Karachi, 3 Oct. (AKI)- Afghanistan's Helmand province, the nucleus of unrest in south-western Afghanistan, is now calm. After 29 British soldiers were killed over the past two months, British NATO troops say they have reached an agreement with Afghan elders aimed at ending Taliban attacks. Some see the accord as a defeat for the Taliban, others argue that it's a 'deal' between the Taliban and British troops. But Raza Bacha, an up-and-coming Taliban commander in Helmand told Adnkronos International (AKI) that it was not a setback for the Taliban, simply the response to a request by tribal elders for a pause.
"Hudna", not just for Paloestinians anymore
Under the accord which was reached in the small town of Musa Qala, in Helmand province, British troops will not launch offensives. In return, the elders will press the Taliban to stop attacks, a NATO spokesman said on Monday. Musa Qala is one of the district centres where British soldiers have had to fight off intense attacks over the past three months.
NATO spokesman Mark Laity on Monday insisted that no negotiations had been held with the Taliban and that the 140 or so British troops in Musa Qala were not withdrawing. The alliance is due to take over control of operations across Afghanistan from Thursday. Since taking over from US-led troops in southern Afghanistan at the end of July, NATO troops have been fighting big battles across the region. Currently Britain has nearly 5,000 troops in Afghanistan - including 3,600 in the volatile Helmand province - with a further 900 on the way. Over the past two months, 29 British soldiers have lose their lives in southern Afghanistan.
While NATO forces have had to deal with a high death toll, fighting between the NATO forces and the Taliban has also led to casualties among the local population and Taliban fighters. According to reports, figures provided by the Afghan government and the foreign forces in the country show that the Taliban have suffered much heavier losses, estimated at around 2,500 killed this year. The Taliban has acknowledged casualties but dismissed this figure and stressed instead the civilian death toll.
"In fact, the Taliban did sustain casualties but it's hardly 20 percent of what the local population has sustained," Bacha told AKI. "The tribal elders requested a pause [in fighting] and now we're on the mountains," said Bacha, whose command of the Taliban in Musa Qila is said to have inflicted serious damage to the British forces in the district.
Raza Bachas assertion may appear to be correct. As soon as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began on the weekend of 23-24 September, there were two significant developments in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters, who were controlling the main roads, towns and villages in southern Afghanistan, appear to have retreated to the mountains and it is believed that they may have altered their strategy for a while, switching once again to hit-and-run guerrilla attacks.
Because standing and fighting was not working so well
Secondly, it is believed that the recruitment of new fighters from the villages that lie on the Afghan-Pakistan border areas have stopped, at least until the end of Ramadan.
Or word had filtered back that the previous recruits weren't coming home for the holidays
Traditionally, the provinces in southern Afghanistan such as Helmand, Zabul, Kandahar, Spin Boldak and Uruzgan have been the Talibans spiritual heartland and many of the group's main commanders have come from these provinces, including the Taliban's spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and chief military commander Mullah Dadullah. The Taliban movement was born in these southern provinces in the mid-1990s and the same area was the springboard for this year's spring offensive. The region is also the hub of Afghanistan's drug trade with Helmand, having the largest number of narcotics laboratories.
Given the hostility of the terrain, the British forces appear in urgent need of a respite - something the deal with tribal elders should give them. But that same breathing space could be put to much better advantage by the Taliban themselves, to regroup.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/03/2006 10:00 ||
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#1
Raza Bacha, an up-and-coming Taliban commander in Helmand told Adnkronos International (AKI) that it was not a setback for the Taliban, simply the response to a request by tribal elders for a pause.
Don't know the area myself but if the Talibs held any kind of sway here then any disagreeable tribal elders would surely be dispatched.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/03/2006 14:32 Comments ||
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Persistent, and frequent rumors, in Afghanistan indicate that some of the drug lords are hiring European mercenaries to provide military training for their armed followers. Some of the drug lords have thousands of gunmen on the payroll. But these tribal warriors are traditionally brave, but unreliable, and often inept in combat. Perhaps noting how U.S. and European trainers had turned thousands of Afghan soldiers into pretty efficient troops, the warlords are apparently trying to do the same. While the drug lords have plenty of money for all the latest weapons and gadgets, it's all for naught if the fellow handling the stuff does not have the necessary skills, or his wits about him.
The drug lords have been importing all manner of experts, including some skilled in electronics, agriculture and chemistry. This in addition to a large variety of goods, which enables the drug kingpins to fit out quite luxurious, by any standards, compounds (they look like forts, with satellite dishes).
Posted by: ed ||
10/03/2006 07:39 ||
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#1
"forts, with satellite dishes"
Can we override their satellite signal with around-the-clock transmissions of The Partridge Family?
#2
Effient troops need a leadership cadre that's bought into the concept as well, surely? What odds the kind of people who'd work for a drug lord are going to be able to grasp the key points being taught?
Separately, any chance these mercenary instructors have been sprinkled with nano-particle pixie dust for tracking purposes?
#3
Or efficient troops. This new computer seems to have a bit of a spelling problem, which is what happens when one buys the loss leader of the week, apparently.
Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will soon be able to battle the heat of the southern Afghan desert with some beer from the largest Canadian-owned brewery.
Moosehead Breweries, based in Saint John, N.B., is sending more than 1,700 cans of Moosehead Lager to Canadian troops stationed in Kandahar, after some of them specifically requested the suds.
Moosehead spokesman Joel Levesque said the beer would be shipped to Afghanistan from Canadian Forces Base Trenton in three rounds, with the first shipment leaving in the next week. Another shipment will leave at the end of October, and a third will be sent in November.
The beer will be cracked on special occasions only -- and soldiers will only be allowed to enjoy a cold one when they're off duty.
Levesque said military officials contacted Moosehead requesting to buy the beer, though the brewery is working out an arrangement to donate it.
"We're pretty proud of the fact that they're specifically asking for Moosehead," said Levesque. We'll do whatever we can to support our troops. We're going to be inquiring if we can donate the beer on a regular basis."
The brewery's employees have also signed a poster with messages to the soldiers.
#3
Good for them, if only our senior leaders would get off general order #1 and let them have a beer.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/03/2006 7:04 Comments ||
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#4
How lovely that the company wants to donate the beer to support the troops. It seems Canadians aren't as anti-military as their media so fondly portray them. beyond Rantburg's Canadian contingent, I mean. ;-)
#5
#3 Good for them, if only our senior leaders would get off general order #1 and let them have a beer.
Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-10-03 07:04
Oooooooooh no, no, no, no, don't touch GO #1. There will be no insulting the "wonderful faith of Islam" on our watch! And while you are at it, put those nastky old wimin photos in the rubbish as well!
#6
Ah, go tell the Iman that the Canadian government won't invest in fancy space age meal preps like the Yanks. This is just their breakfast 'cereal' shipped in liquid form.
#8
While I never had free beer (from a company)overseas, I do remember it being very cheap and very regulated. I bet if an American company suggested this the wonks in DC would decline because they want to "deglamorize" drinking.
#10
Let's see, 1700 cans divided by 2300 troops, carry the 2, yup it's goin to be a hell of a party.
Posted by: john ||
10/03/2006 19:54 Comments ||
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#11
There were four Canadians in my Electronic Warfare Officer class at Mather AFB in 72. They were each given a monthly allotment of duty free liquor. First of each month they would drive over to San Francisco to pick up a case of "forty pounders" and it would become very foggy out the next Saturday night. The RCAF were good people then and their sons and daughters appear to be cut from the same cloth. To borrow a line from one of their recruiting posters of the day, "the blood runs true".
Sudan rejects an indefinite presence of African Union troops in war-ravaged Darfur although it welcomes a planned increase in troop numbers for now, a Sudanese official said on Monday. "Sudan agrees that the African Union troops stay until the crisis is over, but not indefinitely," an aide to Mohamed al-Dabi, the Sudanese president's top Darfur representative, told Reuters.
Sudan has ruled out allowing 20,000 U.N. troops to replace a poorly funded, ill-equipped African Union force of 7,000 tasked with monitoring a shaky ceasefire. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has likened U.N. peacekeepers to an invasion force bent on regime change in Khartoum.
The remarks came as Sudan is under heightened international pressure to allow a robust force of United Nations peacekeepers to deploy in the country's west, where roughly 200,000 people have died since the conflict flared in 2003. But Sudan has ruled out allowing 20,000 U.N. troops to replace a poorly funded, ill-equipped African Union force of 7,000 tasked with monitoring a shaky ceasefire. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has likened U.N. peacekeepers to an invasion force bent on regime change in Khartoum. Analysts say his government is also worried that some officials could be arrested on war crimes charges.
The mandate for African forces in Darfur expires at the end of the year, and European Commission aid chief Louis Michel said it needs increased United Nations support if it is to continue. The aide to Dabi said Sudan was not opposed to beefing up the African forces, echoing remarks by the European Union's head in Sudan, Kent Degerfelt, that Khartoum seemed open to strengthening the African role with increased logistical and financial support from the United Nations. The EU is the biggest financial contributor to the AU mission in Darfur.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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The RAF has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn on its policy of not allowing pilots of the new Eurofighter Typhoon to fire their gun.The service has decided to issue ammunition to future Typhoon squadrons and train pilots in using the fighter's single German-made 27mm Mauser cannon, reversing its cost-cutting edict.The decision follows experience in Afghanistan showing that guns are still one of the most effective weapons when supporting ground troops.
In a scathing e-mail, a Parachute Regiment major commanding an isolated outpost described air support from RAF Harriers, which have no guns and rely on rockets, as "utterly, utterly useless". He contrasted their performance with the support offered by US air force A10 aircraft, which are equipped with a 27mm rotary cannon. At a conference last week, Air Vice-Marshal David Walker, the officer commanding No 1 Group, which includes the Harrier and the newly-forming Typhoon squadrons, said he had decided to proceed with the Typhoon gun, buying ammunition, spares and maintenance equipment. Seven years ago, the ministry decided to dispense with the gun on all but the first 55 of the 232 Typhoons planned for RAF service, in contrast to the other nations in the Eurofighter consortium, which kept it on all ordered aircraft.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 14:11 ||
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#1
Why the hell would you not want a gun? Especially given that ground-support is the main mission of "fighters" these days.
