Abu Hamza is to be given a new hook — on the National Health Service. The taxpayer will pick up the bill for the aluminium replacement, which could top £5,000. Details of his new hook emerged on the day he faced court to be charged with ten counts of inciting murder. At one stage, consideration was given to replacing BOTH hooks with prosthetic hands at a cost of £30,000, health service sources said. Muslim Hamza, currently at top-security Belmarsh Prison, South East London, has complained his original hook is broken.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/20/2004 03:58 ||
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"Ar, look at my shiny, new silver hooks!"
"Yeah, yeah, now down with the pants so we can get out those old hooks."
Posted by: Charles ||
10/20/2004 8:52 Comments ||
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#2
That's fine. Give him his nice, shiny new hook.
Shove the old one up his ass.
#7
Why in the hell is NHS forking over hard earned taxpayers' money for new hooks or better for this murderous slime? Bulldog Will, Howard, Tony, what is going on in the UK with these PC moonbats??????
Posted by: Alaska Paul In Nikolaevsk, Alaska ||
10/20/2004 18:50 Comments ||
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#8
The same crap that's happening in California, AP.
Alexander Torshin, the head of a parliamentary commission investigating last month's Beslan school hostage crisis, on Tuesday questioned officials' contentions that the raiders were using narcotics, saying he believes they were deranged by an unknown drug. The Prosecutor General's Office this week said autopsies of the terrorists showed that several had higher-than-lethal doses of narcotics and that some apparently had run out of drugs, inducing withdrawal symptoms "that are accompanied by aggressive and inappropriate behavior." Torshin, the deputy speaker of the Federation Council, said he was uncomfortable with the prosecutor's office's contention. "This answer did not suit me," he told Ekho Moskvy radio. "I think they were using something completely new."
Torshin and two other members of the commission were in Beslan on Tuesday to interview former hostages. Itar-Tass on Tuesday quoted an Interior Ministry drugs expert as saying the hostage-takers could have been using phencyclidine, also known as PCP or "angel dust." "This forbidden substance sharply raises the physical and psychological activity of a person; he does not receive painful sensations," Boris Kalachev was quoted as saying. Kalachev speculated that Chechen rebels could have produced PCP clandestinely. Also Tuesday, the federal command center for Chechen operations said it had received information from captured rebels that rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov had decided to try to increase drug dependency among young Chechens to lure them into rebel bands.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/20/2004 1:59:03 AM ||
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North Korea's No. 2 leader has told China that his country still regards six-nation talks on the dispute over its nuclear program as the best way to reach a solution, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday. On Monday, Kim Yong Nam met his Chinese counterpart, Wu Bangguo, who told him that a settlement was the "common wish" of the international community.
Colin Powell: "The U.S. of A. will only participate in six-way talks. You, us, the SorKs, the Chicoms, Japan and the Russers."
Mr. Kim: "Absolutely not, capitalist running dogs! Dear Leader is a vastly important personage when his hair is moussed properly and America must "negotiate" only with him. The others are as slugs under his elevator shoes."
Mr. Wu: (whispers something in Kim's ear and yanks a short chain attached to Kim's neck.)
Mr. Kim: "Please, effendi, we were, er, perhaps a bit...well...[sharp yank]...hasty in our observations. Of course we shall most graciously be honored to join all of you in discussions. Shall I bring some pine needle tea? I'm told it's delicious and quite filling..."
Kim responded "in the strictest terms that the position of (North Korea) concerning the six-party talks is unchanged - that is, to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula through the six-party talks," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a regular briefing. "It is a very important theme at the moment," Zhang said. "The various parties believe that the six-party talks is the best way to solve the nuclear issue."
"Nicely done, Marvin."
"Thank you, Mr. Secretary."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2004 10:04:12 PM ||
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Is there anything left to John Kerry's foreign policy? France and Germany say no to troops in Iraq. Iranian Mullahs say no to the nuclear fuel offer, now hold that open. NoK will go ahead with 6 party talks, not bilateral with US. Kerry says he would have sent troops to keep Aristide in power in Haiti. Aristidistas get excited by this bloviating, which leads to the deaths of 50.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected criticism on Tuesday that his country was sacrificing democracy in the fight against terrorism and urged Europe to take steps to avoid becoming a haven for terrorists. Speaking after a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency, Lavrov said he was concerned that suspected terrorists were being allowed to move freely in Europe. Lavrov said some nations in the bloc were giving terrorists a podium to voice their views and to find allies and raise cash. "If this is not the support of terrorism then I understand nothing in this life," Lavrov told a news conference. "That is why that in the process of protecting human rights, we cannot allow those who, at the very least, are under strong suspicion of being connected to terrorism to run loose in Europe," he said.
Bot said he and Lavrov shared similar views on how terrorism should be fought and said Russia and the EU were taking steps to better coordinate their efforts, adding that EU anti-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries would visit Moscow. However, Bot published an article in several European newspapers on Tuesday in which he noted fears among EU leaders that Russia was backsliding on democratic freedoms in the wake of a string of deadly attacks in August and September.
President Bush and Senator John Kerry have very different views of the war on terrorism, and those differences ought to be debated in this presidential campaign. But the debate should focus on facts, not distortions of history. On more than one occasion, Senator Kerry has referred to the fight at Tora Bora in Afghanistan during late 2001 as a missed opportunity for America. He claims that our forces had Osama bin Laden cornered and allowed him to escape. How did it happen? According to Mr. Kerry, we "outsourced" the job to Afghan warlords. As commander of the allied forces in the Middle East, I was responsible for the operation at Tora Bora, and I can tell you that the senator's understanding of events doesn't square with reality.
First, take Mr. Kerry's contention that we "had an opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden" and that "we had him surrounded." We don't know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time; still others suggested he was in Kashmir. Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and Qaeda operatives, many of whom were killed or captured, but Mr. bin Laden was never within our grasp.
Second, we did not "outsource" military action. We did rely heavily on Afghans because they knew Tora Bora, a mountainous, geographically difficult region on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is where Afghan mujahedeen holed up for years, keeping alive their resistance to the Soviet Union. Killing and capturing Taliban and Qaeda fighters was best done by the Afghan fighters who already knew the caves and tunnels.
Third, the Afghans weren't left to do the job alone. Special forces from the United States and several other countries were there, providing tactical leadership and calling in air strikes. Pakistani troops also provided significant help - as many as 100,000 sealed the border and rounded up hundreds of Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
10/20/2004 4:12:23 AM ||
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What the heck does he know?
He wasn't wounded 3 times in Vietnam. He didn't have to brave the Boston mob in court. He didn't have to snowboard down mountains with clumsy secret service guys all over the piste. What the heck does he know.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/20/2004 7:46 Comments ||
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UKIdiot, lol! Launched another air-biscuit trying to be of consequence? Lol! Your J. Arthur pud-pulls are as laughably pathetic as your world view. Wotta ponce tool-fool, lol! FOAD / HAND.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/20/2004 12:05 Comments ||
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I am a little confused. Perhaps I need a Massachusetts education so that I am not such an idiotic American.
1.) Isn't Kerry's main gripe about Bush that he acts unilaterally, not working with international partners in the WoT? Isn't the constant gripe that we impose ourselves on foreign governments instead of letting them participate in deciding the course and sharing the burden of action?
How does that square with:
2.)...Kerry's accusation that we are outsourcing the job [to an international partner]?
#10
actually, Franks did get 3 Purple Hearts in Vietnam, and was wounded in action several additional times but deemed them minor wounds that didn't require hospitalization... unlike Kerry who took every scratch, including self-inflicted wounds, to be a PH case.
Posted by: Jeff ||
10/20/2004 13:04 Comments ||
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I do believe that Jack is Back was engaging in sarcasm.
#17
Easy! You didn't see the film records of the stockpiles being looted, while US soldiers stood by without orders? Why on earth would you respect someone with that degree of negligence.
You need to access David Hackett's website, before blindly accepting military spin.
#19
David Hackett Fishcer or David Hackett Souter?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/20/2004 19:36 Comments ||
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#20
Ummm... Anon Nona
I don't know if you remember, but at the time the weapons were being looted, the U.S. soldiers were busy conducting an invasion. They didn't empty their bladders in the same place twice, let alone have time to stand around watching Saddam's playmates help themselves to secret stockpiles. At least that's how the embedded reporters told the story -- with lots of film for various stations around the world, I might add.
Mrs. D: there's a David Hackett, rider (lots of videos, of himself and friends riding) and a Prof. Dave Hackett (biology, university in CA) as well.
Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, finds it "inconceivable" that Russia, France or China might have been influenced in Security Council debates by Saddam Hussein's Oil for Food business and bribes. "These are very serious and important governments," Mr. Annan told Britain's ITV News Sunday. "You are not dealing with banana republics."
