from MEMRI
In his column in the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Saudi columnist Hussein Shubakshi criticized the Saudi Education Ministry's reaction to a schoolgirls' field trip to the Saudi Daily, Arab News, newspaper offices. The following are excerpts from the article:
"Blood Need Not Be Spilled for a Particular Incident to Be Defined as Extremist"
"Extremism has many different faces. Blood need not be spilled for a particular incident to be defined as extremist. Recently, a [Saudi] administrative event took place for which the gentlest of terms can only be 'extremist.'
"A group of schoolgirls in one of the girls' schools in the city of Jeddah wanted to publish a school paper that would highlight [school] activities and present [the school's] achievements. Because the girls were imbued with enthusiasm but had no knowledge in the sphere of media, they had to acquire some journalistic experience.
"Therefore, the school administration drew up a plan for a field trip to the Arab News newspaper, so [the pupils] could meet with the female editors and with the newspaper staff, and also could get acquainted with the proper method of journalistic work.
"The field trip was planned only after explicit consent was obtained from the pupils' parents, and then they went to the newspaper office. The pupils were accompanied by four female teachers. They spent several hours in the various newspaper departments, so as to learn from up close about how things are run, and to ask about professional work methods.
"Then souvenir photos were taken with the paper's editor, who had explained and presented the journalistic work to them. The photos and a news item on the visit were published in the Arab News."
Schoolgirls Cursed, Reviled for Field Trip — in a Way Unconnected to Religion
"Then came an organized attack that had been planned in advance on the part of a few, who cursed, reviled, and harmed the schoolgirls in a way completely unconnected to religion, honor, or morality.
"But the greatest disaster was that the Education Ministry superintendent then came to the school that had sent the girls [on the field trip] in order to 'investigate' and then to 'settle accounts' for 'the school's deed' and for 'the girls' behavior.' This was done with the knowledge that no girl had been alone with any man [during the trip].
"Is it Permitted to Sow Fear and Harm Girls' Reputations — When Their Only Sin is a Desire for Learning and Development?"
"Is it permitted to sow fear and to harm the reputations of the girls of this country — when their only sin is a desire for learning and development for the sake of the homeland and the good of all? Religion is devoid of all this. It is bad enough that they are hijacking our religion by means of terrifying thoughts.
"The school paper project was canceled. The girls were disappointed, the school administration was in a state of shock, and the parents [of the pupils] were also in a state of shock.
"Can it be that the education administration knows what's good for the girls and cares for them better than their parents? Are we interested in 'reinventing' or 'rewriting' what is permitted and what is forbidden??..."
proof that theirs will continue to be a misguided, backward culture.
WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia has agreed to increase its daily oil output from 9.5 million barrels to 12.5 million barrels in the next two to three years, US and Saudi officials said on Monday. The announcement came after a meeting between US President George W. Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at Bush's ranch in Crawford Texas, where Bush had been expected to push for higher production to rein in record gas prices in the United States.
Adel al-Juebeir, a spokesman for Abdullah, said the Saudi government is also pursuing a longer-term plan to increase production to 15 million barrels of oil daily. An immediate jump in output, however, would not bring petrol prices down unless they are accompanied by an increase in refining capacities in the United States, al-Juebeir said. "It will not make a difference if Saudi Arabia ships an extra million or 2 million barrels of crude oil to the United States if you cannot refine it," he said. "It will not turn into gasoline, and that will not turn into lower prices."
He's got us there.
In a separate press conference, Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the Saudis informed US officials of plans to invest 50 billion dollars in increasing the ability of the country to produce oil.
The United States imports more oil from Saudi Arabia than any other country. Awaiting the arrival of Abdullah at his ranch, Bush was confident he could persuade the Saudi leader to act. "The crown prince understands that it's very important to make sure the price is reasonable," Bush said. "High oil prices will damage the market, and he knows that."
The United States has also been pushing Saudi Arabia and other friendly governments in the Middle East to initiate democratic reforms, an issue that came up during the meeting, Hadley said. Bush has pledged during his second four-year term, which began in January, to strive for democratic change in the region, citing Iraqi and Palestinian elections in January as key achievements. Saudi Arabia also held municipal elections earlier this year.
The United States also welcomed Saudi Arabia's goal of entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). In a joint statement with the crown prince, issued after the meeting, Bush said that the US would encourage Saudi membership in the WTO before the end of the year.
The two leaders also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the renewed international effort to move the peace process forward, Hadley said. "So the focus has been very much what we can all do - the United States, the Saudis and others - to assist the Palestinians to be able to develop the institutions of a democratic state that is prepared to take responsibility for the territory that they are going to get," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2005 8:36:06 AM ||
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US refining capacity is irrelevant to the price of oil, despite what the media and the Saudis would have you believe. Otherwise if the Saudis can increase production by 3mpd over 3 years then its still less than half what is required on current trends. Maybe Iraq can cover the rest. Analysts were sceptical about SA's ability to pump an extra 1.5mpd and this sounds to me like the Saudis are trying to talk down the market.
#3
Are we going to have a bill with ANWR on it for the President's signature, or is the Senate going to whimp out on us? I wonder if Abdullah made the FAA have male air controllers enroute on his trip to Crawford. This guy is not our friend.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/26/2005 11:38 Comments ||
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As I recall from earlier discussions, the Saudis have been pumping at pretty much maximum capacity for some time, now. Couple that with the flight of Western expats after the bloody attacks on compunds and workplaces, and the ignorance of the locals in matters related to personally repairing wear and tear to the physical plant, what are the odds that the Princes will be able to effect a significant increase in oil production?
#5
It's gong to be awhile, maybe 50 or 80 years, but my grandchildren are going to enjoy using SA has the National Training Annex. We'll pay 'em a little and frequent their juche shops, but laugh and play and sing all the while.
Oman has accused an alleged network of 31 Islamic operatives of working to overthrow the sultanate from as early as 1982.
A special Omani court has released details of the charges against an Islamic insurgency network that had been quietly working for decades to overthrow Sultan Qaboos. The court said the network, comprised mostly of government employees, collected weapons, sought recruits and distributed anti-regime literature in an effort to establish an Islamic state.
The court held three sessions last week in which 31 defendants were formally charged with belonging to an illegal organization and undergoing military training. The organization, said to have been financed by membership dues, was not named, but officials dismissed any connection to Al Qaida.
Authorities have released details of the prosecution case in a trial that has been off-limits to journalists. The defendants were charged with selling weapons, firearms training, obtaining funds and convening meetings to recruit members to a secret organization sworn to overthrow Qaboos.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/26/2005 12:50:58 AM ||
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Scotland Yard is investigating the London shooting death of a former British army sniper who was prominent in the Northern Ireland campaign. Retired Warrant Officer Michael Norman, 62, formerly of the Coldstream Guards, was found with a bullet wound to the stomach in a green BMW April 17 with a 9 mm handgun nearby. Norman, who left the army in 1989 after 22 years, built a reputation in Northern Ireland and other operational theaters as a high-grade sniper. He is reputed to have killed as many as six Irish Republican Army gunmen during anti-terrorist operations, The Times of London reported Tuesday.
And they hold a grudge for a very long time.
He was also an anonymous witness at the inquiry into the Bloody Sunday deaths in Londonderry in 1972, according to his former wife, Fiona McNab.
So it could have been either side, or just a robbery gone bad. One round in the stomach doesn't sound like a pro hit.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2005 9:33:27 AM ||
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could have been a pro hit if that is where they wanted him shot like say too suffer a lil while
President Vladimir V. Putin, after facing months of criticism for Russia's crackdown on freedoms and concentration of presidential power, said today that encouraging democracy was the main task before the nation, and that human rights, freedom and a secure business climate were essential for the health of the state.
In his annual address to the Federal Assembly, Mr. Putin offered a vision that at times and on the surface appeared to embrace the language of some of his most prominent critics.
"The main political and ideological task is the development of Russia as a free and democratic state," he said.
He seemed to try to calm the uneasy private sector by noting that "tax agencies have no right to terrorize business," a reference to the effort to collect vast sums in back taxes against from various concerns, which has caused consternation abroad and triggered capital flight.
He also made a series of references to ideas rooted in the West.
At one point, Mr. Putin, a former K.G.B. official, spoke of the right of all citizens to have access to public information. At another he endorsed equal opportunity and market law, saying that "everyone's incomes should be determined by one's labor and abilities, skills and efforts."
He alluded to a need for a social safety net, saying the state "should provide assistance to those who cannot work and those with low incomes, disabled people, pensioners, orphans, to make sure that they live worthy lives."
But democracy and fair competition are ideas whose meanings are malleable in practice, and there were indications that Mr. Putin's definitions might fit his own purposes.
As strong as his pro-democracy language might have been - "to deny ourselves the ability to live according to democratic laws means not to respect ourselves" - the speech was leavened with warnings that Russia would change at Mr. Putin's pace.
"We will move forward considering our own, internal circumstances," he said, later adding, "As a sovereign country, Russia can and will independently determine for itself the time frame and the conditions of its movement along that path."
There were hints as well that any move toward openness and democracy would bear the Kremlin's firm stamp, and that Mr. Putin would continue in the same policies that have been the focus of harsh condemnations of late, including cuts to social benefits, the protracted war in Chechnya and consolidation of political power in the executive branch.
For example, he pointedly spoke of "the right to be elected or appointed to a public position." The use of "appointed" seemed a defense of his decision to end direct elections of regional governors, and instead transfer to the Kremlin the power to appoint them.
He also mentioned what he called the "the Khasavyurt capitulation," a hard-line reference to the agreement in 1996 with separatist fighters in Chechnya that gave the breakaway republic a degree of independence.
The experiment ended in 1999, when Mr. Putin ordered a renewed Russian military offensive, which continues to this day and has been marked by brutality and crime by both sides.
Mr. Putin also said that while foreign investment in Russia was welcome and needed, some strategic industries would remain under state control.
The nearly 50-minute-long speech, broadcast live on Russian television, was staid compared with Mr. Putin's last lengthy public appearance, a news conference last December marked by biting remarks, including insults directed at President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland, who had helped mediate the political impasse last fall in Ukraine.
Mr. Putin was much gentler today, staying on script and peppering his speech with pledges to raise wages for soldiers and government employees, to abolish an inheritance tax and to lure offshore capital back to Russia.
