A bomb has exploded in the south-western city of Quetta in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, killing one man, police say. Reports say the victim was carrying the bomb on a motorbike when it accidentally exploded. The motorcycle bomb went off in a market in Quetta.
"Gimme some o' that kohl rabi, and some o' them tomatoes. And are those bombs fresh?"
"The man who died in the blast was taking the bomb to some area for terrorist activity, but the bomb exploded and he died instantly," Quetta's senior police official, Hamid Shekel said, the Associated Press news agency reports. Another officer said the dead man had been involved "in previous bomb attacks in Quetta".
A few hours earlier a bomb exploded near a passing passenger train in the city, injuring four railway workers. The army has said it will establish three new garrisons in Balochistan to deal with a growing security problem. The earlier attack took place as the Zaffar Express train was leaving the city. Reports say the bomb was triggered by remote control. Quetta has been the scene of a number of bomb attacks in recent months. An explosion in December killed 11 people. A new militant group calling itself the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
9:58:16 AM ||
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A year and a half ago, Pfizer Inc. got a disturbing call on its customer hotline. A woman who had been taking its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor complained that a new bottle of tablets tasted bitter. She sent the suspicious pills to the company, which tested them at a lab in Groton, Conn. The white oblong tablets looked just like the real thing -- and even contained some of the active ingredient in Lipitor. But Pfizer soon determined that they were counterfeits. Over the next two months, distributors yanked some 16.5 million tablets from warehouses and pharmacy shelves nationwide... The rest of the article is about recent, large scale counterfeits in general.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/01/2005
9:57:21 AM ||
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#1
Hmm, these counterfeit pills apparently got into the regular & supposedly FDA-approved supply line. Apparently the contamination was on a very wide scale. What about these incredibly dangerous illegally imported Canadian drugs that senior citizens are bringing back in their luggage? This situation indicates a very real possibility of poisons or infectious agents into drugs and having them distributed to millions of people. This should be, but isn't, front page news, both on Rantburg and in the MSM.
ALL ten of the servicemen who died when an RAF plane crashed in Iraq were today named. The cause of the crash is not yet known and officials are investigating. One theory with some plausibility is that a bomb was smuggled onboard, possibly in Baghdad where the plane had stopped to refuel and pick up passengers.
Squadron Leader Marshall was a staff officer serving with Headquarters Strike Command in High Wycombe. The rest of the air force men were based at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, the home-base for all RAF Hercules. The station commander of RAF Lyneham told today of great sadness following the crash. In a statement read out at the base, Group Captain Paul Oborn said: "The whole of RAF Lyneham feel this loss intensely and our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families, friends and colleagues of those involved. "Crew, support personnel and passengers on board were playing a vital role in helping to deliver democracy to the Iraqi people. They will be sorely missed." A personal note - RAF Lyneham's just a few miles from where I live, and the Hercs are part of the scenery round here. I din't know any of crew personally, but a friend of mine teaches at a secondary school attended by the Lyneham children. He told me last night that they're having a pretty tough week.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/01/2005
9:43:08 AM ||
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Mexican labourers living in the US sent a record $16.6bn (£8.82bn) home last year. The Bank of Mexico said that remittances grew 24% last year and now represent the country's second-biggest source of income after oil. Better records and greater prosperity of Mexican expatriates in the US are the main reasons behind the increase. About 10 million Mexicans live in the US, where there are 16 million citizens of Mexican origin. Remittances now represent more than 2% of the country's GDP, according to the Bank of Mexico's figures. Last year, there were 50.9 million transactions, with an average value of $327 per remittance, the bank said. According to Standard & Poor's, which has recently upgraded Mexico's sovereign debt rating, the rise in remittances helps protect the Mexican economy against a potential fall in the international oil prices.
This is why the Mexican government won't do anything to stop their citizens from coming north, and why they get so bent out of shape when we try to protect our border.
The growth in remittances has sparked fierce competition between banks. Bank of America announced last week that it planned to eliminate transfer fees for some customers. Remittance charges are estimated to have dropped by between 50 and 60%, reports from the US Treasury and the Inter-American Development Bank have said. The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean reached $45bn in 2004.
Not to mention the fact that every gas station and supermarket downm here in Texas has a money transfer capability for people to wire funds back home to Mexico.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
9:42:20 AM ||
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#1
What is not mentioned here but is the real travesty is that the great majority of those remittances come from non-taxed income. Its mostly cash and "black" wages. So, there is at least $10-25bn in possible federal, state and local taxes - to help defray welfare, medical and other costs that illegals run up every year in just about every municipal, county and township in the USA.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 10:56
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Is Mexico a high birthrate nation with a failed government and economy that generates an unending supply of illegal immigrants?
Or is the Mexican economy improving, partially stabilized by money from the US? Is Mexico growing wealthier as the poorest Mexicans move to the US? Has Mexicoâs birthrate declined? Are most of the potential illegal Mexican immigrants already in the US?
#4
The sad fact is that Mexico *should* be a very wealthy country, with a prosperous populace. They are geographically well situated, with beautiful coastlines on two oceans. There are plenty of natural resources (even some oil), a great climate, a fair amount of arable land, and their only security threats along the southern border. Why can't they make a go of it and stand on their own?
#5
Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service
The Washington Post
08-09-2001
U.S., Mexico Await Migration Drop; Declining Birthrate South of Border
May Slow Tide North
Byline: Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service
Edition: FINAL
Section: A Section
MEXICO CITY, Aug. 8 --
Mexico's falling birthrates may begin to significantly lower illegal immigration
to the United States within 15 years, according to Mexican and U.S. officials
working to craft solutions to their shared problem.
Immigration specialists have long said that the flood of Mexican workers
to the United States would cease only when ...
#7
"Mexico's birth rate drops as planners worry about future
With falling birth rates, babies are a scarcer sight in Mexico
CNN's Harris Whitbeck looks at what the decrease in birth rate means for the country
July 28, 1999
Web posted at: 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 GMT)
By Correspondent Harris Whitbeck
MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- After years of steady increase in the number of babies born, Mexico's birth rate is now dropping.
Although Mexico's population will grow to 130 million over the next 30 years, experts say the population explosion has now stabilized.
For much of the 20th century, the average Mexican woman gave birth to seven children. That number has since decreased to an average of 2.5 children per family, largely due to family planning.
"About 80 percent of the couples we see here agree that family planning is a responsible measure to take," said Dr. Ana Cecilia Montes, who works at a family planning center.
The Mexican government welcomes such news, but worries that the decrease in family sizes could make the elderly more dependent on its services in the years to come.
By 2050, a quarter of Mexico's population will be over 65
By the middle of the next century, one in four Mexicans will be over the age of 65.
The current birth rate decrease does provide a window of opportunity, government officials say.
"If we take advantage now, we will be able to create an infrastructure of necessary services in order to provide for the needs of the elderly," said Rudolfo Tuiran of the National Council on Population.
The government's prescription is more investment in social programs now to prevent problems later. But such a plan depends on the emerging Mexican economy, which recently has shown more instability than long-term growth.
#8
Remember, Mexico is doing its best to keep out a flood of illegal immigrants from their southern border. I assume they can turn that spigot on if necessary later.
Seafarious: Is this a trick question? It's all about political culture. Now if the English had invaded Mexico...
#9
No, not a trick question, not exactly. I'm just pointing out that Mexico has many advantages that other struggling countries do not and by all rights they should be a prosperous nation. And I'm not happy that their biggest export right now is their problem citizens...
#10
Russia has many natural advantages, too. But, between a tradition of authoritarianism and corruption, and wasting their substance empire building, not much is left for the citizenry.
WRT Mexico, which hasn't troubled itself building an empire, the citizens that come north appear to be the most ambitious, not the problems. While the lack of control of our border is a serious security concern, along with the Mob tactics of the coyotes, the workers themselves would be a real benefit if the situation could be regularized. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Bush's guest worker proposal is do-able just yet -- not until we control our southern border.
#11
I wonder how switching from an income to a sales tax would change the situation.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/01/2005 12:41
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Sea, a big reason is the way that the government treats their own citizens. They don't really make any effort to educate them (most of the ones who get an education go to a private school, the state schools, if there are any, are a joke....I can't remember how many illegals I used to run into in my past job who were illiterate in Spanish and couldn't even sign their names).
The wealthy Mexicans would rather invest their pesos overseas instead of in their own country to create jobs. Foreigners are the big investors in Mexico...not rich Chilangos.
If you are born poor, you are really SOL as far as getting ahead....unless you manage to go North and get a job so you can send some money home to improve your family's situation, or you save it up until you can go home and build yourself a nicer house, etc. Also, while you are up North, maybe your kids can get some schooling....even our worst schools are better than what they could hope for back in Mexico.
I can't blame them for coming....hell, if I was one of them, I'd be crossing the border myself. It's just that our government shouldn't make it so damn easy for Mexico to keep their status quo.
You annex them. Make them a Commonwealth. Open the border fully. End the exclusion of foreigners to own property. Promote real investment like in the US, as done by the English, Dutch and Japanese. Send the El Norte federales in to take care of the corrupt officials and their drug lord financers. If we can rebuild a free democratic Iraq, we can build a free democratic Mexico.
#17
I have news for you... it's not only illegal Mexican immigrants doing this. Just about every legal immigrant sends some money back home to support the family. Money that could have been saved or spent here. The only difference is, this money has already been taxed.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/01/2005 14:15
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#18
Of course they send money back home. Immigrants have always done that. This allows the others to remain in place, and finances bringing the most ambitious to America to continue the process. The issue isn't the money, because they send back American stuff, too, but the illegal status of so many. Also, a lot of the illegals go back and forth across the border, as the job situation here changes, or family situation requires. Regularize the situation -- guest worker visas, income tax, health insurance, no citizenship for children born here to non-citizens, no purchase of real property for guest workers (to prevent de facto immigration). Oh, and fix the drug smuggling -- a lot of the border violence is from drug gangs fighting over territory... or whatever it is that gangs fight over.
That's a feature, not a bug. That's $16b that won't be used to inflate the US real estate market. That's $16b that won't be used to inflate the US stock market. Better that they build nice big homes for their families back in Mexico, than send for the whole family to come over here.
If we can rebuild a free democratic Iraq, we can build a free democratic Mexico.
It's not like Mexico is some country halfway around the planet. It's right next door, and it seems rather inconceivable that they haven't noticed how we've conducted ourselves and haven't tried a similar formula in an attempt to achieve similar success. No, their solution is to encourage their peasants to break our laws and violate our sovereignty, while at the same time badmouthing us in the process, or not standing by us (witness Mexico's stance on Iraq).
No, at this point the Mexicans themselves need to fix whatever's wrong with their society, and stop being the remora on our undersides. We only get involved in the event of a catastrophic collapse, and even then, no annexation and no Commonwealth.
FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw last night savaged anti-war hypocrites now applauding Iraq's spectacular election triumph. He accused them of wanting to leave Saddam in Baghdad, free to carry on crushing his people. And he lashed those who want allied troops to go home and leave Iraqis in the lurch. Mr Straw told MPs: "That would be tantamount to ensuring the new forces of democracy are weakened and the forces of terror are strengthened." He tore into Lib-Dems, telling them: "The consequence of your position was that there would be no democratic elections in Iraq. Saddam Hussein would still be in power and crushing the people."
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/01/2005
9:31:34 AM ||
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TERROR mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was arrested but FREED by bungling Iraqi cops, it was claimed yesterday. The al-Qaeda executioner, who beheaded Brit hostage Ken Bigley, was rounded up in Fallujah. But police failed to recognise the thug, who has a £13.5million price on his head after plotting car bombings and kidnappings. The blunder was alleged by a bomber working for Zarqawi who was arrested in Baghdad.
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/01/2005
9:28:51 AM ||
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#1
D'oh!
(/head slap)
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 9:45
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#2
His network is collapsing. He is making mistakes. It will not be long before we capture him.
#3
An Iraqi minister (Al Rubbaie?) said on Sunday that they are two days behind Zarqawi and closing fast. Let's all pray they get the murdering thug.
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/01/2005 11:15
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Dan Darling pointed out in his Winds of Change roundup that Zarqawi is most definitely N-O-T looking forward to his next courier with correspondence from Binny...
INTELLIGENCE officials allegedly intercepted a telephone conversation between Mamdouh Habib and his wife several days before the September 11 terror attacks in which he warned of a looming "big event" in the US.
The alleged call, detailed in The New York Times, did not spell out specifics of the planned strikes on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. However, it mirrored several other conversations between accused terrorists that were tapped around the same time by the Pakistani Internal Security Department on behalf of the CIA.
A national security source confirmed that the call allegedly made by Mr Habib originated in Pakistan. The interception is believed to have been made in Sydney by ASIO, which at the time had placed Mr Habib on a watch list.
However, Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper denied yesterday that his client had made such a call. "It did not happen," Mr Hopper said. "Mr Habib denies any wrongdoing or knowingly being in contact with anyone associated with wrongdoing."
Mr Habib has retracted confessions he allegedly made while in Egypt and later in Guantanamo Bay to being associated with al-Qa'ida, claiming they were made while he was being tortured. The former cleaner, who yesterday enjoyed his fourth day of freedom since being released from the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay last Thursday, remained at an undisclosed location considering offers to buy his story.
It has emerged that soon after his return, Mr Habib contacted the father of the second Australian in Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks. Mr Hicks's father, Terry Hicks, would not say what the pair discussed. "It was a good conversation," he said. "He sounded very excited. We had probably about 15 minutes, and eventually down the track we're going to try to catch up. We're going to let the dust settle."
The CIA has previously said that in the days before the September 11 strikes on New York and Washington, a sharp increase in "chatter" was intercepted from operatives in terror training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, alluding to an imminent big event.
This article starring:
DAVID HICKS
al-Qaeda
MAMDUH HABIB
al-Qaeda
Posted by: tipper ||
02/01/2005
9:28:22 AM ||
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Yea. I routinely warn my wife of a pending "big event". Then I pull the covers over her head before she can get away.
A U.S. appeals court has ruled the IRS cannot compel taxpayers to turn over personal and private property without a federal court order and that taxpayers can ignore the agencies summonses until actual enforcement action is taken.
In the case Schulz v. IRS, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled:
...absent an effort to seek enforcement through a federal court, IRS summonses apply no force to taxpayers, and no consequence whatever can befall a taxpayer who refuses, ignores, or otherwise does not comply with an IRS summons until that summons is backed by a federal court order. ⊠[A taxpayer] cannot be held in contempt, arrested, detained, or otherwise punished for refusing to comply with the original IRS summons, no matter the taxpayer's reasons, or lack of reasons for so refusing.
Bob Schulz, the plaintiff, is head of We the People, an organization that has taken separate legal action against the federal government for its failure to answer a "petition for redress of grievances" regarding the income tax. Though the court affirmed a lower court decision in favor of the IRS, saying Schulz's motion to quash an IRS summons lacked "subject matter," it used the ruling as a means to clarify the agency's power under 26 U.S.C. Section 7604.
The appeals court decision [.pdf document] of Jan. 25 stated the federal courts protect taxpayers from an "overreaching" IRS and that the agency must go through the federal courts before force can be applied on anyone to turn over personal and private property to the IRS. Absent a federal court order, the IRS summons amounts simply to a "request," the court ruled, which can be ignored.
A statement on the group's website went on to say: "Without declaring provisions of the code unconstitutional on their face, the court, in effect, nullified key enforcement provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, stripping the IRS of much of its power to compel compliance with its administrative demands for personal and private property."
We the People claims the court decision will benefit the organization's class-action lawsuit against the IRS.
States the group: "The court has expressly recognized that the IRS, as has been asserted in the right-to-petition lawsuit, routinely violates people's due process rights in their day-to-day administrative practices. As such, the findings of the Second Circuit firmly establish for the District Court the substance of the causes of action put forth in our right-to-petition lawsuit."
Schulz's lawsuit stemmed from an IRS summons served on him in relation to an investigation. He claims the summons was a direct infringement on his First Amendment rights.
Activists of the "tax honesty" movement, in which WTP is a leading voice, believe the federal government lacks any legal jurisdiction to enforce the income tax, that there is no law that requires Americans to pay the tax, and that the tax is enforced in a manner that violates the U.S. Constitution.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/01/2005
9:10:20 AM ||
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#1
I'm pleasantly surprised, but I suppose the SCOTUS will overturn this ruling. Nothing, certainly not the Bill of Rights, can interfere with the government revenue. A good way to shut someone like Rangel or Schumer on the PATRIOT act is to say "How about we just give them the powers that the IRS already has?"
I don't agree with the arguments that the income tax is illegal, though.
#2
This is the next big domestic windmill for the rightwing and libertarian political elements in America. Not so much the tax code which will be the lead instrument in the parade but the strong bellowing of rights infrigement in the big brass section!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 11:00
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#3
I expect the Sax Section of Rational Tax Policy to take up the beat at some point.
AN Egyptian terror suspect, held by Britain for three years without trial because he was said to be the leader of an al-Qaeda linked militant group, has been released from prison, the government said today. The Department for Constitutional Affairs confirmed the decision but could give no further details about the conditions of his release. The detainee, known only as "C", was one of 17 men held by Britain under now discredited anti-terror laws which allowed the indefinite detention of foreigners without trial if they were suspected of being involved in terrorism.
The decision to free him comes just days after Britain detailed plans to overhaul its anti-terror laws after the UK's highest court, the Law Lords, ruled emergency powers adopted in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, violated basic rights. Yesterday, Britain announced it would free Palestinian terror suspect Mahmoud Abu Rideh on bail. The government arrested "C" in December 2001, saying he was the British leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which it said had merged with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Egypt sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in jail for trying to recruit Egyptian army officers to the EIJ, according to British court documents. Civil rights group Liberty said he was released from a maximum security prison late yesterday.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/01/2005
9:09:26 AM ||
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Lately, Rantburg has been posting imam Q&A columns to get a look into what's being said. The moonbattery involed[sic] just screams to be lampooned. So without further ado, let me presentâŠ
Ask your Friendly Imam
Q. I'm a girl in twelfth grade in an non-Muslim country, wondering if I can go to my graduation.
A. First, there is a mingling of the sexes there so no you must not, and second, why are you still in school. You should have dropped out and been married off by now!
Q. I was raped and now am pregnant. What do I do besides trust in Allah?
A. Give me your father's name and address so I can order him to honor-kill you.
Q. I'd like to go birdwatching. Is it halal?
A. Only if there are infidels among the birds for you to explode among.
Q. My neighbors are ardent Zionists. I know them for nice people, and cannot bring myself to kill them.
A. You can run but you can't hide, infidel.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/01/2005
9:04:31 AM ||
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Two interpol experts in city to probe Aug 21 carnage
Two members of the Interpol arrived in the city yesterday to start fresh investigation into the August 21 grenade attacks on an Awami League rally in Dhaka, which killed 23 people including the party leader Ivy Rahman and maimed scores of others. The two international police organisation members — Marc Beaucheman of the United States and Heiroshi Sumi of Japan flew in by a Thai Airways flight yesterday noon. Officials of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) received the Interpol members at the ZIA.
The international police organisation members are now in the city as per their earlier schedule and they would not have anything to do with the Habiganj grenade attack on January 27, official sources said. Later, they met with members of the CID and discussed progress of the investigation of the deadly grenade attacks on August 21. They will prepare an assessment report on the findings through probe into the carnage.
Local leader of PBCP killed in 'crossfire'Jan 31: A regional leader of an outlawed party was killed in a shootout between his accomplices and police near Dolipur sluice gate in Chatmohor upazila early today (Monday).
Police said they arrested Abdul Awal (32), regional leader of outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party, from Dikshir beel in the upazila on Sunday morning. They said he was wanted in a number of murder and other criminal cases. As per his confession, police took him near the sluice gate on a mission to recover the firearms.
"OK, the guns are buried near the sluice gate in a remote part of town. As soon as it get's really dark and all the witnesses are asleep, I'll take you there."
When police along with Abdul Awal reached the spot at about 2.15am, his sidekicks opened fire on them forcing them to fire back.
"Sidekicks" this time, must have used up all the "cohorts" and "accomplices".
Keepin' their supply of "cadres" in reserve...
At one stage Awal was hit in the crossfire and died on the spot. Five policemen including Officer-in-Charge AB Siddiqui sustained severe injuries during the shootout. Police also recovered three firearms and ammunition from the spot.
Sramik League leader beaten to death
Jan 31: A union—level leader of Sramik League (SL) was beaten to death allegedly by his relatives near his house at village Formaishkhana under Digholia upazila of Khulna district last night. Two sons of the victim were also beaten and injured by the attackers.
Sounds like one hell of a family get-together.
The deceased was identified as Badsha Shaikh (50), vice-president of Digholia sadar union unit of JSL.
According to sources, Badsha Shaikh and his two sons were severely beaten with sticks by a group of four to five men near his house at about 11 pm Sunday. All the three were rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital where Badsha Shaikh succumbed to injuries early today (Monday). His two sons, Kalu and Alam, are under treatment at the hospital. Sources said, the incident came as a sequel to an old conflict among the relatives over one marriage affair.
Cocktail burst near Sheraton, Bangla Academy
A cocktail was burst in front of Hotel Sheraton at 7 pm yesterday but none was injured, police said. It is suspected that troublemakers hurled cocktail while passing by the hotel to create panic.
"Look out, he's got a martini! Duck!"
SAARC leaders coming to Dhaka for the February 6-7 summit will be staying in Hotel Sheraton. Another cocktail was lobbed at Bangla Academy where a month long book fair begins today (Tuesday). Police said it did not burst but panic spread at the fair. Security measures were tightened at the book fair.
2 outlaws die in 'crossfire'
Two leaders of underground outfits were killed in 'crossfire' between their accomplices and police in Jhenidah and Pabna early yesterday.
Our Magura correspondent reported that Abdul Karim alias 'Tiger Madhu', a regional leader of Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) Janajuddho faction, died in a shootout between his accomplices and police at Zianagar village under Jhenidah Sadar upazila at about 4:00am. Acting on a tip-off, a police team from Jhenidah Sadar Police Station cordoned off a bush at the village where Karim was reportedly holding a secret meeting with his accomplices.
That's a new twist, normally they take them into custody before they "accidentaly" get shot
Sensing the presence of the police team, the outlaws fired on the law enforcers, forcing them to retaliate.
"It's the law! Get um, boys!"
During the shootout, the PBCP leader was shot and died on the spot, while his accomplices fled the scene.
Funny how that works, ain't it?
Police recovered the body from the bush. They also recovered a pipe gun and 12 bullets. Police said Abdul Karim was wanted in 18 criminal cases including eight for murder.
In Pabna, a regional leader of Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) was killed in a shootout between his accomplices and police near Dolipur sluice gate in Chatmohor upazila, according to the UNB. Police said they arrested Abdul Awal, 32, a regional leader of PBCP, at Dikshir beel (water body) in the upazila Sunday morning.
Him we read about already
Bombs hurled near SQC's house
Some unidentified miscreants hurled two bombs near Dhanmondi residence of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury in the city yesterday. According to police, some unidentified criminals hurled two bombs, one in front of house no 22 and another in front of house no 23 at Road no 10/A Dhanmondi near house no 28 belonging to Salauddin Quader Chowdhury at around 3.30pm yesterday. It was learnt from another source that the miscreants hurled the bombs targeting the residence of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.
There's a whole lot of bomb hurling going on in Bangladesh
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
8:52:45 AM ||
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Cocktail burst near Sheraton, Bangla Academy
We were lucky this time. It could've been a beverage...
but a woman in Manhattan runs a brothel to finance a home for stray animals. Julia Moya, the in-charge of 25 call girls, makes 1.6 million pounds a year from the profession, but only to save stray animals, as she claims. "I save stray animals," The Sun quoted Moya, generally called by pals as Mrs Dolittle because of her menagerie of dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and turtles, as saying.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/01/2005
8:41:20 AM ||
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Looks like an issue of ends vs. means to me.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/01/2005 8:58
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#2
So we have a figurative and literal - Cat House!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 10:43
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#3
I suspect, for commerce sake, more figurative and less literal.
#6
Ms. Moya thinks she is "The cats MEOW".
this story was in all newspaper's. I think
she needs to "paws" for a moment and have a
cleaner business plan/cause. Moya is said to
have a cat and mouse game going on***
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
02/01/2005 21:09
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#7
6 comments and no pussy jokes?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 21:11
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#8
Tipper: Maybe Moya can obtain legal counsel
from Dr. Dolittle a.k.a. Eddie Murphy? He did
a fine job in the movie!!
Andrea
Posted by: Andrea ||
02/01/2005 21:13
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This clown represents a clear and present danger to this country. Oil futures traders in London and New York have come up with a catchy term to describe an additional source of uncertainty when it comes to judging potential volatility in supplies: the Chävez premium. There is as yet no established formula that serves to precisely calculate how many dollars should be added to the price of a barrel of oil because of Venezuela's President Hugo Chävez, from whom the term derives. However, one thing is clear: political uncertainty stemming from Mr Chävez and his policies is becoming not only a factor in the oil markets, but it also has implications for Venezuela's sovereign bond holders and for oil multinationals.
As the world's fifth largest oil exporter, for decades Venezuela had been seen as a secure source of oil, particularly to the US. Tens of billions of dollars have been invested to extract oil from the South American country. However, Mr Chävez is uncomfortable with Washington, which he sees as the centre of an imperialist "empire" bent on dominating the rest of the world, and intent on overthrowing him and his self-styled "revolution" for the poor.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: TMH ||
02/01/2005
8:03:21 AM ||
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#1
Too bad the CIA is figment of its own imagination and a legend in only the mind of numbing TV writers. We could use a very efficient politically astute operation right about now.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 10:51
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Chavez is such a retard. If the US wanted him out or dead he would be. Any thought that the US would not act to protect it's interests in Central America is mooted by the Invasion of Panama. He clearly needs to get his head out of his socialist ass.
Posted by: SPOD ||
02/01/2005 11:09
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The article also said that China might be re-selling Venezuelan crude. Is China not North Korea main oil supplier?
China is not only interested in oil exploration. They are also looking into telecommunications, farming, construction and "other things".
[LatelineNews: 2005-1-29] CARACAS, Venezuela - China signed energy accords with Venezuela on Saturday that aim to make the Asian economic giant a major player in the oil and gas industry of the world's No. 5 crude exporter.
