MOGADISHU (Reuters) - African Union officials arrived in Somalia to finalize plans for a peacekeeping force as government troops searched for weapons in the latest push to bring back order after weeks of war, an official said on Sunday.
Somalia's interim government wants African peacekeepers to be deployed after its troops, backed by heavily armed Ethiopian forces, ousted Islamists in a lightning December offensive.
"They came to meet with government officials in order to discuss how the African Union troops could be deployed," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari, told a news conference. "They will visit several places in the country ... and they'll meet with senior government security officials. We hope the African troops will be deployed as soon as possible."
The African Union's Peace and Security Council agreed this week to increase the number of troops from a proposed 8,000-strong deployment and called on the international community to fund the peace mission.
"Let's get the Americans UN to cover the tab!"
Uganda is ready to provide the first battalion, but awaits its parliament's approval. Kenya, chair of regional body IGAD, has sent top officials to several African nations to seek support for the force.
Ethiopia wants to withdraw its soldiers in the coming weeks. "Now that the AU team has come, this clearly shows that the Ethiopian troops will leave the country in two to three weeks or after a month," Dinari said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Officials in the break away and self-declared republic of Somaliland Sunday have warned the possibility of regional war with Somalia if the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu does not stop interfering Somaliland affairs. The senior officials of the transitional government said that it is important to seek the unity of Somalia, which angered the Somaliland officials.
The three main political parties in Somaliland, UDUB, KULMIYE and UCID have held a joint press conference in Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared republic, condemning what they called the provocation words from the government of President Abdulahi Yusuf.
The political parties said the TFGs claim to Somaliland could bring new war in horn of Afrika urging the world to stop the ambition of Somalia government to extend their power through the region. Somaliland has the right to defend its sovereignty and territory, said in the statement.
All the three parties declared constant wide national demonstrations against the policy of what they called the southern government of Somalia that will be held this week.
Instead of 'constant demonstrations', work on getting your country's affairs, particularly defense, in order.
Faisal Ali Warabe, the chairman of UCID political party, said the reason they had held the press conference was to prevent the imminent threat from Somalia government that it wants to extend its power into Somaliland and encourage the people in Somaliland to protest of the aggression aimed to occupy their land.
We are making it clear that Somaliland is stable state and needs nothing from the rest of Somalia as you know Somaliland won to enjoy peace and security for the last 14 years and now we can not allow our stability to be spoiled by Somalia, said Ali Warabe.
Somaliland is an unrecognized de facto sovereign state located in the Horn of Africa. On May 18, 1991, the people of Somaliland declared independence from Somalia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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SW: All the three parties declared constant wide national demonstrations against the policy of what they called the southern government of Somalia that will be held this week.
Actually, Somalia would better off getting its act together instead of moving against Puntland and Somaliland. It wasn't Puntland and Somaliland that needed feeding during the UN mission that led to Blackhawk Down.
#2
Oh absolutely. Those two semi-states have been managing much better, especially Somaliland. The lack of diplomatic recognition has kept it from tapping into international financies, aid, etc, but in response they've become pretty self-reliant.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 0:07 Comments ||
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Posted by: ed ||
01/15/2007 07:00 ||
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If I were one of the journalists, I think I would be looking over my shoulder a lot. There are going to many hard-liners not happy with the judge's decision and decide to take the law into their own hands. (Perhaps that is just what the judge wanted.)
In an effort to gain a foothold in space and gather intelligence on Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, Egypt plans to launch its first spy satellite on Tuesday from Kazakhstan.
The Egyptstat 1, which weighs just under 100 kilograms, will circle the earth at an altitude of 668 kilometers. Using a high-powered multi-spectrum telescopic camera, it will be capable of transmitting black-and-white, color and infrared images. The camera can spot objects on the ground as small as four meters across.
Egypt hopes to launch another satellite - called Desertstat - by the end of the year, currently under construction in Italy. The Egyptstat satellite, constructed in cooperation with the Yuzhnoye Company of Ukraine, will be launched on Tuesday from Kazakhstan, carried by a Dnepr missile, together with 12 light-weight Saudi Arabian satellites.
Tal Inbar, a senior research fellow at Israel's Fisher Institute for Air & Space Strategic Studies in Herzliya, said the Egyptstat launching marks a significant change in the balance of space capabilities in the Middle East. It will help Egypt to collect intelligence on Israel, Inbar added.
"This has regional significance," Inbar said. "Egypt is basically saying that they lead the region in satellite technology, since while Israel has advanced satellites in space, they do not have multi-spectrum capabilities."
In April, Israel launched the Eros B spy satellite, which can spot images on the ground as small as 70 centimeters across. It enhanced Israel's ability to follow developments at Iran's nuclear facilities.
Eros B, which will orbit the earth alongside its predecessor - Eros A, launched in 2000 - allows Israel, defense officials said, to gather information on Iran's nuclear program and long-range missiles, which are capable of reaching Israel.
In October 2005, Iran launched its first satellite - the Sina-1. Iran has announced plans to launch another satellite, the Mesbah, in the near future.
#1
while Israel has advanced satellites in space, they do not have multi-spectrum capabilities."
How typically Arab...
Israeli sats have advanced sensors. They have sold them to countries like India.
And the next Israeli satellite (TechSAR) which will go into orbit aboard an Indian PSLV rocket is a radar imager which can see through clouds, day and night.
Posted by: john ||
01/15/2007 6:09 Comments ||
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I would be willing to bet Rantbourg's spy satellite data (i.e. Google Earth) has superior resolution to this Egyptian gadget.
#3
Four meter (about 13 ft) resolution on the Egyptian sat as compared to 70 cm (0.7 meter or about 2 ft) resolution on the Israeli satellite.
Multi-spectrum or not, the Egytian sat can barely spot a tank while the Israeli sat can see the front page of the newspaper you're holding (Rantburg Defender-Scimitar?).
#4
So who paid for this miracle of modern imaging technology? Did it come out of our $2 billion in aid to Egypt? Gift from the Saudis? WTF?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2007 11:51 Comments ||
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What a joke. The French SPOT satellite has a resolution of 30cm, and the imagery is available commercially. GeoNet and five other companies have satellites with equal capability, producing color imagery. The Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, and French have radarsats. There are about 70 imaging satellites in orbit around the Earth right now, and almost a third of them are commercial. I'm also sure that the Israelis are fully capable of counter-satellite capabilities, both active and passive. This is nothing more than a prestige thing. BTW, the US KH-4 satellite imagery that President Clinton declassified back in 1997 had resolution of two to three feet, and most of it was taken in the 1960's. I probably looked at 600 miles of the crap.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/15/2007 12:58 Comments ||
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Best SPOT resolution is 2.5 m.
The French military sats will of course have much better resolution.
The Indian Cartosat-2 launched last week has a public resolution of 80 cm.
Posted by: john ||
01/15/2007 15:40 Comments ||
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Bet OP can watch 3D movies without the glasses.
#9
Resolution is not everything when it comes to remote sensing. Resolution is often sacrificed for shorter return times by placing the satellite in higher orbits. The result is a satellite which can view the same place much more often with lower resolution - something that may be more desirable for a country that wants to monitor its own region frquently, rather than the entire globe infrequently. Multispectral is also good for detecting the material composition of objects - good for military monitoring.
Police on Sunday arrested six prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including two leaders and four top businessmen, in separate dawn raids across the country, police and the Islamic opposition group said.
A police official said the six were arrested for activities aimed at "reviving efforts" of the outlawed group and that along with the arrests, authorities confiscated material and publications related to the Brotherhood. The police official spoke on customary condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Abdel Gelil el-Sharnoubi, editor of the Brotherhood's Web site, said Mohammed Ali Bishr, member of the group's decision-making bureau, was arrested in Menoufia, 60 kilometers north of Cairo. Issam Hashish, Brotherhood leader in Cairo's twin city of Giza, was arrested there.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Japan, China, and South Korea urged North Korea on Sunday to drop its nuclear program and stressed the need to carry out U.N. sanctions against the reclusive government.
The three countries are looking for ways to push forward international talks over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The six-nation negotiations convened in Beijing last month for the first time in more than a year, but ended without progress. The countries China, Japan, Russia, the U.S. and the two Koreas agreed to meet again but no date has been set.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in the Philippines city of Cebu on the sidelines of a summit of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The three leaders reiterated concern about North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test and appealed for "the peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula through dialogue and negotiation."