Playing to other durably populist themes, he adopted one posture likely to please his domestic audience, chiding the government. "Our bureaucracy is still to a large extent an isolated and sometimes arrogant caste," he said, one that is undermined by "corruption, irresponsibility and incompetence."
He also characterized the collapse of the Soviet system as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," a nod to lingering nostalgia here.
Mr. Putin's approval ratings have been level this year at about 65 percent, according to public opinion surveys by the independent Levada Center - down from ratings typically in the 70's and low 80's during the previous three years.
The immediate reception of his speech was mixed. Members of the government hailed it as significant. But Irina M. Khakamada, who ran against Mr. Putin in 2004, questioned its sincerity, telling the Interfax news agency that the speech "looked like an export product by its liberal rhetoric and ritual statements addressed to the West."
Markets remained almost unchanged. Investors have been nervous since 2003, when masked agents arrested Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the founder of the Yukos oil company.
A verdict in the criminal fraud and tax evasion case against him is expected on Wednesday. Defendants are virtually always found guilty in Russia.
There's a long history of that in the Soviet Union Russia, isn't there?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/26/2005 12:55:00 AM ||
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A Potemkin speech for consumption by the few foreigners who still pay attention to Russia. Putin cannot and will not reform Russia's shambolic government because he is a product, more like a puppet, of the only element of that government that actually functions: the security services. Any moves toward good governance by an independent judiciary, a competent legislature or a reasonably efficient executive or technocratic branch will inevitably reduce the power and cash flow accruing to the FSB. For them, democracy and rule of law represent a direct threat. To the extent that the FSB directs Putin's government, democratic and institutional reform will be thwarted.
U.S. officials played down a report on Monday that the administration might seek a United Nations resolution empowering nations to intercept shipments in and out of North Korea that may contain nuclear-related materials. While acknowledging there may be some discussion of such a move, they said no proposal has been presented to senior policymakers, nor was there a decision to formally bring the issue of North Korea's nuclear programs to the U.N. Security Council.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters traveling with her to Latin America that the United States' main way of dealing with North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons was through six-party talks aimed at dismantling their programs. But she said: "We reserve the right to go to the United Nations Security Council at any time."
The New York Times, quoting senior U.S. officials and diplomats briefed on the proposal, said the possible resolution would amount to a quarantine of North Korea, although it said White House aides were not using that word. The purpose would be to provide political cover for China to police its border with North Korea, the newspaper said. "Maybe there is somebody who's thinking about what's described in that article (but) nothing has come up to the senior policymaker level," one U.S. official said.
China supplies 60 percent of North Korea's food and oil. The border is also open to North Korean arms, drugs and counterfeit currency flows, providing Pyongyang with hard currency.
Signaling dwindling patience, Washington has said it would go to the security council for possible sanctions if Pyongyang continued to snub six-party nuclear talks. Efforts to get the security council to authorize a quarantine likely would run into serious opposition from veto-wielding members Russia and China, which is alarmed at possibly forcing a North Korean collapse.
There is already a mechanism in place to pressure North Korea. Several years ago, Washington launched the so-called Proliferation Security Initiative, a voluntary association of states who agree to interdict weapons of mass destruction or components shipped from North Korea or other countries of concern. It was specifically designed so participating states could act under existing laws and not require special U.N. authorization, although some members might insist on security council approval for something so coordinated as a quarantine.
U.S. officials said a quarantine may be among the ideas discussed by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the new U.S. point man on North Korea, on a trip to Asia this week. "Hill has a few aces up his sleeve. He's sounding out possibilities," one U.S. official said.
Meanwhile, nuclear expert David Kay fanned growing concerns about North Korea, saying he expects the reclusive communist state to detonate an atomic test by June 15. "I unfortunately happen to believe that by the 15th of June, we will have a North Korean test of a nuclear weapon," he told the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars after returning from a trip to China.
U.S. officials told Reuters they remained alert to what appears to be North Korean test preparations but could not substantiate the date Kay cited, the fifth anniversary of a North-South Korea declaration to work toward unification. "The North Koreans have been doing things that lend themselves to speculation but in terms of a test, there's movement, but I don't think anybody has concluded that this is what they are going to do, without reservations on that judgment," one U.S. official said.
Kay, once a CIA adviser heading the postwar U.S.-led hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, declined to elaborate on his prediction.
Although North Korea has publicly announced it possessed nuclear weapons, officials and experts say an actual test would be a dramatic new step that would increase pressure on the United States for some counteraction.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/26/2005 1:19:22 AM ||
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A letter posted on a jihadi message board, addressed to the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, asks Zarqawi to defend the Muslims in Sweden stating: "we here [in Sweden], the Muslim people, cry out to you and ask you to beg the nation of jihad to use their power to get back our religion, by doing what Allah ordered you to do, especially if there is an attack on the dignity and reputation of our Prophet."
The message, claiming to be from "The weakened Muslims in Sweden," refers to the statement by the celebrity Norwegian Evangelist preacher Runar Søgaard, who called the Prophet Muhammad, "a confused pedophile."
Following a display of the letter, the author of the message assures the death of Søgaard, who is currently under police protection, stating: "You will hear that he will be killed soon, Allah willing, just like in Holland with the Dutchman who wrote a book fighting the veil (hijab) and made a film making fun of Muslim women wearing the hijab."
Finally, the message promises that "the dirty dog in Sweden will face the same fate, no matter what the Swedish police do."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/26/2005 12:32:54 AM ||
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Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/26/2005 8:51 Comments ||
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Some hurt feelings! Islamopeon solution for people making fun of you = keeel them. Sister unpure = keel her. Wonder what the Swedes make of this.
#5
We come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow. The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, to fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming! On we sweep with threshing oar, our only goal will be the western shore... -- Led Zeppelin, The Immigrant Song
Excellent point. I have considered this also and am wondering how they are going to take care of certain problems unique to the standard Viking longboat design. For example, how to prevent an over-eager Bofors gunner from shooting away the dragon head prow, or the stern post, or the main mast ?
I assume they will need some sort of cam-based gizmo to stop the firing mechanism when the gun swings into certain angles.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing what the top Viking weapons designers come up with.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
04/26/2005 12:29 Comments ||
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I printed this one out to send to my German friend who is frightened by the Muslims she sees in the village streets, but now questions Israel's right to exist. Yes, indeed, brainwashing works.
Mexico City's socialist mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, beat the rap yesterday and is back on the job. This is important because he is expected to run for president next year and win--if he's on the ballot. The legal dispute was a contrived attempt by his political opponents to prevent that from happening, and it appears to have failed spectacularly, with nearly 1 million supporters marching on Sunday and federal prosecutor dropping the charges against him.
What this means is that come next summer, President Bush will lose his compadre, Vicente Fox, and instead have to deal with the candidate of the Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD in Spanish), a sort of Hugo Chavez-lite. Among other things, this is not a guy who's going to cooperate with the president on a guestworker program. He's also likely to push expanded dual citizenship for people of Mexican origin in the United States, since so many immigrants here are supporters of the socialist PRD.
#1
This example demonstrates why I, a Brown (and UNC) alum, now make my educational donations elsewhere (currently Widener University). Free speech is fine, but this kind of speech proves Brown is not doing a very good job of educating its students.
#2
Liz Sperber studies English, History, and Africana Studies. Obviously she hasn't learned much from the history department. Or maybe she has...
Posted by: Tom ||
04/26/2005 20:18 Comments ||
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Odd opinion. Perhaps some more enlighted Brown alums need to weigh in. This individual seems to lack a basic understanding of what is really going on over there. But hey, that's the Ivory Tower for you. Why would you let the facts get in the way of an ill informed bias ?
#5
this is making the rounds. Perhaps Brown, et al need to incorporate their professorial/grad student diversity program with their PR program. As of now they look like the enemy
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 20:35 Comments ||
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Open support for a violent, not to mention barbaric, enemy is absolutely intolerable in a civilized society. If the government can't deal with this, and they probably can't, others should.
I believe violence against these murdering liars is absolutely inevitable. Given that their views and incitement are based purely on opportunism, career-enhancement, and power-seeking, as opposed to the genuine if depraved principles of the terrorists themselves, it wouldn't take more than a handful of very public assassinations to restore common-law and Constitutional definitions of treason and free speech, in place of the current media-dictated system of Orwellian insanity.
Am I advocating violence? Goddamn right I am, if this bitch can openly advocate the murder of American citizens, in a way that materially contributes to the acts themselves, then the courts and the law have no logical or moral basis for acting against my response.
It is time, people. Read up on John Locke and support the Constitutional resistance in North America.
EFL and spin - Al-Rooters
Republicans expressed growing confidence on Tuesday that the Senate will confirm John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, despite Democrats' contention he is a bully unsuited to the post.
"The allegations are being to my mind very successfully debunked one by one," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican. "I'm optimistic at the direction it's taking."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who said more time was needed to examine Bolton's record, said so far she has not seen information to prompt her to vote against him.
"At this point in time I have not learned of anything that would change my mind, but it's my obligation to look thoroughly and see if there's any basis to what has been raised," Murkowski of Alaska told reporters.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 8:54:59 PM ||
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who said more time was needed to examine Bolton’s record, said so far she has not seen information to prompt her to vote against him.
[ego trip]
Maybe my Sunday letter helped. Maybe I made a difference.
[/ego trip]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/26/2005 22:13 Comments ||
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I wonder if there are any more whack jobs out there? The collection thus far looks like a grossly imbalanced lot. If the dummycrats had any character, they would be embarassed at this juncture. No wonder intelligence is so screwed up, they are too preoccupied licking ego wounds and fighting turf battles.
Posted by: Dennis Kucinich ||
04/26/2005 22:12 Comments ||
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Let Scott J at Powerline know - Brit Hume (at the 30 min mark +/-) was all over it, crediting their fine work, Scott's gonna stay up and watch :-)
they do good work along with Capt Ed.....i feel better about our knowledge of what's going on with these guys helping
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 22:30 Comments ||
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The latest radio ratings are in, and they show continued bad news for Air America, the liberal talk-radio network featuring Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, rapper Chuck D, Janeane Garofolo, and others. While it is difficult to pinpoint Air America's ratings nationally — it is on the air in about 50 stations across the country, and has been on some of them for just the last few months — it is possible to measure the network's performance in the nation's number-one market, New York City.
