Bahrain's Sunni groups and clerics have criticised the rally, staged by Al Wefaq, the country's largest Shiite group, on Friday, saying it would lead to tension in the kingdom. Six Sunni societies issued a statement calling on citizens to avoid "any move that could undermine stability and disrupt social peace." "Demanding political reforms should be addressed by the available constitutional means such as the National Assembly," said the statement, issued by Al Asala Islamic Society, Al Shura Islamic Society, the National Democratic Assembly, Al Mithaq Society, the Islamic National Forum Society and the Free Thought Society. "Sit-ins, processions and protests only lead to more political tension," they said. Clerics also criticised the rally as "unlawful" and called on Al Wefaq to abandon any plan for further protests. "The Interior ministry has the right to ban the rally because it was unlawful and illegal," Shaikh Jumaa Tawfiq said during the Friday prayer sermon.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad asserted on Saturday his country's readiness to assist Kuwait in the educational and cultural fields through student exchange programs. Mahathir made his statement during a meeting with a Kuwait University delegation, led by Dean of Social Science Dr Ali Al-Tarrah, noting that this step would strengthen relationships between the two countries in all levels. The former prime minister praised the Kuwaiti efforts to benefit from the Malaysian educational experience, noting that Malaysia spends one-fourth of the country's budget on education due to its importance in raising future generations.
He added that Malaysia succeeded in preserving the Islamic identity and was able to provide an Islamic international example based upon the Islamic fundamentals and culture. Meanwhile, Al-Tarrah described the meeting as fruitful, noting that Malaysia has an advanced educational system that Kuwait can benefit from. The Kuwaiti delegation met on Friday the Malaysian undersecretary of education, who expressed concern for receiving Kuwaiti students and exchanging expertise in the field of education.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Bahrain warned on Saturday that it would take unspecified measures against the Gulf state's main Shiite opposition group after it organized a mass demonstration in defiance of a government ban. The Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) "will face legal measures after it organized an unlawful demonstration yesterday," Information Minister and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Abdul Ghaffar was quoted by the daily Al-Ayyam as saying. Newspapers carried a similar warning issued by the interior minister late Friday after thousands of people took to the streets of Sitra, the archipelago's third largest island located south of Manama, in response to the INAA's call to press for constitutional reforms.
INAA leader Sheikh Ali Salman led the march, in which representatives of three other political groupings allied with his association - the leftist National Democratic Action Association, the Nationalist Democratic Rally, which is a pan-Arab nationalist group, and the Islamic Action Association, a Shiite grouping - also took part. The four groups have repeatedly objected to the legislative powers accorded to the Majlis al-Shura, or consultative council. They are demanding that legislative powers, as well as the authority to act as watchdog over the executive, be confined to the elected house of parliament, which, like the nominated council, has 40 members.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
I miss the Little Guy. He was cool - and very very smart.
A leading Kuwaiti liberal academic said Saturday he has quit writing in protest at a one-year suspended jail term he received last week for "disparaging the Holy Quran" in an article. Ahmed Al-Baghdadi, a university political science professor and columnist, was served the sentence for harshly criticising plans by the Ministry of Education to increase the number of Islamic education lessons in schools. The Court of Appeals asked Baghdadi to pay $6,800 to suspend the jail term, which he did, and ordered him to keep good conduct for three years. "This is my last article and last words. Goodbye to the freedom of speech which has been beheaded with the guillotine of the law," Baghdadi wrote in his column in Al-Seyassah newspaper, where he has been writing for many years.
"The issue is not a court ruling here and another there, but a sickening environment filled with germs and viruses of hatred and tyranny," he said. In an article he wrote last June, Baghdadi said he sent his son to a private foreign school to escape the "backwardness" of public education and because he thought "learning music is more important than learning the Holy Quran." Al-Seyassah editor Ahmed Al-Jarallah was also fined $170 by the Appeals Court for allowing the publication of the article. The two had been acquitted by the Criminal Court in January because it considered the criticism as part of freedom of expression.
The case was filed by three Islamist activists on the grounds that the article contained an accusation that Islamic education in Kuwait teaches students to be terrorists and hate women and non-Muslims. According to Kuwaiti law, if Baghdadi, 54, is convicted during the three years probation, he would be required to serve the jail term immediately. Describing this as a "roulette" game, Baghdadi said he decided to "permanently cease writing in Kuwait," and that he would resume once he leaves his country. Last Sunday he told AFP he would seek political asylum in a foreign country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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I consider this particular battle to be more important than any the Paleostinians are fighting at the moment...
For a man just sentenced to 200 lashes and four months in jail by an Islamic court, Saudi academic Hamza al-Mozainy is strikingly cheerful. The diminutive, twinkle-eyed professor of linguistics was summoned by a Riyadh judge in March after an Islamist colleague said Mozainy made fun of his long beard in a newspaper article. Dismissing arguments that his court had no jurisdiction in media cases, the judge ordered that he be flogged and jailed for two months - then doubled the punishment on the spot when Mozainy challenged his authority. "He said: OK. Instead of 75 lashes and two months, 200 lashes and four months. And you are forbidden from writing for newspapers," Mozainy said.
But the 57-year-old professor is confident he will not serve his punishment. Just hours after the verdict, Crown Prince Abdullah intervened in this latest clash between liberals and religious scholars in the strict Muslim state. "I left the court and Prince Abdullah issued a strong letter saying this judgment is null, void and baseless and the court does not have jurisdiction over this case," Mozainy said in his small office in King Saud University.
That's the same thing he told the judge, before the judge doubled his sentence...
Abdullah's ruling has not been made public but liberals have interpreted it to mean that Islamic sharia courts would not have jurisdiction to try media cases.
Meaning that the tight turban crowd won't be allowed to paw through writings looking for the least hint of criticism of themselves... strictly in the name up protecting Islam, of course...
Leaders of the Sinn Fein-IRA movement have staged rallies across Ireland in memory of a failed 1916 rebellion - and in anger that their organisation today stands accused of covering up a Belfast killing.
Trying to repair a bit of the political damage, are we? Could it be possible that the world has changed enough so that not only Rantburg habitues have lost patience with the antics of the world's Masked Marauders of any stripe?
At three mass rallies on Sunday in Dublin and the two major cities in Northern Ireland, Belfast and Londonderry, Sinn Fein leaders said the killers of Robert McCartney were being cowards by refusing to admit their crime. They emphasised that the failure to bring anybody to justice for McCartney's 30 January slaying outside a Belfast pub was fuelling widespread criticism of Sinn Fein, which represents most Catholics in Northern Ireland. McCartney's sisters, whose campaign has gained worldwide attention, say the IRA has intimidated witnesses while Sinn Fein has discouraged people from giving evidence to police. Detectives have charged nobody with the killing, even though the attack on McCartney began inside a pub crowded with Sinn Fein and IRA members. Sinn Fein has suspended seven people allegedly involved, while the IRA - which initially denied any involvement - says it has expelled three members. But the McCartney sisters say those supposedly expelled figures are still socialising publicly with other Sinn Fein and IRA figures in their Belfast neighbourhood.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#2
These guys make me ashamed to be of partial Irish descent.
I know the troubles are a nasty thing for the northern counties, but there are better ways to settle things. The English are capable of listening these days, even to us Irish. Especially if the US is on the horn to them.
#3
Our position has never really changed that drastically OS , just that sin fein/ira like to move the goalposts when it suits them , then moan about it later ..
#5
These guys make me ashamed to be of partial Irish descent.
I know the troubles are a nasty thing for the northern counties, but there are better ways to settle things. The English are capable of listening these days, even to us Irish. Especially if the US is on the horn to them.
#6
These guys make me ashamed to be of partial Irish descent.
I know the troubles are a nasty thing for the northern counties, but there are better ways to settle things. The English are capable of listening these days, even to us Irish. Especially if the US is on the horn to them.
Posted by: SwissTex ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Since the elections were condemned by the observers and the people, who rose up to protest, and now by the Judiciary, it seems rather obvious that the poll is invalid in the minds of everyone who counts. The people "elected" in the flawed poll have precisely zero future as officeholders - trying to hang onto the seat is the surest means of losing it, it seems to me.
This seems to be a tempest in a teacup, anyway - their SC has ruled.
The breathless BBC reporting is rather hyped and the OSCE actions, if they deem it "urgent" as reported, seem to be blown out of proportion -- as a simple explanation that they can choose to disband - or face the crowds - should suffice to dissuade the wannabee legislators, heh.
PARIS, March 25 (AFP) - A third survey released Friday has confirmed that a majority of French voters intend to vote against adopting an EU constitution in a May 29 referendum called by President Jacques Chirac. A poll conducted by the CSA firm, to be published in Saturday's edition of Marianne magazine, showed 55 percent were against approving the landmark document, and 45 percent were in favour. If the referendum does not end with a "yes" result, the EU constitution may be blocked altogether and the European Union thrown into crisis. Chirac, 72, would also emerge politically weakened.
The figures, though, suggested the "no" camp was growing. A previous poll by the same company a week ago showed 51 percent against and 49 percent in favour, while another by the IPSOS institute days later put the figures at 52 percent against and 49 percent in favour. Margins of error were not given in any of the polls, though three percentage points is typical in similar studies. Half the 856 people questioned in the latest survey said they would abstain from voting altogether, or submit a blank ballot.
The results suggest Chirac, his conservative ruling party and the left-wing opposition Socialists, all of whom have come out in support of a "yes" result, are increasingly out of step with the wishes of the electorate. Observers believe that much of the opposition stems from widespread disapproval with government reforms and with Chirac's haughty rule more than a rejection of the EU constitution itself, which aims to streamline decision-making in the 25-member European bloc.
That appeared to be backed up by the CSA-Marianne survey, which asked what referendum result the voters wanted "deep inside", regardless of how they planned to vote. The results were 37 percent in favour of a "yes", 30 percent for a 'no' and 33 percent who said "it doesn't matter". Those who said they intended to vote against the referendum gave explanations that did not go directly to the constitution itself.
The main reason cited by 31 percent of the respondents was their opposition to Turkey one day being given EU membership, as advocated by Chirac. Twenty-nine percent said they wanted to see European politics more sympathetic to workers.
After that, 26 percent said they hoped the EU treaty would be renegotiated, 22 percent wanted simply to show they were "fed up" and 20 percent wanted to register their discontent with Chirac and his government.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 10:56:42 AM ||
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"...Chirac's haughty rule..."
Wow, AFP using language similar to my own!