This has been Mr. Annan's chief response so far to the extensive documentation cited in the recent Iraq Survey Group report, from the CIA's Charles Duelfer, that under cover of the U.N.'s Oil for Food relief program Saddam was trying to buy up pals on the U.N. Security Council. Mr. Duelfer tells us that under the leaky U.N. sanctions and corrupt Oil for Food program, Saddam had already built the networks and was amassing the resources to rearm himself with weapons of mass destruction as soon as U.N. sanctions were entirely gone.
#1
"...it "inconceivable" that Russia, France or China might have been influenced in Security Council debates by Saddam Husseinâs Oil for Food business and bribes."
They weren't actually --- they'd do it anyway. The oil vouchers were just the icing.
#2
Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, finds it "inconceivable" that Russia, France or China might have been influenced in Security Council debates by Saddam Husseinâs Oil for Food business and bribes.
#3
Why should we believe Kofi Annan who is a serial aider of genocide on anything? I mean it is pretty obvious the French were using the "Oil for Food" program as a way to fill the coffers of the ruling partys well known political slush funds. These "Oil" or more aptly Blood vouchers were used to fill Chirac's well know political slush fun.
#1
Eventually, terrorism will be "a nuisance," just as Kerry said
But whose nuisance? Whose suffering?
Who is going to be sacrificed on the altar of someone's nuisance level?
Things are tolerable only to a point; after that they become intolerable.
How many nuisances will make it more than a nuisance?
We are not talking of prostitution but terrorist attacks.
What State of the Union spin will Americans have to hear to calm their nerves at the latest nuisance, if it occurs in the US?
A CIA informant provided false information about an impending al Qaeda attack, but other intelligence sources reveal that the danger of a major strike by the group close to the upcoming elections is real, U.S. officials said. "We are concerned because a number of different threat reports we've received over the past few months indicate terrorists plan to disrupt the democratic process," said one official with access to intelligence reports.
Officials said that since the spring, numerous information sources, both electronic and human, have indicated that al Qaeda is planning a major attack on the United States or on U.S. targets abroad before the Nov. 2 election. But officials said several threat reports from April and May have been found to be "a deception" designed to fool U.S. intelligence agencies.
Federal investigators believe the second World Trade Center tower fell much more quickly than the first because it faced a more concentrated, intense fire inside, officials said Tuesday. The detailed hypothesis was discussed at a meeting of investigators with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the Commerce Department. NIST investigators are preparing a report, to be released later this year, detailing how and why the towers collapsed after being struck by fuel-filled jetliners on Sept. 11, 2001.
Lead investigator Dr. Shyam Sunder said Tower 2 collapsed more quickly than Tower 1 because the fire was more concentrated, weakening sections of interior and exterior support columns more quickly. Tower 1 was struck first and stood for 103 minutes, almost twice as long as Tower 2, which remained standing for only 56 minutes. "In Tower 2, you had a large concentration of combustible debris in the northeast corner, and the fire there was a more persistent fire," said Sunder. The flames stayed strong in part because the impact of the plane stripped away much of the fireproofing along the floors, investigators said. NIST probers now suspect the stripping effect of the collision was far more decisive in the course of the fire than whether individual floors had more or less fireproofing material. Investigators also say the towers would have probably remained standing were it not for the raging fires inside, which weakened the steel supports. The jet fuel from the planes burned away within minutes, but the office material and the plane debris continued to burn and break down the structural integrity of the buildings. As the fire continued, the heat and extra stress on the interior support columns caused them to compress downward. When the building's steel skin couldn't handle the extra weight, it began to buckle. Investigators have singled out an Associated Press photograph that they said may provide evidence to support their theory of how the buildings collapsed. The photo, taken shortly before the collapse of Tower 2, shows a "kink" in the building's corner at the 106th floor.
You can see the photo at the link.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/20/2004 12:38:33 AM ||
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I always assumed that as Tower 2 was hit a lot lower down the compressive pressure on the weakening steel was greater, and so it collapsed first.
#2
Mohammed Atta was the one flying that plane. He was a better pilot, hit Tower 2 lower, and had much more "tilt" so his plane hit on more of a diagonal and probably did much more damage to the structure of the building. Bastard.
When steel is heated to about 1,000 degrees F, it begins to expand, at the rate of 1 inch per foot. A ten foot beam evenly heated will grow ten inches longer.
Consider that the rivets, welds, and fasteners for the steel in the two towers were intended to handle movement stresses of an eight of an inch or less, any heating of the steel would begin to produce point failures.
Far sooner than the beams would start to sag from melting, the phase change would cause them to begin to push the exterior panels away from the building. You can see this on many of the videos. The panels jump outward followed by a puff of smoke. The loons see this as proof the Towers were blown up, rather than a result of the physics of the fire.
As the connections between the beams began to fail, the load stresses shifted. The near vertical collapse was due to the inability of the less heated exterior columns and beams to support an interior where the welds and rivets had been destroyed by heat related expansion. The center fell in, resulting in the generalized pancaking of the entire building.
The fireproofing was not intended to resist stripping by the friction of tons of aircraft sliding across it. This is not a defect nor a design flaw. Fireproofing material is just that, fireproofing. You can scrape it off if you try.
If you watch the video for Twoer Two, it can be interpreted that the pilot was attempting to strike the corner of the tower and possible topple it. Granted, the pilots were having obvious control problems (more typified by the attack at the Pentagon) but were I flying that sort of mission, I would try to destabilize the building by not hitting it square.
#4
There was a documentary a while ago that I thought explained the collapse of the towers rather well, echoing what Chuck said, if I remember correctly. The towers' design was ingenious in that it allowed for plenty of floor space, but no one would have been able to foresee and plan for a terrorist attack such as this.
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/20/2004 12:58 Comments ||
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Slightly off topic, but I have always been awed by analysis by a structural engineer I heard on Sept 12 rr 13. His theory was that the debris pile for each tower, by all calculations, considering all the structure and "stuff" composing the towers, should have been 20-25 stories tall and not the 6-8 at ground zero.
The energy release was off the charts when the towers collapsed.
Best and worst countries in the Global Corruption Perceptions Index released Wednesday by Transparency International. Scores are based on a scale of 0 (most corrupt) to 10 (least corrupt). The United States ranks number 17, with a score of 7.5, tied with Belgium and Ireland.
Top 10:
1. Finland 9.7
2. New Zealand 9.6
3. Denmark 9.5
3. Iceland 9.5
5. Singapore 9.3
6. Sweden 9.2
7. Switzerland 9.1
8. Norway 8.9
9. Australia 8.8
10. Netherlands 8.7
And the losers are...
Bottom 10:
133. Angola 2.0
133. Democratic Republic of Congo 2.0
133. Ivory Coast 2.0
133. Georgia 2.0
133. Indonesia 2.0
133. Tajikistan 2.0
133. Turkmenistan 2.0
140. Azerbaijan 1.9
140. Paraguay 1.9
142. Chad 1.7
142. Myanmar 1.7
144. Nigeria 1.6
145. Bangladesh 1.5
145. Haiti 1.5
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2004 8:21:30 PM ||
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Nigeria? Damn! I hope my dealings with the son of Sani Abacha are OK...better check my balance online..
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/20/2004 20:39 Comments ||
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clearly a racist poll...9 of the top 10 are whitey countries....
Posted by: Mr. K ||
10/20/2004 21:19 Comments ||
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Damn! Now I am REALLY worried about those "Haiti Wood and Logging, Inc." shares I bought over the Internet from the President of Haiti, ArMobongo, who, strangely enough lives and works in Lagos, JUST UP THE LIST.
#5
I'm just happy to see that Bangla is now only the second most corrupt country in the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2004 22:32 Comments ||
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Mr. K,
"9 of the top 10 are whitey countries...."
I think you need to hit your statistical "refresh" button. Denmark is no longer "whitey". Denmark is one step away from being a Islamic state. Therefore, 8 of the 10 are whitey.
BTW, where in the HELL is Mexico. No corruption survey is complete is without our angelic and saintly neighbors in the South.
#2
Well, at least one small nation is standing tall, while most of the old colonial powers sit on the sidelines.
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
~John Stuart Mill
#7
We have a good sized Soman community here. Pissing them off isn't a good idea if you want to live. Most here are Pentecostals and never get in a bit of trouble. However I pity the poor SOB that manages to piss one off enough to come to blows. You could be all kinds of DEAD in a hurry.
A U.N. committee announced Tuesday that it has put the network of alleged terror mastermind Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi on its list of groups subject to U.N. sanctions. The Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida and the Taliban said it had added al-Zarqawi's network, Jama'at al-Tawhid Wa'al-Jihad - known as Tawhid and Jihad - to the list on Monday. It said the group is also known as the Monotheism and Jihad Group. The group apparently has changed its name according to an Internet statement released Tuesday, two days after it announced its merger with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization.
