#6
Cool... Appears to have been successful - given the applause by controllers at NASA. Details when available.
Bumble bees, props, jets, ram jets... scramjets. I would call this yet another achievement, but I'm sure Mohammad covered this somewhere in the Qu'uran.
#8
he did: shura 7 - "and death rained down on us at Mach 7..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 17:13 Comments ||
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LOL! And, from the GlobalSecurity site, is ONE use for this propulsion technology:
"The DARPA/Air Force vision for FALCON is to develop, by 2025, a reusable hypersonic cruise vehicle that could take off from a conventional military runway and strike targets 9,000 nautical miles away in less than two hours. Flying at speeds up to eight times the speed of sound (Mach 8), the hypersonic cruise vehicle would carry a 12,000-pound payload comprising several unpowered, maneuverable, hypersonic glide vehicles called common aero vehicles; cruise missiles; small diameter bombs or other munitions. Each common aero vehicle would carry approximately 1,000 pounds in munitions."
Indeed - Sounds like Death From Above to me! Apologies to Air Cav...
#10
Damn I love the internet - watched online and gave a little cheer when they announced it was flying through Mach 5. They lost their data link with the craft shortly after but regained it at approximately Mach 1.4...
Great stuff!
Posted by: Mark Onyschuk ||
03/27/2004 17:19 Comments ||
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...My Dad was part of the engine inlet redesign team before he left NASA - we were both watching it and he was giving me the play by play over the phone. Talk about freakin' awesome...:)
BTW - take that, you Jihadi a**holes..
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/27/2004 17:50 Comments ||
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4:00 PST Press Briefing... NASA TV here I think - requires Real Player (of course).
#15
Top speed: "slightly over" Mach 7
Altitude: 95,000 ft - approx
Scramjet Burn: 11 seconds full throttle
Summary: mach 7 was reached, separation was clean, X-43A stabilized, scramjet fired on time, burned in all fuel mix tests (lean-rich range). Achieved positive acceleration after separation while climbing. Controlled flight of the vehicle all the way to the water. In essence, the scramjet concept and power output was fully vindicated. Differentiated X-43A flight from Australian, French, other tests of scramjets in that this was a separate stand-alone vehicle in controlled flight. A complete pkg; a ship proven capable of withstanding the regime of actual mach 7+ flight. It is unclear (to me) what these other countries did, exactly, in their scramjet engine tests.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 00:37 ||
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"Yeah. He was a-chomping' on Maw purdy good. Then this Australian guy comes up and pours beer on 'im an' he run off!"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2004 12:24 Comments ||
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"I thought it was just a log," said Patricia Compton, 65, of The Acreage. "Then I saw his head, his teeth on my leg.... It was vicious."
Compton and seven family members had just driven through a 3-foot-deep water puddle when an alligator 9-feet, 8-inches long lunged up and clamped down on Compton's ankle while her relatives, aged 4 to 14, watched in horror.
Compton had been sitting on an ice chest in the back of the pickup with her white Reeboks outstretched about 18 inches above the water to avoid getting wet as the truck slowly moved through the puddle.
Kind of makes you leery about driving your bike through a puddle without having a Ka-bar handy.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 15:51 Comments ||
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#3
"Crikey!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 15:51 Comments ||
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Down trendy Lincoln Road, across from Victoriaâs Secret and in the thick of the Sunday South Beach brunch crowd, Michael Herzfeld found spirituality. Better said, spirituality found him. Herzfeld, a businessman who lives in Bay Harbor Islands, hadnât gone to services in months when suddenly a synagogue pulled up to him on Jefferson Avenue. There it was, Chabad on Wheels, an airy 26-foot bus, for Jews who sometimes donât have time for Judaism in a city that sometimes doesnât have time for religion. I hope the Pope doesnât get wind of this innovation.
So Herzfeld boarded, wrapped the leather straps of the tefillin around his left arm, placed one leather box on his forehead -- and prayed. ââItâs not chance you met a rabbi on Lincoln Road,ââ Rabbi Zev Katz told Herzfeld above the drone of the air conditioning. ``God works in mysterious ways.ââ God, it seems, has been kind to Katz and his ââMitvah Tank,ââ believed to be the only such synagogue-on-wheels in South Florida. Just a month ago, Katz, a stout, bearded bundle of energy, purchased a new Ford bus after two years of scraping together donations from Jews. On Sunday, heâll hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new vehicle. Katz, 29, who belongs to the Chabad Lubavitch movement of Orthodox Hasidic Judaism, graduated from rabbinical training in New York six years ago. He returned to his native Miami Beach, wracking his brain for ways to shed the image of the boring, long-bearded rabbi who presides over tedious services. ââI knew I didnât want to be a pulpit rabbi,ââ he said. A traveling synagogue. Now, that made sense. They had come to prominence in Israel in 1967 during that countryâs Six Day War, when rabbis provided services for soldiers in the field. Later, bus-based synagogues became common in New York and other big cities. The plot thickens.
South Beach, where a younger population was steadily replacing the older Jews who for so long defined its streets, was a perfect fit, Katz reasoned. Jews these days, he knew, had plenty to keep them busy in Miami Beach. Maybe he could pull them in, if just for a minute or two, in between a movie or drinks. So Katzâs synagogue began in a donated beige 1986 RV, which he parked on Lincoln Road on Sundays. He enthusiastically beckoned Jews to come inside, for a prayer or to buy religious books. It was cramped -- inside were a bed and a kitchen. The air conditioning rarely worked, so in the suffocating summer months, the sweaty and brave could stay inside for only a few fleeting moments. The idea worked well, thanks to Katzâs infectious personality and ability to chat about everything from the Torah to football. Soon, people began inviting him to their homes, for dinner or to affix a mezuzah -- a small holy scroll -- to their doors. Vacationers who dropped by the bus began e-mailing him, from as far away as Hawaii and Nova Scotia. ââHe chases people down, but he doesnât discomfort them,ââ said Sascha Gamel, a jovial businessman who first met Katz a few years back on Lincoln Road and often drops in on Sundays for prayers. -snip-
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 1:26:55 AM ||
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And if an Imam did this he'd be called an eye-rolling looney tune!
Charlie, a boisterous 7-month-old Belgian Malinois, has changed quite a bit since Saturday. He is happier, heartier and now a girl. Charlie didnât have much to say about his transformation, except bahroooooooh the result of what was basically a sex-change operation. But those who love him - including many Greeley residents who have never met him but donated money to his cause - thought it was for the better. The dogâs former owners had left him outside their Greeley home without proper shelter since he was about 10 weeks old, say animal shelter officials. Neighbors concerned about Charlieâs living conditions eventually persuaded his owners to hand him over to them, said Teresa Beckle, a spokeswoman for the Double J Pet Ranch in Greeley. Double J - a boarding kennel and no-kill shelter - first took Charlie in and helped raise awareness about his situation. Charlie lost part of his tail and an ear to continued exposure to subzero temperatures, and he was slightly malnourished. But the more serious injury was to his penis, which had suffered frostbite and infection. Can you say OUCH!!!!
Greeley residents worried about Charlieâs plight, described in the Greeley Tribune, pitched in to fund the $1,800 operation. The kennel now wants to raise more money to help pay for follow-up visits for Charlie and to help other dogs rescued from abusive homes. Over the weekend, Rustgi performed the two-hour surgery. "It doesnât look like it now, but heâs a pretty lucky dog," said Rustgi, who admits to pains of sympathy before the rare procedure. "We gave him a bunch of morphine," Rustgi said. "It just seemed like the right thing to do." Once Charlie recovers completely, he will be put up for adoption to a good home, said Beckle. "Through all of this, Charlie has just remained a sweetheart," Beckle said. "I just wish we could do to people what they sometimes do to animals." Greeley police are considering charging Charlieâs former owners with a crime, Beckle said. Oh, oh, Mr. Kotter, I have a suggestion for a punishment.
Belgian Malinois look similar to German shepherds, are considered highly intelligent and are favored by police departments for their tracking abilities. Rustgi said he has done a similar procedure on cats and even performed open-heart surgery on a dog. But Charlieâs situation was unique. "This had to be done for him to have any quality of life," Rustgi said. I guess he wonât need to be spayed; Bob Barker will be happy.
For now, Charlie wears an Elizabethan collar that stops him from licking where his balls used to be his wound. Heâs also on medication to prevent infection and to help with the pain. Otherwise, he bounces around his kennel, licks the hands of strangers, and is adapting to his situation. George Carlin once pointed out why dogs lick their privates - because they can.
"Heâs just so darn active," Rustgi said. "Youâd expect a dog that has gone through what he has would be just a little bit grumpy. But heâs not. Heâs just been great." There are no plans yet to change his name to Charlene or Charlette, however. "Thatâs not up to me," Rustgi said. The article also had a solicitation that I include because most of us do care about animals -- as long as they arenât trying to kill us.
WANT TO CONTRIBUTE?
Anyone interested in contributing to The Charlie Fund should call 970-352-5330.
Rantburg: War, politix, terrorism, trans-gendered dogs... We have it all.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 1:09:49 AM ||
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shouldn't that be Charlie's Peter Fund?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 8:46 Comments ||
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shouldn't that be Charlie's Peter Fund?
Naaa, that's gone forever...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/27/2004 12:58 Comments ||
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Ras Al-Khaimah is enacting laws to attract foreign investors and taking many other steps to ensure it becomes the second Dubai of UAE, says Crown Prince of Ras Al-Khaimah - one of the seven states of United Arab Emirates.
