Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/03/2009 21:46
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#3
The islamo-thugs are trying to intimidate the entire West. Gaza/Israel is just a front-line action. Paris, London and the other European capitals are rearguard actions. And they have the support of the Left.
Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken.
Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the Jabalya refugee camp, was shot in the legs by Hamas militiamen for allegedly expressing joy over the IDF air strikes on Hamas targets.
"Hamas is very nervous, because they feel that their end is nearing," a senior Fatah official said. "They have been waging a brutal campaign against Fatah members in the Gaza Strip."
Meanwhile, sources close to Hamas revealed over the weekend that the movement had "executed" more than 35 Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israel and were being held in various Hamas security installations.
SEATTLE -- A college student dressed in a vintage German military uniform who was fatally shot by police on New Year's Day was a harmless, eccentric history buff, his family and friends said Friday. Harmless and eccentric, eh? Tell us more.
Miles Murphy, a University of Washington senior, was shot several times at his apartment early Thursday after police said he pointed a rifle affixed with a bayonet at officers and refused orders to drop the weapon. Oh, yes - I see your point. Was pointing a gun at the police the "harmless" or the "eccentric" part?
Seattle police had converged on Murphy's apartment after receiving complaints that several men were firing rifle and shotgun rounds into the air. Murphy emerged from inside and pointed what was later identified as a World War II Kar 98 German infantry rifle at the officers, police said.
When he refused several orders to drop the weapon, two officers fired seven shots, police Officer Jeff Kappel said. Murphy was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died.
A witness told some officers at the scene that Murphy had been firing blanks that night. Blanks, eh? Oh, well - that makes it OK then.
Police searching the house found alcohol, live ammunition and a large collection of German, Russian and Nazi memorabilia including photographs and uniforms, Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said. Is this the German historical version of "hold mein beer und watch zis"?
But Murphy "wasn't a Nazi," Hattie Taylor, a friend, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "He was just fascinated with the past... He liked to dress up and have fun." By getting drunk and pointing a firearm at the cops? He seems a might unclear on the concept....
Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske called the situation "truly sad" but stood by the officers' actions. "Right now, I don't see any other choice that they had," he said. The two officers who fired at Murphy were placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
Murphy, 22, was a senior Germanics major, university President Mark Emmert said in a statement Friday mourning his loss. Unfortunately, he sure had the "manic" part down pat.
Murphy wanted to be a German literature professor and had a large collection of WWII memorabilia, said his friend Spencer Bray.
He was "a peaceful and loving young man," his mother, Dianne Murphy, told the local newspaper. I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Murphy - truly I am - but "peaceful and loving" and "points firearm at police and refuses to drop it when ordered to" just does not compute.
What a waste. Idiot. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009
16:30 ||
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#1
It was an innocent prank. It won't happen again.
#2
More from today's Seattle PI: back in 2006 the guy's gun was 'siezed' by the Seattle PD, (reason not stated) but a few months ago the Dad called the cops and got them to give the gun back to junior.
Even more surprising, the majority of reader comments on the story are actually supportive of the police's actions! from Seattlestan no less!
#3
Remembers me of a group of people Who played Killer. For the uninformed, Killer was a game where people mock assasintated one another. That is you enter in another pklayer's desk, pull a banana from your pocket and Bang! Bang! Bang! ypu fried him... provided that the banana had not been crushed.
So a group of people decided it was smart to play Killer with life-like imitations of weapons. And still smarter to play it at night. Guess what happened when a police patrol saw two bozos at night trying to sneak in a house while carrying what looked like M16s. RIP.
Dozens of Hamas fighters were killed by IDF infantrymen. The army issued no official statement confirming the report. Channel 2 reported that the Navy was imposing a blockade on the water near Gaza to prevent Hamas from receiving assistance through Gaza's coastline.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
16:23 ||
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#1
the SS Indigity McKinney is blocked? Oh noes!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 16:26
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"Remember that you must return with both ears, or something of equivalent duality, or it will not count to your bonus."
#3
A different kind of Austrian - Arnold Schwarzenegger:
This past year, we have seen far too much violence throughout the world, from the continued genocide of the people in southern Sudan to the horrible bombings in the city of Mumbai, to this weeks violence between Hamas and Israel.
Every nation has the right to defend itself against terrorism and cold-blooded attacks on its people. Israel is no different and is right to defend itself against the unceasing violence of rocket attacks launched by Hamas.
The goal should be just and lasting peace not only in Gaza but throughout the world, and all sides have the choice and ability to reject violence and work toward that goal.
My thoughts are with all of those who face senseless violence and with all Californians who are affected by conflicts throughout the world.
/HT to IsraellyCool
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 16:57
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#4
Doens of Hamas terrorists (not fighters, terrorist) are no longer producing CO2 and contributing to gloval warming.
Tell this to the nearest leftista dn tell him to be happy.
#5
Don't miss this opportunity to meke a leftist happy: tell him that dozens of terrorists no longer contribute to global warming. Then give him candy.
#12
tw, what does the flag say in English? "Don't tread on me"?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/03/2009 22:20
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#13
Oh the bravery.. so this blockade is different from the one that was already imposed before this entire human disgrace started.. the Assraeli faggots will scurry back home after they've killed enough women and children to satisfy their blood thirst.
#15
Speaking of sacred cow I had some nice kimchi beef tonight while watching the attack on TV and the Internet.
But back to bases.
First not being Jewish it's not my beef but I seem to recall that faggotry is something more associated with "the Arab way".
Second, Israel should be praised for making lots of "GOOD JIHADISTS" tonight because as we in the the US learned after 911 the ONLY GOOD JIHADISTS IS A DEAD ONE.
As to a Human Disgrace ... I think Islam has that pretty well covered for the rest of the human race.
#16
The Israelis may go home, but the Gazans will not have homes to go to... and Egypt will no longer sell them the means to rebuild nor allow them to flee for safety beyond the border. Remember that the Egyptian army has shot at those who tried in the last few days? It seems they are still angry about the last time Gazans broke through the fence, spreading violence and forged money everywhere they went.
Gaza has no friends left, Psion Cow/troll, except a few rioters here and there, who can make no difference.
#17
tw, what does the flag say in English? "Don't tread on me"?
I do believe so, Rambler dear. The grammar feels right, even though I'm not near a dictionary to check the vocabulary. I just wish I could remember whether it was an ayin or an aleph that began the last word. *sigh* if only I were a language prodigy instead of only slightly gifted.
Violence scarred celebrations and led to a bloody New Year across the country as emergency services endured a chaotic end to 2008. Ambulance control centres reported receiving 999 calls as often as once every seven seconds - the second highest volume of calls since the Millennium - as binge drinkers turned nasty in the freezing temperatures. Many of the calls related either to alcohol-fuelled assaults or excessive drunkenness.
Booze contributed to time-wasting calls to 999 operators too, with one man calling to ask if New York was in America, and what time it was there.
Elsewhere, while large numbers were ferried to hospitals, in some areas injuries were treated by paramedics in 'booze buses' to leave ambulances free for more serious emergencies.
Continued on Page 49
#1
in some areas injuries were treated by paramedics in 'booze buses' to leave ambulances free for more serious emergencies.
I kinda liked what they did during Mardi Gras in New Orleans back in the 80s: Cattle trailers as drunk tanks. Court held at sunrise; trailers hosed out and ready for the next batch of drunks.
#1
It's a tough audience. They more than anyone understands that 'oops' means they or their buddies can face an immediate and irrevocable death, unlike millions of wannabee couch potatoes who think that pulling a switch or filling a little box is all there is to a republic. They have been and are the real 'community organizers' in this world for the last eight years [as their grandfathers and great grandfathers were 60 years ago] and deal in reality. They more than others can identify BS in a heartbeat. They understand what real leadership is. Offer them that and you can literally lead them to the edge of the world. However, you have to prove it by your actions and deeds, not talk it.
The US military took a step towards pulling combat troops from Iraqi cities yesterday, moving out of a Baghdad base that Iraqi officials said would be dismantled and converted back into a shopping mall.
It was the first US military base to be handed over to Iraq since US forces came under Iraqi authority on January 1 in step with a new bilateral security pact.
The pact, which replaced a UN mandate, requires Iraqi authorisation for US military operations, gives US forces until mid-2009 to pull combat troops out of Iraq's towns and cities, and until 2011 to withdraw completely.
Brigadier-General Robin Swan, deputy commander of US forces in Baghdad, said the handover of Forward Operating Base Callahan in northern Baghdad was "tremendously significant".
"By June 30th, combat formations are out of the cities. This was a major forward operating base, with 600 soldiers ... three short weeks ago," he said.
US forces set up the base in March 2007 around an abandoned shopping centre, now decayed and riddled with bullet holes, in a bid to repel Shi'ite militias from the largely Sunni Adhamiya district. It has been quiet for months.
Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Pappal, who heads the base, handed a giant key to Hadi Jadoo, a trade ministry official, as Iraqi army snipers watched from the roof.
"After long suffering, we can now develop this area. We are rid of terrorists," said Hadi Hassan, who will manage the mall.
The transfer of the base came two days after US forces handed over control of the Green Zone, a fortified swathe of central Baghdad, to Iraq in a step that reflects the narrowing of US operations and improving security across Iraq.
#1
so does this make the ROE alot more lopsided? do they have too call an iraqi comander and ask for permission too fire now? I f so i think i would just request too be moved too afghanistan
Porcupines are becoming a prickly pest for Telluride-area residents. Residents said the rodents are chomping on the bark of spruce trees, yard trees, and have killed 50-foot-high native trees. The damage is estimated at more than $100,000 in the Mountain Village above Telluride.
Porcupines also favor salty and sweaty items, so plywood treated with a sodium-based substance has become attractive to them. They've also munched on shoes, vehicle tires, and tool handles.
Mountain Village resident Vicki Irwin said she's never seen the porcupines be so aggressive.
Some possible reasons cited for the porcupine's behavior are a harsh winter last year that ramped-up their appetites and the rodents can roam freely because many of the town's 4,100 resident's live elsewhere most of the year.
#3
I've read accounts of porcupines getting into cars in the old days when steering wheels were made of wood and chewing up the entire wheel in a night or two. Salt from the drivers' hands attracted them.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/03/2009 13:55
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#4
Well - Telluride aways has that magic mushroom festival where the Dead Heads go out and pick them and waltz about....
Maybe the porcupines are just mad about them taking all the recreation out of the wilderness?
#13
Porcupines are good survival food. Bonk them on the head with a stick. Burn off their quills over a fire. Then you can zip them open and gut them. Meat does not taste like chicken, however. More like spruce bark up here. We have some wandering about up in the valley. My dawgs learned a harrrrrd lesson this summer about attacking them. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/03/2009 18:38
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#14
Not kosher, but that doesn't matter when survival is at stake. ;-)
#6
I speak a little german so I understand a little, very little Dutch. And it seems most commenters tell that Hamas people are terrorists and sgould go to hell.
Clashes broke out in South Korea when security guards tried to break up a protest by opposition MPs that has paralysed the country's parliament for weeks.
Several people were injured in the scuffle that broke out on Saturday when about 200 guards began forcibly removing MPs holding a sit-in in the parliament building. Television footage showed security guards grabbing some of the MPs by the arms and legs, while others linked arms and chanted slogans in protest.
"I've never seen anything like this, even during the (late president Park Chung-hee's) Yushin dictatorship," said Chung Sei-kyun, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, who led the protest.
Authorities at the National Assembly had earlier asked the party to end its sit-in and remove banners from the building's walls. Scores of Democratic MPs had occupied parliament since mid-December to prevent the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) pushing through a free trade pact with the United States and other controversial bills.
Clashes involving sledgehammers and fire extinguishers broke out on December 18 after the GNP insisted the free trade pact, signed by Seoul and Washington last year but awaiting ratification by both legislatures, be approved quickly. The opposition, which has 83 seats in the 299-member parliament compared with the GNP's 172, says South Korea should not ratify it until the US Congress also moves to do so.
The ruling party sees the pact as necessary to stimulate the slowing economy and argues that approval by Seoul will encourage the US Congress to move faster. But there is strong opposition to the pact including among farmers and other workers who fear it will hit jobs.
Also controversial is a bill to allow large businesses and newspapers to acquire controlling stakes in local broadcasters, which critics would strengthen the right's control on news media. The rival parties are also wrangling over tax cuts for the wealthy, easing regulations on industrial conglomerates' ownership of banks and privatising the state-run Korea Development Bank.
#1
How come the Koreans are still using MPs when the rest of the world has moved on to MP3s? South Korea is supposed to be quite connected Internet-wise.
The "Clashes involving sledgehammers and fire extinguishers" shows a nice sense of style, although the article is unclear if this is combined-arms (infantry & artillery, so to speak) or sledgehammers vs fire extinguishers.
For the first time since the operation in Gaza got underway, IDF artillery cannons started to shell targets in the Strip.
IDF artillery cannons began pounding the eastern sector of the Gaza Strip around 4 pm Saturday. Ynet correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai reported that portable artillery batteries are engaging in a heavy bombardment of the area. This is the first time in three years that the IDF has fired artillery shells at Gaza targets.
Most shells are landing in what the Palestinians characterize as the "security zone" adjacent to the Gaza Strip fence. The IDF is targeting rocket launching sites in Jabaliya, Khan Younis, and Beit Hanoun.
Palestinian witnesses said the barrage caused a large explosion in Gaza City. Later, Palestinian sources reported that at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in a blast in a Beit Lahiya mosque in the northern Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Air Force aircraft continued to drop leaflets in Gaza, calling on residents to leave their homes in order to avoid injury. The leaflets dropped Saturday read: "Area resident, as result of the acts undertaken by terror activists in your area against Israel, the IDF is forced to respond immediately and operate in this area. For your own safety, you are asked to leave the area immediately."
Earlier Saturday, the Air Force attacked a vehicle in Khan Younis carrying Hamas officer Muhammad Maaruf and another group member. The two were reportedly killed in the strike. Saturday morning, a senior Hamas commander was assassinated.
This article starring:
Muhammad Maaruf
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009
11:39 ||
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#1
Artillery heh? Not so much door knockery now maybe.
#4
I just hope they don't go in. Fighting in urban areas against "civilians" is a no win situation.. The only time it works, is if you are prepared to do a Hama and I don't think the Israelis are that blood thirsty.
#5
This is hilarious. Hamas set up a bunch of ground defensive positions to ambush the Israeli ground offensive, not imagining that they would initiate with artillery fires.
I bet this is also making Hezbollah poop its drawers as well, because they had the same idea in Lebanon.
There is nothing like skilled, well coordinated artillery fires to totally mess up you day.
#10
IIRC, 155s should have a range of at least 24 km.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
01/03/2009 13:43
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#11
Well, I certainly hope they make the best of it. They've essentially got 2 weeks before the Obamessiah starts posturing, arm twisting and threatening (behind the scenes diplocatic US military aid pressure). Diehard Democratic pro-Obama Jewish communities here in the US please take note of your November 4th, 2008 decisions.
#13
The IDF claims their goal is to take control of the border areas of Gaza to deny Hamas areas from which to launch rockets, so looks more like an incursion rather than an invasion.
#14
Do enjoy your wait, Observer. No doubt it will be a long one, and at the end you will declare victory entirely unrelated to actual events, just like you did after the second invasion of Lebanon and the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11.
#15
"Can't wait to watch some Ass-raeli talmud tail being kicked in a ground offensive back to their Beersheeba bitches."
heh-heh-heh, ha-ha-ha, ho-ho-ho
aha-aha-aha
yeah, asserver, that's gonna happen.
Better stick to whining about Israel's "disproportionate response".
So far, Israel ain't dropped the ball once and the fact that they're willing to bomb Mosques means that the human shield bullshit ain't gonna work either.
It's popcorn time!
#16
"Diehard Democratic... communities here in the US please take note of your November 4th, 2008 decisions".
Besoeker,
I'm more concerned Obama will be poll driven like his Dem predecessors. Polls suggest more than 2/3rd of Obama's constituency think Israel should still be jabbering rather than resorting to principles of self-defense.
#17
The Israelis had 24 175mm cannon and shells for them in 1974. They have an effective range of about 40km. They can park them in Beersheba and put rounds into Gaza City. I don't know if they have any currently active, though.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 14:44
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#18
The IDF claims their goal is to take control of the border areas of Gaza to deny Hamas areas from which to launch rockets, so looks more like an incursion rather than an invasion.
It's been suggested here before at Rantburg. The IDF should grab some Gaza territory and keep it. Then tell Hamas, and Observer and Ariel Sharon too (love is all you need, guys), that if the rockets don't stop more territory will be grabbed. Tell them they can have some of it back if they remove that part of their charter that calls for the destruction of Israel. Rinse and repeat until there is no more Gaza and no more Hamas left. Any bets on whether Hamas will be firing missiles from the beach before the D9s push them into the Med?
A prayer for the IDF soldiers:
English Translation:
He Who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - may He bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea.
May Hashem cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One, Blessed is He, preserve and rescue our fighting men from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may He send blessing and success in their every endeavor. May He lead our enemies under their sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is Hashem, your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you. Now let us respond: Amen.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 15:08
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#24
Since Gazens are tunnel rats.... Likely tunnels in more places than the Egyptian border, the troops should remember to watch in all directions all the time. Also, flooding tunnels works well... So do skunks and snakes dropped into tunnels.
#25
"Area resident, as result of the acts undertaken by terror activists in your area against Israel, the IDF is forced to respond immediately and operate in this area. For your own safety, you are asked to leave the area immediately."
I like the use of the word, area. The semantic war also needs to be won.
Occupation=all of Israel
Area=all of Gaza (get out while you can)
#26
FWIW I think the Israeli objective is to get Hamas on the move and kill as many operatives as possible, while getting the bulk to 'desert'. Fatah can then stage a counter-coup and do the wet work.
#27
tipper if they never go in this shit will never end it will always be atit for tat. As far as i'm concerned when they put the kiddies in hamas style fatigues and the women want too blow themsleves up among the pigs and apes they are no longer civilians
#33
The Israeli's used the 175mm to great effect in the siege of Beirut. I also believe they have some of the 8" howitzers that fires a 200lb shell. With either, tunnel=grave.
Translation note: Hashem literally means the name, ie the name of God, ie God. Amen, as I recall (Hebrew school was many, many years ago) translates as so be it, or so mote it be.
#36
pleased to comfort, TW. I'm there with our Jewish allies under siege. As a Catholic, it is my duty and privilege.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 21:40
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#37
AU - Let's see if I got this straight from you fags.. (1) Grab more Paleo land (2) build settlements on grabbed land (3) convince downtrodden ruskie juice to move to promised land in said settlements (4) evicted Paleos fire rockets at thieving born-again juice (5) Israel Defense Fags kill women and children (6) Goto Step (1).. does that sound about right?
#41
"Let's see if I got this straight from you fags. people who disagree with me. (1) Grab Kill more Paleo terrorists land (2) build settlements on grabbed land (3) convince downtrodden ruskie juice to move to promised land in said settlements (4) evicted Surviving Paleos fire rockets at thieving born-again juice Israeli kindergartens (5) Israel Defense Paleo Fags kill women and children (6) Goto Step (1).. does that sound about right?"
