Afghan police clashed with Iranian forces at the southwestern border between the two countries, leaving one civilian dead and two Iranian officers wounded, officials said Sunday. The incident in the village of Pul-e-Abreshum in Nimroz province happened Saturday after an Iranian patrol entered Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Good idea to push em back
Afghan police dispatched a unit to the village and a gunbattle ensued. A teacher from the village was killed during the firefight, said provincial police chief Gen. Ayub Badakhshi. Two Iranian officers were wounded, the statement said. gutshot, I hope
The long and porous border between the two countries is used by smugglers to traffic drugs into Iran. Many Afghans also cross illegally into Iran from the area. Border clashes are common.
Separately, in eastern Kunar province, a rocket attack killed a 15-year old-boy and wounded five other children Sunday, said Abdul Sabur Allayar, the deputy provincial police chief. He blamed the enemies of Afghanistan for the attack, which killed the children as they collected grass for their sheep in the provincial capital Asadabad. Taliban strategy - hearts and minds
In southern Kandahar province, clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban insurgents on Saturday and Sunday left six militants dead. Fourteen others were detained, said Shirin Shah, an Afghan army officer. "sorry, we're fresh outta virgins. How about a melon?"
A policeman died and an Afghan soldier was wounded during the fighting, he said.
More than 1,000 people, mostly militants, have died this year in insurgency-related violence, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials. Many of those killed were civilians caught up in insurgent attacks.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2008 14:24 ||
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KABUL - The Afghan government plans to investigate whether the United States used depleted uranium during its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and if it might be linked to malformed babies born afterwards.
Couldn't be the fact that Mahmoud married his cousin, of course ...
Parts of Afghanistan, particularly the mountainous region of Tora Bora in the east -- the suspected hideout of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden -- came under heavy U.S. bombing in late 2001 when the Taliban regime was ousted.
Depleted uranium is a heavy metal used in some weapons that can pierce armour. It has small levels of radioactivity associated with it.
There's a reason why it's called depleted, you idjits ...
Cases of malformed babies delivered in the heavily bombed Afghan areas have come to light, Faizullah Kakar, Afghan deputy public health minister for technical affairs said on Saturday, citing an unnamed U.S. expert.
News brought by the same people who think that the polio vaccine makes Muslims sterile ...
Kakar told Reuters the Afghan government planned to investigate the matter. We have decided to do a study to see what is going on. We will take samples of soil, rocks, water in different areas where the war had taken place in the past and look in the same area to see if there is an excess of malformed babies, Kakar said.
Its then that we can tell you what is going on. But until then it is still speculation, he said. In Afghanistan, we have so many problems with nutritional deficiency, like folic acid. So its difficult to tell if its due to depleted uranium or due to some nutritional problems or some other genetic issues, he said.
But it's better politics to blame DU as opposed to malnutrition ...
Asked if the United States had told Afghanistan if depleted uranium was used during the war, Kakar said: They have not told us that they have used it, but my source said it was used.
Kakar said he would like to see the study done as soon as possible, but the Afghan government, which largely relies on Western aid and troops, needed to find ways of funding it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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It's called depleted because its U235 isotope has been removed for fuel and is the U238 left behind. U238 is still radioactive emitting an alpha particle and has a half-life of approx. 4 billion years.
Could the malformed babies be from the prevalent Bronze Age lifestyle? Just askin'.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/20/2008 7:10 Comments ||
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#3
...Someone needs to sit Mr. Kakar down and tell him exactly how close Afghanistan came to seeing a much more devastating form of U235 one night in September of 2001. It was on the table.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/20/2008 7:52 Comments ||
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#4
"So its difficult to tell if its due to depleted uranium or due to some nutritional problems or some other genetic issues, he said.
"But that little fact won't stop us from blaming you anyways!"
#6
"There's a reason why it's called depleted, you idjits"
Not sure where to start with this one... I love Americans, silly little monkeys you are... I would think ( however thinking gets me kicked off this site most usually) that the folks that hang-out on this site would have heard of a gulf war syndrome. I thought you guys had some respect for your Vet's. Ask one of the Vets that worked around DU during the GW1 about potential fall out of DU... Not quite as funny when it is Americans suffering... But it never is...
Oh yeah one other thing... I am not the greatest one for spelling and punctuation, however there is something very telling about one who cannot spell "idiot" correctly ... So telling in fact I am almost positive to which political party affiliation he must belong... :)
#10
Time to add folic acid to our tank rounds. And yes, Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot - Vitamin Enriched (APFSDS-VE) is a mouthful, but at least it is good for you. Unless you are directly on the receiving end.
As for there is something very telling about one who cannot spell "idiot" correctly, there is also something charming about foreigners tripping over transliterations of American slang and regional accents. For future reference, so you don't look foolish, consider adding 'sumbitch' (son of a bitch), 'furrener' (foreigner) and 'idjit' (idiot) to your lexicon.
#12
Steve, actually you are right... Now that I think back, my father used to use the word "idjit-farm" when he was referring to golf courses... Sorry... I totally forgot... many years ago...
#13
ahhhh a moral-high-ground troll. Can we keep him?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2008 10:03 Comments ||
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#14
I have heard of tankers having deformed children at a higher than normal rate, DU was suspected as a possible cause. But tankers have about a thousand times the exposure to the DU dust and debris than the people that they are shooting the rounds at. I would wonder if the birth defect rate in Afghanistan was that high before the invasion, my guess would be that it was. Farm chemicals, drug processing chemicals, and poor nutrition are likely the culprit. DU may very well have aggravated the situation but they were running a human roach motel and I don't feel very bad for them. Guess I'm not a very nice person.
#15
mac-b-only --it is idiots like this that make me want us to tell the world to go fuck themselves..they can take care of mother russia and imperial china... we really do not need these scumbags who use america...80% of our economy is home grown..something the euroslam cannot say..fuck em all -- tell'em go to hell
if you have ever traveled outstide the US you would thank your golden nuts you are AMERICAN...these little shits around the world would be lost if the american cowboy did not materialize
Posted by: Dan ||
04/20/2008 10:08 Comments ||
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#16
And I have noticed a lot of poop-listing over the last year, just sayin.
#18
Let's be clear about DU: it's 'depleted' for a reason. It has three times less 238U than natural uranium. It's an alpha-emitter, but alpha-radiation is not an issue (excepting very, very high doses).
What is important about DU is that it's a heavy metal. Exposure to heavy metal dust can cause some medical problems. The big one is renal failure; all heavy metals are known to do this.
Inhalation of dust, or direct entry due to wounds, is the prime method of getting any heavy metal dust into the body. Ingestion results in negligible systemic absorption.
According to the WHO fact sheet (reasonably reliable), there are no reports of reproductive or developmental abnormalities associated with DU exposure. That means there is little likelihood of DU causing the terrible birth defects that the foolish left-wing nutters (hello mac-b) claim it does.
It's interesting what an application of science, medicine, logic and reason can do to counter rabid left-wing paranoia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/20/2008 10:52 Comments ||
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#19
Steve has it right. The major health risk of DU is heavy metal poisoning. In fact, each of us has a tiny amount of natural uranium in our bodies. A little bit is absorbed and excreted each day.
It is highly unlikely any DU API was used at Tora Bora. It was a heavy bomber operation with support by F-15Es. They dropped gravity bombs (dumb, laser and GPS). The A-10s that carry the 30mm DU anti-tank rounds were not in theater. Even today, I doubt the the A-10s based in Afghanistan even carry them. The high explosive incendiary rounds are much more effective since taliban tanks are not an issue.
Why blame their crappy society when it's much more edifying to blame whitey infidels?
Posted by: ed ||
04/20/2008 11:22 Comments ||
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#20
And what are you, Steve White, some kind of doctor?
*I* know, but I 'll bet mac-whoever-pooplist does not.
I hate it when a beautiful theory is gunned down by a brutal gang of facts.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2008 11:48 Comments ||
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#21
What bothers me is that people are exposed to "depleted uranium" all the time. It occurs naturally in the soil. If you live downwind from a coal power plant you are breathing the stuff. Uranium 238 isn't all that toxic, what is most toxic are the decay products. One would be exposed to about the same level of these as they get from normal background radiation ... in other words ... from plain old dirt.
Depleted uranium is used for bullets because it is denser than lead. It also poses less of a health hazard than lead does.
#25
Very erudite way of saying their family tree don't fork, Frank.
*golf clap* :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/20/2008 14:32 Comments ||
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#26
Left-conformists demonize DU because it is effective.
The sole purpose of their various campaigns against specific weapons, including DU, cluster bombs and (tentatively) fuel-air explosives, is to create political pressure for the removal of these weapons from the arsenal, thereby providing our enemies, and the left's clients, with a military advantage.