The 19 cooperation agreements signed in Caracas during a visit by Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong included plans for multimillion-dollar Chinese investments in Venezuelan oil and gas fields. They also foresaw Chinese financing and technical support for telecommunications, mining and farming.
Venezuela ships more than half its daily oil output to the United States in a decades-old energy relationship.
But left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington, has made clear he wants to diversify his country's overseas energy ties to reduce its economic dependence on the American market.
"China is a world power. ... She doesn't come here with imperialist airs, she comes here like a sister. God bless China," he told Zeng at the signing ceremony.
Despite Chavez's anti-U.S. rhetoric, many experts say the United States remains Venezuela's most natural energy market because of its proximity and its refineries geared to process Venezuelan crude.
Accumulated American investment in Venezuela's energy sector is in the billions of dollars.
MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES
Saturday's agreements, which cemented projects announced by Chavez during a December visit to China, opened up major oil and gas development opportunities in Venezuela for the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
One foresees a joint venture with local state oil firm PDVSA in Venezuela's Orinoco oil belt to convert extra-heavy crude into upgraded, lighter oil for export. The CNPC would join major U.S. and European oil companies that already have similar operations.
Under another accord, the Chinese company will exploit more than a dozen oil and gas wells at Zumano in eastern Venezuela, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.
He told Reuters the Zumano field had estimated reserves of 400 million barrels of oil that could reach 1 billion barrels with further exploration.
CNPC already operates two Venezuelan oil fields and will now be able to extract natural gas from them as well.
Another agreement sees China participating in the building of a $250 million telecommunications network in Venezuela, Venezuelan Infrastructure Minister Ramon Carrizales said.
China would also provide credits for housing and for machinery and technical support for Venezuelan farms.
A Venezuelan proposal to build and launch a $200 million telecommunications satellite in China was also being studied.
"Relations between China and Venezuela now stretch from the sub-soil, where we have our oil and gas, to the stratosphere, where we are going to place our satellite," Chavez said.
Since he was first elected in 1998, the Venezuelan leader has made a point of increasing political and trade ties with China and has increased his verbal attacks against the United States, which he accuses of trying to topple him. Reuters http://latelinenews.com/ll/english/1347004.shtml
#6
Just like the tyrants in the Middle East, Chavez cooperation with terrorists and any country that seeks to destroy this one will not stop.
It would not make any difference to him if the US does not but his oil. This is about ideologies and victimhood.
This moron has a program Alo President (Hello President) which is broadcasted every Sunday. I remember him saying in one of them that the reason that communism, as tried in Russia, Cuba, & N Korea, did not succeed was because of the US. If the US could be brought down, the perfect system that is communism will make the world a better place.
He needs to be taken out!
#7
TMH oh I am sure he will.
His mouth is usually well ahead of his ass.
He has and is writing checks he can't cash with his mouth. One missle from one aircraft could end his regime.
Live from Davos via NRO - the asshole makes the allegations then backs off
An extremely disturbing report from Rony Abovitz at the Davos conference:
During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan [chief news executive of CNN] asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by U.S. troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others.
Due to the nature of the forum, I was able to directly challenge Eason, asking if he had any objective and clear evidence to backup these claims, because if what he said was true, it would make Abu Ghraib look like a walk in the park. David Gergen was also clearly disturbed and shocked by the allegation that the U.S. would target journalists, foreign or U.S. He had always seen the U.S. military as the providers of safety and rescue for all reporters.
Eason seemed to backpedal quickly, but his initial statements were backed by other members of the audience (one in particular who represented a worldwide journalist group). The ensuing debate was (for lack of better words) a real "sh — storm". What intensified the problem was the fact that the session was a public forum being taped on camera, in front of an international crowd. The other looming shadow on what was going on was the presence of a U.S. Congressman and a U.S. Senator in the middle of some very serious accusations about the U.S. military.
To be fair (and balanced), Eason did backpedal and make a number of statements claiming that he really did not know if what he said was true, and that he did not himself believe it. But when pressed by others, he seemed to waver back and forth between what might have been his beliefs and the realization that he had created a kind of public mess. His statements, his reaction, and the reaction of all in attendance left me perplexed and confused.
Rony Abovitz is calling on the U.S. lawmakers present to get to the bottom of Jordan's story - if there's something to it, let's investigate. If it isn't, CNN ought to clear up why their head man is spreading horrifying rumors around about U.S. troops.
Yes, this is the same Eason Jordan who wrote in the New York Times that CNN reporters in Baghdad witnessed abuses, including torture of Iraqis by Saddam's secret police, and did not report this to viewers in order to to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open.
UPDATE: Another account of this:
According to Friday's Wall Street Journal Political Diary (available by subscription), Eason Jordan, Chief News Executive at CNN, implied that the American military was deliberately killing journalists in Iraq. He even "offered the story of an Al-Jazeera journalist who had been 'tortured for weeks' at Abu Ghraib, made to eat his shoes, and called "Al Jazeera boy" by his American captors."
And then, this liberal Democrat pressed Mr. Jordan to be more specific, putting the CNN Executive on the spot. The newsman rambled on a bit and mumbled some sort of response about how "'There are people who believe there are people in the military who have it out' for journalists." He could provide no evidence to buttress his claims, then "offered another anecdote: A reporter who'd been standing in a long line to get through a checkpoint at Baghdad's Green Zone had been turned back by the GI on duty. Apparently the soldier had been displeased with the reporter's dispatches, and sent him to the back of the line."
Had Mr. Frank not challenged him, the global elites there might have taken Jordan's words at face value, convinced that Americans were indiscriminately targeting journalists. Thanks to Barney Frank, world leaders assembled in Davos learned that there was no substance to such claims.
Good job, Barney Frank.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005
7:05:13 PM ||
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Jesus, these bastards know no limits whatsoever, do they?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/01/2005 19:15
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this might also be the only time in my life you see me note "good job Barney Frank"
he deserves it this time
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 19:20
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The question is: Was what Jordan said a mistake or a deliberate lie? I think the later. People at his level dont make that sort of mistake - and if they do they should be fired on-the-spot.
Like Dan Rather and memogate he thought everyone would simply swallow his bullshait hook line and sinker like they have been doing for decades.
#6
You'd think at some point the suits at Time-Warner would see the wisdom of putting a bona-fide news professional in charge of the news organization. Having a moonbat in charge isn't good for business.
#7
Fox News should show the video of this every hour. It's well past time to educate the public about the ideological taint of Eason, Mapes and the kindred pack that control most of the news operations in this country and around the world.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2005 20:06
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"...and called Al Jazeera boy" by his American captors."
#9
Senator Chris Dodd was there and apparently did not say a thing; it was all Gergen and Frank. Follow the links to the end and read the whole thing. You'll be even madder.
Frank is right; I'm gobsmacked to give my dispised former Congresscritter Barney Frank a big Attaboy.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005 20:34
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Good job, Barney Frank
Barney Frank as a stand-up guy, John Kerry running guns to the Khmer Rouge and G.I. Joe at the mercy of the jihadis; talk about your Bizarro World!
This is beyond parody and it's only Tuesday. If we keep going like this, ScrappleFace will be out of business by the end of the week.
#11
well, the State of the Union is tomorrow. Someone will have to operate the Pelosi-doll.......maybe Senor Wences?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 21:10
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#12
Perhaps CNN reporters ought to be the targets of some Civilians doing things that are quit legal but limit CNNs ability to report. It's hard to get stories when you can't access them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 21:21
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fragging journalists huh? Not out of the realm of possibility but not very plausible. I'm sure there's a few asshole reporters out there the lads would love to fuck with, but enough to go sanction them? Quite a stretch, even by hollywood standards. Sounds like Jordan has problems w/puffery, integrity, & stupidity.
#16
I think this story, which appears to be confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, deserves a firestorm from Americans. Email, write, fax the network -- and their corporate parent. Let advertisers know how angry you are. DEMAND proof or a PUBLIC RETRACTION BROADCAST THROUGHOUT THE ARAB WORLD.
We laugh and shake our heads at this, thinking others will realize it's stupid. But words have power and these words are beyond irresponsible. It's time to put an end to this sort of shit on the part of senior news executives.
#17
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if this were true, in a manner of speaking. Back in August, I put up a post about this picture. Caption (not included with photo -- you'll thank me for not pointing you to the slow-loading Chinese[?] site where I found this) reads "An Iraqi Shi'ite militiaman takes aim at a U.S. Apache helicopter flying above a cemetery in the Holy city of Najaf."
The point of the post was that there were two nearly identical photos, from two different photographers, one from Reuters, one from AP. Since the photogs were so cozy with the jihadis while they're taking aim at Americans, it wouldn't be too surprising if they were "targeted" (along with their jihadi pals).
#18
The alledgedly Al Jazeera reporter alledgedly got off easy. Some of those guys are willing accomplices, as they show up at the right time, many the time. They are enemy combatants, AFAIC.
The soldier alledgedly sending the reporter to the end of the line in the green zone sounds fair to me, though I am sure that the Humiliation⢠will require the reporter to go through some kind of therapy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/01/2005 22:49
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Unfortunately, it is not true that the military targeted the liberal left MSM. In my opinion, they aid and abet the terrorists with their bullshit reporting (e.g. Dan Rather and others of his ilk).
Labour yesterday withdrew two election posters depicting Michael Howard as a "Fagin" figure and a flying pig after MPs and Jewish groups said they left the party open to charges of anti-Semitism. A spokesman said the posters would not be used and conceded that lessons would be learned. But the party refused to issue a formal apology and insisted that the posters were not anti-Semitic. It was clear, however, that the leadership realised it had blundered. The poster that caused most offence showed Mr Howard swinging a pocket watch on a chain and saying: "I can spend the same money twice." Critics said it had echoes of Dickens's Jewish pickpocket, Fagin, or Shylock from The Merchant of Venice. Another poster depicted Mr Howard and Mr Letwin, both of whom are of Jewish descent, as flying pigs with the same message about Tory sums not adding up. Jews regard pigs as unclean.
Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, who is Jewish and a vice-chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel, said the poster showing Mr Howard looking like a Shylock or Fagin figure was unacceptable. "I think it is very insensitive," she said. "I do not think it is deliberately anti-Semitic but we should not have such posters." Harry Cohen, another Jewish Labour MP, said he did not believe there was any intended anti-Semitism but that those responsible had not thought hard enough that they might cause offence. Fraser Kemp, Labour's deputy campaign co-ordinator, said Mr Howard was a link with economic failures of the past and that Labour had a right to highlight his record. Denying charges of anti-Semitism, he said the use of the fob watch was intended to show that the Tories would hypnotise people into thinking they would create a better economy, when the reverse would be the case.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bulldog ||
02/01/2005
6:10:27 AM ||
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Not deliberate antisemitism That seems to need saying entirely too often to make me comfortable.
#2
Another case for the PC busybods.. a definite gaffe, but done on purpose? I doubt it, knowing the sensitivities of the big gay touchy-feely Labour Party.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/01/2005 9:27
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" . . . done on purpose? I doubt it, knowing the sensitivities of the big gay touchy-feely Labour Party"
Absolutely Wrong. The Left is where anti-semitism resides, these days.
I think they knew exactly what they were doing. Read this link from the Times of London: Fagin, Shylock and Blair
Check the picture at the link. It sure looks like Joe. Perhaps they're demanding a ransom from Mattel.
Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners. The U.S. military said it was investigating, but the claim's authenticity could not be immediately confirmed. The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what that statement said was an American soldier, wearing desert fatigues and seated on a concrete floor with his hands tied behind his back. The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless, and the photo's authenticity could not be confirmed. A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and behind him on the wall is a black banner emblazoned with the Islamic profession of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His prophet." A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Marine Sgt. Salju K. Thomas, said he had no information on the claim but "we are currently looking into it."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005
4:01:51 PM ||
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#1
Also, the feet tend to come off if you don't remove the boots carefully.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005 16:24
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#3
This is a job for Team America - World Police!
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 16:42
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#4
I hear that the Ann Coulter doll is in protective custudy. Team America is being dispatched to Paris to deal with these heathens! America #uCk Yeah!
#5
I wonder if Bush can work this into SOTU. It would be great to get the world laughing at these guys after their failure to do anything about the elections.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005 17:04
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DECAPITATE G.I. JOE?
Hat Tip Drudge for the image...
All it proves is that Al-Qaeda shops at Wal-Mart or Target... And Zarqawi (as Paul Hogan would say) was behind the door when the brains were handed out!
#9
There will be more Islamic imans condemning the terrorists for violating quranic and hadith verses on graven images then there were imans condemning the terrorists for terrorizing.
Abu'l-Hayyaj al-Asadi told that 'Ali (b. Abu Talib) said to him: Should I not send you on the same mission as Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) sent me? Do not leave an image without obliterating it, or a high grave without leveling It. This hadith has been reported by Habib with the same chain of transmitters and he said: (Do not leave) a picture without obliterating it.
Book 024, Number 5258:
A'isha reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) entered (my apartment) and I had hung (on the door of my apartment) a thin curtain having pictures on it. The colour of his face underwent a change. He then took hold of that curtain and tore it and then said: The most grievous torment for the people on the Day of Resurrection would be for those who try to imitate Allah in the act of creation.
Book 024, Number 5261:
A'isha reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) visited me. and I had a shelf with a thin cloth curtain hanging over it and on which there were portraits. No sooner did he see it than he tore it and the colour of his face underwent a change and he said: A'isha, the most grievous torment from the Hand of Allah on the Day of Resurrection would be for those who imitate (Allah) in the act of His creation. A'isha said: We tore it into pieces and made a cushion or two cushions out of that.
Pulling troops out of Iraq just because the war-torn country's historic democratic elections were over would be counterproductive, Prime Minister John Howard said.
Mr Howard said the larger-than-expected turnout of voters for last Sunday's poll was no reason to bring forward the withdrawal of allied troops from Iraq.
He also warned that terrorists would gain comfort from any troop withdrawal.
"Our military presence is obviously a lot smaller than that of the United States and the United Kingdom, but from our point of view this would be a bad time to immediately start talking about withdrawal," he told reporters in Singapore.
"Now is the time to provide the reassurance.
"Now there will come a time when withdrawal will be appropriate, but certainly to talk about it now, would be in my view, counterproductive."
Mr Howard was in Singapore for a one-day visit which included high-level talks with his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.
On Wednesday Mr Howard will visit the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh to oversee the work of the massive relief effort under way there.
His comments about troops in Iraq came as Labor admitted Australia would need to keep troops in Iraq as long as Australian diplomats faced a security threat there.
Former opposition leader Mark Latham came under sustained government attack leading up to the October 9 federal election over Labor's proposal to withdraw troops by last Christmas.
In the wake of democratic elections in Iraq and as new Opposition Leader Mr Beazley tries to take a strong stand on foreign policy, Labor is reassessing its position on Iraq.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said Labor was in the process of working out how Australia could best help the Iraqi people.
"In the period ahead we will, ourselves as the opposition, be consulting with the Iraqi government, the United States and the United Nations on the best way of providing practical assistance to the Iraqi people in the months ahead," he said.
Mr Beazley wants the government to use its influence with the US to encourage it not to become engaged in civil war in Iraq.
But he acknowledged Australia would need a troop presence as long as Australian diplomats faced security issues in Iraq.
Australian diplomats have been moved to the US and Australian military headquarters, known as Camp Victory, following repeated attacks on the Australian embassy in a residential suburb in Baghdad.
"(The diplomats) have to be protected ... and that of course means at least some degree of Australian troop presence will be necessary while ever they are under threat," Mr Beazley said.
As it reconsiders its approach, Labor wants the government to clearly enunciate its exit strategy from Iraq.
"It's time for John Howard and Alexander Downer to make absolutely plain to the Australian people ... what are the benchmarks which they believe must be met in order for there to be an Australian troop withdrawal," Mr Rudd said.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer ignored the Labor call, saying it would be a betrayal to the Iraqi people for Australia to pull out now.
"I think people who think the best way ahead for Iraq is to cut and run, and for the international community now to turn its back on Iraq and hand the country over to (terrorists), ... are people who would want us to betray the Iraqi people," he said.
Next article: Reveal abortion plan, Nats senator told
Previous article: Howard to visit tsunami-hit Aceh
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005
3:51:10 PM ||
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The U.S. military said Tuesday that no American soldiers have been reported missing in Iraq after a Web statement claimed that an American soldier had been taken hostage.
The authenticity of the statement and photo could not be verified, and Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci of the U.S. military's press office in Baghdad said "no units have reported anyone missing."
The posting, on a Web site that frequently carries militants' statements, included a photo of what that statement said was an American soldier, wearing desert fatigues and seated on a concrete floor with his hands tied behind his back.
But questions were raised about the authenticity of a photo purporting to show a hostage with a gun to his head. The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless.
Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA, inc., said the image of the soldier portrayed in the photo bore a striking resemblance to a military action figure made by the company.
May God rest your soul.
Gilbert Bennion, one of Australia's last links with World War I, has been buried at a ceremony in northern New South Wales. Mr Bennion, who was affectionately known as Gillie, died last week aged 106. He was born in north Queensland in 1898 and enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in August 1918, but the war finished before he was able to serve overseas.
Mr Bennion worked with Queensland Railways for 51 years and was the last station master at Coolangatta. About 100 people gathered at South Tweed for the service, in which Mr Bennion was buried with his station master's cap. Family friend Rod Bates, who delivered the eulogy, told the gathering that Mr Bennion was the quintessential good bloke. "Gillie loved his life and approached it in a humorous and inquisitive way, all 106 years of it," he said. Mr Bennion is survived by his daughter Shirley, son Neville and extended family.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005
3:49:14 PM ||
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... The FBI is investigating a radical Islamic Web site that posted photos and information about people who use an Internet chat room frequented by a Jersey City man whose family was murdered Jan. 14.
The Web site, barsomyat.com, contained detailed information about some users of the PalTalk.com chat service whom the site's members accuse of being outspoken critics of Islam, according to published reports.
An FBI spokesman confirmed Monday that federal investigators are probing whether the site -which is run by a Jordanian -played any role in the murders of Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their daughters, Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8. The family was discovered bound and stabbed to death in their Jersey City Heights home.
Hossam Armanious was an active participant in PalTalk.com discussions, using the nickname "I Love Jesus," according to friends. Armanious, a Coptic Orthodox Christian from Egypt, would often engage in heated debates with Muslims in the site's religious chat rooms, and family members have speculated that the murders stemmed from these discussions and his attempts to convert Muslims to Christianity.
"We are aware of that site, and we are looking at it," FBI spokesman John Conway said. "It's an interesting site to say the least. ... It's unknown to anybody right now what credence to put into this."
It also is not known whether any photos of Hossam Armanious or other personal information were posted on the site prior to the murders. Users of the PalTalk service communicate via instant messaging, voice and, often, Web cams. Members of the barsomyat.com site apparently scanned the chat rooms to identify opponents.
The information was then posted with photos of the person. In one case, according to The New York Sun, a barsomyat.com post about a Christian man included his PalTalk nickname, photograph, real name and the city in which he lives, all hacked from his home computer.
Before the site was taken down Monday by its Minnesota hosting company, it contained photos of Hossam Armanious and Amal Garas. It called Armanious a "filthy dog" and Garas "his filthy wife," according to the paper. A screenshot of barsomyat.com was posted on another Web site, Jihadwatch.com.
"They were slaughtered along with their children as a punishment from the heavens to those who curse the most divine of all who were created," one member of barsomyat.com is quoted as writing.
Several Muslim community leaders said on Monday that they were unaware of the existence of the Web site and denounced it when told about the content.
"It is very sick," said Mohamed El Filali, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Passaic County. "Nobody should be harmed because of a person's opinion."
...
#2
Accordin to a posting in
Jihad watch (Advisory: gruesome) there are some additional details on how they were murdered which seem to indicate that they were murdered by muslims and that none of the family jewelry were stolen.
#3
...reporters, stinking reporters, we dont need no stinken reporters....it would break the rules to investigate Muslim extremists....now Christians thats different stuff...the rumbling herd of crickets falling all over themselves, hounding every little nook and crany of Christendom....Perhaps we should chop a few heads at the Old York Times!
A close friend of Hossam Armanious and relatives of the family murdered in New Jersey have revealed the following:
Shortly after the murders, members of the Egyptian consulate went to visit the family to encourage them to keep quiet. And many family members have obeyed, saying nothing to reporters or anyone else. However, two family members and another Copt viewed the bodies at the funeral home. One of these eyewitnesses said that he clearly saw that the family members had not suffered "stab wounds to the throat," as the prosecutor's report states, but rather the following:
A. Both adults, Hossam and Amal, had a horizontal slit across the throat. Below the slit, on the left, right and middle of the throat were three holes, big enough so that one could place a finger in each hole. According to the eyewitness, it was as if the assailant(s) took a knife and turned it repeatedly in a circular fashion, as if to screw holes into the victims' necks.
B. The two young girls, Sylvia (15) and Monica (8), also had a horizontal slits in their throats, along with two holes bored below the slits, one on the right and one on the left sides of their necks. The holes were similar to those on their parents' necks.
C. The eyewitness said although the bodies of the victims were all covered, he was able to see the arms of the little girl Monica. Although the tattoo of the cross inside Monica's wrist was not defaced, he saw that her wrists were cut. He was not able to see the wrists of the other victims to see if the crosses on their wrists were defaced.
D. Though the family wants to reserve judgment until the results of the case are released, they did say that the way the four family members were bound and gagged and the way their throats were slit with holes carved is similar to executions that are shown on al-Jazeera. The American public is not aware of this because the details of the executions are not often described in news accounts.
Amal Garas's father said that (contrary to many news reports and CAIR's press release) none of the family's jewelry was taken, and that Amal owned some quite expensive pieces that were not touched. At the time of her murder, Amal was wearing a ring worth $3,500 that was not taken.
Garas's father also has been speaking with the detectives and the prosecutor on the case. He was told that the results of the autopsy would not be ready until March 14. However, an inside source in one of New Jersey's police departments said that the results of autopsy and toxicology reports are known within 48 hours after the bodies are discovered. This source has worked on such cases for many years. He said that the department knows the results, but as in similar cases intends to wait a month or two before they release them to the family. During that time long reports are written to cross the t's and dot the i's for the family, but the final results are not much different from what is discovered within the first 48 hours. So all of the press reports about waiting for the prosecutor's findings on the autopsies are nonsense. Though the investigators are looking at Sylvia's computer and other evidence, the findings on the autopsy for the most part are already in.
A reporter who is closely following this case said that this delay was because the police and prosecutor want this case to go away. They want things to cool down. That's why they set the autopsy date as March 14, two months after the murders.
It is still possible that this wasn't a Muslim hate crime. The problem is that investigators have not taken the necessary steps to ensure a fair review of the evidence. There are too many holes here, too many inconsistencies in the official story. Too many obvious tasks have not been done: an Armanious family friend with whom I spoke, who gave me names and motives of possible perpetrators, is still waiting for a call from investigators.
Investigators seem to be following dead ends more assiduously than live leads. A Muslim has told police in Jersey City that there is an Islamic custom in Egypt: a life for a life. He said that is what may have happened in this case. Some news reports are referring to this when they say they're looking into the family's activities in Egypt before they came to the U.S. in 1997. Said prosecutor Edward DeFazio, "It could be that it's a vendetta that might go back to the old country. We're going to try to look into that." However, those close to Hossam Armanious maintain that he didn't have any enemies, and certainly never took anyone's life in Egypt or here; nor did anyone in his family.
This background information may illuminate why this investigation has been so curiously lacking:
There are a number of clergy in the Coptic community who are in bed with the Egyptian government. Some even act as agents for the Mubarak regime. Coptic clergy who won't cooperate are often exiled into the Egyptian desert, where they live a very difficult life.
Many Coptic women have been kidnapped by Muslims. Some of these women are being kidnapped with the help of the compromised clergy. The priest hears a girl's confession and then passes on information he hears there to Muslim kidnappers, who decide which girls they want to take. Many of these women are forced to marry Muslim men and are never seen again.
A number of Muslims have infiltrated the Coptic community, pretending to be Christians in order to gather information. Jersey City has a large number of Copts. Some of this infiltration has taken place there; some of the Coptic clergy there are also compromised. However, most Copts trust their clergy wholeheartedly, making it easy for the moles to operate.
What do those compromised clergymen want? The answer possibly has to do with a fact revealed by a number of other sources, including one within a New Jersey police department: the Egyptian government is pressuring the police and prosecutor to make this case disappear. Where are the mainstream media reporters contacting the Egyptian consulate to find out whether or not this is true?
#1
Many Coptic women have been kidnapped by Muslims. Some of these women are being kidnapped with the help of the compromised [Coptic]clergy. The priest hears a girlâs confession and then passes on information he hears there to Muslim kidnappers, who decide which girls they want to take. Many of these women are forced to marry Muslim men and are never seen again.
Baloney.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/01/2005 23:10
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This jives with what I've heard earlier:
1) Egyption Coptic women being 'tricked' in siging a document converting to Islam (sometimes its via a 'your check is bad - sign this to fix it' type of thing). This occurs in Egypt. Of course once the document is signed they cannot leave islam because they will be (and have been) killed -- all with a wink from the Egyption authorities...)
2) The Egyption Coptics *ARE* being persecuted in egypt by the 'peaceful' muslims and the authorities are doing nothing about it. Wasn't there a case of a priest being drowned in a car a while back.
You know its pretty sad when a religion is so awful that they have to use threats of force and death to keep their followers. That is a very good sign of a Cult and Islam has all the stamps of a cult.
I dont know about the 'compromised' clergy. Perhaps they are 'cowardly' clergy who are threated with death by the 'religion of peace'.....
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Deprived of their flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, pizza deliveries and long visits from lovers, inmates at Mexico's top security prison complained on Monday they are being treated "like dogs."
A government crackdown in prisons, aimed especially at drug lords and other violent criminals, has the prisoners of La Palma jail close to Mexico City up in arms at the "subhuman" conditions they face.
On Monday, they paid for a full-page advertisement in Mexico's top daily Reforma and called on President Vicente Fox to respect their human rights. They also want the right to buy the soft drinks of their choice from the jail's small store.