Pretty much, YM. Though calling even the paleos "fags" is rude (not necessarily incorrect, but rude).
Perhaps you could explain about getting juice from Russia, though. I doubt they can grow oranges (or other sub-tropical and tropical fruits) that far north, and anyway Israel grows its own.
As could the paleos if they weren't too busy murdering Jews.
But thanks for playing, and I'm sure Fred and the mods have some lovely parting gifts for you. Like a kick in the ass - though that would probably give you even more brain damage.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 23:28
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#42
Not quite, Mr. Metnaka. More like:
1. Jews buy land in good faith from Arab landowners.
2. Arabs attempt unsuccessfully to steal the land back; some get killed in the process.
3. Arabs gather five British-trained armies in unsuccessful attempt to drive the Jews out; many get killed in the process, Arabs demand hudna, which foreign press translate incorrectly as cease fire.
4. Repeat several times, each spectacularly unsuccessful, each resulting in the Jews -- now with their own country called Israel -- conquering more Arab land, for which the Arabs paid in many deaths and much destruction in their remaining territory.
5. Prove to Israel and the world that the Palestinians can neither be bought nor bargained with, but that they will continue to murder Israelis so long as the Palestinians live. Prove to the world that the Palestinians are as rabid dogs, unsafe to have in the neighborhood. Then watch as Israel realizes they may not have an ally in the White House for very much longer.
6. I'm sorry, but there will be no repeat for the Gazans. Hopefully those in the West Bank will have learnt the lesson well. Else sooner or later Step 5 will be repeated on their side of the line.
#43
"6. I'm sorry, but there will be no repeat for the Gazans. Hopefully those in the West Bank will have learnt the lesson well. Else sooner or later Step 5 will be repeated on their side of the line.
Shalom."
TW, can I hope in this particular case "shalom" translates as "FOAD"? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 23:36
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#44
But surely, Mr. Metnaka, you can come up with something better than "Trailer Park Wife". Even that sad little Saudi boy waxed eloquent over my armpit hair, although he was a bit confused about the kind of chemistry my father taught at university. But then, the Saudi boy had something remotely resembling a proper education, which gave him a bit of an advantage over you. As for that other other attempt, you really shouldn't display your ignorance like that to those who actually know what you fancy you're talking about.
#45
Barbara dear, you know I would never curse under such circumstances. The recipient must have earnt such language, and poor Mr. Metnaka isn't capable of getting close.
LUCKNOW: An informer-turned-naxalite, who had allegedly planned to blow up a culvert targeting police party on the Republic Day, has been arrested with an IED at Sonebhadra, police said on Saturday. The arrested Ram Vichar Chero was once a police informer who used to provide information about naxalites before he turned an outlaw himself, ADG (law and order) Brij Lal told in Lucknow.
At the time of arrest on Friday, Chero had an IED in his possession. He had specific plans to plant IEDs under two culverts on Kanach-Kanhaura road in Sonebhadra on January 26, to target police party on Republic Day duty.
According to the plan, Chero was supposed to inform police about presence of Naxalites in the area where the IEDs were planted and trigger them on their arrival, the ADG said. The insurgents had, earlier, planned to carry out attack on the night of December 30 and 31, but it was postponed to January 26, the ADG added.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009
10:45 ||
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NEW DELHI: With Sri Lankan troops closing in on LTTE's last bastion Mullaitivu, Congress on Saturday asked the island nation to hand over Tamil Tiger chief Prabhakaran once he is caught so that he faces trial for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"We will be happy if Prabhakaran is caught and handed over to India for the heinous crime he has committed. He should be brought to book for the assassination of our beloved leader Rajiv Gandhi," party's chief spokesman M Veerappa Moily said.
Moily said the Sri Lankan government would do an excellent service to India if it hands over the LTTE chief after catching him. "We want his extradition...The request is pending," he told reporters here.
The Congress leader, however, said the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka and the humanitarian concerns have to be looked into by the neighbouring country.
"LTTE is a terror outfit and a banned organisation...But the ethnic and humanitarian issues will have to be dealt with by the government and the Tamil population cannot be discriminated against...One cannot mix issue of terror with the humanitarian ones," Moily added.
On the statement of MDMK leader Vaiko who had said it was a temporary setback for the LTTE and they will bounce back, Moily said it was the opinion of an individual and not the government of India.
"He (Vaiko) does not reflect the views of the government of India. Only, the MEA would respond to the development. It is a diplomatic issue," the Congress leader said.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009
10:44 ||
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#1
An ultimatum by the Congress Party in India, is like being threatened by Nancy Pelosi. Ignore it and move along.
AS WORLD leaders and international organizations rush to rescue Hamas, Israel faces complex bat tlefield challenges - while fearing a stab in the back from the incoming Obama administration.
Israel's leaders are asking themselves two questions: Is the cost of sending sufficient ground forces into Gaza just too high? And, upon his inauguration on Jan. 20, will President Obama undercut Israel's counterterror offensive before its goals have been reached?
Israel can deal with self-aggrandizing busybodies, such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose irresponsible attempts to force a cease-fire upon Israel benefit only Hamas. (Carla, can't you give that guy something to do?) But Israel would be hard pressed to fight on without American support.
As government leaders and generals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv weigh the question of whether or not to send tanks into Gaza's streets, they hear the clock ticking. A major ground incursion would take time. Would Israel Defense Forces soldiers find themselves fighting on political quicksand?
Despite the frankly anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish reporting of this conflict in the global media, Israel's military performance not only has been technically superb, but has been as humane as possible under such difficult circumstances.
From earlier briefings in Israel, I know the IDF takes an almost absurd degree of care in its targeting. The questioning doesn't stop with "Is that the right building?" it then asks, "What should be our angle of attack to ensure any rubble falls into the street, not atop the primary school next door?" (Hamas consistently embeds terror facilities among innocent civilians.)
Hitting a terrorist hideout in an apartment building, for example, an F-16 would be armed with the smallest warhead that could do the job. If the terrorists are tucked into rooms on the fourth floor, targeting officers evaluate which window the guided missile should go through to kill the terrorists, while minimizing harm to civilians living below.
Any military veteran can tell that the Israelis are taking enormous care to spare civilians. Given the number of airstrikes thus far and the hundreds of tons of bombs dropped, it remains remarkable that so few innocents have been injured in such a dense urban environment.
A gang of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rampaged through the heart of the Jewish community on Wednesday evening, attacking businesses and assaulting a motorist.
Police and the CST have increased patrols and security following the incidents in Golders Green, North-West London, amid concerns of further trouble during Shabbat.
The group of around 15 men had been demonstrating in support of Palestinians in Gaza but then made their way along Golders Green Road, attacking the man as he got into his car. They attempted to gain access to a number of kosher restaurants and Jewish businesses, and
At one point entered Solly's restaurant, but were thrown out by staff and diners. Despite officers arriving in the area quickly, the gang was able to escape on the Tube.
at one point entered Solly's restaurant, but were thrown out by staff and diners. Despite officers arriving in the area quickly, the gang was able to escape on the Tube.
Acting Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Tucker, acting borough commander of Barnet police, said: "We were aware that the activity in Gaza was going to have an impact on antisemitism because of our very large Jewish population in Barnet. We have liaised with the CST in advance to make sure our response is joined up.
"We will not tolerate any incidents of antisemitism and will investigate any allegations robustly. People have a legitimate right to demonstrate but that cannot be a front for antisemitism or any other type of crime."
A CST spokesman said: "The gang-related incident in Golders Green is extremely troubling."
A CST spokesman said: "The gang-related incident in Golders Green is extremely troubling. The idea that events in the Middle East can trigger this kind of rampage is something that the community, police and politicians need to now consider with the utmost urgency. The incidents that have occurred this week are very serious and reflect exactly why we have such a large scale security operation already in place."
He said urgent talks were taking place with police to ensure a visible police presence around synagogues and other Jewish community sites.
Earlier this week, the slogans "Jihad for Israel" and "Jihad the only solution for Palestine" were daubed on buildings.
Earlier this week, the slogans "Jihad for Israel" and "Jihad the only solution for Palestine" were daubed on buildings in Stamford Hill, Golders Green and Manchester, and outside the main entrance of Finchley Synagogue. Abusive messages were also left on the switchboard of the Board of Deputies.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
09:26 ||
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#3
They made their getaway on the tube? Asian hordes, after raiding and pillaging, ride triumphantly off on the train. Doesn't have a catchy ring to it. Why aren't the police going around and collecting up all these neer-do-wells. The Brits have cameras everywhere. Did they run out of film or something?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/03/2009 11:53
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#4
More important is what are the Jews going to do. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if these demonstrators had weapons, there would have been a lot of dead Jews. Fair warning. Next time, the Jews had better be armed.
#7
We may not take this too seriously, because it's Londonistan, but the group of around 300 towel heads in Ft. Lauderdale deliberately headed across a street toward a pro-Israel group of about 50. Police stopped them. Think they wanted to just congratulate the Israeli supporters on how polite they were conducing themselves? We are soon going to have trouble here too. It does flush them out exposing just how many of these dogs have sneaked in here. Troubling. Very troubling.
In its first year, the landmark Arizona law prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants has produced no civil cases against businesses.
One difficulty cited in bringing business-license suspension and revocation cases against employers is prosecutors lack of civil subpoena powers to make suspected violators hand over records and give testimony.
Republican Rep. Russell Pearce of Mesa, who led the effort to create the law, said the only way prosecutors can now get hiring records in employer sanctions investigations is by pursuing criminal cases against workers who use fake IDs or stolen identities to land a job. We know people are still playing games, Pearce said.
In the coming year, Pearce plans to ask the Legislature to revise the law so that prosecutors can have civil subpoena authority, a prospect that critics of the law said would be an unnecessary expansion of prosecutors powers.
The push for civil subpoena power is expected to continue the wrangling that has dogged the law since it was approved. Business and civil rights groups that argued the state couldnt regulate such hirings have thus far failed in their attempts to get the courts to strike down the law.
Faced with criticism that the law was poorly written, the Legislature revised the law to impose criminal penalties for people who use fake identities to get jobs and clarify that the new law didnt apply to people hired before 2008. And voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made business-friendly revisions to the law, such as requiring complaints of illegal hirings to be made in writing rather than permitting anonymous tips.
Although authorities across Arizona said they have examined several dozen employer sanctions complaints, no civil cases have been made against businesses for illegal hirings. But the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office has accused employees of a handful of businesses of using forged documents or stolen identities to get jobs. The law has prompted or contributed to an unknown number of illegal immigrants leaving Arizona for their home countries or other U.S. states.
The biggest difficulty cited in bringing employer sanctions cases is the requirement that prosecutors prove that a business knew it had hired an illegal immigrant; it doesnt suffice to show only that the illegal worker was employed at the business.
Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Phoenix, who is an attorney and voted against the law, said the threshold for getting a civil subpoena is much lower than a criminal subpoena and that granting such new authority could lead to fishing expeditions in which prosecutors could search records without having to show any wrongdoing on the part of the employer.
They have enough power to do their job, Sinema said. If they are not able to do it now, its their issue.
Maricopa Countys top prosecutor, Andrew Thomas, who has made combating illegal immigration a top priority in his office, said the subpoena authority that he wants from the Legislature would be similar to the powers of state agencies that regulate business licenses.
It really doesnt make sense to have a license revocation law which is what the employer sanctions law in Arizona really is without giving us the subpoena authority, Thomas said. He declined to say whether any businesses have refused to hand over records in civil employer sanctions inquiries.
Julie Pace, one of the lawyers representing business groups trying to overturn the law, said prosecutors can already ask judges to sign off on subpoenas.
In representing businesses that have been asked to provide documents in employer sanctions investigations, Pace said she provides authorities the documents they need and that they dont normally come back to say they havent received what they needed.
Thomas said civil subpoena power will allow his office to help build cases against employers.
One of the criticisms that has been made of the enforcement so far is that we have focused too heavily on employees and not on employers, Thomas said. That is not by choice.
#1
It's amazing how hard they will fight to keep a good supply of illegals around. All the while claiming that they are worried about the immigrants.
They are worried about having to pay minimum wage most of the time.
#2
Not only that, bigjim. They would also have to pay employment taxes, pay overtime in some cases, maybe cough up for some benefits, and even obey OSHA laws.
Gee, what a horrible imposition on these hardworking business owners. My heart bleeds.
#4
Other than coyote contractors using "day labor" to drywall houses, most businesses aren't really pro-illegal. Many employers pay the same wages and benefits regardless. Sanctuary states like California certainly don't encourage employers to be overly curious about whether an employee's SSN is valid. Arizona can certainly change their law and give the necessary sopeona power. Employers will certainly comply.
Until then the laws are in place I wouldn't expect an employer to demonstrate initiative with regard to illegal enforcement. Having a couple hundred people picketing you business is not the type of advertising that employers want. Not to mention the line of human rights lawyers that would line up to suck the blood out of the facility.
It would be helpful also if the current generation presented a better range of potential minimum wage employees. The smart ones are headed to college. The tough and hardworking ones are headed into the military. The locals that are left are mostly pieced and tatted loafers. Immigrants and the mentaly handicapped are better workers than the majority of those folks who pick up an application at McDonalds.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 19:27
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#3
How would you like to drive over a bridge designed by an engineer who was easily spirited through a school with no exams that separate people into "Groups of Winners and Losers"?
How about you empower educators to put a little foot to ass and possibly even make the kids do things they might not want to.
I went to a little country high school that didn't even have air conditioning in the late 80's. They had no money or resources to speak of, not even a football team, but I believe I got a fine education that served me well in life and college. It's not always going to boil down to money. Kids and teachers also have to give a rat's ass.
#4
"I would have picked Noam Chomsky for state, Naomi Klein for defense, Bernardine Dohrn for Attorney General, Bill Fletcher for commerce, James Thindwa for labor, Barbara Ransby for human services, Paul Krugman for treasury, and Amy Goodman for press secretary. So what do I know?"
Evidently, not nearly as much as you think do, Bill.
#5
After looking at that motley collection of washed up ideologues and people whose only qualification is that they are consistently collectivist and consistently WRONG, I guess he believes in steering straight for the cliff with the accelerator on the floor; he would have made a wonderful lemming.
Considering most of the other idiots who blog there (Greg Gutfield excepted), how could you tell?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 20:01
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#7
"If we want a foreign policy based on justice, for example, we ought to get busy organizing a robust anti-imperialist peace movement."
Hmmm...Mr. Ayers last attempt at an "anti-imperialist peace movement" ended up with shit gettin blowed up real good. That "Unrepentant" tag seems to fit quite well.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 16:15
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#5
I liked this,
"...At the Al-Haras mosque in Hebron, Mr. al-Qawasmeh fingered his amber prayer beads and noted that "since 1924, when the [Islamic] caliphate was ended, the West has enjoyed the comfort" of the absence of Islam's influence.
"Only in the last few years has Islam posed a threat to the West and others," he said, "and only now have they begun to realize they will have to learn to live with us again."
#6
"and only now have they begun to realize they will have to learn to live with us again."
"live with" does not equal "tolerate without consequences". It means "misbehave and reap the whirlwind"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 19:15
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#7
"only now have they begun to realize they will have to learn to live with us again"
Ummmmm - no, we don't. We have the capability to eliminate the whole damn lot of you.
That we don't indicates our stupidity compassion and decency. But you have it within your power to change that....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 19:56
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#8
"Only in the last few years has Islam posed a threat to the West and others," he said, "and only now have they begun to realize they will have to learn to live with us again."
This part of what the muslim said is right. The question is, when do we stop pretending that if we say dire and threatening things they might stop pressing, and realise that the time for pressing back, hard, is here. In lieu of being tolerant and disdainful in hopes of prompting a more civil response, we need to press back hard, and confrontationally, every time. Imagine the reactions when they get confronted by people who just don't put up with their bullshit anymore. No victiom games, no race/religion game, just confrontation against their never-ending attempts to erode Western civilization and incrementally gain purchase, benefits, exceptions, and all the while subverting us in every way they can. The confrontation needs to start for each of us, in our own way, in our everyday lives. Stopping the call for prayer being broadcast loudly in your local community. Scrutiny of public activities at the mosque and the associated madrassah. Uncompromising resistance to requests for special rooms at the public facilities like airports, schools and hospitals unless equal accommodations are provided for all other religions. Scrutiny of texts and materials in schools.... you get the drift.
These folks don't want to assimilate, they are colonizing, creating little cultural no-go zones, with demands for sharia status to follow...
WAKE UP!
#9
The question is, when do we stop pretending that if we say dire and threatening things they might stop pressing, and realise that the time for pressing back, hard, is here.[?]
#11
These folks don't want to assimilate, they are colonizing, creating little cultural no-go zones, with demands for sharia status to follow...
YUP. This is jihad. And they know we are slow on the uptake. They also know that the average American doesn't really know jack about Islam--which if to their advantage.
Preacher of hate Omar Bakri is boldly going where no imam has gone before ordering followers to convert aliens to Islam. Bakri, acting like a character from sci-fi film Mars Attacks, said Muslims must not only spread the word worldwide but also across the galaxy. He issued the decree during a bizarre rant which has been posted on an extremist website.
Bakri, 50, declared: We are obliged as Muslims to make the whole galaxy subservient to almighty Allah. Allah has created all living beings in order to obey him and worship him.
Last night a security source quipped: Perhaps he could show his people the way it would give everyone a break if he was beamed up.
Syrian-born Bakri, who sparked outrage by praising the 9/11 bombers, spoke from exile in Lebanon. But he is in hiding there after local police accused him of setting up a terror training camp. Bakri is petrified he will be tortured if he is locked up and plans to escape to a safe haven. He said: I must get out. I am talking to people about getting a new name, new passport. I didn't see the "Mars Attacks" image on the menu or I would have used that, but image at the article is even better.
#2
Galactic Admiral Zor'eb: Huhammed you say? Yes we know of him. An earlier expedition briefly abducted him and performed some minor medical procedures. I believe Captains Allah and Jibril were in charge.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009 10:34
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#3
"Delays, delays, always with delays!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2009 10:40
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#4
Ahhhhhh the old standard "Allah...in order to obey him and worship him"
Well, that's just fine then. As soon as he shows up and gives me my orders in person you got it.
But, just remember, I don't do middle men, no matter how many 9 year old girls they rape.
A trail of popcorn on New Year's Day led Sacramento police to a man wanted on a warrant, authorities said.
Tyree Brown, 21, was taken into custody at a Natomas apartment on Thursday for a theft warrant and on suspicion of possession of stolen property, Sgt. Norm Leong said.
Brown may also face a burglary charge at a later date, Leong added.
Police received a report at 4:30 a.m. Thursday regarding a ringing alarm at Food Stop, located at 2101 Natomas Crossing.
Leong said officers found a trail of popcorn from the business that led them all the way to an apartment at 4000 Innovator Drive, which is located behind the store.