Posted by: Tom ||
03/28/2005 12:05 Comments ||
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AP. As France persisted in holding its breath, secret negotiations continue on the new French proposal to change the name of the EU to the UFOES "The Union of France and Other European States." Led by Spain, Luxemberg and the Netherlands, the push for acceptance of the new agreement is picking up steam just as France, pooching cheeks and all, is starting to turn purple. Spanish leaders exhaulted "Peace in our time is at stake, we must accomodate France this one time." . . .
Posted by: R Semmes ||
03/28/2005 15:41 Comments ||
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#4
Never mind. The Alabama was built in Liverpool (of course)
jeebus... back to the Armstrongs! and this time shoot lower!
Posted by: R Semmes ||
03/28/2005 15:44 Comments ||
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#5
Nooooooooo!!! What the heck am I going to do with all of this popcorn if the Euros dump their shiny new constitution and deprive me of my entertainment?
#7
Yeah, we got a lot of that locally TGA. It's like fighting a delaying action every 10 years or so. But it's an annoying thing. If opposition get lucky all the other votes won't count.
#8
Well it would be a hard blow to the Constitution if the French vote no. It wouldn't stand a chance to be approved in the UK.
The Germans don't get to vote but they would start to raise hell, and I wonder if the Constitution would pass given the betrayal that just happenend with the "Stability Treaty".
Back to the drawing board I'd say. Don't bother to present a new version that isn't at least 70% shorter than the current one.
Turkey continues to assess a large Kurdish insurgency presence along the border with Iraq. Officials said the Kurdish Workers Party has been bolstering its presence in southeast Turkey near the Iraqi border. They said the presence has grown over the last year amid the migration of thousands of PKK fighters from northern Iraq. [Ret.] Gen. Osman Pamukoglu placed the number of PKK operatives in the Anatolia region at 7,000. At a conference on March 24 at Sakarya University, Pamukoglu said the PKK fighters have been hiding in the mountains in the southeast. "They have received military training in the mountain regions," Pamukoglu said. "They have also been indoctrinated."
No masks. They're wearing uniforms. They're guerrillas, not terrorists. That's why I can't get to wrought up about them.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Fred, I have to remind you that 30.000 people, mainly kurds, have died since 1984 as a consequence of the PKK's struggle for a marxist homestate. Back in 1993 the PKK pioneered suicide attacks against the turkish state and people. They're behind narcotics smuggling, extortion and murders on their own followers in Europe. With or without the use of uniforms in the field, PKK is a terrorist organisation and the largest part of PKK are not wearing uniforms, they operate under civil cover in Europe.
Posted by: Lars Villemoes ||
03/28/2005 1:06 Comments ||
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On-topic: So why isn't Turkey doing anything to take them on? They're so tough they want to send commandos to Iraq - seems they don't need to go so far as Iraq for a tussle -- the PKK seems to be mustering in their territory... So where's the response?
Somewhat off-topic: Gromky. You posted a late response yesterday in this thread. You referred to me, and others here, as extremist.
Please justify the assertion. In the last 2.5 yrs I recall only 3 events between the US and Turkey, other than whatever happens at NATO meetings that doesn't make the press. Those events were:
1) Pre-Iraq War: Turkey requests NATO provide Patriot batteries cuz Saddam might fire on Turkey for allowing "right of passage", a customary request of an ally in a time of war. France vetoes the request, so the US takes it to a committee where France has no vote and provides the Patriot systems to Turkey.
2) The infamous prevarication and delay at the Iraq War's start -- before denial of "right of passage" - abrogating the customary assistance shown to allies, preventing the 4th ID from getting into theater for over a month and eliminating the Northern front - leaving the Sunni Triangle untouched. And I could write a fucking book about the ramifications of that fact.
3) Bush, pretending that Turkey is still a valued ally, goes on a state visit last year - Spring time, IIRC, and is booed and jeered by a hand-picked pseudo-pro-US crowd of elites. The event is played up big in the Turkish press as a diplomatic slap in the face - and the Turkish Govt does not deny nor play down the event or the press spin.
If anything else has occurred of major note, it failed to register either pro or con, to my mind.
So, pray-tell, explain this post:
"Better to have the Turk on our side, however unreliable, than against us. Some of you extremists seem to forget that."
I see no benefit worth warm spit to having an unreliable ally, by definition - they are NOT on our side, nor do I see the realization of such a fact as extreme.
#4
gromgoru - None of the points I made have been addressed and you seem to be saying it's not really an alliance...
...that it sort of comes and goes - as interests converge and diverge. Gee - that sounds like any two nations - even without some sort of bilateral agreement - just the winds of change to align them at times. So who needs treaties with those pesky obligations written down and gentleman's agreements presumed, attested to by signatories, eh? Nah, not necessary, huh? Ok. Sounds good.
We can drop our attempts to help Turkey into the EU, end the favorable trade deals, blast Incirlik into a bazillion pieces, withdraw and leave them to their Islamists. Their military has failed to meet their constitutional duty - certainly an internal matter, but with undeniable external ramifications.
NATO has served its purpose and that is our real alliance tie to Turkey, now - a piece of paper which does not suit their short-term interests, it seems. So let's be rid of the gentleman's agreement - they've chosen to be Eastern, not Western, in their relations with us. We should reciprocate and be rid of the dangerous illusion that they are allies, as I said.
In fact, it appears we have an ad hoc grom-x "alliance" right here...
And my post stands - unanswered.
As for his post, well, gromky can speak for himself, methinks.
C'mon .com, we all love you here. You've got great insights. But you go a bit over the top at times, and are easily trolled.
I did not refer to anyone by name as an extremist. Don't take it personally. We're not banding together against you (although the grom-x alliance does have a certain pleasing ring to the ear :P). I don't even like using the word "you" in postings.
To stay on-topic, I think that Turkey has a long way to go as an ally before it gets to the level of Malaysia or Indonesia, much less Syria or Iran. Stick with 'em, and things may smooth over.
Well, I know better than to buy any of that shit - you laid it on way too thick. Entertaining, but utterly unbelievable, lol! I can think of several regulars who will roll eyes over it, heh.
I've never wavered, not even a scintilla, regards the damage done to us in Iraq when Turkey betrayed us. It's in the RB archive - 2 years back. It's as clear now as the instant it happened: a hammer without an anvil. No northern front = a pass for the Ba'athists. The damage in lives from Ba'athist activity staging out of the Sunni Triangle has, without a doubt, cost many US lives. The entire relationship with Turkey is not worth one US soldier. Not one. Period. Full stop. It is beyond obvious and beyond refutation. I am amazed that you take it so lightly, in fact.
I guess, in other words, I don't buy glib. I once thought of the Turks as one of our best allies, due every consideration - and was very happy that they were, indeed, shown every consideration by the US. We backed them in trade, in their relations with Europe, in protecting them from the Soviet Bear, across the board. Unfortunately, the election of the Islamists put an end to the Kamalists - and stopped Turkey dead in its tracks. It has been back-peddling ever since and we just happened to be the first bitten by the new Turkey.
I have no doubt you were referring to the FUCK TURKEY posters, of which I am a charter member among the RB posters.
Turkey is no ally. They are not worth any further effort. Everything I said in my post is dead-solid-perfect-true. You have not said anything to convince me they're worth warm spit, nor have you assuaged my taking exception to the extreme label. I'd suggest you hold the extreme view, in fact, since they left you nothing to argue with. Sorry, but everyone who's keeping the faith has been screwed - and it wasn't by me, but by Yippie and Co.
#8
It has been 30 years since I took psychology, but I vaguely remember a few things about behavioral modification and positive and negative reinforcement. I guess consequences are out of fashion. Go ahead, gromky, boost Turkey's self-esteem now that they've proven to be unreliable as an ally.
Personally, I have little use for old boundaries that were set up arbitrarily by colonial powers for the explicit purpose of dividing and dominating the local peoples. And little use for "allies" like France and Turkey who would sell their souls for 30 Euros.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/28/2005 10:52 Comments ||
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On his last day Richard III had alot of half-hearted and opportunistic allies. Protestations of loyalty shouldn't be confused with true loyalty. I can't imagine Turkey going to bat for us when it counts, unless of course, the payoff for them is clear and immense.
#10
The Turks are still important to us and I think they know it.
The war we're in is only partly military. Part of it is a war of ideas--a religious war in fact. I've no good source for hard numbers, but the estimates I've seen for the Islamist/jihadist crowd suggests that they appeal to hundreds of millions of Muslims.
We're best off if the Muslims repudiate the jihadists themselves. We can offer models of liberal democracy, but don't underestimate the appeal and demands of religion--and in this case the jihadists claim there's no compromise with liberal democracy.
That's why we're praying that the Iranians get rid of the mullahs themselves and repudiate the Khomeinism that has so long been such a beacon to radical Muslims. And why we hope that Turkey can become an example of a secular Muslim state. (It became a secular state by suppressing some "expressions of Muslim identity". Islamist groups are in power now: will the resurgent radical Muslim forces win, or will they compromise on a secular democracy? Beats me. The struggle's not done yet.)
The more successful examples of democratic Muslim states there are, the less will be the appeal of the Wahhabists. Even if Turkey remains unreliable, if it can be a liberal democracy it can be a useful example to Muslims asking: "Why can't we be Muslim and modern at the same time? _They_ are."
I agree that Turkey isn't what I'd call an ally. Neither is France. But both can be useful in the War on Jihadism. (I've heard that the French intelligence and police services have been working well with us, for example.) I have hopes for them both, though obviously I'm much more worried about Turkey's future.
Posted by: James ||
03/28/2005 14:10 Comments ||
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#11
The USA's need for Irclik has decreased because equivalent bases can be brought online in Iraq. What the USA does need is overflight rights. Look at a map. The shortest and often the only route to a lot of important places goes through Turkey. I hope those rights are in place for a long time.
President Bush takes credit for democracy in the Middle East. Maybe he's been the biggest obstacle in the way.
But likely he hasn't...
Start with Iran. But for our long buildup to the Iraq war, it's Iran that might have been the world's next great democracy.
But they probably wouldn't be, since they've been fiddling with "democracy" since 1979 and the best they've been able to come up with is a theocracy, kinda like the Papal States, only with oil and a hankering for nuclear weapons...
When Bush came into office in 2000, Iran had already put in Mohammad Khatami, the moderate cleric, as president.
Note that Khatami was a cleric, not a shopkeeper or a football star or even a rug magnate. He was part of the theocratic system, and as a politician he was ineffective on the order of Aleksandr Karensky.
By 2002 when Khatami did not deliver, the secular democrats broke with him and went into the streets. Student strikes went on through 2003. Kids were reading "Lolita in Tehran." Here was a chance for a Czech-like "Velvet Revolution."
