The Islamic court officials agreed to the recent peace talks that are taking place in Sudan with no conditions. The Alliance which defeated the US backed warlords earlier this month peacefully agreed to the Arab mediation which has been sponsered by Yemen and Ethiopia. These talks are being held so that an agreement can be reached between the Alliance and the interim government. Delegation chief Ali Mohammed told reporters that the negotiations would be a success. President Omar al-Bashir,the current Chairman of the Arab League, wants to bring the interim government and the Islamic militia together inorder to end the tensions over Somalia.
The Islamic militia currently hold the capital Mogadisho and other strategic towns in the north of the country. The Alliance has denied links with Al-Qaeda,and it has started setting up administrations following strict Sharia law. The Alliance has promised to bring peace to a nation that has not known a government for 15 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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Bashir as Chairman, how low can you go. Sounds like a new alliance.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/23/2006 20:15 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) At least 100 people have been killed and several others displaced in a fighting between rival clans over a disputed land over the week in Southern Ethiopia, UN Humanitarian office in Ethiopia said, The Daily Monitor reported. The clashes between Borena and Guji occurred over the last weeks in a place called Borena located around 600 Kilo metres from the capital, when a land which belonged to the Guji was given to Borena. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said, as a result of the fighting, more than 20,000 people from Arero woreda (district) have been displaced. UN-OCHA said the Oromia regional government Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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Oh, c'mon. Let the Belgians have the place for a hundred years or so.
UN Secretary-Generall Kofi Annan said Thursday that a UN peace keeping force will be needed for Darfur to help the parties implement the peace agreement and help provide security for the internally displaced. He added that though agreement by the Sudanese government has not been reached yet on a UN force but the talks continue and expressed hope that the Sudanese government will accept a UN peace keeping force.
"No one and least of all the UN is interested in imposing anything like a colonial rule on one of its member states, of course this was one of the fears Sudanese President Bashir used in rejecting a UN presence," he added. The African Union Force (AUF), he added, must be strengthened on the ground and that it would transition from an AUF to a UN force while retaining some of the African Union forces. . He added that the international community must exert pressure on the parties who have signed the agreement to honor and implement it in good faith and continue pressure on the rebels and parties outside the agreement to join it, and really press them to honor it in good faith.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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#3
Not if the Belgians were involved, bigjim. These are people who regularly murder meat inspectors so they can keep on feeding their veal calves hormones to make the meat more tender.
#5
Just remember, that when Bush the Elder first took us into Somalia, there was a vote by the largest collection of tribal elders for the US to be given a 50 year UN mandate to run Somalia. That is right, they want to be our colony for 50 years. We said no thanks, and look what they have now. Plus, there is a strong movement in Liberia to force us to take them over for a few decades so we can rebuild the country and their civil society.
#6
Plus, there is a strong movement in Liberia to force us to take them over for a few decades so we can rebuild the country and their civil society. Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-06-23 16:24
Slave states in North America, increasingly interested in getting rid of their free African-American populations, encouraged the formation of colonization "civil" societies. These groups organized themselves independently of the ACS and founded their own colonies in Liberia for transplanting free African-Americans. Some of the "volunteers" were emancipated only if they agreed to emigrate. The Maryland State Colonization Society established its colony in Cape Palmas, Liberia around 1827. The Brits, the French, and the US have all at one time or another attempted to assist Libera. Not much success has been realized by anyone in nearly 180 years. The word "quagmire" must surely have been invented to describe regions such as this.
#8
Oh wow, the UN can spend another 3.5Billion dollars to have a bunch of toy soldiers stand around with their thumbs up their butts while the slaughter and the rapes continue.
The freaking UN is a DISGRACE. Kofi should be flogged within an inch of his life, ridden out of town on a rail and have his Starbucks card revoked.
Morons, freaking morons. They could have or should have solved this crap ages ago. I mean you could drop the UN's FILES on Darfur from 25,000 feet and have one hell of a kinetic weapon.
Lets meet for lunch and exchange memos again and then we can meet in some toney resort and have a conference and hold a press conference....what about Davos, I need to work on my tan.
Somalia's interim government and the hard-line Islamic militia which took control of the capital Mogadishu this month yesterday recognised each other. Delegations from the two sides met under Arab League auspices after mediators held separate meetings with them in the morning in an attempt to avert a confrontation which could extend years of conflict. Abdullahi Sheekh Ismail, the Somali foreign minister, and Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, the head of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) delegation, embraced each other after the deal was struck. The interim government recognised "the reality" of the ICU, which itself recognised "the legality" of the government. Both agreed to stop all military and propaganda campaigns.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Somalis marched in Mogadishu yesterday, denouncing their new Islamist rulers as fundamentalists. About 700 protesters, including children from Koranic schools, marched through the central Sinai district. "We are Muslims and we do not want these fundamentalists," said a marcher, Muumina Ali, during the three-hour protest.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak promised in an interview published Thursday that the year 2007 would witness unprecedented constitutional reforms. "The year 2007 will witness a surge in constitutional reforms which coincide with political progress" in Egypt, Mubarak told the state-owned Al-Ahram daily's evening edition. He added that, for the time being, he was deploying maximum efforts to promulgate "all the laws and legislation that forward political and economic reform, with the hope of completing the process by the end of 2006."
Mubarak's government has been criticized at home and abroad, including by its top US ally, for dragging its feet on the sweeping reforms promised during the long-time president's re-election campaign last year. Asked about US-Egyptian relations, Mubarak said that ties with Washington remained "good and strong." "There are a lot of points of agreement and others of contention, but this is one of the strength points in bilateral ties, which are based on honesty, transparency and independence," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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But can we at least count on a continuity of corruption?
Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh insisted he will not run for presidency in September's election, despite being nominated Wednesday as candidate by the country's ruling party. "This is not a political show," Saleh said at the meeting of the General People's Congress about his announcement nearly a year ago that he would not seek a new mandate after almost three decades in power.
That makes him pretty close to unique in that area of the world, unless he's just being falsely modest...
The GPC meeting had been due to last just one day, but the delegates decided to reconvene on Thursday after they failed at a closed session to "persuade" Saleh to seek a new term, party sources said.
I consider that a damned good sign...
"I am neither ill nor incapable of shouldering the responsibility [of public office]," Saleh said. "But I ... achieved Yemen's reunification, the settlement of borders, and the introduction of comprehensive development. Now I want to preserve this achievement when I hand over power peacefully to the Yemeni people."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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Attempts to extradite the radical Muslim preacher Abu Hamza Al Masri to the United States on terrorism charges were postponed yesterday because of his appeal against a British conviction. The hook-handed, one-eyed former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in north London is currently serving a seven-year jail term, imposed after being convicted of inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder in February. He is wanted in the United States over claims that he supported an alleged Al Qaeda terrorist camp in the northwest US state of Oregon and of involvement in the hostage-taking of Western tourists in Yemen in 1998.
Lawyers for the US government and Masri made a joint application to reschedule the hearing by 28 days while his appeal here is heard. Masris lawyers claimed after his conviction that the case was politically motivated. If successful in its application, the US government would have to wait until Hamza has completed his prison sentence in Britain before he can be tried in a US court.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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Asharq Al-Awsat - On the first anniversary of the 7 July attacks in London, Islamists in Britain will hold a seminar in Birmingham followed by a press conference in the capital on Monday 3 July.
A little anniversary victory celebration, is it?
Four suicide bombers blew themselves up on three underground trains and a public bus on 7 July 2005, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds. Al Ghurabba, led by the controversial preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed, organizes the conference. He bravely left London after the attacks to Beirut and has been forbidden from returning to Britain.
"Piss off. Enjoy Beirut. Don't worry about starting your car. Nothing'll happen."
Anjam Choudry, a British lawyer and the secretary-general of the fundamentalist al Ghurabba movement, said the conference would discuss ways to prevent a repetition of the attacks and the reasons behind them. Abu Izzadin, an Islamist activist and member of al Ghurabba, is scheduled to speak at the conference. He is a regular attendee of fundamentalist conferences and meetings and is one of Bakris most prominent students. He blames Britains involvement in the Iraq war for last years attacks. Audio and video films will be shown at the conference and books on al Ghurabba will also be on sale, according to organizers. Representatives from the Shariaa courts and the Muslim lawyers union are expected to attend the conference. Bakri is expected to address the conference from his house in Beirut. In a statement to Asharq al Awsat, Bakri said, There is no doubt that the London bombings and the Madrid bombings in 2003 were the repercussions of the September 11 attacks. All these events were a reaction of US aggression in Islamic countries, in Palestine, Chechnya and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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the conference would discuss ways to prevent a repetition of the attacks and the reasons behind them
I'm so tired of this code for blame the Jews/Americans/West/insert-oppressor-here. Does anyone think that the "reasons" they come up with might include islam itself? or the madrassas? or the opportunistic mullahs and imams?
#5
The Brits need to understand that this is Islamism spitting directly in their eye. The tastelessness and outright offensive nature of this conference should earn every attendee a few hours of parking lot therapy from some limey blokes.
SEOUL - North Koreas planned test-firing of a long-range missile is not imminent, South Koreas Defence Minister said Thursday, easing widespread international jitters over a feared early launch. There are many processes to go through before firing such a missile. Given this, it (an imminent firing) is not the case, Defence Minister Yoon Kwang-ung told a parliamentary hearing, the Souths Yonhap news agency reported.