The sanctions committee could add the new name as another alias, if requested by a member state. The Security Council shifted sanctions from the government of Afghanistan to al-Qaida and remnants of the Taliban in January 2002, after a U.S.-led force ousted the Taliban. The sanctions require all countries to freeze assets and impose an arms embargo and travel ban on the 316 individuals and entities on a U.N. sanctions list for links to the two groups.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/20/2004 1:53:33 AM ||
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The Security Council ...said it had added al-Zarqawiâs network, Jamaâat al-Tawhid Waâal-Jihad - known as Tawhid and Jihad - to the list on Monday.
Must be why they just changed their name to Jihad Of Two Rivers..or whatever it is. If the UN is as effective as it ususally is, that would mean that the sactions are useless.
#2
A U.N. committee announced Tuesday that it has put the network of alleged terror mastermind Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi on its list of groups subject to U.N. sanctions.
Meaning what, al-Zarqawi is now authorized to secretly meet with the French government for super sweet sanction-busting deals?
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the self-made billionaire who rebuilt Beirut from the ruins of civil war, dissolved his Cabinet on Wednesday and said he won't lead the next government, a surprise move that could bolster Syria's role in Lebanese affairs. Hariri's decision could make him a more powerful force in Lebanese politics, building support among a disillusioned public ahead of parliamentary elections in May. It is more likely, however, to indicate that Syria is strengthening its hand in Lebanon by seeking to bring in an entirely loyal Lebanese administration to face the mounting international pressure on Damascus' dominance here.
Syria has been the power broker in Lebanon for more than a decade. Hariri, who has been prime minister for 10 of the 14 years since the end of Lebanon's devastating 1975-90 civil war, submitted his resignation to President Emile Lahoud at a brief meeting Wednesday, his office said. "No one disagrees about the magnitude of the internal and external challenges faced by Lebanon," he said in his statement. "I deemed it appropriate to present the government's resignation together with declining to nominate myself to premiership."
Lahoud accepted the Cabinet's resignation and asked Hariri to continue in a caretaker capacity until a new Cabinet is formed. But Lahoud, who has been locked in a power struggle with Hariri for several years, did not comment on Hariri's decision to step down himself. The two reportedly have been discussing the formation of a new government for two weeks but apparently failed to bridge their differences. In his statement, Hariri said the challenges facing Lebanon needed to be dealt with by a coherent team but cited the "known political realities" in his decision to quit and decline any possible invitation to form a new government. Officials close to Hariri said his resignation was in earnest, and that he would not lead the next government. But others maintained there may be still room for a Hariri comeback. "He won't be a puppet of Lahoud," said Ali Hamadeh, a political analyst with the leading independent newspaper An-Nahar. "This may not be the end."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/20/2004 8:15:05 PM ||
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this is disturbing. Hmmmmm what would happen if there was a decapitating strike on Syrian leadership? Or an emasculating barrage on the syrian military assholes launching mortars into Iraq? I'd like to see the Syrian old guard that runs Assad and Syria take a humiliating beating. Soon
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/20/2004 20:24 Comments ||
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BEIRUT/JEDDAH, 20 October 2004 — Twenty-seven years after his mysterious disappearance in Libya, Imam Mousa Sadr is making a comeback to haunt relations between Beirut and Tripoli.
I love a good mystery, it is almost Halloween.
Two passports believed to belong to Sadr and his aide Muhammad Yaqub were handed to the Lebanese authorities by the Italian government yesterday. The documents show that Sadr and Yaqub entered Rome and had their passports stamped days after their disappearance. Sadr, a leader of the Lebanese Shiite community, traveled to the Libyan capital in August 1978 along with two aides. He held a long meeting with Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi that, by all accounts, was acrimonious.
Those usually don't turn out well.
Days later the Lebanese government accused Libya of having organized the disappearance. Later, Beirut broke all ties with Libya. Lebanese sources yesterday described the reappearance of the passports as "a suspicious development". Italy claims that the passports were discovered recently when a number of illegal immigrants were arrested with a stock of stolen travel documents. "The entire episode is strange," a Lebanese source said yesterday. "Just days after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi visited Qaddafi, we get the missing passports." The implication is that Berlusconi arranged the reappearance of the passports as a gesture of good will to Libya with which Italy is engaged in multibillion-dollar business negotiations.
Huuummmmm, I don't think Berlusconi would do that. At least I hope not.
Sadr was born in Iran but was dispatched to Lebanon in 1960 to represent the Grand Ayatollahs of Qom, the principal center of Shiism in Iran. In the 1970s, he created the Movement of the Dispossessed (Harkat Al-Mahroumin), which was later transformed into the Amal (Hope) movement. Sadr who hailed from a major clerical family was related to the late Ayatollah Khomeini as well as the Iraqi rebel leader Muqtada Al-Sadr. Another prominent relative of the missing Imam is Iran's President Muhammad Khatami.
OK, it's true. Every one in Turbanistan is related.
Imam Sadr's disappearance has been a subject of heated exchanges between Lebanon and Libya at all Arab League ministerial meetings and summits since 1978. The reappearance of the two passports strengthens Libya's claim that Sadr left Tripoli safe and sound. But that opens another mystery: how did the Imam vanish on his way home via Rome?
Just because his passports showed up in Rome, doesn't mean he did. I would of had a couple of boys fly to Rome using Sadr's passports just to confuse the issue if I was Qaddafi. Bet they were supposed to have been found there back in 1978, but got misplaced or stolen somehow.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/20/2004 3:23:33 PM ||
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The United Nations has issued a statement calling on Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon, in accordance with a resolution passed last month. The Security Council statement was unanimous, meaning that it received the backing of Algeria, the only Arab member of the Security Council. Lebanon said the call set a "dangerous precedent of interference". Syria's ambassador to the UN said the US had pressured other Security Council members into accepting the statement. US deputy ambassador Anne Patterson said Washington was "quite pleased that this was a unanimous strong decision". She added: "It is important... that Syria cease interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, disarm militias and remove Syrian troops from Lebanon." ...more...
Regards asshats, state enablers, and failed states, "interference" is our middle name. So is "unilateral" and "regime change" and "topple" and "democratization" and "wymyn's rights" and ...
Posted by: .com ||
10/20/2004 3:30:50 AM ||
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#1
Wow! Such quick action!
Like they've only been there, what, forty years?
I thought it was ok for Arabs to oppress each other according to the UN.
#2
38 years DB. And in theory they came in with the invite of the Leb govt - the christians actually called them in for help against the PLO and local allies in 1976. In, I think 1989, the Taif accords were signed, calling for gradual withdrawl. And they did take out some troops.
But in recent years they havent taken out any. And the move to change the Leb constitution, against the will of many Lebs, is bringing things to the fore. So the timing really isnt surprising.
The editor of a reformist Iranian newspaper has been arrested as part of the authorities' crackdown on "illegal" Internet sites, the local media reported yesterday. Javad Qolam Tamimi, editor of the pro-reform daily Mardomsalari, was arrested on Monday evening for his involvement in the dissident sites, the daily Iran quoted a local judiciary official as saying. The arrest follows  the announcement on October 12 by Iran's hardline judiciary that a number of reformist journalists detained in its push against the Internet sites would go on trial after court hearings.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/20/2004 12:18:30 AM ||
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Well.....the pose sure looks rather familiar...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European powers will offer this week to support Iranian construction of a light-water nuclear reactor, as part of a deal to persuade the Islamic republic to stop enriching uranium, U.S. and European officials said on Tuesday.
Driven by U.S. concerns that Iran is developing a secret nuclear arms program, the U.N. nuclear watchdog has demanded Tehran freeze its enrichment activities -- procedures that could produce fuel for atomic weapons. Britain, Germany and France will present a package of "carrots and sticks" on Thursday giving Iran a final chance to meet the demands or face possible sanctions.
Just when you think the Euros couldn't combine venality with stupidity any better ...
The Europeans outlined their proposal for ending Iran's uranium enrichment activities at a closed-door meeting of the Group of Eight major powers hosted by Washington last Friday, but the key incentive of support for a light-water reactor did not emerge until Tuesday. "The idea is that Iran would eliminate its plans for a heavy-water reactor and instead go to a light-water reactor system and the EU would help support construction of that," said a U.S. official who has seen the proposal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
It's the Clinton plan for the Norks, version 2.0
Nuclear experts say light-water reactors provide little help for any nation seeking atomic weapons, unlike heavy-water facilities, which can be used as an alternative to uranium enrichment in producing nuclear weapons material.