It was also a nice opportunity for the Iranian Hezbollah to crack some heads, an opportunity they weren't long in taking...
Bush's buildup to war blasted it away.
Or it might have been the head cracking. Generally people observe military buildups from a distance and wonder what's going to happen next. With a club applied between the eyes, they observe the effects close up and they're not left wondering...
While we rounded up Iraqis, Iranian mullahs had a kind of license to do the same. Maybe I am wrong and the theocrats in Iran could have repressed the students and liberals.
I think we could just about guarantee that they would have, since they're not willing to give up power without a fight, and they've got a pretty large stable of hard boyz willing to do it...
But what might have happened in Iran if Bush hadn't popped off and invaded Iraq? No one can say for sure, but the liberals might have won.
I might have gotten slender, too. And my hair might have grown back. And Patty Ann Brown might have called me up for a date. Now put a percentage of probability on each of those statements. Dumbass.
Imagine, if there were now a secular democracy in Iran, as there had been in the 1950s, the impact on Iraq and the entire Middle East?
Yes. Imagine a nation ruled by Torquemada turning over power to the hoi polloi. Happens all the time, doesn't it?
Of course, a brutal war in Iraq was the end of a non-violent movement in Iran.
It was the end of a violent movement in Iraq...
War or the threat of war usually justifies repression. In India, World War II was a gift to the British: It gave them cover to jail Jawaharlal Nehru, an Indian politician and statesman of great skill.
... who was not, keep in mind, on their side.
Our invasion of Iraq was a gift to the mullahs, at least in two ways. First, it gave the mullahs justification in cracking down at home. Second, it had a chilling effect on Iranians who might have otherwise gone into the streets. After all, Bush had made clear that Iran might be next.
Since Bush made it clear that Iran might be next, wouldn't that — assuming a world populated by people at least half of whom possess 3-digit IQs — constitute a further pressure on the Medes and the Persians to drop the autos da fe, the stonings and the hangings, and suddenly discover in the Koran that the Prophet used to spend his time sitting around with his followers, listening to their opinions and often modifying his own based on their specialized input? In fact, there was likely a 50-50 chance that just sort of a thing might have happened; half the population is reputed to have 3-digit IQs, the other half being stuck with 2-digits. Had the 3-digit bloc been in power, the results would likely have been different than they have been. It's just a further illustration of that fact that people don't always act in their reasonable self-interest.
Here was our message to the Iranians: "We're coming. We want to make your lives better. But first we'll have to kill you."
Lousy phrasing, dumbass. Try "We're coming. We want to make your lives better. But first we'll have to hang the ayatollahs. Try not to get in the way."
What did Bush think would happen in Iran?
Toldja: It could have gone either way.
It's hard to have a revolution that is orange or velvet if the rivers next door have started running red.
So we shoulda left Sammy in power, on the assumption that the ayatollahs would eventually give up their Evil ways and become really, really nice fellows? Thank you for your opinion, Neville. All our policy analyst positions are filled at the moment, but leave a copy of your resume and we'll be sure to get back to you if something opens up.
OK, we blew Iran. But aren't the elections in Iraq equally good?
Just dandy, I'd say. But I'm sure you won't...
No, they're not as good.
Toldja so.
First, a non-violent movement in Iran would have built up the secular liberals. Our war in Iraq has tainted them instead. Second, democracy will come sooner if we just stay out of it. We shouldn't play God and say where democracy should start.
Nobody else was playing God, Neville. Democracy wasn't starting. In fact, people were whimpering about destroying the "stability" of the Muddle East — a "stability" that was built on tin-hat Mussolini-style dictators, Torquemada-style holy men, secret police, religious police, and all the other unwholesome trappings we've come to know and love in our examination of the area for the past four years. By the way, Neville, when did you notice the Muddle East?
All the great outbreaks of democracy in our time have been velvet ones; some so velvet we forget that they happened. For example, Spain and Greece in the 1970s: They went democratic with little or no help from us. It is less the U.S. than the European Union that has inspired the great democratic movements of our time.
My breath! It's taken away! Franco remained in power until he died of old age. Had he raised up a Franco, Jr., Spain would likely still be ruled by fascisti. But he mellowed in his old age and designated Juan Carlos as his successor. Greece in the 1970s was ruled by colonels, if I remember correctly — our source of Greek minutiae doesn't comment here anymore — and were pretty much pressured into turning over power. Neville ignores the attempts of the East Germans (1948), Hungarians (1956) and Czechs (1968) at their own "velvet revolutions." With only EU-style support, they not only flopped, but the results included piles of dead bodies. That's because we didn't help; we just stood by and supplied lots of EU-style good wishes. In those places where we continue to supply EU-style good wishes, like Zim-bob-we, the populace remains oppressed and often starving.
At any rate, it is coming, whether we will it or not. It will come if only from rising gross domestic product per capita. Or it will come if only from the spread of education. Of course there is going to be democracy in the Middle East. And our role ought to be to not screw it up.
We're not necessarily going to see democracy in the Muddle East. The Taliban had to be tossed out on their collective ear and are still trying to return. Sammy had to be tossed out on his collective ear; otherwise he'd have remained in power until he died of old age and he would have turned power over to Uday and Qusay and Company. The Soddy Princes intend on remaining in power until the last of them is dead from old age, and they intend to pass on power to yet another generation of little Sods. Muammar has no intention of relinquishing power; he'll die of old age, or more likely senile dementia, and turn power over to Saif al-Islam, who might have the good sense to become an elder statesman at the age of 40 or so, as long as there are lots of dancing girls to entertain him. The remainder of the Muddle East is lurching toward democracy while the Muslim Brotherhood stands athwart the tracks of history reading their Korans and providing guidance for the international terror machine.
But that's exactly what Bush has gone about doing. Consider the Palestinians.
Oh, yes! Let's!
It now seems they were restless under the late Yasser Arafat. But by the way Bush barked at the Palestinians, he did a lot to ensure that Arafat stayed. Bush now seems to take credit for Palestinian democracy. It might have come sooner but he was in the way.
Bush "barked" at the Paleostinians? By refusing to deal with Yasser? By demanding reforms? By demanding elections? By meeting with the "Quartett" — consisting of the UN, the EU and the Russers — to come up with an even-handed "roadmap" that Hamas used as buttwipe? The only way Paleostinian democracy would have come sooner would have been in Yasser had died sooner, but if we'd helped him on his way it wouldn't have come at all. Yasser's another one who died of old age while the EU extended good wishes in the general direction of his downtrodden populace.
The same is true of Lebanon.
How long were the Syrians there, Neville?
It is not Iraq but Ukraine that is inspiring secular liberals to go into the streets. How could it be Iraq? Look at the corporate types who are marching. They want latte, not war. It's Ukraine that makes them think they can win with non-violence.
And it's Iraq that sez that's not always possible. You can have all the good wishes in the world, but that's not going to rid you of a Saddam Hussein — or of a Hafiz Assad. Ridding them of Leonid Kuchma was a close-run thing.
That's what the Bush people fail to grasp: It's non-violence that, in our time, puts the fire in men's minds.
What Neville fails to grasp is that diplomacy without the underlying threat of force is nothing but a mutual passing of gas...
Now that Bush is threatening Syria, he has gotten a half million pro-Syrians into the streets.
And they weren't there before? Is anyone besides Neville surprised that there's a large Syrian-controlled fifth column in Lebanon? Bueller?
Ukraine, by the way, happened without us, though Bush may soon be taking credit for it too.
I don't think it happened without us. Dick Morris was with the Yushchenko people. I'm sure there were other political consultants, probably some of them paid by certain U.S. government agencies...
He shouldn't. The "Orange Revolution" owes much more to the soft power of the European Union than the hard power of the U.S. The EU sent in the mediators. While America has the Army, it is really the EU that has been getting the results. At any rate, there'd be no democracy in Ukraine if we had been bombing Belarus.
If there had been an uprising against Lukaschenko and we'd provided military support to help run him out of town, likely somebody would have come up with the idea of getting rid of Kuchma the same way. But it didn't happen that way.
Yes, I believe Bush wants to get rid of tyrants. Still, when he came into office, it seemed the reverse. First, we withdrew from the International Criminal Court. Second, Bush's people went on and on about how the U.S. would act only and exclusively in its own national interest. Of course, that's what most countries do. It's what liberals like Franklin D. Roosevelt did. But they aren't such fools to talk the way Bush did. With or without Bush, freedom is on the march, for reasons that have nothing to do with us. It's coming into the world. Let's not screw it up.
(By Thomas Geoghegan, a Chicago lawyer and the author of "In America's Court.") The formula: ignore history and recent events so that Bush can't get any credit.
Neville is obviously the kind of man who can read an O. Henry story and say "I don't get it."
#1
"But for our long buildup to the Iraq war, itâs Iran that might have been the worldâs next great democracy."
If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry Christmas.
Posted by: Sam ||
03/28/2005 14:45 Comments ||
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#2
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I want some of whatever that clown's been smoking. :-D
This probably deserves a fisking, but I don't have the time. And this loonie's not worth it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/28/2005 14:52 Comments ||
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#3
"Maybe I am wrong and the theocrats in Iran could have repressed the students and liberals. But what might have happened in Iran if Bush hadnât popped off and invaded Iraq? No one can say for sure, but the liberals might have won."
Self Delusional side effect of the Bush-hating Derangement Syndrome. The Mullahs and thier secret polcie contiinue to crack down regardless. It is the presence of US troops that has EMBOLDENED the democracy demonstators! What a quack this guy is.
See, Neville, there were these two big buildings in New York...
Posted by: Matt ||
03/28/2005 15:33 Comments ||
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"But what might have happened in Iran if Bush hadnât popped off and invaded Iraq? No one can say for sure, but the liberals might have won."
Oh, good grief. I got that far in the article and gave up; "fucking idiot" is too kind a judgement for this guy, and I can't think of anything more harsh.
Great comments, Fred.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
03/28/2005 15:36 Comments ||
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Wortha a PayPal Pence maybe a pounder or two... how much is a soverign these days? Anyway payerDay is April frist. You're on the list. That was worth the price of admission.
Posted by: R Semmes ||
03/28/2005 16:13 Comments ||
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This guy doesn't know the basics of modern history: The Czech Velvet Revolution did happen because Soviet power had collapsed. Since the Soviets did not shoot at East Germans, they would not shoot at the Czechs either. The Czech politburo was wise enough to fold.
Ceaucescu was not.
If we believe this guy, Saddam could have died of a heart attack and his sons committed suicide while mourning him. Invasion was WRONG, WRONG.
