Alas, that mythical creature remains as elusive as Nessie, Sasquatch, and the Abominable Snowman.
This chap is actually an operative of the The People's Cube, the same nefarious agents Rovian agents who masterminded "Commies for Kerry."
Al-Qaeda's new leader in Saudi Arabia is a Moroccan, Younus Mohamed al-Hayari, who is number one on a new interior ministry list of the 36 most dangerous terrorists, the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported on Wednesday. The interior ministry released the new list on Tuesday, after al-Qaeda announced that one of the last on an earlier list of 26 most wanted militants - Abdullah al-Rashud - had been killed in Iraq. It is thought 24 of the 26 are now dead or in custody.
Al-Hayari, who is 36 and has a wife and child, entered Saudi Arabia in 1991 to undertake the Haj pilgrimage. He has reportedly not left the country since then and has gone underground. He was last seen east of the capital, Riyadh.
Most of the interior ministry's 36 most wanted militants are Saudi Arabian, 15 of whom are believed to be in the kingdom, and the remaining 21, abroad. The non-Saudis are from Chad, Mauritania and Yemen. One Saudi security consultant, Nawaf Obaid, told the Saudi newspaper Arab News that the new 36 were "second tier" militants who had worked for more senior figures, most of whom have been killed or captured.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Matt ||
06/30/2005 15:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Via Instapundit. Good article, but mainly notable for this quote:
In person Mr Bush is so far removed from the caricature of the dim, war-mongering Texas cowboy of global popular repute that it shakes oneâs faith in the reliability of the modern media.
Posted by: Matt ||
06/30/2005 15:49 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It's a pity that ol' GW has the speechifying abilities of Yoda, too. Still, there is a certain advantage, both in business and in politics, to be mistaken for a doofus by your competitors.
Terrorism experts say Britain appears to be an important link in an international network that is recruiting suicide bombers and jihadists for Iraq. They say the network has links via Damascus to the Iraqi border.
The problem was brought into focus after British police questioned a man detained in the northern city of Manchester recently. The man allegedly provided shelter to 41-year-old Idris Bazis, a French-Algerian who died as a suicide bomber in Iraq in February.
Bazis came to Britain from France one year ago and was allegedly smuggled through Syria to the Iraqi border province of Anbar.
"The security services in a number of different European countries know individuals that may have traveled out. They have disappeared. They have received information they're crossing into specific countries that are launch pads into Iraq," says Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. "Also, we have investigations from Iraq of individuals, and we can trace back those individuals. They have a sort of potential network in individual countries."
London police have also arrested another man, 32-year-old Racid Belkacem. He is wanted by the Netherlands on charges of terrorist recruitment, possession of firearms, and forgery.
Amer Haykel, a Briton of Lebanese origin, was arrested in Mexico. He is thought to have links to Al-Qaeda and those who plotted the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States.
Ranstorp says the terrorist recruitment process is of great concern to the European Union. He says the bloc is working to prevent the next generation from "joining up to radical jihadist ideology."
"I think that Britain has expended a lot of energy in this area," Ranstorp says. "They are particularly working hard on the issue of terrorism finance. And I think this has been very successful in unearthing a number of different networks that have been engaged in the more logistical area or providing the building blocks for terrorism."
But David Carlton, a senior lecturer in international relations and a specialist in terrorism at the University of Warwick in Britain, takes a more critical view.
"There are considerable numbers of people who regard Britain as a relatively safe place in which to operate," Carlton says. "The French security services are very critical of the British. They speak of Britain as the kind of safe haven for people from North Africa who would not be allowed to move around freely in France."
Ranstorp points out, however, that several individuals holding French passports have been identified within the insurgent network in Iraq. He also points to Britain's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which he says is performing "excellent" coordination among different agencies. The task, however, is not easy.
"I think it's very difficult for them. They're expending resources on all sorts of other different threats that are in the vicinity, not just individuals going to Iraq," Ranstorp says. "They have to worry about elements that may pose a real and present danger to British security."
Also, no one knows exactly how many extremists there are. Ranstorp says their numbers, although small, can only be approximated.
"We should also remember that the European dimension is very, very small in comparison to the real bulk of all the foreign jihadists," Ranstorp says. "And most of them come from Saudi Arabia, and also from the Arabian peninsula, as well as, of course, from Syria and from North Africa."
Carlton says a combination of diplomatic pressure and better border controls could be used to close the European link through Syria. This, however, may not solve Iraq's border infiltration by terrorist networks.
"If for some reason the Syrian conduit were closed, maybe there are other conduits that cannot be easily controlled," Carlton says. "After all, Iraq has quite a significant number of neighbors, few of which are reliably pro-Western."
He says closing the North African link through Europe will be much more difficult.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If for some reason the Syrian conduit were closed
I can think of lots of reasons. Like the 4th ID in Damascus.
LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair firmly denied Wednesday that the Bush administration signaled just months after Sept. 11 that a decision was made to invade Iraq, saying he was ``astonished'' by claims that leaked secret memos suggested the U.S. was rushing to war.
In an interview with The Associated Press a day after President Bush delivered a televised defense of the war in Iraq, Blair said defeating the insurgency was crucial to protecting security worldwide, and joined Bush in linking the war with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. ``What happened for me after Sept. 11 is that the balance of risk changed,'' said Blair, interviewed on the stone terrace overlooking the garden of his No. 10 Downing Street offices, where policy meetings on Iraq were held before the invasion.
After Sept. 11, it was necessary to ``draw a line in the sand here, and the country to do it with was Iraq because they were in breach of U.N. resolutions going back over many years,'' he said. ``I took the view that if these people ever got hold of nuclear, chemical or biological capability, they would probably use it.''
Bush needs to say that, over and over again.
Blair was asked about the leaked memos, which suggest strong concerns in the British government that the Bush administration was determined in 2002 to invade Iraq - months before the United States and Britain unsuccessfully sought U.N. Security Council approval for military action. ``People say the decision was already taken. The decision was not already taken.'' Blair said he was ``a bit astonished'' at the intensive U.S. media coverage about the memos, which included minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting between Blair and top officials at his Downing Street office.
According to the minutes of the meeting, Sir Richard Dearlove, then chief of Britain's intelligence service, said the White House viewed military action against Saddam Hussein as inevitable following the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush ``wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD'' , read the memo, seen by the AP. ``But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.''
In the interview, Blair said raising such concerns was a natural part of any examination of the cause for war. ``The trouble with having a political discussion on the basis of things that are leaked is that they are always taken right out of context. Everything else is omitted from the discussion and you end up focusing on a specific document,'' he said. ``It would be absolutely weird if, when the Iraq issue was on the agenda, you were not constantly raising issues, trying to work them out, get them in the right place,'' he said.
"Context" isn't the strong suit of the Democrats right now.
Blair suggested that ensuring victory in Iraq was now more important than debating the case for invasion. ``The most important thing we can do in Iraq is concentrate on the fact ... that what is happening there is a monumental battle that affects our own security,'' he said. ``You've got every bad element in the whole of the Middle East in Iraq trying to stop that country (from getting) on its feet and (becoming) a democracy.''
Blair echoed Bush's pledge a day earlier to keep U.S. forces in Iraq until the fight is won. ``There is only one side to be on now and it is time we got on it and stuck in there and get the job done, and not leave until the job is done,'' he said.
While Blair's close ties to Bush have cost him with voters at home, he said it's that relationship which allows the countries to talk about tough issues. ``My support for America is not based on you give us support for this and you get that in return,'' Blair said. ``I should only do what is right for Britain. The president should only do what is right for America, and we should both try to do what is right for the world.''
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
But, but, Nancy and Harry and Howie all said it proved, um, something! And it was really really important and uh, Bush Lied! And Haliburton died! And um, er...
Blah blah right-wing Rumsfeld warmonger chickenhawk evil Bushies Wolwowitz and his neocon cabal for oiloiloiloiloiloil blah blah ignorant stupid bloodthirsty morons, the real axis of evil on a ranch in Crawford and blah blah blah no WMD he lied, Bushitler lied, people died died died tie-dyed peace peace peace down with the Zionists! peace peace Kyoto! they hate us they hate us they hate us and what can we do and root causes and root causes and blowback and Plame and Plame and Chalabi Plame Wilson blah blah blah unilateral multinational Halliburton Enronism crony capitalism and itâs all about oiloiloiloil blah blah blah, cowboyish disregard for allies, for the wishes of the world community who rise up against us, the terrorist threat is overblown and anyway, itâs all our fault because we gave Saddam his weapons to begin with, photo of Rummy and Hussein, but make no mistake, he no longer has those weapons because inspections worked, containment worked, and blah blah blah Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan handle it, Roy, handle it handle it, Caspian pipeline oiloiloiloil blah blah blah show me the stockpiles, anthrax CIA plant Richard Clarke said so and we believe him because and unless unless unless Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib, square-jawed cocksucking military jarhead torturing fucks, bring home our troops! We care about the troops! We support the troops and donât you question our patriotism our love for this fucking filthy crass consumerist bullying country of redneck dolts and biblethumping bourgeois suburbanites with their SUVs and where are the CAFE standards fight the real terror, eco-terror, Israel, the US, imperialist colonialist racist homophobic hegemonic and blah blah blah blah blah because dissent is patriotism and fighting against your country is really fighting for your country and our dissent keeps the nation strong and weâre brave and heroic and up is down and black is white and oiloiloiloiloiloiloiloil blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.â¢
-Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom
#2
If I remember correctly, everyone in the U.S. was howling for blood right after the 9-11 attack and congress overwhelminly approved the invasion. It's a little late now to decide we don't have the belly for it. Screw those A-holes, they had it coming, anyone who is even remotely connected to 9-11 has it coming.
#5
Step right ladies and gents, come see the fabulous NanoLink. Worlds smallest link right here in Rantburg. Who would believe a link could be made so small. Yes, it's a living breathing link. It is clickable and changes colors before your very eyes. Right here in Rantburg. Be amazed. This is suitable for the entire family.
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has video tapes showing gunmen's preparations for terrorist attacks, including the fall 2002 theater siege in Moscow.