There have been no additional substantial moves towards a missile launch during the last several days, said the official engaged in handling dialogue with North Korea, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
On the same day a Korean-language newspaper in Japan, which has been used in the past as a mouthpiece by the North Korean regime, suggested that a launch had already been put back. The Chosun Sinbo, published by pro-Pyongyang Koreans in Japan, said North Korea intended to launch a satellite rather than a missile and that the launch can take place anytime. It may come in a month or in a year.
Of course, you usually tell everyone you're going to launch a satellite just so as to allieviate concerns ...
But defense minister Yoon, asked about the satellite claim, said it was not right to say the move is designed to prepare to put a satellite into orbit. South Korea, which has been slow to criticize North Korea in the past, has also threatened to withhold rice and fertilizer aid if a test goes ahead.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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Yeah, they only fueled it up and put it on the launch pad. No biggie. That doesn't mean they intend to fire it off.
#2
Does everyone in the world forget Chamberlins famous signing of a peace treaty with Adolf Hitler? Dictators dont understand peace they understand force and kim Jong Il is a Dictator. It would be ironic justice if the Norks popped off that missile and it mistakenly hit this idiot's house with him in it.
#4
The Sorks are scared to death the North is going to collapse and saddle the South with the cost of reunification. Take it from someone who lives here, the Sorks don't give a flying about what Kimmie's doing in the North. All they're concerned about is making more money and South Korea's World Cup chances. That a lot of their Nkor brothers and sisters are in Kimmie's gulag up there starving to death isn't even on the radar screen, much less front and center.
Posted by: mac ||
06/23/2006 16:19 Comments ||
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#5
Don't they say the same thing before each missle launch?
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/23/2006 20:19 Comments ||
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#6
The Norks de facto firing their missle could potentially be the equiv. of Radical Iran joining the Shanghai Coop, i.e. a subtle shadow warning to SCO boss states Russia-China. Iran is going hell-bent for Iran-centric Regional later Global Shia-Islamist Empire, and in LT will NOT accept being a minor SCO partner-state perennially dominated by Russia-China. NORTH KOREA > the GWOT may truly be their one and only chance to break free of mainland Commie China's grip, as right now NK is just an expendable, PC, un-annexed Potemkinist Chinese province!?
A big shout out to reader J. for sending us the subscription only MTI story about yesterday's demonstration organized by Amnesty International Hungary to protest alleged abuses of suspects in the "war on terror." (Wait - we forgot - is it editorializing to put "war on terror" in quotes, and if you don't are you supposed to put it in capitals?) According to the report, seven Amnesty activists and several reporters were on hand for the demo, but "not one supporter showed up to participate." Maybe they were all in Guantanamo!
Posted by: Mike ||
06/23/2006 09:16 ||
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more old moonbats showed up at a local grocery chain to protest that lack of warning signs about mercury in fish.
Doesn't matter what these brain damaged, self important reporters think of their own opinions, the majority of the country is on board with the fight for survival. Senate vote proves it.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A play about an American anti human rights activist who died in the Gaza Strip opens in New York in October, six months after it was pulled from the schedule at another theater amid charges of censorship. "My Name is Rachel Corrie" is a one-woman show based on diaries and e-mails written by the 23-year-old U.S. pro-tyranny activist human rights campaigner killed by an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003, trying to prevent demolition of a Palestinian building. She wasn't an anti-Semite yet, but she was already malevolent.
Producers Dena Hammerstein and Pam Pariseau said in a statement on Thursday the play would open at the off-Broadway Minetta Lane Theater on October 15, for a limited run to November 19. The play, directed by Alan Rickman, who must have appeared in Hogsmeade in June 1997 to applaud the murder of Albus Dumbledore, was a hit in London and was due to open in March at the New York Theater Workshop. But weeks before opening night, the theater said it was postponed after discussions with people in the arts, "religious leaders" and "representatives of the Jewish community." Esther and Mordecai could not be reached for comment, but one can guess what they'd say.
Rickman accused the theater of censorship, and the decision sparked heated debate about freedom of speech in the arts. Corrie has long been a controversial figure, with critics accusing her of naivete and not giving equal weight to Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks, and supporters praising her for defending Palestinian civilians. I read one of her letters and I saw malice growing.
An Israeli investigation concluded her death was an accident. Corrie's aunt, Cheryl Broderson, said the family disputes that and is urging the U.S. government to demand an independent investigation into her death, arguing there are discrepancies in the Israeli report. Then her lips fell off.
Broderson said the family was "absolutely ecstatic" the play would be seen in New York. What does that family do with dissidents?
The play was edited from Corrie's own words and includes stories from Corrie's childhood through her time in Gaza. "We were never going to paint Rachel as a golden saint or sentimentalize her, but we also needed to face the fact that she'd been demonized," Rickman said in the statement. "We wanted to present a balanced portrait. The activist part of her life is absolutely matched by the imaginative part of her life. I've no doubt at all that had she lived, there would have been novels and plays pouring out of her." Like a revisionist version of the Book of Esther? For I've no doubt she'd have been pro-genocide.
#1
OH yes Alan, St. Rachael, the beacon of peace her face frozen in a rictus of hatred, screeching as she teaches a group of Pali kids how to burn an American flag. Right-o Alan, there was something pouring out of her, absolute dreck, just like you!
#7
That's absurd and insulting, bigjim. Some Jewish Americans are idiots. So are some non-Jewish Americans. Based on voting results over the past few years, I suspect the numbers of the deliberately blind is dropping slowly in both sets. And, given the number of Jewish -- or Jewish-descended -- posters in this forum, making such statements is about as clever as making blanket insults of African-Americans, or retired members of the military.
#9
tw, maybe you are too sensitive about the situation. I think Big Jim has a valid question.
I read Atlas Shruggs, and she hates leftist J-ws.
My new way to spell Jews...J-ws.
Ya know like G-d. Really. I suppost that's insulting too.
#11
A lot of what Ayn Rand wrote reflects today's world. She was a novelist with a political worldview. Atlas Shruggs is a blog, by the way. I guess Atlas has a similar worldview as Ayn.
What's your take ?
#13
Bogger "Tom Paine," for one of his "Shire Network News" podcasts, wrote this:
The alleged pancake breakfast in memory of Rachel Corrie was a hoax! I say again, a hoax. Not that anyone should have much sympathy for the terrorist-coddling fool though. Were still waiting for Alan Rickman to put on a play called my name is Rachel Levy (17, blown up in a grocery store); Rachel Levi (19, shot while waiting for the bus); Rachel Gavish (killed with her husband, son and father while at home celebrating a Pessah meal); Rachel Charhi (blown up while sitting in a Tel Aviv cafe, leaving three young children); or Rachel Shabo (murdered with her three sons aged 16, 13 and five, while at home). But being Jews, they dont qualify for victim status.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
06/23/2006 22:26 Comments ||
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#14
Sigh, first treasonous naked babes [who can read]getting killed wid Zark, and now treasonous hotcakes wid butter -is nuthin' sacred???
#15
Am I hypersensitive, wxjames? Quite possibly. I don't expect such things from my friends, you see. But when it is pointed out to me that I've unintentionally insulted my Christian friends, I apologize, and try to understand where I went wrong.
The GOP-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected Democratic calls to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by years' end, as the two parties sought to define their election-year positions on a war that has grown increasingly unpopular. "Withdrawal is not an option. Surrender is not a solution," declared Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who characterized Democrats as defeatists wanting to abandon Iraq before the mission is complete. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, in turn, portrayed Republican leaders as blindly following President Bush's "failed" stay-the-course strategy. "It is long past time to change course in Iraq and start to end the president's open-ended commitment," he said.
In an 86-13 vote, the Senate turned back a proposal from some Democrats that would require the administration to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by July 1, 2007, with redeployments beginning this year. No Republicans voted in favor of the plan. Minutes later, the Senate rejected by 60-39 the proposal more popular with Democrats, a nonbinding resolution that would call for the administration to begin withdrawing troops, but with no timetable for the war's end. That vote was mostly along party lines.
Siding with all but one Republican were six Democrats Sens. Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and three running for re-election this fall: Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Bill Nelson of Florida and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who also is up for re-election, was the only Republican supporter of the troop withdrawal resolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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rejected a call .... to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by years' end, as the two parties sought to define their election-year positions on a war that has grown increasingly unpopular
I'm sorry - how is it growing increasingly unpopular when the best they can do with a silly meaningless proposal meant to improve on their getting stomped 93-3?
It occurs to me that despite near Pravda-esque control of the papers, these poor media saps just aren't getting their message across. And they are going bankrupt in their efforts. It's a beautiful day.
#3
What bugs me most about these Senate proposals is that they closely track current deployment plans. I mean, how cynical can you get? The administration is already planning withdrawals and the Senate Dems want to take credit when it happens. Like it had anything to do with them.
THE US government has secretly monitored banking transactions around the globe since the September 11, 2001 attacks, top officials said overnight, defending the program as a "lawful" part of the war on terror.
It is the latest in a series of covert programs that is likely to spark fresh concerns about potential privacy infringements and Americans' civil liberties.
US Vice President Dick Cheney defended the secret finance-tracking program as vital to national security and criticised several US newspapers for leaking the report, saying it played into the enemy's hands.
"These are good, solid sound programs. They are conducted in accordance with the laws of the land," Mr Cheney said during a visit to Chicago.
"They are carried out in a manner that is fully consistent with the constitutional authority of the president," Mr Cheney said, adding he found it "offensive" that newspapers would publicise the secret program.
"What I find most disturbing about these stories is the fact that some in the media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people," Mr Cheney said.
The New York Times stood by its coverage saying editors had judged after careful deliberations that releasing the information served the public's interest.
The collection of domestic telephone records and the eavesdropping on international calls by Americans without a warrant had already put the administration of President George W. Bush on the defensive.
