"Condi!" Bush yelled, stopping her in the hallway, "While I was emptying out my pencil shavings, I heard that you've been beating up foreign diplomats and a news report that you're the first Secretary of State to use a sock full of nickels in negotiations..."
Posted by: mojo ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#2
Sophmoric at best, inane at least. Even those idiots on SNL do it better than this. I'll wait for the Jib-Jab version.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 10:47 Comments ||
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#3
Jack, didn't your mother tell you that if you don't have anything nice to say, then STFU! Lots of people here like www.imao.us, and your opinion that FrankJ isn't funny doesn't matter to them.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/01/2005 11:59 Comments ||
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#4
The whole thing is just hilarious. Here's my favorite:
"Aieee!" Chirac screeched, "You kicked me so hard, my testicles have swollen to the size of grapes!"
"Don't bore me with your hyperbole," Condi stated. "So, am I going to have problems with you?"
Posted by: Matt ||
02/01/2005 12:57 Comments ||
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#5
"So, now I think you can understand how the Iraqi elections are a new turning point for the Middle East," Condi said. She then turned to the Germans behind her. "Do you think he can hear me through the drywall?"
"Maybe you could remove his head from it?" suggested one German.
#8
Half / Mucky - presuming you followed the link to his site and took a look around...
FrankJ is undoubtedly best known for his "puppy blender" comment about Glenn Reynolds. He'd prolly be almost unknown were it not for that imaginary feud, lol! It's how I ran across him.
Then he actually wrote something original, "Nuke the Moon", which wasn't bad. Check that out on his site to see him at his best.
KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's parliament passed a law on Tuesday giving police wide powers to search and seize illegal weapons to tackle a wave of al Qaeda-linked violence. "Parliament unanimously passed this law on weapons collection, which is valid for two years," lawmaker Abdullah al-Roumi told Reuters. After militant violence in early January, a government draft was rushed through procedures that often take months.
Kuwait introduced similar legislation in 1992 to deal with a proliferation of arms since the 1990-1 Iraqi occupation. But lawmakers rejected an extension of that law in 1994, saying possession of weapons was a right. The new law makes it easier for police to obtain a warrant to search a private house for illegal weapons. Now police can get a warrant only after carrying out extensive investigations. The law will also allow women inspectors to search women's quarters in private homes, which were off limits because of Islamic rules.
The new law states the prosecutor or a deputy "can allow police in writing to search persons, houses and public or private places and transport facilities in a specified area in a specified period of time," for illegal weapons or ammunitions.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 10:31:40 AM ||
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#1
So which ones are legal, and which are illegal?
Police burst into suspected terrorist hideouts throughout a tranquil suburb Monday, arresting a reputed terror boss and setting off a ferocious gunbattle that killed at least four of his followers and a bystander.
The raid — the fourth in three weeks — reflected a new sense of urgency in the battle to crush Islamic extremists deeply opposed to the presence of U.S. forces in this oil-rich emirate.
Kuwait's prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, called for the "uprooting of this phenomenon and the removal of this cancer before it spreads," Faisal al-Hajji, the acting information minister, told the state-owned Kuwait News Agency on Monday.
Kuwait beefed up security in late December around vital infrastructure, including oil installations, following terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, and soon after the government began conducting raids against suspected militants.
The first two, on Jan. 10 and Jan. 15, sparked clashes that killed two suspects and two police officers. On Sunday, security forces fought with militants in a residential district of Kuwait City in violence that killed three — a militant, a police officer, and a bystander.
Until this month, militants had only struck at U.S. military targets, and the spilling of Kuwaiti blood deeply upset many here. Concerned citizens soon began tipping off police to hidden caches of weapons and explosives, authorities said.
In Monday's raid, which Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adel al-Hashshash called a "spectacular success," police arrested six suspected militants, including alleged ringleader Amer Khlaif al-Enezi. The government said four militants and a bystander were killed, but Kuwait TV reported Monday night that one of the arrested militants, who was wounded in the fighting, had died. It was not known if any suspected insurgents escaped.
The government provided little information on al-Enezi, but a resident of the tribal city of al-Jahra told The Associated Press that he used to preach at a local mosque, exhorting young men to attack Americans, Kuwaiti security forces and even moderate Muslim clerics. The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the preacher, in his 30s, was fired more than six months ago.
The interior minister, Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, said the suspects targeted Monday were part of "an organized terror group," but said their aims and their backers would only be revealed by investigations. Sheik Salem Al Ali Al Sabah, the head of Kuwait's National Guard, has previously linked some local militants to al-Qaida.
The fighting early Monday began when police chased militants from scattered hideouts in Mubarak Al Kabir, a middle-class residential neighborhood south of Kuwait City, according to a police statement. The fighters took refuge in a house and a gunbattle broke out, police said.
Kuwait TV footage showed the house's windows shattered and its walls pocked with holes. Bodies lay face down on the roof in pools of blood and a helicopter hovered ahead. A bearded man lay on his back, hands tied and shivering. Guns and ammunition clips were scattered on a staircase.
The battle was only the latest part of a government crackdown that began when the father of a Muslim extremist told police his son had befriended a group of militants and disappeared.
The son, Fawwaz al-Otaibi, was then killed in the Jan. 10 operation. Several accomplices fled in another car. The ensuing raids targeted al-Otaibi's accomplices, authorities said.
Kuwait, unlike neighboring Saudi Arabia, has not suffered terrorist attacks on residential or government buildings. Extremists operating since 2002 have targeted the U.S. military, killing one U.S. Marine and a U.S. civilian contracted to the military. The U.S. Embassy has said that a building housing Westerners had been targeted.
Kuwait TV said one of the suspects killed Monday was a Saudi, and the three others were stateless Arabs (Palestinians?) who have lived in Kuwait without acquiring citizenship. One of those killed in a previous shootout was Saudi, and several of some 30 suspects in custody were also Saudi.
Kuwait has been a major Washington ally since the 1991 U.S.-led war that liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation under Saddam Hussein.
Oman, which has yet to be hit by terror attacks, said Sunday it had arrested members of an organization that threatened national security. Earlier reports said the government had arrested more than 100 suspected extremists following unconfirmed reports they planned to target a shopping and cultural festival.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 1:55:02 AM ||
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And if you can't believe Islamists, who can you believe?
The Islamic Bloc will extend its whole-hearted support to the government in fighting terrorism, says MP Khaled Al-Adwah.
"At least until they start bumping off holy men..."
"The bloc is determined to support Kuwait's leadership and not allow any misguided person endanger the security and stability of the country," he adds. Denying the accusations levelled by liberals that Islamists support terrorism, the MP said "Kuwait is a peaceful country and the Islamic Bloc wants to keep it this way. The whole society should fight terrorism to end this menace, which was expected especially after the entry of foreigners into the region and fall of a ruling regime in a neighbouring country." The toppling of Saddam Hussein has led to security fears in the region, he added.
"Y'let them furriners in, they start sniffin' 'round our wimmin, you know the boyz ain't gonna stand fer it!"
Stressing the importance of not exaggerating the recent security incidents in Kuwait, Al-Adwah said "these were isolated incidents committed by individuals who are under control."
"I mean, it ain't like there's any such thing as an international terror network that's funded and directed by a handful of princes and holy men in a neighboring country. Is it?"
The Kuwaiti society, which enjoys political freedom, fairness, and freedom of expression, is against such troublemakers, he continued. On the accusations of liberals, the lawmaker said "this is not the time to play any blame game and accuse the Islamic ideology of producing terrorism, especially since some liberal extremists allow violence to target European countries." He went on to say those who accuse the Islamic Bloc are aiming to weaken the solidarity of our society, adding "this bloc is a product of patriotism and national spirit." No MP will dare to bargain with the security of his country, Al-Adwah stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw last night savaged anti-war hypocrites now applauding Iraq's spectacular election triumph. He accused them of wanting to leave Saddam in Baghdad, free to carry on crushing his people. And he lashed those who want allied troops to go home and leave Iraqis in the lurch. Mr Straw told MPs: "That would be tantamount to ensuring the new forces of democracy are weakened and the forces of terror are strengthened." He tore into Lib-Dems, telling them: "The consequence of your position was that there would be no democratic elections in Iraq. Saddam Hussein would still be in power and crushing the people."
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/01/2005 9:31:34 AM ||
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An Islamic terrorist organisation considered more extreme than Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda has taken root in Britain because of lax asylum procedures, security experts claim today.
The movement, Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra (excommunication and exile), has gradually built its presence in Europe in recent years through loose networks of imams and supporters, according to Jane's Intelligence Review.
It is so extreme that it once tried to assassinate bin Laden and its members are thought to have aided last year's Madrid train atrocity.
According to Jane's, western security agencies now respond more actively to the threat posed by Takfiri adherents, fearing that what has long been a support base for activities in other parts of the world may become an active terror group in Europe itself.
Al-Takfir originated as a peaceful Islamic movement in Egypt in the early 1970s but turned to violence and was implicated in killing two government ministers. It operates as a largely unstructured entity with only loose links to al-Qaeda and with no identifiable leadership structure. The report says it "exists as a web incorporating scattered groups of militants, separated by geography, connected only by radical ideology''.
After a crackdown by the authorities, many Takfiri militants left Egypt to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
Takfiri mujahideen also settled in Europe "where they have been able to propagate their radical form of militant Islam to new generations of followers with little impediment'', the report claims.
Jane's says the movement has a known presence in France - where 16 mosques have been linked to the Takfiri network - Germany, Italy and Britain.
It adds: "The UK is believed to be a major transit point for Takfiri recruits because it has been regarded as a relatively open distribution point for the `revolutionary message of jihad'."
Takfiri reject secular power in Muslim countries and call for the restoration of the Islamic "Caliphate" as the only legitimate leadership in Arab and Islamic countries.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005 12:55:09 AM ||
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#1
Time for an unprecedented sweep of the East End/Bradford/Leicester, removing all illegals. Time for forcible repatriation of non-conformists?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/01/2005 5:39 Comments ||
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Pulling troops out of Iraq just because the war-torn country's historic democratic elections were over would be counterproductive, Prime Minister John Howard said.
Mr Howard said the larger-than-expected turnout of voters for last Sunday's poll was no reason to bring forward the withdrawal of allied troops from Iraq.
He also warned that terrorists would gain comfort from any troop withdrawal.
"Our military presence is obviously a lot smaller than that of the United States and the United Kingdom, but from our point of view this would be a bad time to immediately start talking about withdrawal," he told reporters in Singapore.
"Now is the time to provide the reassurance.
"Now there will come a time when withdrawal will be appropriate, but certainly to talk about it now, would be in my view, counterproductive."
Mr Howard was in Singapore for a one-day visit which included high-level talks with his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.
On Wednesday Mr Howard will visit the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh to oversee the work of the massive relief effort under way there.
His comments about troops in Iraq came as Labor admitted Australia would need to keep troops in Iraq as long as Australian diplomats faced a security threat there.
Former opposition leader Mark Latham came under sustained government attack leading up to the October 9 federal election over Labor's proposal to withdraw troops by last Christmas.
In the wake of democratic elections in Iraq and as new Opposition Leader Mr Beazley tries to take a strong stand on foreign policy, Labor is reassessing its position on Iraq.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said Labor was in the process of working out how Australia could best help the Iraqi people.
"In the period ahead we will, ourselves as the opposition, be consulting with the Iraqi government, the United States and the United Nations on the best way of providing practical assistance to the Iraqi people in the months ahead," he said.
Mr Beazley wants the government to use its influence with the US to encourage it not to become engaged in civil war in Iraq.
But he acknowledged Australia would need a troop presence as long as Australian diplomats faced security issues in Iraq.
Australian diplomats have been moved to the US and Australian military headquarters, known as Camp Victory, following repeated attacks on the Australian embassy in a residential suburb in Baghdad.
"(The diplomats) have to be protected ... and that of course means at least some degree of Australian troop presence will be necessary while ever they are under threat," Mr Beazley said.
As it reconsiders its approach, Labor wants the government to clearly enunciate its exit strategy from Iraq.
"It's time for John Howard and Alexander Downer to make absolutely plain to the Australian people ... what are the benchmarks which they believe must be met in order for there to be an Australian troop withdrawal," Mr Rudd said.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer ignored the Labor call, saying it would be a betrayal to the Iraqi people for Australia to pull out now.
"I think people who think the best way ahead for Iraq is to cut and run, and for the international community now to turn its back on Iraq and hand the country over to (terrorists), ... are people who would want us to betray the Iraqi people," he said.
Next article: Reveal abortion plan, Nats senator told
Previous article: Howard to visit tsunami-hit Aceh
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005 3:51:10 PM ||
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INTELLIGENCE officials allegedly intercepted a telephone conversation between Mamdouh Habib and his wife several days before the September 11 terror attacks in which he warned of a looming "big event" in the US.
The alleged call, detailed in The New York Times, did not spell out specifics of the planned strikes on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. However, it mirrored several other conversations between accused terrorists that were tapped around the same time by the Pakistani Internal Security Department on behalf of the CIA.
A national security source confirmed that the call allegedly made by Mr Habib originated in Pakistan. The interception is believed to have been made in Sydney by ASIO, which at the time had placed Mr Habib on a watch list.
However, Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper denied yesterday that his client had made such a call. "It did not happen," Mr Hopper said. "Mr Habib denies any wrongdoing or knowingly being in contact with anyone associated with wrongdoing."
Mr Habib has retracted confessions he allegedly made while in Egypt and later in Guantanamo Bay to being associated with al-Qa'ida, claiming they were made while he was being tortured. The former cleaner, who yesterday enjoyed his fourth day of freedom since being released from the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay last Thursday, remained at an undisclosed location considering offers to buy his story.
It has emerged that soon after his return, Mr Habib contacted the father of the second Australian in Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks. Mr Hicks's father, Terry Hicks, would not say what the pair discussed. "It was a good conversation," he said. "He sounded very excited. We had probably about 15 minutes, and eventually down the track we're going to try to catch up. We're going to let the dust settle."
The CIA has previously said that in the days before the September 11 strikes on New York and Washington, a sharp increase in "chatter" was intercepted from operatives in terror training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, alluding to an imminent big event.
