A startled taxi driver shot and wounded a jokester wearing a plastic mask of the al-Qaeda leader, police said today. Leonel Arias, 47, told police he was playing a practical joke by donning the bin Laden mask, toting his pellet rifle and jumping out to scare drivers on a narrow street in his hometown, Carrizal de Alajuela, about 35 kilometres north of San Jose. Arias had startled several drivers that way yesterday afternoon. But when he jumped out in front of taxi driver Juan Pablo Sandoval, the motorist reached for a gun and shot him twice in the stomach. He was taken to hospital, where his condition was described as stable. "For me and I think for anybody else at a time like that one thinks the worst and so I fired my gun," Sandoval told Channel 7 television. Police declined to detain Sandoval, saying he had believed he was acting in self-defence.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/14/2004 3:36:23 PM ||
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I highly suspect the mask had nothing to do with him being shot.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2004 15:56 Comments ||
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December 14, 2004: How good is the Royal Saudi Air Force? Well, on paper, it is a formidable force. The Saudis have built their Air Force around variants of the F-15 Eagle (about 70 F-15C, 22 F-15D, and 72 F-15S). They are able to buy the latest available electronic systems. If the Americans won't sell it, someone in Europe might, which is how Saudi Arabia became one of the major users of the Tornado, possessing a force on par with Italy's.
Saudi F-15S strike fighters have dumbed-down electronics (particularly the APG-70 radars), which does not make the Saudis happy. Saudi Arabia has had minor incidents with Iran in the past, and Iran back then was able to buy the latest air force equipment. The problem is Israel, which is also a heavy user of the F-15, and vigorously opposes Saudi Arabia (which officially proclaims that Israel must be destroyed) getting the most modern F-14 systems. Thus Saudi Arabia has not been able to acquire AMRAAMs air-to-air missiles. Israel also imposes, vis the United States conditions, like where the Saudis can base their F-15s. For example, they cannot be operated out of Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia. But while they have a lot of modern aircraft (in addition to their F-15 force, they have 24 Tornado ADVs and 48 Tornado IDSs), how effective are they?
Saudi pilots have been able to defeat Iranian and Iraqi opponents. However, the brief successes have masked problems. Even simple maintenance of military equipment is often farmed out to foreign contractors. For instance, in 1990, the Saudis complained that their M-60 main battle tanks were defective. The problem turned out to be failure to change a filter. Similar problems exist with the Royal Saudi Air Force, and this is much more degrading to its combat ability. A tank with a mechanical problem that comes up in training operations will often be recoverable and fixable. A plane with problems during a training mission will crash, rendering it as much of a loss as if it were shot down in combat — and it will sometimes kill a pilot (or the two-man crew), which is a multi-million dollar investment in and of itself. The Saudis can afford the pilots, and they can afford a lot of help from expatriates for maintenance.
The Saudis have a good force, but its effectiveness is heavily reliant on good ties with the United States for vital spare parts and maintenance. Should ties with the United States go downhill, the force of F-15s — the bulk of the modern Saudi air force — will be grounded because the American sources of spare parts and expatriate contractors will be pulled out. In essence, the Royal Saudi Air Force's effectiveness will be high as long as they stay on good terms with the United States.
And keep their expatriate contract maintenance troops from bugging out one step ahead of the jihadis
Posted by: Steve ||
12/14/2004 10:01:00 AM ||
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Insh'allah's a bitch on the maintenance of high-tech equipment - say anything more complex than a crowbar.
#4
Only foreign market for the F-14 was Iran, not Israel. In air wars, training is everything, and if you know you don't have a chance in Hell of winning the battle in the air, might as well lose it on the ground by downing the aircraft when ordered to launch.
#5
This article is relevant to one posted last week on Saudization although that one focused on the civilian sector.
There was a gap of 9 years between my jobs in Saudi. Willahi, nothing had changed in the interim. By this, I mean the willingness of the Saudi govt (SAG) to push for meaningful training programs that actually cut deadwood rather than recycle it ad nauseum. The only place I know of in the Kingdom that creates competent people is the King Fahad U of petroleum and minerals. But that was basically a creation of Aramco.
I worked in the aviation field there and heard a lot of anecdotal talk about why Saudis can't maintain planes (from westerners) and anecdotal talk about why westerners don't want to train competent Saudi personnel (from Saudis) Obviously, the real answer is in the middle for all training done in-Kingdom, but with more than a whiff of blame on the Saudi side.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
12/14/2004 13:09 Comments ||
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That F-15S modified Strike Eagle, the S stands for slaved.
Pyongyang, December 13 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA Monday as regards the U.S. evermore undisguised psychological operation aimed at a regime change in the DPRK:
Recently the U.S. let reptile media and riff-raffs spread the sheer lie that portraits of leader Kim Jong Il are no longer displayed in the DPRK. As this smear campaign proved futile, they floated sheer misinformation that "there is confusion within its leadership" and "at least 130 army general officers and high-ranking officials deserted their units in the wake of the defection of ordinary people." All this was intended to give impression that a sort of dramatic crisis has occurred in the DPRK. The U.S. false propaganda and psychological operation aimed to slander the DPRK and finally realize a regime change there have, in actuality, gone beyond the tolerance limit.
The U.S. seems to foolishly think that its mean psychological operation works on the DPRK and it has done something in its bid to tarnish the image of the DPRK and bring down its political system. However, few would be taken in by such trick of those who are so ignorant as to know north Korea as a peninsula.
We consider it mean to react to every plot-breeding operation orchestrated by the U.S. for its despicable and clumsy nature. Now that the U.S. is trying to shake the backbone of the DPRK, not content with hurling mud at it, the DPRK is compelled to say something to the U.S.
The present situation makes us deplore the fact that the U.S.administration has only those politicians who are utterly ignorant of the DPRK to handle its Korean policy. As for the DPRK, all its servicepersons and people are devoting themselves to accomplish the cause of socialism confident of victory and all are out in a drive to build a great prosperous powerful nation thanks to the Songun politics energetically pursued by Kim Jong Il. Quite contrary to what the U.S. claimed, not even a button of a general officer's uniform, to say nothing of more than a hundred of general officers, has ever been found across the border. We do not know such a word as "defection".
There may be some illegal border trespassers who crossed the border in violation of the law now in force in the DPRK, unable to live in their native land any longer because of their illicit acts and crimes. But their number is so small that there is no need to take them into account. The U.S., however, termed those criminals as "defectors," asserting that they have crossed the border for political reasons, opposed to its system, and kicked up a row over its human rights issue after overstating their number.
The Bush administration, right after its emergence, did not hesitate to designate the DPRK as part of an "axis of evil", not hiding its inveterate hostility toward its political system. It was none other than the Bush administration which listed the DPRK as a target of a preemptive nuclear attack and put PSI in force, thus escalating its moves to isolate and blockade it. Finding it impossible to topple the DPRK by force as it has a powerful nuclear deterrent force, the U.S. faked up the "North Korean Human Rights Act" and adopted it as its policy to realize a regime change in it. It has spread sheer lies through such operation to destabilize its society as massively smuggling transistors and increasing the hours of broadcasting of Voice of Free Asia. It is, however, seriously mistaken.
The system in the DPRK is politically stable and is as firm as a rock. It is not such a weak system as those in other parts of this planet that were brought down through Rose and Chestnut Revolutions. Nothing reasonable can be heard from wicked persons. The Bush administration is free to wag its tongue till the cows come home. No matter how noisily the U.S. may cry out we will take it as no more than a dog's barking at a moon. The smear campaign on the part of the hostile forces aimed at the collapse of the system in the DPRK is nothing but a desperate last-ditch effort to destroy the system under which the leader, the party and the popular masses form a harmonious whole. It is as foolish an act as trying to get the sun eclipsed by a palm. The U.S. frantic smear campaign against the DPRK reminds us of an eve of its aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. This heightens our vigilance. The hatred of the army and people of the DPRK towards the U.S. is rapidly mounting due to its escalation of the smear campaign to bring down the political system in the DPRK.
Under this situation the DPRK is compelled to seriously reconsider its participation in the talks with the U.S., a party extremely disgusting and hateful. What is clear is that only strength of justice will work on the U.S. as it stoops to any despicable method to destroy its dialogue partner while paying lip-service to "dialogue." It is the mettle of the army and people of the DPRK not to allow anyone to defile or disregard the ideology and system chosen by the Korean people themselves.
