Pakistani efforts to police its border have helped NATO improve security in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan, although Taliban fighters are still sneaking across, a top alliance general said on Thursday.
Gen Ray Henault, chief of NATOs military committee, said there had been a very concerted Pakistani effort to help NATO reduce cross-border militancy, enabling the alliance to take the initiative in the south. Theres a better flow of information on the counter-terrorism front. NATO is very happy with the approach Pakistan has taken to border control, Henault, a former Canadian defence chief, told The Associated Press during a visit to Islamabad.
Henault said it was difficult to tell if infiltration had declined, but those that are trying to get across the border are being interdicted in many cases. He said there was evidence that Taliban leaders were still sheltering in Pakistan. Some Taliban leaders have been interdicted, he said, without elaborating on their seniority or identities. You have to conclude there are some in Pakistan. But Pakistan is conscious of that and is eager to reduce that threat as well.
Henault said militants operated along the border near Quetta, where camps for Afghan refugees are located. There are probably (Taliban) elements in the Quetta area and we are very conscious of that, but I think its more in the border area that we see this kind of concentration of militant forces ... rather than Quetta itself, Henault said.
Henault, who held talks with Pakistani military officials here after a three-day visit to Afghanistan, said NATO forces had taken the fight to the insurgents in recent months, although they continued to face suicide attacks and roadside bombings. The insurgency is not going to abate any time soon, but ISAF has the initiative, Henault said, referring to NATOs International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
He cited success in the southern district of Sangin, in Helmand province, where on Thursday the US military reported that 24 suspected militants died in a seven-hour battle that included airstrikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Pakistan is policing border, therefore Taliban still active
President Bush was poised to slap tough new U.S. sanctions on Sudan this week for failing to halt bloodshed in Darfur, but held off after direct appeals from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, officials said Thursday. Bush planned to unveil the measures in an address at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington on Wednesday and aides had told Darfur advocacy groups a day earlier they could expect an announcement to that effect, the officials said.
Instead, he delivered a last warning to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, telling him he must take quick, concrete steps to ease the situation in Darfur or face the sanctions, which he outlined in detail but stopped short of actually imposing. Officials said initial drafts of Bush's speech contained harsher language that was modified after two phone calls between Ban and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, first on Tuesday and then just before the address on Wednesday. "The speech changed as a result of those conversations," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday. "He (Ban) did make an appeal to give diplomacy a little more time and we felt it was important to allow the secretary general to pursue something he thought was important and worthwhile to pursue," McCormack told reporters.
Darfur advocates expressed surprise and dismay with Bush's revised speech. Some officials maintained the administration had been hostile to Ban's request and went along only reluctantly. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was describing internal deliberations, said many in the administration thought Ban's suggestion was a "lousy idea," but that Washington did not want to undermine the U.N. chief and deferred to him.
Ban argued to Rice that al-Bashir's recent decision to allow parts of a hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur was "diplomatically promising and perhaps portended some future action" toward full acceptance of the mission, McCormack said. "I guess we're going to put that to the test," he said, adding that the United States remained deeply skeptical about Khartoum's intentions in Darfur, particularly with its continued support for militia blamed for much of the violence.
Deployment of the peacekeepers to take over from a cash-strapped and understaffed African Union force is deemed key to stabilizing the troubled region where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in a four-year conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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From East Asia Intel, subscription.
China's potential as a nuclear supplier for Egypt is only one factor in a budding strategic partnership. The other factors are to stick it to the US, cause us trouble, and to build more influence in another screwed up area of this world.
A report from the Jamestown Foundation said Egypt has sought to expand ties with China as a lever against the United States. The foundation said Cairo regards Beijing as a strategic partner on both regional issues as well as the conflict with Israel. "And they promised us all kind of material and technical aid....and a pony, too!"
Authored by analyst Chris Zambelis, the report did not specify an Egyptian-Chinese military relationship. But Zambelis said Cairo has regarded China as a major supplier for any Egyptian nuclear program. Well, the Russians got burned, the US is being burned at US$2 billion/year, so PRC.....Come on DOWN!!!!!
"Egypt is also counting on Chinese support for reviving its peaceful nuclear program that was suspended in 1986," the report said.
"Despite growing tensions and popular opposition to U.S. foreign policy in the region, Egypt remains a staunch ally of the United States and is firmly entrenched in the U.S.-led regional security architecture," stated the report, "Public Diplomacy in Sino-Egyptian Relations." Playing both ends against the middle, are we?
"At the same time, Cairo resents what it sees as U.S. interference in its internal affairs regarding issues such as the slow pace of political reform and its human rights record." "These are internal issues. The US should know this. The Chicoms KNOW how we feel about meddling in internal issues. They can empathize with us."
The report said Egypt has been frustrated by what it considers the lack of U.S. support for Arab positions regarding the conflict with Israel. In contrast, China has been regarded as a solid advocate for the Palestinian cause. Ah yes, the Palestian Cause. What the hell is the Palestian Cause other than the destruction of Israel by death from a thousand cuts, or the installment plan.
"In this regard, Egypt sees China as a potential partner that can help enhance its leverage vis-a-vis the United States," the report said. "Cairo believes that Beijing could some day play a constructive role in Middle East diplomacy, a calculation based largely on its potential to act as a check on U.S. power in the region." Ah, the Grand Game.
The report said China has been expanding relations and developing security cooperation with a range of African states, particularly those with energy reserves. There ya go, like the Sudan.
"Sino-Egyptian relations are poised to develop further in the coming years and effective public diplomacy will play a critical role in sustaining these ties," the report said. "Beijing will continue to see Cairo as a strategic gateway toward expanded ties with the Arab world and Africa. Any breakthroughs with the Zim-Bob project, Chicoms?
Likewise, "Egypt will look to China as a means of gaining leverage in its increasingly precarious position vis-a-vis its primary ally, the United States." Whose taxpayers are getting increasingly irate with $2 billion going down a rathole. Well, the Egyptians and Chicoms should get along hamsomely, being liars and theives.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Bad things happen when you waffle the ME
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/20/2007 0:51 Comments ||
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#2
Fine. Just turn off their fricking money from the USA for the Israeli Egypt peace treaty.
Anyway,,, the way they are going Egypt's living area will soon be the Aswan Canyon so its not like it really matters.
Venezuela launched a Zeppelin on Thursday to patrol Caracas, seeking to fight crime in one of Latin America's most dangerous cities but also raising fears that President Hugo Chavez could be turning into Big Brother.
Around the hot-dog stalls of the run-down suburb where the airship took its first flight, most people felt the unmanned eye-in-the-sky could help counter routine hold-ups, shootings and carjackings.
"It is a necessity," said street vendor Pedro Marin when asked about the 15-meter helium-filled blimp that had been looming silently over his stall beside a busy highway.
The $465,000 Zeppelin, built by South Korean firm HanGIS, is the first of three such craft that will beam images into a command center. Police will be able to control the blimps remotely, steering them over the city of about 5 million.
In the refined cafes of east Caracas, there was more cynicism, condemning the blimps as a waste of money that would not work in bad weather or at night, when Caracas is at its most risky, resembling a shuttered-up ghost town.
"It reminds me of 1984, of George Orwell. This is Big Brother. It is not going to solve crime," said Jose Luis, a lawyer who declined to give his family name.
Blimps also fired debates about infringing civil liberties when used in New York and at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
There has been a strong sense of the state keeping tabs on the opposition in Venezuela since a 2004 recall referendum against Chavez, which the president won easily.
Those who signed a petition seeking the referendum complain their identities were made public, affecting their chances of employment in the state sector.
Venezuela's opposition accuses Chavez, hugely popular among the poor majority, of damaging democracy by politicizing state institutions and centralizing power around himself.
The anti-U.S. leader is forming a single governing party, nationalizing huge swathes of the economy and refusing to renew the license of an opposition television channel.
Despite such accusations of growing state control, Ramon Morales Rossi, security chief at the mayor's office, told reporters at the launch there were no grounds for fears the Zeppelin was up to anything sinister.
"If you are just walking in the street, no worries. The intention is to try to lessen crime which is very serious. It is a huge, important issue and the government recognizes it as such," he said.
Venezuela has the world's highest death rate from guns, according to the United Nations, with 34 deaths in every 100,000 caused by firearms. Brazil is second with 22 in every 100,000. Caracas itself has stopped issuing the statistics.
Crime affects all strata of society, from shantytowns where the majority of killings take place to exclusive neighborhoods where villas are ringed by razor wire and electric fences.
When asked about the running joke in Caracas that hardened criminals will simply shoot down any Zeppelin keeping an eye on them, Morales Rossi said the craft was compartmentalized to account for the loss of gas owing to a puncture.
#2
Venezuela has the world's highest death rate from guns, according to the United Nations, with 34 deaths in every 100,000 caused by firearms.
What?!?!? You mean that Hugo's socialist paradise, with its rational gun-control laws and compassionate Bolivarian economics, actually has a higher death rate from gun crime than brutal, NRA-infested, dog-eat-dog KKKapitalistic AmeriKKKa? That can't be right!
[/ProgressiveSocialistMoonbat]
Posted by: Mike ||
04/20/2007 10:24 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like they need some anti-sniper detection equipment. Too bad for them nothing is on the OPEN market.
#6
Hugo's a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold
And he's buying a stairway to heaven.
When he gets there he knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word he can get what he came for.
Ooh, ooh, and he's buying a stairway to heaven.
A European Union proposal that would allow the laws of non-EU countries to be applicable in divorce cases ran into fierce opposition from Sweden on Thursday. Liberal Sweden strongly resists the plan, which it says could force EU member states to dissolve marriages on the basis of foreign law, including traditional Islamic law, or Sharia. "It is not acceptable that the planned rules would lead to Swedish courts having to apply foreign law," a Swedish diplomat told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Thank you, Sweden. Once this abomination becomes EU law, it'll find its way into "international law", and then into transnational law, and then we're screwed.
