Most federal employees probably believe they are not in a position to be tempted by offers of money or other items of value in return for granting favors.
Nobody has ever offered me money and hookers. Dammit
But, in the event you should ever find yourself in this position, you may want to think twice. And, if that isn't enough, think a few more times about doing something as stupid as documenting your actions.
Stupid is as stupid does
A career state department official working at the US Consulate in Toronto, Canada has a problem. He is (or at least he was) the deputy nonimmigrant visa chief at the U.S. Consulate there. O'Keefe has now been indicted by a grand jury in the District of Columbia on allegations contending that he accepted items of value in return for being influenced in expediting the handling of applications and issuing visas. He is potentially facing a prison sentence of 15 years and a substantial fine.
The State Department has the responsibility of reviewing applications by foreign nationals who want to receive a visa to enter the country. Qualified applicants receive a visa and the responsibility for making decisions on these applications is typically delegated to consulate officers. With terrorism on the priority list for a number of agencies, the State Department has been cracking down on controls of non-immigrant visas granted to students or employees for American companies.
Michael John O'Keefe, Sr. was employed as a consulate officer and had certain responsibility and authority with regard to the visa application process. This authority may have been very important and valuable to some and it appears he is now in considerable trouble. O'Keefe has been charged in connection with an indictment with accepting airline tickets from Toronto to New York and Las Vegas for himself and two "exotic dancers", along with hotel accommodations, meals, and expenses. He was also allegedly given jewelry by an executive for a jewelry company.
You didn't think those girls were doing this for free, did you?
Apparently grateful for the various items given to him and sometimes sent appreciative remarks to the benefactor for the items through an e-mail account--copies of which are now apparently in the possession of the federal government.
When will they learn, oh wait. He's State Department....never mind
According to the indictment, O'Keefe sent an e-mail to a jewelry executive complaining that he was "growing tired of much of the argument over visas," and thanked him for the expense-paid trip to New York City for himself and two exotic dancers, explaining that "spending two days with [both exotic dancers, and] showing them the city, really helped me to relax."
It would certainly relax me
He also apologized for explaining his work-related problems. In return, O'Keefe allegedly set up personal interviews with visa applicants sponsored by the company.
The career official apparently really enjoyed the trip to New York. A few months later, he allegedly sent another e-mail telling the jewelry official he would like to go to Las Vegas "because it is a place where I can lose my stiff diplomatic persona and just act like everyone else." Allegedly, the executive subsequently arranged for an expense-paid trip to Vegas for the federal official and the two exotic dancers at the Mirage Hotel.
Where the "dancers" worked on his "stiff" persona.
According to US Attorney Kenneth Wainstein, U.S. Consular Officials are on the front line of our border protection. A consular official who violates the rules for personal gain not only erodes public trust in our visa system, but seriously jeopardizes our national security.
The indictment also charged Sunil Agrawal, a 47-year-old native of India and the chief executive a the New-York based company called STS Jewels. The statement from the US Attorney's office also notes that "An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until found guilty."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/28/2006 11:19 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I need to go to Vegas with a couple of dancers and get rid of my stiff ..persona. He probably got caught because he got greedy and stupid.
#5
For My sins, I used to work for the government (Dept of Navy, civilian R&D). We would get lectures we couldn't accept lunch or even a ride to the airport.
August 28, 2006: The Taliban have been trying to increase the combat capability of their tribal warriors. Some Taliban groups appear to have undergone professional infantry training, and are led by men who also appear to have received training. Several groups of platoon (20-30 men ) and company (50-80) size have been performing to much higher standards than the normal run of "martyr fodder" that Afghan and Coalition troops have been encountering in Afghanistan.
"martyr fodder", that needs to go in the style book
There have been reports of Taliban training camps in Pakistan. Nothing permanent. These appear to be portable, with trainers and equipment moving around to safe (pro-Taliban) villages, and training young men willing to join the fight. The Taliban is paying good wages, to the more promising warriors, but still allowing many volunteers to tag along and take their chances.
Where does the money come from, I wonder?
The focus of attacks in recent weeks has been on NATO forces. The Taliban apparently hopes it can kill enough NATO personnel to create problems back home. They haven't been doing very well, even though the Canadians lost eight men in less than a month. But at the same time, Canadian troops killed over a hundred Taliban, and appeared to have no trouble dealing with what they encounter, even the new, improved, Taliban troopers.
The main problems the Taliban have is with Coalition air power, and Afghans willing to rat them out. One reason Coalition units often travel with a dozen or so Afghan soldier or police, is so they have the ability to get tips from villages they pass through, or travelers they encounter. Air power, especially UAVs, are a another major advantage. Once Taliban are detected in an area, UAVs and manned aircraft are out looking for them. Once found, the Taliban are in big trouble, especially if there is no forest, caves or friendly village to hide in. The Taliban have been developing tactics to deal with the air power, but these usually involves throwing down their weapons ditching the weapons and running away dispersing. That temporarily destroys the usefulness of a Taliban group, but it preferable to getting blasted by a smart bomb.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/28/2006 10:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Taliban have been developing tactics to deal with the air power, but these usually involves ditching the weapons and dispersing.
What they fail to grasp is that the tactic is what they need to do permanently. Death, Mother Nature's way of telling you to slow down.
#3
"But at the same time, Canadian troops killed over a hundred Taliban, and appeared to have no trouble dealing with what they encounter, even the new, improved, Taliban troopers".
New, improved = Dead, room/hill/landscape temperature, needs a new improved graphic.
#4
Got my own Taliban dictionary from this article.
Vocabulary
Taliban: A part of the U-back again/wtf tribe? Nasty, smelly fuckers.
Trying: almost there, very trying, do not try that again, (UN Speak).
To increase: to make larger/pump it up.
Combat capability: An Israeli/US thing, dont worry about it.
Tribal warriors: Oh, yes, and I am tribal too.
Taliban groups: aka, clusters of smelly fuckers. *See: Several Groups, below.
Appear: a moonbat vision.
To have: You do not have, we have.
Undergone: Talibans undergo things before they go under,* see underwent.
Professional Infantry Training: Really, thats an Army thing.
Are led by: Mules, stupid people/Taliban/Iranian Chicoms.
Men: Nope, the word dont exist in your vocabulary.
Who also: Your brother was/was not there, but he isnt really your brother/uncle.
Appear to have received training: Like my dog, but not as clever.
*Several groups: see as above, cluster/target-rich/environment.
(Taliban) Platoon (20-30 men ): Cluster-fuck.
(Taliban) Company (50-80): Slightly pumped-up Cluster-fuck.
Have been performing: you bet!
Much higher standards: Taliban standards are low, make that lower than low, like Shark-shit, so these are really high, like standards, cut your throat with a slightly dull knife on 6M pixel video.
Normal* Run of "Martyr Fodder: Calling all Mossies, Calling all Mossies/you aint sayed you aint, you aint what you is, youre all Fodder.
(Normal*: there aint no normal in the T aliban psyche
"Martyr Fodder": You guys.
Afghan and Coalition troops: Our guys, not yours.
Have been encountering: also known as a contact.
Afghanistan: or anywhere any muslims are in the world.
Reports: the sound after gun-fire.
Pakistan: the heart of all the shit in the world.
Taliban training camps: Nothing permanent/appear to be portable/moving around, portable, non-permanent future dead guys.
Paying good wages: to the really dead guys, raisins all round.
Willing*: to die/death-wish
*Not willing to work, from the Palestinian
More promising warriors: cos the others are all dead or just pussies.