The new Arbitron ratings for Winter 2005, which covers January, February, and March, show that WLIB, the station which carries Air America in New York, won a 1.2-percent share of all listeners 12 years and older. That is down one tenth of one point from the station's 1.3 percent share in Winter 2004, the last period when it aired its old format of Caribbean music and talk. . . .
. . . The ratings also show WABC radio, which airs Rush Limbaugh, consistently beating Air America in New York City even though [Al] Franken had at one time claimed to be beating the conservative host there. In the 10 a.m. to 3 P.M. period in the Winter of 2005, WABC (and Limbaugh) won 2.7 percent of the audience to Air America's 1.4 percent. In Spring 2004, WABC beat Air America 2.7 percent to 2.2 percent. In Summer 2004, WABC won 2.7 percent to 2.3 percent. In Fall 2004, WABC won 3.6 percent to 1.6 percent. Here comes the kicker: That last number surprised some observers because it showed Air America faltering in October and November 2004, the period when the presidential election was reaching its finish and political passions were presumably at their highest. And this in one of the bluest of the blue-state markets. NYC has no shortage of moonbats; it's the home of The Nation and The Village Voice and the New York Times, after all. And yet, . . .
. . . even then, Air America's decline continued.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/26/2005 4:41:04 PM ||
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wow - that's really disturbing, falling right behind the failure of my stapler to do consecutive staples without jamming..as a moral dilemma
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 18:38 Comments ||
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for the stapler, yes...Office Depot workers on their off time. For Air America? Some fat bitch that's also hunger-protesting the Minutemen, but she hung up when a roach coach showed up
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 19:28 Comments ||
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BTW, "Air America" the movie is on Spike tonight, heh.
#7
oops! my construction engineer resume appears....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 21:44 Comments ||
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#8
tw - I consider you a National Treasure - and no snarkiness intended - I mean it in a positive civilized manner. My Ex came from such a world where roach coaches were unknown. She thought a kitchen was utterly incomplete without a melon baller and high-end garlic press. A Mr Coffee? Pshaw. Brass 'n glass French Coffee Press. I often wonder if her fascination regards me wasn't just so she had a bona-fide Alley Oop to show her girlfriends and, perhaps, so she'd be "grounded"... me being much like a lightening rod, heh. I'd never even seen a melon baller before we bought ours together, but I was on intimate terms with roach coaches.
#9
You actually owned a mellon baller???? Jesus...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/26/2005 22:00 Comments ||
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gotta watch sites where the same subcontractor provides the "coaches" and the port-a-potties...conflict of interest LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 22:00 Comments ||
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#11
Hey - she got me to go to the opera (once was all I could take), to the theater (which I usually enjoyed), etc. Throw enough spaghetti at the fridge door and, eventually, some of it will stick, heh. I was already a readaholic - she just tossed in some classics to leaven the lot. She took me all the way from the gutter to the, uh, sidewalk, lol!
#14
Worked a roach coach one summer with my brother in Las Vegas. A cool job but you have establish your territory or you will nerver make money. Good working hours because you never work past 4:00 pm.
#15
Oh yeah - she nailed me to the barn wall at the end, but that's because she was THE Bitch from Hell inside. Not "a" - "THE". I wish I could send you to her website... The proof is there in her self-written bio, lol!
#16
I was just giving credit where due regards children who are actually "raised" and "educated" - as opposed to my childhood, I raised myself with "supervision" only appearing when I was caught doing something illegal. Otherwise, it was a solo thingy - so all credit and all blame are mine for how I turned out. She knew things I had never dreamed of. I knew things she had only seen on the news, heh. Wotta deal, eh?
She did tell me once that I cleaned up better than anyone else she had ever owned. That's a quote, too, lol!
#21
T-Shirt said "I got divorced in 1996". Even that is gone now. A reflection not on women, but a lack of Blogs about just about everything until recently, where you can figure out what the heck is really going on any subject you like ;-)
While President Reagan enjoyed a reputation as the "Teflon President," able to prevail against critics determined to besmirch his reputation, one figure handily eclipses him in his ability to avert any criticism by the mainstream media: Colin Powell.
Knowledgeable insiders have long characterized Powell's meteoric rise from colonel to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as based on exceptional skills at bureaucratic infighting and deft wielding of the press leak stiletto. But the general public sees only the picture of high-minded public servant. In the wake of the disclosure that he is attempting to use his wiles to torpedo the nomination of John Bolton as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, it is high time to break out the kryptonite and honestly appraise the record and actions of Colin Powell.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2005 12:10:26 PM ||
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AMEN. No other Beltway mainstay is as overrated as Powell. His Sec'y-State performance under Bush was little short of embarrassing: traveled less than any SoS in recent memory and did still less to rally support for the War; an utterly foolish performance at the UN, where Villepin easily upstaged and sandbagged him; and the disgraceful winks and nudges to the NYT's editors about his non-support for Bush's policies.
The Bolton sabotage is this careerist mediocrity's lowest point yet. Take off the gloves.
#2
The MSM give Powell a pass because 1) he feeds them information and leaks while Bush stiffarms them and 2) they point to his winks and nudges as evidence that Bush does not have real control of the foreign policy apparat, instead is controlled by a neocon cabal.
This is Kissinger's symbiotic relationship, par excellence
#3
I have had numerous heated arguments over Colin with my brother and sister-in-law. My brother served in Nam with Powell, and the general can simply do no wrong in their view...perhaps...
However, Powell has shown me nothing in terms of his role as SoS and in his underhanded dealings over Bolton. As SoS he blamed everyone other than himself over poor intelligence. Surely he knows the difference between good and bad intelligence, having served admirably in numerous conflicts.
His 'robin' is Richard Armitage who, in my view, is another insideous hack. I have watched this guy basically do dog tricks on behalf of liberal senators when speaking before commissions. Like Powell, they talk a good game but they are easily bought off.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/26/2005 16:25 Comments ||
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#4
To think I once thought this guy was respectable and honorable. Sheesh, wotta PR job - and I fell for it.
Out of the closet, he's a joke, a tool, and worthy of the dustbin of history, now singing in harmony with the likes of Halfbright, Skowcroft, and all of the others who have been proven to be Foreign Policy idiots and Tranzi subversives. I wonder if he has enough intelligence to recognize that, when the history of this period is written, he'll be a footnote and only included for his subversive behavior at State.
#5
The most disgraceful aspect of his SoS performance was his disloyalty to his president.
Can anyone imagine George Marshall behaving this way? When Marshall disagreed with Truman over recognizing Israel, he kept his disagreement silent. He did not leak it to the press. If Powell seriously disagreed with the Iraq War, he should have either resigned or else supported the policy to the best of his abilities.
Then again, perhaps he did support the policy to the best of his abilities. What a contemptible mediocrity.
#6
Following in Halfbright, et al's footsteps prolly makes Colin feelcomfortable with anything less than a Sandy Burglar-type transgression. "Hey! It could be worse..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 17:07 Comments ||
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#7
I'm going to defend Colin here.
If you make a lot of big decisions, you mess up some of them. I think the most damning charge here was his decision on defending the Shia after GW1. The rest is about the level of criticism you'd expect from a guy with such a long career.
As for the Shia blunder, don't look too closely at Ikes record towards the end of WWI when he let quite a few Germans to the mercy of the Soviets. I'd like to read more about his reasoning and how he feels in hindsight.
Not traveling as SoS was not necessarily a big deal. Would making yet another Peace Process visit to Yasser have made a difference? To Paris? Turkey, maybe. But had they rejected us after a visit from the SoS the rejection would have had much more impact.
He was the 'good cop' as SoS and commanded way more respect than halfbright, etc. He's a pragmatist who is reluctant to disrupt stability. I tend to disagree with him on this matter but he's no clueless leftist or 'tranzi.' I think he saw the strategic benefits of going into Iraq, but also had a good understanding of the costs. Maybe better than some of those supporting the invasion.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Treasury Department moved Tuesday to freeze the assets of 30 companies and four people believed to be linked to international arms dealer Viktor Bout. Those affected by the department's order include Richard Chichakli, of Richardson, Texas, whom the government identified as Bout's "U.S.-based chief financial officer."
Several companies in Richardson also were listed on the government's blocking order, including Chichakli & Associates, DHH Enterprises Inc., and Daytona Pools. Most of those covered by the government's blocking order are located in other countries. The government's action not only freezes any bank accounts and other financial assets belonging to these companies and people found in the United States but also forbids Americans from doing business with them. The United States also is submitting the 34 names to the United Nations to be included in its asset-blocking list, which is followed by member countries.
The department's action emerges from an executive order that allows the government to freeze assets of people connected to former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
You all remember Chucky
Arms dealer Bout was designated last year as having associations with Taylor.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2005 1:01:47 PM ||
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WASHINGTON — An air marshal who was grounded after criticizing the Federal Air Marshal Service over security issues was told last week to come back to work, a day after he and the ACLU filed a lawsuit that threatened to call wider attention to his complaints. Frank Terreri contends a dress code requiring many agents to wear coats and ties makes them easy to spot in the mass of casually dressed passengers and undermines the marshals' ability to protect passengers. Officials said they grounded Terreri, president of an air marshal group, in October after he sent an e-mail to other marshals criticizing a colleague for providing People magazine with details of her operational routine. The e-mail had created a "hostile workplace" for the other marshal, officials said. They stripped Terreri of his badge and gun and confined him to desk duty for almost seven months. Terreri's supporters said he was being punished for his criticisms about security.
On Friday, the day after Terreri filed suit accusing the government of violating his 1st Amendment rights and endangering the public by stifling whistle-blowers, officials notified the Riverside man that he had been reinstated and should report for duty the following Monday.
Gee, what are the odds of that happening?
The Federal Air Marshal Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Secretary Michael Chertoff, who took over in February, has vowed to shake up the sprawling department, which has been plagued with bureaucratic problems since its creation two years ago in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Chertoff this month met with officials of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Assn. — which is comprised of more than 20,000 federal agents, including 1,400 air marshals — and heard about concerns over the dress code and other procedures that air marshals said could give away their identities. Terreri, president of the association's air marshals' unit, did not participate in the meeting with Chertoff, who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
A spokesman for the air marshal service, David Adams, said the decision to return Terreri to active duty was not influenced by the lawsuit.
