Western stars participate 20th anniversary of US deadly air strikes on its Libyas main cities.
Basking in its two-year-old rapprochement with the West, Libya boasts that this year its commemorations for Washington's deadly 1986 air strikes on its main cities will be joined by Western stars. Veteran US soul singer Lionel Ritchie and Spanish tenor Jose Carreras are among the acts that Libya says will be performing in the capital in the early hours of Saturday, exactly 20 years after US warplanes flying out of British bases hit their targets, killing at least 40 people. WTF?
More importantly, who the fuck?
"A big festival is planned near the (Tripoli) residence of leader Moamer Kadhafi, where his (adopted) daughter Hana died in the US strike," an information ministry official said. "Artists from the United States and Europe will take part to send the whole world a message that art is capable of uniting peoples whom politics has divided and to express their regret for what their governments did." And which Libyan artists will be permitted to express their regrets for Khadaffy's many crimes?
Don't express any regrets for me, 'cause I don't have any.
The commemoration is to be called the "Hana Festival for Freedom and Peace" in remembrance of the Libyan leader's slain daughter. When they have the "LaBelle Disco Festival for Retribution and Justice", I'll be first in line for tickets.
How about the 'Leon Klinghoffer Festival for Life and Freedom'?
It is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 am (0030 GMT), the exact time the US raid on the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi began in revenge for a bomb attack on a West Berlin disco frequented by US servicemen which Washington blamed on Libyan agents. Candles will be lit and patriotic songs sung before the concert proper gets under way.
Richie and Carreras are among 65 foreign musicians who are booked to perform.
I imagine this has just got to pay well.
A second concert is to be held in the same venue Saturday evening featuring Arabic music by guest performers including Egyptian singer Mohammed Munir. A film on the US raid entitled: "The Resistance to the Attack" is also to be shown, along with children's drawings and paintings.
Resistance to the Attack will be a 'short' film.
A conference is to be held, which organizers hope will be attended by Western academics, on the theme: "The US attack, its consequences and the right of Libyans to compensation and an apology".
"In a bad world where Iraq is occupied and racism reigns in every country, we are sending out a message of peace through the artists of the world," said organizer Osama Mohammed. Then US president Ronald Reagan famously called Kadhafi the "mad dog" of the Middle East in his justification of the US bombings.
But Ronnie was too nice a man.
But unlike the Iranian and Iraqi regimes, which went on to form part of President George W. Bush's "axis of evil", the Libyan leader was afraid for his life pragmatic enough to call in the very Western intelligence services he had long assailed to certify his abandonment of efforts to acquire non-conventional weapons. The resulting public announcement in late 2003 was followed by the restoration of relations by Washington in June the following year.
But Kadhafi never forgave Reagan himself for the bombings. When the former president died in June 2004, the Libyan leader said he regretted his death because it meant he could never be prosecuted for his crimes "against the children of Libya". We need to be unforgiving to the Western stars who participate in this repugnant spectacle. Their names should be widely circulated throughout the blogosphere.
I'll regret when Kadhafi dies, because it will mean we can never prosecute him for the Berlin disco bombing that killed US servicemen.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2006 9:58 Comments ||
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#4
Lionel Ritchie? Yeah, not like he don't have a lotta time on his hands thes days. Maybe he can give Mo Jeri Curl tips and tell him what it's like to get beat up by your wife?
#8
LMAO Seafarious, and don't forget "3 Times a Dhimmi". Encore highlight will be his duet with Uncle Mo himself, where they'll sing "Hello, Is It Me You're Looking For?" with pictures of Reagan & his bombed palace in the background.
#10
I still remember the "Line of Death" in the Med
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2006 15:15 Comments ||
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#11
I was in England when the F111s took off. We had a full-scale intelligence brief, and told to be very careful, because there could be retaliations. I saw the post-attack imagery about a week later.I hope Bush has the cojones to attack Iran that Reagan had to attack Libya, and uses an even BIGGER stick. The muslim world needs to know that if they stir this ant's nest, they'll get stung, and stung badly.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/13/2006 18:29 Comments ||
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#12
Another thing Ronnie called them is " a bunch of Loony Tunes" . QED.
#1
Bullies only understand force. This means that you can never rely on any authority that won't use force against them. So the only proper response, if you can't effectively use force yourself, is to hire someone to use it on your behalf.
In this case, they should find who is the local instigator, and have him counter-terrorized. Since many such bullies are cowards themselves, they will quickly stop being aggressive, and start paying a lot of attention to protecting their own behinds.
It is fair, they send their thugs after you, and do so with the protection of the police. So in turn, you ignore the police and send thugs after them.
#2
I am very pleased to see Human Rights Watch and similar organizations now starting to bring the islamic abuses into MSM light.
They are almost starting to speak up on behalf of Christian minorities in islamic lands. And the Afghan christian swooped to safety.
It's been a long, long time coming. But these small starts are good. And when compared with the ususal west-bashing whiney little problems, might start to get some serious outrage happening.
Need the Bono on board to make it "real" for the teewee gen.
Saudi Arabia would soon establish a National Security court, said Tuesday Saudi Minister of Interior Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, stressing that no terrorism suspect would be excluded from trial.
"Unless they're from the right families," he added under his breath.
Though a few might take 'a drive into the desert'.
He stressed that that detainees were not kept in jail unless they were sentenced by the court and that the Interior Ministry released a number of detainees in terrorism cases who were proven to be innocent. He affirmed that non-Saudi elements were arrested for involvement in the latest attack on Bqaiq's oil facilities in Eastern Saudi Arabia last February. Concerning Al-Qaeda cells in Saudi, he said that there were people representing terrorism in the country and that the ministry has been strictly dealing with them, noting that the ministry has been arresting approximately a person every week. And as a side note:
Prince Nayef's statement came after the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) annual celebration for the launch of the organization's report on humanitarian work for 2006, which was held under his auspices. The UNICEF 2006 report was launched for the first time in Saudi Arabia in Arabic language, which reflected the organization's appreciation for the Saudi role in the humanitarian arena.
SANDHURST, England - Prince Harry stood tall with saber drawn Wednesday during ceremonies marking his graduation from Britain's elite military academy, marching proudly in front of his beaming grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, as he completed 40 weeks of training.
The 21-year-old second son of Prince Charles entered Sandhurst military academy in May 2005 and trained to become an army officer in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry, one of the British army's oldest units. He will be eligible for future military service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The prince has spoken of his determination to take a place on the front line alongside his colleagues if called.
Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke of Edinburgh looked on with pride as the cadets paraded around the academy's grounds about 40 miles southwest of London. The queen, in a peach overcoat and matching hat, delivered a short speech of congratulations and advice. "If you look at the careers of successful officers, you will find that, no matter how clever they have been, what really matters is how they related to people under their command," she said.
She noted that preparing to be an officer is more than learning some basic military procedures but rather the first step in becoming a leader. "It was not by chance that the motto chosen for the Royal Military Academy is 'Serve to Lead,'" she said.
Harry will serve in an armored reconnaissance unit and train to become a troop commander, in charge of 11 men and four light tanks.
Rule, Britannia, rule the waves;
Britons never will be slaves.
The nations, not so blest as thee,
Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall:
While thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
Still more majestic shalt thou rise,
More dreadful, from each foreign stroke:
As the loud blast that tears the skies,
Serves but to root thy native oak.
#1
Fair play to him,if only more would join the forces instead of doing fck all with life.He gets my respect alot more then his oddball dad or dosy brother! Hes gonna be a bullet magnet though surly? lol.
#3
Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke of Edinburgh looked on with pride
makes me wonder about dear old dad while adoring the Muslim lifestyle so much, how he'd see things if say Harry goes to Iraq.
Good for you Harry.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/13/2006 11:25 Comments ||
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#6
Actually, Prince William is also at Sandhurst as an officer cadet since January; Prince Harry is simply graduating earlier (having entered in May 2005).
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
04/13/2006 12:26 Comments ||
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#7
Hence, I wouldn't call Prince William "dosy" -- assuming that he's like his brother, then Prince Charles sired two good sons.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
04/13/2006 12:28 Comments ||
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#9
I give him props sounds like he is determined to become what his Dad never could be
A MAN AND A WORTHY LEADER OF MEN AND NATION.
The Queen is a old school hardcore and it looks she has groomed her heir to be quite well.
Prince Andrew seems to have gotten the balls of the family: In April 2, 1982, the British colony of the Falkland Islands was invaded by Argentina, an event that led to the Falklands War. Prince Andrew's ship, HMS Invincible was one of only two operational aircraft carriers available to the Royal Navy, and as such was to play a major role in the Royal Navy taskforce being assembled to sail south to retake the islands.
At first the British government were apprehensive of allowing Prince Andrew to remain on Invincible, and wished to move him to a desk job. The prospect of the son of the Queen being killed in action was a possibility, and the government wished to avoid such a circumstance. However, the Queen insisted that Prince Andrew be allowed to remain with his ship, and so he joined the Invincible as it sailed south, as a Sea King helicopter co-pilot.
Throughout the conflict Prince Andrew flew on various missions, including Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti-Surface Warfare search (ASUW), as well as acting as an Exocet missile decoy; a hitherto secret tactic which the Prince inadvertently revealed to journalists after the war. He also helped in casualty evacuation, transport and Search and Air Rescue (SAR). When the conflict ended, and Invincible returned to Portsmouth, the Queen and Prince Philip joined other families of the other crew to welcome the vessel home.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/13/2006 14:51 Comments ||
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#12
The Royals revenge the princess. We hear he already can't abide non-dancers and muzwats. Beware Mohammad Al Fayed, he'll soon be leading the SAS against your friends and family.... and maybe even your FAT WHINING ARSSS!
#13
For those of you feeling sorry for Harry, ie (being thrown to the wolves); he will be shadowed by two Royal 'uniformed' body guards, with license to kill for so much as sneezing on the Heir, in behalf of the Throne; sorry MI-6!
TOKYO (AP) - North Korea threatened Thursday to use the delay in six-party nuclear talks to bolster its military ``deterrent force,'' a phrase the isolated communist nation often evokes in reference to its nuclear weapons program. ``It's not bad that the resumption of nuclear talks are delayed. During that period, we will make more deterrent force,'' said North's top nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan, speaking at a news conference in Tokyo. ``We will react in an ultra hardline manner if the United States continues to apply pressure and sanctions. We will never yield to pressure.''
Wonder if they'll yield when they're broke? ... Nah.
Kim added, however, that North Korea would be willing to return to international nuclear talks, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program, if the United States lifts a freeze on disputed North Korean assets in a Macau bank. North Korea has refused to restart the talks unless the financial restrictions - imposed on a Macau bank and North Korean companies - are lifted, but Washington has maintained the sanctions are unrelated to the nuclear talks and will stay in place. The assets total about $24 million, which Washington says is linked to money laundering and counterfeiting. ``I will go to the negotiating table the moment I seize the assets with my hands,'' Kim said at a news conference, hours before he was scheduled to leave Tokyo.
All about the money. Freezing their funds looks way smart in retrospect ...
Kim said his country understands the U.S. campaign against counterfeiting and money laundering and is prepared to cooperate with Washington but lashed out at the United States for taking advantage of Pyongyang's commitment to help. In February, the North pledged to join international efforts to fight money laundering, but it has denied accusations the regime is directly involved in financial crimes.
After the Tokyo discussions, Chinese chief negotiator Wu Dawei said there was no possibility of resuming talks by the end of April, saying the sanction issue was the chief stumbling block. ``We'll continue to make efforts,'' Wu said. ``At the moment, our prospects are still unclear.''
The chief U.S. negotiator on the North Korean nuclear issue, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, met with counterparts from Japan and South Korea on Wednesday and said the five nations urging North Korea back to the talks were forming a common strategy. Hill said the decision was now up to North Korea. ``I think that the six-party talks are in everybody's interest including their interest, and I think they ought to make a decision to come back,'' Hill told reporters upon arrival in South Korea.
South Korean chief negotiator Chun Young-woo, who also left Tokyo on Wednesday, said North Korea's linkage of the U.S. financial sanctions to the nuclear talks was not in Pyongyang's best interest. ``North Korea's position has not changed,'' Chun conceded.