A European official confirmed the Europeans included a light-water reactor as part of their package to win a verified suspension and eventual termination of Iran's uranium enrichment. Other incentives in the European offer, which will be detailed to Iranian officials in Vienna on Thursday, include resumption of an EU-Iran trade pact and guarantees of Russian fuel.
U.S. officials are generally skeptical that the negotiations will work because Iran has previously broken pledges made to the Europeans. But in principle, they could accept Tehran's building of light-water reactors. The United States has threatened to press for U.N. sanctions over Iran's nuclear programs. Tehran says its nuclear efforts are only for power generation.
If Iran rejects the European offer, diplomats say most European nations would back U.S. demands that Tehran be reported to the U.N. Security Council when the International Atomic Energy Agency meets in November. The IAEA has been investigating Iran's nuclear program for more than two years. While it has uncovered many previously hidden activities that could be related to a weapons program, it has found no "smoking gun."
Report them to the IAEA, that'll do it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/20/2004 12:03:08 AM ||
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#1
I'm all for 'carrots and sticks' as long as the stick has some serious stick. How about we trade, even up, one reactor for a handful of bunker-busters?
As for the IAEA, I'm not sure they could find their ass if it was radioactive and they had Geiger counters in each hand. May Hans Blix could help them search?
#3
I said 2 days ago Chirac would find a way to proliferate with Iran. France has a long history of proliferation. Where did Isreal get it's nuclear technology? Iraq? Chirac is a pig that will sell nuclear technology to anyone. I can't explain Germany or the UK's thinking other than they are stone stupid. Chirac needs to stay in power to stay out of jail or he needs a huge slush fund to do the same.
#7
Europe may exist as a land mass but not as a unified people. Lumping the UK in with France and Germany brings tears to my eyes. We have been making a fist of it even in the face of fierce left wing media opposition.
Posted by: Edmund Burke ||
10/20/2004 9:58 Comments ||
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#8
Britain, Germany and France will present a package of "carrots and sticks"
#12
France provided a heavy water reactor (HWR) to Israel in the late 1950's. HWRs are great for making plutonium and is the type Russia is providing Iran, only 40 times as large (with options on several more).
Posted by: ed ||
10/20/2004 11:47 Comments ||
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#13
Great! If Iran has nukes they will act as a deterrent to war in the mid east.
#14
Nice try EuroIdiot. But much of southern Europe is now in range of Iranian missiles. In a few years all of Europe will be in range of nuclear tipped missiles. Hope you like being slaves and your women like harem life.
Posted by: ed ||
10/20/2004 11:57 Comments ||
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#16
Ahh, but American Idiot, if Europe actually used its nukes, that would be warlike and mean. Europe prides itself on being the nice continent. The Mullahs, on the other hand, enjoy it when such an opportunity presents itself. In fact, they go looking for opportunities, rather than waiting calmly for a visit. That's why they built the silly things in the first place.
#17
You think your nukes are going to have any effect? There is a good chance of nuclear war starting in the next 10-20 years. The reasons you can speculate about. But in the exchange Iran will be obliterated. In their dying gasp the mullahs will launch all they have remaining. That means a few (if any surviving ICBMs) and a lot of medium range missiles. The US has an anti-missile capability now, that will only improve, and will be able to intercept any surviving ICBMs. You Europeans (and Russia) will be faced with dozens and possibly hundreds of medium range nuclear missiles Your civilization will have 10 minutes to kiss your ass goodbye. Launch your missiles at Iran, or whoever else you want. It won't matter. You will only be bouncing radioactive Persian rubble.
So for the sake of your Euro cities, you better pray the mullahs are overthrown and their nuclear program buried.
Posted by: ed ||
10/20/2004 12:29 Comments ||
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#19
Excellent analysis #17, but I believe it will be much sooner than 10-20 years if the mullahs get the bomb. They have stated that they will use it on Israel as soon as they get it. Rafsanjani told the Iranian parliament that the destruction of Iran would be a small price to pay for the elimination of Israel.
#20
The mullahs can talk the talk. They're preachers after all. It remains to be seen if they can survive the counterstrike.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/20/2004 13:44 Comments ||
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#21
Mrs Davis, I doubt they will survive the counterstrike, but do you really think they care about that? I mean, as long as they take a bunch of infidels with them, they've got those virgins (or crystal raisins) waiting for them in Paradise with Allah....
#22
Nuclear experts say light-water reactors provide little help for any nation seeking atomic weapons, unlike heavy-water facilities, which can be used as an alternative to uranium enrichment in producing nuclear weapons material.
Don't know what $*#% nuclear experts that are talking to but it's total BS.
In a commercial light water reactor, the typical fuel mix is 3% U-235 and 97% U-238. U-238 is fissionable, but not fissile and thus useless for sustaining a chain reaction.
However, U-238 when it absorbs a neutron becomes U-239, which then kicks off a beta particle to become Neptunium-239, which then becomes Plutonium-239 by another beta decay. And that ladies and gentlemen means that you now are in possession of something to make nuclear weapons.
Unlike uranium enrichment, the separation of plutonium from all the other fuel components is a simple chemical extraction (albeit with a need for a great deal of radiation shielding).
Unless the Euros think that they have the balls to demand that the Iranians hand back the spent fuel rods, all they are doing is making sure that their cities are getting hit by Nagasaki-style Fat Man plutonium bombs rather than Hiroshima-style Little Boy uranium bombs.
Bottom line: the Iranians are awash in crude oil, which means that they can supply their entire country's electric needs with #2 Fuel Oil. They don't need nuclear reactors.
#25
EuroMoron LOL! We got nukes too? LOL.
The UK has Nukes (and is out of range)
France has Nukes and they'll use them against Iran? LOL! I love an optimist. Perhaps you were thinking about Mother Russia? Europe? LOL!
#27
When you are talking nuclear exchanges, you are talking about lots of radioactive contamination. I was a kid in the fifties that could read well and distinctively remember the higher and serious levels of radiation due to fallout from the US and Soviet hydrogen bomb tests. IIRC, India was getting high levels, and so was places like Anaktuvuk Pass in Alaska. I have worked out in the Nevada Test Site, and seen what a pain in the ass decontamination is. This stuff is not a joke. It contaminates a place for a long time. The Mad Mullahs need to be stopped before they get nuclear weapons. They are suicidal nutcases. The US or Israel needs to do what they have to do to stop it. European leaders are EUnichs. We will not win popularity contests doing it, but it has to be done. The alternatives are pretty bad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul In Nikolaevsk, Alaska ||
10/20/2004 19:22 Comments ||
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From StrategyPage: October 20, 2004: On October 13, five soldiers out of 19 in a fuel delivery platoon of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, refused to take their seven vehicles north along the highway that runs from Kuwait to Baghdad. The soldiers complained that the trucks were in poor shape, had no armor and that the fuel they were carrying was contaminated. The entire platoon was relieved of duty and other troops came in and took the trucks, and the fuel, north. The mission was completed without incident. The "mutiny," as the media described it, was big news. It shouldn't have been. Such incidents have occurred in every war where American troops have to drive trucks through dangerous territory. World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, the Gulf War. In most cases, a senior officer or NCO comes in, has a "vigorous discussion" with the troops, and the mission is carried out. Sometimes that doesn't work, in which case the NCOs and officers of the unit are relieved, or at least see their promotion prospects evaporate. The army goes by the old adage, "there are no bad troops, only bad officers."
The 343rd Quartermaster Company belongs to the 13th COSCOM, a logistics and maintenance organization with some 15,000 troops. In the last six months, the 13th COSCOM has lost 26 troops, and had over 200 wounded or injured. Spend a year working for 13th COSCOM, and you have about a three percent chance of getting killed or injured. Historically, that's a low casualty rate. In World War II, units of that size often suffered that many losses in a single day, and for many days at a time. But this is now, this is Iraq, and 13th COSCOM is not a combat division, but a "combat support" organization. However, the war in Iraq is unique. For the first time in military history, the non-combat troops are suffering higher losses than the combat troops. Naturally, the combat troops are better prepared to handle combat than the combat support troops who, historically, rarely get shot at. While the Iraqis are bad shots and lousy soldiers, they are not stupid. They know their chances of surviving are much better if they attack American combat support troops, especially if they are just riding past in a convoy of trucks. Taking on American infantry, especially if they are in armored vehicles, is known to be suicidal.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
10/20/2004 2:51:00 PM ||
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#1
I was just discussing this very topic with my former A-Team SGT, buddy, guy I work with and this is what he wrote:
Tom,
Failure to obey a lawful order or a direct order if given, conduct unbecoming of a soldier, conspiracy and mutiny are in order for the platoon members of the 343 QM that did not comply with their mission orders. These are just a few charges that I can think of under the UCMJ. There is NO excuse not to even attempt to complete the mission. They all took the same oath of allegiance to their country and theirs is the Profession of Arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory, that if you lose the nation will be destroyed, that the very obsession of their public service must be duty, honor, county. When it comes to the mission verses the welfare of the troops it's always the MISSION FIRST. There are no excuses. NONE.