This article starring:
DAVID HICKS
al-Qaeda
MAMDUH HABIB
al-Qaeda
Posted by: tipper ||
02/01/2005 9:28:22 AM ||
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#1
Yea. I routinely warn my wife of a pending "big event". Then I pull the covers over her head before she can get away.
MAMDOUH Habib spoke to the father of Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks the day after he arrived home in Australia, it emerged today.
David Hicks is the only Australian left in Guantanamo Bay following Mr Habib's release from the United States detention facility last week. Both were imprisoned there three years ago as suspected terrorists.
Mr Habib arrived home in Sydney last Friday after being released without charge.
Mr Hicks' father Terry today said he spoke to Mr Habib on the telephone on Saturday. Mr Hicks would not detail the contents of their conversation, but said he enjoyed talking to Mr Habib. "We had probably about 15 minutes and eventually down the track we're going to try to catch up," he said. "We're going to let the dust settle."
Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper has described his client as having "chronic physical and psychological problems" as a result of his three-year stint in detention.
Translation: he's depressed over being in the slammer.
But Mr Hicks said it was difficult to judge his state of mind. "He sounded very excited, that sort of thing. You could tell that excitement in his voice, but you can't really judge anyone, the way they are, on the phone," he said. "It was a good conversation, it was good that we did speak."
Mr Hicks refused to say whether they discussed David's situation. He said Mr Habib's release without charge did not give him hope David would be released soon. The 29-year-old has been detained by the US since January 2002 following his capture among Taliban forces in Afghanistan a month earlier.
A US military commission hearing of the charges against him - attempted murder, conspiracy and aiding the enemy - had been slated to start in Guantanamo Bay on March 15 this year, but is likely to be delayed. Mr Hicks has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
"David's in a bit of a different situation," his father said. "Mamdouh Habib wasn't charged, whereas David has been charged.
"It's probably hard for the Americans to say David can go home.
"The only thing they could do is have a ruling and get the charges dropped."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005 12:37:39 AM ||
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The German government is holding up the signing of a contract for the sale of Dingo armored cars to Israel for fear that the Israel Defense Forces will use them against the Palestinians.
Yes, indeed, Germany will never forget the lessons of the Holocaust.
In talks over recent weeks with senior Israeli officials, the Germans have said they have no objection in principle to approving the sale of the all-purpose vehicles, but that it is "a problem of timing."
The IDF decided to acquire 100 Dingo-2 armored cars for the transportation of troops and for patrols, particularly in the territories. The deal is worth some $60 million.
The armored cars, due to be the first of their kind in the IDF, are supposed to replace the more cumbersome, high maintenance M-116 Armored Personnel Carriers that have carried the troops since the 1960s, and which provide less protection.
The IDF was searching for both a heavy APC that would provide protection against missiles and a lighter armored car that could be used on paved roads and rough ground.
In order to use American military aid for the purchase, the Israeli Defense Ministry arranged for the transfer of the know-how and production from the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann firm to the American firm, Textron. It was agreed that the American firm would produce most of the parts in the U.S. while certain parts, including the engine that is manufactured by a subsidiary of Mercedes, would be manufactured in Germany and sent to the U.S.
The contract was signed at the beginning of last summer, and since then most of the agreements between Textron and the Defense Ministry have been completed. However the parallel contract that Textron was supposed to sign with the German producer has been held up.
The Dingo-2 is an air transportable, armored mine-proof vehicle, based on a commercial chassis produced by DaimlerChrysler, designed for high mobility in any type of terrain. The vehicle is fitted with an armored cage protecting the passengers, engine compartment, fuel tank and cargo bay. The modular, repairable armor provides protection against all types of hand-held weapons, as well as artillery fragments up to 155mm.
In addition, it is fitted with an oblique "blast deflector" floor, providing crew protection against heavy anti-tank mines and anti-personnel mines. It is designed to travel at speeds of up to 90 kms per hour, and has a range of 1,000 kms. The diesel-powered vehicle can carry
eight fully equipped troops.
The IDF plans to fit the Dingo-2 with a "lethal" overhead weapon station that was developed at Rafael, Israel's Armament Development Authority, and which can operate two types of machine guns and an automatic grenade-launcher.
Sources in the defense establishment expressed hopes Monday that the deal would be sped up by progress in the talks being held between Israel and the Palestinians, and the planned disengagement plan which will take the IDF out of the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 1:45:10 AM ||
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#1
Cancel all payments, find another supplier. Do you think there's any chance that Germany's next contract with the People's Republic of China will get held up over similar concerns about potential use and human rights? Nah, didn't think so.
Posted by: Prince Abdullah ||
02/01/2005 9:03 Comments ||
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#3
Nah, just the usual German red tape proceedings when it comes to military exports. The Israelis are just trying to speed things up a little, thats all.
#4
Glad to hear it, TGA. What do you hear about one of the Gulf States buying a large chunk of Daimler-Chrysler? Is that likely to affect future contracts?
#10
well its time for France to clarfity and expand its contribution to training Iraqi forces. Germany is already training them in UAE. Germany should also expand its commitment.
Most important, when the new Iraqi govt complains about Syrian support for the insurgents, France and Germany should help add to pressure on Syria (im not holding my breath on that one, though)
#13
The French are just adjusting their rhetoric to fit a reality that they never supported. The moment of truth will come when Chirac tries to plant a kiss on one of the new Iraqi co-presidents or prime minister. In a just world, the Iraqi will spin around and moon Chirac just before Chirac's lips make contact.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 12:26 Comments ||
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#14
Does GWB honestly care if Chirac's satisfied or not? I'd like to think no.
#15
Once again, Chriac has failed to stay in synch with his American Agents. He's making them look the fools they are. *sniff sniff* Pity poor Teddy 'n Skeery. So sad and forlorn that Iraq isn't a quagmire and there aren't 20,000 dead US soldiers for them to stand upon when they share their sad pathetic personality disorders with the world. *sniff sniff*
... The FBI is investigating a radical Islamic Web site that posted photos and information about people who use an Internet chat room frequented by a Jersey City man whose family was murdered Jan. 14.
The Web site, barsomyat.com, contained detailed information about some users of the PalTalk.com chat service whom the site's members accuse of being outspoken critics of Islam, according to published reports.
An FBI spokesman confirmed Monday that federal investigators are probing whether the site -which is run by a Jordanian -played any role in the murders of Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their daughters, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8. The family was discovered bound and stabbed to death in their Jersey City Heights home.
Hossam Armanious was an active participant in PalTalk.com discussions, using the nickname "I Love Jesus," according to friends. Armanious, a Coptic Orthodox Christian from Egypt, would often engage in heated debates with Muslims in the site's religious chat rooms, and family members have speculated that the murders stemmed from these discussions and his attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.
"We are aware of that site, and we are looking at it," FBI spokesman John Conway said. "It's an interesting site to say the least. ... It's unknown to anybody right now what credence to put into this."
It also is not known whether any photos of Hossam Armanious or other personal information were posted on the site prior to the murders. Users of the PalTalk service communicate via instant messaging, voice and, often, Web cams. Members of the barsomyat.com site apparently scanned the chat rooms to identify opponents.
The information was then posted with photos of the person. In one case, according to The New York Sun, a barsomyat.com post about a Christian man included his PalTalk nickname, photograph, real name and the city in which he lives, all hacked from his home computer.
Before the site was taken down Monday by its Minnesota hosting company, it contained photos of Hossam Armanious and Amal Garas. It called Armanious a "filthy dog" and Garas "his filthy wife," according to the paper. A screenshot of barsomyat.com was posted on another Web site, Jihadwatch.com.
"They were slaughtered along with their children as a punishment from the heavens to those who curse the most divine of all who were created," one member of barsomyat.com is quoted as writing.
Several Muslim community leaders said on Monday that they were unaware of the existence of the Web site and denounced it when told about the content.
"It is very sick," said Mohamed El Filali, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Passaic County. "Nobody should be harmed because of a person's opinion."
...
#2
Accordin to a posting in
Jihad watch (Advisory: gruesome) there are some additional details on how they were murdered which seem to indicate that they were murdered by muslims and that none of the family jewelry were stolen.
#3
...reporters, stinking reporters, we dont need no stinken reporters....it would break the rules to investigate Muslim extremists....now Christians thats different stuff...the rumbling herd of crickets falling all over themselves, hounding every little nook and crany of Christendom....Perhaps we should chop a few heads at the Old York Times!
A close friend of Hossam Armanious and relatives of the family murdered in New Jersey have revealed the following:
Shortly after the murders, members of the Egyptian consulate went to visit the family to encourage them to keep quiet. And many family members have obeyed, saying nothing to reporters or anyone else. However, two family members and another Copt viewed the bodies at the funeral home. One of these eyewitnesses said that he clearly saw that the family members had not suffered "stab wounds to the throat," as the prosecutor's report states, but rather the following:
A. Both adults, Hossam and Amal, had a horizontal slit across the throat. Below the slit, on the left, right and middle of the throat were three holes, big enough so that one could place a finger in each hole. According to the eyewitness, it was as if the assailant(s) took a knife and turned it repeatedly in a circular fashion, as if to screw holes into the victims' necks.
B. The two young girls, Sylvia (15) and Monica (8), also had a horizontal slits in their throats, along with two holes bored below the slits, one on the right and one on the left sides of their necks. The holes were similar to those on their parents' necks.
C. The eyewitness said although the bodies of the victims were all covered, he was able to see the arms of the little girl Monica. Although the tattoo of the cross inside Monica's wrist was not defaced, he saw that her wrists were cut. He was not able to see the wrists of the other victims to see if the crosses on their wrists were defaced.
D. Though the family wants to reserve judgment until the results of the case are released, they did say that the way the four family members were bound and gagged and the way their throats were slit with holes carved is similar to executions that are shown on al-Jazeera. The American public is not aware of this because the details of the executions are not often described in news accounts.
Amal Garas's father said that (contrary to many news reports and CAIR's press release) none of the family's jewelry was taken, and that Amal owned some quite expensive pieces that were not touched. At the time of her murder, Amal was wearing a ring worth $3,500 that was not taken.
Garas's father also has been speaking with the detectives and the prosecutor on the case. He was told that the results of the autopsy would not be ready until March 14. However, an inside source in one of New Jersey's police departments said that the results of autopsy and toxicology reports are known within 48 hours after the bodies are discovered. This source has worked on such cases for many years. He said that the department knows the results, but as in similar cases intends to wait a month or two before they release them to the family. During that time long reports are written to cross the t's and dot the i's for the family, but the final results are not much different from what is discovered within the first 48 hours. So all of the press reports about waiting for the prosecutor's findings on the autopsies are nonsense. Though the investigators are looking at Sylvia's computer and other evidence, the findings on the autopsy for the most part are already in.
A reporter who is closely following this case said that this delay was because the police and prosecutor want this case to go away. They want things to cool down. That's why they set the autopsy date as March 14, two months after the murders.
It is still possible that this wasn't a Muslim hate crime. The problem is that investigators have not taken the necessary steps to ensure a fair review of the evidence. There are too many holes here, too many inconsistencies in the official story. Too many obvious tasks have not been done: an Armanious family friend with whom I spoke, who gave me names and motives of possible perpetrators, is still waiting for a call from investigators.
Investigators seem to be following dead ends more assiduously than live leads. A Muslim has told police in Jersey City that there is an Islamic custom in Egypt: a life for a life. He said that is what may have happened in this case. Some news reports are referring to this when they say they're looking into the family's activities in Egypt before they came to the U.S. in 1997. Said prosecutor Edward DeFazio, "It could be that it's a vendetta that might go back to the old country. We're going to try to look into that." However, those close to Hossam Armanious maintain that he didn't have any enemies, and certainly never took anyone's life in Egypt or here; nor did anyone in his family.
This background information may illuminate why this investigation has been so curiously lacking:
There are a number of clergy in the Coptic community who are in bed with the Egyptian government. Some even act as agents for the Mubarak regime. Coptic clergy who won't cooperate are often exiled into the Egyptian desert, where they live a very difficult life.
Many Coptic women have been kidnapped by Muslims. Some of these women are being kidnapped with the help of the compromised clergy. The priest hears a girl's confession and then passes on information he hears there to Muslim kidnappers, who decide which girls they want to take. Many of these women are forced to marry Muslim men and are never seen again.
A number of Muslims have infiltrated the Coptic community, pretending to be Christians in order to gather information. Jersey City has a large number of Copts. Some of this infiltration has taken place there; some of the Coptic clergy there are also compromised. However, most Copts trust their clergy wholeheartedly, making it easy for the moles to operate.
What do those compromised clergymen want? The answer possibly has to do with a fact revealed by a number of other sources, including one within a New Jersey police department: the Egyptian government is pressuring the police and prosecutor to make this case disappear. Where are the mainstream media reporters contacting the Egyptian consulate to find out whether or not this is true?
#1
Many Coptic women have been kidnapped by Muslims. Some of these women are being kidnapped with the help of the compromised [Coptic]clergy. The priest hears a girlâs confession and then passes on information he hears there to Muslim kidnappers, who decide which girls they want to take. Many of these women are forced to marry Muslim men and are never seen again.
Baloney.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/01/2005 23:10 Comments ||
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This jives with what I've heard earlier:
1) Egyption Coptic women being 'tricked' in siging a document converting to Islam (sometimes its via a 'your check is bad - sign this to fix it' type of thing). This occurs in Egypt. Of course once the document is signed they cannot leave islam because they will be (and have been) killed -- all with a wink from the Egyption authorities...)
2) The Egyption Coptics *ARE* being persecuted in egypt by the 'peaceful' muslims and the authorities are doing nothing about it. Wasn't there a case of a priest being drowned in a car a while back.
You know its pretty sad when a religion is so awful that they have to use threats of force and death to keep their followers. That is a very good sign of a Cult and Islam has all the stamps of a cult.
I dont know about the 'compromised' clergy. Perhaps they are 'cowardly' clergy who are threated with death by the 'religion of peace'.....