Over the past month, Fox has sent troops into prisons across Mexico, including La Palma. In cell-by-cell searches, soldiers have stripped inmates of their illegal luxuries. Conjugal visits have been halted too.
High-profile jailed drug lords have been switched to other prisons to break up their in-jail rackets and to make it more difficult to run their cartels from behind bars.
It was not clear who paid for the advertisement that was signed simply "La Palma inmates." Powerful prisoners in Mexican jails have long enjoyed privileges, whereas rank and file criminals are often abused by jailers.
In the advertisement, La Palma's prisoners claim hooded guards are now torturing them. They say they are only being served one cold meal a day, at 1 a.m.
"People dressed in black, blue and gray, covering their faces with ski masks, constantly come into our cells and hit us and kick us, telling us that for real social rehabilitation, we have to obey orders and we are only going to understand that through violence," the prisoners said.
"This is degrading us, treating us like dogs, like animals, like we are worthless, telling us that we are in this place to be severely punished because we are the scum of society," they said.
"We only ask to be treated like the humans we are ... The fact that we have been deprived of our freedom in no way means that our most basic rights have stopped as Mexican citizens. Therefore we ask for clemency so that justice be done and our human rights respected," they said.
#3
Maybe they can start up an exchange program with the Bangladeshi cops. They can show the Mexicans the old "moonlit ride in the middle of the night" trick.
#6
make sure the flammables are in the cells, not the hallways
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 19:10
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#7
---This is degrading us, treating us like dogs, like animals, like we are worthless, telling us that we are in this place to be severely punished because we are the scum of society," they said.--
EFL
In spite of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, Egypt is still preparing for a possible military confrontation with Israel.
"Despite the temporary improvement in the geo-political conditions in our region, there are certain processes working against us and therefore I am not optimistic," Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said at a committee meeting Monday. "Egypt is the only country in the region that is preparing for the possibility of a military confrontation with Israel," he added later.
Steinitz cited the ability of countries like Syria and Egypt to deploy long-range missiles that could reach any point in Israel, and said he believed the ability of those countries to strike at the heart of the country could complicate the call-up of Israel Defense Forces reservists.
"Their ability to strike at air bases at the start of a confrontation concerns me, and therefore we must develop tactical missiles," he said. "It is a cardinal mistake not to have done so earlier."
#1
Egypt may have long-range missiles, but what do they do when they get to their destination? I'll bet they don't erase entire cities. Think about it, Egypt.
#2
Egypt may have long-range missiles, but what do they do when they get to their destination? I'll bet they don't erase entire cities. Think about it, Egypt.
A US federal judge ruled that military tribunals for international terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base are unconstitutional, leaving in doubt the fate of hundreds of detainees at the US-run detention center in Cuba.
After considering court appeals filed by 11 "enemy combatants" held at the facility, "the court concludes that the petitioners have stated valid claims under the Fifth Amendment to the United State Constitution," Judge Joyce Hens Green wrote in her ruling, adding that the detentions "violate the petitioners rights to due process of law."
The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution states that no one under US jurisdiction can be "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
The court also found that some of the detainees, are in fact, covered by the Geneva Conventions.
"The court holds that at least some of the petitioners have stated valid claims under the third Geneva Convention," according to a declassifed version of the federal ruling which was posted Monday on the court's website.
Green ruled that US officials withheld from detainees access to evidence used against them, and that the US government has tended to rely on statements obtained by torture. She also determined that the government's definition of "enemy combatant" was vague and overly broad.
Suspects captured in the US-led war on terrorism, most of whom were taken prisoner in Afghanistan after US-led forces toppled the Taliban regime, or Pakistan, are being held as illegal combatants without Geneva Convention protections.
Detainees at Guantanamo were taken into custody beginning in early 2002, with some imprisoned now for nearly three years, while others were captured as recently as September of last year.
"Although many of these individuals may never have been close to an actual battlefield and may never have raised conventional arms against the United States or its allies, the military nonetheless has deemed them detainable as 'enemy combatants' based on conclusions that they have ties to the Al-Qaeda terror network or other terrorist organizations," the court document said.
The US government has maintained that it is allowed to detain suspects it designates to be enemy combatants until the "war on terror" ends, which is to say indefinitely. If prosecuted and convicted, enemy combatants would receive fixed terms of incarceration.
In a statement after the ruling, attorneys for the detainees called Monday's court decision a "smashing defeat for the Bush administration" and "a momentous victory for the rule of law, for human rights, and for our democracy."
"Now it's time for this administration to act. We're calling on the White House to cease its tactics," the attorneys said.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/01/2005
2:20:49 AM ||
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#1
This ruling conflicts with an equal and opposite ruling from a different federal judge, which almost certainly means that it is put on hold pending appeal.
#2
The Geneva convention applies because they are part of Al-Qaeda? So where, oh stupid and foolish judge, did Binny sign the Geneva convention?
And you might want to ask Nick Berg and the thousands of other innocent victims who were deliberately targetted and murdered what they think abou it.
I maintain that we *cant* apply the Geneva convention to terrorists because doing so would remove any incentive for anyone else to abide by it.
The main reason for abiding by the Geneva Convention is to insure your people are treated as well. Give them a pass and the convention isn't worth the paper its signed on.
#6
I assume she is a Clinton appointment? I recommend the government ignore this dingbat and appeal.
The court system in this country is ill suited to fight the war on terror. These âlawyerâ who pursue these cases do this for a living. They went to school so they can destroy the US using our own laws. They do nothing else. They pursue court cases that eat up money and court time that will further their own usually communist or radical socialist agenda. Our country is a nation of laws but there are just to many lawyers. Most of them are up to no good. I consider all of them dangerous enemies of our personal liberty and well being until they prove otherwise.
Posted by: SPOD ||
02/01/2005 9:38
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which is the declaration of war. Combatants are held till the war is over. BTW no treaty was approved to end WWI, Congress just repealed the declaration of war to end hostilities.
#8
The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution states that no one under US jurisdiction can be "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
Funny, and all this time I thought the Constitution applied to U.S. citizens, not just anyone under U.S. "jurisdiction." Another, seemingly obvious question is, if these guys never set foot on U.S. soil, are not U.S. citizens, are not part of a foreign national army, then HOW IN THE WORLD can the US Constitution (much less the Geneva Conventions) apply to them? But, what do I know, I'm just a dumb redneck red-stater, who actually thought the laws mean what they say.
Posted by: BA ||
02/01/2005 10:09
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#9
BA, that would be probably the case if there were no lawyers. Unfortunately, they hatch all the time.
#11
I think that since the judge doesn't think the tribunals are "legal" maybe the gitmo crowd can go live with him? This is all LLL crap, because we have have NEVER extended the fifth amendment to unlawful combatants in any conflict. There really ought to be a way to recall judges that make shit up on the bench.
#13
HOW IN THE WORLD can the US Constitution (much less the Geneva Conventions) apply to them?
Well I'm not a constitutional lawyer, but isn't the Bill of Rights meant to restrict the powers of the government? And isn't the government composed of citizens?
So when the Bill of Rights says "No person shall be held...etc, etc" isn't that correctly interpreted as "WE FORBID YOU, O GOVERNMENT OF OURS, TO HOLD ANY PERSON...etc, etc"?
If you had meant it to say "No citizen" rather than "No person" then you should have said "No citizen" in the first place. Because "no person" seems to me to be both specific and concise in applying to all people, whether citizens or not -- the same way it applies to people of all colors, people of both genders, people regardless of age, it makes sense to also apply to people regardless of citizenship.
#14
This "judgement" is pretty damned stupid, but not much of a surprise. The U.S. government, by not moving more swiftly to get the tribunals going, practically invited court challenges.
#16
"Lord have mercy. Aris is back, explaining our Constitution to us."
Seems like you needed it.
But if it makes you feel better I've used the same arguments about what the Bill of Rights means that I've been taught in Rantburg by Rantburgers, especially about the Bill of Rights applies to the *government* (in order to restrict it, rather than "give" rights to people that they already have by their nature) and also about how "specific and concise" the document is.
You will no longer be able to claim your constitution as "specific" or "clear" if the word "person" is used to mean "citizen" instead.
Deal. If Rantburg teaches me something, I'm not obliged to apply it only in the cases that Rantburgers would like.
#17
Bill of Rights, Amendment V:
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger..."
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
There you go -- we'll hold them until the end of the WOT. Shouldn't last more than a hundred years or so.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 12:53
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#18
Seems like you needed it.
So Aris has determined that releasing armed terrorists are what we need?
How's about, Greek Boy, we decide we no longer need you breathing and posting to Rantburg. Fair enough?
#19
Thanks, Tom, what an "enlightening" expose to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. As long as the war's on, all bets are off for the jihadis we capture, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
02/01/2005 13:16
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#20
So Aris has determined that releasing armed terrorists are what we need?
I think that what you need is start knowing what your own constitution says. And if you don't like what it says, then you should change it according to the process set forth therein.
How's about, Greek Boy, we decide we no longer need you breathing and posting to Rantburg. Fair enough? Do you agree this is something you "need?"
Why, badanov, you are so macho and Christian and stuff! I'd swoon before your manly man's presence if I wasn't tremendously amused by your ravings instead! :D
As a sidenote I wonder if impled threats falls under "ad hominem" or they are in a category of their very own. :-)
Anyway, unless your other name is Fred, not yours to judge whether I should post here.
Tom> As long as it's conceded that "person" does indeed mean "person" and not just white personcitizen, I don't much care whether you'll use other elements of that amendment to call Guantanamo prisons constitutional.
Stop with the "we" unless there are multiple personalities in there. You only speak for yourself.
And I'm sure you've decided what I "need" already. Too bad (for you) you've no more power in this forum than I do, namely the one to make posts. This ofcourse had been annoying enough by itself when some other people had decided that I "needed" to be stalked, harassed, trolled, etc. But c'est la vie.
Typically, Aris is cherry picking the questions he will answer
Yes. Some questions are beneath contempt and undeserving of answers. But as I've done you the favour to reply, why don't you answer me this question instead: "Does person mean person, or does it mean citizen? And if it meant citizen, why didn't it say 'citizen' in the first place?"
#24
Oh, dear sweet God, there goes the bandwidth again....
Look, Aris, we have this thing called "judge shopping". You look for a judge that is more than likely sympathetic to your cause. That doesn't mean it is going to be upheld on appeal.
More than likely, the government will appeal this to a higher court, then they'll appeal...until it gets to the Supreme Court. This is just part of the game. Nothing has been resolved.
The only thing the defendants' lawyers are trying to do is make sure they are covered by the Constitution, not by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Constitutional rights are far more broad than those that military personnel serve under.....which, I am sure, you will discover once you enlist.
The judge hasn't resolved a damn thing by saying they are covered somewhat by the Geneva Convention. That would make them regular prisoners of war.....covered by the UCMJ if I am correct. Tom's quote from the 5th Amendment also backs that up.
This isn't a case of debating whether these guys broke into a liquor store and committed an armed robbery. These are individuals fighting against the United States. It's just one of the first rounds in determining if they are "combatants" or "individuals covered by the Constitution".
#25
Actually as I remember from my old public school 'history' class (for what thats worth).... at the time the consitution was initially written 'person' did not include the slaves of the southern states.
Having said that I dont think the consitution applies to enemy combatants (legal or illegal) taken on foeign soil - that is a far, far, reach especially if the geneva convention does not apply.
#26
CF is right, Aris. Person back then meant different things than it does now. And, as Tom's quote shows, it does NOT apply to those brought up during times of war (which this is) by our military.
Posted by: BA ||
02/01/2005 15:11
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#27
This totally ingnores any secret "Presidental Findings" that maybe in force. Findings can involve interesting marshall law based narrow rulings....
Anybody know how many obf these are still in force?
Anybody know who wrote the oldest one still in force? I am betting either Lincoln or Wilson.
#28
I know someone down there right now who says that 99% of the detainees that he has come in contact with are the most disgusting examples of riffraff imaginable. Murderous, violent and utterly depraved.
Tom is exactly right - they have no protection under the US constitution. If some bleeding heart asshat Judge sees it otherwise - well thats the way the ball bounces, until that decision gets over turned.
Personally, in the WoT, I wouldn't take prisoners. No quarter offered - none given.
You know nothing of America or Americans Aris.
#29
Please don't feed the troll. Don't feed him and he will starve or go away.
It much easier than arguments with a person who can never admit they are incorrect, have their heads up their ass or, lack the life experience to even know the difference between their head and their butt.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 16:07
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#31
Those who get their miracles second hand should STFU and listen, not talk. Endlessly. Pointlessly. Drunkenly. Foolishly. "Meeeeeee! It's all about meeeeeee!"
"I find that, as a rule, when a thing is a wonder to us it is not because of what we see in it, but because of what others have seen in it. We get almost all our wonders at second hand... By and by you sober down, and then you perceive that you have been drunk on the smell of somebody else's cork."
-Twain, Following the Equator
#32
CF and BA, as I've indicated in #20, I am quite well aware that once upon a time you'd had "person" mean "white person", denying humanity and personhood from slaves.
It's yours to decide whether you want to use such a logic again, this time denying humanity and personhood from all non-citizens. With a little bit of effort I'm sure you can also deny humanity and personhood from everyone who didn't vote for Bush.
#33
Sike, you are yourself a constructed non-person with a fake trollish name -- judging from examples of your type I am guessing you have probably been posting in this forum with atleast two other names. .com's "Meeee!" babble identifies him likewise with the non-person "It's all about me" who trolled several threads a while back.
And you are talking about the futility of arguing with me? Those who are too big a bunch of intellectual cowards to even attempt to hold a consistent identity? Those who unlike me, *don't* ever talk about the issue or back their words with anything other than ad hominems?
That's kinda rich about the ad hominems....coming from a guy who seemingly couldn't stop calling people "idiots" on Saturday.....
And, yes, Aris, we all feel like non-citizens of the US don't count. No one but our own citizens have humanity and personhood. We proved it this weekend with a little election in Iraq, brought to you courtesy of the Americans, Brits, Aussies, Poles, Italians, and other members of the coalition of the willing.
#35
Aris - That's kinda rich about the ad hominems....coming from a guy who seemingly couldn't stop calling people "idiots" on Saturday.....
I didn't use "idiot" as an argument (that'd be the ad hominem fallacy), I used it as an insult.
Remove the insult and my post remains my post, and complete with arguments. Remove the personal attacks from .com's or Sike's posts, and you've managed a 100% reduction in content.
That's a bit of a difference.
and, yes, Aris, we all feel like non-citizens of the US don't count. No one but our own citizens have humanity and personhood.
I know you don't believe that, which is exactly why I'm trying to make you people understand what is actually implied by a claim that "No person" actually means "No citizen".
If you actually believed in the non-personhood of non-US citizens there'd be no point in pointing the implication out or the connection with slavery era arguments.
#37
See my point, Desert Blondie? I dare you to try to find any hint of an argument in .com's posts in this thread. Just mockery and insult. Content: 0%
#41
Aris, I ain't the playground monitor here, so don't even think of dragging me into that.
It doesn't matter one damn bit about what "person" meant during the slavery era. We left that era behind a long time ago. We have also determined that "person" means females, too, which it didn't back then. And other non-whites. Case closed.
We can debate what the founders' meant by "person" forever, and it adds nothing to the current discussion, which is, do these evil-minded blood-thirsty killers (or killer wannabes) deserve Constitutional protection, protection under the Geneva Convention, or the UCMJ? Their citizenship has very little to do with it (see John Walker Lindh if you don't believe me...he was looking at UCMJ punishment, and he's a citizen).
(note to .com -- I already have that shirt, can I trade it for some other valuable prize? Just kidding.... ;) )
#54
and it adds nothing to the current discussion, which is, do these evil-minded blood-thirsty killers (or killer wannabes) deserve Constitutional protection, protection under the Geneva Convention, or the UCMJ?
I think that besides asking about whether they "deserve" it, you should also ask whether they have it -- regardless of what they "deserve".
badanov, you've still not replied to the question, even though you whined multiple times about not me answering yours -- hypocrite.
#58
me me me me me
boo boo boo boo bee
me me me me me
ma ma ma ma meee
half wits in the night
Posted by: abu Frank S ||
02/01/2005 20:08
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#59
Damn fine answer Bad!
Is it hot in here or is it meeeeeeeeeee?
Posted by: FireBall Roberts ||
02/01/2005 20:10
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#60
hypocrite? there's a bonus big drink right there - tip up everybdy!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 20:16
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#61
"Does person mean person, or does it mean citizen? And if it meant citizen, why didn't it say 'citizen' in the first place?"
sweet bejeebus! goddamer ima guesn im only one heren looker up em dicshenary:
per·son ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pûrsn)
n.
1. A living human. Often used in combination: chairperson; spokesperson; salesperson.
2.An individual of specified character: a person of importance.
3.The composite of characteristics that make up an individual personality; the self.
4.The living body of a human: searched the prisoner's person.
5.Physique and general appearance.
6.Law. A human or organization with legal rights and duties.
7.Christianity. Any of the three separate individualities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as distinguished from the essence of the Godhead that unites them.
8.Grammar.
Any of three groups of pronoun forms with corresponding verb inflections that distinguish the speaker (first person), the individual addressed (second person), and the individual or thing spoken of (third person).
Any of the different forms or inflections expressing these distinctions.
9.A character or role, as in a play; a guise: âWell, in her person, I say I will not have youâ (Shakespeare).
#63
*nods* I ought to have remember that actual argument about a topic is anathema for most conservatives, same as thinking and facts are. No idea that needs to use more than the lizard-brain is allowed.
Drink away, fucktards. When you've destroyed all remaining brain-cells you'll have evaded the need for even the pretense at the eeeevil burden of thought.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 20:32
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#65
Oooooh, Aris is pissssed with you guys. He's my buddy today -- we actually agreed on something (#23). That's why he's not charging me with stalking and obsession today. Yet.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 20:32
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#66
fine! buyer you own goddam dicshenary nex time then!
I can't cover every eventuality, but I guess we will have to monitor this thread to gather together all his tendencies for the enhanced Aris: The Drinking Game rules
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 20:49
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#74
Muck - oh so true - you are a good-hearted sage for the times - I was late to realize that, and for that, I apologize
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 20:52
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#75
Oh, damn, I step away for a moment and see what happens?
So...now that Aris confused what I meant about the word "deserve", as in, under what rules should we handle these guys, and then stalked off, does that mean I gotta provide the Sauza for everyone?
Thank God Albertsons has it on sale.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 21:09
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#77
The judge is wrong.
The Constitution holds for all persons (now that Mucky so graciously defined the term) within the territories governed by the government of the U.S.A. at the time, ie Guam and Puerto Rico and suchlike as well as the 50 states. However, the Constitution does not hold in the Dar al somethingorother where a war is going on, or in other countries, where their own laws hold sway or, often enough, on Army bases (yes, all the other services, too. Give me a break here!).
In the case of the GITMO prisoners, they were captured a) on the battlefield but not in uniform, b) by other governments and turned over to the Armed Forces for sequestering, or c) while planning, attempting or subsequent to a terrorist event. Only those who are captured on a battlefield while in official uniform are subject to the Geneva Conventions, that is to be sequestered until the war is over, then repatriated; the G.C. specifically repudiates those who skulk around in civilian dress and hide themselves amongst the civilian population -- they can be treated as spies and summarily killed upon capture, or otherwise become the property of their captors.
The argument could be made that GITMO is U.S. territory, but the persons imprisoned there are in no way proper soldiers captured in battle, nor are they arrested for breaking American law on American territory who would be subject to American courts.
Just one person's opinion, for what its worth. Hope you find it helpful, Aris.
#78
these assholes have perpetrated crimes of war by not adhering to the Geneva accords. Kill.Them.Now*
or as soon as we're done wringing anything useful from them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 21:36
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#79
I heard about this today on Boortz. Apparently the judge tried to connect the dots that since Gitmo is considered sovereign U.S. territory (as any overseas base is) that somehow these jihadis rate constitutional protection as they are being held on U.S. territory, (if they rate the constitution then geneva usually follows suit). I think she's dead wrong but that was her reasoning (or lack there of).
The FBI last year quietly nabbed a Saudi military official who had ties to Al Qaeda - just after he finished training in this country with the U.S. Air Force, the Daily News has learned. The Saudi allegedly had knowledge of Al Qaeda safe houses and plans in the kingdom, intelligence sources said.
FBI agents stopped and quizzed the suspect and his family at a U.S. airport as they were leaving the country. The military man was allowed to return to Saudi Arabia, where he was detained and interrogated further, sources said.
As a result, arrests of other Al Qaeda operatives were made overseas, sources said.
"An Al Qaeda sympathizer who was in the Saudi military was here in training," said a senior U.S. official briefed on the case. "There were some significant rollups because of this."
The FBI discovered the man's ties to Al Qaeda and brought in Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents because he had attended one of the service's schools, the sources said.
Saudi Embassy officials in Washington did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.
The incident was disclosed in an OSI publication in a year-end column written by the group's commander, Air Force Brig. Gen. Eric Patterson. "We spearheaded a successful anti-terrorism operation with the FBI, which identified an active Al Qaeda sympathizer who attended training at an Air Force technical school," Patterson wrote in Global Reliance magazine, a bimonthly read by OSI agents.
"We have since established a process to screen and monitor activities of foreign students to focus on early discovery of other possible penetrations. In addition to capturing that Al Qaeda member in the United States, 51 others were arrested overseas," Patterson wrote.
Other sources expressed skepticism that the number eventually collared was as many as Patterson claimed.
An OSI spokesman wouldn't say what type of Air Force training the Saudi officer got, but confirmed that an identified Al Qaeda sympathizer "was sent back to the host nation."
"Saudi Arabia continues to be the single biggest producer and fund-raiser of terror," said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn, Queens) after learning of the case from a News reporter. "When will we learn?"
#1
Another side benefit of the Vast Eductional/Government industrial complex, stuff schools with as many "students" as possible, not worry though about status,illegal or otherwise.
oh well, at least they caught one!
Posted by: give us your tired.your homici.... ||
02/01/2005 16:24
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#2
KSA is the money and enabler for AQ. It is a state policy to enable these clown. When will this government get a clue?
Posted by: SPOD ||
02/01/2005 17:04
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Benon Sevan, the United Nations official in charge of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, intervened in person to steer lucrative contracts to an oil trader, Iraqi officials have told the UN's independent inquiry.
Their testimony, consistent with documents that have emerged since the fall of Saddam Hussein, adds to questions facing Mr Sevan as investigations into alleged corruption progress. The interim findings of the UN inquiry, led by Paul Volcker, are due to be published this week.snip
Documents from Iraq's state oil marketing organisation (Somo), now in the possession of the Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, appear to link Mr Sevan to the assigning of contracts to Africa Middle East Petroleum, a Swiss-based oil trading company. Oil contracts which could be sold to international traders at a mark-up of up to 35 cents a barrel were awarded by the regime for every six-month phase.
The Somo documents show that, unusually, AMEP was added to recipients in the middle of Phase Four (May-November 1998) after a visit to Baghdad by Mr Sevan. One letter, dated August 10 1998, was from Saddam Zayn Hassan, Somo's executive manager, to Iraq's oil minister. Translated from Arabic, it mentions AMEP as "the company that Mr Sevan cited to you during his last trip to Baghdad".
No evidence of any financial relationship between AMEP and Mr Sevan has been established but investigators want to know what this letter means. Mr Sevan would not talk to the media while the investigations continue, his spokesman said.
AMEP signed its first contract on September 24 1998. In every subsequent phase except one, Mr Sevan's name appears in Somo documents, several times next to that of AMEP. AMEP's head is Fakhri Abdelnour, an Egyptian relative of former UN secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali and one of the oil traders who helped South Africa bust anti-apartheid sanctions in the 1980s.
Investigators have been told that Mr Abdelnour often mentioned Mr Sevan when visiting Baghdad's oil ministry. Mr Abdelnour says he never received allocations from Mr Sevan and met him only once "on a casual basis" in the lobby of a hotel in Vienna during an meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Parallel inquiries by investigators working for the US Congress are scrutinising statements by Mr Sevan that he received tens of thousands of dollars in cash annually from an aunt in Cyprus.
Inquiries by the FT and Il Sole suggest Mr Sevan's only close relative in Cyprus was Berjouhi Zeytountsian, an aunt who raised him after his parents' death. Ms Zeytountsian died in June. On March 23, she fell into an elevator shaft. Police, who declared her death an accident, never had a chance to interview her.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
2:11:53 AM ||
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since Volker's been shown to have obvious conflicts of interest, I suppose nothing will come of this. "Nothing to see here", right, Spike?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 9:47
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EFL
The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday told Israel it had arrested the Palestinian man who opened fire in the southern Gaza Strip the day before, possibly hitting a 10-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl. How much press will this story get, compared to the original version in which Israel is identified as the culprit?
*crickets chirping*
PA security forces had confiscated the man's weapon. The PA did not, however, specify whether the arrested man was suspected of having shot Nuran Dib. She was killed in Rafah under still undetermined circumstances, and Hamas, on the assumption that the girl was killed by Israel Defense Forces gunfire, retaliated with a barrage of mortar shells into Gush Katif.
Hamas hard boyz have been going nutz, not being able to play with their weapons...
The IDF said the girl was likely shot by Palestinian pilgrims' shooting into the air upon returning from the Hajj, but Hamas said she was shot dead by IDF fire. The 4 P.M. Rafah shooting killed Dib, who was struck in the head by a bullet. A second child, a 7-year-old girl, was hit in the shoulder. Both girls were at the UNRWA school at the time, and since the school is directly opposite and about 500 meters from the IDF's Termit outpost on the Philadelphi corridor, the immediate assumption on the Palestinian side was that troops had fired. But an IDF inquiry found that no Israeli troops in the area had fired their weapons and suspicions fell on Palestinians who were firing guns in celebration of heir successful pilgrimage to Mecca, as stray bullets fired in the air could have landed on the Rafah schoolyard where the girls were playing. Palestinian Authority forces evaded an Israeli offer to conduct a joint inquiry.
"Those Zionists always lie...not like us in Hamas!"
"According to our examination, the girl apparently was not shot by Israeli army gunfire," the military spokesman's office said. But Hamas was not interested in explanations about trajectories and soon after the girl's burial, mortars began landing in Gush Katif. The attacks continued on Tuesday, when Palestinians fired mortar shells at Gaza Strip settlements. Two people suffered from shock after five shells hit settlements and damaged several vehicles. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian police "will pretend to exert every possible effort to stop such firing."