#3
"The entire platoon was relieved of duty and other troops came in and took the trucks, and the fuel, north. The mission was completed without incident."
Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the Leper Colony. [Pull out your copy of 12 O'Clock High for the meaning.]
Posted by: Don ||
10/20/2004 17:09 Comments ||
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#4
I'm pretty ignorant in these matters, but I suspect the solution has a lot to do with training and mental preparation.
I recall a cable tv interview near the start of GWII with a driver in a Marine supply convoy that had come under fire. From his questions, the reporter seemed to think that attacking supply lines was some unprecedented genius idea. The Marine's response was "You don't understand. We're not just truck drivers. We're truck drivers with guns!"
#5
Well, I like to think that American soldiers are independent thinkers who don't blindly follow orders. If it was a certain failure, I don't see why they'd feel it was necessary to risk their lives to deliver a cargo of contaminated fuel, all because their commanders refused to deal with reality.
I'm also guessing that the enlisted Marines in question. Plus several senior NCOs, lieutenants, captains. Maybe a najor or two are going to be sent to other (Hopefully, front line) units. Far away from prying reporters.
Jack.
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
10/20/2004 20:08 Comments ||
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The Taliban's one-eyed leader Mullah Omar has lost the confidence of some of his commanders after the failure of the insurgents to disrupt Afghanistan's first presidential election, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.
"Wot do we do now, Ollie?"
"I don't know, Stanley! What do we do now, Omar?"
But a Taliban spokesman denied any rift in the movement.
"No, no! Certainly not!... Duck!"
U.S. military spokesman Major Scott Nelson told reporters the Taliban leadership was in disarray after a campaign built around rocket attacks and roadside bombs failed to dissuade millions of Afghans from voting in the Oct. 9 poll. "There has been serious disagreements between Mullah Omar and some of his lower commanders on how (what) strategy to follow up after the elections," Nelson said. Better intelligence and a strategy of taking the fight to the Taliban paid off with a string of arrests and discovery of planted explosives. Nelson said Afghan security forces had detained some 100 guerrillas on the polling day alone, while U.S.-led forces killed and captured 22 in the two days before the vote. "There is significant demoralisation among the Taliban because they were unable to disrupt the election," Nelson said.
"I'm so demoralized! I just hate it when they vote!"
Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi denied any rift in the movement's leadership and said it was U.S. spin-doctoring. "This is just propaganda. Our Jihad (holy war) will continue," he told Reuters by satellite telephone.
"We have a crack team of islamic lawyers who are going to protest the disenfranchisement of absentee jihad fighters whose votes were thrown out due to not having a Pakistani postmark."
With vote counting still underway, Hamid Karzai looked set to retain the presidency he has held since being placed at the head of an interim government after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Karzai says there are only around a hundred Taliban whose crimes are so great that they are unredeemable, but he has held out an olive branch to more moderate elements of the movement.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/20/2004 9:41:59 AM ||
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A senior religious leader in Iran has severed ties with radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr for encouraging his followers to fight US troops. Grand Ayatollah Kazem Haeri, one of the top authorities in Shia Islam, said Mr Sadr was no longer his representative in the holy city of Najaf. A spokesman said that Mr Sadr's actions no longer reflected the ideas of the Grand Ayatollah's teachings.
Been nice knowing ya, Moqtada.
But he praised a scheme to disarm Shia militias in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.
Speaking on behalf of the Grand Ayatollah in the Iranian seminary town of Qom where he lives, his brother, Mohammed Hossein Haeri, told the BBC that Mr Sadr had not been blamed for damage to Najaf's holy shrines during heavy fighting in August. The Grand Ayatollah wholly blamed the US and British for damage to the shrine, his spokesman said. But Mr Haeri stressed that direct fighting with US forces was not a correct move. The Grand Ayatollah is considered the successor of Moqtada Sadr's father, the Ayatollah Muhammad Sadeq Sadr, and acted as the younger Sadr's spiritual guide.
So, if the Grand Ayatollah's based in Qom, are the Iranian mullahs cutting Sadr loose to swing on his own or is this just for PR purposes?
Posted by: Steve ||
10/20/2004 9:29:13 AM ||
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#1
Get Real!!!Silly Infedels.
Rules of engagement in Iranian politics cannot allow an open endorsement of George Bush for a second term and Tater, at the same time. That would be against the teachings of Prophet Mothbreath.
#2
The Grand Ayatollah wholly blamed the US and British for damage to the shrine, his spokesman said.
Once an idiot, always an idiot.
No matter, if any of his armed followers play the mosque game again, the mosque in question should suffer a similar fate, preferably something worse than simple "damage".
Osama Bin Laden is hiding in Chinese territory near the Pakistan border, British journalist Gordon Thomas wrote in Spanish newspaper El Mundo on October 13. Thomas wrote that Bin Laden made an agreement with Chinese authorities to stop guerrilla war by Chinese Muslims against the government. Thomas said that on the final stretch of the US presidential race, Bin Laden could become the ace in President George Bush's sleeve. Washington is currently negotiating a top-secret agreement with Beijing to remove Bin Laden from the turbulent Chinese Muslim provinces, he said.
More than five million people, many of them fanatical followers of Bin Laden, live in these provinces, considered one of the most volatile regions on Earth. The past summer, Bin Laden was given asylum by Beijing in exchange for his guarantee that guerrilla action against the establishment would cease, Thomas said. He wrote that the region had been relatively calm since Bin Laden's arrival, but a deal between Beijing and Washington could spell trouble for the Al Qaeda leader. Bin Laden's capture would virtually guarantee President's Bush's re-election in the upcoming presidential elections.
"The new Bush administration would present Beijing as its latest ally in the war against terrorism. China would enjoy the status of one of Washington's most favoured nations and the deal would probably lead to vastly improved economic ties. China's human rights record would be wiped clean," Thomas quoted a Pentagon employee. The employee reportedly said only a "handful of high ranking members of the Bush Administration" were aware of the plan "to take Bin Laden in exchange for special relations with China".
Right. It's the Secret Plan. Don't tell anyone, ok?
Thomas said the anonymous Pentagon source provided details of the plan to capture Bin Laden. He said this was not the first time a US administration had resorted to similar tactics during an election campaign. Thomas said Bin Laden's refuge had been spotted by a US satellite and was near a lake on the Pakistan-China border. He said a detachment of Pakistani and US special forces were lying in wait on the Pakistani side, hoping to capture Bin Laden in flight towards Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Zhang Qiyue, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, sharply denied on Tuesday that Osama Bin Laden was hiding in Chinese territory. United Press International reported. At a press briefing, Zhang said she had not read Thomas's article. "I do not know what he has based the story upon, but it is irresponsible. I can say in clear terms that Bin Laden is not in China." Osama Bin Laden is alive and operating from the western reaches of Pakistan or perhaps going back and forth across the border, said US State Secretary Colin Powell. He said he was pleased with Pakistan's efforts to capture Bin Laden in the tribal areas, adds the news agency Online.
In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Powell said, "Bin Laden is still out there, and we think he is alive. We are working closely with the Pakistanis to capture him. President Bush is briefed on it regularly so he has not taken his eye off the Bin Laden ball. After all, this is the guy responsible for 9/11."
Acknowledging Pakistan's role in the war against terrorism Powell said, "I spend a lot of time with the Pakistanis. I regularly talk with President General Pervez Musharraf who briefs me on his plans. We have got the Pakistanis doing more in those tribal areas than they've ever done there before to put down Taliban militants and to put down Al Qaeda. They don't want them there either."
Reiterating that the US helped prevent an Indo-Pak war two years ago, Powell said, "We stopped the Indians and the Pakistanis from going to war, we at least helped them stop themselves from going to war two years ago". Powell said that even though the US has had some tough times with some of its allies and friends, "with most of our allies and friends, we are doing well. Our relations with China are the best we have had in 30 years."
China is a force of 1.3 billion people. India has 1.1 billion people. That gives us close to half the world's population that are on good solid ground with us".
Posted by: Destro ||
10/20/2004 3:09:32 AM ||
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#1
"More than five million people, many of them fanatical followers of Bin Laden, live in these provinces."
I want a recount.
#3
lots of press releases on the whereabouts of UBL lately. I'd kinda like it if he was "found" in the next two weeks, looking fat and recently dialysed.
Lookee here sarge...I found this dude in a hole and he claims to be Osama!