It's the one nobody's ever heard of...
Sheikh Saud Saqer Al-Qasimi was talking to the Arab Times earlier this week on the steps being taken by his state. Al-Qasimi said Ras Al-Khaimah has tremendous potential for investment, adding "we have many investment opportunities in the industrial and tourism sectors." Feasibility studies are being conducted on several projects - including infrastructure projects - along with our efforts to streamline our administration to keep pace with the current development in the region, he added. Acknowledging Ras Al-Khaimah faces a daunting task to come on par with other countries in the region, Al-Qasimi said, "we are preparing plans for the construction of new ports, airports and other facilities. We are also working on improving our laws, especially those which deal with commerce, in a bid to attract foreign investors."
Sounds like they were all sitting around at the diwan one day and somebody suggested, "Hey, guys! Let's get off our duffs and become a modern state!" Rather than issuing a fatwah and having him killed, everybody else said "Okay."
He praised Dubai for making a mark as an international tourist and investment destination and attributed it to the country's fast decision-making process. Stressing his country will follow in the footsteps of Dubai, Al-Qasimi said, "we are aware of the importance of technology and will emulate the standards set by other developed countries." He stressed Ras Al-Khaimah was not in any way inferior to other countries, adding "we will reach the same level of progress by passing flexible laws to attract foreign investors and encourage our people to work hard." Indicating human resources in Ras Al-Khaimah are getting better with each year, he said, "we are keen to achieve our goals and those of UAE. We will not hesitate to seek outside help in achieving our objectives."
Not being an oil powerhouse, there's some incentive for the citizenry to actually work, as in manual labor. I believe the principle industries are farming and fishing. But since I have no idea how many Koranic schools dot the landscape, I have no idea what their chances for success are. I'm sure that if they do get their economy off the ground there'll be lots of Koranic scholars flocking in to take over.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2004 8:58:47 PM ||
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See who rules America? Due to censorship we inserted "*", delete them. http://A*DLUSA.com
#5
I asked a retired hurricane hunter friend which direction the winds would rotate about this cyclone. He replied, "RE: your query about the winds on the tropical storm now approaching the southeast coast of South America. Excellent question. Those winds are moving in a CLOCKWISE motion. I know that not only from experience but I cheated a bit. I have access to the actual met sat pictures; same as ACCUWEATHER and I also have a Southern Hemisphere course in met sat interpretation. I don't have to just go by the 'winds in the northern hemisphere blow conter-clockwise around a low pressure area' adage. The winds blow clockwise around a low pressure area in the southern hemisphere. Mother Nature does some cheating herself, about 10-15 degrees either side of the geographic equator - bringing into play the so-called meteorological equator. This is due several factors; rotation of the earth, the season, geographical land features, or lack thereof, unequal heating caused both by the sun and ocean currents, coriolis force, and gravity, for a few of these factors. And those are only a few; there are probably two dozen or more lessor factors." Hope that is of interest to at least a few of you.
#12
Looking at the infrared imagery on this storm it is remarkable because the width of the storm is very small in relationship to the width of the eye. Thus the total kinetic energy in the system is pretty low for a tropical storm.
The 15-nation Caribbean Community refused recognition Friday for Haiti's new U.S.-backed government amid continuing concerns over the departure of ousted leder Jean-Bertrand Aristide, senior Caribbean officials said. The move came a day after the leaders demanded that the U.N. General Assembly investigate Aristide's claims he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S. agents when he left Feb. 29 as rebels threatened to attack Haiti's capital. "We can't determine this issue at this meeting," Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said as he left a summit meeting of Caribbean leaders. He added that discussions were "quite tense" and that a final determination would be put off until leaders discuss the issue again at a summit in July in Grenada. He gave no further details, but other Caribbean leaders said their minds were made up that Haiti's new U.S.-backed government would not get official recognition from the Caribbean Community for now. One, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they could not recognize Haiti's government because it was installed by what he said was an insurrection.
In Haiti, meanwhile, the interim government announced it will block dozens of ex-members of Aristide's government from leaving the country, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune. New Justice Minister Bernard Gousse told The Associated Press that the move was "an insurance policy" that will make the officials available for investigations into embezzlement and other alleged crimes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2004 11:46:41 PM ||
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Yvon Neptune: somehow this guy shoud be starring in a Woody Allen movie, or something. The name just cracks me up. I must be easily amused in this wee hour.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/27/2004 1:47 Comments ||
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#2
Now it's a "U.S.-backed government" ?
Posted by: John C. Lately ||
03/27/2004 8:36 Comments ||
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#3
Do we care? It's not like we are going to cancle the picnic because a fly is buzzing around.
#4
Carribe politicians squeaking in sudden fear of their positions, are they? Hmmmm. Interesting. I wonder why? When did this dog start barking? Must be some fire behind this smoke.
Methinks they have been studying that august institution: The Arab League. Given that entity's singular record of failure, well...
#5
You know, it's looking like the best course of action is for the U.S. to do NOTHING. Just pull out all U.S. personnel, situate the Coast Guard accordingly to intercept "refugees" and return them promptly, and that's it. If Aristide wants to come back, let him. If certain Caribbean nations are so concerned with what's going on there, then THEY can deal with it.
#6
BAR you are absolutely right. It would also serve as a lab for what happens when unmitigated greed meets absolute ignorance. I suggest we invoke the prime directive.
The six British cavers rescued unharmed and cheerful after nine days trapped deep in a flooded Mexican cave system were detained yesterday as the diplomatic spat over their expedition worsened. Mexico's assistant interior secretary, Armando Salinas, said the explorers, and their nine colleagues, would be transported to a military hospital before agents from the National Immigration Institute escorted the team to a migration detention centre in Mexico City. Mr Salinas refused to say what punishment the Britons could face, but said under the migration law they could be expelled or jailed if they had broken visa laws.
Remind me of Mexico's opinion of American border laws?
The six were brought out of the caves at Cueva de Alpazat, north-east of Mexico City, in scuba gear with the help of two UK divers, flown in for the operation, and local specialists. The problem for the Mexican authorities was the discovery that five of the team were members of the British armed forces travelling on tourist visas.
Even soldiers like to relax!
Such was the furore that President Vicente Fox instructed his foreign minister, Luis Ernesto Derbez, to demand an explanation from London and lodge a protest. The team was on a joint services surveying exercise, called Cuetzalan Tiger 2004, organised by the Combined Services Caving Association with support from the Royal Geographical Society, and included two civilian scientists. On reaching the surface yesterday the men said they had planned their camp inside the system carefully, with food, sleeping bags, a cooking stove and communication equipment, as it was well known that the caves could flood. One of them said they had never been in danger and would have preferred to wait for the water to subside. They had spent part of the time playing games with a deck of cards fashioned from a logbook. "The thing is, everything went as planned," Jonathan Sims said. "It wasn't scary. It was inconvenient. The unfortunate thing is we got too much media attention."
" I've got me an inside straight, and Jocko had only a pair of queens, and I was going to go for the whole bleeding pot, I was, and then the rescue team shows up! Well you just try and get these boys to pay up after that!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 12:00:53 AM ||
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Hmmmm ... is Mexico trying to revisit the "Malvinas sceanrio"? By consistent omission of ranks and duty assignments, I have to asume these are SAS/SBS blokes. Maybe the were looking for a backdoor into Waziristan????
'About time for another earthquake in Mexico City, to take Fox's mind off trivial matters.
#3
I don't know about that Lone Ranger...I saw the news pics of these guys and they don't look like special forces killing machines to me. They look like bums to me. They were very rude to the Mexicans. They refused help from the local authorities. That's pretty stupid.
#4
Mexico is very strict on visa requirements when it behooves them. They have a strict handling and deportation program for Central and South Americans trying to transit their country to the U.S. - yet they provide food, water to those coming across our border. Fox needs to clean up his country and I can think of no better way to force that than by positioning our military on the border - F*&k their "sensitivities"!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 8:54 Comments ||
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#5
Amen, Frank. This is so obviously insane that I await further developments... there's gotta be something more, right? I mean Fox isn't this moronic, is he? *lol!*
#7
I live very near to an extensive Karst feature in N. Florida (Wakulla) and every cave diver I've met is smart, decent, careful, educated and has a death wish.
#8
EVERY cave diver I know is a bit more "off" than I am, and for a paramedic, who works high speed auto races inches from the track side that should say SOMETHING about the folks who have that afliction.
and CLEARLY Vincente has demonstrated a saddly deficient sense of humor.
chuck
Posted by: Night Driver ||
03/27/2004 23:31 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2004 20:54 ||
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I keep hearing from the DIms how much the world hates us. Well so be it. Another reason not to vote for Hanoi John. I'd rather have a prez who looks out for our needs rather than the polls.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
03/27/2004 21:53 Comments ||
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The French lawyer who defended Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and guerrilla Carlos the Jackal has confirmed he will defend Saddam Hussein. Jacques Verge said Saddam's nephew had chosen him to represent the former Iraqi president. Mr Verges, who is also defending former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, said he would lead Saddam's defence, supported by a dozen other French lawyers.
Ummm... Carlos is in jug, and seems to be looking forward to more years in jug. Barbie got life after a trial the had everything but circus clowns and elephants.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2004 10:09:05 AM ||
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Quel Surprise!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 10:14 Comments ||
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This answers a question that has bothered me for some years: How low can one go?