#3
It must be a EUro thingy, Spot. Perhaps a "gun" is too "hard power" - leaflet pods are prolly what they really wanted. I guess the precise reason for even having the Typhoon is so sophisticated and nuanced we wouldn't understand. :-}
#7
Our own Phantoms in Vietnam were made without guns and relied on various rockets for offense and defense. The lack of cannon or machine guns made it a terrible dogfighter and the mistake has not been made again with US planes.
Posted by: jim ||
10/03/2006 15:00 Comments ||
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#8
A10's kick ass. That's not in the Typhoon mission profile, apparently
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 15:02 Comments ||
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#9
Worse yet for the Telegraph is the fact that the A-10's GAU-8/A gun has depleted uranium rounds purpose built for it. Combine those with the dual purpose explosive rounds, and the A-10 can make life miserable for all things on the ground, armoured or not. And yes, the GAU-8/A is a 30mm cannon, not 27mm.
#11
I was under the impression that the A10 was a flying cannon with a plane draped around it for decoration.
Actually, the plane is there to provide the support for the gun. I've heard several times that the plane was literally designed AROUND the gun. The major purpose was to stop Soviet tank armies breaking out into Central Europe. It's good at anything it does. I'd love to see it in an anti-shipping role sometimes, say against Iranian "small craft".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/03/2006 16:34 Comments ||
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#12
this was a cost saving measure!
I wonder if there weren't some who hoped it would keep British fighters from directly attacking visible enemy. Rockets are a bit more .... antiseptic.
#13
Chinter-
You are correct, sir. The airplane was actually designed around the GAU-8.
The decision of the MoD to get rid of the gun was just another example of how intent the British government has been to kill the RAF ever since the mid-50s. Notice that the article says nothing about putting the gun back into the Typhoon - just that the ones that do have it will be allowed to use it, presumably if they don't use too much ammo. And the first time somebody loses one of those Typhoons during target practice, they'll stop it again. Too dangerous, y'know.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/03/2006 16:37 Comments ||
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#14
..Just noticed something else - the RAF ebsite shows a 3-view of a Harrier GR7..with gun pods.
http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/harrier.html
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/03/2006 16:43 Comments ||
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#15
I heard that they took out the gun for cost saving measures, then when they realized the weight and balance of the plane was out of whack, they had to put it back in, albeit without any ammo....
Might be an urban legend, but it has the sound of authenticity about it.....
Posted by: Mark E. ||
10/03/2006 16:44 Comments ||
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#17
The most amazing damage of an aircraft that I saw. A picture of a B17 flying fortress with back fuselage shot away and the only thing holding the tail and the rest of the plane together was the walkway.
#18
Having witness training attacks from an A-10, let me assure you that you would be hard pressed to find *any* aircraft short of a B-52 that is more intimidating in a CAS role.
Without any warning, it seems to suddenly materialize right above your position, and obliterates you before you could raise a rifle.
It is not just the weapons it is carrying, it is *how* it delivers the fire from those weapons. Unlike the Typhoon or Harrier, which are half fighter aircraft, the A-10 is *ALL* CAS.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/03/2006 20:02 Comments ||
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#20
Neat video of some A10's blowin' stuff up.
Day-um, that was impressive...of course, now I have to go take a cold shower! :-D
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/03/2006 21:53 Comments ||
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#21
The firepower is awesome, of course, but the pilot's visibility is truly amazing. No wonder this baby defines CAS. Wowsers, Tony - nice find, bro. :->
#23
I'm not sure what the US has up its sleeve for when the A-10s get retired. I can't imagine replacing that plane with a bazillion dollar JSF or something, not for the up-close and personal stuff that this gun was designed for. Even the dual engines are high and set back for maximum survivability. This plane is called the Warthog because it was designed for function, not form! ;-) When the pilot fires the cannon, I hear it slows the plane down noticeably, but I don't know for sure. It is also designed to take all kinds of abuse and still be able to limp home. It's got tons of maneuverability, and the pilot has about the best view of his surroundings imaginable.
So: Does anyone know what the military's plans are for replacing this fighter or its role?
#24
It is slated to have a "service life extension" to increase the number of flying hours the airframe can endure, adv avionics, and a posssible engine upgrade. I don't know about the air speed drop when you fire the main gun, but the "G" meter will peg.
#25
I thought the plan for their replacement was the Longbow which was proved to be able to take the same kind of punishment on one Iraqi night.
I would think that the ability to walk a cannon onto a target would make it more effective for CAS than rockets, but I am a non-pilot as I am sure my elder brother would agree.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/03/2006 23:57 Comments ||
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October 3, 2006: Japan has put a missile detection radar into operation in the northern part of the country. The "X-Band Radar" is similar to the systems used in Aegis anti-aircraft system for ships. This technology uses thousands of small radar transmitters to get detailed information on objects out there, and many objects at once. The missile detection radar has, in addition, the ability to see activity at long distances (in some cases, up to 5,000 kilometers out.) Japan began planning their missile detection radar in the late 1990s, after North Korea test fired a long range missile that could reach anywhere in Japan. The missile detection radar can not only see a missile being launched, but it can tell the difference between decoys, and real warheads, after the missile has exited the atmosphere and sent its payload plunging back to earth. The Japanese radar was built specifically to keep an eye on North Korean missile launches.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/03/2006 12:58 ||
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#1
it can tell the difference between decoys, and real warheads, after the missile has exited the atmosphere and sent its payload plunging back to earth
seems a little late....
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 14:41 Comments ||
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#2
I agree, Frank. Seems to me that blowing it up on the pad - or on the drawing board - would be better. :-)
#3
It only makes sense that Japan has first-hand information on the provocation if they end up having to destroy North Korea. Anybody wanna bet how fast the Japanese could develop a nuclear weapon?
#4
Anybody wanna bet how fast the Japanese could develop a nuclear weapon?
I'd wager that they have already accumulated the fissile material. They probably have it shaped correctly just ready and waiting for integration with pre-assembled components already in stock. Remember we're talking about the people who invented JIT (Just In Time) manufacturing.
#5
They have the largest stock of plutonium in the world due to their reactor systems. They have top physicists. They have the best electronics design capability on the planet. And they have access to deades of public research on how to make a nuke - and how to make the explosives for one.
#7
The most recent intelligence estimate I saw, and it's been several years since I saw it and I don;t remember exactly where it was, was that Japan could assemble a nuclear device within 10 days.
New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving quickly to mend Japan's tattered relations with its Asian neighbors, preparing to travel to China and South Korea as early as this weekend — less than two weeks after he assumed the nation's highest office.
The hastily arranged trip would mark a major gesture of rapprochement, but Abe may be hard-pressed to convince his counterparts in Beijing and Seoul, angry over visits by his predecessor to a Tokyo war shrine, that he has any significant policy changes up his sleeve. Making good on a vow immediately after his election by parliament last week to put mending the rift atop his political agenda, Abe said Monday he hopes to meet with leaders in Beijing in Seoul to discuss ways to improve ties that have taken a battering over the past year.
Chief government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki confirmed a summit with both countries was being discussed, but said the exact dates of the trip were not yet finalized. He confirmed that the trip could be made in one fell swoop, but refused to provide further details. Japanese media reports said Abe was expected to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Oct. 8 and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Oct. 9.
Both countries had declined summits with Japan in protest of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the ultra-conservative Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan's fallen soldiers, including a handful of World War II war criminals, are worshipped.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Unitl Japan owns up to it's adventures in Chaina and Korea in it's text book and in it's education system this is doubtful even in the short term. Long term China is waiting for the day Japan pays. Japan prays that this payback never happens.
JOHN Howard has attacked the Pentagon for ignoring an order from George W. Bush to share top-level intelligence on Iraq with Australia's military planners, forcing the Prime Minister to complain to the US President.
Mr Howard confirmed yesterday he was angry at the Pentagon's decision to restrict Australia's access to its intelligence network on Iraq, and said he had complained directly to Mr Bush twice to clear the military veto.
"Some of these agencies operate like a law unto themselves," he said yesterday. "I wasn't very happy with those delays."
In an extraordinary attack on the defence chiefs of Australia's closest military ally, Mr Howard said he had protested to Mr Bush to ensure Australia had unfettered access to the network.
In July 2004, Mr Bush signed a directive supported by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and acting Central Intelligence Agency director John McLaughlin stipulating that laws preventing foreign powers seeing highly classified intelligence would no longer apply to Australia and Britain when they were planning for combat operations, training with the Americans or engaged in counter-terrorism activities.
But Mr Howard was forced to intervene a second time some months later when it became clear the US military headquarters was still delaying, despite the White House request.
"The point I made was that the commitment the President gave to me had to be delivered," Mr Howard said. "That's why I intervened, and I am now advised the flows are occurring that are meant to occur.
"Bear in mind Australia and Britain are given specially privileged access to American intelligence assessments.
"There is always a degree of inter-agency jealousy about anybody having access to these things, even very close allies, and it did take a lot of pushing. Even the President doesn't always get what he wants straight away."
In September last year, The Australian revealed that Mr Bush had issued a decree upgrading Australia to the highest rank of intelligence partner the US has in the world - with resistance from US intelligence agencies.
This rendition of events concurs with the latest revelations from Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in his book State of Denial, which chronicles the internal battles of the Bush administration and how these hampered the war effort.
The book reveals that Franklin C. Miller, appointed by Condoleezza Rice in 2001 as special assistant to the President and senior director of defence policy, felt the treatment of Australia and Britain was "one of the most inexcusable examples of a failure to get things done".
The Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, a classified system that stored intelligence, operation order and other technical data, carried a security warning known as NOFORN, or not for foreigners.
Unfortunately for the Australian and British troops fighting alongside the Americans in Iraq, it denied them access to information that Woodward says at times "went beyond the absurd".
He cites examples of British pilots flying US warplanes who were not allowed to read parts of pilot or maintenance manuals. In another case, raw intelligence gathered by British operatives was sent to a US centre that would then merge and distribute it to all the forces, but again with the NOFORN label, denying it to the British who had generated it as well as the Australians.
And rather than directly follow the White House access order, Woodward says, the Pentagon established a parallel version of SIPRNET, which still excluded past information the military did not want others to see.
When Mr Miller discovered the President's order was not being implemented, he fought with the Pentagon for months, which eventually led to a furious confrontation with some of the joint chiefs of staff.
"You don't mean unfettered access," one general says. But Mr Miller was blunt, says Woodward: "If the President or the Secretary of Defence had wanted to say give them access according to the following limitations, they would have said so.
"This is an inter-agency cleared document. Your people signed up to it. Access means access. What about 'access' don't you understand?"
Hugh White of the Australian National University, a former Defence Department deputy secretary for strategy and intelligence, told The Australian that Canberra had always had to battle for access to US intelligence and details of US planning in coalition operations.
"The Government sometimes claims that under its stewardship the alliance has changed fundamentally and become much closer," Professor White said. "This (Woodward's account) suggests that this is not the case."
#1
The book reveals that Franklin C. Miller, appointed by Condoleezza Rice in 2001 as special assistant to the President and senior director of defence policy, felt the treatment of Australia and Britain was "one of the most inexcusable examples of a failure to get things done".
I'm embarrassed to admit it, but Miller is spot-on with this one. Me thinks a summit btwn Rummy, Ponte, Miller, and the VP should happen sometime very early tomorrow. The morning soil rests at the feet of the first two gentlemen and their esteemed staffs.
#2
It is fine to mandate that the military disregard Classified Material requirements with respect to the UK and Australia, but a bunch of procedures were put in place after John Walker that are institutionally restistent to being ignored.
I don't know that publicity is particularly helpful in resolving this. Stand-by for the Candians to question why they are second class allies ... followed by every other NATO country. Breaking NATO may not seem like such a big deal at this point, but I think its valuable to operate with countries like Poland. Treating these countries in 2nd class fashion causes domestic trouble for pro-American governements leading to the election of guys like Zapatero. It would have been better for the US not to have this publicized although some individuals will certainly will benefit from the administration looking bad.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/03/2006 23:44 Comments ||
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James Taranto writes: London's Guardian has a follow-up report on the conflagration that began with a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. It sounds as though efforts to boycott Denmark were not terribly effective:
While Danish milk products were dumped in the Middle East, fervent rightwing Americans started buying Bang & Olufsen stereos and Lego. In the first quarter of this year Denmark's exports to the US soared 17%. The British writer Christopher Hitchens organised a buy-Danish campaign. Among the thousands of emails sent to Rose [the newspaper editor who published the Mohammed cartoons] was one from an American soldier serving in Iraq. "He told me he was sitting in Iraq, watching a game of football and drinking a can of Carlsberg," Rose said.
The article goes on to talk about the fall-out from the Cartoonifada: European politics turning rightward as the peepul realize there are real risks from allowing masses of unassimilated Muslims to colonize, the colonists feeling a bit less comfortable about future trends... all the while the journalist striving mightily to make these same Muslim colonists appear colourful, quaint and as charmingly harmless as a Gypsy caravan.
#1
In the first quarter of this year Denmark's exports to the US soared 17%.
Right on! Go Denmark. Go America!
Harfed a couple of Tuborg lagers last night, I did! Some of the best damn brew you can pour down your neck.
When one of our allies comes under fire for supporting such a critical issue as freedom of speech, we must all rise to the occasion and make an undeniable gesture of solidarity. Putting our money where our mouth is cannot be interpreted any other way. As someone of Danish descent, I thank all fellow Americans for this demonstration of support. I will do my best to continue assisting the Danish brewers, HIC!
fascinating. So a reasonable show of solidarity against a completely ridiculous (and dangerous) threat to our western values of freedom of expression is now considered "fervent rightwing."
Wow. What a rag the guardian is. And I wouldn't care, except there are those who read it. And believe it.
NEW YORK Interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today show today, Bob Woodward revealed that he had deliberately timed his new book, "State of Denial," to come out before the November elections.
Lauer had challenged Woodward on the timing, since the charges in the book about the administration allegedly misleading the public on progress in the Iraq war are so significant. How could he hold that for a book? Why didn't he get them published in his newspaper, The Washington Post, or shout them from a "mountaintop" instead of waiting to "make a splash" with them in a book?
Woodward replied that he had not waited "to make a splash, but to assemble the whole story," and then go to the White House and Pentagon and CIA and ask, "What did you do?" He added: "Simon & Schuster and my bosses at the Washington Post said the only real obligation here is to tell it before the election. "That's what we're doing. People can judge for themselves."
We are, Bob, we are.
Asked by Lauer if he is saying in the book that Bush "lied," Woodward said he wouldn't use that language. He did deny claims from the White House that he came in with pre-meditated idea and manufactured conclusions to fit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Two things make the world go around...., and the other one is MONEY!
#3
"Simon & Schuster and my bosses at the Washington Post said the only real obligation here is to tell it before the election.
Now that's interesting. The only reason to tell it before the election is because you want to influence the election. That make it political, doesn't it?
I certainly hope ol' Bob didn't have to hold off publication too long, since that'd delay the royalties rolling in, or heaven forbid, have to work nights just to get it out in time!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/03/2006 10:09 Comments ||
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#4
A cockroach interviewing a skunk on his cleanliness problem.
Meals totaling a whopping 4,200 calories per day are brought to their cells U.S. government dietary guidelines recommend 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day for weight maintenance and some inmates are eating everything on the menu. Probably the first time in their lives they've had so much.
"More pudding, Mahmoud?"
"[Urp!] No thankew! If I eat another bite I'm gonna explode!"
One detainee has almost doubled in weight, to 410 pounds (186 kilograms), Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, spokesman for the detention facilities, said Monday.
Try and fit that kinda bulk into an exploding Yugo...
Human rights groups attribute the weight gain to lack of mobility in the detainees' small cells. You knew that was coming - damn whiners.
They cite accounts of released detainees who complained of being allowed to exercise fewer than three times a week.
Tusk tusk. Just think of it as good training for an office job.
But Durand said detainees are simply served a wide variety of food and expected to choose what appeals to them.
"What appeals to you today, Ahmed?"
"How about six or seven more scoops of chocolate marshmallow?"
"The detainees are advised that they are offered more food than necessary to provide choice and variety, and that consuming all the food they are offered will result in weight gain," he said. Duh
The United States has offered to return nearly all British residents held at Guantánamo Bay after months of secret talks in Washington, the Guardian has learned.
The British government has refused to accept the men, however, with senior officials saying they have no legal right to return. Documents obtained by the Guardian show US authorities are demanding that the detainees be kept under 24-hour surveillance if set free - restrictions that are dismissed by the British as unnecessary and unworkable.
That's especially true in P.C. Britain.
Although all are accused of terrorist involvement, Britain says there is no intelligence to warrant the measures Washington wants, and it lacks the resources to implement them. "They do not pose a sufficient threat," said the head of counter-terrorism at the Home Office.
"So you Yanks will have to keep them. Awfully sorry."
The possible security arrangements appear to have caused months of wrangling, but senior UK sources have told the Guardian the government is interested in accepting only one man - Bisher al-Rawi - who is now known to have helped MI5 keep watch on Abu Qatada, the London-based Muslim cleric and al-Qaida suspect who was subsequently arrested.
Always have to look after your weasels.
At least nine former British residents have been detained without trial at Guantánamo for more than four years after being taken prisoner in the so-called war on terror. Their lawyers say some have suffered appalling mistreatment.
'So-called' war on terror? What else would you call it? That's about as blatant an editorial bias as one will find in the Guardian.
With the US government perhaps willing anxious to scale down and eventually close its prison at the Cuban base, however, the US state department is putting pressure on the British government to allow some to return. Foreign Office officials have denied that any talks have taken place.
In Washington, the state department confirmed that there are "ongoing diplomatic negotiations", as the documents show. They were written by the most senior counter-terrorism officials at the Home Office and Foreign Office at a time when some ministers were voicing their harshest criticism of Guantánamo.
The documents are witness statements from David Richmond, director general of defence and intelligence at the Foreign Office, and William Nye, director of counter-terrorism and intelligence at the Home Office. Mr Richmond wrote: "The British embassy in Washington was told in mid-June 2006 that, during an internal meeting between US officials, the possibility had been floated of asking the UK government to consider taking back all the detainees at Guantánamo who had formerly been resident in the UK. Information about what had occurred at this meeting had been fed back informally to the embassy, and the UK government wished to clarify the significance of this idea."
On June 27 UK officials met US officials from the departments of state, defence and the national security council. Mr Richmond wrote of that meeting: "The US administration would only be willing to engage with the UK government if it sought the release and return of all the detainees who had formally resided in the UK (ie, regardless of the quality of their links with the UK), rather than just a subset of the detainees falling in that category."
It's a batch lot, no splitting.
Britain says the only way to meet the security conditions would be to have MI5 spy on them. Mr Nye wrote: "The US administration envisages measures such that the returnees cannot legally leave the UK, engage with known extremists or engage in support, promote, plan or advocate extremist or violent activity, and further have the effect of ensuring that the British authorities would be certain to know immediately of any attempt to engage in any such activity."
This is calling their bluff. They think Gitmo is so horrible, fine, here you go, you take them.