Nikolai Shepel, the deputy prosecutor general, said an arms cache discovered on June 22 in Ingushetia (North Caucasus) also contained an archive that is thought to have belonged to Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.
Shepel said prosecutors had authentic videocassettes showing preparations for terrorist attacks.
"We have tapes showing attacks on government buildings in December 2002 and preparations for the theater siege. The tapes show other facilities in Moscow, such as airports," Shepel said.
Shepel said the cassettes would help investigators uncover the reasons behind and the circumstances of the attack on the theater and other attacks that were planned but not carried out.
Information on the cache came from a member of the gang that seized a school in the North Ossetian town of Beslan, the North Caucasus, in September 2004. The investigation into the Beslan tragedy has uncovered a whole network of illegal extremist organizations in southern Russia that are seeking to force the secession of individual Federation members from the Russian state.
Shepel said investigators were continuing to study the archive. "So far they have only watched the video tapes, because this could be done quicker than anything else," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A hiding place was found in Karabulak on June 22 during the investigation of the case on the activities of an international terrorist network in southern Russia. The objects found there are believed to be an electronic archive of Shamil Basayev, Nikolai Shepel, Deputy Prosecutor-General of Russia, said at a press conference here on Thursday.
âWe are ready to show part of the archive to journalists, including the materials dealing with the preparation for the act of terrorism, staged in Grozny in December 2002, and the original film featuring the blowing up of the complex of government buildings in the Chechen capital,â Shepel continued. In his opinion, the archive found in Karabulak may help investigate the case and expose cells of the international terrorist network.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There go the copyrights and trade secrets of Ol' Nasty Peg Leg B.
SEOUL - US and South Korean forces can deter and defeat North Korea even if the reclusive communist state has several nuclear weapons, a senior US military officer said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday. The commander of the US forces in South Korea, General Leon LaPorte, said the US military believed North Korea had one to two nuclear weapons at a minimum, and was also working to advance its missile programme.
âWhether North Korea has one or several nuclear weapons does not change the balance on the peninsula,â LaPorte told South Koreaâs PBC radio in an interview taped on Tuesday, according to a transcript provided by the station. âThe US and the Republic of Korea retain our ability to deter North Korean aggression and, if required, to decisively defeat the North Korean threat if they were to threaten South Korea,â he said.
LaPorte said the United States was fully committed to talks aimed at ending the Northâs nuclear weapons programmes and sought a diplomatic solution to the crisis. LaPorteâs comments may cause North Korea to try to draw more attention to its nuclear programme through boasts or perhaps more provocative measures, an analyst said.
âNorth Korea may try to create new tensions by prodding neighbouring countries and trying to re-alert them about its nuclear capabilities,â said Jeung Young-tae from the Korea Institute for National Unification. US officials have repeatedly said Washington has no intention of attacking the North.
LaPorte also said the US military believed the North had a substantial missile programme, which included long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that could hit the mainland United States if the North succeeded in increasing their power.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
âThe US and the Republic of Korea retain our ability to can deter North Korean aggression"
#3
One Ohio class SSBN could defeat North Korea.*
*Model shown with optional accurate targeting data. See Chinese Governement, Belgrade Embassy vs. Central Intelligence Agency. Offer not available in Massachusetts or California, or where voided by law.
Pyongyang, June 29 (KCNA) -- This year marks the 30th anniversary of the start of the three-revolution red flag movement. In this regard, Rodong Sinmun Wednesday carries an editorial, which says it is a mass movement of the highest form and when it is steadily developed in depth the Songun revolutionary cause will be brilliantly accomplished. The general march of the Songun revolution today is a work for vigorously stepping up the building of a great prosperous powerful nation by thoroughly embodying the Songun idea in all fields of social life, the editorial says, and continues:
Big breath now --
The three-revolution red flag movement must be intensified under the uplifted banner of three revolutions, ideological, technical and cultural, in order to train the people into true vanguard fighters boundlessly faithful to the Songun cause of the Workers' Party of Korea and rebuild the national economy with modern technology at an early date, as required by the building of a great prosperous powerful nation, and let Songun revolutionary culture come into full bloom all over the society.
Pant, pant ... whew!
To develop the movement in depth is a very important work to consolidate the single-minded unity of the Korean revolutionary ranks in every way by modeling the whole society on the Songun idea and a main guarantee for bringing a new turn in building a great prosperous powerful nation.
What is most important in developing the movement in depth at present is to prepare all the members of the society as unequivocal adherents, stout defenders and resolute executors of the Songun idea, keeping a tight hold on the ideological revolution as the main point.
Full play should be given to the might of the movement in socialist economic construction. The flame of the movement should be made to leap higher in farming, the main front of socialist economic construction this year. A steady productive upsurge should be effected through an intensified drive to win the three-revolution red flag at all units of key industries such as power, coal and metal industries and railway transport.
The editorial calls on all the units to wage the movement with redoubled vigor to meet the requirements of the Songun era and thus bring about a decisive turn in building a great prosperous powerful nation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I remember reading if the loose their latest Kimmy button or award from their shirts... Its a bullet to the head...
So if one day they have a headache ...
does that mean they are interfering with the Three Reveloution Red Flag Movement and need to be shot on sight as and example???
#4
News Flash
Ted Turner today announced he will be changing the company moniker to SNN, the Songun News Network.
After listening to the mesmerizing speech of our glorious leader, Ted Turner fell to his knees and shouted "we're not worthy, we're not worthy". Furthermore Mr. Turner announced that he will be sending his entire herd of American Bison to the critically impoverished economically challenged country to feed the most needy of all it's citizens... The glorious communist leadership.
#1
Members of the radical Islamic Youth Movement later revealed they had been there at the time, but claimed they fired weapons only during hunting trips.
I thought gun ownership was severely restricted in Australia.
Posted by: DO ||
06/30/2005 0:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
He had a willing audience. From the moment he left prison, Jamal became one of the 24/7s. He quickly established links with like-minded radicals and tried to recruit more to his cause. He was by then an ardent follower of the Wahabi strand of Islam, a hardline group that interpreted the term jihad in its literal sense: to violently oppose anything that clashed with the traditional teachings of the prophet Mohammed. This included the secular ways of Australian society.
It needs to be stopped here, not after the fact. Sigh.
#3
Just how ugly things can turn when any of the police or security agencies turn away -- even for a moment -- was hammered home early last year when Jamal, despite being on Supreme Court bail, was arrested in Lebanon on terrorism offences. He was found to have fled Australia using the passport of a friend who resembled him. Late last year Jamal was found guilty of plotting attacks within Lebanon and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
When are these mooks going to start turning up dead? House fires, car accidents, falls down elevator shafts. Think their wannabe followers might get the message if shit like that started happening?
Before a CIA paramilitary team was deployed to snatch a radical Islamic cleric off the streets of Milan in February 2003, the CIA station chief in Rome briefed and sought approval from his counterpart in Italy, according to three CIA veterans with knowledge of the operation and a fourth who reviewed the matter after it took place.
The previously undisclosed Italian involvement undercuts the accusation, which has fueled public resentment in Italy toward the United States, that the CIA brashly slipped into the country unannounced and uninvited to kidnap an Italian resident off the street.
In fact, former and current CIA officials said, both the CIA and the Italian service agreed beforehand that if the unusual operation was to become public, as it has, neither side would confirm its involvement, a standard agreement the CIA makes with foreign intelligence services over covert operations.
Last Thursday, an Italian magistrate issued arrest warrants for 13 U.S. intelligence operatives. The warrants charged that they kidnapped a suspected terrorist, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr -- also known as Abu Omar -- held him hostage at two U.S. military bases and then flew him to Cairo, where he alleged to his wife in a phone call that he was tortured under interrogation.
The CIA "told a tiny number of people" about the action, said one intelligence veteran in the management chain of the operation when it took place. "Certainly not the magistrate, not the Milan police."
It is unclear how high in the Italian intelligence service the information was shared or whether the office of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was aware. It was not shared with the magistrate issuing the warrants, who works independently from the national government.
The Italian court case offers an accidental glimpse into how U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies coordinate and communicate on sensitive counterterrorism matters in ways that are expressly kept secret, even from other parts of their governments. This bifurcation between stated policies and secret practices has become more common since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as the CIA has sought cooperation from other governments to covertly apprehend and transport suspected terrorists to undisclosed locations without legal hearings.
The CIA has conducted more than 100 of these apprehensions, known as extraordinary rendition, since Sept. 11, according to knowledgeable intelligence officials.
In Italy, the justice department and public have been demanding answers from the United States and their own government since Nasr disappeared as he was walking to a mosque on Feb. 17, 2003. And justice departments and government investigators in other countries have begun to unearth information about their governments' roles in apprehensions once thought to be the work of the CIA alone.
In Sweden, an inquiry discovered that Swedish ministers had agreed to apprehend and expel two Egyptian terrorism suspects in 2002 but called the CIA for help in flying them out of the country when they could not charter a flight quickly to take the suspects to Egypt.
A former CIA official said the covert operation was exposed after the CIA paramilitaries drew attention to it by arriving commando-style, in semi-opaque masks, and "went through the standard drill as if they were arresting Khalid Sheik Mohammed," the architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In Canada, a government inquiry has revealed a greater role by Canadian intelligence in the Justice Department's secret 2002 "expedited removal" of a Syrian-born Canadian citizen to Syria after he was detained as he changed flights at a New York airport.
The CIA and a spokesman for the Italian Embassy in Washington yesterday declined to comment on the Milan case or this article.
Officials involved in the Milan operation at the time said it was conceived by the Rome CIA station chief, organized by the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, and approved by the CIA leadership and by at least one person at the National Security Council. The station chief has since retired but remains undercover.
The Italian operation was highly unusual even in the context of 100 renditions.
In most, if not all, other post-Sept. 11 renditions, the security service of the foreign country has apprehended the suspect, then transferred him into CIA custody. In the Italian case, operatives from the CIA's paramilitary branch, the Special Activities Division, were dispatched, making the risk of disclosure much higher.
