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437 arrested in Islamabad crackdown
Today's Headlines
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Arabia
Qatar plays down al-Qaeda presence
And why shouldn't they? I mean, it isn't like their interior minister isn't one of Binny's lapdogs or anything like that ...
The United States has acknowledged that Qatar has refused to pursue Al Qaida operatives.

U.S. officials said Qatar has been largely passive in the U.S.-led war against Al Qaida. They said the emirate, despite U.S. pressure, continues to allow Al Qaida operatives to remain in Qatar.

The State Department's latest report on terrorism, entitled "Patterns of Global Terrorism," cited rare U.S. criticism of Qatar. The report Qatari's security services have done little more than monitor Al Qaida insurgents and their sponsors.

"Doha has had some success in disrupting terrorist activity, although the security services traditionally have monitored extremists passively rather than attempting to penetrate or pursue them," the report said. "Members of transnational terrorist groups and state sponsors of terrorism are present in Qatar. The security services' limited capabilities make it difficult for them to warn against or disrupt a terrorist attack by Al Qaida or affiliated groups."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/28/2004 2:05:27 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What I find very interesting is that the writer refers to Qatar as an Emirate.
Getting the most simple fact wrong.
Tells a lot, doesn't it?
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 3:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Whaddaya blathering about?
From: http://www.qatar-info.com/
"Political System
Qatar is an emirate with a conventional hereditary system. It is ruled by the Al Thani family whose presence in the peninsula dates from the eighteenth century. The Al Thani are named after the doyen of the family Sheikh Thani bin Mohamed who is the father of Sheikh Mohamed bin Thani, the first ruler of the Qatar peninsula in the mid nineteenth century. Al Thani are a branch of the Arab tribe of Beni Tameem.

The Emir is the head of state. In accordance with the modified provisional constitution, the Emir decrees laws on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers and after consultation with the Advisory Council. The Council of Ministers, appointed by an Emiri decree, is the highest executive authority in the land. However, laws are not enacted until after Emiri consent."
Posted by: Zarathustra || 08/29/2004 3:28 Comments || Top||

#3  It is a country. But the rest is correct.
They don't call it an Emirate, because there are seven emirates that have united into a country right next to it.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 3:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Quatar. Political system: Emirate
Quatar is emirate. Period.
Posted by: Zarathustra || 08/29/2004 3:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Correct.
Political system: Emirate.
Official name : Country.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 3:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Official name: Quatar
Posted by: Zarathustra || 08/29/2004 4:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Terrorism Scmerrorism! What is it with these harsh terms when we are talking about what is simply an Arab custom. You know, a custom, a Death Cult.

I think we need to be more tolerant of other cultures and accept their strange practices, which include the need to kill children, as in chechen; after all we tolerate the pagan ritual of child sacrifice in America, we accept the pieties of pagan eugenecists who practise baby murder, even as the baby is trying to be born.

We must dispense with these harsh terms. In America, doctors don't call it "Abortion" anymore, doctors call it "Pregnancy modification". And it is available to all creeds and cultures, from sea to shining sea.
Posted by: A schill for Gentle, a schekel for appeasement || 09/03/2004 16:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Yeah, right on. Sleep...Sleep...
Posted by: Comment Top || 09/03/2004 16:22 Comments || Top||

#9  ...Terrorism...a Arab custom, a Death Cult...

You said it, schilly.
Posted by: jules 187 || 09/03/2004 16:27 Comments || Top||


Britain
Pakistan Christian Bitch-Slaps Pakistan Moslems About the UK
From the Pakistan Christian Post

A new report, "Islamophobia: Issues, Challenges and Action", was published in May 2004 by the Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia. This report accuses British public bodies of "institutionalised Islamophobia" [blah blah blah blah] ....

The truth is that the feelings of dissatisfaction and alienation growing among the Muslim population are to a large degree the product of the current leadership of the Muslim community constantly raising expectations that are impossible to fulfil. They have prioritised the Muslim identity of British Muslims and linked it to the welfare of all Muslims worldwide, regardless of the real causes of widely disparate conflicts and crises. They have decoupled the British Muslim community from being part of the national consensus, seeking the common good of the whole British nation.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/28/2004 4:29:21 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Nitwit Judge Orders Deported Phoney Asylum Seeker Returned to UK
From BBC News
A High Court judge has demanded an explanation from the Home Office of how a failed asylum seeker was mistakenly deported to India. Jorowar Singh Dhillon was deported on Wednesday, despite an order from Mr Justice Davis saying he should not be. The 34-year-old spent just a few hours on the ground in Delhi before being sent the 4,250 miles back to the UK. ....

Mr Dhillon's 8,500-mile round trip began when he was detained on Wednesday during a routine visit to immigration officials, who decided he should be deported. His lawyers blocked the move, on the grounds that Mr Dhillon was in the process of challenging the failure of his 1996 asylum application in the High Court under human rights legislation. Mr Justice Davis passed an emergency injunction forbidding his removal, which went ahead none the less. .... While Mr Dhillon was in the air, Mr Justice Davis passed a second injunction ordering him to be returned directly to the UK. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/28/2004 8:46:47 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 9:21 Comments || Top||

#2 
What's especially interesting to me is that the judge apparently perceives no problem in a failure to act on a decision way back made in 1996, and now all of a sudden there's an emergency.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/28/2004 9:30 Comments || Top||


Europe
French FM: Anti-Semitic violence jumps, reasons unclear
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 08:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  caught via Allahpundit, who titled it:

Klan Burns Cross On Black Family's Lawn; Reason Unclear
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2  "Vague motivations".
I'll have to remember that one. Could come in handy.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/28/2004 14:00 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Frontpage Mag Symposium: Feminist & Anti-Semitism
Posted by: Super Hose || 08/28/2004 02:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
'Blood for Baked Goods'
Jews Use Human Blood for Rituals
Reiteration of the blood libel from Saudi Daily Al-Jazirah snipped. Don't post it again.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 3:38:18 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tsk. Tsk. Wasn't very gentle of her, was it?
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 18:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Psst -- Gentle's an antisemite. Pass it on!
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/28/2004 18:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Julius Streicher was big on this one. He ended up as a kind of baked good himself, being cremated after he was hanged for inciting genocide.
Follow his path, share his fate.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 08/28/2004 19:19 Comments || Top||

#4  I prefer Type O for breakfast and luncheon treats. Type A is best for evening baked snacks...
Posted by: borgboy || 08/28/2004 19:19 Comments || Top||

#5  I go for the Rh negative pastries. The postive stuff leaves me jittery in the morning.
Posted by: ed || 08/28/2004 19:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Can't keep up the masquerade for long, these folks, now can't they?
Islamofascist is wrong, Islamonazi is the right term for it.
Too bad Gentle, too bad. I have seen your "truth" 60 years ago and where it led.
Crawl back into your cave.
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/28/2004 19:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Like shooting fish in a barrel.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 20:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Shipman, I think it's more like shouting at fish in a barrel...
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/28/2004 20:46 Comments || Top||

#9  That does make more sense BD.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 20:50 Comments || Top||

#10  Sad that in the 21st Century, the Mooslims still rely on these old, tired and frankly, SICKMAKING blood libels against the Jews!
Besides, don't they know that everyone's on a low-carb diet and pastries are out?!
Eve if they weren't, we all know how delicious those chocolate-glazed Krispie Kreme donuts are with GENTLE filling! LOL
Posted by: GreatestJeneration || 08/28/2004 21:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Gee, I can't imagine why people think Muslims are backwards.
Posted by: BMN || 08/28/2004 21:42 Comments || Top||

#12  I stand corrected - I thought she was an ignorant tool - she's full-fledged bigot
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 22:06 Comments || Top||

#13  I always said arguing with her was like arguing with a bag of cement. The True Believers always seem to have to learn the hard way.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/28/2004 22:23 Comments || Top||

#14  I admit it. It's not the Joos. It's the mericans. We are sucking out Islamic blood and making Krispy Kreme and Sucking there brains out and wiping our asses with them.
GD retards. Anyone who repeats this blood libel crap is a certified moron. It's an admitted lie. but google is to hard to use if you are a muslim. What can you expect from a satanic death cult? reason? Hell no.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/29/2004 1:21 Comments || Top||

#15  Well, let me explain why I posted it.
a) It could be right, and then you would have a new subject to talk about.
b) It is wrong, with hardly anything to prove it. Which would be similiar to the case of the muslims.
c) I wanted to see whether or not you would post "not very nice tales" about Jews, as the whole site is full of them against muslims.

It worked.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 3:09 Comments || Top||

#16  You need therapy.

On the second thought, you are probably hopeless.
Posted by: Zarathustra || 08/29/2004 3:42 Comments || Top||

#17  I wanted to see whether or not you would post "not very nice tales" about Jews, as the whole site is full of them against muslims. It worked.

Yes, I stand no chance against the wily Gentle. It was all part of her diabolical plan and I walked right into her trap. Silly me.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/29/2004 10:15 Comments || Top||

#18  "Baldrick, you wouldn't recognize a cunning plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord singing 'Cunning plans are here again'."
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/29/2004 10:36 Comments || Top||


Update: USN relieves carrier skipper that ran over dhow
Posted by: Super Hose || 08/28/2004 03:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  On the plus side, having one more turkey farmer will probably result in lower holiday prices in a year or two. (old joke).
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/28/2004 18:03 Comments || Top||


Hamdi to Go Home Soon: Prosecutors
A judge may delay a hearing for a US citizen jailed without charge since his capture allegedly fighting with Taleban forces in Afghanistan, as prosecutors said Yasser Hamdi may soon go to Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors requested Thursday a seven-day delay for the hearing set for Monday in US District Court in Virginia, outside Washington, saying they were close to a deal with Hamdi's attorneys on his fate. Hamdi, who was born in Louisiana and raised in Saudi Arabia, was designated an "enemy combatant" and denied constitutional rights due a US citizen after US troops captured him in Afghanistan in 2001. Judge Robert Doumar was expected to issue a decision yesterday since the hearing is on Monday, a court spokesman said. The court has ordered that Hamdi, held in solitary confinement in a South Carolina naval brig, attend Monday's hearing.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2004 12:43:45 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  as prosecutors said Yasser Hamdi may soon go to a hero's welcome in Saudi Arabia.