But Mr Nye says the evidence and intelligence he has seen is not enough for a control order severely restricting their movements: "I am not satisfied it would be proportionate to impose ... the kind of obligations which might be necessary to satisfy the US administration."
And the bluff was called.
The measures the US wants in place would have to be enacted by MI5 and take effort and resources away from countering more dangerous terrorist suspects. Mr Nye wrote: "The use of such resources ... could not be justified and would damage the protection of the UK's national security." He says the Guantánamo detainees "do not pose a sufficient threat to justify the devotion of the high level of resources" the US would require.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Britain to US: we don't want the Gitmo nine back
..I'm awfully sorry old chap but it says right here in the fine print. "caveat emptor: absolutely NO returned merchandise"!
From the NYT just before an election, so put your special reading glasses on.
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 2 A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday.
The account by Sean McCormack came hours after Ms. Rice, the secretary of state, told reporters aboard her airplane that she did not recall the specific meeting on July 10, 2001, noting that she had met repeatedly with Mr. Tenet that summer about terrorist threats. Ms. Rice, the national security adviser at the time, said it was incomprehensible she ignored dire terrorist threats two months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mr. McCormack also said records show that the Sept. 11 commission was informed about the meeting, a fact that former intelligence officials and members of the commission confirmed on Monday.
When details of the meeting emerged last week in a new book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, Bush administration officials questioned Mr. Woodwards reporting. Now, after several days, both current and former Bush administration officials have confirmed parts of Mr. Woodwards account.
Officials now agree that on July 10, 2001, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism deputy, J. Cofer Black, were so alarmed about an impending Al Qaeda attack that they demanded an emergency meeting at the White House with Ms. Rice and her National Security Council staff.
According to two former intelligence officials, Mr. Tenet told those assembled at the White House about the growing body of intelligence the Central Intelligence Agency had collected pointing to an impending Al Qaeda attack. But both current and former officials took issue with Mr. Woodwards account that Mr. Tenet and his aides left the meeting in frustration, feeling as if Ms. Rice had ignored them.
Mr. Tenet told members of the Sept. 11 commission about the July 10 meeting when they interviewed him in early 2004, but committee members said the former C.I.A. director never indicated he had left the White House with the impression that he had been ignored. Tenet never told us that he was brushed off, said Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democratic member of the commission. We certainly would have followed that up.
Ben-Veniste is one of the more honorable Democrats around. If he's backing Condi up, this is no story at all despite the NYT spin.
Mr. McCormack said the records showed that, far from ignoring Mr. Tenets warnings, Ms. Rice acted on the intelligence and requested that Mr. Tenet make the same presentation to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Atttorney General John Ashcroft.
But Mr. Ashcroft said by telephone on Monday evening that he never received a briefing that summer from Mr. Tenet. Frankly, Im disappointed that I didnt get that kind of briefing, he said. Im surprised he didnt think it was important enough to come by and tell me.
Once again, kids: no one, no one, covered himself/herself with glory in the pursuit of al-Qaeda, not in the Clinton administration, not in the Bush administration, from the early 1990s all the way to 9 am on 9/11. It's important to learn how and why we screwed up, just as we had to learn from Pearl Harbor, but the issue isn't where and how much blame to assign. It is, much more simply, what are we doing now to wreck al-Qaeda?
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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It's Secretary Rice's job to talk nicely to everyone unless told otherwise, right up to the moment when war is declared -- or the bombs start falling, whichever comes first/
Null, you sound just like Snease. Who sounds like Listen to Dogs. Who sounds like Man Bites Dog - only on proper meds.
[mini-rantus]
It really is goofy to single out someone in the cabinet and rail against them. They serve at the pleasure of the President. Full stop. If anyone really thinks they're doing it all wrong, playing the maverick and off the deep end, then they're both unhappy with how Bush is deploying and using his chess pieces and completely ignorant of the Executive Branch of the US government. Blame it on Bush. Then, intrepid ankle-biters of the world, please explain how it is that you are so much more brilliant, can see so much more clearly, and possess such a stash of mahvelous intel. I'm sure Bush & Co will beg you to bring your dazzling intellect to bear upon the major issues. Besides, I need the laughs.
[/mini-rantus]
#4
Mmm, lets see the former Director had many meetings with the National Security Advisor and he could not convey a sense of urgency of the looming threat of Al Qaeda .. Wish I was in those briefings, or maybe the NYT was there and failed to report it
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle ||
10/03/2006 8:44 Comments ||
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this is all rewarmed up spit. It all gets down to the same thing: no specifics, no actionable intel
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/03/2006 9:12 Comments ||
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They couldn't get Bush in the 04 'lection, so they came after Cheney. They got Scooter, but couldn't take out Rove. This week they're working both Rummy and Rice, with approximately the same odds for success...zippy.
#7
I'm with the mods' comments in pink salmon about it being high time to quit the blame game and let's get to the "After Action Report" and learn HOW to squish AQ and other Islamofascists like the cockroaches they are. Hey, I'm all (personally) for piling on President Clinton anytime we can, but we've ALL got to remember that even us die-hard Rantburgers couldn't have gone to war w/ AQ without 9/11. To pretend you could've taken them out with the military at that time is ludicrous, honestly. Now, let's get on with it, and GIT ER DONE!
Posted by: BA ||
10/03/2006 11:33 Comments ||
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whoops! meant "pink salmon"
Posted by: BA ||
10/03/2006 11:34 Comments ||
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OT : Regarding the pink issue, I think Mr. White is still in denial, and it's harmful for him in the long run to pretend not to notice, and pretend it's salmon, in order not to upset him.
#10
"It really is goofy to single out someone in the cabinet and rail against them. They serve at the pleasure of the President."
.com,
Your point is well taken. Too often people search for alternate realities and pin exclusive blame on others to mitigate their ignorance. This enables them to overlook cumbersome complexities and provides them with simple explanations. However, the conclusions of 9/11 commission illustrates the folly of those unwilling to assign individual responsibility only to choose the path of least resistance in collective blame. For many, when the commission concluded that the 9/11 tragedy resulted from a Failure of imagination at all levels, it exposed the unthinkable truth that even the survival of a nation now must first pass through the political prism. Reasonable people are not advocating for George Tenets or Dr. Rices head on a pike. But it is impossible to ignore that one was the Presidents National Security Advisor and the other was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency when the worst Terrorist attack hit the United States mainland. Its difficult to offer an analogy of failure from leaders even with limited roles of action and accepted partial responsibility. In some cultures, a failure of that magnitude, the honourable course of action would have been self disembowelment with a Tantô blade. But of course we all know that one received the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award and the others position was elevated to Secretary of State.
#11
Lol, DepotGuy - did you leave a trail of breadcrumbs?
That post reminds me of liberalhawk, lol.
"Reasonable people are not advocating for George Tenets or Dr. Rices head on a pike. But..."
Look, no one, 911 Political Asscover & Blame Commission included, saw precisely what occurred coming. Nothing actionable was discovered by Tenet's bunch, much less handed to Rice and fumbled.
You obviously do want some heads on pikes or someone to commit sepuku. But you've stated that such would be unreasonable, lol. I agree - it's pointlessly unreasonable, unproductive, and unseemly to need somebody to be sacrificed on the altar of political bullshit when no one, and I mean no one, knew what the fuck was going to happen.
The Psychic Friends Network was offline.
So, other than wanting some blood spilled to satisfy the mob, is there anything else?
Your points on tossing folks overboard are interesting, but there is another side to the matter.
As you'll recall after the Pearl Harbor attack, Admiral Kimmel and General Short were both relieved of command. FDR went far down the Navy's seniority list to pick Nimitz as CINCPAC. Many have explained the reasoning thusly: It wasn't Kimmel or Short's fault that it happened, but FDR didn't want commanders who obviously did not have special insight into the current situation and therefore they had to go.
I have similar misgivings in today's environment. It wasn't Tenet's fault or Louis Freeh's or Condi Rice's, but have we gotten the people with special insight into the right positions? (John Kerry need not apply.)
#13
CIA analysts need not apply either. Too many leaks. Purge time
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 16:32 Comments ||
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Interesting, DN. However, I do not think you or DG made any sort of case that would stand up to factual scrutiny, although it is perfectly acceptable for political hit pieces.
I guess we differ on:
a) actively fucking up vs passively not being able to read tea leaves
b) solid and specific intel vs vague bullshit intel
I jus' loves perfect 20/20 hindsight.
I won't go thru all of the stuff about Pearl Harbor - and think it is a poor choice to equate with 9/11 - where there was some serious active fucking up (documented in actual orders) but unknown quality intel delivered to those who needed it in time - wildly differing claims and whole schools of pro/con advocacy revolve around the intel and who got it and when.
Which did Kimmel and Short have?
Which did Rice and Bush have?
I'm rather disappointed by your response. Need blood? Okay, let's see the proof - not Woodward or Dickie Clark, please, something actually credible and specific to those you want crucified. BTW, who do you want crucified?
I've said my piece. I just don't believe in this sort of shit. :-|
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney probably do not watch many PBS Frontline documentaries about Iraq and Afghanistan, and for the sake of their blood pressure, its probably just as well. Nothing could be more maddening that the slow, methodical drip, drip, drip of unflattering image and fact especially when framed by the grave, reproachful voice-over of Will Lyman, a longtime narrator on Frontline.
Return of the Taliban, on PBS tonight, examines why the United States appears to be losing ground against Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. It gives two stark reasons: the Jihadists single-minded determination to expel foreign troops and Pakistans ambivalence about rooting out Taliban strongholds along its border.
The documentary asserts, almost offhandedly, that the war in Iraq has diverted American attention and resources from Afghanistan. In one scene, Mr. Bush and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan are shown sitting together in the White House in 2004, announcing their joint commitment to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his followers. But by now the administration was preoccupied with Iraq, the narrator says sonorously. The hunt for Al Qaeda was left to Pakistan.