To tag along: Just before the Toe-Tag-Along.
Take their chances: on the Toe-Tag-Along, see above.
Focus: your ring-piece.
Focus of Attacks: your ring-piece.
Apparently hopes: Too much hashish/a dream.
Kill enough: its a living.
To create problems: a Taliban/Moslem speciality.
Back home: not Alabama.
Haven't been doing very well: See Platoon/Company/Cluster-fuck.
At the same time: In the 7th Century.
Appeared: a Canadian vision of dead Talibunnies.
Over a hundred Taliban: dead uns, *see above.
No trouble: cos they dead pussies now.
Encounter: a meeting of Taliban and lead.
New, improved, Taliban troopers: wanted, lots of raisins when youre dead.
Main problem: Taliban mo-fos not being dead enough.
(SomaliNet) The second biggest commercial ship has docked at the main sea port of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia on Saturday two days after Islamists reopened it.
Yes, ladies and gents, the Mogadishu port has achieved the minimal norms expected of a civilized society for two whole days in a row!
UAE registered Victoria vessel which had sailed from Dubai was carrying commercial goods including commodities and cars. The ship chartered by Somali businessman called Abdi Wif began to unload the shipment with all former staff resumed work. The work of the main old port in Mogadishu continues properly, [a] local Islamist said. This will help the life better and boost the business.
Earlier first cargo ship had docked at the port of Mogadishu hours after Islamic Courts controlling the capital and much of south and central Somalia, declared that it was open to business.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Two days doesn't sound like much, but how many of us had taken the under?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea has facilities on standby to test a nuclear explosion and could do so at any time, the chief of South Korea's main spy agency said Monday, according to a lawmaker and a government official. "Facilities for a nuclear test are always on standby and considering the North's capability, the possibility (of a test) is always open," spy agency chief Kim Seung-kyu was quoted as telling a closed meeting of the parliamentary intelligence committee. However, Kim said there is no sign that a test is imminent, according to two people at the meeting, Rep. Shin Ki-nam, head of the committee, and a government official who requested anonymity, citing policy. "Currently, however, there is no direct sign or movement that North Korea is preparing a nuclear test," Kim was quoted as saying.
Kim also was quoted as saying his agency detected signs in the late 1990s that the communist nation was digging a tunnel in the northeast and has since kept a close watch on it. Recently, what were believed to be cables were seen in the region, but it's difficult to determine whether they are directly related to a nuclear test, Kim was quoted as saying. Cables could be used to provide electricity to a tunnel or to link an underground testing site to outside measuring equipment, Shin said.
Concerns of a nuclear test by the North flared anew earlier this month after ABC News quoted U.S. officials as saying that suspicious activity was detected at a suspected underground nuclear testing site. North Korea claims to have nuclear weapons, but has not performed any known test. Many experts believe the North has enough radioactive material to build at least half a dozen nuclear weapons.
On Saturday, the North's Foreign Ministry said it would take "all necessary countermeasures" unless the U.S. accepts its demand for an end to financial restrictions on the country. The North didn't elaborate what those countermeasures would be, but some local media said the North's statement may mean a nuclear test. The communist state test-fired seven missiles July 5, including a long-range Taepodong-2 missile, believed potentially capable of reaching the United States.
There have been concerns the North may conduct more tests. But Kim, the South's spy agency chief, said the possibility is low because the North removed all Taepodong-2 related equipment from a launch site on its east coast mid-July, "ending missile activity in the region," according to Shin and the government official.
The United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea have tried to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear program at six-party negotiations. The talks have been on hold since November as North Korea refuses to attend until Washington lifts financial restrictions on it. The nuclear talks have taken on new urgency after the North's missile launches. The U.S. has urged the North to come to the talks without conditions, saying the financial issue is unrelated to the six-party talks.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/28/2006 10:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
CSIS pundits are still appearing of FOX claiming that the Norkies have 3-9? nuke devices already. Meanwhile, various Net sources claim that the SOUTH CHINA FLEET of China's PLAN is getting the bulk of new surface warships, includ the newest subs. GEORGE WILL has once again affirmed or inferred that North Korea's missles can hit all of JAPAN.
China and Russia unreliable, says North Korean leader
That Kimmie, Our Kimmie: always the comedian extrodinare, joking about the things he hears, sees, and feels, things that aren't really there (hallucinations) or cracking wise about things that simply aren't true (delusions).
Way funny little man.. the guy immagines greatness, and that heavy-weight Nations are out to get him!
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has criticized close allies China and Russia as unreliable, a news report said, as South Korea mapped out countermeasures in preparation for a possible nuclear test by Pyongyang. Kims scepticism toward China and Russia was conveyed at a meeting in Pyongyang last month shortly after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the Norths test-firing of seven missiles, Japans Kyodo News agency reported on Saturday. The officials quoted Kim as saying that North Korea should try to resolve all challenges by ourselves, according to Kyodo.
Kim told the ambassadors to help implement an order to strengthen its so-called deterrent power, indicating it could test-fire more missiles and continue nuclear development, Kyodo reported from New York. There are growing concerns, bolstered by reports of suspicious activity, that Pyongyang may be planning to follow up its recent missile launches with a nuclear test.
In Seoul, meanwhile, a senior official at the Unification Ministry said on Sunday that 272 manuals are in place to cope with a crisis erupting on the Korean Peninsula, including a potential nuclear test by the North. He declined to give further details, citing the sensitive nature of the issue. It is natural to put in place countermeasures, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Besides North Korean independence from China, Kimmie is likely aware that iff China's food supply is seriously hampered due to reported increases in local levels of ACID RAIN, China's reliability as a food source for NK becomes dubious > means NK may end up relying up on the West or regional neutrals for basic foodstuffs, WHICH BASICALLY MEANS NK MUST CHOOSE EITHER WAR OR NATIONAL DE-REGULATION, the latter a word Commies hate to hear, let alone implement. China can't help North Korea iff it can't help itself.
#2
Ok, bring your 272 manuals to the gunfight. A lot of good it will do.
Posted by: john ||
08/28/2006 11:29 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Right you are, another unitended consequence of nork irresponsibility, China may or may not care that fallout from nkorea games poisons their water and food, perhaps the socialists in china still subscribe with a shrug to the old line of a million dead, so what, ten million dead...the coffers fill, twenty million dead we all get BMW's....afterall, socialism is largess for elitist pigs....same story never changes...
Pope Benedict XVI will be safe when he visits Germany next month, a top police official said, weeks after an attempted train bombing exposed holes in Germany's counterterrorism strategy. The official said in remarks published Sunday that the detention of three suspects for the failed July 31 attack meant the risk of terrorism in Germany had eased. "The pope is safe in Germany," the official was quoted as saying. "The current arrests mean that the danger has peaked." Benedict visits his native Bavaria in mid-September.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Operating autonomously from takeoff to landing, Global Hawk flies at altitudes up to 65,000 feet for more than 36 hours with a range of 13,500 nautical miles."
It also carries 3,000 lbs of payload. I think this qualifies as Osama's biggest nightmare.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/28/2006 14:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Shit, they even come in Infidel Blue! Who knew
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/28/2006 14:53 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Will say again - STARS-N-STRIPES > LOCKHEED is proposing an unmanned, armed F35 JSF concept to the USDOD. The day of the unmanned, armed heavy air superiority = air dominance? fighter-bomber attack vehiiiiicccclllkle is here, or shortly will be.