Washington DC area commuters driving down Barton Parkway in Potomac, Maryland couldn't help but notice what looked like a box like missile launcher on the grounds of the old Naval Surface Warfare Center. The launcher did not look like anything familiar. It was smaller than the four missile Patriot container, and this one appeared to be holding six missiles. It turned out that NORAD (the North American Air Defense Command), was in charge of the launcher, and was not saying anything.
However, a little research revealed that the mystery launcher was the surface-to-air version of the U.S. air-to-air AMRAAM missile. First developed by Norway, the system has been adopted by several other countries (including Spain and Kuwait). The U.S. Marines are developing their own version, called CLAWS. This system will have AMRAAMs fired from a launcher mounted on a hummer. The box launcher seen outside DC is from the Norwegian system (called NASAMS). The ground launched AMRAAM has a range of about twenty kilometers, and can hit targets as high as 13,000 feet. NASAMS was developed so that it could easily work with different search radars. The 350 pound AMRAAM SAM costs more (about $600,000 each) compared to the air-to-air version (about $380,000), but is basically the same missile. The twelve foot long AMRAAM has its own radar, for ensuring a hit once it has been guided to the vicinity of the target. The missile has a fifty pound warhead, and can take down just about anything that flies, including wide-body commercial transports. The AMRAAMs outside DC are apparently for defense against suicidal pilots, or any unauthorized aircraft in the area that refuse to leave restricted air space.
I guess somebody came to the conclusion that the Stingers were not up to the job of bringing down large aircraft. Nice to see they have gotten past the "Not Invented Here" barrier and purchased the Norwegian system off the shelf.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 10:44:29 AM ||
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Hurrah! I always liked the NASAMS system. It just struck me as nifty, using an AMRAAM from the ground. Why wouldn't it work? It even has a surface-to-surface engagement mode.
AMRAAM also has been demonstrated on a HMMWV-based system, called HUMRAAM. Cool!
Congress has given the Pentagon important new authority to fight terrorism by authorizing Special Operations forces for the first time to spend money to pay informants and recruit foreign paramilitary fighters. The new authority, which would also let Special Operations forces purchase equipment or other items from the foreigners, is spelled out in a single paragraph of an 800-page defense authorization bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in October. It was requested by the Pentagon and the commander of Special Operations forces as part of a broader effort to make the military less reliant on the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Congressional and Defense Department officials.
A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said the new authority was necessary to avoid a repetition of problems encountered in the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. During that conflict, Special Operations troops had to wait for the C.I.A. to pay informants and could not always count on timely support because the agency's resources were often stretched thin, the Pentagon concluded.
"This is an important authority that we've been seeking for some time," Mr. Whitman said.
The new law authorizes the secretary of defense to spend as much as $25 million a year through 2007 "to provide support to foreign forces, irregular forces, groups or individuals" who help Special Operations missions to combat terrorism. It also specifies that Congress is not providing authorization for the Pentagon to conduct covert action, which has traditionally been undertaken by the C.I.A. and requires explicit presidential authority.
Senior military officials and a retired Army intelligence officer said the money could be used for purposes as diverse as buying a truck for an urgent mission or paying cash to irregular allies, like the Northern Alliance in the Afghan war against the Taliban. "This could also be used to pay bribes on the ground to help a mission along," said the retired Army intelligence officer.
The authority is spelled out in the public version of the law, but it had not previously been described in detail. It provides one example of what intelligence officials have described as a determined effort by the Pentagon to expand its role in intelligence-gathering and other areas that have traditionally been the domain of the C.I.A.
The measure was initially approved by the House, and included in the final version of the bill by a House-Senate conference committee. A Congressional official said the commander of the Special Operations Command, Gen. Bryan D. Brown of the Army, had been a leading supporter of the effort. Defense Department officials did not call attention to the program even at a briefing last week in which they confirmed news reports about other steps to broaden the military's involvement in intelligence operations. Those include the formation of a new clandestine unit within the Defense Intelligence Agency to work more closely with Special Operations forces in supporting battlefield missions, including counterterrorism operations.
A C.I.A. official said the new authority would not rival the agency's own programs. "The fact that D.O.D. has fixed a gap in its capability is a good thing," the official said. "But the C.I.A. exists to do exactly this. Just because another agency has a new authority doesn't mean we stop doing what we're doing. In fact, the president has asked us to increase our capability by 50 percent." Another intelligence official said that additional authority provided to the Pentagon could prove beneficial as long as operations were properly coordinated by the C.I.A. station chiefs in the countries involved.
Mr. Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, and Congressional officials said that the Pentagon had yet to use the new authority but would do so this year, and that aides to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were drawing up procedures under which the money would be spent.
Under provisions added to the bill by Senate negotiators during the House-Senate conference, the secretary of defense is required to notify Congressional defense committees about those procedures before using the new authority, and to notify the committees in writing within 48 hours any time the authority is used. The $25 million that may be spent each year is a tiny sum compared with the hundreds of billions that Congress appropriates each year for the military and intelligence agencies. But some Congressional officials said the amount was less important than the precedent it set.
In some combat situations, like the war in Iraq, American commanders have been authorized to spend large amounts of money on development and other projects. In Iraq, however, the money came from assets seized from the former Iraqi government. But Congressional officials said the new authority provided by Congress was broader than that given to American commanders in the past. They said the measure authorized the defense secretary to draw the $25 million from existing funds for operations and maintenance, so a further appropriation would not be required.
"The money isn't for 'information gathering' per se, although that may be part of how Special Operations forces use it," said a senior House Republican aide. "This was a problem in Afghanistan, where S.O.F. had to rely on the C.I.A. to bring money to the table when it came to dealing with various factions within the Northern Alliance," the Afghan force that helped overthrow the Taliban.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 10:03:57 AM ||
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To human rights activists, the question before U.S. President George W. Bush this week is, which is the higher priority: undermining the new International Criminal Court (ICC) or bringing to justice the perpetrators of what Bush himself has called "genocide" in Darfur, Sudan?
To their dismay, the answer, so far at least, is he would rather discredit the ICC.
A long-awaited report by a special UN commission released Monday has concluded that "serious violations" of international humanitarian law have taken place in Darfur and that they should be referred by the UN Security Council to the ICC for investigation and prosecution.
While Washington's European and Canadian allies, among others, strongly support the recommendation, however, the Bush administration--which ironically has led efforts in the Security Council to hold Khartoum accountable for the abuses that have taken place in Darfur--is resisting the recommendation.
Instead, it is calling for the Security Council to set up a new ad hoc tribunal for Darfur, using the facilities of the international court in Tanzania that is currently prosecuting the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Creating a new court will cost much more money and involve lengthy delays in order to recruit and train personnel and elect judges.
"We will not support efforts by the international community to use the Security Council as a way of legitimizing the ICC," according to Bush's war crimes ambassador, Pierre Prosper.
Washington's position has exasperated much of the human rights community and even some of Bush's supporters who have opposed the ICC in the past.
The ICC is already up and running and fully staffed. Moreover, according its advocates, launching proceedings immediately could help deter further attacks by government and Arab forces against the African population in Darfur. According to recent estimates, more than 300,000 Africans have died as a result of the violence over the last two years.
"The delay involved in setting up a new tribunal would only lead to the loss of more innocent lives in Darfur," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch who noted that fighting appears to have intensified in December and January. "The Bush administration seems willing to sacrifice Darfur's victims to its ideological campaign against the Court."
The UN commission--whose work was authorized by a resolution pushed through the Council by Washington last fall--found that, while the killings of the African population were both widespread and targeted, evidence of "genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned."
"The conclusion that no genocidal policy had been pursued should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes," it went on, noting that a court could decide that specific individuals were guilty of "genocidal intent." Moreover, "serious violations" of nternational law have taken place on a widespread and systematic basis, possibly amounting to "crimes against humanity," according to the commission.
Under the Rome Statute that created it, the ICC has jurisdiction over cases involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Because Sudan, like the United States, is not a party to the Court, only a referral by the UN Security Council would give it jurisdiction to act in the case of Darfur.
Under Bill Clinton, the United States signed the Rome Statute, but, in an unprecedented move in May 2002, the Bush administration renounced the signature and launched a major campaign to press both the UN and other nations to sign bilateral immunity agreements (BIAs) promising never to transfer U.S. nationals in their custody to the ICC's jurisdiction.
The administration has argued that the ICC threatens U.S. sovereignty and that, given Washington's military predominance and its unique responsibilities for maintaining international peace and security, its nationals are particularly vulnerable to politically motivated prosecutions by the ICC.
Although it has denied any intent to harm the Court, the administration has cut off tens of millions of dollars in military and economic assistance to some three dozen developing countries that have ratified the Statute but refused to sign BIAs on the grounds that to do so would violate the letter and spirit of the Statute.
It also withdrew from some UN missions when the Security Council decided last year not to extend an exemption from the ICC for nationals of non-ratifying nations. A total of 97 nations--including all members of the European Union, most of Latin America and the Caribbean, and many democratically elected states in Africa--have ratified the treaty, and 139 nations have signed it.
At the same time, the Bush administration has taken a leading role in trying to persuade the Security Council to impose sanctions on Khartoum to stop the killing in Darfur, a concern that has dominated its Africa policy over the past year.
Because none of its traditional allies are considered likely to support the creation of a new tribunal since the ICC already exists, the administration is faced with a choice of sticking to its ideological opposition to the Court or delaying, if not foregoing altogether, accountability on Darfur.
Some Republicans, among them, Rep. Frank Wolf--who has been deeply involved in Darfur--have urged Bush to show flexibility. In a significant departure from party orthodoxy, Sen. John McCain called last weekend for the United States to join the ICC, although he added that additional safeguards against politicized prosecutions would have to be negotiated.
Two prominent Republican lawyers who have opposed the ICC in the past have also called on Bush to reconsider. "One should never cut off one's nose to spite one's face," said Lee Casey, an attorney who has often attacked the editorial pages of the staunchly neo-conservative Wall Street Journal and Weekly Standard.
And, in another column published by the Washington Post last week, Jack Goldsmith--who headed the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel until last summer--argued that backing a Security Council referral to the ICC would be perfectly consistent with Washington's long-held policy that only the Security Council, where the U.S. has a veto, should have the authority to initiate ICC prosecutions against citizens of non-ratifying nations.
"The Darfur case allows the United States to argue that Security Council referrals are the ONLY valid route to ICC prosecutions and that countries that are not parties to the ICC (such as the United States) remain immune from ICC control in the absence of such a referral," he wrote, adding that the administration's fears of "legitimizing" the ICC were "overstated." Notice how they totally ignored the points made by the Bush administration? (1) Use the existing mechanism to save time and money, and (2) If alternatives exist, why is it so important to use the ICC anyway? Obviously, they just want to use Darfur as an excuse.
#1
If the ICC wants to go ahead and prosecute people in the Sudan affair, I say let them. But it should be made clear that the U.S. doesn't recognize ICC authority where U.S. personnel are concerned, and we won't get involved in or utilize any ICC process whatsoever.
#2
of what Bush himself has called "genocide" in Darfur, Sudan?
Love the "quotes". Where does one start with such inhumanity that is being expressed by the MSM and the UN on this point. They continue to sink lower and lower each day...surprising even the most cynical as to how low they are willing to go.
#3
Compare and contrast with Ramsey Clark's defense of Saddam. His objective there seems to be to say that only the ICC has the legitimacy to try Saddam.
#4
Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch who noted that fighting appears to have intensified in December and January. "The Bush administration seems willing to sacrifice Darfurâs victims to its ideological campaign against the Court."
No, it appears Human Rights Watch is willing to sacrifice real live people in its ideological campaign for a worthless piece of paper.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/01/2005 14:30 Comments ||
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Benon Sevan, the United Nations official in charge of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, intervened in person to steer lucrative contracts to an oil trader, Iraqi officials have told the UN's independent inquiry.
Their testimony, consistent with documents that have emerged since the fall of Saddam Hussein, adds to questions facing Mr Sevan as investigations into alleged corruption progress. The interim findings of the UN inquiry, led by Paul Volcker, are due to be published this week.snip
Documents from Iraq's state oil marketing organisation (Somo), now in the possession of the Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, appear to link Mr Sevan to the assigning of contracts to Africa Middle East Petroleum, a Swiss-based oil trading company. Oil contracts which could be sold to international traders at a mark-up of up to 35 cents a barrel were awarded by the regime for every six-month phase.
The Somo documents show that, unusually, AMEP was added to recipients in the middle of Phase Four (May-November 1998) after a visit to Baghdad by Mr Sevan. One letter, dated August 10 1998, was from Saddam Zayn Hassan, Somo's executive manager, to Iraq's oil minister. Translated from Arabic, it mentions AMEP as "the company that Mr Sevan cited to you during his last trip to Baghdad".
No evidence of any financial relationship between AMEP and Mr Sevan has been established but investigators want to know what this letter means. Mr Sevan would not talk to the media while the investigations continue, his spokesman said.
AMEP signed its first contract on September 24 1998. In every subsequent phase except one, Mr Sevan's name appears in Somo documents, several times next to that of AMEP. AMEP's head is Fakhri Abdelnour, an Egyptian relative of former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali and one of the oil traders who helped South Africa bust anti-apartheid sanctions in the 1980s.
Investigators have been told that Mr Abdelnour often mentioned Mr Sevan when visiting Baghdad's oil ministry. Mr Abdelnour says he never received allocations from Mr Sevan and met him only once "on a casual basis" in the lobby of a hotel in Vienna during an meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Parallel inquiries by investigators working for the US Congress are scrutinising statements by Mr Sevan that he received tens of thousands of dollars in cash annually from an aunt in Cyprus.