But Hamas threatened further retaliation "if the crimes continue." The military took that to mean the militant group was trying to set a pattern of retaliation for perceived Israeli acts of violence, within the framework of a cease-fire, security officials said. Palestinian militant groups warned in a statement they would resume attacks against Israel in light of what they consider to be an ongoing policy of incursions by the IDF into Palestinian territory, Israel Radio reported Tuesday. The statement was issued jointly by eight groups, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. If Abbas doesn't get rid of them, he will never succeed.
Who sez he wants to succeed?
IDF Intelligence: Hamas part of 'axis of evil'
The quiet in Gaza and the West Bank largely depends on the will of Hamas leaders, who form part of a regional "axis of evil" that opposes regional calm, the head of Military Intelligence said Tuesday. "Everything can cause a break in the calm," Major General Aharon Ze'evi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Ze'evi said Abbas had agreed to let Hamas leaders hold onto their weapons during cease-fire talks, adding that Hamas and Hezbollah are working together to dash any such halt of attacks. "The axis of evil - which includes the Hezbollah, Hamas and Al-Qaida organizations supported by Iran - adamantly opposes calm, and Hamas and Hezbollah are working together to destroy the cease-fire," he said. Ze'evi added that Palestinians were talking only about establishing "calm," rather than a more stable cease-fire or hudna (temporary truce). As I understand "hudna," it means "period of quiet for the purpose of rearming."
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (who lives in Beirut): "There is a talk about pacification," Mashaal said, referring to a truce. "But it is a conditional pacification whereby the (Israeli) occupation must abide by specific conditions. The most important of which is the cessation of all kinds of aggression, invasion, assassination, killings and the release of all Palestinian prisoners."
"If the (Israeli) enemy abides by these conditions, we, in Hamas, and other resistance forces in general, are ready to deal positively with the issue of pacification or temporary truce," Mashaal told the London-based newspaper, which did not say when and where the interview was conducted.
EFL Secretary-General Kofi Annan has selected former U.S. President Clinton to be the U.N. point man for tsunami relief and reconstruction, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday. Annan wants to appoint a special envoy not only to focus on the cleanup and reconstruction but to try to make progress on resolving conflicts with rebels in the two worst-hit countries — Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Eckhard said. Ironically, the report surfaced as The Associated Press obtained a letter by former Sen. Jesse Helms in which he predicts Clinton will try to become the next U.N. secretary-general.
#3
"have y'all seen those pretty brown gals, with leis (heh heh) and umbrella drinks? I could leave the old bat back in New York and get a great tan and sucked like a trailer home in an F4...."
Researchers in Boston have pinpointed a primary trigger for the most common form of diabetes and have uncovered evidence that simple, inexpensive aspirin-like drugs could keep the disease that affects millions in check. The researchers, from Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, discovered a genetic ''master switch" in the liver that is turned on when people become obese. Obesity has long been linked to diabetes, but the reason, until now, has been unknown. Joslin researchers found that once on, this switch produces low-level inflammation, which disrupts the body's ability to process insulin, causing type 2 diabetes.
But the researchers took the finding one step further. Reasoning that aspirin-like drugs are used to quell inflammation, they successfully used the drugs, called salicylates, to eliminate the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in mice. Human tests are already underway in Boston, though no results have been published.
''These drugs, among the safest drugs known, can do a surprisingly good job of toning down this inflammation," said Joslin researcher Dr. Steven E. Shoelson, lead author of the paper. ''These are hopeful ideas for the future." Shoelson warned against rushing out to get salicylates. Their effectiveness has been proved thus far only in mice.
My wife has Type II, so I'll be watching this study. More at the link.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
2:04:43 AM ||
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#1
I have fat mice. They won't take their pills. This looks like a job for mucky.
#2
This is huge! If indeed type II could be controlled by aspirin like drugs it would impact millions of Americans and would decrease health costs by trillions, as diabetes I and II creates many secondary health problems.
Type II and increased risk of heart attack go hand and hand. I wonder if this is the reason why aspirin use decreases the statistical chance for a heart attack.
Next question - why does obesity cause the switch to turn off?
#3
Next question - why does obesity cause the switch to turn off? A possible reason is an evolutionary mechanism to stop people getting too fat. Type II diabetes is most prevalent in populations closest to hunter-gather livestyles, i.e. those least able to control their food supply.
#4
And what will all the diabetes foundations do when their disease is cured?
A woman scientist thought she could solve diabetes using cheap drugs, but no one -- no org would fund it - Iacocca donated $11 million, he wants to see it cured before he dies.
The county of Los Angeles has finally brought some common sense to the way it handles the problem of illegal immigrants in our jails. Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved a measure under which jail officials will work more closely with federal authorities to determine which inmates are illegal immigrants. That way, when the inmates' sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country. Although some immigrant-rights groups have protested the measure -- and Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke voted against it -- this reform will benefit all residents of Los Angeles County, native and foreign-born alike.
Getting convicted criminals out of the country only makes sense as a matter of public safety. Immigrants who come here illegally, then choose to live a life of crime, have no claim on remaining here. And given the limited resources of local law enforcement, it makes no sense to spend time and money arresting and re-trying these very same offenders when they strike again. Considering that it's members of immigrant communities who are most often the victims of such criminals, it would seem that immigrants more than anyone stand to gain from this new policy. And given that only convicted criminals would be affected, the claim that it will keep some immigrants from cooperating with law enforcement seems far-fetched at best. snip
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
1:58:31 AM ||
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That way, when the inmatesâ sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country.
Any chance some lashes could be administered before the deportation?
#2
That way, when the inmatesâ sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country.
I like that they will have them serve their sentences first - otherwise, they just get avoid punishment for their crimes and will catch the next bus back up to the US. This way, they have to serve their time, and then catch the next bus back. It gives us an extra month or two before they can make their way back.
#4
I like that they will have them serve their sentences first..
I dunno about the wisdom of that. While they're incarcerated in our jails, we'd be responsible for these bastards' health and upkeep. I'd settle for immediate deportation (plus lashes) and a beefing up of border security to make sure they stay out. In addition, reinstituting workplace raids would probably be a good move.
Police burst into suspected terrorist hideouts throughout a tranquil suburb Monday, arresting a reputed terror boss and setting off a ferocious gunbattle that killed at least four of his followers and a bystander.
The raid — the fourth in three weeks — reflected a new sense of urgency in the battle to crush Islamic extremists deeply opposed to the presence of U.S. forces in this oil-rich emirate.
Kuwait's prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, called for the "uprooting of this phenomenon and the removal of this cancer before it spreads," Faisal al-Hajji, the acting information minister, told the state-owned Kuwait News Agency on Monday.
Kuwait beefed up security in late December around vital infrastructure, including oil installations, following terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, and soon after the government began conducting raids against suspected militants.
The first two, on Jan. 10 and Jan. 15, sparked clashes that killed two suspects and two police officers. On Sunday, security forces fought with militants in a residential district of Kuwait City in violence that killed three — a militant, a police officer, and a bystander.
Until this month, militants had only struck at U.S. military targets, and the spilling of Kuwaiti blood deeply upset many here. Concerned citizens soon began tipping off police to hidden caches of weapons and explosives, authorities said.
In Monday's raid, which Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adel al-Hashshash called a "spectacular success," police arrested six suspected militants, including alleged ringleader Amer Khlaif al-Enezi. The government said four militants and a bystander were killed, but Kuwait TV reported Monday night that one of the arrested militants, who was wounded in the fighting, had died. It was not known if any suspected insurgents escaped.
The government provided little information on al-Enezi, but a resident of the tribal city of al-Jahra told The Associated Press that he used to preach at a local mosque, exhorting young men to attack Americans, Kuwaiti security forces and even moderate Muslim clerics. The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the preacher, in his 30s, was fired more than six months ago.
The interior minister, Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, said the suspects targeted Monday were part of "an organized terror group," but said their aims and their backers would only be revealed by investigations. Sheik Salem Al Ali Al Sabah, the head of Kuwait's National Guard, has previously linked some local militants to al-Qaida.
The fighting early Monday began when police chased militants from scattered hideouts in Mubarak Al Kabir, a middle-class residential neighborhood south of Kuwait City, according to a police statement. The fighters took refuge in a house and a gunbattle broke out, police said.
Kuwait TV footage showed the house's windows shattered and its walls pocked with holes. Bodies lay face down on the roof in pools of blood and a helicopter hovered ahead. A bearded man lay on his back, hands tied and shivering. Guns and ammunition clips were scattered on a staircase.
The battle was only the latest part of a government crackdown that began when the father of a Muslim extremist told police his son had befriended a group of militants and disappeared.
The son, Fawwaz al-Otaibi, was then killed in the Jan. 10 operation. Several accomplices fled in another car. The ensuing raids targeted al-Otaibi's accomplices, authorities said.
Kuwait, unlike neighboring Saudi Arabia, has not suffered terrorist attacks on residential or government buildings. Extremists operating since 2002 have targeted the U.S. military, killing one U.S. Marine and a U.S. civilian contracted to the military. The U.S. Embassy has said that a building housing Westerners had been targeted.
Kuwait TV said one of the suspects killed Monday was a Saudi, and the three others were stateless Arabs (Palestinians?) who have lived in Kuwait without acquiring citizenship. One of those killed in a previous shootout was Saudi, and several of some 30 suspects in custody were also Saudi.
Kuwait has been a major Washington ally since the 1991 U.S.-led war that liberated it from a seven-month Iraqi occupation under Saddam Hussein.
Oman, which has yet to be hit by terror attacks, said Sunday it had arrested members of an organization that threatened national security. Earlier reports said the government had arrested more than 100 suspected extremists following unconfirmed reports they planned to target a shopping and cultural festival.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
1:55:02 AM ||
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A fair analysis would compare and contrast the similarities and the differences. The author does a good job of cataloguing the differences so I won't repeat them. Here are a few of the similarities:
* Extraterritorial sanctuaries (Laos and Cambodia vs Syria, SA, and Iran)
* Foreign ideological, logistical, and financial suppport (USSR and China vs SA, Syria and Iran)
* Terrorist infrastructure deeply embedded in tribes and villages (VC vs AQ and Ba'athists)
* In some cases, poorly trained militias abandoning posts and giving weapons to terrorists. (RF/PF vs ING)
Understanding the similarities are important because we can mine old databases to see how we dealt with these sorts of problems and shorten our decision cycle (OODA loop seems to be the hip new term) accordingly. By identifying what's different, we can allocate are creative resources more efficiently (let's face it, gifted problem solvers don't grow on trees) to formulate the appropriate responses at the tactical, operational and strategic levels.
#4
Mr. Public: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about your reporting about Iraq what I heard not half an hour ago from this very media service. MSM: Oh yes, it's, uh, just like Vietnam...What's,uh...You understand that, right? Mr. Public: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. It's not true, that's what's wrong with it! MSM: No, no, it's uh,...it's the truth. Mr. Public: Look, matey, I know a Vietnam when I see one, and this is nothing like Vietnam. MSM: No no it's just like Vietnam, Vietnamese everywhere! Remarkable people, those crafty Vietnamese, idn'it, ay? Beautiful culture! Mr. Public: The culture don't enter into it. It's not Vietnam. MSM: Nononono, no, no! Of course it's just like Vietnam! Mr. Public: All right then, if it's Vietnam, I'll wake Walter Cronkite up! (shouting at CBS) 'Ello, Mister Walter Cronkie! I've got a lovely fresh Richard Nixon for you if you show... MSM: (shows a picture of a burning car) There, see! Just like Vietnam! Mr. Public: No, it isn't! That car had US plates! MSM: I never!! (etc.)
#5
Hey .com, pshaw! Neither LBJ, Robert Strange McNamara, nor POW GI Joe anywhere to be seen. Plus no NVA coming down the HCM trail. This one is definitely winnable. We just need to get SOCOM and the Iraqis to start dismantling the infrastructure and get the Army and Marines back to doing what they do best.
Well another nail in the MSM's coffin today, huh? Soon CBS, NBC, ABC will be shutting down their news bureaus. In 5-10 years it'll all be webzines and cable news. Newspapers will be for those too poor or drugged out to afford a PC. I'm predicting a comeback for Howell Raines at that point.
Even Mac the Whore can't revise history enough to cover his sorry ass, heh.
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., NYT moron owner and Charter Member of the Kool Aid Krowd, will rejoice in hearing he can help his butt buddy, lol! Here's an absurdly (logrolling, heh) story about the NYT's future. It misses the point you make so clearly regards the true future of the news biz. Next Goliath: AP / AFP / Rooters / et al. When there is a functioning model for the raw data acquisition, it will be Game-Set-Match for the assholes, heh.
#7
.com - I dont think that infrastructure is too far in the future. Right now I have a digita camera which can produce a halfway decent video (including sound). You can stuff a suprising bunch of video in 14 minutes for a 1Gb memory stick.
When these get on-the-fly mpeg encoding it could be mere minutes from some something happening halfway around the planet and it being posted on a blog (or video-blog) in video and accompaning text for everyone to see without the filter and talking heads and bullshit the media lathers over it.
It may not be studio quality video and the text may have mispeling (intentional) but people would be able to make their own decisions and not have some talking head tell them what to think.
And from there it won't be long before corporations and government start releasing video press-releases directly to the public instead of hoping the local news station can mention it betweent the big human-interest (oh-my-god-someone-looked-at-a-dog-funny) stories. It has already started with Government - the 9/11 comission for example was released directly to the network.
#8
# 1 & 2 You both hit the nail on the head. When a comparison is made between the two wars- they
are trying to compare the time length- year's that
are tied up here and all the money as well as the casulties. You can never really compare the two war's there is too much contrast. We now fight
with computer's and technology. few computer's existed in the Vietnam days***
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
02/01/2005 21:24
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Andrea, They had lots of computers and fancy laser printers during the vietnam war! Microsoft Word too...
The German government is holding up the signing of a contract for the sale of Dingo armored cars to Israel for fear that the Israel Defense Forces will use them against the Palestinians.
Yes, indeed, Germany will never forget the lessons of the Holocaust.
In talks over recent weeks with senior Israeli officials, the Germans have said they have no objection in principle to approving the sale of the all-purpose vehicles, but that it is "a problem of timing."
The IDF decided to acquire 100 Dingo-2 armored cars for the transportation of troops and for patrols, particularly in the territories. The deal is worth some $60 million.
The armored cars, due to be the first of their kind in the IDF, are supposed to replace the more cumbersome, high maintenance M-116 Armored Personnel Carriers that have carried the troops since the 1960s, and which provide less protection.
The IDF was searching for both a heavy APC that would provide protection against missiles and a lighter armored car that could be used on paved roads and rough ground.
In order to use American military aid for the purchase, the Israeli Defense Ministry arranged for the transfer of the know-how and production from the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann firm to the American firm, Textron. It was agreed that the American firm would produce most of the parts in the U.S. while certain parts, including the engine that is manufactured by a subsidiary of Mercedes, would be manufactured in Germany and sent to the U.S.
The contract was signed at the beginning of last summer, and since then most of the agreements between Textron and the Defense Ministry have been completed. However the parallel contract that Textron was supposed to sign with the German producer has been held up.
The Dingo-2 is an air transportable, armored mine-proof vehicle, based on a commercial chassis produced by DaimlerChrysler, designed for high mobility in any type of terrain. The vehicle is fitted with an armored cage protecting the passengers, engine compartment, fuel tank and cargo bay. The modular, repairable armor provides protection against all types of hand-held weapons, as well as artillery fragments up to 155mm.
In addition, it is fitted with an oblique "blast deflector" floor, providing crew protection against heavy anti-tank mines and anti-personnel mines. It is designed to travel at speeds of up to 90 kms per hour, and has a range of 1,000 kms. The diesel-powered vehicle can carry
eight fully equipped troops.
The IDF plans to fit the Dingo-2 with a "lethal" overhead weapon station that was developed at Rafael, Israel's Armament Development Authority, and which can operate two types of machine guns and an automatic grenade-launcher.
Sources in the defense establishment expressed hopes Monday that the deal would be sped up by progress in the talks being held between Israel and the Palestinians, and the planned disengagement plan which will take the IDF out of the Gaza Strip.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
1:45:10 AM ||
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Cancel all payments, find another supplier. Do you think there's any chance that Germany's next contract with the People's Republic of China will get held up over similar concerns about potential use and human rights? Nah, didn't think so.
Posted by: Prince Abdullah ||
02/01/2005 9:03
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#3
Nah, just the usual German red tape proceedings when it comes to military exports. The Israelis are just trying to speed things up a little, thats all.
#4
Glad to hear it, TGA. What do you hear about one of the Gulf States buying a large chunk of Daimler-Chrysler? Is that likely to affect future contracts?
#1
Why in blue blazes don't the Israelis *ever* make sure their policy will fly before they enact it? I swear, their government can't do diddly without some peanut having veto power over it. If it wasn't the AG, it would have been some judge, or someone. The secret is called "standing", that is, everybody knows ahead of time who is part of the process, and who isn't. And you don't decree a new policy until everybody with standing is in on it, or cannot interfere.
Iraqi Vice President Ibrahim Jaafari, a senior Shiite leader, has warned that a civil war could erupt if US troops leave the country. Mr Jaafari, considered a candidate for the post of prime minister in the government that emerges from Sunday's historic elections, said there were too many dangers for Iraq to set a date on US-led foreign troops leaving.
"Despite their presence here in Iraq, terrorism exists," Mr Jaafari told AFP. "Can you imagine what will happen if we ask them to leave? This could mean the beginning of a civil war."
He added: "We are trying our best not to have a civil war but if the multinational forces leave now, certainly there will be more and more assassinations, bombings and victims."
Mr Jaafari is head of the Hezb al-Dawa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Call Party), part of the fundamentalist United Iraqi Alliance that was supported in the election by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shiites.
Mr Jaafari said the new government had to embrace Sunni Muslims even though many parties rejected the elections and the Sunni turnout was low in many areas. "It is true some Sunni powers boycotted the elections, but they did so without killing anyone or threatening anyone. Everybody is welcome and this is democracy.
"We cannot fly with one wing. We have to reach out to them and accommodate them," said Mr Jaafari, who added he would be ready to take over from Iyad Allawi as prime minister if asked.
"There must be a kind of balance between the three main posts: the president, the prime minister and the head of the parliament. "The next prime minister will probably be a Shiite, while the president and the head of the parliament are a Sunni and a Kurd," respectively.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
1:41:16 AM ||
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hey John, Ted and Barbara...how are you going to call for "an end to the occupation" now? Bummer.
#3
Yawer, the Sunni Prez, also said US troops should stay. OTOH everyone also knows that the "in your face" presence of US troops creates ill feeling - not only among Sunnis, but among many Shiites. But sending US troops out of country leaves the risk that the insurgents attack, and the few adequately trained and efficient govt forces are overwhelmed - and no political will to put US troops BACK after their out - think Saigon, 1975. The Shiite leaders are scared shitless of that happening, IIUC.
The solution, is to steadly pull US troops back to bases, and let Iraqi troops do all the patrols. Let them sink or swim to a greater degree than we've done lately - they performed well on election day, now that they had something to fight for, new their work was essential.
Problem is that it will be easier to do this in the Shiite zones, while coalition troops will be still be needed in the triangle - Sunnis may complain why do the Shias get the Iraqi troops and the US withdrawl first - I dont think Sistanic will take these complaints too literally.
Leading relief groups urged the United States to reconsider its strategy to counter Afghanistan's illegal narcotics industry, the world's largest, warning that destroying farmers opium crops could wreck the country's post-Taliban recovery. In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, more than 20 aid organizations active in Afghanistan said "premature and excessive" crop eradication could create such uproar that planned help for farmers cannot be delivered. "Massive eradication efforts in 2005 could risk destabilizing large areas of the country, thereby undermining critical alternative livelihood and law enforcement initiatives," they said in Monday's letter, which was signed by international aid groups including CARE, Mercy Corps and Oxfam.
Cultivation of opium poppy has soared since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Last year's crop supplied nearly 90 percent of the world's opium, the raw material for heroin, and the trade accounted for about 40 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product. To bolster President Hamid Karzai's call for a "holy war" on the industry, the United States plans to spend $780 million for a crackdown on refiners, traffickers and corrupt officials using new police units and special courts. But Afghan leaders and aid organizations have expressed dismay that only $120 million has been earmarked for rural development programs to help farmers switch to legal crops, compared to $300 million for crop eradication programs. snip
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
1:37:22 AM ||
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Funny; the guy on the right in that pic looks like an English teacher of mine . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
02/01/2005 9:12
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That's Richard "Cheech" Marin on the left and Tommy Chong on the right. Cheech got his nickname when as a child he liked fried pork rinds, called chicharones in Mexico.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/01/2005 9:32
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#3
"Duuude, that's, like, my stash! You spray it and I hafta go into rehab, which is, like, major bummers."
Posted by: Mike ||
02/01/2005 10:22
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#4
Within the last year, I saw Tommy Chong in an interview state "Tommy Chong is not a pot head."
#5
But Afghan leaders and aid organizations have expressed dismay that only $120 million has been earmarked for rural development programs to help farmers switch to legal crops, compared to $300 million for crop eradication programs.
One question: does rural development cost as much as poppy eradication? If not, then this "dismay" is misplaced.
Picture of the guy at the link.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners.
The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what appeared to be an American soldier in desert fatigues seated with his hands tied behind his back.
A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and he is seated in front of a black banner emblazoned with the Islamic profession of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His prophet."
A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Marine Sgt. Salju K. Thomas, said he had no information on the claim but "we are currently looking into it."
A statement posted with the picture suggested the group was holding other soldiers.
"Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq (news - web sites)'s Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest," said the statement, signed by the "Mujahedeen Brigades."
"God willing, we will behead him if our female and male prisoners are not released from U.S. prisons within the maximum period of 72 hours from the time this statement has been released," the statement said.
The claim, carried on the Web site ansarnet.ws, could not be verified.
More than 180 foreigners have been kidnapped in the past year. At least 10 of them, including three American civilians, remain in the hands of their kidnappers.
The only American soldier known to have been taken hostage is Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, who was shown in a video in April being held by militants. Another video aired in June showed what purported to be Maupin's slaying, but the picture was too unclear to confirm it was him and the military still lists him as missing.
#17
They're lucky they didn't try to capture the GI Joe w/Kung Fu grip!
Posted by: Stephen ||
02/01/2005 16:58
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#18
If President Bush wishes to organize a rescue mission, I'll gladly donate my Six Million Dollar Man doll. It has a bionic grip, bionic vision, and there are tool compartments in the legs.
If reports are true and the terrorists have murdererd one of our dolls, we must stand firm. We will destroy ten of their dolls. We will smash their rock-em-sock-em robots. And we will leave the lids of their Play-dough until it grows dry and flaky!
#26
CNN reports that the doll is Dragon Models USA's "Special Ops Cody". Could they have given him a whiter name? Maybe Special Ops Logan, or something?
#29
This is serious folks. A true hostage situation in the making. Latest intelligence reports the teenage jihadis are demanding a hostage exchange (NSFW). Reports say they are holding out for the post bomb belt model (definitely NSFW) since they can relate to it better.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2005 17:56
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#30
Cody's wife pleads with Zarqawi for safe return.
"He is anatomically correct. Don't hurt anything!"
My cousin who is a bit older than me managed to save most of his old toys from childhood; he still has all those original GI Joe toys; he has the model of Frendship 7 gemini capsule with Joe as an astronaut; Joe as WWII soldier, Joe as WWI soldier, etc. I think the Orbiter capsule and the GI Joe Jeep and Footlocker were the most interesting, but he has lots of them I have never seen. Wotta nerd! ;-)
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/01/2005 18:48
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#34
This made my day. I have a history of hoaxing the media, crop-circles and that sort of thing, but I would never have attempted something this lame.
It amazes even me to see how gullible they really are.
Besides AP; CNN, Al-Guardian, Das Independent and several local outlets ran with the story. Better yet, posters at DU and other LLL cesspools are STILL defending its authenticity, complete with now-hilarious pontifications about the exploitation of African-Americans and all that.
It is wonderful to see the Institutional Media Culture, the Beast, collapsing before our very eyes. Better yet, most of its legions of slaves are blissfully unaware of this and remain as arrogant and pompous as ever. This means that the Beast will take them all with it as it goes down.
The torpedoed ship is fully submerged and headed for the bottom, and the rats haven't even thought about jumping overboard.
#37
Mark E - I had the footlocker AND the jeep (sadly lost to the ages) - the jeep had a spinner springmetal thing under the hood to make noise when you rolled it...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 19:14
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#38
Anyone have a "Cody"?
Lots of fun to be had with him now...
climbing the Eiffel Tower, beheading bin Laden...
#39
Many thanks, .com, and belated thanks for your wonderful remarks in response to my "bet the ranch" opinion piece the other night.
Btw, I suspect that this originated not with jihadis but with some anti-idiotarian hoaxer who has even less respect for the MSM than I do.
How is that possible, some may ask?
Well, I've long thought that the institutional media were a depraved whorehouse, but I never thought they were especially stupid. I have been proven wrong.
#40
FWIW, my 14-year-old nephew (whose real GI father just returned from Iraq) now claims that he originated this, posing the pics and posting to the jihad website.
He's smart and he has the Cody action figure, but I still think he's pulling my leg.
#42
Does anyone know enough Arabic to tell whether or not the banner in the baqckground really says "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His prophet." ? Perhaps it says "The AP is a bunch or Arab Terrorist Tools."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005 20:12
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#43
"Mattel sucks"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 20:17
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Unfortunately my brothers and I, being too old to play with GI Joes anymore but too young to realize they might be worth anything, gave all our stuff to my sister's kids to play with. And we had a bunch of stuff. She promptly turned around and sold it all.