The question has haunted the UCLA Islamic law professor since April, when he says a bullet whizzed past his ear and lodged in a book as he was standing near his living room bookshelf in front of his open front door. His fears intensified this month, after a news report in the Anaheim-based Al Watan newspaper and other Arabic-language media carried what Abou el Fadl calls a "solicitation of murder" against him... {He is} one of the nation's most prominent critics of Saudi Arabia's puritanical practice of Islam known as Wahhabism...members of the FBI's joint terrorism task force, which independently picked up the news report, were so concerned that they visited Abou el Fadl recently to warn him to take security precautions, the scholar said in an interview last week. He added that he has also met with FBI agents and University of California police, who have begun implementing heightened security measures..."I've received so many death threats, and I've never had an impending sense of doom," he said. "This time, we're taking it more seriously."..."If they scare me into silence, they will have succeeded," he said. "I'm not going to give them that victory."
One of the reasons for the scarcity of "moderate Muslims" is the usual threat of death for speaking up against the fascists in their group.
Professor Sajid Mir was elected unopposed as the president of Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith at the party's central executive committee meeting on Sunday. Hafiz Abdul Kareem and Haji Abdur Razzaq were nominated as the party's general and finance secretaries.
Is he a conehead or is that just a drastic example of foreshortening?
Professor Abdul Rehman Ludhyanvi, Mufti Muhammad Yousaf, Maulana Meraj Khan, Maulana Ali Muhammad Abu Turab and Maulana Shahbuddin Madani would head the party in the Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir, respectively. While Hafiz Shahid Ameenm, Maulana Afzal Sardar, Maulana Fazalur Rehman Madani, Maulana Azizur Rehman Zamrani and Muhammad Sadiq Mir would serve as the party's provincial general secretaries. The officials are to serve their respective offices for a term of four years. The party's patron-in-chief Maulana Mueenuddin Lakhvi chaired the meeting.
Members of the Jamiat passed a resolution condemning the proposed amendments to the Hudood Ordinance and warned they would protest if the "government tries to change the Islamic clauses of the Constitution".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
The top leadership of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) called on Sunday for a strike Friday primarily against the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti along with scores others in a military offensive in Kohlu's caves and the government's bill amending the controversial Hudood Ordinance. The top leaders of the six-party religious alliance Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, called for the strike at a public meeting at Nishtar Park at which key leaders of the multiparty Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) headed by its president Makhdoom Amin Fahim also participated.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
These muppets protest over everything.Its these leeches that support Al Qaeda,Taliban etc.Perv needs to distance or better eradicate these troublemakers!!!!
PML President Shujaat Hussain on Sunday slammed the killing of Akbar Bugti. Talking to Daily Times, he said: "It's a very sad incident. It should not have happened." Shujaat said that he would request President Musharraf to hand over Bugti's body to his relatives. He also recounted how the late Nawab had saved the life of his father, Zahoor Elahi, after his arrest by the Bhutto government in 1973. Bugti, he said, had refused to participate in a plan to murder Zahoor Elahi, instead providing him with security during his incarceration in Balochistan. "I am indebted to him. How can we forget his great favour to our family?"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm a Bugti
She's a Bugti
He's a Bugti
We're a Bugti
Wouldn't you like to be a Bugti too?
Be a Bugti!
The operation against "miscreants" in Balochistan will continue, the government decided at a meeting chaired by President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Sunday. Sources privy to the meeting, attended by senior government figures, told Daily Times that Gen Musharraf observed that Bugti's killing would not stop the operation against "miscreants" to establish the writ of the government in Balochistan. The president voiced reservations at statements from some members of the ruling coalition condemning the killing, and stressed the need for unity in the government. He said he favoured talks to resolve the problems of Balochistan, but added that tribal chiefs who ran militant training camps and private militias could not be tolerated. Bugti, he said, had refused to accept the government's writ and had undermined the security of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Baghdad, Aug. 27 Iranians top the list of those arrested in one of the most commuted towns in the eastern Iraqi governorate of al-Wassit, the Iraqi television channel al-Iraqia reported. The report, which aired on Friday, said that 1,580 Iranians had been arrested during recent patrols by security forces in al-Badra.
The manoeuvres by security forces in al-Wassit, which shares a border with neighbouring Iran, were part of a campaign to prop up border security, the report said. They were all arrested for illegal entry into Iraq from the Iranian border. Other foreign nationals that had been arrested in the province included nine people from Nigeria, four from India, 409 from Afghanistan, and two from Pakistan.
Iraqi, American and British officials in Iraq have accused Tehran of backing insurgent groups and dispatching undercover military or intelligence agents to Iraq, often in the guise of pilgrims. Al-Wassit has been a favourite crossing point for Iranians entering Iraq illegally.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Solution: Iran admits they are their citizens or they get dropped in a wood chipper feet first and broadcast at high power on Iranian channels. Or something like that.
Or so say this author, who served as a Captain in this war Prelude to Apocalypse
Contrary to what is now the accepted wisdom in the media, Hezballah in its recent offensive against Israel neither badly bloodied the Israel Defense Force, nor fought it to a standstill in Southern Lebanon. In fact, the opposite is the case. By any legitimate measure Hezballah was got their muzzie asses kicked handed a resounding military defeat by the IDF in the recent fighting, and while the cancer that is Hezballah was not cured by Israels soldiers, it was put into remission.
Hezballah is not your fathers terrorist organization. This is not a group of loosely affiliated cells of would-be hijackers or suicide bombers. Hezballah is a terrorist army, trained like an army, organized like an army, funded and equipped like an army, with one glaring difference. The main use of its arsenal was terror aimed at Israels civilian population while hiding behind Lebanons civilian population. Its intent was to cause maximum civilian casualties amongst both. This was not by accident. This was by design.
This was Hezballahs war, planned and prepared for six years, funded by close to a billion dollars by Iran, aided by Syria. One of the great benefits to the West to come out of this war (if they choose not to turn a blind eye to it) is the certain knowledge that Hezballah is Irans terrorist operational arm. It is the terrorist extension of Irans expressed foreign policy.
#1
"Like an army" - can thank Radical Iran, and before them the Soviets/Russians, for that. DEBKA > HIZBULLAH, as ooposed to the Hezzies, Hamies, and Huzzies, etal.,is reportedly being rearmed by both Iran and Syria.
#2
A good thorough analysis - one based on realities and outcomes. Unfortunately, the moose-limbs involved here are not "reality based" individuals. They claim victory based on their own definitions...and are planning for the next war accordingly. The Olmert Govt should have known this going in. That is their failure, and that is why in the final analysis, they lose.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/28/2006 1:23 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The awful truth, which the Western Press was manipulated to ignore or downplay...
The press acted as the propaganda arm of Hezbollah. They should be on trial, facing treason and war crimes charges. Instead, we treat them as if they're still somehow capable of being conduits of accurate information.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/28/2006 5:26 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It seems as though they could analyze it until the cows came home but you know they'll still do the same thing when it happens again. Because that's what people want to see. Gotta ejoocate the publik.
#5
Every part of their war plan except the manipulation of the media failed.
And that would be because they were sooo willing.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/28/2006 6:06 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I got news for these guys, the food chain doesn't stop at Iran. It still goes all the way back to russia. Russia is trying to put the Union back together, we frustrated them with Georgia and Ukraine, but we didn't foil them alltogether.
