At least 34 people fleeing Somalia across the Gulf of Aden drowned after being forced overboard by their smugglers in deep waters off the coast of Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said, citing its own information as well as reports from survivors and Yemeni officials. The latest deaths add to the mounting toll seen in the region during the annual smuggling operations, which the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly warned are run by unscrupulous individuals known for beating, robbing and drowning the Somalis and Ethiopians fleeing civil conflict or drought for Yemen.
The latest incident occurred early on Friday when three smuggling boats approached the Yemeni coast near Bir Ali following a two-day voyage from the Bosaso region of Somalia. Witnesses and survivors said two of the boats had begun dropping their passengers off near shore when they reportedly came under fire from Yemeni authorities and moved back out to sea, UNHCR spokesman Rod Redmond told reporters in Geneva.
Although no one appeared to have been injured in the shooting, 22 people were later forced into the deeper water, where they drowned. A third boat, which approached the coast of Yemen early Friday afternoon, forced its passengers overboard far from shore and another 12 people drowned. Passengers aboard the third boat said they were beaten throughout the voyage from Somalia and that at least two Ethiopian men unable to endure the mistreatment jumped overboard, Mr. Redmond said.
In all, the three boats that arrived Friday carried 365 people, including 234 Ethiopians and 131 Somalis, according to UNHCR. Three more boats carrying 270 Somalis and Ethiopians arrived on Sunday near Bir Ali. All were believed to have reached shore safely. Since the beginning of this year, more than 5,600 people have landed on the Yemeni coast and at least 200 people have died. Many remain missing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
How much of a hellhole must Somalia be for people to risk going to freakin' Yemen.
Britains Muslim community overwhelmingly believes that women should be allowed to wear the veil, despite fears that it presents a barrier to integration, The Sunday Telegraph reported, citing a study. The study says almost nine in 10 Muslims think that any government moves to ban the veil would hurt social cohesion. Schools already have the power to ask pupils to remove the niqab, which covers the entire face apart from a slit for the eyes, to improve safety, security and learning. There have been calls for a wider debate on whether it is appropriate for the full veil to be worn in public at all. But a Gallup Poll to be published this week found most Muslims firm in the belief that Islamic women should be free to wear it. While 55 percent of all those polled thought that removing the veil was vital for integration, only 13 percent of Muslims agreed. Instead, they thought that the British government needed to change its economic and political policies toward Islamic countries and show greater respect to Islam. The poll found that the Muslim community was largely willing to see fuller integration and trusted major British institutions more than the typical member of the public did. Only one in four Muslims wanted to live in a neighbourhood comprised solely of people who shared their religious or ethnic backgrounds. They also claimed a stronger sense of identifying with Britain compared with the general public and had more confidence in the police and the judicial system. Nearly three in four said they were loyal to the UK and 82 percent said they were respectful of other religions, the newspaper has said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
That's journalists though, not real Brits. Many of them choose that career because they want to 'change the world' and 'fight for the oppressed'. But because the ugly truth about Islam has been leaking out in recent years, I would say that the average Brit is more likely to side with the Israelis than the Palesplodians.
#3
The study says almost nine in 10 Muslims think that any government moves to ban the veil would hurt social cohesion
What social cohesion? All they do is bitch and moan in an attempt to get more for their ilk... Post 7-7/21-7 those shitheads lost any sympathy from the British public at large.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/16/2007 8:03 Comments ||
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#4
I'd like to think you're tight, Sonar. But I'm not certain you are.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
04/16/2007 9:04 Comments ||
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#5
I doubt American journalists are any less biased against democracy than their British counterparts.
As for Orcish integration: I could care less. The sooner the lot of them are made to feel so unwelcome they leave the better.
#7
So once again, I'll relate my experience of Friday the 13th. I was waiting for the elevator and when the door opened out walked two "persons" in black burqas. They were covered from head to toe in black so that only the eyes were visible. It was the first time I had ever seen such a thing live and in person and I must confess I was frightened. Call me a wimp but it was scary. The only reason I can think of why someone would want to hide their face is if it's Halloween or if they are up to no good and it wasn't Halloween. They might as well have been wearing ski masks.
So let them walk around like that if they want. But the minute they try to enter a bank or go through an airport or even a grocery store, place them under arrest. Do NOT issue them a driver's license unless they are willing to show their face for a picture and if a policeman asks to see their face, they must show it and if they don't like it they can FOAD.
#8
The study says almost nine in 10 Muslims think that any government moves to ban the veil would hurt social cohesion.
Like Howard UK said, "What cohesion?" If there is a prime example of exceptionally poor cultural integration, Britain's Muslims are it. The 7-7 bombings clearly demonstrated that dangerous numbers of Muslim immigrants and their offspring are not merging into their host country's culture.
What's more, Muslim clerics everywhere are exhorting their flocks specifically not to "melt" in or become British. This is a crucial indicator of how little hope there is for this situation. The niqab and burqa must be interpreted as willful refusal to recognize or respect British values. Such stubborn resistance must be met head on. Outlawing the niqab and burqa represent Islam-unfriendly measures that will oblige true hardliners to vacate the country. This improves national security, decreases the pressuring of radical groups upon "moderates" and de facto promotes integration.
Given the danger that Britain's Muslims pose, the niqab and burqa both represent huge security risks. The Brits have already had a prime terror suspect elude capture by going through airport security in a burqa. That should have been a final nail in the coffin for this issue.
The U.S. said Sunday that North Korea must act within days on a pledge to halt its nuclear weapons program, while the communist regime marked the birthday of its late founder with pomp and tough rhetoric.
North Korea failed to meet a Saturday deadline to shut down and seal its bomb-making nuclear reactor under a February disarmament agreement. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Washington was prepared "to hold on for a few more days" after his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, asked the U.S. for patience. "We're not happy that the (North) essentially has missed this very important deadline," Hill told reporters after talks with Wu in Beijing. "We're obviously going to be watching the situation very closely in the coming days."
The United States sent a message to North Korea through its embassy in China urging it to fulfill commitments in the February agreement, which would give the North energy aid and political concessions for disarming. The North said last week it will only move when it receives money from accounts frozen in 2005 after the U.S. blacklisted a Macau bank to pressure the regime, its main precondition for agreeing to disarm. The $25 million was freed for withdrawal last week, but it remains unclear when the North will receive the money.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Either the NORKS are suffering from "taking The Bate-itis" or the withdrawal bank is demanding three signatories for the money; people who are not untraceable!
#3
WAFF.com > PRESSTV.com > HANS BLIX - USA MUST END OWN NUKE PROGRAM(S). D *** ng it, the USA is responsible for nuclear proliferationism and must stop it, stop it now!
#4
why do we continue to waste time and money talking to these dipshits? just keep the $25 mill locked up and do not answer the phone when kimmie calls. are we that desperate for action with nk that we gotta do all the leg work?
send some more rabbits....
#5
MOSNEWS > RUSSIA > Officio says USA is to blame for delays in implementation of Six-Party agreement, i.e. for NK NOT shutting down its reactor over the weekend, as USG agency(s) are filing objections over release of NK's $25.0Milyuuhn.
A Frustrated artist who planted a fake bomb outside the National Gallery of Victoria will spend three months behind bars. Colin Douglas Barnett, 46, of Cranbourne North in Melbourne's southeast, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to one count each of creating a bomb hoax and causing a public nuisance, and two counts of making a false report to police.
Barnett placed a clay vase-shaped sculpture, which he called a peace bomb, outside the gallery and contacted police to report a suspicious package.
Judge Leo Hart today jailed Barnett for 15 months, with 12 months suspended for 15 months. He said it was a bizarre case and that Barnett had the dual aim of getting recognition for his work and sending an anti-terrorism message.
You're an artist and believe yourself to be a good artist, Judge Hart said. You believed that you had not been given the recognition that your work deserved and you sought to rectify this.
Judge Hart said Barnett's motives were not malicious but his behaviour was stupid and reckless. He ordered Barnett to pay $6319 compensation to the police.
Police were forced to close a section of busy St Kilda Road when the package was discovered by gallery security staff.
#3
tu: the lawyer ain't spending any jail time, nor is he paying back the cops, plus he will be sending Colin a bill. doesn't sound too looney to me. (disclaimer: Number 1 son is attorney)
There may be hope yet...