Speculation had been high that Hill would meet with Kim, but such an official meeting never materialized. The two had a brief encounter Tuesday, said Chun, but it was not a full meeting.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2006 01:20 ||
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#1
Meeneywhile, 'tis quiet as crickets down under a'nar dem dat TAIWAN!? Everyone knows the SpetzNorks won't attack anyone unless Beijing approves it first, however quietly - China and its CCCC/CCP, however, has no such privelege wid TAIWAN whether for attack or defense. China + NK up north will face the combined might of the USDOD, JAPAN and its highly capable SDF's, and a well armed, well-trained SOUTH KOREA; against TAIWAN, however, short of American Guam,CNMI, and predomin pro-America Micronesia, there's only the Pacific ocean, the Philippines, and NORTH VIETNAM where the CCP is slowly trying to take control of the still anti-Everyone NVN Commies in Hanoi, plus the smaller nations of South Asia. Besides being where America-Allied milfors are not, and in consideration of its own OTH capabilities at present or in near future, for China to attack TAIWAN and in the strategic direction of SOUTH-SOUTHEAST ASIA first is logical becuz of the militarily weaker nations there, plus Singapore, the world-vital Straits of Malacca, and US-Brit base at DIEGO GARCIA, etc. to cut off America's MLC/MLL [Logistics]/MLR {Reinforcements] to the Persian Gulf and East Africa, thereby weakening Amer forces vv any Chicom-specific or Sino-Russian interventionism vv USA-IRAN. The Norks know they have no independent manifest destiny except as a PC, un-annexed, vassal-slave-peon state of China - the Norks have to decide whether future pan-Korean freedom and democracy is worth helping to destabilize and defeat the USA for OWG-Global Socialist Order, in return for the status quo and pretending China doesn't control them.
AN Australian-born RAF doctor has been found guilty of refusing lawful orders to serve in Iraq.
Flight-Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, was found guilty by a jury panel of officers from Britain's Royal Air Force, at a court martial in Aldershot, in southern England.
He had refused to serve in Iraq as he believed the US-led occupation there was illegal under international law.
He had served in the Persian Gulf twice before, but refused to return for a third tour of duty.
The jury panel and the judge advocate have retired to consider his sentence.
During the trial, which began on Tuesday, Kendall-Smith condemned the actions of the US-led coalition as the same as those of Nazi Germany during World War II.
He said he feared being legally complicit in potential war crimes if he served for the RAF in Iraq, alluding to the World War II Nuremberg trials which invalidated the defence of "only following orders".
The prosecution argued Britain's presence in Iraq at the time of Kendall-Smith's refusal in June/July 2005 was lawful because it was at the invitation of the interim Iraqi government and mandated by the United Nations.
Kendall-Smith studied legal opinion on the legality of the Iraq occupation before informing the RAF he was not willing to serve there.
The trial was marked by some clashes between Kendall-Smith and Judge-Advocate Jack Bayliss, who accused the RAF officer of grandstanding in his arguments against the occupation.
Kendall-Smith was found guilty on all five charges of refusing a lawful order, associated with his failure to attend training and equipment-fitting sessions and his failure to deploy.
The jury panel of officers deliberated for less than two hours.
Kendall-Smith was born and did his early schooling in Australia before moving to New Zealand.
He returned to work in Australian hospitals before going back to New Zealand in 1996 to complete a post-graduate diploma in philosophy. He later joined the RAF.
While he was born in Australia, he is now a dual citizen of Britain and New Zealand.
#1
It is my understanding Cockrtwo Island needs a good medic. Go ahead doc, make your selection:
The following is a list of Australian penal colonies.
Cockatoo Island, New South Wales
Port Arthur, Tasmania
Port Phillip
Macquarie Harbour Penal Station
Maria Island, Tasmania
Moreton Bay
Norfolk Island
Rose Hill
Richmond District, Van Diemens Land
Risdon Cove
Sarah Island
Sullivans Cove (Hobart)
Swan River Colony see also: History of Western Australia
Sydney Cove
#2
He said he feared being legally complicit in potential war crimes if he served for the RAF in Iraq, alluding to the World War II Nuremberg trials which invalidated the defence of "only following orders".
Well seeing how he had already done 2 tours over there, this sounds like bullshit to me.
PRIME Minister John Howard said today he believed as early as 2002 that Saddam Hussein was rorting the UN oil-for-food program, but never suspected the Australian Wheat Board had any part in the corruption.
Testifying to the Cole inquiry today, Mr Howard said he "did not receive or read" any of a batch of diplomatic cables documents that could have alerted him to suspicious deals between AWB and Iraq.
Suspicions about AWB, Mr Howard said, "did not really enter my mind until 2005", despite his long-held view that the scheme had been corrupted.
"There was absolutely no belief anywhere in the Government at that time that AWB was anything other than a company of great reputation," Mr Howard told the inquiry.
Your say: The AWB scandal
He said there was "nothing by way of hard evidence" given to the Government to support allegations raised by UN officials that the AWB may have had illegal contracts with Iraq.
"It would appear on the face of it the matter was going to be dealt with," Mr Howard said.
It is now known that AWB was the biggest single contributor of kickbacks to the Iraqi regime, funnelling $290m to Saddam's government. AWB was the biggest provider of humanitarian food aid under the program.
The Cole inquiry has uncovered a steady stream of diplomatic cables sent to Canberra from New York and Baghdad highlighting the involvement of AWB in sanction-busting deals.
Today, Mr Howard said he saw none of those cables. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer admitted seeing at least one of the warnings but admitted it was not of great concern.
The inquiry today heard that Mr Howard gave a speech to the National Press Club in March 2003, the month the allied forces invaded Iraq, in which he condemned Saddam's government for rorting the UN's oil-for-food program.
Counsel assissting the inquiry, John Agius SC, asked Mr Howard when he first believed the Iraqi dictator's government had been rorting the program.
"It would be well before that," Mr Howard said.
"Probably a year or more that I would have had that belief."
Mr Agius: "In that connection did you ever have any suspicion that any Australian company including AWB, one of the largest exporters to Iraq, might have been involved in that rorting?"
Mr Howard: "No I didn't.
"I'd never been presented with any hard evidence.
"I guess I was conscious only of AWB because of the predominant role of AWB in the wheat trade and I had always believed the best of that company as had most people in the government."
In a statement to the inquiry, Mr Howard denied seeing even one of the documents uncovered by the inquiry which would have alerted the government to the in kickbacks being paid to Iraq.
Mr Howard said he did not see a cable sent in June 2003 stating the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq believed all contracts between Saddam's government and companies involved in the UN's oil-for-food program contained kickbacks of between 10 and 19 per cent.
Mr Howard agreed with Mr Agius that the warning in the cable was "a very bald statement" but he would not have expected his advisers to have showed it to him.
The cable was sent just three months after allied forces invaded Iraq and ousted Saddam's regime.
"The issue of whether the former regime had been corrupt and corrupted programs was not contentious to me," Mr Howard said.
"It was accepted that it had.
"I can only repeat that I don't necessarily dispute his judgement (his adviser's) in not bringing it to my attention particularly because the cable describes a mechanism whereby the issue was to be resolved."
Mr Howard was interrogated by counsel assisting the inquiry, John Agius QC, but commissioner Terence Cole then prevented any other cross-examination by lawyers representing other parties at the hearing.
"I do not believe any further cross-examination would assist this inquiry," Mr Cole said.
The Prime Minister was asked whether it would have stayed in his mind if he had been aware of the warning raised a cable from the UN.
Mr Howard replied: "Not necessarily because attacking the behaviour of one's trade competitors in the international wheat trade is fairly common."
Mr Howard was the first serving prime minister in 23 years to take the witness stand at such an inquiry.
A small group of demonstrators had gathered outside the Cole inquiry building and one protester who tried to enter the building after Mr Howard was arrested by more than a dozen police officers.
THE Australian Government would not stop David Hicks coming home to Adelaide should he be granted British citizenship and released from Guantanamo Bay. Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said yesterday that because Hicks would retain dual nationality, "we can't deny our own citizens access to Australia".
Hicks, 30, had a small victory on Wednesday when the High Court rejected a British Government appeal against a court decision that Hicks be granted British citizenship. Hicks, whose mother is British, hopes the British Government then would insist on his release from Guantanamo Bay, as it did for the other Britons held there, as it believed the military commission trials violated international legal standards.
The British Government, under pressure from Australia and the US, must decide by April 25 if it will appeal to the House of Lords. "We've just got to wait and see what happens," Hicks's father, Terry, said. "Everything's hunky-dory today and ratshit tomorrow." Hicks's military lawyer Major Michael Mori urged Britain not to appeal. He said the unanimous High Court verdict "clearly shows David's entitled to British citizenship".
#1
British citizen Hicks is free to leave Gitmo in a pine box...
Posted by: john ||
04/13/2006 14:02 Comments ||
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#2
"as it did for the other Britons held there, as it believed the military commission trials violated international legal standards." I believe it was a bit more than that. But given the moonbat statements of the former UK Detainees, I bet the Brits want to send them back.
ONE of nine men arrested in terror raids last year asked that John Howard be told Australia would ultimately be ruled by Muslim law, a court heard yesterday. Remember that article quite some time ago about that cleric who said Australia was a muslim country, since it was supposedly firts discovered by muslim sailors?
Khaled Cheikho, who described Allah's law as the "only law worthy of ruling mankind", also allegedly said that democracy was "full of s . . t". "So you tell Howard this and pass it on to Bush the motherf. . .er, tell him (I'm) gonna come and chop him up." Cheikho, 33, is charged along with eight other Sydney men over alleged preparations for a terrorist attack.
A revised federal police document tendered to Central Local Court for the bail application of one of his co-accused, Mirsad Mulahalilovic, on Monday also contained details relating to the other eight men. It detailed an outburst by Cheikho after he was arrested on November 8, 2005, and warned anything he said would be recorded.
Naming the Prime Minister and US President George W. Bush, Cheikho allegedly warned that Allah would "destroy wrongdoers" as he was the "annihilator of the tyrants and the infidels". "Did Howard ever tell you this . . . tell him I swear by Allah, you have put no fear into my heart, no fear," Cheikho allegedly said. "This is who we worship, who do you worship, Howard and the legislators? Your democracy is full of hypocrisy, is that it?
"Sharia law is gonna prevail throughout the land . . . You tell Howard this, tell him Islam is gonna rule this land."
He told police to go and learn about Sharia law, because "you're us". Cheikho allegedly continued: "The land, all the land is Allah's land, Allah created it and he's given it to Muslims and the Muslims are going to rule it."
The nine accused are said to have bought materials and prepared to carry out an attack on Australian soil. In evidence already revealed against them, police allege the men engaged in covert meetings to discuss attacks. Thousands of computer files were seized from all the men, containing anti-western songs, literature and speeches from sheikhs around the world.
Mulahalilovic allegedly had images of beheadings, a video of the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta and a document which was "praising the London bombings and promising Muslims more similar operations", the statement said. Others had similar material, including writings in support of jihad and the killing of non-believers. The group was also alleged to have been stockpiling chemicals and other products used in bomb-making.
Mulahalilovic has twice had a bail application refused but none of the other men have made an application.
Cheikho, Mulahalilovic, Mohamed Ali Elomar, Abdul Rhakib Hasan, Omar Baladjam, Khaled Sharrouf, Moustafa Cheikho, and Mazen Touma will reappear in Central Local Court next week for mention.
#3
. . . if you give up the right to remain silent, anything stupid you say is your own damned fault.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2006 13:38 Comments ||
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#4
Thanks for playing. Bye bye now.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2006 14:50 Comments ||
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#5
Khaled Cheikho, who described Allah's law as the "only law worthy of ruling mankind", also allegedly said that democracy was "full of s . . t". "So you tell Howard this and pass it on to Bush the motherf. . .er, tell him (I'm) gonna come and chop him up." Cheikho, 33, is charged along with eight other Sydney men over alleged preparations for a terrorist attack.
NO asylum seeker who arrives in Australia illegally by boat can expect to stay under a new hardline immigration regime announced today. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said the new system, which applies from today, was an extension of the Government's much-denounced Pacific solution introduced in 2001. Any illegal entrant to Australia will be shipped to Nauru, Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or Christmas Island, where they will stay until their visa applications have been processed.
They will be confined to Immigration Department centres on the islands until a home can be found for them elsewhere overseas. Even if their claims for asylum prove successful and they are found to be genuine refugees, they will be sent to a third country and can never hope to settle here.
But the policy shift does not apply to people who arrive illegally in Australia by air, of whom there are only a handful each year. "This particular change doesn't affect those who arrive by air. It is targeted quite specifically at unauthorised boat arrivals," Senator Vanstone said.
It also does not apply to the vast majority of people illegally in Australia now who arrived on valid visas, but overstayed their welcome. "If people come in lawfully to Australia they will, of course, be treated in the way they are now treated and some people do manage to come unlawfully by plane," Senator Vanstone said. She would not say how much the new regime will cost taxpayers, which Labor has warned will be expensive.