They "also reaffirmed the need for full implementation of" U.N. Security Council sanctions, which require all countries to keep North Korea from selling or buying any material for unconventional weapons or ballistic missiles. The sanctions also order nations to freeze assets of people or businesses connected to these programs, and ban the individuals from traveling.
On Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the main U.S. negotiator in the standoff, said international talks were progressing, albeit slowly.
The talks offer "no refuge for those in need of instant gratification, but I do believe that we are making progress on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula," Hill said in a message on "Cafe USA," an Internet chat site set up by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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An Islamic cleric who mocked the convict ancestry of many white Australians is an embarrassment to the countrys Muslims, Prime Minister John Howard said on Sunday. The controversial Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali, last week suggested that Muslims had a greater claim to the country than the descendants of the British settlers. Howard said it was up to Australias Muslim community to challenge al-Hilali, who is the countrys top Muslim cleric.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Just remember folks: do NOT have sex with your relatives, because this is what can happen.
#4
That picture looks like you could stick him up against a window.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/15/2007 5:28 Comments ||
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Howard said it was up to Australias Muslim community to challenge al-Hilali, who is the countrys top Muslim cleric.
Be careful what you wish for! :)
"Darulfatwa" AKA "Islamic High Council of Australia" has labelled his diatribe as "insane" and equated him with Hitler. I won't take sides with any of the fatwa-fielding-fakes of Islam, but Hilali's supporters might be inclined to fire off a few of the rocket launchers in the general direction of "Daryl Fatwa", and light up the skies over Lakemba.
January 15, 2007 - 11:23AM
The Australian Federation of Islamic Council's legal adviser Haset Sali labelled the sheik's recent diatribe as insane and said the comments had horrified the vast majority of Australian Muslims.
"He has been about as helpful to Islam in Australia as Adolf Hitler was to Christianity during the Second World War," Mr Sali said.
#7
Mr. Hilali, there's something you should know. Many people agree that Ausiees are a tough lot precisely BECAUSE of their ancestors. Britain couldn't handle them. Neither can you. Pick ten ragheads and I'll pick ten Ausiees. Last man standing wins, k?
Beneath a basketball net in a freezing sports hall, a Muslim cleric is waging war on Islamic extremism. According to a report in The Observer, Imam Shaheed Satardien is taking a stand against those Muslims in Ireland whom he claims are too sympathetic to Osama Bin Laden and the cult of the suicide bomber. At Friday prayers in the sports hall in northwest Dublin, the South African-born former anti-apartheid activist warns his multinational congregation against blaming other religions and the West in general for all Muslims ills.
Cast out by the majority Islamic community in Dublin for his outspokenness, the 50-year-old preacher says he has received death threats. I am standing firm in my beliefs, Satardien says. The truth is more important than being popular or living a quiet life. Extremism has infected Islam in Ireland. Its time to get back to the spiritual aspect of my religion and stop it being used as a political weapon.
The imam from Cape Town fled his native country following death threats, he says, from Islamic extremists in South Africa. His younger brother, Ibrahim, was shot dead in 1998 after a row with Islamic radicals in the city. When Satardien was told he would be next, he travelled to Ireland and pleaded for asylum, the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Maybe the good cleric ought to bag Islam as a bad experience and a dead end, no pun intended. He needs to look around for a new profession. Don't be a martyr for morons.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2007 0:48 Comments ||
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Cast out by the majority Islamic community in Dublin for his outspokenness, the 50-year-old preacher says he has received death threats. I am standing firm in my beliefs, Satardien says. The truth is more important than being popular or living a quiet life. Extremism has infected Islam in Ireland. Its time to get back to the spiritual aspect of my religion and stop it being used as a political weapon.
I'll have to say "Amen, preach it!" to his comment about the truth.
One of the keys to Islam's strength is that the founder had a history of ordering the deaths of his opponents, and his successors claim the same right. Christianity got the same dubious "right" when the pope became the administrative head of the Western Roman Empire
#3
Islam, like Ptah, cannot seperate the political from the religious, a primitive view found in the uninformed and small children. If the radicals try anything in Ireland does anyone really think a people who fought the British for 500 years are going to just roll over? The 'elites' might, but not the ordinary people, you know the folks who invented guerilla warfare... The only dead end is being a radical muslim in Ireland.
#5
Ptah is one of the few people I've never, ever found reason to pin the label "uninformed" on. Of course, there may be those who do not agree with my standards...
Being a radical imam in Eire hasn't yet proved deadly, for some reason. Perhaps the erudite Cromoper Glinens6509 would care to explain to the rest of us just why this might be so.
#6
do you think Islam separates the religion from the political? Who's naive and uninformed? If you want to take potshots, Cromoper, at least have the guts to pick a nym, taint it your very own special way, and suffer the backlash.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2007 19:54 Comments ||
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Cromoper Glinens6509, advisory: I doubt if you could pick up Ptah's jock strap. So please pick a name and join in so you can get to know us and we can get to know you.
Pope Benedict XVI urged immigrants on Sunday to respect the social values of their new countries and said laws are needed to protect their dignity.
Benedict, addressing pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter's Square, said migration should be seen as a resource, not a problem. Without naming any country or nationality, he lamented the "painful" conditions refugees, exiles, the homeless and the persecuted often endure. "I hope that soon there will be a balanced management of migratory flows and of human mobility in general, so benefits can reach the entire human family, beginning with concrete measures which favor legal emigration and the reuniting of families," the pontiff added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Here is the complete address given by Benedict XVI.
Excerpts:
To this great number of brothers and sisters must be added the internally displaced and irregular migrants, keeping in mind that each one of them has, in one way or another, a family. Therefore, it is important to care for migrants and their families through the help of specific legislative, juridical and administrative protections, as well as through a network of services, listening centers and structures of social and pastoral assistance.
And:
Also in the huge field of international migrations, the human person must always be placed at the center. The just integration of families in social, economic and political systems is only achieved on one hand, by respecting the dignity of all immigrants and, on the other hand, by immigrants recognizing the values of the host society.
#3
Meanwhile, Wetbacks are bringing fatal brain-worms across the Rio Grande. If Chile and Peru can mine their borders, then the US can do the same thing to keep out the Wets.
#4
Pope translation. Dear Meterite worshipping followers of the terrorist peophile for profit Muhamhead.
When visiting middle America and in the event your host runs out of toilet paper, be prepared to share your Koran. That's what they use when taking a shit.
#5
I think the Pope is talking about the way things should be, in a perfect world. After all, we really don't want the Pope to advocate sending all muzzies back to the cat boxes they came from. Leave that kind of talk to Rantburgers. Sad to say, it's not a perfect world. If the migrants don't respect their hosts it's hard for their hosts to respect them.
#7
LOL!
amazing eh, the idjets come into our house and show us disrespect, how spechul! OP, plz keep that axe handle handy would ya.. I may need to borrow it right quick!
Vice President Dick Cheney said mounting congressional opposition to the war in Iraq won't stop the administration from deploying more U.S. troops to bring sectarian violence under control.
Cheney said critics, particularly Democrats in Congress who've called for the U.S. to begin withdrawing from Iraq, are validating the view of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden that America ``doesn't have the stomach'' for a drawn-out conflict. ``Iraq is the current, central battlefield'' in the war against terrorists, Cheney said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program, repeating the stance he and President George W. Bush have held since the start of the conflict almost four years ago. The U.S. ``cannot run a war by committee,'' Cheney said.
Cheney's appearance was part of an administration effort to halt the slide in support for the war and to buy time for the strategy Bush announced Jan. 10, which includes adding 21,500 soldiers and Marines to the 132,000 U.S. military personnel already in the country. Some of their Republican allies in Congress, such as Senators Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Sam Brownback of Kansas, have joined with Democrats in opposition to the increase.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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So far, despite their rants, and judging by their "First 100 Hours" legislations, looks like the Dems aren't even trying to stop Bush. IMO once again comes down to how the MSM will ascribe blame for any new 9-11(s) = Amer Hiroshima(s). The threats made by Radical islamist Terror, + anti-US comments by "War is not only possible/realistic but desired" Russia-China, means DUBYA = USA = WEST CAN'T STOP FIGHTING "OVER THERE" NO MATTER HOW MANY WMDS GO OFF IN AMER TARGETS-CITIES, NOT EVEN AGZ HIMSELF + WASHINGTON. Govt-centric/happy Traditional Commies, Radical Anarchists, + Totalitarianists are savoring their chops. CLINTONISM > America is making too making "mistakes" [ e.g. failures to prevent 9-11 + angering Allies-Neutrals]; + America's mainstream is pro-Communist-Socialist-Leftist CONSERVATIVE/ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE ALREADY; + America is BRUTISH WARMONGERING and IMPERIALIST WHOM MUST BE STOPPED BY THE UNO = WORLD. America cannot be trusted, has no self-worth/honor, Amer DemCapitalism + GOP-Rightism/ Rightist Conservatvism is contrary to the "Will of the People = Amer Socialism" i.e. the Mainstream-National Desire; plus America must be stopped for the good of America + the World. Amer must be controlled. Amer must be constarined, Amer must obey the UNO, Amer must obey the World/World Community, Amer must obey the Socialist desires and Intents of its own People, Amer must be dominated + governed by a group/coalition of world nations that must be dominated by Russia-China in order to counter unsafe, unreliable, dishonorable, warmongering imperialist, errorful incompetent = empiric, arrogant Male Brute Amer policies and future actions.