Treasury Secretary John Snow said the Bush administration was using only specific banking statements linked to terror suspects and taking care to preserve Americans' privacy.
"Skillfully followed, they (the records) lead us to terrorists themselves, thereby protecting our citizens."
Snow said the monitoring specifically targets suspected foreign terrorists and "is not 'data mining,' or trolling through the private financial records of Americans."
"This is part of an overall governmental effort to map terrorist networks and apprehend terrorists around the world," he said.
The spying program, conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency and overseen by the Treasury Department, was launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
"By following the money, the US has been able to locate operatives and their financiers, chart terrorist networks, help bring them to justice and save lives," Snow said.
The program relies on records of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), which routes millions of financial transfer instructions every day.
It is based in part on the president's emergency economic powers, Treasury Department Under Secretary Stuart Levey told the Times.
The searches rely on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from SWIFT. That access to large amounts of confidential data has raised concerns about legal and privacy issues inside the administration, the Times said, citing several officials.
Treasury officials said multiple safeguards are in place to protect unwarranted searches of Americans' private banking records.
SWIFT was approached shortly after September 11 because of its vast international database.
The Times said that SWIFT, which is owned by more than 2,200 banks and financial organizations, routes about six trillion dollars daily, most of them in cross-border transactions.
The Belgium-based cooperative serves 7,800 financial institutions in more than 200 countries.
Its database, which a former US official described as "the mother lode," has provided clues to money trails and ties between possible terrorists and groups financing them, and directly led to the capture of Al-Qaeda operative Riduan Isamuddin, believed to have masterminded 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, the Times said.
It has also helped identify a US man convicted of helping an Al-Qaeda member launder 200,000 dollars through a Pakistani bank, prosecutors told the Times.
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan announced Wednesday that she plans to begin an "open-ended hunger strike" on July 4 to urge the Bush administration to bring troops home from Iraq.
"We hope the fast will galvanize public attention, invigorate the peace movement, build pressure on elected officials, and get our troops back home," Sheehan said in a statement posted on the anti-war blogosphere.
The fast, organized by Code Pink and Sheehan's Gold Star Families for Peace, will begin on Independence Day in Washington, D.C. In her statement Sheehan said she would move the fast to Crawford, Texas, where the president owns a ranch and often vacations. Y'know, anyone else would have been busted under stalking laws by now....
Sheehan gained national attention in August 2005 when she staged a protest outside the Crawford ranch to protest the war. She named the protest "Camp Casey" in memory of her son, Spc. Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004.
In her latest statement, Sheehan wrote that celebrities like singer Willie Nelson, actor Danny Glover and comedian Dick Gregory will show their support for her by joining in a one-day fast. She urged her supporters to do the same. Damn. If I could travel, I'd be up there with some tasty BBQ. A pregnant woman could put away a lot of food....besides, I'd be doing it for my childTM, not because I'm not supportive of their cause or anything like that....Surely Mother Sheehan would understand, right?
Sheehan is currently in Vienna, Austria, racking up frequent flyer miles protesting President Bush's appearances there. He is in Europe to meet with leaders of the European Summit, seeking support for the United States' efforts to spread democracy in the Middle East.
In an interview posted on Code Pink's website, the group's co-founder Diane Wilson said the fast would show solidarity with Iraqis and U.S. troops. Well, yeah, if they were sending their lunches to the troops, otherwise, not so much... "Their bodies are on the line every day," Wilson said, referring to Iraqi civilians. "And so are the bodies of the U.S. soldiers. So shouldn't we be putting our bodies on the line?"
Wilson told her interviewer, fellow Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, that a hunger strike "can be a very powerful action." "Ask Bobby Sands!" She mentioned three previous hunger strikes she organized, two of which lasted more than four weeks.
The "Troops Home Fast," Wilson said, means that she will abstain from food and drink, with the exception of water, as long as possible. "I don't know how long I can fast," she said, "but I'm making this an open-ended fast. I plan to take this as far as I've ever taken anything in my 58 years."
Wilson acknowledged that her fast is a pointless media stunt might not get the attention of Bush, who after meeting with Sheehan once to offer his condolences for the loss of her son, has ignored her requests for another meeting. "Some fasts are successful," Wilson said in her interview, "others aren't. You never know."
#1
No half measures now, people - take that thing all the way!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/23/2006 15:59 Comments ||
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We hope the fast will galvanize public attention, invigorate the peace movement, build pressure on elected officials, and get our troops back home," Sheehan said
Like all your other activities, cow?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/23/2006 16:17 Comments ||
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#3
...an "open-ended hunger strike" on July 4
I believe I will set the over/under on the open end as 1.
Eliminate all chances that she'll screw up. Have Code Pink sew the bitch's mouth shut.
#4
Maybe I should have been a little clearer when I said I wanted to see "less" of these people...
Posted by: Dar ||
06/23/2006 16:32 Comments ||
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#5
Darn I thought this started this morning! I was so moved I went over to Dennys for a Super Slam breakfast. Oh yeah if I were in DC I would be standing around with a bucket of honey BBQ wings and some cold beer. I also wish Code StinkSkank Pink, Sheehan, and the entire moonbat left good luck with their hunger strike. May then continue the hunger strike until Bush, Rove, and Cheney are driven out of Washington.
#8
Let them fast. I've never understood hunger strikes. If you wither and die because you refuse to eat so be it. Just a holier than thou form of suicide as far as I can tell.
#9
I hope it's painful and they don't backtrack. Go Cindy! Die B*tch!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2006 17:43 Comments ||
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#10
Sheehan wrote that celebrities like singer Willie Nelson, actor Danny Glover and comedian Dick Gregory will show their support for her by joining in a one-day fast.
#15
#6 said the fast would show solidarity with Iraqis and U.S. troops.
Lie. its to show solidarity with the terrorsts and murders. You know like the ones who killed Casey Sheehan.
Remember him Mother Shithan?
TERRORIST IS THE BASTARD FROM TEKAS THAT THE UNITED MORONS OF AMERICA VOTED AS A MORON IN CHIEF
THE IRAQI PEOPLES, THOSE RANTERS IN THIS ''BURG''
CALL TERRORIST, ARE DEFENDING THEIR COUNTRY AGAINST AN ARMY OF BOLONI SANDWICH RAISED IDIOTS THEY HAVE ALL THE RIGHTS TO KILL AND MAIN ENY ONE THAT SIDE WITH AMERICANS
Posted by: BRING THEM HOME ||
06/23/2006 19:21 Comments ||
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#16
Let me guess: Harvard?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 19:23 Comments ||
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#17
I still remember the apoplectic screams and cries from leftists when I referred to her as "Mother Eva Braun", after she had made her anti-Semitic remarks.
They really lost their cool, much like when Ann Coulter attacked the harpies, their other "bulletproof" icon.
It really is a weakness on their parts that should be exploited more often.
Posted by: Scott R ||
06/23/2006 20:36 Comments ||
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#21
Dick Sargeant and Dick York played Darrin....jeesh! Kids nowadays...Dick Gregory is the unfunny black "comedian" who last made people laugh (deliberately) sometime in the 60's
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2006 20:42 Comments ||
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#22
Before she embarks on her attention-whoring stunt, I would like to urge Mrs. Sheehan to buy a tombstone for her son's grave.
#23
Thanks for issuing the slapdown FrankG to our yuts. My youngest sister once asked me breathlessly "Did you know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?!"
#25
You know the Left > PEACE = America being attacked, invaded, occupied, defeated, suborned, and externally controlled voluntarily, without resistance or will of the people. The Commies, Socies, and Lefties promise the Amer people the "status quo" will not change under SOcialist Amerikka and OWG.
A fresh barrage of criticism is erupting over the decision of The New York Times to disclose last night another classified surveillance program aimed at gathering information about terrorist plots.
"The president is concerned that, once again, the New York Times has chosen to expose a classified program that is protecting the American people," a White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said last night. "We know that terrorists look for any clue about the weapons we're using to fight them and now, with this exposure, they have more information and it increases the challenge for our law enforcement and intelligence officials."
The Times report, which appears in today's editions and was posted last evening on the paper's Web site, details the federal government's use of subpoenas to gather large troves of data from a Belgium-based consortium that handles international bank transfers, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as Swift.
The Times quoted an unnamed former government official describing Swift as "the mother lode, the Rosetta stone" of data on global banking operations.
The newspaper said the surveillance effort helped lead to the capture in Thailand in 2003 of a top Al Qaeda op erative, Riduan Isamuddin, who also went by the name Hambali.
The Times reported that it decided to report publicly on the program despite requests by administration officials that the newspaper not publish the story. The officials argued that the disclosure could reduce the effort's effectiveness, the newspaper said.
The executive editor of the Times, Bill Keller, said the newspaper was not persuaded. "We have listened closely to the administration's arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration," Mr. Keller said. "We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."
The Times was already facing calls for its criminal prosecution in connection with a December report on a classified National Security Agency program for warrantless surveillance of telephone calls between America and abroad that are thought to involve people affiliated with terrorism. In that instance, President Bush reportedly summoned Mr. Keller and the publisher of the Times, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., to the Oval Office to ask that the story be killed.
The disclosure led to a series of lawsuits by civil liberties advocates. Some lawmakers also have denounced the program as unlawful and an impermissible expansion of executive authority.
A conservative magazine editor who is one of the leading advocates of prosecuting the Times for its December story, Gabriel Schoenfeld, told The New York Sun last night that the newspaper's latest move could increase their legal jeopardy.