Today's announcement would have caught out the 42 Papuan asylum seekers granted temporary protection by Australia last month after arriving in a rickety boat, causing a massive rift with Indonesia. Those Papuans have been temporarily resettled in Melbourne.
Senator Vanstone said the changes would speed up claims procedures, but would not say whether Australia, or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), would be in charge of the processing.
The Government was widely criticised in 2001 when it introduced the so-called Pacific solution. The policy allowed Australia to send asylum seekers to offshore detention facilities outside its migration zone, like Nauru. It was precipitated by the rescue of 438 asylum seekers from a sinking Indonesian fishing boat in August, 2001 by the Norwegian vessel, Tampa.
Senator Vanstone said she did not expect the new policy would require any additional offshore centres. But she deferred questions about the reasons behind the extension of the Pacific solution, which was ticked off by Cabinet's national security committee only yesterday, to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Since the Papuans were granted asylum, Indonesia has temporarily recalled its ambassador, its companies are threatening to boycott Australian goods, and a host of prominent Australians have been named on a blacklist of Papuan separatist supporters.
Prime Minister John Howard has denied the policy shift is a bid to appease Australia's northern neighbour. "It's not done as a concession to Indonesia," Mr Howard said. "Having said that, the bilateral relationship with Indonesia and Australia ... is very important."
#1
I'm a strong supporter of the Howard Government and of a strict immigration policy. But this smacks of appeasing the Indonesians and I don't like it. Australia caved in when the UN (yeah it's them again) sanctified the Indonesian takeover of West Papua. IMHO this is the worst decision the Howard government has made in recent years.
#2
phil_b: But this smacks of appeasing the Indonesians and I don't like it.
There are millions of Indonesians - the majority of them Muslim - who would like to live in Australia. If Australia starts allowing Papuans in by the boatload, Indonesia will have a found a solution to its Papuan problem - it will simply force Papuans to leave.
#6
Any illegal entrant to Australia will be shipped to Nauru, Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or Christmas Island, where they will stay until their visa applications have been processed.
I just thought of a new use for GITMO.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/13/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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#7
Redneck Jim, hate to break it to you but GITMO is already used for this. The INS has used it for holding, before the present unpleasantness. Started after the Mariel boat lift.
Posted by: bruce ||
04/13/2006 18:50 Comments ||
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#8
Good, thanks I didn't know that.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/13/2006 21:07 Comments ||
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The European Union (EU) also admitted that the concept of Islamic terrorism is misused by racist groups in Europe and terror networks such as al-Qaeda.Thats what is referred to as a redundant statement.
The Union, taking action to rid such expressions, which are offensive to Muslims, from its dictionary, searches for new concepts behind closed doors. The European bloc is expected to release its new dictionary in June.
Works are underway to eliminate the expression Islamic terrorism from the EUs current dictionary.
Both the EU and Europol have been seeking a new concept for some time for the expression, Islamic terrorism.
Many experts believe that the words Islam and terrorism must not be used together, and concluded that the use of such expressions alienates Muslims in Europe. There you have it its the expressions not the ideology or refusal to assimilate.
As a result of long consultations with academic experts, the EU will review expressions such as Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorism, fundamentalist, and jihadi.
EU counter-terrorism chief Gijs de Vries, told Reuters, terrorism does not exist in the essence of any religion and praised Muslims struggling against those conducting terrorism in the name of religion.
Professor Rik Coolsaet, one of several authorities serving as an adviser to the EU, in the statement he made to Zaman, emphasized that Brussels realized such words can be used as political weapons. As opposed to the other kind.
Instead of expressions like Islamic terrorism and Islamofascist, a phrase the United States insistently uses, Brussels is trying to develop new concepts that will not cause offense to Muslims. YJCMTSU
Turkeys Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often objected to the expression Islamic terrorism. The incidents arising after the European press publication of the cartoons insulting Prophet Mohammed accelerated the activities of EU officials on this issue.
The activities currently being undertaken at the Council of Europe serve two purposes:
Firstly, to determine and eradicate the basic sources of the radicalism producing terror,
Secondly to produce a new communication strategy in the fight against religious-based terrorism that will not offend Muslims and will not be abused by the extreme right or terrorist organizations.
For nearly two years, the EU and member countries authorities have been conducting secret talks about how to solve the religion origin terror problem. Contrary to the US, the authorities think the issue is Europes and therefore it must be handled as a domestic issue.
The new concurrence is intended to ease European Muslim involvement in the struggle.
European officials are of the opinion that changes to the expression of Islamic terror are of paramount importance.
Directly hit by terrorist attacks on March 11 and July 7, Europe regards Islam as being enslaved by some fanatics, since Islam does not have anything to rely on to legitimize terror.
The European Union is working to develop a new and more appropriate terminology for use by bureaucrats and politicians. The new terminology will be introduced to public opinion in a new dictionary set for release in June.
Terrorist advocates of IslamRolls right off the tongue doesnt it? kill Muslims in largest numbers; that is to say, Muslims comprise the largest group of victims of terror in the world, according to the draft document, sources told Zaman.
Europeans have to formulate a particular method, dissimilar to that of the United States, for dealing with religion-based terrorism, said Rik Coolsaet, a professor of political sciences at Gent, and head officer of the Royal Institute of Belgium.
The term Islamic terrorism has for years provoked objections from Coolsaet, whom the European Union conferred with over the upcoming edition of the dictionary.
We have to care for the kind of people living here together with us, most of who have already worked very hard for citizenship from a European country. We should, therefore, desist from helping the right-wing extremists.
The European outlook on Islamic terrorism, unlike the United States aka The Great Satan, does not view it as a problem brought in from overseas, said Coolsaet, who also spoke out against a reference from George W. Bush, President of States, to Islamofascism.
That is a silly expression. Fascism is ironically a gift from Western Europe to the rest of the world. Islam, on the other hand, is a religion like any other religion, and cannot by any means be associated with fascism. The expression in question is invented with the intent of bolstering their assumptions and for use by neo-conservatives in the United States. This term is also in danger of being abused by such terrorist organizations as al-Qaeda. Call me "silly" but the abuse from al-Qaeda we should be concerned about is not their potential abuse of language.
#5
"#3 And so the continent begins its final plunge into the Long Dark Night. Bye-bye, Europe..."
I would say that is true of Old Europe but not Eastern Europe where the twin memories of Ottoman and Soviet rule still haunts the Poles, Hungarians, and others.
#6
They'll still have to come round and decide what to do with "terrorism"-i.e., is forced Islam "terrorism"? Forced Islam, as in apostate death sentences, as in destroyed churches and synagogues, as in crashes into WTCs and Coles, as in sharia law...
For all its standard puffing and prancing, the EU's thinking is neither sophisticated nor sound. The EU has developed a kind of speech pathology, unable to pronounce words that exactly communicate meaning. A tongue being cut from their mouths would be gratuitous censorship; they have removed their own tongues and can barely be understood anymore by those with intact self-preservation.
#1
Moderate Islam, properly so called, does not exist because there is no institutional and moderate form of Islamic theology. There are moderate Muslims, and some of them see things with a clear and long-term perspective. But Islam itself, or rather the institutional religious culture of the Muslims, has reacted in its encounter with modernity by entrenching itself in fundamentalist positions. And this is true not only in Iran or Pakistan, but also in Egypt.
Not a Catholic. But I think this is very astute, and the key to the whole arguement we must make to soft-in-the-head liberals..
Earlier this year there was a town hall meeting on the Iraq war, sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), with the participation of such antiwar organizations as CodePink and MoveOn.org. The event also featured Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a former Marine who had become an outspoken critic of the war. To this Iraq war veteran, it was a good example of something that's become all too common: People from politics, the media and elsewhere purporting to represent "our" views. With all due respect, most often they don't.
The tenor of the town meeting was mostly what one might expect, but during the question-and-answer period, a veteran injured in Afghanistan stood up to offer his view. "If I didn't have a herniated disc, I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops," said Mark Seavey, a former Army sergeant who had recently returned from Afghanistan. "I know you keep saying how you have talked to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. The morale of the troops I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back despite the hardships. . . ."
"And, Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just arrived back from Afghanistan -- we never got a letter, we never got a visit from you, you didn't come to our homecoming. The only thing we got was a letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That's reprehensible. I don't know who you two are talking to, but the morale of the troops is very high."
What was the response? Murtha said nothing, while Moran attempted to move on, no pun intended, stating: "That wasn't in the form of a question, it was a statement."
It was indeed a statement; a statement from both a constituent and a veteran that should have elicited something more than silence or a dismissive comment highlighting a supposed breach of protocol. This exchange, captured on video (it was on C-SPAN), has since been forwarded from base to base in military circles. It has not been well received there, and it only raises the already high level of frustration among military personnel that their opinions are not being heard. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2006 12:27 ||
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#1
If you put Murtha and Moran in a barrel and rolled it down a hill, you'd always have a sleazy, traitorous S.O.B. on top. And I don't want to hear anything about Murtha's service, either. Benedict Arnold, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Kerry served too.
Posted by: mac ||
04/13/2006 13:36 Comments ||
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#2
No pollster is going to dare poll the military vote for these upcoming elections. Nor will they intentionally poll family members of military personnel.
Fortunately for the democrats, the military hatred for the MSM stands as a buffer; but if that hatred ever gets redirected to its proper cause, democrats will be severely punished.
Turning her attention from Iraq to Iran, anti-Americanwar activist Cindy Sheehan insists the U.S. has no justification for any kind of military response to the emerging nuclear threat from Iran, which today declared it successfully has enriched uranium. Writing in the left-wing Buzzflash.com, Sheehan said that after a war in Iraq, President Bush, the "swaggering imbecile of a 'leaker in chief' has the nerve to be trying to sell all of us on a new war in Iran. Do the warped neocons with their puppet president think that we are all stupid?" I don't know about all, but as for you...
" Fool us once, shame on us, fool us, -- well, we just can't be fooled again," she writes. You are a fool right now.
Iran announced today it has enriched uranium for the first time, a major development in its plan to develop nuclear fuel. A fairy tale story in the New Yorker by journalist Seymour Hersh, quoting non-existent anonymous sources, indicated the White House is preparing contingency plans that include the possibility of using nuclear bunker-buster bombs to take out Iranian underground facilities. Sheehan said the U.S. possession of nuclear weapons is "crazy, but talking about deploying them is sheer insanity." But Iranian possession is just peachy.
She fears this could lead to a world war. "With all of the 'Left Behind' religious fanatics praying for Armageddon, this thought is made even scarier by the fake believers in the White House who are exploiting the neo-Christian idea that Jesus was a war monger and anything our great leader does is okay, because he is a Christian man!" she declares. The U.S. also "must not even, for one moment, contemplate a conventional invasion in Iran either," she said. "No matter how George Bush lies about how rosy things are in Iraq, they aren't, and Iraq is proof that war of any kind is a horribly tragic way to solve problems."
She said the U.S. "must elect leaders that will get at the root causes of terrorism and not pretend that every terrorist can ever be killed to satisfy some kind of primeval bloodlust that flows through the war machine's veins. When our leaders go terrorist hunting they kill innocent men, women and children and they, themselves, become the very thing that they are trying to teach us to loathe."
Sheehan was arrested in January just prior to President Bush's State of the Union address, as she displayed a shirt proclaiming the number of dead American soldiers in Iraq. Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq and has since called terrorists "freedom fighters," bet her son would have loved that
said while she was not looking to cause any disturbance, she did wear the shirt "to make a statement." You made it: you are an evil traitor. I don't buy the "grief" thing; you know exactly what you are doing. Why don't you try to stop a bulldozer?
Posted by: K. Annan ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
No surprise here - STAY ARMED AND READY FOR ANYTHING, BOYS. The RINO, agenda-less DemoLefties have nuthin for 2008 POTUS ELex except new 9-11's and geopol-nuclear brinkmanship, to include region-specific limited nuclear war. They want us to believe its "politics as usual" but its NOT. Any cabal, to include anti-Amer Americans, that IMHO is willing to destroy, or collude/conspire in destroying, 3000 + of their fellow Americans has no scruples killing larger numbers to empower their agenda of Revolution, Fractionalism, Anarchies, anti-US OWG and Socialist World Order, etal. Iran has said it will attack America iff it or Israel attacks Iran, which in the end doesn't mean anything within the context of Iran's suppor for Global Caliphate and revived Persian Empires. America risks being attacked later anyways except this time by a nuclearized, missle-armed, potent Iran. Wid MadMoud and the Mullahs going hell-bent for dev nuke weapons and LR missle capabilities, THE GLITCH/SNAFU FOR THE DEMS IS WHETHER THEY WILL BE ABLE TO CONTROL OR EXTRICATE THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN FROM THE VERY SAME BRINKMANSHIP AND POTEN NUKE WAR THEY THEMSELVES EMPOWERED AND DESIRED TO USE AGAINST THE GOP-RIGHT.