Fred, I wouldn't be so pessimistic about that date, given the fine work you do! Sorry 'bout the hair.
My breath! It's taken away! Franco remained in power until he died of old age. Had he raised up a Franco, Jr., Spain would likely still be ruled by fascisti. But he mellowed in his old age and designated Juan Carlos as his successor. Greece in the 1970s was ruled by colonels, if I remember correctly â our source of Greek minutiae doesn't comment here anymore â and were pretty much pressured into turning over power. Neville ignores the attempts of the East Germans (1948), Hungarians (1956) and Czechs (1968) at their own "velvet revolutions." With only EU-style support, they not only flopped, but the results included piles of dead bodies. That's because we didn't help; we just stood by and supplied lots of EU-style good wishes. In those places where we continue to supply EU-style good wishes, like Zim-bob-we, the populace remains oppressed and often starving.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/28/2005 19:01 Comments ||
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#12
"Weâre coming. We want to make your lives better. But first weâll have to hang the ayatollahs. Try not to get in the way."
This should be chiseled into the main entrance of the Pentagon. And the State Department. And the New York Times. Frankly, I think I'll just have it tattooed on.
***********
PS to Phil F...and from Rules for Being an Evil Overlord: "Shooting is NOT too good for your enemies."
#13
Ah, this article is a beautiful example of something I've been thinking about lately. Only the US (or Bush) is capable of action. Other countries can only react. Bush takes action on North Korea, and that "forces" China to "balk". Bush takes no action on the Palestinians, and that "forces" them to do some boneheaded thing. Bush, apparently, is responsible for every bad thing that happens anywhere in the world.
But let Bush clear the way for elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, and suddenly everybody rushes to point out he doesn't have a thing to do with all that budding democracy. Nuh uh! It was that sophisticated Euronuance whut did it.
And from the Chicago Tribune. I thought for sure it was from Al Guardian or Al Independent. Since "Neville" hits almost every far-left, tranzi talking point, it makes sense that he is a contributor for The Nation.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/28/2005 19:35 Comments ||
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They will get war and beg for latte.
One your finest, Shipman. I may have a coffee mug made up with that on it.
And what's the deal with Patty Ann?
Posted by: Matt ||
03/28/2005 20:41 Comments ||
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#17
Fred keeps thinking Patti Ann is after him. I know better - she sends me subliminal images on every Foxnews show she anchors. I can still see that beautymark they makeup'd over....mmmmmm
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/28/2005 20:58 Comments ||
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This is from Pravda-by-the-Lake?
I, too, thought this was from a Brit paper.
They haven't called to get me back since I said I refuse to pay for PBTL.
#19
"Maybe I am wrong and the theocrats in Iran could have repressed the students and liberals. But what might have happened in Iran if Bush hadnât popped off and invaded Iraq? No one can say for sure, but the liberals might have won."
Self Delusional side effect of the Bush-hating Derangement Syndrome. The Mullahs and thier secret polcie contiinue to crack down regardless. It is the presence of US troops that has EMBOLDENED the democracy demonstators! What a quack this guy is.
#20
"Maybe I am wrong and the theocrats in Iran could have repressed the students and liberals. But what might have happened in Iran if Bush hadnât popped off and invaded Iraq? No one can say for sure, but the liberals might have won."
Self Delusional side effect of the Bush-hating Derangement Syndrome. The Mullahs and thier secret polcie contiinue to crack down regardless. It is the presence of US troops that has EMBOLDENED the democracy demonstators! What a quack this guy is.
A commission reviewing U.S. intelligence operations will warn this week that major obstacles remain to intelligence sharing among spy agencies, despite calls for change after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, people who have seen a draft report said on Sunday.
The nine-member bipartisan commission, created by President George W. Bush and headed by appeals court judge Laurence Silberman and former Virginia governor and senator Charles Robb, is expected to issue its report on Thursday.
Bush was spending the holiday week end at his Crawford, Texas ranch.
The report will also include recommendations aimed at bolstering U.S. intelligence operations after a series of high-profile failures, from missed opportunities to thwart al Qaeda before the Sept. 11 attacks to claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. None has been found.
A commission spokesman declined to discuss the contents of the report, portions of which have been circulating among the U.S. intelligence agencies.
"The report that goes to the president will be a detailed analysis of all 15 intelligence agencies, and the assessment will be blunt and to the point," said spokesman Larry McQuillan.
Set up to investigate flaws in the intelligence cited in launching the Iraq war, sources said the report will look more broadly and is expected to cite shortcomings in U.S. intelligence on weapon programs in Iran and North Korea.
The commission's report is also expected to focus on continued hurdles to intelligence-sharing between U.S. agencies more than two years after Bush announced that he would address the problem by creating the nation's first unified Terrorist Threat Integration Center.
Bush later signed into law the biggest U.S. intelligence overhaul in a half century, based on the recommendations of a separate commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks.
In February, he nominated John Negroponte as the new director of national intelligence to try to curb bureaucratic infighting and organize closer cooperation among the Pentagon, CIA and other agencies.
"Intelligence sharing remains an issue," said a person who has seen a draft of the intelligence commission's report. "They are not sharing the way they should."
The unified threat center combines personnel from the CIA, FBI, and departments of defense, state and homeland security as well as other agencies.
Bush offered an upbeat assessment of inter-agency cooperation in a February 2003 speech touting the center as "another crucial advance in meeting the threats of this time."
But critics say the threat-center has had mixed results melding the cultures, technologies and secrets of agencies that have different computer systems and still closely guard highly-classified terrorism information.
According to a report on Sunday in Newsweek magazine, when members of the White House commission paid a visit to the threat center, now renamed the National Counter-Terrorism Center, they were dismayed by what they found.
There were no less than nine levels of classified information stored in the center's computers. Analysts from different agencies had different clearances, making it difficult for them to talk to one another.
The panel's recommendations will include folding the Justice Department's various domestic intelligence and national-security operations into one office, creating a streamlined national-security division, Newsweek reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/28/2005 12:15:16 AM ||
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Not to mention the fear that security will be compromised if those other agencies are able to access our (whoever us may be) secret information. I think it was Old Spook who once commented that only DoD Intelligence is truly secure.
#1
They ignored it back in the fiorst Gulf War too - I nearly ended up in bankruptcy becasue of my service overseas. I had to find somone to take my case pro-bono against my creditors and enforce the SSRA. While I was in the desert getting shot at, they got a judgement against me when I did not answer service at my home address.
#3
Bastards! Any company, judge or other person who violates this act ought to be put out of business.
"¶At Fort Hood, Tex., a soldier's wife was sued by a creditor trying to collect a debt owed by her and her husband, who was serving in Baghdad at the time. A local judge ruled against her, saying she had defaulted, even though specialists say the relief act forbids default judgments against soldiers serving overseas and protects their spouses as well."
This $%$&$*&^% should be impeached. Full stop, today. He violated a ferderal law and is unfit to serve on the bench. IF someone can get his name I will host a website to get the son of a bitch removed from office.
AP I am going to send you a copy of the article at your work addy.
#4
The SSCRA was the first government act in establishing a 'protected' group. It is also the only one which lays the responsbility of redress upon the victim. Had this been an ethnic group or other legally defined protected group, the US Justice Dept would have acted upon this a long time ago. This is what is know as 'Supporting the Troops' and that is within the government itself.
#5
They ignored it back in the fiorst Gulf War too - I nearly ended up in bankruptcy becasue of my service overseas. I had to find somone to take my case pro-bono against my creditors and enforce the SSRA. While I was in the desert getting shot at, they got a judgement against me when I did not answer service at my home address.
#7
They ignored it back in the fiorst Gulf War too - I nearly ended up in bankruptcy becasue of my service overseas. I had to find somone to take my case pro-bono against my creditors and enforce the SSRA. While I was in the desert getting shot at, they got a judgement against me when I did not answer service at my home address.
BOSTON, March 27 (UPI) -- The FBI admits an Arab translator convicted of taking a classified disc was handed the disc with his personal property when he was released from prison. The Boston Globe reports agents learned of the blunder from the former translator himself. Ahmed Mehalba immediately called his lawyer and the Boston FBI office when he discovered the disc with his other CDs.
Most likely thought he was being set up
Mehalba, who worked as a translator for the Army at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, served 17 months for removing the classified disc from the base. When he pleaded guilty, he said he had taken the disc home to work on material there and it got mixed in with other discs and CDs. Customs officials at Logan Airport discovered the offending disc in Mehalba's luggage when he returned from a family visit to Egypt.
And that's when the party started.
The Globe said agents copied information from the disc and marked the copies "Secret," but did not put anything on the original. A clerk apparently put it with other items that had been taken from Mehalba when he was arrested.
So, Mr. FBI man, how many months is the clerk going to get? Hello?
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 9:10:51 AM ||
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They are. Mexicans have beent attacking American tourists along the border for decades but lately attacks upon and (according to friends in the area) kidnappings of Americans are way up.
#4
Not to mention the occasional incursion by Mexican army forces into US territory.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/28/2005 9:01 Comments ||
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Any of our UK posters have the info on the large internment of foreigners locked up on the French side of the Chunnel? I seem to recall an incident of a break out and a number heading in the direction of the channel connection in order to 'illegally' immigrate into the UK. No problem there I'm sure.
#6
Well , failing riding on top of freight trains with 50% chance of being electicuted , other means to cross the worlds busiest shipping lane includes one family using a rubber dingy and paddles brought from a sea side shop !
Am sure its easier to skip across the vast mexico/usa border than it is to cross the channel.
The place where asylum seekers went in France to get to England was Sangatte (opened by the red cross i beleive) and now I think it has been shut down circa 2002-2003 . Dont quote me though !
There are hundreds of attempts to get here(UK) but most are unsuccessful due to the dangers involved .
#7
Hey - Is there really incursions by the mexican army into us territory? If so - why is nothing done about it? Do we do the same thing to them? Is there any definative evidence that could be brought to the blogs?
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/28/2005 10:59 Comments ||
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#8
Am sure its easier to skip across the vast mexico/usa border than it is to cross the channel.
Several hundred thousand German immigrants tried and none succeeded in crossing the channel. :-)
#9
So! How much you want for this channel thingy I figure 10 billion a sq.mile is sq. Ima willing take an option on this Irish Sea beauty too. Not much talked about, but it looks effective.
Posted by: HMS Texas Needs A Barrier ||
03/28/2005 16:21 Comments ||
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#10
Typical BBC Spin.
Starts out sayign they are jut observing and reporting, then prints a whopper like this as gospel:
Mexican officials condemn vigilante attacks near the border.