In this, as in all else, the "peace movement" is a ruthless, depraved, and almost demonically hypocritical fraud aimed only at promoting the power of thugs, dictators, and other scum with whom peacenik power-seeker neurotics identify.
I am especially put out with them today because I spent a big part of last night talking with a group of young Americans who had come here as refugees from communist conquered Vietnam. It would break your heart to hear their accounts of communist atrocities and malfeasance, then contrast this with the media left's fawning praise for the Vietnamese communists, not to mention the Democratic Party's open support for that Stalinist theft of an entire country.
The wheel has turned though, and I believe I will live to see Vietnam a free country, with the communists hanging from lampposts and their American shills disgraced and driven from their positions of power and reduced to begging and turning tricks in dark alleys, if not worse.
Damn them and all their works, and damn their media and their depraved political and academic culture. They are the enemy, and the Islamic terrorists are only their current tools of convenience.
#27
When your family tree looks like a Gordian Knot rootbound potted plant, you might have issues.
/Just buildin' on what Commodore Frank was sayin'
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/20/2008 17:06 Comments ||
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#28
"consanguineous"
Now just HOW am I going to work that into any sort of conversation tomorrow @ work?
I bet that this is also one word never used in the Reader's Digest "It pays to increase your word power" section, either.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/20/2008 21:20 Comments ||
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#30
If I was going to loot a destroyed tank, I'd wear a dustmask. Outside of that, I'd worry more about mad cow when spreading bone meal on the garden.
(SomaliNet) Nearly two weeks after two United Nations (UN) staffers escaped an ambush, donors and aid agencies on Friday warned that worsening security in the Somali breakaway region of Puntland is choking off humanitarian efforts. The agencies said in a statement released by the UN Development Programme that this has prompted agencies to temporarily reduce the number of international staff in the north-eastern region, where the local population is still in need of help.
"The international community is gravely concerned about the steady trend in the deterioration of security conditions in the Puntland State of Somalia," the statement said. "We call on Puntland State authorities to take steps to ensure the safety of staff working to help the people, and to show their commitment by their actions in subjecting the perpetrators of attacks against aid workers to due process of law."
The agencies further urged influential traditional and religious leaders to renounce and expose lawlessness and participate in efforts to ensure aid programmes are not hampered.
An incident on April 6, when two staff members of the UN refugee agency narrowly escaped an ambush on their vehicle by armed militiamen in Puntland, had highlighted the worsening situation, the statement said. Two aid workers and a journalist were abducted late last year and a German aid worker was briefly held in February in a region disputed by Puntland and the neighbouring breakaway region of Somaliland.
Two other aid workers - a Kenyan and a Briton - employed by an India-based organisation and contracted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation are currently held by gunmen in southern Somalia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Seems Puntland is also the source of many (if not most) of the pirates operating in the area. Maybe if they weren't so stoopid they might be able to be helped. Stupidity is a terminal illness. I have no sympathy for those that die from it. That goes double when it's compounded by religious idiocy.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/20/2008 16:18 Comments ||
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Tory London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has been forced to defend his stance on Islam, insisting he believed it was a "religion of peace". Mr Johnson has been criticised for an article he wrote in the wake of the 7/7 London terror attacks in 2005 claiming "Islam is the problem". But Mr Johnson said the problem was extremists taking the words of the Koran out of context, and said the problem "is people who wrench out of context quotes from the holy book of Islam, the Koran, and use it to inspire evil in men's hearts."
A secret blacklist of Labour MPs suspected of plotting to defeat Gordon Browns flagship terror reforms has been drawn up by the partys whips. The rebel group redoubles the threat to Brown, who is already facing a revolt over his scrapping of the 10p tax rate for the low-paid. The nine-page dossier, compiled earlier this year and seen by The Sunday Times, reveals bitter differences within Labour over plans to detain suspected terrorists for up to 42 days without trial. It shows that Labours whips fear at least 50 of the partys MPs - including 10 former ministers - will vote against the government. A further 44 are undecided.
At least one government minister and six government aides are also revealed to have grave doubts about the draconian extension of police powers. One minister, Joan Ruddock, is said to feel that the 42-day limit has been plucked from thin air. Nonetheless she is expected to back it. Another MP is recorded as thinking the measure is barmy even though he, too, will vote for it. With both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats promising to vote against the terror bill, the list indicates that Brown is facing defeat by at least 20 votes. His government has a majority of 66.
Whips of all parties prefer to operate in the shadows, and the leak exposes their contempt for some MPs and their cynical efforts to muster a majority for Brown. One MP, John Cummings, is described as usually persuadable; Fiona Mactaggart is described as volatile and the whips claim Tony Wright, the MP for Great Yarmouth, will do what security services want.
They claim that one rebel, Bill Etherington, could be persuaded to stay away. Another one of those who is said in the document to be not happy with the bill is Angela Smith, the previously loyal government aide who threatened to quit last week over the governments decision to double the rate of income tax for the low-paid from 10p to 20p. Smith, a parliamentary private secretary to Yvette Cooper, the treasury chief secretary, triggered panic in the prime ministers office by her threat to resign. She was only talked out of it by Brown himself, who interrupted his trip to Washington to beg her to stay. The whips put a question mark over Smiths voting intentions on the issue of detention for 42 days. They note that she wants clear evidence and [is] not happy with parliamentary oversight - a reference to plans in the bill to give MPs a vote on individual cases where suspects are to be held for longer than the current 28-day limit.
Austin Mitchell, a former Labour whip and a now self-confessed terror bill rebel, has been on the receiving end of some of the whips tactics. There is an air of panic among the whips about the terror bill, he said. The bill is Gordon Brown trying to show he is going to be as tough as Tony Blair. He has got to show he can get the legislation through. The whips are getting edgy, partly because their heart isnt in it. They know the bill is going to be defeated.
Eight men freed from Guantanamo Bay are looking to sue the British intelligence services for damages, the Daily Mail said on Saturday citing lawyers and one of the former detainees.
Came up with that idea all on their own, of course, no help at all from the progressive types ...
The daily newspaper said two separate writs had been issued on behalf of the eight - five British nationals and three with residency rights - claiming the complicity of the domestic and overseas security services with the Americans. Lawyers acting on behalf of Libyan national Omar Deghayes, Jordanian Jamil el-Banna and Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi, have issued the first writ at Londons High Court.
Deghayes and el-Banna were released from the US-run facility in Cuba last December. Al Rawi was set free earlier this year. Spain dropped an attempt to extradite them to face terrorism charges in March. The second writ is on behalf of British nationals Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham, west central England, a trio of friends from nearby Tipton, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhal Ahmed, and Londoner Richard Belmar.
The three men from Tipton unsuccessfully sued their former captors for alleged human and religious rights violations in US courts. The case is now being taken to the US Supreme Court. Begg was quoted as saying that the case would centre on British intelligences general behaviour and complicity in the abuse of British citizens from their detention, interrogation and transfer to Guantanamo.
Lawyer Irene Membhard, from London law firm Birnberg Pierce, confirmed to the newspaper that the writs had been issued. Service is not imminent but watch this space within the next two months, she was quoted as saying.
This article starring:
ASIF IQBAL
al-Qaeda
BISHER AL RAWI
al-Qaeda
Irene Membhard
JAMIL EL BANNA
al-Qaeda
MOAZZAM BEGG
al-Qaeda
OMAR DEGHAIES
al-Qaeda
RICHARD BELMAR
al-Qaeda
RUHAL AHMED
al-Qaeda
SHAFIQ RASUL
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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In a head spinning effort to make McCain the bad guy of a story, CNN has taken the voiced support for Barack Obama by the terrorist organization Hamas and turned it into a finger pointing at Republican John McCain for being mean to Obama.
Talk about spin, CNN has really done a doosie here. Taking the words of the terrorists in Hamas and placing them in McCain's mouth is simply unbelievable. But that's exactly what they've done.
CNN's Political Ticker Blog showed us some gymnastics worthy of the Olympics -- or more correctly a contortionist -- to turn the words of a terrorist into those of John McCain in their ridiculously titled post, "McCain camp says Hamas wants Obama."
#1
Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to the Hamas Prime Minister said, We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election. He has a vision to change America.
That's good enough for me. ABO - Anyone But Obama.
Posted by: ed ||
04/20/2008 12:21 Comments ||
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#2
"CNN Fabricates"
In other news, water is wet....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/20/2008 14:28 Comments ||
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#3
A little presumptive, wouldn't you say, ED? Hamas just as well could give the nod to Hillary over McCain later...you ready to jump ship again?
Companion Piece to the 'Holocaust Declaration', also by Krauthammer.
The era of nonproliferation is over. During the first half-century of the nuclear age, safety lay in restricting the weaponry to major powers and keeping it out of the hands of rogue states. This strategy was inevitably going to break down. The inevitable has arrived.