#5
funny how the old marxist bag always turns up after big events such as katrina or the imigration marches. oh, yeah, i heard she had a son killed in iraq.
#8
Why they don't employ my "skunks for hippies" plan is beyond me. A few skunks tossed amongst the campers at night would send them running to the next county. Also it is low-cost and environmentally safe.
#9
Could we please refrain from calling the dog-faced wonder by her moonbat inspired nickname "Mother Sheehan"? It lends her a certain air of spirituality and dignity that she does not deserve. She's been doing a lot of travel lately, both here and abroad. May I recommend "Rover"?
#14
As I've said many times, I like Cindy Sheehan. I can see why the anti-war movement likes her and has chosen her for their poster child; she represents them.
The over 50's crowd who identify with Cindy are just like Cindy Sheehan. Aging, geeky, wit their entire sense of identity wrapped around their brief moment of youthful coolness that they once felt back in the 70's. It was their happy days. In the 50's it was the local soda shop. In the 70's it was sitting on the grass on a beautiful sunny day during a protest movement.
Today, they may be overweight, aging, and on the wrong side of history - but through Cindy they can relive those happy summers when they were young, carefree and - for a just brief moment - a true member of the in crowd.
#15
we should get equal time for all of the free press she has gotten.
Damn and I thought we were done with her, how is it she keeps coming back?!
'Half Baked Sheehan' may work. I thought of a few other choice labels but didn't want to get sinktrapped here lol
Posted by: Jan ||
04/13/2006 12:24 Comments ||
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wxJames: Actually, when Cindy says NO, it's a GO !
Took the words right out of my mouth. I'd go to war with Iran just to spite the bitch...
#17
noooooo! She's my friend. I like her. Give her a microphone. Let the world see what the anti-war movement is about. Menopausal women in need of HRT.
#18
A fairy tale story in the New Yorker by journalist Seymour Hersh, quoting non-existent anonymous sources, indicated the White House is preparing contingency plans that include the possibility of using nuclear bunker-buster bombs to take out Iranian underground facilities.
I, for one, am glad that our military IS preparing "contingency plans" for Iran. And, to include the possibility of (low-yield) nuclear bunker-buster bombs SHOULD be included. That's what a contingency plan is...prepare for ALL scenarios. In fact, I'd be more worried if we didn't include them in the plan. And, as always, the media places this "scare factor" into "nuclear weapons." (as in our low-yield bunker busters). Would mutha Sheehan prefer Berkley to be glowing by the MM's, or us use (again, low yield) bunker busters just to bust up some underground facilities? I think I know the answer to that one, and unfortunately, the MM's won't attack "friendly ground."
Posted by: BA ||
04/13/2006 15:38 Comments ||
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#20
"must elect leaders that will get at the root causes of terrorism"
I am so tired of this statement, to me it is obvious that Islam is the root cause for current terrorism. By definition terrorism is not a byproduct of a situation but more of an instrument in which one can achieve a certain goals. Much like war achieves a political situation different from an existing one.
Lefties seem to not able or willing to admit the obvious. A look at today's terror events all have a common denominator.
If we were able to call a spade a spade without the racism cries, this country could move forward and lead the world to better things. However with people like Snagglebrain Sheehan making headlines instead of Real and Accurate news items I fear the worst.
TOP Republican Newt Gingrich says the US should pull most of its forces out of Iraq and calls the occupation a "big mistake". Mr Gingrich, who was Republican speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999, and still commands national attention, told students at the University of South Dakota this week that the US should simply have a small reactive force stationed in Iraq.
"It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003," Mr Gingrich said during a question-and-answer session at the university reported in South Dakotan newspaper the Argus Leader. "We have to pull back, and we have to recognise it."
While public opposition from Democrats to the war is now common, Mr Gingrich is just one of a number of Republicans and retired senior military officers expressing serious reservations about the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. There are now regular calls for the resignation of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the latest coming this week from retired Lieutenant General Greg Newbold, who until 2002 served as one of the country's top military operations officers. He called on President George W.Bush to replace Mr Rumsfeld and noted that the Iraq invasion "was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions - or bury the results".
This prompted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, to offer a spirited defence of Mr Rumsfeld at a joint press conference at the Pentagon yesterday. "As far as Pete Pace is concerned, this country is exceptionally well served by the man standing on my left," General Pace said.
"Nobody, nobody, works harder than he does to take care of the PFCs (private first class) and lance corporals and lieutenants and the captains. "He does his homework. He works weekends, he works nights. People can question my judgment or his judgment, but they should never question the dedication, the patriotism and the work ethic of Secretary Rumsfeld."
COLMES: And Mr. Speaker, here's what you said yesterday in your speech. You said: "It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003." You said this to, according to the Argue Leader of Sioux Falls, South Dakota: "We have to pull back, and we have to recognize it."
Have you had a change in thinking?
I said, first of all, that in June of 203, Ambassador Bremer made a huge mistake by failing to try to develop an Iraqi interim government at that time and continue the process of liberating the country. And I have said that as early as December of 2003, long before the presidential election. I think that this was a mistake. We were much better off in Afghanistan, where we developed a government with President Karzai, and we had Afghans from day one helping run their own country.
I also said something which I think secretary Rumsfeld and General Abizaid and General Casey have all said, and that is that as rapidly as we can train Iraqi police and soldiers, that we should pull out of the cities and pull back to bases that allow the Iraqis to do the policing every day and allow us to be reinforcers rather than enforcers. But I think that's actually the administration plan and is not a contradiction with their position.
COLMES: You said on "Hannity & Colmes," if we pull back, you referred to it as cut and running. We can't do that. It would be showing the world we are afraid and have no courage. Yesterday you said we have to pull back; we have to recognize it. Very much like what John Kerry said last week. He came up with certain dates but he actually came up with a plan about pulling back, just like you suggested.
GINGRICH: Wait. But no, if you read what I actually said, Alan, I said we may have well have troops there for a very, very long time because of the direct threat from Iran and the danger of Iranians developing nuclear weapons and the kind of things that Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader, has been saying about defeating the U.S. and destroying Israel.
So I actually am the opposite of John Kerry. All I want to do is exactly what General Abizaid is doing, which is maximize the rate of training of Iraqi forces and minimize the direct exposure of Americans in trying to police the country.
I am not for any precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, and I think Senator Kerry was advocating a policy of absolute defeat when he suggested he would set a date, which I think he said could be as early as May.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Good to see you in New Hampshire, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to get to that in just a second. Don't think you're getting off the hook. I actually spent the time, and I actually listened to the speech. It's almost reckless to the extent that which has been reported and taken out of context, your remarks. Because they were a much broader way delivered. And you're talking from a very philosophical, historical standpoint.
And then you went on to support the current plan and the way it's going and everything else, which is a stark difference. It was only reported negatively in one place. There are a bunch of other media there. They did not report it the same way there, because they actually listened to the whole speech.
GINGRICH: Well, I think actually the one headline writer, unfortunately, for that one newspaper, just was wrong in how he interpreted the report. That, however, it's interesting to note, was the thing that got picked up by other newspapers that apparently didn't check the speech itself even though in the age of the Internet you can.
#1
I can hardly wait for the regular suspects around here to explain why Gingrich is really a Clinton liberal greasing the skids for the return of Billary.
#2
I am a Gingrich supporter at least on the small government economics way and he runs I would vote for him. Gingrich is a light weight in the Foreign policy region not really his strong point (could be fixed with some proper advisors).
But when I read that article I got really pissed but held for confirmation figured for sure Hanity would waste no time bringing him on Fox and taking to the mat if true. I was very pleased to see at a case of taken out of context. Pull back meaning pull back to Iraqi bases while Iraqi forces take the lead not the Skerry redeployment to ehhh stateside or Germany idiocy. Which I would bet Kerry would follow that up in short order with a end of all aid to Iraqi gov to complete the defeat.
#3
IMHO - Newt's testing the water's for Newt. He's said some bone-headed things lately, and will NEVER be elected President. He would make a good commerce Sec'ty or advisor
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2006 16:24 Comments ||
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#4
It seems Newt didn't say what the story said he said:
Gosh, the MSM tells lies to us. I'm shocked! Shocked! I'd cancel my paper but I did it years ago.
#5
Slease Elmomosing9748: I can hardly wait for the regular suspects around here to explain why Gingrich is really a Clinton liberal greasing the skids for the return of Billary.
I believe what I believe. I don't believe it because Gingrich said it. I supported Gingrich - in the sense of being willing to vote for him - because he helped to put my beliefs into action. The moment he stops doing so, I will stop supporting him. Gingrich doesn't influence my beliefs. Instead, his beliefs will influence whether I support him politically.
#6
Sounds like Newt's idea of a "pullback" is limited to tens of miles, if that. As bad as Murtha sounded, at least he limited it to a few hundred (IIRC - the Kuwaiti border), still, basically giving up.
Kerry, I suspect, thinks we should close bases in Hawaii, and pull back to Fort Knox, if necessary, and can we really discuss what's necessary, cause that may be an open issue as well.
Meanwhile, Newt's not at all unversed in foreign policy matters. It may seem that way, but he's been on the defense policy board for quite a while, and clearly has plenty of useful experience as speaker (much more useful than, say, being a small state governor).
I hoped he might show some decency, but then again, I'm a Cubs fan.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui said Thursday it made his day to hear accounts of Americans' suffering from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and he would like to see similar attacks "every day." Taking the witness stand for the second time in his death-penalty trial Thursday, Moussaoui mocked a Navy sailor who wept on the stand as she described the death of two of her subordinates. "If one good deed in all my life I did, I do repent it from my very soul."
#1
I am glad. I am SO glad. Let everybody know his beliefs, and cite them chapter and verse from his satanic book so they understand that the problems lies right at the foundation of this "religion".
#4
He's a gonna be a small (and simmering) fry, crispy critter.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/13/2006 18:26 Comments ||
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#5
I hope they don't execute him. That's obviously what he wants. Give him 3000 life sentances to be served consecutively. Or put him in an electric chair set to trickle charge.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/13/2006 19:09 Comments ||
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#6
I say we force him to undergo plastic surgery to look and speak like Micheal Jackson (including the removal of his tallywacker) then set him free. He'll die from Bunga Bunga.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2006 20:55 Comments ||
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#9
Like I said, bury him up to his neck near two giant fire ant hills then pour honey on his head. After a week draw and quarter him then bury pieces in pig shit.
#11
I think they should stage his execution, then xport him to a prison where he could meet something like an X-Files fate.
That's not *real* pain you think you are feeling, Mr Moussaoui. Disembodied brains can't feel *real* pain. But, then again, it *is* the next best thing to real pain.
Interesting, don't you think? Spending the rest of your life trapped in Ariel Sharon's body?
Bank of America Corp. will offer to reopen the accounts of three Arab-American customers that were closed in 2002 on suspicion of terrorism or money laundering, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said yesterday.
The offer drew praise from local Arab and Muslim leaders, who have long complained about the unexplained bank-account closures. The step was part of an agreement that resolves complaints from four people who alleged they were discriminated against because of their ethnicity by Fleet Bank, later purchased by Bank of America.
A spokeswoman for Reilly said an investigation of the bank's actions ''did not show a pattern of discrimination against customers of Arab or South Asian descent." Only 5 percent of all the accounts Fleet closed on suspicion of terrorism or money laundering in the Northeast were held by customers with Arab or South Asian names, she said.
A Bank of America spokeswoman said that Fleet ''followed standard industry practices" at the time.
The bank also agreed to pay $50,000 to Reilly's office to create consumer-education material aimed at the Arab-American and Muslim communities.
Neither Reilly's office nor the bank would discuss the closed accounts in much detail. But Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the matter began when it first complained to Reilly's office about roughly 15 accounts the bank closed without explanation in 2002 and 2003.
She said several of those accounts were held by employees of Ptech Inc., a Quincy software firm whose offices were searched by federal authorities as part of a broader terror-financing investigation.
They believed that was the likely reason for the accounts being closed, though none of them were ever charged with wrongdoing.
Of the account holders, four were willing to reveal complete financial details about themselves to Reilly's investigators, she said. Of those four, the bank was willing to offer to reopen the accounts of three.
The Bank of America spokeswoman said she would not discuss the case of the fourth person, citing privacy concerns.