The FBI played an active role in arranging chartered flights for dozens of well-connected Saudi nationals - including relatives of Usama bin Ladin - after 9/11, The New York Times has reported. The newspaper on Sunday, citing official documents, reported that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, while several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed. The Saudi families, in Los Angeles and Orlando, had requested the FBI escorts out of concern for their personal safety in the wake of the attacks. The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, which provided copies to the Times.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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This is the newspaper of record?!? Good Lord, whatsisname Clarke admitted -- going on two years ago now -- that he authorized the individuals and the flights, not the White House nor anybody else. The FBI would have been responding to his direction, nicht wahr?
#2
Article: One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, when queried by the Times about the airport escorts said "we'd do that for anybody if they felt they were threatened - we wouldn't characterise that as special treatment".
No real surprise here - it's the American way, despite what foreigners might think about those supposedly racist Americans. In places like Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, locals can murder foreigners with impunity without incurring major penalties. In the US, it's a ticket to a life sentence or the death penalty (except in certain blue states in the Northeast). This is why pogroms don't occur (much) here, because the government takes active measures against them.
#3
TW, On the Bay Area News (SF) they said these were additional flights that left after U.S. Airspace reopened. I looked hard to seee where the story was but they made sure to mention Mike Moore and his conspiracy theory. IMO there is nothing here, but it sure will add to the bonfire of conspiracy over at DU.
#4
So, seems like the Saudis knew right away who was responsible for things if they wanted out. Funny how I didn't hear about Egyptians or Jordanians getting special flights out.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
03/28/2005 9:03 Comments ||
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#5
It was our dear friend, Richard Clarke, who now admits authorizing the hurried departure of the Soddies.
This revelation came in a closed congressional hearing approx six months after his bs testimony at the 911 hearings.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/28/2005 9:09 Comments ||
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#6
More breaking news from the NY Times.....John Kerry seeks the 2004 Democrat nomination for President!
NEW YORK: Kofi Annan, struggling to survive as the UN Secretary-General, plans to blame his son for embroiling him in the oil-for-food scandal when a UN inquiry issues a harsh report today. UN officials are hoping to deflect criticism of the UN chief by insisting that his son, Kojo, 29, misled him about payments that Kojo Annan received from a UN contractor.
"But, well, if you lose a son, its possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon Secretary-Generalship."
The inquiry, led by former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, is expected to criticise the UN Secretary-General's management lapses, in particular his failure to perceive the apparent conflict of interest of his son working for a company that was awarded a UN contract. It will also confirm that Mr Annan repeatedly met senior representatives of the company, Cotecna Inspection SA.
The Volcker commission is expected to say that it has found no evidence that Mr Annan rigged the UN bidding process to help Cotecna win a 1998 border inspection contract in Iraq, nor that he personally received any financial benefit. The report will, however, detail previously unknown payments by Cotecna to Kojo Annan after he resigned from the company shortly before it won the UN contract, which was worth almost $US10million ($13million) a year. Cotecna acknowledges now that it paid Kojo Annan about $US365,000 over eight years -- twice what it previously admitted.
The oil-for-food scandal has overshadowed all other business at UN headquarters. A much-touted report on UN reform last week disappeared from the headlines the next day when it was revealed that the UN plans to use Iraqi oil money to pay for the legal defence of Benon Sevan, the accused former head of the oil-for-food program. Colleagues describe Mr Annan as despondent over the Volcker commission.
A recent foreign trip by Louise Frechette, his Canadian puppet deputy, prompted speculation at UN headquarters that she was raising her profile in case she had to take over from him. Aides say Mr Annan plans to mount a "Billy Carter defence", arguing that he should not be held accountable for any transgressions by his son, just as Jimmy Carter, the former US president, was not forced from office when it emerged that his brother, Billy, was lobbying for Libya. Mark Malloch Brown, the UN Secretary-General's chief of staff, said last week that Mr Annan expected to be exonerated by the commission, but added that his son's situation might be "very different".
Watch out for those elevator shafts, Kojo. And I wouldn't go fishing with Dad, either.
The Volcker commission has already described how Fred Nadler, the brother-in-law of former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali, apparently helped Mr Sevan, the head of the program, to set up an Iraqi oil deal with Fakhry Abdelnour, a cousin of Mr Boutros-Ghali.
It's another Family Affair moment
The former UN chief has refused to take the blame for the oil-for-food scandal, saying oil was smuggled outside the program by Baghdad, which had direct dealings with Syria, Turkey and Iran.
Mr Boutros-Ghali was UN secretary-general at the start of the program, which was designed to allow Iraq to buy food and medicines to ease hardships caused by UN sanctions. "The members of the UN Security Council and members of the UN share equal responsibility. (A) quantity of oil was smuggled outside the oil-for-food program through direct contact between Iraq and Syria, Iraq and Turkey, and Iraq and Iran," he said last month.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 1:04:12 PM ||
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Goo-fi could save himself a lot of grief if he just resigned already. Dodging blame and pinning things on other people (even his own son) is only prolonging the pain.
#8
doesn't hold water. if he's so concerned with doing the ethical thing, why didn't he get the truth from sonny boy earlier? why didn't he disclose this earlier? why did he go on the defensive? why doesn't he make a big damn deal out of chastizing sonny boy? if he were truly concerned with uncovering the truth, he wouldn't just be trying to get to the bottom of this now - he would have done it all along.
#9
OK. Assume the OFF scandal was worth 12 billion U$D for the sake of argument (some say it was MUCH higher) Divide 365000 by 12 billion, and you find that Kojo's rake off was 3.0416666666666666666666666666667e-5 percent of the whole mess.
So dada Kofi says - It was all the kid's fault...
R-I-G-H-T
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/28/2005 15:08 Comments ||
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#10
"by insisting that his son, Kojo, 29, misled him about payments that Kojo Annan..."
Maybe so, maybe not, but in either event that's exactly why conflict of interest rules extend to close relatives.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/28/2005 16:14 Comments ||
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#11
This is so sad.
I'm considering forming a rescue Mike Squad..... No! Make that Brigade.
I'll likely need airline tickets and a negliable pure dime.... Figure $500 a day and I won't charge my normal fee..... of $14.00 an hour.
:( Man.... talk about being wrong!
#13
All this time I thought the Nigerians were the most corrupt group, with their email spams and stuff. Man the Guinnians (however they spell it) make the Nigerians look like pikers.
"If I am confirmed I will be an international civil servant. I will be president of a multilateral organization with 184 member nations," Wolfowitz said in the interview in Indonesia's leading English-language daily. Sure, you will be just like Kofi, not...
Asked if he would use his position to promote democracy, Wolfowitz said:
"I think people know what I think on that subject, but I think I'll be more effective if I concentrate on those things that lead to poverty reduction and economic development."
Wolfowitz said while issues of corruption and governance were not easy to separate from democracy, he would focus on getting donors to be more generous, developed countries to open their markets and developing nations to tackle corruption. No I swear, I will naver say democracies are cool, not even once...it just wouldn't be very pc to impose our democratic freedoms on the rest of the world...really, it wouldn't
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American ||
03/28/2005 2:30:08 AM ||
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Asked if he would use his position to promote democracy, Wolfowitz said:
"I think people know what I think on that subject, but I think Iâll be more effective if I concentrate on those things that lead to poverty reduction and economic development."
#3
Wolfie detoothed? Maybe in words but not in deeds.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/28/2005 9:12 Comments ||
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C'mon, Wolfie! We got the momentum in our favor now! Look at the street movements in the Ukraine, Iraq, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Taiwan, etc. It's time to slam it home, not back off!
Posted by: Dar ||
03/28/2005 9:58 Comments ||
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#5
UN's a joke. If a leader won't allow his people to vote, how the f*ck does this clown rate a vote at the UN?
#6
Now now, let's settle down. The article says "no preaching." What he meant is, he is not going to keep the status quo, and apply/preach then repeat/rinse, anymore. The baseball bat option will be used more often. In other words, if the turd world dictators don't shape up, guess what, NO LOANS or LOANS w/45% interest. This is Bush's brilliant plan to attack dictators militarily, diplomatically, and financially, respectivily. Personally, I love the plan.
Hat Tip LGF
Roger L. Simon has some important new information on the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal tonight, indicating that Secretary General Kofi Annan may have been much more involved in his son Kojo's activities with Cotecna than we have been led to believe: Special Report #1 - Oil-for-Food Investigation. Say it ain't so. I am in total shock that he would be involved in any way. I think it is time to bring back the surprise meter.
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American ||
03/28/2005 2:22:17 AM ||
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Well, if not the surprise meter, then the surprised man. Mike S, are you out there? Still wanna be Kofi's defense lawyer?
Islamic Education, Science and Culture Organization (ISESCO) is preparing to host an international seminar about "alliance of civilizations" in Tunisia next November, ISESCO's Director-General Abdulaziz Al-Tuwaijry said on Friday. The seminar aims at acknowledging the Arab world as a server of international peace and security and a promoter of coexistence and multi-cultural dialogue, Al-Tuwaijry told reporters after he met with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Bin Ali.
Right. We've seen nothing but international peace, security, coexistence, and multicultural dialogue come out of the Arab world for years now...
In a statement quoted by the official Tunisian news agency, ISESCO's director-general said the meeting would be a good opportunity to listen to the Tunisian president's instructions regarding cooperation in private organizations in light of recent international circumstances. The muslim nation, Al-Tuwaijry added, should work hard to correct the globally perceived distorted image of Islam. This requires the activation of ISESCO's role to develop the education, science and culture in its member states. Al-Tuwaijry added that Bin Ali reconfirmed Tunis' support for ISESCO during the meeting and expressed his appreciation for its activities. He expressed his gratitude for the Tunisian president's continuous support for the organization.
I think it'd be a lot better idea if those Arab nations in favor of peace, security, coexistence, and multicultural dialogue established crack hunter-killer teams to hunt down and ruthlessly exterminate those of their citizenry who don't. But maybe that's just me.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Fred - At least your graphic is honest, lol!
Image winning out over Content. It happens all around us - from the PC twinks to the uber-sensitive Death Cult of Islam and their apologists. The absurdity of it boggles.
#2
Am I the only one who started chuckling the phrase "Islamic Education, Science and Culture Organization"?
The seminar aims at acknowledging the Arab world as a server of international peace and security and a promoter of coexistence and multi-cultural dialogue Gotta be a typo or mistranslation. I'm sure they meant 'sewer' rather than 'server'.
Here's a nice short-term compromise that'll result in long-term loss. Eventually it's going to come down to Hezbollah shooting it out with the Lebanese army to decide who's in charge. At that point it won't be Wally.