"Certainly not!"
Adams also said that the investigation into Terreri's conduct continued. But a source close to the inquiry said the probe had been completed and that the air marshal had been cleared of wrongdoing. Terreri had been barred by federal rules from publicly discussing the marshal service or his case. But the lawsuit threatened to drag criticism of the agency into the spotlight. The air marshals' concerns already are the subject of an inquiry by the House Judiciary Committee. Peter Eliasberg, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer involved in the lawsuit, said of Terreri's reinstatement: "The coincidence seems sort of astonishing. "Why did it take seven months to do an investigation? There is either something wrong, or this is the most inefficient bureaucracy I've ever seen," Eliasberg said. "Either way, it leaves me with no confidence in the Federal Air Marshal Service."
Join the club
Commenting on Adams' assertion that Terreri remained under investigation, Jon Adler, a vice president of the Federal Law Officers Assn., said: "It indicates to me a reluctance to concede that they wrongly placed a very good marshal under investigation for frivolous allegations."
Marshals say the dress code makes them stand out so much that passengers often give them thumbs-up signs. A General Accounting Office study of a period from 2001 to 2003 found that air marshals were recognized on average once a week.
Adams said there was no agencywide suit-and-tie rule. But marshals have said that field offices frequently enforce a "business dress" requirement, regardless of the season, destination or cabin class in which the marshal travels.
The marshals also have complained that policies on boarding and hotel check-ins make them unnecessarily conspicuous. At airports, marshals often must go through the exit gates to bypass security checkpoints, in full view of other passengers. Some field offices require marshals to stay at specified hotels and ask for special discounts, which requires them to identify themselves to clerks.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2005 11:07:25 AM ||
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#1
"..or this is the most inefficient bureaucracy I've ever seen,"
Haahaahahahaaaaa.....this was meant to be a joke, right?
A court dispute is casting new light on the puzzle of Missouri's scattered connections to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
The man who bought a satellite phone that bin Laden used to plot the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 had worked for an Islamic charity in Columbia, Mo., the organization has acknowledged. But Ziyad Sadaqa had no leadership role in the Islamic American Relief Agency, its lawyer, Shereef Akeel, emphasized in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. "He was not a decision-maker," Akeel said. "The record is devoid of any evidence that he influenced the organization's conduct in any manner."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/26/2005 1:08:10 AM ||
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Only a couple of blocks from the 2nd son's college apartment at Mizzou. He's on the paper there and I have asked him about the place before so maybe he will wander on over and do a follow up. (He's done some other pieces on them...)
Paul Volcker, who heads a probe into corruption allegations in the U.N. oil-for-food program, denied in a new interview that there was any conflict of interest over his link to a U.N. official being questioned in the probe. No, of course there's no conflict. I took this job so I could derail it if it got too close help. Kofi picked my name out of a hat.
Volcker, former head of the U.S. Federal Reserve, told Fox News in comments to be aired Tuesday that he had an acquaintance with Maurice Strong "as many people do over the years." Strong is U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy for North Korea, but has stepped aside while Volcker's commission checks for his possible ties to oil-for-food. He denies any link. So he dated my sister. No big thang.
Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee is investigating allegations of widespread fraud in the $64 billion program, which ran from 1996-2003 and was meant to help ordinary Iraqis suffering under U.N. sanctions. Yes, independent. Heh.
While controversy swirls around the program, Volcker's committee has come under scrutiny. Last week, two senior investigators resigned because they believed that report was too soft on Annan. They, uh, wanted to spend more time with their families. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Volcker said there was no agenda to spare Annan. "We are not meant to be soft or hard — we are out to get the facts and I've said from the beginning our responsibility is to follow the facts wherever they lead," Volcker told Fox, which provided a transcript of the interview to The Associated Press Monday evening. Except for here and, um, here. And here. And here. And over there.
And certainly not over yonder.
Volcker's connection to Strong has also raised questions. Sis said he was a great kisser. She swore he could put a lip-lock on anything.
Volcker once served on the advisory board of Power Corp. of Canada, a company Strong had led many years before. Strong was Power Corp. chief from 1964-66, while Volcker was on the board in 1988, long after Strong ceased to be associated with the company, Volcker told Fox. Just coincidence. We don't even share hookers, anymore.
Volcker said neither his acquaintance with Strong nor his ties to Power Corp. posed conflicts of interest. Of course not. He's a leg man and I'm into hooters.
"It's a ludicrous stretch," Volcker told Fox. "There is no, absolutely no conflict of interest." Lol.
Strong, a prominent Canadian businessman, has not been implicated in the oil-for-food scandal himself. But he has been linked to the program through South Korean businessman Tongsun Park, who has been indicted in U.S. federal court for alleged involvement in the scandal. Slowly, but surely, the various investigations into Tranzi ruses and schemes and scam begin to converge... spiraling inward... Strong is Ground Zero.
Strong has acknowledged that Park once invested in a company he was associated with, but denies any link to oil-for-food. He later said the Volcker committee was checking his possible connection to the program. We shared a redhead and talked about it.
Volcker's committee has released two reports so far on abuses in oil-for-food. The latest faulted Annan's management of the program, but cleared him of interfering in the awarding of a $10 million-a-year U.N. contract to the Swiss employer of his son, Kojo Annan. I can only fudge it so much, Kofi. Sorry, but you're the hired help.
Kofi Annan later said he accepted the criticism but claimed the report exonerated him — though Volcker had made clear when he unveiled the report that the findings against the secretary-general were "adverse." Yes, see! It sez I'm clean. Really. It does! You just have to squint really hard and..
Volcker repeated to Fox that Annan was not exonerated. Hired help.
Saddam's government had authority to decide who would have the right to purchase oil under the program and it is believed to have extracted kickbacks ranging from an estimated $9 billion to $21 billion. It was Maurice's best idea.
Well, I don't know about you, but this makes me feel so much better. Things are not as they appear. Just coincidences. Foxes guarding the chicken coop, conducting the security checks, policing the perimeter. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Posted by: .com ||
04/26/2005 1:07:31 AM ||
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U.S. investigators hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have found no evidence that such material was moved to Syria for safekeeping before the war, according to a final report of the investigation released yesterday.
Although Syria helped Iraq evade U.N.-imposed sanctions by shipping military and other products across its borders, the investigators "found no senior policy, program, or intelligence officials who admitted any direct knowledge of such movement of WMD." Because of the insular nature of Saddam Hussein's government, however, the investigators were "unable to rule out unofficial movement of limited WMD-related materials."
The Iraq Survey Group's main findings -- that Hussein's Iraq did not possess chemical and biological weapons and had only aspirations for a nuclear program -- were made public in October in an interim report covering nearly 1,000 pages. Yesterday's final report, published on the Government Printing Office's Web site ( http://www.gpo.gov/ ), incorporated those pages with minor editing and included 92 pages of addenda that tied up loose ends on Syria and other topics.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/26/2005 1:15:54 AM ||
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#1
Well, the Syrians have pulled out of the Bekaa. Will anyone go looking for fresh dirt?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/26/2005 11:47 Comments ||
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#2
I'm with Mitch - until the Bekka's checked out, this is a smokescreen / more fodder for Carl Levin.
President of the Lebanese National Front Ernest Karam called for the release of the Samir Geagea and the return of former Army Commander General Michel Aoun from his exile in France. In a statement issued on Monday, Karam also said free and fair elections "would express the country's democracy, freedom and sovereignty."
Meanwhile, Parliament's Administration and Justice Follow-up Committee, entrusted with drafting a new amnesty law, held a meeting Monday to discuss two proposals to amend the amnesty law. After the meeting, Akkar MP Mikhael Daher said the new amnesty law will embrace the exceptional cases, including the issue of Samir Geagea and the Dinnieh and Majdal Anjar detainees. In other developments, the General Amnesty Follow-up Committee urged on Monday Speaker Nabih Berri to put the pardon law into effect.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The president of the National Liberal Party, Dory Chamoun, accused the Syrians of killing his brother Dany in 1990, not the jailed leader of the disbanded Lebanese Forces, saying: "I believe the Syrian brothers played the main role in the assassination," according to reports on Monday. Speaking during a rally on Sunday in the Southern town of Jezzine, Chamoun said: "The evidence upon which Samir Geagea was convicted was insufficient and impractical. My brother Dany and his family were murdered after the Syrians entered the eastern region."
Took you that long to notice, huh?... Oh. They're gone now. Makes things look different, doesn't it?
He added: "I demand a new investigation to reveal the real identity of the assassins." A Beirut supreme court had convicted Geagea of having masterminded Danny's assassination and gave him a death sentence that was commuted to life imprisonment.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Pegs normally used to keep the village of tents standing at the protest on Martyrs' Square were turned into weapons Sunday night when a fight broke out between supporters of the Lebanese Forces and Free Patriotic Movement. Eyewitnesses said a supporter of exiled former Army Commander General Michel Aoun known as "the terminator" had instigated the scuffle.
Sounds like a pleasant fellow, doesn't he?
The witnesses explained that at approximately 9:30 p.m. the youth began swearing at a group of LF supporters who were in the midst of a "political discussion" with followers of the Phalange Party, and was heard to say: "You will never evolve and you will not become human any time soon."
Wrong thing to say to a Neanderthal...
A verbal argument ensued between "the terminator" and the LF supporters, which by all accounts was a minor affair until another camper, a teenage girl, attempted to photograph the argument. The LF supporters reportedly began shouting at the girl to stop taking pictures and tried to approach her, but were blocked by "the terminator," who stepped in front of the young woman and pulled out a knife. With "the terminator" advancing with a knife in hand, the LF supporters pulled out the tent pegs as weapons. Members of the Lebanese Army patrolling the sit-in at Martyrs' Square eventually got involved as the fight got out of hand and separated those involved. Two youths, Mohammad Wehbe and Antranik Tabourian, were slightly injured in the scuffle and taken to the St. George Hospital for treatment, while four members of the FPM were arrested by police and had their tents searched. Despite the clash, protesters at the camp are unshaken by the event and call the incident "a silly quarrel between children."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Iranian Ambassador Massoud Idrissi described the issue of Hizbullah's weapons and the Palestinian camps as Lebanon's internal affairs.