The six-party talks on North Korea have failed miserably. They did not prevent Pyongyang from testing a nuclear weapon and entering the club. North Korea has broken yet again its agreement to reveal all its nuclear facilities.
The other test case was Iran. The EU-3 negotiations (Britain, France and Germany) went nowhere. Each U.N. Security Council resolution enacting what passed for sanctions was more useless than the last. Uranium enrichment continues. When Iran's latest announcement that it was tripling its number of centrifuges to 9,000 elicited no discernible response from the Bush administration, the game was over. Everyone says Iran must be prevented from going nuclear. No one will bell the cat.
The "international community" is prepared to do nothing of consequence to halt nuclear proliferation. Which is why we must face reality and begin thinking how we live with the unthinkable.
There are four ways to deal with rogue states going nuclear: pre-emption, deterrence, missile defense and regime change.
Pre-emption works but, as a remedy, it is spent. Iraq was defanged by the 1981 Israeli airstrike, by the 1991 Gulf War (which uncovered Saddam's clandestine nuclear programs) and finally by the 2003 invasion, which ended the Saddam dynasty.
A collateral effect of the Iraq War was Libya's nuclear disarmament. Seeing Saddam's fate, Moammar Gaddafi declared and dismantled his nuclear program. And if November's National Intelligence Estimate is to be believed, the Iraq invasion even induced Iran to temporarily suspend weaponization and enrichment.
But the cost of pre-emption is simply too high. No one is going to renew the Korean War with an attack on Pyongyang. And the prospects of an attack on Iran's facilities are now vanishingly small. What to do?
Deterrence. It worked in the two-player Cold War. Will it work against multiple rogues? It seems quite suitable for North Korea, whose regime, far from being suicidal, is obsessed with survival. Iran is a different proposition. With its current millenarian leadership, deterrence is indeed a feeble gamble, as I wrote in 2006 in making the case for considering pre-emption. But if pre-emption is off the table, deterrence is all you've got. Our task is to make deterrence in this context less feeble.
Two ways: Begin by making the retaliatory threat in response to Iranian nuclear aggression so unmistakable and so overwhelming that the non-millenarians in leadership would stay the hand or even remove those taking their country to the point of extinction.
But there is an adjunct to deterrence: missile defense. Against a huge Soviet arsenal, this was useless. Against small powers with small arsenals, i.e., North Korea and Iran, it becomes extremely effective in conjunction with deterrence.
For the sake of argument, imagine a two-layered anti-missile system in which each layer is imperfect, with, say, a 90 percent shoot-down accuracy. That means one in 100 missiles gets through both layers. That infinitely strengthens deterrence by radically degrading the possibility of a successful first strike. Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sitting on an arsenal of, say, 20 nukes, might recoil from these odds -- given the 100 percent chance a retaliatory counterattack of hundreds of Israeli (and/or American) nukes would make Iran a memory.
Of course, one can get around missile defense by using terrorists. But anything short of a hermetically secret, perfectly executed, multiple-site attack would cause terrible, but not existential, destruction. The retaliatory destruction, on the other hand, would be existential.
We are, of course, dealing here with probabilities. Total safety comes only from regime change. During the Cold War, we worried about Soviet nukes, but never French or British nukes. Weapons don't kill people; people kill people. Regime change will surely come to both North Korea and Iran. That is the ultimate salvation.
But between now and then lies danger. How to safely navigate the interval? Deterrence plus missile defense renders a first strike so unlikely to succeed and yet so certain to bring on self-destruction that it might -- just might -- get us through from the day the rogues go nuclear to the day they are deposed.
We have entered the post-nonproliferation age. It's time to take our heads out of the sand and deal with it. I hope McCain has a spot for Krauthammer in his cabinet.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2008 13:36 ||
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#1
I suggest recreating MAD. Advise the rogues that if a country uses a nuke against its enemy, the US will sterilize the aggressor with neutron bombs, then give the now depopulated country to their hated enemy and nuke victim as reparations.
#2
Deterrence is a valid delaying tactic between 2 similar, rational opponents. It's not a strategy, doesn't apply with >2 opponents & untraceable terrorist delivery. And a significant bunch of the Iranian leadership isn't rational. It allows a bunch of primitive screwheads to get the 1st shot in when we should just be giving them the boomstick.
Posted by: Dave AARRGGHH!! ||
04/20/2008 19:23 Comments ||
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#3
The untraceability is a problem, as well as delays in tracing. An interval between attack and retaliations allows the UN/NGO/Multilateral/PeaceNow/CodePink crowd to dampen and deny the deterrence.
That, and I keep thinking "15 of 19" and what that has not led to.
#4
One country at a time, Harcourt Jush7795. Once the Taliban were kicked off their little thrones in Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda chased out, we drove out Saddam Hussein and his fascist coterie. Iran is chasing after nuclear weapons, so they are a higher priority than our friends the House of Saud -- who are after all merely using their oil money to finance terrorist organizations and fascist Wahhabism in mosques around the world. Besides, we need to get Iraq's oil production to the point that it equals Iran's sales (which continue to fall as equipment fails due to lack of proper maintenance, if I understand correctly) plus a significant chunk of Saudi Arabia's. That way, when the House of Saud is removed from power, any temporary stoppage of production resulting from the removal will not send the world economy into a massive depression.
Think how much the Europeans, for instance, would complain about a major depression, given how much they're complaining about the fall-out of our sub-prime loan shake-out.
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of US senators has called for Iraq to pay more for its own security and reconstruction, and for Washington to end what they said amounts to a blank check policy for Baghdad. In a letter to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates dated Thursday, the senators said that Iraq enjoyed a projected budget surplus of 60 billion dollars while the US grapples with mounting debt.
Citing US spending of 45 billion dollars on Iraqi reconstruction projects over the past five years, the letter says the senators are planning legislation that will require many future such costs to be provided in the form of a loan, to be repaid to the United States in the future. The time has come to end this blank check policy and require the Iraqis to invest in their own future. We believe that it is time for Iraq to take greater responsibility for the costs of its reconstruction and stabilization, said the letter, also sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
We are pleased that the (Bush) administration agrees and that certain steps are underway to require Iraq to pay some of the war and reconstruction costs.
The letter, which comes as Congress prepares to deal with President George W. Bushs 108-billion-dollar budget for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was signed by Democratic Senators Ben Nelson and Evan Bayh and Republican Susan Collins, and later endorsed by several other senators from both parties.
In a statement they pointed to Iraqs windfall in oil income as prices soar, which they put at some 56 billion dollars. Simply put, we do not believe that it is appropriate for Iraq to reap a surplus at a time when the United States is struggling with high energy costs and bearing billions of dollars of costs in order to bring stability to Iraq. We must look for solutions to end Iraqs cycle of dependence on American taxpayers, Nelson said in an accompanying statement.
Iraq must take more responsibility for its own future by shouldering more of the costs for reconstruction and security.
Remind me: didn't the Dhimmicrats complain that one of the flaws in the 2003 war plan was thinking that Iraq would pay for most, if not all, of its reconstruction once Saddam was removed? So it's a few years late but here the Iraqis have some excess cash. Of course the Iraqis should pay for their reconstruction, and they could toss a few bucks our way too. Thank you Dhimmicrats for 'demanding' this. I'm sure Dubya will find a way to make it happen.
As Palestinian academic Dr Sami Al-Arian completes nearly 50 day of his hunger strike in protest against his unjust jailing on terrorism charges, a coalition of Muslim leaders has demanded that the government abide by the terms it agreed to earlier and set him free after five years of imprisonment.
The leaders addressing a press conference to demand Al-Arians freedom at the Malcolm X & Betty Shabazz Memorial Educational and Cultural Centre in Harlem this week pointed out that the Palestinian professor is being held in isolation and transferred from one holding facility to another in a seriously weakened state, and without any medical monitoring. His daughter Laila Al-Arian said that even the family does not know where he is being held. The speakers included Malaak Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz; Ramsey Clark and Sara Flounders of the International Action Centre; Imam Siraj Wahaj, Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid and Aliya Latif of the Council on American-Islamic Relations; Heidi Boghosian of the National Lawyers Guild; Ghazi Khan of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights; Mahdi Brey of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; and Muhammad Salim Akhtar of the American Muslim Alliance.
Refusal: Al-Arian, a tenured professor at the University of South Florida, was arrested in 2003. The then-Attorney General John Ashcroft claimed it as the arrest of the most dangerous financier of Islamic Jihad in the Western world. The Justice Department has spent $50 million prosecuting the case. After a six-month trial, a jury found no evidence that any crime had been committed. Despite the verdict and in violation of the terms of release and deportation set by the Justice Department, the authorities have continued to refuse to release Al-Arian. Instead, they have demanded that he give testimony against others, something he has refused to do.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Ramsey Clark - how old is that turd?