The Irish government has condemned an attempt by an artists' organization to boycott Israeli cultural events and institutions. Aosdana, Ireland's state-sponsored academy of creative artists, voted last week on a motion to "back the call from Palestinian filmmakers, artists and cultural workers to end all cooperation with Israeli state-sponsored cultural events and institutions." ...self important fools always know they can count on other self important fools to back them up.
The proposal - put to a motion by composer Raymond Deane, founder of the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, and seconded by playwright Margaretta D'Arcy - was defeated in the organization's general assembly. Anybody know these Giants of the Arts?
However, a second motion, sponsored by D'Arcy and seconded by Deane, was passed calling for Irish artists and institutions to "reflect deeply" before working with Israeli cultural institutions. "Reflect deeply". That's one thing I'll bet they're good at...
D'Arcy wrote last week in The Irish Times that she was convinced that a cultural boycott was necessary, "if only as an act of solidarity with those in Israel who seek to remove the inequality, discrimination and segregation of their society." Oh, boy. Some Irish artists are pissed off! We'd better do...something.
The Irish government responded to the Aosdana motion by saying it was "firmly opposed to any proposals for an academic or cultural boycott against Israel." John O'Donoghue, minister for arts, sport and tourism, said he was happy the motion had been voted down. "The only way forward is through an inclusive approach of dialogue with and between Israelis and Palestinians. The government is working directly with the parties, and with our partners in the EU, for the revival of a credible peace process with the clear objective of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said. Blah blah blah blah blah... Prior to the vote by Aosdana members, journalist Ian O'Doherty mocked the motion in the Evening Herald newspaper, saying that Israelis were hardly likely to feel threatened by the "stern lecturing of a bunch of state-subsidized artists who mostly reside in well-deserved obscurity." Ouch! Somebody get some artistic ice on that...
"In fairness to Aosdana," O'Doherty wrote, "the call for a boycott seem to have been led by a hardcore group." Irish Consciousness. As George Carlin said "When they're concious, they're great."
"The fact that Israel is the least segregated society in the region, and that Israeli Arabs enjoy more freedom than their counterparts in other, Arab-run, countries is something that tends to be conveniently forgotten," O'Doherty said. Hey, don't confuse them with facts. They don't like it...
An Aosdana member who did not wish to be named, said: "The move is being largely derided here, being seen as a bunch of dial-a-cause artists taking sides in a complex foreign situation they know little about." Sounds like Rosie O'Donnell's in the union. "What is more concerning is that by being elected to Aosdana as an artist, you get an annual salary from the state," the member explained. "As it is state-funded, it is surprising that [Aosdana] took this stance, given that political matters are not their remit." Hey, back off, man! I'm an artist!
Israel's embassy in Dublin released a statement condemning the motion as "wrong, unjust, biased and based on misunderstanding and misinformation." Ambassador Zion Evrony said, "It appears that a very small number of Aosdana members... have misled others and imposed their views on the whole organization." Oy! Begorrah!
D'Arcy, for her part, wrote an open letter to the ambassador attacking his views: "Mr. Ambassador, who the hell do you think you are, interfering with Irish artists, prescribing what we may or may not reflect upon?" she fumed. "I wonder that the Irish government does not immediately break off diplomatic relations with Israel for your absurd violation of those articles in the UN Charter of Human Rights that guarantee free expression," D'Arcy declared. She then headed down to the mailbox to pick up her "artists" welfare check...
#1
...Israelis were hardly likely to feel threatened by the "stern lecturing of a bunch of state-subsidized artists who mostly reside in well-deserved obscurity."
That is the hardest verbal bitch slap I have ever seen from a newspaper!
#4
"I wonder that the Irish government does not immediately break off diplomatic relations with Israel for your absurd violation of those articles in the UN Charter of Human Rights that guarantee free expression," D'Arcy declared.
All right. Right here, right now, I am inventing a new superhero: Captain Bitch Slap. Captain BS travels the world, administering bitch slaps to all who are truly in need of one. Like this woman, who -- like so many of her kind -- can't distinguish criticism from oppression. It would be infra dig for the Israeli ambassador to give D'Arcy [aye, and a fine old Irish name is that] her richly-deserved smacking. Captain Bitch Slap to the rescue!
#6
Silentbrick, the Palestinian thing is a claim that they are actually the Philistines, and therefore the original inhabitants of the land, predating the Jews. Still wrong of course -- the original inhabitants were the Canaanites, and the Philistines were foreign colonists during the Judges period who never got beyond their coastal cities except to raid the Hebrew tribes of the interior. But then, the Palestinians have never been famous for their intellectual achievements.
Oakland, Michigan - Kyle Thiel can't wait to join the U.S. Army and fight the war on terror in Iraq as part of an infantry unit.
"Ever since 9/11, that's all I wanted to do," said Thiel, 18, of White Lake Township. Thiel was visiting the recruiting offices for the U.S. Army and Air Force. The offices recently moved to a larger, more updated facility.
The Army is enlisting far more soldiers than before the war, officials said. "Pre-invasion, the military was in a different mode. The Cold War had ended and the Army didn't need to be at such full strength," said Army spokesman Jeff Landenberger. "Now a lot of people come in strictly for patriotism. They want to be part of history," added Army Sgt. Aaron Stuckey, 28, of Birmingham.
For example, in 2000 - before the American invasion of the Middle East - the Army enlisted 1,953 Michigan soldiers. With a full-fledged war, 2,790 enlisted in 2006. Furthermore, statewide recruitment numbers for the fiscal year 2007 - which runs October 1, 2006 to Sept. 30, 2007 - are up in terms of percentage compared with last year, Landenberger said.
The goal for fiscal year 2006 was to bring in 3,524 soldiers, though 2,790 joined. The goal for fiscal year 2007 is 2,773, and so far 1,275 have joined, with six months to go. The objective is lower for 2007 because of Michigan's population exodus and the large number of people re-enlisting. Also, state Army recruitment covers only the Lower Peninsula now, whereas the Upper Peninsula was included last year.
In addition, more people are joining the military because of its incentives - an enlistment bonus, 100 percent tuition assistance, as well as comprehensive medical benefits and life insurance for members and their families, added Senior Airman Jonathon Zolnai, who is recruiting for the U.S. Air Force at the office. Because of the perks, the Air Force always exceeds its yearly goals for recruitment, he said. The state goal for fiscal year 2006 was to draw 677 new members and 812 joined. The goal for the fiscal year 2007 to date is 417, and 471 have joined.
Zolnai, 24, of Holt has served the Air Force for four years as a military police officer, then as part of a contingency response group, which is trained in base defense, emergency response and combat duties.
The danger that comes with a military career is one of the biggest hurdles for recruitment, Zolnai said. But he's spent three tours of duty in Iraq. "I'd go back in a heartbeat," he said. "There's a preconceived notion that everything on television is how it is. Good stuff happens there that isn't reported."
#1
This is why we will prevail. Despite civilian 4.4% unemployment, low military pay, a chance to get maimed or killed in a hot war and incessant media negativity about the war, we still have red blooded American kids stepping up to the plate.
#2
That's my thinking, too, Graviger Johnson7830. Oh, and the Marines at least have now opened recruitment to those home schooled. I don't know what kind of numbers involved there, but I imagine that group will be clearly divided between rarin' to go and "But guns kill people!" ;-)
No, this is NOT a sick, stupid joke; this is REAL.
A BILL: To establish a Department of Peace and Nonviolence.
Yes, that's right: Dippy Dennis Kucinich's "Department of Peace". Read the whole, miserable thing, including:
(b) Domestic Responsibilities- The Secretary shall--
(1) develop policies that address domestic violence, including spousal abuse, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly;
(2) create new policies and incorporate existing programs that reduce drug and alcohol abuse;
(3) develop new policies and incorporate existing policies regarding crime, punishment, and rehabilitation;
(4) develop policies to address violence against animals;
(5) analyze existing policies, employ successful, field-tested programs, and develop new approaches for dealing with the implements of violence, including gun-related violence and the overwhelming presence of handguns;
(6) develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, gangs, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes;
(7) make policy recommendations to the Attorney General regarding civil rights and labor law;
(8) assist in the establishment and funding of community-based violence prevention programs, including violence prevention counseling and peer mediation in schools;
(9) counsel and advocate on behalf of women victimized by violence;
(10) provide for public education programs and counseling strategies concerning hate crimes;
(11) promote racial, religious, and ethnic tolerance;
(12) finance local community initiatives that can draw on neighborhood resources to create peace projects that facilitate the development of conflict resolution at a national level and thereby inform and inspire national policy; and
(13) provide ethical-based and value-based analyses to the Department of Defense. Idiots...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/16/2007 18:31 ||
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I argue that the DoD, if allowed to do its job, already IS the Department of Peace (although not Nonviolence, of course).