Two of the CIA veterans said the operatives became directly involved because, by 2003, counterterrorism operations had become the main thing the agency's leadership and the White House cared about. "Everyone wanted into the game," a CIA officer said. "The CIA chief in Italy wanted to have a notch in his belt."
Current and former CIA officials offered conflicting accounts of whether anyone outside the Rome station chief's counterpart at Sismi, as Italy's military intelligence unit is known, was informed.
One U.S. government official involved with the operation said the Italians approved it "at the national level, among senior people."
But another CIA officer who reviewed the operation after it took place said it was highly unusual because "it should have been the head of service to the head of service" -- meaning then-CIA Director George J. Tenet speaking directly to his counterpart, Gen. Nicolo Pollari. "There's none of that . . . this is pretty abnormal."
Sometime after his apprehension on the night of Feb. 17, 2003, Nasr was secretly transported to Egypt, where he was detained on terrorism-related charges. When Egyptian authorities released him and placed him under house arrest, he called his wife in Italy, asserting that he had been tortured and describing his abduction. Nasr's whereabouts are unknown. People familiar with the case believe he is likely back in custody.
According to court records, the CIA operatives left paper and electronic trails that allowed Italian prosecutors and police to track their movements and associations as if they were pursuing an organized crime network, and to identify at least one CIA officer, the base chief in Milan, by his real name.
The chief left the country shortly after the operation was discovered, according to several CIA veterans. The paramilitary team and other CIA operatives who participated are also long gone, and it is highly unlikely the U.S. government would confirm their identities or extradite them for trial.
"They just won't be able to go back to Europe," quipped one CIA veteran.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Does anyone else get that funny feeling that this might have been intentionally bungled by some of those CIA types that Goss is trying to root out - to try to embarrass the US? Just wondering. The thing stinks. Something's not right about this whole fumblimg kluzty mess.
#2
nah, dot com. Look at who printed the above leak - the WaPo. They dont usually print leaks that defend the Admin, let alone on page 1, which i think this was. No, sounds to me more like the issue here is that it was NOT bush under attack, but the CIA, and the CIA (old line) is using WaPo for defense. Where the leak to the magistrate happened I dont know, but Id suspect on the Italian side.
#3
Lh - "the CIA (old line) is using WaPo for defense" -- well that certainly rings true. You're probably right - I just find myself amazed that any CIA team from any time period would have been this klutzy. Yeah, they pulled off the grab, but the rest is just startling in its amateurism. Sigh. Hurry Goss, hurry.
#4
Before a CIA paramilitary team was deployed to snatch a radical Islamic cleric off the streets of Milan in February 2003, the CIA station chief in Rome briefed and sought approval from his counterpart in Italy, according to three CIA veterans with knowledge of the operation and a fourth who reviewed the matter after it took place.
The previously undisclosed Italian involvement undercuts the accusation, which has fueled public resentment in Italy toward the United States, that the CIA brashly slipped into the country unannounced and uninvited to kidnap an Italian resident off the street.
If the guy was indeed a radical Islamic cleric (having a history of spouting off anti-American and anti-Western b/s), why get all upset about him being spirited away? At least the troublemaker is off your soil.
#5
Because it ain't polite, BAR. You notify the home team and seek an ok first. If that's denied, you consider how badly you want the guy, and whether he's worth the potential shitstorm. And how likely the home team might be to rat you out.
Posted by: G Smiley ||
06/30/2005 16:19 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The Italian "government" is glad to see this POS gone off their streets. It's some Commie terrorist loving "magistrate" sturing up trouble. The Italian government is only reacting the way it must.
#9
Forget grabbing them, capture one and force him to wear a suicide bomb belt for fear his family will be killed and buried with pig guts. Have him get close to the target and boom. Start using a few of their own tactics but don't take credit for it. Ah, make sure Hezbollah gets credit.
Forement confusion, distrust, and hatred amung our enemies. Silence those who are preaching Jihad and recruiting for our enemies. And kill a few in the process.
Posted by: Black Bart ||
06/30/2005 18:27 Comments ||
Top||
#10
I think that the charges by the magistrate are coming from the Italian resentment to our accidently whacking the Italian agent in the recent hostage rescue. My guess would be that the hope was to demonstrate that the CIA did cowboy type moves as well. Releaseing the fact that the Italian governement had knowledge of the raid undercuts that argument but may end up damaging Berlusconi.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 20:45 Comments ||
Top||
June 30, 2005: European press sources report Greece is investigating allegations that "Greek volunteers" participated in the July 1995 massacre of Bosnians in the town of Srebrenica, Bosnia. Though the allegations of Greek participation are (at the moment) thinly sourced, there were numerous rumors dating back to 1992 of "Orthodox volunteers" serving with Serb paramilitaries-- Orthodox as in the "foreign" volunteer claimed to be a member of one of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The Greek press mentioned Greek volunteers operating in Bosnia in 1995. The latest press reports (from Britain's Independent) now refer to the volunteers serving in the "Greek Volunteer Brigade." The rumors Jim Dunnigan and I heard in the early Nineties suggested a few dozen "non-Serb" volunteers might be participating (a "brigade" in propaganda terms, not military terms). Here's the scenario: A Greek "ultra-nationalist" who "hates Turks" decides to head north to Bosnia because he sees "the Serbs are doing something about the Turks." In his mind "Bosnian Muslim" means "Turk." All this character has to do is take a bus from Athens to Belgrade and then ask for an automatic rifle. An investigation may reveal there were far more than a "few dozen" who took the bus to Belgrade. If the Serb paramilitaries' use of Orthodox volunteers echoes Al Qaeda's appeals to fellow Islamist radicals-- guess what, it's the same dark stroke, though there's no evidence the Serbs were ever as well-organized as Al Qaeda in terms of foreign recruitment. Greece appears to be investigating it's own citizens' possible participation in terrorist murder. When Saudi Arabia conducts similar prosecutorial investigations we'll know the War on Terror has turned a major corner.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 09:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
nahhh Aris (according to his web journal) nearly wet himself with excitement his first couple hrs of guard duty..he's be an old hand if he'd done this, and I don't see him volunteering for anything :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2005 15:26 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"nearly wet himself with excitement his first couple hrs of guard duty." It's because they give you a gun, lots of ammo, and tell you get to shoot bad guys if they attack. I felt the same way my first time walking a post. After an hour or so I was hoping for an all-out attack just so I could let loose with full auto. Probably were Greek volunteers as well as American and other nationalities. I worked with a larger number of Croatians during the Kosovo campaign, lots of Arabs went to fight (and flee) in Bosnia, so no reason the other side didn't get help from outside the country
Controversial University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill says he does not advocate "fragging" U.S. military officers in spite of how recent comments he made have been portrayed.
"Conscientious objection removes a given piece of the cannon fodder from the fray," he said. "Fragging an officer has a much more impactful effect."
I heard the audio on Fox, and that's exactly what he was saying in that wooden, stick-up-his-butt delivery.
His remarks were posted Sunday on the Pirate Ballerina blog site, which carries mostly anti-Churchill content. On Wednesday, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly played a tape of the remarks.
Reached at his home in Boulder County on Wednesday night, Churchill said the comments were made merely to spark discussion and not to take a position on fragging, which is the killing or injuring of an officer in combat by a subordinate.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
He's not taking a position? Sure. And nightingales can't carry tunes.
He said that his remarks were being taken out of context and sensationalized in an effort to drive him from his job as a CU professor. "I neither advocated nor suggested to anyone, anything," Churchill said. "I asked them to think about where they stood on things."
According to the tape, Churchill, while speaking about being a conscientious objector, asked his audience: "Would you render the same support to someone who hadn't conscientiously objected, but rather instead rolled a grenade under their line officer in order to neutralize the combat capacity of their unit?"
When one of the forum's attendees said that the impact such a fragging might have on the officer's family should be considered, Churchill replied, "How do you feel about Adolf Eichmann's family?" Eichmann, Eichmann, this beauzeau IS a one-note samba. Apologies to any sheet music that got offended.
Churchill said Wednesday night that he found it "interesting" that he spoke for more than two hours that night and that a few remarks were "spun out of context." What he meant by the remarks, he said, was: "Think about what you're talking about and what you're doing. Think, in other words. ... If we can all take a deep breath, I'm not talking to a roomful of troops. Nobody in that room is going to frag an officer. ... I didn't tell anyone in that room to do a damn thing except think."
There have been calls for Churchill's removal as a tenured professor at the state school, and the university has launched an investigation into his academic activities. One slap on the wrist, coming up.
Churchill has been accused of plagiarism, academic fraud and misrepresenting his Native American heritage. He is under investigation by the school's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct. CU interim chancellor Phil DiStefano could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
#2
"How do you feel about Adolf Eichmann's family?"
Quite right, tu3031. This obsession with Eichmann is especially old. Reinforcing the idea that, left to his own devices, he doesn't have on original thought in his head.
#5
He is under investigation by the school's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct.
No one needs to make an effort to take "his remarks ... out of context and sensationalized in an effort to drive him from his job as a CU professor."
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2005 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
#6
hmmm, may explain why his student ratings were down this past semester
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 14:55 Comments ||
Top||
#7
More Slipspeak from another learned idiot. He was not advocating just throwing about idearz and saying what people have said you know? Only wanted to spark discussion eh?
#10
Wasn't Ward an armed robber at one point? By his reasoning every crackhead is a revolutionary when he holds up a Seven 11. The trick is just to develop a bogus rationale for why the victim is a nazi and add some footnotes. His gig only works in free societies. Real nazis would have publically executed him the first time he made a peep against the governement. Well, maybe that's not accurate. Churchill biggest sin is projection.If the Nazis took over tomorrow he might be their Eichman, but he would have to Jello-wrestle Michael Moore for the honor.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 17:56 Comments ||
Top||
#11
SH: Jeebus! *Visual Alert*!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2005 19:04 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I didn't tell anyone in that room to do a damn thing except think.
#13
America is being compared to the Nazis from the Senate floor for the crime of treating our enemies in detention better than we treat our Marine recruits in training.
The dictionary defines "sedition" as "speech or action promoting discontent or rebellion against a government."
Title 18 of the U.S. Code Chapter 115 is titled,
"Treason, Sedition and Subversive Activities."