#5
thisn been goin round for days now. think ima post em link to this few days ago some thread but dont remeber which. mrr blog was discuss it alot but the subject has been quiet now last 2 days
#6
If I was the evil Bushitler(tm) and Chainey, I would just order the guys at Disney World to build an animatronic Osama. Then I would demonstrate my determination to lead the WoT by kicking him in the nuts at a press conference. Take that Terrorist Scum!
No need to drag his flea-bitten, bomb-damaged carcass back from Pakistan.
BOYS TOWN, Neb. — An Iraqi orphan credited with helping American troops capture insurgents in Baghdad started a new life Tuesday at Girls and Boys Town, the storied home for troubled youngsters.
Wearing a Boys Town windbreaker and holding a plastic American flag on a stick, 16-year-old "Johnny" — the nickname U.S. soldiers gave him — said he was happy to be in the United States. "Everything's OK," he said. "Real cool."
Soldiers in Baghdad encountered the boy living on the streets and discovered that he knew a lot about the people behind insurgent attacks in the city, said Lt. Col. Brian McKiernan, commander of the 1st Armored Division's 4-27 Field Artillery Unit.
McKiernan said Tuesday he took Johnny into the unit as a janitor in September 2003 and the boy learned some English. The boy eventually helped U.S. troops apprehend more than 40 insurgents and seize several weapons caches, McKiernan said. "He came to identify with the soldiers and admire them," McKiernan said. "He is a unique individual with a lot of heart, very loyal."
After learning that his unit was going to be transferred to Germany, McKiernan contacted Girls and Boys Town about helping the boy. McKiernan feared Johnny could be targeted by insurgents for helping the Americans. "I thought if we could give him a better lot in life, a fresh start, it would be worth it," McKiernan said.
Johnny arrived in the United States on Monday and ate a McDonald's hamburger for his first American meal. At Girls and Boys Town, he will live with a couple who have seven other orphans and two of their own children.
For privacy reasons, Girls and Boys Town would not disclose the boy's name.
Although Johnny had little schooling in Iraq, he said he wants to get a high school diploma and join the U.S. Army.
Boys Town was founded in 1917 by the Rev. Edward Flanagan as a home for wayward boys. It was depicted in a 1938 movie starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/20/2004 2:02:20 AM ||
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#3
I'm only sorry that a McDonald's hamburger was his first American meal! If it had to be fast-food, the late adoption advocate Dave Thomas and the Wendy's chain he established should have been his introduction to the United States.
Up to a thousand foreign jihadists have infiltrated Iraq, but this is a fraction of al-Qaida's potential strength, a respected military thinktank said yesterday.
The foreign fighters are operating with the Sunni Ba'athists loyal to Saddam Hussein who began the insurgency, and possibly with Shia militias as well, according to the the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Basing its findings on information from its specialist contacts, including sources in governments and intelligence agencies, the institute said the invasion of Iraq had "enhanced jihadist recruitment and intensified al-Qaida's motivation" to mount terrorist operations.
The organisation estimated that al-Qaida had more than 18,000 potential terrorists in 60 countries, sympathetic, in varying degrees, to its cause.
"Furthermore, the substantially exposed US military deployment in Iraq presents al-Qaida with perhaps its most attractive 'iconic' target outside US territory," the report, The Military Balance, concluded.
"Galvanised by Iraq, if compromised by Afghanistan, al-Qaida remains a viable and effective 'network of networks'," the institute warns. After losing its training and command base in the Afghanistan war, al-Qaida dispersed, its leaders relinquishing operational initiative and responsibility to "local talent", according to the report.
But intelligence obtained by the US suggested that some of al-Qaida's activities, particularly bomb-making, had become more centralised and therefore "potentially more efficient and sophisticated".
Al-Qaida now needed less money to operate, and increasingly used the informal hawala system of financial transfers and remittances, which is based on trust rather than a paper trail and is difficult to regulate, the thinktank said.
Through regime change in Iraq, the report said, Britain and the US intended to usher democracy into the Gulf region to advance a long-term political convergence between Islam and the west.
Yet the insurgency and other state-building problems cast doubt on the political benefits of the entire Iraqi operation.
The report dismissed claims by US officials that the influx of jihadists into Iraq brought more terrorists into a smaller "killing zone". The al-Qaida movement was unlikely to concentrate forces in any one country, the institute said, adding that the 1,000 foreign fighters estimated to be in Iraq were a "minute fraction of its potential strength".
The institute's director, John Chipman, said yesterday: "The outcome of the US-led international effort to bring stability to the country is far from certain as the most powerful military power in the world struggles with a multi-faceted insurgency."
He said it could take five years before Iraq's own security forces were able to guarantee stability themselves.
Pointing a finger at the US, Christopher Langton, the editor of The Military Balance, said governments had to realise that post-conflict, peacekeeping operations were "manpower-intensive, as the human component replaces the weapon system as the key enabler to success".
He added that the use of partially trained reservists, or reservists with the wrong skills, was no substitute for fully trained soldiers, as the US had learned to its cost in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
The report also referred to the profusion of private military companies. Such companies could not provide the answer to the manpower problem because of a "lack of oversight on their activities allied to their lack of accountability".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/20/2004 1:47:55 AM ||
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#1
Is the IISS some kind of Brit Brookings Institution? This isn't analysis, it's posturing.
#12
These "analyses" seem bogus to me. So what if recruitment and motivation are up? Wouldn't that be expected when we decided to escalate the war? The numbers of terrorists is still small from a military point of view (we're not talking about million-man armies as in WWII) and they still appear to have limited capability to hurt us militarily. This war is still in the category of low intensity conflict, and we have the capability to wage war on a scale that Al Qaeda can't even imagine.
Posted by: V is for Victory ||
10/20/2004 8:57 Comments ||
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#13
some thoughts
1. the evidence on recruitment must be in parts i havent read yet. color me skeptical
2. Its still probably true that AQ remains strong.
3. Most interesting is the shift in methods of moving money
4. 1000 in Iraq out of 18000. As usual reality is a middle ground between ideological assertions. Yup, the fly paper effect IS happening. But no, its not enough to make the war in Iraq the central front of the WOT. At least not based on the flypaper effect alone.
5. Democracy in Iraq, as they hint, could be important. But its not there yet and has many obstacles. As we all know.
6. Radical Islam post-OIF is particularly strong in Europe. Yup, I think thats the key insight, and ultimately the reason for the division between us and the French. A win in Iraq can transform the Middle East, and change the strategic situation there. But Frances immediate problem, in a way thats difficult for Americans to understand, isnt the Middle East. Its the muslims in the suburbs of Paris and Marseilles. Our threat is essentially from abroad. While a few muslims here are radicalized and cooperate with terrorists, most dont, and they are fewer in number, and generally less concentrated. In France they are heavily radicalized and discontented, huge in number, and heavily ghettoized. Its a time bomb (well theres already violence, but thats only a hint at whats possible - and the potential reaction from the French right is just as dangerous to the Republic) The war in Iraq, to the extent it adds to the radicalization among French muslims (which I think we can admit it probably does) is a disaster to France, even if it improves the strategic situation in the Middle East.
#14
Of course the recruitment is up that is to be expected it is what happens in every war when both sides dig in resources. It's called focus: before war in terrorism "Al-queda" had social program to get good willing, had programs to teach religious stuff and a military wing. Now probably are all under military wing.
German build more airplanes in 1944 and had a bigger army too... that means they were being successfull at that time?
#15
#11 AI: the invasion of Iraq had "enhanced jihadist recruitment and intensified al-Qaidaâs motivation" to mount terrorist operations
Excellent use of stating the bleedin' obvious
This brought to you by the International Institute of the Study of the Completely Obvious (IISCO)!
Posted by: BA ||
10/20/2004 10:46 Comments ||
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#16
Liberalhawk, while I agree with your statements concerning the threat radical Muslims pose to France, I donât believe France should get off so lightly.
In addition to the Islamic issue:
France has long been anti-American.
The Anglosphere is a threat to French cultural, political, and economic influence.
France has historically triangulated against the US and continues to do so.
By positioning the EU in opposition to the US, France uses the EU to magnify French influence.
Many French politicians and businessmen are corrupt by US moral standards.
So I donât think that the internal Muslim threat is the main driver of French foreign policy.
Justice would soon be served to Abdullah Mehsud, the mastermind behind the kidnapping of the Chinese engineers, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Safdar Hussain said on Tuesday. "I am confident that he (Abdullah) will not escape. I want to see him punished as soon as possible," he told a news briefing at the 11 Corps Headquarters in Peshawar. Lt Gen Hussain said Abdullah was his primary target, but did not give a timeframe for his capture. "I have several options to ensure that justice is served to Abdullah — military action is one of them."