Posted by: Jonathan ||
04/16/2007 18:47 Comments ||
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#2
He introduces this bill every year . . . and every year, it dies an ignoble death in committee, alone, unmourned, unsponsored even by the other LLLs.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/16/2007 18:59 Comments ||
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HT: American Congress For Truth There is no fee for jointing.
Cultural clashes involving Islam have recently made headlines in Minnesota. At the airport, some Muslim taxi drivers refuse to transport passengers carrying alcohol; at Target stores, some Muslim cashiers won't scan pork products. Now there's a new point of friction: Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Its officials say the college, a public institution, has a strict policy of not promoting religion or favoring one religion over another. "The Constitution prevents us from doing this in any form," says Dianna Cusick, director of legal affairs.
Question is if an infidel dare enter muslim "facilites" to wash their own feet or wash their hair on a hot summer day, will riots and Rage and Insulting Islam protests break out? If only muslims are alllowed to enter such facilities in practice, what are the chances the infidel students will protest? Seems some students are more equal than others. Nasty little road to head down. Bye Bye MCTC.
#6
Whilst I sympathize with 4 & 5, remember theirs is the superior religion. You guys keep on like you think it's some sort of equal. Like the Nazis, they are a superior race!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 12:46 Comments ||
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#8
Nobody is going to do anything...until we have another "event" involving muslims in this country. And it will happen. It's not a matter of if, it's just when.
And when the event happens...there will be a backlash against muslims that will be a 21st century version of the WWII Japanese internment camp.
#9
time to have an infedel enter mo's washroom and then get kicked out. since its a public school, i will bet there are some federal statutes that just got broken. discrimination and such......
#11
Just bring a suit charging "entanglement" against the University. If they receive any Public funding at all, it should be a no brainer!
Posted by: Natural Law ||
04/16/2007 14:27 Comments ||
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#12
Some local Muslim leaders have advised the college staff that washing is not a required practice for students under the circumstances
Perish the thought that these students might listen to their own religious authorities and not make an issue out of this. Same goes for the Somali cab drivers who were given clerical exemption to transport customers who carries alcohol. But nooooooooooooo!
In Davis' view, the foot-washing plan does not constitute promotion or support of religion.
Horseshit! Does the college have a special class that teaches people how to talk out of both sides of their mouth at the same time?
Finally, here's hoping that many of the non-Muslim students are confused and mistake these foot washing facilities for urinals. I KNOW THAT I WOULD.
#14
...they are about customer service and public safety.
Yep, they're "touchy" about that praying deal, and we don't need any Jihad here at MCTC.
I surprised Davis doesn't tell them all to drop by his office and he'll personally wash their feet.
#15
The college has worked with local Muslim leaders to ensure that these students' prayer needs and concerns are adequately addressed.
Da Front Men:
Mohamud Ahmed, President of The Somali Student Association
Hibaq Warsame, Vice President of The Somali Student Association
Jibril Hamud, President of the University of Minnesota's Somali Student Association
Da Muscle:
Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul
Abdul Mohamed, Somali Institute for Peace and Justice.
Da Boss: Hassan Mohamud, Imam of St. Pauls Al-Taqwa Mosque and President of the Somali Institute for Peace and Justice
#19
and one Muslim student fell and injured herself while lifting her foot out of a sink
Have you been injured lifting your foot trying to rid yourself of "stankfoot" oders while on your way to mosque, or an American University?
Your a victim here and someone deserves to pay. Call 1-800- IM VICTIM... Operators are standing by.
#20
Ya gotta wonder -- does an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being give a rat's ass whether you washed your feet or not?
If so, why?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/16/2007 17:41 Comments ||
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#21
And as someone commented somewhere else, where do Arabs who started in a desert environment find the water to wash all the time? They're making stuff up as they go along.
Vice President Dick Cheney says he is "willing to bet" that Democratic lawmakers will back down and approve a war-spending bill that doesn't call for U.S. troops to leave Iraq. Top Democratic leaders shot back that Cheney has lost all public credibility.
With President Bush and Congress in a stalemate he plans to veto legislation that orders U.S. troops home, which the House and Senate plan to send him both sides are looking ahead. In an interview broadcast Sunday, Cheney predicted the Democrats will blink. He said Congress will end up passing a "clean" bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without any troop withdrawal timetables. Democrats control Congress, but they do not appear to have the votes to override a presidential veto. "They will not leave the troops in the field without the resources they need," Cheney said of the Democrats.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Dick's a great guy but he's whistling past the graveyard on this one. The Demonrats will send up a bill with timetables; W will veto it; the timetables will get watered down in renegotiations; W will sign the bill; everybody will declare victory. That's the way these things usually work.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
04/16/2007 0:03 Comments ||
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#2
They'll drop it if Bush makes it known that he will veto any "time-table included" funding bill that hits his desk
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/16/2007 1:30 Comments ||
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#3
The Dems would have to be stone-cold stupid to do anything more than float talk about that idea. That's why I worry so . . . .
#4
IMO Cheney's on the mark > in case Radical Islam fails to initiate Amer Hiroshima(s) inside America, the DemoLeft for 2008 elex and beyond will likely try to hedge + PC claim full credit for US-Allied flags propping up all over the ME around Iran.
#5
The bill will contain timetables; the Dem base and good strategy demands it. Then Bush gets faced with having to veto it, which will mean fodder for the 'Bush doesn't care about the troops' people, plus lots of delay and shuffling of other funds to meet day-to-day needs. If he doesn't veto, he 'loses' his battle with the Dems. At this point whether there is a timetable or not matters little - it is pretty certain we are going to (declare victory and) quit pretty soon anyway.
All this death and destruction in Iraq was unneccesary - but not for the reasons generally given. The war would have been avoided if the other world players (Russia, France, Germany, etc.) had put forward a united front with the US - but that did not meet their internal financial and political desires. The 'insurgency' might have been avoided if the internal parties within the coalition had presented a united front - a 'will to win' - that would have 'encouraged' Iraqi reconciliation and clearly identified the strong horse. But just like before, internal political desires overruled doing the right thing for its own sake.
#8
Yeah, Capsu, Bush could always make the point that there are a lot of other bills he could veto too. When it starts to interfere with the pork barrel they may back down.
CHICAGO - An Iraqi sleeper agent sent by Saddam Hussein to spy on dissidents in the United States was convicted Monday of lying about his ties to the former Baghdad regime. Sami Latchin, 59, was convicted of all five charges against him: lying on his U.S. citizenship application, acting as an unregistered foreign agent and conspiring to do so, lying to an FBI agent and violating U.S. sanctions against Iraq. He was not accused of espionage an offense that involves obtaining U.S. military secrets. Prosecutors say his spying was aimed only at Iraqi civilians in the U.S.
Jurors deliberated about three hours on evidence that included testimony from three former Iraqi intelligence officers, two of whom took the stand under aliases, saying they were concerned about reprisals. The evidence also included documents slipped to an FBI agent by Iraqi dissidents after U.S. tanks rolled into Baghdad. Prosecutors said the Arabic documents showed that Latchin was an agent for Iraqi intelligence.
Latchin was taken into custody minutes after the federal jury verdict, which could send him to prison for up to 40 years. Prosecutors warned that he would be a flight risk if allowed to stay free until sentencing.
Latchin, a former airline employee and Iraqi-born U.S. citizen, was arrested in August 2004. Wearing headphones to hear an Arabic translation of the proceedings, he showed no emotion when the verdict was announced.
Somehow we didn't cover this over the weekend. Much as I don't like this man, he gets it when it comes to Iraq.
WASHINGTON, April 13 Senator John McCain said that the buildup of American forces in Iraq represented the only viable option to avoid failure in Iraq and that he had yet to identify an effective fallback if the current strategy failed.
