to stop dreaming of "peace", and start preparing for the worst.
Few days after a similar threat by his French counterpart, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu warned Saturday, September 27, that "either mosques respect the law or they close." In statements carried by the BBC radio, Pisanu said: "We will not permit Italian mosques to transform into centers of secret financing and recruitment of Islamist fighters." The minister vocalized similar threats in an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper published Thursday, September 25.
Sounds like a reasonable request to me. Want to hear the turbans screech?
A spokesman for the Islamic Cultural Center in Milan cast doubts on the criteria to be used in determining possible legal violations that could result in the closure of mosques, said the British broadcast.
"No, no! That'd never work!"
"Mosques are places of worship and if you close them because someone who committed a crime happened to enter the mosque then by the same logic we would have to shut down Churches frequented by members of the Italian mafia," he averred.
"If we wudn't Muslims, youse guyz wouldn't be pickin' on us like this!"
Pisanu also said he planned to follow France's example of setting up a council of moderate Muslims to communicate with state authorities.
"Yeah. That's it! We'll set up a front organization!"
"Nicolas Sarkozy (French interior minister) explained to me that there is a clear link between the opening of dialogue with moderate Islam and the 22 percent reduction in violence in Paris suburbs," Pisanu said.
Oh! The moderates are turning in the bad boyz when the danger of retaliation drops, are they?
"And even if it is with different methods, I want to do the same thing in Italy - hold dialogue with the large majority of moderate Muslims who have come here to find bread and work," the minister added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 10:51 ||
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Mosques are places of worship and if you close them because someone who committed a crime happened to enter the mosque then by the same logic we would have to shut down Churches frequented by members of the Italian mafia...
Good point. But the mosques go first, since unlike the Mafia, they have no interest in collecting protection money.
And until the day Don Corleone(TM) announces to the world, they will destroy the infidel and that includes murder of innoncent people, and destruction of property having nothing to do with that agenda, Christian churches will remain open.
#2
Why not send them back to their homelands to look for "bread and work"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/28/2003 11:06 Comments ||
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#3
Tree: 70 ft tall. High-voltage power line: 150 ft tall. Amusing premature explanations: priceless.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/28/2003 12:01 Comments ||
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#4
Oops! That was for the Italian black-out story.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/28/2003 12:04 Comments ||
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#5
Don't close the mosques and force the clowns underground. Let ehem say what they want in public, and monitor who is saying what and who is listening.
In our country I would deny Wahabists the use of reiligious visas but allow moderate sects of Islam to continue to use the program.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:06 Comments ||
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#6
Religious visas? We have religious visas, huh? What for? Why is a visa to the US issued on religious grounds? To gawk at the Mormons? Study the scam techniques of TV Preachers with perfect hair? How to abuse mascara? I can imagine all sorts of goofy crap in other places full of "holy" shit that some might think justifies such a distinction... What, pray tell, is the reasoning behind the US issuing such a thing? Do we happen to have the 6,537th most Holy Shrine of Islam somewhere in Iowa?
#7
It is sad to see that a minister of the Berlusconi government thinks that muslims come to Western Countries 'to find bread and work'.
Billions of billions of dollars that we pay to arab countries for oil would allow them to absorb all the possible workforce and to trigger an industrial revolution. Instead the masses of muslims are sent to invade Europe and America (after invading in the past centuries Asia and half of Africa)...
It's the invasion, stupid.
The U.S. certainly does -- R visas, given to people who enter the US to work in religious schools, etc. The wife of a person we recently interviewed for a position had an R-1 visa: she taught Hebrew at a Jewish private school. Nice lady, too. I don't know the ins and outs of the visa process, but apparently the US has a class of visa for just about any situation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2003 15:23 Comments ||
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R-visas work for the Catholic church who needs to import religious personnel who are interested in celibate life. Not a popular choice among American youth.
Unfortunately, R-visa are also a popular way to import Jihadis.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 16:00 Comments ||
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Security, intelligence officials investigate radioactive package addressed to America.
An official with the Ukraine Ministry of Emergencies said the package was emitting radiation ââat a rate which is thousands of times higher than the acceptable norm in Kiev of 0.05 milliroentgens.ââ Mykola Karabet, an officer with the Ministry of Emergencies, said the parcel was found in a luggage depot awaiting shipment. Diplomatic sources in Kiev said the discovery of the package was not the first of its kind and that U.S. officials in the Ukrainian capital said there was every reason to be concerned over the latest discovery.
Posted by: TS ||
09/28/2003 10:47:43 AM ||
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nunn and ludger were totally ignored in the early 90's and we age goig to pay the price
#4
"...âat a rate which is thousands of times higher than the acceptable norm in Kiev of 0.05 milliroentgens.ââ
And the background rate in Kiev is just a tad higher than the most of the rest of the world, thanks to Chernobyl. This package must really glow in the dark.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2003 15:33 Comments ||
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A massive blackout struck almost all of Italy early Sunday, leaving millions of people without power, stranding planes and trains, and leading to traffic accidents as drivers sped through darkened streets. Most of Italy's 57 million people were affected â more than in North America's biggest blackout which left 50 million people without power in Canada and the United States on Aug. 14. As in the North American blackout, the early hours of Italy's power outage were filled with confusion as to the cause and finger-pointing among neighboring countries. Italy blamed France. France denied responsibility but then said an investigation showed a disabled power line in Switzerland set off a chain reaction of outages. Swiss authorities said a tree that touched a high voltage power line and disrupted supplies in Switzerland could have been partly to blame. And heavy storms in southeastern France near the Italian border might have been a factor, officials initially said.
Probably it's just that I'm sensitized by our own recent power outage, but it seems like there are more of these lately. I wouldn't discount involvement by Bad Guys.
Look in the computer system. Look for reads that show green when they should be showing red...
Followup: David notes Der Spiegel's differing treatments of the U.S. and Italian outages. Nice job!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 10:32 ||
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The power outages have always been there, but were made news worthy by our problem.