#3
I wonder where Mssr Verge does his banking... Seems to me that backtracking from whomever pays his bill (specifically the account from which these funds are disbursed) might be an excellent way to locate some of the missing Iraqi money stolen by Saddam & Co. Assuming it's not France, of course...
#4
Verges is despised by most people here in France: he will defend ANYONE provided case is controversial and he can do some harm to France or the West.
And in fact at times he has harmed his client in order to get piublicity. One of them was sentenced to life in jail because Verges tried to make a case on French racism instead of concentrating on the many holes of the accusation case who have let the guy free. But verges didn't care about him. He is a bastard
The European Union should move away from the ill-fated roadmap for peace between Israel and the Palestinians and begin looking for âoff roadâ solutions to the Middle East conflict, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel has said. "Weâre revoking the registration on the Cycle of Violenceâ¢. Get ready for the SUV of Serenity!"
Speaking on Thursday after meeting with his European counterparts at this weekâs EU summit in Brussels, Michel suggested that the roadmap, drawn up in June 2003, was no longer in a position to deliver peace in the Middle East. He said some other EU foreign ministers had agreed with his comments, but did not name them. "Because, technically speaking, John Kerry isnât an EU foreign minister."
"We need to find solutions outside of the roadmap and to embark on what I call off road exploration, particularly in the direction of Arab League countries," Michel told journalists after the Brussels talks. "All the best dictators drive armored SUVâs, naturellement."
"We have to force open a window of opportunity," he added, "preferably in the middle of the night with a tire iron."
The road map was drafted by diplomats from the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations and amended after talks with both the Israelis and the Palestinians. The ambitious plan set out a three-phase process that was supposed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensure Israelâs security and create a viable, democratic Palestinian sate by 2005. This was to have been followed up by a series of peace deals between Israel and its Arab neighbours. But most analysts now say the roadmap is dead in the water, with neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians showing any real commitment to meet the planâs goals. Israelâs assassination last week of Sheikh Yassin, spiritual leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, was seen by many as the final nail in the roadmapâs coffin. Washingtonâs subsequent refusal to back a UN resolution that would have formally criticised Israelâs action only pushed the possibility of a peace settlement based on the US-backed roadmap even further away, some guys at the Brussels hotel bar analysts add.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
03/27/2004 3:05:44 AM ||
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The roadmap turned out to be a track to nowhere. Surprise Surprise!
#2
OK, for 5,321st time - the Paleos never took the first step in their obligations: cease terror attacks. When you never do your part, and constantly bitch, whine, and seethe about the Joooos preventing you from being a "partner" in the process, you get the stinking shit-hole of a situation you have now:
no peace, anarchy, child boomers, gangs and thugs stealing and killing everything not bolted down, and a new wall to quarantine your sick society to prevent infection of the democracy next door. Good luck, assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 8:42 Comments ||
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#3
Wow. Even the purveyors of conventional wisdom have finally caught on. Amazing - only a year or so late. I wonder - is this an improvement over previous episodes of willful ignorance?
No, wait. There I go again. Upon reflection, I must admit it. I'm sorry. I abase myself before such wisdom. Since being properly upbraided and chastized (an Everything You Know Is Wrong moment delivered by my better) I am rethinking my position on everything at the moment, I will wait to see if the other signatories to the Road Map follow Michel's brave lead. When Kofi agrees publicly, well that will make it official. Only then will those of us who've been so derisive, mocking or otherwise, be right. Officially. Sans this imprimatur, I'm afraid I've been bad. Very bad.
#8
"Thick fences make good neighbors." Especially if there's two of them, and the space between them is filled with mines, barbed wire, and rabid rotweilers.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/27/2004 14:13 Comments ||
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#9
OP, won't the rabid rotweilers get tangled up in the barbed wire and set off the mines? I'm just asking :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 16:12 Comments ||
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#10
You forgot the automated machine guns and canals full of Jewish pirahnas.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/27/2004 16:14 Comments ||
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#11
One big problem with the roadmap is clearly demonstrated by the way it is described in two places in the article (unintentionally I'm sure.)
First we have the description: The road map was drafted by diplomats from the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations and amended after talks with both the Israelis and the Palestinians
Then we have the description: "...peace settlement based on the US-backed roadmap."
Maybe the roadmap would have had a glimmer of a chance for success if the entire quartet had been engaged in support of the peace process instead of just sniping from the sidelines.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 16:42 Comments ||
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Lol! Shoot, I know all those by heart, bookmarks aren't necessary!
Itâs WAR, Pure and simple! Advise and Consent is their responsibility, but the Dem srefuse to even consider gqualified nominees not beholden to their litmus tests
All White House nominees will be blocked. Thatâs right: every single one Thatâs the word from Sen. Charles Schumerâs office, which released a statement on Friday saying that Senate Democrats plan "to hold nominations until the White House commits to stop abusing the advise and consent process." word of self-preservation? Never get between Chuck schumer and a camera. The trampling could harm you
Schumerâs release followed a statement by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-Weasel land S.D., on the Senate floor Friday, in which he vowed to make life difficult for the presidentâs nominees as long as Bush keeps using his recess appointment power to install the ones Democrats oppose. "This White House is insisting on a departure from historic and constitutional practices," Daschle said.
I'll bet Bill Lann Lee stopped by to write that statement for him...
"At no point has a president ever used a recess appointment to install a rejected nominee onto the federal bench, and there are intonations there will be even more recess appointments in the coming months. We will continue to cooperate in the confirmation of federal judges, but only if the White House gives us the assurance that they will no longer abuse the process, but it will once again respect our Constitutionâs essential system of checks and balances."
The majority Senator Happy leads is still something less than overwhelming. Still something less than a majority, in fact.
The Senate has approved the vast majority of President Bushâs nominees, but six have been blocked by Democrats. Two were later appointed by Bush during congressional recesses, a maneuver that is supposed to be reserved for an emergency, but has occasionally been used by administrations as a way to avoid a Senate confirmation vote. The two appointments â Mississippi Judge Charles Pickering and Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, both of whom were put on appeals courts â enraged Democrats and spurred them to action to prevent another appointment.
Seething, are they?
"The presidentâs use of recess appointments to circumvent the advise and consent process puts a finger in the eye of the Constitution ... Our caucus is strong, united, and firm in the belief that we are upholding the Constitution and preventing the president from packing the federal bench unilaterally with ideologues. We hope the president has learned that we will not yield; this is an issue of principle, not politics," Schumer said. According to the Constitution, the Senateâs advise and consent responsibility gives senators the authority to approve the presidentâs nominees to the court system and elsewhere. Although Democrats are in the minority, according to Senate rules it takes 60 votes to achieve cloture âa call for the end of debate and movement toward a final vote. With 48 Democrats and one Democratic-leaning independent, the Democrats have the numbers to hold up nominees, and have done so six times, leading to some dicey political dust-ups and the withdrawal from consideration of one nominee, attorney Miguel Estrada. In response to the successful filibusters, the president twice this year has taken unilateral action. In January, Bush used his recess appointment authority to sidestep the Senate and name Pickering to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Last month, Bush installed Pryor on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "A minority of Democratic senators has been using unprecedented obstructionist tactics to prevent him and other qualified nominees from receiving up-or-down votes," Bush said in February, after making the Pryor appointment. "Their tactics are inconsistent with the Senateâs constitutional responsibility and are hurting our judicial system." The appointments last only until the next recess, the beginning of 2005 when a new Congress is sworn in.
They're hoping the new Congress might be more amenable, with maybe even a smaller Dem "majority."
The fates of Bush nominees Priscilla Owen, Carolyn Kuhl and Janice Rogers Brown are still in limbo. Daschle said the Senate Democrats were taking action for fear that more recess appointments were on the way. He called on his Republican colleagues to help resolve the impasse. "Weâd hoped for a different result, but the administration has left us no choice. I ask my Republican colleagues to reach out to the administration and urge them to return this process to its traditions of bipartisanship and cooperation," he said.
My gag reflex just kicked in again...
A White House spokeswoman told Foxnews.com that the Democratsâ decision is obstructionist. "Itâs unfortunate the lengths that Sen. Daschle and a minority of Senate Democrats will go to obstruct the nomination process. At a time when we need our government to be at full strength, he is suggesting that we leave these critical seats empty, and the American people deserve better," said spokeswoman Erin Healy. Senate Majority Leader Bill Fristâs office did not immediately return calls for comment. devising the next counterattack
Heading off impending charges that Democrats are being recalcitrant, Daschle said that in the current Congress, the Senate has confirmed a record 173 federal judges, while the three outstanding nominations have been rejected because of their records of "judicial activism in service to extreme ideology." He added that the 108th Senate has confirmed 346 nonjudicial nominees to government boards and commissions. Bushâs use of the recess appointment is not innovative. President Clinton used his executive power in the same way, giving Roger Gregory a seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2000. In a very controversial move, Clinton used it one other time to name Bill Lann Lee to be assistant attorney general.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 5:03:29 PM ||
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Idiots! Schumer's release followed a statement by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (search), D-S.D., It's hard to find good writers and proof readers anymore. If the Dimbulbs keep this up there's no way Daschle will ever be Majority leader again.