References to Songun - 1
References to Kim Jong Il - 2
No Dear Leader, Jung, Army-based policy or sea of fire. Sad, and it got off to such a good start with "reptile media". I give it a 4.5.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/14/2004 2:52:30 PM ||
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Scrappleface has some competition I see!
Selected quotes:
"However, few would be taken in by such trick of those who are so ignorant as to know north Korea as a peninsula." Count me ignorant...it IS, isn't it?? (ok, technically it's the top 1/2 of a Peninsula)
"We do not know such a word as "defection". Which explains why no one has ever "defected"! I wonder if they know such a word as "SCREWED"?
"As for the DPRK, all its servicepersons and people are devoting themselves to accomplish the cause of socialism confident of victory and all are out in a drive to build a great prosperous powerful nation"We're not succeeding...but we're devoted!!
"The system in the DPRK is politically stable and is as firm as a rock. It is not such a weak system as those in other parts of this planet that were brought down through Rose and Chestnut Revolutions."I HATE those revolutions!
"...a desperate last-ditch effort to destroy the system under which the leader, the party and the popular masses form a harmonious whole." And as long as we keep machine guns trained on them they REMAIN "a harmonious whole".
#5
The present situation makes us deplore the fact that the U.S.administration has only those politicians who are utterly ignorant of the DPRK to handle its Korean policy.
We want Madeline! And Bill! And Jimmah! They were our buddies!
Good times, good times...
#6
Flacid. My daughter's guinea pig talks better trash.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/14/2004 16:11 Comments ||
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The U.S. seems to foolishly think that its mean psychological operation works on the DPRK and it has done something in its bid to tarnish the image of the DPRK and bring down its political system.
They have a point. It is virtually impossible to tarnish the image of the DPRK. (The organic contents of a honeybucket are very difficult to tarnish.)
A creeping revolution, both social and economic, is under way in North Korea and it seems there's no turning back. For decades, the country served as the closest possible approximation of an ideal Stalinist state. But the changes in its economy that have taken place after 1990 have transformed the country completely and, perhaps, irreversibly. For decades, Pyongyang propaganda presented North Korea as an embodiment of economic self-sufficiency, completely independent from any other country. This image sold well, especially in the more credulous part of the Third World and among the ever-credulous leftist academics. The secret of its supposed self-sufficiency was simple: the country received large amounts of direct and indirect aid from the Soviet Union and China, but never admitted this in public. Though frequently annoyed by such "ingratitude", neither Moscow nor Beijing made much noise since both communist giants wanted to maintain, at least superficially, friendly relations with their small, capricious ally.
But collapse of the Soviet Union made clear that claims of self-sufficiency were unfounded. From 1991, the North Korean economy went into free fall. Throughout 1991-99, the gross national product (GNP) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nearly halved. The situation became unbearable in 1996, when the country was struck by a famine that took, by the best available estimates, about 600,000 lives. The famine could have been prevented by a Chinese-style agricultural reform, but this option was politically impossible: such a reform would undermine the government's ability to control the populace.
The control on daily lives was lost anyway. What we have seen in North Korea over the past 10 years can be best described as collapse of what used to be rigid Stalinism from below. In the Soviet Union of the late 1950s and in China of the late 1970s, Stalinism-Maoism was dismantled from above, through a chain of deliberate reforms planned and implemented by the government. In North Korea the same thing happened, but the system disintegrated from below, despite weak and ineffectual attempts to keep it intact.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Interesting article re yesterday's discussion on how long it will take to fix Nork post Kimmie. The article says they already have bottom up capitalism and it only took a few years to re-establish.
#2
Indeed, phil_b - there was some excellent commentary and it bodes well for something less terrible than a self-imposed genocide.
Fred - that is one awesome graphic! Of course, it prolly sez something about killing the Imperialist Running Dogs with Songun Spirit and Juicy Juche (10% real fruit juche!), but it's still a killer image, heh.
Australia is casting a 1000 nautical mile security zone around the coastline as part of a new maritime plan to counter terrorism and protect shipping, ports and oil rigs from attack. Under the new offshore protection command, the Howard Government will monitor thousands of ships approaching some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and intercept suspicious vessels. The $4 million revamp of maritime security arises from a taskforce that identified threats from the sea as fears increase around the world of terrorist attacks through less secure ports and on vulnerable oil tankers. Australia has been reviewing and upgrading its port security to match the higher standards at airports, introduced since the terror attacks of September 11.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/14/2004 3:30:35 PM ||
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Aye mate! Too bad it is only nautical, 1k miles encompases quite a few countries too.
Posted by: Mac Suirtain ||
12/14/2004 16:16 Comments ||
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"This is my line of death. Do not cross my line of death."
#4
How can they tell if a ship is suspicious? It wouldn't have twirly mustaches and a monocle, I imagine, so what does one look for? I may want to be suspicious someday, although I'm told I don't look at all like a ship ... and to my shame I've never been able to grow a mustache, not even a pitiful one like Bashir Assad. I'd be willing to invest in a monocle, though, if that's the right thing to do.
Okay. I'm not too bright. Explain to me why they 'must' do it? Who's making them do it? If they'd have asked my opinion, I'd have told them it's their country and they can have the police force they want.
An official report presented to the French interior ministry Tuesday reveals disturbingly low levels of police recruitment among the country's Arab and black minorities and calls for urgent action to boost numbers in the years ahead. Of France's 14,400 police officers only 300 are of Arab or African origin and of 1,800 superintendents only around 10 are, according to the report compiled by writer Azouz Begag. The figure was higher among 11,000 "security assistants" who help police in their duties. Between five and 15 percent of these are from the concerned minorities, the report found.
More than 10 percent of the French population - some six million people - are of north or sub-Saharan African origin, and their over-representation in crime and unemployment figures is seen as France's most pressing social problem. In the report entitled "A Republic with Open Skies," Begag says the policies of successive governments have resulted in a profound sense of exclusion among the minorities, most of whom live in depressing high-rise apartment buildings on the outside of major towns. "A veil of bitterness has sown scepticism and disillusionment," he says. Counselling against a policy of "positive discrimination," Begag instead urges a "targeted campaign to search out recruits on the ground. ... It will take time for the young to recognise themselves in this mission of public service which is the police."
I'm sure their imam's will recognize the value of having sleeper agents inside the police ranks right away.
According to Begag, the number of immigrant officers should be "tripled in the two or three years to come." To encourage recruitment, black and Arab officers should sit as a matter of course on admissions boards, and selection procedures should be adapted to avoid "culturally specific" questions, the report said.
Have you been convicted of a crime, do you have C-4 under your bed, etc.
It also recommended the establishment of "anti-discrimination brigades" at police stations in order to break the commonly held view that officers are hostile to racial minorities. Members of the brigades would intervene immediately to stop or record acts of racial discrimination - for example at the entrance to nightclubs where many black and Arab people say they are routinely excluded.
The Politically Correct Police
Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin was expected to adopt some of the report's recommendations, in particular extending the role of so-called "republican cadets" - young people who train part-time with the police in conjunction with their jihad studies.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/14/2004 11:28:54 AM ||
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Is there any tenet of common sense unbroken by the current Phrench regime? Just wondering... They keep opting for the imagined sophisticated response - and consequently keep digging deeper their hole of economic stagnation, festering immigrant problems, and the wholesale squandering of the last vestiges of goodwill they have with anyone else on the Phreakin' Planet. An amazing record, Jacques, Dominique.
#2
14,400 police officers in France? From where is this number? La police nationale? la gendarmerie? les compangnies republicaines de securite?
Anyway, notice how Begag doesn't want a policy of discrimination positive, but just wait til he hears of action affirmative, then he'll change his tune.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
12/14/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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Cool....let's record hate crimes like keeping someone from dancing to house music! It's a lot more fun than solving vandalism crimes at a Jewish cemetery.....
Radical youths from Europe and the Arab world are being trained in Iraq, Europe's anti-terror chief said Tuesday, warning that such clandestine camps could multiply in unstable or failed states anywhere in the world. "There are some who have gone to Iraq, as indeed there have been youngsters from outside Europe, from Arab countries, who have gone there to receive military training," EU counterterrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries said. De Vries refused to elaborate on the specifics, such as the numbers or countries of origin of those training in Iraq, saying the information was classified. But he warned that action had to be taken to stop instability breeding terror.