I have no Plan B, Mr. McCain said in an interview. If I saw that doomsday scenario evolving, then I would try to come up with one. But I cannot give you a good alternative because if I had a good alternative, maybe we could consider it now.
Better answer, John: "I have no Plan B because Plan A is working. If Plan A doesn't work anymore at some point in the future, then I'll have a Plan B that will fix what Plan A didn't."
In a discussion of how he would handle Iraq if elected president, Mr. McCain said that the success of the Bush administrations strategy, which seeks to protect Baghdad residents so Iraqi political leaders have an opportunity to pursue a program of political reconciliation, was essentially a precondition for a more limited American role that could follow. I am not guaranteeing that this succeeds, said Mr. McCain, who has long argued that additional troops are needed. I am just saying that I think it can. I believe it has a good shot.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Prolly gonna get blasted for saying this, but McCain would have been a better CinC than Bush was during the critical time when the insurgents got their foothold and American approval of the war went in the tank.
More troops in Iraq and an aggressive public approval program at home would have helped.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/16/2007 0:46 Comments ||
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#2
Apropos of nothing:
With apologies to Pearl
Oh Lord, wont you find me a new set of friends?
The Rhinos dont love me and I must make amends.
Worked hard through two terms, no help from the Dems,
So Lord, wont find me a new set of friends?
Oh Lord, wont you back my surge Iraqi
The Shiites and Sadr, just wont let me be
I wait for civilians to finally back me
So oh Lord, wont you back my surge Iraqi
Oh Lord, wont you fry me, Ahmadinejad
Im counting on you Lord, Teherans gone worse to bad
Prove that you back me, clear Shat al Arab
Oh Lord, wont you fry me, Ahmadinejad
Everybody!
Oh Lord, wont you find me a new set of friends?
The Rhinos dont love me and I must make amends.
Worked hard through two terms, no help from the Dems,
So Lord, wont find me a new set of friends?
#4
I thought I noticed a certain underlying theme of the hopelessness of it all, and therefore, McCain must be crazy, but we won't come right out and say it.
Ahhhh....The New York Times.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 6:34 Comments ||
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#5
"Or McNamara. Boggle."
He wasnt that bad a peace time SecDef, IIUC, he screwed up running the war.
Yet you insist "nothing wrong with Rummy". I wont go over again all that was wrong with Rummy. W at least, finally had the sense to move beyond him.
and If getting a Dem in to try to get more bipartisan support for the WOT didnt matter, or was an impossible goal (the bipartisan support) anyway.
Then - there is little or no doubt in my mind that McCain would be by far the best available choice for President. His understanding of the entire range of strategic issues exceeds that of any candidate in either party, as does his will to victory.
I suppose he has more power in the Senate than that?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 16:36 Comments ||
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#8
So should he be the next Secretary of Defense?
I suppose he has more power in the Senate than that?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 16:36 Comments ||
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#9
I see now. If you clumsily double-click on the Submit Query button, you get two postings!
Not all that surprising. Sorry.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 16:38 Comments ||
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#10
Still focused on "inclusion" of Sunnis, are we? Then sorry, this latest chapter is as doomed as the earlier ones. The Sunnis (as a whole) have shown time and again - and there are thousands of dead US soldiers and tens of thousands of dead Iraqis to prove it - that they do NOT accept the new order.
Yes, yes - many do. But until and unless they EFFECTIVELY help end jihadi terror and home-grown "insurgency", things stay as they are. The preposterous and reckless premise of Casey's campaign plan of '05 - that Iraqis were close to ready to start assuming major responsibilities without deep US involvement - has been replaced by the only slightly less absurd implicit premise that finally pacifying B'dad will somehow usher in this magical condition. Iraqis will get there - but in time, not on US political or media time.
And Steve, sweeps and body counts have been almost unheard of in Iraq. Even that level of military activity, and that degree of common sense in setting the terms of public discussion, would have far exceeded our actual performance. The uniforms still have a mindless fear of body counts, and the administration remains invisible or feeble in its public affairs efforts. Limited ops to set the conditions for three elections (plus of course the murky rampaging of Task Force Black and like outfits) have been about it until now. Fallujah II excepted, naturally.
I'm assuming inertia - in this case, fear of dramatic change in course of the sort that would signal US retreat against global jihad and Sunni chauvinism - will in fact make McCain's public opinion-led withdrawal very unlikely, even if the Dems, incredibly, are given a hand on the national tiller. The Dems' political cowardice exceeds their fervent cluelessness.
Speaking of which, while I enjoy a good laugh when people spin fanciful scenarios of the Dems needing to be in power in order to broaden support for the war, it is deeply naieve. While the mindless self-centeredness implied is in fact there (i.e., some actually would support identical policies if THEIR guys were the ones signing the orders), you couldn't fill a medium-sized conference room with Dem officeholders - or, critically, their staff - who have a clue about international security. I worked with/around these folks for years, before many of them rose to unbelievable - appalling, actually - heights under Clinton.
These are the sorts of folks who cannot even understand pre-emption, and sincerely believe AIDs is a "national security" problem. Their intellectual unfitness for any serious jobs cannot be over-estimated. Even the few exceptions, who show some spine and brain on occasion (Holbrooke, Bayh), lack the force of personality or confidence or will to change the general drift.
And those who think the Army's problems are/were confined to the Casey/Chiarelli fiasco are misinformed, I believe.
#11
"see some success". You went on to discuss "some success", whereas the key word is actually "see". The MSM has consistently acted to obscure success and exaggerate failure, with the express intent of conveying inevitable failure.
It must sound familiar to a Vietnam Vet.
Posted by: Brian H ||
04/16/2007 23:53 Comments ||
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Wounded soldiers and veterans poured out their frustrations Saturday with the military health-care system. They told a presidential commission about difficulty getting care because military doctors were overwhelmed by the needs of service members injured in Iraq.
Speaking from experience, the soldiers and veterans described the military health-care system as a labyrinth, said their families had been swamped with paperwork and said care providers lacked compassion. Marc A. Giammatteo, who has undergone more than 30 operations to repair a leg torn apart by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq, said the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington had been overwhelmed with wounded members of the armed forces. Giammatteo, a West Point graduate and former Army captain, said he had observed a lack of caring or compassion in some of the work force at Walter Reed.
On several occasions, Giammatteo said, I, and others I have spoken to, felt that we were being judged as if we chose our nations foreign policy and, as a result, received little if any assistance. Some individuals, most of whom are civilian workers and do not wear the uniform, judge the wounded unfairly and treat them similarly, adopting a Cant help you, youre on your own attitude.
Giammatteo, a member of the commission, testified at the first meeting of the panel on Saturday. President Bush created the nine-member panel March 6 to investigate the care that wounded troops received when they return from the battlefield. Former Sen. Bob Dole, a Republican, and Donna E. Shalala, who was secretary of health and human services in the Clinton administration, are leading the panel.
Dole said that military medicine had made great strides since he was wounded in action in Italy on April 14, 1945. Of the commissions work, he said: This is not going to be a witch hunt or a whitewash. The panel plans to hold several hearings across the country and is supposed to issue its report, with recommendations, by June 30.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Liberal healthcare workers totally uncaring towards wounded soldiers? I can't believe it! It's as if they have some sort of "screw them" mentality.
#2
Some individuals, most of whom are civilian workers and do not wear the uniform, judge the wounded unfairly and treat them similarly, adopting a Cant help you, youre on your own attitude
Uncaring DoD civilian employees? This all taking place at gummit facility within the beltway? Incomprehensible! How can this be? Hearings, testimony! We must have hearings and testimony, following by more testimony and additional hearings. I blame Don Imus!
#4
The root cause, of course, is the Viet...opps...the Iraq War. This has never happened before,right?
At leat not in the memory of the journalists...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 7:27 Comments ||
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#5
Article subtitled: Among the complaints are a lack of compassion and an abundance of paperwork. That's what I meant - tha complaint has not been heard about the VA since ...