The documentary comes on the heels of Mr. Musharrafs latest visit to the United States, a tour to promote his autobiography that included a good-humored appearance on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Mr. Stewart offered his guest tea and bluntly asked, Where is Osama bin Laden? Mr. Musharraf waggishly said he didnt know, and the audience laughed along.
Return of the Taliban sets out to demonstrate that actually, Pakistani officials know more than they are letting on, and are not particularly eager to help American forces find out.
Mr. Musharraf portrays his country as the mouse that caved, a small, vulnerable nation bullied by the United States after 9/11 to cooperate, but hampered by religious and political pressures that outsiders never seem to fully appreciate.
According to the filmmakers, however, there is nothing soft and helpless about the way the Musharraf administration handles Pakistani reporters. The documentary points the finger at the government for the murder in Hayatullah Khan, a Pakistani journalist who worked with PBS and whose reporting on a 2005 missile attack on a Qaeda operative embarrassed the Musharraf government. (The Pakistan army said that American forces had nothing to do with the attack; Mr. Khan published pictures of missile fragments covered with United States military markings.) Soon after, Mr. Khan disappeared, and last June his corpse was found, riddled with bullets and hands bound with government-issue handcuffs, in North Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border.
Mr. Musharraf denied knowing anything about Mr. Khan or his disappearance in an interview with the Frontline reporter Martin Smith, but said his government was not behind it.
Pakistan appears not to be as ruthless about stamping out Taliban forces in its territory. Its not hard to see why: almost every time Pakistani forces attack the Taliban or Al Qaeda sympathizers, crowds take to the streets, egged on by religious leaders. But the documentary examines how the governments peace deals with tribal warlords give Al Qaeda leaders free passage for attacks and suicide bombings against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The documentary concludes by not drawing conclusions about General Musharraf. Some officials advocate getting tougher, cut off military aid, the narrator says. Others argue that America can do no more. That Musharraf is, in an imperfect world, the best and only choice.
The film is of small comfort to Mr. Bush, who on the eve of midterm elections is trying to deflect criticism raised in Bob Woodwards latest book about the Iraq war, State of Denial.
Its timing doesnt help, either. Return of the Taliban is scheduled to be shown on PBS stations just two days after a new video surfaced showing Mohamed Atta and Ziad al-Jarrah, two of the 9/11 hijackers, relaxed and joking in what seems to be a valedictory message taped more than a year before the attacks on American soil. Any video farewell recorded by a suicide bomber is chilling. What is most striking about this one is how middle-class, normal and confident the two men seem they are willing and eager suicide bombers, not brainwashed zombies.
The Frontline documentary, like the hijackers last video and testament, is a disquieting reminder of what the world is up against when taking on a Muslim holy war.
Posted by: john ||
10/03/2006 16:32 ||
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How 'bout the steady drip drip drip of unadulterated BS? sheesh
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/03/2006 16:59 Comments ||
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remind me again why we taxpayers pay for this domestic propaganda, but can't get Voice of America accurate media funding?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 17:14 Comments ||
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WGBH, the Boston PBS station, is building a nice new studio over in Brighton.
I hear it's a friggin palace...
#4
Oh for phuechs sake! Bugger Woodward, his bomber jacket, baseball cap and shades, and his club of treasonous, leaking, current and former OGA operations and wannabe types. The "drip, drip, drip" SHOULD be coming from execution post where the cold bodies of these treasonous reporters and kak writers should be slumped. Whores and worthless communist bastards.
#5
Well hell...I just read that Frist, touring in Romania, has just called for bringing the Taliban into a more transparent Afghan govt. ... like they'd just all of a sudden make nice. With idiots like this in charge we're lost. I'm relocating to the Sierra Nevada, and if anyone visits, approach slowly Hint: bringing beer is a clear statement of one's intent.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/03/2006 19:02 Comments ||
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Not that it's really anything new, but...
Challenged on Fox, Frist corrected / clarified (he is on his way back from Afghanistan) that he said we should be talking to the tribal leaders and bringing them around to our side. Revolutionary idea, no? Lol. Dunno if he was misquoted / assassinated or if he's that confused. Prolly both, in that mangled interview sort of way.
#7
Frist is not presidential timber, more like plywood or cedar with knots
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/03/2006 19:34 Comments ||
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Frontline produces some of the best documentary work on television, bar none. Did any of you bother to read the main points of the article?
Return of the Taliban sets out to demonstrate that actually, Pakistani officials know more than they are letting on, and are not particularly eager to help American forces find out.
According to the filmmakers, however, there is nothing soft and helpless about the way the Musharraf administration handles Pakistani reporters. The documentary points the finger at the government for the murder in Hayatullah Khan, a Pakistani journalist who worked with PBS and whose reporting on a 2005 missile attack on a Qaeda operative embarrassed the Musharraf government. (The Pakistan army said that American forces had nothing to do with the attack; Mr. Khan published pictures of missile fragments covered with United States military markings.) Soon after, Mr. Khan disappeared, and last June his corpse was found, riddled with bullets and hands bound with government-issue handcuffs, in North Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border.
These are important points that the American public needs to know about. They may well help our nation begin to adopt more rational policy in how we deal with such treacherous regimes as Musharraf's Pakistan. The point that Iraq may have diverted needed American military strength away from properly defeating the Taleban is a valid one. It certainly deserves to be addressed in any reasonable examination of the Afghan conflict. To not have done so would have been a journalistic error.
Too bad my television is still off after some five years now. Frontline is one of the few shows I really miss. It typically provides unflinching and highly accurate information. If any of you have seen their superb documentary on Jesus Christ ("From Jesus to Christ - The First Christians"), you would know what I mean. I suggest that all of you try and put aside your normally justifiable disgust with PBS and watch the show. While PBS too often has a noticably liberal slant, I defy any of you to say that Masterpiece Theater doesn't put the vast majority of existing commercial network television broadcasting to complete and total shame.
#9
To play a significant role in Afghanistan, you must have access from the south, Only Pakistan or Iran allows this access. Musharaf may be an SOB, but its hard to imagine a better option.
Lose Musharaf and I pretty much guarantee you lose Afghanistan.
As my mother used to say, "Things are not good or bad. They are merely better or worse than the alternatives."
#10
With respect to Musharraf, the US can certainly topple him by cutting off aid. Maybe the Pakistanis will install Osama in his place or a near equivalent. I don't know that have the kooks control all of Pakistan is to our advantage but we will see regardless. Musharraf is a dead man walking and the kooks will eventually kill him unless he flees.
With respect to the flick, I'm sure the producers want to encourage American citizens to question the effectiveness of GOP leadership. Instead Americans will become even more nervous about putting guys like Feinstein in charge.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/03/2006 23:24 Comments ||
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Pakistans foreign ministry Monday pledged to take action if rival India produced any evidence to show that Pakistans spy agency was involved in the Mumbai train bombings in July. But Pakistan again denied claims by Mumbai police that the countrys Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic militant group helped launch the attacks that killed 186 people. If India feels that it has some information that suggests links with some people here or some kind of connection, then yes we will take action and will help India in its investigations, foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told a weekly briefing.
The Indian allegations, first made on Saturday, were an attempt to 'divert attention from indigenous elements' engaged in terrorism in India, the spokeswoman said, adding that Mumbai police were 'propagandists'.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said on Sunday that New Delhi would hand over evidence of the alleged links, but Aslam said Pakistan had not received anything from India so far. What we expect from India is to share the claimed evidence and information with us so that we can cooperate with them, she said. The Indian allegations, first made on Saturday, were an attempt to divert attention from indigenous elements engaged in terrorism in India, the spokeswoman said, adding that Mumbai police were propagandists.
This is all internal and this is yet another effort to externalise internal malaise, she said. Pakistan at the weekend strongly rejected the claims, which come at a time when the ISI is also under scrutiny from Islamabads increasingly disaffected allies in the war on terror. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted on US television on Sunday that rogue retired ISI officers may be supporting the Taleban in Afghanistan. Musharraf also had to be placated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a visit to London after a British defence ministry think-tank report said Pakistans spy agency backed Islamic extremism.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has also denied involvement in the bombings. The group is fighting against Indian rule in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir and has been blamed for previous attacks in India.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Of course, all such evidence has to conform to sharia law.. India will have to provide four male muslim witnessess that saw the ISI agents in action.
Posted by: john ||
10/03/2006 6:52 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 Senior U.S. officials in Iraq are calling a four-point plan released yesterday by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to halt sectarian violence a significant step in the right direction.
Malikis plan, released yesterday, aims at uniting Shiite and Sunni parties to reduce and ultimately stop growing sectarian violence that threatens Iraq.
This shows that the Iraqi leaders want their country to succeed and are responding to the wishes of their people for security, said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and Army Gen. George W. Casey, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, in a statement released yesterday.
Now begins the hard work of implementing the plan, the U.S. leaders wrote. We congratulate Prime Minister Maliki and other Iraqi leaders for this important initiative, and assure them of US support.
The four-point plan followed two days of frank and intense discussions and negotiation, Khalilzad and Casey noted. It calls for:
-- Commissions to be established in every Baghdad district, made up of representatives of every party as well as religious and tribal leaders and security officials to serve as consultants on security matters;
-- A central prosecution commission to coordinate security issues with and monitor the Iraqi police and armed forces;
-- A common new information commission to control the media; and
-- Monthly meetings to evaluate the plans performance and make adjustments as needed.
We are doing this to end sectarian violence in Iraq forever, Maliki said last night in announcing the plan on Iraqi television and during a Baghdad news conference.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, traveling in the Middle East, expressed optimism yesterday about Iraqs prospects for peace between its sects, and thanked the Saudi Arabian government for helping the Iraqis find their way toward national reconciliation.
