A GIANT wooden penis that stood proudly in a Frankston front yard has been forced down under pressure from angry authorities. Frankston Council ordered the 170cm sculpture be removed after it gave some residents a major case of the willies. But its proud creators, IT specialist Brett OâNeill and mate Dean Janssen, insisted the wooden piece was a work of art and should not have been manhandled by the long arm of the law. "A lot of statues in peopleâs yards have penises, whatâs wrong with this?" Mr OâNeill said. Doesnât everyone have a statue Of David in their garden?
The phallic feature was created by Mr OâNeill and Mr Janssen, who after a few beers, decided it would be a good idea to shape a tree stump at the front of Mr OâNeillâs home. Armed with a chainsaw, they created their masterpiece within four hours. Mr OâNeill said he even planned to eventually turn it into a fountain, with water cascading from the top into a rock pool and fish pond at the base. "It created a bit of attention - people were stopping out the front and winding down their windows to give us the thumbs up," he said. "Everyone thought it was a bit of fun."
Except for the neighbors...
But the humour was lost on Frankstonâs council, which stepped in after receiving a "couple" of complaints. Mr OâNeill received a visit from a council official and a letter warning him he had three days to remove the work or face a $400 fine. "It has been brought to councilâs attention that over recent days the trunk and base of a substantial tree . . . has been sculpted into a shape that has caused visual offence to passers-by," the letter said. Frankston Council rejected claims the sculpture was legitimate art. "It is not like it is a work thatâs in a gallery, it is in a residential street," spokeswoman Donna Mongan said. And whatâs wrong with that?
"It really did look quite like a male member. As opposed to a female member, I suppose
"If we hadnât received any comment or complaint it may very well have stayed there, but some people found it offensive." The demise of the phallic sculpture has been met with disappointment from some neighbours.
Those'd be the ones who didn't find it tasteless and/or ugly...
"I am sorely disappointed I didnât get to see it as a water feature," Rhonda Jones said. But not everyone in the street was in favour. Matt Newell, who lives across the road, said he was glad it had been removed. "It was a bit obscene," he said.
"It made me feel... small.
Another neighbour, who declined to be named, described the penis as an eyesore and said he was especially annoyed when the creators put two large boulders at its base.
Oh, subtle, that...
Mr OâNeill said the phallic furore was disappointing, but promised the controversial wooden penis would live on - with plans to erect it in his back yard. "When we have barbecues it will be sitting there proud and happy," he said. "I can understand that some people may take offence to it; I thought it was just fun."
#1
Mr OâNeill said the phallic furore was disappointing, but promised the controversial wooden penis would live on - with plans to erect it in his back yard.
#2
If they had paid a couple of winos to stand-in as high priests, the ACLU would have protected their right to have their wooden weenie. Trojan would have provided a weather covering at no cost,
Speaking of Troy and Trojans, I wonder whether it would be possible to disguise a rewrite the ten commandments into a native american language and inscribe it onto a totem. Then we could display them on public lands without worry,
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/29/2004 0:35 Comments ||
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#3
Now that's what I call a quality woody.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/29/2004 0:41 Comments ||
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The informant who helped lead the U.S. military to ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Husseinâs two sons has been paid most of a $30 million reward for the tip-off, the State Department said on Saturday. "The informant who gave us information on the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein has been paid the bulk of the reward within the last couple of days, and has control over payment of the balance of the reward," said State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore. "The informant and his family have been relocated." Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in a firefight with American troops in July, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The U.S. government had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to the capture of each son and a $25 million reward for their father.
Saddam surrendered to American forces in December and is being held U.S. custody. No reward is expected to paid for Saddamâs capture because he was located by the U.S. military.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/28/2004 6:14:54 PM ||
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Edited for brevity.
Iranâs defense minister said Israel does not dare attack Iran but warned Saturday that any such military offensive would be met with a harsh response. "I completely rule out that Israel would dare direct any military strike at any Iranian facilities," Ali Shamkhani said. "But if Israel one day commits such military folly against Iran, I can promise you that (Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon, assuming he stays alive, will appear on television screens and announce that he regrets this folly. ... He will suffer and scream out in pain," Shamkhani said. "Ow! My bunion!"
Shamkhani has said in the past that his country would strike back with long-range missiles if Israel attacks its nuclear facilities, as the Jewish state did against a nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981. He said Iranâs long-range Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of about 1,300 kilometers (810 miles), would be one of the weapons used. Israel is about 965 kilometers (600 miles) west of Iran.
Immediately after the launch the Shahab operators will find that things get very noisy in their neighborhood. And then very quiet.
Shamkhani said Iran was not worried about having American troops next door in Iraq. "Despite the (rosy) picture that the US and others are trying to paint ... the United States is in fact inside a whirlpool (in Iraq) and consequently, it is a hostage of its military presence there," he said. He accused the United States of trying to impose its control over the Middle East region under the pretext of spreading democracy and fighting terrorism. Gee, they saw right through us. And here I thought we were being so subtle...
Posted by: Dar ||
02/28/2004 6:09:34 PM ||
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#1
they're sure squealing a lot for being in the catbird's seat, huh? I say it's time to call their bluff...I'd like to see a lot of black turbans unraveling upside down from lampposts
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 18:17 Comments ||
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hmm..so the Israeli's are considering this. I wonder if they dropped pigs on the runway like they did in SA in 1985. I hoped they didn't drop live ones again - poor pigs.
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 18:19 Comments ||
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Timelines...
I wonder, given the walkout by the Shi'a weenies from the Iraqi GC constitutional subcommittee over Shari'a --and-- Sistani's urge to grab power through mob rule, those "early" elections he wants before there's even a voter roll to prevent (ha!) fraud...
Would we be seeing the same Shi'a Shari'a bullshit in Iraq if the Mad Mullahs in Iran were both out of power and their nuke dreams were nuked?
Poor Kurds. Waiting impatiently - held back from getting on with life by the brutal Turks backward Arabs. It's always something / someone. Arabs. People who couldn't grab a clue if their lives depended upon it. They do.
Why make the Kurds wait for the Sunnis to stop trying to commit mass suicide and for the Shi'a to quit trying to insert Shari'a as the basis for the constitution? While we should be more than happy to accommodate the back-shooting Sunnis, we don't follow through. While we have stated flatly that we will not tolerate Shari'a in the constitution, the Shi'a keep throwing their tantrums and threatening to hold their collective breath. Pfeh.
All of the Iraqi Arabs, Sunni and Shi'a alike, are gutless cowards. Total. Gutless. Cowards. Kow-towing whimperers or collaborators -- for decades. For generations, plural. Without us, they would be still. Whimpering simpering back-stabbing boot-licking shadows of men. They would still be Saddam's Sheep.
#9
The answer to what exactly? Partition at this point means surrender -- surrendering the Sunni piece to the baathists, surrendering the Shia piece to the islamofascists, surrendering the Kurdish piece to who knows what. To Turkey perhaps.
And ethnic expulsions, and minor disputes which the Iranians will easily use to their advantage as the superpower in the region. Oh, the Soviet Union loved the Greek-Turkish disputes. Think that Iran won't love Turkey-Kurdistan disputes?
Still a separation of Kurdistan is halfway-viable atleast. The true madness will only come if you try to partition Shiites from Sunnis on religious lines. Once you've defined their countries on the basis of religions, nothing will be able to save them from islamofascism anymore...
I orginally wrote a response more than twice as long - after editing it should've been moved to the Iraq section under GK's post.
Some of what I cut out to shorten it made my post too vague. Criticism is well-taken, though partition is, indeed, what I have in mind, phil_b.
I would respond to Aris & wuzzalib that I see partitioning the Kurdish zone (incl norther oilfields & Kirkuk), with an initial status of member state within Iraq Confederation - North Iraq, I guess. The Turks can kiss our hairy asses.
The remainder of Iraq will trail far behind in every significant way - probably for a decade, at least... but the people there will get a good first-hand look at what they could have if they pulled themselves out of the Dark Ages. North Iraq / Kurdistan would be a model - we have seen what those people can do if left unfettered.
I also believe that, depending upon Nov elections and other timetable variables such as Iranian progress toward launchable nuke, that the newly evolved Democratic Republic of Persia, sans Black Hats / Rev Guard / BS Council, would provide another prime model for how it can be. Unless everything possible goes wrong from the US POV, this will eventually happen and serve as a good model - I have zero doubt in the Iranian public to create a progressive and stable society.
The Sunni and Shi'a need a dose of reality, not their own mullahcracy or incessent low-grade flypaper war. They ARE cowards and they WILL 'get it' if we will put the hammer down. Sistani, who seems to be dearly loved by most, is just another moron seeking power. His statements regards separation of church and state are BS. He would expect to RULE over the Shi'a, and give polite nods to laws which vary from his Shari'a, but would expect people to obey him. I think he also hopes to rule over the hated Sunni, too, who certainly have some serious retribution coming. Call this mess Southern Iraq - or maybe Arabian Messypotamia.
One thing I truly believe: the Kurds deserve better than to be lumped in with the dumbasses of Arabic Islamofascism - hat tip to Aris, an apt term - and forced to wait for them to kill each other off.
:-)
Edited for brevity.
Thereâs a penny-sized bullet hole in the desk used by Republicans when they speak on the floor of the House, a memento of the worst terrorist attack ever on Congress. On March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the visitorsâ gallery above the chamber. They sprayed some 30 shots around the hall and wounded five lawmakers, one seriously. Amazingly, no one was killed even though some 240 members were on the floor at the time of the shooting, which happened 50 years ago Monday. Bullets penetrating the Republican desk barely missed Majority Leader Charles Halleck, R-Ind., who was hit by flying splinters. It was a stunning act of violence in a body that, despite its openness to the public, had been relatively violence-free in its first century and a half.
There had been isolated incidents of lawmakers assaulting each other. President Andrew Jackson narrowly escaped an assassin outside the Capitol Rotunda in 1835. In 1915, a Harvard professor protesting U.S. policy toward Germany destroyed two Senate rooms with a bomb. A Vietnam War protester set off a bomb in a Senate restroom in 1971. The first metal detectors at the Capitol did not appear until 1976. It was not until 1998, when a man with a history of mental illness shot and killed two Capitol Police officers, that the need to deal with security threats took on a real sense of urgency. Then came Sept. 11, 2001, when many believe that the real destination of the fourth hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was the Capitol. Since then, the police force has grown substantially, streets around the Capitol are barricaded and visitors are closely monitored. For the first time, lawmakers are considering legislation on how to reorganize Congress in the event of a catastrophic attack that would kill or incapacitate hundreds of lawmakers. More details at link.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/28/2004 6:01:46 PM ||
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President Carter freed the Puerto Ricans in 1979
...and wasn't I shocked to read that. Another highlight of his presidential legacy.
The bombing 50 years ago Monday provoked huge protests in Japan and reinforced the image of the Japanese - the target of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks - as unique witnesses to the atomic age. "We were the victims of the nuclear arms race," said Oishi, 70, who runs a laundry in Tokyo and recently published a book on the bombing. Mmmmmmm... right.
#2
ZF in those days international law restricted terittorial waters to I believe 12 miles and anything beyond that would be the high seas and anyone could fish in it. The men were 100 miles off Bikini Atoll.
#3
Victims,Victims,as far as the eye can see!Yes you were the victims-of your brutal,aggressive militaristic government that started the war w/ US,whose troops massacred houndreds of thousands in China,who didn't surrender after Hiroshima bombing,and had major elements that after Nagasaki
wanted to fight on until either America lost so many dead the US quit or the Japanese people were exterminated.When the Japanese apologize to the US,China,Phillipines,Thailand,Vietnam,India,Burma,Australia,Britain,Indonesia for starting the Pacific War and the way Japan conducted the war,then I might have sympathy for civilians in Japan who were bombed-atomic,incendiary or hi-explosive.And I haven't forgotten that Japan tried to set the Pacific Northwest Forest ablaze in the hopes that Seattle would burn,thus destroying Boeing factory there.But until the Japanese people and government sincerely apologize,F*** the protestor/victims and the horse they rode on!
Posted by: Stephen ||
02/28/2004 19:26 Comments ||
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Iraqâs interim leaders said Saturday evening that they would not be able to complete work on a temporary constitution by the end of the day, the deadline they had set. Earlier in the day, the leaders of the main Shiite political parties put off a scheduled meeting with the rest of the Iraqi Governing Council until the Shiites first tried to resolve differences of their own. The broader meeting took place later, at 7 p.m. Someone needs some project management training. They didnât know until the last hour of the last day that they couldnât meet the deadline?
On Friday, the Shiite parties walked out of a similar meeting. The to-ing and fro-ing exposed the deep rifts among the Iraqi leaders trying to establish a framework for the government. The 25-member Governing Council has been able to reach agreement on several aspects of the proposed constitution, but members evidently are far apart on several issues, including the degree of autonomy that should be granted the Kurdish people and the proper role of Islam in public life.
People present at the negotiations said that the council members had begun to go through a final draft of the constitution, but that they had agreed to just a small number of articles. Rowsch Shways, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, told the Reuters news agency that the council members had taken up the first of nine proposed articles in the constitution.
In an agreement last year, Iraqi and American leaders set for themselves this deadline for completing the interim constitution, which would serve as the framework for the government once the Iraqis take control of the country from the Americans on June 30. The temporary constitution would stay in place until nationwide elections could held for a national assembly and a permanent constitution can be written, presumably next year.
Missing the deadline does not mean that the June transfer will be missed. Some of the council members were saying that they needed perhaps a few more days to reach an agreement.
Although described as an interim constitution, the document being debated is likely to have a large influence on the permanent constitution, and therefore the stakes are high, council members on all sides say.
The draft circulating among the Iraqi leaders is remarkably progressive by the standards of Iraqâs history and those of the Arab world. It contains an extensive bill of rights that guarantees the freedom of speech, assembly and religion. Thatâs best news so far on the direction of Iraqâs future. But theyâre still debating the womenâs issues.
But outstanding issues do cut to the heart of Iraqâs identity. People involved in the negotiations say there is no agreement on the role of Islam in the future government. While some council members want to cite Islam as "a primary source" for legislation, several Islamist parties, including the Shiite groups, insist that Islam be named as "the primary source" for legislation. And this is still worrisome.
The chief American administrator here, L. Paul Bremer III, has threatened to veto any constitution setting up an Islamic republic, a threat that some of the more Islamist members of the council wish to challenge.
Another disagreement is over the degree of autonomy to be granted to the Kurds. The draft circulating Saturday called for a sharp curtailment of Kurdish autonomy, including a disbandment of the militia force. Kurdish negotiators were said to be balking.
Participants say there is also discord about a proposal to set up a government led by three presidents and one more important prime minister whom the three would appoint. Some groups, like the Kurds, are worried about the powers that would be granted to the prime minister, who would most likely be drawn from the party of the Shiite majority. Trioka? Now where have I heard that before?
A final conflict, negotiators said, was over the role of women. Early drafts called for a 40 percent quota for women in the national assembly, but many leaders prefer that as a target, not a quota. Send hillary to mediate. :)
It was this dispute that set off the walkout of the Shiites on Friday. At that meeting of the Iraqi Governing Council, a majority of the council members, led by two women, agreed to repeal a two-month-old bill giving clerics an oversight for marriage and family disputes. Mr. Bremer had refused to sign that law, but the Shiites made a show of strength and
Many Americans who know little about either Britain or Tony Blair have uncritically hailed both for their support during both the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns. Nelson Ascher examines the way in which Blairâs intervention may have set back the War on Terror and ultimately cause GWB his presidency.
BLAIRâS MISTAKES
By Nelson Ascher
The aftermath of the Iraqi war is one of the strangest phenomena Iâve ever witnessed.