Germany is pushing for new rules under which international couples, prior to marriage, would be able to set out in a contract which country's laws will reign in a divorce court.
WHY????????????????
The planned rules would mean that, for example, a Swedish-Italian couple living in Paris could divorce in a French court, which would create a settlement in accordance with Swedish, Italian or French Saudi marriage law. Such an option is currently impossible in the 27 nations of the EU, making divorces a lengthy and unpredictable procedure.
Too bad.
Some 170,000 out of 875,000 divorces annually now involve couples of different nationalities, according to EU data. Other member states are wary of the proposal because of the recognition of same-sex marriage. Full marriage is available for gay couples in Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
In a concession to Malta, the only EU country which does not allow divorce, the current blueprint states that new rules would not impose divorce on any member state. EU ministers agreed to further discuss under which preconditions and to what extent national courts would be able to apply foreign law.
Republicans better fight back hard on this one. Reid needs to do lots more waffling and back-stepping.
TIPP CITY, Ohio, April 19 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and fellow Republicans struggled on Thursday with comparisons between the U.S. wars in Iraq and Vietnam as the Senate's top Democrat declared the Iraq lost.
A day after a White House meeting with lawmakers failed to resolve differences over whether to attach a troop withdrawal plan to a war funding bill, Bush and the Democrats continued their feud from afar.
Asked to compare Iraq to Vietnam, a war that still weighs on the American psyche three decades after it ended, Bush told an Ohio audience a premature U.S. withdrawal from Iraq could lead to chaos and death the same way war broke out between Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia after the fall of Saigon in 1975. "After Vietnam, after we left, millions of people lost their life. My concern is there would be a parallel there," Bush said, adding that "This time around, the enemy wouldn't just be content to stay in the Middle East, they'd follow us here."
Bush says he will veto legislation containing the $100 billion in war funding -- money he requested -- if Democrats persist in plans to attach a troop withdrawal timetable to it.
But in Washington, Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat and leader of the Senate majority, said he had taken a message to Bush in their White House meeting on Wednesday that "this war is lost" and Bush's troop buildup plan "is not accomplishing anything" after insurgent bombs killed nearly 200 people that day in Baghdad.
Good thing he supports the troops.
Reid said his message for Bush was to recall the Vietnam war in the mid-1960s, when Reid said President Lyndon Johnson decided to send thousands more troops to Vietnam despite knowing the conflict unwinnable. "The (Iraq) war can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically, and the president needs to come to that realization," Reid said in a news conference.
Oh, so it's not lost afterall?
Later Thursday on the Senate floor, Reid said: "As long as we follow the president's path in Iraq, the war is lost. But there is still a chance to change course -- and we must change course." The war funding bill should contain a timeline to "reduce combat missions and refocus our efforts on the real threats to our security," he said.
Shame, shame, shame.
Bush conceded Americans are concerned about whether the United States can succeed in stabilizing Iraq and said Democrats have a role to play but that he would veto their legislation when it gets to his desk, possibly next week.
Many lawmakers believe serious talks toward a compromise will not take place until after a veto. Then, they say, there could be fresh legislation that would have "benchmarks" to gauge Iraq's progress instead of withdrawal timetables.
"It's disturbing that some on Capitol Hill believe they know more than the commanders on the ground, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "His comment is in conflict with the senior military advisors who are implementing the Baghdad security plan, working to calm the violence and to protect the innocent men, women and children of Iraq who are being victimized by a vicious enemy."
Republican lawmakers pilloried Reid. "I can't begin to imagine how our troops in the field, who are risking their lives every day, are going to react when they get back to base and hear that the Democrat leader in the United States Senate has declared the war is lost," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.
#1
Our fifth column media will never admit it, but Reid is more concerned with Iraqi deaths than American lives.
It sucks to be Iraqi and suffer such mass casualty attacks, but I am more concerned with our people than with Iraqi deaths. The faster Reid and his allies get that through their head, the faster we can win this war.
#2
U.S. Republicans battle charge Iraq war is lost
[CAP WARNING]
PUBS, GET SOME SPINE, BACKBONE, and TESTICULAR FORTITUDE, because folks are putting their ass on the line over-there so you can put your precious tender-egos in front of the TeeWee Cameras here and GIT FUCKING MAD AS HELL AT--->REID & CO THE DEMOCRAP TRAITORS!!
"The war can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically, and the president needs to come to that realization," Reid said in a news conference.
Tell me, Senator, how the diplomatic, political, and economic fronts can be won without military stability? When were those aspects settled in Germany, Japan, and South Korea? When were the diplomatic, political, and economic fronts "won" in Vietnam? Not when the US left, Senator, but only after the North Vietnamese invaded the south with their tanks and regular army, killed thousands, and drove millions out of the country, and imposed their way of life by military force.
Perhaps after Iran invades the Shi'ite regions, and the Saudis invade the Sunni areas, and the Turks invade the Kurdistan - then we could move on to the diplomatic, political, and economic solutions.
Will you ever come to the realization that America's future is more important than the Democrats retaining power so you can continue to get your face on national TV?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2007 6:04 Comments ||
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#7
Another e-mail. They really are as easy as a post!
Reid said: "As long as we follow the president's path in Iraq, the war is lost. But there is still a chance to change course -- and we must change course."
Did we change course when Secretary Rumsfeld resigned, Senator? Didn't the course shift when the Senate confirmed General Petreaus? What about the "surge"? Isn't that a "change in course"? You supported the resignation, and voted for the confirmation, but the "course" still needs to be "changed" some more, Senator? The only change in course you espouse is retreat, without a thought as to what that would do to the region, let alone this Country.
I support letting the President conduct the Iraq War without conditions or interference from Congress.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2007 6:12 Comments ||
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#8
You can even e-mail your President, both Senators, and your Representative AT THE SAME TIME here. Just enter your Zip code!
I told mine to Please take a stand for the safety and security of our Country, Gentlemen, and do not let Senator Reid's borderline-treasonous drivel go unanswered!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2007 6:21 Comments ||
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#9
This war was never going to be decided on the basis of military might, or superior tactics or strategy; it could never have been, as there are very few armies on the face of this Earth that could take us on in a no-holds-barred fight and have even a FAINT prayer of surviving. Perhaps even none. And for all but a small handful of the world's armies, our defeating them in all-out, total war would be scarcely harder than clubbing baby seals. Or drowning kittens.
This war was always about one and ONLY one thing: who has the greater will to win. OBL had always said of us, that we don't have the staying power; that we're not the "strong horse" and that if you will but bleed us enough (and God knows, it doesn't take a whole lot), for long enough, America **WILL** give up and go home sooner or later.
Why do the Mujj keep on resisting us? BECAUSE THEY THINK HE'S RIGHT, that's why. By now, after listening to our CPUSA Democrats for the last five years with their non-stop whining about the war, the Mujj must surely be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that OBL had us dead to rights; that we're about to give up and run home any minute now. How in the world could they possibly conclude otherwise, given what they're hearing from Harry Reid and his ilk?
So they keep on killing Iraqis and Americans, personally reassured by Harry Reid and his loathesome co-conspirators that it's working.
Harry Reid is murdering American soldiers. And I think he knows it.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/20/2007 6:37 Comments ||
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#10
Reid needs to answer for this every time he's in front of the press and congress. The cowardice, artifice, and political opportunism at a time our people are fighting and dying for us is despicable
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2007 6:39 Comments ||
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#11
Bobby,
Re. "Just enter your Zip code!"
1) Won't even hit their inbox unless it's a Zip code from their jurisdiction. Take a little time and look up a valid one to put in your fake address if you want to communicate with a politician from another state or district.
2) E-mails do seem to get read by staff - I get responses fairly often, and some even are related to what I wrote - but they don't 'count' much. For your opinion to count they need to know who you are, and that is knowledge they generally obtain from the data on your checks.
#12
I can't shake the gnawing feeling that yesterday, with Harry Reid's announcement of America's defeat (for that is exactly what it was), will end up being a major turning point in this war.
In a war which is almost entirely a contest of wills, you cannot have the highest-ranking member of the U.S. Senate declare "the war is lost" without the enemy concluding on the basis of that announcement that they have won or are about to win.
It will now be immensely more difficult-- impossible, even-- to persuade the Mujj to give up, because by now they must surely be convinced, beyond all doubt, that we ourselves are about to call it quits and go slinking home in defeat.
Mark my words: Harry Reid's announcement yesterday will be remembered as a turning point in the same way as *SPIT* Walter Cronkite's "we can't win" announcement after the Tet offensive in the Vietnam War.
I shudder to think what drastic action it would take to undo the damage Harry Reid caused yesterday.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/20/2007 7:12 Comments ||
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#13
It's going to be a long war. Harry Reid will be as well remembered as Clement Laird Vallandingham. The event that will be of consequence is the election in November 2008. Then the American people will decide if they want to be the fist or the punching bag. Reid is just laying out one of the choices. Too bad Bush didn't turn out to be a Lincoln. He could have been a contenda.
#14
Remember this time boys and girls when they ask what was the old republic like. The Donks are creating an environment politicizing the military in their desperate endeavors to retain power by playing to such a small margin of their most extreme constituency. The Trunk are unwilling to put in the financial and political resources to hammer the Donks because they're blindly tied to the election cycle calendar. Each petty politico is willing to sacrifice the very republic by playing short term games for power which after the dust settles will be shown to consist of nothing more than air. Votes in the end mean nothing. Dictators have constantly received 99.9 per cent of their usual referendums. It is the willingness to give that last full measure of devotion which determines real power. Who is willing to die for Congress? Who is willing to die for either political party?
#15
#11 Glenmore - I have found Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha will not accept e-mails other than from their constituents. Because they are so dispicable, I take a little extra time and 39 cents and send them a letter. I let them know I think it hippocritical that they claim to speak for the whole country, but will not listen to any but from the small region that will get them re-elected. The Country is composed of many voices, but they only want to listen to the few - and no dissenting voices.