What sort of deal did he make with the devil to hang around so long?
#2
Lots of names here to put on The List. Be a good time to look into where their dollars are going.
Al-Arian Contempt Order Upheld A federal appeals court has upheld a contempt-of-court finding against a former Florida college professor who admitted to aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Sami Al-Arian. A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this afternoon that Al-Arian had no grounds to defy a subpoena from a federal grand jury investigating Muslim charities in Northern Virginia.
Judges William Traxler Jr., Diana Motz, and Dennis Shedd wrote that they were "unpersuaded" by Al-Arian's argument that a plea bargain he entered into after a six-month trial in Florida on terrorism support charges excused him from having to testify before a grand jury.
...
Al-Arian could serve up to 18 months in civil contempt before beginning to serve out the remaining months of his criminal sentence.
Read the fine print.
Posted by: ed ||
04/20/2008 8:55 Comments ||
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#3
If there is one POS I despise more then Jimmuh, it is Ramsey. What a despicable impersonation of a human being.
Via Instapundit:
"The Miami Herald story ("Pentagon Study: War is a 'Debacle' ") distorts the nature of and intent of my personal research project. It was not an NDU study, nor was it a Pentagon study. Indeed, the implication of the Herald story was that this study was mostly about current events. Such is not the case. It was mainly about the period 2002-04. The story also hypes a number of paragraphs, many of which are quoted out of context. The study does not "lay much of the blame" on Secretary Rumsfeld for problems in the conduct of the war, nor does it say that he "bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff." It does not single out "Condoleeza Rice and Stephen Hadley" for criticism."
#1
These things happen. Luckily the author of the piece is not a pedophile.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/20/2008 7:42 Comments ||
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#2
What's a few misqotes in the course of Advancing The Great And Good? After all, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few kulak eggs.
Posted by: ed ||
04/20/2008 9:02 Comments ||
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#3
it's pretty obvious the reporters and editors know better than the study's author just what he was trying to convey. Who the hell is he to question their absolute authority?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2008 10:19 Comments ||
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A former Pacific commander of the United States said on Saturday that the Indian armed forces needed to move beyond generic joint activities with their U.S. counterparts and towards focused interaction based on military operations they are likely to conduct together.
Speaking at the IISS-CITI India Global Forum organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies here on Saturday, Admiral (retd.) Dennis C. Blair noted that the U.S. provision of security in the post-war period had helped Asia maintain peace and security all these years. But as their economies and defence capabilities grow, he added, Asian powers like India, Japan and even China need to work with the U.S. so that their rising military strength can be used towards the common provision of security in the region.
Admiral Blair identified four areas where he said India and the U.S. could think of joint military operations.
The first is in the area of maritime security, where the U.S. already has its 1000 ship navy concept to make the seas safe for lawful use.
The second area is in peacekeeping operations. Both India and the U.S. have had successes and failures in this area, he said, and there was a need for the armed forces of the two countries to conduct not just joint exercises but also do serious work and evolve new concepts.
He identified the Horn of Africa and Somalia as one area where India and the U.S. could work together and said the Indian military could liaise with the U.S. Armys newly established Africa Command.
Counter-insurgency
The third area he identified was counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism training and operations. India had experience in Jammu and Kashmir and the U.S. in Afghanistan. Even if more work was needed for the two countries to get to the stage of joint operations, there should at least be joint training, he said.
Citing the example of Indo-U.S. naval cooperation in the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami, Admiral Blair said humanitarian and disaster relief operations were the fourth set of activities the two militaries could work on.
While the military-to-military relationship had grown tremendously in the past seven or eight years, Admiral Blair said India needed to sign a number of routine agreements with the U.S. to enable cooperation to move on to a higher plane.
Of these, the most important were the Logistics Supply Agreement (LSA), the Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and an end-use monitoring agreement.
Seeking to make light of Indias reluctance to sign on the dotted line, Admiral Blair said if some Indian company had to sign these, some low-level third-ranking official would have done it years ago.
Admitting that a deeper U.S.-India military relationship would have other ramifications, especially in relationship to China, Admiral Blair called on India to work with the United States towards the creation of a durable and strong security architecture for Asia as a means of maintaining stability in the wider region.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/20/2008 15:08 ||
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ISLAMABAD- Pakistan successfully test fired a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead on Saturday, the military said. The Shaheen-2 missile was launched from an undisclosed location and has a range of 1,245 miles. The military said the missile has the capability to carry conventional and non-conventional warheads.
Saturdays launch was witnessed by new Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, who congratulated the scientists and engineers for achieving an important milestone in Pakistans quest for sustaining strategic balance in South Asia, the military said in a statement. It quoted Gilani as saying that the defense needs of the country would remain a high priority for his elected government.
Although Pakistan routinely tests various versions of missiles in its arsenal, the latest one came weeks after a new government, dominated by the party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, took office after winning elections in February.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Oooooooo that's gonna leave a mark!
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mocked anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a coward on Sunday, hours after the radical leader threatened to declare war unless U.S. and Iraqi forces end a military crackdown on his followers. "and his breath smells...have you seen his teefs?"
Rice, in the Iraqi capital to tout security gains and what she calls an emerging political consensus, said al-Sadr is content to issue threats and edicts from the safety of Iran, where he is studying. Al-Sadr heads an unruly militia that was the main target of an Iraqi government assault in the oil-rich city of Basra last month, and his future role as a spoiler is an open question.
"I know he's sitting in Iran," Rice said dismissively, when asked about al-Sadr's latest threat to lift a self-imposed cease-fire with government and U.S. forces. "I guess it's all-out war for anybody but him," Rice said. "I guess that's the message; his followers can go too their deaths and he's in Iran." thought Iran sent him back? Let's play "Where's Mookie?"
A full-blown uprising by al-Sadr, who led two rebellions against U.S.-led forces in 2004, could lead to a dramatic increase in violence in Iraq at a time when the Sunni extremist group Al Qaeda in Iraq appears poised for new attacks after suffering severe blows last year.
In a warning posted Saturday on his Web site, al-Sadr said he had tried to defuse tensions by declaring the truce last August, only to see the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki respond by closing his offices and "resorting to assassinations." projection, perhaps?
He accused the government of selling out to the Americans and branding his followers as criminals. knew that was gonna hit home. Nice whine
"So I am giving my final warning ... to the Iraqi government ... to take the path of peace and abandon violence against its people," al-Sadr said. "If the government does not refrain ... we will declare an open war until liberation." "from this earthly realm"
Rice praised al-Maliki for confronting al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, which had a choke hold on Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. The assault was al-Maliki's most decisive act by far against al-Sadr, a fellow Shiite and once a political patron. Kurdish and Sunni politicians, including a chief rival, have since rallied to al-Maliki, and the Bush administration argues he could emerge stronger from what had appeared to be a military blunder.
During five days of heavy fighting last month, Iraqi troops struggled against militiamen, particularly the Mahdi Army. The ill-prepared Iraqi military was plagued by desertions and poor organization and U.S. troops had to take over in some instances. The offensive was inconclusive, with Iran helping mediate a truce. Fighting has continued in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, home to many of al-Sadr's followers. struggled to victory...
"Some of the violence is a byproduct of a good decision," to take on militias and consolidate military power, Rice told reporters following a few hours of meetings and lunch with Iraqi leaders.
"That, I think, is what has given the sense to the Iraqis that they have a new opportunity, a window of opportunity," Rice said. "I don't think you would have seen this kind of unity," before.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2008 19:04 ||
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#1
This sounds to me like Iran has clearly signaled that they are not invested in a fight in Basra. It is up to Mookie now to either find a way through this in a respectable manner or to gamble all his chips on what I believe is a losing hand of cards.
Cutting out a section of Sadr City and segregating it was a brilliant move. Especially so if that section of Sadr City also holds the key municipal utilities infrastructure for the rest of the area.
This gives a considerable population of Sadr City a chance to experience life under a different administration from the Sadrists and will give them something to talk to their cousins about across that wall. If life improves considerably in "our" section of Sadr City, then Mookie is toast.
#3
See TOPIX and other for artics on AL QAEDA's CBRN CAPABILITIES, besides also for Iran's NucMil, etc. developments. WEL-L-L, AMER HAD BETTER HOPE US INTEL ON MILITANT WMDS IS BETTER THAN FOR THE DAY BEFORE 9-11-2001.
Again, NET > AL QAEDA [also read - ISLAMIST JIHAD] is reportedly facing defeat in 3 - 3 1/2 Years [2012, = 2013? other artic].
*NOW THRU 2010 = 2012/13 > STILL A'PLENTY OF TIME.
Muqtada Sadrs clash with the Iraqi government could spark violence in the center of the Shiite faith in the country, whose mainstream clerics view him as an upstart. The repercussions could be widespread.