IOW, THE DEMOLEFT + ANTI-US AGENDISTS-GLOBALISTS HAVE SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH A DE FACTO STAKE IN NEW 9-11's = AMER HIROSHIMAS TAKING PLACE INSIDE AMERICA, IN AMERS BEING ATTACKED, HURT, SUBORNED OR DESTROYED - you know, PATRIOTISM, THE UNDENIABLE PARADISE = FREEDOMS THAT IS A GULAG + DEATH CAMP??? "No one escapes from the Kumbaya paradise of WeldStalag 13/17"!?
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a presidential candidate, says there will be a "catastrophe" if President Bush's policy of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq fails. But Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., also a probable presidential candidate, says Iraq is a "catastrophe" right now. Both men appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
McCain said he can't guarantee the new policy "will succeed, but I can guarantee catastrophe if we fail or continue the present strategy" in Iraq. Democrats have been calling the call for a surge in troops the "McCain doctrine," but the senator said he would call it the "McCain principle" -- "that when I vote to send young Americans into harm's way and to carry out a mission, that I'm committed to seeing that mission through and to see that it succeeds."
Obama said, "I strongly disagree with Sen. McCain ... (about) this notion that we have future catastrophe to look forward to if we start phasing down troops. We are in the catastrophe that Sen. McCain described right now," with bloodletting and the advancement of Iran in Iraq. He said a different approach would be to follow what the Iraq Study Group recommended -- gradual withdrawal of combat troops with remaining U.S. forces in a training or supportive role. Obama refused to say whether Democrats would consider cutting off funding for the war, saying opposition would come in "steps."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Obama is concerned about Iran? Right. That's why he wants to US to suddenly create defeat where there is none, and abandon the front lines in Iraq. Idiot.
At a critical moment when the government is poised to choose a design for the next generation of nuclear weapons, two influential members of Congress have threatened to eliminate funding for the new warheads due to concerns over the Bush administration's plans for refurbishing the weapons production complex.
In a previously undisclosed letter written to the energy secretary on Nov. 16, Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, who was then chairman of the House subcommittee that controls nuclear weapons spending, criticized the department's planning for the new weapons manufacturing facilities. He insisted he would fight to halt all spending for the new warheads if the department did not embrace what he said would be a more efficient, cheaper approach through consolidation of the production operations.
The letter was significant not only for its angry tone but also because Hobson was an architect and perhaps the single most important congressional supporter of the new weapons plan, known as the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, or RRW.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 12:04 ||
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It also makes it harder to take out our nuclear weapons manufacturing capability to spread the facilities around. I don't think this is just politicaly motivated.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/15/2007 12:26 Comments ||
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Some people need to learn that they're only a small PART of the government, not the be-all and end-all. These two congresscritters need to have a "come to Jesus" moment with a half-dozen very large men in black suits.
We have eight nuke warhead manufacturing spots in the United States (down from 14). All of them are dated, because we've been building nukes for 60 years or more. Most have been updated at least a few times. Consolidating all our nuke warhead manufacturing facilities in one or two locations (Hobson's and Visclosky's recommendations) doesn't make military or economic sense. Playing political games such as trying to withhold funding to get their single-minded ideas through also doesn't make sense.
The idiots that say our manufacturing and maintaining nuclear weapons "sends the wrong message" are nothing but defeatniks. They live in a dream world of their own manufacture. We live in a hostile world, one getting more hostile all the time. Not only do we need nuke weapons, we need the courage to use them when needed.
I'm beginning to think we're going to have to have a second revolution to eliminate all the stupidity in Washington. It may not take another 200 years for that stupidity to be reborn, but it won't happen overnight.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/15/2007 13:18 Comments ||
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Not to mention that keeping the old nukes somewhat blowable is getting incredibly expensive. Better to have new, smaller and cheaper ones that are within the operational lifetime.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/15/2007 14:06 Comments ||
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Efficiencies in manufacturing are commendable, but sometimes there are over-riding concerns. National security is probably one of those. Part of the problem, IMHO, is that the congresscritters have tasted some success in the consolidation of our armed forces (thanks BRAC) and want to extend that to EVERYTHING governmental. If you place all your eggs in one, or few baskets, it just gets easier for the bad guys to hurt you.
#9
So we have two goals for nuclear weapons upgrades:
1. Security---One plant is too few. An enemy OR a serious accident could take out our manufacturing capability.
2. Cost---Eight separate nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities are redundant and cost too much.
So, it seems to me that the answer is between 1 and eight. How much security do you want? What are the threats and dangers that nuclear weapons will be used against? Also what are the threats facing the manufacturing facilities? Once you identify the threats and decide on your level of security, the numbers will come out. Form follows function. We need some good discussions between Congress and the DoE people involved in this issue. And grandstanding before the press is a no-no in this issue.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2007 22:07 Comments ||
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Piketon, Ohio has a sister plant in Paducha, KY...FYI
WASHINGTON - President Bush concedes he isn't popular, and that the war in Iraq isn't either. Yes, progress is overdue and patience is all but gone. Yet none of that changes his view that more U.S. troops are needed to win in Iraq. "I'm not going to try to be popular and change principles to do so," Bush said in a television interview that aired Sunday night.
Digging in for confrontation, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney say they will not budge from sending more U.S. troops to Iraq no matter how much Congress opposes it. "I fully understand they could try to stop me," Bush said of the Democrat-run Congress. "But I've made my decision, and we're going forward."
As the president talked tough, lawmakers pledged to explore ways to stop him. "We need to look at what options we have available to constrain the president," said Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, a possible White House candidate in 2008. Democrats remain wary, though, of appearing unsupportive of American troops.
A defiant Cheney, meanwhile, said Democrats offered criticism without credible alternatives. He pointedly reminded lawmakers that Bush is commander in chief. "You cannot run a war by committee," the vice president said of congressional input.
The aggressive White House reaction came as the House and Senate prepare to vote on resolutions opposing additional U.S. troops in Iraq. As the White House watched even some GOP support peel away from the war plan, it went all-out to regain some footing.
Bush gave his first interview from Camp David, airing Sunday night on CBS' "60 Minutes." It was his second prime-time opportunity in five days to explain why he thinks adding U.S. troops can help stabilize Iraq and hasten the time when American soldiers can come home. He addressed the nation from the White House last Wednesday evening.
"Some of my buddies in Texas say, 'You know, let them fight it out. What business is it of ours?'" Bush said of Iraqis. "And that's a temptation that I know a lot of people feel. But if we do not succeed in Iraq, we will leave behind a Middle East which will endanger America."
Yet when asked if he owes the Iraqi people an apology for botching the management of the war, he said, "Not at all. "We liberated that country from a tyrant," Bush said. "I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude."
Beyond promising to go on record in opposition to the president's approach, the Democratic leadership is considering whether, and how, to cut off funding for additional troops.
"You don't like to micromanage the Defense Department, but we have to, in this case, because they're not paying attention to the public," said Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who helps oversee military funding.
It is unclear how any effort by Congress could affect Bush's plan. National security adviser Stephen Hadley said the White House already has money appropriated by Congress to move the additional forces to Iraq. GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a potential 2008 presidential contender who endorses Bush's call for more troops, said votes to express disapproval were pointless. "If they're dead serious then we should have a motion to cut off funding," he said of those fighting Bush's strategy.
Many Democrats favor a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops, along with new diplomatic efforts with Iraq's neighbors.
The Bush administration had hoped that the president's overhauled strategy would lead to some bipartisan unity or that the White House would at least get an extended hearing before legislative leaders made up their minds. Instead, it encountered majority opposition in Congress and a public that rejected by large polling margins the military and political ideas Bush announced.