Even among the antiwar crowd, one will be hard put do find, besides the usual suspects from the lunatic fringe, anyone who would have a nice word to say about Saddamâs regime and its history or murder, torture, genocide and external aggression. Everything points to the fact that even his Arab and/or Muslims neighbors, with the exception of Syria, are relieved that he and his regime are gone.
But the antiwar left, having failed and been proven wrong in all its apocalyptic predicitions, hasnât given the battle up. Its members are still trying to win their Iraqi war, and nowhere as much as in the UK.
In spite of my admiration for him, an admiration that has been much reinforced by seeing him defend his position like a lion in the House of Commons, I blame Tony Blair for all this mess.
Why?
I cannot prove it, but hereâs my hypothesis.
Blair was directly responsible for all that UN circus surrounding the inspections and then the war. Though he seems to be as self-assured a leader as one could find, conscious, maybe somewhat over-conscious, of the power of his charisma, the truth seems to be that he is a deeply divided man.
He may once have felt that his partnership with president Clinton was a match made in heaven. Surely heaven is not the place where his current partnership with Bush has been forged. We have to go back more than half a century, not to Churchill/Roosevelt, but actually to Churchill/Stalin to find, below an artificially harmonious surface, such an uneasy alliance of opposite temperaments and projects as the present one.
Iâd bet that, ever since 911, a considerable part of Blairâs thought was dedicated to finding out a way of avoiding any kind of American âoverreactionâ. Unlike opportunist foxes like Chirac or Schroeder, the trouble with Blair is that he likely believed in his own nice words, that is, he was sincerely in favor of international institutions, the UN, the EU and all the trans-nationalist stuff, not because all this advanced his, his partyâs or Britainâs interests, but, well, because he believed that was good for the future of mankind.
He clearly saw that 911 meant or could mean the death of all those nice semi-utopian hopes of the 90s. But it seems that, even then, he could not give up on them. And he heroically chose to try and tame the proverbial post-911 American âbull-in-a-china-shopâ, to see how much of what had been built throughout the 90s he would be able to save. While the French and the Germans played to the tune of their own naked, short-term and possibly misguided ârealpolitikâ and self-interest, Blair tried to remain the idealist, putting his very job in the line in an effort to preserve both a Western block and an âinternational architecture of rules and institutionsâ that were, at best, optical illusions.
And he did all this while keeping himself surrounded by a whole bunch of unreliable people, from Robin Cook to Clare Short, people whose goals were evidently at odds with his own.
Says something about Tony the man that he couldn't figure out what a backstabber Cook is, and what a backstabber+lunatic Short is.
Now, immediately after 911 Don Rumsfeld wanted to invade Iraq. It is easy to see he was right and how many troubles would have been avoided if he had had his way. We also know that, after occupying Baghdad in a couple of weeks, the US army would have found it as easy as it did to defeat the Taliban, and both things could possibly have been done before the end of 2001.
He's wrong there. It took us six months to get our ducks in a row in the build-up to liberate Iraq. If Don had started the mobilization on 9/12 H-hour wouldn't have been til sometime the next spring.
If so, why was Iraq delayed? My theory here is simple: because of an anti-Rumsfeld agreement between Blair and Powell. Blair may have told Bush something to this effect: âItâs either Afghanistan first with me, or Iraq first without me.â An inexperienced Bush didnât yet know, as did the much more experienced Rumsfeld, about the dangers of allowing the so-called âinternational communityâ and particularly Old Europe to have a say in Americaâs agenda. I do understand him: he faced something completely new for which he wasnât really prepared and must have been deeply divided between the advice of the âaggressiveâ Rumsfeld and the âprudentâ Powell. Blair must have tipped the scales in Powellâs favor. The fact that Powell seems to have managed to twist Pakistanâs Musharraffâs arm in the days immediately after the attacks may well have given him part of the credit he needed to direct American priorities early in the War on Terror.
As it happens, Blairâs position was more delicate than anybody imagined. While the American population on the one hand, and the Old European peoples on the other were all solidly behind their respective governments, Britain was and continues to be deeply divided between the Europhiles and the Atlanticists. Blair attempted what was basically impossible: to get the Europhiles in the Atlanticist boat, but they, possibly with the full backing of Old Europe, did, and are still doing, their best to destabilize the Blair government.
Thus, Britain became the US war effortâs âheel of Achillesâ. The antiwar left scored an important victory because it succeeded in alienating even more the British population from America. It is at least arguable that, had the UK remained far from the hostilities, a larger part of its people would be now supporting the US.
Blairâs problems come from the fact that he actually lied. He didnât, in the end, send his troops to Iraq because of WMDs, nor did he do it to advance the geopolitical re-organization of the Middle East and to defeat the Islamists decisively. He did it to save a world order that was mainly erected during the 90s, to save the UN, to save the EU (and to place Britain at its heart, as he himself often repeats), in short, to save things, agreements, institutions and ideals the innocence and purity of which he is probably the only world leader to have believed in.
Blair and Bush had the same problem: trying to explain a compelling but complex set of reasons for ridding the world of Saddam in the space of a 30 second sound bite. They both chose WMD, and it's hurting both of them.
He failed in this and, helping to misdirect energies that were needed for the WoT, he may also have seriously damaged the whole war effort, playing eventually into the hands of the enemies of mankind. His indecisiveness may yet cost him his position and Bushâs too.
#1
Now, immediately after 911 Don Rumsfeld wanted to invade Iraq. It is easy to see he was right and how many troubles would have been avoided if he had had his way.
This has to be the genesis of Rumsfeld's comment that the US could go in with or without the Brits - which caused a big controversy in the UK - just before the Iraq campaign kicked off. Rumsfeld had waited 1-1/2 years for this crucial event, even while diplomatic and popular American support dribbled away, thanks to Blair's delaying tactics.
#2
The lefties would have gone absolutely bezerk had we taken Rumsfeld advice. Can you imagine the hue and cry from the media had we spurned the UK and not groveled before the security concil for a while?
As it is now they believe the UN is the only legimate wielder of force in the world.
Personally my unmeasured response to 9/11 would have turned much of the middle east to glass, but the WoT would have been over on 9/12.
#3
I would of turned large unpopulated areas of the Muddle East to glass. With an additional 20 to 30 dummiy warheads targeted for specific residences. With an absolute and unequivical warning. Hand over every mother f****r even remotely involved in 9/11 and the speading of the fifth that helped instigate it or on 9/13 they would have an awful lot of "splaining" to Alhah to do
OTTAWA, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Canadian officials were reportedly close Saturday to sending hundreds of troops to Haiti as part of an international stabilization force.
"Head fer the hills, Jean-Claude! The whole Canadian army is after us!"
The Toronto Globe and Mail said Prime Minister Paul Martin spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Friday, as Martin worked to help build an international consensus aimed at resolving the crisis. "Heâs been personally taking a hand in this," an official said. Consideration of sending a significant number of troops would depend on the makeup of an international force and the ability of the Canadian Forces to pull together a contingent on short notice. "Potentially, hundreds could go," the unidentified government spokesman told the newspaper. "But it would depend on the need there. "Itâs going to be a challenge, without question."
Wonder who will be asked to help with transport and logistics. Somebodyâs uncle, maybe?
About 120 Canadian troops are already on standby in case help is needed evacuating fellow citizens from the island.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 3:15:26 PM ||
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This is going to be a stretch and foul up training yet again. But they're the right troops for the job.
#4
Ah yes- the dreaded International Force. Charged with controlling Port au Prince's airport and whatever hotel nearby has a working laundry and kitchen fit for the UN's 3-star chef.
One of the two alleged al-Qaeda members charged on Tuesday tried but failed to set up a satellite television connection so Osama bin Laden could watch the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, according to the indictment.
Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen was described by the Pentagon as a "key al-Qaeda propagandist" and former bodyguard to bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington which left nearly 3,000 people dead.
The Pentagon announced Tuesday that Al Bahlul and another alleged al-Qaeda member held at Guantanamo Bay, Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi of Sudan, had been charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes and would face trial by military tribunal.
According to the indictment, "from late 1999 through December 2001, al Bahlul was personally assigned by Osama bin Laden to work in the al-Qaeda media office.
"In this capacity, al Bahlul created several instructional and motivational recruiting video tapes on behalf of al-Qaeda," the indictment said.
"On September 11, 2001 Osama bin Laden tasked al Bahlul to set up a satellite connection so that bin Laden and other al-Qaeda members could see news reports," the indictment said.
"Despite his efforts, al Bahlul was unable to obtain a satellite connection because of the mountainous terrain," it added.
"In the weeks immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden tasked al Bahlul to obtain media reports concerning the September 11th attacks and to gather data concerning the economic damage caused by these attacks," it added.
Al Bahlul and al Qosi are the first of the more than 650 detainees at Guantanamo to be charged.
hat tip to Drudge! Nice to see the Taiwanese making their voice heard without a Tienanmen massacre. Thatâs the difference between the Chinaâs
More than 2.5 million people joined hands to form a 500-kilometre (310-mile) human chain stretching the length of Taiwan in a huge anti-China protest ahead of the islandâs presidential elections next month, organisers said.
The high turnout for the government-backed protest highlighting the threat posed to the island from Chinese missiles was likely to boost the re-election chances of President Chen Shui-bian, analysts said.
There was no independent confirmation of the figures but the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) disputed the size of the turnout. "Bahhh only a few showed up, the rest were holograms photoshopped in!"
The show of strength was designed to galvanise Chenâs supporters before the March 20 ballot, with polls showing him lagging behind his sole challenger, Lien Chan of the KMT.
Chen, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was at the organisersâ headquarters at Miaoli, northern Taiwan, for the "Hand in Hand" demonstration. He linked hands with former KMT president and pro-independence campaigner Lee Teng-hui.
"This is a historic event crossing ethnic, geographic, partisan, gender and age boundaries. There is no minority or majority in Taiwan. Taiwan is an integral," he said.
The protest, running from Keelung in the north to Pingtung in the south of the island, was called on the anniversary of February 28, 1947 when thousands of native Taiwanese were killed by KMT troops from the mainland in a bloody riot against the new rulers of China.
The episode poisoned relations between the KMT and native Taiwanese for decades.
Television pictures showed crowds at least 10 deep at points on the route through Taiwan as pro-government supporters joined hands at 2:28 pm (0628 GMT).
In the capital Taipei, thousands wearing "Yes Taiwan" caps gathered at the 2/28 peace memorial park, named after the 1947 incident, for speeches.
Taiwanese communities were also due to form human chains in Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver, the organisers said.
The opposition KMT has accused the DPP of creating an ethnic divide and organised its own show of support with leader Lien part of a group carrying "peace torches" into a rally in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
The torches had been taken on a two-week jog around the island by supporters.
In a statement released before the rallies, Lien made his own appeal to heal wounds among the islandâs different ethnic groups. "Everyone on Taiwan is native Taiwanese sailing together through glory and humiliation and sharing the same destiny," he said.
Chen has called the islandâs first referendum to run alongside the presidential poll and an estimated 15 million voters will be asked whether the island should arm itself with more missiles and hold peace talks with Beijing.
Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after communists won the civil war in mainland China and the island has since been governed separately. Beijing insists the island be reunified with China, by force if necessary.
Chen has toned down his pro-independence message in the face of opposition from home and abroad, but increased his attacks on China in the run-up to the polls.
Wu Tung-yeh, a professor of political science at National Chengchi University, said the rally would help the DPP campaign although it was too early to say if it would influence the polls.
"It is unlikely this rally will win over any of KMTâs supporters. It may have some effect on neutral voters, but it is hard to tell how many they can win," Wu said.
Cheng Wen-tsan, a spokesman for the DPP, predicted the rally would catapult Chen into the lead of the closely fought contest.
"The target of the demonstration and the referendum is China, not the KMT. KMT has made a huge mistake by refusing to take part in this activity," Cheng said.
KMT spokesman Alex Tsai said the protest would have no effect on the vote on March 20. expect the standard Dire Warnings⢠from Beijing
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 1:29:25 PM ||
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We should take a hint. I don't have a pot to piss in, we should do another: Pans across America.
Posted by: Red Willie ||
02/28/2004 13:50 Comments ||
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JPost - Reg Reqâd; Gotta get that surprise meter fixed
A 60-meter long arms-smuggling tunnel was uncovered Friday noon by IDF forces near the Erez industrial zone, site of Thursdayâs gun battle, in which Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Amir Zimmerman, 25 was killed by two Palestinians. Inside the tunnel, soldiers found Palestinian police uniforms and digging tools, which army sources believe was used by the gunmen.
I feel faint; I'd best go lie down.
The tunnel was dug on the Palestinian side, near the workersâ entrance to the Erez industrial zone. IDF officials said the 60 meter tunnel was apparantly used by the two terrorists who shot and killed Sgt.Maj.(Res.) Amir Zimmerman early Thursday morning. The tunnel was dug on the Palestinian side of the Erez industrial zone underneath stalls set up to serve the Palestinian workers and merchants who enter the industrial zone and next to a Palestinian Police position. The tunnel opening was found inside an old factory on the Israeli side of the industrial zone. Soldiers searching the tunnel found torches, spades, Palestinian Police uniforms and food. After searching the cave IDF forces demolished the stalls. The IDF Spokesman said action will be taken to thwart further attempts in the future.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 1:11:56 PM ||
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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed escaped a bid on his life as militants fired two rifle grenades at a rally he spearheaded in Beerwah in which one person was killed and eight others injured Friday afternoon, official sources said. The grenades landed about 300 meters away from the venue of the rally in Kashmir, also attended by some of Sayeed's cabinet colleagues. They landed 300 meters away? And they were shooting at him? From where? Omaha?
There was no report of any casualty in the attack so far. The chief minister was immediately whisked away by security personnel. However, a few minutes later he returned to complete his address. The people, too, stood their ground and waited for the Mufti to finish his address. The chief minister announced a college for the area and several other developmental projects. A caller, claiming to be the spokesman of the Jamiatul Mujahideen, said its militants carried out the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 13:04 ||
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300 meters isn't a surprise; this is Pakistan. They throw grenades like a bunch of four year old girls.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 13:19 Comments ||
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There's a reason Grenadiers are a Western invention.
Posted by: Bob Gibson ||
02/28/2004 13:25 Comments ||
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What were these guys using,M-1 garands?
As far as I know the rifle grenade was a M-1 attachent.
JPost Reg Reqâd
Four people were reported killed Saturday night after IAF gunships reportedly striked a car traveling in the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported. just a random car? I think not...
Palestinians reported at least 15 wounded in the strike, which took place several minutes before 7 P.M. Saturday night, in the Jabalya refugee camp.
One of the dead was reported to be a young girl standing near the car which was targeted by the gunships. holding a baby duck? Sorry to be so cynical, but with the past record of Paleo witnesses...if a bystander was really killed, sorry, but the IAF didnât deliberately target her, thatâs the difference between the sides
It was still unclear who was the target of the attack.
Among the wounded in Saturdayâs strike were three children, said doctors at Shifa Hospital. The identities of the two dead were unclear, and it was immediately known who was traveling in the car.
One of the wounded, speaking from the hospital, told The Associated Press that a helicopter fired at least two missiles at the vehicle.
Hundreds of people gathered at the hospital to check on the condition and identities of the casualties. car swarm? Tune to LGF for photos
An IDF spokesman said he was checking the report.
Israel has frequently sent helicopter gunships and warplanes to kill Palestinians in targeted missile strikes throughout more than three years of fighting.
The last such strike was Feb. 7, when an attack helicopter fired a missile that shattered a car, killing an Islamic Jihad leader in the vehicle and a 12-year-old boy on his way to school.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 12:44:02 PM ||
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car swarm? Tune to LGF for photos
" That foot was mine! "
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2004 13:09 Comments ||
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Update:
Initial reports indicated that the target of the attack was Islamic Jihad member, Ayman Dahdouh. The body of the other victim was so badly disfigured that it couldn't be immediately identified.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 13:24 Comments ||
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The body of the other victim was so badly disfigured that it couldn't be immediately identified.