While the link is to a KC paper, the article is from the New York Times. They just never give up.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 7:29 Comments ||
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#6
The entire military health system is over-worked, buried in paperwork, and poorly funded. There are also a few really crappy "hospital commanders" who make matters worse. Congress has made promise after promise, then reneged on them when the bill came due. The VA system is clogged beyond fixing, the military retirement medical "benefit" has been cut so many times it's on life support. Anyone who proposes to put the entire country on the same or similar system deserves to be sent to GITMO and turned over to the Cubans for health care. Yet this "panel" will only offer some window-dressing, not a comprehensive overhaul.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2007 14:45 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON - The Marines' controversial Osprey, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a plane, will be declared operational today and could be in Iraq by the fall.
Gen. James Conway, the Marine commandant, was set to announce the deployment of the first operational squadron of 12 Ospreys, and military officials said the Ospreys could begin showing up in Iraq by fall. They will replace the Vietnam-era CH-46E and CH-53D helicopters that have been ferrying Marines to combat in volatile Anbar Province.
The Ospreys were grounded in February after the discovery of a computer glitch that could cause the aircraft to lose control during flight. It was the latest in a series of groundings over the years for problems ranging from hydraulics to flight controls.
Despite the problems, the Marines have pitched the Osprey as a possible answer to the recent rash of helicopter downings in Iraq. Brig. Gen. Robert Walsh, assistant deputy commandant for aviation, told a recent conference that "all of the shootdowns have occurred at low altitude," but the Ospreys would fly at higher altitudes in dangerous areas. "This airplane will get people up," Walsh said.
The military is buying 360 Ospreys at a cost of $70 million to $89 million each, up from the original estimate of about $20 million per Osprey.
For hand-wringing, see the NYT article. Money quote: "The Pentagon has placed so many restrictions on how it can be used in combat that the plane -- which is able to drop troops into battle like a helicopter and then speed away from danger like an airplane -- could have difficulty fulfilling the Marines longstanding mission for it."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The damn thing should have been cancelled 10 years ago but too many people had their careers tied up in it. Waste of time, money, and lives.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
04/16/2007 0:06 Comments ||
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#2
I got to see one up close at the Wright Centennial. The Marines were giving inside and out tours, and the line to see the plane was longer than the lines for all other planes combined.
My take, and remember, I'm neither mil/ex-mil nor an aircraft designer -- it's small inside. I can see that stuffing 24 Marines in there with their gear would be a really tight fit.
Is it the proper replacement for the CH-46 and CH-53? Beats me. It'd better work, and I'm not convinced, given the past problems, that all the bugs have been squashed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 0:23 Comments ||
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#3
The damn thing should have been cancelled 10 years ago but too many people had their careers tied up in it. Waste of time, money, and lives.
This continues to be my own personal perception. The damn thing smacks of too much Rube Goldberg. A wingtip-to-wingtip inter-motor axle is insanely vulnerable to damage. Especially when you add how stress-prone the rotational engine mounts are to begin with. Albeit, the Chinook series helicopters these craft are intended to supplant aren't much more reliable, but they are far less costly. Contrary opinions welcomed.
#4
Fuck all! I just realized that if the cross-wing transaxle is supposed to compensate for a single engine loss, then each plant is obliged to be TWICE OR MORE overpowered (+5%-10%) [NOT + 5%-10%], in order to provide combined plant capacity! Individual engine armor, output overcompensation and general over-engineering cannot possibly account for this. Am I wrong?
The imposed overloading stress compensation factors required by each ROTATIONAL engine mount becomes ridiculous! A 4X, if not 16X strain coefficient is involved.
Frank, a little help? Doesn't the short-period frequency of MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), with respect to combat damage demand immense overcompensation in terms of transaxle design and individual engine power?
#5
The Osprey was already a joke in the early 80's. The program should have been strangled in its crib because it has sucked up all the money that might have been spent developing something that could do the job. Hell at this point, the Marines might be better off scrapping these things and buying cheap heavy lift troop transport helicopters from the Russians.
#6
The Army-USDOD is proceeding wid "Air Mech" and futuristic above-ground = low orbit armed floating battle stations wid links to globally integrated GMD-SPAWAR. The Navy has OFFSHORE/SEA BASING, the ARmy-USMC has LOW ORBITAL/AIR BASING precepts - BOTH REQUIRE VTOL/VSTOL-CAPABLE ASSETS.
The OSPREY's role in the ME right now is to serve as a TEST-BED FOR FOLLOW-ON, FUTURIST DESIGNS. Love to live long enuff to see 'em.
#7
Not even safe to be around if your on the ground. Unless they've shifted it elsewhere, upon landing, the exhaust will start fires on dry grass or pasture. The Army is flying short take off and landing twin engine Sherpas all over theater. They haul more and are much easier to maintain. Cost? Less than $3,000,000. per copy, and need no special training to fly. This is an outrage.
#8
If it is to be as capable with one engine as two, your concerns are valid, Zenster. If I remember correctly, a B-17 could fly with three of its' four engines out. It just couldn't fly very well...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/16/2007 7:13 Comments ||
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#9
can't help you there Zen. Ima civil engineer...now if you want a whack at the Flyash Liberation Army....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2007 7:39 Comments ||
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#10
Bobby:
I suspect the V-22 would do fine in level flight if it lost an engine. I have to wonder what would happen if it lost one in take-off (vertical mode). Then you really would need a very large margin of power to work on just one engine.
#12
Hell at this point, the Marines might be better off scrapping these things and buying cheap heavy lift troop transport helicopters from the Russians.
The Army is flying short take off and landing twin engine Sherpas all over theater. They haul more and are much easier to maintain. Cost? Less than $3,000,000. per copy, and need no special training to fly.
You folks are confusing missions. This ain't cargo-hauling or mere troop transport. Are the Sherpas used for rapid insertion? Are they flown into combat zones? Can heavy lift Russian helos and survive in an assault situation (does 'Afghanistan' mean anything)? Can the Sherpas do the same?
I'm not saying Osprey is the answer. But they're Marines, not the f**king Army. Different mission, different experience, different ethos.
#14
Having causally followed the birthing process of this hermaphrodidic aircraft as well as being a rotorhead, i will chime in with those that say this a/c is a waste. the Bell/Agusta 309 civilian version is good for ints inteded role, but it has much fewer moving parts (parts that can go wrong). Being all computer controlled, my biggest hangup is keeping them worknig in a maritime environment: you have the props that fold, the engines that rotate, the wing swivels all in the name of saving deck space. Let one of the electrons wander and you are pretty well hosed.
in answer to the question about a lost engine on a 46 or 53d: it all depends on where in the flight regime you are when it happens. during a high load evolution ( take off / landing / hovering, you can anticipate some anxious moments, especially if it is high, hot and you are at max gross. in forward flight, you could most likely continue or execute a safe landing. i do not think there are any more 53D's out ther, having all been replaced by 53E's ( 3 engines, 7 blades and about 50% more gross t.o. weight). biggest problem i have seen with the 46's is airframe fatigue and fuselage breakup by the aft ramp area ( frame station 410 to you navy airframers out there).
#15
What happens to CH-46Es and CH-53-Ds when they lose engines?
Usually, they crash. A few lucky pilots are good enough to get to the ground in one piece, the rest go up in flames. We barely missed having a Chinook come down on our barracks in Vietnam. He made the helipad by less than ten feet. He landed hard, cracked up, and had to be carted off in pieces. The crew was injured, but not seriously.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2007 14:52 Comments ||
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#16
OP: the Chinook and 46, while similiar are 2 different animals and if memory serves, share the same powerplant; so with the 46 being smaller it automatically has a bigger margin of safety than the 47. i think they are up to the T58-16 version; please correct if wrong.
The Bush administration yesterday asked Congress to make more non-citizens subject to intelligence surveillance and to authorize the interception of foreign communications routed through the United States.
Currently, under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, individuals have to be associated with a foreign terrorism suspect or a foreign power to fall under the auspices of the FISA court, which can grant the authority to institute federal surveillance. The White House proposes expanding potential targets to include non-citizens believed to possess, transmit or receive important foreign intelligence information, as well as those engaged in the United States in activities related to the purchase or development of weapons of mass destruction. The proposed revisions to FISA would also allow the government to keep information obtained "unintentionally," unrelated to the purpose of the surveillance, if it "contains significant foreign intelligence." Currently such information is destroyed unless it indicates threat of death or serious bodily harm.
So far so good.