In the CBS interview, Bush rejected an assertion that, time and again, his administration hasn't been straight with the American people about Iraq. He said his spirits were strong. "I really am not the kind of guy that sits here and says, 'Oh gosh, I'm worried about my legacy,'" Bush said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/15/2007 07:02 ||
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Saw the interview and really think that the entire Bush team needs to play offense instead of defense with respect to Iraq. Some to like:
"We are there, we aint going to allow the terrorists to win, and if you think we should let them win then tell why." Too much pussy-footing around for me and how about some probing question to the naysayers and detractors? "Ok you want our troops out of Iraq, if that happens how to you see things in that country is say 12 months? Would that be good for the world?" They need to hire Laura Ingraham, Melanie Morgan, or Ann Coulter as a PR person and unchain them. In about a week the MSM would FEAR press conferences.
#2
Folks should be mad about Iraq - but they are mad about the wrong things. Iraq is a critical front in the greater war on Islamofascist terror (WIT). The US (if not the West) must win the WIT and the American people should be outraged that we are losing in Iraq. Yes there should be congressional investigations, not about the fabled "lies" that got us into the war, but into the reasons why we are losing. Meanwhile, our military leaders (from the commander-in-chief on down) should be figure what is necessary to win, and then do it.
But of course this will never happen. Congress cannot investigate what went wrong lest the investigations seek explanation for why our ruthless 8th century enemies openly and publicly cheer on the "loyal" opposition here and elsewhere in the West. For all the investigations that will be forth coming, they will seek only the desired answers. Now this is Bush's war, and to many people, the worst possible outcome in Iraq would be to have success there. The '08 elections will guide every decision, and by then the outcome in Iraq must be unquestionably bad, and unquestionably Bush's fault - all else pales in comparison - even the ramifications of actually losing Iraq.
#3
Cyber I cannot agree more! If Bush had just somewhat competent skills to rally and speak we would still be rolling with 60+ approval of the WOT. He has the right ideas and plans but just absolutley falters in the rally the people part.
My question to every pansie would be "If we pull out can you garantee we wont have to go back?" "so since you can't when the next generation has to go back in this time with NO PRO US Iraqi's left alive at ALL how bloody will it be then?" Is Afghanistan not a living testoment example of why we would have to return anyway "To force tommorows generations to sacrifise horrificly becuase the current generation of leaders cannot stomach the current HISTORICALLY MINOR SACRIFISES is the definition of deriliction of duty and I will not allow such under any circumstances PERIOD". "our current generation of military have the will, if only the current generation of So Called leadership could just match such maybe the next generation can be saved the slaughter".
offense instead of defense with respect to Iraq. Some to like:
"We are there, we ain't going to allow the terrorists to win, and if you think we should let them win then tell why."
"Ok you want our troops out of Iraq, if that happens how to you see things in that country is say 12 months?
Would that be good for the world?"
They need to hire Laura Ingraham, Melanie Morgan, or Ann Coulter as a PR person and unchain them. In about a week the MSM would FEAR press conferences.
my pick for the individuals who have both the talent and fierce moral clarity to see Mortal Danger to our existence on the planet and to our way of life.
1) Big Picture,
2) Know the difference between strategy and tactics.
3) a studied background therefore an empirical knowledge of the enemy, consequently having a force of insight and perspective of their character and nature.
4) Have the skill to put in writing/words the big picture, the critical strategy and tactics for winning. concise compact yet poetic prose.
first picks; Fred, John, writing and final edit.
writers: RBees [naming just a few] Army of Steves, .com, Dave D, Zen, phil_b, ExJag, Verlaine, Frozen Al, Joe
Sarge's picks seem like fine group of choices to deal with drooling idjits in the media.
"They need to hire Laura Ingraham, Melanie Morgan, Ivan the Terrible's wife and Ann Coulter as a PR person and unchain them."
#6
...the entire Bush team needs to play offense instead of defense with respect to Iraq
That'll be the part of the Bush presidency that I'll never understand--they played ZERO offense for the entirety of the two terms. This President could have done something historic AND explained himself in the process--but for whatever reason, chose not to. I still don't get it.
#7
"This President could have done something historic AND explained himself in the process--but for whatever reason, chose not to. I still don't get it."
That's the part I'm having the most trouble with, too. Sometimes I've tried to chalk it up to "terminal Nice Guy-ism", sometimes to his truly pathetic extemporaneous speaking skills (the only one in my living memory as bad was Eisenhower), and other times to the extreme constraints imposed by the unholy alliance between our MSM and a Democratic Party hell-bent on acquiring power and utterly unconcerned about what cost America has to pay while they go about grabbing it.
Regardless of why, though, the fact remains that he hasn't succeeded in doing the single most important thing needed to ensure we prevail in this conflict: getting and keeping the support of the American people.
And I fear the price our children and grandchildren will end up paying for that failure-- regardless of who deserves the blame for it and who does not.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/15/2007 19:18 Comments ||
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Dean Barnett addresses the issue of Bush's failure to win the support of the people: The Great Non-Communicator? I pretty much agree with what he says, though I'm slightly more hopeful about Bush dealing with Iran.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/15/2007 19:47 Comments ||
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Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has decided after consulting with senior leaders and members of parliament of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party to withdraw his decision to boycott the next general elections.
Sources in the PML-N told Online that most party leaders, including the exiled former prime ministers brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is also president of the Muslim League-Nawaz, were against the boycott decision. Nawaz had said his party would not take part in the elections if they were held under President Gen Pervez Musharraf, but his decision was criticised by other opposition parties, especially the PML-Ns main partner in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Lahore on Saturday, according to television reports. Ms Clinton is expected to meet President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad on Sunday. She is also scheduled to visit Afghanistan the same day and call for a troop surge in that country, even though she opposes a similar measure in Iraq.
Calling for a surge in Afghanistan allows the Dhimmicrats to sound tough without really risking anything. Despite the MSM most educated pols know that the Taliban won't topple the government, so it's safe to call for more action there. It allows the Hildebeast to look 'tough' to the center-left portion of her party.
Mrs Clinton visited Kuwait and Iraq on Saturday, where she met Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki and Shia cleric Ayatollah Abd Al Aziz Al Hakim. She also met with Lt-Gen Martin Dempsey, who is training Iraqi security forces.
She cautioned against paying too much attention to Iraq at the expense of the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. I wish we were discussing additional troops for Afghanistan. We are hearing increasingly troubling reports out of Afghanistan and we will be searching for accurate information about the true state of affairs both militarily and politically, she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Grandstand, meet Hildabeast. Hildabeast, meet Grandstand. Such cheap theatrics at taxpayer expense. Would be funny if the issues weren't so serious.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/15/2007 0:51 Comments ||
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#2
And so obvious.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/15/2007 6:38 Comments ||
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#3
Trying to change the subject, is she? Wonder of wonders.
Posted by: john ||
01/15/2007 9:36 Comments ||
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hehe tough day , misread title as Hillbilly arrives in Lahore , prolly isnt that far from the truth
#5
Early day, when I first read the headline i thought it said hillary arrives as a whore. Now that I read the article my first read was right. She is a media whore of the first degree.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/15/2007 10:39 Comments ||
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Make sure to try the water, Hillary. It's fabulous!
#5
My first suggestion for their fund is to provide American level social coverage to all illegal aliens who voluntarily leave the USA. Pay women 25K each to not have their children on American soil, but rather come to Venezuela.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday reaffirmed Turkey's right to send troops into Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels there and chided U.S. officials for questioning it.
We're not unsympathetic -- we dislike terrorists as much as you do. And since you're a NATO ally (sometimes), we'll defend you if you're attacked. Right now the PKK is rather quiet, so I think this latest statement has more to do with domestic politics ...
"The Turkish Republic will do whatever is necessary to combat the terrorists when the time comes, but it will not announce its plans in advance," Erdogan told a news conference after a meeting of his ruling AK Party. "We say we are ready to take concrete steps with the Iraqi government and we also say these steps must be taken now."
In a strange coincidence, Erdogan is up for election later this year ...
In sharp language underscoring Turkish anxiety about the chaos in Iraq, Erdogan said it was wrong for Washington -- "our supposed strategic ally" -- to tell Turkey, with its historic and cultural ties in the region, to stay out of Iraq. "We have a 350 km border with Iraq. We have historic relations ... the United States is 10,000 km away from Iraq, and yet is it not intervening in Iraq's internal affairs?" he said.