I did get a nice response from Senator Warner recently, one that did take some staff member a few minutes to compose. Other than that, I just consider it as part of the poll in the congresscritter's morning briefing - 37 "For" Senator, and 14 "Against" the issue.
I hope a catchy phrase sticks with the staffer, and may even make it to the top dog, but the whole point for me is to speak. they don't want to listen, that's fine, but I have come to believe it is my responsibility to let my voice be heard. You gotta believe the loons are e-mailing and writing!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2007 8:04 Comments ||
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#16
RE: # 13 Vallandigham was tried by a military court 6-7 May {1863}, denied a writ of "habeas corpus", convicted by a military tribunal of "uttering disloyal sentiments" and attempting to hinder the prosecution of the war, and sentenced to 2 years' confinement in a military prison. A Federal circuit judge upheld Vallandigham's arrest and military trial as a valid exercise of the President's war powers.
So, Mr. Spemble - are you some sort of history geek? Thank heavens for Wikipedia!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2007 8:11 Comments ||
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#17
I found that faxes work pretty well in getting the word to Congress. It is a hard piece of paper that bypasses the mail room.
Get your point across. Direct. Do not be abusive, nor threatening, but be civil and to the point. Concise. Stick to the issues. You want the staffer to read it, not report it to the FBI.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/20/2007 11:01 Comments ||
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#18
This has been and will be a very long war. It started when Iran took our embassy. Iraq is the largest set piece battle...so far.
Assuming we leave Iraq early and it falls into despair, Reid's words will be remembered. When terrorists/provocateaurs from that failed state hit our country again in a much more significant way than on 9/11, Reid's words will be remembered.
Sadly it will not be until many tens of thousands of Americans lie dead that we will have the collective fear and subsequent anger to do what needs to be done.
This is all a preamble, the opening act. Harry is just a bit player who will be remembered as the spineless craven worm that he is.
#19
OBL had always said of us, that we don't have the staying power; that we're not the "strong horse" and that if you will but bleed us enough (and God knows, it doesn't take a whole lot), for long enough, America **WILL** give up and go home sooner or later.
So tell us, why is it that OBL has it right? Why is it Americans can't pull a win out of their [hats] if their lives depended on it? (Lately, that is, WW2 doesn't count, neither does the cold war). All that high-tech might, yet you've lost against a 3rd world country, again.
There is a striking similarity between Vietnam and Iraq. People can see the facts for what they are. After 4 years, the majority of people recognize a failure when they see it.
But that's not even the interesting part. What's interesting is that you blame your own people, rather than your current government that is responsible for getting you into this mess. You will never win. You will never win, but not because OBL is right, but because you are wrong.
This is the same clown, posting from 74.122.141.76, who threatened to report us to the FBI if certain comments he disliked weren't redacted. Got that FBI file started yet, asshole?
#20
What I would like someone to explain to me is just what metric Reid is using for victory. Saddam is dead and gone. The Baathists are on the run and being killed daily. If anyone is dying, it's Iraqis killing each other. The Kurds have shown that Iraq can be quiet, peaceful and productive. If we have to have all of Iraq quiet before we can declare victory, we've got a problem. It never has been and it never will be. What will probably happen is that we will hang on long enough to have the slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis completed, after which we will wish the Shia government good luck and probably put a base into the Kurdish area in the north. I'd like to see Reid in jail for treason.
Posted by: Mac ||
04/20/2007 13:44 Comments ||
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#21
All that high-tech might, yet you've lost against a 3rd world country, again.
Woozle Spamp5018 is right. Let's use every bit of that high-tech might, decimate these fuckers and get it over with.
Would that be okay with you, douchebag? Or would you piss your pants if we'd finally had enough and actually did it?
#22
Let's use every bit of that high-tech might, decimate these fuckers and get it over with.
Would that be okay with you, douchebag? Or would you piss your pants if we'd finally had enough and actually did it?
LOL. Be my guest. All this huffing and puffing but you still can't blow the house down!
You had 4 years! Bush will have had a total of 8! What losers!
#26
Without diving to the depths of the name calling, I think Weasel Spam (oops, I slipped) has touched pretty close on a bunch of points: the Repubs had enough time to take the Muszzienuts down and instead let their powerlust lose the Senate and House; W has had a virtual castration, SecState started out like a tiger, is now just another donk in trunk clothes. Yes there are many in the US that want us to succeed, but for whatever reason, our messages hasn't gotten through to the right people. So like Weasel Spam says, until we unleash the force and might that we have spent who-knows-how-much building, we will get our asses kicked by a bunch of throat-slashing goat phuquers.
(And not once did I call anybody an Asshole).
#27
Hannity on radio just nowis ON FIRE: "demanding that Harry Reid resign - disgraceful, disgusting behavior. Sick - resign, get OUT of the Senate"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2007 15:47 Comments ||
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#28
Frank, you are correct, sir. Hannity also hung Alec Baldwin out to dry. There seems to be a self-destruct trend in the air among lefties lately.
But then, this sort of inability to deal with reality is a necessary step in the eventual awakening of the American left. They must see their 'leaders' for what they are, pompous egocentric vindictive losers. They have spent over 6 years attacking Bush for the crime of elected leader, a position they crave, and now they crack and crumble over nothing.
The only alarming event in the world today is the terrorists spinning Islam into the 'religion' of anti-human, anti-life behavior. The very thing that the left still doesn't get.
#29
neal boortz had an interesting note on this. the democrats are hevily invested in the defeat of america in iraq. they have simply said too much for too long about the war for them to be able ot stomach or survive an american victory, so they MUST ensure the defeat that is thier only avenue to holding or gaining power,
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
04/20/2007 17:52 Comments ||
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#30
I would like to see how Harry Reid defines what "victory" and "defeat" mean with regard to Iraq.
I believe that having an elected Iraqi government capable of maintaining order in Iraq without a significant U.S. troop presence would constitute victory, even if the insurgency is merely diminished but not entirely quiescent.
But we will not know whether the Iraqi government can stand up on its own until we leave, so the real test of victory or defeat only comes after the significant downscaling of the U.S. military presence (probably beginning in early 2008).
As I see it defeat could come in three forms:
1. A Sunni-Shi'ite civil war erupts, leading to widespread destruction and regional instability
2. The insurgency is able to increase significantly the amount of carnage it causes and maintain that for a protracted length of time, undermining the government and leading to further atomization
3. Radical Islamic or Iranian-allied elements gain control over the government (i.e. al-Sadr)
Of these possibilities #2 is apparently what Reid is focused on. Unless the "surge" strategy and new security implementations of General Petraeus take hold and can reduce the level of carnage and destruction within the next few months, I would have to concede his point. We have neither the resources nor the political will to remain engaged for many additional months.
The situation is not hopeless yet, but time is running out. This really is the last roll of the dice.
#31
Harry Reid is a hypocritical bastidge. Weazle Spamp5018, you can't shit me, I have a turd in every pocket. I'm also probably already on an FBI watch list. Big whoop.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/20/2007 18:12 Comments ||
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#32
I'm thinking a few of Las Vegas under Sharia is the proper punishment for Nevada voters' mistakes.
Posted by: ed ||
04/20/2007 18:24 Comments ||
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#33
"You would have known about it already if I did."
Much more likely, the FBI person who took your call suggested you calm yourself, or perhaps seek counselling. In any case they're not going to get their knickers in a twist over anything they'll see here at Rantburg.
"Asshole."
I hope you have a very nice day. I know, I certainly am! Bye bye, Woozie...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/20/2007 18:52 Comments ||
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The use of the term Islamo-fascism to denounce some elements is unacceptable and counter-productive to defeating terrorism, Senates Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Mushahid Hussain Syed said on Thursday. He was speaking at a seminar on the Alliance of Civilisations: Role of Europe and Asia, organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS) and the Senates Foreign Relations Committee.
Mushahid said the targeting of Muslims on the basis of religion would affect efforts to achieve a tolerant world. He appealed to the civil society and leaders of Europe and Asia to work for promoting the idea of an alliance of civilizations.
The idea of the clash of civilization, projected by Harvard University, should be neutralised with that of an alliance of civilization, he said. Extremism and terrorism can only be defeated by democratic systems and the resolution of political and economic problems, particularly in Muslim countries, he said.
He said worldwide rallies against the Iraq war had proved that there was no clash of civilisations and the people were against the use of force to tackle issues. He said the world should make sincere efforts to root out terrorism in a peaceful manner instead of creating rifts. He said the European Union (EU) should give membership to Turkey to set an example of reconciliation and to counter the blame that the EU was only a Christian Club. He said dialogue should continue among governments, civil society and civilisations to develop interfaith harmony.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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OK - Howzabout "murdering islamic bastards"?
These ain't Lutherans or Amish, you know.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/20/2007 0:32 Comments ||
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Well now, the result of last week's competition when we asked you to find a derogatory term for the Muslims. Well, the response was enormous and we took quite a long time sorting out the winners. There were some very clever entries. Mrs Hatred of Leicester Said 'let's not call them anything, let's just ignore them' ... (applause starts vigorously, but he holds his hands up for silence) ... and a Mr St John of Huntingdon said he couldn't think of anything more derogatory than "Muslims". (cheers and applause; a girl in showgirl costume comes on and holds up placards through next bit) But in the end we settled on three choices: number three ... the Slammers (placard 'The Slammers'), sent in by Mrs Vicious of Hastings... very nice ; number two..... the Child Rapists (placard) ... from Mrs Childmolester of Worthing; but the winner was undoubtedly from Mrs No-Supper-For-You from Norwood in Lancashire... Miserable Fat Islamic Bastards.
I'd like to repeatedly slap this clueless fucker's face against the TV screen the next time the blackshirts are marching in Gaza.. Tehran.. Syria.. Lebanon.