Iraq has the opportunity to be a unified country, a country that can be a democracy in which Sunni, Shiia, Kurds and others are all fully represented, but it must get past, at this point, a very challenging security environment (with) great violence, Rice said in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during a joint news conference with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.
BASRAH, Iraq, Oct. 2, 2006 One of the greatest threats to the security of Iraq, and a common tactic of terrorists and insurgents, is the use of improvised explosive devices and mines. The majority of casualties suffered by Coalition and Iraqi forces are mostly from some form of IEDs, vehicle borne IEDs and suicide bombs. There is an additional threat in Iraq by way of minefields, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war.
In an ongoing effort to change this, the Iraqi Bomb Disposal School, located near Basrah, currently trains army and police personnel committed to combating the use of IEDs and other explosive devices. Iraqi Army Lt. Col. Foad, commander, Iraqi Army Bomb Disposal Company, 4th Division, said he believes the school is vital to the war against the insurgency.
In order for us (Iraqis) to defeat the insurgency we have to be able to safely detect and destroy the bombs and IEDs these criminals use, Foad said with the help of an interpreter. The future of our nation depends on us being able to stop these activities. This is why this school is important.
According to Army Maj. Donald R. Weakley, Coalition liaison officer for BDS, soldiers and police officers endure an intensive 12-week course before certification as bomb disposal technicians. The bomb disposal field is very technical. One mistake or error in judgment could be catastrophic, Weakley said. This is why the courses here at the school are very extensive; the students not only have to complete numerous hours of classroom work, but they have to pass several rigorous field tests as well.
Weakley said the bomb disposal profession is time consuming and requires someone with a lot of patience. Some of the scenarios taught here involve clearing mine fields, clearing buildings and disabling IEDs, he said. The tactics for successfully accomplishing these tasks require a lot of time.
Clearing a mine field, building or any other area requires careful planning and a controlled, systematic approach, according to Weakley. Teams use various techniques and equipment to ensure the search is safe. He explained that students, for example, use an expedient marking method to identify cleared areas.
During clearance of access routes and areas, marking is progressively positioned and deployed to ensure safety of the clearance operators and of the public, Weakley said. This marking is sometimes in the form of stones that signify the delineation between safe and unsafe areas. This is not something you want to rush, and so this alone could take hours, he explained.
When students find ordnance in a mine field, they stand up, raise their arm and shout Mine, signifying to the unit
commander that they have found something. The commander then makes the decision as to whether to move or destroy the ordnance.
According to Weakley, the average drop rate of the class is somewhere between 30 and 40 percent, which is comparable to the EOD school in the U.S. He said the school offers Level III training for the Iraqi Army Bomb Disposal companies only, and consists of trauma first aid, ordnance identification, minefield and other area clearance operations and demolitions courses.
Level IV training, attended by both Iraqi soldiers and policemen, includes advanced instruction in the areas of guided weapons and air-dropped bombs, in addition to working with specialized equipment such as x-ray machines, bomb suits and remote controlled robots. Students also focus on forensics collection and blast scene analysis.
According to Weakley, all of the training is scenario-based created from reports of actual events. As a result, students learn to treat every field exercise as if they were responding to a real event.
Iraqi Army Capt. Ziad, the executive officer of the school, said this is a very important aspect of the training. Our students are taught to treat every class as if they were responding to a real event so they dont take the training lightly, Ziad said with the help of an interpreter. Fellow Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of some of these events; our work is serious and we should be too.
Weakley said that some of the current students are being trained as instructors for future iterations. The majority of the current instructors are civilian contractors, but as of June 2007, the school will be operated entirely by Iraqi Army and Police instructors, Weakley said. This is a positive step for the Iraqi Security Forces.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/03/2006 13:02 ||
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Clearing a Mine Field is simple, you run a herd of sheep over the suspected area.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/03/2006 19:41 Comments ||
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Unless you're an Iranian militant cleric, in which case you run a herd of ten-year-olds children across the minefield.
Not content with seething over stuff that insults Islam, they are now pissed off when other religions are insulted as well. Picture at link.
Iraqi Shiite residents of Baghdad's Sadr City have expressed anger on over a picture of a grinning Jesus they mistook for a Shiite holy figure that appeared in the area after a joint US-Iraqi operation. Residents found a picture of "Buddy Jesus" from the 1999 film "Dogma" posted in the streets, accompanied by a badly photocopied pamphlet bearing a crude approximation of a US military crest and outlining a US "plan" to subjugate the neighborhood. "That picture abuses our Imam Mahdi and his holy character, and mocks our sacred figures," said resident Abu Riyam Sunday, apparently mistaking the satirical movie still of Jesus for one of Shiite Islam's historical imams, whose images adopt a Jesus-like iconography.
The grinning, winking model of Buddy Jesus giving a thumbs-up sign appeared in the comedy film as a fictional attempt by the Catholic Church to present a kinder and more accessible image of Christianity. "If it wasn't so serious it would be funny," said a coalition spokesman, Major Will Willhoite.
The pamphlets outlined a so-called plan to discredit the militias in the sprawling Baghdad slum of two million people, a stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "Destabilize security in the militia areas with explosions and assassinations to create panic" and "killing, raping and kidnapping women" were all measures the pamphlet recommended to cause people to lose faith in the militias. "Do not tell the suspect militias of these plans, but keep them among friendly forces," admonished the pamphlet.
The US military did not confirm that it had conducted an early-morning raid into Sadr City on Sunday, but said that an Iraqi force accompanied by coalition advisors did conduct an operation in "northeast" Baghdad. Much of Baghdad's violence has been laid at the feet of Shiite militias, many of whom are based in Sadr City, but US forces have yet to enter the neighborhood in force.
#1
Gosh, operational security really failed in letting those pamphlets out. Damn
f*&king morons. Seething in 5...4...3..
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 11:20 Comments ||
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#2
Not content with seething over stuff that insults Islam, they are now pissed off when other religions are insulted as well.
Maybe not. Remember, they claim Jesus was spreading Islam, too, but his followers corrupted it. It could also be they're too stupid to realize it's supposed to be Jesus, and think it's supposed to be the Mahdi.
Kevin Smith, creator of the "Buddy Jesus" and the movie it's from, walked out into the street and joined a protest march against "Dogma". Partly to find out what the objections were, mostly to point out that the protestors had no idea who he was -- egregious because he was in the movie, had been in all his previous movies, and is a distinctive-looking fellow.
Compare and contrast with Theo van Gogh.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/03/2006 12:05 Comments ||
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#4
reminds me of the photos of the GI Joe action figure that had been taken hostage....
Posted by: Mark E. ||
10/03/2006 13:54 Comments ||
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#5
More proof that the Anti-Christ will be accepted by Christians, Jews and Muslims. Christians as the Jesus returned to set up his millenial kingdom of peace, Jews as their long awaited Messiah and Muslims as the Mahdi. Wala, peace in the middle east until....
THE followers of Moqtada al-Sadr believe that the US invaded Iraq to prevent the return to Earth of their sects messiah-like figure, the Mahdi, or 12th imam.
Hojatoleslam al-Sadr claims that his militia is preparing for the day when the Mahdi, the last direct descendent of the revered Shia figure Ali, reappears. Shia believe that the Mahdi, who disappeared in 868, will bring justice to Earth.
At a prayer service in the central Iraqi city of Kufa on September 15, the cleric told a crowd of thousands that the Americans were collecting a dossier on the Mahdi to prevent his return. Did you ever ask yourself about why all of this, the bloodshed and the prisons? Why are the brothers fighting each other for a political game planned by the Americans? This all happened because they (the Americans) are waiting for the Mahdi. This planning started ten years ago. They have a big file for Imam Mahdi and they just need his picture to complete it.
Hojatoleslam al-Sadr and his advisers are convinced that the Americans want to destroy Islam and stop the Mahdi. The Americans are trying to hijack Islamic movements. They think that these are serving the Mahdis interests. Whatever they did in Afghanistan and Iraq are all attempts to hijack the Mahdis return.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Where da hell is the Mahdi? Oh, I answered my own question
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/03/2006 0:39 Comments ||
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#3
The followers of Moqtada al-Sadr believe that the US invaded Iraq to prevent the return to Earth of their sects messiah-like figure, the Mahdi, or 12th imam.
So, in other words, Ahmadinejad's lust for a global conflict that will invoke this 12th maggot is all wrong?
Fuck all, I love the overarching coherence of these fuckwits' vision.
At a prayer service in the central Iraqi city of Kufa on September 15, the cleric told a crowd of thousands that the Americans were collecting a dossier on the Mahdi to prevent his return. Did you ever ask yourself about why all of this, the bloodshed and the prisons? Why are the brothers fighting each other for a political game planned by the Americans? This all happened because they (the Americans) are waiting for the Mahdi. This planning started ten years ago. They have a big file for Imam Mahdi and they just need his picture to complete it.
Eureka!
give me the credit RBers. I ferreted/winkled/sifted/uncovered the SECRETE!
Just like Kryptonite is to Superman and Zionist Pixie-Dust is to Paleostians, Dossiers are the 12 Imami's Achilles Heel. huh?
#8
Well we have to try to stop the "hidden" one from establishing Islamic "justice." Westerners get squeemish when we hear of beheadings, stoning, hand lopping and boom-crane lynchings.
#14
That sumbitch manages to crawl outta that well, I can guaran-damn-tee you this: he better not try commenting on Rantburg, 'cause I'll troll-whack his soggy skanky little bitch ass.
Posted by: al-Modi the 12th Mod ||
10/03/2006 7:12 Comments ||
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#15
Ozzy Osbourne is looking better than he has in ages.
Posted by: ed ||
10/03/2006 7:44 Comments ||
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#16
Everyone should be ashamed of themselves! Don't you know that the government is profiling 12th Imams now. Where is Danny Glover and Jesse when you need them. Shame!