Leong said police saw the popcorn trail continue inside of one of the units. Officers conducted a probation search at the residence and located what appeared to be stolen property.
#1
"left his family behind in Ramallah and converted to Christianity"
Anyone want to take a guess to what happens to the family, if a member becomes an apostate?
No matter the past affiliation, its good to know that he is now a fellow brother in Christ. See you in heaven, where there will be NO marriage. Hallelujah!!
A 14-year-old who was trained to kill by radicals in the tribal regions of Pakistan now sits in a crowded classroom at a detention facility in Kabul. His only wish is to see his parents again.
"I miss my parents, my mom and dad," Shakirullah says in soft tones. Like others in tribal regions, he goes by one name. Lucky for you you're still able to miss them.
Shakirullah is already a convicted terrorist for planning to carry out a suicide bombing. He says Muslim radicals lied and tricked him into becoming a would-be bomber. "I have been detained for trying to commit a suicide attack," he says.
He says his recruiters told him it was his mission as a Muslim to kill British and American soldiers because they were killing Muslims. They told him that once he blew himself up he wouldn't die because God would save him for being a true Muslim.
Asked what he now thinks of Americans and Westerners, Shakirullah is calm, but quick in his response. "I don't know. God knows what type of people they are, whether they are good or bad. I don't know them," he says. Hmm. Not a good sign. These guys want to save you, those guys want you to be a tool. That's not exactly a tough one.
He's a teen ...
Shakirullah now passes his hours in a cell block at a juvenile detention facility in Kabul. He is serving at least five years in detention. He is to be transferred to an adult prison in a couple of years, authorities say.
He hasn't heard from his family in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. He tried to send them a letter through the International Committee of the Red Cross but is not sure it reached them. "I don't know what they are thinking. They have no news of me," he says.
On this day, Shakirullah attends a rehabilitation class, easily lost in the crowd of boys with shaved heads. All of the children are convicted for various crimes, including theft, fighting and even murder. Three boys like Shakirullah are here, all guilty of planning to kill themselves and others after being recruited by terrorist groups.
With the increased violence in Afghanistan, international observers say they have seen more and more children being recruited by armed groups and national forces. The Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan with its strict Islamic rule from 1996 to 2001, has regrouped and launched a fierce insurgency. Tricking kids is a fierce insurgency? I'd call it a deplorable, desperate act maybe. This is CNN...
"As you see in many places in the world, children are being used in armed conflict. They've been recruited as child soldiers; they've been recruited as armed groups. And the phenomena is now impacting, again, Afghanistan," says Catherine Mbengue, the UNICEF representative in Afghanistan. How about you go the HRW that, Catherine.
Inside the detention center, Shakirullah walks up to his cell, his sandals sliding across the tile floor. The cell block is empty and has metal bunk beds lined across the wall and a television set, ready for the times they have electricity. Shakirullah shares this space with 10 other boys. He sits in the center of the room with a blanket draped around him.
He barely makes eye contact and looks away as soon as he does. He is shy, but forthright in his words. "I didn't want to do it but he forced me to go," he says of his recruiter.
Rubbing his face with his hand, he says he now spends his time dreaming of his life back home in rural Pakistan. His eyes begin to water and his voice becomes softer when he talks about missing his mother. Asked what he misses most about her, he says simply, "A mother is a mother."
His was a life of farming and tranquility in Pakistan, he says. It was also a life that took a drastic turn when his father decided to send Shakirullah for studies at a madrassa. And your father is a mother, too, dude.
He says his dad wanted him to learn more about Islam and the Quran, something he could not do himself. He says his father didn't know radicals ran the school. Yeah, Right. And my wife is Morgan Fairchild.
In the madrassa, Shakirullah learned to recite the Quran in Arabic, not his native language. He relied solely on the fanatical interpretations the mullahs were giving him. "When I finished reciting the Quran, a mullah then came to me and told me, 'Now that you have finished the Quran, you need to go and commit a suicide attack.' That I should go to Afghanistan to commit a suicide attack," he says. "And then what?"
"We'll talk about that after you get back."
The teenager wasn't given the chance to say goodbye to his parents or siblings when he was driven to the Pakistan-Afghan border and handed over to strangers.
He says he was taken to the southeastern province of Khost, a hotbed for terrorist activity in Afghanistan. Suicide attacks have risen in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban began in late 2001, after the 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Shakirullah says that before the police arrested him, he was learning how to drive a car but that he was not sure how he was supposed to carry out his attack. Here's a clue: Did they teach you how to park the car?
At the juvenile detention facility, Shakirullah and the others are now being taught a different interpretation of Islam. I hope it involves the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. That's Holy with a capital H, not 'holey', you know.
"The teachers educate them on Islam, and explain to them that the acts that they were doing is not right for them and for others," says Mir Fayaz ah-Din, who works and lives with the boys at the facility, mentoring them and helping them in their rehabilitation. "The way you want to kill yourself and someone else -- it in itself is a big offense in Islam." Instead, you should go get yourself a doctorate in mechanical engineering and then steer an airplane into a building.
Shakirullah now says of his recruiters, "They cheated me." Maybe you can shame your madrassah teachers into paying for a degree.
#2
His was a life of farming and tranquility in Pakistan, he says. It was also a life that took a drastic turn when his father decided to send Shakirullah for studies at a madrassa.
He's likely a hopeless case, but I'll bet his family sold him.
#3
Feel sorry for the kid. Ship is probably right. Got sold and the buyers ruined him for life.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/03/2009 12:38
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#4
He describes his indoctination into suicide bombing as a pretty haphazard affair. My kids are getting a better indoctination in public schools. They watch Al Gore's movie in every class every year.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 23:51
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#5
Do they get demerits for laughing at it, SH?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/03/2009 23:54
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OK, it's time to play Bait the Troll again! Nice of the MSM to provide this follow-up article that basically sheds no new light on a very obvious situation! :-)
AirTran Airways apologized Friday to members of a Muslim family for kicking them off a plane and refusing to rebook them despite requests from FBI agents who had cleared them of wrongdoing.
The families of Atif Irfan, a tax attorney, and his brother Kashif Irfan, an anesthesiologist, were removed from a flight in Washington before takeoff Thursday after a passenger reported hearing Atif Irfan's wife say something suspicious.
The FBI interviewed the family and cleared them of wrongdoing.
"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did," AirTran said in a statement Friday afternoon. "But we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount." Sounds more like an explainer than an apology. Unless you're gunning for a lawsuit.
The airline said it had refunded the family's money and offered to fly the family home to Washington free.
One family member, Kashif Irfan, said Friday he was "very appreciative and surprised" by AirTran's apology. "It's a very generous gesture," he said.
The statement was an abrupt about-face for the airline, which three hours earlier had issued a press release with an unapologetic description of the incident. Doesn't sound like any kind of change to me. Just the MSM trying to make news.
In that statement, the airline said it did not re-book the family only because the security concern had not been resolved, and because one member of the group "became irate and made inappropriate comments." Were they there the whole time? I somehow doubt it.
That account differed from accounts from the family and the FBI. The FBI said agents interviewed the family, resolved the security concerns and then tried to help re-schedule the flight with the airline. The FBI ultimately helped the family book a flight on US Airways.
The dispute occurred about 1 p.m. Thursday as Atif Irfan and his brother Kashif Irfan boarded AirTran flight 175 at Reagan National Airport near Washington for a trip to Orlando, Florida. They were accompanied by their wives, a sister and three children.
Federal officials say a passenger on the plane notified a flight attendant about a suspicious conversation, and the flight attendant notified the pilot and Federal air marshals who were aboard. The pilot asked the air marshals to remove the passengers, said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Christopher White.
"The conversation, as we were walking through the plane trying to find our seats, was just about where the safest place in an airplane is," said Inayet Sahin, Kashif Irfan's wife. "We were [discussing whether it was safest to sit near] the wing, or the engine or the back or the front. But that's it. We didn't say anything else that would raise any suspicion." Didn't want to fall off the wrong side of the razor's edge.
The conversation did not contain the words "bomb," "explosion," "terror" or other words that might have aroused suspicion, Atif Irfan said. Didn't need to. The conversation was suspicious enough to someone just casually paying attention.
"When we were talking, when we turned around, I noticed a couple of girls kind of snapped their heads," said Sobia Ijaz, Atif Irfan's wife. "I kind of thought to myself, 'Oh, you know, maybe they're going to say something.' It didn't occur to me that they were going to make it such a big issue." And Hamas wonders what all the fuss is about with the Kassams, too. But hey, we'll save that for later.
Authorities first removed Atif Irfan and Sobia Ijaz, then returned for the rest of the family, including three small children. They also removed a family friend, Abdul Aziz, a Library of Congress attorney who was coincidentally taking the same flight and had been seen talking with the family.
After the FBI interviewed family members, the agency released them, Irfan said.
"The FBI agents actually cleared our names," said Sahin. "They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, 'There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,' and they still refused." Probably wanted to make sure they had adult supervision on any subsequent flights.
In statements Thursday night and Friday morning, AirTran said it "complied with all TSA, law enforcement and Homeland Security directives and had no discretion in the matter."
But TSA spokesman White said it was the pilot's decision to remove the family and the airline and pilot had the ultimate authority to decide whether to allow the family back on AirTran flights.
An FBI spokesman confirmed Friday that agents intervened on behalf of the family with AirTran. When AirTran declined to book the family, agents helped them get tickets with US Airways, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said.
"Our agents went way out of their way to make sure this family went on their trip," Kolko said. Nice, considering how the family went out of their way to ensure that an entire flight got delayed for a couple of hours based on their "innocent" conversation.
After the family and friend were taken for questioning, the remaining 95 passengers, the crew and baggage were removed from the plane and rescreened, AirTran said. "Free rescreenings for everybody! Woohoo!"
Family members said Friday they had not decided whether to accept AirTran's apology, saying there were a variety of opinions. As to whether or not they could possibly get any money out of this, I suppose. Better not cave or I'm going to put me on a barbeque cover and walk down airplane aisles talking about where the best place to sit on an airplane might be.
Meanwhile, an Islamic group -- the Council on Islamic American Relations, or CAIR -- filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees airlines. Note to editor: Remove preceding unnecessary paragraph. Stating the obvious is a waste of ink.
"We believe this disturbing incident would never have occurred had the Muslim passengers removed from the plane not been perceived by other travelers and airline personnel as members of the Islamic faith," CAIR said in its complaint. Gee, I wonder why that is.
#1
When AirTran declined to book the family, agents helped them get tickets with US Airways, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said.
A kinder, gentler, more compassionate bureau. I wonder if they would have extended the same courtesy to you or I? I can just see the USAir Ticket agent now.... My name is Special Agent Smith, this is Special Agent Jones (flashes creds), I need a ticket for this lovely bunch of people. Please wave the 14 day advance booking requirements. Any questions?
#2
I spy a pattern: perfectly innocent Muslims dolled up in traditional garb going to a "religious convention" and making comments/gestures to gin up a response from others on the flight and then cry martyr.
The FBI steps in to pave the way for their Lawfare suit and to play travel agent for the aggrieved victims of Islamofobia.
Is there anyway the airline or beleagured passengers can sue these clowns for the pain and suffering caused by these assclowns?
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/03/2009 15:41
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#1
Summary: leftists agree with leftist views, no matter where they come from. Since marxists and fascists are close philosophical cousins it shines new light on the term Islamo-fascist.
#3
They have appropriated many of the arguments of Marxists, of the anti-colonial and Third World movement, like social justice, transparency and better government and less brutalisation. At one level their arguments are quite appealing, like their argument on anti-globalisation and environment. Some of Al Qaeda's arguments are legitimate.
Only a fool would think these are Al Queda's arguments and not just platitudes to draw support from useful idiots.
#5
While some of their arguments may be legitimate, they blame others for the cause of their own misery. Radical Islam is the problem and the Judeo-Christian value system the true solution. Love of God is reflected in how we treat others. Justice, less brutality, transparency and better government, equality, and the opportunity to improve one's life is the heart of America, and killing Christians and Jews because they will not acknowledge Islam as superior is about as fallacious an argument as it gets. Fighting Al Qaeda must include education, but failure to learn to love ultimately will not be tolerated.
AN Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip killed a senior commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Islamist group said today. A week after Israel launched devastating air strikes against the Palestinian enclave with the declared aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks on its southern towns, an end to hostilities remains elusive despite international diplomatic efforts.
The overnight air strike in Gaza killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior leader of Hamas's armed wing, the Islamist group said. The Israeli army said only that it carried out a series of air attacks throughout the night.
On Thursday, an Israeli air strike killed another Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan. Most of Hamas's top officials have gone into hiding, anticipating assassination attempts by Israel.
#1
poke your pointed lil head up and it gets whacked. Make it a macro, IAF!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 8:46
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#2
The pizza IDF site is working.
Enjoy, ladies and gentlemen! ;)
(And for the usual trolls that will check this thread out later....you could send one to a family in Sderot who is caught in the middle of all this if you were serious about "peace".....just a thought.)
Abu Zakaria Al-Jamal's house was bombed in one of the airstrikes. According to the IDF, his job was to direct the firing of rockets and was in charge of rocket launching cells.
The house of Ismail Ghanem, a member of Hamas' military wing, was bombed in the town of Beit Lahiya. According to the IDF, Ghanem is one of the main people responsible for the firing of Grad rockets at Israel.
The IAF also bombed the house of Izz al-Din Haddad, head of Hamas' military wing in the eastern part of Gaza city, and the car of a Hamas activist who according to the IDF was unloading weapons from his car to a Gaza storehouse. Navy forces attacked Hamas posts, training camps and rocket launching pads.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 9:56
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#5
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting itchy for the ground game in Gaza. Sounds like Hamas is going to try to stand and fight as soldiers. What a glorious destruction that would.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/03/2009 11:47
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#6
Cornsilk - Pizza IDF, perhaps my favorite website for in the weird, cool, only-in-the-internet-era category.
I still laugh when I recall the comment left there by one pizza donor (this must have been sometime during the first Dubya administration): "consider these pizzas a small down payment compensating for the behavior of Colin Powell". Hilarious.
Generally though the comments there are of the nice but strictly serious variety ("the Rothstein family sends its prayers for your safety and thanks for defending us all" blah blah blah).
THE armed wing of Hamas says its fighters have repelled a patrol of Israeli special forces troops trying to cross the border into the Gaza Strip. A spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades told AFP on Saturday that fighters spotted an unspecified number of special forces trying to enter the Shijaiyah border neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City at around 1am on Saturday (1000 AEDT).
He said the fighters fired six mortar rounds at the Israelis, who returned fire with small arms and retreated. He said there were no casualties.
An army spokesman could not immediately comment on the claim.
#1
The self defense argument is patently false. You come into my f*cking living room, and lay your f*cking bed, invite your f*cking unsuspecting ruskie cousins to stay and then when I try to kick you the f*ck out, you cry "self defense". f*ck you all and your f*cked up logic. f*ck you.
#2
They were probably just moving the tanks around to keep the terrorists from sleeping. Big deal. Leave it to their propagandists to turn it into some kind of victory, because that's the only way they're going to get one.
#3
Sounds like you're talking about Israel with that Ruskie cousins' bit but you name yourself Ariel Sharon, what gives?
It becomes unclear whos living room it is when the area was part of the Ottoman empire and they allowed the initial zionists to move in and buy land. IT becomes unclear whos living room it is when the British owned that neighborhood for some time afterwards. IT becomes clear whos living room it is when the UN decided that it belonged to both Israeli and Arabs.
If you want to go back to before the Ottomans the Jews have the older claim to the land. Otherwise the land ownership is clear through a few generations and it is only an Arab living room in the delusional Arab mind that continues to include Andalusia.
When one side pledges to slaughter the other and follows through on those promises in attempt after attempt after attempt than self-defense is indeed the correct term for it.
#4
The real story in all likelihood:
A stray dog, an escapee from an Israeli kennel, wandered across the fence and heroic Hamas freedom-fighters fired 26 RPGs, 12,400 7.62 rounds, and an SA-14 SAM toward it. The frightened dog then retreated back to Israel so quickly that even the BBC and Reuters couldn't get there quickly enough to cover the event. One Hamasnik was killed by a badly aimed RPG and three others shit their pants.
#5
What gives? How is that fat f*ck anyway? it seems y'all here is up on the news and know a little bit of history. So y'all saying Paleos were actually Turks before they became land selling Arabs who then got kicked out of their f*cking living room by the Poles and Ruskies? F*ck me - now I'm f*cking confounded. And the UN, that f*cking fag organization, the same one the same Poles and Ruskies pi*s and sh*t on since, what was that, 1948, while their juice co*k is being su*ked on by their G.I Joe big bro. Fu*k you 16 times, fu*cking F16s.
#7
AC, your story kinda reminds me of translations we had to do in my old (commie) country on a daily basis.
Yes, it is kinda convenient, an old trick I do not have to learn. But the funny part is I escaped from it, and it is almost as if it was only for a short while (I don't mean Ham-ass PR, I mean media in general, Rooters, AP... without their cooperation, the Hamas/Fatah/AQ/MBPACs would be nothing)
#8
JFM, apparently the #1/5 is an asshole, which seems to limit its perspective on things--everything is passed through prism of its experience and function.
#10
Yeah, I'm an asshole, I'm also bloody comatose. I'm at least not a myopic juice d*ck loving evangelical hellulja moron. Oh and how's that 401(k) doing btw? keep flapping your blabber mouth while your greenback gets ass-b*nged from here to 2011, pretty soon you'll be paid in new shiqels for that bl0wjob.
#11
AS I think the subject is "Hamas repells invasion" not whatever you are selling. BTW nobody seems to address the issue that hamass has both mortar and missile capabilities. These are in violation of the (can't count that high) un sponsored "cease fire" agreements. Also they managed to get the material in spite of the "Harsh" Israeli "Blockade" that prevents food, medicine, and ponies to get through to gazaland.
US President George W. Bush on Friday branded the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel an "act of terror" and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.
Bush chose his taped, weekly radio address to speak for the first time about Israel's military assault targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which began last Saturday.
"The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected," Bush said. "Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice - there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#3
They stand proudly with the enemies of civilization.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/03/2009 14:32
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#4
I think many Americans understand that we wouldn't stand for rocket salvos from Mexico or Canada. It is surpising that many people expect Israel to accomodate rocket attacks. That said France does lead by example. I don't know that I would accomodate car-burn-palooza on a repeating basis.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 15:00
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A senior Iranian cleric has urged the Muslim states to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip by sending them weapons to defend themselves.
"The oppressed Palestinian people can stand up to Israel if they receive political and financial support and also weapons," Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said in his Friday prayers sermons. "Over the past week, the Palestinain people in the Gaza Strip have found a large number of supporters, many of who are interested in launching Jihad against Israel," IRNA quoted the former Iranian president as saying.
He noted that Tell Aviv is suffering from delusions of grandeur, adding that Israeli tanks cannot break the resistance of Gaza.
But they could do a nice facsimile of it ...