#7
Some "defense" of Lebanon. With rotations, over 25,000 Israeli troops entered Lebanon. The two terror centers in the south, and south Beirut, have been reduced to rubble. Those sections of Lebanon that were not effectively occupied by Iran, are barely touched.
Some heros. The Ayatollah-Brigades targeted civilian areas with missiles loaded with schrapnel. Hizbollah's lack of any success - other than hiding from battle - is illustrated by Iran's instruction to hand out millions in cash to Lebanese victims of Ayatollah bravado.
#9
with the Hezzies endearing the lebs with their help rebuilding, and the media spinning the yarn for them, I see this happening again in a few years.
Scary to be faced with the reality that it can be coming to a theater near you
Posted by: Jan ||
08/28/2006 10:34 Comments ||
Top||
#10
and to bring about the release of Israels kidnapped soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regeve.
That was the IDFs stated mission and that is exactly what it did.
When did that happen? Did I miss something? I was pretty much persuaded by the article until this point. But again, maybe they were released and I didn't hear about it, but I read Rantberg every day.
#11
ARGGG! The Hez were not defeated in any way shape or form. They suffered casualties and lost some fighting positions and ground but from a military standpoint they resisted and maintained their control of most of their land. They still fire rockets into Israel and cause casualties and destroy property. They are still effective in their missions, degraded, but still in the fight. Their logistical train is still pushing supplies and fresh arms to them with limited interdiction. They still hold the soldiers hostage, the excuse for this all starting. Their commander and political leadership is still in control and their international support, Iran, Syria etc is still supporting the fighters and taunting the west with sub fired missiles.
Using the proper terminology is important here. The Hez fighting positions were destroyed in almost every battle. They were not defeated, no white flags on this battle field yet. They were not destroyed, Israel is still under attack. The military and political infrastructure is still in tact. And the nation states that are driving this war are operating without restriction. This was just a skirmish in this war, nothing more.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/28/2006 10:37 Comments ||
Top||
#12
And by the way, I have little doubt that if those two kidnapped soldiers every are "released", it will be in pieces.
#13
this is just a puff piece written by the guy who wrote that the actual action statement claiming that the aim was only to pull the UN to Lebanon. He as much admits that it was divine luck that the Israeli army came off with only 174 deaths. All he is doing is justifying the mess that they are now left with: a hostile UN army that will be in the way should they ever need to move in again.
The first part of the article was beautiful and an interesting read. The truth that sets up the lie. The second part, the lie, is a pathetic attempt to explain how great it is that the UN will do nothing and now be in their way.
He makes some very good points in the first half of his article - points you won't read anywhere else. Hezballah only has a faux victory here and if they've been planning for this war for years - this was a solid defeat. But the idea that the UN is going to solve Israels problems is a foolish and deadly attitude.
Fortunately this is true: Possibly it was dumb luck or devine intervention. Either way it meant three things Don't be messing with the God of Abraham - he protects Israel.
#15
Israel should state, publically, that any further attack by Hezbollocks will result in the lower third of Lebanon being eradicated pemanently by nuclear weapons. It's time to quit playing games against the lying, deceitful, duplicitous and twisted bas$$$$$ of the Middle East. Any act of aggression must become far more painful to them than to anyone they attack, and it must be done immediately if not sooner. That's the only "cure" for what ails them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/28/2006 17:10 Comments ||
Top||
#16
the lower third of Lebanon being eradicated pemanently by nuclear weapons.
Which way does the prevailing wind blow? Southern Lebanon is only inches away from Northern Israel.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday and said that the deployment of the multinational force in Lebanon would begin within a week. "I have approached other countries about joining the force," he added. The Prime Minister's Office reported that Olmert told Annan that "the most important thing to Israel is the immediate release of the kidnapped soldiers," and that the responsibility for that rested on the Lebanese government. The two agreed to continue discussing the topic in their upcoming meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
If that was the most important thing, the fighting wouldn't have stopped until they were returned.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Now that you have said that, would you please leave quietly?
"When you walk in the streets of Gaza City, you cannot but close your eyes because of what you see there: unimaginable chaos, careless policemen, young men carrying guns and strutting with pride and families receiving condolences for their dead in the middle of the street." This is how Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority government and a former newspaper editor, described the situation in the Gaza Strip in an article he published on Sunday on some Palestinian news Web sites.
The article, the first of its kind by a senior Hamas official, also questioned the effectiveness of the Kassam rocket attacks and noted that since Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip, the situation there has deteriorated on all levels. It holds the armed groups responsible for the crisis and calls on them to reconsider their tactics and to stop blaming Israel for their mistakes. "Gaza is suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs," Hamad wrote. "I remember the day when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and closed the gates behind. Then, Palestinians across the political spectrum took to the streets to celebrate what many of us regarded as the Israeli defeat or retreat. We heard a lot about a promising future in the Gaza Strip and about turning the area into a trade and industrial zone."
Hamad said the "culture of life" that prevailed in the Strip has since been replaced with a nightmare. "Life became a nightmare and an intolerable burden," he said. "Today I ask myself a daring and frightening question: 'Why did the occupation return to Gaza?' The normal reply: 'The occupation is the reason.'"
What is the relationship between the chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, indiscriminate murders, theft of land, family rivalries, transgression on public lands and unorganized traffic and the occupation? We are still trapped by the mentality of conspiracy theories...
Dismissing Israel's responsibility for the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, Hamad said it was time for the Palestinians to embark on a soul-searching process to see where they erred. "We're always afraid to talk about our mistakes," he added. "We're used to blaming our mistakes on others. What is the relationship between the chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, indiscriminate murders, theft of land, family rivalries, transgression on public lands and unorganized traffic and the occupation? We are still trapped by the mentality of conspiracy theories - one that has limited our capability to think."
Hamad admitted that the Palestinians have failed in developing the Gaza Strip following the Israeli withdrawal and in imposing law and order. He said about 500 Palestinians have been killed and 3,000 wounded since the Israeli pullout, in addition to the destruction of much of the infrastructure in the area. By comparison, he said, only three or four Israelis have been killed by the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the same period. "Some will argue that it's not a matter of profit or loss, but that this has an accumulating effect" he said. "This may be true. But isn't there a possibility of decreasing the number of casualties and increasing our gains by using our brains and making the proper calculations away from demagogic statements?"
We have all been attacked by the bacteria of stupidity...
The Hamas official said that while his government was unable to change the situation, the opposition was sitting on the side and watching and PA President Mahmoud Abbas was as weak as ever. "We have all been attacked by the bacteria of stupidity," he remarked. "We have lost our sense of direction and we don't know where we're headed." Addressing the various armed groups in the Gaza Strip, Hamad concluded: "Please have mercy on Gaza. Have mercy on us from your demagogy, chaos, guns, thugs, infighting. Let Gaza breathe a bit. Let it live."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hamas spokesman: Gaza is caught in a nightmare of anarchy and thuggery
Take a look in the mirror sometime.
... since Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip, the situation there has deteriorated on all levels.
Guess who was supplying the order?
Dismissing Israel's responsibility for the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness in the Gaza Strip, Hamad said it was time for the Palestinians to embark on a soul-searching process to see where they erred. "We're always afraid to talk about our mistakes," he added. "We're used to blaming our mistakes on others. What is the relationship between the chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, indiscriminate murders, theft of land, family rivalries, transgression on public lands and unorganized traffic and the occupation? We are still trapped by the mentality of conspiracy theories - one that has limited our capability to think."
Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle! Maye this guy is onto something.