#17
Actually, he's hiding in a friend's house in Hollywood. Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon and Babs are keeping it hush hush since the last failed US government assassination attempt. Those Imams are a bitch to kill.
#18
Anymouse is right. Tater's basically saying the Americans are more powerful than God. Not true, but he is paying us a backhanded compliment. Still, we should have killed him in April '04.
#20
that's what was in Arafish's dreaded red notebook: The Mahdi Files
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 9:45 Comments ||
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#21
"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
#25
Pfft. The Mahdi who can be prevented or deterred is not the true Mahdi. Where did Moqtada get his religious training, a box of Cracker Jacks? Hell, I know that, and I'm a dirty kufr.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/03/2006 13:17 Comments ||
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#26
I thought Ahmedinejadnutcase thought this dude was in a well in IRAN. And now tater sez he is in a well in IRAQ? Or does he?
Arab League Secretary General, Amr Mussa Has Expressed Deep Regret Over The Tragic Developments Emerging On The Palestinian Arena, Including The Prevailing Chaos And Major Sides Retreating From Forming A National Unity Government.
Internal Conflicts Are The Worst Of What Could Happen In Palestine For Their Negative Impact On The Credibility Of The Palestinian Cause, Mussa Said In A Statement To Journalists On Monday. He Warned That Fighting Among Palestinian Factions Would Generate More Wrath And Underlined The Need For Agreeing On A National Unity Government To Avert Such Hazards. If Such A Government Is Not To See Life And The Arab Peace Initiative Is Not To Be Endorsed, The Palestinian Cause Will Remain At Windward, Mussa Wondered.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
Yes, that's the ticket : *millions* were expelled from various european countries only a few years ago. Again, wikipedia is the crutch of badly-learned peons like me :
In that regards, the jooooooooooos weren't ruthless enough. The arab colons and migrant workers that would eventually be hyped as "the paleo people" should have been *expelled* en masse, as it was fashionable at the time. Victor's spoils.
The 900 000 or so joooooooooooos would have been expelled from arab countries regardless, and this festering wound and eventual life-threatening demographic timebomb would have been avoided.
Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian factions, on Monday traded gunfire and recriminations for a second day in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, leaving 2 people dead and about 20 wounded. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, appealed for calm, and the clashes were not as intense or as widespread as on Sunday. Still, several shootouts erupted as Palestinian officials struggled to end the internal fighting. We reiterate to our people to be responsible, not to spread the circle of disagreements and conflict, Mr. Haniya told his cabinet.
However, in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Fatah supporters held a large demonstration on Monday evening and clashed with members of the Executive Force, a security body established earlier this year by the Hamas government. A policeman and a demonstrator were killed, and more than a dozen people were wounded. In an effort to reduce tensions, the Executive Force pulled back from the main streets in Gaza City, where on Sunday it battled other security units and gunmen aligned with Fatah. In both Gaza and the West Bank, many shops, schools and government offices were closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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The Islam world will be relieved if the Pope makes a full apology," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
In an interview on the Fox TV, Erdogan said that religious leaders should refrain from using the words of Islam and terrorism together. "Such remarks hurt all the Muslims. We should refrain from remarks which may overshadow alliance of civilizations," he stressed.
On fundamentalism, Erdogan said, "fundamentalism is a problem in every religion. But, there is no fundamentalist threat in Turkey today. Secularism is a system that protects the country and nation against extreme movements. As the government, we are taking measures against extreme movements. Secularism is an insurance for different life styles."
Commenting on the terrorist organization PKK, Erdogan said that the terrorist organization is infiltrating Turkey from northern Iraq and staging terrorist attacks. Erdogan stated that Turkey expects "more concrete steps" from the USA in fight against terrorism, and qualified appointment of retired general Joseph Ralston as the U.S. special representative for countering terrorism as positive. Emphasizing that the terrorist organization should lay down arms, Erdogan said that a military operation of the Turkish army in northern Iraq is out of question at the moment, but noted that developments will be monitored. Erdogan underlined importance of a trilateral cooperation among Turkish, U.S. and Iraqi governments against the terrorist organization PKK.
PM Erdogan was interviewed also by The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Erdogan will meet U.S. President George Bush today, and depart from Washington D.C. for Britain.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Go relief yourself, Erdogan
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/03/2006 0:41 Comments ||
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#7
Subtle Hint: Turkey making demands isn't the key to its admittance into the EU.
BFD : turkey's EU entrance is already in the pipeline, despite any opposition by the people (on average, about 70% of those polled are against it, be it in France, Germany, Holland,...) and a large part of the pols. Consider it done, really, it's part of the Big Scheme, and for once, both the EUcrats and the USA agree on that.
#11
"We should refrain from remarks which may overshadow alliance of civilizations,"
But the Pope wasn't talking about civilizations -- he was talking about Islam. Lack of civilization is the whole point.
#12
Dr. Sanity
...It is a place where Reason cannot be appealed to; nor tolerance--for the Islamists believe in neither. So here we are, all of us, on the PC highway to hell...
...I personally have no objection to Islam reaching their final destination of hell alone.
Manila, 3 Oct. (AKI) - Family members of activists and left-wing politicians killed or reported missing in the Philippines blame the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the crimes and call for justice and an end to the killings. "I believe my father is already dead," said Glenda Macario, 30, of Tondo, Manila, in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI). "But please show him to us, so that we can have peace of mind."
Macarios father, Leopoldo Ancheta, 58, disappeared in June. His wife, Carmen, 50, told AKI that she learned that he was a staff of one of the consultants of the National Democratic Front (NDF), only after his disappearance. The NDF is the political arm of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Manila is currently engaged in an all-out war with the New Peoples Army (NPA), the armed wing of the CPP.
The "deniable" wing, all the best revolutionary groups have one.
"Prior to his disappearance, he told me that if something bad happened to him, the military should be blamed," Carmen said while calling for justice.
Also calling for an end to the killings is Constancio Claver, whose wife Alyce, was killed in an crossfire ambush he barely survived in Tabuk, Kalinga, 315 kilometres north of Manila on July 31. Claver, a doctor by profession, is the chairperson of Bayan Muna-Kalinga, a left-wing militant organization of which his wife was also a member. The organization is deemed by certain government sectors as a legal front for the CPP.
Name being changed to protect the guilty
Claver believed the ambush was politically motivated and that the bullets were meant for him. "I hoped the death of my wife would be the last. I hoped there would be no more additions in the list of the victims of extrajudicial killings," Claver told AKI.
According to some non-government organizations (NGOs), since Arroyo assumed the presidency through a military-backed uprising in 2001, her government has the highest record of extra-judicial killings allegedly perpetrated by the police and the military. "Arroyos administration is even worst compared to the time of Marcos," Ruth Cervantes, public information officer of the Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples Rights told AKI referring to late president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the Philippines for two decades.
The organisation claimed that 184 activists or perceived revolutionaries have disappeared and 762 have been killed since 2001.
We may have to open a Philippines branch office of the "Crossfire Gazette™
The London-based rights group Amnesty International, said the murders of political and community activists in the Philippines mostly associated with leftist or left-oriented groups - were increasing for the second year, with at least 51 killings in the first six months of 2006 compared with 66 for the entire 2005.
Hummmm, kind of like how members of the Purba Banglar Communist Party keep falling in front of shutter guns
The Arroyo government denies any involvement and has created a five-man commission to investigate these incidents. Yet, militant groups have labeled the commission as a creation of the president and said that it might not serve the purpose of bringing justice. The Philippines Armed Forces blame an internal purge within the CPP as the cause of the killings.
"Wasn't us. Have you checked with the RAB?"
Posted by: Steve ||
10/03/2006 10:10 ||
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#1
seems like belonging to Islamic/Communist/Leftist front groups trying to overthrow the elected gov't is hazardous to your health. Now what could you possibly deduce as a fix for that? How about not joining one of these? Or just quit whining when the consequences come due. Oh, and stop with the "we never knew.." BS
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 11:13 Comments ||
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(Reuters) - Iran has proposed France create a consortium to enrich uranium for Tehran's nuclear programme in an effort to end the stand off over the Islamic state's atomic ambitions, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, told France Info radio that his country would insist the uranium be enriched on Iranian soil, something the international community has previously rejected.
"In order to reach a solution, we've just had an idea: we propose that France create a consortium for the production in Iran of enriched uranium," Saeedi said.
"That way France, via Eurodif and Areva, would be able to monitor in a tangible way, our enrichment activities," he added, referring to two French companies that work in the nuclear sector.
The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment directly on the report, an official saying only that "what is important for us is the result of the discussions between Solana and Larijani."
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani have been holding talks in an effort to reach agreement on the nuclear issue. No deal has been reached but further talks are planned.
Charles Hufnagel, a spokesman for state-owned nuclear technology group Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), told Reuters: "We are not aware of such a proposal and are not in any negotiations.
"Such a plan would be a political project, to be made by or on behalf of the EU Troika, but as an industrial firm we are not involved," he said.
Areva owns Eurodif, Europe's largest uranium enrichment plant.
The United States, France, Russia, China, Britain and Germany offered Iran a package of incentives in June aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon technology that could be used to make a nuclear weapon.
Iran's latest offer mirrors in some respects a Russian proposal to create an international consortium to enrich uranium for Iran's nuclear power stations outside of the country, but this was rejected by the authorities in Tehran. The U.N. Security Council has threatened to impose sanctions unless Iran suspends enrichment, a process the West says could lead to Iran making nuclear bombs.
The international community will have no choice but to impose sanctions on Iran if it fails to suspend enrichment, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday.
Iran says its nuclear activities are aimed purely at civilian electricity generation and Saeedi's comments come the day after the country said it would not suspend uranium enrichment as demanded by the West.