Title 18 defines "treason" as follows:
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death.
Start carrying out the sentance!!
Shoot the treasonist Bastard...
EFLOf the four used subs Canada acquired from Britain for $891 million, Halifaxâs HMCS Windsor is the only one that can go to sea. HMCS Victoria has stopped sailing from its British Columbia base and will go into an extended docking work period next month that will last almost two years. âWe have no choice,â said Lieut. Diane Grover of navy public affairs.
âItâs reality, but itâs very unfortunate. We are losing some valuable operational training with these vessels, having had them tied up alongside, and now having this mandated requirement to do some overhaul.â Victoria needs to be recertified as âsafe to dive,â Grover said. âItâs a time-limited certification, and itâs expiring,â she said.
Oh, it'll dive all right. Getting it to come back up is the problem.
Chicoutimi went into a Halifax drydock last month. The navy predicts fixing the sub could cost as much as $15 million and take 18 months.
The navy expects to see its first sub fully operational and able to fire torpedoes by 2009. Any date on when the Canadian Forces can expect to be taken seriously again?
The [Upholder Class] operational role was reconnaissance in waters too shallow for SSN's , and to provide training. The initial requirement for twelve boats was cut to ten, and then the 1990 - 91 Defence Review cut the class to four.
By [the] time the Cold War was over, their recon role was no longer needed. In the hard financial climate of the day, it was decided that the Submarine Branch should be all nuclear. [The] boats were taken out of service in 1994, and laid up in Barrow Docks...
#9
My father grew up in canada and tells me there are less than 10,000 military troops left in the country. If this is true I think I am getting a pretty good picture of why canada wouldnt get on board with this "war on terror" thing. They cant afford socialized "everything" and a military too.
So, they will just roll over and hope we will protect them with our missile defense system that they elected not to take part in.
#10
Too Many Americans think of Canada as the northern suburbs of the U. S. A betteer way to look at it is the western departments of France. Do that and France makes sense.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/30/2005 16:04 Comments ||
Top||
#11
I still don't get it. The Upholders were/are supposed to be a very advanced sub with little wear and tear. I wonder if the Brits sandbagged for a few years... or did maintenance fall off or what? I'd like to think they didn't take advantage of their Canadian buds.
#14
Looks they they had a design flaw: An investigation into the fire raised concerns about the placement of wires in two areas: near Bulkhead 56 in the engine room and Bulkhead 35 underneath the commanding officers' cabin. Two sets of cables are located low on the sub's wall, near deck level. As a result, they face the possibility of short-circuiting if immersed in sea water.
That's exactly what happened aboard Chicoutimi last Oct. 5 as it started its maiden voyage to Canada from Scotland in rough seas. When sea water poured through two open hatches in the sub's conning tower, the electrical lines beneath the bunk in the captain's cabin were soaked through, causing a short circuit and subsequent fire. The blaze claimed the life of Lieut. Chris Saunders, a combat systems engineer from Halifax.
The documents, known as deficiency identification reports, show engineers are considering moving the lines, possibly to the ceiling, away from potential hazards.
All four submarines have had a history of glitches since they were acquired from Britain in a $891-million lease-to-purchase deal. Deficiency reports show the placement of the cables has been a source of irritation for engineers for some time.
In 2003, repair crews aboard HMCS Windsor traced a loose connection - or ground fault - to Bulkhead 56 in the engine room. They had to tear apart the insulation box to get at the problem. A civilian contractor had to be called in to rebuild the junction.
The military's inquiry into the Chicoutimi fire noted that Bulkhead 35 - the junction beneath the captain's bunk - was never visually inspected after the used sub was refurbished because it was an in an awkward place.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 16:48 Comments ||
Top||
#15
MMMMM Canadian Sub with Canadian Bacon, Turkey, lettuce, Tomoto, and Mayo. I hear they serve them at Subway.
#17
I talked to the guy who cuts my yard. He wants to bid on this $15M contract to move some cables. I wouldn't let him bid though - he doesn't trim around the house very well. You would want more attention to detail for work on submarines. Plus I haven't finished teaching him to drive yet.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 20:17 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Shipman, take advantage? They bent the Canadians over the sofa and made them scream like little girls.
#19
MMMMM Canadian Sub with Canadian Bacon, Turkey, lettuce, Tomoto, and Mayo.
With a side of poutine.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/30/2005 20:37 Comments ||
Top||
#20
Almost as bad as the French with their one aircraft carrier that spends a lot of time in drydock for repairs.
An old liberal joke about Canada (actually an anti-US joke told by Leftists) went like this:
"What do you call a Canadian?
An unarmed American with health care ... har, har, har."
Now the reality ... what do you call a Canadian?
"An American without an armed forces, without the stones to keep the throat-cutters out of his own country, and without a quality health care system. Har, har, har you good little sissies to the north!"
#21
Too Many Americans think of Canada as the northern suburbs of the U. S. A betteer way to look at it is the western departments of France. Do that and France makes sense.
Yup, Mrs D. That's how I read it too.
Posted by: too true ||
06/30/2005 21:32 Comments ||
Top||
#22
Tell me, Did Canada really lease/buy these subs so that they could sneak up on illegal fisherman???
#23
The Canucks had better do something - besides emphasizing or prioritizing Political victory [read - Clintons, etal.] ags an enemy [read- USA/Allies = USA], the Commies "Battle/War/Local Zone" strategems also emphasize Commie milfors making extensive use of local natural terrain, geography, and other factors in Active Defense to offset US Milfors and Miltech dominance [read - Time/Space, etc = weapons ags USA].
Two Iraqis who paid alien smugglers in Mexico to help them gain illegal entry to the United States were arrested yesterday by Mexican authorities in a border town near San Diego. The Mexican Attorney General's Office said Samir Yousif Shana and Munir Yousif Shana were taken into custody by Mexican federal agents, along with two suspected alien smugglers, in the Paso del Aguila district of Tecate, some 30 miles east of San Diego. The Iraqis, according to a statement, had made contact with the smugglers in Tijuana, located south of San Diego, who then accompanied them by bus to Tecate. Mexican authorities said investigators were told the Iraqis had been advised by an unidentified person in Baghdad that he could arrange for them to be smuggled across the U.S. border once they got to Mexico. The Baghdad smuggler demonstrates that the porousness of the U.S.-Mexico border is becoming "common knowledge" on the Arab street, one U.S. law-enforcement official said yesterday. U.S. national security officials have fretted often in the past about the Mexican border being an attractive conduit for Islamic terrorists.
The statement from the Mexican Attorney General's Office said the Iraqis have family members who live in the San Diego area. A spokesman for the attorney general's office said the two men had no known connection to terrorists and, at this point, faced "absolutely nothing more than charges of being unable to prove they were in Mexican territory legally."
The U.S. Border Patrol has reported a rise in the number of foreign nationals from countries other than Mexico now being detained along the U.S.-Mexico border, where more than 1.15 million illegal aliens were apprehended last year, although none have been identified as having ties to Islamic terrorist organizations. But Adm. James Loy, former Department of Homeland Security deputy secretary, told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February that "recent information from ongoing investigations, detentions and emerging threat streams strongly suggests that al Qaeda has considered using the southwestern border to infiltrate the United States." Adm. Loy testified that al Qaeda operatives believe they can pay to get into the country through Mexico and that entering illegally was "more advantageous than legal entry."
He also said the international street gang Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, was an emerging national security threat and suggested that al Qaeda terrorists may have targeted the gang's illegal-alien smuggling operations to gain entry to this country. In September, The Washington Times reported that a top al Qaeda lieutenant had met with MS-13 to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border. Authorities said at the time that Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with MS-13 leaders.
MS-13 is thought to have established a major smuggling center in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas, from where it has arranged to bring illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico into the United States. In August, an FBI alert described El Shukrijumah as "armed and dangerous" and a major threat to homeland security.
The September 11 commission, which called for the hiring of 2,000 new Border Patrol agents in each of the next five years to beef up security along America's borders with Mexico and Canada, also noted that migrants from countries other than Mexico posed a security risk at the borders. The commission said terrorists can easily blend in with the thousands of Mexican nationals who cross the U.S. border surreptitiously every day.
Immigration reform advocates, including Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, have been concerned about the possibility that Iraqis and foreign nationals from countries that sponsor terrorism could be targeting America's southern border to gain entry to the United States.
Mr. Tancredo recently said government reports show a 50 percent increase in the foreign nationals identified as other than Mexican crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He said some illegals from nations identified as state sponsors of terrorism were paying as much as $50,000 to be smuggled into the United States. "They're not paying that kind of money simply to work at a 7-11," he said.
In April, four Iraqis were detained at an airport in the border city of Mexicali for carrying false passports and two more were apprehended at a highway checkpoint. Mexicali is across the U.S.-Mexico border from Calexico, Calif. Officials at the Attorney General's Office in the Mexican state of Baja California said at the time the four had arrived in Mexicali on a flight from Mexico City and were detained after they were discovered to have phony Dutch passports. The men, who were not identified as terrorists, were named on Mexican federal charges of using false documents.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 13:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Baghdad smuggler demonstrates that the porousness of the U.S.-Mexico border is becoming "common knowledge" on the Arab street
#5
heheh...it looks like the arab street, may for do us a favor. We let the Mexicans in, cause there is a benefit to lots of people in it and Mexicans are nice, good people. Let a few Arabs muslim extremists in, and that border is going to be slamming shut, PDQ. Thanks Arab Street. We couldn't have done it without you --
oh, and, while I'm at it, thanks for reminding our country what we are about, otherwise we would have slowly been overcome with liberal rot. Thanks for getting GWB elected and thus allowing him to pick our next SCOTUS, thanks for restoring our military to a lean, mean, lethal machine.
#6
(re:2 rag heads captured) Sorry to say 2b, NEVER underestimate the corrupting tenacity of the dipsh*ts who will sacrifice our citizen status and security for cheap illegal labor and votes.
/wish it were dif
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/30/2005 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
#8
teh first attack from across the Mexican border will shut it down. That's why the Mexican police and federales are directed to catch these Arab OTM's
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2005 16:02 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Reminds of an e-mail I received the other day: Two Iraqi spies met in a busy restaurant after they had successfully slipped into the U.S.