"They're courting prosecution. ... They're increasingly behaving like if we were in the middle of World War II and they learned of plans to invade Normandy. Because they decided it's a matter of public interest, they'd publish it," Mr. Schoenfeld said. "I think this is reckless and likely to encourage Attorney General Gonzales to prosecute them, if not for this story, for some of the other things they've done."
Mr. Schoenfeld said that the latest disclosure by the Times about the financial surveillance was less clear cut as a legal violation because it did not appear to involve communications intelligence, which is specially protected under federal law.
Mr. Schoenfeld said the new report would increase anger against the paper. "They really are testing the limits of congressional and executive branch patience. There's a lot of displeasure with what they're doing," said Mr. Schoenfeld, who edits Commentary magazine and writes a weekly column on chess for the Sun.
However, the editor said he still considered a prosecution unlikely, on balance. "I'm not sure the Bush administration has a stomach for a fight with the media of that magnitude, but it's become more and more clear that it's necessary," Mr. Schoenfeld said.
Reports about the financial surveillance program appeared yesterday on the Web sites of the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The latter two seem to have learned of the Times's reporting, which has been under way for some time.
The Treasury Department confirmed the existence of the program.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/23/2006 7:09 Comments ||
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#2
"I'm not sure the Bush administration has a stomach for a fight with the media of that magnitude, but it's become more and more clear that it's necessary," Mr. Schoenfeld said.
I think Schoenfeld's right, on both counts: we're no longer "leaking" classified information; we're hemorrhaging classified information. It's got to be stopped, by whatever means is necessary, or we're going to lose this war.
And Bush doesn't have the stomach to do it.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 7:35 Comments ||
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#3
Our media is filled with Quislings, and for what its worth I'm sick and tired of it.
#4
There is only one way with these Journalists. The law is not protecting us from this kind of criminal activity by "journalists" and the media. Someone is going to have to do what is right.
These people are openly aiding the terrorsits that took the world trade center down. How do people in New York State live with this activity? They must all support it because they haven't stopped it.
#5
SWIFT should be capitalized. It's the system that tranfers money between an acount in bank A and an account in Bank B (at least internationally).
Otherwise dismal dismal reporting. They throw out a phrase borrowed from a press release - international bank transfers - with no understanding of what it means.
As usual the NYT - All the 'news' that's fit to spin.
#6
So why doesn't the government prosecute under one of the Treason or Sedition Acts such as were Axis Sally, Tokyo Rose, Lord HawHaw during WWII (Tokyo Rose was later pardoned in some kind of deal. Not sure about the outcome of the others.)
#7
It's anti-administration and anti-American, everything we have come to expect from the New York Slimes. The LA Slimes are clearly anti-war from their past treatment of stories and borderline communist. This is the release of classified material, there should be action. What would happen if I or you released classified material to the public?
#9
Treason line was crossed over the NSA intercepts. Try em and jail em. Some empty cages in Gitmo, I here. They can pray along with their fellow travelers
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2006 9:55 Comments ||
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#10
here hear....no coffee yet
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2006 9:56 Comments ||
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#11
So what. The Senate voted 93 to continue the war on terror with only the 3 moonbats voting no and the rest abstaining. The NYT stock is beginning to openly hemorrhage.
I wouldn't count on Bush not having the stomach for this.
#12
Oh how I would LOVE to see a couple of traitors reporters (sic) frog marched out of the NYT building. This news story didnt help anybody but the truly stupid Jihadis and trust me most of them are VERY stupid when it comes to security. I suspect that since 9/11 NSA has mapped out most of the Alqaeda financial transactions and holdings. The EVIL NAZI HITLERITE U.S. was probably hot on the rest of the senior leadership by way of seeing where the money came from and went to. But thanks to the NYT that method of tracking the bad guys is probably gone forever. WTG NYT! Now please drop that façade and change your name to the Islamic Times of NY.
#13
The NYT should be prosecuted for giving away state secrets. They were asked not to do it. I tell you, if some of these self-annointed, elitess would be prosecuted, they would be a little more careful about pushing their pro-AQ, defeatess anti-American agenda. Moreover, if a few hangings would occur of the terrorists that are in this country such as in Miami, Buffalo, NYC, etc, etc, etc. The motivation for being a jihadist wouldn't be so attractive--there is currently little penalty for being a jihadist. The mosques that are preaching hatred and inspiring terrorism should be shut down--they have ceased to maintain the line between church and State. They should not have the protection of the First Amendment. Their assets should be seized and sold off. They should be prosecuted under treason and sedition laws or under Rico (organized crime laws).
#14
This will go on exponentially until someone is prosecuted. The NYT is working with all the LLL to destroy the government. This is treasonous behavior.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/23/2006 11:54 Comments ||
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#15
3 things:
Stop the leaks.
Find the assholes who did theleaking and PUT THEM IN JAIL.
Put the NYT on trial for illegally recivging classified information and failing to act properly with it (There are several sections int he US Code that are very specific about this being criminal behanvior). Put the reporters and editors BEHIND BARS, and civilly forfiet all thier posesssions and money under RICO.
Untile we jail the leakers and make the adversarial press take LEGAL conseqences for their lawbreaking, this will continue.
Its that damn simple - the NYT wants too macke a splash agains the president so muchthtat is is willing to repeatedly break the law and entice others to break the law. It must be held accountable.
#16
Bush has nobody but himself to blame. Hes in charge and responsible. If he wanted it to stop he could put actions into motion - but he won't. He'll just lament the NYTs decision and "sternly" ask them not to do it again just like he did before.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
06/23/2006 12:17 Comments ||
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#17
Bush needs to call Sulzberg, Lichtbau and the sr NYT edito who approved this to come up to the Whitehouse, have them sit down and have the Att Gen of the US explain to the consequneces of his actions - and then the RICO statues and how Pinch could lose the Times and the others lose thier homes, cars, etc - and then explain how they violated several security laws. Then have them ALL cuffed right there and frog marched OUT of the Whitehouse, put on a plane and flown by Con-Air to leavenworth where they can then hear the bond plea.
Yes the press has to be held accountable. They have a right to publish this - no pre-publication censroship at all. But after-the-fact, they can and MUST be prosecuted for the violation of the law and held accountable for the consequences of their acts. The press always asks: who atches the watcher... Well who is Watching the PRESS and holding THEM accountable?
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information
(1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or
(2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or
(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes
Shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(b) As used in this subsection (a) of this section The term classified information means information which, at the time of a violation of this section, is, for reasons of national security, specifically designated by a United States Government Agency for limited or restricted dissemination or distribution;
The terms code, cipher, and cryptographic system include in their meanings, in addition to their usual meanings, any method of secret writing and any mechanical or electrical device or method used for the purpose of disguising or concealing the contents, significance, or meanings of communications;
The term foreign government includes in its meaning any person or persons acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of any faction, party, department, agency, bureau, or military force of or within a foreign country, or for or on behalf of any government or any person or persons purporting to act as a government within a foreign country, whether or not such government is recognized by the United States;
The term communication intelligence means all procedures and methods used in the interception of communications and the obtaining of information from such communications by other than the intended recipients; The term unauthorized person means any person who, or agency which, is not authorized to receive information of the categories set forth in subsection (a) of this section, by the President, or by the head of a department or agency of the United States Government which is expressly designated by the President to engage in communication intelligence activities for the United States.
#20
I would squirm with delite if the US Government arrested Bill Keller, and gave him a summary trial for sedition - and - if he was found guilty by a jury of average American (war veterans), was taken out back of the courthouse and shot.
To hell with all the seething and outrage that would result. Protection of the Republic trumps any commercial interests. Once the government told the whiners to "go to hell," I'll bet it would be awhile before the next newspaper disclosed sensitive national defense information.
Disloyal, seditious, mean-spirited, defeatist, negative, partisan, biased, dubious, unprofessional, unpatriotic, disgusting - that's the New York Times.
#21
A bit of soapbox commentary... my apologies for the length.
Many of our institutions, the press and the education system being prime examples of probably equal importance, are based as much in honor and trust as in law. The relationship has been kept in balance mainly because the exceptions where the privilege has been grossly abused were bashed or cajoled back into line by their own. A self-regulating code which we rely upon in many of our institutions. A code that is in obvious jeopardy or dead in some cases.
We are in the midst of a sea change, IMO, regards the honor and trustworthiness of these privileged quasi-governmental institutions. A tipping point in their unelected leadership has apparently been passed and there is consistent proof that many have grown too large and powerful for the self-correction of peer judgment and the number of such arrogant pretenders to power now seems sufficient to shelter, if not favor, the untrustworthy, the dishonorable. Appeals to honor have been met with further similar actions - and they have little to do with the press mantra ("the public's right to know") or the educators mantra ("we expose the students to the whole range of thought") - they are about power and influence. They are about control. They are about undermining our system of fair-play and equal opportunity in the public square to make sure one side, one message is heard. This amounts to sedition, I believe.
Except for the divide during the Civil War, AFAIK, the situation is unprecedented, at least in terms of endangering Americans and the very vitality of our Republic. There is no obvious immediate solution other than to prosecute case by case. Has the time for lining people up against the wall come? Are we that far down this road? I'm seriously beginning to wonder. I'm afraid that, sure as the sun will appear in the East tomorrow morning, we approach that moment. Everybody - even the loonies - seem to "feel" it.
I think President Bush is honorable and worthy of America's trust. I'll speculate a bit and guess that this puts me in a minority of, say, 40%. Another minority of, say, 20% consider Sulzberger and his lot to be the trustworthy and honorable party in the impasse. The remaining 40% aren't so sure about either - and probably split, issue by issue. We don't need lockstep, but we certainly do need to restore honor and trust to our system. We need (at least) two political parties participating - rationally. I believe Bush has proceeded with caution and restraint. He has called upon their honor and been not just rebuffed, but ridiculed and reviled.