#2
GK - good catch - I missed Tom Thumb's wrongful title
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 17:18 Comments ||
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If the republicans can keep the dems from having dead people vote in SD maybe Daschle won't be going back to DC.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
03/27/2004 17:25 Comments ||
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So let me get this straight. The Dems, having approved the 'vast majority' of nominees, but, having disapproved a mere six nominees, President Bush's appointments in total somehow represents "packing the federal bench unilaterally with ideologues", and the Dems vowing to not do their jobs block "every single nominee" somehow does not seem to translate to "put(s) a finger in the eye of the Constitution".
As Fred would say, 'That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense...'
On the other hand, they just handed Bush another issue to beat Kerry & Co. over the head with. My prediction - this move will backfire like an old Ford Pinto.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 18:17 Comments ||
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#10
Par for the Dims..Put the Party 1st then the country.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
03/27/2004 18:22 Comments ||
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Hate to be contrary, but this is a smart political move by the Dems (not smart for the country but hell, since when has Daschle worried about that?). They're playing to their base here, keeping them energized for the fall. They'll need that if they want any chance at all of beating GWB.
By the way, the opposition party usually starts blocking nominations in an election year. They come up with various ways and guises, and the President always acts with (feigned) outrage. That's how it is, and the Republicans did it to Clinton and Carter. The opposition hopes that if their boy wins, they can then fill these slots the following year. It's SOP, so I wouldn't get too upset over it.
As to Pickering and Pryor, there isn't much hope of their getting confirmed in 2005 even if GWB does win. They're marked by the Dems, and if the Dems only have 41 Senators, all 41 will hang together and stop the confirmations. Pickering won't care; he's at the end of his career and being an Appeals Court judge, even for a year, caps that career. Pryor has politican ambitions, so being off the court in 2005 won't hurt him -- getting bounced 'cause the Dems won't confirm him actually will help him in Alabama for whatever state office he goes for next.
Prediction: Bush won't do any more recess appointments (or no more than one), because no one else is in a position where being on the Circuit Court for just a year helps them. Bush will push his usual, middle-of-the-road nominees and try to use the stall to energize the Republican base.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 18:43 Comments ||
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The Democrats are the ones that started the nomination wars in the Senate with the public cruxifixion of Bork and the attempted cruxifixion of Thomas. One because he said the constitution means what it says and is not a rubber band that can be stretched to fit ones political goals. The other because he wasn't "Black" enough.
#13
SW's tke is accurate, but the Pack base should motivate over this: "how many 'under God' cases would come forth if W loses?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 18:49 Comments ||
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The Dem base is already attacking people who have the temerity to support the President. God only knows what they'll do if they get any more "energized".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/27/2004 18:53 Comments ||
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internally combust? Gaawddd!! If we could only harness that we could avoid drilling in ANWAR
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 19:06 Comments ||
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See who rules America? Due to censorship we inserted "*", delete them. http://A*DLUSA.com
#17
Anon, I think Iâll pass. If I hit your kiddy porn site I may be subject to FBI investigation. Why are you trolling so late? Did you just awake face down on a pool table, with your pants around you ankles and half a family-size tube of dried in a hairy blob between you butt cheeks. See I can use my copy and paste function too.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 23:48 Comments ||
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Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry challenged President George W. Bush to prosecute former national security aide Richard Clarke if they can show that he lied about terrorism policy. "My challenge to the Bush administration would be, if (Clarke) is not believable and they have reason to show it, then prosecute him for perjury because he is under oath, Kerry told CBS's MarketWatch. "They have a perfect right to do that," said Kerry.
No, they don't you idjit, Congress does, because he would have lied to Congress, not the Bush administration. Doesn't this guy know anything?
Republicans in Congress want to declassify testimony Clarke gave before Congress in 2002 that they claim is at odds with accounts critical of the administration in the aide's recently published book. Clarke, a counter-terrorism advisor to three presidents, published a book this week entitled "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror," in which he claims the Bush administration failed to heed warnings of the September 11, 2001 attacks and then focused its attention on Saddam Hussein rather than al-Qaeda. He repeated the allegations under oath in testimony before a congressional committee. The smear charges prompted an aggressive response from the White House, amid apparent groundless concerns that they could undermine the president's re-election bid in November.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 12:12:58 PM ||
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Kerry - the master of false bravado. Watch out Clarke, he'll throw you over the wall for a photo op...and then once he does, he'll claimed he jumped over it himself.
Posted by: B ||
03/27/2004 12:53 Comments ||
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B - Lol! Beautiful analogy! Wish I'd thought of it! *color me green*
#3
Prosecute Kerry for perjury and treason for his Winter Soldier before congress. It's all on tape.
Posted by: ed ||
03/27/2004 14:11 Comments ||
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So now we've got the Democrat presidential candidate calling on the Republicans to prosecute his man Clarke for perjury? "Gee, Br'er Fox, I just hates it when you throw me in that briar patch."
Bwahahahaha! Whatever Bush is paying KarlRove, it's not enough.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
03/27/2004 14:16 Comments ||
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All that, plus the fact that Frist beats Kerry to the punch.
#7
Hell with Clarke. Kerry shouold be prosecuted for his activities in 1971. Of course being a member of the Massachusetts community of political criminals he has a free ticket. Just ask that old drunk Kenndey. Who by the way is losing touch with reality. I saw him a couple of weeks ago trying to make a "Watergate" out of the leaked data which was not secured by his own staff of dumbasses. He was literally twitching with anger. The all consuming hate of the Dims is troubling.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
03/27/2004 21:50 Comments ||
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See who rules America? Due to censorship we inserted "*", delete them. http://A*DLUSA.com
#9
Anon, I think Iâll pass. If I hit your kiddy porn site I may be subject to FBI investigation. Why are you trolling so late? Did you just awake face down on a pool table, with your pants around you ankles and half a family-size tube of dried in a hairy blob between you butt cheeks.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 23:42 Comments ||
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I hope Clark doesn't think Kerry (or any of the other Democrats) will stand with him if Congress actually does bring up charges.
A Bay Area historian on Friday reported the theft of three boxes of confidential FBI documents, some detailing government surveillance of presidential hopeful John F. Kerry when he was a spokesman for a 1970s veterans group protesting the Vietnam War. Gerald Nicosia told police that the theft occurred sometime Thursday from his home in Corte Madera, a Marin County suburb of San Francisco, said Sgt. Chuck Lovenguth of the Twin Cities Police Department. "I don't know who could have done this," Nicosia said Friday. "It could be somebody who saw the boxes via news reports and wanted a piece of the presidential candidate for posterity, like a piece of the Berlin Wall."
Or it could be a Kerry op who wants to know exactly what's out there on him. I have my doubts it's the Publicans. They'd already have similar information.
Nicosia had received 20,000 pages of internal FBI surveillance files in 1999 through a Freedom of Information Act request. At the time, he was researching "Home to War," a chronicle of the Vietnam protest years. But the release came too late for use in the book, which was largely about Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Kerry was among the leaders of the group, which was founded in 1967 and drew 10,000 members nationwide. Nicosia said he suspected that the thieves were specifically in pursuit of the files because a camera and other expensive items in the home were left untouched.
I'd have been surprised if they were gone...
He added that he did not know exactly what material was taken because it was not cataloged or marked. Three of 14 boxes of files that had been stacked in his kitchen are missing. He said he was moving the remaining documents to a secure location Friday afternoon. Nicosia has not yet looked at all the files. Last week he allowed The Times to photocopy 50 pages concerning the FBI's monitoring of Kerry in the fall of 1971. The author also supplied the same 50 photocopied pages to Kerry. The Times published a story about the files Monday. The files he allowed The Times to review showed that Kerry, who served in Vietnam as a Navy officer, was closely monitored by FBI agents for more than a year between 1971 and 1972 as he traveled the country protesting the war. The FBI eavesdropped on meetings of the veterans group, recorded the content of Kerry's speeches and took photographs of him and fellow activists. The dispatches were sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President Nixon, the files show. Kerry told The Times that while he was aware that the FBI had monitored his activities in the early '70s, he was surprised and angry at the scope of the surveillance.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2004 11:27:21 AM ||
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LOL! This is hysterical -- On 50 different levels! Boxes in his kitchen, not a "robbery", only 3 boxes taken... Can't stop laughing... Skeery's surprised?!!??!? Yeah, right! And this twit wants ta be the Prez - oh man... Wotta maroon!
Hey, if it was the Freedom of Information Act, the El Lay Times can get its own set!
#2
(I agree, dotcom! Too funny!)
Any sightings of Craig Livingstone in the neighborhood?
Maybe Lurch thought the files would be safer with the rest of Hillary's FBI stacks.
Posted by: Jen ||
03/27/2004 12:54 Comments ||
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Hmmmm ..is Nicosia scheduled for a reissuing/book tour anytime soon? Will Richard Clarke Deep Throat make the identity of the perps known? "Follow the money" = Theresa? Stay tuned for "We're trying to build a conspiracy here, dammit!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 13:43 Comments ||
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Wonder how long it will take for the speculation to start about a possible Cheney/Halliburton/Ashcroft connection?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/27/2004 14:05 Comments ||
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#3. The answer to your question , Frank, is YES.
Here's Nicosia's schedule for the next three months. The first date on the list: Thursday, April 19 Reception by Senator John Kerry
Filed under Politix as this is an early example of what will be come a pattern: disgruntled brass going after Bush.
Forty-nine retired generals and admirals yesterday urged President Bush to suspend plans for a national missile shield and instead use the money to secure nuclear materials abroad and ports and borders at home. Iâd respect this more if they said "use the extra money to lay waste to Syria and Iran.