Inquiries by the FT and Il Sole suggest Mr Sevan's only close relative in Cyprus was Berjouhi Zeytountsian, an aunt who raised him after his parents' death. Ms Zeytountsian died in June. On March 23, she fell into an elevator shaft. Police, who declared her death an accident, never had a chance to interview her.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 2:11:53 AM ||
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since Volker's been shown to have obvious conflicts of interest, I suppose nothing will come of this. "Nothing to see here", right, Spike?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 9:47 Comments ||
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Iran has employed the eastern Mediterranean for the transport of rockets and missiles to Hizbullah. Israeli officials said Iran has been sending heavy weapons to Hizbullah via the sea. They said Iranian shipments began in Bandar Abbas, through the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and into the Mediterranean. The Iranian weapons ships anchor in Syria where they are unloaded and transported overland to Lebanon, officials said. They said Iran has used the Syrian port of Latakia, a major port of the former Soviet Union. Officials said Israel has urged the United States to stop the Iranian weapons shipments. But they said the U.S. Sixth Fleet has permitted the Iranian ships to arrive in Latakia.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
But they said the U.S. Sixth Fleet has permitted the Iranian ships to arrive in Latakia. I do hope there is a plan to put a stop to this, soon. Perhaps in coordination with other efforts...
#2
I'm waiting for "W" to quietly move 3 Carrier Groups to the region in the spring, giving Condi enough time to give the Iranians enough rope to hog tie the N program or hang themselves!
Iran was said to have been developing a ballistic missile with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers. The Iranian opposition has asserted that the Teheran regime was developing a surface-to-surface missile that could strike any European capital.
But that's okay. You guys keep on negotiating and selling them technology...
The National Council of Resistance of Iran told a briefing in London that the new Iranian missile would be fitted with weapons of mass destruction payload. The council identified the intermediate-range missiles as Ghadr 101 and Ghadr 110. The missiles were said to be comparable to the advanced Scud E and was being developed at the Hemmat Missile Industries Complex. The Ghadr 101 was said to have a range of 2,500 kilometers, the council said. The Ghadr 110 has planned for a range of 3,000 kilometers.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Talk about stupidity!Iran is cleaning the gun in preperation to loading ammo.What are the Euros going to do when that gun is pointed at thier head?
I can tell you nothing but whine and cry,looking for Uncle Sam to come to the rescue.
Iran denied on Monday any involvement with the case of an Egyptian charged with spying for Tehran and preparing the assassination of an unnamed Egyptian figure in return for $50,000. "The trial in Cairo concerns the Egyptian government and an Egyptian citizen, and it does not concern us," Iranian government spokesman, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told reporters. "We are sure that the trial would end in a way that even if the Egyptian citizen was found guilty, the trial would have nothing to do with us," he added.
"Should you, or a member of your group be captured, Mr. Phelps, the Agency will disavow all knowledge..."
On Saturday, the public prosecutor of Egypt's security court Hisham Badawi said Mahmud Aid Dabbus, 31, was recruited by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to set up the killing. He had been praised in a letter from one of the Guards' officials for "the quality of information" he had supplied on his spying mission. The charge sheet said that besides information on Egypt, Dabbus gave Iran details about oil installations at the Saudi port of Yanbu, where six Westerners were killed in a shooting rampage in May that was blamed on Islamist militants.
"Coincidence. Mere coincidence. Besides, we never heard of him!"
Last December, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in a statement denied that an Iranian diplomat, whom he named as Mohammad Reza Doust, was involved. "This scenario has been concocted under the influence of Iran's enemies who serve the interests of the Zionists and are working against the interests of the countries of the region," Asefi said.
"Yeah! Dat's it! It wuz them Zionists!"
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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European firms, fearing a loss of their U.S. market, have shied away from signing major contracts with Iran. European industry sources said British, French and German majors have refused the appeals by their governments to negotiate major contracts with Iran as part of an effort to woo Teheran away from the construction of nuclear weapons. The sources said these companies fear loss of their U.S. market upon signing any agreement with Teheran. "The EU has been too late," an industry source said. "The Americans have already warned European majors to keep out of Iran, or else." U.S. officials have confirmed that the Bush administration warned leading European companies of sanctions if they sign major deals with Iran. The officials said the administration wants to ensure a permanent halt in Iranian uranium enrichment and full International Atomic Energy Agency access to suspected nuclear facilities before easing a ban on trade with Teheran.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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SULEIMANIYAH: The main Kurdish alliance is set to win two-thirds of the vote in Iraq's tense northern oil centre of Kirkuk, reports said Tuesday, fanning Turkish fears about Kurdish ambitions for the ethnically divided region. The alliance is also set to take a quarter of the seats in Iraq's new national assembly overall giving the long-oppressed minority a major say in the drafting of a new post-Saddam Hussein constitution, one of its leaders told a Kurdish daily. With just one district still to complete its count of Sunday's vote, the Kurdish alliance has won 68 percent of the vote in Kirkuk, the Kurdish weekly Hawlati (Citizen) reported. If confirmed, the result would give the Kurds 26 of the 41 seats on the provincial council, the paper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 10:45:57 PM ||
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Live from Davos via NRO - the asshole makes the allegations then backs off
An extremely disturbing report from Rony Abovitz at the Davos conference:
During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan [chief news executive of CNN] asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by U.S. troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others.
Due to the nature of the forum, I was able to directly challenge Eason, asking if he had any objective and clear evidence to backup these claims, because if what he said was true, it would make Abu Ghraib look like a walk in the park. David Gergen was also clearly disturbed and shocked by the allegation that the U.S. would target journalists, foreign or U.S. He had always seen the U.S. military as the providers of safety and rescue for all reporters.
Eason seemed to backpedal quickly, but his initial statements were backed by other members of the audience (one in particular who represented a worldwide journalist group). The ensuing debate was (for lack of better words) a real "sh — storm". What intensified the problem was the fact that the session was a public forum being taped on camera, in front of an international crowd. The other looming shadow on what was going on was the presence of a U.S. Congressman and a U.S. Senator in the middle of some very serious accusations about the U.S. military.
To be fair (and balanced), Eason did backpedal and make a number of statements claiming that he really did not know if what he said was true, and that he did not himself believe it. But when pressed by others, he seemed to waver back and forth between what might have been his beliefs and the realization that he had created a kind of public mess. His statements, his reaction, and the reaction of all in attendance left me perplexed and confused.
Rony Abovitz is calling on the U.S. lawmakers present to get to the bottom of Jordan's story - if there's something to it, let's investigate. If it isn't, CNN ought to clear up why their head man is spreading horrifying rumors around about U.S. troops.
Yes, this is the same Eason Jordan who wrote in the New York Times that CNN reporters in Baghdad witnessed abuses, including torture of Iraqis by Saddam's secret police, and did not report this to viewers in order to to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open.
UPDATE: Another account of this:
According to Friday's Wall Street Journal Political Diary (available by subscription), Eason Jordan, Chief News Executive at CNN, implied that the American military was deliberately killing journalists in Iraq. He even "offered the story of an Al-Jazeera journalist who had been 'tortured for weeks' at Abu Ghraib, made to eat his shoes, and called "Al Jazeera boy" by his American captors."
And then, this liberal Democrat pressed Mr. Jordan to be more specific, putting the CNN Executive on the spot. The newsman rambled on a bit and mumbled some sort of response about how "'There are people who believe there are people in the military who have it out' for journalists." He could provide no evidence to buttress his claims, then "offered another anecdote: A reporter who'd been standing in a long line to get through a checkpoint at Baghdad's Green Zone had been turned back by the GI on duty. Apparently the soldier had been displeased with the reporter's dispatches, and sent him to the back of the line."
Had Mr. Frank not challenged him, the global elites there might have taken Jordan's words at face value, convinced that Americans were indiscriminately targeting journalists. Thanks to Barney Frank, world leaders assembled in Davos learned that there was no substance to such claims.
Good job, Barney Frank.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 7:05:13 PM ||
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Jesus, these bastards know no limits whatsoever, do they?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/01/2005 19:15 Comments ||
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#2
this might also be the only time in my life you see me note "good job Barney Frank"
he deserves it this time
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 19:20 Comments ||
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#3
The question is: Was what Jordan said a mistake or a deliberate lie? I think the later. People at his level dont make that sort of mistake - and if they do they should be fired on-the-spot.
Like Dan Rather and memogate he thought everyone would simply swallow his bullshait hook line and sinker like they have been doing for decades.
#6
You'd think at some point the suits at Time-Warner would see the wisdom of putting a bona-fide news professional in charge of the news organization. Having a moonbat in charge isn't good for business.
#7
Fox News should show the video of this every hour. It's well past time to educate the public about the ideological taint of Eason, Mapes and the kindred pack that control most of the news operations in this country and around the world.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2005 20:06 Comments ||
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#8
"...and called Al Jazeera boy" by his American captors."
#9
Senator Chris Dodd was there and apparently did not say a thing; it was all Gergen and Frank. Follow the links to the end and read the whole thing. You'll be even madder.
Frank is right; I'm gobsmacked to give my dispised former Congresscritter Barney Frank a big Attaboy.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005 20:34 Comments ||
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Good job, Barney Frank
Barney Frank as a stand-up guy, John Kerry running guns to the Khmer Rouge and G.I. Joe at the mercy of the jihadis; talk about your Bizarro World!
This is beyond parody and it's only Tuesday. If we keep going like this, ScrappleFace will be out of business by the end of the week.
#11
well, the State of the Union is tomorrow. Someone will have to operate the Pelosi-doll.......maybe Senor Wences?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 21:10 Comments ||
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#12
Perhaps CNN reporters ought to be the targets of some Civilians doing things that are quit legal but limit CNNs ability to report. It's hard to get stories when you can't access them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 21:21 Comments ||
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#15
fragging journalists huh? Not out of the realm of possibility but not very plausible. I'm sure there's a few asshole reporters out there the lads would love to fuck with, but enough to go sanction them? Quite a stretch, even by hollywood standards. Sounds like Jordan has problems w/puffery, integrity, & stupidity.
#16
I think this story, which appears to be confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, deserves a firestorm from Americans. Email, write, fax the network -- and their corporate parent. Let advertisers know how angry you are. DEMAND proof or a PUBLIC RETRACTION BROADCAST THROUGHOUT THE ARAB WORLD.
We laugh and shake our heads at this, thinking others will realize it's stupid. But words have power and these words are beyond irresponsible. It's time to put an end to this sort of shit on the part of senior news executives.
#17
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if this were true, in a manner of speaking. Back in August, I put up a post about this picture. Caption (not included with photo -- you'll thank me for not pointing you to the slow-loading Chinese[?] site where I found this) reads "An Iraqi Shi'ite militiaman takes aim at a U.S. Apache helicopter flying above a cemetery in the Holy city of Najaf."
The point of the post was that there were two nearly identical photos, from two different photographers, one from Reuters, one from AP. Since the photogs were so cozy with the jihadis while they're taking aim at Americans, it wouldn't be too surprising if they were "targeted" (along with their jihadi pals).
#18
The alledgedly Al Jazeera reporter alledgedly got off easy. Some of those guys are willing accomplices, as they show up at the right time, many the time. They are enemy combatants, AFAIC.
The soldier alledgedly sending the reporter to the end of the line in the green zone sounds fair to me, though I am sure that the Humiliation⢠will require the reporter to go through some kind of therapy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/01/2005 22:49 Comments ||
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#19
Unfortunately, it is not true that the military targeted the liberal left MSM. In my opinion, they aid and abet the terrorists with their bullshit reporting (e.g. Dan Rather and others of his ilk).
EFL
In spite of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, Egypt is still preparing for a possible military confrontation with Israel.
"Despite the temporary improvement in the geo-political conditions in our region, there are certain processes working against us and therefore I am not optimistic," Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said at a committee meeting Monday. "Egypt is the only country in the region that is preparing for the possibility of a military confrontation with Israel," he added later.
Steinitz cited the ability of countries like Syria and Egypt to deploy long-range missiles that could reach any point in Israel, and said he believed the ability of those countries to strike at the heart of the country could complicate the call-up of Israel Defense Forces reservists.
"Their ability to strike at air bases at the start of a confrontation concerns me, and therefore we must develop tactical missiles," he said. "It is a cardinal mistake not to have done so earlier."
#1
Egypt may have long-range missiles, but what do they do when they get to their destination? I'll bet they don't erase entire cities. Think about it, Egypt.
#2
Egypt may have long-range missiles, but what do they do when they get to their destination? I'll bet they don't erase entire cities. Think about it, Egypt.
#1
Why in blue blazes don't the Israelis *ever* make sure their policy will fly before they enact it? I swear, their government can't do diddly without some peanut having veto power over it. If it wasn't the AG, it would have been some judge, or someone. The secret is called "standing", that is, everybody knows ahead of time who is part of the process, and who isn't. And you don't decree a new policy until everybody with standing is in on it, or cannot interfere.
In the last week, at least 13 arms and munitions caches have been found throughout the country. The largest of them contained more than 10,000 mortar rounds, 500 122 mm artillery rockets, as well as fuses. In the last four months, 236 weapons caches have been found, and destroyed, throughout the country. More importantly, 99 of those were found because local Afghans reported the location to coalition forces. Most of this stuff dates to the 1980s war with Russia. Warlords would store any excess munitions they could get their hands on. When the Russians withdrew in the late 1980s, there were many munitions stockpiles that were not destroyed, often because of bribes, or because they were taken over by pro-Russian Afghan forces. More munitions were sent to the pro-Russian Afghan government in the early 1990s, until that government was overthrown. Then the Taliban came along. Afghans prefer to use their rifles most of the time, saving mortars, artillery and rockets for special occasions. Thus all these hidden supplies of shells and rockets.
In 2003, ten percent of the caches found were because of tips from Afghans. This increased to 31 percent in 2004, and was 42 percent in the past four months. Afghans know that these munitions will be used against them, if any of the local warlords get into a major quarrel. The usual drill is to fire mortars, rockets and artillery at the other warlords villages and towns. More Afghans feel secure enough with the new police force and army to trust them with this information. Local warlords often kill people who reveal locations of ammo and weapons caches.