"Israel thinks it is more powerful than Arab states and other regional countries, while it has no weapon but the weapon of brutality," said the chairman of Iran's Expediency Council.
Citing that Hamas' newly developed home-made rockets are capable of destroying Israeli tanks and hit targets deep in the southern parts of the occupied territories, Rafsanjani said that Israel is covered with fear and enjoys no peace of mind.
He also warned against any Israeli ground incursion into the strip, which he said would be repelled by Palestinian resistance.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
He'll no doubt be happy to know the IDF has anticipated his request and is sending weapons at selected Palestinians. Loud reports suggest they're being received.
Posted by: James ||
01/03/2009 0:33
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#2
But they could do a nice facsimile of it ...
Maybe that's how Rafsanjani plans to send weapons to Gaza -- by fax.
#4
Well .... remember that radioactive ship that was intercepted off the Somali horn?
Iranian, reportedly destined to be a dirty bomb on Israeli shores.
Yeah, by ship, offloaded onto small boats that will run the Israeli blockade, or through Egypt and then tunnels if any are left, or over the border dessert at night.
#5
Here, I'll make it all US Gummit Combined Federal Campain (CFC) easy for youz:
AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS
CFC code: 12475
Join our Muslim-led interfaith coalition condemning terrorism, protecting human rights for all, promoting pluralism, and advancing interfaith understanding in a time of crisis.
www.aicongress.org
What kind of weapon protects you from a JDAM coming through your bedroom window?
multiculturalism combined with PC indoctrination have led to the kinds of spineless leaders that will protect these sacs of fecal material from a JDAM through said window. The KGB began building that shield more than 5 decades ago and even tho the soviet empire fell, the academic fifth columnists in the west have worked continuously to finish that work.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/03/2009 14:30
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#8
20' half ton rockets aren't easily transferred to small fishing boats, lotp.
#9
How about Israel sends a few weapons to Rafsanjani? They have at least two submarines in the Red Sea that can lauch Tomahawk cruise missiles. Tomahawks can, and frequently do, carry nuke warheads. A nice midnight sunrise over Qom would probably do wonders for the combined IQ of Iran.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 15:29
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Israel bombed a mosque and the homes of at least half a dozen Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip on Friday and allowed foreign passport holders to leave the ravaged territory, as speculation rose that a ground assault could be imminent.
A day after an airstrike killed a senior Hamas leader -- the first from the militant group known to have died during the Israeli assault -- Hamas continued to launch rockets into Israel, with several missiles landing in the southern city of Ashkelon. No deaths or serious injuries were reported.
Most of the homes of Hamas operatives targeted Friday were apparently empty, though wire services reported that one man was killed in the strikes. On Thursday, cleric Nizar Rayyan, who served as a liaison between Hamas's political and military wings, was killed, along with several members of his family, when an Israeli bomb obliterated a house in the densely packed Jabalya refugee camp north of Gaza City. By late Thursday, the Palestinian death toll was 412, according to health officials in the strip.
Israel's offensive in Gaza, which began last Saturday, has been carried out exclusively by air and by sea. After a day of heavy rain, the weather improved Thursday, and military analysts said Israeli tanks and other vehicles massed on Gaza's border could more easily enter the territory. "The forces are there, and they're ready for anything," said an Israeli military spokeswoman, Maj. Avital Leibovich.
Israel's exact objectives in Gaza remain unclear. Israeli military officials have said they are determined to substantially reduce Hamas's rocket fire. Analysts expect Israel to seek a truce with Hamas on terms more favorable to the Jewish state than the ones under the six-month deal brokered by Egypt that expired in mid-December.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Thursday floated the idea of using international monitors, or even armed forces, to ensure that any future cease-fire holds. Israel has indicated it would welcome unarmed international observers.
Although Israel rejected a cease-fire proposal this week, there were signs Thursday that it was stepping up its diplomatic efforts. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni traveled to France, where officials have been leading an international campaign to persuade Israel and Hamas to hold their fire.
But there is pressure within Israel for the government to continue its campaign, and perhaps topple Hamas altogether. That would almost certainly require a ground operation, which would be likely to raise the death toll substantially on both sides. "There is no way to take Hamas out without going into Gaza. The problem is the price," said Yaakov Amidror, a retired Israeli major general who headed the military's research and assessment division. "My feeling is that we should do it. All the other players in the region are wondering why we are hesitating if we are so strong."
Already, the air campaign has made this the bloodiest conflict in Gaza since Israel seized the territory in 1967. Precision-guided missile strikes have taken a heavy toll on Hamas's police force and its rocket-launching squads. More than 60 civilians have also been killed, according to United Nations estimates.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The US has given Israel free reign to send troops into the Gaza, insisting that a ceasefire is based on Israeli's demand for Hamas to halt rockets. "Go get 'em, Ehud and Ehud! May the Force be with youse!"
White House deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters on Friday that they are in contact with Israeli officials and the US has asked to Israel to minimize the civilian casualties.
However, Johndroe said that "So I think any steps they are taking, whether it's from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation, those will be decisions made by the Israelis."
"Israel has a right to defend itself from these rocket attacks, and so we'll see," Johndroe said when asked about progress toward a ceasefire.
Also on Friday Amnesty International berated the US government over its "lopsided" support for Israeli attacks on Gaza and urged Washington to suspend weapons deliveries to Israel.
"Amnesty International USA is particularly dismayed at the lopsided response by the US government to the recent violence and its lackadaisical efforts to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," the rights group said in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Since Israel unleashed its air and sea campaign six days ago, at least 65 children are among the 430 Palestinians killed, the overwhelming majority of whom are ordinary civilians and not Hamas combatants or group members and 2,250 others wounded, according to Gaza medics.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
What about Condoleeza, I thought she was against Israel defending itself. Again.
#4
I wonder what they mean by children? Are they under age 10 or high side of 17? Plus why so concerned about he children? Afraid they might run out of willing suicide bombers? BTW I am pretty sure the U.S. killed a large number of chidren in Germany and Japan. It's part of warfare.
#6
CyberSarge, insofar as the sixty-some children represent something other than a propaganda fever-dream, they're probably the pediatric contents of Gaza's morgues from the last six months or so, saved up against the next opportunity to parade dead children for the news cameras.
It must have been very frustrating to not have foreign cameramen to hold their morbid little parades for.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/03/2009 8:25
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#7
Spot on .5 When The One arrives in two short weeks he'll be calling for an immediate end to the fighting, speaking before the UN General Assembly, and offering to send US "Peace Monitors" I'm sure. Got to win back that Muzzie vote.
#8
"Amnesty International USA is particularly dismayed at the lopsided response by the US government to the recent violence and its lackadaisical efforts to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,"
It's AI's job to "ameliorate the humanitarian crisis," not the U.S. Maybe you figured out that volunteering at the Gaza soup kitchen is a bit different from downtown Detroit and now you want to blame the U.S.
A new £4.7m primary school in Sheffield is facing criticism for dropping the word "school" from its title after governors decided the term had "negative connotations". The headteacher of Sheffield's Watercliffe Meadow, Linda Kingdon, said the south Yorkshire school, which is due to open on Monday, will instead be called a "place for learning".
"We decided from an early stage we didn't want to use the word 'school'," she told local newspaper the Sheffield Star. "This is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning. One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school.
"Instead we want this to a be a place for family learning, where anyone can come. We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors. We wanted to de-institutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life."
Local MP Richard Caborn questioned the decision to drop the word school from Watercliffe Meadow's title. "I'm always open to new ideas but the reality is education is about preparing young people to live in the real world," he said. "I just don't think the case has been made to drop the word school to a place of learning. I don't know why they have done it."
Councillor Andrew Sangar, Sheffield city council's cabinet member for children's services and lifelong learning, said: "It's a school, we consider it a school and that's how we refer to it.
"How a school chooses to manage and refer to itself is a matter for the board of governors and the community it serves and we're relaxed about that."
The primary school is to replace Shirecliffe, Busk Meadow and Watermead infant and junior places for learning schools.
Posted by: john frum ||
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#1
If they don't call it a school it sure as H*ll won't be a 'place for learning'.
#9
Ms. Kingdon clearly wanted to be an artist when she grew up, so she's just re-defining her job so that she can be a sculptor of young minds instead.
And so she goes to work, with a hacksaw, hammer and chisel. Just cut out anything which isn't part of your work of art, Linda!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/03/2009 8:33
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#10
If the parents are having a fit at the sound of the word "school", what chance for the kids?
#11
How about calling it something closer to what it probably will devolve into.....like "warehouse for obnoxious gits", or "reformatory preparation centre"?
#13
In a madrassa they actually have to learn things... and get whacked if they don't...
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009 10:39
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#14
They are just going back to the original meaning of school. A school (from Greek σχολή (scholē), originally meaning "leisure", and also "that in which leisure is employed", "school")
Jihad is not terrorism but terrorism can also not in any way be called jihad, a private TV channel reported Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan as saying on Friday. Talking to the channel, the AJK PM said he believed in the right to self-determination for the people of Indian-held Kashmir. He also endorsed the Pak-India joint anti-terrorism mechanism, saying both countries could protect each other's interest by working together.
Wonder if he supports 'self determination' for the people in Pakistani Kashmir - like holding elections and running their own affairs - something they haven't been able to do since 1947
Posted by: Fred ||
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Unidentified gunmen on Friday killed an elder of the Mamoond tribe in Kalan village of Bajaur Agency. Malik Stana Khan, 46, was shot dead when he was on his way to Kalan, a political administration official said. Khan was killed instantly. Authorities cordoned off the area and launched a search operation for arresting the gunmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(AKI) - The Israeli Air Force attacked 20 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early Friday, on the seventh day of Israel's offensive in the coastal territory. The latest attacks occurred as Hamas leaders urged Palestinians to observe a "day of wrath" and pledged revenge for the assassination of senior Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan, killed by an Israeli air strike in his home.
Medical officials in Gaza said more than 400 people have now been killed there and the United Nations said at least 100 of them are civilians.
Among the sites targeted by the Israeli Defense Forces in the latest attacks were the headquarters of the military wing of Hamas, a tunnel used to smuggle weaponry, rocket launchers, and weapons manufacturing and storage facilities. The IDF said it would continue its attacks on Hamas and what it called "terror" groups in Gaza.
Two Palestinians were killed and 12 people were wounded in the latest attacks, hospital officials said.
"The IDF will continue to target the Hamas infrastructure and the infrastructure of other terror organisations in Gaza," the IDF said in a statement on its website. "The IDF will not hesitate to strike those involved both directly and indirectly in attacks against the citizens of the state of Israel."
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Ismayl Radwan said Palestinians would seek every opportunity to avenge the death of Nizar Rayyan. "After the death of Nizar Rayyan before the Palestinian resistance every opportunity will be used to strike the enemy, including suicide attacks to strike Zionist interests wherever they are around the world," Radwan said, in a statement broadcast on Gaza TV station, al-Aqsa.
"They will be sorry for the crimes that they are committing against our people," he said. "I am calling for all Palestinians, and in particular the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas' military wing) to vindicate the death of Rayyan and his family."
He also criticised Arab foreign ministers for failing to take any initiatives at the Arab League meeting held in Cairo in the past few days and called on Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A top Somali government official resigns after his colleague is gunned down, while three others resign citing corruption in the government. Sheikh Hassan Gaab member of the government of interim Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein resigned after he called a press conference in the city of Baidoa following the assassination of his colleague Abdullahi Abdi Egal in broad daylight also in Baidoa. Gaab accused the government's mishandling of the situation where lawmakers are being killed every day by unknown groups, a Press TV correspondent quoting Gaab reported from Mogadishu.
He added that no one is arresting the killers who roam in the streets freely after every incident. The incidents are not being investigated by the Somali government either, "so we die for nothing", our correspondent quoted him as saying. Gaab said that lawmakers, fearing for their lives, are fleeing the city, blaming the Baidoa clan militia for the killings.
In another development, three Baidoa government officials have resigned from their posts accusing senior officials of misusing taxes collected from local people. They said that the Bay regional government has not made any progress since it was established. The previous day, the Bay region's secretary for justice and religious affairs, Sheikh Abukar Sheikh Abdullahi, resigned from his post after raising similar concerns of corruption.
Baidoa is the capital of the Bay region and the seat of Somalia's federal parliament since 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Friday warned Israel against continuing its military operation in Gaza.
A videotape of the Damascus-based leader speaking was aired on Al-Jazeera Friday evening, in which he said to Israeli leaders, "The blood of Gaza is the quickest way to bring about the end of your political lives."
Spouting off from his safe-house in Damascus. "Go and fight to your deaths, brothers, and I shall eat a goat to celebrate your martyrdom."
"To Israeli soldiers I say: A black fate awaits you if you invade Gaza. We're sure of our victory, as we've prepared a better battle, and as Allah is on our side," the tape showed him saying.
With regards to a possible cease-fire with Israel, Mashaal said that Hamas's stance "is clear - we won't give up, and we won't surrender to the enemy. Our demands are clear: Stop the [Israeli aerial] attacks immediately, open all [Gaza] border crossings, and lift the siege." He praised international efforts to bring about such a cease-fire, saying "many have made contact with us, including multiple Arab and Muslim nations. We are willing to cooperate with every effort, but we will not surrender our demands."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Yea, some will die by women & children suicide boomers, and the rest will learn to shoot first and ask questions later.
Israeli warplanes killed three young brothers and demolished a mosque in Gaza on Friday as Hamas vowed to avenge the deadly weeklong offensive against the impoverished enclave. A missile fired by an Israeli jet slammed into a house in southern Gaza, killing three boys, aged from seven to 10. It was one of more than 40 fresh raids carried out in the overcrowded enclave on Friday.
Since Israel unleashed its air and sea campaign, at least 430 Palestinians have been killed, including 65 children, and 2,250 others wounded, according to Gaza medics. The United Nations has estimated that at least one quarter of all Palestinians killed were civilians.
The bombardment has destroyed dozens of houses and raised heightened fears over the enclave where most of the 1.5 million residents depend on foreign aid.
"The protection of civilians, the fabric of life, the future of the peace talks and of the regional peace process has been trapped between the irresponsibility of the Hamas attacks and the excessiveness of the Israeli response," Robert Serry, UN envoy for the Middle East, told reporters in Occupied Jerusalem.
Robert pro'ly never leaves 'occupied' Jerusalem, so he's not had the experience of having mortar shells and missiles launched at him.
Also on Friday, thousands of Hamas supporters attended the funeral of Nizar Rayan - a firebrand terrorist leader who was killed with his four wives and 11 of his children a day earlier.
Hamas representatives vowed to avenge the death of its most senior official to be killed since the assassination of then-party leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004. "I call on the resistance to continue pounding Jewish settlements and cities," said Sheikh Abdel-Rahman al-Jamal. "We will remain on the path of jihad."
"We shall have Dire Revenge!"
A mosque in the northern town of Jabaliya that the Israeli military claimed was a "terror hub" used to stockpile weapons was among the latest targets hit in Israeli raids. Long queues formed outside bakeries and other stores, which only open during the rare hours when electricity is available. The UN emergency food program has begun distributing bread to families caught up in an "appalling" humanitarian situation in Gaza, the agency said Friday.
"The current situation in Gaza is appalling, and many basic food items are no longer available," the World Food Program (WFP) representative in the Occupied Palestinian territories, Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, said in a statement.
The Rome-based agency appealed for $9 million in emergency funds "to meet foreseen additional food needs" as the conflict raged unabated.
We gave at the office ...
"As an emergency response to alleviate the suffering of families living close to areas affected by conflict," the WFP began distributing bread to some 15,000 first-time recipients in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza, Van Nieuwenhuyse said. "This area ... is one of the poorest and most heavily affected by the recent conflict," she added.
Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip have hampered humanitarian efforts targeting 265,000 people, the statement said. "The scarcity of wheat has meant that the majority of mills and bakeries have stopped working in Gaza, and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple food," it added.
Max Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, also weighed in on the crisis. "There is a critical emergency in the Gaza Strip right now ... By any definition this is a humanitarian crisis and more," he said.
"Schools are closed, the population is staying home, Gaza is experiencing a food crisis ... Hospitals and clinics are absolutely overwhelmed," he added. "There probably is an air strike every 20 minutes on average, probably intensifying at night," Gaylard said, adding that rockets fired at Israel by Gaza militants "are indiscriminate and expanding in range."
This article starring:
Abdel-Rahman al-Jamal
Nizar Rayan
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Also on Friday, thousands of Hamas supporters attended the funeral of Nizar Rayan
#4
That's when we know the gloves are really off- here was a chance to virtually exterminate Hamas.
Fuel-air explosives or cluster bombs? Can't decide.
#5
Grunter - napalm. I guarantee that if the IAF starts using napalm on all gatherings of more than 10 people, Hamass will flee so fast they'll leave a contrail.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 14:58
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#6
Maybe they missed the boat, so to speak, and should have let the SS Dignity dock. then sink it at the pier and let all the rats that were aboard it, assist in the hamass mission. including that dumbass former senator.
BNP will play a constructive role as the opposition in parliament if the treasury bench conducts itself properly, the party's Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain said yesterday. "We got trounced."
"What'd we do last time we got trounced?"
"Spent a few years rioting until they got trounced."
"We could do that, I guess."
"Or we could take part in the government."
"Naw. That'd never work."
Posted by: Fred ||
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(AKI) - The Australian government has rejected a US request to resettle inmates from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Australia.
That didn't take long ...
The government said on Friday it was asked by the Bush administration to accept a small number of detainees from the detention facility in Cuba early last year.
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the proposal was rejected, and a second request was put to Australia and other US allies last month. Gillard said Australia had been approached along with Britain to accept inmates to help President-elect Barack Obama fulfil an election promise to close the camp. Gillard said the second request was under consideration but the government was unlikely to agree to it.
About 255 men are still held at Guantanamo, including 60 that the United States has approved for release. They cannot be repatriated for fear that they will be tortured or persecuted in their home countries.
Who's afraid? ...
According to an Australian media report, the US State Department last week asked around 100 countries to help relocate the camp's detainees.
"Australia, along with a number of other friends and allies of the United States, has been approached to consider resettling detainees from Guantanamo Bay," Gillard said in a statement. "This is a request from the Bush administration, and follows President Bush's statement that he would like to see Guantanamo closed. This is not a request from President Elect Obama."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I don't understand what the final step is after these countries recieve these guys. Do they make them do walk-about? Maybe we should make each detainee do an on-line profile so that we could match them to countries on multiple layers of compatability. I'm sure the all belong in Pakistan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 14:53
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Criminals with suspected links to witch doctors murdered an eight-year-old boy in eastern Burundi and made away with two arms and a leg, a rights group and an official said Friday. Albinos have been routinely targeted in the small central African country, where 80 of them have now been gathered in centers under the protection of the authorities.
"Three men armed with machetes attacked a family on Muzenge Hill in the Cankuzo province which included an eight-year-old albino boy," Kassim Kazungu, who heads Burundi's Albinos Association, told AFP.