Too close to the truth for you? Hurts does it? Your religion's been hijacked by asshats - deal with it..
Zen - you a northerner?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/20/2007 4:17 Comments ||
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#4
He said worldwide rallies against the Iraq war had proved that there was no clash of civilisations and the people were against the use of force to tackle issues.
And yet he sits in the government of Pakistan, a government that supports terrorism in Afghanistan, India, and around the world.
When did his lips fall off?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/20/2007 6:59 Comments ||
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#5
"Extremism and terrorism can only be defeated by democratic systems and the resolution of political and economic problems, particularly in Muslim countries, he said."
Starting to see a declaratory pattern in the solutions pushed by international bodies: give us money (bribes and buyoffs as jizya) and control of governments (thus exterminating any alternative to the ubercontrol of Islam) and we might move to help stop terrorism. Funny he mentiones Turkey-his fellow religionists are proving my second point for me.
"Islamo-fascism is as Islamofascism does." Forrest Gump
#10
Your religion's been hijacked by asshats - deal with it..
Actually not. The Koran specifically calls upon its followers to commit all the various atrocities that terrorists incur. This is Islam and the way it is supposed to be practiced. So-called moderate Muslims are blasphemers whose interpretation of Islam peaceful as it might be nonetheless makes them back-slidden slackers. This the central problem regarding Islam; It is a violent, abusive and fanatical creed that breeds up the very worst of human dregs.
Zen - you a northerner?
Nope, just a huge Python's fan with a good memory.
#14
Extremism and terrorism can only be defeated by democratic systems and the resolution of political and economic problems, particularly in Muslim countries, he said.
#15
Extremism and terrorism can only be defeated by democratic systems and the resolution of political and economic problems, particularly in Muslim countries, he said.
Wrong answer. Ask the residents of Tokyo and Dresden.
#16
Yer on the money, anymouse. Make them feel pain, major pain. Only then will they agitate for positive change. Until then, expect more Islamic crapulence.
Clerics will resist any move to shift madrassas from the federal capital because no such action has been planned against a number of non-government organisations and private schools working here, Wafaqul Madaris-e-Arabia said on Thursday.
In a statement at the end of a two-day meeting in Multan, Wafaq chief Maulana Muhammad Hanif Jalandhry said that Wafaq disapproved of the actions of Jamia Hafsa girls and cancelled the madrassas membership with it. He said that Wafaq leaders met Jamia Hafsa authorities several times to convince them to shun violence, but failed. He said that madrassa authorities attitude was lamentable and added that they should review their policies.
At the same time, Jalandhry warned the government against the use of force against Jamia Hafsa and condemned the alleged monitoring of the madrassa by army helicopters. He said the government and some secular outfits had accelerated their campaign against religious forces after violent acts of Jamia Hafsa students.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Thursday, commenting on a statement made by Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi about the governments negotiations with the administration of Lal Masjid, said the majority of reservations regarding reconstruction of demolished mosques in Islamabad had been settled. He said, no one can even think about refusing enforcement of the Quran and Sunnah. He said it was a good omen that the administration of Lal Masjid wanted to resolve all issues through dialogue. He hoped the issue of the childrens library occupied by Jamia Hafsa students in Islamabad would soon be resolved.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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As soon as the "shower" nozzles can be imported from Germany, construction can proceed apace...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/20/2007 13:04 Comments ||
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Turkey and Pakistan, two influential Muslim states, have seen massive public demonstrations in recent days in which huge crowds protested that Islam was playing too big a role in public affairs, The Washington Times reported on Thursday.
In Karachi, Pakistans largest city, an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets on Sunday to protest plans by an influential mosque to run a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the capital city of Islamabad. A day earlier, some 500,000 Turks staged a rally in Ankara urging Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Islamist and head of the moderate Muslim ruling party, not to run for president, traditionally a secular and non-partisan post.
The twin rallies come at a time of intense debate over the ability of moderate Muslims across the Islamic world to challenge more radical, anti-Western voices. The Bush administration has made a major push in its public diplomacy to encourage moderate Muslim voices across the greater Middle East.
This weekend, for the first time in a long time, weve seen people power in action on the streets in Turkey, said Zeyno Baran, director of the Centre for Eurasian Policy at the Hudson Institute and a specialist on Turkish politics.
Moderates in Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, had been fairly passive in the past in defending the countrys institutions from religious forces, Ms Baran said. They have relied on the countrys staunchly secular military to defend the secular character of the countrys laws and leading institutions.
While a number of leading Muslim figures have spoken out against Islamist militants and jihadist terror networks like Al Qaeda, an extensive new study by the Rand Corp released last month found that extremists have dominated the public debate in recent years.
By and large, radicals ... have been successful in intimidating, marginalising or silencing moderate Muslims those who share the key dimensions of democratic culture to varying degrees, the study found. The Rand authors stated that radical forces not only use violence to cow more-moderate rivals, but they generally are better funded and organised, often with links to extremist forces in other Islamic countries. This asymmetry in resources and organisation explains why radicals, a small minority in almost all Muslim countries, have influence disproportionate to their numbers, the authors stated.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Lets hope this is the start of things to come and the moderates speak out at last!!!!
The Supreme Council of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) will meet here today (Friday) evening, Daily Times learnt on Thursday. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmad will preside over the meeting to be held at his residence in Sector E-7. According to the sources the meeting will discuss the judicial crisis, the reports of deal between Benazir and General Musharraf, besides the MMAs strategy for the upcoming session of the National Assembly.
Leader of the Opposition in NA Maulana Fazlur Rehman will apprise the council members of his meeting with Mian Nawaz Sharif, the exiled leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in London. Senator Prof Sajid Mir, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Liaquat Baloch and others will also attend the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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A state-within-a-state is not acceptable to us, declared Anis Haroon of the Aurat Foundation while addressing a rally called against religious extremism as espoused by the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa Thursday. During the tenure of different governments there have been conspiracies against women and the Jamia Hafsa matter is also a deep plot against women, she said while standing on a pick-up in front of a small but formidable crowd at the Quaid-e-Azam Mazaar. As a social worker, we reject this. They do this in a bid to try and keep women from attaining their fundamental rights in Islam. All religions of the world give the message of peace. She also said that the chief justice should be restored. The women vowed to continue their struggle as long as their rights were withheld from them. This struggle would continue with civil society. City Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil condemned Danda bardar force in the name of Islam and said that religion did not given permission for it either. The people who come out on the streets for this will face the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in equal measure, she said. Many Christians, students and teachers also attended in addition to Uzma Noorani of the Womens Action Forum and her colleague Qausar Naz Nasreen, Sumera Ejaz Malik from Shirkat Gah, Aslam Brohi and Lala Hasan Pathan from Aurat Foundation, councilors from the city, Sukkur, Dadu and Badin and HRCP members with their lawyers.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) has condemned the attempts of the students of Jamia Hafsa and the Lal Masjid administration to impose Talibanisation in Islamabad.
Talking to reporters, APMA Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti said the Supreme Court should take suo moto notice of the activities of the Jamia Hafsa students and the Lal Masjid administration, which he said were aimed at spreading anarchy and setting up a parallel system within the state. He said that in the present situation the minorities were worried about their future, adding that the setting up of a Qazi court in Lal Masjid had created a sense of insecurity among the citizens of Pakistan. He feared that the self-imposed Sharia by the extremists would be used against women and the minorities in Pakistan.
Bhatti said that growing extremism in Pakistan showed that the government had failed to fulfil its claim that it would make Pakistan an enlightened moderate state.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Two defence lawyers of the chief justice have received anonymous death threats, Barrister Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan told reporters here on Thursday. Ahsan said that Munir A Malik and Ali Ahmed Kurd had been warned that they could be killed or abducted. The authorities will be held responsible if any harm is done to them, he said. No doubt these were serious threats. Thats why we decided to make it part of the record, Kurd said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Thousands of Pakistanis staged rallies in major cities on Thursday to condemn extremism and exploitation in the name of Islam. Rights activists organised simultaneous protests in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar to denounce extremist actions by students of the Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia madrassas, affiliated to Lal Masjid, in the capital.
Several thousand Lahoris marched in blistering heat on The Mall - the first time a large crowd has rallied against religious extremism in the city in a rally organised by the Womens Action Forum (WAF) in collaboration with other non-governmental organisations. The protestors - including civil society and human rights activists, minority groups, political workers, lawyers, trade unions, journalists and students - gathered at the Lahore High Court building and began marching towards the Punjab Assembly building at 2:00pm. Mullahism murdabad. Lay kay rahen gay azadi, they shouted. One youth wrote No to Taliban with spray paint on the road.
Hall Road traders hailed the rally as it passed by, putting up banners reading: Stop blackmailing and exploiting traders in the name of Islam, and We condemn mullahs operation against CD shops.
The City District Government of Lahore had relaxed Section 144 to allow the rally amidst a large police presence. One side of The Mall was temporarily closed for traffic. Asma Jehangir, chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said the military was using mullahs to exploit people in the name of Islam. We, the people of Pakistan, are not oblivious to this mullah-military alliance, she said. There can be no democracy in Pakistan unless GHQ-backed mullahs stop issuing decrees to exploit people in the name of Islam.
This mullah is defaming the most beautiful and peaceful religion in the world and wants to hamper the prosperity and progress of Pakistan, said a WAF activist addressing the rally. But the people of this city will continue to confront this mullahism and religious extremism.
PPP Punjab President Shah Mahmood Qureshi also suggested that the government had engineered the standoff in the capital to present Gen Pervez Musharraf as a bulwark against extremism and divert attention from the judicial crisis.