In the last week, at least 13 arms and munitions caches have been found throughout the country. The largest of them contained more than 10,000 mortar rounds, 500 122 mm artillery rockets, as well as fuses. In the last four months, 236 weapons caches have been found, and destroyed, throughout the country. More importantly, 99 of those were found because local Afghans reported the location to coalition forces. Most of this stuff dates to the 1980s war with Russia. Warlords would store any excess munitions they could get their hands on. When the Russians withdrew in the late 1980s, there were many munitions stockpiles that were not destroyed, often because of bribes, or because they were taken over by pro-Russian Afghan forces. More munitions were sent to the pro-Russian Afghan government in the early 1990s, until that government was overthrown. Then the Taliban came along. Afghans prefer to use their rifles most of the time, saving mortars, artillery and rockets for special occasions. Thus all these hidden supplies of shells and rockets.
In 2003, ten percent of the caches found were because of tips from Afghans. This increased to 31 percent in 2004, and was 42 percent in the past four months. Afghans know that these munitions will be used against them, if any of the local warlords get into a major quarrel. The usual drill is to fire mortars, rockets and artillery at the other warlords villages and towns. More Afghans feel secure enough with the new police force and army to trust them with this information. Local warlords often kill people who reveal locations of ammo and weapons caches.
Egypt admitted Thursday to failing to report a "number of research experiments" to the UN atomic energy agency, after diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material. But "Egypt is cooperating with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)" and feels the "research experiments and activities ... most of which took place in the distant past are consistent with the NPT," the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Egyptian embassy said in a statement released in Vienna.
The statement said stronger safeguards measures by the IAEA "since the 1990's have resulted in not reporting to the agency, in an appropriate and timely manner, a number of research experiments and activities." Egyptian ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy told AFP it was a case that with "strengthened safeguards, countries sometimes don't know what they are required to report." He said news reports of Egyptian safeguards failures were "exaggerated" and that Egypt has a strictly peaceful nuclear program.
The statement said "Egypt understands that the agency is aware of the limited scope of the issue" and feels that the "agency values the level of cooperation Egypt is extending." Egypt has not however signed an additional protocol to the NPT that allows for tough IAEA inspections. IAEA officials refused to comment on the investigation.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:58:49 AM ||
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#1
Did ya have to pay a royalty on that nuke model kit, Hosni? *spit*
An Islamic terrorist organisation considered more extreme than Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda has taken root in Britain because of lax asylum procedures, security experts claim today.
The movement, Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra (excommunication and exile), has gradually built its presence in Europe in recent years through loose networks of imams and supporters, according to Jane's Intelligence Review.
It is so extreme that it once tried to assassinate bin Laden and its members are thought to have aided last year's Madrid train atrocity.
According to Jane's, western security agencies now respond more actively to the threat posed by Takfiri adherents, fearing that what has long been a support base for activities in other parts of the world may become an active terror group in Europe itself.
Al-Takfir originated as a peaceful Islamic movement in Egypt in the early 1970s but turned to violence and was implicated in killing two government ministers. It operates as a largely unstructured entity with only loose links to al-Qaeda and with no identifiable leadership structure. The report says it "exists as a web incorporating scattered groups of militants, separated by geography, connected only by radical ideology''.
After a crackdown by the authorities, many Takfiri militants left Egypt to fight Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
Takfiri mujahideen also settled in Europe "where they have been able to propagate their radical form of militant Islam to new generations of followers with little impediment'', the report claims.
Jane's says the movement has a known presence in France - where 16 mosques have been linked to the Takfiri network - Germany, Italy and Britain.
It adds: "The UK is believed to be a major transit point for Takfiri recruits because it has been regarded as a relatively open distribution point for the `revolutionary message of jihad'."
Takfiri reject secular power in Muslim countries and call for the restoration of the Islamic "Caliphate" as the only legitimate leadership in Arab and Islamic countries.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:55:09 AM ||
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#1
Time for an unprecedented sweep of the East End/Bradford/Leicester, removing all illegals. Time for forcible repatriation of non-conformists?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/01/2005 5:39
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Well, how you do ya like that? And note the cheap shot at the US at the end of article ...
A UN investigation into human rights abuses in Sudan has concluded the Government did not pursued a policy of genocide in the troubled Darfur region.
While saying there were gross violations of international law and human rights, the report said the "crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing". It recommended the abuses be dealt with by the International Criminal Court (ICC) - a move opposed by the US.
Compiled by a five-member commission set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in October, the report stressed the absence of a genocidal policy "should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated".
It specifically blamed government forces and militia for indiscriminate attacks, including the killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape, pillaging and forced displacement throughout Darfur.
However, it stipulated that such acts did not carry the specific intent to annihilate a group distinguished on racial, ethnic, national or religious grounds, and thus stopped short of genocide.
"Rather it would seem that those who planned and organised attacks on villages pursued the intent to drive the victims from their homes, primarily for purposes of counter-insurgency warfare," it said.
The current humanitarian crisis in Darfur was born of a rebel uprising in February 2003 against government neglect of the desert region.
Khartoum responded to the rebellion with a deadly show of force by Arab militias called the Janjaweed, who are accused of having waged a scorched-earth campaign against non-Arab civilians to bring down the rebels.
Around 70,000 people are estimated to have died in Darfur, many from hunger and disease, in the last several months alone, while some 1.5 million others have been displaced, many into squalid and dangerous camps.
Washington has labelled the ethnic clashes in Darfur as genocide and pushed for action against Khartoum.
However, the US has refused to recognise the ICC, fearing the court could be used to prosecute politically motivated charges against US diplomats or troops around the world.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:54:01 AM ||
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#1
Nice...If you can't fix the problem; convince yourself it didn't happen! Then sweep it under the rug, for posterity.
Posted by: BA ||
02/01/2005 10:04
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#3
Compiled by a five-member commission set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in October, the report stressed the absence of a genocidal policy "should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated".
Well I'm so glad we've solved that issue.
Next on the agenda: Where are we having lunch today?
The humanitarian catastrophe caused by the 26 December tsunami has led to an outpouring of humanitarian aid and support from some unlikely quarters. While media attention has focused on how the relief efforts will affect the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) counter-insurgency campaign against the Acehnese separatist movement, GAM, the real security issue is how militant Islamist organizations and charities, especially the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI), the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the Laskar Mujahideen and the Medical Emergency Relief Charity (MER-C), and a handful of others are taking advantage of the situation.
With the exception of the FPI, all of the above-mentioned organizations are linked to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional affiliate of al-Qaida, which has been responsible for three major terrorist attacks in Indonesia since the Bali bombing in October 2002. Moreover, all four organizations were involved in fomenting the sectarian conflict in the Malukus and Central Sulawesi, from 1999-2001, which left more than 9'000 people dead. On 4 January, the MMI dispatched the first group of 77 volunteers to Aceh, from their Jogyakarta based headquarters as part of a 206-man contingent. The MMI is an overt civil society organization that was founded in August 2000 by the alleged spiritual chief of Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Bakar Baasyir. Many of its senior leadership positions were held by members of JI or their kin. For example, MMI leaders Mohammad Iqbal Abdurrahman (a.k.a. Abu Jibril) and Agus Dwikarna were not only members of JI's shura, but also heads of the two paramilitary organizations, the Laskar Mujahideen and the Laskar Jundullah, established by JI to engage in sectarian conflict in 1999-2001.
The Laskar Mujahideen is inextricably linked to JI and al-Qaida. Founded in January 2000 by Jibril and JI's operational chief Hambali, the organization fielded roughly 500 armed combatants. They were armed by JI operatives in the southern Philippines, and were equipped with high-speed motor boats. Laskar Mujahideen operatives worked closely with al-Qaida operatives, such as Omar al-Faruq and the jihadist filmmaker Reda Seyam. Malaysian authorities detained Jibril in June 2001 and deported him to Indonesia in the summer of 2004, where he was detained on immigration offenses but quietly acquitted and released last October. Indonesian authorities asserted that they did not have enough evidence to link Jibril to any terrorist attacks, and downplayed his involvement with Laskar Mujahideen. (The US Treasury had placed Jibril on their list of specially Designated Global Terrorists.)
Since 2001, with Jibril's arrest and the crackdown against JI members, the Laskar Mujahideen (and its fraternal organization the Laskar Jundullah) has gone completely underground. Although it was thought to be behind some of the sporadic violence in the Malukus that resumed in 2004, most Indonesian police and intelligence officials interviewed by this author assume the group had disbanded. Yet the Laskar Mujahideen dispatched some 250 persons to Aceh, over 50 of whom were ferried aboard Indonesian military planes. They established four base camps in the province, including one outside the airport, adjacent to the camps of other domestic and international relief organizations, beneath a sign that reads, "Islamic Law Enforcement". Unlike the MMI, which is more concerned with providing "spiritual guidance" and restoring "infrastructure in places of religious duties," the Laskar Mujahideen has been involved in relief work, including the distribution of aid and the burial of corpses. The MMI and Laskar Mujahideen have been joined by a small Indonesian charity that was previously an important executor agency for Saudi funding. The Medical Emergency Relief Charity (MER-C) was established on 14 August 1999 in response to sectarian strife. They now have 12 offices in Indonesia, concentrated in the regions most directly affected by sectarian violence (Sulawesi, Malukus and Kalimintan). In 2000-2001, MER-C produced two well-publicized jihadi videos for fund-raising purposes. While MER-C members were not implicated in directly supporting Laskar Jundullah and Laskar Mujahideen paramilitary operations in the Malukus and Central Sulawesi, to the degree that another Indonesian charity KOMPAK was, its one-sided approach to the Malukus conflict, as well as the actions of some individual members, inevitably raised suspicions. MER-C's operations abroad, particularly in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan, have also raised some concerns. Indeed, the MER-C website states that they operate in the tribal areas of Pakistan with the support and permission of the Taliban. This is not to cast aspersions on what MER-C has been able to accomplish in Aceh. According to a separate English language website, they have used donations to buy medicine and basic foodstuffs as well as rent tractors and bulldozers to clear rubble and distribute food. The
FPI, founded by the fiery cleric Habib Rizieq in August 1998, has also taken a high profile position in Aceh. The group, best known for destroying bars, night-clubs, massage parlors and discos, dispatched 250 activists to Aceh and promised to send an additional 800. "FPI is not only an organization that destroys bars and discos in major Java cities, it has a humanitarian side as well that the media is not happy to expose," asserted Hilmy Bakar Alascaty, the head of the FPI's contingent in Aceh. Alascaty stated that the military had provided the group with air transport and that Vice-President Jusuf Kalla had arranged for FPI members to travel on a government-chartered plane. He announced that in addition to providing aid and burying corpses, his group would ensure that foreign soldiers did not violate Islamic law.
Interestingly, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the seemingly ubiquitous Pan-Islamic organization, is also on the ground in Aceh. The hardline Wahhabi organization, Hidayatullah, does not yet have a presence in Aceh, but they are raising money for mosque reconstruction through their website and other media organs. The central questions, of course, revolve around the possible ulterior motives of these Islamic organizations. Broadly speaking, and aside from a genuine desire to assist fellow countrymen and Muslims, these organizations are motivated by four objectives. The first is extensive press and media attention. It is particularly instructive that in the April 2004 parliamentary election, the party that had the most spectacular gains was the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which increased its share of the vote from under 2 per cent in 1999 to almost 8 per cent. While there is a debate over the degree to which the PKS has downplayed its Islamist goals, all acknowledge that the party's popularity was in large part due to their anti-corruption stance and high-profile charitable relief work. Indeed, the PKS has dispatched almost 1'000 cadres to Aceh, one of the largest contingents thus far. Their previous work in the sectarian conflicts of Poso, Sulawesi and the Malukus, confirmed in them the belief that humanitarian aid is a very effective way to win the hearts and minds of an afflicted community and garner support for their political program.
Secondly, these groups are dedicated to cleansing Indonesia of western influence. From their posturing and rhetoric, it is apparent than none believe the Americans or Australians are motivated by sheer altruism, but have an ulterior motive. It should be noted that even the PKS has called on foreign troops to be in the restive province for no more than a month. Thirdly, these groups see the disaster as an opportunity to proselytize. Several groups, such as the MMI, indicated that their primary goal was to provide "spiritual guidance" to victims and assist in the reconstruction of mosques. With 400'000 refugees and mosques at the center of rural community relief efforts, the potential for influence is great. Fourthly, these organizations all seek to provide relief and assistance in order to discredit the corrupt, secular regime that they seek to replace. The slow and haphazard response of the Indonesian government's relief efforts confirms their belief that the government is unable and unwilling to truly serve the needs of the Muslim community.
The Indonesian government has shown little concern about the motives of these organizations. It was only after international donor organizations raised the alarm that the TNI expelled 19 MMI members from Aceh. There are many possible explanations as to why the TNI assisted their movement to Aceh; with the role of the so-called "green generals" or the machinations of army Chief General Ryamizard Ryacudu, who is engaged in a pitched political battle with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, amongst the favorites. Ironically, the Acehnese separatist organization GAM has raised the sharpest concern about their presence. While the radical groups have supported Shari'ah law and other concessions that GAM has wrought from the government, they do not support their secessionist insurgency. To that end, it is likely that the TNI will not divert its resources to these groups and will instead focus on resuming the war against GAM. What is the implication for the US? The most pressing issue is the legal ramifications of the TNI's assistance to the militants. In addition to transport, they have provided tents and equipment. Under the terms of the Lehey Amendment, the TNI is to sever relations with all militia groups. This is acutely consequential as many in the US Executive Branch seek to use the humanitarian crisis as a cover for lifting congressional restrictions on bilateral military relations. How the US deals with this sensitive issue will likely have a significant impact on the dynamics of Islamic militancy in Indonesia.
This article starring:
ABU BAKAR BAASYIR
Jemaah Islamiyah
ABU JIBRIL
Indonesian Mujahideen Council
ABU JIBRIL
Laskar Mujahideen
AGUS DWIKARNA
Indonesian Mujahideen Council
AGUS DWIKARNA
Laskar Jundullah
HABIB RIZIEQ
Islamic Defenders Front
HAMBALI
Laskar Mujahideen
HILMY BAKAR ALASCATY
Islamic Defenders Front
MOHAMAD IQBAL ABDURRAHMAN
Indonesian Mujahideen Council
MOHAMAD IQBAL ABDURRAHMAN
Laskar Mujahideen
OMAR AL FARUQ
al-Qaeda
REDA SEYAM
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:51:09 AM ||
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Police in Chechnya have solved the murder of Vedeno district mufti Shukhman Madagov committed in August 2003.
A source at the press center of the Russian Interior Ministry in the North Caucasus said Yakub Bediyev and Islam Tukhashev were responsible. Earlier the two men were sentenced to 18 and 20 years in jail respectively for killings of civilians in Dagestan and Chechnya.
In prison they confessed to another crime, committed against the spiritual Moslem leader of the Vedeno district. In their testimony they said they had been members of Khusein Gakayev's gang at that time. Its members shot the mufti for his opposition to Wahhabism and support for the authorities in their efforts to restore life in the republic to normal. Several Arab mercenaries were members of the group then, including Abu al-Walid. He would later be killed by Russian troops.
Police in the Achkhoi-Martan district have detained two members of illegal armed groups. One of the detainees, a resident of the village of Novyi Sharoi, is suspected of two bomb attacks staged on the highway Rostov-Baku, a source at the headquarters of the federal forces in the North Caucasus region told Tass. Another one is wanted by law enforcers for setting up a criminal gang and for abduction.
A 24-year-old local resident has defected from a gang subordinate to notorious warlord Shamil Basayev to give himself up to the police. He volunteered to cooperate with the authorities and named other gang members. He also disclosed the details of a number of crimes staged by his gang, the source at the headquarters said.
This article starring:
ABU AL WALID
Chechnya
ISLAM TUKHASHEV
Chechnya
KHUSEIN GAKAIEV
Chechnya
SHAMIL BASAIEV
Chechnya
YAKUB BEDIYEV
Chechnya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:48:20 AM ||
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A criminal case has been initiated on the kidnapping of relatives of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, said the Regional Operative Staff for the North Counterterrorist Operation in the North Caucasus. According to the staff, on January 26 the regional police branch office got an application from Aslan Maskhadov brother's wife Kameta Maskhadova, residing in Pervomaiskoe, the Grozny district. "It says that on December 3, 2004 unidentified camouflaged persons with automatic weapons and speaking the Chechen language forcibly drove her husband Lema Maskhadov, 56, from his house in an unknown direction," the interviewee said.
On the same day, at about 20:00, Moscow time, a group of 10 to 15 unidentified and camouflaged persons, also speaking Chechen and having automatic weapons, abducted Aslan's another brother, Lecha Maskhadov, 68, from house 16 on Sovkhoznaya street in Grozny, he went on to say. Then, at 11:20, Moscow time, on December 28, 2004, up to 15 unidentified camouflaged persons with automatic weapons and speaking the Chechen language forcibly drove in an unknown direction Aslan's nephew Movladi Maskhadov, 34, from a place near the Neftyanik market in Grozny. "On these facts, the Prosecutor's Office of Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district has initiated the criminal case. Investigation is underway to establish the location of the abducted persons and detain those involved in the crime," the Regional Operative Staff said.
This article starring:
ASLAN MASKHADOV
Chechnya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:47:18 AM ||
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The murder of Mufti Shukhman Madagov of Chechnya's Vedeno district has been solved, the Russian Interior Ministry's local press center told Interfax on Monday. "An investigation revealed that Shukhman Madagov was killed by an active member of illegal armed formations named Bediyev and other militants on August 29. Bediyev confessed to committing this crime," a press center spokesman said. An examination is being made to establish if Bediyev was involved in other crimes.
Police discovered five militant bases during sweep operations in a forest near the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, the spokesman said. The bases contained food, sleeping bags, winter camouflage uniforms, three grenade launcher rounds and four grenades. The bases were destroyed an operation was launched to find the militants.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:46:19 AM ||
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Opening paragraph:AND so the "looming Iraqi election fiasco" joins "the brutal Afghan winter" and "the brutal Iraqi summer" and "the seething Arab street" and all the other junk in the overflowing trash can of post-9/11 Western media fictions. The sight of millions of brave voters emerging from polling stations holding high their purple dye-stained fingers was so inspiring that, from America's Democratic Party to European protest rallies, opponents of the war waited, oh, all of three minutes before flipping the Iraqis their own fingers, undyed.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
12:45:51 AM ||
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#1
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the incomparabe Mark Steyn:
"International community", by the way, doesn't mean Tony Blair, John Howard, the Poles, Japan, India, Fiji, et al butJacques Chirac and Kofi Annan, a pantomime horse in which both men are playing the rear end. [emph mine]
#3
Yeah but he's still not posting all the links on his website. I wonder if he's doing that to boost his booksales. Or maybe it's a test so that he can compare the amount of traffic he drives to his articles with and without his website. Or maybe his intern quit/left. Those of us who anticipate his every article now have to suffer and search hard and hope we don't miss one or two, like the ones in the Irish Times or whatever.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
02/01/2005 20:47
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#4
John, I don't think all his syndication contracts allow it....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/01/2005 20:53
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An attack in Chechnya that killed at least nine pro-Moscow police last week was a suicide bombing, a rebel statement said on Monday in the first such claim of responsibility since the Beslan school siege in September. Local media reports said last Friday's attack was caused by a radio-controlled bomb, but a rebel statement posted on the Internet said a single suicide bomber had attacked a column of local troops in a mined car. "He crashed into the column of cars at full speed, destroying three cars and their crews. The fighter was martyred," said the statement.
The rebels have also used conventional guerrilla tactics, both inside Chechnya and in neighbouring areas of Russia. Four times this month Russian troops have stormed buildings where militants were holed up. Russian security services link the mainly Muslim Chechen guerrillas to al Qaeda, which also uses suicide bombings. The Chechens deny any formal link.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:45:35 AM ||
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Concern is mounting among U.S. intelligence officials and diplomats that al-Qaida-related groups may be preparing terrorist attacks on Persian Gulf bases that support American military forces operating in Iraq.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said unknown individuals have been conducting surveillance of U.S. military and diplomatic facilities in Qatar, the Persian Gulf state that houses the forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In nearby Kuwait, meanwhile, government security forces engaged in deadly clashes Monday with armed militants, the second such incident in two days and the fourth in January. On Friday, the State Department issued a travel advisory for U.S. citizens in Kuwait, warning that terrorists might try to attack housing complexes used by Westerners.
Increased security at official U.S. government installations might force would-be terrorists to seek "softer" targets, such as public transportation, residential areas and restaurants, the advisory said.
No similar travel advisory has been issued for Qatar, but military facilities have been on high alert there for some time. Spokespeople for the Kuwaiti and Qatari embassies in Washington weren't immediately available for comment.
U.S. officials wouldn't discuss the concerns on the record, citing the sensitivity of the issue. They said intelligence suggesting a possible attack, while thought credible, doesn't point to a specific time or place for an attack, they said.
Intelligence on terrorist threats isn't always followed by an attack. In November, for example, the State Department warned of a possible attack on hotels in Qatar's capital, Doha, but later rescinded the warning.
Suspicious activity around U.S. facilities in Qatar has been going on for more than a year. One Pentagon official said no increased activity had been detected, though others said recent intelligence had raised the level of alarm.
From the viewpoint of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and its various affiliates, an attack on U.S. Persian Gulf military bases could destabilize Gulf states that cooperate with the United States and underscore many Arabs' opposition to the U.S. military presence in the region.
It would also likely drive up world oil prices.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:43:47 AM ||
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#1
The sea lane choke points should be on guard, particularly since Oman has seen much infiltration of late. Visions of the Cole come to mind.
#2
Debka (www.debka.com) has an article about this today, which paints all this as a sophisticated and well organized effort. If there is any truth to that, then one has to wonder about the state or pseudo-state sponsorship behind it. Such efforts would take deep pockets and sophisticated organizational cover. I sure hope our side is working on a plan for putting an end to the root sponsorship, otherwise we are faced with stamping out the fires in many places for many years to come.
Posted by: DO ||
02/01/2005 9:57
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#3
Putting an end to the root sponsorship is under way -- but realize it is probably going to take 5-10 years to complete. That's just realistic, no matter who's in the White House and what their policies. Of course, it could take a lot longer - or fail entirely - with the wrong people there. But 5-10 years with the right people and policies.
They are patient and determined. We need to be even more so.
Police burst into suspected terrorist hideouts throughout a tranquil suburb, arresting a reputed terror boss and setting off a ferocious gunbattle that killed at least four of his followers and a bystander in Kuwait's worst-ever fight with militants. Monday's raid - the fourth in three weeks - reflected a new sense of urgency in the battle to crush Islamic extremists deeply opposed to the presence of US forces in this oil-rich emirate. Kuwait's prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, called for the "uprooting of this phenomenon and the removal of this cancer before it spreads," Faisal al-Hajji, the acting information minister, told the state-owned Kuwait News Agency on Monday.
In Monday's raid, which Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adel al-Hashshash called a "spectacular success," police arrested six suspected militants, including alleged ringleader Amer Khlaif al-Enezi. The government said four militants and a bystander were killed, but Kuwait TV reported Monday night that one of the arrested militants, who was wounded in the fighting, had died. The government provided little information on al-Enezi, but a resident of the tribal city of al-Jahra told The Associated Press that he used to preach at a local mosque, exhorting young men to attack Americans, Kuwaiti security forces and even moderate Muslim clerics. The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the preacher, in his 30s, was fired more than six months ago.
The interior minister, Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, said the suspects targeted Monday were part of "an organized terror group," but said their aims and their backers would only be revealed by investigations. Sheik Salem Al Ali Al Sabah, the head of Kuwait's National Guard, has previously linked some local militants to al-Qaida. The fighting early Monday began when police chased militants from scattered hideouts in Mubarak Al Kabir, a middle-class residential neighborhood south of Kuwait City, according to a police statement. The fighters took refuge in a house and a gunbattle broke out, police said. Kuwait TV footage showed the house's windows shattered and its walls pocked with holes. Bodies lay face down on the roof in pools of blood and a helicopter hovered ahead. A bearded man lay on his back, hands tied and shivering. Guns and ammunition clips were scattered on a staircase.
This article starring:
AMER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:42:32 AM ||
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AUTHORITIES are hunting 23 Jemaah Islamiyah members believed hiding in central Mindanao, after discounting their threat to the country. The Philippine National Police isn't worried about the JI operatives -- all Indonesians -- since they are "stranded" in the country and are practically incapable of launching terrorist attacks, according to PNP intelligence director Robert Delfin. "They receive no funding, so how can they move?" Delfin said in an interview with reporters. "Right now, they're more concerned with hiding from both the police and the military than attacking."
The military had earlier pegged the number of JI members in Mindanao at 40. Police could not explain, however, how the number went down to 23. What is clear is the terrorists are holed up on Mt. Kararaw, at the boundary of the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao, which is considered a stronghold of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Delfin said the 23 operatives had lost contact with their leaders in Indonesia following the arrest of key JI leaders. Among these were Zulkifli, who was arrested in Malaysia several months ago, and Taufek Refke, the group's alleged finance officer, who was caught in Mindanao early last year. The arrests cut the flow of funds from Indonesia to the JI cell in Mindanao, Delfin said.
The JI, the Southeast Asia-based affiliate of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, maintains a "mantique" or cluster of operations that includes Malaysia and Indonesia, its country of origin. Mindanao is part of the cluster, being primarily a training ground for prospective bombers, intelligence officials said. In December 2003, at least 10 JI bombers reportedly graduated from training facilities in MILF territories. The MILF has denied the allegation.
If the 23 Indonesian terrorists were planning an attack, Delfin said, they could only do so "in coordination with local terrorists."
"They're dependent on their local contacts," he said, referring to the Abu Sayyaf terror group and renegade MILF members. Tracker teams from the PNP Intelligence Group and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are now conducting separate operations to arrest the 23 Indonesians, Delfin said. "They're scattered, that's why the military is bombing them," he added.
On Friday, officials said five Islamic militants, including at least one JI member, were believed killed in a military air strike on their hideout in a Maguindanao marshland the previous day. Army spokesperson Col. Franklin del Prado said among those believed to have been in the area were Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and at least three Indonesian JI members, including Dulmatin, who allegedly played a key role in the Bali bombings. Dulmatin was believed killed in the raid.
This article starring:
DULMATIN
Jemaah Islamiyah
KHADAFY JANJALANI
Abu Sayyaf
TAUFEK REFKE
Jemaah Islamiyah
ZULKIFLI
Jemaah Islamiyah
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:40:20 AM ||
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Iraqi security forces detained more than 200 suspected insurgents, including four Arab foreigners, in a crackdown that helped reduce attacks during Sunday's election, the interior minister said today.