He said about 500 Palestinians have been killed and 3,000 wounded since the Israeli pullout, in addition to the destruction of much of the infrastructure in the area. By comparison, he said, only three or four Israelis have been killed by the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the same period.
Any of this penetratin' that lil' ol' kefiya of yours?
"We have all been attacked by the bacteria of stupidity,"
#11
In dogs, *temperament* is about 75 % genetic. Behavior less so, although it is possible to concentrate some instincts through selective breeding, i.e. retrieving birds or herding sheep. The instincts only control the ease or difficulty of teaching the behavior, not the behavior itself. Even top bird dogs need training for a reliable and soft-mouthed retrieve; excellent border collies still need training to herd and not kill the sheep.
Humans, of course, have a neocortex which changes the inherited vs. learned balance significantly. We are generalists who often over-ride instinct and sensory inputs in order to achieve higher level reasoning which is beyond dogs.
Even beyond the dog of mine who figured out how to push the chair up to the fridge, move the door lever and dispense ice cubes to the rest of the pack. I'm not so sure, though, about the springer spaniel I knew who could open the fridge door, retrieve a beer and pop the top for his owner (true story).
#12
When we shopped for an Australian shepherd, numerous people warned us to be sure to get one from a breeder who bred out the herding behavior or else our children would only be allowed to play in one corner of the yard. Having gotten one that was de-bred, I'd hate to see what the regular ones are like.
I suspect one of the most fertile areas of research over the next few decades will be determining how these learned behaviors become hard wired. In all animals.
#13
Yes, the instincts can be quite strong. I know of a couple larger herding dogs who collect joggers. ;-) I was distinguishing between instinctual behaviors and the full behaviors of a working dog.
re: how learning occurs, lots has already been learned on that NS. Check out Temple Grandin's book Animals in Translation for a summary of the results regarding how animals 'think', as of a couple years ago. I don't agree with some of her overly-broad statements about breeders, but she's up on the neuroscience of animal instinct and 'cognition'.
Re: how repeated behaviors coalesce into regular patterns, I do know of a couple research papers in cognitive / neuroscience I can refer you to if you want to dig into them. Heavy slogging.
In any case I wouldn't say that learned behaviors become "hard wired" - that's shades of 1930s Soviet science (Lyshenko). but certainly selective breeding can inhibit or exaggerate certain instincts.
The interaction of cultural environment with cognition is one that interests me a lot due to my research area. There are some neuroscientists who think they can explain how and why all concepts are formed by humans in response to the environment and then are heavily reinforced over time, becoming very hard or impossible to change in later years.
#14
So, are Arabs missing the neocortex ? Or is this proof of dogs in the gene pool of past Arabs ?
I know the jury is still out on various grazing animals in the old gene pool. How else would they come up with a political party like the baaaath ?
And ululating, I'm sure anyone with a neocortex can't ululate. More next week when we take a closer look at dung beatles.
#15
The typical Arab culture certainly influences some very deeply embedded behaviors and feelings. Arabs aren't the only ones who sometimes set aside reason for emotional response, but their culture sure seems to promote it whereas ours (used to) reward detatchment and objectivity to a higher degree.
#17
There are some neuroscientists who think they can explain how and why all concepts are formed by humans in response to the environment and then are heavily reinforced over time, becoming very hard or impossible to change in later years.
#18
Maybe he's just being honest with himself. He needs to beat himself senseless with a chain to purify his thoughts and return to the bosom of Islam.
#21
The book Before the Dawn is a good overview of the evolution of humankind for the last 50,000 years. The latest theories seem to support that human behavior has evolved a great during that time, as we evolved from spear throwing killer apes to neotenous and gracile town dwellers and farmers.
I've spent a lot of time wondering whether Islam's memes forces its "abds" (servants) into a certain pattern of sexual selection and genetic drift that reinforces and preserves tribalism. It certainly seems to have that effect wherever it takes root, from Morrocco to Indonesia.
In other words, Islam is a meme, propagated by a certain behavioral gene complex, that preserves that gene complex and maybe even helps select for that set of genes. No researcher would ever touch this thesis with a ten foot pole, but it's something to think about.
#22
I've spent a lot of time wondering whether Islam's memes forces its "abds" (servants) into a certain pattern of sexual selection and genetic drift that reinforces and preserves tribalism.
You might be onto something, 11A5S. Especially when you consider the extensive inbreeding that results from extremely long term apriori selection of first cousins as mates. This would tend to concentrate the gene pool. Much like in bee hives where all of the workers share the same genetic material as the queen and therefore have no need to reproduce or compete internally.
The highly coalesced Arab genetics could easily be construed as fostering a propensity for tribalism (i.e., defensive clannishness or hive mind). The enhancement of recessive charateristics that comes from extensive inbreeding could promote mild severe retardation (i.e., profound lack of good judgement and predisposition to suicide), obsessive disorders (e.g., worship of Islam and martyrdom), anti-social behavior (i.e., xenophobia and homicidal mania) and a host of other negative or unproductive traits (e.g., Arab mentality in general).
#23
With in individuals, as opposed to populations? (from #17)
NS, yes. The author I have in mind is a neuroscientist who believes he has tied the cascades of neurotransmitters associated with processing sensory input to the formation of concepts, where 'concept' like memory consists of a persisting pattern of reinforcing neuron discharges.
His key assertion is that this process is intimately linked in a feedback loop with the limbic system. In other words, to form and use concepts requires feedback from the environment, including and especially feedback from the body language etc. of other people.
Over time, spoken language, and by extension memes and symbols in a culture, become the equivalent of a stored software program for such feedback. Repeated often enough, rituals, slogans etc. provide that feedback even in the absence of other people or in the face of contradictory evidence.
that at least is his thesis, and he has a lot of established evidence about the nervous system to back him up. Some parts of this are still speculative, however.
#24
You might be onto something, 11A5S. Especially when you consider the extensive inbreeding that results from extremely long term apriori selection of first cousins as mates. This would tend to concentrate the gene pool. Much like in bee hives where all of the workers share the same genetic material as the queen and therefore have no need to reproduce or compete internally.
#25
we COULD have an interesting discussion of Gazan politics, and discuss how CONTRARY to a wide range of lefty opinion, the economic sanctions on Gaza, together with Israeli sanctions, are having the desired effect, etc, etc.
But, no, weve got to go racialist. Look, sure, human behavior may be bred over 50 THOUSAND years. Islam has been a distinctive force for only 1300 years, a fraction of the time. And a very large percentage of muslims are descended from relatively recent mass conversions - Indonesia in the 1400s. Egypt was over half christian in the late middle ages. Central Asia, Turkey, northern Nigeria, etc.
And dogs, you know are VERY carefully bred under very controlled conditions. Nothing like that for humans, even under slavery.
This isnt even worth replying to in detail, and its a blot on a cite like this.
Stupidity in Palestinian politics is a result, IMHO, of the meme of arab nationalism, magnified by an extreme sense of victimhood, reinforced by propaganda from the Arab world, the muslim world, and from the West. Arab nationalism has managed to infect many Palestinian Christians, and the extreme politics of victimhood can impact ANY people, with ANY genes.
Take a Pal away from those damaging memes, and their genes will be just fine.
#26
zenster - but the in breeding wouldnt change the distribution of genes in the population, it would only mean more of the recessive traits would come out in a heavily inbred population. So youd expect arabs living in urban areas, like Cairo, or Ramallah, to display far fewer of these traits than those in rural areas where 1st cousin marriage is more universal.