If he is a US citizen then hang him for treason. If not a citizen then a deep hole in Gitmo. Either way no more prisoners. Force the jihadis keep their vow ... and die.
Posted by: ed || 08/28/2004 2:01 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran celebrates US "defeat" in An Najaf
I think they're putting the best face possible on the situation. We haven't heard from Tater directly these last couple of days, you don't suppose he got knifed by his office again, do ya?
The first Iranian reactions to the latest developments in Najaf have portrayed the peace deal brokered by Ayatollah Sistani as a major setback for the US. State radio said the agreement had frustrated US plans to disable Iraq's Shia as a political force. And in his Friday sermon, the still influential former Iranian President, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said events in Najaf - which he compared to Stalingrad - should alert the West to the power of the Islamic clergy.

The Iranians have played a waiting game over Najaf, with senior officials from the president downwards fiercely denouncing the use of military force there by the Americans while never officially committing themselves to full-blown support for Moqtada Sadr and his followers. This strategy allowed Iran to show solidarity with the Shia uprising while avoiding a complete break with the other important Shia political forces in Iraq. And throughout the crisis, Iran remained consistent in its backing for Ayatollah Sistani and his position.
All the while funneling guns and personnel to Sadr. Actions, not words, prove Iran's intent on this one.
Now, the apparent success of his peace initiative in Najaf has given Tehran an opportunity to revel in what it sees as the frustration of America's strategy. In his Friday sermon, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - who remains one of the most powerful political figures in Iran - told his congregation that American power had been humbled. "Today, Najaf is prouder than Stalingrad," he said. "In contemporary history, Stalingrad is a symbol of resistance. But in the alleys and streets of Najaf, a small number of people fought this well-equipped army, which used cluster bombs and sometimes even dangerous material and dangerous gases in their attacks, but failed to open the gates of the city."

Speaking in the same vein, Mr Rafsanjani made a further comparison - even more emotive for his audience - this time over what he described as Ayatollah Sistani's courage in returning to Iraq. "Of course, with a slight difference, it resembled Imam Khomeini's return from Paris to Tehran. At the time, the Imam insisted on returning despite the fact that the Shah's army, police and secret agents were guarding the city streets. The Imam's manoeuvre on that day broke the back of the Shah's regime." Mr Rafsanjani's sermon, accompanied by the sound of the congregation chanting "God is great" and "Death to America", was broadcast live on Iranian state radio. The radio station earlier issued its own commentary on the Najaf deal, portraying it as a "major defeat for America". It said the US had tried to divide the Shia in Iraq and drive them from the political stage - but had failed.

One sign of how much Iranian feeling has been stirred up over Najaf was a mass anti-American protest march to the Iraqi border that had been planned for this coming Monday. That has now been called off - but the sense that Najaf marked a new stage in the simmering hostilities between America and Iran remains palpable.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/28/2004 2:14:12 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Al BBC: That has now been called off - but the sense that Najaf marked a new stage in the simmering hostilities between America and Iran remains palpable.

It's pretty funny how al BBC likes to substitute purple prose for straight reporting. What the heck do they think they're writing here? The Heart of Darkness?
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 20:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Fight these mullahs ASAP, before their nuclear facilities go on-line. With a free Iraq just born, Iran will try to strangle it in it's cradle. Squeeze these people between Afghanistan and Iraq, and stoke the fires of their own youth populations discontent. Iran has been our enemy since 1979, it's time the Islamic Republic was thrown down.
Posted by: Robjack || 08/28/2004 22:49 Comments || Top||


Rafsanjani compares Sistani's return to Khomeini's
A top Iranian cleric on Friday likened Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's return to Iraq to end the stand-off in Najaf with the 1979 home-coming of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which swept aside the US-backed shah. Influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told worshippers at Friday prayers at Tehran University both cases showed Islam's "great power".

"Sistani's brave return to Najaf which ended the crisis is similar to our leader's return to Iran which ended the shah's rule," Rafsanjani said. Sistani, Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, returned from Britain to be swept into the battered city of Najaf by thousands of followers and on Thursday persuaded radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia to leave a shrine and end a three-week uprising that has killed hundreds.

"The heroic young people's 21 days of resistance with their bare hands and Sistani's political measures to end the crisis, both are popular and show the power of Islam's devotees." In remarks broadcast live on state radio, Rafsanjani accused the United States of igniting the uprising in Najaf. "It was widely pre-planned by Americans who wanted to intimidate their enemies," he said. "But it gave the opposite result.

They failed and suffered." Sadr met Rafsanjani in Iran last year at a memorial service for Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic. Shi'ite Muslim Iran opposed the war that toppled Saddam Hussein, despite its hatred of the former Iraqi leader, and has been incensed by US attacks on Shi'ite militia in Najaf.

Rafsanjani said the actions of the US military in Iraq would feed Muslim hatred against the United States and called on Washington to adopt "peaceful and rational methods". "By adopting rational methods there will be no more al Qaeda, Taliban, explosions or September 11 attacks," he said. "Your irrational and oppressive measures, naturally outrages some people who strongly confront you," Rafsanjani said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/28/2004 1:58:33 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "There are NO chickens in Tehran."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/28/2004 17:58 Comments || Top||

#2  hmmmm was the Shah a group of pilfering theives drinking beer and meteing out Mahdi-justice to kidnapped policemen? Sounds like the connection's more real than Rafsanjani thought
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 18:21 Comments || Top||

#3  For local consuption for sure.

"The heroic young people’s 21 days of resistance with their bare handsಞ" tells it all. Yea, those RPGs and 7.62x39 rounds were comming out their freeking hands I tell ya! What a Crock of turban crap.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/28/2004 18:46 Comments || Top||

#4  "The heroic young people’s [Sadr's cannon fodder] 21 days of resistance [seige] with their bare hands [mortars don't count] and Sistani’s political measures [leaving town to set up a triumphant return] to end the crisis [thug purge], both are popular [tell it to those whose houses were leveled] and show the power of Islam’s devotees [to shoot themselves in the foot, at best]." In remarks broadcast live on state radio, Rafsanjani accused the United States of igniting the uprising in Najaf. [Oh, no, not igniting. I suggested Napalm but nobody tried it.] "It was widely pre-planned by Americans [who aren't as spontaneous and impulsive as Sadr] who wanted to intimidate [kill] their enemies," he said. "But it gave the opposite result. [Not by my body count.]

Looks like Raf is trying to justify his expenditures to his stockholders.
Posted by: Tom || 08/28/2004 18:51 Comments || Top||


Khatami: Iran Ready to Provide Nuke 'Guarantees'
via ABC
TEHRAN, Iran Aug. 28, 2004 — Iran is ready to provide "guarantees" it won't seek nuclear weapons, President Mohammad Khatami said Saturday, urging the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency to close its investigation into the country's program when it meets next month.

The United States, which says Iran is trying to develop weapons, is pushing the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions. The IAEA has already sharply criticised Iran for not coming clean about its nuclear program, and European countries have increasingly expressed concern.
Coming from Khatami, this means, uh, nothing. Not a damned thing. The timing just might be related to the Israeli statements in the BBC story, however, lol!
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 11:56:02 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More Khatami blather at BBC:
Tehran seeking role in Mid-East

"Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has warned that peace cannot come to the Middle East without the neutering help of Iran."
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 12:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Then they'll turn schizoid again in about five days and announce yet again Nuclear ArmageddonTM against the Joooos. Yep, I'm completely convinced of their peaceful intentions, Gentle's incoherent blather notwithstanding.
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2004 12:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Khatami: Iran Ready to Provide Nuke ’Guarantees’

....which are basically going to be worthless.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/28/2004 14:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Peace in our time
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/28/2004 14:41 Comments || Top||

#5  "As Muslims, we can't use nuclear weapons. One who can't use nuclear weapons won't produce them."

See. It's so simple. What're we worried about?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/28/2004 14:48 Comments || Top||

#6  those NK technicians? :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 14:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Remember that they are making statements to Infidels or those they consider apostates, so they get a pass. Elementary, my dear Watson.

The Mad Mullahs are going for Nukes. Bet your booties on it and prepare for the worst. This ain't no drill, Jack.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/28/2004 16:15 Comments || Top||

#8  Khatami also said the United States needs Iranian help with Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which share borders with Iran.

Which sounds to me like you're surrounded?

Posted by: tu3031 || 08/28/2004 16:20 Comments || Top||

#9  thank you for your "help", Iran, we've been killing the "help" as fast as it arrives. Send more
thx
XXXOOOXXX
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 16:22 Comments || Top||

#10  Is this guarantee valid in Florida? Perhaps your state has other remedies not listed in the guarantee. Cingold?
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 21:04 Comments || Top||

#11  The mullahs lie almost as much as John Kerry. Almost.
Posted by: GreatestJeneration || 08/28/2004 21:05 Comments || Top||


Iran Celebrates US "Defeat" in Najaf
Iran celebrates US 'defeat' in Najaf

Amazingly, the sneer-quotes around "defeat" are actually the Beeb's, but so is the attribution of mullah-head delusions to Iran in general, which is plainly very far from the truth.

The first Iranian reactions to the latest developments in Najaf have portrayed the peace deal brokered by Ayatollah Sistani as a major setback for the US.

The US siege of the holy city of Najaf inflamed Iranian opinion

State radio said the agreement had frustrated US plans to disable Iraq's Shia as a political force.