And they provide for compelling telecommunications companies and e-mail providers to cooperate with investigations while protecting them from being sued by their subscribers. The legal protection would be applied retroactively to those companies that cooperated with the government after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The White House draft offered the first specifics of the proposal, which Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said Tuesday is needed to respond to "dramatic" changes in communications technology used by intelligence targets in this country. The proposed changes do not address the controversial intelligence program, initiated in October 2001 and first disclosed in December 2005, that monitors communications between people in the United States and other countries when one party is suspected of having terrorist connections, according to senior administration officials.
The White House also threatened to veto a Senate version of the annual intelligence authorization bill, primarily over provisions that require a response within 15 days to Senate intelligence committee requests for particular documents, and reports to all committee members upon the initiation of extraordinarily sensitive activities, under threat of withholding funds. Under current practice, only committee chairmen and vice chairmen are told of such activities.
Allow the information to be spread to all committee members and it will end up in the New York Times the next day.
The White House, in a "statement of administration policy" sent to the Senate on Thursday, questioned the 4 percent reduction in funding that the intelligence committee applied to national intelligence programs and its threat of prohibiting funding for several classified projects pending reports to the panel. Saying such provisions are "inconsistent with the need for the effective conduct of intelligence activities . . . and legislative-executive comity and cooperation," the policy document said Bush's "senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill" if it retains the provisions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Tens of thousands of people rallied in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, on Sunday to show their opposition to a radical religious school which has begun a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the capital, Islamabad.
"The people of Islamabad are insecure and under threat due to the activities of these religious terrorists," said Altaf Hussain, head of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, addressing the rally by telephone from London.
Hussain, who lives in self-exile in Britain although his party is part of the ruling coalition, said the religious radicals in Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and adjoining Jamia Hafsa madrasa were hurting the image of Islam.
"Islam is a religion of peace and it does not need Kalashnikovs and sticks," he told the rally, while a helicopter whirled overhead to provide aerial surveillance and hundreds of police surrounded the venue -- the city's main commercial area.
Moderate Muslims in Pakistan were shocked earlier this month when a cleric announced a religious shariat court had been set up at Lal Masjid to enforce a strict Islamic code of justice, and threatened to retaliate with suicide bombers if the government tried forcibly to suppress the movement.
More at link. Maybe there is hope for Pakistan after all...
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) NWFP Naib Ameer Sahibzada Haroonur Rasheed has called infighting and growing disputes among various tribes in the tribal areas a deep conspiracy.
General Pervez Musharraf is pleasing the US rulers by directing the Pakistan Army to fight tribesmen, he said while addressing different gatherings at Landi Kotal, Khuga Khel and Sharifullah villages. Rasheed said the Pakistan and US armies had failed to subdue tribal people. He alleged that the government was forcing tribesmen in Khyber, Kurram and Waziristan agencies to kill each other. The JI will foil such evil designs, he said.
The JI leader said the US government had directed Pakistanis puppet rulers to completely destroy the tribal areas. He said FATA was burning. He said President Musharrafs days were numbered. He held President Musharraf responsible for the destruction of Afghanistan. He claimed the army was being misused in the tribal areas.
General Musharraf had not visited the tribal areas during his seven-year rule, Rasheed said, adding that Musharraf was unwilling to make amendments to the inhuman Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR). He urged tribesmen to unite and snatch their rights. JI Khyber Agency Ameer Hasan Shinwari and Zarnoor Afridi alleged that the political administration was extorting money from tribesmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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The administration of Lal Masjid on Sunday vowed to stop the sale of alcohol in the federal capital. We have received a complaint from a woman about a notorious man selling liquor in Sector F-7, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, deputy cleric of Lal Masjid, told Daily Times. We have also heard that the businessman is bribing the police each month, Well first ask the government to take action against him and if it fails then we will personally see to him, he said. He would not identify the complainant.
Meanwhile, he said Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had phoned him and reiterated that his desire to resolve the government-Lal Masjid standoff peacefully. Chaudhry Shujaat phoned me and said that he was going to attend a meeting where the affairs of Lal Masjid would be discussed. However, he also told me that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was likely to create problems in this regard, he said. We are waiting for the governments reply, but we think that Chaudhry Shujaat is also doing what he can, Ghazi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why not. Prohibition has worked everywhere its ever been tried. No problemo.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
04/16/2007 4:33 Comments ||
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Armed militants in Iraq have sought the Baghdad government's permission to hunt down members of al-Qaida, the country's official newspaper,al-Sabah, reported. At least three groups were reportedly in negotiations with the government and Iraqi military, a correspondent for Kuwait's KUNA news agency reported. The report said they included Islamic Army in Iraq, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, al-Fatah Brigades and the al-Rashedeen Army.
Earlier, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said five other armed groups had expressed willingness to lay down arms and get involved in the political process, the report said.
The political movement of fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday it would withdraw from the government on Monday to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Officials from the movement, which holds six ministries and a quarter of the parliamentary seats in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite Alliance, said the formal announcement would be made on Monday at a news conference. The move is unlikely to bring down the government, but it could create tensions in Maliki's fractious Shi'ite-led government of national unity at a time when it is trying to heal sectarian divisions that threaten to tip Iraq into civil war.
"We are going to declare our withdrawal from government because the prime minister does not want to make a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq," said one official in Sadr's movement who declined to be identified.
There was no immediate comment from the government.
"Adios!"
Two other Sadr officials confirmed the intention to pull out of the government but stressed the movement would continue to give "cautious" backing to a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in the capital. The Sadrists will remain in parliament.
#3
Will the government be able to legally function without that section of the population being represented? It can't be as simple as "don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out". This guy isn't a total idiot or he wouldn't be where he is. He just has to be a first-rate a$$hole.
#4
Not unexpected; the movement has shown quite consistently of 'pulling out all the stops', in their continuing road to distraction and disruption. "Tater" ruling from absentia can only rally his minions as he wait for that fateful date of reconciling with an inevitable hellfire missile!
#7
This sounds like the situation in Italy or Israel when one of the 236 coalition partners pulls out. It depends on whether the remaining members have a majority.
#8
If he leaves, can we whack him and his cronies while he is out of government? I mean, the diplomatic immunity no longer applies because they aren't part of the government, right?
#12
" Will the government be able to legally function without that section of the population being represented? It can't be as simple as "don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out". This guy isn't a total idiot or he wouldn't be where he is. He just has to be a first-rate a$$hole."
They have 30 seats, IIUC the Maliki govt still has a clear majority, though its more reliant on the remaining coalition partners now.
#3
Reminds me of a conversation between Gene Rodenberry and a Saudi reporter:
Saudi reporter: Mr. Rodenberry, many people in my country are impressed with the mixed racial and national characteristcs of the starship crews in the various Star Trek series, but want to know why there are no Arab crewmembers.
Gene Rodenberry: That's easy, because it takes place in the future.
#4
TORA TORA TORA > To attack Pearl Harbor, or NOT attack Pearl Harbor, + invade San Francisco US-West Coast, etc. war plans except in 2007 its being discussed on Global TV, NOT secretly aboard IJN warships???
#5
Gene Roddenberry would never had said that. He was too much the internationalist. After all, he added Chekov to the Enterprise after S1 because of a comment in Pravda wondering why no Russians, the pioneers of spaceflight, were on the crew.
#9
These stupid fucks just don't seem to understand the scope of magnitude involved. The Islamic world has how many nuclear devices, one dozen? And that's on a good day. America has thousands of them. These Islamic nutjobs seem to think that lighting off a single one of these on our soil will bring America to its knees when, in reality, it will cause the entire MME (Muslim Middle East) to become a radioactive wasteland. How the fuck these morons manage to fool themselves with such delusions of adequacy is simply beyond me.
#10
Muslims need to understand that the United States isn't run by one or to people, like imams. The United States governs based upon consensus. The consensus following a nuke attack from any muslim, regardless of being a national figure or not, would be to glass the Middle East. Even kuchinicknut would have to accept the "will of the people" on that one.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2007 15:01 Comments ||
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#11
Zen...I think they may know us better than we know ourseleves. To wit: Everyone knows that our open borders with Mexico is not good. Everyone agrees that something needs to be done. Yet here we sit.
I believe that the islamists think we will do nothing if they light one off. That we are too weak (in will and determination). I am inclined to beleive they are correct. W, the cowboy and "neo-con warmonger" couldn't even set up the ROE's in Iraq that would bring victory. So, feingoldpelosikucinichdeanreidclintokennedy will?