I'd suggest going beyond "educating" the little bastards. That hasn't worked to date, and it's not going to work even after you pour more money into the programs and hire more of your relatives to run them...
"This is incidentally not just the case in Iraq," he said. "Instability elsewhere in the world, in Africa for example, always makes it more difficult for the law to be upheld, for democracy to function, and therefore makes it easier for terrorists to hide and train." In other comments, De Vries said Europe should not become complacent in spite of a lull in attacks since the March 11 train bombings in Madrid and the foiling of plots in several countries. "Overall, we can say that the threat of terrorism in Europe remains high," De Vries said. "We should take it very seriously indeed."
Figure the Bad Guyz try for something major every six months or so, something spectacular once a year...
Spanish and British authorities say they have averted major terror attacks in recent months. In October, 30 people were detained on suspicion of planning to drive an explosives-packed truck into Madrid's National Court. British police said last week they had prevented an attack in London on the scale of the Madrid bombings. "There have been other instances," De Vries said, but refused to give details.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2004 11:10:12 AM ||
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Find 'em, document 'em, then drop several cluster bombs on 'em to kill 'em all.
#2
He's a whirlwind of action and volcano of verity - a veritable coordination machine, he is. And, if one reads closely enough, the references to Iraq are utterly superfluous and mere pandering to the anti-US subtext. Piss off, Der Fries / WTop.
#5
Let's see, it's better to bitch about an alleged problem than to take decisive actions (i.e., pitch in in Iraq) to remove the possibility? Sounds an awful lot like a bad spouse.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/14/2004 17:48 Comments ||
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That's right, Captain. We good spouses bitch while we're helping ;-)
France's highest administrative court has banned a TV station on the grounds that it is inciting racial hatred. The Council of State ordered France-based satellite company Eutelsat to stop transmitting Lebanese station al-Manar within 48 hours.
Hey! My dissent is being crushed! I blame John AshkkkroftAlberto Gonzales France.
The Council cited a 23 November broadcast in which a speaker accused Israel of deliberately disseminating Aids in Arab nations.
Providing a fig leaf for ol' Yasser.
It said the channel had shown itself incapable of conforming to French law. Al-Manar had been authorised to continue broadcasting in Europe by France's media watchdog after signing an undertaking not to incite hatred or violence. But on 2 December French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin called for the station to be taken off air for its "anti-Semitic" content "incompatible with French values". The station, backed by the Lebanon's Iranian-sponsored Islamist movement Hezbollah, can be beamed to France on at least two non-French satellites, over which the court has no jurisdiction. Last week, Lebanese officials warned measures against the channel could spark retaliatory sanctions on French media outlets in Lebanon. Israel has previously congratulated France for moving against al-Manar.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/14/2004 2:54:44 AM ||
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It looks like the Phrench know how to react when there is danger in their own backyard. ((Who gives a crap if the U.S. is attacked? We know how to defend ourselves.)) This politically incorrect action of taking down of a terrorist promoting TV feed is unbecoming of the spineless Phrench. Where is CAIR or Amnesia International on this incitement against the pagan Moooselimbs?
I wonder if the MSM/LLL's will report this. I wouldn't hold my breath.
#2
The API and UPI reported that the French Government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "run" to "hide." The only two higher levels in France are "surrender" and "collaborate."
The elevated alert level was precipitated by the recent fire which destroyed one of their White Flag factories, effectively disabling their Military.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/14/2004 13:28 Comments ||
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#3
The next French Military victory is assured - thru mass circumcision.
Posted by: Wo ||
12/14/2004 14:07 Comments ||
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Spain's prime minister has rejected claims that his election victory was the result of voters bowing to terror in the wake of the Madrid bombings.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The Socialist Party of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapaterowas elected three days after the train bombs killed 191. Mr Zapatero told a parliamentary commission investigating the 11 March attacks that Spaniards had never submitted to terrorist violence.
"Us Spaniards is tough! We'd never do dat!"
It is the first time a prime minister has appeared before such a commission. He was grilled for more than four hours by members of the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP) which, under Jose Maria Aznar, was in power at the time of the attacks. Mr Zapatero told the commission:
* Mr Aznar had increased the risk of attack by Islamic terrorists by supporting the war on Iraq and such a threat was "clearly underestimated"
* the attacks were exclusively planned and carried out by the same brand of radical Islamic terrorism behind 11 September in the US and subsequent attacks in Bali, Istanbul and Casablanca
* claims that militant Basque separatists Eta were to blame was "a massive deception" by Mr Aznar
* the outgoing PP administration wiped computers of information before they left - particularly material relating to the 11 March attacks
* the Socialists were not behind protest rallies that took place outside PP buildings after the attacks.
Mr Aznar faced the commission two weeks ago. On Monday, Mr Zapatero strongly denied claims that his party had tried to gain political ground from the attacks and he defended the decision made by Spanish voters. At the time of the attacks, senior US Republicans said Spain had succumbed to terrorist threats by ousting Mr Aznar's government. But Mr Zapatero said Spain had endured 30 years of terror under Eta, so why would his countrymen weaken after the bloodshed of the train bombings.
Because of the turbans? Because of the fearsome way they roll their eyes? Because of the blood-curdling threats?
"You did not listen to the Spanish people during the war in Iraq and afterwards the people stopped listening to you and stopped trusting you," he told members of the Popular Party at the hearing. Mr Zapatero withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq soon after taking office. A special side room has been reserved at the hearing for their families, many of whom have accused Spain's politicians of using this parliamentary inquiry more as a political football than as a means of finding out the truth. The parliamentary investigation into the attacks is set to close later this week after four months of hearings. Nineteen people have already been formally charged in connection with the case.
Posted by: tipper ||
12/14/2004 2:38:28 AM ||
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Mr Aznar had increased the risk of attack by Islamic terrorists by supporting the war on Iraq
This statement and Zapatero's withdrawal from Iraq does in fact mean that Spain bowed to terror. At least a sizable majority did. Explain it away anyway you want, Zappy.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/14/2004 3:03 Comments ||
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#2
Spain democraticly bowed to terror by electing Zapetero but it did bow to terror.
So Zappy boy when the terrorists come knocking from now on. Which they have already since your election, it's on on your head.
#3
It's debatable. Zapatero may have been elected anyway, even if there had been no bombing. But I think he missed a great opportunity to KEEP the troops in Iraq. Once he was elected he should have told the Spanish people and the world that he'd fully intended to withdraw the troops, but after the Madrid massacre he'd decided that would mean giving in to terror.
#4
I thought I read that the Madrid bombings were planned from before the Iraq war, in which case Mr. Z has the wrong analysis of the problem. Think Al Andalus.
#7
Zappy had troop withdrawal as part of his campaign. As far as ETA-terror, I don't recall them blowing up crowded trains or targeting large numbers of people.
#12
As Tony Blair is so keen on solving the "Israel-Palestine" conflict, I suggest he can practice on a case which is much closer to home.
Spain should be liberated and returned to moslem rule. After all it was part of the Khalifat and so "rightfully" belongs to the Ummah.
By returning Spain to the Moslems we catch two birds with one stone. First we (er.. I mean Tony)buy the Arab's gratitude forever, and second and no less important, we get rid of the cowardly Zappi.
How's that as a novel plan for advancing worldly peace and harmony ?? :)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/14/2004 8:54 Comments ||
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#13
Zippy's bought and paid for. The land will be returned to the ummah on the installment plan.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2004 8:59 Comments ||
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Posted by: Col Flagg ||
12/14/2004 11:33 Comments ||
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#19
Spain’s prime minister has rejected claims that his election victory was the result of voters bowing to terror in the wake of the Madrid bombings.
"Watch Mr. Zapatero's nose grow, boys and girls..."
#20
"Mr Aznar had increased the risk of attack by Islamic terrorists by supporting the war on Iraq and such a threat was "clearly underestimated..."
The Spanish people are of course free to vote for whom they wish. It isn't the vote per se that is the "bowing; it is the philosphy behind the statement above, so popular in Spain, that is the bowing. It is an exact wording of the idea: "we asked for it". There is no such thing as 'asking for terror'. And so the void between Euro and American foreign policy philosophies grows to gargantuan dimensions...