Then you won't mind if the Lebs disarm them, will you?
Speaking after a meeting with Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud on Monday, Idrissi said his country refused any UN resolution that addresses such issues, a reference to UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for disarming of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia.
Oh. I guess that means you would mind.
Washington, France and the European Union have stepped up pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in line with the resolution, which also calls for an end to foreign interference in Lebanon. Idrissi said the Lebanese people have expressed their attachment to the Lebanese resistance, and that therefore the United States should not be allowed to interfere with the issue of Hizbullah, especially since the U.S. only thinks about Israeli interests. Idrissi said political cooperation between Iran and Lebanon will increase in the future on the international level. "As you know, the Islamic Republic of Iran has proved that it is willing to help Lebanon in all circumstance," he said," Therefore, it is also willing in this sensitive and delicate stage to offer everything that could ensure Lebanon's higher interests."
That means the uniformed Syrian intel guys are going to be replaced by Medes and Persians in mufti.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Iran has withdrawn a lot of its agents and most of its actual soldiers from Lebanon. Could be the thugs are more needed back in the homeland.
Put Down Your White Man's Burden, Support Iraqi Resistance - A Radical Opinion?
BY LIZ SPERBER
"Before we prescribe how a pristine Iraqi resistance must conduct their secular, feminist, democratic, nonviolent battle, we should shore up our end of the resistance by forcing the U.S. and its allied governments to withdraw from Iraq."
-ARUNDHATI ROY
UNCONDITIONALLY-that's the way I support the Iraq Resistance these days. I support the beheading of bound hostages. I support the murder of Christians because they are Christians. I support the mass murder of Shia because they are apostates. I support car-bombing of children. I support the car-bombing of rescue personnel. I support this solely because Chimperor Bushitler leads Amerikka.<
While I do not offer political support to all groups Who makes your party-invite list and who is left off? involved in the anti-imperial struggle in Iraq, I work to support its collective purpose forcing the troops out now I don't mind if American troops die as my hatred of Bush is so great. Forcing because the United States won't leave any other way. January 30? Elections in Iraq? 8.5 Million voting under the threat of death? Hello?
On a good day, the US corporate mediaAs opposed to indymedia and the loony college newspapers? Like the MSM titans of ABCNBCCBSCNNPBSNYTWAPO? Yeah, THOSE sure support our effort in Iraq. would have its audience believe that a kinder, gentler imperialism is the only way forward for Iraq. This is, of course, not the case. How so? Any evidence? Hello? Nor does it seem plausible, after two long years of occupation, that any kind of imperialism will be tolerated by the Iraqi people, for reasons I will enumerate below. Enumerate THIS, baby! Simultaneously, predictions that a formal draft will likely supplement the current poverty draft in the United States have been made by the likes of Seymour Hersh Who recently said that lying is ok, if it's in a good cause and North Carolina National Guard Specialist Patrick Resta. While the recent claimBy whom? Where was this information? Sources? Hello? that a draft should be expected within 75 days is, at best, a misunderstanding of the Selective Service Administration (a vestige of the Cold War, the SSA was created to intimidate the Soviets with the possibility of short-notice US conscription)Yeah, THAT is what scared the Russkies, our SSA. Wudn't the Tridents or B1s or Minuteman missiles, it was the fact that we had identified the pool of available men., a future draft is not by any means out of the question. With its roots in the mid-1990s, the national crisis in military recruiting has been marked by a recent plummet undoubtedly related to the multiformjust ALL kinds of forms! horrors of the war in Iraq-not least the increasing threats to under-armed and under-manned US troopsWTF? How can troops be undermanned? which have resulted in the increased use of carpet-bombing Complete and total lie. Neither the USAF or USN have aircraft which can perform this vital function. In fact, today we use precision weapons which means lower casualties and collateral damage(and civilian-killing) which has typically led to increased resistance Yeah, the Islamofascists are just trying to protect the people, continuing the vicious spiral.
In this vein, it is clear that those reports in the Anglo-American media As opposed to The Franco-Germanic media? that cite a decline in insurgent attacks are relying on coalition force press releases True as the media never leaves there Baghdad hotel rooms with a Bar in the lobby. These reports have been directly contradicted by recent articles in Al Jazeera, the Washington Post, and even the New York Times (which has been particularly ambiguous in its reporting)Wow! such renowed sources! I am sure AlJizz will be upset that you put them with that Jew-owned NYT. Therefore, with our own lives potentially on the line is that a commitment to joined the US Armed Forces, where your life IS on the line? Doubt it, and with the continuing failure of elected officials to represent their constituents Especially the Dhimmicrats, it is left up to us, the public, to explore other options.
I believe there is only one effective, though seemingly unspeakable, way to resolve the Iraq quagmire: immediate, unconditional withdrawal of US-led coalition forces. Outspoken, direct-action, grass-roots support for such a withdrawal is unambiguously advancing the cause of Iraqi self-determination while also adhering to the demands of those of our troops who have returned from Iraq opposed to the war. Don't forget the giant paper mache heads of the Chimperor and his minions. Those always show how serious you are.
The first step towards adopting such a plan of action is understanding why supporting Iraqi resistance groups is the imperative flipside of our support for US troops-even if we don't know, understand, or agree with the politics of the resistance groups themselves. See? If we support our enemies and they kill our soldiers, we are supporting our soldiers coming home, even of in a body bag. makes perfect sense to me.
The typical conversation concerning Iraqi sovereignty goes like this: Although the Iraqis deserve freedom and liberty, they can't have self-determination quite yet, because we can't just pull out. We could pay reparationsFor? And, to whom? Maybe to Saddam to atone for the killing of his angelic boys? but we can't support fundamentalist, sexist, elitist, terrorists who threaten to take over in the vacuum of power left by political upheavalIs there some other kind of Islamofascists or Baathists? The 'Builders of Al Queda', as Senator once put it?. It is our duty to occupy Iraq to ensure the safety of the Iraqi people. With our history of democracy, our strong army, and with those ethnic rivalries and disorderly histories, without us they can't build a proper state. But we can, and therefore we must.
A Terrorizing EtymologyCool word. Bugs?
From there it gets uglier: for instance, the most pressing flaw in the argument is its bigoted presumption that Iraqis lack something that Americans can give them, teach them-ostensibly a rational democracyActually, it is your bigoted assumption that Arabs can't handle democracy. Yet, the War on Terror, of which we are to believe the Iraq war is a part, is different from other wars wherein sides attempted to 'defeat' one another. Instead, the War on Terror has as its goal the elimination of so-called terroristsJust LOVE the 'so-called'. The headchoppers aren't really barbaric, they are forced to do this because the Americans are there led by W. We don't hear about a possible defeat or surrender of the insurgents in IraqJust read about it this week. Those who aren't being killed are looking for a way out. The other option is the relentless pursuit of them by the best soldiers and Marines in the world, ours.. Rather, we read insurgency casualty counts as if they were mounting a staircase to an imaginary final destination: the magic number that will signal elimination of all terrorist threatsAnyone know how many steps are on this staircase? We can't start until we know.. Accordingly, our first question becomes, what is it that the US government means by the word "terrorism"? Well, assclown, terrorism is the use of violence against innocents.And how does this relate to our installing a democratic apparatus in Iraq?
Historically, terrorism has been defined as illegitimate violence, violence outside of a state's monopoly on the use of forceNot exactly as states can also use terrorist methods.. Yet I would like to complicate this use of the term 'illegitimate' with a contemporaneous, other kind of illegitimacy: that which characterized colonial regimes throughout the 20th century. In British, French, Portuguese and even South African coloniesWTF?? South Africa was a colony, but they never colonized anyhwere else. Oh, you mean the "white guy" deal, eh? Ergo, yout title! Makes Perfect sense., governments were often illegitimate in the sense that only a minority of people inside the nation were enfranchised, or represented by the group in power. The United States enlisted this logic to indict Saddam Hussein, whose elections were a joke and who represented only a minority of his population. Yet, history reveals in no uncertain terms that opposition movements, which over time emancipated colonies from often brutal rule, were time and time again branded terrorists. The FLA Actually, the FLN, but when your a moonbat, truth isn't an issue in Algeria, the ANC in South Africa, ZAPO and ZANU in Zimbabwe, and the IRA in Ireland were not deemed terrorists because of their tactics, which at least initially did not target civilians-rather, they were deemed terrorists because they threatened to overthrow illegitimate colonial rule.
While a bomb in Birmingham or London was never-and I repeat never-a good thing because the IRA initially only targeted British soldiers in UlsterAnd that is a good thing?, this kind of terrorism is necessarily complex. History is equally clear on the fact that the media of occupying governments are essentially prohibited from accurate representation of the occupation itself. Ideologically, the fact that a group of people in this country supported the war enough to enable it to happen indicates that the media will represent the view that Iraq does in fact need to be occupied, for various reasons. This prohibits them from portraying the evils of occupation as necessarily evil; rather, they portray the occupation as unfortunate but necessary. In this war in particular, however, there is the added factor of intense government censorship and the unprecedented embedding of reporters.Did I miss the logic there? Or was did any logic even exist there? Gotta find my old college textbook on Logic and look it up.
Thus, while the ostensible savagery'cause you, know, they're just killing white American soldiers who are there on the Chimperor's orders. of targeting of civilians does help the US government label the freedom fighters of the present as terroristsJust 'cause we do bad things don't matter as long as we fight Zionism, the simultaneous media censorship omnipresent no negative coverage of the war anywhere! throughout the war in Iraq blinds us to the equally if not more savage violence perpetrated by our state against the Iraqi civilians. In Fallujah, for instance, where reporters were prohibited for several months beginning in November 2004, 65 percent of buildings were leveled to the ground and anywhere between 600 to 3,000 civilians were murdered, mostly by carpet-bombingDid NOT happen, the increasingly favored technique employed in Iraq as manpower begins to dwindle. All of these conditions must be recognized when we consider our relation to the Iraqi resistance.