The Bush administration plans to field a nationwide defense system in September to shoot down missiles armed with chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, and has budgeted $3.7 billion this year for the project. Thus fulfilling a campaign pledge.
But the 49 former senior military leaders contend that the system remains unproven. They also said it is more likely that terrorists would smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States than a country would launch a missile at the United States, risking a devastating retaliatory strike. "As you have said, Mr. President, our highest priority is to prevent terrorists from acquiring and employing weapons of mass destruction," wrote the former officers, including noted peacenik who opposed GWI retired Admiral William J. Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and retired General Joseph P. Hoar, former chief of the US Central Command. Apparantly, Kim Jung Il was unable to sign the letter, but has offered many supportive press releases over the years.
The retired officers added that "the militarily responsible course of action" is to turn national defense over to the customs service use the funding for the missile shield "to secure the multitude of facilities containing nuclear weapons and materials and to protect our ports and borders against terrorists who may attempt to smuggle weapons of mass destruction into the United States." Basically do what Kerry wants to do.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, recently concluded that only two of the antimissile systemâs 10 key technologies have been fully tested. Meanwhile, to make the September deadline, the Pentagon has waived some operational testing requirements. The militaryâs top weapons tester stated earlier this month that such testing is not planned "for the foreseeable future." Please tell me this latter quote is out of context. Still, many lives have been saved by rushing new technologies into service during wartime. Providing CAS from a B-52 using JDAM was untested in Nov. 2001.
The letter calls on the president to "postpone operational deployment of the expensive and untested" system. ...as Sen. Kerry suggests.
It is one element of a larger missile defense effort -- estimated to cost $53 billion over the next five years -- that will use ships at sea and other methods to track and deflect missile launches. Navy Secretary Gordon England announced Monday that a specially equipped Aegis destroyer will be positioned this fall in the Sea of Japan, where it will be an alert for North Korean missile launches. The retired brass would prefer that Japan builds a bunch of nukes.
Posted by: JAB ||
03/27/2004 9:51:47 AM ||
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let me guess: Shinseki and friends? All the money in the world can't stop every attack if a rogue country makes nuke materials available to AQ. Shipping is just too extensive to inspect every package and container. A shield allows our opponents to worry that they can't retaliate should our "sea of fire" rain down on them....right Kimmy?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2004 10:17 Comments ||
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OK, retired brass, I'll one-up you: let's do both. OK, next question?
Is there something in the water in Tampa? This is not too wacky of Hoar, but Zinni has been a reliable source of the silliest comments about the MidEast for some time now. My favorite was his insistence that the Paleo-Israel thing be solved before we deal with Iraq. State/NEA has never come out with anything more idiotic than that.
We'll be seing lots from these guys on the way to November. The media will eat it up and the left will all of a sudden become huge fans of military men.
Bush has made the military do lots of things it did not want to do and Rumsfeld, and his often arrogant staff, has been particularly hard on the general officers. While this might be necessary in a time of war, the press releases from disgruntled brass and sad stories of soldiers buying their own gear are going to be deadly politically for Bush.
Zinni is the one who ticks me off the most. He has been treated well, yet constantly undermines our strategy with pronouncements that boil down to a pro-Soddy, anti-Israel views. Shinseki is a jerk, but has been partially vindicated by the performance of Stryker Brigade and the difficulties we have experienced with the Iraqi occupation.
#4
Bush needs to tell the brass what Bradley told Patton: "Soldier, shut up and soldier".
It's not up to the brass to make policy decisions. They can offer suggestions, but the guy at the top makes the decisions. Once he does, they need to shut up and make those decisions work. That's how our system works. Those senior officers that don't understand that need to stop getting paychecks each month - they don't deserve them.
One of my major pet pieves with the military is that it doesn't understand, and doesn't teach or promote, the fact that it's NUMBER ONE JOB is to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and to bear true faith and allegience to the same". That is JOB #1, yet half the people in the military don't understand that, and don't know diddly about the Constitution. Apparently, that reaches to the highest ranks of our Armed Forces.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/27/2004 15:01 Comments ||
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Say what you like about Zinni, but he was a great fucking leader of Marines and a damn hero. He's retired and can say whatever he likes as we do. He says what he thinks and is not someone's pundit. If something's dicked-up that crusty old bastard's gonna bitch about it. I've met the man, great American, I'd wager he's been shot at more then anyone on this blog. Take a look at what he says w/an open mind before you just start bitching about it from an ideological standpoint because it doesn't go along w/your views on the Israeli/Paleo conflict. BTW - y'all know I'm definitely not the most liberal person in the world.
#7
I don't question that Zinni has more than earned the right to sound off. I wish he'd have run for President instead of Wes Clark if had to be a Dem general in the race. That would have been an appropriate forum for doing so.
My particular problem with Zinni that he had been sounding off while serving in an official capacity as the admin's roving mideast representative (can't remember the exact title). If you don't like the policy, quit first before you criticize your boss. He finally did.
In contrast, Shinseki kept his criticisms of our strategy to official forums like when he was testifying before congress -- an official duty that came with his job.
BTW, I am glad that there are left wingers in the military. It would be a a bad day for the republic if our military became ideologically homogeneous.
I posted this story because I believe that attacks by guys like Zinni will be very effective against Bush and this is relevant to those of us who want to see the WOT strategy carried out towards completion rather than be abandoned and reversed.
#8
Ideology be damned! I bow to Jarhead's respect for Zinni, but I want SDI and I want it now!
It has nothing to do with how Zinni handled the Israeli/Paleo conflict: I don't want this country to be hit by nuke-tipped missiles from the Norks or even the Iranians, should they get better, or Russia, if Putin goes completely crazy!
Put up the defenses and get them operative ASAP!
Posted by: Jen ||
03/27/2004 20:10 Comments ||
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Highly doubt any of these guys are true left wingers. BTW - Zinni voted for Bush in 2000 & is a Republican. So is Norman S. and many others. Bottomline - if 49 retired professional warriors tell you something you don't like, I'd take it as something you may want to look into or re-think your strategy. It's just logic; these guys got shot at, led men in battle, defeated our enemies, seen it up close, and have been getting paid for the last 30 years to be the absolute experts at this. If you read the whole article you see what their point is. Shift assets and money to securing better sea port, air port and border control then spending billions on an untested and unproven missile system. I don't know enough about either to lean one way or another. GWB can do whatever he likes, but for anyone just to dismiss 49 proven military officers and call them left wingers or worse-yet undermining America is pretty stupid imo. You may not like what they have to say, that's fine, debate the merits of the argument or the idea, win the logical game, but flinging names is a LLL tactic that we should be above, especially when it comes to our decorated vets like Zinni et al.
#10
One more thing while I'm at it. It's our duty imo as citizens, Patriots, and basic conservatives to not only pat our leaders on the back when they do good, but also to point out where we need to improve. I voted for Bush, will again, but I'm not going to jerk myself off to every decision he makes if I think it's not serving the best interest of this country down the road, i.e. immigration, mars, etc. Our side of the house needs critical thinkers to make us better and more secure, not just talking heads who spew shit and play into the hands of the LLL.
#11
Your point is taken, Jarhead. Obviously the Dems don't have much to bring to the conversation of national security, but of course we must have a dialogue (about everything) here in the USA.
That being said, I've seen too many newspapers with an anti-Bush, Leftist agenda to trust the Boston Globe to tell me the "truth" about this or any other situation and I think that even this discussion at top levels of the Pentagon (and ex-military staffers) should have been CLASSIFIED and stayed that way.
I'm fed up to the back teeth with the President's enemies (or disgruntled "insiders" that were in the abyssmally awful Clinton Administration who are making excuses) taking their "side" of an issue to the press and the thereby supposedly to the public!
Posted by: Jen ||
03/27/2004 22:20 Comments ||
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Posted by: Jen ||
03/27/2004 22:28 Comments ||
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I should not have assumed Zinni's political affiliation. My bad.
Still, I was making a narrow point regarding his criticism of our strategy while he responsible for helping to implement it. I agree we need to take the opinions of these people seriously for the reasons Jarhead mentions.
In posting the article, I also pointed out that Bush made a campaign promise to deploy BDM during his first term and he is fulfiling it. In this sense, the deployment timing is certainly affected by political considerations but so is this letter from the brass.
As a party, Dems have consistently questioned BDM for being a) destabilizing and b) unfeasible.
They lost their 1st argument when Russia yawned after we pulled out of the ABM treaty and Kimmie started banging his spoon on his high chair again. They are sticking to the 2nd argument and have enlisted the help of the retired brass in making this case. Regardless of whether their argument is right on the strategy, this letter is clearly a political document intended to support the Dem position on BDM. It is naive to assume otherwise.
Still, we need to consider it on its merits. So, here goes:
I am surprised that the brass did not recommend "IceCold's" approach of having both BDM and counterproliferation and port security. The letter is based on a false dichotomy. Bad logic.
I also am surprised they did not distinguish more between BDM programs. For instance, the Aegis based system builds on a proven platform. Do we want Japan rearming to the degree it would need to in order to match the nuke threat from NK? If they did, do we also approve how the rest of Asia would respond? I would like the brass to explain why it's not worth 0.1% of anticipated GDP over the next 5 years to deploy a system to counter the threat from NK.
I certainly think it is worthwhile primarily because it would protect the servicemen and women we have deployed in the region who would be NK's prime targets.