If you'll recall we actually gave you a great opportunity to get involved in, oh, March 2003, but you listened to the French instead of us. Had you let the 4ID through things would likely be much better for you today. You could have sent some troops along and 'protected' your interests. We would have looked the other way while you whamped the PKK.
Turkish media say Erdogan has been irked by comments attributed to Washington's envoy to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, warning third countries not to interfere in Iraqi affairs.
That was meant more to Syria and Iran, but if you're offended well that's really no skin off our fore. Say, how's that EU thing working out?
Ankara has long complained that the United States and Iraqi government have failed to crack down on Kurdish rebels, and periodically asserts its right under international law to conduct cross-border operations against the guerrillas.
If you target the PKK gunnies in a careful way that would likely be okay. But you guys have, historically, been rather free and heavy-handed with the truncheons and mustache wax ...
With both presidential and parliamentary elections looming in 2007, analysts say Erdogan is under increased pressure to show he is tough on security issues.
And just like in Canada, France and other countries, playing the anti-US card works well.
More than 30,000 people have been killed since the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), branded a "terrorist organisation" by the EU and the U.S. as well as Ankara, launched an armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. The PKK began a unilateral ceasefire on Oct. 1 at the request of its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, but Turkey dismissed the move as a public relations ploy and clashes have continued, though at a lower intensity than before.
Washington has appointed a special envoy to coordinate measures with Turkey aimed at tackling the PKK, but analysts say it will not apply military force against the group, given the scale of the problems it faces in the rest of Iraq.
We're a little busy right now; take a number and we'll call you ...
"We don't want to waste time with abstract statements, we want concrete results," said Erdogan, who has said the Iraq situation is now a bigger foreign policy priority for Turkey even than its bid to join the European Union.
Why don't we get the EU and the UN involved in this problem of yours? I'm sure we could find some African Union peacekeepers real cheap to guard your border against the PKK. Put a French general in charge and, voila! Problem solved!
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 00:16 ||
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This isn't about the PKK. It's about the Kurds getting the northern oilfields (and Kirkuk and Ninenveh provinces).
The Turks are terrified of a viable Kurdish state since it means the end of the current Turkish state (within it's current borders).
#2
Yup. And eventual union with the Kurds in northeast Syria and in northwest Iran.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 1:02 Comments ||
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After Turkeys move to not let the U.S. in from the north, I'm not so sure we shouldn't at least hint to them that a Kurdish state might be possible.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/15/2007 1:32 Comments ||
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Jordan's king told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday that Washington must "actively push" for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. King Abdullah II also warned that violence would escalate if no tangible solution was found to the lingering conflict. Rice's stop was part of a weeklong tour of the region.
The king said that Iraqi reconciliation would fail if Sunni Iraqis were not engaged in their country's decision making. "Any political process that doesn't ensure the participation of all segments of Iraqi society will fail and will lead to more violence," Abdullah told Rice in a closed-door meeting in Amman, according to a statement by his press office. "As a key component of the Iraqi social fabric, the Iraqi Sunni community must be included as partners in building Iraq's future," said the king, a top U.S. ally in the Middle East.
With other U.S. allies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Jordan is concerned that the growing Shiite Muslim influence stretching from Iran through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, will help the hard-line Tehran regime dominate the Middle East. That, the allies fear, will give rise to more extremism, jeopardize a peace settlement and threaten their own states.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Your Majesty, two points: you said something about the Palestinians, uh, what was it? uh, never mind, and No. 2, Iraqi Sunnis have ripped themselves out of their country's social fabric, and further blackened their history of criminal behavior towards their countrymen, through their tolerance of and participation in vicious barbaric acts both before and after liberation. You've got most of their money, all of their doctors, and many of the rest of them living in Amman already. We feel your pain. Deal with it.
#6
There are far more flagelants and moonbat martyrs among Shiites, than are there Sunni be-headers. A single mililtary move against the parasitic Ayatollahs, would cause Iranians to topple those cockroaches in human form.
Remember: the US has never had good relations with a Shiite clerical regime, whereas Sunnis relations have been at least tolerable and economically beneficial.
#8
Sorry, Sneaze, no sale on the Sunnis - esp. in Iraq. Without their insane murderous behavior - before and after liberation - you don't have anything like today's situation.
It has nothing to do with Sunnis vs. Shia, anyway. Different groups of people in different places and different times will be either cooperative, hostile, share interests or not share interests. We have friends and enemies on both sides of that divide.
Sunni Arab extremism, racism, arrogance, cluelessness, and psycho dysfunction have to be fought just as hard as the much more limited, newer, and shallower brand of Shi'ite craziness.
"Crush Sunnis First" - any other approach gets, uh, exactly what we've been getting, which the WH finally, and belatedly, decided wasn't what we're paying for.
The Iraqi foreign minister called Sunday for the release of five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in what he said was a legitimate mission in northern Iraq, but he stressed that foreign intervention to help insurgents would not be tolerated. The two-pronged statement by Hoshyar Zebari made no sense highlighted the delicate balance facing the Iraqi government as it tries to secure Baghdad with the help of American forces while maintaining ties with its neighbors, including U.S. rivals Iran and Syria. "Any interventions or any harmful interventions to kill Iraqis or to provide support for insurgency or for the insurgents should be stopped by the Iraqi government and by the coalition forces," Zebari said in an interview with CNN's "Late Edition."
But he also stressed Iraq has to keep good relations with its neighbors in the region. "You have to remember, our destiny, as Iraqis, we have to live in this part of the world. And we have to live with Iran, we have to live with Syria and Turkey and other countries," he said. "So in fact, on the other hand, the Iraqi government is committed to cultivate good neighborly relations with these two countries and to engage them constructively in security cooperation."
The U.S. military said the five Iranians detained last week in the Kurdish-controlled northern city of Irbil were connected to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard faction that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq. It was the second U.S. raid targeting Iranians in Iraq in less than a month. The military said the Quds Force faction of the Revolutionary Guard, a hard-line military force that reports directly to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is "known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the Government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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'Course there could be many unknown unknowns (to me) that invalidate my position, but if we release these guys it will be a catastrophe. While I still believe in Crush Sunnis First, I've thought we should be going kinetic against the Iranians and specifically the IRGC involved in Iraq for over a year, at the least.
#4
I think we need to teach the Iraqis a lesson in cause and effect: if you decide to screw Uncle Sam, you will feel the Hammer of God on your toes - and elsewhere. Playing back-stabbing games against the United States will get your own back perforated. If you want to be the government, then acknowledge that your actions may have consequences, and some of them may be both unintended and quite painful. "You elected these people, you will be held responsibile for their idiot behavior" is a good lesson not only for the Iraqis but also for many people in the United States. We choose to respect the will of the Iraqi people, until it starts costing us the lives of OUR people. We crushed the Iraqi government once, we can very well do it again. The Iraqi government needs to do some long, hard, in-depth pondering, instead of so much shallow, stupid posturing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/15/2007 21:26 Comments ||
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"And we have to live with Iran"
Not necessarily....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/15/2007 22:41 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD - The US military said on Sunday that five Iranians held by its troops in Iraq are linked to Revolutionary Guards who are arming and funding Iraqi militants but Teheran called them diplomats and demanded they be released.
The five were arrested on Thursday in a US dawn raid on an Iranian government office in the Kurdish city of Arbil. The US military said the five detainees were connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). The organisation was known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilise the government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces, it said in a statement.
Sounds pretty obvious to me. They're holed up in a 'diplomatic' office dispensing arms, ammo and cash. Close them up and send them home, at a bare minimum.
Nope. I'm calling for them to be held for 445 days and released only after a new president of Iran is inaugurated...
Good point; I like your plan better ...
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated Washingtons accusations that Iran is providing training and weapons to militias fighting US forces in Iraq. I think there is plenty of evidence that there is Iranian involvement with these networks that are making high-explosive IEDs (bombs) and that are endangering our troops, and thats going to be dealt with, she told reporters.
But Rice said Bushs order to target Iranians operating in Iraq as tensions between the two counties have mounted over Teherans nuclear ambitions was not a broadening of the dispute.
Just broadening our response.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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LOL - Nobody wanted the trash delivered...
The former imam of Ohio's largest mosque became a man without a country after being convicted of concealing his ties to terrorist groups.
Fawaz Damra was rejected by 72 countries and left with no choice but to be deported to his native West Bank, leading to his arrest by Israeli authorities on Jan. 4.
The arrest has angered Muslim leaders in Ohio, some of whom complained that he was double-crossed by U.S. immigration officials and delivered up to the Israelis.