Hundreds staged a peaceful protest in Islamabad against extremists trying to force their version of Islam on others. Most of the protestors were women. Shirin Mazari, a strategic analyst, led the protestors, who gathered a kilometre away from Constitution Avenue and walked up to the roundabout in front of Parliament House. Wheres the writ of the state? asked a big placard at the protest. No to religious extremism; yes to life and music, and Free the childrens library, said other placards. Concerned citizens have been watching with anger and frustration the terrorism being inflicted on them by an extremist fringe within the society, said one speaker as the protestors gathered at Parade Square.
She was appalled at the states inability or reluctance to deal with violations of the law committed by Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia students. Their attempt to challenge the writ of the state by establishing what in effect is an alternate governing system in the area under their control poses a threat to all law-abiding citizens, she said.
Hundreds of Christian women from Qayyumabad, filmmakers, social workers and university students rallied against religious extremism outside Quaid-e-Azams mazaar in Karachi. It would be difficult to find a single woman who has not at some point in time faced religious extremism, said Karachis Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil, who also took part in the protest. Gang-rape survivor Kainat Soomro was also at the rally.
In Peshawar, hundreds of womens rights campaigners including some 60 burqa-clad women from the tribal areas staged a rally near the press club, denouncing threats of suicide bombings by Lal Masjid clerics and baton-wielding madrassa students. No religion in the world allows their faithful to use sticks in places of worship, Tribal Women Welfare Association Chairwoman Dr Begum Jan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
We need more of this to stick up to the Mullah/Perv bullies!!!!
#2
Sounds like the evolutionary process at work. Hopefully the mullahs will become extinct just like the chumps who believe their tales of 72 virgins and then martyr themselves.
The United States has sought more "liberal access" for its warships to Indian Naval bases and facilities.
The proposal figured prominently in talks between the visiting US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael G Mullen and top Indian Naval brass.
"We have mooted for more free aces for our warships and warplanes" Mullen told newsmen after his meeting with his Indian counterpart Admiral Suressh Mehta. At present, US warships are cleared for entry into Indian ports on case by case basis.
"The proposal which would be on reciprocal basis is still under dialogue", he said.
Mullen said US was desirous of expanding cooperation with Indian Navy on equipment supply also along with holding of joint exercises and exchange of personnel.
"We are interested in selling our Naval fighters, equipment, radars and other systems to India", he said adding that he visualised in near future the two countries also collaborating on building of future aircraft carriers for the Indian Navy.
He said that the two navies had graduated to put in place cross postings of personnel besides sending officers to each others staff colleges. "We have already started training Indian Naval fighter pilots and a batch of 32 pilots is about to finish their course at US war training colleges.
#2
The proposal figured prominently in talks between the visiting US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael G Mullen and top Indian Naval brass. "We have mooted for more free aces for our warships and warplanes" Mullen told newsmen after his meeting with his Indian counterpart Admiral Suressh Mehta
All your aces are belong to us!
I suspect there was an error in translation....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2007 7:46 Comments ||
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Melanie Phillips interviews Gaubatz. New info compared to Sun article from last year
Its a fair bet that you have never heard of a guy called Dave Gaubatz. Its also a fair bet that you think the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has found absolutely nothing, nada, zilch; and that therefore there never were any WMD programmes in Saddams Iraq to justify the war ostensibly waged to protect the world from Saddams use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.
Dave Gaubatz, however, says that you could not be more wrong. Saddams WMD did exist. He should know, because he found the sites where he is certain they were stored. And the reason you dont know about this is that the American administration failed to act on his information, lost his classified reports and is now doing everything it can to prevent disclosure of the terrible fact that, through its own incompetence, it allowed Saddams WMD to end up in the hands of the very terrorist states against whom it is so controversially at war.
You may be tempted to dismiss this as yet another dodgy claim from a warmongering lackey of the world Zionist neocon conspiracy giving credence to yet another crank pushing US propaganda. If so, perhaps you might pause before throwing this article at the cat. Mr Gaubatz is not some marginal figure. Hes pretty well as near to the horses mouth as you can get.
Having served for 12 years as an agent in the US Air Forces Office of Special Investigations, Mr Gaubatz, a trained Arabic speaker, was hand-picked for postings in 2003, first in Saudi Arabia and then in Nasariyah in Iraq. His mission was to locate suspect WMD sites, discover threats against US forces in the area and find Saddam loyalists, and then send such intelligence to the Iraq Survey Group and other agencies.
Between March and July 2003, he says, he was taken to four sites in southern Iraq two within Nasariyah, one 20 miles south and one near Basra which, he was told by numerous Iraqi sources, contained biological and chemical weapons, material for a nuclear programme and UN-proscribed missiles. He was, he says, in no doubt whatever that this was true.
This was, in the first place, because of the massive size of these sites and the extreme lengths to which the Iraqis had gone to conceal them. Three of them were bunkers buried 20 to 30 feet beneath the Euphrates. They had been constructed through building dams which were removed after the huge subterranean vaults had been excavated so that these were concealed beneath the river bed. The bunker walls were made of reinforced concrete five feet thick. Much more at link.
The problem was that the ISG were concentrating their efforts in looking for WMD in northern Iraq and this was in the south, says Mr Gaubatz. They were just swept up by reports of WMD in so many different locations. But we told them that if they didnt excavate these sites, others would.
That, he says, is precisely what happened. He subsequently learnt from Iraqi, CIA and British intelligence that the WMD buried in the four sites were excavated by Iraqis and Syrians, with help from the Russians, and moved to Syria. The location in Syria of this material, he says, is also known to these intelligence agencies. The worst-case scenario has now come about. Saddams nuclear, biological and chemical material is in the hands of a rogue terrorist state and one with close links to Iran.
When Mr Gaubatz returned to the US, he tried to bring all this to light. Two congressmen, Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Curt Weldon, were keen to follow up his account. To his horror, however, when they tried to access his classified intelligence reports, they were told that all 60 of them which, in the routine way, he had sent in 2003 to the computer clearing-house at a US airbase in Saudi Arabia had mysteriously gone missing. These written reports had never even been seen by the ISG.
One theory is that they were inadvertently destroyed when the computers database was accidentally erased in the subsequent US evacuation of the airbase. Mr Gaubatz, however, suspects dirty work at the crossroads. It is unlikely, he says, that no copies were made of his intelligence. And he says that all attempts by Messrs Hoekstra and Weldon to extract information from the Defence Department and CIA have been relentlessly stonewalled.
In 2005, the CIA held a belated inquiry into the disappearance of this intelligence. Only then did its agents visit the sites to report that they had indeed been looted.
Mr Gaubatzs claims remain largely unpublicised. Last year, the New York Times dismissed him as one of a group of WMD diehard obsessives. The New York Sun produced a more balanced report, but after that the coverage died. According to Mr Gaubatz, the reason is a concerted effort by the US intelligence and political world to stifle such an explosive revelation of their own lethal incompetence.
After he and an Iraqi colleague spoke at last months Florida meeting of the Intelligence Summit, an annual conference of the intelligence world, they were interviewed for two hours by a US TV show only for the interview to be junked after the FBI repeatedly rang Mr Gaubatz and his colleague to say they would stop the interview from being broadcast.
The problem the US authorities have is that they cant dismiss Mr Gaubatz as a rogue agent because they have repeatedly decorated him for his work in the field. In 2003, he received awards for his courage and resolve in saving lives and being critical for information flow. In 2001, he was decorated for being the lead agent in a classified investigation, arguably the most sensitive counter-intelligence investigation currently in the entire Department of Defence and because his reports were such high quality, many were published in the Air Forces daily threat product for senior USAF leaders or re-transmitted at the national level to all security agencies in US government. More on political angle at link.
#1
As I mentioned on Captain's Quarters, my BS meter pegged out as I read this story. The situation as described would have been too big, known about by too many people both inside Iraq and around the world for this one guy to be the only information source. Think how easily secrets are leaked that are known to far fewer people.
#2
I know what you're saying, and googling Graubatz turns up a guy who appears to be at least a bit of a braggart. OTOH, I recollect a report from a guy who had seen deep shafts in an island in one of the rivers and surmised that WMD were down there.
It would be interesting to get Hoekstra and Weldon's current take on this. Either those structures are there, or they aren't. And if they are, and are empty, what was in them?
#4
Actually, it is believable, but for a strange reason. The big picture.
Russia was as close to an ally as Saddam had, and they were probably part and parcel of any WMD programs that he had. Including "surety" of those programs.
So before we invaded, we told Russia that our finger was on the nuclear trigger, and if so much as a single WMD was used against us, we would drop a nuke on Baghdad.
However, we made the Russians a deal. If *they* were to transport Iraq's WMDs out of theater, to Syria, and *bury* them there, then we would not connect the dots implicating Russia, or use any kind of WMDs ourselves.
Early on, Israeli intelligence was jumping up and down and waving its hands about Russian trucks taking tons of crap to Syria for burial. We ignored them for the best of all reasons, because we already knew.
The US was also involved in another direction. By the UNSC resolution 1441, we could enter Iraq to search for WMDs and to protect those individuals who were looking for them.
So for the first year or two we went hunting for WMDs we DID NOT want to find. And when we found some old ones, we made them disappear, because had we "found" some, it would be an invitation to the IAEA and the UN to poke around with us. So we kept looking and looking, and not finding.
So yes, undoubtedly there were some serious WMD facilities in Iraq, if not a tunnel complex city beneath Baghdad as was suspected at the start of the war.
WASHINGTON - Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces.
Training Iraqi troops, which had been the cornerstone of the Bush administration's Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in priority, officials in Baghdad and Washington said.
No change has been announced, and a Pentagon spokesman, Col. Gary Keck, said training Iraqis remains important. "We are just adding another leg to our mission," Keck said, referring to the greater U.S. role in establishing security that new troops arriving in Iraq will undertake.
But evidence has been building for months that training Iraqi troops is no longer the focus of U.S. policy. Pentagon officials said they know of no new training resources that have been included in U.S. plans to dispatch 28,000 additional troops to Iraq. The officials spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to discuss the policy shift publicly. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made no public mention of training Iraqi troops on Thursday during a visit to Iraq.