Yesterday, Imam Talal Eid, a director of the Islamic Institute of Boston, praised the settlement and called it an ''indirect acknowledgement" by the bank that the account closings were wrong.
Organizations ''need to know that American Muslims cannot be blindly linked to terrorists," Eid said, ''If a person was suspected, that doesn't mean that the person was guilty. We investigate. We live in America."
#2
Profile: Ptech Inc.
Positions that Ptech Inc. has held:
Related Entities:
Yacub Mirza (boardmember)
Hussein Ibrahim (employee)
Ptech Inc. actively participated in the following events:
1994: Ptech Founded with Support from Suspected Terrorism FinanciersPtech is founded in 1994 by Oussama Ziade, Hussein Ibrahim, and James Cerrato. Ziade came from Lebanon to study at Harvard University. As the Associated Press will describe it, Ptechs idea was to help complicated organizations like the military and large companies create a picture of how their assetspeople and technologywork together. Then the software could show how little changes, like combining two departments, might affect the whole. They raise $20 million to start the company. A number of Ptech employees and investors will later be suspected of having ties to groups that have been designated by the US as terrorist organizations: [Wall Street Journal, 1/6/2003; CNN, 1/6/2003; Associated Press, 2/3/2003]
Yassin al-Qadi, a Saudi multimillionaire.
Sickening thuds, moans of pain, despairing pleas for mercy and then a final defiant "Allah is the greatest" resounded through a courtroom yesterday before a long silence as the heart-rending cockpit recording of United Airlines Flight 93 was played in public for the first time.
In the four years since the September 11 attacks, Flight 93 has entered American mythology because of the heroic attempted fight-back against the hijackers by the passengers and crew.
Yesterday, for 31 numbing minutes, the full horror of their ordeal was laid bare, from the last dying screams of one of the staff who pleaded "I don't want to die", to the final battle for control of the cockpit as the plane hurtled into the ground.
Amid the rapid interchange and against the backdrop of heavy static it was not always clear what was happening. It was also not always clear who was speaking. But the initial sounds were unmistakeably of the stabbing and probably murder of two members of the flight crew.
As the jury listened in stunned silence, prosecutors sought to complete the simulation of the doomed plane's cockpit by displaying video footage of a flight simulator which re-enacted UA 93's rapid descent from its cruising altitude and its final stomach-churning lurches.
The tape was the most dramatic testimony yet in the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the self-confessed would-be suicide bomber.
It opens at 9.31am, about three minutes after the four hijackers made their move, and the very moment the 33 passengers were officially informed of their plight. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The air traffic control audio recording that has been circulating for a while now, has the voice of one of these fuckers on it. At least to me the voice sounds arabic. Contacted ATC twice before crashing.
#6
Steve, with all due respect, I think (thanks in no small part to Rantburg) that I understand our islamofascist enemies quite well. That's why I want them hunted down and exterminated.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2006 12:23 Comments ||
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#7
As the souls of the five thugs sizzle and roast to extra-krispy in the firey regions...
May all the others and their families find piece, and may God comfort them.
#8
And if that Judge hearing the trial overturns any death penalty because of "prejudicial evidence" may he be impeached ands removed by Congress, and may his soul join the 19, and Massaoui's, and all the other murderous bastards who kill in the name of Islam, for he will prove he is but a facilitator.
#10
Such endeavor requires recognizing both these long-term traits in American nationalism and the unique manner in which the war on terror was commenced - that the American people themselves engaged the enemy before their government did, aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. The effects of this remain unclear but certainly something immense began.
Students of American character should pay close attention to Flight 93. A random sample of American adults was subjected to the highest possible stress and organized themselves in a terribly brief period, without benefit of training or group tradition other than their inherent national consciousness, to foil a well planned and executed terrorist attack. Recordings show the passengers and cabin crew of Flight 93 - ordinary Americans all - exemplified the virtues Americans hold most dear.
Certain death came for them by surprise but they did not panic and instead immediately organized, fought and robbed terror of its victory. They died but were not defeated.
#13
Certain death came for them by surprise but they did not panic and instead immediately organized, fought and robbed terror of its victory. They died but were not defeated.
#14
I think (thanks in no small part to Rantburg) that I understand our islamofascist enemies quite well.
My NEVER "UNDERSTAND" comment was directed at all those who say we have to "understand the anger" of those who attack us. I agree with you, Mike, I understand our enemies quite well.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/13/2006 15:22 Comments ||
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#15
I wrote a letter to President Bush dated September 17, 2001 nominating the passengers and crew of UA Flight 93 for the highest medal of honor that can be bestowed on a civilian, to wit: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I received a polite reply from the Whitehouse some 6 months later thanking me for making the nomination. To date no action has been taken. There were many heros that day in New York and Washington. Still, there is something about Flight 93 that was different: Flight 93 was the first line of defense. We fought back. God bless them all.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
04/13/2006 15:26 Comments ||
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#16
I knew what you meant, Steve about "understanding" and agree full well. One of my coffee club buddies this morning summed it up well:
"They had to face the fact they were going to die. But, as Americans, they decided that they would rather die on THEIR terms!"
Very well stated in my mind (following up Matt's quote). Rest in peace, you patriots, and may God bless your families.
Posted by: BA ||
04/13/2006 15:30 Comments ||
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#17
We'll never know how many people in the NCR those passengers saved by buggering up the muzzie plan. Imagine that plane hitting a school full of children. True heroes to the man and woman, one and all.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/13/2006 18:13 Comments ||
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#19
"If you're gonna' die, die standin' up!"
The passengers & crew of Flight 93 will live on in the undying will and insurmountable spirit of true Americans until history remembers America no more (a day that will never arrive if Thermopylae is any judge).
They died like Spartans, but they died as Americans.
In the last few minutes before United Flight 93 crashed into a rural Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers aboard the plane ordered passengers to "shut up" and "sit" as they issued a terrifying message: "We have a bomb on board."
Federal prosecutors seeking the execution of Zacarias Moussaoui on Wednesday figuratively placed the jury aboard the doomed flight when they played a recording in which the hijackers were heard giving orders to the passengers.
It was the first time the cockpit voice recording was played publicly and was used as evidence as the jury decided whether to give Moussaoui, an admitted terrorist conspirator, the death sentence.
In the final minutes of Flight 93, passengers attempted an uprising and tried to retake the plane at which point the hijackers crashed it into a western Pennsylvania field. The plane had been headed for the U.S. Capitol, according to Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
"I don't want to die," a passenger is heard to cry out in the tape. Then a hijacker says, "Shall we finish it off?" Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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In the final minutes of Flight 93, passengers attempted an uprising and tried to retake the plane at which point the hijackers crashed it into a western Pennsylvania field.
In other words, the jihadis folded in MINUTES after the damn kufir refused to submit.
How do you say, and write, "I refuse to submit" in Arabic?
Federal prosecuters on Wednesday played the tapes showing the final minutes of the doomed United Air Lines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 to the jury trying Zacharias Moussaoui. The tape showed how the hijackers, amid groans and sounds of a struggle, tried to shake off passengers clamouring for control of the plane over Pennsylvania. A voice is heard saying "I am injured." A hijacker asks, "Shall we finish it off?" Moments later, the plane hurtles out of control to the ground, according to a cockpit voice recording played for the jury.
Rounding off their case, the prosecutors figuratively placed the jury aboard the flight for its last heart-wrenching moments, using a computerised simulation of the plane's flight path based on information from the flight data recorder. Hamilton Peterson, whose parents were on Flight 93, earlier heard an enhanced audio version that was played for family members only. He believes the recording provides evidence that passengers attacked and killed a hijacker guarding the cockpit door. The audio played in the courtroom made it impossible to confirm that interpretation. The September 11 Commission concluded there was a struggle for control, but reached no conclusion about whether passengers killed a hijacker.
Much of what was heard was open to interpretation. In the last minute, voices could be heard in English saying "push up" and "pull down," as flight data showed the steering yoke moving wildly. Some interpreted that as a struggle for control in the cockpit between passengers and hijackers. For more than four minutes before that, the hijackers had been swinging the plane wildly in an effort to throw the rebelling passengers off balance. At 10 a.m., a hijacker asks in Arabic: "Shall we finish it off?" The response come back: "No, not yet."
Then a voice is heard in English: "In the cockpit! If we don't, we die!"
At 10:01 a.m., a hijacker asks again: "Shall we put it down? The response: "Yes, put it down."
At 10:03 a.m., the recording ends, and the simulation shows the plane flying nose down, then rolling over belly up and hitting the ground nose first.
The government later on Wednesday rested its case after Leoni Brinkema, the judge, rejected prosecutors' request to display a running presentation of the names and photos of all of the nearly 3000 victims of September 11. Prosecutors were instead allowed to show one large poster with the pictures of all but 92 of the victims, and the three victim-impact witnesses gave testimony following the playing of the Flight 93 tape. The judge sent the jury home for the day.
Just after that, Moussaoui shouted, "God curse you all!"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Prosecutors were instead allowed to show one large poster with the pictures of all but 92 of the victims
#2
the judge, rejected prosecutors' request to display a running presentation of the names and photos of all of the nearly 3000 victims of September 11.
Flight 93: It had 182 seats but was only carrying 37 passengers (including the hijackers) and 7 crew members including the captain Jason Dahl, and his first officer, LeRoy Homer. Some early accounts say 38 passengers - this was apparently due to the fact that one passenger had booked two seats. The four hijackers were seated in first class.
Pakistan's cabinet has given its air force clearance to open negotiations to buy 36 Jian-10 fighter aircraft from China and 62 F-16s from the United States, defence officials said on Thursday.
The officials confirmed a report in the Business Recorder newspaper that gave a breakdown of the air force's shopping list.
It included 36 modified versions of China's Jian-10 aircraft, along with 26 F-16s of Type A and B, and 18 F-16s of the latest Block 50/52 C and D type models, with an option for 18 more.
The newspaper, quoting an official document, reported that in addition to the aircraft, the government gave approval for purchase of 300 Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles of SD-10 type and 500 BVRs from the United States, 18 targetting pods and 500 joint direct attack munitions.
After the October 8 earthquake, President Pervez Musharraf said he would postpone the purchase of F-16s -- built by Lockheed Martin Corp -- while the government assessed how it would meet the costs of reconstruction and rehabilitation in devastated parts of Pakistani Kashmir and North West Frontier Province.
The international community has since stumped up over $6 billion in aid and soft loans to help Pakistan recover from the disaster.
Though no official figures have been released, the cost of the F-16s alone is expected to be around $2.5 billion, as each plane costs around $40 million.
The costs for the Jian-10 and the BVR missiles are also estimated to run into billions of dollars.
The Jian-10 is described by aviation experts as a fourth generation multi-role fighter aircraft developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC), which is also developing JF-17 Thunder aircraft in joint collaboration with Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra.
Pakistan's Chief of the Air Staff is expected to visit China in May, but any announcement on the Jian-10 deal could wait until a possible visit by President Musharraf, officials said.
Posted by: john ||
04/13/2006 12:43 ||
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A decapitation explosion at a religious congregation in Karachi on April 11, 2006, killed the entire senior leadership of the Sunni Tehrik, an anti-Deobandi, anti-Wahabi and anti-Salafi Sunni organisation of Pakistan, which has maintained its distance from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda and International Islamic Front (IIF). The religious congregation was organised by the Jamaat-e-Ahle Sunnat (JAS) to mark the Holy Prophet's birthday. Fifty other innocent civilians, many of them lower-level leaders of the Tehrik, were killed in the explosion. The Pakistani authorities have blamed two suicide bombers for the devastating explosion, which killed Abbas Qadri, the Amir of the Sunni Tehrik, and four other senior leaders. No organisation has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion. In the past, this organisation had been projected by the Deobandis, the Wahabis and the Salafis of Pakistan as a Sunni surrogate of the Iranian intelligence to counter the growing influence of the Wahabi-Salafi ideology among the Sunnis of Pakistan.
The Sunni Tehrik draws its following mainly from the Barelvis, a Sunni school of thought, which is generally perceived as more tolerant than the Deobandis. In fact, the Barelvis, many, if not most, of whom are descendents of converts from Hinduism, are in a numerical majority in Pakistan and in a preponderant majority in the Sindh province. The Deobandis, most of whose following is restricted to the Pakistani Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), are descendents of Muslims, who came into the sub-continent from Central Asia, Afghanistan and West Asia. They look upon the Barelvis as inferior to them and as soft due to the distorting influence of Hinduism on their thinking and behaviour. While the Deobandi extremists have been backing---openly or covertly--- Al Qaeda and its ideology, the Barelvis have been uncomfortable over it. Many of them have been critical of the use of the Pakistani territory by Al Qaeda and the IIF for their terrorist operations in other countries.