Kazungu said the latest murder, which occurred on Tuesday, brought to six the number of albinos killed in Burundi since September last year, while a seventh has been missing for months. "This time local residents were fortunately able to capture the three murderers the next day and took the law into their own hands by killing one of them before the police arrived," he said.
Criminals in Burundi are believed to smuggle albino organs and limbs to neighboring Tanzania, where witch doctors use them for lucky charms. In Tanzania, at least 35 albinos, mostly women and children, have been killed in different parts of the country in 2008, according to the Tanzania Albino society.
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#1
I blame Western funded health centers. Years ago Albinos, seen as an evil sign of bad luck and a cursed family, were slain at birth by midwives. (Snark off) Few live beyond age 40. If the Sangoma doesn't get them, cancer does. Very sad situation all around.
Iraq says it is determined to close Camp Ashraf and extradite members of the MKO on the grounds that they have performed acts of terrorism.
In an interview on Friday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Iraqi government is keen on implementing parliamentary measures to expel members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) for the sake of Baghdad-Tehran relations. "Iraq is determined to put an end to this [Mujahedin Khalq] Organization because it is effecting relations between Iran and Iraq. This organization participated in many operations that harmed Iranian and Iraqi civilians," he said. "Remaining in Iraq is not an option for them."
Baghdad announced in a statement on Dec. 22 that MKO members at Camp Ashraf must close their training ground and leave the country no later than six months. Iraq has also drawn up a list of MKO members who must stand trial for the operations they have carried out in the war-torn country. The organization is notorious for the help it extended to former dictator Saddam Hussein in the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
The Iraqi premier asserted that his country would not succumb to US demands that Tehran be isolated over its nuclear activities.
"Washington can never persuade the Iraqi government into isolating the Islamic Republic or any other country in the region for that matter," said the Iraqi premier. "We will continue cooperation with neighboring countries to promote our regional ties in line with our foreign policy and constitutional rights," added al-Maliki.
The Iraqi prime minister is scheduled to visit Iran on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Iranian engagement is safer with American soldiers to back you up.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 15:05
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Weary of years of Gaza rocket fire, Israelis are massively backing their army's blitz on Hamas, despite the threat of more casualties and the soaring Palestinian toll. A week into one of Israel's deadliest offensives in the enclave sandwiched between the Jewish state and Egypt, polls show most Israelis support the war, the press is mostly positive and even avowed peaceniks are nodding in approval.
A poll published on Friday -- the seventh day of the offensive -- showed that some 95 percent of Israel's Jewish population supports the bombardment of Hamas. Eighty percent of the poll of 800 people backed "Operation Cast Lead" "without reservation," according to the survey published in the Maariv daily.
Even the leftist Meretz party, which normally opposes such operations, gave its blessing to the offensive.
The support has not been dented by several hundred rockets that Gaza militants have sent into Israel since the start of the offensive -- or the fact that some of the projectiles have reached deeper than ever inside Israeli territory. It has not been hampered by warnings of high Israeli casualties should the army send in troops after the air and naval strikes, nor by threats by Hamas to resume suicide bombings against Israel for the first time in three years.
It has neither been hurt by the soaring toll on the other side of the Gaza border -- at least 425 Palestinians killed, at least a quarter of them civilians including three young brothers slain on Friday, and more than 2,200 wounded, according to medics and the United Nations.
The main reason behind the widespread support is the years of rocket fire coming from Gaza, observers and Israelis say.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal said in a televised speech from Damascus on Friday that Hamas was ready to resist any Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip and might abduct more soldiers. "If you commit a foolish act by raiding Gaza, who knows, we may have a second or a third or a fourth Shalit," Meshal said, referring to Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Gaza militants more than two years ago. "We are ready for the challenge, this battle was imposed on us and we are confident we will achieve victory because we have made our preparations," he added.
Meshal urged Arabs to step up aid to Gaza and to send medical teams. He said European and Arab countries had contacted Hamas to discuss ending the fighting, but he did not name them.
Earlier, a Palestinian official who declined to be named said talks had begun between Egypt and Hamas to discuss ideas about restoring calm to the strip.
Meshal said Hamas would not submit to Israel's ceasefire demands and Israel would first have to stop its attacks, end the blockade of the strip and open all border crossings. "Our demand is clear, that aggression should end immediately. The siege must be ended and the crossings must all be opened," he said.
Israel's bombing of the coastal enclave entered a seventh day on Friday. At least 426 Palestinians have been killed and 2,000 wounded. Four Israelis have been killed by rockets that have hit towns and villages in southern Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
how about for every soldier kidnaped that would be a city block or 2 that is totally leveled civilians or no civilians
#3
So this yahoo thinks that Israel should submit to everything in return of a promise (broken how many times) of a ceasefire? I hope a couple of those blocks leveled include his.
#4
Bulldoze Gaza into the sea, leaving nothing higher than a marble half-embedded in dirt. Then, and only then, will Israel not have to worry about rockets or terror attacks from Gaza.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 15:24
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i hope mossad knows where this guy is in damascus and sends one for him. just kinda let the Syrians know their air defence ain't worth a shit kinda like a few months ago when the raids in their territory happened
Officials today said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has revoked Gov. Rod Blagojevich's access to classified federal security information.
Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero tonight called the move "pretty standard procedure." He says there are still a number of other state officials with access.
Also today, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan said he is calling lawmakers back to Springfield next week for a possible vote on impeaching Blagojevich.
About the security access, Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson said that the head of the Illinois State Police and Illinois Emergency Management Agency have access to federal security intelligence and could relay it to the governor. Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa confirmed the revocation. But she declined to comment further.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on corruption charges that included allegations he sought to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. The governor denies any wrongdoing.
A House special investigative committee weighing whether to recommend impeachment is scheduled to continue its hearing Tuesday, a day after U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald is to ask a judge whether the panel can hear some of the covert recordings made of Blagojevich.
Today, Madigan issued a letter telling all lawmakers to be back at the Statehouse in Springfield Wednesday. The letter says the House may be called to vote on the panel's report next week. Madigan told his House colleagues they may need to be in session every day through Jan. 13.
The governor named former state Atty. Gen. Roland Burris to the seat this week, adding fuel to critics' calls to impeach him as soon as possible. Burris' appointment is expected to be challenged by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who does not want anyone appointment by the embattled governor to take a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Also Friday, the House panel considering impeachment will invite Burris to testify, said a spokesman for Speaker Michael Madigan. It's unclear, however, when that would take place. Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), the minority spokesman on the impeachment panel, said his staff reached out to Burris aides to ask for him to appear before the committee to explain how his appointment came about.
Durkin said part of the impeachment panel's case deals with federal allegations that the governor sought to auction the U.S. Senate seat that Blagojevich has now given to Burris. "It's extremely important that Mr. Burris appear before our committee and explain to us the nature or the circumstances on which this appointment happened," Durkin said. "He needs to tell the people of the state under oath--and I hope this is the situation--that he had clean hands in this appointment," Durkin said. "He owes us and he owes the people of the state some assurance."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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Oh, I'm beginning to get the picture now...... he can't be the Blgonator because his access to DHS classified material and information has been suspended? I guess he'll just have to call Sandy Berger for all that urgent, Illinois need-to-know stuff.
#5
A classified security clearance with his ties to Rezko and Auchi? I just read Malkin's blog on Cubans and Hezbollah crossing the Mexican border, when border issues have largely been ignored since the election. We truly have a Department of Homeland Insecurity.
Warplanes dropped thousands of fliers over the battered Gaza Strip on Friday, urging Palestinians to report to Israeli authorities the location of Hamas forces, witnesses said.
"Rocket launchers and terrorist elements constitute a risk for you and your families," said the flier, written in Arabic.
The tracts provide a telephone number and an e-mail address for anyone wishing to denounce the "activities of the terrorist elements."
"For your security we ask you to be extremely discreet when contacting us," the text says.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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The capital police have recovered some of the weapons recently stolen from the armoury of the Aabpara Police Station, police said on Friday.
Islamabad SSP Ahmad Latif said the mastermind behind the theft was a police constable - Zahirudden Baber - adding the police had recovered four rifles, three pistols and a vehicle used during the theft.
The SSP said Baber confessed to stealing the weapons during investigation and also informed the police about his accomplices - Bacha Hussain and Abid Rahman.
Babar told reporters an arms dealer, Imran, had suggested he steal the weapons recovered during the 2007 Lal Masjid operation. "I sold the arms for over Rs 300,000 to Imran," Baber said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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The Austrian private bank Medici was placed under state supervision amid greater exposure to the Bernard Madoff scandal than previously disclosed. Medici said last month that two funds -- Herald USA Fund and Herald Luxemburg Fund, with a total volume of USD 2.1b - were exposed to the alleged fraud but did say by how much money was involved.
Austria appointed a supervisor to the bank, financial regulator FMA said, in the first known case where a government has stepped in to run a bank caught in the alleged USD 50b Madoff fraud. The regulator also said Bank Medici's chief executive Peter Scheithauer and board member Werner Tripolt have resigned.
The appointment of a government supervisor means the bank cannot take any major decisions without state consent.
The bank -- founded and largely owned by high-profile banker Sonja Kohn, whom media say has close ties to Madoff -- said it would cooperate fully with the FMA.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Damn Bank Medici?
Your choice of Dagger or Poisoned Chalice with your deposit of 10K or more.
Sri Lankan forces captured the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital Friday, winning a major victory in a decades-long battle to destroy the ethnic separatists and crush their dream of establishing an independent state.
The rebels, who still control 620 square miles of northeastern jungle -- an area about the size of Los Angeles, swiftly sent the message they would fight on. They carried out a suicide attack near air force headquarters in the capital, Colombo, killing three airmen and wounding 37 other people, authorities said.
Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils have long complained they are treated as second-class citizens, with Sinhalese used as the nation's de facto official language and members of the dominant group traditionally favored for government jobs. They have also accused the government of sending Sinhalese settlers into traditionally Tamil regions to overwhelm them demographically.
The fall of Kilinochchi was a devastating blow to the rebels' dream of establishing a state for Tamils in the northeast after decades of marginalization by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.
The rebels had built a massive 10.5 mile-long earth and moat fortification to defend Kilinochchi. Over the past two months, they held off government troops _ with the aid of pounding monsoon rains, in battles that reportedly killed hundreds of fighters.
But Army troops cleared the way into the town Thursday when they captured a key crossroad north of Kilinochchi that allowed them to close in from three directions, the military said.
They said they entered Kilinochchi the following morning with only minimal resistance, an apparent sign the rebels had retreated to their northeastern jungle bases to fight another day, analysts said. The rebel-affiliated TamilNet Web site said the Tamil Tigers had moved their headquarters farther to the northeast before the town fell.
The capture of Kilinochchi was a milestone in a civil war that has killed at least 70,000 people and plagued this Indian Ocean island nation off and on for 25 years. A 2002 cease-fire collapsed in new fighting three years ago, and government forces have pushed deep into the rebels' heartland in the jungles of the north in recent months.
Foreign mediators have called for a political solution to the fighting, saying that warfare will not resolve the underlying tensions between the Tamil minority, which makes up 18 percent of the population, and the Sinhalese majority that accounts for 74 percent of the country.
The Tamil Tigers have been blamed for scores of bombings and suicide attacks and are listed as a terror group by the United States and European Union.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid described the Tigers as "one of the most notorious and brutal terrorist organizations" but called for a peaceful dialogue to resolve the legitimate concerns of Tamils.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has vowed to destroy the group formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, announced the fall of Kilinochchi in a nationally televised speech.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off!
Though BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has described the December 29 election as 'stage-managed', her colleagues put the polls drubbing down to wrong strategies and waning organisational strength.
"Well, that didn't work."
"What'll we do now?"
"We could do the same thing again."
"I think we should do something different."
The party policymakers are now divided over what course of action they should take. While some favour accepting the results and playing a positive role in parliament, the others stay opposed to the idea.
Wrong strategies, waning organizational strength, divided party leaders -- is this the BNP or the Republican party?
Several mid-level leaders allege that a group of former bureaucrats who had misguided Khaleda Zia are now insisting that she take a hard-line stance.
Though most of its MPs-elect are back in the capital, the party was yet to announce officially whether to let them take oath. A number of senior leaders have however hinted that the party would join the ninth parliament.
Analysing possible reasons for the polls debacle, some BNP leaders said the grassroots fell far behind the rivals in the preparatory work due to the leadership's indecision over participation even a couple of weeks before the polls. Talking to The Daily Star, they also said controversial nominations gave a wrong signal to the people, especially when AL in most part left the leaders with dubious past out of its ticket.
Listing the guys who led the massacres against the civilians in the Independence War might have raised a hackle or two ...
The leaders pointed out that intra-party conflict over reforms was another cause of the poor showing in the election. It has weakened the organisational strength to a great extent. Ignoring the pro-reform leaders led to candidate crisis in many constituencies.
"It was a blunder to drop those ['reformists'] who have records of several wins under their belt," said a senior BNP leader who did not want to be identified speaking on the issue.
Khaleda Zia meanwhile has held a series of meetings with pro-BNP intellectuals to set the party's strategy. Almost all of them suggested playing a positive role in parliament, a source close to the chairperson told The Daily Star last night.
Some senior leaders and aides to the former prime minister however are trying to convince her to adopt a very hard line from the outset as they argued the government to come will fail to live up to its promises and start losing public support in months. "We want to see how Awami League fares in fulfilling the electoral pledges it made to the people," Khandaker Delwar told reporters yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces arrested 10 suspected members of al-Qaeda network in northern Baaquba city on Friday, a military source said.
"Army forces started an operation in the area of al-Nada, (10 km) southern Mandili, capturing 10 suspected members of al-Qaeda organization on charges of involvement in acts of violence and planting improvised explosive devices in the area," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The district of Mandili lies 55 km northeast of Baaquba. "The detainees are under investigative custody now," the source said, not giving more details about the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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Someone really needs to inform Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel editor Earl Maucker that newspapers nowadays are in the business of delivering information, not just print. We just saw an excellent example of why print needs to be supplemented by video, especially if the latter is necessary to convey the feeling of the event covered. This was illustrated by the incredibly lame coverage the Sun-Sentinel gave to a very intense pro-Hamas demonstration on Tuesday in downtown Fort Lauderdale. As a resident of this area, such demonstrations seem to be rather disconcerting since this seems to be something that usually happens in other parts of the world, not in this normally peaceable burg. Check out this video made by Tom Trento and judge for yourself if this demonstration warranted this rather laid back Sun-Sentinel coverage as written by Scott Wyman:
Protesters waving Palestinian flags and shouting "Free Palestine" squared off against supporters of Israel outside Fort Lauderdale's courthouse Tuesday evening over four days of warfare in the Gaza Strip.
More than 100 people accused the Israeli military of genocide and demanded an end to its airstrikes. Across Southeast Third Avenue, about two dozen people charged that the Gaza Strip is controlled by terrorists and demanded a stop to rocket attacks that Israel says prompted its actions.
The two sides traded chants as rush-hour traffic passed by and police officers stood watch.
"It's horrible not knowing if your uncle or your grandmother is dead," said Sammy Abu-Hamdeh of Pembroke Pines, who attended the pro-Palestinian rally. Allyn Kanowsky of Coral Springs on the pro-Israel side said, "If the Palestinians laid down their arms, there would be no war. If the Israelis laid down their arms, there would be no Israel."
Israel began its airstrikes Saturday, and reports place the death toll at 374. Israeli leaders say they are targeting Hamas militants who have ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and who they say are responsible for recent rocket fire into southern Israel.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators called on the United States to stop aid to Israel. Ahmad Suid of Naples brought his 8-year-old son and 9- and 10-year-old daughters to the rally holding signs saying "Stop the Genocide" and "I'm not a terrorist."
"This is absolutely inhumane," Suid said. "This is a modern-day holocaust."
Another rally for Israel is planned for Sunday at noon across from the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach. "We have to stand up for Israel and oppose the terrorist attacks that have been going on for way too long," said Rabbi Andrew Jacobs of Plantation.
What? There's some sort of law that says the Sun-Sentinel can't supplement its written reports with video? And where could they get such video? Why by searching YouTube. I'm sure Tom Trento would have granted the Sun-Sentinel permission for the use of the video. In fact, I'm sure Trento's YouTube video has had way more views (almost 53,000 as of this writing) than the Sun-Sentinel's written report which failed to relay any real sense of the insanity generated by the pro-Hamas crowd. And speaking of Tom Trento, he delivered a spot-on commentary about this demonstration at the tail end of his video:
Okay, I could provide a lot of commentary on what you just saw but I'll let the video speak for itself. The evening started off with a handful of Palestinian supporters and then grew and grew and grew for about two hours. Up to two or probably three hundred. And the intensity got more dramatic and more focused as the evening went on. And then the Imam had a call to prayer that you saw. And after that there was a fervor, an excitement, an agitation throughout the crowd. And as you saw, the crowd eventually wanted to go over to the side where the supporters of Israel were and to confront them and they moved that way. But for the police who pushed them back there may have been some problems. In any event this was not Gaza, it was not Paris, it was not London, it was not even Detroit. This was Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We have a lot of work to do in 2009. Take care.
And thank you, Tom Trento, for giving us an idea of what was really happening at that demonstration in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Your video report provided us an insight that was pretty much lacking in the Sun-Sentinel story about the same event. Yet another illustration of why newspapers around the country are in a steep decline.
Remember, Earl, there's this internet thingy that you seem to be ignoring.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Task-force Plantation is getting ready to kick your ass.
#3
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators called on the United States to stop aid to Israel. Ahmad Suid of Naples brought his 8-year-old son and 9- and 10-year-old daughters to the rally holding signs saying "Stop the Genocide" and "I'm not a terrorist."
Fear not! The Obamessiah hears your cries and cannot wait to drop the foregin aid and military assistance hammers. Who was it again Rahm was visiting with over the holidays in.... Africa?
Ethiopia's final troop pullout from Somalia has started and will last several more days, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's spokesman said Friday. "We have already started to implement our withdrawal plan. It will take some more days. It is a process and it will take some time," Bereket Simon told AFP.
Ethiopia invaded neighboring Somalia in 2006 to rescue an embattled transitional administration and oust the Islamic Courts Union, which had taken control of most of the country and started imposing a strict form of Sharia law.
Addis Ababa announced late last year that it would have fully withdrawn from Somalia in the first days of 2009. It had already significantly reduced its troop presence but the exact timetable for the final pullout remains unclear. Ethiopian forces were still operating in Mogadishu Friday. Two soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the capital, prompting retaliatory fire that left seven civilians dead, according to witnesses.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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A Hamas television station said that the IAF on Friday night bombed an airport in the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported. One person was reported dead in the attack, and five wounded. Throughout Friday, IAF planes attacked 35 targets in the Strip, including homes of Hamas terrorists, weapons caches, and smuggling tunnels, according to Israel Radio.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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2 bombs have been set off yesterday by terrorists targetting an Army patrol along the road linking between Tihssain and Naciria in Boumerdès central province. Fortunately, only 1 soldier left wounded.