The first spy starts speaking in Arabic.
The second spy shushes him quickly and whispers:
"Don't blow our cover. You're in America now. Speak Spanish."
#11
You're in America now speak spanish
in Colorado too.
Channel nine news in Denver had a call in for legal help with a spanish interpreter, for how to get your green card, how to stop being deported, how to bring your family in, etc., sure sounds like helping illegals to me.
Help us obi won Tancredo....
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 18:06 Comments ||
Top||
TAMPA - In a trial thus far lampooned for dry, sleep-inducing testimony, prosecutors in the terror-support case against Sami Al-Arian shifted gears Wednesday by showing jurors the money.
An Illinois-based money exchanger testified about a series of financial transfers he carried out in 2001 and 2002 at the direction of defendant Hatim Fariz. Receipts produced by Salah Daoud show most of the money went to two men identified as Palestinian Islamic Jihad members in the Al-Arian indictment. In addition, one transfer went to the Elehssan Society, designated last month by the Treasury Department as an Islamic Jihad fundraising front.
Daoud works for Middle East Financial Services, which transfers funds from the United States to the Middle East. The receipts he produced total nearly $60,000 in transfers and directly relate to 22 counts in the 53-count indictment - 11 counts of money laundering and 11 counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Fariz, a Spring Hill resident who moved here from the Chicago area, is named in all of them. Al-Arian is charged with six of the financial counts, and fellow defendant Ghassan Ballut is charged in 18 counts.
The men also are charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder abroad through their support for the Islamic Jihad.
Daoud, who was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony, pointed out that more than 90 percent of the money was sent during the holy month of Ramadan, a time when Muslims are expected to give zakat, or charity, to the needy.
However, according to the indictment, secretly recorded telephone conversations show that the money was to aid the Islamic Jihad and its members.
Fariz sent $7,000 to a man named Salah Abu Hassanein on Nov. 10, 2002, records show. Earlier that day, he told Hassanein to come up with a new name for the Elehssan Society because U.S. officials recognized the name and wouldn't let money go to it, the indictment says.
Fariz also told Hassanein to use the money as he pleased but that he needed receipts to ``gain the trust of the donors in the United States,'' the indictment says. Hassanein offered Fariz Elehssan's bank account number for the transfer, but Fariz rejected that, the indictment says.
Secret Recordings
Prosecutors used Daoud's testimony to offer the first secret recordings into evidence. They show Fariz and Daoud discussing transfers. In one, Fariz says a transfer needs to be done immediately ``because the food packages for Ramadan have been distributed already and the merchants are waiting for their money.''
Defense attorneys have said the money did go to charity and that Fariz strongly admires Sheik Naim Naseer Bulbol, a member of the Elehssan Society who received at least six of the money transfers discussed Wednesday.
Defense attorneys want to depose Bulbol where he lives in the Gaza Strip. But prosecutors have balked at that, arguing they have no means to charge him should they believe he lied in his testimony.
Daoud also testified that he is a member of Chicago's Islamic Association for Palestine chapter. Federal law enforcement officials suspect the association provides support to Hamas, the Islamic Jihad's former rival in militant Palestinian nationalism.
The Manifesto
The trial is in recess until July 11. Before adjourning, U.S. District Judge James Moody allowed federal prosecutor Cherie Krigsman to read extended portions of the Islamic Jihad's internal manifesto to jurors. Investigators found the document in a computer drive at the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, a think tank founded by Al-Arian, during a 1995 search.
Each juror received a copy to follow the reading. Moody told jurors he admitted it into evidence as a statement that advances the Islamic Jihad conspiracy. However, he cautioned that merely possessing the document ``is not proof of being a member of such a conspiracy.''
Israeli academics and intelligence officials told The Tampa Tribune in 2002 that they were not aware the document, which stresses secrecy in all dealings, existed before it was discovered in Tampa.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed to the translation, which labels the manifesto ``bylaws'' of the Islamic Jihad.
It rejects ``any peaceful solution for the Palestinian cause and [affirms] the jihad solution and the martyrdom style as the only option for liberation.'' It also refers to the United States as ``the Great Satan'' and calls for creating ``a state of terror, instability and panic in the souls of Zionists.''
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/30/2005 07:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I don't know enough about spy services to comment, but I'm not reassured that the recommendations were reviewed by Bush's homeland security adviser. From what I hear, Homeland Services is the biggest, fattest, bureacracy in town - and can't even agree on their own org chart, much less AlQaedas.
Plus, if it were to be really effective, the ACLU would be having epeleptic fits, not issuing a limp. impotent statement like that. That statement was as good as, "looks good to us". And Sandy Berger approves?
#2
We needed a national intelligence czar like another hole in our collective head. If you want things to improve, eliminate the multiple layers of risk-adverse bureaucrats, reduce congressional oversight (meddling and grandstanding) and quit putting these people up in Club Gitmo ( a double tap to the brick).
Iys to ensure that ethe agencies work properly across thier boundaries with each other. FOr instance, the NSA has been famous for making it diffiduclt to ge to its data (protecting sources and methods), and the CIA has a rep for ignoring anything it didn't produce itself. The NGA is new kid on the block so nobody quite knows what to do with them, and the NRO is still so super-classified in so many ways that a good many at other agencncies simply dont know how to go through the hassle in order to task thier assets properly. I could go on and on.
There has to be someone to make the old-line guys work together, instead of turf-wars. This used to be the Directer, Central Intelligence (CIA Director). But the CIA has rotted from the neglect and cronyism of the 90's, and the promotion of "CYA" peace-time types instead of agressive types that we need now. SO its good that the CIA is now subordinate to a cheif of intelligence - and is now simply a peer. But even then, the CIA isnt half of the problem that one other agency is.
The biggest problem is the FBI. It sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of temperament, ability and an almost orthogonal approach. The FBI doesnt belong in the domestic intelligence business - its a crime fighting organization, and should be treated as such - and tossed out of the Intel business, with a new agency formed to do the job right with an emphasis on intelligence first. Think I'm overstating the case? Well here you go - a quote from the article from the Atty General: "Every law enforcement official within the FBI is going to remain under the supervision of the FBI director and, ultimately, the attorney general." Its endemic to their world view to view everything as a law enforcement problem, and the the FBI will never go outside itself, and indeed will treat everythign like its a law enforcement issue - and they will even tell the other agencies to get stuff if they cross onto FBI "turf". Ive seen that attitude before. It gets you people like the one that sent the supposed FBI email Turban Durbin used to call US Military "Nazis". So the FBI has got to go, we need an domestic intelligence agency. Under the command of DHS, much like DIA and NSA fal under the Department of Defense. And the only way to get it is with a reorg.
If anything, I can fault the Bush adminstration with not fixing the FBI problem. Porter Goss was the right guy at CIA. We now need someone like that to shake up the FBI, or else we will need to start a domestic intelligence agency and pull that out of the FBI.
#4
A new domestic intelligence unit makes much more sense than a new FBI head. Leave the FBI to hunting kidnappers. The real question is how to keep any domestic intelligence unit from degenerating into a law enforcement unit, as domestic action will be required to be legal. I think this unit should be part of Homeland Security and not DOJ.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/30/2005 10:08 Comments ||
Top||
#5
and we all know how well the FBI has been in rooting the mob out of our major cities and in stopping drugs from being sold on our streets. But not to worry, they have them all under survellience. They are watching.
And sooner or later, they will take down a kingpin. Because we all know how effective of a war tactic it is to watch as the bad guys build their army, let it grow, and then kill a general or maybe even two.
#6
Perhaps copy from the British model. I believe that MI has no police or prosecutorial powers, so concentrates on actual counterintelligence, then lets the cops know when they've got someone who needs arresting.
Or maybe I'm completely wrong about that. It sounds like a good idea, though, as it prevents mission drift.
#7
oldspook your spot on. If you used good old intel to set up and execute an ambush killing the terrorists before they could fire a shot, some high ranker in the FBI would accuse you of extrajudicial killings. they have forgotten we are at war and need to back out of it.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
06/30/2005 20:03 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I wholeheartedly agree about a new intelligence agency with a new direction. Law enforcement in the US is a commission business. I make GS13 or Sergeant or Commander by making cases, not helping others make theirs. Oh, I won't let you get killed, but I won't share. If we turned that on it's head, and created an agency that rewarded sharing informaiton and connecting the dots from disparate sources, and handing it to someone to do the arrests or extreme actions needed, the whole system would work soooo much better. Just this week I participated in a rug dance as a parent agency wondered what it's legacy parts knew and when they knew them, and then tried to fill in the blanks from another agency, a process akin to pulling teeth.
We know almost all we need to know, we just don't know we know becasue we don't share between agencies, federal, state and local.
Posted by: Just About Enough! ||
06/30/2005 23:30 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
In an earlier report, Volcker's committee said Annan didn't properly investigate possible conflicts of interest in awarding a contract to a company that employed his son, Kojo Annan. The report cleared him of trying to influence the contract or violating U.N. rules.
Goo-fi doesn't properly investigate his son's involvement for possible conflicts of interest, and he's cleared of violating UN rules.
Perplexed by the vitriol of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's attacks on Iran, one Tehran lawmaker believes he has uncovered the secret of her enmity - that she was spurned by an Iranian boyfriend at university. "The reason that the US secretary of state attacks Iran is because she had her heart broken by a young man from Qazvin while they were students," a confident Shokrollah Attarzadeh was quoted by the ISNA agency as saying. Somewhat mysteriously, he added: "This is the result of an investigation by a woman MP, who cannot be named."
Qazvin is an unremarkable city 150 kilometres from Tehran, hitherto not known for playing a major role Iran-US relations, which have been frozen for a quarter of a century. Attarzadeh did not offer any other details on the alleged affair.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/30/2005 00:17 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Damn their good. Sounds like they have been talking with Ill Son Kimmie
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/30/2005 1:01 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That this will have traction in the Ummah says it all.