I think it would be highly unlikely that you could run a reliable power grid with everone going on vacation during the same period for 6 weeks or whatever.
North American plants are extremely reliable. I worked in a DP&L plant on the Ohio river as a maintenance supervisor for about a year and a half. The address of each person in the plant was listed on a big map. Routes were established to pick up the next shift in a fleet of Chevy Suburbans should it snow.
I worked with a Romanian forging engineer at another job. He told me that in the old days in Romania the government power plants could only produce 25% of the rated power and backouts were common. Made induction heating for forges a dicey proposition. Imagine it simular to what the Shiites lived like under Sadaam.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:00 Comments ||
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???????????? First USA/Canada, then London, then Sweden, now Italy. Lot of major blackouts in a short amount of time, no?
#4
I think the entire world has been doing much the same thing the United States has been doing - growing in population, in wealth, and thus in electrical use, but held back from growing in production capacity by one segment of society - the Greens. If you stress a system every day, day after day, it's eventually going to fail. We're beginning to see the effects, not only in the US, but all over the world. Someone needs to get a clue...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/28/2003 12:53 Comments ||
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#5
Now the Italians can chant, "We're #1!" "We're #1!"
#6
Old Patriot has it right. A grid is a network of power sources, routes, and sinks. To be able to take disturbances in stride, the grid must have excess capacity in power generation and distribution. If one component goes down, then another component will take up the slack.
I am not an electrical engineer, but I can see that the amount of redundancy in power generation, transformers, and power transmission and distribution lines will be determined by a number of factors that will relate to the acceptable probably of failure that society is willing to live with. For instance, in an operating room, one may have their electrical system continually floating on a battery source of power, because interruptions may be unacceptable. Certain commercial buildings may require standby generators, whereas a suburban business for a realtor will not require an alternate source other than a battery backup for a computer.
Right now, we have optimized operation of our grids, but have no reserve, because we have not put a serious commitment toward future generations for a number of years. We talk about "green energy" but we do not develop a consensus that can turn into real public policy.
Our dependence upon importation of a huge percentage of our oil needs from foreign sources is another example of our collective shortsightedness.
I believe that it is not only the greens who are at fault but also governmental leaders who do not have the cojones to lead, but instead wind up beholden to the contributions or intimidation of special interests.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/28/2003 14:47 Comments ||
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Grid maintenance is much like bridge maintenance - a good place to cut spending in the short term ... and again... and again.
Kind of makes you apprehensive about driving across a bridge.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 16:04 Comments ||
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PESHAWAR: Male doctors and technicians have been banned from carrying out ultrasound examinations and using electrocardiographs (ECG) on female patients by the Islamist government of Pakistanâs North West Frontier province in its latest step towards implementation of Shariah.
The ban effectively excludes all women from undergoing such crucial medical examinations as the province has only one female ECG technician and none trained in ultrasound.
âWe think that men could derive sexual pleasure from womenâs bodies while conducting ECG or ultrasound,â explained Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, the provincial general secretary of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the six-party religious alliance which now governs the North West Frontier.
âSimilarly some women could lure men under the pretext of ECG or ultrasound.
The clerics have already banned public dancing and music, kite flying and satellite television. They have closed cinemas, photographic shops and beauty parlours, and have torn down billboards displaying female images.
Pakistanâs population will swell to 349 million by year 2050, making it the fourth most populated country in the world, cautions a Washington-based population monitoring group.
Breeding like little Islamic rabbits, are they?
The Bureau projects India will become the worldâs most populated country with 1,628 million people by 2050, tailed closely by China with 1,394 million. The US will increase its population from the existing 292 million to 422 in the next 43 years, while Indonesia, with the current population of 220 million, will grow by 94 million during the same period. The Bureauâs 2003 world population data sheet puts Pakistanâs existing population at 149 million, the sixth largest in the world. According to the Pakistani government, the country was seventh population-wise globally in 2001 with 142.5 million people.
And most of them can be described as "loopy."
An exceptionally high population growth already has its impacts on the country in the form of rampant poverty in the absence of adequate policy responses to improve the situation.
Not to worry. They have lots of madrassahs...
The population growth has caused an eight-time increase in the unemployment ratio during the last 30 years. With almost one third of the population living in abject poverty, 54 million people do not have access to safe drinking water; 55 million people are living in one-room houses; 17 million are the residents of Katchi Abadis in urban areas; 74 million are living without sanitation facilities; and 53.5 million are illiterates. The population explosion has led to the shortage of educational facilities, health services, housing units, food, living space, arable land and clean water.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/28/2003 1:10:20 AM ||
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And they'll still be outweighed almost 5:1 by their Hindu buddies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2003 1:14 Comments ||
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Although population growth is very hard to predict a half a century from now, Hindus might make up as little as 50% of the combined population of India+Pakistan+Bangladesh, with Muslims making up most of the rest.
However, if Iran could cut it's brithrate from 7 to less than 3 children per family in one generation, it should be possible for the same thing to happen in those countries, assuming the governments wanted it to.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/28/2003 2:02 Comments ||
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I must need new lenses. I thought the headline said YAK population...
#7
they'll never make it.....the average IQ and spittle factor are speeding in opposite directions. It's only a matter of time before the fundos get their hands on the nukes and everyone gets the martyrdom they say they want
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2003 8:47 Comments ||
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#8
What will the IS population be if we close the border to Mexico?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 11:51 Comments ||
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#9
I meant US
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:08 Comments ||
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#10
Methinks our own Dr Badanov has this one pegged. What diff will it make when they're 2 smokin' holes? Just cream filling.
#11
let's see; one-third of the population living in abject poverty, 54 million use unsanitary drinking water, major food shortages, 53.5 million can't read, yep, they just ain't breeding enough.
#13
I'm constantly amazed that we have not yet had a super-flu blow through some of these over-populated, poor, densely packed unsanitary hellholes....how long can that last? A swine or Spanish flu like 1917 would wipe out these backwaters
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2003 13:35 Comments ||
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#14
Ok, so let me see if I've got this straight. You have a dusty backwater country that's already overpopulated. There's not enough clean water, sanitation, or jobs.