And in his Friday sermon, the still influential former Iranian President, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said events in Najaf - which he compared to Stalingrad - should alert the West to the power of the Islamic clergy.

The Iranians have played a waiting game over Najaf, with senior officials from the president downwards fiercely denouncing the use of military force there by the Americans while never officially committing themselves to full-blown support for Moqtada Sadr and his followers.

This strategy allowed Iran to show solidarity with the Shia uprising while avoiding a complete break with the other important Shia political forces in Iraq.

And throughout the crisis, Iran remained consistent in its backing for Ayatollah Sistani and his position.

Emotive comparisons

Now, the apparent success of his peace initiative in Najaf has given Tehran an opportunity to revel in what it sees as the frustration of America's strategy.

In his Friday sermon, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - who remains one of the most powerful political figures in Iran - told his congregation that American power had been humbled.

"Today, Najaf is prouder than Stalingrad," he said.

"In contemporary history, Stalingrad is a symbol of resistance.

The State of Israel, besieged by Nazi Satans for 56 years, is the real successor to Stalingrad.

"But in the alleys and streets of Najaf, a small number of people fought this well-equipped army, which used cluster bombs and sometimes even dangerous material and dangerous gases in their attacks, but failed to open the gates of the city."

The Ayatollah's return: Iranians were reminded of events in 1979

Speaking in the same vein, Mr Rafsanjani made a further comparison - even more emotive for his audience - this time over what he described as Ayatollah Sistani's courage in returning to Iraq.

"Of course, with a slight difference, it resembled Imam Khomeini's return from Paris to Tehran."

"At the time, the Imam insisted on returning despite the fact that the Shah's army, police and secret agents were guarding the city streets."

"The Imam's manoeuvre on that day broke the back of the Shah's regime," he said.

Border protest

Mr Rafsanjani's sermon, accompanied by the sound of the congregation chanting "God is great" and "Death to America", was broadcast live on Iranian state radio.

The radio station earlier issued its own commentary on the Najaf deal, portraying it as a "major defeat for America".

It said the US had tried to divide the Shia in Iraq and drive them from the political stage - but had failed.

One sign of how much Iranian feeling has been stirred up over Najaf was a mass anti-American protest march to the Iraqi border that had been planned for this coming Monday.

That has now been called off - but the sense that Najaf marked a new stage in the simmering hostilities between America and Iran remains palpable.

This kind of propaganda is one reason I believe the Iranians will carry out their threat to launch a pre-emptive strike against US forces.

This seems insane to us, but it is very different to those whose primary sources are the Islamic propaganda machine and its fifth column allies in the western media.

In true emulation of the creator of activist media, Joseph Goebbels, these enemy propaganda beasts have adopted the alleged feebleness and incompetence of the US military as one of their common themes since the beginning of the WoT.

From the US "defeat" in Operation Anaconda (Robert Fisk), to the "quagmire" caused by the "fierce resistance" of the Fedayeen Saddam during the invasion last year (BBC, Al Reuters, many others), to the allegedly valiant and successful stand put up by the "minutemen" and "resistance fighters" of Fallujah and Najaf (Mike Al-Moor and the usual suspects) this has been a constant message in the ears of would-be jihadis and their leaders throughout the Muslim world. (Of course, Al-Jazeerah is the biggest of the big liars and has been complicit in all this.)

No doubt thousands of credulous young Muslims have perished because they believed this nonsense and joined the jihad.

It is unlikely that the professional military in Iran believe any of it, but the mullahs just might----and they're the ones who call the shots.
"We are much stronger than those heroes in Fallujah and Najaf," the mullahs might say, "and they defeated the American infidels, why can't we do the same?"


Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 08/28/2004 2:06:49 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well there you have it; Sadr's forces got a nice little trimming courtesy of the U.S. Armed Forces, and somehow, the mullah brain thinks it's a victory for him/defeat for us. The question is, does the Muslim at large actually buy this nonsense?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/28/2004 2:30 Comments || Top||

#2  What, exactly, did they think was our objective in the engagement?
Posted by: Super Hose || 08/28/2004 2:45 Comments || Top||

#3  SH, the enemy media have been telling them that our objective was to destroy or desecrate the mosque of ali. We have failed to do so, so we are defeated in their minds.
This is a classic strawman ploy, common in American fifth column media reporting during the Vietnam war and still current in Eurabian media.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 08/28/2004 3:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Lets see...

Main-line Shia forced into the arms of the Government? CHeck.
Ayatollah asking for National Guard and National Police to protect the city and shrines? Check.
Army Decimated? Check.
Leadership captured stealing things from the Mosque? Check.
Mosque filled with excrement and beer cans? Check.
Charnel house of Taliban style executions? Check.
Movement exposed as a gang of thugs? Check.
Leader Exposed as a fraud? Check.

If thats defeat, then we need a few more and Iraq will be pacified.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/28/2004 3:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Just wait until the next enormous batch of Iranian pilgrims visits the mosque to discover it is unharmed, despite every building around it being reduced to rubble. The US pulled the same "trick" in Germany in WWII, of leveling a town *except* for any old church, cathedral or historical edifice: even the damn Nuremburg stadium. To this day, Germans are still grateful to the US for this, and the older ones still thank Americans for it.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/28/2004 10:11 Comments || Top||

#6  beer cans... in a Mosque? But, that's not possible: Muslims don't drink. I can't believe that a great Holy Man such as al-Sadr and his men could have been responsible.
(/sarcasm)
Posted by: eLarson || 08/28/2004 10:19 Comments || Top||

#7  It was the AFP photographers who brought in the beer.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 12:28 Comments || Top||

#8  One cannot neglect the possibility that these remarks are meant purely for domestic consumption. To the extent that the religious authorities in Iran must rely on terrorizing their populace to remain in power, they may be worried that U.S. victories could inspire a homegrown overthrow of the Iranian regime. By painting the U.S. retreat as a victory for Iraq's hardliners, such attempted overthrows will be less likely.
Posted by: Curt Simon || 08/28/2004 14:10 Comments || Top||

#9  I saw a picture book of the damage done to Nurenburg while I was there in 97 (Germans have a fetish for pictures of WW2 leveled cities because Lubick was selling postcards showing their city on fire). It looks like we pretty much took out nearly everything along the flight path as we tried to whack the rail lines. The Cathedral, Castle, and Duras House were all pretty much spared (the main historical stuff) but I think it was more through luck since the city had pretty extensive damage all around and we weren't actually targetting the city.
Posted by: Yank || 08/28/2004 16:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Yep Yank, that 25 mile CEP had a lot to do with it too.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 17:52 Comments || Top||

#11  There guys might want to read up on an old Greek named King Pyrrhus of Epirus...
Posted by: mojo || 08/28/2004 20:09 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
FrontPage picks up story on State's Islamo-supremacist revisionism.
RBers trashed the Foggy Bottom article a couple of nights ago. Now Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch fills in some gaps, dentifies the real instigators, and calls it what it is, Orwellian propaganda.

State Plays Orwellian with Columbus By Robert Spencer
FrontPageMagazine.com | August 26, 2004

George Orwell knew that if you can control a people's past, you can control its present; that's why in 1984 he has a whole government department — the Ministry of Truth — devoted to rewriting history. Now, twenty years beyond Orwell's nightmare year, we call the Ministry of Truth the State Department: in a press release issued Monday, "Islamic Influence Runs Deep in American Culture," Phyllis McIntosh of State's Washington File burbles that "Islamic influences may date back to the very beginning of American history. It is likely that Christopher Columbus, who discovered America in 1492, charted his way across the Atlantic Ocean with the help of an Arab navigator."

Rewrite the history books, indoctrinate the children, and you can own the future. The bit about the Arab navigator is not just being put out by State, but will also be taught in Massachusetts public schools this year. Some lucky Massachusetts teachers were treated all of last week to a workshop called "The Genesis and Genius of Islam." It featured professors from Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, Harvard, and Bridgewater State College, including Ibrahim Kalin, assistant professor of religious studies at Holy Cross. According to a local Massachusetts paper, Kalin said that "Islamic sailors were the best seamen of the day," and "noted that even Christopher Columbus had several Muslim sailors on his voyage that wound up in the New World."

It's funny: just a few years ago, on a Manhattan street on Columbus Day, I saw a small band of furious protestors stalk by chanting "Columbus! Did Not! Discover! America!" But now the old sea dog is useful again, despite the fact that an unlikelier candidate to be poster child for multiculturalism could hardly be found. Columbus was only sailing in the first place to find a way that European traders (who were Christians in those days) could avoid land routes to the Far East. Those land routes were controlled by Muslims, whom Europeans didn't find to be paragons of peace and tolerance. Columbus was commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella, who had just defeated the last Muslims in Spain and driven them out of the country.

Did Columbus tag after the retreating Muslims and hire a navigator and a few sailors? Well, in fact his navigator's name was Martin Pinzon, who served as captain of the Pinta. Of the known names of his crew members, there is an abundance of Juans and Pedros, but nary a Mahmoud or Ahmad. In those days, Christian names almost always meant the bearer was a Christian. As Muhammad Ali and Yusuf Islam can tell you, it is unlikely that a Muslim would have borne a Christian name. It is even more unlikely that Muslim crewmen would have willingly served under Christians. Muslim Spain was not the multicultural paradise of modern myth, but was rather a Sharia state in which non-Muslims were forbidden to hold authority over Muslims. This law was sometimes ignored, but always at the expense of arousing the resentment of the Muslim populace; would Muslim sailors who had so recently been citizens of this state have willingly signed on to take orders from Christians — and men against whom they had so recently been at war? Also, Muslim sailors would not have found Columbus's ships a congenial atmosphere: Columbus firmly believed that the Christian God had called him to this mission. The crew prayed — Christian prayers, not multicultural paeans to the Supreme Blob, and certainly not the maghrib and isha prayers — often on the ship. They even broke out in Te Deum, laudamus when they sighted land.