#3
As Always, blame the "Black Man", Vicente Fox scored first by diverting to this strategy, defending his mexican sombrero wearing, taco eating people! And as comforting to me as always, the "football" is carried by "W", and he's a white man!
#5
I think he is referring to Fox's statement that illegal alien Mexicans take jobs even US blacks won't do. This doesn't help either.
Posted by: ed ||
06/30/2005 7:38 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Wow, ed - wotta catch! Talk about bad timing, lol, Fox is no fox, he's a dodo, lol! Jackson and The Boyz will be trying to figure out how to make money off of this, sure as little green apples will give you a tummy ache.
Publisher Manelick De la Parra told the government news agency Notimex that the character would be sort of a good-will ambassador on Mexican letters and postcards.
"It seems nice if Memin can travel all over the world, spreading good news," de la Parra said, calling him "so charming, so affectionate, so wonderful, generous and friendly."
Oh yeah, send a buncha postcards to Africa with these on 'em.
Somalia: Anus of the planet.
NAIROBI (AFP) - A UN-chartered vessel carrying aid for Somali tsunami victims has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia amid a flurry of new piracy warnings for the area, the World Food Programme (WFP) said. The freighter hauling 850 tonnes of Japanese and German food aid was seized by unidentified pirates on Monday between Haradhere and Hobyo, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) northeast of Mogadishu, it said in a statement.
"It is against international humanitarian law to hinder the passage of humanitarian assistance and there is no justification for hijacking," the WFP said. The WFP country director for Somalia, Robert Hauser, appealed for the immediate release of the ship, its 10-member crew and the food aid and urged "local authorities and community elders to intervene in this regard." The Japanese- and German-donated rice was donated in response to a WFP appeal for assistance to some 28,000 Somalis affected by the December 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated countries around the Indian Ocean. Warlords must be hungry.
The ship, the St Vincent and the Grenadines-registered MV Semlow, had been on its way from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Bossaso in Somalia's northeast Puntland region when it fell afoul of the pirates in waters deemed highly unsafe by international maritime agencies. Both the International Maritime Board (IMB), a division of the International Chamber of Commerce, and the United States have issued a series of increasingly dire alerts about threats to shipping off the east and northeast Somali coasts.
Earlier this month, the IMB warned of a surge in piracy in the region and advised vessels not making calls in the region to stay at least 50 miles (85 kilometers), and preferably further away, from the coast of the lawless nation. The WFP hijacking was the sixth reported piracy incident in Somali waters since March, which included one earlier this month in which a US naval destroyer intervened to save a besieged vessel.
All five earlier incidents have involved armed pirates who, in at least two cases, took crews hostage. Before Monday, the last reported attack took place on June 6 off Mogadishu when three gunmen in a white speedboat opened fire with automatic weapons on a bulk carrier identified as the Tigris, according to the IMB. The USS Gonzalez, a US naval ship in the area, responded to the vessel's distress call, came close, fired flares and .50-caliber machine guns and escorted the carrier further out to sea, it said. There were "no injuries to crew but gunfire by pirates caused 10 bullet holes on the starboard side near the bridge," the IMB said in a brief description of the incident.
In March, the United States advised western shipping firms of possible speedboat-launched terrorist attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean off the coast of east Africa, including Somali waters.
#3
"It is against international humanitarian law to hinder the passage of humanitarian assistance and there is no justification for hijacking," the WFP said.
Somebody provide the WFP spokesperson with a DVD of The Wrath of Khan or maybe gift set of the works of Robert Lewis Stevenson. I don't think they have a working grasp of the piracy concept.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 17:43 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Whatever happened to monetary awards, prize, and gain when cleansing the ocean of pirates? Time to return to that? Trace the boats back to the "soon to close in rubble" docks. Kill a couple Somali warlords just for Blackhawk Down and to remind them we have the DVDs to piss us off all over whenever we want
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/30/2005 19:00 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Offer to barter a load of khat for the return of the food. Before the khat is provided allow each surviving member of Task Force Ranger to drink a six pack and season the khat appropriately.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/30/2005 20:03 Comments ||
Top||
#6
...in which a US naval destroyer intervened to save a besieged vessel.
Log that up in the 'Foreign Aid' column which gets overlooked by the 5 star feted Brooks Brothers clothed self-important UN bureaucratic trash.
Algeria sought on Wednesday to squash speculation about the whereabouts of one of the country's top Islamic militants who is accused of having ties to al Qaeda, saying he was under interrogation. Amari Saifi, deputy head of an Algerian al Qaeda-aligned rebel movement, was sentenced to life in prison last week for terrorism-related crimes but did not appear in court. Local media questioned whether he was really in detention after the Interior Ministry announced in October last year his extradition from Libya. He has not been shown in public. "Some investigations are taking place and they have yet to be finished. He was not personally and physically present during the trial, but that did not hamper the functioning of the justice system," Interior Minister Noureddine Zerhouni told state radio.
Experts say Saifi built up a base in the inhospitable desert, partly through the control of contraband. He is also believed to have recruited followers in neighbouring countries. Saifi, also known as Abderrezak el Para, was first captured by Chadian rebels after fleeing neighbouring countries and later handed over to Libyan authorities under unclear circumstances. Security experts have said Saifi is believed to have a wealth of information on rebel activities.
... which is currently being gouged out of him...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:56 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The apparent downing of a military helicopter with 17 U.S. troops aboard in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday occurred at a time of growing insecurity here. For the first time since the United States overthrew the Taliban government 3 1/2 years ago, Afghans say they feel uneasy about the future.
Violence has increased sharply in recent months. A resurgent Taliban movement is mounting daily attacks in southern Afghanistan, gangs are kidnapping foreigners here in the capital, and radical Islamists are orchestrating violent demonstrations against the government and foreign- financed organizations.
Military officials said in Washington on Wednesday that the U.S. Chinook helicopter apparently had been brought down by hostile fire as it was landing during combat in a mountainous border region.
The helicopter, carrying reinforcements, probably was struck by a rocket- propelled grenade, Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a congressional hearing considering his nomination to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
The helicopter's passengers included eight Navy Seal commandos and other special operations troops, who had been sent after radio calls from forces on the ground reported combat with insurgents. Many or all aboard probably were killed, a Pentagon official said, although search-and-rescue operations are continuing.
The steady stream of violence has dealt a new blow to this still traumatized nation of 25 million. In dozens of interviews conducted in recent weeks around the country, Afghans voiced concern that the situation is not improving and that the Taliban and other dangerous elements are gaining strength.
They also expressed increased dissatisfaction with their own government and the way the U.S. military is conducting its operations, and they said they are suspicious of the Americans' long-term intentions.
"Three years on, the people are still hoping that things are going to work out, but they have become suspicious about why the Americans came and why the Americans are treating the local people badly," said Jandad Spinghar, head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission in Nangarhar province in the east, just across the Khyber Pass from Pakistan.
Poverty, joblessness, frustrated expectations and the culture of 25 years of war make for a volatile mix in which U.S. military raids, shootings and detention of Afghans can inflame public opinion, many people said.
"Generally, people are not against the Americans," Spinghar said. "But in areas where there are no human rights, where they do not have good relations and where there is bad treatment of villagers or prisoners, this will hand a free area to the Taliban. It's very important that the Americans understand how the Afghan people feel."
Reflecting the shifting popular mood, President Hamid Karzai has publicly criticized the behavior of U.S. troops.
The Taliban's spring offensive has jolted both the U.S. military and the Karzai government, which had been saying that the Taliban were largely defeated and that Afghanistan was consolidating behind its first elected national leader.
"We were wrong," a senior Afghan government official acknowledged, saying of the Taliban, "It seems they were spending the time preparing."
He insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject within the government.
While the government blames the Taliban -- and its Pakistani and al Qaeda backers -- for the violence, ordinary Afghans blame the American military for drawing militant Islamic fighters to the country and then failing to control them.
"The Americans are the cause of the insecurity," said Abdullah Mahmud, 26, a law student in Kabul. "If they were not here, there would not be any insecurity. The money they are spending on military expenses -- if they spent half of it on the Afghan army and police and raised their skills, then there would not be any security questions."
Opponents of the government are calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops and international aid organizations from Afghanistan. The government, though, is anxiously seeking assurances that the foreign troops will stay and that assistance will continue.
An unemployed man sitting with a group of friends in a corner shop in Jalalabad said of the Americans, "They should go."
But others demurred.
"No, I think the Americans should be here, because if they are not, the warlords would come back again, and the poor people would not be able to survive in this country," said Samiullah, 27, who said he was applying for a job as a driver with a foreign group.
Abdul Zaher, 26, the owner of the shop, said, "They should not leave our country until they have rebuilt it."
With parliamentary elections approaching in September, the issue of the U. S. military presence is already emerging at the forefront of political debate. Foreign diplomats are forecasting that the election will deliver a legislature divided along ethnic lines and largely anti-Karzai, with a strong Islamist element.
The current instability does not yet add up to a national uprising. The Taliban movement remains restricted to a core of believers, supported by a larger number who are motivated by money more than anything else, Afghan and foreign officials said. But they warned that it would be dangerous to ignore the signs of unrest.
Afghans interviewed this week warned frequently that if U.S. forces do not show greater care, especially in their treatment of detainees and their families, the people could turn against them.
"They should respect our culture and our religion, and they will be successful," said Lal Muhammed, the senior partner of a real estate firm in the southern city of Kandahar.
His partner, Taher Shah, said the United States should not overestimate its own power.
"The Americans are very powerful, and they can control the government," he said. "But if the people don't like them, they will have to leave."
Foreign officials said much of the public disillusionment and frustration is traceable to bad government -- either its absence or its failure to administer laws properly or the corruption of local police and courts.