Box checked.
The key seems to be that the publisher lot has a powerful grip on The Message - and they're wielding it with abandon in service of interests that do not want the same America that most Americans want - applying the numbers I've suggested above. Due to their actions, the situation has devolved into a bizarre vendetta to destroy the Bush Presidency. I have come to believe that they would do the same to any Presidency which didn't dance to their tune. They have poisoned the entirety of public discourse. The Democrat Party has, since they lack any rational ideas of their own, jumped on-board, jettisoning any hope of beating back this insanity. It's akin to institutional suicide - for both. All to do... what? Get Bush? Destroy America as we know it and want it to remain? Whose America will this country become?
As with Islam, it seems obvious that we have been engaged in an all-out war. That undeclared cowardly war began with the Oil Embargo of 1973 and became so obvious anyone could see it in Tehran in 1979. Now we have a socialist / Tranzi war on the American democracy from within which has come out into the open - and this instance probably became obvious, at least to some of us, with Nixon and Vietnam. They were victorious in bringing down a government and setting the stage for today. Those who "felt the power" as teens now have weaseled their way into positions of authority and power. They have swallowed their own immaculate teenage fantasy bullshit and revel in the numbers of Senators and Congressmen and Judges and Deans and Party Leaders and Elites they have nurtured and harbored until they believe they can repeat the stunt. The Second Wave cometh.
Since President Bush was duly elected, twice (a shot for the fevered brow crowd to get excited about), then he is the leader of the American democracy. His decisions and efforts have been a mixture of bold action and attempts to build consensus. Some have been profoundly bold. Some have been amazingly tame. Has he failed us? Not yet, we're still here bitching and complaining where we can find a suitable venue. Has he moved too slow or taken positions which we find far too mild on some issues? Yes, indeed. There is no apparent consensus possible on some issues, such as endangering America by putting private power games above the Constitution or allowing a massive influx of illegals who, simply put, cannot be trusted. I'll take my concerns to the ballot box, regards Bush and Congress. Regards these usurpers... I'm now beginning to realize that in my heart of hearts I favor stronger measures.
I've heard it repeated that he is fair game for any and all criticism. I personally do not agree with that except in principle - the principle of public discourse and redress where society decides, where laws are made under the Constitution, and judicial fiat is unthinkable - but that well has been thoroughly poisoned and is tightly controlled by the publishers and editors. Regards the judicial activists, those ideals are proven lost every day - from Kelo to the release of sex offenders, from almost anything the Ninth Circuit decides to the inability to get effective voter fraud measures in place.
Write a Letter To The Editor which takes the press to task for such leaks... which demands of them accountability and honesty in their overwhelming repetition of lies and idiot memes, proven false repeatedly... which demands to know why the emergence of obvious agendas is not allowed to be discussed and condemned in their pages... which demands that they acknowledge its existence and one-sided view... Pick any topic in which they have obviously thrown aside the very reason our Constitution granted them favor and demand they account for their actions, just as they disingenuously demand of others. What will happen? Nothing. I've tried it with both mild and strong versions. What I see is merely occasional lip-service to dissenting opinion on the Op-Ed page and the continued diatribe of one-sided, specious, illogical, fear-mongering, factually false, lick-spittle tirade that serves their agenda. Ad nauseum.
Honestly, were it not for Rantburg and its like, which have taken the place of the Letters To The Editor page and provided an outlet for discourse, I believe we would already be in the throes, maybe sporadic - maybe in earnest, of a Second Civil War. I would certainly be considering more dire actions than voting the bums out and trying to expose the institutional abuse wherever possible.
So, how do we proceed? Is clear license for sedition, which is surely the question when public officials in positions of trust and sensitivity are intentionally suborned, now to be accepted as the "new" reality?
No. By God, No. Let every elected official - and the unelected, too - in this country be put on notice that we do not accept this, that we have the power as voters, and we will exercise it. Use every means available - email, letters, contributions, button-holing your representatives at their "events", organizations - everything. Make it clear. Make them feel what you feel. Exercise your power. It is about power. We need a solid two-party system to remain healthy. We do not have it. So, we suffer accordingly.
who will wield the power in America? Americans, via the ballot box, or media powers and the other institutional parasites, sycophants, racist triangulators, and Tranzi whores, dragging the clueless and cowardly Democrats along behind?
It is out in the open. Sunshine has begun the disinfection process. They have shot their bolt and we are wounded. But not mortally. Not yet.
My thanks to the many, many thoughtful posters here who have helped me clarify my thoughts by posting theirs. If any fault or criticism is levied against this post, I sense the sinktrap may be close at hand, please let it be clear: my conclusions are my own. Thank you. Again, I apologize for the length, but thinking out loud is the only way for me. :-}
#22
Uhhh... I don't think you're in any danger of being sinktrapped. Excellent rant!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 14:24 Comments ||
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#23
Well said, Glomogum. Thank you for shining the light of reason.
Posted by: Kalle ||
06/23/2006 14:29 Comments ||
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#24
I posted that comment as its own posting under opinion. A great work Glomogum Shogum2997.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/23/2006 14:37 Comments ||
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#25
Glomogum, what do your friends call you, Glom ?
Well, Glom, it's all a matter of left vs. right.
On the left, we have socialists, mostly union types and educators, and communists, mostly ACLU and such. The educators, let's not forget are those who can not do.
Remember the old axium, 'Those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, teach gym.' So, basically, leftists consists mostly of people less inclined to succeed, and more inclined to debate and therefore, criticize the doers.
The right consists mostly of family types and loyal, honest, honorable people. These generally take responsibility for their actions and for the support of themselves and their dependents. They also succeed more frequently, therefore leftists rely upon rightists for necessary support.
Today, the right, or a portion of it has withdrawn support from the leftist media. Today, we on the right have our own media outlets. We should think seriously about withdrawing support from the institutions of higher education, also.
If the universities had to rely on their sucessful alumni, the leftism would decline in those universities. Real successful organizations lean toward the right. Doers, not debaters. The American military is such an organization, that's why we win.
Who do you think will win this struggle ?
#26
Dan, you'll never get sink-trapped for ranting!
My take: I borrow from Sun Tzu: never interfere when your enemy is in the midst of destroying himself. The NYT and LAT are on a downward slide. Their reporting is sclerotic, their sense of duty is nil, their lack of patriotism is obvious, and both their circulation numbers and stock prices reflect this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2006 14:56 Comments ||
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#27
You didn't advocate vigilantes hunting down politicians and journalists, you didn't screech bigotted insults, you presented us with reasoned thoughts and conclusions, you advocated that we get actively involved in the political process. A good rant, Glomogum Shogum2997. Thank you.
#29
Just one more reason why this voter will see ice hockey televised from Hell before he buys another copy of the NYT. If I saw their entire editorial staff being frogmarched out of the NYT Bldg. and put in Black Marias headed for Gitmo I'd be cheering at the top of my lungs!
Posted by: mac ||
06/23/2006 15:36 Comments ||
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#30
"...never interfere when your enemy is in the midst of destroying himself. The NYT and LAT are on a downward slide."
The problem with that is that in this process of sliding downward-- which could go on for years-- the media are nevertheless acting very effectively as enemy agents: spies (by communicating secrets to the enemy), saboteurs (destroying the effectiveness of the programs they are exposing), and propagandists (Abu Ghraib, the Koran Flushing Kerfuffle, etc.).
They are actively working to a) help the enemy escape detection, b) give the enemy hope that we will indeed give up the fight any day now, and c) to get American soldiers-- and someday, perhaps more American civilians-- killed.
I could understand this hands-off approach if the stakes weren't so high; but they are, and this stuff must be stopped. Whatever it takes-- and I mean WHATEVER.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 15:42 Comments ||
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#31
#27 You didn't advocate vigilantes hunting down politicians and journalists, you didn't screech bigotted insults, you presented us with reasoned thoughts and conclusions, you advocated that we get actively involved in the political process. A good rant, Glomogum Shogum2997. Thank you.
Posted by trailing wife 2006-06-23 15:02|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
Lord of the rest, we beseach you, immediately initiate the bolded. Smite them gravely!
#32
I'm humbled by the response, but not quite speechless. :^) This should cover the missing or unclear parts, I hope.
"Glum B. Determined" might be a more accurate name. I truly fear for my country and our national soul. As I said, I've finally admitted to myself that in my heart I have begun to accept that we will have to fight for our Republic all over again. So I'm no "good guy", I'm afraid.
I believe anyone who's not now infected with the self-congratulatory insanity of the Left and follows the signs must end up at approximately the same place, at least as I define rational analysis. If I thought otherwise, then I would happily say otherwise.
No, I haven't yet decided upon internal warfare, but that is solely because of you good people. Truly, I thank you and Fred for the chance to vent, but more importantly for the chance to hear my fellow citizens opine and critique events. I am no longer alone and I am very grateful.
In all honesty, thank you, Rantburg - and please keep up the good work here. You can bet you often inspire and challenge and make uncomfortable many, many visitors - such as myself - and I believe those are good things. No, check that - they're great things if we are to avoid open warfare. We have to get that 40% of people who lack an internet connection, who haven't yet discovered the concerted duplicity of the media, who simply wonder at the idiocy of Democrats like Dean and Kerry and presume that somehow the Democrats can't really be that nutty, who are so self-absorbed in navel gazing they don't think it matters who's in office - they're all the same, who would help us peacefully squash this outbreak if only they spent a few weeks at the Burg.