Lebanese opposition leader Walid Jumblatt has said the Shia resistance group Hizb Allah should keep its weapons until Israel withdraws from a disputed border area. The most prominent face of the country's anti-Syrian opposition, Jumblat made the remark after holding a meeting with Hizb Allah chief Hasan Nasr Allah at the organisation's headquarters in Beirut on Sunday. Afterwards, he said he would not press for Hizb Allah to be immediately disarmed. "The arms issue is not proposed, it is not open to discussion at this stage," Jumblat, who is also the political leader of Lebanon's Druze community, said. "When our ambitions are met, in agreement with the resistance, over Shebaa Farms, then we will talk about arms," he added, referring to a disputed strip on the border between Lebanon, Israel and Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. "We are still attached to protecting the resistance. Later, through dialogue and after obtaining the necessary essential guarantees, we will open up the question of arms."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Eventually it's going to come down to Hezbollah shooting it out with the Lebanese army to decide who's in charge.
What are the chances that a bullet from a Hezbollah weapon will find its way into Jumblatt's head?
The U.S. Navy has agreed to lease a Swedish submarine and its crew for a year so U.S. nuclear-powered subs and other Navy anti-submarine warfare units can practice hunting it. In Norfolk the Fleet Forces Command signed a $17.5 million memorandum of understanding with the Swedish navy under which it will send a Gotland-class sub to San Diego, where Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines will hunt it. The U.S. Navy is interested in studying the quietness of the diesel-powered boats, as the Navy now only operates nuclear-powered submarines. The submarine will provide up to 160 days of service during the contract's term. The submarine's air independent propulsion system allows it to spend up to two weeks at sea, submerged and without snorkeling, while traveling at nearly 6 m.p.h. on batteries alone. While the Swedish boat will be attached to San Diego-based Submarine Squadron 11, the vessel will be Swedish-flagged, commanded, manned and operated, with U.S. Navy personnel aboard as riders and observers. The project will allow U.S. naval personnel to practice acoustic analysis aboard all anti-submarine platforms, including carriers, surface ships and aircraft. The training is timely, as the world's oceans are awash with diesel-powered boats; both China and India operate Soviet Kilo-class submarines, while Pakistan will shortly field French Scorpene-class submarines built under license.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 12:55:48 PM ||
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hmpf... When I was a bootcamp Ensign (ASW Officer) on a Spru-Can I had the same idea. I even suggested it to the ASW schoolhouse in Norfolk.
/jealous of the guy who got it through.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/28/2005 14:21 Comments ||
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#2
Hopefully they leased the Swedish Bikini Team as well.
#3
I, for one, would be happy to escort the female crew members to San Diego sights and possibly dinner....
for the good of national security, of course
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/28/2005 15:48 Comments ||
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#4
Hmmm... escorts!
Posted by: Charlie Sheen ||
03/28/2005 16:13 Comments ||
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#5
Hmmmmm.... escorts!
Posted by: HMS FlapJack ||
03/28/2005 16:15 Comments ||
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#6
The submarine's air independent propulsion system allows it to spend up to two weeks at sea, submerged and without snorkeling, while traveling at nearly 6 m.p.h. on batteries alone
Good for maybe when you get there..... but you gotta get there, 5 kts is for coastal subs.
March 28, 2005: Air Force Chief of Staff John Jumper recently took a check ride in the Eurofighter, making him the first person to have flown both the Eurofighter and the F-22. So far, he is the only person to have done this, and his comments on the two aircraft have raised a point often forgotten by people. That point is that these two aircraft have been designed for different purposes.
The F-22 was intended to be an aerial version of a sniper. It has performed well in tests as a dogfighter, but it is primarily intended to get deep into opposing airspace and to take out the high-value airframes of an opponent. These are better known as airborne early warning planes, taking aircraft, and even the opposition's top fighters. Its chief assets are speed and stealth. To get in close quickly, and to kill its prey with an AMRAAM, then get out. The stealth helps it get in close — the speed shortens the reaction time once the plane is detected (stealth technology only reduces the detection range — albeit the range is greatly reduced). The F-22 is primarily intended for air-to-air combat. Its secondary role of attack is very limited (two JDAMs or eight GBU-30 or GBU-40 Small-Diameter Bombs), but again, stealth and speed play big roles. The stealth gets the plane close, and the speed gives the target very little chance of reacting before the bombs hit the ground. This is not to say the F-22 can't handle a dogfight (there are plenty of F-15 and F-16 pilots who have gone head-to-head with the F-22 who will attest to that). However, if the F-22 is in a dogfight, the pilot has probably found himself in a bad situation. With a planned production run of 179 aircraft (or possibly as high as 277), the F-22 is too important to be risked in a dogfight.
The Eurofighter, on the other hand, is a pure multi-role aircraft. This is a plane that, while it has some stealthy features, is intended to dogfight, win air superiority, or to carry out some attack missions. What roles this plane carries out will often depend on who buys it. Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Austria, and the UK are already confirmed buyers, with Norway and Singapore possibly buying additional planes. The current run of Eurofighter is 620 aircraft. The United Kingdom and Germany will both have more Eurofighters than the United States will have F-22s should the planned production cuts to 179 remain in place.
These two aircraft are more akin to complementary parts of a team. The F-22 would kick in the door, so to speak, taking out key points of the defenses, and allowing the Eurofighter (and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter) to follow, carrying out various airstrikes and carrying out the bulk of the air superiority missions. These two aircraft will be the top aircraft for the United States and Europe, respectively in the early 21st Century.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 9:21:15 AM ||
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#1
I think I know of a good place try out the new capabilities. Well let's see.....oh, I got it. Iran!!
#2
The All-in-one fighters are never economically feasable. It's usually cheaper to buy 3 separate single-role aircraft than it is to squeeze everything into one airframe.
#6
Is this "dogfighter" the same machine from which they were removing the cannon and replacing with an airframe-balancing chunk of concrete?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/28/2005 16:47 Comments ||
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I did some coding work for the AMRAAM test program in an earlier life. I loved working for the military, and I like to imagine that they could tell that.
#1
Not too sure if this is the real goods or a hit piece on Nancy. It doesn't really tell her side of the story.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 9:15 Comments ||
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What's I'm curious about, is that had all the Wanted: paraphernalia been distributed, would there have been a decent chance of a payoff for the money spent?
By Youssef M. Ibrahim
Recent protests in Cairo and Beirut have been organized with the chant of a new Arab movement — kifaya, which is Arabic for "enough." The word is becoming a code for millions who want to seize their destiny, says Saad El Din Ibrahim, an Egyptian democracy advocate and sociologist. The slogan has surfaced in Lebanon's streets, where protesters have demanded a Syrian pullout, and in Cairo, where crowds have asked Hosni Mubarak to move on after 24 years as uncontested president. It is being echoed on TV talk shows, in opinion columns by Arab pundits and is no doubt being advocated by millions of Arabs in the privacy of their homes.
Could this one-word symbol be a harbinger of a muscular, popular Arab revolt such as the movement that guided millions of people in Eastern Europe to topple the Berlin Wall and shed their despotic regimes after the fall of the Soviet Union? Certainly, Lebanon's street demonstrations, for instance, resemble what happened recently in Ukraine, where millions held forth daily until fake elections had to be undone and the opposition candidate eventually won. Syria may very well end up resembling Romania, where the ruling family was lined up in front of a firing squad, such is the anger there.
Whether by accident or by design, President Bush's calls for democracy and tough handling of Arab rulers are provoking reform. Bush drove out the Taliban extremists in Afghanistan, where elections have been held. He pushed Egypt and Saudi Arabia to announce some form of representative elections and promise more. He forced Syria to announce a timetable for withdrawing its troops from Lebanon, pressured Kuwait to allow women to vote in upcoming elections and convinced Libya's Moammar Gadhafi to give up sponsoring terrorists and cough up all his secret files on connections with terror groups around the world.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 9:06:04 AM ||
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WASHINGTON — A lone U.S. ambassador compromised America's hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan for more than two years,The New York Sun has learned.
Ambassador Nancy Powell, America's representative in Pakistan, refused to allow the distribution in Pakistan of wanted posters, matchbooks, and other items advertising America's $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.
Instead, thousands of matchbooks, posters, and other material — printed at taxpayer expense and translated into Urdu, Pashto, and other local languages — remained "impounded" on American Embassy grounds from 2002 to 2004, according to Rep. Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois.
While the American government was engaged in a number of "black" or covert intelligence activities to locate Al Qaeda leaders, Mr. Kirk said, the "white" or public efforts — which have succeeded in the past in leading to the capture of wanted terrorists — were effectively shut down in the months following the September 11 attacks...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/28/2005 9:04:37 AM ||
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#4
Lovely....isn't there a diplomatic post in say, Tierra del Fuego or some other garden spot even more delightful than Pakistan we can put this idjit?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/28/2005 11:49 Comments ||
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I don't agree with what the lady did. But in her position, is'nt she supposed to make a decision based on what she thinks is best for our country. Maybe her belief was that it would make matters worse. If we feel she was wrong, get her out of there, sure. But don't make it so another diplomat won't be afraid to say no when it is a good desision to say no.
#14
If she is given specific instructions, her job is to see that they are carried out. In the absence of specific instructions, she may use her own judgement.
#15
In her position, she is supposed to advance the policies of the President. Period. The way to argue with those policies is behind closed doors. When the decision is made, it is her job to put that policy into effect.
Posted by: too true ||
03/28/2005 12:00 Comments ||
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Article: The senior State Department official denied that Ms.Powell had restricted the distribution of materials touting the reward for Mr. bin Laden and other âhighvalue targets.âThat program â known as Rewards for Justice â was discontinued in Pakistan prior to Ms. Powellâs 2002 arrival because it was âineffective,âthe senior official said.At the time, the Rewards for Justice program was widely used by other American embassies farther from the center of Americaâs operations to kill or capture key Al Qaeda leaders.
Discontinued prior to her arrival? That is just a travesty. Doing something like this for trade shows in New York costs peanuts. I bet doing it in Pakistan costs less than peanuts.
#17
This is a persistent problem at the State Department, one Colin Powell was supposed to take care of. The "old hands" don't believe the President is wise enough to make foreign policy, and they need to be in charge. Unfortunately, since these dumbs$$$s are all Civil Service, it's almost impossible to get rid of them. One of my classmates from high school works for the State Department, and constantly complains about the lack of common sense and willingness to do what the PRESIDENT wants. She's in the State's intelligence department, and also complains about not being listened to by people who "know better". This is a place that needs intense fumigation, but the civil service rules and unionization of government bureaucrats makes it all but impossible to clean house.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/28/2005 12:56 Comments ||
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#18
Further, it is not her job to refuse to execute according to the laws passed by Congress. The $25m rewards are acts of Congress.