Today [March 25] the New York Times expressed its opinion about Richard Clarke and the 9/11 commission: ... "The real impression gleaned from the hearings is not that the Bush administration was indifferent to the threat of terror, but that its officials had trouble fully understanding it." Perhaps this is so. But a story from the November / December 2001 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review suggests that the New York Times is at least as guilty of the charge they level against the Bush administration. In his remarkable report, Harold Evans tells of the Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Gary Hart and Warren Rudman. The United States Commission on National Security was created in a joint effort by President Clinton and Newt Gingrich. In its first public statement in September 1999, the committee warned that "Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers."
On January 31, 2001, they issued their final report, a 150-page document which called for the creation of a Homeland Security Department and greater investment human intelligence, among other measures, and warned that America was not prepared for "a weapon of mass destruction in a high-rise building." Evans reports that the committee held a large press conference when their final report was released, complete with press kits and an executive summary of the sizable document. Yet by and large, the media ignored it. ... The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal did not carry a line, either of the report or the press conference. .... the Times reporter left before the presentation was over, saying it was not much of a story.
... the commissioners were particularly bewildered by the blackout at the New York Times; they pitched an op-ed article signed by Hart and Rudman in the hope that it would induce the Times to take a proper look at the commissionâs work. The article was rejected. Today the editors of the New York Times praise Richard Clarke for "accepting responsibility" in not paying more attention to the terrorism which led to September 11. Perhaps it is too much to ask that they do the same.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/27/2004 10:19:33 AM ||
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The NYT continues to be lightyears behind the curve... Just the InstaPundit links from the 24th onward (scroll up from here) completely wipe out any notion, whatsoever, that the truth plays any part in their reportage or op-ed thundering. The paragon continues to not only embarrass itself, but prove beyond a shadow of doubt it deserves mocking derision. If that's okay with the powers that be, of course. Don't wanna overstep my bounds.
Richard Clarke's book Against All Enemies has not just pushed the Bush administration deep on to the defensive over its approach to terrorism. It also pokes a stick into another hornet's nest by asking whether the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was not in some way linked to al-Qa'ida.
Nobody, least of all Mr Clarke, is suggesting that al-Qa'ida carried out the bombing, which was pinned primarily on Timothy McVeigh, with help from his old army buddy Terry Nichols. But his book stirs up some troubling unanswered questions about Mr Nichols' many trips to the Philippines in the years preceding the bombing and raises the possibility that he received explosives training from Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the first World Trade Centre bombing in 1993.
Mr Clarke notes that both Yousef and Nichols were in Cebu City, a hotbed of activity by the radical Filipino group Abu Sayyaf, on the same days, and that Nichols continued to make phone calls to Cebu for some time afterwards.
"Could the al-Qa'ida explosives expert have been introduced to the angry American who proclaimed his hatred for the US government?" Mr Clarke writes. "We do not know, despite some FBI investigation. We do know that Nichols's bombs did not work before his Philippine stay and were deadly when he returned."
The Nichols-Yousef connection was vigorously pursued at the time by McVeigh's trial lawyer, Stephen Jones, who was hoping to prove that Nichols was the true mastermind behind the bombing and that McVeigh was simply the fall guy. Evidence that has emerged since then actually tends to indicate the opposite - that Nichols eventually played a lesser role in the bombing, was not in Oklahoma City on the day, may not have been involved in assembling the bomb, and may not, as originally speculated, have carried out a crucial robbery that prosecutors say financed the operation.
None of that, however, diminishes the mystery of Nichols's activities in the Philippines or the possibility that US investigators missed a valuable opportunity to pursue leads that could have helped them foil the September 11 attacks, since at least two of the suicide-hijackers were based in the Philippines.
Mr Jones's biggest coup was to obtain evidence from a founding member of Abu Sayyaf, Edwin Angeles, who turned informer in February 1995 after being arrested in the Philippines. Mr Angeles told a local investigator working for Mr Jones that he had met an American nicknamed "The Farmer", who bore a strong physical resemblance to Nichols. Yousef was also at the meeting, Mr Angeles said.
Mr Jones saw similarities between the Oklahoma City bomb and the devices used in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing and in the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996. That led him to speculate that Nichols's true purpose in visiting the Philippines repeatedly during the early 1990s was to obtain explosives training.
Mr Jones pressed the judge in the McVeigh trial to admit Mr Angeles' evidence, but was turned down. Shortly afterwards, a Filipino prosecutor told a judge in Manila he had insufficient evidence to keep holding Mr Angeles and petitioned, successfully, for his release. Mr Angeles - who was beginning to give plenty of embarrassing information about officials in his own country as well as challenging the FBI's theory of the Oklahoma City bombing - has since disappeared.
Mr Clarke's book gives no indication of new information following this investigative dead-end. But Mr Jones has since argued that US investigators had no idea back in 1995 of how important the links were between the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, al-Qa'ida and Osama bin Laden, and may have missed an opportunity to expose them before the African embassy bombings of 1998, let alone the September 11 attacks.
The questions about Nichols may yet get another airing as he is on trial again in Oklahoma, where state prosecutors hope to add to the work of their federal counterparts, who had Nichols jailed for life for the killing of federal agents, and secure a death penalty against him.
Nichols' story is that he was in Cebu City to visit the home of his mail-order bride. However, he spent a lot of time in the Philippines without her and after he returned to the US he made no fewer than 78 phone calls to Cebu City in the months immediately preceding the Oklahoma bombing.
Whether or not he played a lead role in the bombing, many questions remain about his Filipino connections.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2004 12:19:08 AM ||
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Just how are book sales doing, Dick? You'll need all that cash to pay the lawyers as you head off to Federal Prison for lying to Congress. But as the book represents probable process from crime....bwhahahaha!
Posted by: john ||
03/27/2004 7:02 Comments ||
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Mr Clarke's book gives no indication of new information following this investigative dead-end
You could sum up Mr. Clarke's career as one long investigative dead end that resulted in the dead of the world trade center. What a loser.
This is hardly new information. I read a book about this back in the 90's. But you couldn't talk about the connections without getting laughed at or looked at as if you were discussing UFO's. Why it's coming out now, before the election, is interesting. I can't wait to see where they are going with this.
#3
I have no idea why Bill Clinton hated foreign policy so much, but many, many strange things happened during the eight years of his presidency. Oklahoma City was only one of them. I still cannot fathom why the FBI/BATF/Justice Dept came down so heavy on David Koresch, or lied so intensely about it afterward. I have no idea why they absolutely refused to consider that more than two people were involved in the OKC explosion. There are a hundred other things about the Clinton presidency that make just as little sense. Maybe sometime in the next 100 years, all will be made clear, but I doubt it. Most of the intelligence will probably go to the graves with Bill and Hill. The rest of us will be left picking up the pieces, as usual. Clarke's book is a mixture of truth, self-agrandizing fiction, and wish-fulfillment "shoulda'beens", but the main achievement will be to air dirty laundry. Unfortunately for Clarke, most of it will be his.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/27/2004 15:13 Comments ||
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#4
For the past nine years, our federal government has refused to acknowledge any relationship between the OKC bombing and Terry Nichols' trips to the Philippines. In fact, the government's apparent lack of even curiosity about such a possible relationship has been puzzling.
Now Mr. Clarke, the government's counter-terrorism expert, indicates that there might be some relationship. I haven't read his book, but I presume that it reveals no real effort to examine Nichols' actions and contacts in the Philippines.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/27/2004 15:43 Comments ||
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#5
Clarke probably nixed any investigation of the linkage. That would follow his MO.
Almost a year ago, when kitchen workers at United Nations headquarters walked off the job in a dispute over holiday pay, the cream of the worldâs diplomats knew just what to do. They thronged to the siteâs five unattended restaurants and stole everything that wasnât nailed down. As one witness marvelled after seeing an envoy make off with a baked turkey under one arm and a framed picture under the other, "They were locusts!"
The next day, however, the incident hadnât happened - not officially, anyway. A UN spokesmen swore blind that a senior official, concerned that his colleagues might go hungry, had granted permission for staffers to help themselves. There had been no mass theft, in other words, because after the event, everything was declared free for the taking. As excuses go, that one had the benefit of brazen originality. With a few simple words, official honesty was once again the order of business inside the glass-fronted monolith overlooking the East River.
If all episodes of pillage were as easy to explain, the UN might not today be facing what is shaping up as the biggest scandal in its chequered history. This time it isnât cutlery, baked hams and wine-cellar locks that have gone missing, but at least US$11 billion ($17 billion), depending on who is doing the counting - or rather, the guessing, since the UN has been curiously disinclined to investigate where all that money went. Whatever the sum involved, it vanished from the UN-administered Iraq Oil For Food programme, and unlike last yearâs petty looting, those at the centre of suspicion arenât lowly bureaucrats but a tight cluster of high-up insiders centred on the office, family and inner circle of Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself.
To understand what happened - or better, what might have happened, because the UN isnât releasing documents and balance sheets - you have to go back to 1996, when the international body set up a system whereby Iraqi oil could reach the market only if the proceeds went to the "humanitarian relief" of the Iraqi people. Two years later, at the end of 1998, the UN appointed a Swiss company called Cotecna to administer the programme, which would supervise the flow of some US$100 billion ($155 billion) in oil receipts, before it was finally shut down last November, when the UN reluctantly surrendered the job to the US-appointed Iraqi governing council in Baghdad. What was Cotecna? For one thing, the former employer of Kofi Annanâs son, Kojo, who was on the payroll until shortly before the contracts were awarded, when he became a contract consultant.