In the meantime, a hand made bomb has exploded last Wednesday, at Ait Yahia Moussa, targeting an Army convoy. No casualty has been mentioned. According to a local source, the blast occurred midnight. However, inhabitants in a chalet-style housing settlement at Bordj El Bbahri municipality eastern Algiers have been frightened as a rumour circulated about a bag containing a bomb set in the near street. Immediately, security services had surrounded the place and ordered the inhabitants to stay home, while El Khabar could not confirm whether the thing is really about a bomb, as no information has been leaked yet.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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The head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, Khaled Meshaal, has said that Hamas will not bow down to any conditions imposed by Israel to end the war on Gaza. That's actually a lot easier to say from Beirut than it is from Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#3
Meshaal is a p*ssy, hiding in "exile" in Damascus. Every loud knock on the door and he scurries under his daughter's bed, begging "please don't kill me!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 15:12
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#4
The only conditions the IDF are imposing, is 155mm artillery.
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to name Denver public schools superintendent Michael Bennet to fill a Senate vacancy created by the promotion of Sen. Ken Salazar to Interior secretary in the Obama administration, sources said Friday.
One source close to the governor, who is in a position to know and another source in the Democratic Party, said that Bennet is Ritter's choice. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bennet had been mentioned as a possible choice for Obama's education secretary, but Obama chose 44-year-old Arne Duncan, chief executive officer of Chicago public schools for that Cabinet post.
Bennet was considered a dark horse candidate for the Senate spot because of his lack of legislative experience.
The decision was seen as a difficult one for Ritter, a first-term governor, because Democrats want someone who can raise enough money to keep Salazar's seat, which comes up for election in 2010. Salazar had raised more than $2 million for re-election.
Other potential successors mentioned earlier included Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who won favor by hosting a successful Democratic National Convention this year, and Salazar's brother, U.S. Rep. John Salazar.
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette said last month that she'd gotten several calls encouraging her to seek an appointment. Another candidate is Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who took a traditionally Republican seat in suburban Denver in 2006.
Ritter had been known for appointing committees to study difficult issues before taking action.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Seat-warmer for Hickenlooper. Lets Hickenlooper serve out his term.
#2
There weren't any GOOD candidates. Denver has tasted the kool-aid and found it desirable. Let them live with the results. Glad I didn't move back up there when I retired.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 17:04
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Criminal Court in Batna province, eastern Algeria, had sentenced to life two terrorists bearing the initials of C.T, nicknamed Abou Zinad, and M.Z, involved in terrorist cases. The terrorist nicknamed Abou Zinad, joined terror fiefs in the 90's; he was nominated by his terror group, all along two other wanted terrorists, to commit suicide bombings.
In the meantime, the same court sentenced to death the named Fayçal. M. He had been charged with an attempt to kill a self defence guard at Chemra municipality. He has links with the terror group which plotted the assassination attempt against President Bouteflika, during his visit to Batna in Sep.2007.
The court issued a death punishment against a brother of a smuggler of cigarettes. He has been charged with causing the death of a National Gendarmerie Officer who chased cigarette traffickers at Barika, in Batna.
Furthermore, security services have arrested 2 elements charged of providing foods and provisions to terrorists. Their arrest came following information furnished by another element arrested at Kimel municipality, western Batna.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has arrived in Syria to discuss the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. During the two-day visit, Saeed Jalili will hold talks with senior Syrian and Palestinian officials, including the Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, IRNA reported. Jalili will also hold talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and Hamas political leader, Khalid Mashal. Hossein Sheikholeslam, Iran's deputy foreign minister and a group of senior political experts are accompanying Jalili. Tehran has launched a political campaign to stop the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Taliban announced the enforcement of sharia in the Shakai, Sheikhan and Mulakhel areas of Hangu district in the NWFP on Friday. The decision was made in a jirga and announced in mosques during the Friday sermons, and comes days after a similar decree in the bordering Orakzai Agency.
Women have been stopped from visiting bazaars, other than for medical treatment, and that too only if they are accompanied by an elderly male relative. TV, CDs and video centres have been banned.
Sources in the area said the Taliban had been using loudspeakers installed in mosques to ask people to bring their issues to the 'Taliban Islamic courts' to resolve them in accordance with Islamic law. The Taliban also blackened the faces of three men and paraded them on donkeys in the area for alleged immorality, the sources said, but it was not clear when the incident took place.
Last week, Taliban had made a similar announcement of enforcement of sharia on 16 of Orakzai Agency's 21 tribes. They had set up complaint cells in Ghiljo and Kandi Mishti areas of Upper Orakzai and Mamoozai and Feroze Khel areas of Lower Orakzai.
Hangu borders Orakzai Agency in the north and Kurram Agency in the West. It shares its southern border with North Waziristan. NWFP's Kohat and Karak districts lie to the east of Hangu.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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JOHANNESBURG - Seasonal rains could worsen a cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe that has already killed more than 1,600 people, a senior international Red Cross official said on Friday. The outbreak has heightened the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe and the opposition are deadlocked over a power-sharing deal and the veteran leader is resisting Western calls to step down.
The World Health Organisation said this week that cholera had killed 1,608 people of 30,365 reported cases and the infection rate showed no signs of slowing. The disease has spread because of the collapse of health and sanitation systems.
Francoise Le Goff, head of southern African operations of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC), said the cholera risk was growing now Zimbabwe was entering the rainy season. "We are just preparing for the worst," said Le Goff, who had just returned from a trip to Zimbabwe, adding that if the rains continue, the epidemic could last until March or April.
"The worst could be heavy rains causing not only this cholera to spread, but floods," said Le Goff. "It means that the water level will cover the fields, that the crops are destroyed, that people cannot travel or we cannot have access to the area."
The cholera crisis could multiply to 60,000 cases and over 3,000 dead in the next three months, said Le Goff, citing WHO estimates.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2009
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#4
It's more like contamination of public water supplies by sewer equipment that hasn't been maintained in years. Not like they're drinking out of toilets, all the water is bad.
The steel industry, having entered the recession in the best of health, is emerging as a leading indicator of what lies ahead. As steel production goes, and it is now in collapse, so will go the national economy.
That maxim once applied to the Big Three car companies. Now they are losing ground in good times and bad, and steel has replaced autos as the industry to watch for an early sign that a severe recession is beginning to lift.
The industry itself is turning to government for orders that, until the collapse, came from manufacturers and builders.
Its executives are waiting anxiously for details of President-elect Obama's stimulus plan and adding their voices to pleas for a huge public investment program -- up to $1 trillion over two years -- that will lift demand for steel to build highways, bridges, power grids, schools, hospitals, water-treatment plants and rapid transit.
"What we are asking," said Daniel R. DiMicco, chairman and CEO of Nucor, a giant steelmaker with a Seattle plant, "is that our government deal with the worst economic slowdown in our lifetime through a recovery program that has in every provision a 'buy America' clause."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Damn, that's the ticket, STEEL! Cue Night on Bare Mt. then Anvil CHorus.
#2
I don't know about national economy, but tactical disadvantage at least. A modest tariff would solve the problem, I wouldn't want to compete with china and russia based solely on how little I'd work for. The 'free market' concept has put more americans out of work than anything I've ever seen.
#4
The 'free market' concept has put more americans out of work than anything I've ever seen.
Back in the 60s the old school economists stipulated that 5% unemployment was full employment, due to transits between jobs and other aspects which makes zero statistically unattainable. For most of this decade the country has been running at or below 5% to include employing literally millions of illegals. So I don't get this nostalgia over a era of large scale low skill manufacturing in which the unemployment figures were well higher.
#5
Procopius, that nostalgia, nay obsession with restoring economic conditions as they were from 1950 to about 1967 or so is very strong, and of course absurd and destructive. And thanks for pointing out the unemployment thing - I'm old enough to have been taught in econ at college that 5% was "full employment". Yet for years, anything approaching that (from the lower side) was met with hysterical shrieks of panic and whining by the political class, the moronic media, and many citizens.
In my own tiny, insignificant way I used to boycott any US firm that tried to steal my business (trade restrictions) rather than earn it. These days, that approach would leave me with little more than local produce to buy. Disgusting, and somewhat shocking, to see that in all of corporate America, there are only a handful of leaders with any integrity or brains (Wells fargo CEO and one other who resisted the "bailout" money from Treasury, e.g.).
Following the complete self-degradation and cowardice of the political class and half the electorate in 05/06 over Iraq, this doesn't leave much about the good ol USA to be inspired about.
#7
if the auto bailout works its magic, then steel shouldn't need any help; last time i checked a magnet sticks pretty good to most cars. maybe if folks don't ahve to worry about their job, they might just have the confidence to go out and buy a new car. me, i've put that off for 18 months or so...
Israel is poised to launch a major ground offensive into Gaza tonight after allowing hundreds of foreigners living in the devastated territory to evacuate.
After a week of air strikes that have killed at least 420 Palestinians and left scores of buildings in rubble, the Israeli army was set to fling hundreds of troops and tanks into a blitz to stamp out Hamas's military wing, The Times understands.
Despite the looming onslaught, more Hamas rockets -- which have so far killed four Israelis -- were fired into southern Israel today.
The Islamist group vowed that its attacks, which have lasted for years and which finally provoked the massive Israeli campaign, would not stop. "I call on the resistance to continue pounding Jewish settlements and cities," said Sheikh Abdelrahman al-Jamal at the funeral of a hardline Hamas political leader killed, together with his four wives and 11 children, in an Israeli air strike on his home.
"We will remain on the path of jihad until the end of days."
The funeral was held outdoors because an earlier air raid had smashed the mosque where the service was due to take place. Israel said the building had been used to stockpile weapons.
Among the mounting Palestinian death toll today were three young brothers, aged between seven and 10, who were killed in one of the 30 or so strikes carried out by Israeli warplanes across the strip.
All along the border, Israeli tanks and troops have turned fields into makeshift camps from which to launch their offensive into Gaza. The Government has already mobilised more than 6,000 reserve troops and has given the green light to call up almost 3,000 more.
Artillery barrages were also being fired into the strip while aircraft dropped bombs on open ground that the army will need to cross, and where Hamas has placed mines and dug tunnels to allow its guerrillas to outflank the invaders.
Support for Operation Cast Lead is sky high in Israel, with polls showing that almost 85 per cent of the public backing the campaign.
There is also majority support for expanding it into a ground campaign, despite the dangers of high casualties in an urban battlefield against highly trained and motivated guerrillas waging war on their own turf. Almost 42 per cent of Israelis wanted the army to move in, while 39 percent favoured a continued air campaign.
Hamas has an estimated 15,000 fighters who have used the 18 months that they have controlled the strip to hone their skills and transform a militia into a small army. Hamas's military wing has been waiting for a ground offensive to face the Israeli army in open combat, despite Israel's vast military superiority.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
i can't think of too many places bad enough where the ppl would have enough money too move too Gaza. this is in response too the foreigners leaving or is it the big guys of hamas leaving before it starts, if it does
India has carried out a revaluation of its strategic options with Pakistan, and the coming years could witness an all-out strategy of coercion by it, a strategy so effectively applied by Israel in the Middle East. India's biggest advantage in conceptual and technical military cooperation with Israel lies in the fact that its technology is largely indigenous and facilitates material transfer with no end-user problems. Pakistan is already engaged in a war of attrition and the future will be a serious test of its strategy of defiance and ability to ride out the crises as a cohesive nation state.
There are reliable reports from Afghanistan that Indian contractors are busy building billets and accommodation in Kabul and Bagram to station two Indian divisions in the area. At the same time, bids have been invited by the US Corps of Engineers to construct a divisional size cantonment in Kandahar. Hypothetically, troops in the garb of protection for Indian investments will actually seal off Afghanistan's Pakhtun regions from the North. Then the US, NATO and Indian troops will go for an all-out counter insurgency operation in the cordoned off Pakhtun areas. The effects of spill-over into Pakistan would be pronounced and the Durand Line would become a figment of imagination. Premised on the romantic notion of Pakhtun nationalism, the doors to Pakhtunkhwa would be opened. The USA would then select the shortest route to Afghanistan through the Arabian Sea and Balochistan.
India's quest for security and response to perceived external threats is shaped and complicated by its past. India desires to exist as a great power with a capability of bullying its neighbours and turning them into vassal states. Pakistan has been the major impediment towards this India's quest for great-power status. Wary of the freedom struggle in Kashmir, an exaggerated threat of Islamic militants and fear of another Two Nation Theory from within, Indian strategists have been toying with the idea of using a small but lethal rapid-reaction force for a limited duration inside Pakistan. However, India cannot accomplish what it has failed to do in the past six decades, unless the breeze blows in its favour.
In the post-9/11 scenario, India sees an opportunity and is acting as a neo-realist to minimise the importance of Pakistan through high-profile coercion in line with international perceptions. In this India is even ready to forego its traditional mantra of keeping the great powers out of the region and to align with them for short-term gains. In the final analysis, India wishes to frame a politically discredited, ethnically fragmented, economically fragile and morally weak Pakistan. This can only happen if the role of the armed forces in Pakistan's policymaking is reduced, Punjab divided and the rallying call of Kashmir taken care of for good.
The Indian military structure is geared towards such a capability with active assistance from Russia and Israel, and now the USA and UK. Having allied itself closely with Israel, India will now seek a continuous harassment through heightened military coercion, control of river waters, diplomatic isolation and covert interference. Mumbai and any such incidents in future will continue to provide reason for such intimidation, all in concert with the US and western strategic objectives in the region.
Interestingly, much of the blame for having landed in the box and then pushed into a vulnerable position must also be shared by the Pakistani establishments of the past decade. Pakistan's declared nuclear capability was meant to deter all types of conflicts and pave the way for sustained economic growth, international stature, and a political solution of the Kashmir dispute, Through Kargil, Pakistan led India and the world to believe that notwithstanding a nuclear shadow, a limited military conflict in an existing conflict zone was still possible. Kargil, and later 9/11, changed international perceptions on an armed freedom struggle in Kashmir as well as Pakistan's relevance to the new form of threat: non-state actors. Seen in the backdrop of 9/11, it was the second effect that finally resulted in disownership of the freedom fighters in Kashmir by Pakistan while also resigning the Kashmir question to the impossibility of backdoor diplomacy.
The nuclear capability of Pakistan provides a very small window of opportunity to India to carry out a physical offensive action across the LoC or the international border. This action could be a raid in the form of hot pursuit through ground or helicopter-borne troops, precision air strikes with or without stand-off; remote-controlled targeting through a guided-missile attack, and in the worst case, an attempt to seize objectives close to the international border with little military but considerable political significance. India had a fully developed chemical weapons programme even before it signed the chemical weapons convention as a country not possessing chemical weapons. But it declared its arsenal soon after signing the convention and is not averse to using quickly diffusing chemical weapons. After 9/11, India has held war games and fine-tuned these concepts and implemented some in a very limited manner during the escalation on the LoC.
Hot pursuit, as the name suggests, is only possible in an already hot theatre like the LoC. These are launched through ground troops or heliborne forces. Such an option has little probability because of the bilateral ceasefire. But such an option, however remote, cannot be ruled out.
With the active assistance of Israel, some Indian aircrafts have acquired a beyond-visual-range, precision stand-off capability, something witnessed during the Kargil conflict. India may use its air force remaining inside its own territory and launch laser-guided munitions diagonally inside Pakistan. However, the selected targets should be within 20 kilometres of the LoC or the international border.
Precision strikes imply that Indian aircrafts will physically violate Pakistan's airspace and launch precision surgical strikes against selected targets from a very high altitude, or conventional bombing runs, or use heliborne troops. In such a situation, these aircrafts will be vulnerable to Pakistani air defence and the PAF.
In the cold start strategy, India positions forces with offensive capabilities in military garrisons close to the international border, equipped, trained and tasked to capture some nodal points along the international border, before the Pakistani forces can react. India may not succeed in such an operation without a massive air cover. In Indian strategic calculus, the timing and lightening speed of such operations will solicit immense international pressure on Pakistan so as to curtail Pakistan's conventional and nuclear response.
Notwithstanding such options hinging on military and diplomatic brinkmanship, India will benefit from the use of Israeli armed and surveillance drones operated by Israeli crews from inside India. Historical precedents for such cooperation already exist.
The whole body of war fighting reasoning in such limited conflicts warrants a level of rationality and comprehension of a common strategic language between the belligerents. This is technically impossible. Different actors would draw varying conclusions from an animated Graduated Escalation Ladder (GEL) always vulnerable to a Fire Break Point that could result in uncontrolled conventional and nuclear escalation. It is, therefore, most important that the decision to graduate a conflict rest solely with the political leaders of the country, wherein a common strategic parlance could be evolved with more ease.
Taking a leaf from the Israeli opaqueness in its nuclear doctrine, India over time has applied a conceptual innovation in her nuclear strategy. The Indian revision in the nuclear doctrine implies the ambiguity in the "no first use clause" through a declared no first use and pre-emptive retaliation to create a perception that it is making a coercive transaction from doctrine of limited conventional war to an opaque level of conflict in which the nuclear weapons remain in a very high state of alert. The implication is that India may flirt with the concept of a limited strategic coercion in the shadow of a very high non-degradable nuclear alert beyond Pakistan's capability to neutralise. It is also my opinion that, as of now, after having signed the Nuclear Deal with USA, India benefits from an extended US nuclear umbrella, and strategic and diplomatic support.
There are reliable reports from Afghanistan that Indian contractors are busy building billets and accommodation in Kabul and Bagram to station two Indian divisions in the area. At the same time, bids have been invited by the US Corps of Engineers to construct a divisional size cantonment in Kandahar. Hypothetically, troops in the garb of protection for Indian investments will actually seal off Afghanistan's Pakhtun regions from the North. Then the US, NATO and Indian troops will go for an all-out counter insurgency operation in the cordoned off Pakhtun areas. The effects of spill-over into Pakistan would be pronounced and the Durand Line would become a figment of imagination. Premised on the romantic notion of Pakhtun nationalism, the doors to Pakhtunkhwa would be opened. The USA would then select the shortest route to Afghanistan through the Arabian Sea and Balochistan.
Whatever the concept, scope and objective of such limited escalations, India, with its newfound allies, has decided to maintain a constant vigil and coercion of Pakistan over a prolonged period of time but well below a Fire Break Point. The obvious targets, in tandem, with its allies, will be addressed through diverse instruments like control of rivers, economics, diplomacy, international pressure, internal law and order, military intimidation and even insurgency. A trillion-dollar question is: will the USA be ready to occupy Balochistan for a secure supply corridor?
The war has already begun. The question is. When did it begin?
The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistani army
Posted by: john frum ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Will the USA be ready to occupy Balochistan for a secure supply corridor?
#5
But, he is aware that borders are not immutable (no matter what the idiots in the UN claim) and thet Pakiwakiland's borders are definitely artifacts of colonialism and war and have no respect for the different peoples behind the border...
Sort of like Sudan should really be 3 countries (the Christian Animist South, the fake Arab North and Dafur of the West) or Nigeria 2 (Biafra and the Muslim North).
#6
The war has already begun. The question is. When did it begin?