Defending the commando operation that resulted in the release of one Chinese engineer and the subsequent death of another, he said the operation was only launched after all other options were exhausted. "Had I delayed the rescue operation by 20 minutes, the hostages would have been killed. We intercepted a message by Abdullah ordering their execution," he added.
Al Qaeda is present in more than 60 countries around the world and radical Islam is increasing in Western Europe, where Muslims often feel marginalised, a well-respected military and defence think tank in London said yesterday. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) also said that Westerners and Western interests in the Arab world appeared to face greater peril now than before the US-led war in Iraq. The US, through its military invasion and occupation of Iraq, had shown a desire to change the political status quo in the Arab world to advance its own strategic and political interests, it noted. "Al Qaeda seeks, among other things, to purge the Arab and larger Muslim world of US influence," IISS said. "Accordingly, the Iraq intervention was always likely in the short term to enhance jihadist recruitment and intensify Al Qaeda's motivation to encourage and assist terrorist operations," it said.
As examples of this increased threat, the IISS cited May 2003 attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, the gathering of foreign fighters against the US-led coalition in Iraq, November 2003 attacks in Saudi Arabia and Turkey and the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid. The assessment was contained in the institute's annual report for 2004 on the military capabilities and defence economics of 169 countries around the world. IISS said that although half of Al Qaeda's 30 senior leaders and perhaps 2,000 rank-and-file members had been killed or captured, a "rump" leadership, including Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, was still intact with 18,000 terrorists potentially still at large. "Radical Islam appears to be on the rise in Western Europe," it warned, adding that Islamic terrorism was now the "principal threat to Europe. Furthermore, the sources of European Muslims' grievances... are increasingly social, economic and political marginalisation in host countries," it said.
According to IISS, terrorism, illicit trafficking and organised crime facilitated by globalisation, trade liberalisation, and weak borders were the important threats considered in 2004 defence planning. Britain and France were singled out amongst European nations for their swift response to the terrorist threat since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, while IISS noted that co-ordination throughout the European Union had been "harder to forge".
Meanwhile, an eighth suspected Islamic extremist was arrested in Spain yesterday as part of a police sweep in which seven others were arrested overnight, Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso announced. The latest arrest took place in northern Pamplona, Alonso told reporters on the sidelines of a parliamentary session. He said the suspects were plotting attacks against the National Court, Spain's highest criminal court, or other judicial bodies. The interior ministry previously released a statement announcing the arrests of seven "radical and violent" Moroccans and Algerians living in Spain, most of whom have served jail terms. Four of them were arrested in the southern city of Almeria and the other three in the southern town of Malaga, the eastern city of Valencia and the capital, Madrid.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/20/2004 1:29:01 AM ||
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Pamplona+bulls+jihadies=???
The possabilities are interesting.
The top American commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday he has no evidence Osama bin Laden is in day-to-day control of al-Qaeda but suggested the long-absent terrorist leader is alive. Lt. Gen. David Barno, speaking to reporters during a visit to the Pentagon, talked mostly of a lack of evidence about bin Laden's whereabouts, health and current role in the al-Qaeda network. He remains, however, a critical target, Barno said. Still, "I don't see any indications that he is in day-to-day command and control, as it were, of the al-Qaeda organization or the other terrorist groups that work with him, certainly in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area," Barno said.
Barno suggested that bin Laden's death would be difficult to conceal from intelligence services, even if he died in a secret place, because his associates would talk about it. Recent communications from al-Qaeda's top echelon have come from bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, as videotaped messages. Early in 2004, Barno and his staff predicted bin Laden would be captured by the end of the year. No longer. "I retired my crystal ball, and I don't make predictions anymore in terms of when we're potentially going to get any of the figures out there that we pursue every day in Afghanistan," he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
10/20/2004 1:21:54 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
When was the last time anyone saw evidence with some sort of time indicator, newspaper or citation of a current event, with UBL? It wasn't like the dude was camera shy before Tora Bora.
Posted by: Don ||
10/20/2004 9:09 Comments ||
Top||
Zarq's plan: he's writing letters to the voters of Clark County, Ohio.
Islamist militants leading attacks on foreign troops in Iraq have announced an alliance with al-Qaeda, with the aim of influencing the US election result, experts on extremism say. Several Islamist websites broadcast a statement this week saying that militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who have claimed responsibility for numerous kidnappings and killings, have pledged allegiance to Great Caesar's ghost Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader. "The Zarqawi statement is timed to come just before the US election," a leading Islamist who follows the Iraqi groups closely said on Tuesday. "What they want to tell the American people is that Bush has turned Iraq into a battleground for al-Qaeda." umm, hasn't Bush been saying exactly that? And that it is better to fight al-Qaeda there than here? And that this Iraq is central to the war on terror? And that this is why we must be committed in Iraq, not wishy-washy?
"The groups in Iraq want to show that al-Qaeda officially exists in Iraq," said Mustafa Alani, director of the security and terrorism centre at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "These people are aren't stupid, and their political timing is certain to defeat their stated goal right. There's an agreement on timing between the jihadists in Iraq and al-Qaeda, but the link is ideological, not operational. There is no group in Iraq that is receiving orders from al-Qaeda," Mr Alani said. A dissident with links to Islamist groups said on Tuesday that the formation of the alliance with al-Qaeda was unlikely to radically alter the military capability of the insurgents. "But there must have been discussion with Osama bin Laden on this agreement," the dissident said. "Nobody below him would have been able to authorise it," he said, adding: "All jihadis are regarding Iraq as the main field of jihad. They are investing their human and other resources there. They are feeling that Iraq is going to be a turning point in the current history of the battle between the Muslims and the Americans."
#1
To be fair, that's like lighting a house on fire and then being commended for trying to put it out. Previous to the invasion, all intelligence points to the fact that there was little Al Qaeda presence, activity, or connection to or with Iraq. Transforming Iraq into an Al Qaeda battlefield is only a good thing if the number of Al Qaeda is stagnant and they are all simply drawn to one area to be decimated.
However, the number of Al Qaeda isn't stagnant. And the war in Iraq has been a recruitment blessing that only Allah or, apparently, George W Bush, could have granted to Al Qaeda.
#2
Anyone who claims that "Al-Qaeda officially exists in Iraq" has got to be a Republican operative. Just ask Carter, Moore, Dean, Gore, and Kerry - the quincumvirate from hell.
#4
"a lot of evidence demonstrates formal contacts between the Baathist tyranny and the Al-Qaeda thugs prior to the liberation of Iraq".
Well, the bipartisan 9/11 commission said there was scant evidence, and I believe V.P. Cheney even recently claimed in the debate that he never said there was any link between Saddam and Al Qaeda.
So unless you have evidence they don't have, I'm not quite sure where your getting that from.
I'm all for a thorough prosecution of war against Al Qaeda and radical Islam, but it must be done right.
#5
There is no evidence that the Baathists were directly involved in 9/11, but there is plenty of evidence that they were talking and cooperating with Al-Qaeda.
#6
my read is that zawquari gave his "bayah"--oath of allegiance-- to ubl because he's running out of money and moonbats--he was fiercely independent as he doesn't want an alliance with the apostate shia who he depises more than the kufr and ubl builds jihadi bridges with shites in the enemy of my enemy mold--but zawk is giving up his numero uno rights because his tits are in the ringer--he's losing guys right and left--this way he gets to slip into iran with ubl and stay a macher while keeping his head attached to his shoulders--its a ghazi thing--these guys think they are knights under the banner of the prophet--they believe this medieval apocalyptic bullshit--where is hulagu khan when you need him
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
10/20/2004 1:47 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Could we introduce a Hulugu Day to celebrate the massive defeat of Islamofascism?
#8
"I'm all for a thorough prosecution of war against Al Qaeda and radical Islam, but it must be done right."
Doing it right is fighting it in the middle east where these islamo-fascist murders come from. Not in New York city or Washington state. I would hope this is a great recruiting tool for Al-Qaeda. I hope Iraq is a huge magnet that draws these terrorist morons like so many iron filings. Kill them off as quick as they can be recruited. I want the US to disrupt their operations every day and in every way. Kill off their leadership as quick as it assumes power. Kill them there not here. Don't let them think if they hold with and support islamo-fascism they can sleep well at night. Who do you think scares Al-Qaeda that pair of fops Kerry and Edwards or President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney?
#9
Official. That's a funny word for such a scattergun set of fuckwits. Hell, they can't even keep their ID cards sorted. Twin Rivers Jihadis of Doom, Pasty Cavewall Smears of Death, Suicide Pregnancy Machine Brigades, The Industrial Shredders for Oily Food Regime, Glowing Rag Domed Killers of Qomeini - it's all a bit muddled. I'm thinking they just need a Day Runner and an account at Kinko's.