The Islamic solution is to more than double your population in less than 50 years?!?!
Maybe that's how they convince their young that suicide killing is a rational option. I mean, think about it......I'd rather blow myself up than live in a stinking shithole like that.
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/28/2003 13:53 Comments ||
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Last month, elements from the Pakistan Army walked across the LoC in the Rajouri sector in Jammu and Kashmir. They ambushed a Jat Regiment patrol and killed four troops. But the intruders werenât through. They chopped off the head of a slain Indian soldier and carried it back across the LoC as a trophy. The Pakistanis also took away a light machine gun that the Indians were carrying.
They just love chopping off those heads. It's so... Islamic.
The Indian retaliation was ferocious. Earlier this week, a battalion of the Jat Regiment shot dead nine Pakistani soldiers. And for gruesome impact, the Jats got the heads of two Pakistani soldiers. The Army brass, however, isnât saying anything about this macabre medievalism. âThereâs nothing to state officially. Weâre not making a statement,â says a senior officer at Army Headquarters.
"Unofficially, I can say that taxidermists are a greedy lot. There really should be some sort of investigation..."
Even during the Kargil war, bodies of some Indian soldiers, which the Pakistanis returned, were badly mutilated. One such posthumous humiliation was inflicted on Lieutenant Saurabh Kalia. Oberoi, who regards such competitive sadism as an aberration, argues that itâs primarily motivated by the intrudersâ quest for proof of inflicting casualties on the adversary. âSome may be considering an enemy soldierâs head a better evidence of a successful foray, compared to a captured weapon or some other material proof,â he says. The General, who interacted with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, then Pak DG of military operations, as his counterpart in the mid-nineties, gives the benefit of the doubt to the Pakistani brass. He says the equation at the lower levels matters. âNot everything that unfolds on the LoC is policy,â he says. âWhat transpires is mostly prompted by local considerations.â
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/28/2003 1:04:24 AM ||
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Sometimes its just better to quit while you're a head.
Police and US troops have seized weapons during raids in Baghdad and in northern Iraq. US and Iraqi officials said the raids took place after a small but symbolic rocket attack on a US compound in the Iraqi capital. A cache found yesterday near Saddam Husseinâs hometown Tikrit included 23 Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, 1,000lb of plastic explosives, grenades, grenade launchers, rockets, a mortar and mortar rounds. It was among the largest caches found there since American troops arrived in April, according to Major Mike Rauhut of the 4th Infantry Division. US officials said troops also detained "a former high-ranking regime loyalist" but gave no further details.
Earlier near the northern city of Kirkuk, soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division found eight SA-7 surface to air missiles, seven mortar tubes, and "a substantial number of electrical switches" used to make homemade bombs according to division spokeswoman Major Josslyn Aberle.
In Baghdad, Iraqi police found a much smaller cache, recovering about a dozen small rockets, grenades and mortar rounds. The warheads had been removed from the rockets, suggesting they were to have been used in fabricating small roadside bombs that have caused casualties among US troops and Iraqi civilians.
A Malaysian state controlled by an Islamic opposition party has vowed to defy the federal government by implementing harsh Islamic laws next month which allow stoning, whipping and amputation, a news report said yesterday. Abdul Hadi Awang, chief minister of Terengganu state, said his government would have its own enforcement teams and judges to implement Islamic criminal law, or hudud, in the state. Under the laws proposed for Terengganu, a thiefâs right hand is amputated for his first offense, and his left foot for the second. A Muslim who renounces Islam is punished by death. Sodomy and adultery are punishable by death by stoning. Muslims who consume alcohol can be whipped up to 80 times.
Posted by: TS ||
09/28/2003 11:12:32 AM ||
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A Muslim who renounces Islam is punished by death.
Remember, folks, under Islam "there is no compulsion in religion".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/28/2003 11:37 Comments ||
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and Greenpeace thinks the Gitmo prisoners have it bad.
Several Jemaah Islamiah members detained by Indonesian police said an extremist splinter faction of the group is responsible for conducting terror attacks in the country. Malaysian Nasir Abbas said yesterday during a broadcast by El Shinta radio station that JI has broken up into at least three distinct parts. âThe third group is extremely radical. I suspect that this radical group is behind the terror and bombings in many places,â said the detainee who claimed to be the chief of JI overseeing the Malaysian state of Sabah, Indonesiaâs Kalimantan and Sulawesi and the southern Philippines. If that is true, then Hambali, the operations commander of JI, must be part of the âradicalsâ. Perhaps spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir angered them because he saw the chance of pursuing a Sharia state through political means, like the Indonesian Mujahideen Council he set up that included Indonesian Islamist parties.
It could also be considered a symptom of the breakup of the international terror machine. Qaeda's negotiating with Yemen, Jemaah Islamiyah in Egypt is taking the non-violent path, Karzai says Qaeda's wiped out in Afghanistan (and could be right). Even the Soddies are thumping them. There are probably a lot of arguments going on within the terror machine. Paleo IJ is going through its own crisis at the moment...
Other detainees, including Mohamed Rais who was arrested by police in May, have also spoken of serious dissent within JI. Rais, whom police said helped to plan Julyâs attack against the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and recruited suicide bomber Asmar Latin Sani who died in the attack, also claimed only the third, ultra-radical JI splinter is planning and executing terror attacks. That would explain why there have been comparatively few attacks, considering JI is supposed to have a membership in the low thousands.
The other two factions included one that sticks to JIâs original goal of establishing Islamic states in the region through peaceful means, and a more hardline group that supports attacks but wants selective targeting of victims. Analysts including Ms Sidney Jones, the International Crisis Groupâs project director in Jakarta, have suggested that the JI has shown internal rifts. Several JI cadres may feel attacks such as the one at the Marriott kill Indonesians and Muslims, not foreigners. Traditionalists also fear that this kind of extreme militancy may hamper the process of spreading Islamic teachings into the larger society. In the past 5 years or so they have made enormous progress in introducing radical Wahhabi/Salafi ideas into the mainstream, I could see why many wouldnât want to jepordise that with a few car bombs.