For the last fifteen years, there has been a conflict between the Deobandis and the Barelvis for the control of the mosques and their funds not only in Pakistan, but also in the UK. Previously, the Barelvis used to control the mosques in the UK frequented by immigrants from the sub-continent, but they have since been driven out by the Deobandis and Wahabis. This was the starting point for the radicalisation of the Pakistani-origin Muslims in the UK and in the other countries of West Europe. The ISI has been supporting the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ in Pakistan as well as in West Europe. Since its formation, the Sunni Tehrik has been involved in a sub-sectarian conflict with the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ and in a political conflict with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) of Altaf Hussain. While the Sunni Tehrik and the MQM have been countering the activities of the Deobandis, Wahabis and Salafis and their attempts to Arabise and Wahabise the Indian Muslim migrants (Mohajirs) to Pakistan, they have at the same time been quarelling with each other over the collection of funds from the Mohajirs for their respective political activities.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/13/2006 08:31 ||
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ROP
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/13/2006 10:09 Comments ||
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#2
The Deobandis, most of whose following is restricted to the Pakistani Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), are descendents of Muslims, who came into the sub-continent from Central Asia, Afghanistan and West Asia.
Kasur (AsiaNews/ANS) A Christian woman is languishing in prison for defending the cross from desecration. Naseem Bibi is in solitary confinement, charged with having offended an image of the Kabah, the most sacred shrine of Islam in Saudi Arabia. On 7 April, judges refused to release her on bail. Meanwhile, her husband and their three sons have been forced to flee their home and to go into hiding out of fear of retaliation by Muslim extremists.
The womans family said she protested against a group of Muslims who were drawing a cross on top of a rubbish heap. The prison authorities have not allowed members of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP), a Protestant organization, to visit the detainee. The SLMP has disseminated a statement by Gulzar Masih, the womans husband, narrating Naseems story.
Everything started on 3 March when many Muslims were protesting the blasphemous cartoons of Muhammad near Naseems house in Kasur. They were raising slogans against the US president George W. Bush, abusing him and Christianity too, said Gulzar. Naseem saw the protesters draw a cross on top of a rubbish help and so she went out to protest the desecrating gesture. The woman told the demonstrators they were violating a sacred symbol of Christianity while protesting about exactly the same offence against their own faith.
According to her husbands account, Naseem was beaten and stripped. The group of Muslims then left only to return after a few hours with an image of the Kabah soiled with excrement. The men accused Naseem of blasphemy and the police, who came to the spot, took her away to the local police station. Gulzar admitted that he did not intervene to help his wife because he was afraid.
The SMLP said a blasphemy case has been opened against the woman and her husband has been unable to visit her after more than a month.
The so-called blasphemy law (article 295 b & c of the Pakistani penal code) carries life sentences for offences against the Koran and the death penalty or life imprisonment for defamatory actions against the prophet Muhammad. The Catholic Church and human rights groups have long been calling for a total abrogation of the law. So far, the government has only introduced weak amendments.
#3
According to her husbands account, Naseem was beaten and stripped. The group of Muslims then left only to return after a few hours with an image of the Kabah soiled with excrement. The men accused Naseem of blasphemy and the police, who came to the spot, took her away to the local police station. Gulzar admitted that he did not intervene to help his wife because he was afraid.
Ya know if we threw these dungheap protestors in a jail cell with this image laminated on the floor, they couldn't even walk on that floor. If we put this image inside the commode they would be holding "it" so long their bowels and bladder would burst. An IMAGE of a STRUCTURE?
Well at least they could try to contact the "12th Imam", President Ahmadisnutz of Iran, for guidance.
#5
While googling for more info on this, I found an article from 2003 in the Al-Guardian
Differnet person, but same name and same persecution...
Blasphemy woman killed in jail
AP in Lahore
Tuesday August 26, 2003
The Guardian
A Pakistani woman has been beaten to death while in jail on blasphemy charges after allegedly burning a copy of the Koran, her lawyer has claimed.
Naseem Bibi, 45, died in a hospital in Lahore's Kotlakhpat jail, Pervez Aslam, her lawyer, said. He called for an inquiry. "It seems she was beaten and tortured by fellow prisoners because she was suspected of blasphemy against Islam."
Jail officials said yesterday that she died of heart failure.
Posted by: john ||
04/13/2006 11:44 Comments ||
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And the worst is this is only one case among many others... IIRC, there are about 8-10 000 christians killed each and every month for their faith, the main perp beign You-Guess-Which-Religion-Of-Piece... in 20th century, between 48 and 50 millions (depending on the sources) were killed for their faith, mostly by socialists (commies and nazis), but with quite a few by muslims (2,5 millions in south Sudan alone, for example).
Yet, apparently, for the doxa movers & shakers, the christians are always the evil persecuters (cf. the script of the "V for Vendetta" flick), never the victims, even if it's the most widely and persistently persecuted religion now or then.
Weird... doesn't fit with their secular, post-western, post-christian agenda, I guess.
Does anyone knows a reputable group which helps persecuted christians, btw? There is that group supported by WND, but I can't even manage to suscribe to their newsletter.
#11
The fury of me is that MSM sees nothing of abuses outside their little political walk. So tight assed about their political bent that they can no longer simply report. As "news" was once wont to do.
There are huge abuses outside the fast-food "racial abuse" - globally and against the same people who claim refuge, but too quietly.
The biggest challenges of Human Rights, my leftist friends, is in the islamic countries you won't touch with any demand for equality or freedom. For you feel they are excused? Not accountable? Allowed violations because "they do it this way" and ya have to let them?
But it's embarassing - so you never speak of it. Good MSM. Down Rover.
#12
From http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engASA330062002?OpenDocument via Google:
Murderers may also murder a woman in addition to a man to create the impression that an 'honour' killing occurred. In May 2000, Naseem Bibi, pregnant with her first child, was pulled out of her bed and strangled in a field by her male relatives in Jhang district, Punjab. They earlier shot dead a man in another town over an unrelated issue. After the murder they were reportedly advised by the head of their clan, a school teacher, to kill Naseem Bibi as well, as a double murder in a supposed 'honour' context would lead to a lesser punishment in court than a murder of a man.
DERA BUGTI: Local tribal leaders have asked the Ansar Burney Trust International, a human rights organisation, to invite Sardar Akbar Bugti to Dera Bugti and ask him to walk on fire to prove his innocence. The Bugti tribal chief has been forced to slip into the mountains after fierce fighting between his forces, rival groups and the Frontier Corps.
Locals say during his rule of Dera Bugti, it was common practice for a person charged with a crime to be asked to take seven steps on fire to prove his innocence. According to the tradition, the accused is invited to an open place where all crimes against him are read. He is then told to walk barefoot on fire and then his feet are inspected. If they are burnt, he is considered guilty and executed and if they are not burnt, the accused is considered innocent.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Foster Brooks burns to death. Film at eleven...
KARACHI: Pakistani and French warplanes fought simulated dogfights over the Arabian Sea on Tuesday as the two countries began naval exercises, officials said. French naval Rafale and Super Etendard jets based on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle were pitched against aircraft from the Pakistan Air Force, they said. "This exercise is the first in a series," an official at the French embassy in Islamabad said.
That should work. The Paks have never won a war, and the Frenchies don't intend to anymore.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Paks got initiated on how to follow the enemy around before they (French) surrendered.
A strike called by religious groups against a suicide bombing brought life to a standstill in Karachi on Wednesday on the call of the Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat. All major markets were closed and public transport off the road. The KSE was also closed. Large numbers of security forces blocked streets and all schools were closed in the city. Karachi University suspended exams scheduled for April 12-14. Filling stations were closed and protected by barriers, while foreign franchises had been asked to remain closed to avoid any attack. Traders in Lahore will be on strike today (Thursday) to protest attack in Karachi. Anjum-e-Tajiran Lahore and the government-backed Qaumi Tajir Ittehad leaders announced the strike. Azam Cloth Market and Pakistan Cloth Market remained closed on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Turban Tightening Time!
A high-level team from Boeing will give the Navy a classified briefing this week on the P-8A Maritime Multimission Aircraft (MMA), a futuristic reconnaisance and oceanic warfare jet to be rolled out by 2013 for the US Navy. This afternoon, Boeing president & CEO James McNerney paid a 10-minute courtesy call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his office.
Both Boeing and the Pentagon are keen to engage the Indian Navy as a technical partner in the $3.89 billion P-8A programme an unprecedented proposal that would have remained a pipedream if it wasnt for the new strategic relationship between the two countries. Talks are still at a preliminary stage and the financial implications of joining the P-8A programme are very high, though the Navy feels that getting on board the programme early on would ensure that it receives what it perceives to be the best next generation Naval aviation technology. The visit of the Boeing team coincides with that of US Speaker of the House of Representative Dennis Hastert, the third highest ranking official in the US administration.
Big business opportunities for firms like Boeing underscore the new Indo-US diplomatic complexion. Last year, the firm landed a $6 billion deal with Air India for civil jets and is in the country for more business opportunities, which include a full-fledged maintenance and overhaul facility in Nagpur and a training school.
The Boeing president was hosted for lunch by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today. President George W Bush himself, in his initial meetings with the Prime Minister, had pushed for more business with Boeing. With civil business going strong, Boeing is firing all cylinders for military business with India now, including its F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter for the IAF and, at a necessarily more complex level, the P-8A.
Based on the familiar Boeing-737-800 platform, the P-8A is being built for long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, all capabilities the Navy desperately needs to augment if it wants to meaningfully mount its new role as a strategic regional power. Partnering with Washington on the programme would also imply potentially large technological spin-offs for the Navys own design bureau. The Navys interest in the P-8A programme, first reported by The Indian Express in May last year, is also reflective of its new long-term vision for airborne weapons systems, since the P-8A will roll off production lines only in the next decade. The US Navy will buy 108 of the aircraft to replace its current fleet of P-3 Orions, built by Boeing rival Lockheed-Martin.
Posted by: john ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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a futuristic reconnaisance and oceanic warfare jet
Is this the one that turns into a flying submarine?
The trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain resumed on Wednesday for a few minutes and then was adjourned until April 17. No defendants were present due to procedural reasons. The judge Raouf Abdul Rahman said the purpose of the session was to ask investigative criminal experts to verify the signatures of Saddam and most of his co-accused, who claimed that prosecution documents were forged.
Saddam Hussain and his half brother Barzan Al Tikriti refused to provide the court with handwriting samples for experts to authenticate signatures said to be theirs on key documents in their trial, the chief judge said. Handwriting experts had been due to testify on Tuesday in the trial, but they did not show up at court, forcing chief judge to adjourn until Monday after a session that lasted only about five minutes. Prosecutors told the judge that the analysts had not yet finished their work.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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cant they just take that silly little notebook he had in court the other week?
#2
Ridiculous. This judge is quite a character, and always has to leave things looking like someone else has dropped the ball. There were never supposed to be any handwriting analysts in court that day, and he knew it. He signed off on press release the night before that announced it would be a brief procedural session. Whatever. Just remember that the coverage of this trial has been the worst the MSM can do - which is pretty bad. They're getting better (AP and Reuters, believe it or not - and the NYT and LAT are actually not doing a bad job) - but the international interest in ignoring, distorting, and slandering the process parallels the determination to never give the US credit for anything in Iraq.
Tawfiq Musmar takes up his place behind the lost luggage desk at Gaza international airport each morning, checking all is in order at the baggage carousel before wandering off to spend much of the day chatting with the "land hostesses" at the check-in counters.
Not a single flight has landed since Israeli army bulldozers tore up the runway in 2001 at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising, and Mr Musmar wonders how long he will be paid to do nothing. Well, he's had a five year run so far.... "There were lots of flights to all the Arab capitals, even Moscow," he said. "Now we get paid but these are not real jobs. Maybe now the jobs are going to disappear like the planes."
For five years the Gaza airport staff have collected their salaries from the Palestinian Authority, not because they earned them but because so many other people depend on the money to survive.
Mr Musmar, 43, earns about £250 a month from which he supports his parents and children. At the check-in desk, Reem Nisreen is paid about £140 a month which pays the rent and feeds her unemployed husband, two children and members of her extended family.
The wages of every one of the PA's 152,000 workers are paid in part from about $1bn (£573m) a year in foreign aid. European and American donors long ago accepted that while they were subsidising many real jobs, such as medical staff and teachers, they were also paying for what amounted to work-for-welfare. Those wages came to be a crucial part of an economy that has contracted by one-third through the intifada. Yep, through no fault of the Palestinians, this horrible economic situation came about.....