That's what a good car-swarm will do.
Sudanese government forces launched a series of raids on western villages, killing at least 70 civilians and forcing tens of thousands to flee, a rebel spokesman said Saturday. The attacks began shortly before noon Friday, when about 300 militia fighters assaulted Tarne, a village 930 miles west of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Hassan Mandela, a spokesman for the Sudanese Liberation Movement, told The Associated Press. Homes were burned, resisters were shot and thousands forced to flee, he said. Over the next few hours, the militia sacked five other nearby villages, Mandela said in a telephone interview from western Sudan. At least 70 people were killed in the attacks and more than 50,000 forced to flee to safer areas, he said. It was not possible to independently verify the information. Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid said he was "not aware" of any raids.
"No! Certainly not!"
Mandela said there were no rebels in the villages, which are in a part of the western Darfur region controlled by the government. But the residents of the villages were largely black African Muslims, the ethnic group from which the rebels draw the bulk of their fighters, he said. The government-backed militiamen were mostly Sudanese Arabs.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 12:31 ||
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A brother of Al-Qaeda terror network number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, already sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court, will be retried here, a court official said Saturday.
One question: why? Given that this is Egypt, the sentence is unlikely to change ...
It's double secret probation!
Mohammed al-Zawahri, a member of the Islamist Al-Jihad movement led by his brother Ayman, was extradited to Egypt by an Arab country in 2001 and is currently being held in an Egyptian prison, the official said.
Be mighty interesting to learn which "Arab country" this was and whether or not it was before or after 9/11. One possibility is Sudan, where the EIJ was based throughout the 1990s.
Mohammed al-Zawahri, head of Jihad's military wing, was sentenced to die in 1999 in a trial of 107 people accused of "belonging to Jihad and working to overthrow the regime" of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the source said.
Sounds about right ...
The official was unable to say when the new trial would begin.
"We'll get to it as soon as he stops screaming ..."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 12:23 ||
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A suicide attacker blew himself up near a Shiite Muslim mosque in a city near the Pakistani capital on Saturday, government officials told The Associated Press. The explosives went off prematurely, and the bomber was still a distance from the mosque, said army spokesman Gen. Shaukut Sultan. Sultan said two people were injured in the blast, and the bomber was killed. The attack occurred as Shiite Muslims were marking the holiday of Muharram, and the mosque was packed with worshippers. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told AP that the situation was "under control." "Heâs dead. Weâre done here"
Muharram is a month of mourning when Shiite Muslims recall the seventh-century death of Hussein, grandson of Islamâs prophet, Muhammad. Most of Pakistanâs Sunni and Shiite Muslims live peacefully together, but small radical groups on both sides are responsible for frequent attacks. Pakistan is 20 percent Shiite Muslim and 80 percent Sunni. Security has been stepped up in Pakistan for the holiday. Officials on Saturday announced a plan to beef up security at airports nationwide, though they said they had no intelligence that would indicate a specific threat to air facilities.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 12:17:41 PM ||
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A suicide attacker blew himself up near a Shiite Muslim mosque
The choice was either to do that or to go get a job.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 13:02 Comments ||
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Darwin's theory of natural selection at work. Pathetic lot.
Ugandan soldiers say they have killed 30 rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in fighting in the north. An army spokesman said some of those killed were suspected of involvement in last weekend's massacre of displaced people at a camp. It is believed 200 civilians died but the government puts the figure at 80. The divisional commander, Colonel George Etyang, said several children abducted by the LRA had been killed accidentally in the latest clashes.
The abducted ones usually ended up as Kony's new wives, so Etyang might have spared them from a worse fate.
Ugandan troops have been stepping up their offensive against the rebels in the wake of the massacre. "We killed 30 of these thugs on Thursday in neighbouring Pader district," army spokesman Lieutenant Chris Magezi told the French news agency, AFP. He said 15 of the dead were suspected to have been among the group that attacked the Barlonya camp in Lira province. There has been intense anger in Lira at the killings and the government's perceived inability to defeat the rebels. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he is determined to wipe out the rebellion - a promise he has repeatedly made. He has also long complained that by placing restrictions on his military spending, international donors are hampering his campaign to defeat the insurgents. But a Western donors' delegation in Uganda said strict limits on such spending would be maintained.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:46 ||
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The powerful leader of Australiaâs 300,000 Muslims, Sheik Taj el-Din Al Hilaly, has praised the September 11 terrorist attacks as "Godâs work". The controversial Mufti also appears to have lent support to Arab suicide bombers in an inflammatory sermon during a Middle East lecture tour. Sheik Al Hilaly, who is based at the Lakemba mosque, last week vehemently denied that he called for a jihad against Israel in one of his sermons. But a translation of a sermon, delivered at the Sidon mosque in Lebanon and obtained by The Sun-Herald, is littered with references to Arab martyrs and Americans being punished by God. Sheik Al Hilaly spoke of an "Islamic revolution", and told his audience not to be surprised if one day a muezzin called out "Allah is Great!" from the "top of the White House". And then the flying pigs started to circle
"September 11 is Godâs work against oppressors," he said. "Some of the things that happen in the world cannot be explained; a civilian airplane whose secrets cannot be explained, if we ask its pilot who reached his objective without error: âWho led your steps?â Or if we ask the giant that fell: âWho humiliated you?â Or if we ask the president: âWho made you cry?â God is the answer."
I'm not sure that statement makes any sense at all. Maybe it's my medication...
Declaring there was a "war on infidels" around the world, the Mufti praised the boy who, "despite his motherâs objections", went to war to become a martyr. Bemoaning the lack of "real men" in the Arab world, he said the "true boy" was one who told his mother not to cry for him if he died. The boy who cried: "Oh mother, jihad has been imposed on me and I want to become a martyr [was a son of Islam]." The boy would cry to his mother: "Oh mother, Iâm going with a stone in my hand to become a martyr."
After seeking clarification from Sheik Al Hilaly in Egypt, his spokesman, Keysar Trad, said the Mufti had taken bits from poems, which he often incorporated into his sermons. The September 11 reference meant that "evil can reach everywhere and everything", and the power of terrorism should not be belittled. Stating that September 11 was Godâs work against oppressors meant "people only do these things when they feel oppressed". He denied the Mufti had supported suicide bombers, saying the "boy with a stone" could not possibly mean that. A week ago, the Australian Federal Police decided against investigating the Muftiâs overseas activities.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/28/2004 11:45:11 AM ||
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"I'd like to teach the world to sing,
in perfect harmony..."
#2
Some of the things that happen in the world cannot be explained; a civilian airplane whose secrets cannot be explained .... God is the answer.
What a great orator!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 12:57 Comments ||
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Sheik Al Hilaly spoke of an "Islamic revolution", and told his audience not to be surprised if one day a muezzin called out "Allah is Great!" from the "top of the White House".
Enough is enough. We need to kill their god. This war will not be over until that black rock in Mecca is rendered as mute, as inscrutible, and irrelevant as an ancient Mayan stela.
"Who were those people, Dad? What was this "allah" they worshipped?"
"I dunno, son; it's a mystery for the ages, I guess. Want some lunch?"
What Mean Mister Mufti needs to understand is that it'll be a cold day in Hell before any "muezzin" calls out "Allah is great" from the White House roof.
(Unless John Kerry wins the election, of course...)
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/28/2004 13:14 Comments ||
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I say let's snag the rock, and make it cornerstone for the new WTC.
#6
The wizard of Qz, praised the September 11 terrorist attacks as "Godâs work".
Thanks for the attempted enlightenment Muffey,but all along I have believed it to be the work of Satan and his Islamofascist disciples. I believe I'll just continue to think that way.
#7
The September 11 reference meant that "evil can reach everywhere and everything", and the power of terrorism should not be belittled. Stating that September 11 was Godâs work against oppressors meant "people only do these things when they feel oppressed". He denied the Mufti had supported suicide bombers, saying the "boy with a stone" could not possibly mean that.
Sound like we've found our new head of the Democratic National Commitee.
Zionist armed forces are expected to intensify reign of terror in the Gaza Strip in the upcoming period to precede the evacuation of that area, according to senior Zionist sources. Zionist press quoted those sources as saying that army units would escalate incursions into specific areas in the Strip and assassinations of senior officials in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements. The sources said that the Zionist cabinet yesterday met to endorse a series of decisions in the security field that would not include major military operations. Zionist daily âHaaretzâ for its part said that the Tel Aviv officials were pondering more strikes against Hamas prior to the withdrawal from the Strip, which is expected by end of this year. It quoted a senior army officer as saying that the Zionist entity should do in the Strip what it did not do in south Lebanon before its withdrawal in May 2000 namely dealing a heavy blow to resistance organizations. Sounds like good sense to me...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:39 ||
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to do otherwise would be stupid. Take down the bigs and let the civil war for power begin
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 11:42 Comments ||
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BTW - there are reports on MSNBC (9AM PST) of loud explosions in Gaza and helicopters over the city....round one?
will post more when it comes out
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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I'm sure the IDF would take them prisoner if possible. But if they start shootin', they get whacked. Sounds reasonable to me.
Iranâs influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said yesterday that all ânotorious terroristsâ get their money and support from Washington, in response to the latest US government report slamming Tehranâs human rights record. âAll the world-known and notorious terrorists are made with US money, support and experience,â he said in his Friday sermon, broadcast live on state radio. Some statements just take your breath away, don't they?
According to an annual United States government report released Wednesday, human rights conditions worsened last year in Iran as well as in China, Cuba and Myanmar. The US State Department human rights report gave a bleak assessment of Iranâs rights record, amid a âpursuit of numerous violations,â against fundamental rights that notably targeted government opponents in politics and the media. Intelligence Minister Ali Younesi bluntly accused the United States nine months ago of supporting terrorism because its State Department lists the Peopleâs Mujahedeen, also known as the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization, as a terrorist organization. The MKO was given sanctuary by Iraqâs then-president Saddam in 1986 after being driven out of Iran in the wake of a vicious power struggle following the 1979 Islamic revolution. âAn example of the US action which it calls combating terrorism, are those terrorists who are serving the US, they explode the Imam Reza center and martyred a lot of visitors, and now they are in US asylum either in Iraq or the US,â Rafsanjani said. That's it? That's the best you can come up with?
Nearly a dozen people were killed when a bomb exploded at the center in northeastern city of Mashad on June 20, 1994. Iran blamed the blast on the MKO, which were disarmed under a treaty with the US military in Iraq after the US-led war ousted Saddam Hussein. "Disarmed" means we took their weapons away...
The MKOâs deal with the US forces angered Tehran, which accused Washington of being equivocal in its âwar on terrorismâ. Because we wouldn't give them to Iran to torture and kill...
Rafsanjani also saluted Iraniansâ participation in last weekâs first round of parliamentary elections. âThe peopleâs participation in the elections was able to neutralize the psychological war which was headed by the US, thus saving the country from the whirlpool they had envisioned for it,â he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:35 ||
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Baghdad Bob has competition!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 11:43 Comments ||
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At least 40 people have been killed in fresh sectarian fighting in central Nigeria, bringing the death toll in two weeks of tit-for-tat violence to 150. More festivities on Islam's bloody border...
It's worse than that. The Saudis have been funding Wahhabi missionary programs in Nigeria for the last couple of years, possibly with Sudanese help. Looks like we're starting to see the first fruits of their work. Keep in mind that Nigeria is a major power in West Africa in addition to having a lot of oil and if they fall back into civil war, there's one less competitor for the Saudis on the world market ...
At least no one died of polio.
A senior army officer says Christians in Gerkawa town in the Shendam district of Plateau state turned on their Muslim neighbours on Thursday. They were avenging the killing of about 90 people by Islamic fighters on Tuesday in nearby Yelwa town, including 48 murdered at a church.
Huh, we didn't hear about that. Wonder these gunnies were connected to the Taliban in Yobe state that showed up back in December?
"When we arrived yesterday the whole place (Gerkawa) was in flames," the officer, who asked not to be named, said. "I saw not less than 25 bodies on the road entering town, and in total there were 40 to 50 killed," he said. He says the attackers used cutlasses and swords, slashing their victims' throats and then burning their bodies. The army says they have evacuated about 3,000 Muslims from Gerkawa to Yelwa, now deserted by Christians who have fled to Shendam for fear of fresh attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:25 ||
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setting up the battle lines and cleansing each side in preparation for a civil war? ROPma.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 11:40 Comments ||
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The fun thing about massacres is that it's a game that two sides can play. The Moslems didn't seem to know that.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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You think a Jihadi is bad, wait until you see the Christian version after you kill his family and friends.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2004 12:58 Comments ||
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Malaysia has extended the detention for another two years of seven suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah group. They are detained under the Internal Security Act which allows for indefinite detention without trial. Thirteen detainees with suspected links to Islamic militancy have had their detention extended this week. Some are alleged to be members of Jemaah Islamiah, which is held responsible for terror bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines, including the Bali bombings that killed 202 people in October, 2002. Intelligence officials in the region have linked the group to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. Extended cold storage is good...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:22 ||
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Several hundred Islamists have rallied in Bahrain to protest against the television reality show Big Brother produced in the Gulf Arab state, complaining that the program is un-Islamic. "Stop Sin Brother! No to indecency!" chanted the protesters. Is there nothing that's not un-Islamic?
The Arabic version of the show has drawn large audiences internationally. Police blocked a road leading to the house where the show is staged on the small Amwaj island, near the capital Manama. The program, broadcast across the Arab world by MBC satellite channel, has raised eyebrows despite efforts to take into account Muslim sensitivities. Separate living and sleeping quarters for male and female participants have been introduced, as well as a prayer room. Parliament Deputy Chairman Adel al-Moawada, who has led a campaign to cross-examine Information Minister Nabeel al-Hamer about Big Brother in the assembly, attended the peaceful rally. "We don't want such programs because our families will be influenced. Our children would think that living together without being married is acceptable in Islam," one protester said. If they were swarming the streets and chanting "Stop Big Brother — No to the Lowest Common Denominator," I could sympathize with them. But they're not, so my suggestion is more nudity.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:21 ||
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so my suggestion is more nudity.
Isn't that your suggestion to everything?
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2004 11:52 Comments ||
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Is there nothing that's not un-Islamic?
Kissing a rug five times a day and having gun sex come to mind...
AoS, sorry if this isnât appropriate - delete away if you must.
This is down the middle of the fairway for SAST.
âTis but a flesh wound, come back here coward!
Ever want to yank off someoneâs leg and beat them over the head with it? A Virginia man may have done just that. Police in Fredericksburg have charged Rodney Prophitt, 27, with pulling off his neighborâs prosthetic limb and then striking him with it, reports The Free Lance-Star. The whole thing started Wednesday evening when Michael Clapp, 38, found a bottle of medicine missing from his apartment. He immediately suspected Prophitt and went next door to ask him about it. Prophitt responded by knocking Clapp to the floor, then tugging off Clappâs fake leg and hitting him with it. "At some point," city police spokesman Jim Shelhorse told the newspaper, "Mr. Clapp was able to grab his leg back, get back to his apartment and call 911." Clapp went to the hospital with a broken nose. Prophitt was charged with felonious assault and petty larceny. Shelhorse didnât know what kind of medicine was taken or why Clapp had an artificial leg. Umm....because heâs missing a real one?
Posted by: JerseyMike ||
02/28/2004 11:17:32 AM ||
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See what happens when Fred goes away for a few days? This site's turning into FARK, that's what!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 19:40 Comments ||
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Mr. Clapp is lucky that he awarded Nerf the contract for his prosthesis. I understand that Snap-on made a quality offer that would have proved disasterous in this incident.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/29/2004 0:40 Comments ||
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Leading Bangladeshi author Humayun Azad was unconscious at a military hospital in Dhaka on Saturday after being stabbed by unidentified attackers on leaving a national book fair, his publisher said. "He is still senseless and doctors are monitoring his health at the intensive cure unit," publisher Osmani Gani said. "We have to wait 72 hours for the doctors to be sure as one injury was on the back of his head," Mr Gani told AFP from the Combined Military Hospital. To be sure of what? That he's dead?