#33
Lord, so many comments came in while I was typing. One of them compels me to post one more comment, then I'll STFU until I think I have something illuminating and cogent to say. A rarity for me, I assure you.
Regards the "ixnay" comment, and others like it I've seen posted on occasion - I could not disagree more. What this denies is that we have honestly reached such conclusions. I mean no offense, but this truly bothers me.
This is difficult to put into words, so please bear with me... What it exposes, I believe, since others have gone further in their comments than I see in this thread without the implied censorship threat, is that there is either a standard of clever articulation or some other device that excuses such candid conclusions.
Is it the "rant ... /rant" tags? Or do I need to take some critical thinking and creative writing classes to increase my stealth, should I fall over the edge into sinktrap territory down the road?
Actually, in all honesty, I anticipate this will be the case, though I'm not sure I'll be posting, again. Rantburg's paramount value certainly lies in the reading, not the posting, for me. Again, it took me far too long to say what others regularly say more effectively and economically.
#34
Superbly written piece, Glomogum Shogum2997. However much I may disagree with some of this administration's policies, the issue of how the press routinely compromises national security is a no-brainer.
Absolutely no sitting president should be confronted with this sort of vile treachery, be it from the media, industry or the public itself. I think that much of the public's disregard for this media sedition is due to its nearly overwhelming lack of comprehension with respect to the threat that Islamism poses to all non-Muslims. That we are now half a century removed from our last major conflict (WWII) does not help either.
If Americans continue to countenance this sort of treason by the media, whatever administration that is in place will need to forcibly correct the problem, if solely for the sake of national security. Freedom of the press is a cherished American right, but just because we have a right to do something does not necessarily make it the right thing to do. Somewhere that has been lost.
#35
"Regards the "ixnay" comment, and others like it I've seen posted on occasion - I could not disagree more. What this denies is that we have honestly reached such conclusions. I mean no offense, but this truly bothers me."
It does indeed deny it; and I suspect there are a great many of us here who have reached those dire conclusions-- some enthusiastically, but most reluctantly-- and are discomforted by the embargo on expressing those thoughts here, even though we understand full well why Rantburg cannot be allowed to become a place where vigilante action is advocated.
For the life of me, though, I can no longer see any way we can win this war so long as this sort of behavior by the NYT-- and the rest of the MSM-- is allowed to continue.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 17:06 Comments ||
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#36
I understand the alarm and dismay over the MSM and the feeling of frustration over how it never seems to improve, even after repeated exposures of duplicity, treachery, innaccuracy and all the rest. But I agree with Steve White's comment and think that patience - combined with vigilance, of course - will win out for us in the end. One analogy might be the Iron Curtain. In 1985, it didn't seem apparent that it was all about to crumble. Sure, everyone knew that the system couldn't sustain itself in the long run, but who could see how quickly and completely it would unravel once it started? In this analogy, Rantburg and similarly minded news sites and blogs might be somewhat akin to the Solidarity movement. I think that the MSM are going to reach a tipping point where their behavior is so outrageous that even the fence-sitters will say enough is enough - and then the MSM won't be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. We're facing some tough challenges here, but we've faced others just as tough in our history and won. We know that what we are fighting for is worth it and that is an advantage not to be underestimated. I think that when the right time comes, we will know what to do and that we'll get it done. If people like Solzhenitsyn and Václav Havel could maintain control over their despair while steadily, patiently fighting oppression, then we have to be willing to do the same.
Also, GS2997, although I share your view that, on most topics, I'd rather read what many of the knowledgeable, articulate, and witty people here post than write much myself - I do hope you post again when you feel passionately about something, because the results are well worth reading and thinking about. And hopefully some of the responses will make you feel better, or at least help you see the issue more clearly.
#37
Honestly...one of the better threads I have read on Rantburg lately....and that is saying a lot. I believe Steve is right...quoting Sun Tzu...that they (NYTLATAPREUTERS) have sown the seeds of their own destruction; and the best action is to watch them fall on their own knife.
The pity is that they view themselves as defenders of freedom, and the 1st Amendment. They abuse that freedom, and put those that are the REAL defenders of the 1st amendment (in Iraq and Afghanistan) in harms way. May they rot in Hell with Zarqawi and his 72 Helen Thomas's.
#39
On the ixnay issue, let me reiterate (gently) why we have the ixnay in place --
-- we don't want the Burg shut down, and none of us moderators want to do a perp walk.
It's really that simple. Advocating the deaths of certain American citizens (even if said citizens are correctly held to be scum-sucking bottom feeding treasonous leeches, or even worse, journalists) potentially gets us into trouble. However satisfying it might be to vent about this, it's something we can't allow.
So the mods are agreed that we will redact such statements and try to warn people. It's precisely why we (well, Fred) created the 'redact' button, so that we could dump the comment without dumping the commenter.
Thanks for your understanding. AoS.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2006 18:53 Comments ||
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#40
Another note, these types of comments happen a lot more when something truly egregious happens in the news. The last time we had this issue, it was the Danish Cartoonifada, when embassies were burning. This time it's the horrific deaths of those two fine young soldiers.
"The left continues to undermine national security in the most despicable, cynical way. I'm quite sure the reasonable liberals at the NYT and WaPo know full well that programs like this are absolutely vital, and their secrecy is likewise vital. However, they have made the most anti-American and evil sort of decision: While tools like this are vital for saving American lives, they will not permit any Republican President to use them. Only Democratic Presidents are permitted to employ the full panoply of powers for protecting American lives.
It's blackmail, pure and simple. Either let a Democrat into the White House, or we will continue to sabotage American security and, in effect, kill Americans. We will keep secrets when a Democrat is in office, but not a Republican. So we offer the American people a choice: Let the politicians we favor run the country, or we will help Al Qaeda murder you."
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 20:52 Comments ||
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#43
Bottom line for me from inside the area of no comment:
We MUST find, prosecute and jail for life these peopel whoa re breaking thier oaths and leaking to the press, regardless of how we handle the press. And if the press, when called as witnesses, refuse to divulge their source, then they can and should be jailed as accessories to a felony.
We must stop the leaks - and that means jailing the leakers.
#44
I like Aces' suggestion to ban the NYT from all Gov't functions and news conferences AND hunt down the leakers
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2006 20:57 Comments ||
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#45
I'm for outright prosecution of all involved, and for seeking the harshest penalties available-- including death.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 21:09 Comments ||
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#46
DD - always trying to soft sell and "get along go along". P*ssy :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2006 21:25 Comments ||
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#47
Honestly...one of the better threads I have read on Rantburg lately....and that is saying a lot.
My feelings as well. This thread is a fine example of what makes Rantburg the bastion of free speech that it is. My thanks to Fred Pruitt and all of the moderating crew here. Just a few years ago I might have much more easily swallowed the poison being spewed by the MSM. Even back then I was somewhat circumspect regarding reported news but I still have to thank Rantburg for illuminating just how distorted so much of modern reportage is. Again, my deep thanks to all of you who make this place possible.
PS: GS2997, you really should post here more often. You have an great writing style and obviously work from an informed position. I'm confident many others here feel as I do. Regardless, keep fighting the good fight.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 21:41 Comments ||
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#49
Let the politicians we favor run the country, or we will help Al Qaeda murder you."
No shit. Another reminder of my head having the same properties as an anvil. That is so obvious it hurts my head to think I didn't see it so simply before.
#55
Weblogs are the new Committees of Correspondence. They serve the purpose of debunking the propaganda and lies that are foisted upon the American people and the world. Like the colonial committees, which were set up for specific purposes, our weblogs tend to focus on specific areas. Being outside the control of those 'elites' who would have us believe everything they utter, they allow ordinary people to contribute, according to their talents, whatever insight, experience or knowledge they have. We have witnessed their ability to harness resources above and beyond those of media and government.
I hope to write much more on this in the near future, but for now be aware that we are all on the front lines. There are no rear areas in this struggle.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/23/2006 22:53 Comments ||
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#56
I was too ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/23/2006 23:29 Comments ||
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#57
Hear, hear to ALL of the above...fine ranting. I believe GS truly sums up what we all feel. Me? I've tried to run from my "redneck" upbringing and be "civilized, nice, etc." My gloves are starting to come off in this arena. We (by that, I mean ALL Americans) were smacked hard on 9/11. And, now just a short 5 years later, our "leading" press/papers are OPENLY advocating for the enemy. I've GOT to believe the "Average American" out there sees through this horse-hockey and there IS a feeling in the air of an eventual internal showdown. Like some historian said, "Great civilizations (including Rome, Greece, etc.) don't die for external attacks, generally, but from internal subversion." We have a 2-front war going on: (1) against the jihadis, who would like to take us down quickly, and (2) against the LLL, who would like to take us down quickly, too, but seem to have the "patience" to try and outlast us, the AVERAGE Americans.
And I second GS's thanks to Fred et al. I, too, applaud you, gentlemen, for this arena to vent in. Unfortunately, I see bad news on the horizon, as in eventually, we may very well have a second Civil War (internal), but fine arenas like the 'burg here, help us to vent some steam, as well as make it appearant that we're not alone, and the average citizen may not be as moonbatty as the MSM portrays us to be. HEAR, HEAR!
Posted by: BA ||
06/23/2006 23:57 Comments ||
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Nepal's Maoist rebels said Thursday they are not prepared to disarm but are willing to put their army and their weapons under the supervision of the United Nations. The new government and the Maoists reached a landmark power-sharing agreement last week, but Nepal's home minister has said that the interim government cannot be formed until the Maoists lay down their weapons. "We are not going to disarm. But to create a conducive environment for constituent assembly elections we are willing to neutralise our weapons and our army under UN monitoring," rebel spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara told AFP.