"Since 2002," one foreign official said, "we have been issuing warnings that the main threat was the failure to address profound governance problems, and if we did not take it seriously, grievances would start to stem from that."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"I assume that the war in Afghanistan is over, or is the contention that you have that it continues?" Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi June, 2005
#5
What's the big deal? If you polled people in Lexington, KY and folks up in the hollers and hills of KY on what they think (I hear snickering, so cut it out!), I bet you would get different perspectives. What a student in Kabul thinks and what a genetic throw-back is able to think about the war on terrorism in their country have little in common. The generation before the overthrow of Afghanistan, the 10-year+ war that followed, the ape-like Taliban dictatorship that followed and the kicking out of the Taliban after that have affected the people there in many different ways. How can we waltz in a say the people there feel this way or that? We don't really even have a good feel for the pulse of the good people of the US of A. We need to stick to what we are doing and stop bawling like babies about what one kid in Kandahar is whining about and what some freak running around the mountains raping boys & stealing sheep thinks. Afghans fear Taliban gaining momentum? Some perhaps, but I suppose they are more concerned about the next meal, fire wood, shelter, corruption, income & bandits. Sorta like in Mexico. :-)
#7
yeah I agree with FDP.
"They should not leave our country until they have rebuilt it." yeah right. We need to organize the rock and rubble in better piles
Good luck with the search and rescue
Posted by: Jan ||
06/30/2005 15:12 Comments ||
Top||
June 30, 2005: Why are Hitler, Stalin, Saddam and Tojo still heroes, and what that has to do with the war on terrorism. The fighting in Iraq is demonstrated again that bloody tyrants never lose their fan clubs, even when they lose their power, and their lives. Hitler, Stalin, Saddam and Tojo were all murderous tyrants that killed people in the tens of millions, and terrified billions. Yet today, there are still many people who still admire these thugs. After the Cold War ended, âneo-nazisâ began to appear, especially in eastern Europe and Russia. General Tojo, the dictator of Japan during World War II, never lost his popularity in Japan. And to this day, Japanese leaders go to Tojos tomb to pay their respects.
And Iraq? Same thing. Saddam Hussein may have terrorized 80 percent of the population, but among the Sunni Arabs, Saddam was, and will always be, a hero. Saddam, like his other tyrant buddies, knew how to spin lies, promises, threats and disinformation to capture the popular imagination. While the denazification program forced Hitlerâs admirers to go underground, Allied counter-intelligence knew there were still a lot of them out there after 1945. So did the communists on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Unlike Hitlerâs nazis, Saddams fans continue to fight. Saddam spun a web of lies that were popular throughout the Sunni Arab (and Sunni Moslem) world. It was the usual âstab in the backâ (by the West, and infidels in general, including Shia Moslems, and some non-Arab Moslems, like Kurds) argument that is being used by many other Islamic demagogues. Itâs a favorite pitch among dictators of all kinds. The clerics who run Iran have used it for decades, and North Korea has made xenophobia into a state religion.
Many conservative Islamic religious leaders have painted themselves into a corner by playing the hate card. Unlike Hitler, Stalin and Tojo, who were able to call on world class armed forces to do their dirty work, the Islamic radicals only have terrorists. Iraq is their battleground, and all the faithful are being called on to come there to kill foreigners, and any Iraqis who backs the foreigners. Since about 80 percent of Iraqis do back the American presence there, the Islamic call to jihad has been killing more Iraqis than Americans. Not surprising. Both Stalin and Mao killed far more of their own people (over 50 million Russians and Chinese), than they did foreigners. The Islamic radicals are not all that efficient as killing machines, but they are trying. And donât let them get their hands on a nuke. If they can figure out the âonâ switch, theyâll use it.
How do you deal with fanaticism like this? Thereâs plenty of historical evidence that the only cure is to keep killing the crazies until they stop coming after you. After a while, the fanatics lose their following, more from disillusionment than from death. This is not the first time thereâs been a bout of Islamic fanaticism and mass murder. The Islamic community will have to figure out how to purge themselves of this nasty habit. In the meantime, it is Moslems who suffer most from it.
Itâs fashionable in the West, especially Europe, to let the Islamic radicals off as victims of Western imperialism and colonialism. This was similar to the European attempts to appease Hitler in the 1930s and Stalin into the 1950s (and the Soviets right up until the communist collapse.) In the 1980s, Europeans were up in arms at Ronald Reaganâs efforts to bring down the Soviet Union. The latest victims are Islamic terrorists. Misunderstood, and not really at fault for their atrocities, these thugs are a real challenge for the appeasers. Islamic radicals want nothing less than total surrender, and a return to the 8th century. The victims here donât see a pattern, only another opportunity to seek an easy, and dangerous, way out.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 09:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
June 30, 2005: In the last three months, some 500 Taliban have been killed. Also, 46 American. troops, 40 Afghan police and soldiers and some 125 civilians have died as well. The rebels are losing support among their traditional base (the Pushtun tribes of the south.) The diehard Taliban have become more vicious as a result, and the tribes have been more willing to tell the army and police where the Taliban gunmen are gathering. Since the army has access to American airpower, this puts the Taliban at a big disadvantage. But the hard core Taliban are Islamic radicals, and believe they are on a mission from God. They also believe they should be running a country.
Near the Pakistani border, police arrested five Pakistanis who admitted they were sent by their religious leader in Pakistan, to fight the Afghan government and American troops in Afghanistan.
The warlord disarmament program has, so far, disarmed 61,417 gunmen. Another 40,000 are scheduled for disarmament and retaining
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 09:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Call for reinforcements from Pak-land?
Since the Talibanis have banned music, the request won't come by singing tewegram.
Since the Talibanis have banned kite flying, the request won't be sent via a kite being used as a signal.
Since the Talibanis have banned chess, they might use a chess piece hollowed out to carry a message, but posession of a chess piece costs the owner his hand (chop chop), so that won't work.
The Talibanis have banned TV, so no commercial time can be bought...
Ban ban ban ... It is written ... Talk about cut of your nose to spite your face.
WAIT A MINUTE. That's an idea! Osama or Mulla Omar can remove their own nose and send it to Pakistan, in order to request jihadi fighters. Since they have a yen to maim, that might work.
But, how would they validate it at the other end, since there are no DNA labs in the area?
Sunni "fence sitters" in Iraq say they would be willing to take on master terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi and rid the country of foreign saboteurs if the Shi'ite-run government's new political structure is acceptable to them, according to a senior U.S. official.
"The Iraqis will kill every foreigner who comes into their neighborhood when they're ready," said the senior official who has spent months in Iraq. "They don't want foreigners in Iraq."
The official, who has held numerous meetings with what he called "influential fence sitters," said the representatives have told him they are only tolerating foreign terrorists because they are a "pressure tool" to force the Shi'ites and the U.S. to consider Sunni political demands for more representation in the Baghdad government.
"We'll catch him when we're ready," the official quoted one Sunni as telling him, referring to Zarqawi.
The official also said the Sunnis are demanding that Shi'ite security forces cease what the Sunnis consider harassing search-and-seizure measures that target innocent Iraqis.
"We're getting a lot of bad guys," the official said. "Are non-bad guys being killed? Absolutely. ... A civil war has started to a degree."
The source agreed to a lengthy interview with The Washington Times on condition he not be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
"The Sunnis are broken up into many fragmented groups," the official said. "Many don't want us to leave. Iraqi intelligence is telling us this every day."
This official's account comes as the Bush administration is putting as much emphasis on a political solution in Iraq as it is on a military one. And the political solution more and more involves enticing Sunnis to participate.
"When that process of political reconciliation reaches its zenith in December with elections, you will see that the Iraqi people are not supportive of this insurgency," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday on NBC's "Today Show." "An insurgency cannot last without the support of the population."
The official told The Times that his almost-daily discussions with Sunni representatives is not part of any special overtures, but part of routine diplomatic efforts to explore alliances in the minority Sunni community. The Sunnis ran Iraq, and generally repressed the Shi'ites, during the rule of Saddam Hussein.
The source said Miss Rice in April 2004 authorized such contacts. There is to be no negotiating with known terrorists or Zarqawi. But some Sunni contacts maintain ties to insurgents.
Miss Rice made clear yesterday that enticing Sunnis into the coalition has become a major part of the Bush strategy. She said the discussions are "in the context of Sunni outreach, outreach to Sunnis, to bring them into the political process."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said in recent days that ultimately it will be up to the Iraqis to defeat the insurgency, through political agreements and its nascent security force that now numbers 160,000.
An administration official said this message is directed as much at the new Iraqi government as the American people. Mr. Rumsfeld wants Iraqis to realize that in the end, they will have to make democracy work, the official said.
The U.S. official told The Times that more moderate Sunnis are willing to get off the fence and start attacking foreign fighters once they believe the new Iraqi constitution, now being drafted in Baghdad, protects their interests.
The official said that right now the only way Zarqawi's terrorists can operate in Iraq is with the complicity of Sunni village leaders who provide safe houses and travel routes from Al Anbar province to Baghdad and other cities.
Once the Sunnis revoke those privileges and turn on the foreigners, the insurgency will dwindle, or disappear, the official said.
"They know who the foreigners are in their towns," the official said. "They don't want foreigners in their country any more than we do. ... Iraqis are very different than other Arabs. They are not Saudis. They are not Jordanians. They are Iraqis."
The official added, "Zarqawi can't operate in Al Anbar without Sunni participation."
The source said that in some instances, the Sunnis welcome the foreign terrorist into their homes; other times, the foreigners threaten to kill or rape their children unless they provide sanctuary.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/30/2005 09:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"The Iraqis will kill every foreigner who comes into their neighborhood when they're ready"
Yeah, that there strikes me as more of a "part of the problem" than "part of the solution". Reporting them to the authorities would seem to be more... productive?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/30/2005 11:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"We'll catch him when we're ready," the official quoted one Sunni as telling him, referring to Zarqawi."
A little bit of unrealistic Arab bluster ?
I don't think these guys have the power or unity to do any such thing.
#3
"they are only tolerating foreign terrorists because they are a "pressure tool" to force the Shi'ites and the U.S. to consider Sunni political demands for more representation in the Baghdad government. "
which means that any growth in Iraqi forces, or any military defeats for the insurgents, tends to reduce the value of that bargaining chip. IE IF things are making progress on the ground, its a wasting asset. Showing that the political and military processes are related - not just that you need to pursue the political process to weaken the insurgency, but that by militarily weakening the insurgency you strengthen the govt in the political process.