Mr Azad, 56, a Bengali-language teacher at Dhaka University, was stabbed three times late Friday by unidentified assailants as he left a book fair on the campus, police and newspapers reported. The assailants fled by exploding a home-made bomb that sent people scurrying for cover. Police said on Saturday that two suspects had been arrested. Betcha they were wearing turbans...
Teachers, students and fans of Mr Azad demonstrated Saturday on the Dhaka University campus against the attack. "He [Azad] is a symbol against communalism and we strongly condemn the attack," Arefin Siddiqui, president of Dhaka University Teachers Association, told the protest rally on the campus. Kamal Hossain, a lawyer and leader of the small Gono Forum party, added: "This attack is an attack on free speech." "Mahmoud, we gotta shut dis guy up! Permanent!"
"Hokay, boss. But dat won't infringe on his freedom of speech, will it?"
Flowers were placed by his fans and friends at the blood-stained scene of the attack. Mr Azad's family and fellow writers blamed hardline Islamists for the attack, saying it was linked to his latest book, entitled Pak Sar Zamin Saad Baad - the first lines of the Pakistani national anthem. That probably makes it blasphemy. That explains the whole thing.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:09 ||
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Bangladeshi author Humayun Azad was ... stabbed by unidentified attackers on leaving a national book fair
The choice was either to do that or to write a critical book review.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 13:04 Comments ||
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The choice was either to do that or to write a critical book review.
Too bad they didn't know how to write.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2004 13:06 Comments ||
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I'm confused. Was he the leading Bangladeshi author or the only Bangaladeshi author? Or is that the same thing?
Two people were killed and 10 others injured when the dome of a mosque under construction collapsed in the western Turkish city of Usak on Saturday, a local official said. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known, Anatolia news agency quoted the city's deputy governor, Mustafa Guney, as saying. The casualties included the 83-year-old architect of the mosque, he added. In early February, an 11-storey apartment block collapsed in the central Turkish city of Konya, killing 92 people. Authorities blamed the tragedy on shoddy construction. I'm still thinking Wrath of God™...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:02 ||
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"The casualties included the 83-year-old architect of the mosque"
sounds like the Code of Hamurabbi is in effect
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 11:04 Comments ||
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The cause of the collapse was not immediately known
#5
Actually, Ship, there's a section in the Code of Hamurabbi that states - while I can't quote it exactly - that a man who builds a building, and that building is flawed so that it collapses, the man who built it shall be placed in one of his own buildings, and it shall be pulled down around him, killing him.
Hamurabbi was pretty strict about that, given all they had to work with at the time was mud bricks, mud and _straw_ bricks, and the occasional stone blocks that had to be imported.
Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
02/28/2004 17:06 Comments ||
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Damn Ed, this Hamurabbi would have had a tough time in Jersey.
Six nation talks in Beijing on the North Korean nuclear crisis have ended in Beijing with China saying severe differences remain among participating nations. For four days representatives from China, Japan, Russia, the US, North and South Korea met in Beijing. Talks ended this afternoon, with only minimal progress apparently made in ending the dispute of North Korea's nuclear weapons efforts. An agreement was reached to set up working groups and to hold another round of negotiations, but China says severe differences remain. The US wants the complete, irreversible and verifiable end to North Korea's uranium and plutonium weapons programs. North Korea denies any uranium program exists, and wants security guarantees and economic aid in return for any end to its nuclear efforts. Coulda called that one without looking...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 11:01 ||
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this is a repost of one from 6 months ago, and a year ago, and a year and a half ago.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 11:02 Comments ||
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Talks ended when North Korea realized they were not dealing with a spineless Democratic U.S. policy of appeasement and denial. "We'll just starve until 2008 when some new suckers will fall for our good-guy poor-me-victim act" said NK representatives.
With panic rising across Haiti's capital and rebels within 25 miles of the city, the Bush administration said Friday that it was still pursuing a diplomatic resolution. Even so, the Pentagon was drawing up plans for possible intervention by the Marines. "We're interested in achieving a political settlement and we're still working to that effect," President Bush said after a meeting with the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. "We're also at the same time planning for a multinational force" to provide stability in the event of a political settlement. Mr. Bush reiterated the administration's position on Haiti's president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, which was spelled out Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell: that he should "examine his position carefully." That means Jean-Berty's on his own... Richard A. Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said the administration was in "very close touch" with the French government, which has called for Mr. Aristide to resign and has offered to take part in a multinational effort to stabilize Haiti. The American Embassy in Port-au-Prince released a statement on Friday evening calling for Mr. Aristide to stop "the blind violence" wracking the city. Among the possibilities the Pentagon is considering, Defense Department officials and military officers said, is to send a force of 2,200 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., aboard Navy ships from Norfolk, Va., to take up positions off Haiti. But they said such a deployment, similar to what was done to stabilize Liberia last year, could take several days to organize. Take your time...
In the gathering chaos in Port-au-Prince, no one could say for sure if that would be soon enough. It's not designed to be...
Truckloads of armed men, many in ski masks, patrolled the city on Friday, vowing to kill anyone who challenged Mr. Aristide's presidency. Looters pillaged warehouses at the port, and at least four people were killed in violence sweeping through the city. The bloodshed was set off by rumors that rebel soldiers would soon march in to remove Mr. Aristide by force. Y'might say that when the ski masks go on, the regime's mask comes off.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/28/2004 10:52 ||
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Why isn't the left jumping up and down and praising Bush? Shouldn't they be applauding his multi-national efforts?
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 12:15 Comments ||
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#2
Which kind of begs the question, On a tropical Caribbean island, why would one find ski masks?
Only at the Esquimeau Trading Post?
Posted by: john ||
02/28/2004 16:39 Comments ||
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#3
...and I hear Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani troops opened fire on a van they thought was carrying Islamic militants on Saturday, killing at least 10 people in a region where forces are hunting Osama bin Laden, witnesses and intelligence officials said. Jim Maceda on MSNBC said the 11 opened fire first
That's probably true, though not necessarily an indication that there were al-Qaeda in the van. In the NWFP, everybody carries an AK-47, multiple RPGs, and maybe some rockets for good measure ...
The incident took place in the South Waziristan tribal region -- where Pakistani troops have been hunting fighters from bin Ladenâs Al Qaeda network -- shortly after missiles were fired on a military camp, they told Reuters. oooohhh, thatâll make the troops friendly
Rockets being fired at government troops (as opposed to the local lashkar) would seem to imply that somebody wanted to the feds to stay away ...
An intelligence official told Reuters initial investigations suggested those in the van were not militants and that it was "mistaken fire." Bzzzt! Bad answer!
A statement from the Pakistani military said some of those killed may have been "terrorists," but added: "The chances of some civilian having been killed cannot be ruled out. "not every one of them had his own RPG launcher"
Be careful. In the NWFP, that may not be too terribly far from the truth ...
The military said sixteen people had been arrested.
The intelligence official said four armed men traveling in a car fired in the air as troops were trying to defuse rockets in Shulam, a village near Wana, capital of South Waziristan.
That isn't the smartest thing to do while driving, but okay ...
He said troops radioed a message to a nearby military post about the fleeing car. "The troops mistook the van, believing it was carrying militants," the official said.
OSAMAâS CAPTURE DENIED Saturdayâs incident came as U.S. officials denied a report on Iranian state radio which quoted "an informed source" as saying that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been captured in the border region but the news was being withheld for later release to help President Bushâs re-election prospects.
I think that this is VEVAK disinformation myself, either for local or international consumption. Any comment, Madam Albright?
A senior U.S. defense official denied the report, calling it "another piece of stray voltage thatâs passing around out there."
Pakistani troops earlier this week arrested 20 suspects in an operation against al Qaeda and Taliban militants in South Waziristan.
The U.S. military said this month that U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan were moving toward coordinated operations along the border -- "a hammer and anvil approach" -- to prevent fleeing al Qaeda fighters from escaping simply by crossing from one country into the other.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 10:08:36 AM ||
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JPost Reg Reqâd
A suicide bomber riding a bicycle blew himself up near the greenhouse area of Kfar Daron, in the center of the Gaza Strip. The suicide bomber died from the explosion. No one else was wounded. heh heh IDF defenses include cobblestones on the bike routes
The incident occurred on a road that links Kfar Darom and its hothouses, a road which is used by Palestinians going to work in the settlement. In May of last year, three soldiers were lightly wounded when a suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up near their armored jeep near Kfar Darom. Hamas claimed responsibility for that attack. The Bicycle Of Incompetence Doomâ¢!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 10:02:02 AM ||
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#1
"Suicide Bike Bomber" sounds like something from Monty Python.
#5
"He was goin down the grade makin 30 mile an hour when the chain on his bicycle broke, he was ripped an torn by the rocks and the gravel, he ain't a gonna ride no more."
Posted by: C. Jones ||
02/28/2004 13:44 Comments ||
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#6
He was goin down the road
doing 90 miles an hour
when the chain on his bicycle broke
he was found in the grass
with a sprocket up his ass
and his balls playing dixie
on the spokes
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/28/2004 14:51 Comments ||
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From Jihad Unspun
.... Brig. Mahmud Shah, chief administrator of the [Khyber tribal] region, suggests asking a tribal leader about bin Laden may get you shot. .... Dozens of the fiercely independent Pashtuns live in the region. Most of them are tall and bearded. They wear the shalwar-qamis -- the loose trousers and long shirts that bin Laden adopted when he moved to Afghanistan in 1995. If bin Laden is hiding among them, it will be difficult to single him out from other bearded tribesmen, all of who carry guns.
But are they all 6 feet tall and left-handed? Those are kind of distinctive characteristics, Mahmud ...
And those lips... He's got some big-assed lips... -Fred
Pashtun tribes have an arrangement with Pakistan -- originally negotiated by the British before they left the area in 1947 -- that prevents the government from sending troops and policemen to the remote region. Thatâs why there are no trained law enforcement agents to spot and catch bin Laden and his men who, U.S. officials say, are conducting raids deep into Afghanistan from their hideouts. ....
All the same, you'd think the locals would notice a guy who tends to travel with 50-200 heavily armed bodyguards whose ranks include Chechens, Uzbeks, Indonesians, ect.
Last month, U.S. military and civilian officials in Iraq intercepted a courier carrying a 17-page letter they said was written by Abu Mussab al-Zarkawi, a convicted Jordanian terrorist. It was allegedly intended for his al-Qaida contacts in Pakistanâs tribal belt. ...
I dunno about that. Pete Stanley has a fairly good theory that "Abdullah Khan," the al-Qaeda leader that ABC News thought the letter was addressed to, actually refers to a town out in Afghanistan's Herat province, a town, incidentally, that is run by the Iranian-backed warlord Ismail Khan. That doesn't necessarily mean that Binny's there, but one of his couriers certainly could be.
The tribal belt is an almost thousand-mile-long stretch across a mountainous region peppered with hundreds of gorges. Fugitives can easily move in and out of the area. It is inhospitable, tribesmen are suspicious of outsiders, and tribal caravans have moved across the border without any documents for centuries. U.S. officials worry any effort to impose travel restrictions may be fiercely resisted.
Like everything else ...
"We believe that bin Laden is being very careful," says administrator Shah. "He does not move with large groups, if he moves at all." Shah, a Pashtun who maintains close ties to local tribal chiefs, says his sources tell him that bin Laden has about "about 100 to 200 diehard followers who have built a protective net around him. They do not get close because that would draw attention."
Yes, yes, we know all about Binny's praetorian guard. However, one might think that if the region is so suspicious of foreigners that they might perhaps notice this rather large entourage ...
Although Shah insists bin Laden spends more time on the Afghan side of the border, he said the al-Qaida chief might have fled to the Pakistani side two years ago when U.S. forces bombed his hideouts in the eastern Afghan valley of Tora Bora.
If he survived Tora Bora, the first place he likely went to was to Maulana Fazlur Rehman's, where he could have received plastic surgery. After that, God only knows, if he survived ...
"Pakistani troops are confronting the tribal elders and making them accountable for the behavior in their area," Barno said. "Tribal chiefs who do not comply could face destruction of homes and things of that nature." Pakistan troops recently detained hundreds of tribesmen for cooperating with the Taliban and al-Qaida forces and destroyed their homes and schools. Pakistan is also trying to establish permanent military posts in these areas. It has built roads and schools with U.S. money. Many in the region still sympathize with the Taliban, if not al-Qaida, for religious and ethnic reasons, however. Like most Taliban, the tribesmen also are staunch Muslims and ethnic Pashtuns. "They feel that the Pashtuns have been treated harshly in Afghanistan, where they are a majority but are being ruled by a minority," says Behroze Khan, a supporter of the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party. Religious sentiments are strongest in northern tribal regions. In the south, Pashtun nationalism is stronger. Pashtun clerics operate freely in both the regions and do not hide their sympathy for the Taliban. "The Taliban are a reality in Afghanistan ... and they should be recognized as such," says Mufti Kifayatullah, information secretary for a seven-party religious alliance, which controls the provincial government in Pakistanâs Northwest Frontier Province. "The Taliban was an ideological force, and an ideological force can be beaten but it cannot be rooted out," said Kifayatullah.
Tell that to the Cathars or the Qarmatis or the French revolutionaries or the Nazis or the Soviets ...
Aware of these sentiments, the Americans are encouraging moderate Taliban leaders, such as Mullah Sabir and Mullah Jalil, to replace the old guard. "The Taliban should be aware of these new leaders being created by unseen forces ... they will deceive them," warned Kifayatullah....
Yet another sinister conspiracy, no doubt ...
In a pamphlet distributed recently, elders urge the tribesmen not to hide terrorists because it could bring U.S. troops to their homes. "And if U.S. troops enter the tribal areas, nobodyâs honor will be safe ... so do not shelter foreign terrorists," warns the pamphlet....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 9:58:42 AM ||
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#1
If bin Laden is hiding among them, it will be difficult to single him out from other bearded tribesmen, all of who carry guns.
Here's a clue, Mamoud - he's the one who looks like he could play for the Lakers, you dumb s**t...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2004 11:13 Comments ||
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hat tip to Glenn Reynolds Pentagon and Pakistani officials on Saturday denied an Iranian state radio report that Osama bin Laden was captured in Pakistanâs border region with Afghanistan âa long time ago.â Ah..but are they denying that heâs been captured now?
Keep in mind that the Iranians putting this stuff out may have a more sinister motive. The more conspiracy theories they spout about Binny being captured, the less people may be inclined to look for him or Junior in Iran.
The claim came at a time when Pakistanâs army was hunting al-Qaida suspects in a remote tribal region along the border with Afghanistan, believed to be a possible hiding place for the al-Qaida leader. The report was carried by Iran radioâs external Pushtun service, which is designed for listeners in Afghanistan and Pakistan where the language is widely spoken. Iran state radioâs main news channel - the Farsi-language service for Iranian listeners - did not carry the bin Laden report. Iran state television also did not carry the report. The director of Iran radioâs Pushtun service, Asheq Hossein, said he had two sources for the report. The radio quoted its reporter as saying bin Laden had been in custody for a period of time, but a U.S. announcement of the capture was being withheld by President Bush until closer to the November election. Iâm pretty sure this is old news to rantburgers...but I canât keep up anymore.
The selectiveness of the coverage is certainly interesting and all but admits in of itself that the Iranians knew it was bogus. If they knew that the US had Binny jugged, they'd be trumpeting it from every news outlet in Tehran.
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 9:51:40 AM ||
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#1
announcement of the capture was being withheld by President Bush until closer to the November election.
Ahh, so this would be the Iranian wing of the Democratic Party. Wonder who's getting their delegates?