NAJAF, IRAQ -- Clerics and politicians speak in hushed tones about the names drawn up for assassination. Guards stand outside their compounds clutching assault rifles, and handguns rest on desks. No one can be trusted. All sides fear that dark times are coming to Najaf, the spiritual capital of Iraq's Shiite Muslims.
"The situation is mysterious," said Sheik Ali Najafi, the son and confidant of Grand Ayatollah Bashir Hussain Najafi, one of the four senior most Shiite clerics in Iraq, who guide the country's majority faith and counsel its politicians. Like elder statesmen, the four have found themselves ensnared in the conflict between the Shiite-led Iraqi government and an upstart young cleric, son of a revered grand ayatollah: Muqtada Sadr.
The poisonous atmosphere of treachery and paranoia has consequences far beyond the alleyways of this ancient shrine city.
Najaf may hold the key to Iraq's stability; if it descends into violence, the entire Shiite south will almost certainly follow suit. U.S. forces will be stretched, the chances of a troop drawdown diminished. The Shiite parties involved will probably look to Iran to broker an end to the crisis. And chances for real political process will be on hold.
On Saturday night, the fears of a broader Shiite conflict loomed larger after Sadr threatened all-out war against the government if it did not halt military operations against his followers in Baghdad and the southern port of Basra.
Like Basra, with its oil, whoever controls Najaf will play a major role in charting Iraq's future. It is here Shiite politicians come for guidance from the grand ayatollahs. It is here the populist Sadr first challenged Iraq's conservative religious establishment.
"Najaf is the kitchen, where major decisions are cooked," said Salah Obeidi, Sadr's official spokesman.
Obeidi works out of a barren room in a closed-down restaurant and hotel. Bodyguards sit in the lobby, decorated with a mural of Sadr and long-haired Shiite saints gazing austerely at Najaf's roads. Obeidi confesses he has been in crisis mode lately.
"We are afraid the situation from now till October won't be stable for the Sadrists," Obeidi said. "Najaf is very important."
The city's rewards are huge for Sadr and his competitors: lucrative revenues from the pilgrims who flock here, and the chance to spread one's influence among the faithful.
Every year, millions of pilgrims come to Najaf to pray at the Imam Ali Mosque, the tomb of the prophet Muhammad's son-in-law. It was over the question of Ali's succession that the Shiite sect emerged. Believers from across Iraq bury their dead in Najaf's cemetery, named the Valley of Peace. Aspiring clerics flock here to study at the revered hawza, a loose network of illustrious seminaries, rivaled only by Qom in Iran.
"Muqtada would covet the kind of Shiites Najaf holds," said Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiite Islam at Tufts University. "Sadr is popular politically, the grand ayatollahs religiously. There is a tense standoff between them. They both hold power and popularity, and that is what makes the situation so tense and volatile."
Najaf's merchant elite and clergy have long viewed Sadr as a rabble rouser, able to mobilize the Shiite slums and rural masses for violence. No one in Najaf has forgotten April 2003, when Saddam Hussein fell and Sadr emerged from house arrest to lay claim to his dead father's mantle. That month, Abdel Majid Khoei, the son of another late grand ayatollah, returned from London and was attacked by a mob inside the Imam Ali shrine, dying of his injuries near Sadr's office.
Then, in the summer of 2004, Sadr seized the shrine as part of his open revolt against the Americans. The ensuing battle battered the city's cemetery and neighborhoods. Even now, shattered buildings dot the landscape.
During that uprising, the country's preeminent cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, intervened, offering Sadr's Mahdi Army safe passage from the Imam Ali shrine as a way of ending a monthlong confrontation with the U.S. military.
This time, the grand ayatollahs have declined to aid the incendiary cleric.
Three days into the Basra campaign, Grand Ayatollah Najafi issued a fatwa, or religious opinion or edict, that declared the Iraqi government as the only force in the country with the right to bear arms.
His son, Sheik Ali Najafi, left little doubt that the clergy had backed the Iraqi army operations.
"We see this as a positive improvement. . . . The people want the government to control the streets and the law to be enforced. No other groups," he said, sitting in his study, furnished with cushions, a laptop and a clock bearing his father's portrait.
Their stance is a gamble. An influential cleric who is knowledgeable about talks between the Sadr movement and the grand ayatollahs described the situation in bleak terms: The government is weak, and Sadr aides now acknowledge privately that they have lost control of members who are receiving support from Iran.
"There are groups in the Mahdi Army who are kidnapping, killing and stealing. They don't listen to Muqtada. They are openly operating with Iranian interests," he said.
The cleric asked that his name not be used because he feared assassination. Everywhere, he saw Iran's influence. "In the beginning, it was Arab countries playing a negative role. Now after Qaeda has fallen, it is Iran. Iran wants to control Iraq, and change the hawza from Najaf to Qom."
Sadr's loyalists are also fearful. The tensions between their mass movement and Najaf's mainstream clergy are evident on the plaza of the Imam Ali tomb, where a yellow-brick building with a marble base rose two years ago. It is a museum for Sadr's father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Sadr, who was killed during Hussein's rule.
A black banner flutters from the building for Riyadh Noori, a senior Sadr aide who was killed April 11 by gunmen waiting outside his house on a quiet suburban street here. Twenty to 30 young men stand outside in the evening air and study the worshipers heading to the shrine. People avert their eyes.
On a recent night, two gaunt men with scraggly beards hobbled into a Sadr office on crutches, one of them missing a leg, blown off fighting the Americans during Sadr's 2004 uprising. The pair waited to meet Haidar Fakhrildeen, a lawmaker loyal to Sadr.
Fakhrildeen's cellphone rang, playing a speech from Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah about resistance and sacrifice. A black pistol sat on his desk. Like Obeidi, he said the movement expected more killings. Fakhrildeen spoke with a deep mistrust of the Americans and his Shiite political rivals: "Assassinations will happen because of the elections."
The 6-foot-tall lawmaker also has to worry about Mahdi Army fighters co-opted by Tehran. "Iran interferes in everything," he said. "It was able to control a handful of fighters to use them to serve their interests."
In the meantime, life goes on in Najaf's ancient bazaar. Merchants cut black and brown fabric for clerics' robes. Families buy deep red pomegranate juice and ice cream for daughters in party dresses. But bazaar owners believe the calm might be fleeting. A bookseller, whose merchandise includes writings by Sistani and Sadr's father, frowned.
"The quiet will not continue. There will be disorder," he said confidentially between visits from customers who flipped through his books, with their pictures of the dour-faced clerics. He was sure the turbulence would pass: "After this unrest, there will be permanent stability."
ALI Hassan al-Majid, the Saddam Hussein henchman better known as Chemical Ali who is on death row for genocide, has been admitted to hospital after a three-day hunger strike, lawyer Badie Aref said in Jordan today.
Majid "was taken to hospital on Saturday after his health deteriorated as a result of the hunger strike," said the lawyer, who represents another leading figure in Saddam's regime, deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz. "He is in a serious health situation... he went on the strike to protest his prison conditions."
Mr Badie did not elaborate.
Majid was sentenced to death for genocide last June, along with former defence minister Sultan Hashim al-Tai and former armed forces deputy chief of operations Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti. The three were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing a brutal military campaign against Kurdish civilians in 1988 known as Anfal, or Spoils, that left 180,000 people dead. Their executions have been delayed by legal wranglings.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/20/2008 16:16 ||
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#1
keep his weight up for the hanging. We need another "unfortunate decapitation"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2008 17:10 Comments ||
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#2
The idea of him kicking at the end of the rope for five minutes does have its own sort of appeal, though. I could live with either one.
IRAQ'S main Sunni political bloc, which quit Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet last year, is ready to return and has put forward a list of candidates, President Jalal Talabani said today.
"The main obstacles have been removed," Talabani said after holding talks with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "The National Concord Front has submitted to the prime minister the names of its candidates for the ministries," he said. "Two names for each ministry."
The National Concord Front, the main Sunni Arab bloc in the 275-member parliament, pulled its six ministers out of government in early August, accusing Mr Maliki of failing to rein in Shiite militias and of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Sunnis. The group also called for greater Sunni representation in the government and security forces.
Planning Minister Ali Baban returned to the cabinet in September and was expelled from the Front.
Mr Maliki is currently running government with about half of his 40 ministers, while his Shiite coalition can now count on the support of only 136 MPs.
Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr's political movement had earlier last year pulled its five ministers out of the cabinet, saying Baghdad had failed to provide basic services to the people. Two of those ministers were subsequently replaced by Mr Maliki.
Senior sources have said that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition. They said the failure had delayed the British withdrawal by "many months".
There's the message right there ...
Their comments came as the Iraqi army, this time directly supported by American and British forces, began a second operation in Basra in an attempt to find insurgent weapons caches. The push, which was met with fierce resistance, took place in the Hayania district of the city, where there were clashes two weeks ago.