February 1, 2005: Islamic terrorists are not a wealthy lot, and they are always coming up with new, usually illegal, ways to raise money for their operations. One of the more recent scams includes life insurance fraud. The terrorist takes out as many life insurance policies as he can, then travels to the Middle East, where local officials can be bribed to verify that he "died" in a fake automobile accident. Then, the "dead man" goes off and becomes a suicide bomber in Iraq, to make sure that the insurance companies never catch on to the scheme, and come looking to get their money back. Rackets like this can yield several hundred thousand dollars for the cause. But expenses are high. Terrorists move around a lot, which means high travel expenses. This also precludes having a regular job, so the living expenses (not very high, actually) have to be covered by the income from illegal activities. Credit card and Internet related scams are favored as well. The down side of these illegal income sources is that it exposes the terrorists to arrest. Indeed, many terrorist cells have been discovered and destroyed because members of the cells got caught by the police. It's been known for several years that Islamic terrorists have favored this kind of crime for raising money, and the police are on to them. It is believed that some police agencies have infiltrated al Qaeda cells via the criminal underground of credit card, insurance and Internet scams. This has resulted in some disputes between the police and intelligence agencies. The cops want to bust as many of these criminals as possible, and prevent more crimes, while the intelligence agencies want to keep known terrorists under surveillance (at least until they try to kill someone, or leave the country), so they can detect and prevent a future terrorist attack. This way, more terrorists can be identified, and eventually rounded up. This tension between the police and intelligence agencies is generally kept quiet, but it has led to cases where the cops just busted people who they suspected were terrorists, but did not want to bring intelligence services in lest the police be forbidden to make the arrests. These are all aspects of the war on terror that don't get reported much, but could be a matter of life and death for a lot of people one of these days.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 10:54:51 AM ||
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#1
this is an absolute pet-peeve of mine. Good for the cops. The FBI will monitor until the cows come home. As in the drug trade, they allow the distribution networks to be established before their very eyes - and not until the illicit trade has firmly taken root do they then arrest a few "king pins" who are easily replaced now that their drug trade is so well established. And all under the watchful eye of the FBI.
Now they just watch as complex money scams are allowed to be established, they allow the Islamists to be funded, illicit money trails to be forged, and acts of terrorism to be funded. Thus innocent people dying as the FBI protects the networks that fund them.
I understand the benefits of stings. But life is about balance - and in terms of monitoring - it seems to me that the FBI is more about gaining knowledge, more and more, and more and more, than it is with using knowledge to prevent the crimes it is monitoring.
#2
And the more I read about the 1993 WTC bombing, I'm convinced that is what happened there. They set up the group that eventually bombed the WTC and then bent all over themselves trying to explain how it was that they weren't watching as the act was performed right under their noses.
If you build it, they will come. The FBI allows them to build so that someday they can get a nice press conference and a "well-done" when indeed they come.
#3
One thing is a little fishy about the described life insurance scam. Insurance companies demand death certificates before they pay benefits. What type of certificate is issued for a suicide bomber in Iraq? With the marginal rule of law in the Middle East, what insurance company would bother writing policies? I remember reading that when life insurance policies were first written in Europe centuries ago, it was not required for an insured person to give consent for coverage. The truly enterprising would take out policies on unsuspecting people and then kill them in order to collect. Very soon the rule was issued that the insured must consent to the policy for it to be valid.
#4
I emailed Bulldog about a scam my daughter got caught up in, where a proxy program was loaded on her computer that dialed a number in England. Supposedly it was a porno site. A couple of friends of mine in Molesworth reported it's to an Islamic charity. The call supposedly cost $40. I've never paid. I did notify the FBI AND Homeland Security. Homeland Security is looking into it - the program originated in Germany (Leipzig). The FBI ignored my email. Firewalls are essential to protect yourself these days - and to keep us from unwittingly, possibly even unknowingly, supporting Islamofascists through this kind of crap.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/01/2005 19:10 Comments ||
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No, no, Ebbavith. The death certificate is what they get for the imaginary car crash. After they turn over the insurance money to their handlers, they get to blow themselves up as a reward. ;-)
February 1, 2005: After eight years of effort, and spending over $300 million, the U.S. Army has officially received its new wargame (WARSIM) for training battalion, brigade, division, and as big as you want to get, commanders, and their staffs. Now even the most elaborate commercial wargame would not get $300 million for development, and eight years to create the system. But wargames for professional soldiers have different requirements, and a troublesome Department of Defense bureaucracy to deal with. First, the requirements. Commercial wargames shield the player from all the boring stuff (support functions, especially logistics.) But professional wargames must deal with these support activities, because in a real war, these are the things commanders spend most of their time tending too. Sad, but true, and it's why you have the ancient military quip, "amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics." Professionals also study personnel issues. A division commander will also know his half dozen combat and support brigade commanders very well, and the 15 or so battalion commanders well enough to know who is ready for a promotion to brigade commander, and who has to be supervised a little more carefully. Actually deciding where the combat units go, and when they attack or defend, takes up little of a commanders time, especially for higher level commands (divisions and larger.)
WARSIM covers a lot of complex activities that a commander must deal with to achieve battlefield success. Besides logistics, there's intelligence. Trying to figure out what the enemy is up to is, next to logistics, the commanders most time consuming chore. Then there is maintenance (keeping equipment running, and getting it fixed), transportation (especially helicopters) and personnel (particularly finding people capable of replacing leaders lost to combat, disease or accidents.) Another unique aspect of WARSOM is data capture. Every action by the players is recorded, so that after the game, it is possible to identify which decisions were responsible for success, or failure.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 10:50:24 AM ||
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#1
Well, where can I download it???
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/01/2005 11:49 Comments ||
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No, that was H4. Poor wee game, we hardly knew ye...other than the 6-year development cycle from hell, that is. I don't understand why they couldnt have gone with one of the dozen or so killer sims out there now and just modify it.
(I've got the new H3, and aside from some very minor but weird quirks, I love it.)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/01/2005 21:12 Comments ||
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February 1, 2005: Apparently the Sudanese government is once again using its An-24 transports as bomber aircraft in the Darfur region. The An-24 is a two engine Russian aircraft, developed in the 1960s to replace pre-World War II American DC-3s. An-24s can carry up to 50 passengers, or five tons of cargo. Sudan have some of the An-26 versions of the An-24, which has a rear ramp, which bombs are rolled out of.
The African Union and various relief agencies report that Sudanese planes bombed the village of Rahad Kabolong in North Darfur state. The attack took place on January 26 and left more than 100 people dead. Some 9000 people fled the village and the surrounding area after the air attack. A monitoring team reported that most of the dead were women and children. As of January 31, the government continued to deny that the air raid took place.
The United Nations called the attack a major ceasefire violation-- which of course it was. The UN, however, still refuses to call the Sudanese war in Darfur a genocide. Sudan's strategy is "ethnic cleansing" at its worst, and that ethnic cleansing met the conditions for genocidal war in Bosnia. International law defines genocide as attacks having the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Sudan's strategy is to attack villages, uproot the population, and force the people to flee to refugee camps in Chad. The US government has called the Sudanese war a genocidal war.
If international political pressure fails to stop the air attacks in Darfur, how can they be countered? Post 9/11, the US isn't about to pass out Stinger missiles like it did in Afghanistan. The risk that the missiles could end up in terrorist hands is simply too great. If the UN and EU really are outraged by the Sudanese air attacks, they could declare a "no fly zone" in Sudan's Darfur region. The no-fly zone in Darfur would operate like the no-fly zones the US and Britain enforced over northern and southern Iraq after 1991. A dozen French and German fighter aircraft based in Chad could protect the defenseless Darfurian villages from air attack. Is this a likely scenario? Of course it isn't--at the moment the political will does not exist in the UN and EU to take such a decisive military action. Imposing a no-fly zone, however, would save lives.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 10:34:34 AM ||
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The French imposing a no-fly zone? Where would their artiste stand to paint it?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 16:10 Comments ||
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Hmmmm. Must not be afraid of the ICC. Or the UN, for that matter.
#3
First ypieee.Finally got a new tower,I've upgraded from an Iguanadon to Cave lion.
France or Germany,HAH,what a laugh.That would intell commitent and risk.
#5
at the moment the political will does not exist in the UN and EU ... or the USA ... to take such a decisive military action. Imposing a no-fly zone, however, would save lives.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/01/2005 22:21 Comments ||
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ALL ten of the servicemen who died when an RAF plane crashed in Iraq were today named. The cause of the crash is not yet known and officials are investigating. One theory with some plausibility is that a bomb was smuggled onboard, possibly in Baghdad where the plane had stopped to refuel and pick up passengers.
Squadron Leader Marshall was a staff officer serving with Headquarters Strike Command in High Wycombe. The rest of the air force men were based at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, the home-base for all RAF Hercules. The station commander of RAF Lyneham told today of great sadness following the crash. In a statement read out at the base, Group Captain Paul Oborn said: "The whole of RAF Lyneham feel this loss intensely and our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of those involved. "Crew, support personnel and passengers on board were playing a vital role in helping to deliver democracy to the Iraqi people. They will be sorely missed." A personal note - RAF Lyneham's just a few miles from where I live, and the Hercs are part of the scenery round here. I din't know any of crew personally, but a friend of mine teaches at a secondary school attended by the Lyneham children. He told me last night that they're having a pretty tough week.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/01/2005 9:43:08 AM ||
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has turned down a request to apologize to Egypt on behalf of the Palestinians for celebrating the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. The request was made by two members of the Egyptian parliament on the eve of Abbas's visit to Cairo over the weekend. They demanded that Abbas formally apologize to the Egyptian government and people as he did with Kuwait late last year, when he publicly expressed regret for supporting Saddam Hussein's invasion of the tiny Gulf state. However, Abbas left Cairo on Saturday following a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak without making an apology.
When Sadat was assassinated by Muslim extremists, many Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the killing by handing out candies and condemning the late president as a traitor for signing a separate peace agreement with Israel. Yasser Arafat's initial response back then to the assassination was: "Blessed are the hands that carried out the killing."
The determination by the UN Security Council that the Shaba farms district is Syrian and not Lebanese land totally negates the pretext that Hizbullah has been using for continuing its terror attacks against Israel, senior security sources told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
The sources said that the declaration also reiterated that Israel had fully complied with UN Security Council Resolution 425 when it withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000.
"Hizbullah has the full backing of Iran, which is its mentor, financier and military arms supplier, as well as the support of Syria that continues to control Lebanon through the Lebanese government, so it is unlikely to stop what it has been doing until now."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas opened his visit to Moscow on Monday by expressing his high regard for Russia's role in the Mideast peace process.
He told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he had done everything to make Moscow his first foreign destination following his election earlier this month. "It shows the respect the Palestinian people feel toward the Russian people and it shows the important role that Russia plays on the world arena, above all in the Middle East, namely in the quartet, in which Russia is a most notable representative," Abbas said through a translator.
Abbas is expected to meet later Monday with President Vladimir Putin and with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II.
A Cold War-era supporter of the Palestinians, Moscow's relations with Israel have improved significantly since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Arab nations have expressed an interest in a stronger Russian role in the Middle East. Visiting Moscow last week, Syrian President Bashar Assad played up Russia's clout on the world stage and won a write-off of most of his country's multimillion-dollar debt to Moscow.
Abbas has visited Jordan and Egypt and is also to travel to Turkey and Switzerland. He leaves Russia on Tuesday morning.
The last 20,000 Falashmura who are eligible to immigrate to Israel will be brought here by the end of 2007, the government decided Monday.
It instructs the Interior Ministry to finish determining within two months which of the Falashmura currently waiting in transit camps in Ethiopia are eligible to come here, and for this purpose, authorizes an increase in the ministry's staff in Ethiopia. It also instructs the relevant ministries to prepare a detailed plan for the Falashmura's immigration and absorption within three months. Sharon said that the Finance Ministry will allocate the necessary funds.
The transit camps [are] located in Addis Ababa and Gondar.
In February 2003, the cabinet decided that Israel would take in all Falashmura - Ethiopians who claim that they were forced to convert from Judaism - who are of Jewish descent on the mother's side. The vast majority of the Falashmura in the camps are thought to meet this criterion. The Interior Ministry has, however, been conducting the eligibility checks very slowly, and former interior minister Avraham Poraz decided that until the checks were completed, only 300 Falashmura per month would be permitted to immigrate.
According to Jewish Agency spokesman Michael Jankelowitz, it costs [Israel] an average of about $100,000 to bring over and settle each Falashmura. Among other benefits, Ethiopian immigrants are entitled to housing grants that cover up to 90 percent of the purchase price of an apartment.
Upon arrival in Israel, the Falashmura undergo conversion to Israel, after which they are entitled to all the benefits of new immigrants under the Law of Return.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 1:07:58 AM ||
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Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim Jaafari, a senior Shiite leader, has warned that a civil war could erupt if US troops leave the country. Mr Jaafari, considered a candidate for the post of prime minister in the government that emerges from Sunday's historic elections, said there were too many dangers for Iraq to set a date on US-led foreign troops leaving.
"Despite their presence here in Iraq, terrorism exists," Mr Jaafari told AFP. "Can you imagine what will happen if we ask them to leave? This could mean the beginning of a civil war."
He added: "We are trying our best not to have a civil war but if the multinational forces leave now, certainly there will be more and more assassinations, bombings and victims."
Mr Jaafari is head of the Hezb al-Dawa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Call Party), part of the fundamentalist United Iraqi Alliance that was supported in the election by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shiites.
Mr Jaafari said the new government had to embrace Sunni Muslims even though many parties rejected the elections and the Sunni turnout was low in many areas. "It is true some Sunni powers boycotted the elections, but they did so without killing anyone or threatening anyone. Everybody is welcome and this is democracy.
"We cannot fly with one wing. We have to reach out to them and accommodate them," said Mr Jaafari, who added he would be ready to take over from Iyad Allawi as prime minister if asked.
"There must be a kind of balance between the three main posts: the president, the prime minister and the head of the parliament. "The next prime minister will probably be a Shiite, while the president and the head of the parliament are a Sunni and a Kurd," respectively.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 1:41:16 AM ||
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#1
hey John, Ted and Barbara...how are you going to call for "an end to the occupation" now? Bummer.
#3
Yawer, the Sunni Prez, also said US troops should stay. OTOH everyone also knows that the "in your face" presence of US troops creates ill feeling - not only among Sunnis, but among many Shiites. But sending US troops out of country leaves the risk that the insurgents attack, and the few adequately trained and efficient govt forces are overwhelmed - and no political will to put US troops BACK after their out - think Saigon, 1975. The Shiite leaders are scared shitless of that happening, IIUC.