So why are the State Department and the Massachusetts public schools purveying this hooey? They well understand that it is about contemporary politics. Speaking of his students, a Massachusetts history teacher who attended the workshop asked: "How can they understand Iraq if they don't know the history of the people?"

Indeed. But it really isn't the history of Iraq, or of Columbus' voyages, that State and the Massachusetts educrats are interested in. What they're really on about is the history — and future — of the United States. Their multiculturalist fantasy history is designed, of course, to make Americans more accepting of an influential Islamic presence in the country. But unfortunately, since no one seems concerned about how to screen terrorists out of this Islamic presence, they're likely to find that the Muslims to whom they have surrendered their history — and who they have invited into their future — are no less multicultural than their forefathers of 1492.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and the author of Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West (Regnery Publishing), and Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest Growing Faith (Encounter Books).

Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 08/28/2004 10:40:30 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: Subsaharan
Taylor's diamonds helped to finance 9/11
A Confidential report from the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone has implicated former Liberian president Charles Taylor of selling conflict diamonds to known al-Qaeda operatives.

The report states that the said diamonds were used to finance the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Special Court Chief Prosecutor David Crane who prepared the document said Al-Qaeda has been operating in West Africa since September 1998 and had maintained a continuous presence in the region through 2002. John Melrose, former US Ambassador to Sierra Leone, says "The United States never perceived itself to have a strategic interest in sub-Saharan Africa on the terrorism front until very recently." He said the development of a functioning criminal state in West Africa is not a secret to anyone who has been to the region.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/28/2004 1:56:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: North
Al-Qaeda recruiting surge in Morocco
Morocco reports a huge increase in the Al Qaida-inspired Islamic insurgency network.

Moroccan media quote a report by the kingdom's intelligence agency as citing a huge increase in Islamic insurgency activities and network. The report was quoted as saying that Morocco has as many as 3,000 insurgency operatives.

The release of the report came in wake of an assertion by a leading Spanish counter-terrorism official that northern Morocco contains 1,000 Al Qaida-inspired operatives. The official said about 40 percent of the insurgents were believed to have disappeared, with many of them fleeing to neighboring Spain and Western Europe.

The Moroccan report appears to confirm many of the details in the briefing given by Spanish counter-terrorist Judge Baltasar Garzon to a 16-member Spanish parliamentary commission on July 15. Garzon said many of the Islamic insurgency groups come from northern Morocco and their members speak perfect Spanish. The mastery of the Spanish language, he said, has enabled insurgents to easily enter Spain from Gibraltar.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/28/2004 2:04:09 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa: Horn
Darfur elders say United States demonises Sudan to hurt Islam
A group of tribal chiefs from the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur on Saturday told Nigerian Islamic leaders that the United States was using the conflict in their homeland to demonise Muslims. The 11 elders were brought to Nigeria as part of a pro-government delegation to African Union peace talks aimed at resolving the bloody 18-month conflict between Khartoum and Darfur's two main rebel groups. The United States has led international condemnation of the violence and US lawmakers have branded the attacks by the Janjaweed Arab militia on black African tribes regarded as rebel sympathisers a genocide. But the chiefs, who were escorted to the northern Nigerian city of Kano by the Sudanese junior minister for social development Marghani Mansur Badawi, called such a stance an attack on the Muslim world as a whole.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 08/28/2004 5:04:56 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There are fools everywhere.
Posted by: Tom || 08/28/2004 17:37 Comments || Top||

#2  It must be nice to be a muslim. Male that is. You can rape, pillage, murder, commit genocide, and the minute someone confronts you on the action, you can claim they are demonising your religion. I'm thinking of starting my own cult called the Imam butt fuckers for peace.
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi || 08/28/2004 18:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Lil, I think Sadr might have that one taken.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/28/2004 18:25 Comments || Top||

#4  I hope he's taken several. :)
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi || 08/28/2004 18:29 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Sadrites have won a great victory
We desperately need for them to win more victories like this one.

Since fighting began in early August, as many as 1,000 guerrillas may have been killed, U.S. commanders say, along with 11 U.S. Marines and soldiers. More than 100 soldiers have been wounded, including dozens of serious injuries. About 3,000 U.S. soldiers took part in the fight, battling somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 guerrillas, a number that varied as Iraqis joined or quit the battle.

For every shot they took, U.S. soldiers returned scores or hundreds. For every mortar round the guerrillas lobbed, the gunners at the Marine base here responded with a 100-pound artillery shell. The insurgents had donkey carts loaded with rocket-propelled grenades, the soldiers 70-ton tanks that can survive direct hits from mortars and grenades. The U.S. advantage was especially large at night, when night-vision goggles allowed soldiers to see in the dark.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 2:13:50 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Note that the NY Times dwells on the number of American wounded, but not on the number Sadrites wounded - probably a few thousand with serious wounds that include losing limbs, losing their eyesight and being crippled, given that their standard of medical care was far lower. These people will serve as living, breathing deterrents to those who want to risk it all for Allah.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 14:17 Comments || Top||

#2  ZF: These people will serve as living, breathing deterrents to those who want to risk it all for Allah.

What if a jihadi becomes a paraplegic? Is there a special place in Allah's paradise for paraplegics?
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 14:19 Comments || Top||

#3  How many virgins for a limb?
Posted by: Dar || 08/28/2004 15:00 Comments || Top||

#4  72 virgins that you can't do anything with...
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 15:17 Comments || Top||

#5 
Re #1 (Zhang Fei) Note that the NY Times dwells on the number of American wounded, but not on the number Sadrites wounded

==========

The NY Times article: On Friday afternoon, the decomposed bodies of insurgent fighters lay in houses in and around the Old City, which surrounds the shrine. One house at the western edge of the city held four blasted corpses, missing arms and legs. .... Dogs had been at the bodies overnight, ...

The two sides have caused uncounted civilian casualties ....

Just before the noon prayer call, a reporter was accused of being a spy and set on by a crowd just west of the shrine, then briefly taken captive by al-Sadr's guerrillas, blindfolded and tied up, and threatened with death ...


==========

Those damned reporters deserve to die, especially if they work for the NY Times and fail to report about Iraqi casualties!
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/28/2004 16:10 Comments || Top||

#6  And the Lord smote the Sadrmites.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/28/2004 16:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Mike, you might want to think about what the phrase "to dwell on" something means. They didn't even try to give a total number, or an estimate of scale. They mentioned some casualties in passing, and tried to conflate civilian and Sadrite casualties -- not exactly legitimate reporting, no matter how you want to spin it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/28/2004 16:38 Comments || Top||

#8  ZF: Note that the NY Times dwells on the number of American wounded, but not on the number Sadrites wounded - probably a few thousand with serious wounds that include losing limbs, losing their eyesight and being crippled, given that their standard of medical care was far lower.

That should have read:
Note that the NY Times dwells on the number of American wounded, but not on the number of Sadrites wounded - probably a few thousand with serious wounds that include losing limbs, losing their eyesight and being crippled, given that their standard of medical care was far lower.

The point here is that potential jihadis need to have hammered into them that war isn't merely martyrdom and paradise - it can also mean being a burden to their families for the rest of their lives.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 17:13 Comments || Top||

#9  I would venture many of them we a burden on their families all their lives before this ass kicking.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/28/2004 17:20 Comments || Top||

#10  ZF,
I don't think Sadr's wounded is that high. The US can sustain 5:1 wounded/death or higher ratio given our medical care and that a lot of the injuries are on the arms and legs due to shrapnel from 60mm mortars, RPGs, and AKs. Sadr's cannon fodder are being sniped with well aimed large caliber rifles, shelled by 120mm and 155mm cannons and bombed from the air. That and poor medical care leads me to believe wounded/dead ratio is < 1:1.
Posted by: ed || 08/28/2004 17:23 Comments || Top||

#11  Ed: OTOH, a lot of US soldiers are armed with a carbine version of the M-16, that's worse than the normal M-16 at producing fatal wounds at long range.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 08/28/2004 17:30 Comments || Top||

#12  quit trying to cheer me up, dammit!
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 17:32 Comments || Top||

#13  I am rooting for Sadr to stay alive in the same way that the French are rooting for Kerry. We all know someone's going to get the cash from Iran. Might as well be a proven loser like Sadr. (Is this guy a deep-cover American agent, such that he lures so many fine, upstanding jihadis to a horrible death?)
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 19:44 Comments || Top||

#14  Heh, Zhang Fei, I like the way you think !

Can anybody confirm what the "11 US deaths" means ?

Does that mean in all of Iraq (my guess, but cannot seem to find confirmation), or is it only for the Najaf fighting ?
Posted by: Carl in N.H. || 08/28/2004 19:49 Comments || Top||

#15  RMcLeod: And what about his funders? Are they still going to back such an obvious loser?

I sure hope so. They've got to back someone, and if they're going to do so, my hand-picked candidate is Sadr. This is why killing Sadr is a bad idea. The guy's a proven loser, yet stands in the way of anyone better at this business. And that's all to the good. It's also funny how Sistani "opposes armed resistance" against Uncle Sam when he can't even protect his people against getting killed by Sadr's henchmen. Talk about getting a lemon and making lemonade.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 20:12 Comments || Top||

#16  As King Pyrrhus of Epirus said after the bloody battle of Heraclea in 280 BC: "One more such victory and we are ruined."
Posted by: Anonymous6202 || 08/28/2004 23:28 Comments || Top||

#17  Sodomites have won great victory?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/29/2004 1:04 Comments || Top||

#18  I thought that was Cornwallis? Ah well.
Posted by: N Greene || 08/29/2004 12:16 Comments || Top||


Al-Sistani opposes armed resistance against US occupation
BAGHDAD, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's top Shiite authority opposed Saturday the armed resistance against the US-led occupation after meeting at the house of the most revered Shiite cleric in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Al-Sistani, who forced radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to end the conflict and quit the Imam Ali shrine, met at his home with Grand Ayatollahs Mohammed Sa'id al-Hakim, Ishaq al-Fayadh and Basheer al-Najafi for 30 minutes.