Who the fuck really cares? Dickie Clarke Tracy?
Fry 'em up now, and debate the genealogy later. Over a case of cold ones, if that floats your boat. Just my 2 cents.
#11
This largely an issue of semantics. AQ is not a sharply delineated organization. I.e. we can't say that AQ stops here and non-AQ starts. A lot of us use AQ as a generic term like the 'Russian mafia' to mean fundamentalist inspired islamic terrorists (becuase the religous label is non-PC). Saddam was up to his neck in sponsoring Islamic terrorism. Whether the individuals were in contact with UBL or not, is neither here nor there.
I've just noticed .com has made the same point a little more colorfully :-)
#15
Any of you guys familliar with HHG? This AlQ law enforcement mentality / approach reminds me of the "B" Ark guys, after they've crash landed, unable to invent the wheel - because they can't decide what phreakin' color it should be. We've all been infected by the Fibbie Flowcharts of Doom. Pfeh.
#16
febuary 10, 1258--the day the abbasid caliph and all his retainers surrendered to hulagu--blessed day--he killed all the muzzies but let the caliph live for a while longer in a rope a dope obeiescence type mode--then he had him strangled after the caliph told him where the gold was--his later conversion to islam was a political move to control his subjects in the il-khanate which was persia and surrounding territory--his wife was a nestorian christian--he didn't kill the christians in bagdad--just the muzzie fuckfaces--works for me
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
10/20/2004 2:46 Comments ||
Top||
#17
.com, you seem the type who always knows where his towel is.
Darn, of course you HAVE to know! You don't say which one son of Tolui, but lemme guess... Hulugu!
(I thought that the writing style is rather familiar--LGF).
#19
Okay, let me get this straight... The best candidate that the Democratic Party can come up with is an ultra-liberal, flip-flopping, pacifist Francophile senator from Massachusetts who we wouldn't even be seeing if he hadn't married the ketchup and pickle queen in a church that should have excommunicated him years ago. Kimmie, the Iranian mullahs, and Chirac are campaigning for him. Zarqawi thinks he is, but actually Zarqawi's helping Bush too. Meanwhile Soros is sending me junkmail in triplicate telling me that I should vote his preferences because, after all, he's a billionaire. You know something? -- you can't make this stuff up! But it really leaves me wondering about the sanity of my neighbor down the street who has a Kerry sign on his front lawn.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/20/2004 9:12 Comments ||
Top||
#20
You know that at the time of WTC attack on 9/11, it was already Sept 12 in Afghanistan?
No it wasn't. It wasn't even Sep 12 in Sydney, Australia, where I was living at the time. It was 10 or 11pm on Sep 11.
#21
tw - A fellow HH - Cool! I mourned the passing of Adams as if he were immediate family, sigh. And yewbetcha, got my towel, my guide, digital watch, Panic! glasses and I'm ready for that hyperspace bypass, lol! Still looking for Trillian, however, heh!
#23
.com, my girls know that the answer is always 42, and did book reports on Hitchhiker's Guide -- much to their teachers' puzzlement. Its so nice that the younger generation has good taste (they're into Pink Floyd, too)
#25
OMG, .com, THANKS! I've saved the files for their delectation. DO YOU HAVE THE WHOLE THING??? If so, please send it to me post haste -- that will take care of Xmas/Hanukkah gifts for the whole family!!!!!!! (yes, I'm excited. Sorry, all)
#26
The whole 13-part (42 minutes each) PBS series??!!?! No - sorry! I wish I did!
I'll look around - mebbe, just mebbe, it can be had... I have many "odd" sources, but I can offer no guarantees! I'll snarf up whatever I can lay my connection vacuum on, heh.
#28
My husband's favorite! And the reason it took me several years to pursuade him that the girls would enjoy going to summer camp. Heh, your very own self, buddy.
#31
That's the one, Desert Blondie. My local NPR station has played the radio series twice during my sojourns Stateside, so I made two non-intersectingly incomplete sets of tapes. Very frustrating.
BTW, best wishes for all happiness for both of you in the years to come!
#32
tw - it's been interesting looking around. I found DVD's on eBay in the $20-$25 range that may be the original as shown on PBS, may not - and more.
The funniest thing is that the BBC has continued the series - in "phases" which appear to be series extensions. They are in phase 3 now. I downloaded the first 6 episodes (in MP3) of phase 3 from an obscure (to me) UseNet Group. I've listened and there is much overlap, but new chars and new storylines, of course, to keep it interesting.
The bad thing is that I'm so far out of the HHG loop (because I was out of civilization for most of the last 10 years) and can't be sure what is what, lol!
If you're into UseNet, I found the new series / phase 3 files in:
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.bbc
I'll upload them and post links so you can d/l them - on THIS thread - within the hour. That will introduce you to the new phase, anyway!
Veerappan, India's most wanted and most elusive brigand who murdered with impunity, was finally shot dead in his jungle hideout by elite commandos using some of the very tactics he employed for well over two decades to build a vast criminal empire. Using deception, undercover agents and a meticulously laid out network of informants, Tamil Nadu's Special Task Force (STF) commandos - set up only to nab him - trapped the 50-something Munuswamy Veerappan Gounder, made famous by his trademark handlebar moustache, into taking a van ride in a forested region where policemen ambushed and gunned him down Monday night. Operation Cocoon to track and eliminate the forest bandit succeeded because of extra-ordinary intelligence said K Vijaykumar, chief of the combined Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday. In a remarkable success story of perseverance, the STF - made up of commandos toughened by living in the inhospitable jungles of southern India straddling the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border - planted a mole in Veerappan's gang who drove the van that led him to his death.
Any chance these fine commandos would like to work in Fallujah?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Abu Hamza is to be given a new hook — on the National Health Service. The taxpayer will pick up the bill for the aluminium replacement, which could top £5,000. Details of his new hook emerged on the day he faced court to be charged with ten counts of inciting murder. At one stage, consideration was given to replacing BOTH hooks with prosthetic hands at a cost of £30,000, health service sources said. Muslim Hamza, currently at top-security Belmarsh Prison, South East London, has complained his original hook is broken.
Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, finds it "inconceivable" that Russia, France or China might have been influenced in Security Council debates by Saddam Hussein's Oil for Food business and bribes. "These are very serious and important governments," Mr. Annan told Britain's ITV News Sunday. "You are not dealing with banana republics."
The editor of a reformist Iranian newspaper has been arrested as part of the authorities' crackdown on "illegal" Internet sites, the local media reported yesterday. Javad Qolam Tamimi, editor of the pro-reform daily Mardomsalari, was arrested on Monday evening for his involvement in the dissident sites, the daily Iran quoted a local judiciary official as saying. The arrest follows  the announcement on October 12 by Iran's hardline judiciary that a number of reformist journalists detained in its push against the Internet sites would go on trial after court hearings.
The Taliban's one-eyed leader 
Osama Bin Laden is hiding in Chinese territory near the Pakistan border, British journalist Gordon Thomas wrote in Spanish newspaper El Mundo on October 13. Thomas wrote that Bin Laden made an agreement with Chinese authorities to stop guerrilla war by Chinese Muslims against the government. Thomas said that on the final stretch of the US presidential race, Bin Laden could become the ace in President George Bush's sleeve. Washington is currently negotiating a top-secret agreement with Beijing to remove Bin Laden from the turbulent Chinese Muslim provinces, he said.
The top American commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday he has no evidence Osama bin Laden is in day-to-day control of al-Qaeda but suggested the long-absent terrorist leader is alive. Lt. Gen. David Barno, speaking to reporters during a visit to the Pentagon, talked mostly of a lack of evidence about bin Laden's whereabouts, health and current role in the al-Qaeda network. He remains, however, a critical target, Barno said. Still, "I don't see any indications that he is in day-to-day command and control, as it were, of the al-Qaeda organization or the other terrorist groups that work with him, certainly in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area," Barno said.
Veerappan, India's most wanted and most elusive brigand who murdered with impunity, was finally shot dead in his jungle hideout by elite commandos using some of the very tactics he employed for well over two decades to build a vast criminal empire. Using deception, undercover agents and a meticulously laid out network of informants, Tamil Nadu's Special Task Force (STF) commandos - set up only to nab him - trapped the 50-something Munuswamy Veerappan Gounder, made famous by his trademark handlebar moustache, into taking a van ride in a forested region where policemen ambushed and gunned him down Monday night. Operation Cocoon to track and eliminate the forest bandit succeeded because of extra-ordinary intelligence said K Vijaykumar, chief of the combined Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday. In a remarkable success story of perseverance, the STF - made up of commandos toughened by living in the inhospitable jungles of southern India straddling the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border - planted a mole in Veerappan's gang who drove the van that led him to his death.