Don't Be So Romantic
This etymological history, along with proofProof? Where? of a propagandistic media, is significant only to a point. On the one hand, an understanding not only of past invocations of the term 'terrorism,' but the situations in which terrorism became the only weapon of the majority of citizens in a nation-as was the case throughout the 20th century era of decolonization-Wait a minute. I thought you jusat said the 20th century was the colonial century. Now I am confused too! underscores how imperative the stigmatization of 'terrorism' has been for minority regimes to maintain militarized rule. On the other hand, though, this history often tempts us to romanticize anti-imperial struggles, and similarly has lead to the romanticization of Iraqi resistance. Such romanticizing obscures what I believe to be the most essential point of this entire argument. If there is one thing that we take away from 20th century history, it should be this: it is neither your place nor mine to decide who is worthy of what degree of autonomyWho is this 'we', bitch?. Not only do romantic portrayals of resistance rely on self-serving reductionism, they also implicitly pronounce the kind of moral authority and higher-judgment that are part and parcel of maintaining an imperialist way of thinking. Thus, to argue that resistance in Iraq deserves our support "because (insert homogenizing, descriptive reason here)," is to invoke the same paternalist authority, which, in another era argued that "the African (singular) is a savage and must be governed accordingly."
Rather, if we support the Iraqis right to self-determination, it must be because we identify a common, equal humanity between us; because we recognize that US occupation of Iraqi land and the US-sanctioned torture, rape, murder, and theft are unjustMy, our soldiers have been busy. Too bad the MSM never caught wind of this!. That, in addition to the plight of our soldiers, which many of them argue is worsening every day, is why we must demand troops out now. For no other reason. Accordingly, since the Iraqi resistance is the force working to regain Iraqi sovereignty, we support them-unconditionally.Loosing.....sanity. Must..continue..fisking...
We must bring American troops home simply because it is not their place to stop the insurgents. Granted, even the most inspiring national liberation movements had their crimes and their tragediesLike the miracle birth of Israel again the combined Arab savages that would have slaughtered them? The only trategy is that more Arabs didn't leave. Many liberation struggles, fought under the watchful eyes of the Cold War superpowers, even failed, in the end, to achieve their objectives (Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Algeria, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, the list goes on). Yet, suffice it to say here that the limits or failures of a movement do not nullify its purpose, although they may hamper it. Past failures cannot justify the abandonment of our commitment to the right of people everywhere to self-determination.
They are easy traps to fall into-romanticizing past struggles or indicting 'insurgents' for use of terroristic tacticsI have never romanticized any terrorists, even those brave boys in the IRGUN and FFI. Yet, concerning the flat and stigmatized notion of 'terrorism,' 20th century history, in concert with brave soldiers such as Carmello Mejiawho? SOme traitor, I presume, and the invaluableto the Islamofascists independent (unembedded) media shows us that our understanding of the word 'terrorism' is necessarily compromised when our government is occupying the land of the so-called terrorists. Conversely, regarding the romanticization of the resistance we have a model in Louisa May Alcott's writing through Jo in Little Women: "it is not because women are good that they should vote. It's because it is fair and just." To romanticize resistance moralizes women, totalizes, does violence, and gets us nowhere outside the haughty hegemonic box of imperial thoughtBrain.not.comprehending. Instead, historical hindsight would have us see a certain truth, a certain continued struggle, in the efforts and desires of people in Iraq-without needing to judge or purify them.
#1
Is this sedition or treason? Is she an accessory to terrorism or simply the cheerleader?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/26/2005 20:50 Comments ||
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None of the above. She is just intelligent enough to have learnt the vocabulary (and she does love her spell check!), but not intelligent enough to string them together even semi-coherently, let alone logically. I imagine she will proudly append this to her resume when she goes job hunting upon graduation, and will never understand why nobody hires her. If her subconscious is very clever, she will send a copy to her parents, who will promptly yank her out and send her to the local community college until she has learned enough to earn an associate degree (2 year, less than a Batchelors, for all you furriners) in anything.
Muzaffarabad/Srinagar: The bus between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad may have been welcomed by Kashmiris on both sides, when it started off on April 7, but for some of them going to Muzaffarabad, the journey turned out to be a nightmare.
When the passengers reached Muzaffarabad they found that their relatives had been jailed. This triggered off protests and demonstrations.
Mohammad Yousuf Bhatt, a resident of Srinagar, alleged that the authorities in Pakistan were out to gag people in Muzaffarabad, lest they reveal information that would show Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in bad light.
"Our innocent friends and relatives have been arrested. Of them, 26 are in prison and more than a hundred are missing. We are demanding to know why they were taken into custody. We aren't even allowed to meet them," Bhatt said.
The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus was hailed by both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf as a historic step, and in their recent joint declaration in New Delhi both leaders resolved to initiate more measures to increase contact between Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control.(LoC)
But, with such actions in PoK, it seems Islamabad has a skeleton or two in its cupboard when it comes to Kashmir.
ANI
Posted by: john ||
04/26/2005 6:35:44 PM ||
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john, when I post an article, I paste the web page at the bottom where it asks for source. The moderators sweetly make the title link to the web address, the way all the other guys somehow know how to do. ;-) (It is a comfort to me, though, that I am at least temporarily not a set of 1. Be kind when yo've passed me up.)
#2
nice post John, but, as TW (more nicely than I can conjure up) says - post the link properly, please, otherwise, they become amusing "anecdotes". I think you care more than that about the subjects...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 21:03 Comments ||
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EFL: April 24, 2005: The prototype of the new American self-propelled artillery system, the 155mm NLOS-C (Non-Line of Sight- Cannon), has been undergoing tests for the last 18 months, and has fired a thousand rounds so far. The system was cobbled together in six months, after the new Crusader SP artillery system was cancelled. The current self-propelled system, the M-109, is a fifty year old design. Although the M-109 has been updated, the NLOS-C incorporates many new technologies. This includes an auto-loader (from the Crusader) and a more modern 155mm gun (the M-777, a towed, British designed system) and an APC chassis with a hybrid-electric engine (to reduce fuel consumption.) This all weighs 23 tons, about the same as the M-109. But the NLOS only has a two man crew, compared to five in the M-109. The final version of the NLOS-C is supposed to have a lighter, composite material that will bring the weight down to under 20 tons. There is some doubt if that will happen, but NLOS-C is part of the army's FCS (Future Combat System) family of combat vehicles, and being under twenty tons is part of that. But in the meantime, a new self-propelled artillery weapon is needed, and NLOS-C could fill the bill if they would just finish the development and get it into production. Congress demanded that this happen by 2008. But Congress has made other demands about FCS and NLOS-C which conflict with this date. It all may be moot, as the new Excalibur GPS guided shell, entering service next year, could change everything. If Excalibur works in combat, the way it has in testing, it could radically change the way artillery operates. Excalibur would mean 80-90 percent less ammo would be fired, meaning less wear and tear on existing M-109s, and a few more years for the army to figure out what the M-109 replacement will be.
April 11, 2005: The U.S. Army continues to try developing an artillery shell that can hit with precision accuracy. Two new such shells are about to enter service: Excalibur and PGK. The Excalibur shell, which will be issued to artillery units within the next year, uses GPS guidance. It's expected to cost about $50,000 each, and land a shell within 30 feet of the target. Actual tests have shown the shells will land within half that distance. The army wants this kind of accuracy for fighting in urban areas, and to reduce the number of shells needed to destroy a target. Accuracy in urban areas reduces civilian casualties, and allows friendly troops to be closer to the target. Both of these factors make a big difference. Fewer civilian casualties, saves lives, keeps the media off your back, and creates good will among civilians in the combat zone. Having your troops closer to the target allows the infantry to rush in after the shell hits and quickly mop up the surviving enemy troops. This reduces your casualties, and puts the fear of Excalibur into the enemy troops. Both are good things.
Right now, the Excalibur will be competing with the new U.S. Air Force "small diameter bomb" (SDB). This 250 pound device, which looks like a missile, but is an unguided smart bomb, weighs twice as much as Excalibur, and thus produces a bigger bang. But you need an air force bomber overhead to get a SDB, while army artillery is always there. You also need an air force FAC (Forward Air Controller) nearby to call in the bomb, while there are many more army personnel who can call for artillery. The SDB costs about as much as Excalibur. Another competitor is the GPS guided MLRS rocket. But because rockets are less accurate than artillery shells to begin with, GPS guided MLRS cannot hit targets as accurately as SDB or Excalibur.
The third generation smart shell is also in development. This is the Projectile Guidance Kit (PGK), which is actually a large fuze, that screws into the front of a 155mm or 105mm shell. This longer "fuze" contains a GPS and small fins to guide the shell to a precision hit equal to an Excalibur shell. The army doesn't expect to be passing these out to the troops for another five years. But if development goes smoothly, and Excalibur proves useful and popular, then the PGK might show up earlier. The PGK will cost less than half what each Excalibur does and, more importantly, can turn any shell into a smart shell. This is important for artillerymen, who don't like to carry around a lot of special shells, "just in case." Artillery units already carry several different types of fuzes for their shells, so one more is not seen as a burden.
The pinnacle of artillery operations has always been, "one shot, one kill." But achieving this has always been like a golfer getting a hole in one. It can be done, but it's rare. Smart shells make "one shot, one kill" commonplace, and mean artillerymen will spend less time constantly replenishing their ammunition supplies. Firing the cannon less often is also nice, as those beasts are a bitch to keep clean.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2005 4:41:27 PM ||
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This 250 pound device, which looks like a missile, but is an unguided smart bomb
How's that work?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/26/2005 20:52 Comments ||
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you've never seen my Driver's License photo, huh?...dunno about that smart bomb part, tho...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 20:57 Comments ||
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WaPost - Reg Uusally Req'd, so posting it all. HT to Instapundit It is either a Wild West revival, a return to the days of "shoot first and ask questions later," or a triumph for the "Castle Doctrine" -- the notion that enemies invade personal space at their peril. Such dueling rhetoric marked the debate over a measure that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) could sign as early as Tuesday. The legislation passed so emphatically that National Rifle Association backers plan to take it to statehouses across the nation, including Virginia's, over the next year. The law will let Floridians "meet force with force," erasing the "duty to retreat" when they fear for their lives outside of their homes, in their cars or businesses, or on the street.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said in an interview that the Florida measure is the "first step of a multi-state strategy" that he hopes can capitalize on a political climate dominated by conservative opponents of gun control at the state and national levels. "There's a big tailwind we have, moving from state legislature to state legislature," LaPierre said. "The South, the Midwest, everything they call 'flyover land' -- if John Kerry held a shotgun in that state, we can pass this law in that state."