The meeting tackled the situation in the holy city of Najaf and means to run the city after Sistani's office took over the keys of Imam Ali shrine, Sistani's spokesman told reporters.

The meeting also reaffirmed the opposition of the Marjaiya (the highest religious authority) to the armed resistance against the US-led occupation, saying there is still room for peaceful solutionto end the occupation, the spokesman said.

The situation was calm in Najaf for a second day, and the Iraqi police boosted their existence in the old city, a Xinhua correspondent said
the marginalization of "Mr. Sadr" continues
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 8:54:00 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Notice the news slant: not "Firebrand" or "Popular" Sadr.... just plain old "Radical", and he didn't get an invite.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/28/2004 10:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Talk about humiliation, the worst of all things that can happen to a Muslim. Sadr loses perhaps thousands of fighters, including his best guys, and comes out with what? Nothing. Worse, he's rebuked by the most revered ayatollah in the country.

And as the reports come out (and they will) about how much was looted, how much was defiled, and how much damage his morons committed at that shrine, his reputation will be less than zero. Probably unrecoverable. And what about his funders? Are they still going to back such an obvious loser?

This worked out very, very well.
Posted by: RMcLeod || 08/28/2004 13:10 Comments || Top||

#3  RMcLeod: And what about his funders? Are they still going to back such an obvious loser?

I sure hope so. They've got to back someone, and if they're going to do so, my hand-picked candidate is Sadr. This is why killing Sadr is a bad idea. The guy's a proven loser, yet stands in the way of anyone better at this business. And that's all to the good. It's also funny how Sistani "opposes armed resistance" against Uncle Sam when he can't even protect his people against getting killed by Sadr's henchmen. Talk about getting a lemon and making lemonade.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/28/2004 19:38 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Balochistan not NWFP the real Taliban base
The real locus of the Taliban lies not in the areas of NWFP bordering Afghanistan but in Balochistan, which is nearest to the troubled provinces of Zabul, Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan, according to a South Asia analyst. Kaushik Kapisthalam, an Indian freelance journalist based in Atlanta, wrote in the Washington Times that Pakistan has made what would appear to be a concerted effort to clean up cross-border militant operations in the tribal areas, but "regional experts" know that this is largely a "smokescreen." He recalls that two years ago British journalist Christina Lamb managed to interview top Taliban ministers including Maulana Abdullah Sahadi, former Taliban deputy defence minister in Quetta and a year later, American journalist Scott Baldauf was not only able to speak with Taliban commander Maulvi Pardes Akhund but was allowed to observe him recruit Pakistani fighters in Quetta for cross-border attacks on American troops in Afghanistan. It follows that if General Musharraf were serious about cracking down on the Taliban, his focus should have been Balochistan, not the tribal areas.

According to Kapisthalam, Pakistan's actions are not all that of omission. A recent report quoted US intelligence officials as saying that the United States possesses satellite photos that show Pakistani army trucks picking up Taliban troops fleeing back across the border after a failed attack. Other reports have also quoted US soldiers stating that they observed Pakistani border troops provide covering fire to retreating Taliban militants after cross-border attacks on US and coalition troops in Afghanistan.

While Pakistani officials pointing out that there are millions of Afghan refuges in their country and not every black-turbaned Afghan is a Taliban agent, the argument is facile. "Nobody has asked Pakistan to round up every black-turbaned Pushtun to stop all cross-border movement. The key is the ease with which former Taliban leaders and their financiers are able to plan, organise and stage attacks on Afghan and coalition troops across the border. Afghan leaders, including President Karzai as well as US officials have handed over list after list of Taliban leaders residing in Pakistan whom they want handed over, but Pakistan has been silent," the analysis continues. So far, Kapisthalam wrote, Pakistan has not arrested even a single middle or top Taliban leader, but there has been a crackdown on journalists to prevent embarrassing exposes.

Another Pakistani tactic is to claim that the Taliban resurgence is due to the "alienation" of Pushtun Afghans because of the Tajik-dominated government in Kabul. The violence in Afghanistan, reports have said, is largely cross-border in nature, originating in Pakistan. Pakistan has so far escaped America's "wrath", thanks to those in the US administration who portray the continued Pakistani support to the Taliban as actions of "rogue" military and intelligence officials and those who are sympathetic to the "Pushtun cause." A recent book by a CIA official takes the view that the Pakistani establishment always wants to see a Taliban-like regime in Afghanistan, failing which it would want to destabilise any alternative regime in place there. According to the writer, "To the Pakistanis, only an Islamist Afghanistan would serve as a bulwark against Pushtun nationalism as well as minimise the role of regional rivals like India and Iran ... the simple but unpalatable truth for US policymakers is that the Pakistani establishment's goals for Afghanistan are exactly the opposite of what the United States wants for that strife-torn nation."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 08/28/2004 1:11:38 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  American journalist Scott Baldauf was not only able to speak with Taliban commander Maulvi Pardes Akhund but was allowed to observe him recruit Pakistani fighters in Quetta for cross-border attacks on American troops in Afghanistan

thanks a lot, Scott. Asshole
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 9:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Easy, frank... Look at this as an opportunity to confirm our analysis. besides, he's prolly gonna get the famous Nick berg treatment if he keeps poking around there. From what i can tell he's just a reporter actualy doing his job, not just hanging out in the capital city hotel rxmiting stringer copy.
Posted by: N Guard || 08/28/2004 9:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Journalist first, American second (or third or ....)

Mike Wallace school of AntiAmericanism Journalism
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 10:08 Comments || Top||

#4  The author of this article has a great vocabulary! "Locus" & "facile" have me reaching for my dictionary. & the revelations of this Kapisthalam are shocking to me (Pakistani soldiers providing covering fire for retreating Taliban, trucks loading up Taliban, etc.!) This article is depressing, really. Frank G: I sorta agree that Scott Baldauf is an asshole for fraternizing witht the enemy, but as N Guard points out at least he's actually doing some good investigative journalism instead of reporting live via satellite from the roof of a swanky hotel in Islamabad and just copying whatever the AP wire tells him to say about the situation, which is exactly what the other 99.99% of journalists do (just mimick the AP wire.) Besides Frank G, these reporters such as Baldauf that go out into the field freelance provide two great benefits to our country's war on terrorism: 1. it allows our government to recruit the reporters as intelligence agents or send in intelligence agents with bogus credentials and 2. our intelligence agencies get a lot of their information from open source materials, i.e. t.v., newspapers, magazines, radio, etc.
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 08/28/2004 14:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Paki anti-terror policy is as follows: make a couple of show arrests to keep the American money flowing in, while maintaining their "Pakistan in Depth" policy that led to the 9-11 massacres. I would have let the Northern Alliance conduct a scorched earth policy against the Talibanis, while turning the Afghanistan-Pakistan borders into a B52 turkey shoot.
Posted by: Anonymous6199 || 08/28/2004 17:03 Comments || Top||

#6  KB and NGuard- I acknowledge that these guys present info we mght not get elsewhere, a good thing. If we start recruiting reporters to do infiltration, all their lives are forfeit, another acknowledged bad thing. Ergo, they have to portray antiAmerican attitude to get the "story". My bitch is when they start believing that, and don't report, say, an attack that kills Americans or allies, so as to keep their journalistic cred.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 17:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Like it 6199... Consider a name.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 17:36 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Israel puts Iran in its sights

Israel's defence establishment is looking east with concern.
By James Reynolds - Wednesday, 11 August, 2004, 20:25 GMT 21:25 UK
This summer, some here warn that Iran may become a nuclear power, perhaps within the next three or four years.

The Jewish state wants the world to act. If diplomacy fails, Israel warns that it knows how to work alone.

"Israel has many, many capabilities," says Danny Yatom, a former head of Mossad, Israel's international intelligence agency.

"And in the past Israel has carried out long-range military operations, like when we bombed the nuclear facility of Iraq [in 1981]. And since then one can imagine that we've improved our capabilities."
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 1:03:25 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  HMMMM.Yep.One sortie for Irans Nukes,then
10-14 days to wipe out Syrias conventional stuff.
Posted by: crazyhorse || 08/28/2004 1:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Oops - this story is via BBC and EFL - more at the link.
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 1:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Israeli submarine was in the news recently.

I wonder if they have cruise missles on board that thing?
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/28/2004 2:18 Comments || Top||

#4  That bastard Israeli scum should be nuked en masse
Did you literate morons, realize that jew scum are the real problem?
Pretty soon hunt season going to start again like 60 years ago or 150 year ago or 250...
Posted by: 63 ..com || 08/28/2004 3:25 Comments || Top||

#5  That bastard Israeli scum should be nuked en masse
Did you literate morons, realize that jew scum are the real problem?
Pretty soon hunt season going to start again like 60 years ago or 150 year ago or 250...
Posted by: 63 ..com || 08/28/2004 3:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Please wipe the spittle from your Hitler moustache the next time. You left drool all over the board there.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/28/2004 3:28 Comments || Top||

#7  history repeat ...every 60, 150, 250 years your little shitty country know that.
Posted by: 63 ..com || 08/28/2004 3:30 Comments || Top||

#8  It would be bad policy for the US to encourage Israel to attack Iran. We should deal with the moronic Mullah ourselves. We are the world's janitor.
Posted by: Super Hose || 08/28/2004 3:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Yap yap Zion apologist, you are a janitor!
But stop to talk Jew nerd tough
Join the army or send your kid
Posted by: 63 ..com || 08/28/2004 4:06 Comments || Top||

#10  The headline should be:
Israel admits that it has put Iran in its sight.