Yet my impression is that urban populations in Palestine display those negative traits, other than religiosity, at least as intensely if not more so than rural populations. And of course the association of rural living with religiosity is widespread in the Christian west as well.
#27
lh, I agree - the genetic/racial slant on behavior in Gaza isn't productive.
One correction, though. While it is true that purebred dogs (at least in the circles I travel in) are bred with great care for the selection of traits desired, it is at least theoretically true that extended inbreeding of ANY population will change the distribution of genes over generations.
That's because genes aren't inherited individually, but via chromosomes which transmit (or eliminate) large numbers of genes at once.
But I'll go back to my earlier point: culture has a substantial effect on the behavior, thoughts and feelings of people. Given a strong enough element in a culture -- religious, political or whatever -- that effect can be very hard to step outside of, even when one wants to.
Most Palestinians are caught in a self-reinforcing cycle of hatred and violence. In one sense that is the result of their choices, or rather of the choices of their parents and others around them. But I know enough about how that works to also believe that changing that cycle will not happen easily or quickly.
#28
Anybody have a suggestion for a picture of "the bacteria of stupidity". Could be priceless.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
08/28/2006 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
#29
Bullshit Liberalhawk. Read the book that I linked. The new theories predict that substantial genetic change can occur in a population in centuries due to sexual selection and genetic drift. If you don't understand what sexual selection and genetic drift are, then google them and find out. You obviously understand neither based upon your comments.
Science is science. It is an equal opportunity trampler of our preconceptions. 11,000 years ago, there was a sudden and substantial gracilization of the human race. It is well documented in the fossil record. Is that racist?
Pygmytization is another well know example of rapid phenotypical change. Is that "racist" or is it science? So is rapid change in skin pigmentation when populations immigrate into cooler or hotter regions. Lactose tolerance seems to have emerged independently in two geographically isolated populations (Bantus and Caucasians) within a thousand years of them starting to herd. In both cases, it spread rapidly throughout the population. Is it racist because the Asian peoples didn't develop and spread the same gene?
If in effect humans became "tame" 11,000 years ago and did so in the space of one two millenium, why can't other genes spread just as rapidly? And don't hide behind the racist shield. Let's debate.
#31
All this lawlessness, bulluing and thugery if arabic society was described in detail many, many years ago. Just read the novel by a Nobel winner, Egiptian, Naguib Mahfouz "Children of Gebelawi". It's like Ghazi Hamad was reading a paragraph from the book.
#32
In this case, because it is bad science IMO. Or rather, a mis-application of some true science.
I deliberately mentioned a neuroscientist above who makes the strongest claims I've seen for the role of neurochemistry in how people think and feel. I find his argument unconvincing in several points, but even if I accepted it, it takes more than a couple generations for a genetic shift of the sort you're positing, ESPECIALLY as regards higher thinking functions that characterize humans.
Case in point. A Soviet scientist a couple decades ago wanted to see what it took to domesticate canids (wolves and related species). He started with wild foxes that had been trapped. His breeding criterion was very simple: he only bred the tamest foxes in each generation to each other. That meant a very severe population bottleneck and few individuals in each successive generation.
It took 5 generations to produce foxes that resembled domesticated dogs to some degree in their behavior, which is essentially that of a wolf cub. Dogs are permanently juvenile wolves. These foxes weren't fully domesticated, but they showed enough signs of neoteny to be of interest.
This took 5 generations in a) a very small population which got inbred very quickly and b) excluding any other breeding matches and c) in a species which lacks the neocortical parts of the brain that give humans language, art and other complex behaviors and whose function is much more tied to experience, and much less hard-wired, than the other brain functions.
Trying to scale that up to draw conclusions about the Palestinians in Gaza is a stretch too far, IMO.
#34
Yes, the latter does restrict the gene pool to a fair degree.
But it is significantly over-simplifying things to jump from there to the suggestion that a couple generations of Palestinians breeding among themselves with little outside infusion of new genes -- even positing it was that controlled, which I doubt -- would account for the violence in Gaza.
Much more significant, IMO, is the cultural influence and the way in which the cultural meme-pool has become inbred.
#35
I vote for cultural. Human cultural evolution is Lamarkian rather than Darwinian -- that is that successful memes are taught directly and exclusively to the rest of the population, rather than being differentially inherited by offspring and spreading by statistical osmosis -- hence much more quickly takes over the population. The very fact that the Palestinians changed from a passive subsistance economy with a few active fedayeen attacking the Jews back in the 1890s-1940s to population almost universally mobilized in the resistance in three generations is impossible if one posits genetic drift -- even in a small population practicing close-relative in-breeding extensively enough that there is a significantly higher than normal level of visible birth defects.
#36
I would agree that culture probablyu has more to do with it, but how long have the Palestinians been tribal? More than a "couple" of generations. At five per century, we could be talking as many as 70 just since Big Mo. That's starting to be a large number.
#37
However, for most of those generations the population among which kin-marriage occurred was much less restricted then among Palestinians in Gaza today.
IIRC (and I might not) the Arab tribes who were more settled (i.e. those who weren't primarily herdsmen) considered 'cousin' to include 'close relative of someone who married into the immediate family'. I know older Palestinians whose immediate relatives live in and married among Egyptians, Jordanians and Lebanese and I don't get the sense that they were in any way unusual.
Another example: Arafat was born in Cairo and only distantly related to the Jerusalem family on whose basis he claimed to be palestinian by birth.
#38
I saw a television special about lotp's foxes some time ago. One unexpected result of breeding for tameness was that the beautiful species coat colouring was lost to random mottling and spots, like mixed-breed domesticated dogs. I'd understood that one of the objectives of the breeding program was to create a tamed-fox fur industry, in order to more easily produce fur coats.
Most of the Palestinians arrived there well past 1890, when Mark Twain wandered through on a round- the-world cruise, and wrote how very empty the Holy Land was. I believe that Yasser Arafat's Fatah/PLO defined as Palestinian anyone was setteld there at least three years before Israel achieved statehood. So we're talking only three generations to go from passive serfs to the current dog's breakfast they've made of themselves. Four generations if you want to include the current school children, and take into account early marriages, rather than the standard measurement of thirty years per generation.
#39
The Gaza Strip Palestinians were and still are tied to Egypt by kin ties. I think Yasser Arafat was a nephew of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem so loved by Hitler. The West Bank Palestinians have kin ties in Jordan. And they do not intermarry, or even socialize, for the most part, as I understand it. Hence the complaints of the Fatah men exiled after the Bethleham church siege to Gaza -- they couldn't get jobs or wives because nobody would have anything to do with them.
#40
So the Palestinians are just Egyptians who went for a visit to Canaan and decided to stay? No true independent ethnicity beyond three generations? I ask seriously.
#41
Jordanian on the West Bank side, Nimble Spemble. And there are probably some with ties to Lebanon and Syria as well, because when the Jews settled they created economic opportunites (paying jobs and arable land in what had been swamp and desert) where there had been none before. Some few of the Palestinians had been there before, and certainly the survival rate of their babies went up significantly once they started taking advantage of the modern medicine provided by the Jews, but until the establishment of Israel in 1948 it was the Jews that were called "Palestinians", and the others insisted they were simply local members of the Arab nation until the PLO/Fatah was establish in the mid-1960s. At least that's my understanding.
#42
If any group has a legitimate claim to Palestine based on pre-1948 occupancy, it's the bedouin. Bedouin serve in the Israeli Army and are happy to kill Palestinians. I wonder why?