#2
The Castle Doctrine. I like that. It permits, but does not require (in opposition to the squealing of the anti-gun lobby) a violent reaponse to violent intent. Much like, where all the girls play soccer, the boys don't try to take liberties.
EFL: In April of this year DARPA initiated a program to develop a heavier-than-air, intercontinental airship capable of rapidly transporting military men and equipment to a war zone. The plan, designated WALRUS, would call for a fleet of airships capable of transporting upwards of 500 tons of cargo 6,000 miles in 4 days. Not bad when you consider a standard C-130 C-130 cargo plane, can carry about 22 tons. In addition, it is expected that these airships will also carry sufficient supplies (food, ammunition, fuel, parts, and equipment) to sustain the force for at least 72 hours. In the current war on terrorism, with an increased need for strategic airlifts, that's a hefty amount of equipment and personnel, and given our current fuel crisis, the relative fuel efficiency of an airship compared to a standard cargo aircraft is something Defense budgeters can agree with.
The reason for this innovative program? The development of the Army's new rapid response Units of Action (UA). Currently, the only means of deploying troops rapidly from the US is through airlift (the 82nd Airborne Division maintains a ready brigade which is deployable world wide in 18 hours), or via fast sealift cargo carrier (the eight 33 knot 55,000 ton Algol-class transports can deliver a mechanized division anywhere in the world in less than 18 days). Both of these options have their limitations; with the elimination of the M551 Sheridan from the Airborne TO&E, the 82nd lacks any creditable anti-armor capability, and 18 days is unacceptably long to deploy one of the new rapid response UAs.
A key change in military philosophy, the new "10-30-30" doctrine, has also been instrumental in the development of this new technology. Simply put, "10-30-30" can be broken down as the following: to be able to deploy to a distant theater in 10 days, defeat an enemy within 30 days, and be ready for an additional fight within another 30 days. The WALRUS program could fulfill this strategy, at a cost savings in aircraft maintenance and use.
The WALRUS airships will offer a number of advantages over current airlift and sealift transports. To begin with, they can operate from "unimproved" areas, land or sea, without a need for storage hangars or ground support. They will also be weather tolerant, and have the capability of transporting a motorized force from "fort to fight" without having to first unload at a port facility, and then transport cargo and/or personnel inland. Finally, with operating costs significantly lower that either ships or conventional aircraft, the WALRUS airships could provide logistical support to deployed UAs for a fraction of what it would cost to do so conventional airlift or sealift assets.
The WALRUS would not resemble any existing airships as we know them. Rather than assume the traditional "cigar" shape (like the zeppelin Hindenburg for example) the WALRUS would be of a hybrid design and shaped more like a flat, lozenge-like lifting body. (cough) Big Black Delta (cough) This would allow the WALRUS to not only derive lift from the helium gas, but from the aerodynamic forces generated as it moves through the air. The WALRUS is expected to be powered through the use of thrust wings (TW), which are articulated lifting surfaces with internal thrust producing engines. The TW would be grouped in pairs, fore and aft, and would consist of several independent modules arranged on a single axis. The TW modules can be rotated along this axis to provide 360o of vectored thrust. This would enable some of the TWs to be angled vertically to provide for thrust-based lift, and some of them to be angled horizontally to provide aerodynamic lift. Once the WALRUS reaches cruising altitude, the TWs could all be aligned horizontally to provide forward motion and aerodynamic lift. The thrust wings would also eliminate the need for the WALRUS to take on ballast (to compensate for static gas lift) when clearing the landing zone, or when "deadheading" back for additional cargo.
Phase I of this ambitious project has been completed, and Phase II, which will cost $50 million, will produce a 30-ton Advanced Technology Demonstrator by 2007, which the U.S. military will use to evaluate. If all goes well, a full-scale Phase III vehicle will then be developed and evaluated for potential production.
Reality Check
Commercially, heavy lift airships like the WALRUS make sense. While not nearly as fast as conventional aircraft, they can deliver cargo significantly faster than is possible by sea, and they are much, much more economical to operate than are either aircraft or ships. This would make airship transportation a viable and attractive alternative to more expensive air transport, or slower sea transport. WALRUS might even prove economically beneficial in transporting routine, non-critical military cargo, which would free up conventional transports for other, more hazardous, combat related duties.
The biggest issue regarding the WALRUS is defense. Airships are extremely vulnerable to anti-aircraft artillery and surface to missile fire. While a balloon might not present much of a radar cross section to an enemy target acquisition radar, a balloon toting a brigade's worth of vehicles most certainly would. By DARPA's own admission, the WALRUS could not be used in areas where the Air force has not already established air dominance and in which all ground based air defenses have been suppressed. In addition, combat is a 24/7, rain sleet or snow affair and the issue remains, how manageable is a 500-1000 ton balloon in extreme weather conditions?
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2005 9:04:18 AM ||
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Clever! And it seems to me (the little civilian housewife, so don't give this too much weight) to reinforce the necessity of an aggressive Air Force A) to fly protection around the balloon and B) to suppress enemy air defences so the balloon can land to deliver its load. That should make the flyboys happy.
#2
imvho this is an ideal technology for testing and applying autonomous swarms of small LTA vehicles. Just give them a GPS and if some don't make it then so what?
#3
"...the new "10-30-30" doctrine..." This is the part that disturbs me most. If you have a known timetable, the enemy emphasis becomes less to defeat you directly, than to defeat your timetable. Because once your timetable is broken, your assumed degradation starts to defeat you itself. So you enemy has gained a useful ally. It also means that they can concentrate on attacking your supply lines, which is far easier than attacking your main body.
#4
I suspect that these airships will be far higher than UAVs can go. However, as an aside, it is interesting that right now there is an explosion in airship design. It is almost achingly unpleasant that there is no firefighting airship yet available to combat the thousands of western wildfires each year. (The design is to park high above a fire, then "rain" on a fire for hours instead of dumping one big load. These ships would be a bargain instead of the terrible annual loss of billions of dollars to such fires.) But other airships, dozens of them, are already proposed for any number of practical uses.
#5
Anonymoose -- fire is part of the natural life cycle of the American West... and much of the rest of the world as well. Controlling the smaller fires that can be controlled leads to the conditions (a majority of smaller trees and underbrush that burn so much more easily than the widely spaced large-diameter trees of a mature forest) in which uncontrollable fires burn across a large part of the western half of the continent. With, as you say, billions of dollars of losses. And, a load in air pollutants that puts paid to any efforts at Kyoto limits. We would be much better off to allow the Forest Service to continue their recent efforts at controlled burns, accepting that occasionally these get out of control due to a century of well-intentioned, fire controlling mismanagement, in an effort to return the forest lands to something more closely resembling their natural state -- in which the expected, annual wildfire season does less overall damage while naturally reducing the undergrowth that would otherwise lead to the massive fires we see today.
I'm sorry if I sound a bit too blithe on the subject -- I, too, grew up with Smokey the Bear. But in the process of managing my daughters' school's little 5 acre nature preserve (in the midst of the suburbs, it must be mentioned), and my own little 1/3 acre pocket of woods, I've come to see the risks to the surrounding neighborhoods of allowing the flammable load even in these small areas to continue to increase unchecked.
#7
TW - on the money - unhindered low growth (shrubs, grass, and weeds) via suppression of all fires is what has led to catastrophic wildfires, as well as preventing natural canopy replacement by choking out natural firs, pines, and other slow-growth plants
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2005 13:02 Comments ||
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trailing wife: first generation efforts were to extinguish all fires; second generation was to allow fires to burn naturally; however, in a third generation of forestry, other factors are starting to be recognized. For example, periods of drought result in an explosion of timber beetles that can kill and severly weaken enormous forests. A rainy season can do much to subdue such a plague, allowing the surviving forest to recover, but if a fire is allowed in, unchecked, to such an area, the entire forest could be lost. And why allow the destruction of an entire forest when only a quarter of its trees are dead? This is just one factor, there are several other that also mitigate how much natural fire is a good thing. And while controlled burns are generally well managed, there are vast numbers of uncontrolled burns that still do need to be subdued. And, all told, I would far prefer that an airship strongly supress wildfires by rain than for countless people to regularly risk their lives to do so.
An Iranian woman can be relied upon to turn out and shout "Death to America!" alongside men, so why not also be a president of the Islamic republic?
That is the challenge being laid down by Rafat Bayat, a regime loyalist who's the only woman seeking to stand in Iran's June 17 presidential election.
"Yes, I do shout 'Death to America!', although I have nothing against Americans," says Bayat.
"As long as the Americans commit satanic acts, they will remain the Great Satan," the calm 48-year-old adds.
"Wasn't Iraq a satanic act? And the creation of al-Qaeda? And September 11, a scenario dreamt up by the Americans as a pretext to come to the Middle East?"
Bayat may be able to blast the United States with the best of the male revolutionaries, but she happened to have spent nearly three years living in Texas during the 1970s and confesses to admiring the "respect" American citizens have for their government - something she says is sorely lacking in Iran.
A former commander of the female wing of the hardline Basij militia, Bayat was among the 11 women elected to parliament in 2004.
According to Iranian law, her political ambitions cannot go any higher than a cabinet post, and she is all but certain to have her presidential bid rejected after candidates begin registering on May 10.
Iran's main political watchdog, the Guardians Council, is sticking by its interpretation of a key word in the Islamic republic's constitution that has long been taken as meaning that only men can be president.
The disputed word, "rejal", which comes from Arabic, could also be interpreted as meaning "personalities" in Persian, and this is the translation used in some English translations of the constitution.
Bayat explains that she followed Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini into exile in France, and asserts that "it would have been favourable for a woman to be president".
"I followed Khomeini's teachings, and it is with his vision that I am a candidate," she asserts, adding: "I am a candidate for the same reason as others: to solve the problems of my country."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/26/2005 12:27:38 AM ||
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Get the steroids and grow a beard then buy a detachable strap on mini-mullah and you might have a chance madame shouter. Islamic theocracies suck for a whole slew of reasons don't they. Run the calculations in your brain and figure it out. Tell the rest of your female friends when the lightbulb goes on in your head.