The couple murdered in the terrorist shooting on the Hebron-Beersheba road near Eshkolot in the south Hebron Hills and close to the Green Line on Friday night are Eitan Kukoi, 30, and his wife Rima Noviko, 25, residents of the Shani Livne community. Their 2 yr old survived. Iâm sure heâll grow up to love his neighbors
Both the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Fatahâs Al-Aqsa Martyrsâ Brigades have claimed "responsibility for the attack. The PFLP said it is in response to Zionist massacres and attacks will continue. "whenever we can find unarmed Jooos who canât shoot back....we prefer children and infants"
Yeah, but the PFLP was pretty much wiped out after they killed the Israeli Tourism Minister - they broke the rule that neither side was going to target the other's political leadership. If they're back in action again, that means that Baby Assad's been tossing some more cash their way to reconstitute whatever remains of their organization ...
The two were on their way to Ashdod when gunmen ambushed their car, spraying it with bullets and killing them both instantly. A resident from Meitar alerted security forces after he spotted the car with its windows smashed at the side of the road, and a Magen David Adom team that reached the site after receiving a report of the shooting at 8.24pm was forced to pronounce them dead. Security forces that reached the site combed the area for the perpetrators. Dozens of bullets from Kalashnikov rifles riddled the car. the favored weapon of cowards
Late Friday night trackers spotted footsteps leading to the nearby Palestinian village Ramadin, where officials believe a car picked up the perpetrators, who fled into the south Hebron Hills. Police commander Moshe Karadi said that with the construction of the security fence in the north and center of the country, officials estimated that terrorists would attempt to launch attacks in the area. "The site is in close proximity to the Green Line and the south Hebron Hills. Itâs an area we estimated attacks would be carried out. Unfortunately it did." Karadi said that more than one terrorist participated in the attack. needed peer support for bravery
Security forces called off the search in the area, and the investigation will focus instead on intelligence gathering in an attempt to find the perpetrators. They couple is survived by their 2-year-old.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 9:43:12 AM ||
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IOWAHAWK: I am hungover and have traffic court. Here are some jokes I wrote about Clinton 7 years ago.
FRANK J: Oh great, another internet chuckle pusher. Beat it, punk! Iâm working this side of the street!
IOWAHAWK: Oh yeah, tough guy? I donât scare so easy. At least not until the Vicodin wears off.
FRANK J: Then maybe you should say HELLO to my LEETLE FRIENâ!
IOWAHAWK: Yow! Not Chomps, the worldâs angriest dog!
CHOMPS: Grrrr! Chomp chomp!
IOWAHAWK: If it werenât for the Oxycontin, the pain would be unbearable!
SCRAPPLEFACE: Internet Rocked by Dog-By Killing
The poverty-racked internet humor neighborhood was rocked by another dog-by killing this morning. Authorities believe it to be the work of the notorious Frank J and Chomps gang.
IOWAHAWK: Hey! I had that idea 10 minutes ago! Ow! More dog bites!
SCRAPPLEFACE: Humorist Deploys Army of Posters
In his 93rd story idea of the day, Scott Ott ordered a massive invasion of Scrappleface posters to quell rioting in the powder keg humor neighborhood.
SCRAPPLEFACE POSTERS: Ha ha, Sir! It is the funniest thing weâve ever read! Have a taste of our sweet nightsticks, rioters!
FRANK J: Ow!
IOWAHAWK: Ow!
CHOMPS: Nnn! Nnn! Nnn!
ALLAH: The creator of worlds is displeased.
ALL: Oh my God!
ALLAH: A fatwa upon thee, kufr. Behold, I bring you a rain of hot death.
ALL: Oh God no! Not Andy Borowitz, the worldâs least funny man!
BOROWITZ: Hi, everybody! Here are some of my tongue-in cheek satirical takes on the news.
ALL: Have Mercy, Allah! Hey wait - isnât that Lileks?
ALLAH: Oh Oh - the actual God!
LILEKS: Your combative bonhomie is amusing, in an ersatz-Ritz Brothers way; perhaps you will enjoy this latest sentence I wrote while preparing Gnat a bowl of Frankenberries.
ALL (reading): Oh no... itâs... funny... AND poignant... with references to Wally Cox... and Peruvian architecture! We are all puny and insignificant!
LILEKS: Frankenberries were introduced by General Mills in 1967. Gnat, Jasper, finish them off.
GNAT: Okie dokie Daddy!
ALL: Aiiieeee! The cuteness!
JASPER: Grrrrr...
CHOMPS: Nnn! Nnn! Nnn!
ALL: Hey look! Itâs mega-super chucklegod Dave Barry!
DAVE BARRY: I just bought the internet, and Iâm evicting all of you. I am not making this up.
Posted by: Korora ||
02/28/2004 9:26:18 AM ||
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A good read and plenty of links.
Donald Rumsfeld is the neo-conservative architect of war, Colin Powell the cuddly multilateralist. Right? Wrong. Behind the caricature is a titanic Washington struggle far more complicated and interesting.
..................
During my many travels to Europe over the past year, a familiar motif has played itself out. No sooner do I hit the tarmac than my hostsâ cheerful welcoming banter is followed by the first serious question: âwhoâs up and whoâs down?â in the putative fight to the death being waged between the United Statesâs secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, and its secretary of state, Colin Powell.
The question is not posed with equanimity. For all that Americans are charged with too often viewing the world as a simple clash between good and evil, this European concern has its own distinct moral subtext. In a cartoonish way, foreign observers often contrast the decent, honourable, mild-mannered, multilateralist Powell with an overbearing, rude, blunt, abrasive, arrogant, unilateralist Rumsfeld. This simplicism is a metaphor for how little the rest of the world really knows about the sole remaining superpower. It is also a fine place to start explaining the realities of post-9/11 America to the rest of the world.
Realists, moreover, do not share the fantasy (propagated by followers of the French president, Jacques Chirac) that we live in a âmultipolarâ world of three-to-five relatively equal powers. Realists currently see the power structure of the world as one where the United States is the chairman of the board, the first among equals. But if global problems are to be successfully addressed, other board members need to be engaged on an issue-by-issue, case-by-case basis. This hard-headed pragmatism â aeons away from foreign perceptions of Colin Powell as a closet European who somehow took a wrong turn and ended up in the Bush administration â is the true reason for Powellâs concern to carry allies along.
Europeâs judgment of Donald Rumsfeld as the repository of all that the rest of the world despises about America is equally flawed. A former ambassador to Nato, a Congressman, chief of staff to President Gerald Ford, and now both the youngest and the oldest man ever to hold the position of defence secretary, Rumsfeld has been grappling with foreign relations issues for thirty years.
Indeed, as a staunch believer in the transatlantic alliance, Rumsfeld is far more a Washington operator than he is an ideologue, unlike neo-conservatives such as his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and the thrusting hawks clustered around vice-president Dick Cheney and his chief of staff I. Lewis âScooterâ Libby. In fact, although âneo-conservativeâ is the current watchword for all that is malign in European eyes about the Bush administrationâs foreign policy, it is an open question as to whether Rumsfeld is one at all.
Strict neo-conservatives see America as the new Rome, the only global power of significance in an otherwise dangerous and chaotic world. Donald Rumsfeldâs famous dictum, âthe mission determines the coalition â the coalition does not determine the missionâ, may not be music to the ears of European believers in the multipolar ideal; but it is far from the neo-conservative belief that pursuing coalitions is pointless.
Real drama, not soap opera
However, if foreign views of differences between Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell are exaggerated, they are correct about one fundamental truth: the Bush administrationâs foreign policy is not monolithic. In fact, a titanic struggle between realists and neo-conservatives for control of the Bush administration and the Republican party is underway; and it is mirrored by the ideological battle within the Democratic party between traditionalist and harder-edged Wilsonians. America has not been in this much ideological ferment regarding foreign affairs since the Truman era after the second world war.
As was the case in 1945 with the doctrine of âcontainmentâ elaborated during the cold war to meet the challenge of the Soviet Union, it is likely that the emerging, dominant paradigm of American foreign policy will be a hybrid that fuses elements of all three schools of thought: realism, Wilsonianism, and neo-conservatism.
America is a nation in flux. The neocon ascendancy that sent United States troops into Iraq is less secure than it seemed a year ago. A historic clash between different foreign policy doctrines is taking place; âwhoâs up and whoâs down?â is mere European soap opera in comparison. As Valentine, the lead character in Tom Stoppardâs wonderful play, Arcadia, says: âItâs the best possible time to be alive, when everything you thought you knew is wrong.â
Posted by: tipper ||
02/28/2004 9:22:52 AM ||
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Donald Rumsfeldâs famous dictum, âthe mission determines the coalition â the coalition does not determine the missionâ, may not be music to the ears of European believers in the multipolar ideal; but it is far from the neo-conservative belief that pursuing coalitions is pointless.
This is kind of simplistic - do neo-conservatives really believe that coalitions are pointless? I can't believe they think that. Rather, they believe, as Rumsfeld does, that the only practical coalitions are the ones that come together out of a sense that they are pursuing common ends.
What is pointless is to pursue coalition allies that are firmly set against a particular approach to achieving policy ends - of deterring countries that provide assistance to countries by threatening to topple them. The simplistic approach, in an age of terrorist mass-murder by proxy, is an approach that merely criticizes those regimes that give aid (money and recruits) and comfort (transit rights and shelter) to the terrorists. A new deterrence is needed - a deterrence that is grounded in acts, not words. Afghanistan and Iraq were the proving grounds for these actions. Various countries that previously provided lip-service to cooperating with US intelligence services in cracking down on terrorists are now attacking and killing them on their home ground. And much of this is attributable to Afghanistan and Iraq - Muslim regimes are frightened - they understand that regime change could happen to them.
#2
An interesting analysis and one that has an even more interesting subtext which is that Europe and the other second tier powers are second tier in terms of their contribution of ideas to the debate on the future of the world.
The future of the world is being made in the USA not only because of its miltary prowess but becuase of its capacity to formulate and execute (achievable) ideas.
#3
Wow. I can't actually see the neo-conservatives in the Republican party trying to take control, because I don't believe there are any. It's a term made by opposition to make the people who are right-of-center look like fanatics.
Other than that, I agree with what he says.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2004 13:04 Comments ||
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#4
Strict neo-conservatives see America as the new Rome, the only global power of significance in an otherwise dangerous and chaotic world.
says who?
Hey author ...I've rewritten your piece above:
We hailed Colin Powell's multinational arguments as cool and hip and correct. But now that the war is over and we see that Chirac and Schroeder and the UN were just scamming the Iraqi people, stuffing money in their off-shore oil accounts and, unless we wish to justify the horrors of Sadaam's reign, we are forced to admit that Rumsfeld wasn't such an idiot afterall. However, because we just CAN'T bring ourselves to admit that outright, we will admit we were wrong but blather on endlessly how we weren't completely wrong because Cheney is bad and Bush is stupid and the neocons are still out to get you. We believe that if we blather on long enough and throw out enough red herrings and bogus proclamations, like the one above, that we will bore our readers into believing that we are saying something other than, "we were wrong".
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 18:06 Comments ||
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While declining to reveal his source or how his source knew of the capture, he said: "My source said it and he knows it." Does he know whoâs going to win the World Series this year?
Posted by: Rawsnacks ||
02/28/2004 9:04:21 AM ||
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...After he's done with the Series prediction, I want to know when the Browns are going to the Super Bowl.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/28/2004 11:16 Comments ||
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#2
A senior U.S. defense official denied the report, telling Reuters it was "another piece of stray voltage that's passing around out there."
I'd like to hear a statement that says, "Bin Laden has not been captured". wait...let me rephrase that......
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 12:13 Comments ||
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Edited for the heartbreaking parts
The exact sources of that assertion should be tracked down. Kerry also ought to be asked who, exactly, told him any such thing, and what it was, exactly, that they said they did in Vietnam. Statutes of limitation now protect these individuals from prosecution for any such admissions. Or did Senator Kerry merely hear allegations of that sort as hearsay bandied about by members of antiwar groups (much of which has since been discredited)? To me, this assertion sounds exactly like the disinformation line that the Soviets were sowing worldwide throughout the Vietnam era. KGB priority number one at that time was to damage American power, judgment, and credibility. One of its favorite tools was the fabrication of such evidence as photographs and "news reports" about invented American war atrocities. These tales were purveyed in KGB-operated magazines that would then flack them to reputable news organizations. Often enough, they would be picked up. News organizations are notoriously sloppy about verifying their sources. All in all, it was amazingly easy for Soviet-bloc spy organizations to fake many such reports and spread them around the free world. AS teen. I remember vividly in the â70s how some folks said the anti-war folks were communist inspired, but I never thought it was inspired by the Soviets
As a spy chief and a general in the former Soviet satellite of Romania, I produced the very same vitriol Kerry repeated to the U.S. Congress almost word for word and planted it in leftist movements throughout Europe. KGB chairman Yuri Andropov managed our anti-Vietnam War operation. He often bragged about having damaged the U.S. foreign-policy consensus, poisoned domestic debate in the U.S., and built a credibility gap between America and European public opinion through our disinformation operations. Vietnam was, he once told me, "our most significant success." Turning a nation against itself is a signifigant success. What is more, that sentiment guided our foreign policy for years until Reagan broke it, and guides our antiwar left to this day.
The KGB organized a vitriolic conference in Stockholm to condemn Americaâs aggression, on March 8, 1965, as the first American troops arrived in south Vietnam. On Andropovâs orders, one of the KGBâs paid agents, Romesh Chandra, the chairman of the KGB-financed World Peace Council, created the Stockholm Conference on Vietnam as a permanent international organization to aid or to conduct operations to help Americans dodge the draft or defect, to demoralize its army with anti-American propaganda, to conduct protests, demonstrations, and boycotts, and to sanction anyone connected with the war. It was staffed by Soviet-bloc undercover intelligence officers and received about $15 million annually from the Communist Partyâs international department â on top of the WPCâs $50 million a year, all delivered in laundered cash dollars. Both groups had Soviet-style secretariats to manage their general activities, Soviet-style working committees to conduct their day-to-day operations, and Soviet-style bureaucratic paperwork. The quote from Senator Kerry is unmistakable Soviet-style sloganeering from this period. I believe it is very like a direct quote from one of these organizationsâ propaganda sheets. I would love to audit VVAW, Fondaâs and Kerryâ personal finances from that period.
The KGB campaign to assault the U.S. and Europe by means of disinformation was more than just a few Cold War dirty tricks. The whole foreign policy of the Soviet-bloc states, indeed its whole economic and military might, revolved around the larger Soviet objective of destroying America from within through the use of lies. The Soviets saw disinformation as a vital tool in the dialectical advance of world Communism. The Stockholm conference held annual international meetings up to 1972. In its five years of existence it created thousands of "documentary" materials printed in all the major Western languages describing the "abominable crimes" committed by American soldiers against civilians in Vietnam, along with counterfeited pictures. All these materials were manufactured by the KGBâs disinformation department. I would print up these materials in hundreds of thousands of copies each. And our media never suspected this?
The Romanian DIE (Ceausescuâs secret police) was tasked to distribute these KGB-concocted "incriminating documents" all over Western Europe. And ordinary people often bought it hook, line, and sinker. "Even Attila the Hun looks like an angel when compared to these Americans," a West German businessman reprovingly told me after reading one such report. The Italian, Greek, and Spanish Communist parties serviced by Bucharest were much affected by this material and their activists regularly distributed translations. They also handed them out to the participants at anti-American demonstrations around the world.
Posted by: badanov ||
02/28/2004 8:19:11 AM ||
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Syndey Morning Herald. Hat tip: Tim Blair, who lives in Rantburgâs sister city, Spleenville.
Fidel Castro is worth $195 million, according to Forbes magazine, which included the Cuban president in its annual compilation of the worldâs richest people. "See! Socialism works!"