In the first operation, it is understood that one Iraqi brigade became a "busted flush" after 1,200 of its soldiers deserted.
That was the green unit that wasn't ready for battle ...
At one stage during the battle, stories were circulating at the British headquarters that Iraqi troops were demanding food and water from coalition forces at gunpoint. "It was an unmitigated disaster at every level," an officer said.
Story turned out to be false but that doesn't matter to the Telegraph ...
Gen Mohan Furayji, the Iraqi commander who was in charge of troops during the operation, was described by a senior British staff officer as a "dangerous lunatic" who "ignored" advice.
The British officer, who is based at the coalition headquarters at Basra Air Station, said that the decision to allow Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, to run the operation had been a "disaster which felt as though an amateur was in charge".
Hasn't the lib'ral left been demanding that the Iraqis take care of their own country? Maliki decided on the operation and the IA ran it. Wasn't a complete success, and it exposed problems with a number of their military units. Now then, a smart military goes back and figures out what they did wrong, and then they fix it. We'll see how smart the IA is in the coming weeks.
More than 15,000 Iraqi troops were ordered to seize control of the city last month following an uprising by the Mehdi Army, the powerful militia group which is largely trained and financed by Iran. However, the operation ended in a stalemate, with the Iraqi government agreeing to a ceasefire.
Not really. Can't you guys even report the news?
Criticism of Britain's involvement in Basra resurfaced last week during Gordon Brown's visit to America. The New York Times reported, incorrectly, that British troops were refusing to help the Iraqi army, which the newspaper said was "deeply embarrassing for Britain".
You can always count on the NYT to get it wrong ...
In a devastating critique of the Iraqi military, British commanders have disclosed that "chaos ruled" the operation to retake Basra.
Chaos rules most large operations, particularly if the units and commanders are inexperienced.
One officer said the Iraqi army's 14th Division had only 26 per cent of the equipment necessary to take part in combat operations. He said: "There were literally thousands of troops arriving in Basra from all over Iraq. But they had no idea why they were there or what they were supposed to do. It was madness and to cap it all they had insufficient supplies of food, water and ammunition.
"One of the newly formed brigades was ordered into battle and suffered around 1,200 desertions within the first couple of hours - it was painful to watch.
"They had to be pulled out because they were a busted flush. The Iraqi police were next to useless. There were supposed to be 1,300 ready to deploy into the city, but they refused to do so. The situation deteriorated to the extent where we [the British Army] were forced to stage a major resupply operation in order to stave off disaster.
"The net effect of all of this is that the British Army will be forced to remain here for many months longer."
One of the useful things the operation did was to show the Iraqis the importance of logistics, particuarly when you move large units about. Again, it will be interesting to see if the Iraqis learn from their mistakes.
The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that British commanders had devised a plan for Gen Mohan. The plan came with the caveat that it should not be started until mid-July because Iraqi troops were not ready. But the officer said that the Iraqi general had ignored the advice.
He said that a British liaison team was sent to the Iraqi army headquarters during the battle. "They were greeted by a group of Iraqi generals sitting around a large desk, shouting into their mobiles without a map in sight. Chaos ruled."
Basra was handed back to Iraqi control last year after the Army withdrew from its last military base in the city. The Ministry of Defence had hoped to reduce the number of troops serving in southern Iraq to about 2,000 this spring, but that plan has been shelved and British troops are once again patrolling the city's streets.
#4
British Army Staff have always blamed the natives. A little racist thing that has worked since the empire to justify themselves. Retired colonel small talk at the club.
Didn't Commander McBragg have a British accent? "Did I ever tell you about the time I was..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/20/2008 9:01 Comments ||
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#9
Failure is inevitable where hearts-and-minds considerations limit military operations. Wherever you can use tanks against lightly armed terrorists, the enemy can be scattered at will and then mopped up. If rules of engagement prohibit dropping 500 pounders on roadblocks, you give the enemy an open invitation to resist vigorously.
I didn't comment on videos of Iraq soldiers - paid zombies - handing over their weapons to al-Sadrites, because those outrages were not confirmed. They are confirmed.
Who failed? Iraqis didn't deliver; write them off. That country was never anything but a demographic dog's breakfast, with oil fields that Anglo-Americans discovered and developed in either non-populated or peasant populated areas. Muslims can't recognize secular sovereignties; we should reciprocate.
#11
McZoid - willful suspension of reality? Jeebus
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2008 21:28 Comments ||
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#12
Iraqis didn't deliver; write them off.
I have 20,000 IA troops, 15,000 Americans and 800 dead Al-Sadar militia men that would disagree with you. Are they up to western standards? No. Completely overhauling 1600 years of ass-clown behavior and tribal issues will take a long, long time. However, they are improving rapidly and I would be willing to bet that they are more than a match for any Arab force in the ME, with possible exceptions of the Turks. The battle proved that Iran lost the proxy war and is washing their hands of Sadar. Oh they will still try to damage the US as long as they can, but organized resistance will pretty much end since they have no more supporters alive/non-arrested/able to help anymore.
#13
The Iraqis are in the process of delivering, McZoid. Perhaps not as well as certain longer established armies might have done, nor perfectly, but they are certainly meeting the objectives of blooding new units, shaking out those in the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police who, while wearing the uniform and taking the paycheck, are nonetheless unsuited -- for O! so many reasons -- to do so, and winning hearts and minds in a region that has been under the thumbs of gangsters, smugglers and Iran-lovers.
#14
Every time a new unit goes into the field it is looney toons and that is not limited to Iraqi army units.
In VN, just about everytime a new division, brigade or regiment came into town they got their noses blooded before they learned life in real combat.
So we had a unit crumble under poor leadership and incomplete training, that is no reason to paint every Iraqi Army unit as incompetent or cowardly. Much like some libs like to paint all whites as racists because of a few, stereotyping an entire army because of an ALLEDGED failure is as racist as anything I have read in a long time.
It strikes me as odd that the MSM wants us out of Iraq but tries to disparage our efforts to make Iraq self sufficient which essentially says we need to stay......or does that mean we cut and run no matter what........most of the libs are cowardly gutless little chickens***s who probably whined and sniveled when they were kids about dodge ball and working up a sweat at badmiton
A leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has announced a one-month campaign in which the group will "offer the head of an American" as a gift to US President George W Bush, according to an audiotape made public.
Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, better known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, made the announcement in a speech entitled, "The Paths to Victory," monitored by the SITE Intelligence Group. In the speech to Islamist forums, he said mujahedeen, or holy warriors, would "offer the head of an American as a gift to the deceitful Mr Bush, in any manner [they] see fit."
The campaign, to be called "Attack of Righteousness," was announced in "celebration" of Mr Bush announcing that 4,000 Americans had died in the war in Iraq.
Masri is regarded by US commanders as the real leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq although the jihadist group constantly claims it is led by an Iraqi, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. US commanders say Baghdadi is a "cyber invention" and that he is a straw man invented to put an Iraqi face on a terrorist group led by foreigners who infiltrated Iraq to sow chaos and undermine the US-backed Government.
Egyptian-born Masri, reportedly an expert bomb maker, was named leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq in June 2006 following the death of his better-known Jordanian predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an American air strike.
This article starring:
Abu Ayyub al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Muhajir
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
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#1
Any chance it could be Peanitwit's....?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/20/2008 0:05 Comments ||
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#2
Hey Ramsey Clark, Bush has a new job for you. Ambassador to al qaeda.
Posted by: ed ||
04/20/2008 9:10 Comments ||
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#3
Just one? We have a Senator Obama on the phone who wants to talk.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/20/2008 10:20 Comments ||
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#5
A leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has announced a one-month campaign in which the group will "offer the head of an American" as a gift to US President George W Bush, according to an audiotape made public.
Think about it. With all the US forces and contractors over there. Is this the best AQI can do?
Shoot. The gangs in Chicago killed or wounded 28 in the last 2 days. AQI are a bunch of pansies.
#6
We could clean up AL Qaeda by sending out the South Bay Crips.........
You have that right.
I remember when I was in Baghdad is 2004, the word on the street was that Al-Douri as well as AQ had put out the word they would pay $5000 for every US soilder killed. There were no takers and the incentives increased the bounty to almost $100k...still no takers at the time...and that was in a city where $20 would feed a family of four for a week.
AQ is a bunch of pedophiles and borderline personalities justifying their sociopathic behaviour as jihad.
They are all cowards and sissies that send developmentally disadvantaged girls and boys with Downs into crowds with explosive vests and call themselves holy warriors. Not a one of them would dare stand up and fight like a soldier.
They are reduced to remote detonating road side bombs and kidnapping unarmed citizens....if the MSM wanted to portray them accurately they would be portrayed as a bunch of impotent thumbsucking little nebishes who wet their pants everytime a US warplane flies over.