''What happened yesterday was the result of the security plans put in place by the Interior Ministry and Iraq's security forces for the election,'' Falah al-Naqib told reporters.
He said 129 suspects had been rounded up near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown in the Sunni region north of Baghdad, out of a total of 202 detained nationwide. The detainees included two Saudis, an Egyptian and a Yemeni, he said.
He said Iraqi security forces had also killed four insurgents in shootouts on polling day.
US and Iraqi security forces enforced draconian measures for the election, shutting down Iraq's borders and airspace, banning civilian vehicles, imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew and putting tens of thousands of security men on the streets.
Suicide bombs and mortar attacks, mostly in Baghdad, killed 35 people, but failed to prevent millions of Iraqis from going to the polls in the first multi-party election in decades.
In the week before the election, the government announced the arrest of several senior aides to al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, suggesting it was making inroads against the group that had sworn to turn polling day into a bloodbath.
However, some government officials cast doubt on the importance of the arrests, suggesting the announcements were designed to generate pre-election publicity.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:38:32 AM ||
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MAMDOUH Habib spoke to the father of Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks the day after he arrived home in Australia, it emerged today.
David Hicks is the only Australian left in Guantanamo Bay following Mr Habib's release from the United States detention facility last week. Both were imprisoned there three years ago as suspected terrorists.
Mr Habib arrived home in Sydney last Friday after being released without charge.
Mr Hicks' father Terry today said he spoke to Mr Habib on the telephone on Saturday. Mr Hicks would not detail the contents of their conversation, but said he enjoyed talking to Mr Habib. "We had probably about 15 minutes and eventually down the track we're going to try to catch up," he said. "We're going to let the dust settle."
Mr Habib's lawyer Stephen Hopper has described his client as having "chronic physical and psychological problems" as a result of his three-year stint in detention.
Translation: he's depressed over being in the slammer.
But Mr Hicks said it was difficult to judge his state of mind. "He sounded very excited, that sort of thing. You could tell that excitement in his voice, but you can't really judge anyone, the way they are, on the phone," he said. "It was a good conversation, it was good that we did speak."
Mr Hicks refused to say whether they discussed David's situation. He said Mr Habib's release without charge did not give him hope David would be released soon. The 29-year-old has been detained by the US since January 2002 following his capture among Taliban forces in Afghanistan a month earlier.
A US military commission hearing of the charges against him - attempted murder, conspiracy and aiding the enemy - had been slated to start in Guantanamo Bay on March 15 this year, but is likely to be delayed. Mr Hicks has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
"David's in a bit of a different situation," his father said. "Mamdouh Habib wasn't charged, whereas David has been charged.
"It's probably hard for the Americans to say David can go home.
"The only thing they could do is have a ruling and get the charges dropped."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005
12:37:39 AM ||
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Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Monday declared that security forces would remain in Sui and Dera Bugti to protect national assets and counter terrorists who posed threats to gas plants and people in the area. Speaking at a press conference at the chief minister's secretariat after attending a meeting on the Sui situation, the minister said the government would strictly deal with saboteurs to ensure continuation of the projects that had been launched to promote economic activity. The provincial governor, chief minister, corps commander, federal railways secretary and officials of law-enforcement agencies attended the meeting. Mr Sherpao said federal security forces were deployed in Sui on the request of the provincial cabinet was the situation became alarming after gas installations had been damaged in rocket attacks on Jan 7.
He said 819 rockets were fired and 47 bombs exploded in Sui our the past six months. He said the damage to the plants caused about Rs400 million loss to the Pakistan Petroleum Limited while the provincial government lost Rs154 million in excise royalty due to suspension of gas supply. He said industries were facing losses of Rs150 million to Rs200 million a day since the gas plants were targeted. He said that since 2003, 1,529 rockets had been fired and 113 bombs exploded in Quetta, Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar. He said no government would tolerate such acts. The minister said that after the deployment of security forces in Sui the situation had become calm but the saboteurs had changed their tactics and were now targeting railway tracks and electricity transmission towers to create disorder. He said militiamen had been posted at vital points on railway bridges and transmission lines but in the wake of an increase in subversive acts the government would beef up security measures to protect sensitive installations.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:35:18 AM ||
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The world has heard the sound of the African oil boom. So has al-Qaeda. The continent has more than 75.4 billion barrels of proven reserves, edging toward 10 percent of the world's total. Five large producers - Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Angola -top the list of African oil exporting countries. Lesser producers, such as Chad, are also in the mix. Sub-Sahara Africa supplies as much oil to the United States as Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda sees Africa as a prize well worth going after. It is a graveyard of failed states, of corrupt governments whose power seldom goes much beyond capital city shantytowns and of areas of Muslim radicalism. The problems of the region are opportunities for Al-Qaeda.
At the same time, al-Qaeda strategic moves in Africa serve its larger purpose of attacking Western economies. In 2002, Ubeid al-Qurashi, a pseudonym of an Osama bin Laden lieutenant, wrote an article saying that Western economies cannot stand high oil prices. One way to strike fear into the West, he wrote, is by repeated attacks on oil installations or on tankers. After the attack on the French tanker Limburg, in October 2002, the al-Qaeda political bureau described the attack as not merely an attack on a tanker. Rather, al-Qaeda said, it was an attack against international transport lines and an attack on the West' s commercial lifeline, petroleum. Terror and attacks on Western economies are one part of al-Qaeda ' s grand plan. A second part counts on the vulnerabilities in the continent that will allow al-Qaeda to establish radical Islamism in one state after another. Nigeria is a case in point. The tenth largest producer in the world, 95 percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange comes from oil. It has close to 25 billion barrels of proven reserves, and major explorations are underway for more.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
UBEID AL QURASHI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:33:59 AM ||
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#2
If the African thugs feel threatened, they're not gonna wait for the UN to come to their rescue. They've forgotten more about terror than al-Qaeda ever knew, and they're not shy about killing a few thousand innocents to get their point across.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 8:28
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#3
That's right, Steve. Africa is a big place; look at the troubles the US and USSR had trying to "manage" their proxies during the Cold War. African Tin-pot Dictators⢠are out for themselves and don't want al-Qaeda f*cking things up for them - there's money to be stolen!
#5
Kinda blows the entire "it's because we're in Muslim territory" argument to bits, though, doesn't it? Do you think we'll hear an aplogoy from Teddy or John "I'm a Vietnam Veteran" Kerry? Me, either.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/01/2005 14:40
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Al Qaeda vowed to pursue "holy war" in Iraq on Monday after failing to wreck elections, and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged rival ethnic and religious groups to unite after the first multi-party vote in 50 years.
Al-Qaeda Islamist militants denounced the historic elections on Sunday as an "American game" but leaders around the world hailed the vote as an unexpected success, regardless of whether they had supported or opposed the US-led war in 2003.
War opponents France, Germany and Russia all hailed Iraqis' bravery in voting and, in a sign of warming transatlantic ties, pledged to back US efforts to restore stability.
But the al Qaeda group in Iraq, whose leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had threatened voters with death in a bid to wreck the election, said it would pursue its war against US-led occupying forces and Iraqis working with them.
"We in the al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq will continue the jihad until the banner of Islam flutters over Iraq," said the statement posted on an Islamist Web site.
A videotape on Monday purported to show insurgents from another militant group downing a British military plane with a missile near Baghdad in a crash that killed 10 people on Sunday -- Britain's worst single death toll in Iraq.
The video, aired by an Arabic TV channel and issued by the 1920 Revolution Brigades, showed an explosion then smoldering debris of what looked like a plane, including an engine, on the ground and filmed at close range in a large field.
Analysts said the wreckage on the video looked authentic but the first part -- shots of a button being pressed and a rocket streaking off skyward -- was less convincing.
In a televised speech, Allawi warned Iraqis violence had not ended just because the election had exceeded expectations and he urged rival factions to forge unity:
"The whole world is watching us. As we worked together yesterday to finish dictatorship, let us work together toward a bright future -- Sunnis and Shi'ites, Muslims and Christians, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen."
Allawi, who could be reappointed, is keen to build popular support after a poll in which election officials estimate 8 million Iraqis voted, confounding predictions many would be scared away by insurgent threats of a bloodbath.
Yet while the election day onslaught of suicide bombers and mortars was less bloody than expected, violence persisted.
On Monday, three US Marines were killed in action south of Baghdad, the US military said, and US guards shot dead four detainees during a riot at a military prison in southern Iraq.
The riot raged for 45 minutes, with six other detainees wounded by guards or other inmates, before the Americans opened fire to quell the disturbance, a military spokesman said.
Millions of Iraqis cast ballots on Sunday but the numbers appeared low in Sunni Arab areas where insurgents are strongest -- highlighting the communal rifts facing a new government.
Shi'ites, about 60 percent of the population, are expected win the most votes and officials in the Shi'ite-led coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, have claimed a degree of victory. Shi'ite leaders quickly declared they would bring the Sunni minority, dominant under Saddam, into the fold.
President Bush also encouraged Iraq's leaders to ensure minority Sunni Arabs are in the political process, and the White House brushed aside Democratic calls for a timetable for US troops to begin withdrawing.
Bush is to talk about Iraq in his State of the Union address on Wednesday night but was not expected to announce a withdrawal plan, instead emphasizing the need over the next year to train and equip Iraqi forces to allow for an American pullout.
"Timetables sometimes can send a message to terrorists that all they have to do is wait and coordinate attacks around that timetable," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/01/2005
12:32:00 AM ||
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#1
Cripes, all the good news is filled with carefully placed Fnords.
#2
I would be shocked if Abu Musab al-Zarqawi allowed himself to be captured alive! He's no Saddam, and I'm sure unless the US captures him during a sleeping session, he's going to go out like Saddam's boys! I just hope we get enough of him to prove to the arab street that We Got Him!
#3
Why do we have to prove anything? Once he's been silent -- and his boyz embarrassingly ineffective -- long enough, no one will admit to ever having cared about him. He declared war on democracy in Iraq, and lost. His paymasters must not be at all pleased with him right now.
#5
Preferrably to another plane of existence. Heard that sheitans use peeled red hot chilli peppers as condoms and the white raisins are actually dehydrated tapeworms.
#7
smn, What makes you think Zack is a fighter or any braver than Saddam? Because he bravely sawed the head off of a few hogtied and scared innocent civilians and can order some poor fools to go kill themselves?
I hope we do capture him and he embarases himself on video. He might go down in a 'blaze of glory' like Saddam's sons or he might come out weeping and crying from some spiderhole.
MANAMA: Bahraini women were yesterday promised a new deal, with stronger legal rights, better financial prospects and a bigger political say. The pledge came from Her Highness Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty King Hamad and chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Women.
Lose the "Her Highness" and "His Highness" crap and we might believe you.
Bahraini women have earned their place through educational achievement, hard work and a dedication to the nation, she said. Shaikha Sabeeka was speaking at Al Rawdha Palace as she unveiled the highlights of a new national strategy to empower women, describing it as a "monumental step forward". The announcement coincides with Arab Women's Day, which falls today. Bahrain has also taken the chair for the next two years of the Arab Women's Council, Shaikha Sabeeka revealed. A women's summit, bringing together the Arab world's First Ladies, is also planned, she announced at a Press conference, which was also attended by supreme council members.
I'm sure that will be as decisive as any Arab Men's Council.
Shaikha Sabeeka said Bahrain had acknowledged women's important role by appointing two women ministers, Health Minister Dr Nada Haffadh and Social Affairs Minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi. She said it was now up to men and women to compete in municipal and parliamentary elections next year, to become part of the decision-making process. But Shaikha Sabeeka ruled out an electoral quota system for women, saying it would be discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/01/2005
12:27:47 AM ||
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#1
Dang. And here I was thinkin' it was like, spooky beams outta their eyes or something like that. You know. Wierd.
To human rights activists, the question before U.S. President George W. Bush this week is, which is the higher priority: undermining the new International Criminal Court (ICC) or bringing to justice the perpetrators of what Bush himself has called "genocide" in Darfur, Sudan?
To their dismay, the answer, so far at least, is he would rather discredit the ICC.
A long-awaited report by a special UN commission released Monday has concluded that "serious violations" of international humanitarian law have taken place in Darfur and that they should be referred by the UN Security Council to the ICC for investigation and prosecution.
While Washington's European and Canadian allies, among others, strongly support the recommendation, however, the Bush administration--which ironically has led efforts in the Security Council to hold Khartoum accountable for the abuses that have taken place in Darfur--is resisting the recommendation.
Instead, it is calling for the Security Council to set up a new ad hoc tribunal for Darfur, using the facilities of the international court in Tanzania that is currently prosecuting the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Creating a new court will cost much more money and involve lengthy delays in order to recruit and train personnel and elect judges.
"We will not support efforts by the international community to use the Security Council as a way of legitimizing the ICC," according to Bush's war crimes ambassador, Pierre Prosper.
Washington's position has exasperated much of the human rights community and even some of Bush's supporters who have opposed the ICC in the past.
The ICC is already up and running and fully staffed. Moreover, according its advocates, launching proceedings immediately could help deter further attacks by government and Arab forces against the African population in Darfur. According to recent estimates, more than 300,000 Africans have died as a result of the violence over the last two years.
"The delay involved in setting up a new tribunal would only lead to the loss of more innocent lives in Darfur," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch who noted that fighting appears to have intensified in December and January. "The Bush administration seems willing to sacrifice Darfur's victims to its ideological campaign against the Court."
The UN commission--whose work was authorized by a resolution pushed through the Council by Washington last fall--found that, while the killings of the African population were both widespread and targeted, evidence of "genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned."
"The conclusion that no genocidal policy had been pursued should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes," it went on, noting that a court could decide that specific individuals were guilty of "genocidal intent." Moreover, "serious violations" of nternational law have taken place on a widespread and systematic basis, possibly amounting to "crimes against humanity," according to the commission.
Under the Rome Statute that created it, the ICC has jurisdiction over cases involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Because Sudan, like the United States, is not a party to the Court, only a referral by the UN Security Council would give it jurisdiction to act in the case of Darfur.
Under Bill Clinton, the United States signed the Rome Statute, but, in an unprecedented move in May 2002, the Bush administration renounced the signature and launched a major campaign to press both the UN and other nations to sign bilateral immunity agreements (BIAs) promising never to transfer U.S. nationals in their custody to the ICC's jurisdiction.
The administration has argued that the ICC threatens U.S. sovereignty and that, given Washington's military predominance and its unique responsibilities for maintaining international peace and security, its nationals are particularly vulnerable to politically motivated prosecutions by the ICC.
Although it has denied any intent to harm the Court, the administration has cut off tens of millions of dollars in military and economic assistance to some three dozen developing countries that have ratified the Statute but refused to sign BIAs on the grounds that to do so would violate the letter and spirit of the Statute.
It also withdrew from some UN missions when the Security Council decided last year not to extend an exemption from the ICC for nationals of non-ratifying nations. A total of 97 nations--including all members of the European Union, most of Latin America and the Caribbean, and many democratically elected states in Africa--have ratified the treaty, and 139 nations have signed it.
At the same time, the Bush administration has taken a leading role in trying to persuade the Security Council to impose sanctions on Khartoum to stop the killing in Darfur, a concern that has dominated its Africa policy over the past year.
Because none of its traditional allies are considered likely to support the creation of a new tribunal since the ICC already exists, the administration is faced with a choice of sticking to its ideological opposition to the Court or delaying, if not foregoing altogether, accountability on Darfur.
Some Republicans, among them, Rep. Frank Wolf--who has been deeply involved in Darfur--have urged Bush to show flexibility. In a significant departure from party orthodoxy, Sen. John McCain called last weekend for the United States to join the ICC, although he added that additional safeguards against politicized prosecutions would have to be negotiated.
Two prominent Republican lawyers who have opposed the ICC in the past have also called on Bush to reconsider. "One should never cut off one's nose to spite one's face," said Lee Casey, an attorney who has often attacked the editorial pages of the staunchly neo-conservative Wall Street Journal and Weekly Standard.
And, in another column published by the Washington Post last week, Jack Goldsmith--who headed the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel until last summer--argued that backing a Security Council referral to the ICC would be perfectly consistent with Washington's long-held policy that only the Security Council, where the U.S. has a veto, should have the authority to initiate ICC prosecutions against citizens of non-ratifying nations.
"The Darfur case allows the United States to argue that Security Council referrals are the ONLY valid route to ICC prosecutions and that countries that are not parties to the ICC (such as the United States) remain immune from ICC control in the absence of such a referral," he wrote, adding that the administration's fears of "legitimizing" the ICC were "overstated." Notice how they totally ignored the points made by the Bush administration? (1) Use the existing mechanism to save time and money, and (2) If alternatives exist, why is it so important to use the ICC anyway? Obviously, they just want to use Darfur as an excuse.
#1
If the ICC wants to go ahead and prosecute people in the Sudan affair, I say let them. But it should be made clear that the U.S. doesn't recognize ICC authority where U.S. personnel are concerned, and we won't get involved in or utilize any ICC process whatsoever.
#2
of what Bush himself has called "genocide" in Darfur, Sudan?
Love the "quotes". Where does one start with such inhumanity that is being expressed by the MSM and the UN on this point. They continue to sink lower and lower each day...surprising even the most cynical as to how low they are willing to go.
#3
Compare and contrast with Ramsey Clark's defense of Saddam. His objective there seems to be to say that only the ICC has the legitimacy to try Saddam.
#4
Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch who noted that fighting appears to have intensified in December and January. "The Bush administration seems willing to sacrifice Darfurâs victims to its ideological campaign against the Court."
No, it appears Human Rights Watch is willing to sacrifice real live people in its ideological campaign for a worthless piece of paper.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/01/2005 14:30
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One soldier and two tribesmen were killed in a gun battle in Yemen's eastern oil-rich province of Marib yesterday, security and tribal sources said. The sources said the firefight erupted after soldiers tried to disarm a group of tribesmen from the powerful Al Jalal clan at a military checkpoint.
"Hey! Youse can't do dat! We be from the powerful Al Jalal clan!"
Security officials said unknown attackers fired two rocket- propelled grenade rounds into the headquarters of the provincial security compound after the clash. No one was injured in the attack. Fatal clashes are common in Yemen, a largely tribal society where men carry firearms publicly and tribes often settle disputes with guns. Around 1,500 people are killed as a result of tribal violence in the country every year.
Faster, please.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/01/2005
12:24:06 AM ||
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BAGHDAD - Shiite powerbroker Ibrahim Jaafari might get into trouble with his wife if he called for an Iraq where women could not drive, but he has no hesitation about supporting the death penalty for Saddam Hussein. The current vice president is a key leader of the fundamentalist alliance expected to become the biggest single bloc in the Iraqi national assembly after the historic weekend election.
Some talk of Jaafari as a prime minister in the next government or in the near future. A powerful Shiite government might worry some people outside of Iraq, but in an interview with AFP Jaafari sought to reassure that he wants Sunni Muslims, who boycotted the election, to be involved and he does not want a state that mirrors the theocracy in neighbouring Iran.
Jaafari, a doctor by training, is said to have close links with Iran. After his Hezb al-Dawa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Call Party) took up arms against Saddam's regime, he fled to Iran in the early 1980s before moving to London in 1989. His five children still live in Britain and his wife worked there. Jaafari was among the first exiled leaders to return after the 2003 US-led invasion. He was the first president of the now-defunct governing council named by the United States that year.
When talks were underway over the fundamental law which serves as Iraq's interim constitution, Jaafari was among those who favoured Islam as the only source of legislation. But he distances himself from a hard line. "Secularism originally meant opposing God and religion. Now it is not the same. Islam has changed too. It is different from country to country.
Perhaps you could convince your cousins of that.
"It is true that some countries stop women from attending schools and others do not let women drive. For me that would be a problem. My wife is a surgeon, she cuts open abdomens, and I would never stop her doing surgery."
Jaafari said he wants social justice and human rights and points to the US example of a strongly religious country that keeps state affairs separate. "The currency clearly states "In God we trust'. Yet this doesn't necessarily mean that all Americans believe in God."
But he would like Islam to be Iraq's official religion. "It would be logical to mention Islam in the constitution. But it does not have to resemble Iran if that what is on your mind."
Jaafari, like many Iraqis, takes a hard line, however, on the kind of justice they want for the country's former dictator. "I think it is a public demand that his trial go ahead as soon as possible, it would not be right to delay the trial. Yesterday I spoke with the judge in the case. He said they would expedite the trial."
In the publicised mass purges of Shiites, members of Jaafari's Dawa party lost their lives. "I think there is a need to excute the one who committed these crimes. But I will accept any result on condition that it is fair and organized by a fair government."
"But you guys have to keep Ramsey Clark. What a pain in the arse," he added.
Jaafari's party is part of the United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Iranian-born spiritual head of Iraq's Shiites. Others in the alliance including Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and nuclear scientist Hussein al-Shahrastani are also possible candidates for the prime minister's post. Jaafari said that if asked to become premier he would not refuse.
Not quite a bejeweled turban, but it would do.
Jaafari believes a withdrawal of US troops battling the Sunni insurgency anytime soon could lead to a civil war. "Despite their presence here in Iraq, terrorism exists," Jaafari said. "Can you imagine what will happen if we ask them to leave. This could mean the beginning of a civil war."
"We are trying our best not to have a civil war but if the multinational forces leave now, certainly there will be more and more assassinations, bombings and victims."
Improving security—so Iraq can ask US and British forces to leave—and forming a government that can satisfy the aspirations of the Sunni minority community, will be two key tasks for the next government, according to the vice president. The Sunnis monopolised power under Saddam and for decades before. Many fear the prospect of Shiites taking control. Jaafari said there was no sense of revenge. "We want Shiites back in power but at the same time we don't want to do what Saddam did."
Jaafari suggested top posts could be shared between the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. "It is most likely that the next prime minister would be a Shiite, while the president and the head of the parliament would be a Sunni and a Kurd."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/01/2005
12:03:55 AM ||
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#1
The execution of Saddam Hussein during a Shiite majority government (along with his henchmen) would definitely send shock waves through the arab world and not to mention the Sunni Triangle! The resistance would quickly melt into the underground in fear of bounties and rewards! Shades Of Nuremberg!
#2
I think the crimes ijn germany are right on par with Saddam's cronies. Watch out during the trials for the left chanting "NO WMDs" while they debate how thousands were murdered by this regime.
Enjoy this sort of thing while it lasts. It'll wear off soon...
BY MARK BROWN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Maybe you're like me and have opposed the Iraq war since before the shooting started -- not to the point of joining any peace protests, but at least letting people know where you stood.
I'm not, but go on. I'm interested in what your opinion is now...
You didn't change your mind when our troops swept quickly into Baghdad or when you saw the rabble that celebrated the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue, figuring that little had been accomplished and that the tough job still lay ahead.
I fully expected our troops to sweep quickly into Baghdad, and I fully expected the "rabble" to celebrate the toppling of his statue. That sort of thing's predictable in states where Fearless Leader gets 99.9 percent of the vote. And I wasn't under the illusion that things would be easy from that point. Look to Iraq's east, northwest, and south and see how friendly things look. A successful Iraq is a mortal danger to all three.
Despite your misgivings, you didn't demand the troops be brought home immediately afterward, believing the United States must at least try to finish what it started to avoid even greater bloodshed.
Had the troops been brought home as soon as Sammy was kicked out, I wouldn't have turned a hair. I'd have been wrong, since Sammy and his bad boyz would have come crawling back out from under their rocks.
And while you cheered Saddam's capture, you couldn't help but thinking I-told-you-so in the months that followed as the violence continued to spread and the death toll mounted.
I nver thought "I told you so" once. I was paying attention. What were you doing?
By now, you might have even voted against George Bush -- a second time -- to register your disapproval.
Not me. Told you, I was paying attention.
But after watching Sunday's election in Iraq and seeing the first clear sign that freedom really may mean something to the Iraqi people, you have to be asking yourself: What if it turns out Bush was right, and we were wrong?
He was right, you were wrong, but the important thing is how you take it. You can look at the fact with your eyes open and make a rational decision, or you can decide that since you know Bush is stoopid and controlled by sinister cabals there must be something wrong and keep looking until you find something that will do to justify writing him off.
It's hard to swallow, isn't it? If you fit the previously stated profile, I know you're fighting the idea, because I am, too. And if you were with the president from the start, I've already got your blood boiling.
My blood's not boiling. We've spent a lot of time trying to convince you guys. We tried persuasion. We tried argument. We tried ridicule. I just hope the water's cold enough this time to keep you awake for awhile.
For those who've been in the same boat with me, we don't need to concede the point just yet. There's a long way to go. But I think we have to face the possibility.
Since your nose is being rubbed in it...
I won't say that it had never occurred to me previously, but it's never gone through my mind as strongly as when I watched the television coverage from Iraq that showed long lines of people risking their lives by turning out to vote, honest looks of joy on so many of their faces. Some CNN guest expert was opining Monday that the Iraqi people crossed a psychological barrier by voting and getting a taste of free choice (setting aside the argument that they only did so under orders from their religious leaders).
Some Shiites did. I doubt if any Kurds or Turkmen or Chaldeans did. And the Sunnis who voted obviously did so in the face of orders from their holy men not to and the threats from the Bad Guyz that they'd kill them if they did.
I think it's possible that some of the American people will have crossed a psychological barrier as well. On the other side of that barrier is a concept some of us have had a hard time swallowing: Maybe the United States really can establish a peaceable democratic government in Iraq, and if so, that would be worth something.
Bingo. Before it was an abstraction, something that was going to maybe kinda sorta happen somewhere down the line but it'd prob'ly be screwed up. Sunday, somewhere down the line arrived, and it wasn't screwed up, and in fact it was well within tolerances.
Would it be worth all the money we've spent? Certainly.
It's "pay me now or pay me later" money. If you pay later, it'll be with interest.
Would it be worth all the lives that have been lost? That's the more difficult question, and while I reserve judgment on that score until such a day arrives, it seems probable that history would answer yes to that as well.
History will answer "of course." The lives expended are "pay me now or pay me later," too. And the performance of the military has been magnificent. The casualty rates are extremely low, given the level and type of combat.
I don't want to get carried away in the moment. Going to war still sent so many terrible messages to the world.