As first Washington and then Brussels this week froze aid to the PA after Hamas took power, the dependence of the whole economy on western handouts has been thrown into sharp relief. The question for both the EU and the US is how to keep the salaries flowing without funding what they regard as a terrorist administration. The new Hamas government is already grappling to find $120m for salaries that should have been paid at the beginning of the month after inheriting a deep financial crisis from the previous administration.
Foreign donors say they won't let Palestinians starve, although Dov Weisglass, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister, said Israel has withheld tax revenues due to the PA "to put the Palestinians on a diet". But there will be no foreign funds to the administration until Hamas recognises Israel and formally renounces violence.
The UN calculates that one PA salary supports seven people - more than 1 million in total, or one in four residents of the occupied territories. "PA salaries are the most important component in the Palestinian economy because the rest of the economy has declined so much," said David Shearer, head of the UN's humanitarian assistance office.
"In addition, PA salaries are the most important in the poorest areas of the West Bank and Gaza. In Gaza, 37% of working people are working for the PA."
Nearly half of the PA's employees are in its various security forces. Mr Shearer says that raises the prospect of about 73,000 men with guns looking for alternative ways of making money. "If they don't get paid, what we're really worried about is that while there are a good number who are well-trained and professional, there is also a large proportion that are not, but they're armed. What we fear is an increase in insecurity and criminality and the use of arms to demand jobs," he said. As opposed to the peaceful situation that is going on right now. Think of the puppies, kittens, and baby ducks!
Among those wondering how long the money will keep coming is Amjad Yusuf, 20, a police officer who has been on the force for three years. His 1,540 shekels (£192) a month salary supports 10 people. Nearly half goes to pay the rent and the family is two months behind. He has not been paid on time for three months. "We're all afraid, not just me, everyone in the force. No one has told us anything but we are worried about where the money is coming from."
Diplomats do not expect the donors to allow the PA to collapse; too much money has been invested in its creation as a step towards a Palestinian state. Kiddies, this is what is called throwing good money after bad... The EU and US say they will continue to fund basic humanitarian needs, such as water, food and education, while not dealing with Palestinian government ministries. But they have yet to work out a way to pay about 39,000 people working in education and 11,000 in health as well as keeping open hospitals and schools heavily dependent on aid. Considering how Hamas ran a bunch of hospitals and schools even before they came to power, this ought to be interesting...
The Palestinian health ministry relies on foreign money for about half of its budget. Juma'a al-Saqa, a director of Gaza City's Shifa hospital, said without it there would be no staff, drugs or operations. "Shifa depends on aid. We couldn't continue to function without it. It pays for drugs, instruments, medical supplies. It pays the salaries," he said.
The hospital has about 1,400 workers, with nurses earning £200 to £350 a month, paid through the PA. Mr Shearer said clinics and hospitals would only stay open by charging. Oh, the barbarity of paying for services!!
The EU is searching for ways around the problem, including funnelling aid through some Arab governments or setting up a trust using the World Bank. The British government has sounded out some UK charities on their willingness to take over aid delivery in areas where the EU can no longer work.
The UN has warned that foreign aid organisations will not be able to pick up the slack and that if there is a shortfall, international law requires Israel, as the occupying power, to provide basic services for the Palestinians.
"Humanitarian assistance can put food in people's mouths," Mr Shearer said. "But it cannot run a health or education system that people have come to rely on. Quite simply, by cutting off money to the PA, people will suffer."
#4
The UN says Israel has to provide basic services for the murdering bastards in the WB and Gaza? The UN? Kofi's Korrupt Kriminals? Screw that! If Kofi wants the Paleos to have services, have him get some of Kojo's Cotecna payoffs and give that to the Paleos. The only "basic service" the Israelis should provide the Paleos is mass, unmarked graves dug by bulldozer. And even that is more than the Paleos would give them.
Posted by: mac ||
04/13/2006 13:45 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2006 16:14 Comments ||
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#10
Don't feel bad, Frank - "be" should be "bet" in mine. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/13/2006 19:06 Comments ||
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#11
Enough of this farce called Palestine.
Enough of the dissembling and the pretense.
Death throws of the farce. Patience runs beyond thin for hope. Never was. Never will be. Was only an army meant to be. Pitiful and so very transparently manipulated. But appropriately down in flames will be.
Arab nations called on the UN Security Council on Tuesday to put pressure on the Israeli military to end a wave of military strikes on Palestinian targets. Several members of the 15-nation council said a draft statement, which was put forward by Bahrains UN ambassador, on behalf of the Arab group at the United Nations, was biased against Israel and needed rewriting.
Where's the part about the Paleostinians stopping shelling Israel?
The next step was for council diplomats to meet informally to negotiate revisions in the text, they said. At the moment, what is on the table I dont think is the basis for agreement, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters. I think it is very partial in the comments it makes.
Oh, do tell? Sounds pretty balanced, except for the part about no demands being made on the Paleos...
To win US backing a council statement would have to be something that contributes to positive movement in the dispute, not something that creates more heat than light, US Ambassador John Bolton said.
... stating the obvious.
Palestinian UN Observer Riyad Mansour said the Palestinians wanted the council to ask Israel to stop this aggression against the Palestinian people and to cease these military activities and attacks and killing of civilians immediately.
"We, of course, will continue shelling them, as is our Legitimate Right™."
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Tuesday Israel would intensify its bombardments of Gaza, as Palestinian premier Ismail Haniya accused Israel of trying to bring the Palestinian people to their knees. As long as calm does not prevail on the Israeli side, neither will it do so on the Palestinian side, said the defence minister. Our operations are going to intensify.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Yeah, Jews are'nt supposed to fight back, they're just supposed to die.
#3
Bolton should submit a smarmy resolution that Israel should halt attacks just as soon as the Paleos do so, *and* recognize Israel's right to exist, *and* allow religious freedom in the Paleo territory, *and* renounce all forms of violence, *and* disarm all non-PA authorities in Paleoland.
#4
Deliver several million large iron bombs to Israel, and offer to run interference with the EU and the UN. Let Israel do what it needs to do, which is level "paleostain" to the ground, and bulldoze it flat. That would end the problem once and for all. It'd be a little rough on the 'palestinians', but they're the one driving the tit-for-tat that's going on now - they should be the ones to suffer.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/13/2006 21:50 Comments ||
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The guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728) arrived at its new home of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., April 11, completing the subs three-year refueling and conversion at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.
Florida is the second Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine the Navy has reconfigured, replacing its 24 Trident missiles with nearly 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, switching the boat from a nuclear deterrent to a source of more conventional firepower in the global war on terrorism.
Weve taken the Trident submarine, which is a well proven design, and weve done great things with it, said Floridas Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Gregory Ott. Its a very flexible platform. We havent really built it just for todays threat. Weve built it so that it can be modified for whatevers over the horizon that we cant imagine.
The first in the class, the guided-missile submarine USS Ohio (SSGN 726) returned to the fleet in February, and two additional subs, USS Michigan (SSGN 727) and USS Georgia (SSGN 729), are currently undergoing conversion.
The Navy's existing fleet of attack submarines had already been outfitted with Tomahawk cruise missiles, a staple of naval operations in the past used during the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although effective, the attack subs could only carry a small number of missiles, which meant several vessels were needed to conduct major cruise missile strikes.
When we had submarines in the Gulf, said Floridas Chief of the Boat, Command Master Chief (SS) Harold Miller, its a huge waterspace management issue to have multiple submarines in this area. If we had two of the [SSGNs] there, we could have launched more missiles and still not had the waterspace issue that we had.
Changing to conventional weapons isnt all Florida did while she went through the conversion. Several areas of space aboard were reconfigured for increased littoral combat capability.
The newly-upgraded SSGNs can now fully house at least 66 or more SEALs (Sea, Air, Land), said Ott. There are no platforms right now other than the SSGN that are dedicated to carrying special forces. And its not just the personnel that we can carry we can carry all of their equipment, and the ship has the capability to deliver the SEALs covertly.
According to Ott, Floridas firepower, mixed with a greater capacity to move SEALs and their equipment into mission essential areas, increases the Navys ability to engage the enemy on a whole new level.
The importance of having nobody know youre there cant be overstated, said Ott. The bottom line is, if you put a surface ship off the coast or there is knowledge of the Navys presence, people dont do the same things. They go hide when they know youre there. So having the submarine there and that whole stealth piece, is very important.
The boat plans to have its Return to the Fleet ceremony in May at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Fla., and then return to Kings Bay to begin its service to the fleet.
AKARTA (Reuters) - Jakarta's police chief said on Thursday that the Indonesia publishers of Playboy magazine should put off their next issue after attacks on their offices.
About 300 hard-line Islamists vandalized the building housing Playboy's offices on Wednesday in a protest against its publication in the world's most-populous Muslim nation.
The protesters threw rocks at the front lobby, breaking windows of the building in the south of Jakarta several days after the magazine hit Indonesian news-stands for the first time.
Police made some efforts to stop the attackers but did not arrest anyone.
"It would be better if there were a deal to postpone the second edition," Jakarta police chief Firman Gani told reporters.
He said he planned to ask the publishers to meet with police to discuss the matter, but would appeal to higher authorities for support of a postponement if Playboy did not voluntarily comply.
The postponement would allow police time to investigate whether Playboy's first issue had violated any laws, Gani said.
Protesters showed up at the building on Thursday as well, but in smaller numbers and without any incidents of violence. They included women and children, while Wednesday's violent demonstrators were exclusively male.
A building manager told reporters that Playboy had actually already vacated its offices on the premises, moving out overnight, and showed journalists the emptied space.
Despite widespread controversy, most observers say Indonesia Playboy's first issue, which bared little more flesh than newspaper lingerie ads, went no further -- or if anything was tamer -- than foreign and domestic competitors already commonly on sale in Indonesia.
Asked why those magazines were not being asked to pull their issues, Gani said that steps would be taken if they also "caused public restlessness."
However, a speaker at Thursday's anti-Playboy demonstration said protesters would act themselves to "sweep" other magazines they consider pornographic off the shelves.
Members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the hard-line group that organized the earlier demonstration that turned violent, are known for taking the law into their own hands, for example by attacking massage parlors, and bars selling alcohol during the Muslim fasting period.
In February, they beat on the U.S. embassy gate in Jakarta with sticks and pelted the embassy complex with tomatoes, eggs and stones, breaking windows as outnumbered police looked on.
Some groups have criticized police in the past for selective law enforcement that effectively encourages militant violence, but Gani said police have arrested FPI members on various occasions and were protecting Playboy staff members.
About 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslims. Most are moderates, but militant groups have been increasingly vocal in recent years.
Several deadly bombing attacks in Indonesia have been blamed on the al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asia militant network Jemaah Islamiah, including blasts in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people.
Founded in 1953, U.S.-based Playboy has about 20 editions around the world that cater to local tastes.
#3
I think we ought buy up every piece of porn in the western world, load every cargo plane we can get, fly over Indonesia dumping it out the back doors, and watch all those heads explode.
PUTRAJAYA, April 13 (Bernama) -- A woman who renounced Islam was Thursday allowed to appeal to the Federal Court against a court's dismissal of her application to drop the word "Islam" from her identity card.
The Federal Court, led by Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, unanimously granted leave to Lina Joy, whose birth name is Azlina Jailani, to appeal after ruling that the principle issue in the case was a matter of public importance and the court's decision on it would be to the public advantage.
"We are of the unanimous view that the principle issue involved in this case is a matter of general principle on which there has been no decision by this court," said Ahmad Fairuz who sat with justices Datuk Richard Malanjum and Datuk S.Augustine Paul.
The court will determine three legal questions to be argued in the appeal proceedings to be heard at another date.
One of the questions is whether the National Registration Department (NRD) is entitled in law to require Lina to produce a certificate or an order from the Syariah Court declaring her an apostate in her application to delete the word Islam from her identity card.
The other two questions are whether the NRD correctly construed its powers under Regulations 4 and 14 of the National Regulations 1990 to impose the requirement when it was not expressly provided for in the regulations and whether the Syariah Court has authority to decide on matters of conversion out of Islam.
On Sept 19 last year, the Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 majority decision, rejected Lina's appeal to reverse the High Court's decision disallowing her application to delete the word 'Islam" from her identity card on the grounds that her renunciation of Islam was not confirmed by the Syariah Court or any other Islamic religious authority.