Although Castro was not one of the 587 people on the Forbes billionaires list, he was included in a special box for kings and governing classes. The weekly financial magazineâs description of the communist leader and the sources of his wealth was less than flattering. "Theyâre just jealous!"
"The fatigues-fitted Cuban leader has lorded over an impoverished nation of 11 million people for the last 45 years," said the Forbes website. I guess socialism only works for some people.
"El Lider is believed to have several lavish homes throughout Cuba. He travels exclusively in a convoy of black Mercedes-Benzes." What? No gold Caddies?
"Deals struck with European companies - such as the reported $US50 million sale of Havana Club rum to French liquor company Pernod Ricard in 1993 - line Castroâs coffers with some $US20 million a year. Wherever thereâs a ruthless tyrant, youâll find French industry propping him up.
"Concerns about his health persist," Forbes said of Castro. Heâs still alive. Damnit!
"He has reportedly named brother Raul as his successor." Because hereditary dynasty is the socialist way.
One of my law professors at the University of Cincinnati was a Cuban whoâd been one of Fidelâs college classmates. After the revolution, he was defense counsel for "enemies of the revolution." (To be an "enemy of the revolution," all you needed to do was be denounced by the secret police.) The trials took about ten minutes, and always ended in a guilty verdict. The appeal was heard in the room next door to the trial court, and appellate argument took another ten minutes. When the court of appeals affirmed, they took the defendant out into the courtyard and shot him.
Prof. Carro got out as soon as he could.
But, hey, they have universal literacy and health care, right?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2004 8:03:19 AM ||
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#8
Not that there is anything wrong with a 1958 Mercedes Benz.
But I don't get it: 45 years of power and only stole 195 million dollars???
Socialism must really be screwed up in Cuba.
Osama bin Laden has been captured along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a report Saturday on Tehran Radio. In the report quoting "knowledgeable sources," the official Iranian media outlet does not specify when the Al-Qaida leader was captured, and the report has yet to be confirmed elsewhere... This is from Haaretz, which is at least moderately accurate, but itâs reporting on info from Tehran radio, so adjust belief accordingly
I give this the 48 hour rule. Haaretz is just reporting what they heard on Tehran radio, so they're hardly at fault if the report is wrong.
Posted by: Lux ||
02/28/2004 6:06:51 AM ||
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#1
Tehran radio: the reason the 48 hour rule was invented in the first place, they also claimed that rummys visit to pakistan last week was related to the capture of Bin Hiding.
(BTW the report was not repeated in later broadcasts)
#2
Lux, beat me to it, but glad you posted it.
Dare we hope?!
(And if it's true, please let him be dead. The show trial of Saddam is one too many already.)
#8
I tend to agree,that piece of shit was vaporized in Tora Bora last year. If they are reporting his capture, it might just mean they found a chunk bigger than a fingernail.
#10
I should've closed mine with /sarcasm, cuz I've long thought he was dead in Tora Bora. He's too much of an egomaniac to go this long without a taunting video tape. It's been in everyone's benefit to pretend he's still alive: AQ - because it helps rally the troops, and keeps them relevant; the US because as soon as he's confirmed dead, the Dems/Libs will say: "ok, that's it, the WOT is over, time to ratchet up the spending on social services at home, and start dismantling the military and intel agencies"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 10:59 Comments ||
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#11
Bin Hiding! LOL!
well, I didn't see this post when I posted the other one, but according to the one from The Command Post, as of this morning, the Pentagon only denied that he had "been found a long time ago". That's not a denial in my book.
I agree with you, Frank. If he's found alive then it will really fuel the "Bush held him until the election" conspiracy theories. As if anyone, except the Bush Haters, cares.
On a brighter note, That Al Guardian, et al. are churning out the "Bush held him until the election" conspiracy theories, gives me great hope that Bin Hiding has been "captured" - dead or alive.
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 11:55 Comments ||
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#12
I wanna hear that he died from "previous" injuries after a lengthy interrogation.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/28/2004 12:27 Comments ||
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#13
Frank G> It's been in everyone's benefit to pretend he's still alive: AQ - because it helps rally the troops, and keeps them relevant; the US because as soon as he's confirmed dead, the Dems/Libs will say: "ok, that's it, the WOT is over, time to ratchet up the spending on social services at home, and start dismantling the military and intel agencies"
Frank G, that argument doesn't work unless you feel that the Democrats are a greater enemy than Al Qaeda -- in which case you should be urging for the assasination of the Democrat leaders.
Simple common reason tells us that if a piece of propaganda (true or false) is beneficial for Al Qaeda, then it is NOT beneficial for Al Qaeda's enemies -- and vice versa.
#14
Personally, I think he's alive. Just because there isn't any new videotapes doesn't mean he's dead. Binny probably just caught on that we were using the tapes to find him.
Binny is alive, but he's just hiding in a hole like all the supposed "Saladins" of the world.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2004 12:53 Comments ||
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#15
Katsaris seems to engage in limited logic. Even if it 'beneficial' for aQ, that does not mean it can't be even more beneficial for US.
#17
Simple common reason tells us that if a piece of propaganda (true or false) is beneficial for Al Qaeda, then it is NOT beneficial for Al Qaeda's enemies -- and vice versa.
Aris, I'm genuinely shocked. Surely you don't buy into the simplistic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" viewpoint. Haven't you taunted us on more than one occasion when the US has taken that tack? Or am I confusing you with Murat?
Frank G is quite right: there will be certain elements within the Democratic party who will declare the crisis over if Bin Laden is caught. They will probably be the same people who insisted that there was no point in going into Afghanistan to get Bin Laden, because "this is not about one man", but never mind that.
While some of the more zealous Rantburgers will seek to tar all Democrats with this brush, it's probably not true. Though admittedly at this time it's kinda hard to tell, what with the Democratic nominee candidates competing to see who can be kinder, gentler, and more multilateral.
Furthermore, the Buchananite right (what's left of them) would look upon Bin Laden's capture in the same light.
#18
Aris - faulty logic. I would not say the Dem line is more dangerous in the short term than AQ, but, in the long run, it could have far worse catastrophic effects for many Americans. I only hope this can be cured without another, say, City destroyed. The Dems, in general, are selling security snake oil, and too many of our citizens would wish away reality by buying that snake oil. You might notice I've always granted exceptions to that generalization: Lieberman, Sam Nunn, et al
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 13:23 Comments ||
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#19
Aris, I'm genuinely shocked. Surely you don't buy into the simplistic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" viewpoint.
Irrelevant. The goal is democracy and freedom for everyone, so yeah, I definitely am not buying into "enemy of my enemy is my friend" when the enemy of an enemy might be an even worse enemy of the goals in question.
E.g. when the US was supporting right-wing tyrants in order to supposedly save us from left-wing tyrants, and people in this forum expected gratitude towards the US for it, then sure, I'd be taunting you on the issue.
But you can't claim that something benefits Al Qaeda, without at the same time harming its enemies. That's a whole different issue.
Or I could just as well say "It's been in everyone's harm to pretend he's still alive, and criss-cross Frank's arguments".
Even if it 'beneficial' for aQ, that does not mean it can't be even more beneficial for US
Why the scare quotes in only one of those words? I think we were talking about quote-less benefits.
#20
Update from the Voice of America news site (hat tip: Instapundit):
Bin Laden 'On The Run,' US Official Says
Michael Kitchen
Islamabad 28 Feb 2004, 15:13 UTC
A top U.S. anti-terrorism official says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is on the run, amid what officials say is an intensifying hunt for fugitive members of the terror network. The U.S. official says he believes Osama bin Laden will be captured soon.
Ambassador J. Cofer Black, coordinator for the State Department counter-terrorism office, say the United States and its allies will find Osama bin Laden.
"I feel confident that it will be sooner rather than later, although I'm not going to speculate on the exact date," he said. . . .
. . . Mr. Black was in Islamabad Saturday, meeting with Pakistani counterparts to discuss anti-terrorism issues.
Pakistan launched a military operation Tuesday aimed at flushing out suspected foreign terrorists in the semi-autonomous South Waziristan agency.
On Saturday, the Pakistan military says one of its checkpoints in the South Waziristan capital of Wana engaged in an early morning shootout with an unknown vehicle.
Eleven people were reportedly killed in the incident, including civilian bystanders.
Military officials report 16 arrests following the incident, and say an investigation is under way.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/28/2004 15:23 Comments ||
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#21
'beneficial' and beneficial.
1.Suppose AlQ gets a big surge in membership, financial support and fanatical devotion.
2.Suppose AlQ sees a big drop in membership, it's finaces dry up and the remaining members convert to Quakerism.
Which of those two scenarios are really beneficial to AlQ?
Posted by: Les Nessman ||
02/28/2004 15:34 Comments ||
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#22
I used 'scare' quotes for two reasons: 1) to show it is not my choice of words, and 2) to mock you.
#24
Adding to prior posts, I'd like to see a Binny v. Sammy death-match smack-down in a cage at the Republican convention right before GWB accepts the nomination. Give them each a baseball bat with a nail through it. Last one standing wins a relatively pleasant death by lethal injection.
Also, official sources were saying for 8 months that Saddam would be captured "any day" before he finally was. Still, there are a whole lot of quotes from people who are either (1) not very concerned about maintaining their own credibility, or (2) privy to information that is so good they think it is safe to say we will get Bin Laden soon.
#26
Les Nessman> Yes, I somehow fail to understand how 2 can be called 'beneficial to Al-Qaeda' with or without quotes.
Rawsnacks> How would you mock me by using quotes around a claim that I never made myself? Perhaps you were mocking Fred and didn't know it.
"If the US is more secure by the number of people believing UBL alive being maximized, then so be it."
Because a stronger AQ is obviously making the US more secure, because Democratic opposition will be lesser. Right... Why not provide aQ some nuclear material then? That will *definitely* scare the democrat-leaning population into submission, and you won't need to use mere lies in order to control your nation.
Or perhaps you should just secretly fund Wahabbi Islamofascist schools. The more terrorists around, the more obvious the threat, the less possibility that Democrats will be in charge.
Overturning the action of its senior disciplinary officer, the FBI has reinstated a high-profile Muslim agent who had been fired last year amid a swirl of controversy over allegations of conflicting loyalties in the war on terrorism, NEWSWEEK has learned.
I stumbled across a reference to this on LGF. Why this isnât on the front page of every US newspaper, I donât know. I guess the gay marriage uproar and Kerryâs candidacy are so much more important.
Big media is always behind Rantburg. We had this on our front page yesterday.
Posted by: Tresho ||
02/28/2004 6:01:56 AM ||
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TOKYO - Japanese television aired on Friday what it said was rare footage of a North Korean prison camp for political prisoners, as six-way talks on Pyongyangâs nuclear program bogged down in Beijing. Rat bastards.
The footage on Japanâs Fuji Television Network, said to have been smuggled out of the communist state, showed poorly dressed men and women laboring in snowy fields. Prisoners in drab grey uniforms, the men with their heads bared and the women wearing only scarves despite temperatures said to be well below freezing, harvested cabbages and hauled heavy loads in the infamous Yodok 15 prison camp. Fuji Television said the video was obtained from a defector who managed to secretly film the labor camp, located 62 miles north of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. In one scene, women working in a snowy field furtively stuff cabbage leaves into their mouths, stopping when a guard -- dressed in a heavy coat and fur cap -- steps near. This just might have signed the death warrants for those women.
Other footage showed pairs of men and women carrying what the daily Sankei Shimbun said were canisters of human waste slung from a pole across their shoulders. Guards with rifles patrolled around the fenced-in camp, which had rows of barracks set together in the midst of bleak countryside. A report in October by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said North Korea had between 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners working as slave laborers in prison colonies. North Korean authorities have consistently denied these camps exist or that human rights violations have occurred. The report said many prisoners were given just enough food to be kept perpetually on the verge of starvation and forced to do back-breaking labor such as mining for iron ore. The day after Kimmie falls and N Korea begins to emerge back into the human world, I want all the guards rounded up. And their superiors. And I want them to trade places, just for a while, with those they enslaved.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 1:31:09 AM ||
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Young, broke and living in a speck of a town where moss grows on the roofs of mud huts, Rebeen Ali decided to look for his way in the world.
After a few nights of arguing, his father, a local schoolteacher, forbade him to leave the house. But the 14-year-old Ali, tired of his hometown of Halabja, where graveyards are filled with the victims of Saddam Hussein's 1988 chemical attack, started out for the Iranian border, with plans to get construction work in Tehran.
Ali was stopped in Biyara by a checkpoint set up by members of Ansar al Islam, a radical Islamic group that had taken hold in the high reaches of the mountains of northern Iraq. They told him he was in big trouble. Before long, he had joined the group.
Ali's story took place between the summer of 2001 and the winter of 2002, but it's consistent with descriptions of how Ansar recruits, indoctrinates and trains fighters. Indeed, the lack of work and poor living conditions in Iraq, the ready supply of disaffected youth and the seduction of religious fanaticism haven't changed at all.
The willingness by the locals to tolerate this crap has, however, as can be seen from the events following the Irbil bombings ...
The Ansar members accused Ali of being a spy, of being an infidel. They shouted at him. They beat him. They threatened to kill him. For two hours, the threats and screams continued.
That would be the stick ...
Then an older man walked in the room and in a calm, kind voice began to speak about Islam.
Trembling and crying, Ali was so shaken that he could hardly make sense of what the imam, or spiritual leader, was saying.
Ah yes, the carrot. Wonder if this was Mullah Krekar or Abu Wael, though my guess is probably not.
But slowly, the words began to filter through.
"He told me about paradise, about virgins, about Islam," Ali said.
The imam told him that, as a Muslim, Ali was part of a brotherhood that stretched back hundreds of years. He had an important role to play in the world, one that would bring prestige and glory. There were 70 virgins waiting for him in a promised land, a paradise just for him.
"And all I have to do is kill a bunch of the folks I left back in Halabja to get there!"
The conversation lasted for hours. At the end, Ali was taken to a little room and given some food and a blanket. The next morning, an Ansar official came by and said that while Ali wasn't a prisoner, they wanted to keep him for a few days to make sure he wasn't a spy. Ali was invited to attend religion classes.
Which is just like Sunday School, only with high explosives and automatic weapons ...
Ali spent 15 days going between his little cell and a bare classroom. For the first time in his life, Ali began praying the prescribed five times a day. He had long considered the restrictions of the Muslim world backward and once planned to move to France to study. But now he realized the imam was right - he was a Muslim and had a duty.
That being to make the Muslim world even more backward ...
Ansar offered to send Ali to training, where he learned about weapons and tactics for two months. He learned how to break down an AK47 and that he should keep his mouth open when firing a rocket-propelled grenade to avoid eardrum damage. He learned how to unscrew the cap of an artillery shell, pack in plastic explosives with two wires attached and then spool the wire to a simple battery that would serve as a detonator.
Ali spent about 11 months as a grunt soldier for Ansar, shooting off mortars and firing with machine guns at positions of fighters for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Some months he was paid $20, others $100.
Keep in mind that this is still quite a bit of money in that part of the world, especially given the state of the Iraqi dinar after the Gulf War.
After a feud about politics - Ali was tired of the fighting and wanted to join a less radical group - he left Ansar in late 2002, a few months before U.S. Special Forces and Kurdish troops drove Ansar from Iraq.
My guess is that you don't just "leave" Ansar, except toes up ...
Ali is 16 years old now. He has shaved his beard and grown out his hair. He lives in Halabja with his parents and has found only occasional work as a handyman.
He says he has no regrets about joining Ansar. Would he join again?
Maybe, he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Not a good time to be saying that now in Iraqi Kurdistan ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 01:13 ||
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#1
Ali sounds like he could be a Belfast Protestant or Catholic, a Filipino Maoist, a Mexican Zapatista, or a Chicago street gang member. Or any other variety of local goof.