When Pakistan/ISI-tool Taliban took over Afghanistan, and provided shelter to Al Qaeda, thinking that the nuclear bombs you bought from China with Saudi money would protect you. You started this war against civilization, Brigadier Samson Simon Sharaf. You would be wise to surrender now, before it gets ugly. Watch what Israel is doing to the Gaza Strip, my dear brigadier; imagine what Pakistan would look like should India and the United States together act against your country, currently proved to be the spider spinning the web of jihad against the West.
CAIRO - Egyptian riot police used batons to beat opposition protesters who tried to stage a rally in downtown Cairo on Friday against the seven-day-old Israeli offensive on Gaza, witnesses said. Police also briefly detained a Reuters cameraman, confiscated his tape and prevented other cameramen from filming, witnesses said.
Thousands of riot police were deployed in Cairo and other cities ahead of the protests called for by the Brotherhood, the strongest opposition group in the country. The group has historical and ideological ties with Hamas which rules Gaza.
This will not prevent us from declaring our anger and expressing our solidarity with the Palestinian people, Mohamed Habib, the Brotherhood deputy leader, told Reuters. He said Egypt should break off diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.
In other cities thousands of protesters rallied against the raids, which have killed more than 400 people. The Jewish state says the attacks are designed to stop Hamas from firing rockets on towns in southern Israel.
A rally in the costal town of El-Arish in North Sinai turned violent when protesters tried to force their way through a police cordon and move to other areas. The people charged at the police and pelted them with rocks, a Reuters witness said. Police started rounding people up and beating them, he added.
In the city of Ismailia, around 5,000 people demanded tough actions by Arab governments. We demand the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, read one banner.
Security officials put the number of detainees in Cairo after the prayers at around 30. They said most of them were likely to be released later on Friday.
Protesters in countries like Lebanon, Yemen and Iran have accused Egypt of cooperating with Israel by refusing to throw its border crossing with the Palestinian coastal strip wide open. The Egyptian government says opening the crossing fully without the presence of the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza would give legitimacy to the Islamists rule in the strip. Hamas pushed Abbas forces out in June 2007.
Egyptian officials also say an influx of hundreds of thousands of Gazans may pose a security risk because militants could sneak in among them.
And, much worse and more to the point, the hundreds of thousands of Gazooks might decide to stay in Egypt ...
Earlier in the day, Egyptian police detained 20 members of the Brotherhood in pre-dawn raids in four provinces.
The Islamist group has been leading a campaign against the Israeli-led blockade on Gaza, enforced since Hamas won Palestinian general elections in 2006. Analysts say the Egyptian government, which says the Brotherhood is outlawed but which allows it to operate, is wary that the group may attract more popular support by extending help to the Palestinians.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2009
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#1
This will not prevent us from declaring our anger and expressing our solidarity with the Palestinian people,
OK, then I'm sure you'll like being deported to Gazastan to join them.
Pakistani security forces partially reopened a key northwest supply route for Western troops in Afghanistan Friday, three days after shutting it to drive militants from the area, officials said. Security forces backed by helicopter gunships, tanks and heavy artillery on Tuesday launched the operation in the rugged Khyber tribal area near Jamrud, the gateway to the famed Khyber Pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The offensive, prompted by a series of attacks on truck depots in and around the city of Peshawar that saw hundreds of NATO vehicles torched, forced the closure of the highway from Peshawar to the Afghan border town of Torkham.
The highway was reopened only from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. when authorities relaxed the curfew in force in Jamrud, the administrator of the Khyber tribal area, Tariq Hayat, told a news conference.
"The road is clear and more secure now - all type of vehicles are using the road and NATO supplies also resumed," another local administration official, Rahat Gul, told reporters.
The officials said it would again be open only during the curfew break on Saturday.
Hayat said the military operation was ongoing, but predicted that the situation would "return to normal in one or two days."
The bulk of the supplies and equipment required by NATO and US-led forces battling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is shipped to Pakistan's largest port, Karachi, in the south. From there, the containers of food, fuel, vehicles and munitions are taken by truck to depots outside Peshawar before being transported to Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass.
But the fabled road passes through the heart of Pakistan's lawless tribal zone, where militants sought refuge after Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban regime was ousted in a US-led invasion at the end of 2001.
Beyond the looting and torching of NATO trucks, Pakistan's military is also trying to put a stop to a spate of kidnappings for ransom in the border area. "Militant camps and support centers are still being targeted," Hayat said. "The troops will stay in Jamrud until the objectives are achieved."
So far, more than 200 people had so far been detained in the operation, he said.
Authorities displayed a large quantity of arms and ammunition seized since the offensive began, including light machine guns, grenades and thousands of bullets. Hayat said rocket batteries had also been recovered. Food items stolen from NATO supply trucks were retrieved from militant hideouts, as were "provocative" leaflets from Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Fifty kilograms of heroin that were supposed to be smuggled in a car from Iraq to Syria were seized at Rabiea border point, the director general of the point said on Friday. "The heroin was hidden in a BMW car," Brig. Khalaf Hussein al-Juburi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "One-hundred bags of heroin, each weighing 500 grams, were seized inside the vehicle," he said. "The operation took place based on intelligence tip-offs," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Not huge, but still a significant bunch of heroin. I wonder how it got into Iraq in the first place. Via Iran from A'stan?
Or via Iran from P'stan. While a lot of the poppies are now grown in Afghanistan most of the heroin processing is done in Pakistan. While it could be shipped back to Afghanistan, it could also be going direct through Iran and onwards.
Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession. I have yet to hear a politician say "we can't afford that."
The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all Democrats -- said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues.
Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states now have budget deficits totaling some $100 billion as tax revenues plunge.
"It's clear that the federal government needs to step in and jump-start the economy," said Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.
The latest package calls for $350 billion to create jobs by building or repairing roads, bridges and other public works; $250 billion to maintain education; and another $250 billion in "counter-cyclical" spending such as extending unemployment benefits and food stamps, which are typically a responsibility of the states. The remainder would be used to fund middle-class tax cuts, stimulate the embattled housing market, and stem the tide of home foreclosures through a loan-modification program.
Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey said he hoped some of the $700 billion authorized by Congress in the Troubled Asset Relief Program would be available to help the housing market.
The governors said during a conference call with reporters that the plan had been discussed with Congressional leaders and the incoming administration, which had indicated its willingness to help.
"The Obama team has been very receptive in listening to us," said Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin. He said "quite a number" of other governors back the initiative.
The Republican Governors Association, however, said the level of federal aid being sought would create a burden for the future.
"The proposal by the Democratic governors goes beyond things like 'shovel-ready' infrastructure projects and is essentially a bailout of these states' general funds," Nick Ayers, executive director of the Republican Governors Association, said in a statement. "Now is the time to focus on finding cost-effective ways to provide essential services without burdening future generations with ever greater debt."
Doyle of Wisconsin said the plan would allow states to maintain essential services at about the current level until 2010, when the national economy is expected to begin a recovery.
The proposal comes amid expectations that the Obama administration, which takes office on January 20, will provide hundreds of billions of dollars in economic stimulus to boost the shrinking U.S. economy and halt the loss of jobs.
Paterson of New York said his state's budget deficit has surged to $15.4 billion currently from $5 billion in April 2008, despite a 3.2 percent cut in the education budget.
Corzine said the money called for represents about 3 percent to 3.5 percent of the economy, equivalent to the amount that the economy is expected to contract by over the next two quarters.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#5
They've played and now they want others to pay because the bill is due and they know a tax revolt in their small 'stan will happen otherwise. Fine. You get the money and revert to territorial status forfeiting your Senators and Representatives in Congress until you get a statehood act passed both at home and ratified in Congress [and before you raise the point about taxing and representation, just look at D.C., nuff said]. Wonder how many governors would buy into that contract?
#7
Like the auto bailout this money does not create new jobs, it is just to maintain jobs for politically connected unions.
Who pays for it? Monetizing the debt means that the middle class and foreign creditors will absorb the losses. Senior citizens living on fixed incomes will be hit particularly hard.
It should also be noted that maintaining these uneconomic jobs will prolong the recession, not shorten it. The silver lining of a downturn is the cleaning out of deadwood; bailouts maintain the deadwood at the cost of new growth. Winners will be those who have jobs; losers will be those looking for jobs. The next five years will be a poor time to come out of high school or college.
#8
So why is it that in the zillion previous economic down cycles - which only anyone over 30 can really remember, so fantastic has the economy been for so long - state govts. never needed federal bailouts? And, ahemm, did these idiots not put away a dime for a rainy day?
Is anyone going to step up and say no to the leeches (public sector "unions")? Sorry, there are many good public employees, but "unionization" is an indefensible sham in this sector, and is literally bankrupting cities, states, and now potentially (and partly) the country.
#9
Verlaine, I don't know about states asking for bailouts, but I do remember New York City asking the feds for a bailout - in 1975 or so. The headline on the New York Post was "Ford to NYC - drop dead!". Abe Beame, of an unnamed party, was mayor at the time.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/03/2009 13:26
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The French Navy has handed over eight suspected pirates captured in the Gulf of Aden to the authorities of Somalia's breakaway state of Puntland, an official said Friday. "The Puntland regional government received eight pirates from the French Navy, who intercepted them while they were attacking a commercial vessel," Puntland Assistant Minister for Seaports Abdel-Kadir Moussa Yusuf told reporters.
"They will be charged for their crimes according to criminal law. This is the second time the French Navy has transferred captured pirates to Puntland," he said.
The Premier Maitre L'Her, a French frigate patrolling the waters as part of an EU task force, intercepted the pirates Thursday after twice responding to a distress call from the Panamanian-flagged S. Venus.
In October, the French Navy handed over nine suspected pirates to Puntland. Another 12 suspected pirates are being held in France. They were arrested during two separate operations to free the crew of two French yachts in April and September 2008.
Yusuf praised France for combating piracy, which has wreaked panic in world shipping by turning the Gulf of Aden into the world's most dangerous waters, and for handing over suspects. "The French Navy is cooperating and they are the only ones who are sending prisoners to Somalia," he told reporters in Bosasso, Puntland's main port on the Gulf of Aden.
In November, the British Navy handed over eight suspected pirates to the authorities of Kenya and in December signed a memorandum of understanding providing a legal framework for such cooperation.
Somalia is not party to any of the treaties and conventions regulating the world's waters and many of the nations represented in the naval coalitions patrolling pirate-infested zones have been reluctant to send suspects there.
Also on Friday, a Chinese cargo ship evaded two pirate boats chasing it in the Gulf of Aden, state media said, citing officials.
Hong Kong-registered Chipolbrok Sun was pursued by two pirate speedboats in the Gulf's northern region, Zhai Jiugang of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. The captain assembled the crew at the stern to fight off the pirates and contacted the International Maritime Bureau and two warships in nearby waters for assistance, the report said.
The Chipolbrok Sun, owned by the Chinese-Polish Joint Stock Shipping Company, managed to shake off its assailants half an hour after first sighting them, the report said, giving no further details.
China warned Somali pirates last week it was prepared to use force, having dispatched warships to the Gulf of Aden to combat a wave of piracy that has disrupted international shipping.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Puntland Assistant Minister for Seaports Abdel-Kadir Moussa Yusuf told reporters "They will be charged for their crimes according to criminal law.
Anybody know what the law against piracy is in Somalia? Is the penalty a big feast and goat sex party?
#6
Wouldn't it make more sense just to sink all pirate boats on the high seas with all hands on board? I believe that has been permitted by international law for centuries. It would also stop repeat offending.
#2
Joe, Apophys asteroid is what... a mile and half?
It can sure make a nice good firecracker, but moon 'sploding? Does not compute. If it were to hit earth, no big in grand scheme of things, just likely ELE, with some survivors, possibly even enough humans to restart. You would need a nice deep cave on the opposite side of impact, with a food supply for about 30 years, or means to generate electricity so you can grow things. The trick is to know what is the opposite side of impact and that your cave is not prone to cave-ins.
#11
I still blame Farve Once again its FAVRE. While I have a lot of doubts about the totality of man made climate change I also think it is a goood idea to change over our power system to one that is lees poluting. But even a "green" power system will effect the environment.
#12
Global WarmingGlobal Cooling Global Climate Change is at best hubris and at worst a scam that would make Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme look like a bodega heist. George Carlin was right.
#14
Anthropogenic Global warming DOES NOT EXIST until someoen can actually PROVE it.
Its a supposition, and a bad one at that - its coutner to the data.
All AGW is, is a figment of an incomplete climate model. Its no mroe valid a predictor of world climate than World Of Warcraft is a predictor of world economies.
Until you cna post a full set of CONCLUSIVE, clean and unrefuted data and a theory that *proves* AGW, then you're simply WRONG.
The "green" martians will never try to prove it. This unproven, "global warming" is agenda driven. The agenda is to knock down the industrialized nations to the level of non-industrialized. Egalitarianism run amok. But, its OK for people like Al Gore to get rich along the way.
As long as it is agenda driven, the environmental scientists will never try to prove it. For example, now some of the scientists are stating that global cooling is caused by global warming.
Military intelligence reports suggest that a small number of UK nationals are among the range of foreign fighters who regularly clash with British troops in Afghanistan. British military sources have told The Daily Telegraph that they believe that some of those Britons have been killed fighting against their own country's forces.
The revelation comes amid growing concern among British military and intelligence officials about militants based in Pakistan launching attacks on British interests in Afghanistan and at home. Foreign fighters enter Afghanistan from Pakistan's lawless border areas, home to the reconstituted al-Qaeda leadership.
British commanders in Helmand say that they have intelligence suggesting that British Muslims are among the enemies they face, albeit in small numbers. "We're talking about ones and twos at a time," said one officer. "It's not big numbers, but they are there, definitely."
Some of those British Muslims may have been killed in battle with British troops, military sources said. Confirmation is near-impossible, but British troop commanders believe that UK nationals are among the enemy dead.
One officer said: "We can't say for sure. If they don't carry passports, who can you say what nationality a corpse is? But it's a reasonable assumption that we've killed some of them."
Another security source highlighted the case of Rashid Rauf, the Birmingham man wanted by British police in connection with a 2006 plot to bomb transatlantic airliners. Rauf is believed to have been killed inside Pakistan in a CIA missile attack in November. "He's not the only [British Muslim] to die out here," said the source.
In August, Brigadier Ed Butler, the former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, told the Telegraph that there are "British passport holders" in the Taliban ranks. And earlier this year, it was revealed that RAF Nimrod surveillance planes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan had heard militants speaking with Yorkshire and Midlands accents.
The Ministry of Defence says it does not comment or give estimates for the number of enemy dead. But privately, British officers in Afghanistan estimate that several thousand Taliban fighters have been killed since 2006, among them the citizens of several foreign countries.
Foreign fighters entering Afghanistan from Pakistan are a significant component of the eclectic mix of enemy forces UK troops face.
Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the House of Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism, said it was "to be expected" that British Muslims were among the enemy dead in Afghanistan. He said: "The terrorist operations undertaken by British citizens at home and abroad shows the scale of British Muslims' involvement in extremism around the world. "It should not come as a surprise that some of the enemy dead in Afghanistan can be traced back to the UK."
The ease with which al-Qaeda and its associated groups can operate along the Afghan-Pakistan border is causing growing concern in Whitehall.
In December Gordon Brown visited Islamabad and told Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, he must do more to stop militants operating in the border area and launching operations inside Afghanistan. In particular, Mr Brown demanded more Pakistani action against the training camps set up by extremist groups inside Pakistan.
Several known British terrorists have passed through those camps. Mohammed Siddique Khan, the ringleader of the July 7, 2005 bomb attacks in London, trained at a Pakistani camp. He went to the camp with the intention of passing into Afghanistan to fight against British forces there, but was persuaded to return to Britain instead.
International Jihadis are also said to be active inside Pakistan. Earlier this month Major General Tariq Khan, a senior Pakistani officer, said that over 300 foreign fighters are still operating in Pakistan's tribal region that borders Afghanistan.
British commanders and intelligence officers working in Afghanistan have largely abandoned the term "Taliban" in favour of the phrase "enemy forces."
They say the change in language reflects the diverse nature of the forces they face, which include local tribal fighters, Afghan nationalists, drug gangs and hired gunmen paid by the Taliban leadership.
This article starring:
Mohammed Siddique Khan
Rashid Rauf
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
There is no such thing as a British Muslim, only Pakistanis with British passports. Mystery solved.
#2
I think you're wrong on that Excalibur. There've been a few stories surfacing to the effect that converting to Islam is increasingly popular among young British nobility.
World oil prices have dived as traders banked profits from sharp gains made just ahead of the New Year and the news on the Israeli-Gaza conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
One thing that has irritated me to some extent is why an Israeli-Hamas fight would in any way threaten oil supplies. Neither Gaza nor Israel produce oil in any exportable quantity.
It seems to me that you have news media and possibly speculators believing that anyplace in the middle east produces oil and somehow would disrupt supplies.
#2
Corsspatch,
Part of it is that OPEC cutback production in response to the '73 war. That started the long gas lines in the '70s. Another aspect is that wars can and often do spread. Iran is closely tied to Hamas and would like to cause trouble with its Arab neighbors, as it would benefit from higher oil prices. Doesn't mean it's going to happen, but the oil traders are gazing into their smoke filled crystal balls.
#3
It used to be that if Israel was in an open shooting war, there was a threat they'd shut down the Suez Canal, which would affect oil deliveries from the Persian Gulf westwards. With the Gulf of Aden situation, I don't know that this traditional linkage makes any sense. The tankers should already be taking the Cape route.
It sounds like the oil bump was transitory, anyways. The commodity markets are kind of like a dinosaur with its tiny brain in its tail - thinks in very broad cliches, reacts rather slowly.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/03/2009 8:29
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#4
If this is so, then why have gas prices here north of seattle jumped 5-20 cents/gallon (different station reader boards) within the last 2 weeks?
The top hierarchy of al-Qaeda has taken such a hit from US missile strikes that Osama bin Laden and his deputy have had to replace people in the terrorist organisation with men they have never met, according to Western intelligence sources.
A dozen of al-Qaeda's "senior management" have been killed by Predator drone attacks, which have been so effective in locating their targets that the militant group has been forced to move from traditional outdoor training camps to classroom-style facilities that are hidden from view.
After the success of the new weapons, which are unmanned and operate by remote control from 15,000 feet, the United States is to step up its drone attacks. On January 1 Hellfire missiles, operated from an air force base in Nevada, hit targets in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan, close to Afghanistan, and yesterday two missiles slammed into the stronghold where Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taleban leader, is believed to live.
The killings have had a huge impact on the structure, organisation and effectiveness of al-Qaeda, limiting the capacity for commanders to liaise with each other, further separating the top command from the lower ranks and introducing a high degree of uncertainty and a constant awareness of the likelihood of death lurking in the skies.
Bin Laden, al-Qaeda's figurehead leader and Ayman al-Zawahiri, his Egyptian deputy, have had to rely on the loyalty of their associates to stay alive and remain hidden from the American surveillance networks.