Also, every time they pull a big operation, their leadership gets slammed in the investigation. Bali, Riyadh, Daniel Pearl, Karachi Sheraton, and WTC — happened every time. When they lay low and don't do anything is when it's tough to find them...
The good news is: Internal rifts have caused other radical groups to implode, and JI may too. The police are now said to be pressing those who claim to belong to moderate factions of JI to help nab their more militant associates.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/28/2003 12:46:01 AM ||
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A NEW breed of homegrown âtwentysomething terroristsâ is poised to strike at Indonesiaâs international hotels with a wave of suicide bombings in December. These new generation Jemaah Islamiah terrorists are every bit as deadly and fanatically anti-American as captured leaders Hambali and Imam Samudra, said intelligence sources. The Sunday Times understands that 12 of them, drawn from six terrorist cells in Indonesia, plan to turn the festive December season into a bloody nightmare.
This must be the radical splinter cell they were talking about...
Sources disclosed that at a meeting of JI leaders in East Kalimantan in March, Zulkarnaen, their new chief, and Azahari Husin, JIâs master bomb-maker, chose the targets. International hotels in Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan were picked as one set of targets. The other comprised residential areas with large expatriate communities. The JI has two bombs and about 200kg of explosives to carry out the attacks, according to an intelligence source. A senior Indonesian intelligence official told The Sunday Times that aside from amassing bomb-making materiel, the JI had recruited and trained about 100 young militants over the past three years. While the young new crop was not intimately involved in the Bali or Marriott Hotel bombings, their fingerprints are all over the new plans. Interviews with militants by intelligence sources here reveal that three of the chosen 12 stand out as future JI leaders.
We'll be seeing their names again. I'll be looking forward to seeing them in the dock...
One of them, who goes by the alias of Maman Suharmen, is a member of the JI cell in Banten, West Java. Now in hiding in Kalimantan, he is said to have attended bomb-making classes by Dul Matin, the fugitive militant who reportedly used a cellphone to detonate the Bali bombs which killed 200 people last October. Sources said Maman, 29, is being groomed to take over from senior JI figures like Imam Samudra, who is on death row for the Bali attack.
The second rising star is 29-year-old Nur Islamy. He is believed to be running a network stretching from Bengkulu and Medan to the Riau Islands from his base in Lampung, Sumatra.
Little is known about the third man, Zuharmen, 28, from Kediri in Sulawesi.
Most of the new radicals graduated from the Hidayatullah religious boarding school in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, founded by a supporter of Kahar Muzakkar, the leader of the Darul Islam rebellion in South Sulawesi in the 1950s. It now has more than 100 branches in Indonesia. Intelligence sources said that, in 1999, the JI decided to use a three-month religious training programme at the Balikpapan branch to recruit young Muslims into its ranks. The students â numbering about 300 over three years â were indoctrinated with hardline Islamic teachings. Of this number, about 70 were picked to join JIâs clandestine network.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/28/2003 12:38:19 AM ||
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Egypt has freed from prison a top member of an Egyptian militant group that butchered 58 foreign tourists in 1997 but whose jailed leaders have called for a cease-fire. Karam Zuhdi, who heads the policy-making Shura council of Egypt's largest Islamic militant group, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya (Islamic Group) and has spent about 20 years behind bars, was released from jail "after completing the term of his sentence," the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) said. It said Interior Minister Habib el-Adli had also ordered his release for humanitarian reasons because Zuhdi suffered from coronary problems, diabetes and osteoporosis.
His victims are still suffering from decomposition...
Zuhdi was one of several al-Gamaa members imprisoned for their role in the 1981 assassination of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat. Zuhdi and other jailed leaders of the group called a cease-fire in 1997, a move which divided the group. A security source confirmed to Reuters that Zuhdi had been set free, but could not say when he had been released or give any further details. Al-Gamaa took part in a bloody six-year campaign in the 1990s to overthrow the Egyptian government and install a purist Islamic regime. It gained infamy for the massacre of 58 tourists in the southern town of Luxor later that year by a faction opposed to the cease-fire. There have been no militant attacks in Egypt since then. In recent months, Egypt has published several interviews with jailed al-Gamaa leaders, including Zuhdi, reiterating their commitment to the cease-fire. Security analysts say the interviews were part of government efforts to give moderate Islamists a louder voice to counter any latent threats from those who still espouse violence.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 22:07 ||
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President Robert Mugabe has established new courts to counter Zimbabweâs critical banknotes shortage. The Zimbabwe leader blames the four-month-old shortage on the thriving black foreign currency market. Why the hell would there be any kind of foriegn market for currency that is totally worthless even in Zimbabwe where the notes are legal tender?
Michael Santu of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe told the Sunday Mail newspaper the courts would co-operate with neighbouring countries. They will eliminate the Zimbabwe dollarâs illegal externalisation, he said. A donkey cart couldnât externalize enough Zimbawe cash to buy a Snickers bar. Unless the neighboring countries are short of toilet paper, people other than natives of Zimbabwe have no reasonable use for paper with Robert Mugabeâs printed portrait.
Mr Santu told the newspaper: "There is still a lot of money out of the country, especially in Mozambique and Zambia." Maybe Zimbabweâs currency is printed on rolling papers. Zimbabweans use the notes to buy foreign currency abroad which they then re-sell onto the parallel market at home, he fantasized explained.
The courts are expected to start operating soon.
Critics of the Mugabe-led government say banknote shortages are more to do with Zimbabweâs soaring inflation rate, currently standing at more than 426%, than its black currency market. Since the dawn of time markets have only existed for items that are of value to other people. Nobody buys inflationary currency.
The Zimbabwe Government introduced a new currency - bearer cheques - this week, but economists warned they are easily forged.