An astute post. This line of reasoning also lends credence to the reports of on-going negotiations with certain insurgent factions. They clearly think that they're approaching the end-limits of what can be achieved by IEDs and suicide bombers.
#7
The source said that in some instances, the Sunnis welcome the foreign terrorist into their homes; other times, the foreigners threaten to kill or rape their children unless they provide sanctuary.
I'm glad I don't have to make a choice like that! "Do you want to welcome me, Bush-tool, or shall I rape and kill your family first?"
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/30/2005 14:26 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"The Iraqis will kill every foreigner who comes into their neighborhood when they're ready," ....
Now there's the timetable that Senators Feingold, Kennedy et al should be pressing for.
Sudan's president has freed his former ally, Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, who was detained last year in connection with an alleged coup plot. "(I announce) the release of all political detainees," said President Omar al-Bashir marking the 16th anniversary of his coup.
Mr Turabi is a controversial figure in Sudanese politics and has spent much of the last five years in detention. His Popular National Congress confirmed his release to Reuters news agency. Mr Turabi was once a close colleague of President Bashir but he lost out in a power-struggle between the two in 1999. He has been detained since March last year, and was connected with what the government says was a foiled coup attempt in September 2003. "He has been released from the place he was being held and he is on his way to the headquarters of the party," his secretary Awad Babiker said.
I smell a deal, let out a popular islamist leader to ensure his parties support. At least till the next coup attempt.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/30/2005 08:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
What a difference a year makes. Many American units arriving in Iraq now have as many as half their troops there for the second time. The differences are startling. The towns and neighborhoods are a lot quieter, and friendlier. The big difference has been the arrival of police to drive gangs of terrorists and criminals out of neighborhoods. Before this, locals were terrified by the armed men living in their area. And the bad guys made no secret of what bad things would happen to anyone who was seen, or even suspected of, talking to the Americans. But once enough police move into an area to maintain full time control of the streets, the bad guys have to clear out, or get hit with a raid. Once the gangsters go, they have a very difficult time operating in that area any more, because people will tell the cops. If the bad guys have too much muscle for the local cops, the Americans can be called in. The terrorists and gangsters cannot deal with this. Well, they try. More and more of the attacks are roadside bombs and suicide bombers. The roadside bombs are harder to plant, with more police patrolling the streets, and more civilians calling in tips on bombs, or people seen planting them.
Suicide bombers have largely been foreigners. As Iraqis are quick to point out, Iraqis are not into this sort of thing. Neither are the foreigners any more, many of them refusing to undertake missions that just kill Iraqi civilians. So more and more suicide bombers are not volunteers, but men kidnapped and told to carry out the mission, or see family members killed. The bodies of car bombers have been found handcuffed to the steering wheel. Many suicide car bombers have dual detonation systems, one under the control of the driver, another under the control of a distant "supervisor," ready to set the bomb off if the suicide bomber is seen to get confused, or tries to get away from his fate.
Another difference is the change in public opinions among Iraqis. It's no longer as fashionable to blame Americans for everything. A new Iraqi government has been in power for a year. Watching Iraqi democracy up close has been embarrassing, and educational. It's changed attitudes, and made more Iraqis realize that they have to take charge and make things work. This is not a normal attitude in Iraq, or the Middle East. For a long, long time, strong men ruled Iraq. You were told what to do, and talking back was often a fatal act. Now, talking back is necessary. You have to decide what to do, do it and, hardest of all, be responsible for what was done. All this has caused more Iraqis to look at themselves, their history and their reaction to the fall of Saddam. Americans are no longer the bad guys. Sunni Arabs and foreign terrorists, plus Iraqi gangsters, are the bad guys. The police are also becoming the bad guys, as the corruption so common with the cops in the past, is coming back. This is getting so bad, that there have been riots by people trying to get jobs as policemen. The money-making opportunities in being a bad cop are that great. Corruption, in general, is getting worse as the economy continues to grow. Dealing with democracy and terrorism has been a lot easier than coping with corrupt practices.
Meanwhile, it's getting harder for the terrorists to operate in Baghdad, which has long been the scene of most of the terrorist violence. The continuing American raids in western Iraq have disrupted terrorists operations, and much of the anti-government and terrorist operations have shifted north. Here, Kurds are fighting Sunni Arabs and Turkmen for control of oil rich cities like Mosul and Kirkuk. This is a dispute that would be going on even without Islamic radicalism and al Qaeda involvement. It's a problem that's been around for centuries, and won't be easy to settle.
Posted by: ed ||
06/30/2005 07:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Erin Brockovich, armed and dangerous, lol! I love it. Now this is the sort of Lone Wolf that is created in numbers in the West, especially in individualistic America, but in Afghanistan? Only a personal epiphany - whether inspired by a Police Chief father or a new and crazy mantra such as Tootpick's based upon a minor miracle - could overcome the horseshit indoctrination that keeps much of mankind down, bowing to royalty, bound to the locally favored "ism", or bottom-feeding is a cesspool like Islam.
I'd love to help this woman out. She shouldn't have to worry about having a full clip.
#4
OK, I admit I'd pay to see a movie about Toothpick.
Anyone else?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/30/2005 7:34 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Thank goodness it's a British filmmaker intstead of Hollywierd. It will still manage to be anti-American, but at least it has a chance of being a good flick.
#6
She strikes me as kind of a throwback--- IIRC, in the 19th century Afghan women had the general reputation of being rather feisty, independent, and a dab hand with all sorts of weapons. In Kiplings' day, it seemed that the farther one went up into the mountains, the tougher and less constrained by purdah the women were.
#9
"...a lesbian supermodel?"With six children? I would guess not, unless she is so deeply closeted she would need spelunking gear to come out of it...
Civilization and consistent property laws are the keys to progress. Science and technology will flow naturally from them, but you'll never see them because you're so wrapped up in shariah...
President General Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday held out Pakistanâs resolve to promote science and technology, saying that economic growth achieved through modern knowledge would help alleviate poverty and curb extremism in the long-term perspective.
Curbing extremism would alleviate poverty. Put your damned jihadis to work with productive jobs and put the money you're dumping into foreign adventurism into productive fields...
Advancement in science and technology was directly related to the progress of society and economic development of the nation, he said while addressing the inaugural session of the 30th International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics and Contemporary Needs.
"The effect we're looking for will surely lead to this cause..."
âThe spin-off of scientific and technological development is immense as it leads to much higher growth and brings about a rapid improvement in the quality of life, therefore, encouraging scientific and technological uplift is in line with our commitment to pass on the benefits of economic gains to common man,â he emphasized. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the National Centre for Physics has jointly organized the summer college.
Yeah. More nuclear weapons oughta do it...
Dilating on the enormous socio-economic benefits, President Musharraf said: âWhen a nation grows economically, it contributes to poverty alleviation, which eventually helps in countering extremism and terrorism.â
His lips are moving. Words are coming out. But they don't make any sense.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Kind of hard to do science and tech in any useful way if your education was memorization of the Koran.
I need to call Rummy. The Pentagon needs to drop everything and implement the midnight basketball league ASAP.
Former Iraq football coach Bernd Stange said in an interview the United States could have done a lot of good in the war-torn country - if they had dropped metric footballs soccer balls instead of bombs. "I thought the Americans would perhaps send a plane with footballs and football shirts instead of bombs, but that never happened," the German Stange told Stern magazine in an interview made available ahead of Thursday's publication.
Can someone get me some cheese? This whine sounds familiar.
Stange said that football was the "only sport that unites all Iraqis. The national team consisted of Sunnites, Shiites, a Christian and a Turkmene but that was not important at all," he said. Stange quit the Iraq job in July 2004 fearing for his personal safety in the unstable country.
"I would have probably made myself immortal in Iraq football if we had qualified for the World Cup. But I would have likely not survived," said Stange, saying he had a lucky escape in an attack by masked men once during his reign there.
Masked men, you say? With weapons and Korans at the ready? I'm sure this was all some terrible mistake. You should have offered to let them take a penalty kick.
Proof positive that heading a soccer ball too many times causes brain damage. Just say "no" to soccer. Do it for the children.
#5
He would have been hired by that lunatic psychopath murder Uday who imprisoned and tortured members of losing soccer teams. He was almost certainly complicit, which makes his stated reason for leaving Iraq highly suspect.
Indeed, the former team Captain, who played under Herr Strange, has reported being brutally whipped and then tossed into a vat of human excrement to guarantee that the wounds would become infected, all because his play had displeased Saddam's Lion Cub.Link
#6
Never underestimate the power of soccer football.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/30/2005 4:25 Comments ||
Top||
#7
If you have a war and no one shows up, then women and children get raped and the male population is slaughtered. But it's ok, cause the daisy's will grow tall above their graves and be blow'n in the wind.
#8
Wait, was he also behind the idea of dropping flowers or paper airplanes on the jihadis in Indonesia (I think it was)? If so, he fits right in with the Germans and probably will receive a medal from Schroeder any day now.
Posted by: Bill Gates ||
06/30/2005 9:39 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Oops, Bill Gates is me!
Posted by: BA ||
06/30/2005 9:39 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Why footballs? Can't we get our hands on some f*cking origami cranes?
#11
That's what I was gettin' at, BH! Thanks, haven't had coffee yet!
Posted by: BA ||
06/30/2005 9:53 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Dropping cranes? Don't be so cynical. I think it's nice. In the spirit of goodwill, I say we drop some of these beautiful cranes over known jihadi homes in Iraq so that we can have peace. '>cranes, beautiful works of art
#19
Iff they had the NFL or Street football, neither Saddam nor any other despot would have lasted so long - in my day soccer was either a girls'-only game, or what boys played as a warmup to other sports or iff no other ball was available. Soccer = safe for Girls and thats why as per Politics and Geopolitics the Despots can and did take over.
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.
Algeria sought on Wednesday to squash speculation about the whereabouts of one of the country's top Islamic militants who is accused of having ties to al Qaeda, saying he was under interrogation. 
Sudan's president has freed his former ally, Islamist leader 
President General Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday held out Pakistanâs resolve to promote science and technology, saying that economic growth achieved through modern knowledge would help alleviate poverty and curb extremism in the long-term perspective.