The solution, is to steadly pull US troops back to bases, and let Iraqi troops do all the patrols. Let them sink or swim to a greater degree than we've done lately - they performed well on election day, now that they had something to fight for, new their work was essential.
Problem is that it will be easier to do this in the Shiite zones, while coalition troops will be still be needed in the triangle - Sunnis may complain why do the Shias get the Iraqi troops and the US withdrawl first - I dont think Sistanic will take these complaints too literally.
#1
Not only did Wretchard beat Newsweek, he did a better (though self-admittedly, a slightly- flawed) job of it:
One of the key things the Newsweek article misses but which War Plan Orange [post] emphasizes was the role played by the delay caused by seeking permission from the United Nations to topple Saddam...
One of the principle differences in the Newsweek analysis and the War Plan Orange post is in the interpretation of the strengths and weaknesses of each side. Newsweek, for example, seems to regard the growing use of untrained attackers as a sign of strength...
...But I think the main problem with the Newsweek analysis is that first, it doesn't fully recognize the significance of the economy of force operation against the Sunnis...Secondly, Newsweek almost ignores American political warfare.
One highly-educated, self-motivated individual doing analysis, versus a media staff doing meetings, content-approvals, editing, reapproval, spin-correction, etc.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005 00:44 ||
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All that means is that the button counter and bottle sorters back in the US didn't get their triplicate paperwork for it. Bremer's point was a good one: it was more useful to pay people who were ghost employees to stay out of mischief, than it was to have them unemployed and making trouble.
#2
This is what happens when you want to disburse the money quickly. Accountability requires bureaucracy, which implies delay. Ask any expense planner. Remember that Lugar and Hagel were complaining about how money was being disbursed too slowly not long ago. Now that it was disbursed in a hurry, they'll undoubtedly complain that it was handed out too quickly.
Leading relief groups urged the United States to reconsider its strategy to counter Afghanistan's illegal narcotics industry, the world's largest, warning that destroying farmers opium crops could wreck the country's post-Taliban recovery. In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, more than 20 aid organizations active in Afghanistan said "premature and excessive" crop eradication could create such uproar that planned help for farmers cannot be delivered. "Massive eradication efforts in 2005 could risk destabilizing large areas of the country, thereby undermining critical alternative livelihood and law enforcement initiatives," they said in Monday's letter, which was signed by international aid groups including CARE, Mercy Corps and Oxfam.
Cultivation of opium poppy has soared since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Last year's crop supplied nearly 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw material for heroin, and the trade accounted for about 40 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product. To bolster President Hamid Karzai's call for a "holy war" on the industry, the United States plans to spend $780 million for a crackdown on refiners, traffickers and corrupt officials using new police units and special courts. But Afghan leaders and aid organizations have expressed dismay that only $120 million has been earmarked for rural development programs to help farmers switch to legal crops, compared to $300 million for crop eradication programs. snip
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005 1:37:22 AM ||
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Funny; the guy on the right in that pic looks like an English teacher of mine . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
02/01/2005 9:12 Comments ||
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#2
That's Richard "Cheech" Marin on the left and Tommy Chong on the right. Cheech got his nickname when as a child he liked fried pork rinds, called chicharones in Mexico.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/01/2005 9:32 Comments ||
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#3
"Duuude, that's, like, my stash! You spray it and I hafta go into rehab, which is, like, major bummers."
Posted by: Mike ||
02/01/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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#4
Within the last year, I saw Tommy Chong in an interview state "Tommy Chong is not a pot head."
#5
But Afghan leaders and aid organizations have expressed dismay that only $120 million has been earmarked for rural development programs to help farmers switch to legal crops, compared to $300 million for crop eradication programs.
One question: does rural development cost as much as poppy eradication? If not, then this "dismay" is misplaced.
Egypt admitted Thursday to failing to report a "number of research experiments" to the UN atomic energy agency, after diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material. But "Egypt is cooperating with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)" and feels the "research experiments and activities ... most of which took place in the distant past are consistent with the NPT," the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Egyptian embassy said in a statement released in Vienna.
The statement said stronger safeguards measures by the IAEA "since the 1990's have resulted in not reporting to the agency, in an appropriate and timely manner, a number of research experiments and activities." Egyptian ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy told AFP it was a case that with "strengthened safeguards, countries sometimes don't know what they are required to report." He said news reports of Egyptian safeguards failures were "exaggerated" and that Egypt has a strictly peaceful nuclear program.
The statement said "Egypt understands that the agency is aware of the limited scope of the issue" and feels that the "agency values the level of cooperation Egypt is extending." Egypt has not however signed an additional protocol to the NPT that allows for tough IAEA inspections. IAEA officials refused to comment on the investigation.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005 12:58:49 AM ||
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Did ya have to pay a royalty on that nuke model kit, Hosni? *spit*
Well, how you do ya like that? And note the cheap shot at the US at the end of article ...
A UN investigation into human rights abuses in Sudan has concluded the Government did not pursued a policy of genocide in the troubled Darfur region.
While saying there were gross violations of international law and human rights, the report said the "crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing". It recommended the abuses be dealt with by the International Criminal Court (ICC) - a move opposed by the US.
Compiled by a five-member commission set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in October, the report stressed the absence of a genocidal policy "should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated".
It specifically blamed government forces and militia for indiscriminate attacks, including the killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape, pillaging and forced displacement throughout Darfur.
However, it stipulated that such acts did not carry the specific intent to annihilate a group distinguished on racial, ethnic, national or religious grounds, and thus stopped short of genocide.
"Rather it would seem that those who planned and organised attacks on villages pursued the intent to drive the victims from their homes, primarily for purposes of counter-insurgency warfare," it said.
The current humanitarian crisis in Darfur was born of a rebel uprising in February 2003 against government neglect of the desert region.
Khartoum responded to the rebellion with a deadly show of force by Arab militias called the Janjaweed, who are accused of having waged a scorched-earth campaign against non-Arab civilians to bring down the rebels.
Around 70,000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur, many from hunger and disease, in the last several months alone, while some 1.5 million others have been displaced, many into squalid and dangerous camps.
Washington has labelled the ethnic clashes in Darfur as genocide and pushed for action against Khartoum.
However, the US has refused to recognise the ICC, fearing the court could be used to prosecute politically motivated charges against US diplomats or troops around the world.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005 12:54:01 AM ||
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Nice...If you can't fix the problem; convince yourself it didn't happen! Then sweep it under the rug, for posterity.
Posted by: BA ||
02/01/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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Compiled by a five-member commission set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in October, the report stressed the absence of a genocidal policy "should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated".
Well I'm so glad we've solved that issue.
Next on the agenda: Where are we having lunch today?
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Monday declared that security forces would remain in Sui and Dera Bugti to protect national assets and counter terrorists who posed threats to gas plants and people in the area. Speaking at a press conference at the chief minister's secretariat after attending a meeting on the Sui situation, the minister said the government would strictly deal with saboteurs to ensure continuation of the projects that had been launched to promote economic activity. The provincial governor, chief minister, corps commander, federal railways secretary and officials of law-enforcement agencies attended the meeting. Mr Sherpao said federal security forces were deployed in Sui on the request of the provincial cabinet was the situation became alarming after gas installations had been damaged in rocket attacks on Jan 7.
He said 819 rockets were fired and 47 bombs exploded in Sui our the past six months. He said the damage to the plants caused about Rs400 million loss to the Pakistan Petroleum Limited while the provincial government lost Rs154 million in excise royalty due to suspension of gas supply. He said industries were facing losses of Rs150 million to Rs200 million a day since the gas plants were targeted. He said that since 2003, 1,529 rockets had been fired and 113 bombs exploded in Quetta, Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar. He said no government would tolerate such acts. The minister said that after the deployment of security forces in Sui the situation had become calm but the saboteurs had changed their tactics and were now targeting railway tracks and electricity transmission towers to create disorder. He said militiamen had been posted at vital points on railway bridges and transmission lines but in the wake of an increase in subversive acts the government would beef up security measures to protect sensitive installations.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005 12:35:18 AM ||
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BAGHDAD - Shiite powerbroker Ibrahim Jaafari might get into trouble with his wife if he called for an Iraq where women could not drive, but he has no hesitation about supporting the death penalty for Saddam Hussein. The current vice president is a key leader of the fundamentalist alliance expected to become the biggest single bloc in the Iraqi national assembly after the historic weekend election.
Some talk of Jaafari as a prime minister in the next government or in the near future. A powerful Shiite government might worry some people outside of Iraq, but in an interview with AFP Jaafari sought to reassure that he wants Sunni Muslims, who boycotted the election, to be involved and he does not want a state that mirrors the theocracy in neighbouring Iran.
Jaafari, a doctor by training, is said to have close links with Iran. After his Hezb al-Dawa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Call Party) took up arms against Saddam's regime, he fled to Iran in the early 1980s before moving to London in 1989. His five children still live in Britain and his wife worked there. Jaafari was among the first exiled leaders to return after the 2003 US-led invasion. He was the first president of the now-defunct governing council named by the United States that year.
When talks were underway over the fundamental law which serves as Iraq's interim constitution, Jaafari was among those who favoured Islam as the only source of legislation. But he distances himself from a hard line. "Secularism originally meant opposing God and religion. Now it is not the same. Islam has changed too. It is different from country to country.
Perhaps you could convince your cousins of that.
"It is true that some countries stop women from attending schools and others do not let women drive. For me that would be a problem. My wife is a surgeon, she cuts open abdomens, and I would never stop her doing surgery."
Jaafari said he wants social justice and human rights and points to the US example of a strongly religious country that keeps state affairs separate. "The currency clearly states "In God we trust'. Yet this doesn't necessarily mean that all Americans believe in God."
But he would like Islam to be Iraq's official religion. "It would be logical to mention Islam in the constitution. But it does not have to resemble Iran if that what is on your mind."
Jaafari, like many Iraqis, takes a hard line, however, on the kind of justice they want for the country's former dictator. "I think it is a public demand that his trial go ahead as soon as possible, it would not be right to delay the trial. Yesterday I spoke with the judge in the case. He said they would expedite the trial."
In the publicised mass purges of Shiites, members of Jaafari's Dawa party lost their lives. "I think there is a need to excute the one who committed these crimes. But I will accept any result on condition that it is fair and organized by a fair government."
"But you guys have to keep Ramsey Clark. What a pain in the arse," he added.
Jaafari's party is part of the United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Iranian-born spiritual head of Iraq's Shiites. Others in the alliance including Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and nuclear scientist Hussein al-Shahrastani are also possible candidates for the prime minister's post. Jaafari said that if asked to become premier he would not refuse.
Not quite a bejeweled turban, but it would do.
Jaafari believes a withdrawal of US troops battling the Sunni insurgency anytime soon could lead to a civil war. "Despite their presence here in Iraq, terrorism exists," Jaafari said. "Can you imagine what will happen if we ask them to leave. This could mean the beginning of a civil war."
"We are trying our best not to have a civil war but if the multinational forces leave now, certainly there will be more and more assassinations, bombings and victims."
Improving security—so Iraq can ask US and British forces to leave—and forming a government that can satisfy the aspirations of the Sunni minority community, will be two key tasks for the next government, according to the vice president. The Sunnis monopolised power under Saddam and for decades before. Many fear the prospect of Shiites taking control. Jaafari said there was no sense of revenge. "We want Shiites back in power but at the same time we don't want to do what Saddam did."
Jaafari suggested top posts could be shared between the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. "It is most likely that the next prime minister would be a Shiite, while the president and the head of the parliament would be a Sunni and a Kurd."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/01/2005 12:03:55 AM ||
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#1
The execution of Saddam Hussein during a Shiite majority government (along with his henchmen) would definitely send shock waves through the arab world and not to mention the Sunni Triangle! The resistance would quickly melt into the underground in fear of bounties and rewards! Shades Of Nuremberg!
#2
I think the crimes ijn germany are right on par with Saddam's cronies. Watch out during the trials for the left chanting "NO WMDs" while they debate how thousands were murdered by this regime.
Israel has approved in principle the deployment of Egyptian special forces, heavy weapons and armor in eastern Sinai. Israeli officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed to an Egyptian proposal for the deployment of 750 border guard troops in eastern Sinai. They said the troops would be equipped with armored combat vehicles, medium- to heavy weapons and would patrol the Israeli-Egyptian as well as the Egyptian-Gaza border. Under the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Egypt could deploy a limited number of border guards in eastern Sinai. The Egyptian border guards could not be equipped with anything other than light weapons. But officials said Sharon has agreed to a significant increase in Egyptian troops as well as unidentified heavier weapons and armor. They said the expanded Egyptian presence would bolster border security and could stop the flow of weapons from Sinai into the Gaza Strip across the eight-kilometer Philadephia corridor.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
If the Egyptian armor boys get to frisky then they can just look around the Sinai at the burned and rusting armored hulks their fathers and grandfathers left about.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/01/2005 10:29 Comments ||
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#2
If Arabs could learn, they'd learned in the last 1400 that they're not in the desert anymore.
Turkey warned yesterday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil while a top US envoy sought to ease Ankara's security concerns. In comments published in a newspaper interview, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul renewed concerns that more Kurds than those expelled under Saddam Hussein's rule had settled in Kirkuk, altering the demographic structure of the city which is also home to large numbers of Turkmens, a community of Turkish descent backed by Ankara. "We are observing that the situation has reached dangerous proportions," Gul told the English-language Turkish Daily News newspaper. "Now our fear is the possibility that these gross changes in the demography of Kirkuk could trigger an ethnic confrontation, which has not been seen so far." "If our brothers (Turkmens) are not treated well, if they are subjected to oppression, such developments will hurt us deeply, and in a democratic society administrations cannot remain indifferent, or merely spectators, to such developments," Gul said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
We really do have to get our people out of Incirlik so that we have the absolute freedom of action required to kick the shit out of any Turks that think that they can cross into a country under the protection of the United States of America. These people declared themselves to be our enemies when they wouldn't allow the 4th ID to transit their country. What makes them think that the Stryker Brigade will let them cross the border?