"There is a serious danger because they can easily be manufactured using modern machinery such as scanners and photocopiers," economist John Robertson told Zimbabweâs Standard newspaper. Encouraging counterfieting may be the only way that the government can keep up with the currency shortage casued by their stupid policies.
My favorite economist, Walter Williams, has written several columns demonstraing that assured personal property rights are more important to the economic health of a nation than a constitution establishing liberal democratic rights.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 9:43:08 PM ||
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"Bearer cheques - for times when carting around several trunkloads of wastepaper isn't an option!"
#3
Not in the next year -- the 2004 election will have the softheaded types too focused on Bush hatred. I figure it will be 2005 before the loons notice the Zim famine.
I fully expect to hear someone blame Bush for Zimbabwe, too.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/28/2003 22:30 Comments ||
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#4
Only a reporter for the Beeb could be idiotic enough to believe a country with an inflation rate of more than 426% could have a shortage of banknotes. The "shortage" is, of course, merely the pretext the Mugabe regime is using to justify their nonstop printing of notes.
Shia News published this one with two disclaimers...
By Ali Abbas
After the Iranian revolution of 1979 the Shias in Pakistan and other parts of the world began to echo the Iranian slogan of "Death to America" without considering its consequences in the long run. The slogan wishes death and destruction to America and Americans all over the world. However when we consider the present day ground realities we will find that things are quite different.
"Ahah! Legume! I may have found a clue!"
In the last 22 years since the Iranian revolution America as a country and as a nation has gone from strength to strength. At the time of the revolution there were two super powers in the world namely Soviet Union and America. The Soviet Union has since been dismantled leaving behind America as the sole super power of this world.
Making faces and jumping up and down is fun, but to what purpose? Opposition for the sake of opposition could be termed stoopid, if you don't own a turban...
On the other hand when we look at the Shia world we will find that the Shias have suffered enormously, they have faced death and destruction, they have been killed, brutalized, massacred and displaced from their homes.
By Americans?
One just has to look at the three countries surrounding Iran i.e. Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. These are the three principal countries where majority of the Shias live outside Iran. Let us briefly look at the recent past for each one of these countries.
Good idea...
Iraq
After the 2nd Gulf war there was a massive Shia uprising in Iraq to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein. For a period of almost two weeks Shias had full control of Southern Iraq and were poised to take over Baghdad. The success of the Shia uprising sent alarm bells ringing in Washington which feared an Iranian style of anti-American government in Iraq. At the time of the Shia uprising America was at war with Saddam Hussein but it still did not allow the Shia uprising to be successful as it considered Saddam to be better of the two evils. The Iraqi Shias were never anti-American, their main enemy was the regime of Saddam Hussein which had terrorized the Shia population for over three decades. But due to Iran's anti-American slogans, Shias all over the world are seen as enemies of the West and America. As a consequence the Shia uprising in Iraq failed and resulted in the massacre of around half a million Shias and displacement of some two million Shias by the forces of Saddam Hussain. These Shias are still living in misery in the refugee camps at the Iran-Iraq border. If Shias were not perceived as anti-American or anti-Western then today we would have Shia rulers in Iraq and it would have been a very strong and vibrant Shia country.
Possibly. But the problem in the wake of Gulf War I wasn't so much America's fear and loathing of Iran is its entanglement with the UN resolutions, which authorized the liberation of Kuwait but not the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. We didn't really have anything against Iraq's Shias, but had we sent troops in to support the uprising we'd have caught stink from the rest of the world, which was still bipolar. At the time, the Soviet Union was still in business and still looked like a going concern, chock full of glasnost' and perestroika â the August coup was still in the future.
Afghanistan
The CIA in Washington gave a go ahead to Pakistan's ISI to form Taliban in order to control Afghanistan and keep a check on Iran's Influence in the region. The Taliban were deliberately chosen as Wahhabi extremists who would cut down the Shia influence in Afghanistan and Central Asia. In the civil war that followed after the Taliban's take over of Afghanistan almost 50,000 Shias have been killed so far. The biggest Shia massacre took place in Mazar-e-Sharif when Taliban captured the city and killed around 21,000 Shias in just four days. Again the Shias of Afghanistan were not anti-American or anti-Western, all they wanted was to live in peace and dignity. But unfortunately Shias are always linked with Iran and are considered as threat wherever they live.
We'd also have to plead not guilty to the charge of fostering the Talibs. They weren't set up with our permission â Pakland went ahead and did it and we didn't pay any attention. Our Taliban sins were sins of omission. And it wasn't only Shias who were slaughtered under the Talibs, but anyone who didn't toe the Pashtun-Talib line. The Pashtun master race imposed itself on the rest of the country, and the resistance was "everybody else." When we took the Talibs apart, we had to form a "southern alliance" of Pashtuns, which I'll admit was a crummy idea, though it didn't look bad at the time.
Pakistan
In Pakistan Shias had always lived in peace and harmony but all of this changed soon after the Iranian revolution. Some Shia organizations in Pakistan deeply inspired by the revolution began to chant the anti-American slogans. As a result the late General Zia-ul-Haq, a Deobandi/Wahhabi by religion, formed Sipha-e-Sahaba to counter the Iranian threat and to nullify the anti-American feeling in Pakistan. Sipha-e-Sahaba with the support of General Zia and the blessing of American CIA began to propagate its anti-Shia message from every city and town of Pakistan. This has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Shia Muslims. Shia doctors, lawyers, writers, religious leaders, bearcats and politicians have all been targeted.
Have to plead not guilty to this one, too. As far as I know, CIA had no involvement with the birth process of any of the Pak jihadi or sectarian groups. Our involvement was limited to propping up Zia's regime in general, while the ISI plotted and planned and machinated for its own purposes. I think even those of us who try and follow Pak internal politix closely regard them as nearly incomprehensible, since cause and effect and six or seven other laws of nature or logic don't seem to apply.