#21
The Spaniards didn't bow. They were just groveling. The shame will last a long time.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
12/14/2004 13:14 Comments ||
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#22
EoZ - Marbella's already been colonized by the Saudis. I'd propose that Bambi/Zappy offer Andalucia as an opening gambit, with some beachfront in the Costa del Sol.
#23
It sounds as if some of the Spaniards are not fond of Zapetero having made them the punchline to many jokes about cowardice, stupidity, and incompetence. Too bad. By voting for Zapetero, they put an end to all the jokes about Poles in general and the Italian miiltary by providing a better target. When compared to Italy and Poland now, Spain looks pretty lame.
#24
Lex,
your proposition sounds great.
I accept. Meanwhile we can both grow rich
by selling the spaniards leather bound copies of the Kuran and silk embroidered bourkas for the women.
How about it ?
#25
Cool. Hire some of Bambi's associates to hawk them while strolling up and down the beach. Or maybe while holding wash towels in the men's room at the casinos.
Sen. Barbara Boxer warned Monday that Americans "should feel concerned" about the administration's "very bad job of vetting" Bernard Kerik, as opposed the the sucessful vetting of Bill Clinton
who withdrew as President Bush's nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security last week within days of his selection because of questions about his career and personal life.
"They're not doing their job over there," Boxer, D-Calif., said of the White House in reaction to the embarrassing developments over Kerik, whose troubles included a failure to disclose immigration problems and pay taxes on a family nanny -- and may involve more serious published allegations of extramarital affairs and improper gifts from supporters. Slick Willie never do these things
Boxer, speakingfoaming at a wide-ranging press conference Monday in San Francisco, also said she supported calls for federal legislation to stiffen drug testing in major league baseball if its leaders didn't act to do so in the wake of the grand jury revelations in the BALCO steroids case. The senator also said she thought Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's first-year performance was positive in some areas and disappointing in others.
But Boxer, who was re-elected last month to a third term, was most critical of the Bush administration on a variety of issues from the flawed nomination of Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq. "We still don't know why they hate us!"
The senator said Kerik's failure to disclose his problems were "a terrible reflection on this man, who was such a hero during 9/11." But she added the administration apparently did "a very bad job of vetting; the American people should be concerned." Didn't we use the same people who vetted Dean and Frenchy?
Boxer also called for Rumsfeld "to move on" Move On is your bag
in light of last week's exchange with soldiers in Kuwait who were concerned about being inadequately armed for war. Rumsfeld told the troops that "you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want."
"I'm not formally calling on him to step down," she said, lied but "it speaks reams about this president, that he would keep Rumsfeld on, given the disastrous circumstances" including "lack of equipment and the refusal of Rumsfeld to admit that, and then kind of make excuses for it." "After all we voted for massive defense funding....er no..."
Among the issues Boxer spoke to:
-- On the BALCO scandal, she said the use of steroids among professional athletes had resulted in a "dismembering of our heroes" in the sports world. She called for tougher legal remedies on those who create and distribute the drugs, saying "we should throw the book at these people," but she said athletes who take them "are clearly breaking the law as well."
The ChronicleComical recently reported that a review of grand jury transcripts showed that Yankees star Jason Giambi admitted taking steroids and Giants slugger Barry Bonds took substances that he believed were a balm for arthritis pain and flaxseed oil, but prosecutors say they matched the properties of steroids created by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.
Boxer said she agreed with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that Congress might have to intervene if baseball owners and players did not require more sophisticated and regular steroid testing of athletes.
"I don't like to see Congress getting involved in the sports arena ..." she said, "but if developments lead us there, we'll have to go there." "I can say no more..."
-- In another sports-related issue, Boxer said congressional oversight may also be needed to get answers from college football's Bowl Championship Series after the failure of UC Berkeley's team to be selected to the Rose Bowl despite a 10-1 record and a No. 4 ranking. "Why do sports fans hate us?"
In a letter to Kevin Weiberg, the coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series, Boxer suggested that the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees interstate commerce and sports, might require more information about the process regarding the way teams were picked for bowl games. These are decisions in which there are "millions of dollars at stake" for universities, she said. Cal's failure to land a Rose Bowl bid and its invitation to play in the Holiday Bowl is estimated to have cost the university $2.5 million, according to the Pacific 10 conference.
-- On Schwarzenegger's performance, Boxer said, "when the governor reaches out in a nonpartisan way, he does very well ... (but) when he decides to create division, as he did to the nurses, I just think he falls so flat -- and it's discouraging." Translation - "He didn't do what I wanted"
Boxer was referring the governor's remarks last week at an annual conference on women, in which he urged the audience to ignore a small protests of nurses, calling them "special interests" which he said were angry at him because "I kick their butt."
#2
I'd like to see an investigation into stock-market trading by this ex-stockbroker.
But as to Kerik, his appointment always stunk. A very strange choice for a super-bureaucratic inside Beltway post with no authority. I ahve to think that there's an untold story here about Giuliani's ambitions and what he thought Bush would do for him. Probably thought he could get Bush/Rove's early blessing as the conservative heir apparent for 2008.
#3
On Schwarzenegger’s performance, Boxer said, "when the governor reaches out in a nonpartisan way, he does very well ... (but) when he decides to create division, as he did to the nurses, I just think he falls so flat -- and it’s discouraging."
Anyone else noticed the latest talking point from the left? Anyone who doesn't do what they want is "creating division". Never mind that, most of the time, they're the ones calling names, spitting on people, and doing their best to divide people along class, race, and religious lines -- no, everyone else is divisive.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/14/2004 14:10 Comments ||
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#4
Ah, the pre-emptive slur - the tactic of Dhimmidonk choice for the last year. They seem to be stuck, unimaginative... a cranial vapor-lock, perhaps? Perhaps we can suggest another line of attack for them?
#12
Hey, Barbara, you mean like the Dems vetted Kerry? Anybody ask him about his magic hat and Christmas in Cambodia? You really thought the Winter Soldier stuff didn't matter?
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The Arab-Israeli conflict has kept Arabs from addressing other security concerns, including the need to rid the region of weapons of mass destruction, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday. Mohamed ElBaradei head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency told a forum of international leaders that the Middle East must free itself of all weapons of mass destruction. "We only focus on land for peace, we never really look at security," ElBaradei said. "Clearly we need to have a nuclear weapon free zone, clearly we have to rid ourselves of chemical and biological weapons and that has to be, again, part of the security dialogue that should to be parallel to the peace process." ElBaradei said Arab states need to consider such questions as how to deal with neighbors like Iran and whether regional or international alliances or alliances with major powers would better serve their security needs. "The problem is we never really defined, in the Arab world, what is our security threat," he said. Security in the region is undermined by poverty, lack of basic freedoms and violations of human rights, which breeds terrorism and extremism, ElBaradei said.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/14/2004 12:01:56 AM ||
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#1
"We only focus on land for peace, we never really look at security,"
Sadly, the Arabs focus is not on land for peace. Its on genocide of Jews, promulgation of the Wahabism and, above all, complaining.
#2
"The problem is we never really defined, in the Arab world, what is our security threat," he said. Security in the region is undermined by poverty, lack of basic freedoms and violations of human rights, which breeds terrorism and extremism, ElBaradei said.
None of which have anything to do with Jews or Israel, yet that is where the Arabs eventually end up when looking for someone/something to blame for their problems.
#3
"...including the need to rid the region of weapons of mass destruction..." This is just code for the Arabic demands of at least the past year that Israel get rid of its nuclear missiles. The light has started to dawn on some of these buggers that if somebody, *anybody*, throws a ballistic missile at Israel, then much of the Islamic world will shortly thereafter become glass. A swordfight is less fun if your enemy has a sword, too. And no fun at all if they have a gun.
#5
Bingo, dot. Different words for different audiences. I think that was an Arafat trick.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
12/14/2004 13:28 Comments ||
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#6
What's wrong with this picture: the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says "we never really defined, in the Arab world, what is our security threat."
Why is a UN official speaking out in an official capacity on Arab concerns and Arab interests?
A senior Republican congressman has been warning America's intelligence community for more than a year of an alleged Iranian plot to crash commercial airliners into a New Hampshire nuclear reactor.