I think not.
In fact, I beleive there is a whole AndrewSullivan-Kos group in this country who would blame the US if the islamists light one off. That's how far the mighty have fallen. That's how far off the US moral compass is.
The U.S. Navy, after nearly six years of warnings from Pentagon testers, still lacks a plan for defending aircraft carriers against a supersonic Russian-built missile, according to current and former officials and Defense Department documents.
The missile, known in the West as the "Sizzler," has been deployed by China and may be purchased by Iran. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England has given the Navy until April 29 to explain how it will counter the missile, according to a Pentagon budget document.
The Defense Department's weapons-testing office judges the threat so serious that its director, Charles McQueary, warned the Pentagon's chief weapons-buyer in a memo that he would move to stall production of multibillion-dollar ship and missile programs until the issue was addressed.
"This is a carrier-destroying weapon," said Orville Hanson, who evaluated weapons systems for 38 years with the Navy. "That's its purpose."
"Take out the carriers" and China "can walk into Taiwan," he said. China bought the missiles in 2002 along with eight diesel submarines designed to fire it, according to Office of Naval Intelligence spokesman Robert Althage.
A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia also offered the missile to Iran, although there's no evidence a sale has gone through. In Iranian hands, the Sizzler could challenge the ability of the U.S. Navy to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, through which an estimated 25 percent of the world's oil traffic flows.
"This is a very low-flying, fast missile," said retired Rear Admiral Eric McVadon, a former U.S. naval attache in Beijing. "It won't be visible until it's quite close. By the time you detect it to the time it hits you is very short. You'd want to know your capabilities to handle this sort of missile."
The Navy's ship-borne Aegis system, deployed on cruisers and destroyers starting in the early 1980s, is designed to protect aircraft-carrier battle groups from missile attacks. But current and former officials say the Navy has no assurance Aegis, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., is capable of detecting, tracking and intercepting the Sizzler.
"This was an issue when I walked in the door in 2001," Thomas Christie, the Defense Department's top weapons-testing official from mid-2001 to early 2005, said in an interview.
"The Navy recognized this was a major issue, and over the years, I had continued promises they were going to fully fund development and production" of missiles that could replicate the Sizzler to help develop a defense against it, Christie said. "They haven't."
The effect is that in a conflict, the U.S. "would send a billion-dollar platform loaded with equipment and crew into harm's way without some sort of confidence that we could defeat what is apparently a threat very near on the horizon," Christie said.
The Navy considered developing a program to test against the Sizzler "but has no plans in the immediate future to initiate such a developmental effort," Naval Air Systems Command spokesman Rob Koon said in an e-mail.
Lieutenant Bashon Mann, a Navy spokesman, said the service is aware of the Sizzler's capabilities and is "researching suitable alternatives" to defend against it. "U.S. naval warships have a layered defense capability that can defend against various missile threats," Mann said.
McQueary, head of the Pentagon's testing office, raised his concerns about the absence of Navy test plans for the missile in a Sept. 8, 2006, memo to Ken Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition. He also voiced concerns to Deputy Secretary England.
In the memo, McQuery said that unless the Sizzler threat was addressed, his office wouldn't approve test plans necessary for production to begin on several other projects, including Northrop Grumman Corp.'s new $35.8 billion CVN-21 aircraft-carrier project; the $36.5 billion DDG-1000 destroyer project being developed by Northrop and General Dynamics Corp.; and two Raytheon Corp. projects, the $6 billion Standard Missile-6 and $1.1 billion Ship Self Defense System.
Charts prepared by the Navy for a February 2005 briefing for defense contractors said the Sizzler, which is also called the SS-N-27B, starts out flying at subsonic speeds. Within 10 nautical miles of its target, a rocket-propelled warhead separates and accelerates to three times the speed of sound, flying no more than 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level.
On final approach, the missile "has the potential to perform very high defensive maneuvers," including sharp-angled dodges, the Office of Naval Intelligence said in a manual on worldwide maritime threats.
The Sizzler is "unique," the Defense Science Board, an independent agency within the Pentagon that provides assessments of major defense issues, said in an October 2005 report. Most anti-ship cruise missiles fly below the speed of sound and on a straight path, making them easier to track and target.
"We take the threat very seriously," Admiral Michael Mullen, chief of U.S. naval operations said today.
"Secretary of Defense England has asked us to come to him by April with our approach," Mullen said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. There "may not be a single answer. It would probably be a multifaceted."
The Sizzler "is very fast and it has maneuvering characteristics that are of concern," Mullen said. "That has put us in a position to make sure we evaluate it as rapidly and specifically as we can."
McQueary, in a March 16 e-mailed statement, said that "to the best of our knowledge," the Navy hasn't started a test program or responded to the board's recommendations. "The Navy may be reluctant to invest in development of a new target, given their other bills," he said.
The Sizzler's Russian maker, state-run Novator Design Bureau in Yekaterinburg, is "aggressively marketing" the weapon at international arms shows, said Steve Zaloga, a missile analyst with the Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia-based defense research organization. Among other venues, the missile was pitched at last month's IDEX 2007, the Middle East's largest weapons exposition, he said.
Zaloga provided a page from Novator's sales brochure depicting the missile.
Alexander Uzhanov, a spokesman for the Moscow-based Russian arms-export agency Rosoboronexport, which oversees Novator, declined to comment.
McVadon, who has written about the Chinese navy, called the Sizzler "right now the most pertinent and pressing threat the U.S. faces in the case of a Taiwan conflict." Jane's, the London-based defense information group, reported in 2005 in its publication "Missiles and Rockets" that Russia had offered the missile to Iran as part of a sale in the 1990s of three Kilo- class submarines.
That report was confirmed by the Pentagon official who requested anonymity. The Office of Naval Intelligence suggested the same thing in a 2004 report, highlighting in its assessment of maritime threats Iran's possible acquisition of additional Russian diesel submarines "with advanced anti-ship cruise missiles."
The Defense Science Board, in its 2005 report, recommended that the Navy "immediately implement" a plan to produce a surrogate Sizzler that could be used for testing.
#2
Active LIDAR coupled Laser defense systems with optical computing for maximum throughput. Keep things at the speed of light wherever possible. Russia needs to be read the riot act for proliferating this sort of hardware. There's only so much whoring around that they can do before they end up spreading some serious diseases. This missile is one of them.
#3
Maybe this is what they are talking about an upgraded Estes Sizzler that uses a G motor rather than a C. http://www.vatsaas.org/rtv/arsenal/rickrocs/supersizz/supersizzler.aspx
Posted by: bruce ||
04/16/2007 20:43 Comments ||
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#4
Yikes! If SLAM-ER, HARPOON PIP, STD MSL, etc doesn't answer the mail, AND if sizzler is THAT effective, perhaps we'd better ink a $$$B contract to reverse-eng??
(Nah... we wouldn't use it anyway....) at
Posted by: Asymmetrical T ||
04/16/2007 21:17 Comments ||
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#5
This is a photo of the missile in question being loaded into an Indian Navy Kilo in Russia.
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/16/2007 21:39 Comments ||
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#6
The Indian Navy Frigate INS Talwar on a visit to Norway.
The white rectangle (from bow of ship - group of men, gun, missile rail launcher, then the rectangle) is a VLS bank of 8 of these "Sizzler" missiles
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/16/2007 22:03 Comments ||
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#7
RUSSIA > RULES OUT ANY MILITARY OPTION AGZ IRAN. However, KOMMERSANT > RUSSIA HAS NO PLAN IN CASE OF GULF WAR > seems to indicate that Russian Govt entities do possess military, etc. plans for various kinds of outcomes = contigencies EXCEPT FOR AN ATTACK AGZ IRAN PPROPER. Maybe I'm reading too much into the KOMMERSANT article, BUT DESCRIPTION + TONES INDIC THAT WHILE RUSSIA MAY CLAIM NOT TO WANT-DESIRE TO ATTACK = MIL INTERVENE IN IRAN, "OR AGZ ANY OTHER NATIONS", I'M GETTING THE GUT FEELING THAT AN ATTACK AGZ THE USA/CONUS-NORAM ["spoiling attack"]MAY NOT BE ABSOLUTELY RULED OUT EITHER.