The anti-American slogans have cost the Shias dearly in Pakistan and they have lost the cream of their community at the hands of Sipha-e-Sahaba and its militant offshoot Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. From the above discussion it is clear that the anti-American slogans and rhetoric has not been of any benefit to Shias but instead has been a recipe for disaster.
And not disaster at the hands of the Americans. At the most, they've simply made the Americans yawn when the poop's hit the fan. The slaughters have been carried out by Sunnis, specifically Wahhabis and Deobandis. Yet the Pak Shias still tromp around hollering "Death to America." It's that cause->effect deficiency again...
Simply shouting "Death to America" and burning American flags may serve as an outlet for our emotions but it does not achieve any other goal. America's foreign policy depends on its interests around the world. In fact, America has no permanent friends in this world nor does it have any permanent enemies. Anyone that serves American interests would become its friend and anyone that threatens its interests would be perceived as an enemy.
Actually, we do have some permanent friends and even a few permanent enemies. But cause/effect would seem to dictate that when someone picks a fight with us they go on the enemies list, and when they kiss and make up they go back on the friends list. To me, that's logic. But if I owned a turban it'd probably be pretty murky...
For instance America backed Iraq in its war against Iran but when Saddam invaded Kuwait, the Americans went to war against their former ally and librated Kuwait to protect their interests in the Gulf. Similarly the Taliban who were formed by Pakistan's ISI with the consent of American CIA have now become America's biggest enemy.
Actually, we've never been particularly fond of them. We always had more sympathy for the Northern Alliance, even though Rabbani was pretty much a goof. Masood was a very sympathetic figure — one of the few who was able to think his way out of a paper bag, which is why he was killed. The money flowing into Pakland for the muhaheddin (not the same as the Talibs) was mishandled, with more going to Hekmatyar than should have, while he played footsie with the Soviets and did his best to undercut everyone else.
America sees Taliban's extremism as a threat and a destabilizing force for the oil rich states of Central Asia. Taliban have also refused to handover Osama Bin Laden who is responsible for the bombing of American embassies. So once former allies have now become archrivals.
That's pretty simple cause and effect to me. Anything I'm missing?
It is high time that we the Shias consider changing our anti-American strategy.
"Holmes! Brilliant!"
America is not the real enemy of the Shias, it is not against the school of Imam Jafer as Sadiq (AS). If anyone is against the Shias then it is the Taliban, the Saddams and the Azam Tariq's of this world.
"We have a winnerrrrr!"
As the new millennium begins to take shape where new alliances are being forged and the old ones crumble away, we should not turn a blind eye to these changes and we must reconsider and analyze our anti-American or anti-Western stance. This is the only sensible way to approach the present crisis facing the Shia world.
If the Shias as a school can do that, we can reconsider and analyze the difference between a Shia based dictatorship in Iran and Shiism in the rest of the world. A single Shia-based theocracy is a driver behind a major part of the terror machine, but the sharp point of terrorism is Wahhabi-based, and specifically Qutbist. There's room for accomodation with non-extremist Shiism and room for mutual benefit. There's no room for accomodation with the Wahhabi school.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 16:06 ||
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So more than anything else, yelling death to America makes it unlikely that we will prevent your real enemies from killing you.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 20:43 Comments ||
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Hat tip to Drudge
Gen. Wesley Clark, told a New Hampshire audience Friday night he had only fired one person in his life. On Saturday he said he wanted to fire a second person: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Note to Wes: an elected president gets to appoint a whole new cabinet. BTW, who was this other person you fired? That sounds like an intersting story.
When asked at a house party on the Seacoast about what he would do in Iraq if elected president today, he was met with applause when he said, "First of all I would change the Secretary of Defense. Then I would go to the commanders of the ground and go to Iraq myself personally and I would develop an exit strategy that gives us a success and lets us downsize our commitment there." How does that differ from the current policy?
Besides Rumsfeld, Clark also criticized Bushâs National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice for her views of the world and then U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay, also a Republican, for his vote on a measure involving Kosovo. Pretty safe targets in NH. Rumsfeld, Rice and DeLay completes the trifecta.
"So when I got out of the military and into business I looked at both parties," Clark explained to the crowd on why he was a Democrat. "I talked to Condoleeza Rice right away. I wonder if Condi remebers this conversation.
I found out I didnât like her view on foreign policy. She said American troops shouldnât do peacekeeping they should do real fighting. Wes, I have only heard of one other active or retired military member that was a proponent of the American military being used for peacekeeping: Jimmy Carter.
But she is an academic, what does she know? Wes, you canât insult academics anymore. You're a Democrat now. Theyâre the base.
Iâve been on the front lines. I tried to explain it to her. She let me know she was going to be in charge. Over an elected president? Was he interviewing to work for her?
And I spoke out on the election campaign on what we are trying to do on behalf of Bosnia and the Balkans and so forth. And when I went home to Arkansas I was in business and I wanted to meet both sides. The Republicans came to me and said âHey we would like for you to speak at our Lincoln Day fund-raiser. I said I am not going to be there for Lincoln Day. They said âGeneral weâll hold Lincoln Day whenever you can get here.â So I did. I spoke to about 450 Republicans there at Embassy Suites. I was non-partisan. speaker at a fundraiser of 450 Republicans
I basically praised Republicans for being Republicans. . . . But I knew what the Republican Party was like and I couldnât identify with that party other than for fundraising purposes.
They are the party that when I was commanding in Kosovo, they were the party led by Tom Delay against our airman who were in the skies over Yugoslavia taking fire from Serb anti-aircraft and this party voted against them. Donât remember Delay being in the Daschele role.
They claimed they werenât. They claimed they were voting against just a policy, but I read what they said. They wanted the policy to fail. The Ted Kennedy role. Didnât know of any military guys that thought Kosovo was a good idea. Maybe Carter thought we should be there.
They didnât have a vision. Wes, What the vision of Kosovo? Did we need beer goggles?
They didnât understand what America was about. Wes, explain your vision - especially the domestic portion. Leave out the rhetoric - just the meat.