Under last week's agreement parliament will be dissolved and power shared in a new interim government, which is due to come into being within a month. In the longer term the government has pledged to hold constituent assembly elections to form a a body that will permanently rewrite the constitution, and most likely remove the king from politics permanenetly. Mahara said the rebels would not use arms during the constituent assembly elections and called on the army to match the move. A ceasefire is currently in force. "We are expecting UN monitoring and technical assistance for the management of arms from both sides," he said.
The question of the rebels laying down arms was not addressed in their eight-point agreement. But Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said on Wednesday the issue must be addressed before the power-sharing arrangement comes into effect. "Formation of the interim government is not possible without settling the Maoists' arms issues," Sitaula said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Supervision huh? More like ready access to hostages.
#6
Serious points all, but the biggest reason is that there is less benefit to disclosure than to keep secret. Foreseeable is the playing down of any WMD revelation by the MSM and Euros. We see that with pre-1991 degraded materials.
While it would have been nice to give some cover to those of us who have strongly held views that undisclosued WMD was there to be discovered (and some is in Syria and Lebanon), the disadvantage weighs more.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/23/2006 20:29 Comments ||
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#7
I recall reading that Churchill "permitting" the bombing of Coventry was/is a myth and a rather vicious one at that.
SAMAWA - The governor of Iraqs southern province of Muthanna said foreign troops began their withdrawal on Thursday, days after Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki announced a handover of security in the region. The withdrawal of the Multi-National Forces from Muthanna province starts today. It will take more than a month to complete this withdrawal, Governor Mohammed Al Hasani told a news conference in the provincial capital Samawa.
A British military spokesman in Basra said the withdrawal process had already been under way for some time and would take around six weeks. British Defence Minister Des Browne said this week British forces, who have about 7,000 troops in Iraq, will still monitor security although Iraqis will have overall responsibility. It is not decided where the troops will be based but we will keep a responsible overwatch, Browne told Reuters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Hasn't Sadr been responsible for security in Southern Iraq for 2 years?
#2
Wait a minute!
We can't have any withdrawal without it being forced down our throats by the Democrats! Otherwise people may start to think we are actually winning this thing! It has to be because the dims overpowered Bush and forced it.
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Many Palestinian government workers in the occupied West Bank took part in a one-day strike on Thursday, demanding wages that have not been paid for nearly four months. If the government does not act to alleviate our suffering, then we will escalate our steps until we cause a comprehensive paralysis of the ministries, said Bassam Zakarneh, head of the government employees union.
Not that anyone can tell. Is the Gaza airport open?
Workers at many ministries took part in the strike. But others from the departments of health, education, womens affairs and labour did not participate. Zakarneh said the one-day strike could be extended if the government did not respond to workers demands.
The employees union is dominated by members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass Fatah faction, which was trounced by Hamas in January parliamentary elections. I support the strike because its the only means to protest against the practices of the Palestinian government, said Salam Ahmed, a Labour Ministry employee who took part in the strike in the West Bank city of Jenin. Ahmed said the government was unable to meet the demands of its employees, mainly to provide bread for their families.
Maybe you guys should get jobs in the private sector.
But Mohammed Abu Muhsen, who opposes the strike, said the workers should not blame the government. We have to strike against those who are behind the siege, he said.
Funny, he didn't name the evil Jooooz.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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But...but...I thought they all were supposed to get paid a week or two ago! And they brought in all that extra cash, too!
#3
Yeah, Abu.
Strike against the U.S. and E.U., that would be devastatingly effective. The largest welfare state in the world is running out of money. Aw shucks!
#4
Boy Howdy! $20 meg in suitcases does not go far these days. But didn't that money go across the border from Egypt to Gaza? The West Bank guyz must belong to a separate bureaucracy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/23/2006 11:52 Comments ||
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#5
Well, phil_b, considering there isn't a desert around here for thousands of miles, it's time I changed it. ;)
A leading Filipino Muslim leader has called for the inclusion of criminal offences and increasing the coverage of Shariah law in the Philippines to urban communities with sizeable Muslim populations. A majority of Muslim Filipinos, he said, were happy in their homeland with steps Manila had taken by recognising and implementing Shariah law in some parts of the Philippines.
At the 2nd International Conference of Islamic Scholars held at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta, Taha M Basman, Commissioner, Unesco, Philippines and President of the Philippine Islamic Council said despite these achievements, several steps were yet needed to be taken urgently by Manila, especially filling up vacancies at the various Shariah courts that have been established in the country's southern region, Mindanao.
In a paper presented at the conference, he pointed out that five district Shariah courts in the Philippines currently have no judges. These included courts in the Jolo, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, Lanao Del Sur and Maguindanao-Sultan Kudarat districts. Over 20 judges needed to be appointed to these Sharia courts whose jurisdiction also extends over various cities, townships and villages in these districts, he added.
"Al Hamdullilah, we thank Almighty Allah that through the years, the minority Muslims in the Philippines have achieved significant strides in co-existing with other religious groups in the country. However modest, the Shariah law is now a permanent fixture in the life of Muslims in the Philippines," he added.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 14:26 Comments ||
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#6
I like the way you think, Dave D.. Sooner or later Islam, as a whole, must be read the riot act. I foresee no improvement in reducing terrorism until all Muslims are put on notice that they must act as a body to purge Islam of its radicals. If they refuse to self-police we are under no obligation to painstakingly winnow out their thugs and murderers. The culling will happen on a much more massive scale and will be irreversible.
#7
"The culling will happen on a much more massive scale and will be irreversible."
Yup. There's days when I'm really convinced that this war will not be over until Arabic is spoken only in Hell. There's also days when I'm convinced we're wasting our time, our treasure and our sons' and daughters' lives trying to fight this war so long as the Left is allowed to interfere with it and give the enemy aid and comfort.
Today is one of those days, on both counts.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/23/2006 16:27 Comments ||
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(AKI) - Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah denied Thursday through its chief spokesman claims by a top United States official that it is involved in the insurgency in Iraq. "We are not responsible for the crimes being committed in Iraq, and we don't operate in any country other than Lebanon," the spokesman Husayn Nabulsi, told Adnkronos International (AKI).
In an interview published in the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat, David Satterfeld, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's top aide on Iraq, said Hezbollah "takes active part in the violence in Iraq, causing the death of many Iraqis, Americans, Britons and other soldiers of the multinational coalition."
"The American claims don't come as a surprise to us," said Nabulsi, adding that "it is instead the United States that doesn't know how to deal with the chaos in Iraq and are trying to blame us for the crimes they themselves are committing."
In the interview Satterfield also accused Iran - which supports Hezbollah - of being involved in the violence in Iraq, especially in the "supply of sophisticated explosive material." He also accused another of Hezbollah's backers, Syria, of providing the "main corridor through which suicide bombers enter into Iraq." Instead Nabulsi told AKI that he believes that the United States has "fanned the flames of extremism in the region and aims to divide Iraq on the basis of ethnicity and religious faith, just like its (the US's) ally Israel."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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Yeah, right, uh huh, yep, you bet, gotcha,
Boy these hezbollah guys are real stand up, tell the truth unequivocating men of honor.
And if you believe that, I got this bridge in NYC and some really great ocean front land in Florida.
The office of Lebanons embattled pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has accused former colonial power France of blocking his invitation to a summit of French-speaking nations.
"They won't lemme go to the prom! All the other presidents are goin'!"
Lahoud has been boycotted by France as well as the United States since his term in office was controversially extended for three years in September 2004 under pressure from powerful neighbor Syria.
"We don't like you 'cuz you're selfish and won't let anybody else have a turn at being president!"
French foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said Tuesday that Lahoud had not been invited by Romania to a Francophone summit in October and that Lebanon would be instead represented by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. A statement Lahouds office complained there had been direct interference by French President Jacques Chirac to make sure no invitation is extended to President Lahoud.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/23/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Poor Emile, always the bridesmaid, never the bride...
It is almost four years now since a Pakistani court had sentenced to death Sheikh Ahmad Omar Saeed, a London School of Economics graduate turned jihadi, for the gruesome murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. However, Omar has managed to avoid being sent to the gallows during all these years and his appeal against the sentence has seen almost 50 adjournments since his conviction, for inexplicable reasons.
An Anti-Terrorist Court in Karachi began his trial on April 22, 2002 and gave its verdict on July 15, 2002, which was instantly challenged in the Sindh High Court. The American intelligence sleuths involved in the investigations believe Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and slaughtered because he had uncovered some vital links between the Pakistani intelligence establishment and the al Qaeda network. They are convinced that Omar was actually a double agent of the Pakistani intelligence as well as al Qaeda. Omar had once been the right hand man of Maulana Masood Azhar, who leads the Jaish-e-Mohammad. The involvement of an intelligence agent in the murder had generated enormous US pressure, forcing the most trusted Bush ally in his war on terror Musharraf to take on the jihadi groups in Pakistan.
On March 22, 2002, General Musharraf stated in Islamabad, Daniel Pearl had come from Mumbai and made intrusion into the areas which are dangerous and he should have avoided it. Perhaps he was over-intrusive. A media person should be aware of the dangers of getting into dangerous areas. But unfortunately he got over-involved. Yet the million-dollar question remains: what exactly had Pearl got himself over-involved in?