"Our nation is a respectable nation and will remain so. Iranian nation's path to obtain its (nuclear) right is an irreversible path," the official IRNA news agency quoted hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying. Damn. I've been worried that they'd pretend to accept the offer - and set everyone up for another round of Rope-a-Dope while the game goes on. Shit.
#2
"In order to reach a solution, we've just had an idea: we propose that France create a consortium for the production in Iran of enriched uranium," Saeedi said.
An idea, "just like that" it came you, Iran and France? How amazing.
#3
The Irantians know how effective the French are in Lebanon.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/03/2006 9:14 Comments ||
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#4
FRANCE REFUSES TEHRAN'S SURPRISE PROPOSAL Paris, 3 Oct. (AKI) - France on Tuesday dismissed an offer by Tehran to participate in a consortium to produce enriched uranium on Iranian soil aimed at allaying international fears Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. The French government said Iran must discuss any proposal to solve the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani have so far failed to reach an agreement on the suspension of uranium enrichment, which Iranian leaders have repeatedly stressed is not on their agenda.
The consortium proposal was made Tuesday morning by the deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad Saeedi in an interview with France Info radio. "We propose that France create a consortium for the production in Iran of enriched uranium. That way France, through the companies Eurodif and Areva, could control in a tangible way our enrichment activities," he said.
Eurodif, which means European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium, is a subsidiary of French company Cogema which exploits an uranium enrichment plant in the nuclear site of Tricastin in the Drôme region while Areva is a French industrial group specialised in nuclear energy.
France is a permanent member of the Security Council which has threatened Iran with sanctions if it does not stop enriching uranium. President Jacques Chirac however was the first European leader to suggest last month that world powers could negotiate with Iran over its nuclear programme without a prior suspension of uranium enrichment - the key precondition Tehran has always refused to comply with.
France is the world's most nuclear energy-dependent country and relies on atomic reactors for about 75 percent of its electricity.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/03/2006 10:00 Comments ||
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#5
Whew! - Thx, Steve!
They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. May their streak continue... to the very end.
A report issued last month by the Century Foundation warns that some in the Bush administration are making the case for air strikes aimed not only at setting back Iran's nuclear programme, but also at toppling the country's government. The report's author, retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, says that these officials are undeterred by the concerns of military leaders about whether such attacks would be effective.
"If this uncertainty does not appear to worry the proponents of air strikes in Iran it is in no small part because the real US policy objective is not merely to eliminate the nuclear programme, but to overthrow the regime," according to him. "It is hard to believe, after the misguided talk prior to Iraq of how American troops would be greeted with flowers and welcomed as liberators, but those inside and close to the administration who are arguing for an air strike against Iran actually sound as if they believe the regime in Tehran can be eliminated by air attacks," the author adds.
The report titled The End of the Summer of Diplomacy: assessing US military options on Iran, claims that the policymakers plan is to use targeted air strikes to kill the leadership and enable the people of Iran to take over the government. The assumption is that more reasonable, US-friendly, leadership will emerge. Gardiner argues that the plan is dangerously flawed and would more likely yield very different results. No serious expert on Iran believes the argument about enabling a regime change, he reveals. On the contrary, whereas the presumed goal is to weaken or disable the leadership and then replace it with others who would improve relations between Iran and the United States, it is far more likely that such strikes would strengthen the clerical leadership and turn the United States into Irans permanent enemy.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
make it so
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/03/2006 0:41 Comments ||
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#8
Of course there are such plans. Heck, there are probably even plans to whack Tony Blair. Doesn't (necessarily) mean anything more than than that they are evaluating possible scenarios. The staff charged with generating such plans would be instructed not to be concerned with whether they would be effective - but just to make the plan that they think would have the best chance of being effective. The evaluation of how such a plan would play out would be left to a different team.
Gardiner must know somebody on one team, but seemingly not on the other(s). Still, debating the concept publicly is probably not a bad idea.
#9
retired AF Colonel....wish it were true, but this pretentious ass doesn't know....jeebus
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 9:49 Comments ||
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#10
..."retired Air Force Colonel..."
Well, you can be a retired Air Force Colonel and have never set foot outside a personnel office. Assuming that he is indeed what he says, he knows that there's a contingency plan for EVERYTHING. Guessing that he's not gonna mention that part, though.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/03/2006 11:19 Comments ||
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#11
Always beware of stories where the exact opposite headline would also engender controversy.
US Has NO Plans To Kill Iranian Leadership
The report's author, retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, says that these officials are undeterred by the concerns of military leaders about whether such attacks would be effectivewho believe that all contingencies should be planned for.
#12
The US better darn well have "plans" to kill the leadership and/or disable critical infrastructure in every hostile and potentially hostile country in the world. It's simply due diligence because it's the military's job to jump when asked. Planning keeps you from bombing baby milk and aspirin factories.
#16
Of course we have plans to kill them. We have plans to kill a lot of losers & invade plenty of dictatorships. To preserve peace is to prepare for war. They'd shit themselves if they knew how thorough our NKor plan is. Master of the fricken' obvious wrote this.
On Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini called on all Palestinian groups to maintain unity and avoid civil strife.
Nine Palestinians were killed on Sunday in clashes between forces loyal to Hamas and those loyal to Fatah in the worst internal fighting in months over unpaid wages and stalled unity government talks. The spokesman said in a statement that civil conflicts will lead to the loss of spiritual and financial possessions of the Palestinians, benefiting only the Zionist regime. Under the divine instructions and Islamic teachings the Palestinians should exercise vigilance and avoid inflaming conflicts especially out of deference to the holy month of Ramadan, he added.
At this time, when innocent Palestinians are shot by the Zionist regime every day, any internal clash will weaken Palestines position and help the occupiers achieve their destructive goals, he noted. Hosseini called on all Palestinians to maintain unity and redouble their efforts to strengthen resistance against Israel. The Palestinians should focus their efforts on fulfilling their main aspirations, breaking the occupation, and bringing the refugees home.
Had the Paleostinians formed a government and attempted to begin functioning as a state last November they'd be a lot closer to "breaking the occupation and bringing the refugees home." Instead, they took the opportunity to experiment with anarchy as a system of government.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2006 00:00 ||
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#4
starting to look like a densely populated Somalia-West
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2006 11:51 Comments ||
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#5
"At this time, when innocent Palestinians are shot by the Zionist regime every day..."
Actually, I'm pretty sure the Paleos are killing more Paleos than the Zionists are, at least during Ramadan.
#1
Oh fer cryin' out loud lets just all go out and buy prayer rugs right now....we've abviously given up all hope of defending ourselves.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
10/03/2006 17:43 Comments ||
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#2
What the heck are they teaching in college these days? Dont these kids know if you want it to flush you need to rip the pages out one at a time and apply fecal matter to one side before flushing? Sheesh. What is this country coming too?
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.
Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will soon be able to battle the heat of the southern Afghan desert with some beer from the largest Canadian-owned brewery. 
Sudan rejects an indefinite presence of African Union troops in war-ravaged Darfur although it welcomes a planned increase in troop numbers for now, a Sudanese official said on Monday. "Sudan agrees that the African Union troops stay until the crisis is over, but not indefinitely," an aide to Mohamed al-Dabi, the Sudanese president's top Darfur representative, told Reuters.
New Prime Minister 
NEW YORK Interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today show today, Bob Woodward revealed that he had deliberately timed his new book, "State of Denial," to come out before the November elections.
Offered a high-calorie diet and kept in their cells almost around the clock, many detainees at Guantanamo Bay are becoming fat. 
The United States has offered to return nearly all British residents held at Guantánamo Bay after months of secret talks in Washington, the Guardian has learned.
Pakistans foreign ministry Monday pledged to take action if rival India produced any evidence to show that Pakistans spy agency was involved in the Mumbai train bombings in July. But Pakistan again denied claims by Mumbai police that the countrys Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic militant group helped launch the attacks that killed 186 people. If India feels that it has some information that suggests links with some people here or some kind of connection, then yes we will take action and will help India in its investigations, foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told a weekly briefing.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 Senior U.S. officials in Iraq are calling a four-point plan released yesterday by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to halt sectarian violence a significant step in the right direction. 
Iraqi Shiite residents of Baghdad's Sadr City have expressed anger on over a picture of a grinning Jesus they mistook for a Shiite holy figure that appeared in the area after a joint US-Iraqi operation. Residents found a picture of "Buddy Jesus" from the 1999 film "Dogma" posted in the streets, accompanied by a badly photocopied pamphlet bearing a crude approximation of a US military crest and outlining a US "plan" to subjugate the neighborhood. "That picture abuses our Imam Mahdi and his holy character, and mocks our sacred figures," said resident Abu Riyam Sunday, apparently mistaking the satirical movie still of Jesus for one of Shiite Islam's historical imams, whose images adopt a Jesus-like iconography.
Arab League Secretary General, Amr Mussa Has Expressed Deep Regret Over The Tragic Developments Emerging On The Palestinian Arena, Including The Prevailing Chaos And Major Sides Retreating From Forming A National Unity Government. 
Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian factions, on Monday traded gunfire and recriminations for a second day in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, leaving 2 people dead and about 20 wounded. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, appealed for calm, and the clashes were not as intense or as widespread as on Sunday. Still, several shootouts erupted as Palestinian officials struggled to end the internal fighting. We reiterate to our people to be responsible, not to spread the circle of disagreements and conflict, Mr. Haniya told his cabinet.
The Islam world will be relieved if the Pope makes a full apology," Turkish Prime Minister 
(Reuters) - Iran has proposed France create a consortium to enrich uranium for Tehran's nuclear programme in an effort to end the stand off over the Islamic state's atomic ambitions, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.
A report issued last month by the Century Foundation warns that some in the Bush administration are making the case for air strikes aimed not only at setting back Iran's nuclear programme, but also at toppling the country's government. The report's author, retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner, says that these officials are undeterred by the concerns of military leaders about whether such attacks would be effective. 