Damra, 46, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Nablus, was the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, raising three American-born daughters with his wife in suburban Strongsville, at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. He condemned the attacks and urged others not to judge all Muslims as a group. uh huh...
Less than a month later, however, footage from a 1991 speech aired on local TV, showing him raising money for a Palestinian holy war and saying Muslims should be directing all the rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation and that is the sons of monkeys and pigs, the Jews.
He apologized and said his views had changed. But in 2004, he was convicted of concealing ties to terrorist organizations on his citizenship application 10 years earlier. Prosecutors connected him to the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, responsible for numerous suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis.
Stripped of his U.S. citizenship and facing deportation, Damra struck a deal with federal authorities to leave the country, his attorney Mo Abdrabboh said.
The reason he agreed to that is he thought he could go to Jordan, Abdrabboh said. Jordan didn't want him. Apparently, he was wroooooong!
But even Jordan, where he holds citizenship, refused him. After his time to find a country willing to accept him elapsed, he was taken into custody in November 2005, then spent a year in a Michigan jail. Then he was arrested when he was presented to Israeli immigration officials for admission to the West Bank.
Haider Alawan, a friend of Damra's and a member of the Parma-based Islamic Center's council of elders, is one of many Muslims angry with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Keep an eye (and a wiretap) on Haider
There's no end to what they can do, Alawan said. They take you, hold you and extradite you to wherever they want. It's un-American.
Damra last saw his wife, Nesreen, on Dec. 31, Abdrabboh said. She and their three daughters ages 11, 15 and 16 had not been notified he had been deported, and found out only when his lawyer arrived at the jail and found him gone.
U.S. immigration officials at first said Damra was escorted across the Allenby Bridge from Jordan to the West Bank. But later they acknowledged he was turned over to Israeli immigration officials.
Julia Shearson, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Cleveland office, accused government officials of having an arrangement with Israel an allegation ICE denied.
This lawless behavior of our government must be stopped, Shearson said. The American people must be made to realize that however great the risk and fear of terrorism, the risk of tyranny is ever greater.
Smadar Ben-Natan, Damra's Israeli lawyer, said her client was being treated well at the Kishon prison in northern Israel.
Damra will appear in court Jan. 25. Abdrabboh, his Detroit-based lawyer, said the hearing will have one of three outcomes he will be released, charged with a crime or detained longer. walk him into Gaza. Let the POS taste the love
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2007 17:53 ||
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Bwhahahah.
I wonder if Julia will be tuning in for the next two episodes of 24 tonight.
#6
If he were the man without a country, we would be treating him a bit differently.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/15/2007 22:14 Comments ||
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Where else in Muzzie lore have I seen that number 72??
Oh that's right, it has to do with the number of entry visas, er I mean virgins you get when you open a martyr account at the Last National Bank of Mo. That and a piggy bank.
too bad, so sad. My only retret is that the immagration folks lied in an appearent effort to appease the ragheads; maybe next time they will be up front, seeing as nothing short of total world domination will ever satisfy them.
Spokesman for the Islamic Jihad's al-Quds Brigades, Abu Ahmed, told Ynet Sunday that the group does not believe Israel will carry out its threat to launch a wide-scale operation in the Gaza Strip. "Like in all previous operations, the Israelis will withdraw this time as well, escorted by their failure and without any chance of stopping the rocket fire," he declared. The spokesman for the Jihad's military wing vowed that his organization will continue with the rocket fire, "which succeeded in creating a balance of terror with the enemy."
Abu Ahmed, in light of the Israeli threats, are you preparing for the possibility of a military Israeli operation in the near future?
These threats against our people aren't new. We've dealt with the Israelis' threats and the real operations. When the Israelis talk following every military operation, it testifies to the failure of any such operation, which never succeeded in putting an end to the rocket fire.
The Palestinian resistance organizations, headed by the al-Quds Brigades, are ready to confront any operation, and we vow that this operation too, if it comes into force, will fail. On our part we continue in the resistance activity in a bid to create a balance of terror and a mutual deterrence balance with the Zionist enemy.
Do you honestly believe you can achieve a balance of terror? Is this not just propaganda?
We are not the only ones talking about a balance of terror and deterrence. The Israelis themselves, both on the political-military level and on the level of the civilians, are saying that such a balance actually exists. The Israelis have carried out many operations, like the one in Beit Hanoun, and no one here is leaving home.
The Israelis threaten to bombard the houses and the people gather in the houses to prevent the strikes. The people in Sderot, however, are leaving their houses in front of the eyes of the world. Therefore, this is not about a psychological war, but about success that has already been obtained through these blessed rockets.
The average Israeli fails to understand why the rocket attacks continue, despite Israel's full withdrawal from Gaza and after Israel gave the Palestinians everything in the Strip.
This is a mistake. Israel gave nothing, and there's no Palestinian sovereignty in the Strip. Our enemy fully controls the air and the sea, and the Strip's borders are fenced on all sides. The Palestinians cannot sail at sea, import commodities through the Karni crossing or travel in the world beyond Rafah.
The only reason for the Israeli withdrawal was the desire to refrain from continued attacks by the resistance groups against the settlements and the soldiers in the Strip. Even today the occupation still exists, and we have the right to continue fighting it.
Despite your statements about a struggle against the occupation, it seems that in the case of the Islamic Jihad the rocket fire stems from a special agenda, which may be dictated from abroad.
We in the Islamic Jihad do not have, thank God, any special agenda. We do not take part in the elections, we are not seeking power or authority or jobs. Our only agenda is the fight against the occupation and protecting our people. The enemy must withdraw from our lands, and this shooting is a part of our self-defense. When Israel carries out killings on a daily basis, we cannot stand by idly.
But today, and in the recent days there were no assassinations, and still the fire continued. Only a few hours ago you fired rockets in the Kissufim area.
Perhaps there were no targeted killings today, but the killings haven't stopped. There are dozens of arrests and actions of Israel in the West Bank every day, and our reactions derive from Israel's moves. We never said that every shooting is necessarily an immediate response to a certain operation of Israel. Our reactions are the result of the conditions on the ground and the military constraints.
What special preparations are you conducting in the event Israel carries out its threat for a wide-scale operation in the Strip?
We can't speak about special preparations, but we are ready, the Mujahidin never sleep, we are awake all the time. Our people are watching the borders...I state again that we do not believe that the Israelis -- because of the experience of the past -- will carry out their threats.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said on Sunday that a a day would come when Israel would have to consider whether or not to free the jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences for orchestrating three terrorist attacks in which five Israelis were killed. In spite of this history, Sneh said that Israel would have to resolve the legal issues baring Barghouti's release because he is the most popular Palestinian leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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I used to think Israel couldn't afford to act stupidly when it came to security matters. They don't have the margin of error, the cushion of power and prosperity and hugeness, that we have. I was wrong. The mind boggles.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak launched his political comeback on Sunday night with an speech to a sympathetic audience of 150 mostly elderly kibbutzniks at Kibbutz Afikim in the Jordan Valley. The modest kibbutz cafeteria was a symbolic choice for Barak, who wants to prove to the Labor members voting in the May 28 party primary that he has become more a more modest man since leaving the Prime Minister's Office, despite the wealth he earned in the business world during his break from politics.
Barak said that if elected, he would lead Labor as part of a team, having learned from his time as prime minister when he was criticized for not delegating authority. He included his competition, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and MK Ophir Paz-Pines, among the team, but he also criticized the candidates running against him for being too leftist to win a general election. "Yitzhak Rabin and I got elected because we were perceived as coming from the Center," Barak told the crowd. "Some of the candidates are considered radical leftists. You cannot win an election in the State of Israel with leftist policies."
Barak slammed Peretz, saying he "does not think Labor should have only a socioeconomic policy, [one] that is above all other policies." In criticizing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet, Barak said, "It is wrong to get stuck in a competition over who has a prettier diplomatic plan."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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"Yitzhak Rabin and I got elected because we were perceived as coming from the Center,"
And then Rabin brought us Oslo, and you gave us unilateral withdrawl from Lebanon.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has given assurances that America will push towards a Palestinian state in a bid to bolster moderate President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas. Speaking in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Dr Rice said: "I have heard loud and clear the call for deeper American engagement. You will have my commitment to do precisely that."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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"I have heard loud and clear the call for deeper American engagement. You will have my commitment to do precisely that."
Since Bush won't engage (turn around & bend over) Syria & Iran, DOS is a bit bored.