Cotecnaâs job involved squaring the income from oil sales against the goods that were allegedly purchased. If Saddamâs Iraq wanted to import ambulances from Saudi Arabia, the contract of sale had to be approved and the incoming goods inspected by Cotecna, as did tens of thousands of other items, from Russian hoes to Belarus welding rods. In the first year alone, Cotecna pocketed $6 million ($9.3 million) for its services. After that, because the UN isnât saying, its share of the bounty is anybodyâs guess. When Claudia Rosett of the Wall Street Journal began looking into the Oil For Food programme, she soon came up with one explanation: Many of the suppliers, like the Jordanian manufacturer of school desks listed on contract records, simply did not exist.
As Rosett has noted, Cotecna was responsible for approving "tens of billions worth of supplies inbound to a regime much interested in smuggling, and evidently accustomed to dealing in bribes and kickbacks". The issue, she explained in one of her painstakingly detailed investigations, was never "whether the monitors were cheap, but whether they were trustworthy". Evidence of probity, however, is as hard to find as those notional school desks from Amman - or the ultimate destination of the money spent on them. The suspicion is that those deals, perhaps the overwhelming majority, were nothing but scams and shams.
Remember how opponents of the Iraq War kept citing the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children perishing for want of medicines? Well, Oil For Food was supposed to guarantee that those supplies arrived, but apparently few did. Again, the UNâs stonewalling makes it hard to determine exactly how much was fleeced, but there are some tantalising hints. Before Oil For Food was handed over to Iraq, the UN conducted an urgent, last-minute review of thousands of contracts. Rosett calls it a "house cleaning", but whatever description is used, some 1500 supplier contracts - one in four - were immediately suspended or banned outright from further participation.
So where did the money go? Into Saddamâs pocket is a good guess, with lesser amounts creamed off by the operators of front companies, smugglers and, perhaps, even UN officials. According to the best estimate of the nonpartisan US Government Accounting Office, Oil for Food generated at least $10 billion ($15.4 billion) for Saddamâs family and a further $1 billion ($1.54 billion) to pay the 1000-plus UN bureaucrats who were supposed to be keeping it honest.
Again, the focus is on Kofi Annan, who helped to set up Oil For Food in 1997 and installed his close friend and fellow diplomat Benon Sevan as its director. Last week, with Rosettâs ongoing series of exposes igniting a firestorm over the UN, Sevan wasnât answering his phone. According to a UN spokesman, he is using up accumulated leave before his official retirement. For his part, a po-faced Annan now concedes "it is highly possible there has been quite a lot of wrongdoing", and has authorised an internal investigation. Neither Rosett nor congressional investigators hold much hope that it will be more than a whitewash - and the UN has other matters that it would much prefer to talk about, starting with a $1.2 billion ($1.86 billion) interest-free loan from Washington to renovate its decaying New York headquarters. George Bush rejected the request, saying the UN could have the money at the standard interest rate now being charged to American home-buyers. As all the world knows, Bush doesnât have much of a way with words, which probably helped to keep the communications terse but diplomatic. If the President was given to wit, he would have told Kofi Annan to get it from Saddam, who owes the UN big-time.
#1
"If the President was given to wit, he would have told Kofi Annan to get it from Saddam..."
No, what the President should tell Kofi is "You have the right to remain silent. If you choose to give up that right..."
Interesting that a reporter breaks this story about 90 days after we dig Saddam and his briefcase out of that septic tank. Interesting too that the story breaks in the Wall Street Journal, which is not known for its muckraking. I wonder what the WSJ's libel lawyers saw that allowed them to clear this story.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/27/2004 19:06 Comments ||
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#2
Greedy bunch ain't they. Now tell me again whose fault it is that 'children were starving' and 'the Iraqi hospitals had no medicine'. Anyone indicted in this theft should be tried by the Iraqis as accomplishes to Saddam.
And this is the organization in which Kerry would entrust our security and future?
#3
These are just a couple of reasons to rid the U.S. of that bloodsucking body. Imagine the savings! We could invest that into domestic and overseas programs. But alas let's just write the UN another check and watch them piss it away.
#5
Matt, Rosett has been on this story for quite a while on the OPED page. I think the true tipping point was not Sadaam's capture but the release of the "naughty" list by the Iraqi Oil Ministry.
Shipman, I have a plan forming in my head to permently increase the UN presence in Rawanda, Somalia or Haiti. I thought of Afghanistan also but dismissed that option as Afghanistan is now our friend.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 20:32 Comments ||
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#6
Better yet a move to Ramstein would work for everyone involved. The airstrip would be helpful to the UN.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 20:35 Comments ||
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#7
Paris.
That way Kofi could be right close to the jihadis he is so in love with.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Friday an independent panel will have complete access to U.N. officials "regardless of their seniority" as it probes allegations of corruption in the United Nations oil-for-food program. Annan announced plans last week for for the independent commission and an investigation that will go beyond a current internal U.N. probe into the program which ended in November after almost seven years.
The U.N. chief did not provide any other details then. But Friday he outlined the mandate, saying the panel - whose members will be named later - is directed to comb through any United Nations documents and records it wants, and interview whatever U.N. officials it believes necessary.
Including Kofi's son?
The details of the investigation were contained in a letter Annan wrote to the Security Council president, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere. Annan's letter says the panel will investigate companies that contracted with the United Nations in the oil-for-food program, but its authority with them will be far less.
The panel's main work will be investigating the claims of United Nations wrongdoing. It will try to determine if the oil-for-food program - and the monitoring of it - were violated, and who might have been guilty. It will also try to determine if the oil-for-food accounts were maintained by proper U.N. rules. The panel will have three months to submit a report to Annan on its status and must complete its work "as soon as practicable." Its final report will also be made available to the public, the letter said.
Annan's letter says the panel will have a so-called whistle-blower clause to protect officials who meet with the commission from "improper repercussions resulting from their cooperation with the inquiry."
That's no good, it doesn't protect the whistleblowers from their own governments.
The panel will also try to investigate firms that worked with the United Nations, a point that was a key concern for Security Council members reluctant to give it too much power. Annan says only that the panel will "be authorized to approach and seek the cooperation of member States and their relevant authorities" - well short of requiring that they turn over potential evidence.
Don't expect any documents from TotalFinaElf.
"It's not within his competence or his authority to initiate an investigation of the actions of governments or private companies," Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday. "So, in putting together this panel, he's looking for a nod from the council."
"It's not within his competence" period!
A U.N. diplomat said on condition of anonymity Friday that all members of the council were supportive during the Thursday meeting. The diplomat said Russia - home to several companies implicated in the claims - still had questions about who could rat them out its scope, and Moscow wanted to make sure cooperation among member states would be voluntary so that they could tell the U.N. to go screw itself.
Changes to a draft presented Thursday included how the panel will be paid for. The panel was originally to be budgeted out of an escrow account from the oil-for-food program, which several delegations opposed, the U.N. diplomat said. "Nobody wanted to see Iraqi money being used to fund an investigation into how Iraqi money was spent," the diplomat said.
Wonder if they even asked the Iraqis?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 9:01:21 AM ||
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#1
LOL Steve White-- Total Fina Elf---haha as if Exxon--the sign of the double cross gives a damn about politics either--they are a corporation that doesn't give a shit about countries--just like all of the other ones Bush has given more tax cuts to!
#3
governments make laws, laws affect companies. Companies spend a lot of money trying to get the governmentâs ear so it makes laws that help their business rather than hurt it..
so yeah, those companies do give a shit about politics.
given that the majority of congressionally approved bribes comes from big companies.. where exactly do you get this opinion from?
#4
Anonymous is pissed off because Wake Forest and NC State got stomped. How's things going at BlogFoeAmerica NMM? Got a new bat up yet? Got the old Deno Debto covered?
#8
Anon, I think Iâll pass. If I hit your kiddy porn site I may be subject to FBI investigation. Why are you trolling so late? Did you just awake face down on a pool table, with your pants around you ankles and half a family-size tube of dried in a hairy blob between you butt cheeks. See I can use my copy and paste function too.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 23:47 Comments ||
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Despite the threat of U.S. sanctions, hard-line Syria led calls Friday for next week's annual Arab summit to take a tough stand against Israel in the wake of the killing of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Damascus' insistence that Israel be punished for assassinating the Palestinian leader in a rocket attack March 22 in Gaza could become the focus of the two-day summit that starts here Monday, instead of an American-backed blueprint for Middle East political reform and attempts to revive a stalled Arab peace plan.
Wonder if Sharon should order another rocket attack?
The Tunis talks had expected to breathe life into the Saudi plan for regional peace that was unveiled at the 2002 Arab summit in Lebanon. But Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, the oil-rich state's de facto ruler, has said he will not attend the summit, a move that has effectively removed the Saudi plan from the agenda. "He will feel deeply embarrassed if he comes to defend (his) cat's paw peace plan while Israeli Prime Minister (Ariel Sharon) continues to play havoc with his (Abdullah's) dwarf, idiot brain child," one diplomat said of the Saudi peace initiative. Saudi Arabia will instead be represented by Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal. Israel's fierce foe, Syria, which has been threatened with sanctions by the Bush administration, wants the summit to condemn Israel, particularly over its killing of Yassin, and focus on the Jewish state's worsening conflict with the Palestinians. "This is the main issue, it is only natural that it takes priority," Yousef al-Ahmed, Syria's envoy to the Arab League, told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the Tunis meeting.