In a reflection of the need for more U.S. troops, the Pentagon decided earlier this month to increase the length of U.S. Army tours in Iraq from 12 to 15 months. The extension came amid speculation that the U.S. commander there, Army Gen. David Petraeus, will ask that the troop increase be maintained well into 2008.
U.S. officials don't say that the training formula - championed by Gen. John Abizaid when he was the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and by Gen. George Casey when he was the top U.S. general in Iraq - was doomed from the start. But they said that rising sectarian violence and the inability of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to unite the country changed the conditions. They say they now must establish security while training Iraqi forces because ultimately, "they are our ticket out of Iraq," as one senior Pentagon official put it.
Casey's "mandate was transition. General Petraeus' mandate is security. It is a change based on conditions. Certain conditions have to be met for the transition to be successful. Security is part of that. And General Petraeus recognizes that," said Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, commander of the Iraq Assistance Group in charge of supporting trained Iraqi forces.
"I think it is too much to expect that we were going to start from scratch ... in an environment that featured a rising sectarian struggle and lack of progress with the government," said a senior Pentagon official. "The conditions had sufficiently changed that the Abizaid/Casey approach alone wasn't going to be sufficient."
Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who's in charge of training Iraqi troops, said in February that he hoped that Iraqi troops would be able to lead by December. "At the tactical level, I do believe by the end of the year, the conditions should be set that they are increasingly taking responsibility for the combat operations," Dempsey told NBC News.
Maj. Gen. Doug Lute, the director of operations at U.S. Central Command, which oversees military activities in the Middle East, said that during the troop increase, U.S. officers will be trying to determine how ready Iraqi forces are to assume control.
"We are looking for indicators where we can assess the extent to which we are fighting alongside Iraqi security forces, not as a replacement to them," he said. Those signs will include "things like the number of U.S.-only missions, the number of combined U.S.-Iraqi missions, the number where Iraqis are in the lead, the number of Joint Security Stations set up," he said.
That's a far cry from the optimistic assessments U.S. commanders offered throughout 2006 about the impact of training Iraqis.
President Bush first announced the training strategy in the summer of 2005.
"Our strategy can be summed up this way," Bush said. "As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."
Military leaders in Baghdad planned to train 325,000 Iraqi security forces. Once that was accomplished, those forces were to take control. Casey created military transition teams that would live side by side with their Iraqi counterparts to help them apply their training to real-world situations.
Throughout 2006, Casey and top Bush administration leaders touted the training as a success, asserting that eight of Iraq's 10 divisions had taken the lead in confronting insurgents.
But U.S. forces complained that the Iraqi forces weren't getting the support from their government and that Iraqi military commanders, many who worked under Saddam Hussein, weren't as willing to embrace their tactics. Among everyday Iraqis, some said they didn't trust their forces, saying they were sectarian and easily susceptible to corruption.
Most important, insurgents and militiamen had infiltrated the forces, using their power to carry out sectarian attacks.
In nearly every area where Iraqi forces were given control, the security situation rapidly deteriorated. The exceptions were areas dominated largely by one sect and policed by members of that sect.
In the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, which Bush celebrated last year as an example of success, suspected Sunni Muslim insurgents set off a bomb last month that killed as many as 150 people, the largest single bombing attack of the war. Shiite Muslim mobs, including some police officers, pulled Sunnis from their homes and executed dozens afterward. U.S. troops were dispatched to restore order.
Earlier this month, U.S. forces engaged in heavy fighting in the southern city of Diwaniyah after Iraqi forces, who'd been given control of the region in January 2006, lost control of the city.
U.S. officials said they once believed that if they empowered their Iraqi counterparts, they'd take the lead and do a better job of curtailing the violence. But they concede that's no longer their operating principle.
Pentagon officials won't say how many U.S. troops are engaged in training, though they said that the number of teams assigned to work alongside trained Iraqi troops hasn't changed.
Military officials say there's no doubt that the November U.S. elections, which gave Democrats control of both houses of Congress, helped push training down the priority list. The elections, they said, made it clear that voters didn't have the patience to wait for Iraqis to take the lead.
"To the extent we are losing the American public, we were losing" in the transition approach, said a senior military commander in Washington.
Military analysts cite a number of reasons that the training program didn't work.
"The goal was to put the Iraqis in charge. The problem is we didn't know how to do it and we underestimated the insurgency," said Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Said Paul Hughes of the U.S. Institute for Peace: "In our initial efforts to hand security missions over to Iraqi forces, we took the training wheels off too early - and the bike fell over."
Military officials now measure success by whether the troops are curbing violence, not by the number of Iraqi troops trained.
Many officials are vague about when the U.S. will know when troops can begin to return home. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. is trying to buy "time for the Iraqi government to provide the good governance and the economic activity that's required."
One State Department official, who also asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, expressed the same sentiment in blunter terms. "Our strategy now is to basically hold on and wait for the Iraqis to do something," he said.
#1
This doesn't feel quite right. We recently read dispatches from ITM, for instance, where he described IA-manned roadblocks etc. operating independently and effectively. We read blog posts from our soldiers mentioning accompanying IA on 'good' operations (and, naturally, some that were not so good) - which we did not hear a year or two ago. The Tal Afar bombing did lead to some violent retaliation - but to me it seemed less than 'normal'. And were US forces dispatched to restore order, or was it IA?
I don't doubt that with the surge, IA training is not priority number one - but maybe it is partly because we figure the IA is now trained-up enough to learn by doing. (The article may be more accurate regarding the police, but even they seem better than a year ago.)
Iraq's hotly debated draft oil law was to be sent to parliament next week, the country's oil minister said on Wednesday. Hussain al-Shahristani, who was attending an oil conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, did not give a specific day but said the measure would go to lawmakers before the next week was out. In Baghdad, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the draft law would be in front of the legislature "within the coming few days if everything goes well."
"The draft is with the State Shura Council now to be put in a legal form after being written in technical language," Jihad said. "We are expecting to take no more than two months to discuss it inside the parliament... between one and two months it depends on the parliament," Jihad added.
The Iraqi oil legislation, which was endorsed by the cabinet last February, will open the door for the government to sign contracts for exploration and production of the country's vast untapped reserves. It was designed to create a fair distribution of oil profits to all Iraqis and it is perhaps the most important piece of legislation for Iraq's American patrons. Passage of the law, thought to have been written with heavy U.S. involvement, is one of four benchmarks the Bush administration has set for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's struggling government.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Gaza - Ma'an - Palestinian security sources have reported that two Palestinians were injured on Friday as a result of misuse of weapons in the Rafah and Deir Al-Balah areas of the Gaza Strip. Oh, good. They could use a slow night. Gives them a chance to reload and feed Alan Johnston...
The security sources told our correspondent in Gaza that the first citizen is an activist in the Islamic Jihad movement. He received an injury to his hand when a hand grenade exploded inside his home in Rafah, in the south of the Strip. The pin comes out...the pin goes in...the pin comes out...
"Fatima, watch this!"
The second injury occurred when a bullet was mistakenly released from a machine gun in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. The holder of the gun was injured in his left leg. Probably wedding practice. Which leads us to...
Hebron - Ma'an - Seven Palestinians were injured during a wedding in the West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday evening when shots were fired in the air. Nah, Mahmoud, the bullets just go up into space... Palestinian security sources reported that the groom's brother started shooting in the air using an automatic weapon. Just minutes later, his hand slipped and he injured 7 guests who were taken to hospital. One of them was described as being in a critical condition. Okay. While the band takes a break, here's the groom's brother with an AK-47 solo...
The security officials in Hebron condemned this incident, assuring the need to confiscate weapons from the citizens because the proliferation of weapons contributes to the increase of lawlessness. Aw, c'mon guys. It's a wedding, for crissakes! And nobody died, so that's good luck for the happy couple...
Qalqilya - Ma'an - on Thursday evening, Capt. Mahmoud Iwesi from the general Palestinian intelligence was injured by mysterious gunfire east of Qalqilya city in the north west of the occupied West Bank. Ah, ye olde "mysterious gunfire"...
He really is named 'Mahmoud'?
An eyewitness reported that the shooting at Iwesi came from a vehicle. Iwesi was standing at the eastern entrance to the city of Qalqilya. Medical sources described 'Iwesi's condition as moderate; he was injured by several bullets in his legs. He looked "suspicious". So we "mysteriously" shot him...
Shot in the legs; clearly done by Zionists. Paleos shoot each other in the feet.
Gaza has been unofficially declared a no go zone among foreign journalists, who say kidnappings and attacks on reporters have gone too far, and PA officials not far enough. Foreign journalists have been quietly streaming out of Gaza in recent months as the risk of life-threatening attacks and kidnappings skyrockets. The last holdout, British Broadcasting Corporation journalist Alan Johnston, was pulled from his car outside his Gaza City office at gunpoint on March 12. Good riddance to bad garbage
Posted by: Mahmoud Abbas ||
04/20/2007 12:24 Comments ||
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#2
Notice how you never see laywers go shark fishing? This is what happens when you betray professional courtesy. Whatever will the Palestinian media whores do without a publicity arm to highlight their endless struggles and suffering? This is too rich for words. As usual, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Without their running sores prominently on display, how will they ever obtain more EU financing? Can these stupid fucks get any more stupid? Strictly a rhetorical question, mind you.
Guy gets shot in the foot, work accident kills X and X ,automatic weapons fire wounds X wedding guests, Hamas guy shoots Fatah guy, Fatah guy shoots Hamas guy, 6 year old gets blown up by playing with daddy's grenade, sewage flood kills X people, Hamas guy kidnaps Fatah guy, Fatah guy kidnaps Hamas guy, guy gets shot in foot, work accident kills X and X, video store blown up, furniture store blown up, we need more money, we need more money, Unity Government, Hamas guy dies in training accident, Fatah guy dies in training accident, work accident kills X, 2 bottle rockets shot at Israel, guy gets shot in foot, Al-Barzini's clash with Al-Corleones, tunnel collapse kills X people, whine, whine, whine, guy gets shot in the foot, jooos, joooos, jooos, we need more money...