#45
lotp: 1. You are distorting my argument. I am not talking about Gaza. I was talking about Islam as a vehicle for sexual selection. I made that quite clear in my first post. 2. Breeding for domestication may require the modification of dozens of gene complexes. Typically predators are much harder to domesticate than herd animals, since herd animals are already half domesticated already due to their lack of territoritality and social structure. You completely fail to address sexual selection in your counter argument. Tribalism, may only require two phenotypical traits: an increased suspicion of the others, what one might call paranoia; and an increased ability for individuals to simultaneously navigate a tribal and a physical reality, what some call split personality. Paranoia is treated by our current pharmacopia of "get a bigger hammer" psychotropic drugs. That shows that it may be related to a one or more receptor sites or neurotransmitters. Thus it may be determined by just a few genes. Split personality seems to be more complex and probably is the result of a more complex interaction of genes. This will be tougher to address.
Sexual selection is how selfish genes try to propagate themselves and exclude other genes. I am not talking about selfish genes in the sociobiological sense here. Selfish in this context means in a competition of genes in a species.
I am very disapointed in you and LH. While people here go on and on about genocidal solutions militant Islam, I am proposing a path to a pharmacological solution. Do you think that might be a little more humane than nuking half a billion people?
If you all would read and think instead of rushing to judgement and accusing me of racism, maybe we could hve an honest debate. Well I guess I am now the site racist. Boo.
After his first look inside the nerve center of the U.S. missile defense system, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Sunday sounded a note of caution about expectations that interceptors poised in underground silos here would work in the event of a missile attack by North Korea.
Rumsfeld climbed down a steel ladder into one of 10 silos that house single 54-foot-long missile interceptors. If ordered by President Bush, or a successor, one or more of the rockets would blast into the sky and race at more than 18,000 mph to launch a small "kill vehicle" at an enemy warhead as it soared through space. An 11th interceptor is to be installed at Greely on Monday, officials said.
Asked at a news conference later whether he believed the missile shield was ready for use against a North Korean missile like the one test-fired unsuccessfully on July 4, Rumsfeld said he would not be fully persuaded until the multibillion dollar defense system has undergone more complete and realistic testing. He alluded to his own skeptical nature. "I want to see it happen," he said, "A full end-to-end" demonstration is needed "where we actually put all the pieces" of the highly complex and far-flung missile defense system together and see whether it would succeed in destroying a warhead in flight. "That just hasn't happened," he said, adding that some elements of the missile defense system are yet to come on line, including some of the radars and other sensors used to track the target missile.
He declined to say when he thought the missile defense system would reach the point of full reliability, but stressed that his advisers, including Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, the Pentagon's missile defense chief, have told him they believe it will work as designed in the event of an actual missile attack. "I have a lot of confidence in these folks, and I have a lot of confidence in the work that's been done," Rumsfeld said.
Brig. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, program director for the ground-based interceptor system, told Rumsfeld that on Thursday an interceptor based at a second launch site, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is scheduled to be tested against a target missile launched into the Pacific from Alaska's Kodiak Island. That will be the first full-up test of the latest version of the interceptor and its "kill vehicle," a device attached to the nose of the interceptor. Once it separates from the interceptor's three-stage booster, the "kill vehicle" is designed to use its own propulsion system and optical sensors to lock onto its target and, by ramming into it at high speed, obliterate the warhead and any payload it might carry.
Thursday's test also will be the first use of an early-warning radar at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., to provide the data required to put the interceptor on a proper path toward its target. The interceptor will be controlled from a command center near Colorado Springs, Colo. Fort Greely has a similar command center. Obering said the main objective of Thursday's test will be to see if the optical sensors on the "kill vehicle" aboard the interceptor work as designed. Whether it actually intercepts the target is secondary, he said. A further test, now scheduled for December, will try for an intercept, Obering said.
August 28, 2006: The Israeli Air Force learned in Lebanon that there are limits to what you can do from the air. The U.S. Air Force has been learning the same lesson for several generations, but this is the first time the Israelis have run into it. The basic problem is that aerial intelligence was not sufficient to shut down a rocket firing campaign, based on operating from residential areas. Hizbollah knew that the Israelis would not indiscriminately bomb civilians. Since Hizbollah controlled the civilians in south Lebanon (whether they were pro-Hizbollah or not, and many were not), they were able to hide thousands of small 122mm rockets (each of them nine feet long and weighing 150 pounds). The launchers weighed even less, and Hizbollah had nearly a thousand of these.
It appears that the Israeli air campaign actually was a lot more successful than the mass media gives it credit for. Although some 85 percent of the Hizbollah rockets were short range (6-30 kilometers, most being 20 kilometers or less), they did have over a thousand longer range rockets (40-100+ kilometers) that could hit more densely populated areas deep inside Israel. There were relatively few of these long range rockets actually used, and that's mainly because Israeli air reconnaissance, and bombers, were all over the longer range rockets. Most were apparently destroyed, because Hizbollah did try to use them. But the larger rockets had to be moved by truck, and fired from a special launcher on the truck. These trucks were rather distinct targets from the air.
Some 90 percent of the 4,000 rockets fired were the smaller 107mm and 122mm ones. These could be hauled out of basements at night, quickly placed into their portable launchers and fired. The launch crews, who were well trained in this drill (and the Israelis had spotted them at it over the past few years) would then try to get away with the portable launchers before Israeli artillery, missiles or smart bombs hit the launch site (which lit itself up quite distinctly when the rockets took off). It's not known, for obvious reasons, if the Israelis had an accurate count of the Hizbollah launch crews. Moreover, it was not always possible to know if a launch crew was wiped out, or took a lot of casualties when the counterfire arrived. And counterfire itself could backfire, because the launch crews knew that, by launching the rockets in residential areas, civilian casualties were likely. But civilian deaths were a plus for Hizbollah, because they also had media crews, ready to film civilian casualties, and bring in foreign media to add plausibility to what were often mock (staged) "atrocities."
The Hizbollah rocket firing campaign had no military objective, but it did have several political ones. By continuing to fire rockets into Israel, day after day, Hizbollah could claim that it was the first Arab fighters to "carry the war to the Israelis." Actually, that is not true. The recent Palestinian terrorist bombing campaign killed far more Israelis. The 4,000 Hizbollah rockets killed 39 civilians and a dozen or so soldiers. That's less than one civilian per hundred rockets. The casualties declined as the campaign went on, because the launch teams were depleted, and under more pressure from the Israelis. In the last day of the campaign, 250 rockets were fired, and killed only one Israeli. Arab commentators are now noting this, and pointing out that the Israelis eventually defeated the Palestinian terrorists, and would have done the same to Hizbollah if the ceasefire had not arrived when it did.
But now the Israeli Air Force has to confront the fact that people on the ground are not easily defeated just from the air. Maybe someday that will be possible, but that day has not arrived yet.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/28/2006 10:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Damn, I'm glad these strategists are finally waking up. Precision weapons are great for specific targets. For this type campaign, however,mindsets need to be altered. Being afraid of civilian casualties must be modified. The enemy must be brought to the realization of the fact that his entire population IS the target and will be summarily destroyed. All enemy structures should be destroyed. Mass area bombings should be the preferred tactic. When extreme pain is visited upon the entire area, the few remaining moonbats will decide whether to go forward to death, or to retreat and survive. Let them decide. Let us provide the correct scenario so that they can clearly understand the options available.