They put their interest of the party above the interest of the party. Is is possible that Wes partied too heavily before making this statement?
Iâll never put the interest of the party above the interest of the country." It should be noted that Clark only took questions after several in the crowd of about 70 verbally complained. Traditionally in New Hampshire candidates attend house parties - keg parties in the case of Ted Kennedy -
and briefly explain their platform and why they are running followed by about 30-40 minutes of taking questions from the audience. Here Clark spoke for 20 minutes and quickly began shaking hands. Nice try, Wes.
A Clark aide noted it was his first house party ever as a presidential candidate and didnât understand protocol and was not hiding from questions. Good answer.. good answer.
The house party in New Castle ended a two day trip to New Hampshire, his first trip since announcing he was in the presidential race. Run away quick before there are more follow-up questions about being fired from jobs.
Clark has been criticized by some of the other candidates for flip-flopping on issues during his 11-day-old candidacy, but seemed to become more comfortable in his role with each stop. âI never say the same thing every day,â he told a supporter in New Castle. âI grow every day.â Wouldnât it have been smarter to do that growing thing before entering the campaign. Wes, an American president that was not able to hold a coherent position for 11 days could make the world an unstable place to live.
Earlier on Saturday Clark visited with patrons at Chez Vachon, a French-Canadian diner once adored by a candidate named Bill Clinton. Obviously home territoty for Kerry.
After that he met with Manchester fire fighters and briefly discussed Homeland Security. On Monday the union representing New Hampshire fire fighters will formally endorse John Kerryâs presidential campaign. Arguably the biggest test for Clark came to his trip in Dover at lunchtime. Dover is the site of the only Draft Clark office in New Hampshire, where about 250 supporters from all over New England came to hear the General rally his troops and ask for support and explicitly for money. Wes, wasnât your Republican fundraiser better attended?
At none of the events Sunday did Clark take questions from the media.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 2:23:07 PM ||
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Clark is digging himself a extremely deep hole.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/28/2003 15:18 Comments ||
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He's trying to get that Dean sector of the Democratic Party. Too bad. He should run on what he believes is right. That would be an approach none of the others have thought of.
#3
From what I've read from the guys that worked for him, and from the folks I know who served under him, Clark's idea of what's right changes with the weather. The stuff above seems to verify that - he's changed his mind so much he's worn out the grooves.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/28/2003 22:05 Comments ||
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Japanâs hostile policy toward the DPRK is a very dangerous policy aimed at a military clash between the DPRK and Japan. If a war is provoked by the U.S. on the Korean peninsula, it will naturally spill over into Japan. lightly veiled threat
Rodong Sinmun today says this in a signed article. It goes on: it always does
Japanâs concern about its security is its own make ? and its solution lies in its drop of the hostile policy toward the DPRK. The attitude of the U.S. and Japan towards the DPRK, are identical as Japan is actively supporting the U.S. in its policy to stifle Pyongyang. If the present tense situation is allowed to go on, a war between the DPRK and Japan will be unavoidable. Not-so-veiled threat - must be feeling the heat
In fact, Japanâs policy to stifle thatâs stifle twice...low point score for lack of a thesaurus
the DPRK is now getting more pronounced as the days go by and, consequently, the relations between the DPRK and Japan are inching close to the phase of clash. Even the fate of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration is threatened by Japanâs reckless hostile policy toward the DPRK. The peace policy of the DPRK is invariable and the stand of the DPRK to settle the long-standing pending issues between the DPRK and Japan and improve the bilateral relations remains unchanged. Ensuring security and creating a peaceful atmosphere is the job to be done by Japan itself. Donât listen to the hegemonistic Americans!
This can never be solved by accelerating the arms buildup and preparations for overseas aggression under the pretext of "threat" from someone. If Japan truly wants its security and a peaceful atmosphere, it should stop cooperating with the U.S. in its efforts to antagonize and stifle three times...
the DPRK and opt for redressing its crime-woven past and improving the relations with the DPRK. This is the way of ensuring Japanâs security. Even better, a roentgen soup in pyongyang as Al-Aska Paul notes
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2003 2:02:50 PM ||
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Mmmmmm. Roentgen Soup. Glows in the dark. Easy to find during a power failure.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/28/2003 15:01 Comments ||
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This can never be solved by accelerating the arms buildup and preparations for overseas aggression under the pretext of "threat" from someone.
Why not? Isn't that the army-based, juche way? ;)
Ptah, we await your score on this one.....
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/28/2003 15:36 Comments ||
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*holds up card* 3.0.
Mein Gott, they've reached down past their minor leagues and drew on the Peewees. No class, no style, no fire, no SEA of fire, no Kim, no Juche, and yes, they definitely have no bananas either.
#4
From reading the DPRK drivel over the last few weeks, it all seems to be going downhill, possibly because the last stash of white slag has been used up, and winter's coming. Pyongyang sounds more and more like a vacuum - big sucking sound as it all slides down into oblivion. Kim's really got the Japanese concerned, and we can expect to see the backlash soon - not just in deploying Pat3s but in a navy/army/air force buildup in Japan, and possibly changes to their constitution allowing them to have a larger "Self-Defense Force". I wouldn't rule out Japan sereptitiously building a nuke or two, and letting the information "leak", letting the North know that two can play at that game. Japan has too much to lose by NOT standing up to Kim.
As for the rant, a 3.0 is being generous. Sounds like a playground bully when a bigger kid stands up to him. Totally unacceptable diplospeak.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/28/2003 22:35 Comments ||
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Hattip to Drudge
Authorities said that shortly before 4 a.m., dispatchers received calls from drivers alerting them to a pedestrian on the highway. A few minutes later, police received calls about the accident. "The lady (driver) had just gotten off work. Itâs tragic. The lady appeared in front of her and stuck her. Sheâs very upset, but has been cooperating with us, " Sgt. Todd Chappell said. Police have not released the victimâs name. They did tell KMBC that she was home on leave from Iraq for her brotherâs wedding. I think weâll see more of this on leave cases. I came home in the middle of one six month deployment out of four for a family illness. I had trouble getting my mind back on work after returning to the states and I was on a ship not in a combat area.