#2
Right. And if you lift a little finger we'll vaporize it, pal. Can't be part of Europe if you continue to engage in hilarious Third World truculence. Good little French toadies, there now. I've always like the Turks so I'll choose just to be entertained by this.
#4
Turkey warned yesterday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil..
So Turkey's lookin' to make another mistake, eh? Tsk tsk, some people never learn.
#5
I have a lengthy theory (under construction, lol) about Muslim behavior patterns. Turkey has submerged itself in the swamp of Islamic contradictions and stupidity, so it applies. In the interest of brevity, lol, I'll summarize it:
Islam has a social construct, inculcated from birth and strongly reinforced, which I call "pain => blame" which it has effectively substituted for the customary rational "cause => effect" mental learning process. The main feature of this substitution is that learning is blocked since the behavior modification of "cause => effect" is lost. Even the average dog employs the "cause => effect" process to learn acceptable behaviors and avoid negative feedback: digging in the trash = a few sharp newspaper shots across the nose. When the association is developed, behavior is modified to eliminate the negative, the pain of being punished. Turkey's Islamic Govt obviously exhibits this unproductive regressive behavior.
I'll add another observation regards Turkey. The only entity that has directly worked against Turk interests is France. They blocked Turkey's NATO request for Patriot missiles, pre-Iraq War, and have suckered them with EU membership promises ever since, apparently demanding, and getting, repeated and concerted anti-US actions in exchange for "support" - which never materializes. Again, there is a clear learning deficit apparent in this self-defeating behavior.
Turkey has repeatedly chosen to be an adversary. It has consistently acted against US interests at every turn since the Muslims took over the Turkish Govt. The Turkish military, empowered by their constitution to prevent Muslim stupidity from harming the country or hijacking their political system, is MIA - and probably DOA. Effectively, Turkey is, at the least, an adversary - at worst, an avowed enemy.
I still ascribe many US deaths in Iraq to them for preventing a two-front war, the classic hammer and anvil, and delaying the 4ID's entrance to the theater in a timely fashion... which made the "island hopping" approach necessary, leaving our supply flanks vulnerable, and left the Sunni Triangle, the source of most post-combat insurgency, utterly "unpacified".
So. Who gives a flying fuck what Turkey thinks, fears, or wants? Not me. Fuck 'em. Twice.
#7
Seafarious, I probably shouldn't say much ("I can say no more!"), but I'm in the Palace complex, working for the US taxpayer. Soon I'll remedy my past failings and hit the tipjar here, something long overdue.
.com, I'm enjoying your rants -- very well done. I have a perverse take on the whole Turkey/4ID thing (I think it was a good way to save several billion $ and had little if any actual effect on the course of events, as the insurgent strategy was pre-cooked and could only have been disrupted by much more aggressive tactics by our forces AFTER the major combat phase), but I love how you're putting major islamic countries on the couch and analyzing their behavior.
I do hope the Kurds manage the Kirkuk thing smoothly, much more for Iraq's sake than Turkey's.
#8
We don't have to kick the shit out of anybody. First, all we have to do is make a phone call to Athens and very publicly ask how they're doing and whether or not there's any combat aircraft or warships they need. With respect to Aris, that's no reflection on Greece, just an acknowledgement of how politics work. Secondly - and with respect to .com - the Turkish military has, as a rule, only acted when there is pretty much no other alternative, and I'm not sure that point has been reached just yet.
On the other hand, if the Turkish military has indeed drunk the kool-aid, that is an exceptionally bad thing for the region. Unlike Iraq and Iran, the Turks have a very long and professional military history along with a highly trained, professional and well equipped service , and they could be a far greater threat than those two countries ever were.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/01/2005 7:18 Comments ||
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#9
Yeap,RWV.Shut down Incerlik and build a big ass base in Kurdistan.
#11
Haha. Mike makes me laugh. I remember hearing the same things about Saddams military pre-Gulf War I. The mighty Turkish war machine! Excuse me as I chuckle. You've obviously never been to turkey. I have, and I've met members of their mighty war machine. Like all muslim militaries, they are great at looking nice in their uniforms and not much else. Jackass.
#13
HV, I think it's pretty straight forward: In many cultures, problems are viewed as tasks warranting solutions, preferably solutions addressing the root causes of the problems so that the tasks will not have to be repeated.
Hence Judeo-Christian-ethic (ethic, not ethnic) Americans took out the Taliban and Saddam and are looking for Osama and are establishing democracy in the Middle East.
The self-oppressed Middle Eastern cultures are Islamic ("Islam" meaning "submission"). They don't DO, they STEW. To them a problem (pain) is typically addressed by complaining, and they try to save face by always blaming others. "It's The Joooos" or any other excuse that is handy.
When they try to "DO", they do it in the Islamic context of submission -- hence beheadings, terrorism, and generally trying to make even their own people submissive. It worked for Mohammed. That can work on small populations (villages, tribes, etc.), but it doesn't work well on the grand scale (as the Taliban, Saddam, and Osama are learning).
The mullahs in Iran are trying to make submission work on a grand scale. They project that all the world's problems are due to The Joooos and The Great Satan. And having seen the Taliban and Saddam go down, they have learned that extending submission globally will require global-scale weapons. But the free people they despise have bigger weapons and are not going to be taken down.
Ultimately the mullahs will have to be crushed and part of the Islamic world that survives and cares will always see that as an insult to Islam and BLAME all their woes on The Joooos and The Great Satan. And the cycle will repeat.
Sadly, I expect that the cycle will repeat endlessly until either the more-secular "Islam is Peace" Muslims overcome the "Islam is submission" Muslims or the rest of the world treats Muslims the way it treated Nazis. Given the Muslim proclivity for submission and pain/blame, I expect that eventually the mosque will share the same fate as the swastica arm band.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 9:59 Comments ||
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#14
Perhaps
1. shame culture=>externalization=>blame
2. guilt culture=>internalized=>brisk shrink biz
#1 is usual mode operandi in islamic cultures
#2 is prevalent in judeo-christian context
Nothing is black'n'white, shades of grey apply.
Fer'nstance, blame externalization is more employed by females within judeo-christian cultural context. (I've been married several times, don't tell me this is a gender stereotyping! LOL)
There is a twist, jewish mothers can successfully externalize guilt, passing it on the offspring.
Question is what is healthier, shame or guilt based culture?
The shame culture has a serious problem in the sense that the blamee has no haven if is the member of the society (external blamees can calmly state FOAD, provided that the blamer is not in the same environ). Morality is not internalized, is is defined by the society (tribe, religion). Conscience does develop only in rudimentary, child-like form. Whatever is not object of shame, is allowed.
The guilt culture is faring a bit better. Bare the cases when guilt is pressurized to a degree that the cooker explodes ouward, the individual is able to cope, sometimes with help of the shrink industry. The conscience is internalized and better developed--moral compas or gyroscope is present in various, often substantial degrees. Paradoxically, the individual from the guilt culture is able to develop better social behavioral patterns, because there is a room for experimental corrective interaction. The culture adheres to more adult type of values, like responsibility for one's actions and self-respect.
As I said there are shades in between, so rarely there is a pure representative of either culture.
There is a type that is somewhere in the middle.
This type is definitely not a golden compromise. Rather, this state it would be present in a confused individual, that would behave erraticaly, having no cultural anchor and prone to moral relativism, cognitive dissonance with utter suspension of logic, immature, hedonistic yet with preference for authoritative social structures as a replacement for missing internalized moral compass. Values self-esteem (reflective assessment based on external interaction), rather than self-respect which is terra incognita. Eternal pubescent.
Is it possible that a representative of the shame culture can become a well adjusted member of the guilt culture? I know people that were able to transverse, with a relatively short period of the moonbatty middle or skipping it at all. A Pre-requisite is that there has been some exposure to the other culture, and/or that the individual's intelligence is above average and a tendency towards individualism is present, else there is little chance that the individual would escape the constrictive cage of the shame based cultural structure. Typical example may be Walid Shoebat or
Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
My father's unit was in line next to the Turks in Korea for a while. He's always spoken highly of them--I guess they were quite proficient at raiding the NorK lines at night, using only knives because it's more fun that way.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/01/2005 13:53 Comments ||
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#18
Who says were that stupid to invade Iraq, we'll teach the insurgents how to fry Johnnies, worked with Chechnya didn't it, prepare for Vietnam2.
Posted by: Murat ||
02/01/2005 14:31 Comments ||
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#19
Blah, blah, blah.
Which Murat are you? Are you the one that STILL owes me the evidence that I'm a Kurd?
Or are you one of his cowardly alter-egos?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/01/2005 14:34 Comments ||
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#20
Murat, I think we're up to Vietnam 4 by now. (Kosovo was #2, Afghanistan was #3). There may have been some others.....I've lost track.
At least Aris is familiar with basic punctuation, and he uses a different alphabet (most of the time)...
Try again with a different rant. I give this one a 2 (minuses - bringing up Vietnam, who the hell is "Johnny" unless you mean "Johnny Reb"...wrong war yet again). Yawn.
#21
No way! Murat?!?!?! Well, I'm ready for Veet Naam 2; this time we'll have unrestricted bombing and unrestricted ground action and we'll win. How does that grab ya?
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/01/2005 14:47 Comments ||
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#22
Johnny Kerrey.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005 14:49 Comments ||
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#23
"Johnny" is the short name for the average hillbilly Joe American. The poor Arabs don't know how to fight and the few who do fight, fight like women.
With a little bit warrior tactics they could bring the daily American casualties easily from 2 to 200. Oh wait, they are in deer need of AA missiles, this could become fun.
Posted by: Murat ||
02/01/2005 14:57 Comments ||
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#24
Not our original Murat, I'd wager.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 14:59 Comments ||
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#26
Yeah, I don't think the original Murat would think Johnny is short for "average hillbilly Joe American".
Though I would pay big bucks to see some hillbilly kick this guy's ass....or more likely, his sister kick his ass.
#27
"...worked with Chechnya didn't it..."
The Soviets failed in Afghanistan -- we didn't.
Wanna test your luck, punk?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 15:05 Comments ||
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#28
The real Murat had a much better command of the english language. Plus, I don't think he was using a IP provider in the Netherlands. Assen, to be precise.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 15:13 Comments ||
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#29
Thank you, Steve.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 15:17 Comments ||
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#30
Oh dear, I fear that Turkey's efforts to endear their citizens to fund their dearly inadequate military would be far too dear for them to endure, with dire consequences for their attempts to join the EU, poor dears. Pehaps they would be far better off to contact John Deere, to improve their exports, rather than arming their deer with missles.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 15:38 Comments ||
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#32
Verlaine - Glad to hear you made it and, apparently, doing okay. Stay safe, bro, and thanks for the encouragement, lol!
HV - instead of a direct answer, how about this...
And who fucking cares what "murat" - no matter who's playing the role today, has to say. He / They don't get it, so fuck 'em.
**********
I'm just winging it, here, and whacking it out. Be gentle with me, heh heh.
I saw pretty clearly that there was a fundamental difference between what I knew of Western societies and what I was experiencing in Saudi Arabia in 1992. I played with how it could be best described and also tried to add in the generic Asian social model and the Marxist BS. I came up with only Guilt vs Blame vs Face vs Collective as descriptors - no deep underlying theory. I spent my time working and sleeping, mainly, with little time for recording philosophical musings. So that's where it sat for a decade.
Then I ran across this Sharkansky Blog entry via LGF which was a quick translation of an article in Die Zeit - and the author Mordechay Lewy had put it into words better than I had managed in my mere musings. At the time it was published, I was back in Saudi again, though I was preparing to end my second tour (3 yrs that time) and get out permanently.
The article, assuming the translation is clean, does a damned good job of explaining why the Guilt society progresses, changes, improves the behaviors of its individuals... and why the Blame society is stagnant, cast in amber - a Darwinian Box Canyon. If I took the time I could pick out the bits and pieces with which I disagree - but they're minor and actually more the quibbles of an atheist who knows the discussion could easily be couched sans the religious references - it's simple Darwinism in the end: successful strategies survive because they evolve and progress, failed strategies die out - for a myriad collection of reasons.
It used to be a big planet. It took a long time for the technologies to mature which allow for true global conflict to be decisively ended. And, at long last, a champion with the wherewithal to back up its assertions has come along. America. It is the first nation to stand for the progressive liberal society sans the imperialism. It is the current Darwinistic result of Western philosophy. It's not perfect, of course, but it succeeds for precisely those reasons that it is hated by the other Western / modern societies. It allows for diversity of thought, opinion, religion, ideology, and heavily promotes individualism. It evolves - rapidly. Its prime directive is to beg, borrow, steal or, better yet, invent the best good ideas available and meld them into a successful ongoing changing model. It is aggressive in the idea market. It has evolved in tandem with the lethality of weapons - a unique survival strategy. Once, it was isolated and could afford to be isolationist at heart. Technology, much of its own invention, has changed that - so it has evolved its success / survival strategies accordingly. There are fools who fail to grasp the fact that we must synch policy and action with technology. They would love to go back and hug isolationist trees or pretend that we should all kick back and enjoy espressos on the Left Bank and all will be well. They're morons. When they are in control of our government, we are vulnerable and blind. Those who see the connection also see the problem looming: the planet has become dramatically "smaller" due to the technology and there will be no more "glancing blows" when the competing societal models clash. One will begin to die and the other will continue to grow.
I have been rather ostracized for it (quick summary: "fry 'em up"), but I believe that the Islamic flavor of the Blame model, which has been sustained by its uber-aggressive accompanying religio-socio-political ideology, has run its course (soon to die, per Darwinian Laws) by running headlong into the brick wall of the American flavor of the Guilt model: a hardcore scientifically and technologically based Jacksonian / Jeffersonian / Wilsonian version of the Guilt model. It's Them or Us. I pick Us.
Next up, the Collective model. More Science HS vs Golden Dragon HS (the last surviving Collective model of significance).
Well, that's the "quick" and dirty view from Sin City. It took me almost exactly an hour to type this out. I know I'll regret doing it as I'll be sniped for a statement here or there without the whole picture being kept in frame and the fact that it was a quickie. But hell, it's RB. Let the games begin.