Predators, armed with Hellfire missiles and precision-guided penetration bombs, have already succeeded in targeting two individuals believed to have ranked number three in the al-Qaeda chain of command: Hamza Rabia and Abu Laith al-Libi. They have also killed Mohammed Atef, reputedly the chief of military operations, and several of the group's most experienced explosives and biological weapons specialists.
One of the consequences of the Predator attacks has been that al-Qaeda has had to give up its traditional terrorist training camps. Sending recruits out into the open to receive military-style jihadist instruction in combat and bomb-making has become too risky. "As soon as they are spotted, the Americans attack with Predators," a counter-terrorist source said. Now terrorist training in the tribal regions in Pakistan is carried out "in the classroom", less visible from the air and making it more difficult for the Americans to monitor the scale of the recruiting.
Communications between the top echelon and operatives is now restricted to human couriers. Mobile and satellite phones are never used by the core leaders because they know that American signals intelligence will be able to pinpoint individuals as soon as the devices are switched on.
Since the Americans acquired missile-armed Predators and the newer model, called Reaper, the CIA and Pentagon have focused on killing terrorist targets rather than monitoring and tracking the activities of suspected al-Qaeda figures. The killing option has led to an increasingly successful record.
Despite a number of attacks that led to civilian deaths, in more recent Predator missions -- particularly over the past four months -- the intelligence has been more accurate. In one mission in November a Predator strike on a compound in the village of Ali Khel in North Waziristan killed two of the most senior al-Qaeda operatives, Abu Zubair al-Masri, an Egyptian explosives expert, and Rashid Rauf, the British Pakistani who is alleged to have been linked to the Heathrow bomb plot of August 2006. There were claims that Rauf was not in the compound at the time, but counter-terror officials firmly believe that he was there and that he died.
The killing of al-Libi, reputed to be a number three in the al-Qaeda hierarchy, in January last year was one of the biggest blows for bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. He was head of the Libyan fighting group of al-Qaeda and was regarded as an important director. He was also a charismatic, respected religious figure and operational planner who could smooth the way for al-Qaeda in the tribal areas whenever there were confrontations between the terrorist leaders and their Pakistani hosts over the constant threat posed by the American Predators.
Another serious loss to al-Qaeda was that of Abu Abeda al-Masri, the head of external relations who died of natural causes after becoming ill with hepatitis. He was a significant loss in terms of the threat to the UK because his role was to train Britons.
Another key Predator victim was Abu Suleiman al-Jusayi (or al-Jazairi), an Algerian who was an al-Qaeda trainer and explosives specialist. He had been involved in a series of European terrorist networks. He was killed in the Bajaur tribal district of Pakistan in June.
One of the most sought-after American targets was Abu Kabbah al-Masri, al-Qaeda's most experienced biological weapons scientist. He was engaged in the chemical and biological trials that were uncovered in Afghanistan in 2001. He was known to be continuing his experiments in the tribal regions of Pakistan. He was tracked by the Americans and killed by a Hellfire missile in the second half of last year. Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, another poisons expert, is also believed to have been killed by the Americans in a Predator attack.
The only al-Qaeda commander to have been killed by other means in the past 12 months was Abu Ghadiyah, who was in charge of the production line of suicide bombers from Syria into Iraq. He died during a controversial US commando helicopter raid across the border from Iraq in October.
This article starring:
Abu Abeda al-Masri
al-Qaeda
Abu Ghadiyah
al-Qaeda
Abu Kabbah al-Masri
al-Qaeda
Abu Laith al-Libi
al-Qaeda
Abu Suleiman al-Jusayi
al-Qaeda
Abu Zubair al-Masri
al-Qaeda
Hamza Rabia
al-Qaeda
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar
al-Qaeda
Mohammed Atef
al-Qaeda
Rashid Rauf
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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[5 views]
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#1
Hmmm. Tops dogs don't even really know who they're promoting anymore. At some point they might even promote somebody we know....
#2
I was assured by my friends on the Left that the terrorists wanted us to respond with force because it made them stronger. That theory has to be revisted; sometimes killing the bad guys means fewer bad guys. In retrospect, that has to look sort of obvious.
To the modern liberal, all anti-American militants are the Viet Cong, and we are doomed to failure if we engage them militarily. This turns out to be untrue. Hmm.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
01/03/2009 0:58
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#3
Few things are more peaceful than a dead terrorist.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2009 1:22
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#8
already succeeded in targeting two individuals believed to have ranked number three in the al-Qaeda chain of command
Help Wanted:
Number 3
Must be able to learn responsibilities quickly, easily locate executive washroom when given key, efficiently locate and train new team members and groom them for early promotion. The ideal candidate will look on this job as an opportunity to make a big impact on the organization in a very short period of time before moving on to other opportunities. Benefits include heated cave with dramatic views on all sides, and an instant family comprised of silent, properly veiled wives and obedient children. Pay commensurate with experience.
#16
Since the Americans acquired missile-armed Predators and the newer model, called Reaper, the CIA and Pentagon have focused on killing terrorist targets rather than monitoring and tracking the activities of suspected al-Qaeda figures. The killing option has led to an increasingly successful record.
Well ..... doh!! Good to see the "killing option" (how can killing be considered just an "option" in war, esp. a war against murderous nutjobs?) back in vogue in some circles. Perhaps a step away from the "there is no military solution to military problems" lunacy that is shockingly widespread? And I'm referring to senior uniformed types, not idiot pundits or politicians.
All snark aside, that sentence about choosing attacks over surveillance makes little sense, since you can and must do both as part of an operation that leads to kaboom endings against the right mud hut.
#20
A smart strategy for the new numbers 3,4 & 5 would be to roll on 1 and 2. After those two are gone this targeted killing op will be wrestling for funding with the manned Mars landing crew.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/03/2009 15:22
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This was an absolute scandal at the time. Rolando Cruz was a knucklehead and a gangbanger, playing a game to try and snatch the reward money, but he didn't deserve to be railroaded to death row. Several cops lied repeatedly on the witness stand. The DuPage County states attorney, later the Illinois Attorney General, Jim Ryan, won elections when thumping Cruz was good and lost a bid for governor when the scandal broke. People quit their jobs over this. And several people ended up indicted by a special prosecutor for malfeasance, though the DuPage jury that heard the trial wouldn't convict, as noted below.
A wrongly-convicted man sat on death row for 11 years. Men who lied to multiple courts walked free. A man who confessed to the killing is only now going to be tried for it. And the Nicarico family has had a knife thrust in their guts every day these last 25 years.
Burris wanted Cruz dead -- nothing personal, of course, it was just politics -- because as a black Democrat he couldn't afford to look 'soft on crime' to the white suburbanites and downstaters in his run for governor.
Bastid.
Former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris, embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pick to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, is no stranger to controversy.
Public fury over the governor's alleged misconduct has masked the once lively debate over Burris' decision to continue to prosecute, despite the objections of one of his top prosecutors, the wrong man for a high-profile murder case.
While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983.
But by 1992, another man had confessed to the crime, and Burris' own deputy attorney general was pleading with Burris to drop the case, then on appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court.
Burris refused. He was running for governor. "Anybody who understood this case wouldn't have voted for Burris," Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, told ProPublica. Indeed, Burris lost that race, and two other attempts to become governor. Burris' role in the Cruz case was "indefensible and in defiance of common sense and common decency," Warden said. "There was obvious evidence that [Cruz] was innocent."
Deputy attorney general Mary Brigid Kenney agreed and eventually resigned rather than continue to prosecute Cruz. Once Burris assigned Kenney to the case in 1991, she became convinced that Cruz was innocent, a victim of what she believed was prosecutorial misconduct. She sent Burris a memo reporting that the jury convicted Cruz without knowing that Brian Dugan, a repeat sex offender and murderer, had confessed to the crime. Burris never met with Kenney to discuss a new trial for Cruz, Kenney told ProPublica. "This is something the attorney general should have been concerned about," Kenney, now an assistant public guardian in Cook County, said in an interview. "I knew the prosecutor's job was not merely to secure conviction but to ensure justice was done."
Kenney was not alone in her beliefs. Prior to Cruz's 1985 trial, the lead detective in the case resigned in protest over prosecutors' handling of the case, according to news reports at the time.
And rather than argue Burris' case before the state supreme court, Kenney also stepped down. "What I took away was that [Burris] wasn't going to do anything to seem soft on crime," Kenney said. "He didn't have the guts."
In her resignation letter, Kenney claimed Burris had "seen fit to ignore the evidence in this case."
"I cannot sit idly by as this office continues to pursue the unjust prosecution of Rolando Cruz," she wrote. "I realized that I was being asked to help execute an innocent man."
Burris' response at the time: "It is not for me to place my judgment over a jury, regardless of what I think." (We have also left a message for Burris at his office and will post an update if we hear back.)
Burris is exactly wrong: the job of a prosecutor and attorney general is to ensure justice is done. He could and should have said, "this man is innocent, and this is how I know he's innocent", to the public. And he might have won the day by doing what was right instead of what was politically expedient.
State prosecutors carried on with the prosecution, even after DNA evidence in 1995 excluded Cruz as the victim's rapist and linked somebody else, sex offender Brian Dugan, to the crime.
Eventually, prosecutors' case hit a wall. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed Cruz's conviction and granted him a third trial. (The court declared that the trial judge in the case had improperly excluded Dugan's confession and thus compromised Cruz's defense.) In the new trial, Cruz was acquitted. The judge in that case concluded, "I'd hope and pray the person or persons -- whoever is culpable -- is brought to justice."
In late 1995, Cruz finally walked free after serving 11 years on death row for a crime he did not commit.
A grand jury later indicted four sheriff's deputies and three former county prosecutors for their roles in the Cruz case. They were eventually acquitted. Burris was never accused of any wrongdoing or misconduct. Dugan is scheduled to stand trial for the crime next year, 26 years after it was committed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
Drudge has story up that the Demo's might physically block Burris from the floor.
Heh. Um.... Barb, can we has Popcorn Southern Style pls?
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber struck a lunch gathering of Sunni Arab tribal leaders on Friday in a town south of Baghdad, killing at least 23 people and wounding 42 others, security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi said. The U.S. military said its initial reports said 21 were killed and 44 were wounded. An Iraqi security source said as many as 30 people died and more than 100 were hurt.
Moussawi said Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Salih, a leader of the Sunni al-Qaraghouli tribe, hosted the lunch for tribal leaders at his home. The bomber, a relative of the host named Amin al-Qaraghouli, entered through the rear gate of the house and blew himself among the guests, Moussawi said. The sheikh was among the wounded.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/03/2009
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The Taliban in North Waziristan warned on Friday that all co-education schools in the region must be closed by January 5, or they "will be responsible for their actions". Clerics read out the warning at mosques during Friday prayers in Miranshah. Miranshah's two co-educational schools are believed to be the only ones in North Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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[5 views]
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Afghanistan and Pakistan's ongoing military offensive in the Tribal Areas is chasing Taliban across the border, where they are being intercepted by a United States-Afghan security initiative, a US commander said, according to a report in The Washington Times on Friday.
The level of violence over the past couple of months in the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan has risen significantly from the same period last year, and is expected to increase another 10 to 20 percent in the spring, largely because of the results of operations across the border in Bajaur Agency, US Army Colonel John Spiszer told the newspaper.
Although Pakistan's commitment to the campaign against terrorists has been questioned and some Pakistani troops are reported to have been redeployed to the eastern border with India, the Bajaur campaign was having an impact, Spiszer said.
"Pakistani pressure... has denied [the insurgents] safe havens and led to more contact in Afghanistan," he said, adding that an increase of Afghan security forces in the region also has contributed to a rise in hostile engagements this winter. "And thatŽs not a bad thing."
Spiszer said the trend is likely to continue as additional US forces are deployed to help secure the mountainous terrain that divides the two countries.
Of the 3,500 to 4,000 troops from the 3rd Combat Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, scheduled to deploy in January, roughly 500 will help stabilise his area of operations, which also includes Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, he said. In the near term, a joint initiative known as Operation Lion Heart is under way to better coordinate counterinsurgency efforts on both sides of the border through intelligence sharing and border interdiction, the report said.
Spiszer said the initiative is "less about synchronicity and more complementary", with commanders exchanging tactical information daily to prevent insurgents from resupplying and transiting unchecked through traditional filter points.
US-led operations inside Afghanistan will increase as winter progresses to support the Pakistani offensive, he said, adding that the sustained nature of Pakistani operations "has the potential to make some differences". He added, however, that Pakistan has been focused away from the immediate border, "so we haven't closed all the gaps on either side".
Reports that Pakistani forces are being redeployed from the Tribal Areas to the Indian border -- after the Mumbai attacks that India blames on Pakistan-based elements -- suggest that the military is growing frustrated by a domestic counterinsurgency campaign it is ill-equipped to fight, preferring to confront an old and conventional foe. .
However, Nadeem Kiani, a spokesman for the Pakistan embassy in Washington, said reports that Pakistan is moving troops to the border with India are 'not true'.
"We have not moved troops from our western borders," he said. "Security forces are continuing their operations against militants in the Tribal Areas. Currently an operation is going on in Khyber Agency against militants who were disrupting the NATO supply route to Afghanistan."
Kiani added that "all the three valleys and important towns have been cleared of militants".
Spiszer, who commands a brigade of the Army's 1st Infantry Division, said that about $80 million was spent last year on reconstruction in the region despite the hostilities.
He said the presence of coalition outposts deep in the backcountry also has allowed development projects to accelerate in more densely populated areas such as Nangarhar province, which has been relatively peaceful.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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#1
January 3rd and still no mention of the Dread Afghan Winter"?
tonight on the Media Channel: "When Memes Die!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2009 6:16
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#2
Powerful Islamic Courts dies in Dread Afghan Winter. Islamic Court was proceedered in death by Millions of Body Bags and his BFF The Harsh Desert Environment.
#6
suggest that the military is growing frustrated by a domestic counterinsurgency campaign it is ill-equipped to fight, preferring to confront an old and conventional foe. .
Against whom they have a track record of getting badly mauled.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/03/2009 14:17
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi security forces seized six long-range rockets that were hidden underground at an area northeast of al-Kut city, a security source from Wassit province said on Friday. "The rockets were found at al-Sada al-Witriya area, 150 km northeast of Kut," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The operation was conducted based on intelligence tip-offs," he said. He pointed out that the rockets are "newly made," not giving further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2009
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[3 views]
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#1
Iran must have that rocket factory going 24/7 considering how many they are spreading around right now.
#5
That's ok, Steve. I'm sure the target coordinates have been cranked into a Tomahawk several years ago, and haven't been removed. I just wish someone had the testicular fortitude to actually USE them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/03/2009 14:39
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Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) would soon start serial production of multi-role fighter aircraft (JF-17 Thunder) in collaboration with China, Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Defence Production on Thursday was informed.
The Committee headed by Sheikh Aftab Ahmad visited the PAC and was given detailed briefing about the ongoing projects being undertaken by the prestigious organisation in the defence production sector.
The Chairman PAC Air Marshal Khalid Chaudhry HI (M) T Bt gave detailed briefing about the projects whereby informing that the PAC has set up the factory for initiating the serial production of JF-17 Thunder aircraft.
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.
SEATTLE -- A college student dressed in a vintage German military uniform who was fatally shot by police on New Year's Day was a harmless, eccentric history buff, his family and friends said Friday.
AS WORLD leaders and international organizations rush to rescue Hamas, Israel faces complex bat tlefield challenges - while fearing a stab in the back from the incoming Obama administration. 
A gang of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rampaged through the heart of the Jewish community on Wednesday evening, attacking businesses and assaulting a motorist.
Preacher of hate Omar Bakri is boldly going where no imam has gone before ordering followers to convert aliens to Islam. Bakri, acting like a character from sci-fi film Mars Attacks, said Muslims must not only spread the word worldwide but also across the galaxy. He issued the decree during a bizarre rant which has been posted on an extremist website. 
A trail of popcorn on New Year's Day led Sacramento police to a man wanted on a warrant, authorities said.
AN Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip killed a senior commander of Hamas's armed wing, the Islamist group said today. A week after Israel launched devastating air strikes against the Palestinian enclave with the declared aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks on its southern towns, an end to hostilities remains elusive despite international diplomatic efforts.
Israel bombed a mosque and the homes of at least half a dozen Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip on Friday and allowed foreign passport holders to leave the ravaged territory, as speculation rose that a ground assault could be imminent. 
Warplanes dropped thousands of fliers over the battered Gaza Strip on Friday, urging Palestinians to report to Israeli authorities the location of Hamas forces, witnesses said. 
Sri Lankan forces captured the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital Friday, winning a major victory in a decades-long battle to destroy the ethnic separatists and crush their dream of establishing an independent state. 
Ethiopia's final troop pullout from Somalia has started and will last several more days, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's spokesman said Friday. "We have already started to implement our withdrawal plan. It will take some more days. It is a process and it will take some time," Bereket Simon told AFP.
Criminal Court in Batna province, eastern Algeria, had sentenced to life two terrorists bearing the initials of C.T, nicknamed Abou Zinad, and M.Z, involved in terrorist cases. The terrorist nicknamed Abou Zinad, joined terror fiefs in the 90's; he was nominated by his terror group, all along two other wanted terrorists, to commit suicide bombings. 
JOHANNESBURG - Seasonal rains could worsen a cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe that has already killed more than 1,600 people, a senior international Red Cross official said on Friday. The outbreak has heightened the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe and the opposition are deadlocked over a power-sharing deal and the veteran leader is resisting Western calls to step down.
The steel industry, having entered the recession in the best of health, is emerging as a leading indicator of what lies ahead. As steel production goes, and it is now in collapse, so will go the national economy.
Israel is poised to launch a major ground offensive into Gaza tonight after allowing hundreds of foreigners living in the devastated territory to evacuate. 
CAIRO - Egyptian riot police used batons to beat opposition protesters who tried to stage a rally in downtown Cairo on Friday against the seven-day-old Israeli offensive on Gaza, witnesses said. Police also briefly detained a Reuters cameraman, confiscated his tape and prevented other cameramen from filming, witnesses said.
Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.
The French Navy has handed over eight suspected pirates captured in the Gulf of Aden to the authorities of Somalia's breakaway state of Puntland, an official said Friday. "The Puntland regional government received eight pirates from the French Navy, who intercepted them while they were attacking a commercial vessel," Puntland Assistant Minister for Seaports Abdel-Kadir Moussa Yusuf told reporters.
The top hierarchy of al-Qaeda has taken such a hit from US missile strikes that Osama bin Laden and his deputy have had to replace people in the terrorist organisation with men they have never met, according to Western intelligence sources. 
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber struck a lunch gathering of Sunni Arab tribal leaders on Friday in a town south of Baghdad, killing at least 23 people and wounding 42 others, security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi said. The U.S. military said its initial reports said 21 were killed and 44 were wounded. An Iraqi security source said as many as 30 people died and more than 100 were hurt.
Afghanistan and Pakistan's ongoing military offensive in the Tribal Areas is chasing Taliban across the border, where they are being intercepted by a United States-Afghan security initiative, a US commander said, according to a report in The Washington Times on Friday. 