Since February 2003, Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania has held a series of secret meetings in Paris with a former high-ranking official in the Shah's government who has correctly predicted, according to Mr. Weldon, a number of internal developments in Iran ranging from the regime's atomic weapons programs to its support for international terrorism, including Al Qaeda.
Based on two informants inside the mullahs' inner circle, Mr. Weldon's source, whom he code-named "Ali," relayed allegations to the Pennsylvania lawmaker that an Iranian-backed terrorist cell is seeking to hijack Canadian airliners and crash them into an American reactor. The target of the operation was only identified by Ali as SEA, leading Mr. Weldon to predict it was the Seabrook reactor in New Hampshire, about 40 miles north of Boston. Ali told the congressman that the attack was first planned for between November 23 and December 3, 2003, but was postponed to take place after this year's presidential election.
For nearly two years, Mr. Weldon tried to quietly press the CIA and a Senate panel that oversees Langley to follow up on the intelligence his Iranian source in Paris was providing. But these efforts came to nothing, according to Mr. Weldon. So now Mr. Weldon is going public. The congressman said in an interview last week that he intended to publish a book early next year outlining the intelligence he has collected from various sources that he said will detail an Iranian plot to conduct a more lethal attack on America than September 11, 2001.
"I get a lot of wackos who come to see me, who claim to have information," he said. "In this case, this source came to me from a former member of Congress, a Democrat. I followed up a lead. That lead developed an ongoing process of information-sharing for two years that I took to the highest levels of the intelligence community."
In Washington, the new book from Mr. Weldon, based in part on his meetings with Ali, will provide fresh ammunition for the Republicans against an intelligence community perceived by the White House as hostile to the president's policies.
Last month, the new director of the CIA, Porter Goss, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, sent many of the most senior analysts and operations officers into early retirement. In a speech he gave to the staff at Langley, Mr. Goss had to remind the employees that the president sets national security policy.
But if Mr. Weldon's source turns out to be right, America could also be losing a valuable intelligence asset on Iran, a country where most intelligence analysts in America concede the CIA has too few human sources.
The congressman's experience with America's spy service in the last year echoes frustrations from other American officials and analysts who have cultivated Iranians willing to provide America with intelligence, but who have been ignored. After a December 2001 meeting in Rome between Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin and Iran-Contra figure Manucher Ghorbanifar, the State Department and CIA went out of their way to shut down the channel. Mr. Franklin is now the target of a grand jury investigation into alleged espionage activities for passing information to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
A summary of Ali's predictions were outlined in a November 2003 letter to the Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Roberts from Kansas. In its opening lines, Mr. Weldon wrote, "This letter is to warn you of an intelligence failure in the process of happening."
Later in the letter, Mr. Weldon, who is the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote, "I am not asserting that such an attack shall occur. But given [Ali's] record of accurate predictions, shouldn't the Intelligence Community at least be investigating his story?"
The letter and an accompanying memo titled, "Ali: a Credible Source," goes into detail about information Mr. Weldon's source provided that was later confirmed in the press. For example, Ali first passed on the Iranian threat to the reactor at a Paris meeting on May 17, 2003.
On August 22, 2003, the Toronto Star reported the arrest of 19 people in Canada for immigration violations who were suspected of being connected in a terrorist conspiracy. One of the men in the cell was taking flight lessons and had flown an airplane directly over an Ontario nuclear power plant, according to the newspaper.
So, impressed with the quality of his source's information, Mr. Weldon met in 2003 with the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, to plead his case to get funding for Ali. But the CIA, according to the Pennsylvania lawmaker, demanded to know the identities of Ali's sources inside Iran, a condition Mr. Weldon said was unreasonable given the high-risk espionage.
"I took this straight to the top," Mr. Weldon said in an interview. "I wanted to work through the channels but I did not get anywhere."
Frustrated with the CIA's response, Mr. Weldon took his case to the Senate panel that oversees the agency.
He pressed them in the 2003 letter to hold a hearing on the matter and urge the CIA to get Ali the money to continue to pay off his sources inside the Islamic republic. According to Mr. Weldon, the committee did not respond in any meaningful way. "One or two senior people called the chief of staff. Not the kind of response I wanted. I had to get this off my shoulders," he said in an interview.
Mr. Weldon said more of Ali's intelligence will be shared in his forthcoming book, which he promised would "shake Washington."
He said that the manuscript, which he has just completed, details how Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, "has set up a separate entity in the government the president does not know about, which includes all the terrorist groups connected to bin Laden and others. They are avowed to consummate a major attack inside the United States. In the book I name this plot."
#1
This DOES NOT surprise me. Time is NOT on the insane and DEMONIC Mullah's side. They are facing extermination from their own people AND POSSIBLY even from us.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2004 19:13 Comments ||
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#3
Stunning - and the guy's going public against the tide strikes me, at least in this case, as substance behind the charges. This is the sort of thing that gives many of us gray hair - the sources are definitely there and available, but if the CIA is this far gone then lex has been calling it right all along: tear it down and start over.
Get a list of those who were forced out, fired, reprimanded, etc. - especially where prejudice was used, that's credibility considering the CIA management - we'll need a core of competence to start whatever follows on.
I don't predict it, but I would not shed a tear if down the road, after one of these attacks is pulled off successfully against us, Tenet got one behind the ear. I got that cold feeling reading this... maybe it's high time we got cold-hearted and applied some hardcore realpolitik to the entire class of Clintoon Camelot II holdovers - throughout the Gov't.
#5
"...maybe it's high time we got cold-hearted and applied some hardcore realpolitik to the entire class of Clintoon Camelot II holdovers - throughout the Gov't."
Actually, it is WAY past time, high or otherwise. Should've been done a long time ago.
-AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
12/14/2004 20:31 Comments ||
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#7
The mullahs better think long and hard about their plans. Another attack the size of 9/11/2001 or bigger is going to result in a LOT of angry Americans, which won't bode well for the Middle East.
#8
Whosoever unleashes the nuclear genie will find their atoms scattered to the four winds and their homelands turned into green glass unless W goes in the attack.
Iran is willing to talk with the United States about a nuclear program that Washington alleges is aimed at secretly acquiring the bomb, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Monday. Germany, Britain and France launched new negotiations with Iran on Monday to try to persuade Tehran to abandon any nuclear program that could be used for weapons, in return for aid to build up its civilian energy program. Kharrazi told a news conference that talks with Washington could also be possible. The United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran after militant students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. "If negotiations are on the basis of equality and mutual respect in the same way we are talking to Europeans now, there is no reason not to talk to others," Kharrazi said when asked whether Tehran was also willing to talk to the United States about its nuclear program.
Iran's reformers support dialogue with Washington but hard-liners are opposed to any rapprochement, arguing that the only U.S. goal is to bring about the collapse of the ruling Islamic establishment. Some Europeans have hoped America's possible engagement in talks with Iran would increase pressure on Tehran to permanently abandon any weapons program and reassure its rulers that Washington was not seeking their overthrow. Kharrazi, addressing the news conference with his South African counterpart, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said Iran will assess the talks with European countries within three months if new negotiations do not meet Iran's demand to use its nuclear program for domestic energy purposes. "If we see that talks are waste of time and have no results, definitely we will make our own decisions," he said.
Kharrazi described the talks as "very serious" and dismissed allegations that Tehran was stalling, insisting that Iran had "no interest in wasting time." Iran agreed to a temporary deal with the Europeans last month to suspend uranium enrichment but has insisted that the freeze is voluntary and short. Zuma, whose country is an influential member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said South Africa defends "Iran's right for peaceful use of nuclear technology," but was opposed to a weapons program.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2004 9:46:44 AM ||
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#1
Just stalling for time to build the bomb.
Posted by: Wo ||
12/14/2004 9:56 Comments ||
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#2
"Iran May Negotiate With U.S. Over Nukes"
ROFLMAO!!!
No, son, we won't be talking this to death with you. You don't need the tech for any peaceful purpose, you have no "right" to nukies, and you're just too phreakin' insane to be allowed to sit at the big table. Q.E.D.
#3
Ladies and Gentleman,
Allow me to refresh your memmory with the immortal quote from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" :
" When you have to Shoot, Shoot, Don't Talk"
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/14/2004 10:15 Comments ||
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#5
The Chinese are about to build literally hundreds of "pebble bed" nuclear reactors that cannot be used in any way to make nuclear weapons. We should loudly announce that if Iran 1) opens all of its facilities to unannounced IAEA inspections, including sites that are suspected of being used for such activities, then 2) it can have all the pebble bed reactors it wants to meet its energy needs. Otherwise, ultimatum time.