I don't think "If you attack us, we'll kill you" is a bad message to send to the world. I don't think "If you help people attack us, we'll kill you" is a bad message. The first was the message sent to Afghanistan. The second the message sent to Iraq. Now we're sending a third message: "If you're a bloody-handed dictator, we don't like you, so watch it, buddy!"
Most of the obstacles to success in Iraq are all still there, the ones that have always led me to believe that we would eventually be forced to leave the country with our tail tucked between our legs. (I've maintained from the start that if you were impressed by the demonstrations in the streets of Baghdad when we arrived, wait until you see how they celebrate our departure, no matter the circumstances.)
Probably so. I'm not blind to the possibility. But an alternative to total withdrawal is a Status of Forces Agreement that'll go on for years, as with Germany and Japan. I also think you're assuming more revulsion toward the U.S. than there actually is within the Iraqi mainstream. There's a subset that'll jump up and down and make faces, and probably a larger subset that'll miss us, and probably a majority that'll be indifferent. Guess which bunch will take to the streets if the occasion arises?
In and of itself, the voting did nothing to end the violence. The forces trying to regain the power they have lost -- and the outside elements supporting them -- will be no less determined to disrupt our efforts and to drive us out.
Here's where I lose touch with the guys who oppose what we're doing. The forces trying to regain the power they have lost are evil to the bone. Binny and Zawahiri and Zarqawi and al-Douri and the Association of Venomous Muslim Scholars would fit right in with Fu Machu, Professor Moriarty, and the Council of Boskone. Attila the Hun was more reasonable and sweeter natured. Genghis Khan would be shocked at some of the things they do. They've declared war on us. They attacked us. They hate us and they want to kill us all. Where's the hesitation in whether we "should" exterminate them?
Somebody still has to find a way to bring the Sunnis into the political process before the next round of elections at year's end.
I don't give a crap if a single Sunni finds his way into the political process. It's a choice they're making self-determination, remember? Well, they're determined not to play unless they can be in charge.
The Iraqi government still must develop the capacity to protect its people.
There's a problem, isn't it? Iraq's military was very good at rolling over people with tanks, not very good at repelling enemies unless they were dirtbag pickup armies like Iran's. Building the Duty-Honor-Country tradition's going to be difficult. It'll take every day we're there and then some. We won't know if it took until they have their next government crisis.
And there seems every possibility that this could yet end in civil war the day we leave or with Iraq becoming an Islamic state every bit as hostile to our national interests as was Saddam.
Or another fascist dictatorship. Or they could become commies. Over time they could come to be ruled by an oligarchy probably the most likely outcome in the long run or they could become European-style social democrats and hate us because we're crass Americans. There are lots of possibilities, and at the moment none of them appear to be probabilities. So why not worry about them later? We have lots of other things on our plate now.
But on Sunday, we caught a glimpse of the flip side. We could finally see signs that a majority of the Iraqi people perceive something to be gained from this brave new world we are forcing on them. Instead of making the elections a further expression of "Yankee Go Home," their participation gave us hope that all those soldiers haven't died in vain. Obviously, I'm still curious to see if Bush is willing to allow the Iraqis to install a government that is free to kick us out or to oppose our other foreign policy efforts in the region. So is the rest of the world. For now, though, I think we have to cut the president some slack about a timetable for his exit strategy. If it turns out Bush was right all along, this is going to require some serious penance. Maybe I'd have to vote Republican in 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
11:44:47 AM ||
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Nice of you to finally come around to a point of view that only took me a couple days research and a fraction of common sense. And while you're doing your penance, a**hole, take a moment to reflect on how much easier this might have been, how many less soldiers might have died, if whiny little mouth-breathers like yourself hadn't been FIGHTING US THE WHOLE F*CKING WAY!
#2
Just go ahead and vote Democratic again, Mark. We've already proven that we can do the right things and elect a Republican in spite of you.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 16:13
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All of the hand-wringing, gnashing of teeth, weighing of pros and cons, etc. is the conscious mind grappling with accepting what the subconscious mind decided the instant the question or problem was posed.
This guy has felt the first few little pangs - indicators the conscious and subconscious views are in conflict. He's smarter than the average bear in that he's begun to recognize the source of those pangs.
Those who are incapable of what Mark Brown is doing, evolving, should seek immediate professional help to assist them in identifying their personal collection of disorders, conveniently listed here.
#4
I see the latest rantings from Liberals as their last gasp before they die. Think about it, they have Pelosi, Boxer, Kerry, and Kennedy painting themselves in a corner. They have no (political) way out of the âquagmireâ they created for themselves. We have seen a second election in a country that not too long ago was ruled by a tyrant. And they were opposed to deposing the dictator, funding the reconstruction, and letting the people vote. Unless Iraq descends into total lawlessness (still possible) this has to be a HUGE win for America and Bush. Hell even the terrorists are relegated to kidnapping GI Joe dolls!
The News on the domestic front isnât much better if you are a Liberal that opposes tax cuts, social security, and tort reform. These are all hot-button issues that better than 75% of the country is on the Presidents side. Their âbig issueâ is Gay marriages! Now there is an issue they can âget behindâ and take one for the team. Every state that has the issue on a ballot has soundly supported a marriage as between one man and one woman.
I hate to get overly optimistic, but I canât wait until the 2006 elections and see which Democrats are picked off or decide to leave politics. After they called Condi every name in the book and are gearing up to smear Gonzales they are going to find little support from their most cherished voters. I am totally pumped for 2006 and beyond!
#5
Part of Fred's commentary reminds me of thoughts I had during election season. Do you remember way back to Mike Dukakis? And how he was asked what his reaction would be if he wife was raped? He stammered, and stuttered, and gave a very wimpy answer, and lost the election.
With GWB, we got the right answer when our country was attacked. He didn't stammer, didn't stutter, and didn't wimp out. He picked up our military and went and avenged the heck out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Other countries and terror entities now know that they had best think again before attacking the US directly. They just might end up finding themselves casting votes two years later!
We can all sleep better at night knowing that GWB has our back and won't let us down.
#6
Seafarious, reading your comment I was reminded of the advice they give if you are hiking and confronted by a mountain lion.
STAND TALL. If you crouch or show fear the mountain lion is much more likely to attack. And RUNNING (ala Teddy Kennedy) is the WORST thing you can do!
GWB knows that the military will do what needs doing, and do it BETTER when they've got a President who believes in them and the cause they're fighting for!!
World Net Daily--a shameless promo for one of its subscription services--link via Instapundit. EFL'd.
Don't know if this is true, but I hope it is.
Dr. Jack Wheeler, creator of a unique intelligence website dubbed "the oasis for rational conservatives," shares how a gift of vodka and a little ingenuity helped Ukraine's Orange Revolution succeed, bringing the former Russian satellite onto President Bush's list of new democracies. . . . "Order now and you'll also get this Ginsu knife, a Garden Weasel, and a year's supply of Oxy Clean, blah blah blah blah, yadda yadda, operators are standing by!"
"Eastern Ukraine is heavily ethnic Russian. The main industry is coal. The miners are rough, tough, and hate Yushchenko for wanting to take Ukraine away from Russia and toward the West," writes Wheeler. "It was arranged for more than a thousand of them to be taken from Donetsk, the capital of the coal-mining region, by bus and train to Kiev, where, armed with clubs and blunt tools, they would physically beat up the Orange Revolutionaries. Such mass violence was not only to disperse the demonstrators but serve as an excuse for the government to declare martial law, suspending the Ukrainian Parliament (the Rada) and elections indefinitely." "Comrades! We are burly ethinc Russian coal miners! Let us go to Kiev and smash puny little orange people with our hammers!"
Now comes the secret weapon: vodka. "When the miners got on their buses and trains, they found to their joy case after case of vodka — just for them. "Comrades! While on way to Kiev to smash puny little orange people with our hammers, let us open bottles of manly socialist vodka and get hammered ourselves!"
When they arrived in Kiev, trucks awaited them filled with more cases of vodka — all free provided by 'friends' of the Donetsk coal miners. "Is workers' paradise here in Kiev! Free vodka!"
Completely soused, they never made it to Independence Square. Too hammered blind to cause any violence at all, they had a merry time, passed out and were shipped back to Donetsk." "Comrade, is that orange elephant I am seeink?"
"Nyet, Pavel, is only vodka-induced hallucination. Get out from under table."
Available only to subscribers of To the Point, "Call the number on your screen!"
Wheeler's column goes on to explain who provided the liquor: teams of Porter Goss' CIA working with their counterparts in British MI6 intelligence. "Well, Bond, you've done it again."
"Indeed, Q, the miners are too shaken and stirred to give us any trouble."
Dear God, I hope our people are that good!
Posted by: Mike ||
02/01/2005
11:05:50 AM ||
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oh please...like there is any amount vodka they could drink to get them that drunk. That would be like handing out water to runners and then saying, they were too hydrated to run.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) has turned down a request to apologize to Egypt on behalf of the Palestinians for celebrating the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. The request was made by two members of the Egyptian parliament on the eve of Abbas's visit to Cairo over the weekend. They demanded that Abbas formally apologize to the Egyptian government and people as he did with Kuwait late last year, when he publicly expressed regret for supporting Saddam Hussein's invasion of the tiny Gulf state. However, Abbas left Cairo on Saturday following a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak without making an apology.
When Sadat was assassinated by Muslim extremists, many Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the killing by handing out candies and condemning the late president as a traitor for signing a separate peace agreement with Israel. Yasser Arafat's initial response back then to the assassination was: "Blessed are the hands that carried out the killing."
The determination by the UN Security Council that the Shaba farms district is Syrian and not Lebanese land totally negates the pretext that Hizbullah has been using for continuing its terror attacks against Israel, senior security sources told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
The sources said that the declaration also reiterated that Israel had fully complied with UN Security Council Resolution 425 when it withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000.
"Hizbullah has the full backing of Iran, which is its mentor, financier and military arms supplier, as well as the support of Syria that continues to control Lebanon through the Lebanese government, so it is unlikely to stop what it has been doing until now."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas opened his visit to Moscow on Monday by expressing his high regard for Russia's role in the Mideast peace process.
He told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he had done everything to make Moscow his first foreign destination following his election earlier this month. "It shows the respect the Palestinian people feel toward the Russian people and it shows the important role that Russia plays on the world arena, above all in the Middle East, namely in the quartet, in which Russia is a most notable representative," Abbas said through a translator.
Abbas is expected to meet later Monday with President Vladimir Putin and with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II.
A Cold War-era supporter of the Palestinians, Moscow's relations with Israel have improved significantly since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Arab nations have expressed an interest in a stronger Russian role in the Middle East. Visiting Moscow last week, Syrian President Bashar Assad played up Russia's clout on the world stage and won a write-off of most of his country's multimillion-dollar debt to Moscow.
Abbas has visited Jordan and Egypt and is also to travel to Turkey and Switzerland. He leaves Russia on Tuesday morning.
The last 20,000 Falashmura who are eligible to immigrate to Israel will be brought here by the end of 2007, the government decided Monday.
It instructs the Interior Ministry to finish determining within two months which of the Falashmura currently waiting in transit camps in Ethiopia are eligible to come here, and for this purpose, authorizes an increase in the ministry's staff in Ethiopia. It also instructs the relevant ministries to prepare a detailed plan for the Falashmura's immigration and absorption within three months. Sharon said that the Finance Ministry will allocate the necessary funds.
The transit camps [are] located in Addis Ababa and Gondar.
In February 2003, the cabinet decided that Israel would take in all Falashmura - Ethiopians who claim that they were forced to convert from Judaism - who are of Jewish descent on the mother's side. The vast majority of the Falashmura in the camps are thought to meet this criterion. The Interior Ministry has, however, been conducting the eligibility checks very slowly, and former interior minister Avraham Poraz decided that until the checks were completed, only 300 Falashmura per month would be permitted to immigrate.
According to Jewish Agency spokesman Michael Jankelowitz, it costs [Israel] an average of about $100,000 to bring over and settle each Falashmura. Among other benefits, Ethiopian immigrants are entitled to housing grants that cover up to 90 percent of the purchase price of an apartment.
Upon arrival in Israel, the Falashmura undergo conversion to Israel, after which they are entitled to all the benefits of new immigrants under the Law of Return.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/01/2005
1:07:58 AM ||
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Those of us following the nascent career of Islam in America have for years worried about the unhealthy influence of Saudi money and ideas on this community.
We watched apprehensively as the Saudi government boasted of funding mosques and research centers; as it announced its support for Islamist organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations; as it trained the imams who became radicalized chaplains in American prisons; and as it introduced Wahhabism to the university campuses via the Muslim Student Association.
But through the years, we lacked information on the contents of Saudi materials. Do these water down or otherwise change the raw, inflammatory message that dominates religious and political life in Saudi Arabia? Or do they replicate the same outlook?
Now, thanks to excellent research by Freedom House (a New York-headquartered organization founded in 1941 that calls itself "a clear voice for democracy and freedom around the world") we finally have specifics on the Saudi project. A just-published study, "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques," provides a wealth of detail.
(Two points about it bear noting: this important study was written anonymously, for security reasons; and it was issued by a think tank, and not by university-based researchers. Once again, an off-campus organization does the most creative and timely work; yet again, Middle East specialists find themselves sidelined.)
The picture of Saudi activities in the United States is not a pretty one.
Freedom House's Muslim volunteers went to fifteen prominent mosques from New York to San Diego and collected over two hundred books and other publications disseminated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (some 90 percent in the Arabic language) in the mosque libraries, publication racks, and bookstores.
What they found can only be described as horrifying. These writings - each and every one of them sponsored by the kingdom - espouse an anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, misogynist, jihadist, and supremacist outlook. For example, they:
-- Reject Christianity as a valid faith: Any Muslim who believes "that churches are houses of God and that God is worshipped therein ... is an infidel."
-- Insist that Islamic law be applied: On a range of issues, from women (who must be veiled) to apostates from Islam (who "should be killed"), the Saudi publications insist on full enforcement of the Shari'a in America.
-- See non-Muslims as the enemy: "Be dissociated from the infidels, hate them for their religion, leave them, never rely on them for support, do not admire them, and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law."
-- See the United States as hostile territory: "It is forbidden for a Muslim to become a citizen of a country governed by infidels because this is a means of acquiescing to their infidelity and accepting all their erroneous ways."
-- Prepare for war against the United States: "To be true Muslims, we must prepare and be ready for jihad in Allah's way. It is the duty of the citizen and the government."
The report's authors correctly find that the publications under review "pose a grave threat to non-Muslims and to the Muslim community itself." The materials instill a doctrine of religious hatred inimical to American culture and serve to produce new recruits to the enemy forces in the war on terrorism.
To provide just one example of the latter: Adam Yahiye Gadahn, thought to be the masked person in a 2004 videotape threatening that American streets would "run with blood," became a jihadi in the course of spending time at the Islamic Society of Orange County, a Saudi-funded institution.
Freedom House urges that the U.S. government "not delay" a protest at the highest levels to the Saudi government about its venomous publications lining the shelves of some of America's most important mosques.
That's unobjectionable but it strikes this observer of Saudi-American relations as inadequate. The protest will be accepted, then filed away.
Instead, the insidious Saudi assault on America must be made central to the (misnamed) war on terror. The Bush administration needs to confront the domestic menace that the Wahhabi kingdom presents to the United States.
That means junking the fantasy of Saudi friendship and seeing the country, like China, as a formidable rival whose ambitions for a very different world order must be both repulsed and contained.
(Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and author of Militant Islam Reaches America. He has a Ph.D. in early Islamic history from Harvard and taught at Harvard and the University of Chicago.)
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:57:12 AM ||
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One of the best things to do with these anti-American publications is print their translations (without further comment) in US newspapers and magazines. Let the Saudis try to deny them.
February 1, 2005: Islamic terrorists are not a wealthy lot, and they are always coming up with new, usually illegal, ways to raise money for their operations. One of the more recent scams includes life insurance fraud. The terrorist takes out as many life insurance policies as he can, then travels to the Middle East, where local officials can be bribed to verify that he "died" in a fake automobile accident. Then, the "dead man" goes off and becomes a suicide bomber in Iraq, to make sure that the insurance companies never catch on to the scheme, and come looking to get their money back. Rackets like this can yield several hundred thousand dollars for the cause. But expenses are high. Terrorists move around a lot, which means high travel expenses. This also precludes having a regular job, so the living expenses (not very high, actually) have to be covered by the income from illegal activities. Credit card and Internet related scams are favored as well. The down side of these illegal income sources is that it exposes the terrorists to arrest. Indeed, many terrorist cells have been discovered and destroyed because members of the cells got caught by the police. It's been known for several years that Islamic terrorists have favored this kind of crime for raising money, and the police are on to them. It is believed that some police agencies have infiltrated al Qaeda cells via the criminal underground of credit card, insurance and Internet scams. This has resulted in some disputes between the police and intelligence agencies. The cops want to bust as many of these criminals as possible, and prevent more crimes, while the intelligence agencies want to keep known terrorists under surveillance (at least until they try to kill someone, or leave the country), so they can detect and prevent a future terrorist attack. This way, more terrorists can be identified, and eventually rounded up. This tension between the police and intelligence agencies is generally kept quiet, but it has led to cases where the cops just busted people who they suspected were terrorists, but did not want to bring intelligence services in lest the police be forbidden to make the arrests. These are all aspects of the war on terror that don't get reported much, but could be a matter of life and death for a lot of people one of these days.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:54:51 AM ||
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this is an absolute pet-peeve of mine. Good for the cops. The FBI will monitor until the cows come home. As in the drug trade, they allow the distribution networks to be established before their very eyes - and not until the illicit trade has firmly taken root do they then arrest a few "king pins" who are easily replaced now that their drug trade is so well established. And all under the watchful eye of the FBI.
Now they just watch as complex money scams are allowed to be established, they allow the Islamists to be funded, illicit money trails to be forged, and acts of terrorism to be funded. Thus innocent people dying as the FBI protects the networks that fund them.
I understand the benefits of stings. But life is about balance - and in terms of monitoring - it seems to me that the FBI is more about gaining knowledge, more and more, and more and more, than it is with using knowledge to prevent the crimes it is monitoring.
#2
And the more I read about the 1993 WTC bombing, I'm convinced that is what happened there. They set up the group that eventually bombed the WTC and then bent all over themselves trying to explain how it was that they weren't watching as the act was performed right under their noses.
If you build it, they will come. The FBI allows them to build so that someday they can get a nice press conference and a "well-done" when indeed they come.
#3
One thing is a little fishy about the described life insurance scam. Insurance companies demand death certificates before they pay benefits. What type of certificate is issued for a suicide bomber in Iraq? With the marginal rule of law in the Middle East, what insurance company would bother writing policies? I remember reading that when life insurance policies were first written in Europe centuries ago, it was not required for an insured person to give consent for coverage. The truly enterprising would take out policies on unsuspecting people and then kill them in order to collect. Very soon the rule was issued that the insured must consent to the policy for it to be valid.
#4
I emailed Bulldog about a scam my daughter got caught up in, where a proxy program was loaded on her computer that dialed a number in England. Supposedly it was a porno site. A couple of friends of mine in Molesworth reported it's to an Islamic charity. The call supposedly cost $40. I've never paid. I did notify the FBI AND Homeland Security. Homeland Security is looking into it - the program originated in Germany (Leipzig). The FBI ignored my email. Firewalls are essential to protect yourself these days - and to keep us from unwittingly, possibly even unknowingly, supporting Islamofascists through this kind of crap.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/01/2005 19:10
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No, no, Ebbavith. The death certificate is what they get for the imaginary car crash. After they turn over the insurance money to their handlers, they get to blow themselves up as a reward. ;-)
February 1, 2005: After eight years of effort, and spending over $300 million, the U.S. Army has officially received its new wargame (WARSIM) for training battalion, brigade, division, and as big as you want to get, commanders, and their staffs. Now even the most elaborate commercial wargame would not get $300 million for development, and eight years to create the system. But wargames for professional soldiers have different requirements, and a troublesome Department of Defense bureaucracy to deal with. First, the requirements. Commercial wargames shield the player from all the boring stuff (support functions, especially logistics.) But professional wargames must deal with these support activities, because in a real war, these are the things commanders spend most of their time tending too. Sad, but true, and it's why you have the ancient military quip, "amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics." Professionals also study personnel issues. A division commander will also know his half dozen combat and support brigade commanders very well, and the 15 or so battalion commanders well enough to know who is ready for a promotion to brigade commander, and who has to be supervised a little more carefully. Actually deciding where the combat units go, and when they attack or defend, takes up little of a commanders time, especially for higher level commands (divisions and larger.)
WARSIM covers a lot of complex activities that a commander must deal with to achieve battlefield success. Besides logistics, there's intelligence. Trying to figure out what the enemy is up to is, next to logistics, the commanders most time consuming chore. Then there is maintenance (keeping equipment running, and getting it fixed), transportation (especially helicopters) and personnel (particularly finding people capable of replacing leaders lost to combat, disease or accidents.) Another unique aspect of WARSOM is data capture. Every action by the players is recorded, so that after the game, it is possible to identify which decisions were responsible for success, or failure.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:50:24 AM ||
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Well, where can I download it???
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/01/2005 11:49
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No, that was H4. Poor wee game, we hardly knew ye...other than the 6-year development cycle from hell, that is. I don't understand why they couldnt have gone with one of the dozen or so killer sims out there now and just modify it.
(I've got the new H3, and aside from some very minor but weird quirks, I love it.)
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/01/2005 21:12
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SULEIMANIYAH: The main Kurdish alliance is set to win two-thirds of the vote in Iraq's tense northern oil centre of Kirkuk, reports said Tuesday, fanning Turkish fears about Kurdish ambitions for the ethnically divided region. The alliance is also set to take a quarter of the seats in Iraq's new national assembly overall giving the long-oppressed minority a major say in the drafting of a new post-Saddam Hussein constitution, one of its leaders told a Kurdish daily. With just one district still to complete its count of Sunday's vote, the Kurdish alliance has won 68 percent of the vote in Kirkuk, the Kurdish weekly Hawlati (Citizen) reported. If confirmed, the result would give the Kurds 26 of the 41 seats on the provincial council, the paper said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
10:45:57 PM ||
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Washington DC area commuters driving down Barton Parkway in Potomac, Maryland couldn't help but notice what looked like a box like missile launcher on the grounds of the old Naval Surface Warfare Center. The launcher did not look like anything familiar. It was smaller than the four missile Patriot container, and this one appeared to be holding six missiles. It turned out that NORAD (the North American Air Defense Command), was in charge of the launcher, and was not saying anything.
However, a little research revealed that the mystery launcher was the surface-to-air version of the U.S. air-to-air AMRAAM missile. First developed by Norway, the system has been adopted by several other countries (including Spain and Kuwait). The U.S. Marines are developing their own version, called CLAWS. This system will have AMRAAMs fired from a launcher mounted on a hummer. The box launcher seen outside DC is from the Norwegian system (called NASAMS). The ground launched AMRAAM has a range of about twenty kilometers, and can hit targets as high as 13,000 feet. NASAMS was developed so that it could easily work with different search radars. The 350 pound AMRAAM SAM costs more (about $600,000 each) compared to the air-to-air version (about $380,000), but is basically the same missile. The twelve foot long AMRAAM has its own radar, for ensuring a hit once it has been guided to the vicinity of the target. The missile has a fifty pound warhead, and can take down just about anything that flies, including wide-body commercial transports. The AMRAAMs outside DC are apparently for defense against suicidal pilots, or any unauthorized aircraft in the area that refuse to leave restricted air space.
I guess somebody came to the conclusion that the Stingers were not up to the job of bringing down large aircraft. Nice to see they have gotten past the "Not Invented Here" barrier and purchased the Norwegian system off the shelf.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:44:29 AM ||
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Hurrah! I always liked the NASAMS system. It just struck me as nifty, using an AMRAAM from the ground. Why wouldn't it work? It even has a surface-to-surface engagement mode.
AMRAAM also has been demonstrated on a HMMWV-based system, called HUMRAAM. Cool!
Five people were killed on Tuesday in a gunbattle between Egyptian police and a group of Bedouin suspected of helping the men who bombed three tourist resorts in Sinai in October, police sources said. Three policeman, one of the suspects and a bystander were killed in the clash, which is still going on near the Sinai town of Ras Sudr, 150 kilometres east of Cairo, they said. Police have sealed off an area in the hills near Ras Sudr after receiving information that two of the four bombers were hiding there, they said.
At least 34 people — Egyptians, Israelis, Russians and Italians — were killed in the three bombings, which appeared to target east Sinai resorts frequented by Israelis. Police have said the other two bombers were killed by their own bomb. Police said in October they had arrested five men, all Sinai Bedouin, as accomplices in the bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
10:39:23 PM ||
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February 1, 2005: Apparently the Sudanese government is once again using its An-24 transports as bomber aircraft in the Darfur region. The An-24 is a two engine Russian aircraft, developed in the 1960s to replace pre-World War II American DC-3s. An-24s can carry up to 50 passengers, or five tons of cargo. Sudan have some of the An-26 versions of the An-24, which has a rear ramp, which bombs are rolled out of.
The African Union and various relief agencies report that Sudanese planes bombed the village of Rahad Kabolong in North Darfur state. The attack took place on January 26 and left more than 100 people dead. Some 9000 people fled the village and the surrounding area after the air attack. A monitoring team reported that most of the dead were women and children. As of January 31, the government continued to deny that the air raid took place.
The United Nations called the attack a major ceasefire violation-- which of course it was. The UN, however, still refuses to call the Sudanese war in Darfur a genocide. Sudan's strategy is "ethnic cleansing" at its worst, and that ethnic cleansing met the conditions for genocidal war in Bosnia. International law defines genocide as attacks having the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." Sudan's strategy is to attack villages, uproot the population, and force the people to flee to refugee camps in Chad. The US government has called the Sudanese war a genocidal war.