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday threatened an "open war" against the Iraqi government unless it halted a crackdown by Iraqi and U.S. security forces on his followers.
The specter of a full-scale uprising by Sadr sharply raises the stakes in his confrontation with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has threatened to ban the anti-American cleric's movement from political life unless he disbands his militia.
A rebellion by Sadr's Mehdi Army militia -- which has tens of thousands of fighters -- could abruptly end a period of lower violence at a time when U.S. forces are starting to leave Iraq. "I'm giving the last warning and the last word to the Iraqi government -- either it comes to its senses and takes the path of peace ... or it will be (seen as) the same as the previous government," Sadr said, referring to Saddam Hussein's fallen regime, without elaborating.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
So what does he have left? Basrah? Sadr City? Nazareah?
Someone is building a wall around Sadr City, to "protect" the Green Zone. Right. Walls work both ways.
#2
The last warning? Oh please oh please oh please ...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2008 7:49 Comments ||
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#3
Maliki has surprised me so far, I suspect he knows now that this is his last chance to get rid of Sadr and his mooks. Part of being an arab is all the big talk, Sadr is prolly pissing his pants.
#6
Have been anticipating this for the last two weeks, as the islamists need to keep the US-Israel mil preoccupied on their respective ME "holding/diversionary fronts" while REAL FOCII RUSSIA-CHINA + CENTRAL ASIA ARE DESTABILIZED, + OSAMA + ISLAMISTS BEGIN CARVING OUT THE NEW/REVIVED IRANO-PERSIAN EMPIRE IN THE NAME OF NUCLEAR IRAN-ISLAMISM???
Again, the Osama I remember from the anti-Soviet Afghan War is IRAN-CENTRIC AS PER HIS PERSONAL APOCALYPTIC = ISLAMIST "END-TIMES" BELIEFS > wid new resources + de facto Nukes-WMDS the Islamist Jihad can be saved and strengthened to fight anew or another day. + whilst also STILL INDUCING THE USA TO ATTACK + INVADE IRAN, TO STOP A SLOWLY-GETTING STRONGER-AND-NUCLEAR IRAN + ISLAMIST MILTANT TERROR.
Israel told the Palestinian Authority on Friday that it agrees to the reopening of 20 police stations under Palestinian control across the West Bank, as part of a security drive aimed at bolstering peace negotiations, officials said.
This is the first time Israel has approved such a measure since 2001.
There's a reason for that, folks. Think about it, it will come to you ...
According to Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the PA's Civil Affairs Ministry, the police stations were abandoned after clashes erupted in September 2000.
Oh, that ...
The stations are located in the West Bank's Area B, where under 1993 interim peace accords, Israel retains the right to deploy troops against suspected militants. The Palestinian police will be authorized to engage in law enforcement activities, chiefly in Palestinian villages such as Tufah, which is near Nablus, Sarir, which is near Hebron, and Tekoa, which is near Bethlehem.
The agreement was reached at the end of a meeting between Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, the head of the Civil Administration, and al-Sheikh. "This move aims to enhance security and impose law and order under the Abbas security plan," al-Sheikh told Reuters.
Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry's civil affairs wing, said officials from both sides would begin meeting next week to schedule the reopenings. The stations would eventually be staffed by 500 new police personnel, Lerner added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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NEW YORK -- Pope Benedict XVI has said he would like to reach out to the Muslim community through dialogue, and Muslims were included in the pontiff's meeting with interfaith leaders in Washington on Thursday night. But many Muslims in America remain wary, saying the pope has created the impression that he is insensitive to their faith.
On Sunday, the pope will visit Ground Zero, perhaps the most poignant symbol of the divide between the West and the more extremist elements of Islam. But interviews in New York and elsewhere indicate that even those Muslims who do not hold such radical views all three of them are critical of the pope.
Many still recall the pope's September 2006 lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany, in which Benedict quoted a Byzantine Christian emperor saying that the prophet Muhammad brought "things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
That lecture sparked days of protests in Muslim countries, some of them violent, and an Italian nun in Somalia was killed in retaliation thus proving the Byzantine Christian Emporer's point. The Pope repeated several times that he regretted the offense his speech caused, and that he has deep respect for Islam. But the remarks have caused lingering damage, according to Muslims and some Catholic scholars interviewed.
"I don't think he did enough to apologize," said Omar T. Mohammedi, a member of the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
"For a person of his stature to come out and say this about Islam, it amazes me, it's sad," said Wael Mousfar, president of the Arab Muslim American Federation, a community group in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, a largely Muslim neighborhood. "Islam is the target of everyone nowadays; he just jumped on the bandwagon and joined the crowd."
There have been other perceived slights. For example, the pope confounded Muslims when he baptized a prominent Egyptian-born Italian Muslim convert on international television Easter Sunday.
"This person chose to be Catholic, it's not a problem, with any of the three non-raddical Muslims, and me," said Imam Shamsi Ali of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. The problem was the pope's celebration of the conversion on a global stage, he said.
Conversion and religious freedom remain major, thorny issues in the relationship between the Vatican and Muslim countries. Some Muslim countries prohibit Muslims from converting, and punishments can include the death penalty -- a position that Catholics find an anathema.
"The whole idea of having civil laws against people converting -- and threatening them with death -- is totally abhorrent to our view of religious liberty," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a theologian with Georgetown University.
Another point of tension between the Vatican and the Muslim world is the issue of proselytizing, which is part of the Catholic mission but condemned by many Muslims. There's more, at the link, but I thought this was enough.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/20/2008 07:02 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
This pope's not much of an ass licker, I can see why they wouldn't like him.
#3
I had to chuckle this week when Bill Maher called the pope a diddler and a Nazi... I can't believe that people can't take a joke. I mean it's kind of funny isn't it???
#9
"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
#10
Sensivity?
What the crap is that coming from a religion that advocates killing innocent women and children with suicide attacks on markets and schools?
About the only sensitivity training I want to give the moslems is a cranial massage with a .45.
They have a lot of freaking nerve coming up with that given the death, disease and famine they are promoting everywhere.
The U.S. Army is buying 2,832 "loaders' armor gun shields," to provide protection around the loaders hatch on the top of the M-1 Abrams turret. The loader (who normally loads the 120mm gun), also has his own hatch, and a 7.62mm machine-gun on top of the turret. The other machine-gun, next to the commanders hatch, is 12.7mm (.50 caliber) and already has a gun shield. The loaders gun shield kits cost about $16,000 each.
The loaders gun shield is part of the TUSK (Tank Urban Survival Kit). The kit is a collection of additional features for M1 tanks, which make them more effective when fighting in urban areas. Many of the items in TUSK have been added to tanks over the last three years, as they became available.
The upgrades include the "loaders' armor gun shields," which is transparent ballistic glass, so the loader doesn't have his vision blocked. This is important for street fighting. The loaders machine-gun is also equipped with a thermal sight, making it more deadly at night. There is also a .50 caliber machine-gun being mounted on the main gun, so the 120mm fire control system can be used to fire the machine-gun, instead of 120mm shells. Now that's really cool.
Other components of TUSK are reactive armor panels for the side and rear of the tank, to provide added protection from RPGs. A slat armor panel protects the engine exhaust outlet of the tank from RPGs. A 1.5 ton belly armor kit, which can be installed in two hours, provides additional protection from mines and large bombs. Enhancements also include night vision for all crew members. There is also a telephone added to the side of the tank, so that infantry can more easily communicate with the crew when the tank is "buttoned up" (all hatches closed). The complete TUSK kit costs about $500,000 each and takes about twelve hours to install all the components.
Additional TUSK items are in the works, like a rear-view camera for the driver and CROWS, a system that allows the commanders .50 caliber machine-un to be operated remotely, while the tank commander is inside the turret. This is particularly useful if the tank is taking a lot of small arms fire.
#5
BP, The .50 cal comes in multiple versions. There's a version called the Barrett for Marine snipers (I don't know that anyone else uses it). There are also fully-automatic vehicle and crew-served versions.
Check out the military channel sometime. They occasionally show a program on machineguns which is really cool.
#6
The .50 cal sniper rifle is a recent invention. The M2 Machine gun (50 caliber) has basically the same design as the WWII version and has been around that long. M2s have been on tanks and APCs (see Halftracks for WWII) before Hitler invaded Poland and have provided wonderful anti-infantry support for all that time.
Wonderful weapon that will be with us for at least another 60 years.
#7
If my memory serves me correctly, and I've had a couple of tank commanders hatches dropped on me...I vaguely remember the M-48 and the M-60 having a .50 next to the main gun and I thought the M-60A1E1 had a remote controlled .50 operated by the TC in a miniturret.