#6
Iran: "Let's talk about our nuclear program."
Bush: "Okay. Drop it or we'll take it out."
Done.
Shouldn't take more than one minute even allowing for translations.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/14/2004 11:55 Comments ||
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#7
" Some Europeans have hoped America’s possible engagement in talks with Iran would increase pressure on Tehran to permanently abandon any weapons program and reassure its rulers that Washington was not seeking their overthrow "
Is this not familar ?? EU relies on the the good ole USA to take care of all the messes then turn around and stick a knife in our back. Are the Russians interested ?? Oh yeah they are probably busy helping the Iranians build the program.
#8
Eu is hoping for another oil for food boondoggle so those that missed out the first time can get rich on this one.
This is a good opportunity for the US to buddy up with China and suggest that China can be the source of the pebble reactors (Anonymoose's info is correct). This would provide prestige and cash payments for China so they might go along. It would also force the Iranians to fish or cut bait.
#9
"If negotiations are on the basis of equality and mutual respect in the same way we are talking to Europeans now, there is no reason not to talk to others"
Wait a sec. According to the MSM the EU Three are presenting a united front with us. Why then is it necessary to hold separate, additional talks with the US?
Do you mean to say the EU Dwarves aren't representing our interests here? Perhaps they're n- n- n- not on our side?
Mr EU3 to Iran: Im on your side, let me help you, I dont want my colleague outside to come and do anything rash - Ill make you a really generous offer.
Iran to EU3 : I aint talking
MR EU3 to US: Well, im going out for some coffee and doughnuts, time for you to talk to him, Joe.
#11
LH-ABSOLUTELY NOT. America needs to stop volunteering for a black eye-as the policeman, the cowboy (ring a bell?)-every time the world whimpers for help, while Europe reclines on a featherbed of insouciance, being the self-appointed foreign policy 'genius' of the international community. Sharing costs and burdens is not limited to tangibles. I'm with tex.
#12
I prefer Uncle Sam sitting down to the table with the big Mullah, the Bear, the Bulldawg and Mr H. Bomb. Have a sandwich and play a round of cards. John Q. Public can watch from the kitchen.
#1
"If you go to Iranian movies all you see is misery - nothing else. People think Iran is like this - everything is a desert, all the people are crying..."
"We wanted to show the real Iran."
Good luck to them , they got a job tougher than any Scorpians concert when the Berlin Wall fell hehe .
Next there is gonna be some free thinking skateboard mullah dudes shouting 'RADICAL DUDE !!!'
Ed. note: I don't know much about this site (Iran Mania) so can't vouch for this info. Any Rantburgers have an opinion? If it's not a credible site, I'll kill this post. Thanks.
An official on Sunday said Iran acquired nuclear fuel technology because of the endeavors of 1,100 Iranian scientists and experts, whose average age is 27. Speaking to Fars News Agency, Second Vice Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Nabi Roudaki added that in talks with the European Union's Big 3 Iran must stress that it acquired nuclear fuel technology by virtue of the efforts of its domestic forces. "The red line with regard to peaceful nuclear technology is getting access to the fuel cycle. The negotiating team should not transcend this red line. We must now be viewed as a country that has access to nuclear fuel. We cannot move backwards while we have experts in the country ... The negotiating team should not be intimidated by the US threats."
The official referred to the remark of International Atomic Energy Agency's Chief Mohamed ElBaradei that there is no evidence to indicate Iran is seeking access to nuclear weapons in the face of continuing anti-Iran allegations by the US and said, "We must discuss this contradiction with the Europeans." Roudaki noted that in recent years several countries have managed to gain access to nuclear fuel technology in the wake of their constant interactions with the IAEA. "The people and officials should not be worried about this issue. Because some countries even waited longer than us to get the final greenlight from the agency," he said.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/14/2004 12:28:31 AM ||
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The media "deliberately" created a wave of hatred against Islam, a top researcher said here yesterday.
"Yeah. There was no reason to do that. Just because Islamists killed 3000 Americans in a surprise attack is no reason to get testy!"
"Islam is the most misunderstood religion in the United States. The situation created by the media led to a worse situation," President of Arab American Institute Dr. James J. Zogby said. "There is an immediate need to rehabilitate the image of Islam. We need to present a true picture of Islam to the Americans. They need to know the truth about the religion and its ethics and not the picture being painted by the media," he said. "This is the biggest challenge and mission for the Muslims in general, the need to change the perception of Americans. If the image is changed then the persistent problem between Arabs and Americans would diminish."
"We should make it a requirement that all Americans have to read Qaradawi's pronouncements, read al-Ahram, and listen to translations of the Friday sermons in Mecca! That'll clear everything up for them!"
Zogby was speaking during the final day of the 11th World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC), held under the patronage of the Bahraini Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman Al- Khalifa. "The situation between the Muslims and the US can be described as one side playing football while the other is watching. In the end, who will win if only one side is being active," he said. "This road is not leading us anywhere except more confusion."
Actually, it consisted of one side playing hardball for 30 years, while the other sat in the national bathroom, exploring its sexuality. Now that we started suiting up, the game's not going quite so easy for the other side.
Dr. Zogby said that authors of three best selling books on Islam in the US have never been to Saudi Arabia. "They have presented the wrong picture in their books. Imagine someone is writing on Islam and has never been to this area and does not know any Arabs. Islam has become one of the most favorite topics among writers after 9/11."
Imagine somebody writing a history of ancient Rome who never went to ancient Rome and didn't know any ancient Romans.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2004 4:24:55 PM ||
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#1
Dr. Zogby said that authors of three best selling books on Islam in the US have never been to Saudi Arabia.
BFD. And most Catholics never make it Rome.
As someone who has lived in an Arab country and has visited 3 others, I can assure all of you that one's view of Islam does not improve with the decrease of distance or the increase of time.
#3
Poor damn Muslims. When they aren't being persecuted or victimized, they're being misunderstood. The way people talk, you'd think they might've blown up some buildings and killed a buncha people or something...
#7
Dr. Zogby said that authors of three best selling books on Islam in the US have never been to Saudi Arabia
But isn't Islam, as practiced in the US, Islam? And if the imams in US mosques happen to be preaching hate and death-to-jooooos, isn't that what Islam is?
Another ROP'er who has to keep reminding us that islam is the ROP, lest we conclude otherwise, based on facts.
#8
I'm amazed at the folks who scream about how Islam is "misunderstood", who will then scream bloody murder when you start quoting chapter and verse from the Koran, hadith, and sira that justify everything you've said.
And will shriek all the louder when you point out that Islamic societies always seem to organize themselves around those verses -- and their worst interpretations -- than around the sweetness and light ones they like to quote.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/14/2004 18:02 Comments ||
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#9
That darn media has created a climate of hate. On the hother hand - how should the media report Muslims in the streets cheering 9/11; fatwas declared by clerics to kill infidel Americans; Muslims in a great debate over whether beheadings carried out by terrorists are countenanced under Islam; Muslims looking the other way after the murder of school children in Russia; the murder of Van Gogh followed by Muslims looking the other way; the continual cold blooded murder of Iraqis citizens by terrorists followed by the cheering of Muslims; ... ? Yeah, the media has created quite a problem for the Muslims.
#10
Dr. Zogby said that authors of three best selling books on Islam in the US have never been to Saudi Arabia
probably because your 7th century hotbed of ignorance, intolerance and blame/humiliation are afraid to let anyone in who may have diferent ideas in
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2004 18:23 Comments ||
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#11
But we DID misunderstand Islam. See, we thought it was the religion of peace and enlightment. Turns out Islam is the cult of death, wife beating, gang rapists, cowardice, treachery, pedophilia and hatred.
We get it now, and are taking the appropriate steps, ie extermination of this death cult from the face of the earth along with it's soon-to-be-fed-to-pigs followers.
#15
mhw that they actually have a word that discribes the practice speaks volunes of how much we actually understand them now and how little we did understand before.
We have been down the path of telling them to play nice. Now we will force them to. I don't judge islam one bit on what it says. I judge it strictly on what is does.