January 15, 2007: During the Summer of 2006, Israeli tanks saw their first heavy combat in 24 years. It was also the first combat for the new Merkava 4. Actually, it was the first heavy combat for the Merkava 2 (introduced in 1983) and Merkava 3 (1989). In 1982, 180 Merkava 1s saw action during the war with Lebanon. Since then, the Merkavas have only been used in peacekeeping and counter-terror operations with the Palestinians.
The Israelis, as they have in all past wars, collected detailed information on each tank that was hit by enemy fire. Israel won't, for obvious reasons, release all this information. But they have provided some data. There were "several hundred" Merkavas sent into southern Lebanon in 2006. Of those, ten percent were hit by enemy fire (including mines and roadside bombs). Merkava faced modern anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) for the first time in 2006. Only 18 tanks were seriously damaged, and only a third of those were from several hundred ATGMs fired by Hizbollah. Only two of the 18 heavily damaged tanks were destroyed, and both of those were damaged by roadside bombs. In those two cases, the tank was over the bomb when it was detonated.
The experience in Lebanon again proves that ATGMs tend to be overrated. Israel first encountered ATGMs during the 1973 war, and quickly adapted. ATGMs were much less effective in the 1982 war, and didn't do all that well in 2006 either. Hizbollah quickly learned that the Merkava frontal armor was impervious to their Russian Kornet ATGMs. Getting side and rear shots was more difficult, and not a lot more successful. While the ATGM warhead often penetrated, the Merkava was designed to take these kind of hits and survive, and survive it did. In addition to fire extinguisher systems, the ammo and fuel are stored in such a way that secondary explosions are rare. Thus the crew normally survives these hits, as does the tank.
About half the Merkavas were the older models, with the 105mm gun. These were able to fire the APAM (anti-personnel/Anti-Material) rounds and the "shotgun shell" round that carried 5,000 tiny metal darts. The shotgun shell was fitted with a 120mm collar to enable it to be fired from the 120mm gun of Merkava 3 and 4. The APAM was most useful in taking care of Hizbollah fighters fighting from buildings or bunkers. The U.S. has had the same experience in Iraq, where the the M-1 tank uses the M1028 "shotgun shell" for its 120mm gun. The M1028 shell holds 1100 10mm tungsten balls that are propelled out of the gun barrel and begin to disperse. The tungsten projectiles are lethal at up to 700 meters. The official requirement of the XM1028 is to kill or disable more than 50 percent of a 10 man squad with one shot and do the same to a 30 man platoon with two shots.
#2
This is why the government prefer to have shootouts during the arrest. Shuts Lipless eddie from complaining about his brothers in jail. By Wed there will be some group of poor dumbasses kidnapped so there can be a prisoner exchange.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/15/2007 10:34 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like a job for the RAB!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/15/2007 12:15 Comments ||
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Interior Minister Aree Wong-araya on Monday condemned the continued violence in Thailand's Muslim-majority three southernmost provinces and singled out the murder and decapitation of a rubber farm worker as 'inhumane and brutal.'
On Sunday a rubber tapper and his wife, both 38, were killed in an insurgent ambush in Yala Province and then the man was beheaded.
Aree, who is a Muslim, called the act 'beyond any definition of brutality' and said he had never seen such cruel incidents during his working life in the civil service. 'If the killers were real Muslims, they would not do this. We must verify who is influencing the murderers,' he said.
#3
If the killers were real Muslims, they would not do this.
Oh, look, that old lie again. He must sense the Buddhists are getting pissed; if he were sure they were calm or afraid, he'd have trotted out the "it's because of the humiliation" line and made demands.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/15/2007 12:05 Comments ||
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Iran wants Germany to release a convicted killer in return for a German tourist who was jailed after his boat strayed into Iranian territorial waters by mistake.
Iranian officials have responded to German appeals for his release by linking the case to that of Kazem Darabi, who is serving a life sentence in Germany for the 1992 assassination of four Iranian-Kurdish opposition leaders in a Berlin restaurant. The court that convicted Darabi in 1997 said the orders for the killings came from the highest state levels in Tehran.
The tourist, Donald Klein, 53, from Lambsheim in southwestern Germany, was jailed for 18 months by an Iranian court for illegally crossing a border. The sculptor, a passionate angler, had been on vacation in Dubai in November 2005 and had hired a boat to catch swordfish and parrot fish in the Persian Gulf.
His French skipper steered the vessel into the Strait of Ormuz and close to the island of Abu Mussa, a restricted zone. They were arrested, interrogated and sentenced within weeks.
Klein's wife Karin has made numerous appeals for clemency to Iranian officials. When his mother died, she sent them a copy of the death certificate, hoping the mullahs would show compassion. There was no response....
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Deputy Governor General of Iran's southern province of Hormuzgan strongly rejected rumors about eruption of clashes between Iranian and US battleships in the Persian Gulf.
We don't have an active-duty battleship right now, and I'm pretty sure the Iranians don't either. Maybe they mean 'battleship' in the same way the Somalis refer to 'battlewagons'.
Speaking to FNA, the official viewed the rumor as a part of the enemies' psychological war on Iran, and added, "Such efforts are made to break the Iranians' resolve after West's efforts in the form of the UN Security Council Resolution 1737 to influence Iran's decision through downgrading public morale failed."
An informed source in the security department of the Iranian interior ministry also denied such reports as baseless. Since the early hours of Sunday morning, many Iranian subscribers have received an SMS which spoke of a clash between Iranian and American battleships in the Persian Gulf waters.
Keep playing with their minds ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Battleships"? HHHHHHMMMMMMM, HHHHHHMMMM, US IOWA-and OTHER BB CLASSES, vs. SPEEDBOAT WITH GUNS = RPGS, .............mad Mad MAD M-A-D Camel-kaze wid Torpedoes/Missles on each hump. Obviously the IOWAS, etal. are outclassed and would retreat.
#8
Battleships of the mighty Iranian navy clashed briefly with ships of the Great Satan in the Persian Gulf. Sources report that the heroic Iranian defense forces sank many US battleships including the aircraft carriers Reagan and Eisenhower without loss of their own.
Iranian military sources reportedly stated that several small Iranian gunboats were able to sink the mighty American aircraft carriers using advanced and sophisticated weapon systems developed exclusively in Iran.
"Our mighty secret weapons have devastated the warfleets of the Great Satan," said one Iranian Revolutionary Guards official on condition of anonimity. "Clearly, it is Iran that controls the region and the Americans have been warned and duly punished for the impudence."
/snark
The kind of report one might expect from Iranian "sources".
#9
Part of me is saying, "Oh please let it be true."
The other part of me is saying, "We were just cleaning our guns and they went off. Sorry about the fact that your toy boats were in the way."
And it would be super cool if the BBs were back in action and sending deliveries of 16 inch whip ass inland. /dream over
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that Iran was not opposed to dialogue with the US, which he stressed must be conducted "under appropriate conditions." Nevertheless, during an interview with Al-Arabiya the Iranian president emphasized that Iran would never conduct similar discussions with Israel, since it didn't recognize the Jewish state's existence. In addition, Ahmadinejad said that the US must recognize the sovereignty of Iraq and its elected government.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Does the US talk to psychotic genocidal dwarves with severe personal hygiene issues?
#3
Fool thinks to play us like they play the Europeans, The retards at the State Department, the left and greedheads like James Baker will all be for it too. Jaw, jaw, jaw, while Iran builds fissle waepons.
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said Sunday that speculations about an upcoming war with Syria were premature and exaggerated, Army Radio reported. "Damascus may be pulling the strings, but we have lowered the temperature on the northern front," Halutz declared at the weekly cabinet meeting. He did not, however, reject the possibility of a future confrontation. "[These speculations are untrue], but we are always assessing," he said, adding that "the Syrians, too, have heard these expressions. Sometimes speculation can lead to a result that no one wants."
He cautioned, however, that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah was increasing his efforts to bring down the current anti-Syrian Lebanese government.
Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin, meanwhile, said at the meeting that the unprecedented level of violence last week between Fatah and Hamas has increased the chance of a Palestinian unity government. "The violence between the two factions is the worst that we've had in a long time, with 20 killed in one week," Diskin said. "Most of the violence is Hamas members killing Fatah members. But as the violence gets worse, the chances are better that there will be a national unity government."