#3
Simple rockets like the KATYUSHA series are limited only by the ingenuity and skill of the technicians-operators modifying or handling them. The Soviets developed variations precisely for use by Cold War SPETZNATZ or political warfare units, andor nation-specific, local Soviet-sponsored/supplied insurgent-terrorist orgs. * STRATEGYPAGE.com article > in sum, the only true "victory" achieved by the Hezzies = Hizzies, etc in Lebanon is AGAINST THEIR FELLOW SUNNI MUSLIMS, not the IDF. MUSLIM LEBANON = MUSLIM SYRIA = MUSLIM PA, ETC. > ARE ALL FUTURE PROVINCES OR PEON STATES OF RADICAL IRAN. ONLY QUESTION IS "HOW LONG?" BEFORE TEHRAN OR PROXIES OF IRAN TAKE OVER.
Damascus, 28 August (AKI) - Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez will travel to Damascus on Wednesday to meet his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad and other political leaders, Syrian sources said. Local papers have reported that Chavez and Assad could hold a joint press conference after their meeting, which was announced by Chavez last week. Chavez is very popular in Syria where the media have referred to him as "an Arab president" and a role model.
Rigs election to seize and hold power - check
Oil revenue used to buy arms - check
Cult of personality - check
Hates U.S. and thinks Bush is out to get him - check
Undermines his neighbors and dreams of being a regional power - check, yup, he's a role model all right
Chavez's picture has also been spotted at several demonstrations, along with those of Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, after the Venezuelan president recalled his country's ambassador to Tel Aviv to protest against Israel's role in the conflict with the Lebanon-based Shiite guerrilla. Syria, together with Iran, has been accused by the international community of arming Hezbollah.
Political analysts however believe that Chavez's visit to Syria is purely symbolic considering that the president had announced his full support to UN resolution 1701 which calls for the disarming of Hezbollah.
He's following the Kerry model. He was for the resolution before he was against it.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/28/2006 08:54 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Sunday that Israel had provided no proof that Hizbullah used advanced Russian-produced anti-tank missiles during the recent war. An Israeli delegation that was in Moscow two weeks ago complained that Hizbullah had been in possession of Russian-made 'Kornet' guided missiles. Ivanov dismissed Israel's claims as "total nonsense" and said they reflected "internal problems in Israeli politics."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Grandstanding Veteran civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson discussed an Israel-Hizbullah prisoner swap with Syrian President Bashar Assad Sunday, and appealed for dialogue as a means to solve the Mideast's problems. Jackson, who arrived in Damascus on the first leg of a tour that also includes stops in Lebanon and Israel, said he was on a humanitarian mission to gauge the "views" of Syrian, Lebanese and Israeli officials.
He also said he would appeal to them to stick to the UN-brokered cease-fire that ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hizbullah. Jackson was leading a 10-member ecumenical delegation representing Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic and Protestant Groups on his Middle East tour. He also held talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, as well as with Christian and Muslim clergymen in Damascus.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/28/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Jan ||
08/28/2006 10:44 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Rev. Jesse Jackson discussed an Israel-Hizbullah prisoner swap with Syrian President Bashar Assad Sunday...
It is all a lie. Jesse has an eye problem, and heard Assad is a trained opthomologist. He just used the prisoner exchange thing as cover. He was making use of Bashie's professional training.
#9
Jackson was leading a 10-member ecumenical delegation representing Jewish, Muslim, Roman Catholic and Protestant Groups on his Middle East tour.
No Druids? Amish? Wiccans? Shakers? Quakers? Hare Krishas? Moonies? Branch Davidians? Rastafarians?
Scientologists? And how many did I miss?
Rainbow Coalition, my ass...
#2
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a TV interview aired Sunday that he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war.
[snip]
"We did not think, even 1 percent, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask me, if I had known on July 11 ... that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not,"
Translation: We should have built up even more weapons and infrastructure before goading the Israelis into giving us an ass-whupping to within an inch of our worthless lives.
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.
Most federal employees probably believe they are not in a position to be tempted by offers of money or other items of value in return for granting favors. 
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has criticized close allies China and Russia as unreliable, a news report said, as South Korea mapped out countermeasures in preparation for a possible nuclear test by Pyongyang. Kims scepticism toward China and Russia was conveyed at a meeting in Pyongyang last month shortly after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the Norths test-firing of seven missiles, Japans Kyodo News agency reported on Saturday. The officials quoted Kim as saying that North Korea should try to resolve all challenges by ourselves, according to Kyodo. 
Pope Benedict XVI will be safe when he visits Germany next month, a top police official said, weeks after an attempted train bombing exposed holes in Germany's counterterrorism strategy. The official said in remarks published Sunday that the detention of three suspects for the failed July 31 attack meant the risk of terrorism in Germany had eased. "The pope is safe in Germany," the official was quoted as saying. "The current arrests mean that the danger has peaked." Benedict visits his native Bavaria in mid-September.
Professor Sajid Mir was elected unopposed as the president of Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith at the party's central executive committee meeting on Sunday. Hafiz Abdul Kareem and Haji Abdur Razzaq were nominated as the party's general and finance secretaries. 
The top leadership of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) called on Sunday for a strike Friday primarily against the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti along with scores others in a military offensive in Kohlu's caves and the government's bill amending the controversial Hudood Ordinance. The top leaders of the six-party religious alliance Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, called for the strike at a public meeting at Nishtar Park at which key leaders of the multiparty Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) headed by its president Makhdoom Amin Fahim also participated.
PML President Shujaat Hussain on Sunday slammed the killing of Akbar Bugti. Talking to Daily Times, he said: "It's a very sad incident. It should not have happened." Shujaat said that he would request President Musharraf to hand over Bugti's body to his relatives. He also recounted how the late Nawab had saved the life of his father, Zahoor Elahi, after his arrest by the Bhutto government in 1973. Bugti, he said, had refused to participate in a plan to murder Zahoor Elahi, instead providing him with security during his incarceration in Balochistan. "I am indebted to him. How can we forget his great favour to our family?"
The operation against "miscreants" in Balochistan will continue, the government decided at a meeting chaired by President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Sunday. Sources privy to the meeting, attended by senior government figures, told Daily Times that Gen Musharraf observed that Bugti's killing would not stop the operation against "miscreants" to establish the writ of the government in Balochistan. The president voiced reservations at statements from some members of the ruling coalition condemning the killing, and stressed the need for unity in the government. He said he favoured talks to resolve the problems of Balochistan, but added that tribal chiefs who ran militant training camps and private militias could not be tolerated. Bugti, he said, had refused to accept the government's writ and had undermined the security of the country.
Baghdad, Aug. 27 Iranians top the list of those arrested in one of the most commuted towns in the eastern Iraqi governorate of al-Wassit, the Iraqi television channel al-Iraqia reported. The report, which aired on Friday, said that 1,580 Iranians had been arrested during recent patrols by security forces in al-Badra.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan spoke with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday and said that the deployment of the multinational force in Lebanon would begin within a week. "I have approached other countries about joining the force," he added. The Prime Minister's Office reported that Olmert told Annan that "the most important thing to Israel is the immediate release of the kidnapped soldiers," and that the responsibility for that rested on the Lebanese government. The two agreed to continue discussing the topic in their upcoming meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
"When you walk in the streets of Gaza City, you cannot but close your eyes because of what you see there: unimaginable chaos, careless policemen, young men carrying guns and strutting with pride and families receiving condolences for their dead in the middle of the street." This is how 