The Wall Street Journal reporter came to Pakistan in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to cover the US-led war on terror. But unlike most Western journalists who, after coming to Pakistan, sought official help for reporting, and thus got hooked up with local journalists, Pearl decided to remain independent of any official patronage in uncovering the whole truth. Besides visiting Islamabad and Karachi, he was spotted in many other cities Bahawalpur, Peshawar and Quetta where no ordinary foreign journalist dared to tread, in view of the desperation of the extremist jihadis at that time, who were fuming because of the US-led attack on Afghanistan and the subsequent killings there.
With this background in mind, the somewhat overexcited movements of a hyper Pearl made the Pakistani intelligence agencies suspicious of him and his agenda, making them follow him and keep him under close watch. Some say he was working on the shoe bomber Richard Reids story in the backdrop of the latters alleged links with Pakistani jihadi groups. Some say he was desperately trying to explore any possible links between the Pakistani intelligence agencies and the Osama-led al Qaeda network. Which statement is true no one in Pakistan is ready to say, neither Musharraf nor the intelligence agencies working under his command.
Whatever the truth may be, the fact remains that Pearl had become fascinated in a number of investigative stories involving Pakistani intelligence agencies. The American investigators, therefore, believe that a plan was chalked out to lure Pearl into a position where he could be kidnapped. He was finally abducted from Karachi on January 23, 2002. The day Daniel Pearl was kidnapped he had left his Karachi rest house to meet the British-born Islamic militant Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed at the Metropole Hotel.
Pearl hoped Omar would arrange a subsequent meeting with Pir Mubarak Shah Gilani, head of a small extremist group called Tanzeem-ul-Furqa. Having initially met Omar along with his colleague and local journalist, Pearl chose to venture out alone. According to a taxi driver who drove Pearl to the Hotel, he asked him to stop near the hotel and got out. He then went to a car parked nearby in which four persons were waiting. One of them got out, introduced himself and invited Pearl to get in. He willingly did so. The car then departed.
In an e-mail to the American authorities four days later, an unknown group, The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty sent ransom demands along with pictures of the 38-year old reporter in chains. The list of demands raised by the abductors included freedom for Taliban prisoners, specifically of Mullah Mohammad Zaeef, Talibans former ambassador to Pakistan, and the release of F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan.
The Pakistani authorities subsequently launched a drive for the recovery of Pearl. They started searching for Omar Sheikh after finding out that it was he who, under an assumed name, had laid the trap for Pearl. They took into custody Omar Sheikhs father, wife and young child in order to force him to surrender. On February 5, 2005, Omar Sheikh surrendered to Brigadier Ejaz Hussain Shah, the home secretary of Punjab, who had previously served the ISI as its Punjab chief and is now holding the coveted slot of Director General Intelligence Bureau in Islamabad.
Brigadier Ejaz kept Omar in custody for a whole week until February 12, 2002 and then handed him over to the Karachi police authorities for interrogation. The public announcement about his arrest said he was captured on February 12, 2002 and did not refer to the fact that he had been in custody since February 5, 2002. He then confessed to having kidnapped Pearl. During interrogation, Omar told the members of a joint team of American and Pakistan officials that he had been working for the intelligence agencies since his December 1999 release from India. The Vajpayee government was compelled to release from the Tehar Jail, Srinagar, Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and their jihadi mentor Maulana Masood Azhar after the hijackers of an Indian airliner demanded the same.
The most disturbing revelation Omar made during interrogation was that his captors might have killed Pearl by then. On February 20, 2002, three men approached a Karachi-based journalist, offering to sell a compact disk depicting Pearls death for $ 200,000 as well as a promise of global coverage. These men had been seen previously distributing press releases for an unknown militant group. Lacking the apparatus needed to play the CD-ROM as proof, the three men returned the next day with the footage converted to videotape. With a camera arranged from a local video store, the journalist was able to view and confirm the tapes gruesome images.
The video was titled The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl. The tape made its way to the Pakistani government and the US government, and eventually it leaked onto the Internet through a jihadi site. The film consisted of a Pearl monologue describing his Jewish upbringing, his familys involvement in the creation of Israel, and his feelings regarding the current controversy. His monologue was presented in edited sound bites; at times he appeared relaxed and his speech was natural, but during other parts he was tense and his speech sounded forced. Most of what he said was not terribly controversial, and notably he did not claim to be a spy for the US or Israel.
According to the FBI investigation, when Daniel Pearls throat was first slashed, a technical error caused it not to have been captured on film, thus it had to be re-filmed. The man holding the knife is now strongly believed to be Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the then chief operational commander for al Qaeda, who was arrested from Rawalpindi in March 2003.
On May 17, 2002, three held activists of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi a banned militant group helped the Karachi police recover the dismembered body of Daniel Pearl from a vacant plot in the Gadap Town off Super Highway, owned by Al-Rasheed Trust. The Trust was founded in the 1980s by Mufti Ahmed as one of the several ostensibly humanitarian relief organisations that used to finance numerous jihadi outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad. The three detained suspects were among the six alleged associates of Omar Sheikh and had revealed during interrogation that the US journalist had been kept in a house in Orangi Town when he was alive.
The million-dollar question pops up once again why was Pearl kidnapped in the first place and then killed? The Wall Street Journal quoted Omar Sheikh in a March 2002 report telling his investigators, He was falling into my trap so easily, so I thought I might as well do it. Omars aim, wrote the Journal, was to strike a blow against the US and embarrass the pro-US Pakistan government.
According to the US intelligence findings, in the days right before September 11, a flurry of money transfers occurred between the September 11 paymaster in the United Arab Emirates, presumably to Omar Sheikh and Mohammad Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers.
Between September 6 and 10, 2001, $ 26,315 was wired from the hijackers back to the UAE leftover money from the September 11 plot. On September 11, the investigations reveal, in the hours before the attacks, the paymaster transferred $ 40,871 from Omars UAE bank accounts to his Visa card, and caught a plane flight from the UAE to Pakistan. There are records of him making six ATM withdrawals in Karachi on September 13, 2001 and then his trail goes cold. Afterwards, Omar visited Afghanistan to meet Osama bin Laden.
Omar was shifted to Karachi Central Prison from Hyderabad Jail on May 19, 2006, where he is being guarded round-the-clock.
The writer is the former editor of Weekly Independent, currently affiliated with Reuters and the Gulf News
Posted by: john ||
06/23/2006 16:54 ||
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Significantly, Sheikh is also the man who, on the instructions of General Mahmoud Ahmed, the then head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), wired $100,000 before the 9/11 attacks to Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker.
Michael Meacher is Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton. He was environment minister 1997-2003
Posted by: john ||
06/23/2006 17:01 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Islamic court officials agreed to the recent peace talks that are taking place in Sudan with no conditions. The Alliance which defeated the US backed warlords earlier this month peacefully agreed to the Arab mediation which has been sponsered by Yemen and Ethiopia. These talks are being held so that an agreement can be reached between the Alliance and the interim government. Delegation chief Ali Mohammed told reporters that the negotiations would be a success. President 
(SomaliNet) At least 100 people have been killed and several others displaced in a fighting between rival clans over a disputed land over the week in Southern Ethiopia, UN Humanitarian office in Ethiopia said, The Daily Monitor reported. The clashes between Borena and Guji occurred over the last weeks in a place called Borena located around 600 Kilo metres from the capital, when a land which belonged to the Guji was given to Borena. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said, as a result of the fighting, more than 20,000 people from Arero woreda (district) have been displaced. UN-OCHA said the Oromia regional government Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) reported.
UN Secretary-Generall Kofi Annan said Thursday that a UN peace keeping force will be needed for Darfur to help the parties implement the peace agreement and help provide security for the internally displaced. He added that though agreement by the Sudanese government has not been reached yet on a UN force but the talks continue and expressed hope that the Sudanese government will accept a UN peace keeping force. 
Somalia's interim government and the hard-line Islamic militia which took control of the capital Mogadishu this month yesterday recognised each other. Delegations from the two sides met under Arab League auspices after mediators held separate meetings with them in the morning in an attempt to avert a confrontation which could extend years of conflict. Abdullahi Sheekh Ismail, the Somali foreign minister, and Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, the head of the 
Mubarak
Yemen's President 
Attempts to extradite the radical Muslim preacher Abu Hamza Al Masri to the United States on terrorism charges were postponed yesterday because of his appeal against a British conviction. The hook-handed, one-eyed former imam of 
Asharq Al-Awsat - On the first anniversary of the 7 July attacks in London, Islamists in Britain will hold a seminar in Birmingham followed by a press conference in the capital on Monday 3 July. 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A play about an American 
The GOP-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected Democratic calls to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by years' end, as the two parties sought to define their election-year positions on a war that has grown increasingly unpopular. "Withdrawal is not an option. Surrender is not a solution," declared Senate Majority Leader 
A fresh barrage of criticism is erupting over the decision of The New York Times to disclose last night another classified surveillance program aimed at gathering information about terrorist plots.
Nepal's Maoist rebels said Thursday they are not prepared to disarm but are willing to put their army and their weapons under the supervision of the United Nations. The new government and the Maoists reached a landmark power-sharing agreement last week, but Nepal's home minister has said that the interim government cannot be formed until the Maoists lay down their weapons. "We are not going to disarm. But to create a conducive environment for constituent assembly elections we are willing to neutralise our weapons and our army under UN monitoring," rebel spokesman 
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Many Palestinian government workers in the occupied West Bank took part in a one-day strike on Thursday, demanding wages that have not been paid for nearly four months. If the government does not act to alleviate our suffering, then we will escalate our steps until we cause a comprehensive paralysis of the ministries, said Bassam Zakarneh, head of the government employees union.
(AKI) - Lebanese Shiite group 
The office of Lebanons embattled pro-Syrian President 