High Court judge Datuk Faiza Thambi Chik, had ruled on April 23 2001 that being a Muslim, Lina could not renounce Islam and that the issue should be decided by the Syariah Court.
The Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Council, the Malaysian government and the NRD Director-General Datuk Wan Ibrahim Wan Ahmad are respondents in the suit.
Earlier, the court heard arguments from Lina's counsel, Datuk Dr Cyrus Das, senior federal counsel Datuk Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid representing the Malaysian government and the NRD DG and Sulaiman Abdullah, counsel for the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Council.
Dr Das said the questions to be determined were issues of public importance involving the citizens' rights, which would be decided by the Federal Court for the first time.
"There is a dissenting judgment that could well be a decisive factor for the apex court to grant the leave to clear the difference of opinions at the lower court," he said.
He said the Federal Court was the ultimate constitutional court to decide on constitutional issues and not the Syariah Court, which only dealt with religious matters.
"Lina is left high and dry. She is asked to do something that cannot be done," he said.
Umi Kalthum objected to the leave application contending that apostasy is under Islamic law and should be dealt with by the Syariah Court.
She said the issues on general principle of administrative law which Lina was relying on had repeatedly been decided by the Federal Court.
Sulaiman submitted that Muslims could not use the "backdoor method" to avoid going to Syariah Court to renounce Islam.
JAKARTA, April 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia must deal sternly with a rising tide of violent extremism, World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz said on Thursday, while praising its transition from authoritarian rule to a democracy.
"I do think that there's nothing about either democratic institutions or free institutions that say you have to tolerate law breakers," he told a news conference at the end of a three-day visit to the world's most populous Muslim nation.
"I think it's very important when you encounter that kind of extremism it (be) dealt with very firmly," Wolfowitz, who served as a U.S. ambassador to Indonesia in the 1980s, added.
About 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslims. Most are moderates, but militant groups have been increasingly vocal in recent years.
Several deadly bombing attacks in Indonesia have been blamed on the al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asia militant network Jemaah Islamiah, including blasts in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people.
A few other militant Islamic groups have resorted to a lesser scale of violence such as smashing up night clubs or massage parlours in Jakarta and so-called "sweeping" efforts aimed at intimidating foreigners.
Indonesian police have been criticised for doing little to interfere or arrest perpetrators in some of these low-level incidents, although they have an impressive record of finding and prosecuting those involved with bombings.
During his trip, Wolfowitz also urged Jakarta to combat corruption as it was affecting the development of the country.
#1
Good ol' corrupt Indonesia... We've seen it time and time again here in Australia. Money can buy you happiness Freedom in South East Asia. Live here, see it, read it, Indonesia is full of shit. Law and order ? Where ? Who ? pay up --- $$$$$$$$ Your Free !!!!
STOCKHOLM, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Denmark reopened its embassy in Syria on Wednesday more than two months after it was set ablaze by demonstrators protesting the publishing of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, reports reaching here Wednesday said.
The Danish foreign ministry said in a statement on its website that the Damascus mission was now open to the public but called for maintaining vigilance in light of a number of recent incidents and threats that might be actualized against western nations.
On Feb. 4, several thousand Syrian demonstrators set the Danish and the Norwegian embassies on fire in violent protest over 12 caricatures of the Prophet first published by Danish Daily Jylland-Posten in September.
The fire badly damaged the building that housed the Danish mission but no one was hurt as the embassy was closed.
The cartoons, which are considered blasphemous by most Muslims, were reprinted in some other European papers, and provoked an outrage in the Muslim world and a boycott of Danish products in most Muslim countries.
A boycott of Danish goods by millions of Muslims has caused an 85 percent drop in Denmark's dairy exports in the wake of the Prophet Mohammad cartoon row.
The National Statistics Office said exports of dairy products such as milk, butter and cheese dropped to about 130 million Danish crowns (34.67 million U.S. dollars) in February from 840 million in the same month last year.
"The numbers makes it possible to evaluate the consequences of the boycott from Muslim nations on Danish goods for the first time," said Nykredit Markets senior economist Jakob Jakobsen.
He estimated the refusal to buy Danish products would cost at least 1.5 billion crowns in dairy exports, or about 10 percent of estimated total sales, this year.
April 13, 2006: With no nation, except Iran, openly supporting Islamic terrorists, most of the counter-terror action against terrorist hideouts is now taking place in the shadows. That means countries like Syria and Sudan, who used to provide hospitality for Islamic terrorists, but now insist they don't, are still in play. The problem is that there are still a lot of Islamic charities and religious organizations in places like Syria and Sudan that resist close scrutiny. The government won't allow foreign investigators to get too close, but indications from outside the country mark some of these outfits as fronts for Islamic terrorist operations. One example is the "Al Fatah Islamic Institute" in Syria. Captured terrorists in Iraq provide bits of evidence about charities like this, but attempts to get close enough to make a decisive case (one that would force the Syrians to shut it down) have been unsuccessful. The Syrians, and to a lesser extent, the Sudanese, have been playing this game for years. Saddam Hussein was a player as well.
About the only visible signs that a battle is going on here, is when there is another news story of the United States threatening, negotiating or "cooperating" with Syria or Sudan. Diplomats do most of heavy lifting here, with the CIA running around in the background trying to gather evidence. Now the Department of Defense is involved in the intel end as well, with Special Forces teams being sent in as spies, or out in the bush, along the borders, seeking more embarrassing evidence. The Syrians cover their tracks exceptionally well, as they have been doing it since the 1970s. But their defenses are getting weaker.
While most Arab nations have long been hospitable to Islamic charities and religious organizations, even if some of them did have unsavory sidelines, this has changed since 2003. In that year, al Qaeda decided to bring the war back home, and that caused the welcome wagon to get put up on blocks and out of action. Syria and Sudan apparently still do it mainly for the money. There are so few places left where al Qaeda can even bribe their way into a sanctuary situation. However, there are still lots of wealthy Moslems, with a grudge against the infidels (non-Moslems) and willing to write checks to finance mayhem and murder. But the rest of the world has changed. Terrorism isn't as fashionable and tolerated as it used to be.
Iran is a special case. Although tolerant, and supportive, of Islamic terror, Iran is handicapped by it adherence to a minority sect of Islam. The Iranians are Shia Moslems, while over 80 percent of Moslems follow the Sunni version. So when Iranians boast of their plan to make the entire world Moslem, most Moslems get nervous. They know the Iranians are talking about Shia Islam taking over the world. That is very distasteful to Sunni Moslems. The Iranians have other problems as well. While they talk a tough game, there are plenty of more prudent Islamic clerics who try to restrain the more radical ones. So while Iran has supported the Hizbollah terrorists in Lebanon for decades, and some Palestinian groups of late, Iran has not gotten behind international terrorism in a big way. The reason is pragmatic. Any spectacular terrorist success, that was traced back to Iran, could result in real damage being inflicted on Iran. The invasion of Iraq emphasized that point. Of course, Iran wants nuclear weapons, as a form of insurance against retaliation. No one is sure this will work, but all Iranians agree that having nukes is the way to go.
But Iranian nukes does not make al Qaeda, and other Sunni Arab terrorist groups, happy at all. While Iranian radicals provide some support to al Qaeda, they do it through clenched teeth. While the Iranian terrorist supporters like to stick it to the Americans, they cannot avoid the fact that al Qaeda wants to kill Iranian terrorists, and convert Iran, by force if need be, to the Sunni way of thinking.
So Syria, and to a lesser extent, Sudan, become one of the few places where Islamic terrorists can open up an office (as an Islamic charity or whatever) and go about their business. That explains the occasional story out of Washington, hinting darkly about getting rough with Syria or Sudan.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/13/2006 12:41 ||
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#5
January 2005: EGYPTIAN CHRISTIAN FAMILY OF FOUR KILLED IN NEW JERSEY
An Egyptian Christian father, Hossam Armanious, his wife and two daughters were found knifed to death in their home on 14th January 2005. Police are investigating several theories, but religious tensions have been suggested as a potential motive. Armanious had been threatened during an internet chat-room session, following his critical comments on Islam.
Hossam Armanious (47), his wife Amal Garas (36), and their daughters Sylvia (15) and Monica (8) were found in their house in Jersey City, bound and gagged with their throats slit and knife wounds to their heads and bodies. While police are suggesting a robbery as the possible motive, the style of killing has made friends and relatives see a link with Islamic teaching on killing unbelievers.
Armanious and his family moved from Luxor, Upper Egypt to the USA in late 1990s to escape the growing anti-Christian violence in Upper Egypt. Such violence has seen many Christians killed and much Christian property destroyed in recent years.
After settling in New Jersey the family began making a new life for themselves. However, as a devout Christian, Armanious was outspoken about his faith, and continued to publicise the persecution of Christians in Egypt that had caused them to flee. He was known to have frequent vigorous debates on religion, including criticising Islam, in internet chat rooms. Two months ago he received the threat that if he didn't stop these comments 'we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you'. A parishioner of St George and St Shenouda, the Coptic Orthodox church they attended, said, 'They are trying to make us afraid, make us keep our mouth shut.' Armanious' refusal to keep quiet about Christian persecution under Islam may finally have caused the fatal stabbings.
#6
jim#6: I've been wondering about that case. It dropped off the MSM radar as soon as the Newark police insisted it was just a robbery-gone-bad. I'll have to research it when I have some time...
#10
They're teaching us how to deal with them. They speak big and loud when they think they're protected, but give them a doubt that they will face real retribution for their actions, they shut up. They respect both the implied and actual use of power.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Western stars participate 20th anniversary of US deadly air strikes on its Libyas main cities.
TOKYO (AP) - North Korea threatened Thursday to use the delay in six-party nuclear talks to bolster its military ``deterrent force,'' a phrase the isolated communist nation often evokes in reference to its nuclear weapons program. ``It's not bad that the resumption of nuclear talks are delayed. During that period, we will make more deterrent force,'' said North's top nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan, speaking at a news conference in Tokyo. ``We will react in an ultra hardline manner if the United States continues to apply pressure and sanctions. We will never yield to pressure.''
THE Australian Government would not stop David Hicks coming home to Adelaide should he be granted British citizenship and released from Guantanamo Bay. Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said yesterday that because Hicks would retain dual nationality, "we can't deny our own citizens access to Australia". 
NO asylum seeker who arrives in Australia illegally by boat can expect to stay under a new hardline immigration regime announced today. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said the new system, which applies from today, was an extension of the Government's much-denounced Pacific solution introduced in 2001. Any illegal entrant to Australia will be shipped to Nauru, Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or Christmas Island, where they will stay until their visa applications have been processed.
The European Union (EU) also admitted that the concept of Islamic terrorism is misused by racist groups in Europe and terror networks such as al-Qaeda.
Turning her attention from Iraq to Iran, anti-
Kasur (AsiaNews/ANS) A Christian woman is languishing in prison for defending the cross from desecration. Naseem Bibi is in solitary confinement, charged with having offended an image of the Kabah, the most sacred shrine of Islam in Saudi Arabia. On 7 April, judges refused to release her on bail. Meanwhile, her husband and their three sons have been forced to flee their home and to go into hiding out of fear of retaliation by Muslim extremists.
DERA BUGTI: Local tribal leaders have asked the Ansar Burney Trust International, a human rights organisation, to invite Sardar Akbar Bugti to Dera Bugti and ask him to walk on fire to prove his innocence. The Bugti tribal chief has been forced to slip into the mountains after fierce fighting between his forces, rival groups and the Frontier Corps. 
A strike called by religious groups against a suicide bombing brought life to a standstill in Karachi on Wednesday on the call of the Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat. All major markets were closed and public transport off the road. The KSE was also closed. Large numbers of security forces blocked streets and all schools were closed in the city. Karachi University suspended exams scheduled for April 12-14. Filling stations were closed and protected by barriers, while foreign franchises had been asked to remain closed to avoid any attack. Traders in Lahore will be on strike today (Thursday) to protest attack in Karachi. Anjum-e-Tajiran Lahore and the government-backed Qaumi Tajir Ittehad leaders announced the strike. Azam Cloth Market and Pakistan Cloth Market remained closed on Wednesday.
The trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain resumed on Wednesday for a few minutes and then was adjourned until April 17. No defendants were present due to procedural reasons. The judge 
Arab nations called on the UN Security Council on Tuesday to put pressure on the Israeli military to end a wave of military strikes on Palestinian targets. Several members of the 15-nation council said a draft statement, which was put forward by Bahrains UN ambassador, on behalf of the Arab group at the United Nations, was biased against Israel and needed rewriting. 
The guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728) arrived at its new home of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., April 11, completing the subs three-year refueling and conversion at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va.