All of this stuff sounds like really good gizmoes to add to a tank although the telephone does give me pause. Just about every tank from the old M-1 Sherman on had a telephone for the infantry to chat up the tank crew....I am surprised.....actually astonished that the Abrams doesn't have that especially since part of our doctrine is the tank and the infantry working together for mutual security and support.
#8
Just about every tank from the old M-1 Sherman on had a telephone for the infantry to chat up the tank crew.
That was a huge failing at first. Many a old-timer in my unit complained about that fact and trying to contact a M1 over a 'old 77 prick radio is fucking hell at times. I have heard from the infantry units now that with the digital system, it is easy as sending an email and it works really efficiently.
#1
There is an interesting theory gaining momentum that the Internet may self-destruct or be destroyed, with endless possibilities as to why.
To start with, the Internet is intrinsically erosive to authoritarianism. And since there is no government that is not in some way authoritarian, there is a progressive desire to *stop* the Internet. The more authoritarian the government, the more it seeks equally destructive control of the Internet.
To compound the problem, those facets of government which are authoritarian seeks to use the Internet to expand their control, and also as an aggressive means to attack external enemies.
Add to this that there are many corporations that seek some means of controlling at least part of the Internet for their own advantage. Just as much to undermine their competition as to give themselves a competitive advantage.
The hardware and software vulnerabilities of the Internet boil down to a lack of conformity and the skills needed to maintain the system as a system.
That is, computer users with little security are regularly subverted to attack more secure sites. And since much of the Internet is based on trust, if the trust is violated at a higher level of the infrastructure, major chaos can result.
But could an event, or a series of events, actually destroy the Internet? That is, make it unusable? Importantly, this should not be confused with destroying the world's communication systems, such as telephony.
Individual users are reliant on their ISPs, that are in turn reliant on nodes and hubs for the smooth flow of information.
But there are an increasing numbers of ways in which not just obstructions that can be detoured around, but complete collapses, so that data cannot flow at all through the system, can happen.
And even though much of the world's telephony is independent of the Internet, and increasing amount is tied in with it as well.
So after a critical event, or a cascade of events, there might be a collapse of the Internet. Nobody can reconnect without reinforcing the obstructions, though endless millions of computers keep trying. Internet reliant systems around the world stop working as well, compounding the problem.
The governments step in to take complete control of the system. And this is the defining moment when the Internet stops being about the free flow of information. Every authoritarian part of every government in the world will want controls over the system, effectively making it unusable.
Corporations as well will assert the "need", through lobbyists, to prohibit things like copyright violation, content control, censorship, and elaborate and prohibitively expensive fees and taxes.
In essence, restricting the use of the Internet to only government and corporate use.
#2
Interesting. Is this the first publication of the theory? I'd really like to read more on this. Thank you.
Posted by: George Smiley ||
04/20/2008 12:58 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Talk about the collapse of the Internet usually focuses on hardware and software problems that are technical issues. Technical problems usually have technical solutions. I suggest that the real problem comes from outside the Internet.
Let's say China plans to invade Taiwan. It may decide that the way to do this is to shut down the Internet around the world, and attack during the resultant crisis.
But even a much smaller conflict could be disastrous, if one country orders its hackers to electronically attack another country.
The US would lose billions of dollars by the minute. The pressure to essentially nationalize the Internet would be intense. And just the fear that something might cause this has led the US to make some gestures about taking over ICANN.
For years now, twice a year or more, the technology companies of the US have had to trudge up to Capital Hill to demand that congress NOT do something that would be a technology disaster.
They have to do the same in the EU. Most likely in every major nation on Earth. Any disaster or crisis will have any number of villains waiting in the wings, with any number of agenda driven ideas that could spell disaster.
So let's say the Internet comes to a screeching halt. Is there a "Plan B"? Certainly there are secure intranets outside of the main system, but they are tiny compared to the big enchilada.
#6
I have a lot of friends that I've made over the Internet - people I'd never even met any other way. Shutting down the Internet at THIS POINT would be a propaganda disaster for anyone who tries it. The hue and cry would cause all of Washington to bolt for Canada. If the identity of whoever caused such a shutdown - however temperary - became known, he'd have to emigrate to the most inaccessible portions of Congo or Brazil to escape a lynching. A few in Congress have figured this out. Too few elsewhere have noticed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/20/2008 21:57 Comments ||
Top||
About 2,000 people have gathered in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to protest against a minority Muslim sect, the Ahmadiyya community. Speakers outside the presidential palace demanded the group be banned. That was what a government panel recommended last week, saying the Ahmadiyya's beliefs went against Islam as practised in Indonesia. But the Ahmadiyya argue that, like other minorities, they are protected under the Indonesian constitution. The Ahmadis believe their own founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908 in India, was a prophet. That contradicts the belief of most Muslims, who think the Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet. The Ahmadiyya face persecution in many countries.
Sunday's demonstration brought together hard-line Islamic groups and more established Muslim organisations - all believe that Ahmadis are non-Muslims. As well as a ban, the speakers called on the protesters to drive the Ahmadiyya out of Indonesia. The protesters clearly felt very strongly about this issue, reports the BBC's Lucy Williamson at the protest. They see the Ahmadiyya's beliefs as a threat to mainstream Islam - and many see a vote for pluralism as a vote for Western-style secularism, she says. But President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in a difficult position. The constitution says Indonesians have a right to religious freedom. The question is, our correspondent says, where the government will draw the line.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/20/2008 09:41 ||
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Former Lebanese ambassador and intelligence chief Johnny Abdo announced the upcoming release of "very serious information on Hezbollah incursions on the heart of Lebanese institutions," which he said he expected in two weeks' time. "This incursion began in communications and in northern Metn, small parts of the Shouf, and much of the North," he added.
Abdo said whoever was to uncover the information was under the threat of assassination, confirming the appearance of a "state-within-the-state," or Hezbollah's zones and rights within Lebanon.
In an interview with Radio Free Lebanon, Abdo said that Lebanon risked sudden security incidents. "If one of the important leaders is assassinated, it will be difficult to control the Lebanese arena, because assassinations begin and end with a decision." The person who exposes such information "faces the death threat," added Abdo, an ex-director of Lebanon's military intelligence.
The former intelligence chief said he foresaw change in Syrian foreign policy, which he said was formulated by Speaker Nabih Berri. "If Army Commander General Michel Suleiman is no longer a compromise candidate, there remains no compromise or consensual candidates," he added.
Abdo said Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun was "embarrassed by his present, and to escape his present runs back to the past." Abdo said this was the reason Aoun "opened things better left unopened."
On the disappearance of Muhammad Zuhair Al-Saddiq in France earlier this month, Abdo said the International Tribunal was the sole force which could determine whether the witness had given real or false testimonies. Saddiq resided in France, where he was under protection as the main witness to the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri in 2005. France has denied any role in his disappearance.
Abdo recalled detained Major General Jamil Al-Sayyed's statement to Justice Minister Charles Rizk and George Bashir, a journalist, in which he had said that the slain Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Joumblatt would be joining Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/20/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan police clashed with Iranian forces at the southwestern border between the two countries, leaving one civilian dead and two Iranian officers wounded, officials said Sunday. The incident in the village of Pul-e-Abreshum in Nimroz province happened Saturday after an Iranian patrol entered Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. 
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of US senators has called for Iraq to pay more for its own security and reconstruction, and for Washington to end what they said amounts to a blank check policy for Baghdad. In a letter to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates dated Thursday, the senators said that Iraq enjoyed a projected budget surplus of 60 billion dollars while the US grapples with mounting debt.
ISLAMABAD- Pakistan successfully test fired a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead on Saturday, the military said. The Shaheen-2 missile was launched from an undisclosed location and has a range of 1,245 miles. The military said the missile has the capability to carry conventional and non-conventional warheads.
ALI Hassan al-Majid, the Saddam Hussein henchman better known as Chemical Ali who is on death row for genocide, has been admitted to hospital after a three-day hunger strike, lawyer Badie Aref said in Jordan today.
Senior sources have said that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition. They said the failure had delayed the British withdrawal by "many months".
Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday threatened an "open war" against the Iraqi government unless it halted a crackdown by Iraqi and U.S. security forces on his followers.
On Sunday, the pope will visit Ground Zero, perhaps the most poignant symbol of the divide between the West and the more extremist elements of Islam. But interviews in New York and elsewhere indicate that even those Muslims who do not hold such radical views 
The U.S. Army is buying 2,832 "loaders' armor gun shields," to provide protection around the loaders hatch on the top of the M-1 Abrams turret. The loader (who normally loads the 120mm gun), also has his own hatch, and a 7.62mm machine-gun on top of the turret. The other machine-gun, next to the commanders hatch, is 12.7mm (.50 caliber) and already has a gun shield. The loaders gun shield kits cost about $16,000 each. 