Sorry Bizarro Murat, it wouldn't be a Vietnam 2. The weaponry is more lethal, more accurate. WAY more accurate. Finding out firsthand might not be such a good idea...
#35
.com, a note on the (social) darwinian model. *ALL* behaviours that persist have selective value. That is, the behaviour somehow aids the actor in surviving or doesn't place them at a disadvantage. Most social behaviour operate on a social (societal) basis. So how does the abdication of personal responsibility, blame somebody else as found in Islam (and other religions) work. Essentially by shifting responsibility to the Other (Zionists, Crusaders, whatever.). Blame, No responsibility works as a survival strategy as long as enough participate in the someone else is responsible model (it's a level playing field). As soon as enough defect to a personal responsibility strategy, no responsibility no longer works (similar to the prisoners dilemma). Hence the need for all to participate in the blame no-responsibility religious uniformity.
So while I might quibble with the details of your argument, overall I agree with you. Islam will crash and burn when faced with Western individual responsibility becuase it achieves better results faster.
This also neatly explains the affinity between (Islam and Socialism, and Catholicism for that matter).
#36
Turkish participation in the Korean War was a PR move. They sucked, period, over run by half their numbers of Chinee with bugles and whiz bangs. The Pentagon PR machine made a big deal of their pursuit of the NORKS... big deal. They sucked and caved, never, every have a Turkish unit on your flank.
#37
It was a good read, .com. Where would Middle Eastern Islam be today had it not been for the western world and oil? Probably extinct or just a rural oddity -- a 7th century backwater. These countries have gotten the 20th century and 21st century western goods and the oil wealth to buy them by sheer luck. They pretty much either buy or steal technology. And they produce very little of value other than the oil that is actually produced for them in many cases. If you exclude oil, where do these countries fall in a worldwide GDP ranking? You know. Islam needs some protestants and a reformation or it is going to sink itself by sheer ignorance and failure to adapt.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 20:09 Comments ||
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#38
phil_b - Just caught your comments - thanks. I didn't mean to preclude responses, lol, I just assumed most RBers would mumble "fuck you" and pick it apart, lol!
Regards the Other, you've touched upon a main tenet of my broader theory. I believe that mature individuals operate within reality and within the possibilities for future realities. Immature individuals live in something of a bubble. Within it, they have damped the unacceptable aspects of reality, added the fantasy content they need to go on each day, and - most of all - must have a bogeyman, an Other, upon which to either blame the perceived shortcomings in their lives or distract them from the pain of the shortcomings. Obviously these two defense mechanisms commingle and, at times, become fully merged.
We see this clearly in Crown Prince Abdullah's recent remarks blaming Jooos and such. For the Blame societies, the Other is essential, as you point out.
To merge our ideas, you mentioned the Socialists' similarity in this regard. I couldn't agree more. I fully and completely believe that this explains the Bush Derangement Syndrome common across the various "isms".
Just as Palestine is the Other for Islam - mainly promoted by Arab "states" as the distraction to keep their own people emotionally occupied - BDS has become the memed Other for the world's simple-minded fools. Islamic societies are immature - to a man. The Moonbats are our perpetual children, our dependents who wish for things that would consume and destroy them, were it not for the mature individuals.
I hope I've been clear enough to follow - your comments pushed the button, lol! Again, Thx for the feedback!
#39
Tom - You won't be surprised when I tell you that I asked a Saudi when I first went over in '92 about the oil. I was initially asking why they tolerated a "King" - who "owned" everything, then doled out dribbles to his favorites. Wasn't the oil either the property of all Arabs within SA or the property of the individuals who owned the land?
Well he explained that tribes & clans actually "own" the land and it's doled out by the leaders - so to me it was the same question multiplied by the tribes and clans, lol!
Then he hit me with what was a real eye-opener in '92: The oil wealth was their right. It was Allah's gift to them for their faithfulness and deprivation of the centuries as Bedouin. He said it precisely in the manner that a friend had once told me that he deserved to win the lottery. My friend was kidding. This guy was serious.
So there you have it, eh? Lol! They deserve the oil and the power it gives them. It's Allah's payback for centuries of wandering around the deserts.
I think I'd suggest arms cooperation with the U.S., myself. Pakistan's not real good at winning wars.
Iraq seeks defense and military cooperation with Pakistan. Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shalaan held talks with Pakistani leaders in late November in the first effort by a post-Saddam Hussein government to forge defense and military cooperation with Islamabad. On Nov. 23, Shalaan met President Pervez Musharraf and Defense Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal. Shalaan was said to have discussed proposals for defense cooperation between the two Muslim countries.
I'm assuming we're tossing the Paks a bone here.
Pakistani officials said Islamabad has offered to sell weapons and military platforms as well as provide training to the Iraqi military and security forces.
Just as well, I guess. You never know: we might have to fight them again someday.
Pakistan has been a leading military ally of Saudi Arabia, who has offered assistance to Baghdad.
And look at all the wars Soddy Arabia's won!
The officials said Islamabad briefed Shalaan and his delegation on a range of Pakistani platforms. They were said to include Al Khalid main battle tank and the Super Mashak air trainer.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The man replacing the mayor of Baghdad — who was assassinated for his pro-American loyalties — says he is not worried about his ties to Washington. In fact, he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city. "We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."
Fadel's predecessor, Ali al-Haidari, was gunned down Jan. 4 when militants opened fire on his armor-covered BMW as it traveled with a three-car convoy. Fadel said he received numerous threats on his life as the council chairman, and expects to get many more in his new post. "My life is cheap," Fadel said. "Everything is cheap for my country."
As Iraq prepared for a volatile election that is being watched across the world, Fadel heaped praise on the United States. Fadel acknowledged that many in his country appear ungrateful for America's foreign assistance. He said most Iraqis are still in "shock" over the changes, and need time to adjust. Any public monument to Bush is likely to further incense terrorist forces, who have attacked American troops and their supporters for months. Fadel said he is undaunted. "We have a lot of work and we are especially grateful to the soldiers of the U.S.A. for freeing our country of tyranny," Fadel said. As for his own protection, the new mayor will be traveling in a new $150,000 SUV complete with bulletproof windows and flat-resistant tires.
Posted by: Billary ||
02/01/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush
A monument sounds good, but erect? Why does it have to be erect? Is it an arab cultural thing?
#4
I don't know if anything else can be added to Rushmore. Maybe elsewhereâ¦
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/01/2005 9:06 Comments ||
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#5
No statues or monuments till they're dead. Though I suspect some on the left and their islamic-fascist allies are working on that now as well speak. They forget the line from Star Wars that went something like - If you strike me down, you'll only make me more powerful than I am now.
Too bad the politicos here in SV don't understand this. We have the Caltrain/Amtrak station near the Arena, Diridon Station, named after a former supervisor, Rod Diridon, the McEnery Convention Center, after Tom McEnery, former mayor of San Jose, and Mineta International Airport. There's more, but I can't bring them to mind right now.
Win the war by killing all the Bad Guyz and their little dogs, too. That's an exit strategy.
Britain and the United States have agreed that coalition troops would begin a withdrawal from Iraq by 2006. Diplomatic sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisers to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisers would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security. "The agreement is that the first troops would leave in late 2005," a source said. "The number of troops and withdrawal timetable would depend on operational considerations." The agreement was reached during talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on Jan. 24. The London-based Guardian daily said Hoon agreed to recommendations by a retired U.S. general, Gary Luck, on the use of Western advisers to help accelerate Iraqi military and police training.
That's assuming the Bad Guyz are all dead by then, of course, and that Teheran falls on schedule.
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Well, it was published in the Guardian, so there's a bit of a validity problem with this.
Till I actually hear Bush or Blair say this, I'd just take this as yet another little piece of the Democrats' "Topic of the Week" strategy.
Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi called on his countrymen to set aside their differences yesterday, a day after Iraqis voted on religious or tribal lines. At a news conference, Allawi called on Iraqis to join together to rebuild a society shattered by decades of war, tyranny, economic sanctions and military occupation. "The terrorists now know that they cannot win," Allawi said. "The whole world is watching us. As we worked together yesterday to finish dictatorship, let us work together toward a bright future — Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims and Christians, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen," he said.
Electoral Commission official Adel Al-Lami said a first phase of vote-counting at the individual polling stations was finished. Local centers are preparing tally sheets and sending them to Baghdad where they will be reviewed and vote totals compiled. He said the process could take up to 10 days.
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The article notes that a Pak TV station was attacked after broadcasting an interview with Shimon Peres...here are some details:
Islamic extremists ransacked the offices of a private Pakistani television channel the day after it broadcast an interview with the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister. Police said around 40 men armed with sticks, some of them carrying pistols, barged into the building which also houses the mass circulation daily Jang and the English-language newspaper The News. During the attack, which occured around 2:20 am local time , the men smashed window panes, broke the furniture and torched newspapers' files, witnesses said. Police conveniently arrived at the scene after the mob had fled and no arrests were made. "The attackers were joined by overpowered private security guards and went to the first floor of the multi-storey building where they broke windowpanes and furniture," said police officer Mushtaq Shah. "Outside the building they damaged seven cars owned by the newspaper and TV staffers," he said. Islamist parties in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan have frequently warned the government against establishing any contacts with the Jewish state.
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FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw last night savaged anti-war hypocrites now applauding Iraq's spectacular election triumph. He accused them of wanting to leave Saddam in Baghdad, free to carry on crushing his people. And he lashed those who want allied troops to go home and leave Iraqis in the lurch. Mr Straw told MPs: "That would be tantamount to ensuring the new forces of democracy are weakened and the forces of terror are strengthened." He tore into Lib-Dems, telling them: "The consequence of your position was that there would be no democratic elections in Iraq. Saddam Hussein would still be in power and crushing the people."
Iran has employed the eastern Mediterranean for the transport of rockets and missiles to 
Iran was said to have been developing a ballistic missile with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers. The Iranian opposition has asserted that the Teheran regime was developing a surface-to-surface missile that could strike any European capital.
Iran denied on Monday any involvement with the case of an Egyptian charged with spying for Tehran and preparing the assassination of an unnamed Egyptian figure in return for $50,000. "The trial in Cairo concerns the Egyptian government and an Egyptian citizen, and it does not concern us," Iranian government spokesman, 
European firms, fearing a loss of their U.S. market, have shied away from signing major contracts with Iran. European industry sources said British, French and German majors have refused the appeals by their governments to negotiate major contracts with Iran as part of an effort to woo Teheran away from the construction of nuclear weapons. The sources said these companies fear loss of their U.S. market upon signing any agreement with Teheran. "The EU has been too late," an industry source said. "The Americans have already warned European majors to keep out of Iran, or else." U.S. officials have confirmed that the Bush administration warned leading European companies of sanctions if they sign major deals with Iran. The officials said the administration wants to ensure a permanent halt in Iranian uranium enrichment and full 
SULEIMANIYAH: The main Kurdish alliance is set to win two-thirds of the vote in Iraq's tense northern oil centre of Kirkuk, reports said Tuesday, fanning Turkish fears about Kurdish ambitions for the ethnically divided region. The alliance is also set to take a quarter of the seats in Iraq's new national assembly overall giving the long-oppressed minority a major say in the drafting of a new post-Saddam Hussein constitution, one of its leaders told a Kurdish daily. With just one district still to complete its count of Sunday's vote, the Kurdish alliance has won 68 percent of the vote in Kirkuk, the Kurdish weekly Hawlati (Citizen) reported. If confirmed, the result would give the Kurds 26 of the 41 seats on the provincial council, the paper said.
Leading relief groups urged the United States to reconsider its strategy to counter Afghanistan's illegal narcotics industry, the world's largest, warning that destroying farmers opium crops could wreck the country's post-Taliban recovery. In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, more than 20 aid organizations active in Afghanistan said "premature and excessive" crop eradication could create such uproar that planned help for farmers cannot be delivered. "Massive eradication efforts in 2005 could risk destabilizing large areas of the country, thereby undermining critical alternative livelihood and law enforcement initiatives," they said in Monday's letter, which was signed by international aid groups including CARE, Mercy Corps and Oxfam. 
Egypt admitted Thursday to failing to report a "number of research experiments" to the UN atomic energy agency, after diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material. But "Egypt is cooperating with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)" and feels the "research experiments and activities ... most of which took place in the distant past are consistent with the NPT," the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Egyptian embassy said in a statement released in Vienna.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Monday declared that security forces would remain in Sui and Dera Bugti to protect national assets and counter terrorists who posed threats to gas plants and people in the area. Speaking at a press conference at the chief minister's secretariat after attending a meeting on the Sui situation, the minister said the government would strictly deal with saboteurs to ensure continuation of the projects that had been launched to promote economic activity. The provincial governor, chief minister, corps commander, federal railways secretary and officials of law-enforcement agencies attended the meeting. Mr Sherpao said federal security forces were deployed in Sui on the request of the provincial cabinet was the situation became alarming after gas installations had been damaged in rocket attacks on Jan 7.
Turkey warned yesterday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil while a top US envoy sought to ease Ankara's security concerns. In comments published in a newspaper interview, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul renewed concerns that more Kurds than those expelled under Saddam Hussein's rule had settled in Kirkuk, altering the demographic structure of the city which is also home to large numbers of Turkmens, a community of Turkish descent backed by Ankara. "We are observing that the situation has reached dangerous proportions," Gul told the English-language Turkish Daily News newspaper. "Now our fear is the possibility that these gross changes in the demography of Kirkuk could trigger an ethnic confrontation, which has not been seen so far." "If our brothers (Turkmens) are not treated well, if they are subjected to oppression, such developments will hurt us deeply, and in a democratic society administrations cannot remain indifferent, or merely spectators, to such developments," Gul said.
Iraq seeks defense and military cooperation with Pakistan. Iraqi Defense Minister 
Britain and the United States have agreed that coalition troops would begin a withdrawal from Iraq by 2006. Diplomatic sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisers to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisers would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security. "The agreement is that the first troops would leave in late 2005," a source said. "The number of troops and withdrawal timetable would depend on operational considerations." The agreement was reached during talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and British Defence Secretary 
Iraq's interim Prime Minister 