It will be the beginning of similar headlines with variations in the name of the country.

Don't worry. The U.S. will be one of the last.
But it is on the list. That I do know.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 4:09 Comments || Top||

#11  Do tell Gentle. For a 18yo female student in Dubai you seem to know a lot of things...
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/28/2004 4:45 Comments || Top||

#12  Gentle - you'll come back and acknowledge your error when it doesn't happen, won't you?

Do you think Iranian aggression towards Israel has had anything to do with Israel's reciprocal attitude? You know, when one state (Iran) threatens to destroy another state (Israel) with (nuclear) weapons technology it's developing, for the latter state to consider pre-emptive action really isn't illogical or unprecedented. Think about it. Try to empathise with the Israelis, just for a moment.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/28/2004 4:55 Comments || Top||

#13  Old Spook, the Israelis almost certainly have cruise missiles on board, probably even with nuclear warheads.
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/28/2004 5:01 Comments || Top||

#14  I bet they have standing orders to take out downtown Tehran and Damascus if Israel is attcked with Nukes, Chemical or Biological weapons.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/28/2004 6:09 Comments || Top||

#15  TGA:
Who do you think I am?
I guess the best cover for the truth, on this website, is truth itself.
Yes I am an 18 yo female in the U.A.E.
Why?
Too shocked to know that we don't live in tents and travel on camels?
I've never even touched a camel!
As for the
"do tell"
all in due time.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 7:17 Comments || Top||

#16  Illiterate Hitler and Gentle in the same thread. Whoda thunk it? Two sides to the same coin
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 7:21 Comments || Top||

#17  I've never even touched a camel!


Ahhhh, the UAE version of Clinton's lie
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 7:31 Comments || Top||

#18  It is true.
I have seen one or two close a few times, but have never touched any.
What is so strange about that?
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 7:34 Comments || Top||

#19  *snicker*
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 7:37 Comments || Top||

#20  I don't think anyone here gives a rats ass who you might or might not be Gentle, I've read your troll droppings here for quite a while, you've yet to present a lucid argument. On this particular subject Bulldog nails it and you convienently ignore his post. That tells me that you, as most of us have long suspected, are full of shit.
By the by, Iran is already in US sights, they have been to varying degrees since 1979. Maybe you'll be able to see the glow from the UAE when the Israeli's or Americans decide to put those mad dogs down. Can't come soon enough.
I personally doubt it, but hopefully experience will mature your opinions one day.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 08/28/2004 7:49 Comments || Top||

#21  BD:
Does that give you a taste of your own medicine?
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 7:54 Comments || Top||

#22  JM:
Yeah right.
You don't care to the extent of answering me?
Yeah right.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 7:57 Comments || Top||

#23  Gentle, since you've misunderstood what I have typed, this will be my last word to you, so feel free blast away. Your not as smart as you think you are. Re-read my post and try comprehending this time.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 08/28/2004 8:17 Comments || Top||

#24  hmmmm - JMike's pretty clear as I read it.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 8:19 Comments || Top||

#25  Maybe you'll be able to see the glow from the UAE when the Israeli's or Americans decide to put those mad dogs down. Can't come soon enough. I personally doubt it, but hopefully experience will mature your opinions one day.

No question. The Mad Mulahs have it coming.
Posted by: badanov || 08/28/2004 8:19 Comments || Top||

#26  typical Iranians are fairly well-educated and IMHO will thrive once the mullahs are smacked down. I only hope the Israelis (or us) are able to do that without killing too many innocents. Undoubtedly, the mullahs don't have that same concern, and, like Islamic Heros™ in Saddam's regime, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban, will put the weapons in schools, hospitals, orphanages, kitten and baby duck sanctuaries. There will be civilian casualties. All we can say is: better theirs than ours
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 8:26 Comments || Top||

#27  BD: Does that give you a taste of your own medicine?

I'm relieved I'm not the only one unable to comprehend Gentle's contributions today. What are you trying to say?!
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/28/2004 8:37 Comments || Top||

#28  BD:
"reciprocal" attitude.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 8:56 Comments || Top||

#29  Israel has many, many capabilities

Yes they do, Mr Yatom, and Iran is about to see some of those capabilities first hand [he he he]
Posted by: BigEd || 08/28/2004 9:05 Comments || Top||

#30  Hey, lay off Gentle. Even if she were an American, you're not listening to what she's saying. She's 18 for crying out loud! She knows EVERYTHING about the world. Most likey, she has a 24 year old LLL college professor to indoctrinate..er...enlighten her to the fantasy and lies...er truth of the world. As for us, we're just old ignorant bastards who never left Mayberry. hehe
Posted by: 98zulu || 08/28/2004 9:11 Comments || Top||

#31  A 24 year-old college professor?
Wow, what did he do?
Skip his masters by infel, then jump right to his professorship?
Besides my professors are american, I'm not.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 9:16 Comments || Top||

#32  Gentle--

Aren't the Shi'ites a horrible cult?
Posted by: BMN || 08/28/2004 9:42 Comments || Top||

#33  BD: "reciprocal" attitude.

As was pointed out to you before, Gentle, Iran hasn't been behaving in a reciprocal way towards Israel. It's been behaving in a unilaterally aggressive way towards Israel. Threatening Israel with nuclear annihilation, without provocation is not "reciprocation". It's aggression. Suicidal aggression too, i might add - like the behavior of a rabid dog. Demented. In the end, it will result in either Iran's destruction, or the mullahs' removal and a cessation of nuclear weapons development. Hopefully the latter.

A Shia bomb in the hands of theocrats - that'd be great news for the Sunnis like yourself, wouldn't it?
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/28/2004 9:44 Comments || Top||

#34  BMN:
Yes.

BD:
NO.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 9:46 Comments || Top||

#35  Been ducking debating classes this week? Your powers of argument are even worse than usual.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/28/2004 9:48 Comments || Top||

#36  Dang! Another Serbian Lop-Eared Troll! Must be their fall mating season or something.

("63 ..com" and Gentle mating . . . one more mental picture I don't need!)
Posted by: Mike || 08/28/2004 10:48 Comments || Top||

#37  Actually, I don't have any difficulty imagining that Gentle is what she says she is.

I've known plenty of wealthy, urbane Arabs who are filthy racists and intolerant barbarians, beneath the veneer of English, Western technology and summer homes around the world.

Fortunately, I've known some truly wonderful Arabs ... not as many, but enough to let me know that Gentle and her kind are not the only alternative.

Unfortunately, at least one of my friends was killed recently by rabid dog Islamacists. One fewer decent, thoughtful and pious Muslim in the world as a result.
Posted by: known a few || 08/28/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#38  Sorry, didn't mean to attend a pseudo-Nazi troll convention.
Posted by: Tom || 08/28/2004 11:07 Comments || Top||

#39  Too bad Israel could not place the the collection of pro-terrorist 'protesters' in Manhattan in their sights prior to riding the world of the Iranian nuclear menace.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 08/28/2004 11:32 Comments || Top||

#40  What makes you think I'm rich?
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 11:43 Comments || Top||

#41  Gentle's not rich, she's a practical nurse.
Posted by: Victoria || 08/28/2004 12:21 Comments || Top||

#42  gentle.....JDAM is on it's way, to a bathroom near you.
Posted by: USAF || 08/28/2004 13:13 Comments || Top||

#43  Er uh Vic, no offense but who cares?

I'm hoping 63 comes back, his brand of prose is some of the more entertaining reading to be found here!

What a maroon. :)
Posted by: RJB in JC MO || 08/28/2004 13:18 Comments || Top||

#44  It matters that's she's a practical nurse because that implies she has patients..... helpless Australians.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 13:56 Comments || Top||

#45  Gentle, when I was 18yo I knew everything, too. Believe me, you still have a lot to learn and you'll find out how elusive "the truth" is.

In fact, those who pretend or believe to hold the absolute truth tend to be fanatics and easily turn into mass murderers, because if they hold the truth, nobody else can.

I have had this with the Nazis, had this with the Communists and now I'm certainly not taking it from Muslim extremists (note that I don't say Muslims).

Try to understand our points and we'll do our best to understand yours. But if you think that you know the "truth" already, you won't make many friends here. Believe me, I wouldn't even know what "the truth" is, I just have learned to find out about false truths.

Maybe you come here because one of your homework assignments is "sticking it to the infidels", maybe you have a genuine interest in finding out how we think. In the latter case, live up to your name, don't throw your little truths at us like "pearls before swine".

I have lived many years, and I still learn every day. So should you.

Btw I have touched camels. You know, after all, the camel knows Allah's 100th name. So maybe you should talk to camels more. They are smart animals.
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/28/2004 14:34 Comments || Top||

#46  A person who has stopped learning has nothing to live for.
What makes you think I'm a "Know-it-all"?
What makes you think I'm some spoilt brat who has nothing better to do with her time than insulting you?
What makes think anything about me?
Gentle?
God knows life is not gentle. We bear it relying on him.
Hardly any of you has been gentle, and if I was looking for tenderness I wouldn't search for it here.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 15:16 Comments || Top||

#47  At heart most RB folks are just meanies.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 15:18 Comments || Top||

#48  And this is a good day, when we've taken our pills.
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/28/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#49  Ah, to be 18 again. Or 28. Or 38. Or 48. But I digress. Learning takes a life time. Then you look up and realise everybody else is younger than you are, and they all know more than you do. Gentle doesn't like conflict. She thinks that perhaps if she wishes hard enough, there won't be evil in the world. Wrong, but we all have to learn. Hopefully she will turn out to be one of the good ones. There have to be one or two somewhere. I think I met him when I was in school. Unfortunately, the Iranians aren't in that group. Daring the US to act may be an act of foolishness, but spitting in the eye of the Jews is simply suicidal. So it goes.
Posted by: DLS || 08/28/2004 15:35 Comments || Top||

#50  Hardly any of you has been gentle, and if I was looking for tenderness I wouldn't search for it here.