#19
You all have great comments, and I agree an order is an order. I just don't like the press, two years after the fact, deciding that she hindered the search.Two years ago, they would of attacked her had she done it.
I agree Old Patriot. Colin did'nt do some of the things we all hoped he would. But I also see how one of your statements She's in the State's intelligence department, and also complains about not being listened to by people who "know better" could be how she was thinking about her higher ups, like Mr Powell.
Please understand, I don't think she was right, but she is the one who should know how it would be taken in Pakistan. If the State Department really wanted to push it, they should of did it two years ago.
#20
plainslow: I just don't like the press, two years after the fact, deciding that she hindered the search.Two years ago, they would of attacked her had she done it.
This is a story from the New York Sun, NYC's conservative paper. You will not hear much about this from the liberal media. They may surprise me, but I doubt it.
#22
Powell was a go along to get along guy. That's why he got so far and we stopped short in '91.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/28/2005 16:05 Comments ||
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#23
Sorry but she's another dumb liberal politically correct lesbian out of the Janet Reno/ Donna Shalala mold. Why do we inflict porky lesbians on Muslim countries? Not exactly the best way to talk with Muslims.
She has no husband and there are plenty of photos on the internet from which one can surmise her sexuality or perhaps asexuality
Muslim leaders don't appreciate having to interact and negotiate with female ambassadors. Especially grotesque females like this Nancy Powell. You can try to pretend this away, but that's how it is with the Muslims.
I am a big critic of Islam but I don't think the US should be so discourteous as to send such a "female" to represent the United States. She's a politically correct bonehead who compromised our hunt for Bin Laden
#30
Hmmm...she trying out for Chair of International Relations and Studies at UC Boulder? Ph.D waiverable, copies of writing [the applicant or others] accepted.
Islamic militants who want the world to witness their attacks and beheadings in Iraq have engineered new ways to ensure their videos appear on the Internet, defying efforts to banish them from cyberspace.
Leading insurgent groups such as Iraq's al Qaeda wing may struggle to find permanent hosts for their Web sites but can still point surfers to their gory videos and photographs from well-established and less sensational Islamist sites.
In one such Internet clip, a blast and a fireball shake the camera as militants repeat "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) on a video purporting to show this month's truck bombing of a Baghdad hotel. Stray dogs are seen running away from the scene.
Analysts say the fixed sites, which deny having ties to militants and allow postings by ordinary users, have become a reliable platform for militant groups.
"Gone are the times when Islamist sites had to constantly move around. They are more stable now and easier to find, providing a reliable meeting place," said a European defence analyst who declined to be named.
The sites are a powerful propaganda and recruiting tool for militant groups. Despite being a target of the U.S.-led war on terror, they can quickly switch Web hosting companies and authorities have found it difficult to close them.
"It becomes an endless 'whack-a-mole' game, where a site is shut on one server but pops up on another," said Roger Cressey, a former White House official who heads a security consultancy.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq says it will soon launch its permanent site with news of its operations against "crusader" U.S. forces.
That may sound like bad news for Western intelligence agencies, but one analyst said those seeking to limit the impact of the violent postings might prefer the Web sites to be stable.
"There are definite advantages from a security agency's point of view ... sites that are forced to move frequently are harder to keep track of."
For the first time, analysts said, the sites' continuity has provided militant groups with their own media. They have become as essential to news coverage as satellite televisions and news agencies, often breaking news of attacks and beheadings in Iraq.
Even Osama bin Laden's network appears to favour posting his messages online to ensure they are not edited by Arab television under U.S. pressure to deny al Qaeda a propaganda platform.
"They don't need to go to TV stations or the Arab press. They don't need to invite a CNN journalist for an interview, like Osama bin Laden did in the 1990s. They can put messages online," the defence analyst said.
"It's probably just a question of time before we get a live transmission of a decapitation."
Amir Golestan, head of U.S. Web hosting firm Micfo, said the FBI had probed his company's hosting of a top Islamist Web site, Al Ansar, which often carries major militant messages first.
"They (FBI) said if they find any legal issues they will contact us but we have not heard from them," Golestan said, adding that Al Ansar has since moved to another host.
Robert Corn-Revere, a Washington lawyer and expert in free-speech law, said that under U.S. law companies cannot be held liable for hosting Web sites with anti-U.S. content.
"The question is whether (a site) provides material support to a terrorist organisation," he said, adding authorities could then build a case using laws passed since the September 11 attacks.
London-based analyst Paul Eedle, who closely follows pro-al Qaeda sites, said: "Washington proclaims to stand for freedom of speech, so to campaign publicly for closing sites could rebound on it politically."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/28/2005 12:13:12 AM ||
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Iraq's parliament seemed far from a deal on a coalition government, as the country's ethnic and religious factions continued to bicker. A vote on Tuesday would be held to decide the three-man presidency council that would appoint the prime minister even if political parties cannot agree on the rest of the government, said Shia negotiators.
The election-winning Kurds and Shias have been locked in coalition talks since late February. Their task has been made more complicated by both sides' desire to include Sunnis and the Kurdish wish to temper Islamist influence in the Shia bloc by including members of outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi's alliance.
Allawi's top aide, Ibrahim al-Janabi, claimed that Allawi has said he would join a new governing coalition, if clerics stayed out of politics. Allawi put his demands in a letter delivered over 10 days ago to Shia and Kurdish political blocs, said Janabi, adding that the political parties had not replied yet.
Kurds and Shias are also feuding over the post of oil minister, which both sides see as a jewel in the government's crown. "Kurdish negotiators requested the oil minister be appointed by them and we think oil is important and it should be part of the United Iraqi Alliance coalition," said UIA member Saad Jawad.
Security officials opened fire on a crowd of protesters killing one and the top UN envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, met top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, details of the meeting were not released. At the same time, insurgents attacked a police patrol with a roadside bomb in Basra, injuring one civilian, Lt Col Karim Ali Al-Zaydi said. They also damaged an oil pipeline in northern Iraq, halting exports to Turkey.
The US military statement said an unmanned aerial vehicle crashed near Balad.
A senior Kurdish official survived an assassination attempt in Kirkuk, said witnesses and the official. Najat Hassan Karim, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said one of his guards was injured when a roadside bomb targeting his convoy exploded. Congregants gathered at the Virgin Mary Church to celebrate Easter. They wished all factions in their country well and vowed lasting fraternity to Iraq.
Foreign fighters who have entered Iraq in recent months are making up a growing percentage of insurgents battling US troops and the country's fledgling security force, Gen John Abizaid said on Sunday. US officials in Iraq have voiced reservations over some of the names put forward to lead the defence and interior ministries in the next government, a member of the winning Shia alliance said on Sunday.
"The American side has stayed away from the forming of the new government, but it has reservations over candidates that have contact or are in some way being influenced by certain neighbouring countries like Syria and Iran," said Fawaz al-Jarba, a Sunni member of the Shia-dominated UIA.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/28/2005 12:18:27 AM ||
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The percentage of foreign fighters in Iraq is increasing, the top U.S. military official in the region said today.
Speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Mosul, Iraq, Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said most of the insurgents in the country are Iraqis, but "the percentage of foreign fighters over the past several months seems to have increased."
He said this is because fewer Iraqis have decided to resort to violence. "The terrorist groups such as that led by Abu Musab al Zarqawi continue to be very dangerous," he said. Zarqawi, who has claimed responsibility for the most horrendous attacks in the country, is affiliated with al Qaeda. The group is operating primarily in the Sunni areas of Iraq and areas with a mixed population, such as Mosul.
But many Iraqis still are in the insurgency. "Many of the former Baathist criminals, who know they won't have an opportunity to participate in the political future of the country, are continuing to fight," the general said.
But the elections of Jan. 30 encouraged Iraqis, Abizaid said, and the performance of the Iraqi security forces in those elections also is a cause for hope. "Certainly it's better since the election," Abizaid said. "I think continued military operations and continuing strengthening of the Iraqi security forces will make it better still."
He said the most well-established and well-known route for foreign terrorists goes through Syria. Syrian forces know there are cells in Damascus, Aleppo and other Syrian cities that facilitate foreign fighters going to Iraq, he added. "Their security services can find those facilitation cells; they can dismantle them," Abizaid said. "And they can certainly go after the people we have identified by name that are former members of the regime that are coordinating actions inside Syria."
The general stopped short of saying the Syrian government is making sure foreign fighters get through to Iraq. "I won't go so far as to say that these groups have the active support of the Syrian government," he said, "but the Syrians certainly aren't doing enough to shut off their support for the insurgency."
He said Iran is also paying close attention to what is happening in Iraq. "We know that Iranian intelligence services people were involved with Muqtada al-Sadr during the uprisings back in April," he said, "and then again in November (Iranian operatives) showed themselves in the Najaf area."
Both Syria and Iran must realize that the best thing that could happen in the region is for a peaceful, prosperous Iraq to take shape, he said.
Abizaid said he is encouraged by all the political maneuvering going on in regard to the formation of the new government in Baghdad, but said "the longer the delay in forming a new Iraqi government, the more uncertainty there will be."
Uncertainty means a greater chance of violence. "My view is the vast majority of people in Iraq, regardless of ethnicity, are moderate people," he said. "They want to move forward to a better era of peace and prosperity. The whole question is whether or not the political leadership can get together and show the statesmanship necessary to move the country together as Iraqis. I'm optimistic they'll be able to do that."
Once the government is established and more Iraqi security forces are trained, there will be "an opportunity for a substantial drawdown in our own forces," he said.
Abizaid had harsh words for Sunni Arab leaders. Many Sunni groups boycotted the election. "There is certainly a Sunni leadership that needs to step forward and lead the Sunni community to participate in the future of a peaceful and prosperous Iraq," he said. "They need to step forward now.
"There are many influential Sunni Arab leaders that can move the community forward," he continued. "They know who they are. They need to step forward, and they need to participate in the future. I believe that the door is open to them."
Abizaid said that it is Iraqis, not Americans or other coalition powers, that will make the decisions in the country. "There is a great opportunity in 2005 for the Iraqi political process to come together, for the Iraqi security forces to come together and for the country to move together toward a brighter future," he said. "We are here to help them make a difference. Whether they seize the opportunity or not is up to them. But we have given them a golden opportunity to move forward in a way that is revolutionary in this part of the world."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/28/2005 12:16:24 AM ||
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Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said most of the insurgents in the country are Iraqis, but âthe percentage of foreign fighters over the past several months seems to have increased.â
He said this is because fewer Iraqis have decided to resort to violence.