#8
I'm thinking laser, EMP, or if it is truly low level then perhaps just throw up a wall of water in front of it perhaps by exploding a charge in its path timed to go off so that the water is in the air right when the missile would be passing through the water thrown up by the blast. How about a stealthy missile that blows up in its path to put a wall of debris and water in the way? If it's truly that fast, its terminal approach should be predictable enough that an Aegis-like gattling gun should be able to mess with it pretty good if it had the right ammo. What about that "Metal Storm" gun or a series of them in place of the gun in the Aegis system? That might do the trick.
Of course they could try launching multiple torpedoes and missiles, or change the flight characteristics, but I doubt they would want to change the supersonic approach that is the weapon's defining characteristic and also somewhat of a weakness.
Quick! Send Pelosi on the road to peace....) Article appropriately has a picture of her and pencil neck.
Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal threatened on Monday evening to return the Golan Heights to Syrian hands "by way of resistance If Israel [rejected] the Arab peace initiative." One can only hope that they would be so stupid. It would be a great excuse to start cleaning out the western part of the ME.
Bilal did not elaborate but some analysts raised the possibilities of either a full scale conventional war or a terror campaign in the Golan as one of the means to undertake a mukawama (resistance in Arabic).
After saying that "Syria wishes to revive the peace process with Israel with the help of US and Russian mediators," Bilal immediately added a threat, saying that "If Israel [rejected] the Arab peace initiative, the only way to get the Golan Heights back would be the way of resistance." Bilal was speaking at a press conference in Damascus, referring to the Arab peace initiative of 2002.
Bilal's belligerent remarks follow on the heels of a visit by Syrian-born American businessman, Abe Suleiman, to Jerusalem last week. Suleiman promised the Foreign Affairs and Defense committee of the Knesset that "peace with Syria could be achieved within six months."
George Jabour, a Syrian member of parliament, said Suleiman was speaking on his own behalf and was in no way affiliated with the Syrian leadership. "Suleiman has zero credibility in the eyes of Syrians," Jabour said.
Bilal echoed Jabour statements in an interview he gave on Syrian TV on Saturday, quoted by SANA (the Syrian Arab News Agency). He said that all the Syrian people stood behind President Bashar Assad's leadership for the achievement of just and comprehensive peace in the region. He defined this "just and comprehensive peace" as the restoration of the "whole occupied Syrian Golan," what remained of the Lebanese territories under occupation, and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Bilal also demanded the recognition of the Palestinian refugees right to return to their homeland. ... the kitchen sink, and a pony.
While Bilal echoed the tenets of the Arab peace initiative, rejected by Israel wholesale, his demands went beyond the more recent Saudi initiative, which remains vague on the question of the right of return. Jerusalem did not fully accept the Saudi initiative as well, saying only that it contained a basis for further negotiations.
During the Second Lebanon War, Syria made peace overtures by agreeing to "unconditional" negotiations with Israel. However, as soon as a ceasefire was achieved and Syria no longer feared possible engagement with the IDF as part of its campaign against Hizbullah, the Syrian leadership denied any willingness for unconditional negotiations.
AoS note: please see the re-formatting I did for this post. You left off the closing '>' on the /span arguments which could rather wreck havoc on our formatting. Also, please put posts in their proper category -- Syra-Lebanon-Iran, in this case. Thank you. AoS.
#3
The talk of "resistance" on the part of the Syrians is laughably pathetic. After all, they are a separate country beyond Israel's borders, not subject to Israeli rule. Perhaps Israel should conquer them, so they can resist properly.
#6
DEBKA > Tehran = IRGC celebrates creation of new anti-ISRAEL [USA?],Lebanese-manned, AIR DEFENSE WING for Hizbullah; + militants dev of new, extended range AL-QUDS 3 [QASSAM]WARHEAD for use in attacks agz northern Israel. Got dozens or scores of 'em, they tells ya, milyuuuhns and zilhuuhns of 'em.
Hezbollah would be ready to transform its armed resistance into a political movement, if all occupied Lebanese territories were freed, a Spanish representative to the European parliament said on Sunday. "One of the positive elements of our meetings with Hezbollah was that they declare that they would like to become a political movement ... when the occupation of Lebanese land ends," David Hammerstein told reporters at the end of a three-day visit by an EU delegation to Lebanon.
"When asked when the occupation ends, they said clearly the 'Shebaa Farms'," Hammerstein added. "We all clearly support such an idea of placing Shebaa under the temporary jurisdiction of the United Nations and urge Syria and Israel to cooperate with this idea which will end the tension on the borders between Lebanon and Israel."
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has requested United States and European Union help in pressuring Israel to withdraw from Shebaa, but so far no action has been taken. This inactivity is putting pressure on the government, as UN Security council Resolution 1559 calls for the disarmament of all armed Lebanese groups, including Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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TEHERAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday it is seeking bids to build two more nuclear targets power plants even as the launch of its first plant is stalled amid a bitter dispute with Russia over its funding.
Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh, the deputy head of Irans Atomic Energy Organization in charge of power plants, told reporters the plants would be light-water reactors, each with the capacity to generate up to 1,600 megawatts of electricity. Each plant would cost up to US$1.7 billion (Ð1.26 billion) and take up to 11 years to construct, he said.
Iran has also been focusing on developing its own domestic technology, building a 40-megawatt heavy-water reactor in Arak, central Iran. It is also preparing to build a 360-megawatt nuclear power plant in Darkhovin, in southwestern Iran.
Fayyazbakhsh said the two new plants would be built near Bushehr. The bids for the two plants, which will expire in early August, have been published on the nuclear organizations Web site. Iran has already negotiated with several foreign companies that have expressed interest in the new project, Fayyazbakhsh said. He declined to name the companies.
Under Iranian law, the nuclear organization has been tasked with providing 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants during the next 20 years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
Two more targets, ten more targets, a thousand more targets - all it means is that it'll take a bit longer and cost a little more to put the entire "Nation" of Iran back to the stone age. Maybe a few more people will have to break a sweat, but it won't be HARD.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/16/2007 15:04 Comments ||
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#4
Zenster said in another thread that bombs have a limited shelf life, so we've got to use them or lose them anyway, Old Patriot. Unless that shelf life thingy is only for low qualitiy, Palestinian-made bombs. ;-)
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.
At least 34 people fleeing Somalia across the Gulf of Aden drowned after being forced overboard by their smugglers in deep waters off the coast of Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said, citing its own information as well as reports from survivors and Yemeni officials. The latest deaths add to the mounting toll seen in the region during the annual smuggling operations, which the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly warned are run by unscrupulous individuals known for beating, robbing and drowning the Somalis and Ethiopians fleeing civil conflict or drought for Yemen. 
The U.S. said Sunday that North Korea must act within days on a pledge to halt its nuclear weapons program, while the communist regime marked the birthday of its late founder with pomp and tough rhetoric.
A Frustrated artist who planted a fake bomb outside the National Gallery of Victoria will spend three months behind bars. Colin Douglas Barnett, 46, of Cranbourne North in Melbourne's southeast, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to one count each of creating a bomb hoax and causing a public nuisance, and two counts of making a false report to police.
Vice President Dick Cheney says he is "willing to bet" that Democratic lawmakers will back down and approve a war-spending bill that doesn't call for U.S. troops to leave Iraq. Top Democratic leaders shot back that Cheney has lost all public credibility. 
Wounded soldiers and veterans poured out their frustrations Saturday with the military health-care system. They told a presidential commission about difficulty getting care because military doctors were overwhelmed by the needs of service members injured in Iraq.
WASHINGTON - The Marines' controversial Osprey, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a plane, will be declared operational today and could be in Iraq by the fall.
Tens of thousands of people rallied in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, on Sunday to show their opposition to a radical religious school which has begun a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the capital, Islamabad.
The political movement of fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said on Sunday it would withdraw from the government on Monday to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Hezbollah would be ready to transform its armed resistance into a political movement, if all occupied Lebanese territories were freed, a Spanish representative to the European parliament said on Sunday. "One of the positive elements of our meetings with Hezbollah was that they declare that they would like to become a political movement ... when the occupation of Lebanese land ends," David Hammerstein told reporters at the end of a three-day visit by an EU delegation to Lebanon.
TEHERAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday it is seeking bids to build two more nuclear 