LOL! Sorry, Gentle, but that one made me laugh out loud. I think you've been misinformed if you expected tenderness here at Rantburg. You'll find civility (believe it or not - that's the default mode of discourse) if you're prepared to comment sensibly, and a fair amount of good humour.

But you do not comment sensibly. Until you do, you'll find a fairly hostile reception. You can start commenting sensibly by not pretending that the UAE, and Muslim society in general, is perfect, and by refraining from claiming that Allah is the answer to everything. Just a couple of tips...
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/28/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||

#51  or you could always start your own blog: Gentleburg? With pastel wallpaper and smiling Arabs in the pictures? Then we could troll...
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 16:15 Comments || Top||

#52  I like that Frank G. She should start her own blog. And, like Gentle, we could:

- post nonsequeturs
- selectively ignore factual posts
- change the subject at will
- claim to know more than we actually do know

Unfortunately, unlike Gentle, we are NOT 18. We are NOT naive. And we would realize what we are doing. And it would feel uncomfortable. And we would not do it.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 08/28/2004 16:56 Comments || Top||

#53  Well, Dan, I hope you know that you will soon get a post from Gentle asking you to explain what you just said.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/28/2004 17:08 Comments || Top||

#54  lol tu - I know, Dan, I don't have the desire to troll like that, and she will never put the effort into creating her own site
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||

#55  Hardly any of you has been gentle, and if I was looking for tenderness I wouldn't search for it here

People go safely to sleep knowing that rough men are willing to do rough work.
Posted by: FWTB-DLTR || 08/28/2004 18:17 Comments || Top||

#56  Was that satellite photo 'stolen' by the White House mole now under investigation? See CBS video clip.
Posted by: UFO || 08/29/2004 0:12 Comments || Top||

#57  UFO: Was that satellite photo 'stolen' by the White House mole now under investigation?

No. It's from DigitalGlobe.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2004 0:18 Comments || Top||

#58  Go ahead, make fun of what I wrote.
I was just blowing steam, but at least, unlike some of you, my words didn't offend anyone.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 3:25 Comments || Top||

#59  "It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the policies of the state of Israel." -- Colin Powell
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 3:48 Comments || Top||

#60  Of course not. However, you've never seem to criticize anyone else but Israel (or by proxy of USA). That is rather strange, dontcha think? Pretty selective. Walks like anti-semitism, quacks like antisemitism, it is anti-semitism.
Posted by: Zarathustra || 08/29/2004 4:02 Comments || Top||

#61  They started it!
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 5:54 Comments || Top||

#62  They started it!
Posted by: Gentle

LOL - my kids used the same argument - then they started 2nd grade....
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 6:56 Comments || Top||

#63  LOL! And the Jews will hit last. Gentile get a grip, it 7 million people trying to usher the ME out of the 17th Century. It's a good thing.
Posted by: N Greene || 08/29/2004 12:20 Comments || Top||

#64  LOL! And the Jews will hit last. Gentile get a grip, it 7 million people trying to usher the ME out of the 17th Century. It's a good thing.
Posted by: N Greene || 08/29/2004 12:20 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
'Kamal-ism' must be stopped to save Pakistan: Qazi
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) President Qazi Hussain Ahmad has warned that rulers who believe in "Kamal-ism" (an oblique reference to President Musharraf following Turkish reformer and statesman Mustafa Kamal Attaturk) must be stopped, otherwise they will deprive Pakistan of its ideological status. Addressing the officials of the JI and its related organisations at a meeting in Mansoora that was held to review preparations for the JI's annual congregation, Qazi said that military rulers had become American allies for their vested interest. He said General Musharraf had formed a party of its political subordinates to take Pakistan to his desired direction easily. "The MMA is the only force countering this party whereas other opposition parties like the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz are pro-US with respect to their policies and are ready to move along with secular forces," Qazi said. He said that differences of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) with the Army were only for power-sharing. Benazir Bhutto has already asked General Musharraf to allow her to become prime minister and continue himself as the president, he said, adding she was also acceptable to the United States.

Qazi said that national security and independence were at stake and only the MMA had the courage and capability to pull the country out of the crisis. He said the JI was an important component of the MMA. Qazi said that efforts to destroy the country politically, economically and culturally had been stepped up with the involvement of the Aga Khan Foundation in Pakistan's education sector. "Serious efforts are being made to change the cultural, ideological and religious values of the country with the help of the AKF, non-government organisations and the media," he said. He stressed the need to build a blockade against the cultural attack to prevent serious damages to the country's ideological foundations. He said that the JI's annual congregation, starting on October 3, was of vital importance because the nation was at crossroads where it had to decide whether to continue moving towards secularism, military dictatorship and autocracy or march towards democracy.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2004 12:37:14 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I love that sentence. Whenever I think of Islamism, suffocating sexism, murder of those less holy, and using ignorant religious adherents for wealth and power, I also think of "march towards democracy".
Posted by: ed || 08/28/2004 1:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Is J.I. a component/part of MMA?
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 08/28/2004 15:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah. Qazi wants to be caliph someday. He Fazl, Sami, and their egos are the powers that be in MMA.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2004 18:28 Comments || Top||

#4  sounds like the sh*ts gonna hit the fan. I hope Perv's got a STRONG survival instinct
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 18:37 Comments || Top||


Clerics condemn raids on madrassas, Noor's murder
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Ittehad Tanzimat-ul-Madaris (ITM) observed Friday as protest day against raids on madrassas and the murder of Qari Noor Muhammad in police custody. Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Almi Tanzeem-e-Ahle Sunnat, Imamia Students Organisation (ISO) and other Shia and Sunni parties also held protest demonstrations against American aggression in Iraq.

MMA and ITM held demonstrations after Friday prayers where clerics condemned raids on madrassas and demanded that those responsible for Mr Noor's death be punished. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial leader Maulana Amjad Khan, MMA Punjab President Hafiz Muhammad Adrees and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Lahore chief Mian Maqsood Ahmed led the demonstrations. JUP and ISO demonstrated outside the Lahore Press Club against firing by the American troops at Hazrat Ali's shrine in Najaf. Allama Hussein Akbar and Allama Munawar Akbar asked Muslims to unite against the US aggression.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2004 12:34:56 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Hundreds protest raids on mosques
Hundreds of people staged a demonstration outside Lal Masjid after the Friday congregation, protesting police raids on mosques and seminaries. Protesters held up placards condemning the government and the highhandedness shown by law officials. They shouted slogans that the government would do anything to appease the western world. Muthahidda Majlise-e-Amal MNAs Shujaul Mulk, Shah Abdul Aziz and Fayyazul Rehman said unseen hands were trying to create a rift between the government and religious parties. They said that the gulf between the two sides would only widen if the onslaught on seminaries was not halted. They demanded that the fake cases registered against religious leaders, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Abdul Aziz, be withdrawn immediately. The spouses of the accused told reporters that the decree of irtadad (apostasy) would be issued against the government if it did not halt the raids and withdraw the charges against the religious leaders. They demanded that cases be registered against the officers who conducted the raid at a female hostel.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2004 12:33:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good for them!
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 2:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Gentle,

Good for whom?
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/28/2004 5:30 Comments || Top||

#3  sshhhh trailing wife, she needs to ask her teacher first!
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/28/2004 5:40 Comments || Top||

#4 
The spouses of the accused told reporters that the decree of irtadad (apostasy) would be issued against the government if it did not halt the raids and withdraw the charges against the religious leaders.

And you all know what Allan wants Moslems to do with apostates.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/28/2004 9:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Collect rocks? The handy stones.

Make ready the holy recconing. Vent the rath of allan. For he is a vengeful god and his prophet wouldn't have it any other way!
Posted by: Lucky || 08/28/2004 10:35 Comments || Top||

#6  When the Saudi Princes finally arrive at their day of reckoning for funding terrorism, there will not be any more of these madrassas because their funding will have been dried up. Then these folks can demonstrate against nothing til the cows come home.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/28/2004 11:37 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
UN Worried About Paleo Diet Plan
via SFGate - EFL
U.N. voices concern over hunger-striking Palestinians in Israeli jails
STEVE WEIZMAN - Friday, August 27, 2004 11:06 PDT
JERUSALEM -- United Nations Mideast peace envoy Terje Roed-Larsen Friday urged Israeli prison authorities to ensure the well-being of Palestinian prisoners on their 13th day of a hunger strike. A U.N. statement said Roed-Larsen also called on both the Israelis and the prisoners to renew efforts to end their dispute, over prison conditions and visiting rights.
"And here's a nice set of Richard Simmons' Deal-a-Meal cards to get you started."
Among the approximately 2,600 strikers' demands are transfer to prisons along the borders between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip or in Israeli-held parts of the Palestinian areas, which would facilitate family visits.
Along with this very long list of demands.
Larsen reminded Israel of its obligations under a U.N. convention and "relevant international human rights instruments which provide for the protection of detainees and prisoners." A U.N. press release said Larsen urged Israeli authorities to "comply with its international obligations and to make every effort to find, with the prisoners, an appropriate resolution to the hunger strike."
...more...
Oh dear. Oh my. The Paleos! They must live! Screw the Sudanese - these are the UN Poster Children!
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 12:32:17 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excuse me. Fuck the UN. They have done nothing to help solve this intractable problem of Paleos wanting to murder every man, woman and child in Israel. In fact they have been a hinderance to Israel protecting it's self. STFU and get out of the way UN. If these dimbulb Paleos starve themselves to death ( something that Israel will never allow BTW) too freeking bad.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/28/2004 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm worried too. An all juice diet can give them the runs. Limit them to water only.
Posted by: ed || 08/28/2004 1:11 Comments || Top||

#3  A U.N. press release said Larsen urged Israeli authorities to "comply with its international obligations and to make every effort to find, with the prisoners, an appropriate resolution to the hunger strike."