I would rather see the two week passes granted for a stay in Germany, Italy or Sapin. And maybe two day passes in theater to a safe area with decent food and showers.
In my opinion, the two week leave policy will not result in soldiers returning "on the top of their game," as the congressman said. The first two weeks after a deployment are incredibly stressful for an entire family especially if the miliatry member isnât on duty status. Having to go to work for part of the day is more normal and seems to aleviate part of the culture shock.
I canât imagine sepnding two weeks getting normalized and then returning to the streets of Fallujah.
In my opinion, this policy is manufactured for pallatablily in but the end result will be divorces, body bags and civilian deaths. I recommend proceding carefully.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:53:51 PM ||
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One tragic event makes a trend?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/28/2003 13:47 Comments ||
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Also note that it says that police had been getting calls about a pedestrian on the highway. Where I come from you don't call the cops because of a pedestrian walking on the side of the road, even if it is 4am. I assume they meant she was actually in the highway. If so, there's more going on there than meets the eye.
Says Super Hose: I canât imagine sepnding two weeks getting normalized and then returning to the streets of Fallujah.
When my uncle was in Vietnam he was furloghed to Honolulu for a belated honeymoon. I have a hard time imagining calmly leaving Hawaii to go back to slogging through jungles and being shot at.
#4
Mr. Crawford is correct when he says that one data point doesn't make a trend. And I imagine drinking was involved in this case. Look at the underlying program, though.
On a deployment, it was often easy to get into a work routine that chews up a number of days rather quickly. There were always several hard weeks on the front end and then a number of slow weeks that would pop up in the middle. For out and out stress on a family there is no harder deployment weeks than the two weeks before deploying and the two weeks after a return.
Families have a way of pull into a routine when a miltary member is gone. It is very hard to reintroduce a member into a family for a short time and then pull them back out immediately.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 16:13 Comments ||
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#5
It is very hard to reintroduce a member into a family for a short time and then pull them back out immediately.
Not at all. It's hard reintroducing a family member back into the same ROUTINE, at home, and then pulling them back out. It disrupts everything. The R&R program from Vietnam worked differently - the military member and the family members were (usually) reunited in an unfamiliar location, providing both with a break with routine. The best policy the US could employ would be to send the guys in Iraq to Italy and Germany (we have/had several good military recreation facilities in both places), bring the family over from the States, and let them see each other in a non-threatening environment. It would be a boost for both during what would otherwise be very trying times.
Reintroducing the military member back into a combat situation (and Iraq is still a combat operation for a significant number of troops) from a R&R location would be less traumatic than returning him from the States back into the same old groove. The US is too familiar to him, and it's easy to snap back into bad habits. Spending a week or two in a non-threatening but unfamiliar environment would be less traumatic and more effective.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/28/2003 22:19 Comments ||
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The acting president of Chechnya was the victim of an attempt to poison him and in a serious condition in hospital, a week ahead of elections in the turbulent region, officials said on Sunday. Anatoly Popov was appointed prime minister of Chechnya earlier this year to serve under the head of the regionâs pro-Moscow local administration, Akhmad Kadyrov. "The diagnosis is poisoning by a substance of unknown origin," the Chechen governmentâs press service said of Popov, who is not running in the election. "He is currently in one of Chechnyaâs hospitals and will soon be taken to Moscow. He is in serious condition."
Posted by: TS ||
09/28/2003 10:56:22 AM ||
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For all the high-tech weaponry, its worth remembering that old low-tech ways can be quite effective.
Posted by: Tom ||
09/28/2003 11:55 Comments ||
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Weren't the Chechens involved in the poison factory in Northern Iraq?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:07 Comments ||
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A follower of Islamic Jihad carried out a weekend shooting attack on a West Bank settlement at the start of Jewish New Year celebrations that killed an Israeli man and a baby girl, the group said Sunday. Islamic Jihad stop short of claiming responsibility, but group members identified the gunman as Mahmoud Hamdan, 22, a well-known Islamic Jihad tough guy activist recently released from an Israeli jail. Hamdan was killed by Israeli troops in the attack.
#3
Sharon should think about this before he sends the hezbollah and Paleo a-holes back on the street
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2003 11:40 Comments ||
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IJ must have felt disrespected that Hamas leaders were the recipient of more targetted assasinations. Hurt their street cred in the refuge camps. Something had to be done pronto.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 11:43 Comments ||
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group members identified the gunman as Mahmoud Hamdan, 22, a well-known Islamic Jihad activist recently released from an Israeli jail.
I'm sure this reassures the Israeli public when talk comes up about prisoner "releases" or exchanges.
A remote-controlled bomb on a motorcycle exploded as revelers left a disco in a southwestern city early Sunday, killing 10 people and wounding 48 others, army officials said. The bomb went off outside the disco around 4:00 a.m. in the upscale Zona Rosa district of nightclubs and bars in Florencia, 200 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota. A 9-year-old boy and two policemen were among the dead. Gen. Luis Alberto Ardila, the commander of the army's 2nd Division in Florencia, said he suspected the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, in the blast. "We've had two attacks like this in less than a year carried out by the FARC," Ardila told Radio Caracol. "Although the explosive wasn't powerful, it caused a lot of casualties because it was placed in front of a disco which a lot of people were exiting," he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2003 10:27 ||
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If Huga Chavez goes, FART will be crippled.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/28/2003 12:11 Comments ||
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If Huga Chavez goes, FART will be crippled.
Cuz he's their favorite asshole?
Cuz he's the banker, and provides a secure transit route for Cuban weapons and explosives into Colombia. Another reason to slip him some hemlock in his hooch.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/28/2003 22:38 Comments ||
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#4
Have you heard of some of the tricks he is doing to avoid a recall vote? At least one set of signatures was thrown out, now they are requiring fingerprints with signature and the signatures have to be collected within 4 days.
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.