Why anyone would even entertain a "dialogue" with scum like this ("Oh, why do they hate us?") is completely beyond me. Gun 'em down.
#2
He had long considered the restrictions of the Muslim world backward and once planned to move to France to study. But now he realized the imam was right.
The kid has good instincts, but he's gullible in his follow-through.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 17:50 Comments ||
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#3
There were 70 virgins waiting for him in a promised land, a paradise just for him.
I thought it was 72? Is this what they call a market adjustment? Will it be 68 next week? Is this the start of the bottom falling out of the Jihadi virgin market?
LONDON (Roooters) - Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix says he suspected the United States bugged his office and home in the run-up to the Iraq war, but has no hard evidence. Describing such behaviour as "disgusting", Blix told the Guardian in an interview: "It feels like an intrusion into your integrity in a situation when you are actually on the same side." Blixie apparently is easily offended. Howâd he ever make it as a diplomat?
Blix said his suspicions were raised when he had trouble with a telephone connection at home. "It might have been something trivial or it might have been something installed somewhere, I donât know," he said. Youâre only supposed to be a technical expert in arms control, Blixie, donât you think you could unscrew the ends of the telephone ear piece and take a look?
The Swede said he asked U.N. counter-surveillance teams to check his office and home for listening devices. "If you had something sensitive to talk about you would go out into the restaurant or out into the streets," said Blix. "I saw a Bergman movie about this once; thatâs how I got the idea."
He said U.S. State Department envoy John Wolf visited him two weeks before the Iraq war with pictures of an Iraqi drone and a cluster bomb that the former inspector believed could have been secured only from within the U.N. weapons office. "He should not have had them. I asked him how he got them and he would not tell me," Blix said. "Umm, ... pixies gave it to us."
"It could have been some staff belonging to us that handed them to the Americans... It could also be that they managed to break into the secure fax and got it that way," he said. In which case it wasnât so secure. Gads, no wonder the Iraqis could lead this man by the nose.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 1:13:03 AM ||
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#1
Blix should write a book. If you weren't bugged I'd be hurt, down hearted!
#2
Hansie was so screamingly incompetent that I doubt we got any useful intel from the (alleged) bugs. (Except to document what a maroon he actually was, of course.)
#9
"I asked him how he got them and he would not tell me," Blix said. Hey Hans you idiot, it's not HOW but WHY.
You know. Now you know we know. Asking yourself why we let you know we know?
Chief Inspector Hans Clousseau.
Posted by: john ||
02/28/2004 8:08 Comments ||
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#10
If you had something sensitive to talk about you would go out into the restaurant
One of our favorite places was a delightful pizzaria run by a couple of Algerian immigrants in Paris.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 9:44 Comments ||
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#11
A large producer of technical countersurveillance teams is the US Army. Where do you think many of the UN teams come from? Believe me, I know where their loyalties lie.
#12
TALKING POINTS ALERT!
Ah...this fits into my latest theory. You heard it first from me, my friends. MARK MY WORDS - you will hear more and more accusations along the lines of this one - getting louder and more shrill - until the election is over.
They had a guy on Fox about a week ago that fired the first broadside. Said the Bush Administration had asked the British Spy services to spy on the Democrats. Guy said it was, the Biggest Most Disturbing Story he ever had to tell.
March maddness has begun. This is all part of a greater PR push by the Dems to paint the current Bush administration as Nixon. I'm rarely wrong on these predictions and I can see this one as clear as day!
Remember I said this. I plan to say, "I told you so".
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 12:08 Comments ||
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#13
ASSALLAM ALAYWARAMOTUL LAHI WABARAKATU
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
I AM GREETING YOU IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST BENEFICIENT THE MOST MERCIFCUL.THIS IS AN ISLAMIC ORGANISATION FORMED BY DIFFERENT ASSOCIATION OF DIFFERENT MUSLIM COMMUNITIES IN OGUN STATE(WESTERN/SOUTHERN PART OF NIGERIA). WAMURIDAN GROUP.THIS IS A NON PROFIT MAKING ORGANISATGION,IT IS VOLUNTARILY ORGANISED TO HELP ONE ANOTHER IN TERMS OF EDUCATION,FINANCIAL NEEDS,MORAL SUPPORT,AND TO FULFIL THE AIMS OF ALMIGHTY ALLAH. THIS ORGANISATION WAS SET UP BECAUSE OF SO MANY REASONS THAT HAVE BEEN GIVEN US SLEEPLESS NIGHTS.SOME OF IMPORTANT REASONS FOR ESTABLISHING THIS OPRGANISATION ARE LISTED BELOW;
1)TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF MUSLIMS IN OUR COMMUNITY.
2)TO AVOID UNNECCESARY CONVERSION OF OUR MUSLIM BROTHERS AND SISTERS INTO ANOTHER RELIGION.
3)TO EDUCATE ALL MUSLIM BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN OUR COMMUNITY.
4)TO DONATE TO THE DEPREPRESED MUSLIMS,WIDOWS,ORPHANS, CHARITY HOMES,REMAND HOMES AND OTHERS.
5)TO ERASE HULIGANISM IN ISLAM
IF YOU LOOK AT THIS REASONS CRITICALLY,YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THIS OPERATION NEEDS A WELL SOPHISTICATED BACK UP.EACH MEMBER DONATES ANY ITEMS OR GOODS THEY CAN RENDER TO THE ONES IN NEED.APART FROM THE GENERAL DONATION MADE BY THE ASSOCIATION.
THERE WAS A LAUNCHING AND A SERMINAL THAT WE ORGANISED IN LAST DECEMBER (Dhu Hijjah)(2003)IN TERMS OF EDUCATION AND SERVING THE ALMIGHTY ALLAH.THE OUTCOME OF THE SEMINAR WAS TO BUILD AN ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY AND A CENTRAL MOSQUE BOTH IN THE SAME AREA.THIS IS THE PART OF ACTIVITIES THAT WE ARE SURE THAT CAN BOOST THE NUMBER OF MUSLIMS IN OUR COMMUNITY,ERASE HULIGANISM AMONG THE MUSLIM BROTHERS AND SISTERS,THIS CAN ALSO SERVE AS EMPLOYMENT ADVANTAGE TO THE MUSLIMS IN OUR COMMUNITY,IT COULD ALSO ERADICATE ILLITERACY AMONG THE MUSLIMS.
WE WERE ABLE TO RAISE SOME FUNDS AT THE LAUNCHING THROUGH THE HELP OF DEFFERENT MUSLIM ASSOCIATIONS,MOSQUES,ABLE SERVANT OF GOD (MUMIMI AND MUMINA).WE ESTIMATED ABOUT APPROXIMATELY TWO HUNDRED MILLINON USD.$200,000,000,00 FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE UNIVERSITY AND THE CENTRAL MOSQUE.THIS IS WHY WE ARE CALLING UPON MUSLIMS ASSOCIATIONS,MUSLIM ORGANISATIONS AND THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TO ASSIST US IN CARRYING OUT THIS GREAT ASSIGNMENT.ALLAH SAID IN QURAN 9:60 ONE OF THE WAYS THE ZAKAT SHOULD BE DISTRIBUTED IS THROUGH THE WAYS OF ALLAH.WE ARAE ABLE TO GET UP TO FIFTY MILLION USD, $50,000,000,00 THROUGH THE NAMES AND ASSOCIATIONS LISTED BELOW.
NAME OF DONOURS AMOUNT DONATED ISLAMIC GROUP OF EJIGBO $5,000,000,00 AL-AMIN MUSLIM SOCIETY $10,000,000,00
NAWAIR UD DEEN $12,000,000,00
ISLAMIC BROTHERS OF AFRICA $15,000,000,00
THE REST AMOUNTS ARE DONATED BY INDIVIDUALS, MUSLIM BROTHERS AND SISTERS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.WE ARE CALLING UPON YOU TO ASSIST US IN GETTING SOME OF THE REST MONEY NEEDED FOR THE COMPLETION OF THIS ASSIGNMENT.NO AMMOUNT IS TOO SMALL.YOU CAN ASSIST US BY PASSING THIS ARTICLE TO ISLAMIC GROPUS,ORGANISATIONS ET CETERA THAT COULD BE OF HELP.WE WILL BE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR ASSISTANCE.PLESAE REPLY TO THIS E MAIL FOR FURTHER ENQUIRY .LET TOGETHER MOVE ISLAMIC UP TO THE GREATEST LEVEL.ALHAMDULILAH
#16
Hokay, I just paypalled your OPRGANISATION some Sammy-dollars AMMOUNT from Iraq. Pees be upon your head
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 13:36 Comments ||
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#17
yawn...you can tell it was written by a native english speaker attempting to sound foreign..with a few random mispellings for effect. Poor quality fake. I rate it 1.5 on a scale of 10.
Back to the original point - I still think the fact that this Blix accusation in flooding the fax machines shows we can soon expect all the usual suspects to chime in with similar complaints of the Bush Admin spying.
Oh..sure, you all scroll on past me now... but you'll see ....the Kerry/Clinton crowd has their head so stuck in the 60's that it's not surprising they want to relive their Nixon glory days.
Posted by: B ||
02/28/2004 17:44 Comments ||
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#18
Oh-oh. Fred leaves us alone and the Nigerian email scams start showing up. He's gonna be pissed.
Can't I leave you kids alone for one minute!
#19
I heard the CIA has a video tape of Hans Blix and Paris Hilton and they're gonna show it on the internet...
Aaauuuugggghhh, MY EYES, MY EYES ....
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 22:29 Comments ||
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#20
TU, I haven't figured out yet how to delete a comment, else the "fund raicing" comment prolly would have gotten the deep-six. Fred's system is very powerful; I just haven't gotten to the end of the manual yet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 22:30 Comments ||
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EFL
LYON, France (AP) - Only 34 countries have agreed to share their data on stolen or missing blank passports, which number in the hundreds of thousands and allow terrorists to breeze across borders, the Interpol secretary general said. All this time the Pakistanis had no need to forge anything.
Ronald Noble told The Associated Press that between them, the complying countries - who make up about one-fifth of the agencyâs 181 members - report 80,000 blank missing passports. "This is only whatâs on file," Noble said. "You can imagine the rest. If we donât have a global database with everyone contributing, think of all the terrorists and criminals trading in documents." By multiplying the complying nationsâ lists of stolen blank passports by five, Noble said the global figure could be estimated at about 400,000. Mr. Noble lacks imagination.
Although Noble did not single out countries, other Interpol officials said the United States, Britain and Germany were among members that did not share their databases. Didnât know that. Seems like a natural for us to do this, wonder why we arenât?
All members are able to consult the list even if they do not contribute information to it. Unless the numbers appear in a worldwide computerized database so that border police can identify them, anyone can use a custom-made blank to move undetected. When Italy recently decided to cooperate, authorities sent Interpol the numbers of 200,000 missing travel documents. Within two days, Noble said, police in other countries had made arrests. "Welcome to our country, âSilvio.â Git yer hands up!"
A senior Interpol official said he expected Washington to soon begin supplying data to the list. U.S. Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo, reached by telephone, had no immediate comment. According to international security specialists, Washingtonâs reluctance to supply data to Interpol reflects a broader problem faced by the worldâs largest cross-border police organization. Some Interpol officials complain bitterly that the United States, among others, accepts all information but refuses to share crucial data in return. U.S. authorities acknowledge a general policy of caution, saying Interpolâs worldwide membership leaves too many potential security gaps. But, Noble argues, that has changed since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in America. "Law enforcement agencies are always going to keep some things from everyone else," he said. "But the U.S. is sending many more Red Notices (fugitive alerts), and they tell us much more than before." Iâd suggest we could do better here.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 1:02:13 AM ||
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#1
I suggest that there might be more to this. There are two key terms here. One is 'providng data'. The other is 'sharing databases' Providing data implies providing data about your own passports that are missing. Sharing databases implies letting everyone else know about what you know about their dodgy passports.
This could be sloppy journalism but is more likely to be Interpol pushing a Tranzi agenda that should rightly be rejected.
The FBI on Friday ordered a new whitewash formal review of some aspects of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing investigation, reopening the question of whether Timothy McVeigh may have had more accomplices in the worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history, The Associated Press has learned. Reacting to an AP story earlier this week, the FBI ordered agents to determine why some documents did not properly reach the bureauâs Oklahoma City task force during the original investigation or get turned over to McVeighâs lawyers before he was executed in 2001, officials said.
The review of evidence and documents will also try to determine whether FBI agents in a separate investigation of white supremacist bank robbers may have failed to alert the Oklahoma City investigation of a possible link between the robbers and McVeigh. .... The evidence includes .... a driverâs license with the name of a central player who was robbed in the Oklahoma City plot. ...
The FBI agent who ran the investigation, Dan Defenbaugh, said his team never got the chance to investigate the evidence and he called for the probe to be reopened. ....
The review will be handled by the FBIâs inspection division, a unit of senior agents that routinely conducts reviews to ensure the bureau follows its own rules and conducts investigations properly.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 12:58:59 AM ||
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One of the two alleged al-Qaeda members charged on Tuesday tried but failed to set up a satellite television connection so Osama bin Laden could watch the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, according to the indictment. Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen was described by the Pentagon as a "key al-Qaeda propagandist" and former bodyguard to bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington which left nearly 3,000 people dead.
The bodyguard, as I've noted over at my own blog, appears to be a staple for moving up in al-Qaeda. So if you're in Binny's praetorian guard, you're definitely on the fast track for promotion within the organization. Khalid, Saif, Attash, al-Hajj, et al. all did it before assuming the higher ranks.
Sort of like Trump and his apprentices but without the violence.
According to the indictment, "from late 1999 through December 2001, al Bahlul was personally assigned by Osama bin Laden to work in the al-Qaeda media office. "In this capacity, al Bahlul created several instructional and motivational recruiting video tapes on behalf of al-Qaeda," the indictment said. "On September 11, 2001 Osama bin Laden tasked al Bahlul to set up a satellite connection so that bin Laden and other al-Qaeda members could see news reports," the indictment said. "Despite his efforts, al Bahlul was unable to obtain a satellite connection because of the mountainous terrain," it added. "In the weeks immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden tasked al Bahlul to obtain media reports concerning the September 11th attacks and to gather data concerning the economic damage caused by these attacks."
That fits with what we know of Binny's character. Unlike most terrorists, he's was never too content with just big booms - he wants to make a lasting economic as well as political, visual, and above all corpse count impact. Also, if his Saudi backers did short-sell the airline stocks as has been alleged, this might've been his way to keep tabs on how well his buddies faired out back in the Magic Kingdom.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 00:58 ||
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he's was never too content with just big booms
Binny was, IMHO, nothing more than a serial killer extraordinaire. He was very bright, entitled but when he was unable to get the respect that he felt he deserved ...he took on the entire west and said, see...you can't catch me, you may have rejected me - but I'm smarter than you.
It's the same sort of "I'm the cat and you are the mouse" game that serial killers play with the FBI.
#2
Never thought of the serial killer angle before B. But it sure seems similar in many ways. Especially cat and mouse aspect. Is this another reason to suspect he's doorknob dead? A serial killer would be sending film by now.
Two senior members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militant gang were jailed for life by a court in the Philippines on Friday for the 2000 kidnapping of an American national. Hector Janjalani and Muhammad Ajijon were found guilty "beyond reasonable doubt" and were also ordered to pay some 100,000 pesos (US$1,785) in damages to Jeffrey Schilling, the court said.
That's all? That doesn't even cover my tuition costs for the semester ...
Janjalani is the brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, who remains at large in the southern Philippines, while Ajijon is desribed as one of the group's lieutenants. Schilling, an American, was kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in August 2000 after he and his Filipina fiancee arrived in the southern island of Jolo, a known rebel stronghold.
I think they reduced the monetary award on grounds of stupidity.