#6
So tu, you are obviously saving the IDF armored D-9 hovel-flattening episodes for tomorrow. Maybe you can work with this: "Amid the roar of the turbocharged diesel, St. Pancake was heard to say.....(fillin the blank"
#6
On the other hand, the F-22 is a stealth aircraft that can be used as a ground attack aircraft. It could reach, say, Iran from Israel, without being detected.
#7
Sell the 'export' version; the one with the built in spodeystuff if the gps says goofy things are happening. besides, if you just sell the airframe, all they have is a supersonic executive jet for an unscheduled airline. it needs the weapon system to do some good. trying to integrate that to the airframe would take some time and $$.
#9
Israel can stuff it along with their technology pipeline to China. Tel Aviv must understand how badly it undermines their moral authority and political capital when they sell off America's technology to our enemies.
China's missile-related imports and assistance from Israel have been a subject of particular concern in the United States because of worries that Israel may be providing China with "back door" access to controlled, sensitive US technology. For example, in the early 1990s, reports surfaced that Israel had secretly transferred information on the US Patriot missile system to China, in violation of Israel's promise to the United States not to transfer the Patriot technology to any third country. Although both China and Israel denied the allegations, US government sources concluded that it was almost certain that a transfer of technology (though not physical equipment) had taken place.
China is reportedly using the Patriot technology to improve its surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems and to develop countermeasures against the Patriot for its ballistic and cruise missiles; reports also indicated that China intended to sell these SAMs and enhanced missiles to other countries, possibly including Iran. Reports suggested various Israeli motives for the transfer: some suggested that Israel had traded Patriot information for information on China's missiles; others asserted that Israel's transfer of Patriot technology was intended to encourage China to curtail its sales of ballistic missiles to countries in the Middle East such as Syria and Iran.
In addition to the alleged Patriot technology transfer, Israel has allegedly supplied China with cruise missile technology, including sensitive US technology. Specifically, Israel is allegedly assisting China with the development of its YF-12A, YJ-62, and YJ-92 cruise missiles.
In September 1992, responding to US accusations that Israel sold China Patriot missile secrets, Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen denied "that there had been any kind of military cooperation between Israel and China prior to the establishment of diplomatic relations."
Under U.S. pressure, Israel backed out of a deal with China, potentially valued at $1 billion, in July of 2000. Under the deal, Israel would have outfitted three Chinese Il-76 planes with Phalcon radars. The United States believed the deal would tip the strategic balance against Taiwan. Chinese authorities responded harshly and demanded return of their deposit and compensation. In the Spring of 2002, Israel agreed to pay a reported $300 million to put an end to the dispute over the cancellation.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2007 14:14 Comments ||
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#14
crap...shoulda refreshed...sorry
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2007 14:15 Comments ||
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#15
"Under U.S. pressure, Israel backed out of a deal with China, potentially valued at $1 billion, in July of 2000. Under the deal, Israel would have outfitted three Chinese Il-76 planes with Phalcon radars. The United States believed the deal would tip the strategic balance against Taiwan. Chinese authorities responded harshly and demanded return of their deposit and compensation. In the Spring of 2002, Israel agreed to pay a reported $300 million to put an end to the dispute over the cancellation."
Note, that at least in more recent years the Israelis have stuck more strictly to the rules. 1992 was before the more recent flareups with Taiwan, and its just a tad misleading to read the later political situation with China back that far.
Anyway,the Japanese are first in line for the F22 for export, right?
#16
So far, according to what I have heard from the air force guys, the F-22 is not slated for export. The F-35 will have the export technology in it. This could change in the future, especially under a new administration. But for the moment, the F-22 is a US only aircraft.
#17
1992 was before the more recent flareups with Taiwan, and its just a tad misleading to read the later political situation with China back that far.
How so? China consistently has sought to circumvent advanced military technology export bans put in place after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Collusion with Israel is only a visible facet of an overall policy of subverting, stealing or covertly acquiring high-tech military hardware. In no way has China reduced its threat profile. Continued support of North Korea destabilizes the entire Northeast Asian Quadrant and their unprecedented military buildup is encouraging a second Cold War. Concentration of missiles opposite Taiwan belies any commitments to regional peace. Sales of armaments to Iran and other rogue regimes puts the entire Middle East at risk. Massive hydroelectric projects along the Mekong River's headwaters pose a danger to several Southeast Asian nations. China's persistent theft of intellectual property, utter disregard for international patents and piracy of trademarks in counterfeit goods make them an economic pariah. Nowhere has there been the least deviation from this pattern over the last several decades.
#18
The above leaves out any mention of China dazzling our reconnaisance satellites, development of anti-satellite technology nor the wholly unacceptable pollution of earth orbit with debris from their latest anti-satellite weapons test. Some 150,000 pieces of detectable shrapnel now pose a direct threat to manned and unmanned orbital platforms. China has been totally irresponsible in their conduct and require stiff upbraiding by the international community.
Need I go on about China's massive contribution to acid rain and ecological devastation in the region?
#20
No, where do I mention them? xbalanke brought those topics up. My post refers to the Patriot Missile technology. The Phalcon AWACS system is mentioned in my posted article but only as an example of how Israel's dealings with China threaten to destabilize the ongoing detente regarding Taiwan.
If Israel insists upon being so damned mercenary, they are going to make themselves into a pariah. That's a very unpromising change to their already beleaguered status in the Middle East. In light of America's stolid support for Israel it is immensely ungrateful of them to be hawking off advanced weapons to our declared enemies.
Even more ironic is how China reverse engineers this technology and immediately sells it to Israel's most hated foes, like Iran. There is a limit to the value of money if the getting of it speeds your own doom.
#21
Just 90% of it, Gromguru. The United States and the LAVI Before the project was terminated, the US would set far-reaching precedents in the areas of FMS and technology transfer and would finance over 90 percent of the Lavi's development costs.
Posted by: ed ||
04/20/2007 18:38 Comments ||
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#22
The Phalcon includes US technology. Israel had to get US permission to sell three Phalcons to India.
The first IL-76 is slated to arrive in India this year. The IAF already wants three more.
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/20/2007 19:10 Comments ||
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#23
WAFF > JAPAN really Really REALLY wants to purchase 100 F22's in $30.0Bilyuuuhn contract wid USA; + BBC/IHT.com > CHINESE RIVALS FIGHT FOR PACIFIC - China vz Taiwan for most part, down South Pacific ways near Australia-NZ. Considering that China had also announced a few weeks back it wants to build mil base(s) in the area to offset USA-Britain, LOOKS LIKE INDIA ISN'T THE ONLY US-BRIT PARTNER BEING OUTFLANKED ON LAND AND SEA BY CHINA.
Acting Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Sheikh Ahmad Bahr, From Hamas, In Friday Sermon in Sudan: U.S., Israel Will Be Annihilated; Oh Allah, Kill the Jews and Americans 'To The Very Last One'
The following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Ahmad Bahr, acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, from Hamas, which aired on Sudan TV on April 13, 2007.
TO VIEW THIS CLIP: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=1426
"America Will Be Annihilated, While Islam Will Remain"
Ahmad Bahr: "'You will be victorious' on the face of this planet. You are the masters of the world on the face of this planet. Yes, [the Koran says that] 'you will be victorious,' but only 'if you are believers.' Allah willing, 'you will be victorious,' while America and Israel will be annihilated, Allah willing. I guarantee you that the power of belief and faith is greater than the power of America and Israel. They are cowards, as is said in the Book of Allah: 'You shall find them the people most eager to protect their lives.' They are cowards, who are eager for life, while we are eager for death for the sake of Allah. That is why America's nose was rubbed in the mud in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia, and everywhere."
[...]
"America will be annihilated, while Islam will remain. The Muslims 'will be victorious, if you are believers.' Oh Muslims, I guarantee you that the power of Allah is greater than America, by whom many are blinded today. Some people are blinded by the power of America. We say to them that with the might of Allah, with the might of His Messenger, and with the power of Allah, we are stronger than America and Israel."
[...]
"I tell you that we will protect the enterprise of the resistance, because the Zionist enemy understands only the language of force. It does not recognize peace or the agreements. It does not recognize anything, and it understands only the language of force. Our jihad-fighting Palestinian people salutes its brother, Sudan." [...]
"Oh Allah... Kill Them All, Down to the Very Last One"
"The Palestinian woman bids her son farewell, and says to him: 'Son, go and don't be a coward. Go, and fight the Jews.' He bids her farewell and carries out a martyrdom operation. What did this Palestinian woman say when she was asked for her opinion, after the martyrdom of her son? She said: 'My son is my own flesh and blood. I love my son, but my love for Allah and His Messenger is greater than my love for my son.' Yes, this is the message of the Palestinian woman, who was over 70 years old Fatima Al-Najjar. She was over 70 years old, but she blew herself up for the sake of Allah, bringing down many criminal Zionists."
[...]
"Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters coz we can't do it on our own. Oh Allah, vanquish the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them."
#7
Shoot him in both feet and let him bleed out; then claim it was a work accidentdiscussion with his cousins in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Zionist plot.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/20/2007 14:51 Comments ||
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#8
I think that we should make satirical cartoons of this guy and hack into Sudan TV, for starters. I want to see turbine, er turban overspeed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/20/2007 16:35 Comments ||
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#9
I welcome his honesty. If all radical Islamists/sympathizers in positions of power were as open as this, waking up the American public would not be so damn hard.
Hell, a few more rants like that and even the delusional Euro elitists might be bitchslapped into recognizing reality.