#8
Is it just me, or do these people seem to know a lot about satanist acts? What's the phrase ... oh yeah ... "Methinks she doest protest too much ..."
Southern Sudanese are demanding freedom for loved ones believed kidnapped as human shields in one of the most widespread abuses of a civil war supposed to have ended under a January peace deal.
Wonder if the slaves will be let go?
Residents of Old Fangak, an isolated Upper Nile State settlement, told reporters the deal between the government and the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army had raised hopes they could be reunited with their relatives. They added that the abductions had mostly been carried out by militia backed by the Islamist government. Khartoum denies involvement in any abductions, and analysts note that the militia groups said to be responsible for most of the disappearances are not party to the peace deal.
Peter Ruai Kulnyang fought back tears as he recalled the kidnapping in 2001 of his wife and baby. "The government soldiers and militia came on a barge, shooting heavily. I tried to grab my wife who was breastfeeding my baby but they got her before me and carried them onto the barge," said the 37-year-old from the Nuer tribe in the central Sudanese village of Old Fangak. "I have not seen them again," he said.
His story resembles those told by thousands of others who lost relatives to kidnappers during the war in the oil-exporting south that is now winding down under a January peace accord. Such accounts carry echoes of the slavery that was part of Sudan's past where Arab slavers seized southern men, women and children in violent raids to be sold into servitude. The government denies slavery still exists in Sudan.
"No, no! They're not slaves, they're human shields! It's entirely different, trust us!"
"The soldiers and militia came on a barge on the river, they were everywhere, then they took people and put them on their barge," said John Nhial, who was also abducted. "They beat me a lot and tortured me, hitting me with the gun, they removed my teeth," he said, showing his gums where his bottom teeth had been knocked out. He later managed to escape. Old Fangak residents want the international community to pressure the government to secure the release of loved ones.
Khartoum denies involvement. Asked about the kidnappings, an army source told Reuters: "The government and its militia forces never attacked or committed abuses against civilians." Under security arrangements set out under the deal, militia groups must join the either SPLA or government forces within 12 months of the signing. Aid groups say militias have yet to join either, and continue to harass and rob villagers.
Father Antonio La Braca, a Catholic missionary who has lived in the region for close to 10 years, told Reuters that the prisoners were mainly used as human shields in military towns to discourage the SPLA from attacking them. They were also used as labor and some were forced to fight, he said.
Several residents said that although their wives and children had been freed, they were unable to return because of militia activity along the river, the main route to the village. "They are scared to come back," said Peter Kulnyang. "They fear that the militia who have set up in Fom (a town along the river) will recapture them."
Several residents say that their relatives are in Malakal, a government-controlled town 80 miles from the village but are either afraid to return or have no resources to do so. "We are appealing to the international community and our government to please consider our plight and help us reunite our families now that there is peace," another resident said.
Posted by: ed ||
04/26/2005 12:18:29 AM ||
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Iraqi politicians sought points of agreement as they bargained behind closed doors Monday in an attempt to establish a government. Rather than focusing on high principles and lofty goals, participants said the subject was numbers.
A Kurdish negotiating team, for example, met with a group of Sunni Arabs who were willing to join the government if they could have nine cabinet posts. Much of the discussion focused on whether this was a reasonable total and how it might be achieved, according to two participants, Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni Arab businessman, and Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurdish politician. Kurds are Sunni Muslims but are not Arabs.
... and I expect to wake up with a full head of hair tomorrow.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said today he expects Hamas to hand in its weapons after Palestinian elections this summer, but he stopped short of threatening to disarm the Islamic militants by force. A Hamas official dismissed the call, saying Abbas should first disarm his own Fatah movement. Abbas has been under pressure from the United States and Israel to rein in armed groups, as called for in the internationally backed "road map" peace plan. While repeatedly calling on militants to halt their attacks on Israel, Abbas has refused to take action against them, preferring instead to negotiate. Hamas has said it will take part in legislative elections set for July 17. It would be the first time the group has sought a place in the Palestinian parliament.
During a news conference at his office in Gaza, Abbas welcomed Hamas' desire to join the political process, but said the group, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis, would be expected to give up its militant activities after the vote. "When a movement or militia is transformed into a political party, I would say that there will then be no need for them to possess weapons," Abbas told reporters. "There will be only one authority, one law, and one legal gun. The issue is very clear, and this has been common practice throughout history." However, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri said the Islamic group would disarm only when Israel ends its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, adding that Abbas was in no position to preach to Hamas since the Palestinian leader has yet to disarm the military wing of his own ruling Fatah party, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. "The resistance is tied to the end of the occupation and not with joining the Palestinian parliament," Abu Zohri said.
The "road map" peace plan calls on the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups like Hamas, while also requiring Israel to freeze settlement construction. Neither side has carried out its obligations and the plan has been stalled since its launch in mid-2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Sunni Muslim politicians dropped their demand today to include former members of Saddam Hussein's party in Iraq's new Cabinet in a bid to get more ministries. The Sunni minority is believed to be the backbone of the insurgency and many blame the impasse in forming a new government for a resurgence in violence.
The Sunni minority is believed on pretty empirical evidence to be the backbone of the insurgency, supplying most of the cannon fodder and some of the leadership.
The development comes as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, joined by other top U.S. officials, is trying to persuade politicians from the Shiite majority and their Kurdish allies to wrap up negotiations to form a new government. As leaders of Iraq's main Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions continued their backroom wheeling and dealing, Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari again put off his long-promised Cabinet announcement.
... again.
The National Dialogue Council, a coalition of 10 Sunni factions, initially requested 16 Cabinet seats. It submitted a list of candidates Sunday that included former members of Hussein's Baath Party, said Jawad al-Maliki, a senior member of al-Jaafari's United Iraqi Alliance. But when that was rejected, they dropped the demand, he told reporters.
Never mind.
Alliance members, who control 148 seats in the 275-member National Assembly, refuse to give any top posts to members of the party that carried out Hussein's brutal suppression of the Shiites and Kurds.
With damned good reason, I'd say.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Just to re-iterate a point made elsewhere, there are ~49 Sunnis seated counting all parties except the Kurds, who are also Sunni. So they are well represented overall; proportional representation would have given them 42 seats.
Posted by: Brian H ||
04/26/2005 2:59 Comments ||
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Iraqi Shias have admitted taking part in brutal attacks on members of their own religious community after being recruited as paid hitmen for the Sunni terrorist leader, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. The confessions to their involvement in murders, kidnappings and car bombings have shocked fellow Shias, who until now have maintained that most of the attacks against them have been carried out by Sunni insurgents intent on starting civil war.
According to statements given to the Iraqi police, gangs of Shia men have admitted taking $1,500 a month - about 10 times the average wage - from Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad movement, the al-Qa'eda offshoot widely held as the most ruthless insurgent group in Iraq. Zarqawi, believed to have been responsible for the beheading of the British hostage, Ken Bigley, last year, makes no secret of his hatred for Shias, whose religious creed is seen as a form of apostasy by followers of his extremist Sunni creed. Over the past year his group has killed hundreds in kidnappings, car bombings and beheadings.
The revelation that Shias themselves had been directly involved in the killings came in a series of dramatic confessions on Terror in the Hands of Justice, a programme broadcast on Iraqi state television in which captured insurgents are quizzed about their crimes. During the broadcast, two cells of Shias admitted being in the pay of Zarqawi. One self-confessed hitman, who identified himself as Ali Mehdi, a taxi driver from the holy Shia city of Kerbala, said he had led a local cell of four Shia insurgents. "One time, we captured a minibus with seven soldiers from the Iraqi National Guard in Kerbala," he said. "We drove them into the woods and interrogated them and then shot them with machine guns and threw them into a nearby river." Mehdi also claimed that his cell took part in mortar attacks on the Black Watch regiment during their temporary posting last November in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad. Asked why he had carried out attacks on his own people, he said he had been attracted by the salary and the chance of becoming an insurgent "emir" - the title given to fighters who can prove they have killed 10 people or more.
Claims made on the programme are sometimes viewed with scepticism because of suspicions that suspects are beaten into making their confessions. In the case of Mr Mehdi and his accomplices, however, a witness to a kidnapping is understood to have identified the men as being responsible. Insurgent violence in Iraq is rising once more, confounding optimism after attacks dropped off after elections in January. Yesterday, 13 Iraqis were killed and 49 injured in bomb and mortar strikes in Baghdad.
Posted by: ed ||
04/26/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2005 8:27 Comments ||
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#4
Question of the hour is what will happen to the 10,000 or so hard boyz currently in Abu Graib etc? What about the foreign bad guyz and the former Baathist thugs with Genocide on their hands? I can hardly stomach the thought of these guys out and about in 5 - 7 years Euro-peon style.
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.
WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia has agreed to increase its daily oil output from 9.5 million barrels to 12.5 million barrels in the next two to three years, US and Saudi officials said on Monday. The announcement came after a meeting between US President George W. Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at Bush's ranch in Crawford Texas, where Bush had been expected to push for higher production to rein in record gas prices in the United States.
Scotland Yard is investigating the London shooting death of a former British army sniper who was prominent in the Northern Ireland campaign. Retired Warrant Officer 
Pegs normally used to keep the village of tents standing at the protest on Martyrs' Square were turned into weapons Sunday night when a fight broke out between supporters of the 
Iranian Ambassador 
It is either a Wild West revival, a return to the days of "shoot first and ask questions later," or a triumph for the "Castle Doctrine" -- the notion that enemies invade personal space at their peril. Such dueling rhetoric marked the debate over a measure that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) could sign as early as Tuesday. The legislation passed so emphatically that National Rifle Association backers plan to take it to statehouses across the nation, including Virginia's, over the next year. The law will let Floridians "meet force with force," erasing the "duty to retreat" when they fear for their lives outside of their homes, in their cars or businesses, or on the street.
Palestinian leader 
Sunni Muslim politicians dropped their demand today to include former members of Saddam Hussein's party in Iraq's new Cabinet in a bid to get more ministries. The Sunni minority is believed to be the backbone of the insurgency and many blame the impasse in forming a new government for a resurgence in violence.
Iraqi Shias have admitted taking part in brutal attacks on members of their own religious community after being recruited as paid hitmen for the Sunni terrorist leader, 