The American was to have been introduced to relatives of his fiancee, Ivy Osani, in Jolo but instead found himself a captive of the Abu Sayyaf led by Janjalani's group for eight months. He was later rescued and reunited with his family, but subsequently returned to Manila to file charges against Janjalani. During his captivity, the American was kept in deplorable conditions, often shackled in body chains and tied to a coconut tree, the court heard. He later met Osani, a native of Jolo island and who later was found out to be a distant relative of some Abu Sayyaf gunmen. Investigators had cleared Osani of involvement, and it was she who later filed the charges in court against Janjalani.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 00:47 ||
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Okay! Who's orange and who's yellow? You guys are in real trouble.
The United States is scaling up its military presence in Africa as concern mounts over terrorist threats - both immediate and future - on the continent, the deputy head of American forces in Europe said Friday.
Sounds like they've been reading Rantburg ...
"The threat is not weakening, it is growing," Air Force Gen. Charles Wald said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Luanda, Angola. "We can't just sit back and let it grow."
That's because failed states are al-Qaeda's playpen and Africa is chalk full of them. We know that they've got bases in the Sahara as well as deals or former deals with the Sudanese, Liberian, and Burkina Faso governments to operate freely. We aren't going to sit back and let them create another Afghanistan in Africa to train a new cadre of recruits, now or ever.
The focus on Africa is part of major restructuring as U.S. forces in Europe reposition for the war against terror.
The European Command oversees U.S. military activities in Africa excluding the Horn, site of a U.S. counterterrorism effort for northeast Africa and Yemen.
Africa is a growing strategic interest to the United States because of its terror links and its oil, which is seen as a possible alternative to Middle East fuel.
Please tell me they aren't talking about Nigerian oil here. That nation could easily go the Sudan root and end up in a civil war. Sao Tome's one possibility, barring the occasional coup ...
European Command is not looking to station large concentrations of troops on the continent, Wald said. But it intends to make its presence felt through joint exercises, training initiatives and other exchanges.
U.S. forces have also negotiated access to a number of sites, including air strips in Angola and Gabon, that can be used for stopovers, refueling, or to position troops and equipment.
Wald said this will allow U.S. forces to respond with light, mobile troops - whether for peacekeeping, crisis response or a specific terrorist threat.
"We're actually going to get more capability with less force because of our ability to move around fast," he said.
Key to the effort is supporting the development of regional security groups, improving the capabilities of African police and soldiers, and building relationships with governments and militaries, Wald said.
Wald is one of at least three top U.S. commanders to touch down in Africa in the past two weeks, following the U.S. commander in Europe, Marine Gen. James L. Jones. And Wald said he expects to be back about every three months.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 00:40 ||
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Wald said this will allow U.S. forces to respond with light, mobile troops - whether for peacekeeping, crisis response or a specific terrorist threat.
Wonder how those'll do against the PRC in Zim-land?
The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously approved deployment of over 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers to Ivory Coast and demanded that the government and rebels meet all requirements of a peace deal so presidential elections can be held in 2005. Didnât Joseph Conrad write about this once?
Chinaâs U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, the current council president, set the vote after the U.S. Congress gave its approval for the force. The United States will not contribute any troops, but the congressional approval was required because Washington pays 27 percent of U.N. peacekeeping costs. Of course we do.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan commended the council for approving the resolution and said it will send "a clear message that the international community supports the Ivorian peace process and is determined to play its role in the maintenance of peace and security in Africa." "A strengthened United Nations presence in Ivory Coast will ... help the country prepare for the holding of fair and transparent general elections in 2525 2005." The U.N. force will be established April 4 for an initial period of one year. The 1,000-strong West African peacekeeping force will become part of the U.N. force on that date. Some 4,000 French troops will remain in the country, but will not be part of the U.N. force. Rather unilateral of them.
The United Nations says itâs too early to say what countries might contribute troops to the force, aside from the West African contingent. How about the mighty Uruguayans? Alain Lobognon, a rebel spokesman in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, welcomed the councilâs decision, saying: "We think that this will lead to good progress in our efforts to seize the rest of the country the peace process in Ivory Coast." The force in Ivory Coast will bring the total number of U.N. peacekeepers in West Africa to more than 30,000. The peacekeeping contingent in Liberia, soon to hit 15,000, is the worldâs largest U.N. peace force; there are 11,500 U.N. troops in Sierra Leone. Weâre paying 27% of that, too.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 12:35:35 AM ||
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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan commended the council for approving the resolution
Democrat John Kerry, widely assailed by Republican critics, said Friday that President Bush has failed in his response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and faulted the Republican for breaking promises on the economy, education and health care.
In other news, dog bites man ...
The front-runner used a campaign speech to outline his plan to combat terrorism that relies on stronger intelligence-gathering, law enforcement and international alliances - proposals that Kerry has been touting for more than a year.
The problem that Kerry and others seem to have forgotten is that it was that same approach during the 1990s that brought us 9/11. Take a look at the stories about the CIA's involvement with the Northern Alliance - our intel was solid, but we were so concerned about the particulars of international law or that the Guardian might say mean things about us that we kept holding back, even after the 1993 WTC bombing which was an attempted mass murder of over 50,000 New Yorkers or Oplan Bojinka. Sorry, we aren't going to make that mistake again.
In a somber speech at the University of California at Los Angeles, Kerry said it was Bush who has failed in his response to the Sept. 11 attacks and railed against ``his armchair hawks'' for failing to provide proper equipment for the military.
``We cannot win the war on terror through military power alone,'' said the senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He's actually right on this, but we're not. If we were in terms of strictly military force and raw power, Riyadh and Tehran would long ago been reduced to radioactive debris, along with a fair number of other prominent cities in the Muslim world. Or maybe we could have just carpet-bombed them like the Russians did Grozny. And if we're trying to win through military might alone, then why exactly did the good colonel over in Tripoli surrender his toybox without a shot being fired?
Kerry said Iraq is in disarray with U.S. troops bogged down in a deadly guerrilla war with no exit in sight. He said outlying areas of Afghanistan are sliding back into the hands of a resurgent Taliban and emboldened warlords.
Zarqawi, meanwhile, has a different take altogether on Iraq ...
The Bush administration, he argued, has shown disdain for the Mideast peace process and allowed Iran and North Korea to continue their quest for nuclear weapons that could get into the hands of terrorists.
So does this mean that you're willing to lead us against Iran, which is pretty much doing everything the Taliban was pre-9/11? Or the People's Looney Bin of North Korea, which would sell al-Qaeda the bomb for hard cash in a Hollywood minute. But the Euros all want to "engage" Iran through negotiations and Rowhani is trying become best friends with France, while nobody anywhere near Kimmy's target scope wants to slug it out with him. So which are you more concerned about here, Senator Kerry?
``I am convinced that we can prove to the American people that we know how to make them safer and more secure with a stronger, more comprehensive, more effective strategy for winning the war on terror than the Bush administration has ever envisioned,'' Kerry said.
But you still haven't told us what that strategy is ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 00:31 ||
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The Kerryites are angry because we "allowed Iran and N Korea to continue their quest for nuclear weapons". But they castigated us for going after Sammy even as we knew he was lusting after nukes as well. If we can't take these guys out before they get nukes, and we dare not touch them after, then when do we deal with ... oh, right, we don't.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 0:38 Comments ||
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Kerry cuts a good figure. But only his hair dresser knows.
#3
Tommorow he'll be saying his words were taken out of context.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/28/2004 0:44 Comments ||
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:Law Enfrocement"?
Friken moron. This isnt a police action. Its a WAR. Period. Making it law enforcement was what screwed the Clinton administration raw when it came to actually accomplishing things. Law enforcement = lawyers running the show.
War is war. treat it as such or it will treat you harshly.
You'd think 9/11 taught Kerry at least that.
And the gall to say we are sending in troops without proper equipment... Lets check his voting record: Vital systems for the war: JSTARS - voted against. M1 Abrhams - voted against. B1 Bombers - voted against. Increased funding - many times voted against. Expansion of CIA and other agency powers - voted against more than once.
WFT is going on here - is the press so blind as to completely ignore this guy's past 20 years while they try to skin Bush for stuff that happened 30+ years ago?
Its becoming sadder and sadder for this country that such craven power-hungry panderers and liars like Kerry are considered seriously for our highest elected office.
Things liek this make me wonder if all the years I put in service in uniform, and in plain clothes service have been wasted.
We saved this nation from the Soviets. God Help Us save it from our own within it.
#5
The front-runner used a campaign speech to outline his plan to combat terrorism that relies on stronger intelligence-gathering, law enforcement and international alliances - proposals that Kerry has been touting for more than a year.
Good heavens, this man must have a skull made out of concrete. Law enforcement? Bubba treated terrorism as a law enforcement issue, and everyone knows what the end result turned out to be.
#8
OldSpook, do you think that maybe Karl Rove has an ad waiting to go that shows each and every weapon system Kerry voted against that is/was being used in Iraq and Afghanistan? It'll have to be a 60 second spot, 30 seconds won't be long enough to show all the Kerry 'no' votes on defense.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 1:35 Comments ||
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...and allowed Iran and North Korea to continue their quest for nuclear weapons that could get into the hands of terrorists.
As opposed to being in the hands of, say, Iran or North Korea? Loads of difference there, John, you betcha...
#11
Actually Kerry is simply admitting that George Bush has done a good job on the War. But he could never say so openly. Kerry knows that in a contest for the hearts and votes of 9/11 people, GW will destroy him. So the only thing he has going for him is an appeal to 9/10 folks, as in:
Q "what about the War on Terror?"
A "It's the Economy, Stupid!"
He is in UC California after all. This crowd loves ol' Willie.
Posted by: john ||
02/28/2004 7:57 Comments ||
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"Its becoming sadder and sadder for this country that such craven power-hungry panderers and liars like Kerry are considered seriously for our highest elected office."
Sometimes I wonder if we're going to make it. I really do. Are we smart enough to continue electing leaders who will take effective action against the menace of totalitarian Islam? Do we even have the attention span required to see the fight through to its conclusion? I'm not too sure.
I do know this, though: anyone ignorant and gullible enough to vote for this jerk Kerry, richly deserves to be ruled over by mullahs. This anti-terrorism "plan" of Kerry's is nothing more than platitudes and generalities.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/28/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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Dave D - I'm also afraid it will take another attack on american soil for the "loyal opposition" to get serious. Kerry is a windbag with no message, as is Edwards. Joe Lieberman had the necessary seriousness, and you can see where that got him....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/28/2004 12:23 Comments ||
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New York Sen. Hillary Clinton said this week that America would be safer if the Bush administration followed the path of previous administrations and relied on international cooperation to fight terrorism, which, she insisted, had foiled attacks on U.S. targets during the 1990s.
The top Democrat said that America's "detachment" from the world, caused by President Bush's go-it-alone strategy, had undermined the war on terrorism.
From Newsmax. Hitlary is now in the act. After reading Losing Bin Laden I wouldn't vote for a liberal if someone paid me a lot of money to do so. Hitlary seems to forget the Trade tower attack of 93, the 2 embassy attacks later in the 90s and the Cole and many more under her hubbies watch. And she thinks he was doing the right thing!! Give me Bush any day!
Posted by: AF Lady ||
02/28/2004 16:59 Comments ||
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If the Tin Man keeps it up, not even chainey will be able to get him enough oil to help him out.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The mayor of the West Bankâs largest city has resigned, accusing Yasser Arafatâs Palestinian Authority on Friday of letting Nablus descend into lawlessness. Letting? Yasser aided and abetted the descent!
The announcement came as a major blow to Arafat as he tries to stem demands for change in his Fatah movement. The Palestinian leader agreed Friday to hold Fatah elections within a year. But disgruntled younger activists said they doubt he will keep his word. No! Whatever makes you think that?
Nablus Mayor Ghassan Shakaa told The Associated Press that he has submitted his resignation to protest what he called was the failure of Palestinian leaders and security forces to crackdown on vilolence inside Palestinian areas. "I see my city collapsing and I donât want to die stand idly by and watch this collapse," Shakaa said. "My resignation is a warning bell to the Palestinian Authority and the residents of Nablus, because both of them are doing nothing for this city."
Perhaps because one can't and the other won't.
Palestinian gun-toting idjits police forces have been hobbled during more than three years of fighting with Israel. With no real authority on the streets, gangs wage deadly gunbattles, members of rival clans fight out deadly feuds and militants have kidnapped and beaten government officials. In November, Palestinian gunmen shot and killed Shakaaâs brother and there have been no arrests. "Legume! Arrest that man!"
"What is the charge, Inspector?"
"He is one of the usual suspects, we need no charge."
"But he has a very large rifle, and heâs pointing it at us!"
"Perhaps weâre being hasty, Legume."
Ghassan Shakaa said his brotherâs slaying and the failure to apprehend the killers were not the reasons behind his resignation. "Please donât kill me next!"
But he said the security forces under the control of Arafatâs Palestinian Authority could do more to bring order to the city. "It can enforce the law," he said. "But it is not enforcing the law. And our people can do a lot, but they are doing nothing except spreading disorder." Well sure, theyâre Paleostinians, what did you expect?
Shakaa said he would stay on as head of the city until May 1 because he is involved in several projects he wants to finish, including the construction of a shopping mall. So he needs to keep his vigorish for a while yet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 12:18:13 AM ||
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The orange scares me. I'm easily lead and easily conflicted. I'll tell Fred!
#2
The Palestinian leader agreed Friday to hold Fatah elections within a year.
Well, this has the potential to be meaningless as hell. The people looking to be "elected" to Fatah are not likely to be anything other than terrorists, like the people who held the posts previously.
Anti-terrorism judges placed two Paris pizzeria workers under investigation Friday in a probe into radical Islamic training camps set up in France during the 1990s, judicial officials said. Fabrizzio Mustapha Boussaffa of Tunisia and Hazdine Sayeh, a French-Algerian, were being investigated for "criminal association with a terrorist enterprise," the officials said on condition of anonymity. In France, being placed under investigation is one step short of formal charges. Fabrizzio Boussaffa ran a pizzeria that is believed to have become a meeting place for radical Muslims and Sayeh worked there, the officials said.
I think you call that a front ...
The men, who are both about 30, were taken into custody Tuesday in the Paris region during the investigation into a network of Islamic radicals that once ran training camps for new recruits, the officials said. One camp was set up in the late 1990s in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris.
I'm actually rather surprised that the French didn't pick up on this sooner - French anti-terrorism coppers are generally quite good as a result of all their experience dealing with the Corsican nasties.
The men are believed to have played only marginal roles in the case, the officials said.
Ah. Just cannon fodder, then?
The wider probe focuses on the death of anti-Taliban military commander Ahmed Shah Massood in Afghanistan. The anti-terrorism judges are looking into an alleged support network for Massood's killers.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/28/2004 00:16 ||
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Probably caught them with the "Double Sausage On the Large" Sting.
#2
a network of Islamic radicals that once ran training camps for new recruits
For some reason, the recruits were fed pizza for breakfast, lunch and supper.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/28/2004 9:40 Comments ||
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The two were recruited with the promise that they could fight and die for Allah and drink all the free soda they wanted but cheesy bread sticks came out of their wages.
Fredâs away today, and he gave the car keys to the Army of Steveâ¢. Dan Darlingâs going to take it out and do some doughnuts in the parking lot, after which Steve and I plan to strip it and sell it for parts. Anybody know the code for cinder blocks in html so we can get the tires?
Anyways, any complaints, questions or problems, report them to me, Steve or Dan. And donât ask me how to embed e-mail addresses in one of these posts, I canât even reach the gas pedals.
Hmmmph. What's he doin' with a pink Cadillac in the first place, must be an ex-paratrooper.
This color designates an AoS comment for today.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/28/2004 12:08:28 AM ||
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I found the key to the gun cabinet, let's go elk hunting.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/28/2004 0:23 Comments ||
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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.