Diskin elaborated further about estimated progress with the formation of a unity government, saying that a deal was in the works. "There's growing talk on the Palestinian street of a unity government which would include Ismail Haniyeh as prime minister, Salaam Fayad as finance minister, and an interior minister from the outside who would be agreeable to both."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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The IDF on Sunday praised the United Nations' decision to appoint Italian Gen. Claudio Graziano as the new head of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. Graziano, whose appointment has yet to be officially announced, is scheduled to take up his new post by mid-February, when French Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini steps down after three years in the post. "He is a serious officer," IDF sources said of Graziano. "He takes his job seriously and we expect to see a continued crackdown on Hizbullah under his command."
Graziano rose through the ranks in Italy's Artillery Corps and commanded NATO's Kabul Multinational Brigade in the past. He has extensive experience in combating insurgency and terrorism, according to the IDF.
Northern Command sources also praised the performance of UNIFIL's 2,500-strong Italian contingent, saying it was working to prevent Hizbullah from returning to its outposts on the border. The Italian force has been instrumental in destroying close to 20,000 explosive devices - bombs and mines - left behind in Lebanon from last summer's war. Italian Ambassador Sandro De Bernardin told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that the appointment of Graziano reflected Italy's commitment to stabilizing Lebanon. "This is confirmation that our government is willing to invest heavily for the sake of the stabilization of Lebanon," he said. "I am sure it will also be instrumental in maintaining a continued good relationship between Israel and Italy."
Last week, IDF officers bid "good riddance" to Pellegrini, who they said was pro-Hizbullah and had not made sufficient efforts action to prevent the Islamists from building their forces and attacking Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
In light of news from Iraq, the reference to 'head' in the headline is funny.
DISCLAIMER FOLLOWS:
Reminds me of an off color joke: sensitive individuals need to turn away:
Q: How do you tell the Head Peacekeeper in a UN mission?
A: He's the one with dirt on his knees.
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 14 Iran's chief nuclear negotiator arrived in Riyadh on Sunday on an unexpected trip to meet senior Saudi officials.
Getting a little nervous with the recent activity?
Ali Larijani, secretary general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), is to meet Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal during his stay, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported. The two sides will discuss the situation in the Middle East, Iran's nuclear program, and issues of bilateral concern, it said.
His trip had not previously been announced in state media and came hot on the heels of the announcement last week by U.S. President George W. Bush of his administration's new strategy for curbing violence in Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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The parliament majority coalition accused Hezbollah-led protestors who rallied on Saturday outside the Justice Ministry as part of ongoing sit-ins against the Fouad Siniora government, of resorting to such demonstrations after failing to hamper an international tribunal and a donors' conference for Lebanon. "How can the Lebanese take that scene in front of the Justice Ministry seriously?" when some of the parties participating in the sit-in are known for "serving the tutelage Syrian regime, while others are still under interrogation on charges of involvement in activities linked to these crimes and assassinations," said a statement by the March 14 Follow-up committee. "The Lebanese have recovered their freedom and they are determined to preserve it," added the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Hezbollah's leader on Sunday denounced U.S. and French opposition to letting the chief U.N. investigator in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri identify the countries he feels are hindering the probe.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the U.N. Security Council debate over naming the 10 nations was further proof that the investigation into Hariri's February 2005 killing was being politicized. "It is a big scandal for the United States and France to reject naming these countries in the Security Council. The big question is why?" Nasrallah said in an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa. Excerpts were carried Sunday by the official National News Agency and Hezbollah's own Al-Manar TV station.
The bombing that killed Hariri was widely blamed on Syria, and mass street protests by Lebanese over the slaying and international pressure forced the Damascus regime to end a nearly three-decade Syrian military occupation of its smaller neighbor. Lebanon's politics have since been snarled in a standoff between the pro-Western government and groups such as Hezbollah that are allied with Syria.
U.N. officials had earlier accused Syria of resisting the Hariri investigation, in which the suspects include several pro-Syria Lebanese generals. But in his fourth report to the Security Council on Dec. 16, chief investigator Serge Brammertz said Syria was now assisting his team in a "timely and efficient" manner. He said, however, that 10 other countries had failed to respond to 22 requests for information. "If this cooperation will not improve in the future, I will mention those countries to the secretary-general," Brammertz told reporters last month, adding he didn't intend to make the names public.
Last week, Russia sought to have Brammertz provide the Security Council with the names, but was blocked by opposition from the United States, France and other council members. France argued that if Brammertz wants the council to take action, he can ask members at any time, but the council should not interfere until he asks for assistance, a view backed by the U.S., Britain and others, council diplomats said last week at U.N. headquarters in New York. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the consultations were closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
If you can't explain something to Middle Easterners with a conspiracy theory, then don't try to explain it at all -- they won't believe it.
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.
(SomaliNet) Officials in the break away and self-declared republic of Somaliland Sunday have warned the possibility of regional war with Somalia if the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu does not stop interfering Somaliland affairs. The senior officials of the transitional government said that it is important to seek the unity of Somalia, which angered the Somaliland officials. 
Police on Sunday arrested six prominent members of the 
Japan, China, and South Korea urged North Korea on Sunday to drop its nuclear program and stressed the need to carry out U.N. sanctions against the reclusive government.
An Islamic cleric who mocked the convict ancestry of many white Australians is an embarrassment to the countrys Muslims, Prime Minister John Howard said on Sunday. The controversial Mufti of Australia, Sheikh 
Beneath a basketball net in a freezing sports hall, a Muslim cleric is waging war on Islamic extremism. According to a report in The Observer, Imam Shaheed Satardien is taking a stand against those Muslims in Ireland whom he claims are too sympathetic to Osama Bin Laden and the cult of the suicide bomber. At Friday prayers in the sports hall in northwest Dublin, the South African-born former anti-apartheid activist warns his multinational congregation against blaming other religions and the West in general for all Muslims ills. 
Pope Benedict XVI urged immigrants on Sunday to respect the social values of their new countries and said laws are needed to protect their dignity.
Vice President Dick Cheney said mounting congressional opposition to the war in Iraq won't stop the administration from deploying more U.S. troops to bring sectarian violence under control. 
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a presidential candidate, says there will be a "catastrophe" if President Bush's policy of sending more U.S. troops to Iraq fails. But Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., also a probable presidential candidate, says Iraq is a "catastrophe" right now. Both men appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday. 
Senator 
Jordan's king told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday that Washington must "actively push" for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. King Abdullah II also warned that violence would escalate if no tangible solution was found to the lingering conflict. Rice's stop was part of a weeklong tour of the region. 
The Iraqi foreign minister called Sunday for the release of five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in what he said was a legitimate mission in northern Iraq, but he stressed that foreign intervention to help insurgents would not be tolerated. The two-pronged statement by Hoshyar Zebari 
BAGHDAD - The US military said on Sunday that five Iranians held by its troops in Iraq are linked to Revolutionary Guards who are arming and funding Iraqi militants but Teheran called them diplomats and demanded they be released.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak launched his political comeback on Sunday night with an speech to a sympathetic audience of 150 mostly elderly kibbutzniks at Kibbutz Afikim in the Jordan Valley. The modest kibbutz cafeteria was a symbolic choice for Barak, who wants to prove to the Labor members voting in the May 28 party primary that he has become more a more modest man since leaving the Prime Minister's Office, despite the wealth he earned in the business world during his break from politics. 
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said Sunday that speculations about an upcoming war with Syria were premature and exaggerated, Army Radio reported. "Damascus may be pulling the strings, but we have lowered the temperature on the northern front," Halutz declared at the weekly cabinet meeting. He did not, however, reject the possibility of a future confrontation. "[These speculations are untrue], but we are always assessing," he said, adding that "the Syrians, too, have heard these expressions. Sometimes speculation can lead to a result that no one wants." 
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 14 Iran's chief nuclear negotiator arrived in Riyadh on Sunday on an unexpected trip to meet senior Saudi officials.
The parliament majority coalition accused Hezbollah-led protestors who rallied on Saturday outside the Justice Ministry as part of ongoing sit-ins against the Fouad Siniora government, of resorting to such demonstrations after failing to hamper an international tribunal and a donors' conference for Lebanon. "How can the Lebanese take that scene in front of the Justice Ministry seriously?" when some of the parties participating in the sit-in are known for "serving the tutelage Syrian regime, while others are still under interrogation on charges of involvement in activities linked to these crimes and assassinations," said a statement by the March 14 Follow-up committee. "The Lebanese have recovered their freedom and they are determined to preserve it," added the statement.
Hezbollah's leader on Sunday denounced U.S. and French opposition to letting the chief U.N. investigator in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri identify the countries he feels are hindering the probe.