#16
Sock
Its more than just a word. They have numerous and detailed tractates on how to practice taqiyya (I should have said it was tactical lying to advance Islam as opposed to tactical lying to, say, selling real estate seminars like we have in this country).
Islam is the most misunderstood religion in the United States
Bzzzzt! Wrong answer.
At least some of us understand Islam exactly.
Oh, wait.... Maybe that's his objection.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/14/2004 21:16 Comments ||
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#18
mhw, lying to sell real estate will get you disbarred. Agents can't even not ask certain questions any more, as the answers must be documented. The only thing that can happen is that the buyer is so eager for the property that she accepts certain concerns "as is". At least in the great state of Ohio, anyway.
#19
no mention of that recent death in the back bedroom or crack in the slab? Termites? Lose your license. Tell a lie to Infidels? Priceless...
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2004 21:41 Comments ||
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#20
A bunch of jihadists attack you country repeatedly and kill more than 3000 people. They have been involved in just about every terrorist activity that has occurred in the past 25-30 years. Every time you hear anything about Muslims they are killing someone in the world. WHAT THE HELL IS IT THAT THE MUSLIMS WANT US TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE MISUNDERSTAND? Seems to me the message is pretty clear, there is a concerted effort on the part of Muslims to take over the world and make it over in their image.
ZIRCONIC is a security channel behind the traditional BYEMAN compartments which reportedly contains stealth satellite programs such as MISTY (AFP-731) and PROWLER. NEBULA is the program name covering work on the general concept and technology of stealthy satellites.
Much debate has developed within Congress in response to the expensive spy satellite program currently being built by the United States. On Wednesday, December 8, Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-W.VA.) broke what had been an intense internal debate by expressing his belief that the program is "totally unjustified and very wasteful and dangerous to national security." Three Democratic senators-- Carl M. Levin (MI); Richard Durbin (IL); and Ron Wyden (OR)-- joined him in voicing a lack of confidence in the program; and it is reported that some Republican lawmakers also share their concerns.
So this is the program they were complaining about
The spy satellites, which reportedly employ technology similar to that used on the B-2 bomber and the F-117A fighter, are designed to orbit undetected in an attempt to cloak American surveillance of other nations. As a result, countries that draw particular attention, notably Iran and North Korea, will thus be unable to determine when American satellites are overhead. Consequently, they will be unable to plan accordingly, making their developments subject to unquantifiable scrutiny.
Most of the opposition that has surfaced is rooted in the satellite program's cost, which has reportedly doubled—from $5 billion to $9.5 billion.
Sounds like a tough task. The body of the satellite would be the easy part to shield from radar, but you have to consider optical searches. If you paint it black, it'll fry from absorbed heat from sunlight. The antennas to send the data back to earth would also be a radar headache.
Critics also claim, however, that the satellite's capabilities are irrelevant since today most countries that are surreptitiously pursuing illicit weapons are hiding them underground. Nevertheless, the program has survived (despite Senate efforts to terminate it in the last two years) with strong support from Porter Goss, the new CIA chief, and his predecessor, George Tenet.
The satellite, funded under a classified program known as Misty, was first revealed by Jeffrey T. Richelson in his 2001 book "The Wizards of Langley: Inside the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology." Richelson claimed that the first craft was launched on March 1, 1990 from the space shuttle Atlantis.
Senators Rockefeller, Levin, Wyden and Durbin objected to an item in the classified schedule of authorizations that provided for continued funding of a major acquisition program that they believed is unnecessary and the cost of which they believe is unjustified. They believe that the funds for this item should be expended on other intelligence programs that will make a surer and greater contribution to national security. For this reason, which is more fully explained in the classified record of the conference, they have not signed the conference report.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/14/2004 3:07:15 PM ||
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#1
Hell what's all the fuss, just call it Cosmos eleventeen or an advanced Earth Resources Surveyor and let it go.
#2
Oh they've already started launching.... never mind. :) Problem is having a good cover story for the launch. This was something the shuttle was good for. Polar Orbit? Sure just exploring the envelope of the spacecraft!
#4
I really can't see how to hide the launch if it's using conventional optics... we're talking the HST pointed at earth basically. Okay, maybe you can't hide the vehicle during launch... maybe it's good enough to orbit and hide. Yikes!
#6
The Senators' objections centered around the fact that none of the satellite's components were built in their states and that the prime contractor's PAC overlooked their various funding receptacles.
#8
They ought to send up a giant balloon shaped like a scary ray gun, with letters on it saying "Zionist-American Death Ray Mk I".
Just let people spend their time freaking out over that and do the real work in the meantime.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/14/2004 17:18 Comments ||
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#9
WTF! The senators apparently haven't figured out that if a program is classified YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL THE PRESS ABOUT IT! Cause if you do, it's no longer classified. There, now that really wasn't such a hard concept, was it?
#11
Now I understand all these latest reports about new low albedo objects discovered in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort cloud...... Zirconix you said ???
#12
The antennas to send the data back to earth would also be a radar headache.
Lasers. No antennas needed, just little lenses.
As for the Senators -- *sigh* is it really that hard to see when treason applies?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
12/14/2004 18:06 Comments ||
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#13
I heard Jed Babbin say on the John Batchelor Show last night that these disclosure by Rockefeller et al. had resulted in a criminal referral to the DOJ. I hope he's right. Rockefeller is the oiliest Senator our there.
Posted by: Tibor ||
12/14/2004 18:16 Comments ||
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Pakistani and Indian negotiators opened talks Tuesday on how to avoid an accidental nuclear war between the two South Asian rivals, the foreign ministry said.
They've come close to it twice in the past three years, and neither time was accidental...
It is the second time since June the two sides have met to discuss their nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan also have launched a broader effort to resolve long-running disputes, including their competing claims over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told reporters the two sides were discussing "new safeguards to avoid any accidental nuclear war" — including giving advance notification of missile tests. Both delegations expressed optimism about the talks, scheduled to last two days. "We are happy to be in Islamabad," said Meera Shanker, head of the Indian delegation. "We are in favor of result-oriented talks." The head of the Pakistani side, Tariq Usman Haider, also said he hoped for "result-oriented" negotiations that would benefit the "governments and peoples of both the countries." During the June meeting, India and Pakistan agreed to extend a moratorium in nuclear tests and to set up a telephone hot line between the top bureaucrats in their foreign ministries. These agreements were expected to be finalized at this week's talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2004 11:05:58 AM ||
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Fred - Is there any public information about the near misses?
War crimes trials against the top figures in Saddam Hussein's ousted regime will begin next week, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Tuesday. He didn't say whether the former dictator would be among them. Many of Iraq's former Baath Party members have been in jail for more than a year, and few have been able to meet with counsel. Saddam's Jordan-based lawyers say they have not seen the former dictator, arrested a year ago Monday, and said holding trials so soon would be illegal. "The Iraqi court will be in violation of the basic rights of the defendants, which is to have access to legal counsel while being interrogated and indicted," Ziad al-Khasawneh said.
Officials had given conflicting accounts about when the trials before the Iraqi Special Tribunal would begin. They have also suggested that Saddam would not be tried first. "I can now tell you clearly and precisely that, God willing, next week the trials of the symbols of the former regime will start, one by one so that justice can take its path in Iraq," Allawi told the interim National Council, without saying who would be tried.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2004 11:03:59 AM ||
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Since Lynne Stewart is unavailable (see above), is Ramsey Clark going to be the defense attorney? Or will it be someone from the ACLU? Perhaps the United Way or ICRTC will pay for the legal fees?
Pakistan has tried, without much success, to crack down on the madrasses, religious schools, which are often subsidized by Islamic conservatives from Saudi Arabia. Now a weakness has been found; child abuse. Many of the madrassa students are children under 14, and its common knowledge that some of the clerics and teachers running the madrasses will sexually molest their students. In the past, not much attention was paid to this, because it was so shameful. In the province of Punjab (the largest in Pakistan), there have been 500 complaints about such abuse in the last six months. The government decided to act. So far, 14 clerics have been arrested. While it consumes considerable police resources to investigate and prosecute these cases, the publicity makes more parents aware of the danger to their children, and results in fewer students at the religious schools. The staff of these schools often teach a very strict and hostile (to non Moslems) form of Islam. Apparentley no better than other religions.