If the prisoners croak due to their refusal to eat, I'd say that the hunger strike (for each individual, that is) was "resolved"...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/28/2004 2:09 Comments || Top||

#4  *** YAWN ***
Posted by: A Jackson || 08/28/2004 11:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Some Palestinian Prisoners Suspend Hunger Strike
"Reuters - 7 hours ago
About 800 Palestinian prisoners have suspended their hunger strike after winning concessions from Israeli authorities, a spokesman for the men said Saturday."
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 11:45 Comments || Top||

#6  From the list of demands:

5. To give back kitchen equipment that was taken away from prisoners in all "security" prisons
6. To change old kitchen utensils and replace them with new ones


WTF??
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/28/2004 12:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Here's a FAQ covering the new pali prisoners eating utensils.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 12:23 Comments || Top||

#8  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Halfass Pete TROLL || 08/28/2004 12:56 Comments || Top||

#9  [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by: Antiwar TROLL || 08/28/2004 13:02 Comments || Top||

#10  meow
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 13:20 Comments || Top||

#11  "The prisoners in Ashkelon prison are stopping their hunger strike until Monday as they have reached a partial agreement with the prison administration there,"

Until Monday? I didn't know hunger strikes had lunch breaks. Typical Paleo bullshit.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/28/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||

#12  FUCK ALL YOU FILTHY MUSLIM LOVING MOTHERFUCKERS. ALL OF YOU CAN KISS MY GODDAMN ASS.
Posted by: Halfass Pete || 08/28/2004 15:37 Comments || Top||

#13  Bye Hap!
Posted by: Shamu || 08/28/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||

#14 
Whenever I want to read Halfass Pete's thoughts, I go straight to the Sink Trap, where they are conveniently assembled.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/28/2004 16:13 Comments || Top||

#15  Fuck the paleshitians, Fuck the u.n., Fuck 'em all.
Filthy muslim animals, who cares if they starve to death? Hell, poison the sons-of-bitches.
Posted by: Halfass Pete || 08/28/2004 12:56 Comments || Top||

#16  Fuck YOU Shitass Pete and the mother you rode in on.
Posted by: Antiwar || 08/28/2004 13:02 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
After Najaf - At the Ready to Answer Sadr's Call
via WaPo - Reg Req'd - Full article.
By Karl Vick and Naseer Nouri - Saturday, August 28, 2004
Truce Holds as Pilgrims Enter Holy City
Militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr surrendered the sacred shrine of Imam Ali on Friday and then surrendered weapons as well, bringing a largely peaceful end to a ferocious three-week battle with U.S. forces that challenged the authority of Iraq's interim government by holding hostage one of the country's most hallowed places. "Drop your weapons and leave Najaf and Kufa," a voice on loudspeakers began instructing fighters mid-morning, reading a statement from Sadr. "You have done a great job."
"You got your butts kicked by the Americans and their lackeys! Great job, great job!"

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 12:24:41 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fox just had a clip showing 'Merkins in action in Sadr City - the fight's shifted and there's no shrine to protect the snuffies now. Said GI's were attacked with RPG's and AK's with no injuries suffered
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  I've talked about LT Brian Suits, a local talk radio host doing service in Iraq. Yesterday he did an interview and said the big news regarding the Hard Boyz' pull out was how many of them were stealing the jewels.

"Look Abu, someone left jewels all around, by god we should take them."

I was surprized to learn that the worlds largest diamond, the star of India(?) (Which was looted from infedels, praise allan) is in that mosquekkk

He also said that Iraqies arn't stupid. They know that when GIs shoot, they hit what they shoot at. So they arn't buying the argument that collateral damage is the fault of GIs. They know the problem lay with the proven thugs of sadr's army.
Posted by: Lucky || 08/28/2004 10:57 Comments || Top||

#3  The Star of India is in the Imam Ali Shrine?

NOW we know why they were virtually apoplectic about US troopers going inside - they have a monopoly on theft and looting...
Posted by: .com || 08/28/2004 11:23 Comments || Top||

#4  The Star of India is in Iraq?
Send in the Guards!
Posted by: Victoria || 08/28/2004 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  hmmm - I thought the Star of India was an 1863 bark tied up at the San Diego Embarcadero
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 12:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Does that boat live there in San Diego? If so Ima going to go see it someday.

Surprized me too about that diamond being in that Shrine. Makes me wonder about saddam. But thats what Lt Suits said. He also said the Iraqi forces are getting better and starting to form an espirit de corp. Thinks they are going to be alright.
Posted by: Lucky || 08/28/2004 12:55 Comments || Top||

#7  yep - permanent mooring, but they take it out periodically to sail off the coast - beautiful ship. The HMS Surprise (from Master and Commander movie-fame) is also berthed there til Nov (?) and also has tours
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 13:20 Comments || Top||

#8  I thought the Star of India was a Sapphire?
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 13:53 Comments || Top||

#9  It is.
Posted by: ed || 08/28/2004 14:20 Comments || Top||

#10  Upon googling Star of India:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_India_%28gem%29
The Star of India is a 563.35 carat star sapphire, the largest such gem in the world.

The gem was mined in Sri Lanka, is a greyish blue, and currently resides in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Posted by: ed || 08/28/2004 14:22 Comments || Top||

#11  The Star of an Najaf? Does not have that ring to it:

The Star of In-dyiuh
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/28/2004 15:57 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Aziz vows to make Pakistan truly Islamic
That's what we need, by Gum! More Islam...
I feel better already. Can you hand me my abaya?
Prime Minister-elect Shaukat Aziz on Friday promised that his government would be a responsible and people's government in letter and spirit. "Our government will reflect the dream and vision of our beloved Qauid-e-Azam. It will ensure security of life and property and also ensure self-respect and freedom," Mr Aziz said in his speech to the National Assembly after his election as prime minister. Mr Aziz said the weak would be treated with kindness, while the corrupt and criminals would be dealt with sternly. "I firmly believe in the ideology of Pakistan. Our government will strive to incorporate Islamic values in society. We will seek guidance from the sunnah of the last prophet," he added.

Mr Aziz said that he was conscious of the challenges to the Muslim world and believed that enlightened moderation was the best way to deal with those challenges. He vowed to muster support from Islamic countries on the concept of enlightened moderation and to draw up a common strategy to cope with the existing challenges. Mr Aziz said that his government would make an independent and honourable foreign policy in the country's larger interests. "We will cement our ties with our neighbours, regional and Islamic states and big powers," he added.
I can think of one neighbor that won't have cemented ties.
Posted by: Fred || 08/28/2004 11:52:00 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What you guys do not realize is that this is the right move to make.
If they follow the true teachings of Islam, and forget the crap they are doing under it's cover they will not hurt, or kill, or rape, or start a fight. they will become truly honourable in dealing within themselves and with other nations.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/28/2004 9:05 Comments || Top||

#2  and the lion will lie down with the lamb, and Jews and Muslims will hug and exchange vows of friendship, and Synagogues will open in Mecca and Medina and honor killings will stop and muslim men will drop that prediliction for throwing acid in women's faces and....
Posted by: Frank G || 08/28/2004 9:08 Comments || Top||

#3  If they follow the true teachings of Islam, and forget the crap they are doing under it's cover they will not hurt, or kill, or rape, or start a fight.

Why, they'll be just like Mohammed! He never murdered, raped, warred, or robbed!
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/28/2004 11:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Our government will strive to incorporate Islamic values in society.

"So when do we start chopping off people's hands?"
Posted by: Raj || 08/28/2004 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  The problem is Gentle. There is no true teachings of islam. It was made up as it went along by a guy who claimed he talked to god. Thats why there is so much guilt associated with that religion. Thats why apostasy laws, (which you've never, to my knowledge, addressed) are needed in places that have the islamic faith as an ideal.

Your prophet was a fake. He glomned onto other religious thought that suitted his needs. So much blood on that mans hand. Think for yourself Gentle. Don't be a sheep, question the status quo. Maybe you, Gentle, can be the flower that will change islam into a religion that isn't at war with the world.

Mohammed wasn't a prophet anymore than Alexander was a god. He was just a charismatic leader that attempted to do an evil, fit for the devil himself. That is, conquer the world and bring it to heel.

This is the truth by god. But be careful telling anybody there in the UAE about these sort of ideas. Those handy stones!
Posted by: Lucky || 08/28/2004 11:38 Comments || Top||

#6  We could subcontract out the punishment of our thieves and dope dealers to an Islamic judicial organization. Hey, it's just a thought on the table for discussion.......
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/28/2004 11:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Anti, pay attention to Lucky and head towards the light of freedom.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/28/2004 12:06 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2004-08-28
  437 arrested in Islamabad crackdown
Fri 2004-08-27
  Former Yemeni interior minister helped Cole mastermind
Thu 2004-08-26
  Smell of Burned Flesh, Blood Smeared on Najaf Streets
Wed 2004-08-25
  Hamas op nabbed taping Maryland bridge
Tue 2004-08-24
  Two Russ planes boomed
Mon 2004-08-23
  Former Pak MP denies role in terrorist plot
Sun 2004-08-22
  Fatah splinter calls for bumping off Yasser
Sat 2004-08-21
  Tater wants to hand over mosque. Really.
Fri 2004-08-20
  U.S. Arrests Two Suspected Hamas Members
Thu 2004-08-19
  US Begins Major Push against Defiant Sadr
Wed 2004-08-18
  Bombs found near Berlusconi's villa after Blair visit
Tue 2004-08-17
  Tater wants Pope to mediate
Mon 2004-08-16
  Terror group threatens Dutch with "Islamic earthquake"
Sun 2004-08-15
  Terrorist summit was held in Waziristan in March
Sat 2004-08-14
  Tater wants UN peas-keepers


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