#13
FREEREPUBLIC/WND > AL Qaeda engaging in "mergers/Franchising" wid other Terror orgs to escalate = intensify attacks against the West; + COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS > % Risk of nuclear [terror?]detonation inside USA over next years at 50%. GOOD NEWS - Iff enemy 10-kiloton bomb "fizzles" to only a one-kiloton-sized nuke, only people within 1/10th from epicenter + buildings/skyscrapers 1/3 of mile away will be blown to glowing smithereenies. Level of collateral casualties uncertain. BAD NEWS > in TEN YARNS will Year 2017 WHICH IS WITHIN RUSSIA-CHINA'S TIMELINE FOR ANTI-US "WAR NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED" WAR FOR US DEFEAT IFF NOT TOTAL DESTRUCTION. *KEEP LOADING DEM SHOTGUNS, WOMAN, USA IS SAFE FOR ABSOLUTELY UNDENIABLY CATEGORICALLY UNEQUIVOCALLY TEN YEARS AND BEYOND!
Rome, 20 April (AKI) - Italy and Indonesia are finalising details of a deal to provide Indonesia with two Corvettes or enhanced fast patrol boats worth 520,000 euros, that will be jointly financed and built by the two countries. This was confirmed by the Indonesian defence minister Juwono Sudarsono, in an exclusive interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) on Friday during his three-day visit to Italy. "We want to shift the emphasis to joint production rather than just buying them directly," Sudarsono told AKI, adding that they are exploring similar deals with China, South Korea and India to meet Indonesia's defence needs.
The acquisition of the vessels is part of Indonesia's National Corvette Programme to build up a fleet of 30 to 40 Corvettes in the space of 10 to 15 years to patrol the maritime areas of Indonesia, the world's largest archipelagic state.
The boats will be used to patrol the sea lanes around Indonesia and conduct anti-piracy programmes in and around the Malacca Straits, which has typically been one of the most pirate-infested sea lanes in the world - and it is also one of the busiest.
The National Corvette Programme was initiated five years ago and Indonesia currently has eight such vessels, four of which they purchased from the Netherlands. However this deal with the two Italian companies, the ship builder, Fincantieri to build the vessles and the aerospace and defence holding, Finmechanica, to build the combat systems on the two Corvettes, is different.
According to Sudrasono, who met with Italian defence minister Arturo Parisi on Thursday, the Italian government has agreed to provide a bank guarantee for 85 percent of the costs while the remaining 15 percent will be provided by the state banks of Indonesia. On top of that there will also be a joint production with the shipyards in Surabaya in East Java with the hope of developing "a home grown maritime defence". Now the story gets interesting
"Based on our assessment, we find that Italy has the best technology on the vessel side and on the command control side," said Sudorsono. "It has a good reputation and the price is right," he said, adding that there is also a political element.. There always is...
"Italy is fairly independent of NATO policy especially with regards to Afghanistan and Iraq," Sudarsono told AKI, refering to the fact that Italy has withdrawn most of its troops from Iraq with the exception of some Carabinieri or paramilitary troops. "This is politically important because we want to share a vision of defence strategy including defence planning and management," he said. What is a Muslim vision of a defense strategy? (this is a rhetorical question)
Following his meetings Italian defence ministry officials, Sudorsono also said that they have to exchange visits between the national defence colleges of the two countries, a programme Indonesia already has in place with India, Australia and Japan.
"We want to encourage our soldiers to have a healthy sense of nationalism and not to be too inward looking," he said, adding that there will also be opportunities for Indonesian officers to gain training in humanitarian and military law at an international institute in San Remo and in La Spezia, in the coastal north-western region of Liguria. "We want our officers to be well-versed in international dimensions of conflict resolution, adhering to human rights principles as part of our democratic reform process," he said. Good luck with that.
Both Italy and Indonesia have sent troops to Lebanon to be a part of the UNIFIL mission, with Italy assuming its leadership in March.
Sudorsono said that Indonesia "provided the right ambience" in the UNIFIL mission because it shared the same multi-cultural and multi-ethnic traits as Lebanon. And they share the same activities: car bombs and dead Christians.
The mystery surrounding a former FBI agent who disappeared while visiting Iran last month deepened on Thursday after Iranian authorities officially notified the US that they had no information about him.
Sean McCormack, US state department spokesman, said Iran had sent a brief response to US inquiries through the usual Swiss diplomatic channels on Wednesday, stating that Iran had no record concerning the whereabouts of Robert Levinson. However, Mr McCormack added that the department had assured itself "to a great degree" that Mr Levinson, a 59-year-old private investigator and expert on organised crime who used to work for the FBI, was in fact in Iran.
Associates of Mr Levinson fear he is the unwitting victim of an undeclared tit-for-tat series of hostage-taking between the US and Iran that began when the US seized five Iranian officials in northern Iraq in January.
The Financial Times last week quoted Dawud Salahuddin, an American fugitive living in Iran since 1980, as saying he met Mr Levinson on March 8 on the Iranian island of Kish, where they registered a room in the Maryam Hotel. Mr Salahuddin said he was detained that evening and released the next day, but did not see Mr Levinson again.
Joseph Trento, writing for the National Security News Service, a non-profit Washington news organisation, quoted unnamed CIA sources as saying that Iran wanted to trade Mr Levinson for Ali Reza Asgari, a former Iranian general who disappeared in Turkey this year. The CIA denies all knowledge of Mr Asgari's whereabouts. Mr Trento, who met Mr Salahuddin in 1995, quoted the fugitive as saying he had called Mr Levinson's family in Florida. He also said he had since learned that Mr Levinson was safe in Iranian custody.
Mr Salahuddin, who is wanted for murder in the US, told the FT earlier that Mr Levinson wanted him to help arrange contacts with the Iranian authorities to discuss issues concerning cigarette smuggling.
#2
Mr Salahuddin, who is wanted for murder in the US, told the FT earlier that Mr Levinson wanted him to help arrange contacts with the Iranian authorities to discuss issues concerning cigarette smuggling.
The families of those killed in the Virginia Tech massacre may not be able to grieve in peace at the funerals of those they lost. An anti-gay religious group known for protesting at the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq is planning on appearing at services for those killed on Monday as well.
The Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), which is not affiliated with any national Baptist organization, announced plans to protest at victims funerals only hours after 32 people were killed in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. They also may protest at other events on the Virginia Tech campus.
The organization, founded and led by Fred Phelps, believes the United States has condemned itself to destruction by accepting homosexuality and other sins of the flesh. Phelps daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said the Virginia Tech teachers and students who died on Monday brought their fate upon themselves by not being true Christians.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
I think he'd better target the dead being buried in other states. Virginia has a law against what he wants to do.
And the Attorney General sent all the Virginia Commonwealth's Attorneys a letter today reminding them of the statute and offering any assistance they might need. As well as announcing it to the public.
Of course, I think the best thing would be for the cops to all tie their shoes for about 10 minutes and let the funeral attendees take care of the problem. But maybe that's just me.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/20/2007 0:42 Comments ||
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#4
But maybe that's just me.
Nope. I'm still hoping you'll pencil me in for your next love child, Barbara.
#14
More frightening than bats and pick handles someone needs to send in the lawyers, IRS, and Local police.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/20/2007 16:17 Comments ||
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#15
The police need to arrest the entire Phelps group and charge them with crossing a state boundary to commit a crime, which is a federal felony charge. A dozen life sentences for each attendee would be too kind - better they should be stripped of their citizenship and shipped to Bolivia, with no possibility of ever returning to the United States. Phelps gives Baptists and Americans in general a bad name.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/20/2007 16:37 Comments ||
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#16
OP - I'm Catholic. I wouldn't BEGIN to think this band of inbred cretins represent the Baptist Church
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2007 16:53 Comments ||
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#17
Heck, just give them all heart attacks or strokes by having a couple of guys doing a little grab-a$$ or whatever in front of them.
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.
Pakistani efforts to police its border have helped NATO improve security in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan, although Taliban fighters are still sneaking across, a top alliance general said on Thursday.
The Supreme Council of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) will meet here today (Friday) evening, Daily Times learnt on Thursday. MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmad will preside over the meeting to be held at his residence in Sector E-7. According to the sources the meeting will discuss the judicial crisis, the reports of deal between Benazir and General Musharraf, besides the MMAs strategy for the upcoming session of the National Assembly.
A state-within-a-state is not acceptable to us, declared Anis Haroon of the Aurat Foundation while addressing a rally called against religious extremism as espoused by the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa Thursday. During the tenure of different governments there have been conspiracies against women and the Jamia Hafsa matter is also a deep plot against women, she said while standing on a pick-up in front of a small but formidable crowd at the Quaid-e-Azam Mazaar. As a social worker, we reject this. They do this in a bid to try and keep women from attaining their fundamental rights in Islam. All religions of the world give the message of peace. She also said that the chief justice should be restored. The women vowed to continue their struggle as long as their rights were withheld from them. This struggle would continue with civil society. City Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil condemned Danda bardar force in the name of Islam and said that religion did not given permission for it either. The people who come out on the streets for this will face the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in equal measure, she said. Many Christians, students and teachers also attended in addition to Uzma Noorani of the Womens Action Forum and her colleague Qausar Naz Nasreen, Sumera Ejaz Malik from Shirkat Gah, Aslam Brohi and Lala Hasan Pathan from Aurat Foundation, councilors from the city, Sukkur, Dadu and Badin and HRCP members with their lawyers.
WASHINGTON - Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces. 
Iraq's hotly debated draft oil law was to be sent to parliament next week, the country's oil minister said on Wednesday. Hussain al-Shahristani, who was attending an oil conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, did not give a specific day but said the measure would go to lawmakers before the next week was out. In Baghdad, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the draft law would be in front of the legislature "within the coming few days if everything goes well." 
Acting Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker 
The families of those killed in the Virginia Tech massacre may not be able to grieve in peace at the funerals of those they lost. An anti-gay religious group known for protesting at the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq is planning on appearing at services for those killed on Monday as well. 