Posted by: plainslow ||
12/14/2004 10:50:20 AM ||
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They got Capone on tax evasion, shutting down a chunk of the jihadi fodder machine with child abuse charges strikes me as a double-win, heh. Go get 'em, Pervy - good on ya.
The armed uprising against Israel is a mistake and must end, interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published Tuesday, signaling his determination to change direction after Yasser Arafat's death. In an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat published Tuesday, Abbas said Palestinians should resist Israeli occupation without resorting to violence. It is important to "keep the uprising away from arms because the uprising is a legitimate right of the people to express their rejection of the occupation by popular and social means," Abbas said. "Using the weapons was harmful and has got to stop," Abbas said. He [also] said that currently Palestinian security is in a state of chaos. "Frankly, the Palestinian (security) apparatus needs discipline. There is security chaos, that's why were demanding and are seeking to unify the security apparatus," Abbas told Asharq al-Awsat. Abbas also said he was in talks with the militant Islamic groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to bring them into the framework of the PLO, an umbrella group for Palestinian parties.
Good luck, Mahmoud. You'll need it.
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2004 9:25:01 AM ||
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The armed uprising against Israel is a mistake and must end, interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published Tuesday
1...2...3.... FATWAH (TM)
The Guy's life expectancy just went infinitesimal
Trust the Hamas and the Hizbies not to miss the opportunity.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/14/2004 9:53 Comments ||
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#2
like herding angry psychotic cats
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2004 9:55 Comments ||
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#3
Frankly, the Palestinian (security) apparatus needs discipline
Wrong Mahmud, what they really need is to be lined up and shot in the head.
To refer to a gang of rabid armed terrorists as a "security apparatus" is a typical Palestinian
propaganda item.
#4
It is important to "keep the uprising away from arms because the uprising is a legitimate right of the people to express their rejection of the occupation by popular and social means," Abbas said.
#8
Here's the bar, Abbas: When you can pick up the phone and order one Pal security apparatus to follow orders from a civilian and democratically-elected cabinet, like Sharon can, then all will be possible. At least he understands the problem. How much of a leader he will be to implement the changes necessary is the $64 question.
Posted by: chicago mike ||
12/14/2004 12:55 Comments ||
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#9
Next Abbas'll say his grandmother is a virgin.
Posted by: Wo ||
12/14/2004 13:59 Comments ||
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During a Dead Sea-area dig in 2002, Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld discovered two small packages wrapped in cloth. The contents of one of them, just recently made public, was a scathing curse aimed at Israeli leaders.
"Oh God almighty, I beg you God to destroy Ariel Sharon, son of Devorah, son of Eve." Thus opens a unique text, written in eloquent Arabic, on parchment found more than two years ago at the bottom of the Dead Sea. "Destroy all his supporters, loyal aides and confidants, and all those who love him and whom he loves among the human beings and among devils and demons," the anonymous writer continues with his curse.
The Dead Sea leaves those who visit it with a doleful impression. It is evaporating fast and needs artificial resuscitation. The once grand inlet in its southern part now has dry patches. Sinkholes are opening around it, endangering anyone walking on the shore.
The Dead Sea at various times has been a bustling center of human activity. Hebrew University Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld spent years studying the region. In August 2002, he started digging near Matzad Kidron (Hirbat Mazen in Arabic) in the remnants of a magnificent fortress that belonged to Hasmonean King Alexander Yanai from 103 to 76 BCE, south of the Einot Zukim reserve. The fortress' walls are well-preserved, rising five or six meters high.
This fortress was, in fact, a shipyard and housed Alexander Yanai's royal ship, Hirschfeld says. In his book "Longing for the Desert: The Dead Sea Valley in the Time of the Second Temple," he explains that the fortress' location was chosen for its solid land, as opposed to the swampy shifting land north of it. This meant boats could be brought close to the shore and towed to the shipyard.
The Dead Sea's rapidly sinking level, an ecological hazard, is a blessing to archaeologists. At certain points, the sea has receded up to 200 meters from the beach, and explorers are now digging in the exposed land. In August 2002, Hirschfeld and his team dug up 2,500 bronze coins inscribed "King Jonathan," Alexander Yanai's Hebrew name. These coins are part of what is known as "the Dead Sea treasure" - hundreds of thousands of coins that may have fallen from one of the king's ships. They were discovered more than 15 years ago, and several others have been discovered since.
"The people who worked with me searched a few dozen meters offshore and kept finding more and more coins," Hirschfeld says. One of his aides, Yoav Lupen, found something else 20 meters from the shore - two small packages of parchment wrapped in cloth, soaked in a preservative substance with a pungent odor resembling turpentine, and folded in sheets of lead. The packages were handed over to antiquities' preserver Orna Cohen, who opened one of them. It contained a modern, astonishingly venomous curse script.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
12/14/2004 3:49:25 AM ||
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Freshman English 101: Creative Writing for non-majors.
but the text provides clues pointing to his identity That poor person no doubt is now praying as hard as he cursed, that the famed Israeli scientists don't decide he must be found.
#2
It seems that these are retrograde curses.
Instead of affecting Israel, the curse backfired
and finished Arafat, the lord of the flies, master of the house of Harkonen ;)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/14/2004 8:18 Comments ||
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#3
Ah, the fabled 115th chapter of the Koran has been found (by a Jew no less).
Posted by: ed ||
12/14/2004 8:30 Comments ||
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#4
Sounds pretty rhizomatic to me. A modern English prof would give him an "A".
#5
As the Palestinian economy is not in a good condition right now, I have a wonderfull Idea for them : Export their curses abroad.
I am sure the Europeans will stand in line for buying genuine "100% Palestinian Curses(TM)", against Dubia and the US in general.
Perhaps Madonna is also interested in one :)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/14/2004 9:31 Comments ||
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#6
I think you're on to something, Elder. As written Arabic is lovely to look upon, I would suggest that they start with a variety of sizes suitable for framing, and t-shirts in various sizes and colours. If the "artists" provide a translation on the back in the usual EU languages, the European aborigines will be thrilled to hang such 'native art' on their walls and bodies. In fact, it would probably sell well in North America for the same reasons, just as t-shirts with Japanese sold well over here, and t-shirts with English were a fad in Japan.
Then, too, busy people don't have time to blow things up.....
#7
Trailing wife,
This is just the beginning, the best is yet to come.
I announce the first Palestinian full featured western :"Cursed by Allah rides agin", Starring
the late Arafat, Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach, with a guest performance by Jimmah Carter.
#8
OK, so long as you get a stand-in for Arafat. The thought of digging him up when we only finally put him under ground is too terrible to bear. Put me down for 100 shares. I'll hide it in the housekeeping budget somehow.
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.
A startled taxi driver shot and wounded a jokester wearing a plastic mask of the al-Qaeda leader, police said today. Leonel Arias, 47, told police he was playing a practical joke by donning the bin Laden mask, toting his pellet rifle and jumping out to scare drivers on a narrow street in his hometown, Carrizal de Alajuela, about 35 kilometres north of San Jose. Arias had startled several drivers that way yesterday afternoon. But when he jumped out in front of taxi driver Juan Pablo Sandoval, the motorist reached for a gun and shot him twice in the stomach. He was taken to hospital, where his condition was described as stable. "For me and I think for anybody else at a time like that one thinks the worst and so I fired my gun," Sandoval told Channel 7 television. Police declined to detain Sandoval, saying he had believed he was acting in self-defence.
A creeping revolution, both social and economic, is under way in North Korea and it seems there's no turning back. For decades, the country served as the closest possible approximation of an ideal Stalinist state. But the changes in its economy that have taken place after 1990 have transformed the country completely and, perhaps, irreversibly. For decades, Pyongyang propaganda presented North Korea as an embodiment of economic self-sufficiency, completely independent from any other country. This image sold well, especially in the more credulous part of the Third World and among the ever-credulous leftist academics. The secret of its supposed self-sufficiency was simple: the country received large amounts of direct and indirect aid from the Soviet Union and China, but never admitted this in public. Though frequently annoyed by such "ingratitude", neither Moscow nor Beijing made much noise since both communist giants wanted to maintain, at least superficially, friendly relations with their small, capricious ally. 
was elected three days after the train bombs killed 191. Mr Zapatero told a parliamentary commission investigating the 11 March attacks that Spaniards had never submitted to terrorist violence.