"If we can keep talking about this maybe the U.S. won't smack us!"
But Arab diplomats said key countries, including U.S. allies Egypt and Jordan, oppose Syria's plans. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa accused Sharon's government of torpedoing Mideast peace initiatives by killing Yassin. "What we need is a partner (for peace) and what is sure is that this Israeli government is not a partner," Moussa told reporters. "Its behavior does not serve the cause of peace."
It'll get peace for Israel, which really irritates you guys, eh?
But he said the summit would still discuss regional and Arab League reform and modernization. "The Arab world and the Arab people have long being waiting for this process (of modernization) to begin," he said.
[crickets chirping]
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 11:43:41 PM ||
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Arab League reform and modernisation--now that's an oxymoron
#2
Syria backs Yassin and all he stands for, then cries to Australia to use it's influence to take the pressure off Syria (see other listing), and accept Syria as a bona fide member of the real world? They are really an amazing bunch. What's funny is that none of the other Arab states really give a crap about the paleos anyway. At least the Aussies are wise to them.
.... The UN Security Council pulled most of a small UN peacekeeping force out shortly after the genocide began and key members of the Council - the US, Britain and France, lobbied against reinforcing the UN presence in a way that UN commanders on the ground recommended. But subsequent investigations, such as [Linda] Melvernâs book [Conspiracy To Murder - The Rwandan Genocide], show that in fact the killings were to a large extent planned in advance by a relatively small group of extremist ethnic Hutu politicians from northern Rwanda who obtained support from the outside world. This reinforces suspicions among many that something could have been done to stop the worst of the killings, and that this group of politicians were susceptible to outside pressure.
One of the most revealing episodes from the transcript is where [Rwandaâs Prime Minister] Jean Kambanda reveals that the genocide was openly discussed in cabinet meetings. ... one cabinet minister said she was personally in favour of getting rid of all Tutsi; without the Tutsi, she told ministers, all of Rwandaâs problems would be over. The Kambanda testimony also gave an insiderâs account of the roadblocks where so many Tutsi lost their lives. As Prime Minister, he received complaints from some Hutus about the roadblocks; he didnât get complaints from Tutsi for obvious reasons.
Linda Melvernâs book .... reveals, for instance, that in 1993 the government of Rwanda imported, from China, three quarters of a million dollars worth of machetes. This was enough for one new machete for every third male. Machetes were used for many of the murders committed during the genocide. The details of pre-genocide arms imports from Egypt and France are also given, as is the extent of French military cooperation with the parts of the Rwandan army most responsible for the genocide.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/27/2004 9:53:54 AM ||
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"The UN Security Council pulled most of a small UN peacekeeping force out shortly after the genocide began and key members of the Council - the US, Britain and France, lobbied against reinforcing the UN presence in a way that UN commanders on the ground recommended."
Whoa, hold on here. I suppose I have to buy the book to read any notion of proof that the US or UK, in fact, were as complicit as this slur clearly implies? Hell, the charge of French treachery in the arms sales demands solid corroboration.
Nope - not even cheesedick extraordinaire Clinton is this low, is he? I just don't buy it without substantive corroboration. Certainly not on the Beeb's word and that of someone attempting to profit in a book deal. We already have a handy example of that sort of squalid perversity in Clark.
#2
.com, here's the Amazon editorial review for Conspiracy to Murder -- I think no less than John Effing Pilger is the writer! There are no reader reviews so far. She has another book, A People Betrayed, that looks to be about the same, written in 2000. That has 3 reader reviews, all 5-star. Here's the review of the 2004 book:
Editorial Reviews
John Pilger
With testimony from witnesses and access to documents previously unseen, she tells an epic and shaming story.
About the Author
Linda Melvern is a well-known and widely published investigative journalist. She is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and was a consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda. Her previous books include The Ultimate Crime, a secret history of the UNâs first fifty years, and A People Betrayed.
Book Description
In April 1994 up to a million people were slaughtered in Rwanda during a murderous campaign of horrifying efficiency. The ferocity of the killing and the cruelty inflicted on defenseless people has no comparison in modern times.
Conspiracy to Murder is the story of how that genocide was planned. It reveals how, from as early as 1990, the political, military and administrative leadership of Rwanda became involved in planning the complete extermination of the Tutsi population. A vicious hate campaign filled the media, urging Hutus to kill; a network of roadblocks was devised to prevent any escape; civil-defense groups were established throughout the country, with eventually every third Hutu being armed; half a million machetes and other agricultural tools were imported, and 85 tons of munitions distributed country-wide, in the year leading up to the genocide. In an outstanding example of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern reveals the full story behind the conspiracy, detailing the involvement of world governments whose responses ranged from complicity to apathy. She shows how the killers outmanoeuvred the Security Council and led UN peacekeepers into a deadly trap; how the French military trained! the killers and how their "humanitarian intervention" in June 1994 enabled many of those killers to escape justice; how the John Major government ignored warnings and then proceeded to mislead the British Parliament about what was really happening; how the US is still withholding wiretap and satellite evidence showing that the genocide had begun; and how significant was the knowledge of the then Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Drawing on a vast range of new material gathered in Kigali, Paris, New York, Brussels and London, and using interviews with those caught up in the genocide, this book provides a compelling account of one of the last centuryâs greatest crimes. The author has had exclusive access to a wealth of fresh sources, including an extraordinary collection of documents abandoned by the conspirators when they fled Rwanda and a full confession from the prime minister in the government that presided over the genocide.
Written especially for the tenth anniversary year, Conspiracy to Murder is a shocking indictment of those who knew what was happening and chose not to intervene. It makes the case for an urgent enquiry into the scandalous behavior of both the US and the UK in a crime that could and should have been prevented.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/27/2004 16:05 Comments ||
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Unedited - this article snarked itself. My comments would have ruined itâs natural beauty of the morons involved. I leave the comment/edit option to the professionals.
There are glaring indications that Ghana may soon experience her first suicide bomb attack, if a faceless group that issued the threat continues to outwit the police. Leaders of the group are reportedly considering the suicide-bombing option, following the failure of their stone-throwing campaign to force the Kufuor-mass-transit buses off the roads. Painstaking investigations conducted by The Heritage have revealed that a group numbering about 27 are bent on destroying the mass transit buses to give an undue advantage to their benefactors and patrons who are members of a transport organization.
So far, over seven buses have been destroyed by these unidentified ârebelsâ. The activities of the group have become so alarming that some commuters have stopped using the buses, since they do not know when and where they would be attacked. Formed about two months ago with their metro buses as their main target, they operate along Mallam-Kasoa road, most particularly around Amanfrom, Tuba and GBC area. In the course of the investigations, The Heritage unearthed the phone number of the leader of the group who granted us an interview but would not give his name. He threatened that "if persuasion failed force must be applied." Asked to explain what that statement means, he simply said: "We shall be thinking of suicide bombing."
On why they were attacking innocent passengers instead of the metro transit authorities, the supposed leader, who sounded very confident, said the introduction of the Metro Transport System had led to the âcollapse of our masterâs businessâ and that the only way they could have their âchop moneyâ was to destroy the buses. Meanwhile on Thursday, March 11, in the course of investigations, this reporter came under attack in one of the metro buses. This was after he had visited the KASOA branch of the GPRTU, which many accused of being behind the attacks. On reaching Amanfrom, the Mallam-Kasoa highway with one of the metro buses, a woman sitting beside this reporter advised him to close the glass window since anything could happen. True to her words at about 5pm, the stone-throwing started from all corners, whereupon the lady remarked: "I told you so; these days itâs only the brave who patronize these Kufuor buses; some people just want to sabotage the good efforts of the governments; God help Ghana," the hapless lady prayed.
Members of the group reportedly communicate through mobile phones to pinpoint the location of metro buses to one another, especially those lying in ambush, as to when the buses would reach their hideout.
When The Heritage contacted the Operations Manager of the MMT, he confirmed the attacks on their buses, disclosing that when the first attack occurred on February 5, 2004 the Chairman of the IMC, Mr. Osafo Mensah, informed the Ministry of Transport and the Kasoa Police who have since then been conducting their investigations. When Kasoa GPRTU was contacted they denied their involvement in the act but, confirmed hearing of the stoning of the MMT buses. Meanwhile, some users of the buses have expressed fear over the activities of the group but said âthere is no way we can stop boarding the buses since it has reduced the long queues of the past.
Ummm... You're right. No commentary could do this justice. I wonder if when they explode they're gonna get $72 in chop money?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 1:19:45 AM ||
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...a group numbering about 27 are bent on destroying the mass transit buses to give an undue advantage to their benefactors and patrons who are members of a transport organization.
Woah. Talk about having a purpose in life! Hope you don't hurt any buses (or occupants), but good luck with the suicide part of the deal though...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2004 15:07 Comments ||
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#4
Didn't Bill Gate's book indicate that, usually, most businessmen try Molotov cocktails and caltrops before deploying minions as slpodeedopes? Maybe that was Donnald Trump's book. I forget.
This strategy will just provide an impetus for organized labor to annex Ghana's minions. They will convince the minions that they can attain for better chop money and post-boom health-care under a collective bargaining format.
I see this as very bad for business.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/27/2004 16:10 Comments ||
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#5
LOL SH. Do you ever lapse into RantTalk in front of your family? LOL I've done it once or twice and there was just a stunned silence.... except once when my #2 step-son screeched with laughter. I've hopes for him.
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.