The good general has definitively answered my question about the statistics of the situation. I wonder if he reads Rantburg? ;-)
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal secretary general, on Saturday night at a press conference demanded justice for those being arrested for their alleged links with Al Qaeda and condemned the government for making the opposition a scapegoat by implicating them in Al Qaeda-linked cases. The alliance leader said, "We strongly condemn the arrests of youths by several secret agencies keeping them behind bars after being released by the United States and Afghan governments. Our government too should give Al Qaeda-linked suspects a chance to defend themselves."
When he was asked if there were any justice, he was critical of the government's attitude. "Now, it has become a fashion to link opponents with Al Qaeda to avenge itself. Islamabad has no foreign policy and it is implementing the imported policy while Foreign Office is serving as a protocol office."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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LAHORE: A youngster was killed and seven others were badly injured when four armed men opened fire on Christians who were returning from an Easter service on Sunday. Irshad Masih, 22, and his friends Pervaiz Masih, Naeem Masih and Ismail Masih, along with other Christians, were going home when Mukhtar Dogar, Zulfiqar Dogar and two accomplices opened fire on them in the Sattokatala police jurisdiction, police said. Irshad, a resident of Khamba village, had a dispute with Dogar's family over six kanals of land. Both parties had scuffled several times before and a case had also been registered in the court.
The injured were taken to Jinnah Hospital where the doctors pronounced Irshad Masih dead. The others are in critical condition. Irshad's body has been given for an autopsy and police have registered a case on his father's complaint Chaudhry Akhtar Rasool, advisor to the chief minister, visited Jinnah Hospital and inquired about the health of the injured. He directed the hospital administration to provide them free medical treatment. He said the government has taken note of the incident and no stone would be left unturned for the punishment of the culprits.
Rasool said that the government is taking stringent measures for the protection of citizens, especially those belonging to minorities. He expressed grief at the death of Irshad. The police informed Rasool that two suspects have been apprehended and the other two would be arrested soon. He ordered the station house officer (SHO) of Sattokatla Police Station to immediately arrest the remaining suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Authorities imposed curfews in two Indian towns after 11 people were injured in clashes between Hindus and Muslims during a Hindu festival, a news report said on Sunday. A procession of Hindu revelers in the Holi festival of colors was stoned from a rooftop on Saturday by unidentified people in a predominantly Muslim area in Sojat, a town in western Rajasthan state, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted police as saying.
Some shops were burned down as rival groups clashed before police separated them and imposed a curfew in the town, about 270 kilometres southeast of state capital, Jaipur, PTI said. At least 11 people were injured in the clashes, PTI said. Other details were not available. A curfew also was imposed in Utraula in northern Uttar Pradesh state, where Hindus and Muslims set nearly 20 shops on fire as tempers frayed during the festival Saturday, PTI said. Utraula is 560 kilometres southwest of New Delhi. PTI said no fresh violence was reported Sunday in the two towns and authorities would likely lift the curfew later in the day.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The hard headed Mooselimbs are playing with fire, messing with the Hindus.
Iraqi politicians yesterday fought over the Oil Ministry and the role of Islam in the next government, while an Al-Qaeda website posted a video of the purported execution of an Iraqi colonel. Iraq's Parliament, due to meet tomorrow, seemed far from a deal on a coalition government, as the country's ethnic and religious factions bickered two months after Jan. 30 election. Parliament, which held its inaugural session on March 16, will try to put to a vote the crucial three-man presidency council that will appoint the prime minister even if political parties cannot agree on the rest of the government, Shiite negotiators said. The Shiite candidate for prime minister, Ibrahim Jaafari, sought to put an optimistic spin on the talks, despite the apparent deadlock on Cabinet posts. "I think we are pretty much done and we will see a new government in the next few days," Jaafari told Iraqi state television.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Ah yes, the making of a political sausage, best performed behind closed doors. Delicious!
Several thousand members of the Muslim Brotherhood, staging public demonstrations in Cairo, have called for constitutional reforms and for lifting of restrictive emergency laws. The main demonstration, consisting of 1000 people according to authorities and 3000 according to organisers, took place on Sunday at the central Ramses Square after tight security measures prevented them from getting to parliament. Two other gatherings, involving 200 to 300 people each, also took place on Sunday, but in the central Bab al-Luk and Sayyida Zainab districts, authorities said.
Street demonstrations are banned in Egypt thanks to emergency laws that have been in place since President Anwar al-Sadat's assassination in 1981. "End the state of emergency," demonstrators shouted, calling also for "opposition to American interference" in Egyptian affairs and "more constitutional reforms". Commenting on the arrests of about 100 protesters, Dr Isam al-Aryan - a key member of the banned group - told Aljazeera that none had been charged, but that nevertheless they should have been allowed to demonstrate. "The detainees were unionists, professionals, academics, and social figures who were calling for freedom and they should not have been detained", Al-Aryan said.
This article starring:
ISAM AL ARYAN
Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Nothing is ever so bad that it can't be made a little worse.
Sudan is to try 164 suspects, some of them government officials, for abuses including rape and murder in the war-wracked western region of Darfur. The announcement came as the UN Security Council prepared to debate a French draft resolution referring 51 suspects identified by a UN investigation for trial on war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. The state Suna news agency said charges had already been pressed against the 164 by a government-appointment judicial commission of inquiry. "All those suspects, including some government officials, will be sent to the judiciary to stand fair trials," the panel's chairman Muhammad Abd al-Rahim Ali, a high court judge, told Suna in the North Darfur state capital of al-Fashir.
He said 150 of the cases involved alleged offences in North Darfur, and the other 14 accusations from South Darfur. Ali's commission said it would continue receiving and investigating complaints of abuses "without a time limit." The announcement appeared to be an attempt to preempt any move by the UN Security Council to order overseas trials for Darfur war crimes suspects, which Khartoum bitterly opposes. "This proposal is unacceptable and we are going to confront it through dialogue," Foreign Minister Mustafa Usman Ismail said of the latest french draft. Khartoum insists it is a sovereign nation and that prosecutions for offences on its territory should be through the Sudanese courts.
Trying them really, really quick, and then hanging them until they're really, really dead might preempt international action. But we're dealing with the UN, so they might also just go through a few motions until the whole things blows over.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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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.
Bahrain's Sunni groups and clerics have criticised the rally, staged by Al Wefaq, the country's largest Shiite group, on Friday, saying it would lead to tension in the kingdom. Six Sunni societies issued a statement calling on citizens to avoid "any move that could undermine stability and disrupt social peace." "Demanding political reforms should be addressed by the available constitutional means such as the National Assembly," said the statement, issued by Al Asala Islamic Society, Al Shura Islamic Society, the National Democratic Assembly, Al Mithaq Society, the Islamic National Forum Society and the Free Thought Society. "Sit-ins, processions and protests only lead to more political tension," they said. Clerics also criticised the rally as "unlawful" and called on Al Wefaq to abandon any plan for further protests. "The Interior ministry has the right to ban the rally because it was unlawful and illegal," Shaikh Jumaa Tawfiq said during the Friday prayer sermon.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister 
Bahrain warned on Saturday that it would take unspecified measures against the Gulf state's main Shiite opposition group after it organized a mass demonstration in defiance of a government ban. The Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) "will face legal measures after it organized an unlawful demonstration yesterday," Information Minister and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Abdul Ghaffar was quoted by the daily Al-Ayyam as saying. Newspapers carried a similar warning issued by the interior minister late Friday after thousands of people took to the streets of Sitra, the archipelago's third largest island located south of Manama, in response to the INAA's call to press for constitutional reforms. 
A leading Kuwaiti liberal academic said Saturday he has quit writing in protest at a one-year suspended jail term he received last week for "disparaging the Holy Quran" in an article. 
Leaders of the 
Turkey continues to assess a large Kurdish insurgency presence along the border with Iraq. Officials said the Kurdish Workers Party has been bolstering its presence in southeast Turkey near the Iraqi border. They said the presence has grown over the last year amid the migration of thousands of PKK fighters from northern Iraq. [Ret.] Gen. Osman Pamukoglu placed the number of PKK operatives in the Anatolia region at 7,000. At a conference on March 24 at Sakarya University, Pamukoglu said the PKK fighters have been hiding in the mountains in the southeast. "They have received military training in the mountain regions," Pamukoglu said. "They have also been indoctrinated." 
Lebanese opposition leader 
Maulana 
LAHORE: A youngster was killed and seven others were badly injured when four armed men opened fire on Christians who were returning from an Easter service on Sunday. Irshad Masih, 22, and his friends Pervaiz Masih, Naeem Masih and Ismail Masih, along with other Christians, were going home when Mukhtar Dogar, Zulfiqar Dogar and two accomplices opened fire on them in the Sattokatala police jurisdiction, police said. Irshad, a resident of Khamba village, had a dispute with Dogar's family over six kanals of land. Both parties had scuffled several times before and a case had also been registered in the court.
Authorities imposed curfews in two Indian towns after 11 people were injured in clashes between Hindus and Muslims during a Hindu festival, a news report said on Sunday. A procession of Hindu revelers in the Holi festival of colors was stoned from a rooftop on Saturday by unidentified people in a predominantly Muslim area in Sojat, a town in western Rajasthan state, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted police as saying. 
Iraqi politicians yesterday fought over the Oil Ministry and the role of Islam in the next government, while an Al-Qaeda website posted a video of the purported execution of an Iraqi colonel. Iraq's Parliament, due to meet tomorrow, seemed far from a deal on a coalition government, as the country's ethnic and religious factions bickered two months after Jan. 30 election. Parliament, which held its inaugural session on March 16, will try to put to a vote the crucial three-man presidency council that will appoint the prime minister even if political parties cannot agree on the rest of the government, Shiite negotiators said. The Shiite candidate for prime minister, Ibrahim Jaafari, sought to put an optimistic spin on the talks, despite the apparent deadlock on Cabinet posts. "I think we are pretty much done and we will see a new government in the next few days," Jaafari told Iraqi state television.
Several thousand members of the 
Sudan is to try 164 suspects, some of them government officials, for abuses including rape and murder in the war-wracked western region of Darfur. The announcement came as the UN Security Council prepared to debate a French draft resolution referring 51 suspects identified by a UN investigation for trial on war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. The state Suna news agency said charges had already been pressed against the 164 by a government-appointment judicial commission of inquiry. "All those suspects, including some government officials, will be sent to the judiciary to stand fair trials," the panel's chairman Muhammad Abd al-Rahim Ali, a high court judge, told Suna in the North Darfur state capital of al-Fashir. 