If international political pressure fails to stop the air attacks in Darfur, how can they be countered? Post 9/11, the US isn't about to pass out Stinger missiles like it did in Afghanistan. The risk that the missiles could end up in terrorist hands is simply too great. If the UN and EU really are outraged by the Sudanese air attacks, they could declare a "no fly zone" in Sudan's Darfur region. The no-fly zone in Darfur would operate like the no-fly zones the US and Britain enforced over northern and southern Iraq after 1991. A dozen French and German fighter aircraft based in Chad could protect the defenseless Darfurian villages from air attack. Is this a likely scenario? Of course it isn't--at the moment the political will does not exist in the UN and EU to take such a decisive military action. Imposing a no-fly zone, however, would save lives.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:34:34 AM ||
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The French imposing a no-fly zone? Where would their artiste stand to paint it?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 16:10
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Hmmmm. Must not be afraid of the ICC. Or the UN, for that matter.
#3
First ypieee.Finally got a new tower,I've upgraded from an Iguanadon to Cave lion.
France or Germany,HAH,what a laugh.That would intell commitent and risk.
#5
at the moment the political will does not exist in the UN and EU ... or the USA ... to take such a decisive military action. Imposing a no-fly zone, however, would save lives.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/01/2005 22:21
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KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's parliament passed a law on Tuesday giving police wide powers to search and seize illegal weapons to tackle a wave of al Qaeda-linked violence. "Parliament unanimously passed this law on weapons collection, which is valid for two years," lawmaker Abdullah al-Roumi told Reuters. After militant violence in early January, a government draft was rushed through procedures that often take months.
Kuwait introduced similar legislation in 1992 to deal with a proliferation of arms since the 1990-1 Iraqi occupation. But lawmakers rejected an extension of that law in 1994, saying possession of weapons was a right. The new law makes it easier for police to obtain a warrant to search a private house for illegal weapons. Now police can get a warrant only after carrying out extensive investigations. The law will also allow women inspectors to search women's quarters in private homes, which were off limits because of Islamic rules.
The new law states the prosecutor or a deputy "can allow police in writing to search persons, houses and public or private places and transport facilities in a specified area in a specified period of time," for illegal weapons or ammunitions.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:31:40 AM ||
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So which ones are legal, and which are illegal?
Spanish police arrested a family of four on Tuesday suspected of links to the March 11 Madrid train bombings and a militant Islamic group, the Interior Ministry said. Police also issued an international arrest warrant for Youssef Belhadj, who they suspect may have appeared on a videotape claiming responsibility for the Madrid attacks and describing himself as the spokesman of al-Qaeda in Europe.
The Moroccan-born Moussaten family -- 20-year-old half brothers Brahim and Mohamed , their father Allal and Mohamed's 42-year-old mother Safia Belhadj -- were seized in the Madrid suburb of Leganes, the ministry said in a statement. It was not immediately clear if Belhadj and the detained mother are related. The family may have formed part of the Salafist-linked Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group and were allegedly connected with group leaders detained in swoops in Belgium, France and Spain in 2004, the statement added. It was also in touch with two men wanted in connection with the March bombings, which killed 191, and may have helped them escape after seven other suspects blew themselves up in a Leganes apartment after a police siege, the statement said. Police were searching the family home and did not rule out further arrests. Youssef Belhadj, who Spain wants extradited, was born in Morocco but currently lives in Belgium, where he was arrested last March but then released.
So he's on the run, somewhere. Nice going, Belgium.
He may also be connected to the Moussaten family, the statement said. More than 100 suspected Islamic militants have been arrested in Spain since the March attacks, although many have been released for lack of evidence.
This article starring:
ALAL MUSATEN
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
BRAHIM MUSATEN
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
MOHAMED MUSATEN
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
SAFIA BELHADJ
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
YUSEF BELHADJ
al-Qaeda in Europe
YUSEF BELHADJ
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:24:26 AM ||
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So he's on the run, somewhere. Nice going, Belgium
Relatives of a suspected Islamic militant ringleader arrested during deadly clashes in the capital publicly distanced themselves from him Tuesday, saying he and his cohorts should be relegated "to the dustbin of history." Amer al-Enezi was identified as the key figure among six alleged militants arrested after firefights that erupted during raids of suspected hideouts in the capital. Five suspects and a bystander were killed.
A previously unknown group, the Brigades of Martyr Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, promised to carry on its fight against the Kuwaiti government and the United States despite al-Enezi's arrest, according to a statement that surfaced Tuesday on a Web site known for posting Islamic militant content.
"Don't think even the thought that we are finished following the arrest of Sheik Amer Khlaif al-Enezi, God grant him freedom. We have only begun," the group said, addressing Kuwaiti state security. "God willing, the raids will include you. You will regret it, you pigs of Al Sabah (the ruling family in Kuwait), you servants of the Americans," said the statement, also warning of attacks on U.S. troops based in the country, a close ally of Washington.
The brigades were named after Abdelaziz al-Moqrin, the former head of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia who was killed in a police shootout last year. There was no way to verify the statement's authenticity.
Al-Enezi's father, Khlaif al-Enezi, and scores of other relatives signed a statement denouncing him. The statement, published in Kuwaiti newspapers Tuesday, described the suspects as a "gang that lost the way and was lured by the devil." A brother of Amer, Nasser Khlaif al-Enezi, died in a gunbattle Sunday that also killed a policeman and a bystander dead. "May God be our witness, we have no relation with their deeds, and may they go to the dustbin of history for what they have committed," the statement said. The relatives said they join all other Kuwaitis and the government in trying to "safeguard the stability of dear and just Kuwait."
Public denunciations from the relatives of militants arrested, killed or wanted by governments in the region are not uncommon, particularly in Saudi Arabia, which has faced a far deadlier campaign of violence than Kuwait. In Saudi Arabia, the denounciations are a significant part of Saudi Arabia's official efforts to steer youths away from militancy.
The government has provided little information on al-Enezi. A resident of the tribal city of al-Jahra told The Associated Press that he appeared to be in his 30s and used to preach at a local mosque, exhorting young men to attack Americans, Kuwaiti security forces and even moderate Muslim clerics. The resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said al-Enezi was fired from the mosque at least six months ago. Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, Kuwait's interior minister, said the suspects targeted Monday were part of "an organized terror group," but he said their aims and their backers would only be revealed by further investigation. Sheik Salem Al Ali Al Sabah, the head of Kuwait's National Guard, has previously linked some local militants to al-Qaida.
The militants' Web statement appealed to Kuwaitis to stay away from places where "infidel soldiers" congregate and said any loss of innocent lives would be the fault of the Kuwaiti government for allying itself with the United States and allowing U.S. bases in the country. "God knows we didn't come to fight you or terrorize you, but to fight the infidel soldiers who are occupying your land," the statement said.
Monday's raid was the fourth in three weeks and reflected a new sense of urgency in the battle to crush Islamic extremists in Kuwait. About 30 Kuwaiti and Saudi suspects have been arrested since Jan. 10. After Monday's raid, Kuwait's prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, called for the "removal of this cancer before it spreads," the state-owned Kuwait News Agency reported.
The government crackdown began when the father of a Muslim extremist told police his son had befriended a group of militants and disappeared. The son, Fawwaz al-Otaibi, was killed Jan. 10 when authorities tried to arrest him as he returned a rented car that the U.S. Embassy said he had planned to use to attack Westerners. Several accomplices fled in another car. Ensuing raids targeted al-Otaibi's accomplices, authorities said.
This article starring:
ABDELAZIZ AL MOQRIN
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
AMER AL ENEZI
Brigades of Martyr Abdulaziz al-Moqrin
FAWWAZ AL OTAIBI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
NASER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
SHEIK AMER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
Brigades of Martyr Abdulaziz al-Moqrin
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:17:00 AM ||
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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Rebels firing homemade rockets attacked a military post in southwestern Colombia on Tuesday, killing at least 9 soldiers and wounding about 20, the navy said. Government forces in river gunboats, a "Phantom" fixed-wing gunship and helicopters were pursuing the rebels of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, who attacked the Colombian marine post in Iscuande county, the navy said in a statement.
The attack came amid a government offensive, called Plan Patriot, deep into the rebel's jungle hideouts in southern Colombia, more than 150 miles from the site of Tuesday's attack. Despite blows suffered by the rebels in the campaign, the attack suggested they retain the capability of striking in diverse points of this Andean nation. FARC rebels used large gas cylinders converted into rockets to attack the Marine outpost, the statement said. The outpost is located near where the Iscuande River empties into the Pacific Ocean.
"Preliminary information indicates that, lamentably, nine soldiers were killed and about 20 were wounded and are being treated at a village clinic," the statement said. The troops are so-called campesino marines, or peasant marines, who are natives of the area where they are stationed and who receive three months of military training. The deployment of thousands of campesino troops in Colombia to protect their own villages and farms from the rebels is a major component of hardline President Alvaro Uribe's strategy to bring Colombia's 40-year-old insurgency to its knees.
The attack occurred in Narino state, which hugs the Pacific Ocean and the Ecuadorean border and which is a major cocaine-producing center. Colombian counternarcotics troops were assisting in the pursuit of the rebels, the navy said. The United States has poured in about $3 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia since 2000 to combat the rebels, and cocaine and heroin production in Colombia, whose profits fuel the war. U.S. Special Forces have trained Colombian counternarcotics troops.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:10:07 AM ||
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Congress has given the Pentagon important new authority to fight terrorism by authorizing Special Operations forces for the first time to spend money to pay informants and recruit foreign paramilitary fighters. The new authority, which would also let Special Operations forces purchase equipment or other items from the foreigners, is spelled out in a single paragraph of an 800-page defense authorization bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in October. It was requested by the Pentagon and the commander of Special Operations forces as part of a broader effort to make the military less reliant on the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Congressional and Defense Department officials.
A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said the new authority was necessary to avoid a repetition of problems encountered in the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. During that conflict, Special Operations troops had to wait for the C.I.A. to pay informants and could not always count on timely support because the agency's resources were often stretched thin, the Pentagon concluded.
"This is an important authority that we've been seeking for some time," Mr. Whitman said.
The new law authorizes the secretary of defense to spend as much as $25 million a year through 2007 "to provide support to foreign forces, irregular forces, groups or individuals" who help Special Operations missions to combat terrorism. It also specifies that Congress is not providing authorization for the Pentagon to conduct covert action, which has traditionally been undertaken by the C.I.A. and requires explicit presidential authority.
Senior military officials and a retired Army intelligence officer said the money could be used for purposes as diverse as buying a truck for an urgent mission or paying cash to irregular allies, like the Northern Alliance in the Afghan war against the Taliban. "This could also be used to pay bribes on the ground to help a mission along," said the retired Army intelligence officer.
The authority is spelled out in the public version of the law, but it had not previously been described in detail. It provides one example of what intelligence officials have described as a determined effort by the Pentagon to expand its role in intelligence-gathering and other areas that have traditionally been the domain of the C.I.A.
The measure was initially approved by the House, and included in the final version of the bill by a House-Senate conference committee. A Congressional official said the commander of the Special Operations Command, Gen. Bryan D. Brown of the Army, had been a leading supporter of the effort. Defense Department officials did not call attention to the program even at a briefing last week in which they confirmed news reports about other steps to broaden the military's involvement in intelligence operations. Those include the formation of a new clandestine unit within the Defense Intelligence Agency to work more closely with Special Operations forces in supporting battlefield missions, including counterterrorism operations.
A C.I.A. official said the new authority would not rival the agency's own programs. "The fact that D.O.D. has fixed a gap in its capability is a good thing," the official said. "But the C.I.A. exists to do exactly this. Just because another agency has a new authority doesn't mean we stop doing what we're doing. In fact, the president has asked us to increase our capability by 50 percent." Another intelligence official said that additional authority provided to the Pentagon could prove beneficial as long as operations were properly coordinated by the C.I.A. station chiefs in the countries involved.
Mr. Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, and Congressional officials said that the Pentagon had yet to use the new authority but would do so this year, and that aides to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were drawing up procedures under which the money would be spent.
Under provisions added to the bill by Senate negotiators during the House-Senate conference, the secretary of defense is required to notify Congressional defense committees about those procedures before using the new authority, and to notify the committees in writing within 48 hours any time the authority is used. The $25 million that may be spent each year is a tiny sum compared with the hundreds of billions that Congress appropriates each year for the military and intelligence agencies. But some Congressional officials said the amount was less important than the precedent it set.
In some combat situations, like the war in Iraq, American commanders have been authorized to spend large amounts of money on development and other projects. In Iraq, however, the money came from assets seized from the former Iraqi government. But Congressional officials said the new authority provided by Congress was broader than that given to American commanders in the past. They said the measure authorized the defense secretary to draw the $25 million from existing funds for operations and maintenance, so a further appropriation would not be required.
"The money isn't for 'information gathering' per se, although that may be part of how Special Operations forces use it," said a senior House Republican aide. "This was a problem in Afghanistan, where S.O.F. had to rely on the C.I.A. to bring money to the table when it came to dealing with various factions within the Northern Alliance," the Afghan force that helped overthrow the Taliban.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005
10:03:57 AM ||
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#1
Not only did Wretchard beat Newsweek, he did a better (though self-admittedly, a slightly- flawed) job of it:
One of the key things the Newsweek article misses but which War Plan Orange [post] emphasizes was the role played by the delay caused by seeking permission from the United Nations to topple Saddam...
One of the principle differences in the Newsweek analysis and the War Plan Orange post is in the interpretation of the strengths and weaknesses of each side. Newsweek, for example, seems to regard the growing use of untrained attackers as a sign of strength...
...But I think the main problem with the Newsweek analysis is that first, it doesn't fully recognize the significance of the economy of force operation against the Sunnis...Secondly, Newsweek almost ignores American political warfare.
One highly-educated, self-motivated individual doing analysis, versus a media staff doing meetings, content-approvals, editing, reapproval, spin-correction, etc.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/01/2005
00:44 ||
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All that means is that the button counter and bottle sorters back in the US didn't get their triplicate paperwork for it. Bremer's point was a good one: it was more useful to pay people who were ghost employees to stay out of mischief, than it was to have them unemployed and making trouble.
#2
This is what happens when you want to disburse the money quickly. Accountability requires bureaucracy, which implies delay. Ask any expense planner. Remember that Lugar and Hagel were complaining about how money was being disbursed too slowly not long ago. Now that it was disbursed in a hurry, they'll undoubtedly complain that it was handed out too quickly.
Kuwaiti security forces fought their biggest battle yet with terrorists yesterday, killing four including a Saudi and arresting their leader and five others, the Interior Ministry and state TV said. One Kuwaiti civilian was also killed in the gunbattle that raged for nine hours in Al-Qurain district, also known as Mubarak Al-Kabir, about 25 km south of the capital, the ministry said in a statement. Three policemen and three of the arrested suspects were wounded in the gunfight that started at dawn after security forces backed by armored vehicles stormed a house where the suspects had taken refuge. "Security forces... have liquidated a group of terrorists who had taken refuge in a number of locations in Mubarak Al-Kabir district where they started shooting at security men who hunted them," the statement said.
Security sources and witnesses said policemen fought in the streets with the militants who ignored repeated calls through loudspeakers to surrender. State television said one of those killed was a Saudi national while security sources said two others were Bidoon [Bedouin], or stateless Arabs. It was the second time in a fortnight that a Saudi citizen had been killed in a clash with Kuwaiti security forces. Another was killed in a gunbattle with police in Umm Al-Haiman on Jan. 15. The house stormed by security forces is attached to a mosque and belongs to the mosque's preacher who was away on leave.
Convenient, wasn't it? It's rare that the holy men stay around for the shootouts...
The house was badly damaged by heavy police gunfire before it was stormed. One of those arrested was Amer Khlaif Al-Enezi, a former mosque preacher and the alleged leader of militants. His brother Nasser was killed in a gunfight with police on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said. That clash near Kuwait City left a police officer, a suspect and a Bahraini civilian dead, and five others wounded.
This article starring:
AMER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Liquidated. That has a nice ring to it. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: SPOD ||
02/01/2005 1:40
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"Liquidated"
But they never actually turn them into liquid. Disappointing.
He said he would never be captured alive. True to his prediction Nasser Khalaf Al-Enezi, believed to have killed two securitymen in the first shootout between Islamic militants and security forces in the country that occurred in Maidan Hawally last month, died evading capture Sunday in Salmiya.
"You'll never take me alive, coppers!"
"Hokay! [BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]"
"Ow! Ow! Hey! Stop that! You're hurting me!... Aaaaaiiiieeee! Rosebud!"
Mohammed Saeed, an Egyptian security guard of Al-Raed Security Co, who was on duty at Zawiya Towers Sunday morning said he was standing by a pool in the compound when he saw three men, armed to the teeth, jumping over a rear wall and entering the compound. "I confronted them and they told me they were securitymen. They showed me their IDs and two of them asked for access to the sixth floor. I saw a police vehicle also parking in front of the building and snipers coming out and taking positions behind the vehicle. I then saw four other police vehicles parked on the empty streets and snipers coming out with heavy weapons. In no time the firing began. The police were shooting from my building and from across the street at the other building while a helicopter was hovering overhead. At the same time I saw fire being returned from that building while some of the police frantically called out from loudspeakers on the militants to surrender. 'Give yourselves up,' they shouted."Mohammed said the shooting continued for more than one and half hours and he heard screams of pain from the house where the militants were holed up. He later saw the police carrying three wounded men into an ambulance that sped away.Mohammed said the police used guns mounted on armored carriers and he also believes they used gas bombs to incapacitate the militants.
The scary part of this story? Fred's graphic is exactly how this guy imagined himself to look like in real life...
Including the curly blond hair?
This article starring:
NASER KHALAF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Guess the Kuwaiti's have that "surrounded" thing figured out.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 8:32
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maybe cause the Kuwaitis actually WANT to win this thing.
"Condi!" Bush yelled, stopping her in the hallway, "While I was emptying out my pencil shavings, I heard that you've been beating up foreign diplomats and a news report that you're the first Secretary of State to use a sock full of nickels in negotiations..."
Posted by: mojo ||
02/01/2005
00:00:00 AM ||
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#2
Sophmoric at best, inane at least. Even those idiots on SNL do it better than this. I'll wait for the Jib-Jab version.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/01/2005 10:47
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#3
Jack, didn't your mother tell you that if you don't have anything nice to say, then STFU! Lots of people here like www.imao.us, and your opinion that FrankJ isn't funny doesn't matter to them.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/01/2005 11:59
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#4
The whole thing is just hilarious. Here's my favorite:
"Aieee!" Chirac screeched, "You kicked me so hard, my testicles have swollen to the size of grapes!"
"Don't bore me with your hyperbole," Condi stated. "So, am I going to have problems with you?"
Posted by: Matt ||
02/01/2005 12:57
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#5
"So, now I think you can understand how the Iraqi elections are a new turning point for the Middle East," Condi said. She then turned to the Germans behind her. "Do you think he can hear me through the drywall?"
"Maybe you could remove his head from it?" suggested one German.
#8
Half / Mucky - presuming you followed the link to his site and took a look around...
FrankJ is undoubtedly best known for his "puppy blender" comment about Glenn Reynolds. He'd prolly be almost unknown were it not for that imaginary feud, lol! It's how I ran across him.
Then he actually wrote something original, "Nuke the Moon", which wasn't bad. Check that out on his site to see him at his best.
KUWAIT CITY: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently sealed three money exchange offices in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Hassawi for their involvement in money laundering operations, reports Al-Anba daily quoting a reliable government source. The same source said the offices violated the rules and regulations by not informing authorities the names of persons who had transferred KD 3,000 and above to persons outside the country. One of the offices is said to have transferred $3 million to Syria over a three-month period in addition to other transfers worth thousands of Kuwaiti dinars to GCC states, especially to Saudi Arabia.
This is interesting. We seldom see this kind of story. We can only hope that there are lots more of them...
A security source disclosed suspected Islamist militants belonging to the 'Al-Mutlaa Cell' who are in custody of police have admitted to receiving money from a neighbouring country.
That'd be Soddy Arabia, I'd guess...
The source added the money which has been transferred may be used by the al-Zarqawi terrorist group in Iraq to launch terrorist attacks. Interrogations also revealed more than $250,000 had been distributed to some of the arrested Islamist suspects and others who are still at large. In another development, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour said some charity societies such as the Islamic Heritage Revival Society, the Social Reform Society, the Abdullah Al-Nouri Charity Society and Al-Najat Society are known to violate rules and regulations of charity work in the country. A ministry source said these charity societies use kiosks to collect money, used clothes and electrical appliances without obtaining permission from the ministry and move the kiosks from place to place, to escape inspection. The source also pointed out these societies violate the labour law by employing illegal persons.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
00:00:00 AM ||
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The man replacing the mayor of Baghdad — who was assassinated for his pro-American loyalties — says he is not worried about his ties to Washington. In fact, he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city. "We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."
Fadel's predecessor, Ali al-Haidari, was gunned down Jan. 4 when militants opened fire on his armor-covered BMW as it traveled with a three-car convoy. Fadel said he received numerous threats on his life as the council chairman, and expects to get many more in his new post. "My life is cheap," Fadel said. "Everything is cheap for my country."
As Iraq prepared for a volatile election that is being watched across the world, Fadel heaped praise on the United States. Fadel acknowledged that many in his country appear ungrateful for America's foreign assistance. He said most Iraqis are still in "shock" over the changes, and need time to adjust. Any public monument to Bush is likely to further incense terrorist forces, who have attacked American troops and their supporters for months. Fadel said he is undaunted. "We have a lot of work and we are especially grateful to the soldiers of the U.S.A. for freeing our country of tyranny," Fadel said. As for his own protection, the new mayor will be traveling in a new $150,000 SUV complete with bulletproof windows and flat-resistant tires.
Posted by: Billary ||
02/01/2005
00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush
A monument sounds good, but erect? Why does it have to be erect? Is it an arab cultural thing?
#4
I don't know if anything else can be added to Rushmore. Maybe elsewhereâ¦
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/01/2005 9:06
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#5
No statues or monuments till they're dead. Though I suspect some on the left and their islamic-fascist allies are working on that now as well speak. They forget the line from Star Wars that went something like - If you strike me down, you'll only make me more powerful than I am now.
Too bad the politicos here in SV don't understand this. We have the Caltrain/Amtrak station near the Arena, Diridon Station, named after a former supervisor, Rod Diridon, the McEnery Convention Center, after Tom McEnery, former mayor of San Jose, and Mineta International Airport. There's more, but I can't bring them to mind right now.
A Palestinian man, one of 11 foreign terror suspects held by Britain without trial under now-discredited emergency laws, has been granted bail, the government said yesterday. Mahmoud Abu Rideh was arrested more than three years ago after Britain accused him of having links to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and of raising funds for terror operations. "We will not seek to oppose bail for Mr. Rideh but we will argue that the conditions imposed must be appropriate to address the threat that he poses," a Home Office (Interior Ministry) spokesman said.
Rideh will not be freed until the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which reviews detainees' cases, has agreed what those conditions should be, the spokesman added. Yesterday's verdict come just days after Britain announced plans to overhaul its anti-terrorism laws, which give police powers to jail foreigners without trial indefinitely if they are suspected of being involved in terrorism. It followed a ruling last year by the UK's highest court, the Law Lords, that those powers, adopted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, violated basic rights. Rideh, who was born in Jordan to stateless Palestinian parents, arrived in Britain in 1995 and was given refugee status three years later, according to court documents. He was arrested in December 2001 with then-Home Secretary David Blunkett stating he was "an active supporter of various terrorist groups, including those with links to Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network". He is currently being held at Broadmoor Hospital near London, a top security unit which houses some of Britain's most dangerous mentally ill criminals.
This article starring:
MAHMUD ABU RIDEH
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
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#1
He is currently being held at Broadmoor Hospital near London, a top security unit which houses some of Britainâs most dangerous mentally ill criminals.
Oh yeah, this guy has bail material written all over him.
#2
Coming to a council estate near you... I say bind him to the bricing post and give him a sound thrashing.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/01/2005 6:34
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#3
His Dear Old was on TV last night. Doesn't speak a word of English. Mighty pissed off she was, presumably because with her Angry Young banged up she has had to go and collect the benefits herself. There'll be some ululating chez Abu Rideh tonight.
I've never really thought it was that important to die with my boots on, but when the time comes, hopefully I'll be wearing pants. Having your heinie hanging out is so undignified...
A fierce hourlong battle between police and suspected terrorists holed up in a residential building Sunday left a most-wanted fundamentalist, one policeman and a Bahraini resident dead, the government said. It was the third shootout this month between security forces and suspected militants in Kuwait, a major US ally that has been battling fundamentalists who oppose the presence of the American military here. Four policemen were injured in the shooting and two suspects were arrested, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry and an official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. The official identified the killed suspect as Nasser Klaif al-Enezi, a fundamentalist high on Kuwait's most-wanted list. He declined to name the suspects in custody but said they were being interrogated.
"Ready to go to work, Boss!"
"Good! And might I say that your moustachios are particularly dashing today, Mustafa!"
"Awwww! T'anks, Boss!"
"And is that a new truncheon?"
"Yeah, Boss! I bought it special for the occasion!"
Special forces in armored vehicles and state security police with faces covered in black masks stormed the six-story building Sunday morning after blocking the way to the neighborhood in Salmiyah, a suburb of Kuwait City where many foreigners live. "Expect this (to happen again). We will chase these criminals until we get them all," Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah told reporters after visiting the injured policemen at the hospital. He said the four men were in stable condition.
And if you can't believe Islamists, who can you believe?
The Islamic Bloc will extend its whole-hearted support to the government in fighting terrorism, says MP Khaled Al-Adwah.
"At least until they start bumping off holy men..."
"The bloc is determined to support Kuwait's leadership and not allow any misguided person endanger the security and stability of the country," he adds. Denying the accusations levelled by liberals that Islamists support terrorism, the MP said "Kuwait is a peaceful country and the Islamic Bloc wants to keep it this way. The whole society should fight terrorism to end this menace, which was expected especially after the entry of foreigners into the region and fall of a ruling regime in a neighbouring country." The toppling of Saddam Hussein has led to security fears in the region, he added.
"Y'let them furriners in, they start sniffin' 'round our wimmin, you know the boyz ain't gonna stand fer it!"
Stressing the importance of not exaggerating the recent security incidents in Kuwait, Al-Adwah said "these were isolated incidents committed by individuals who are under control."
"I mean, it ain't like there's any such thing as an international terror network that's funded and directed by a handful of princes and holy men in a neighboring country. Is it?"
The Kuwaiti society, which enjoys political freedom, fairness, and freedom of expression, is against such troublemakers, he continued. On the accusations of liberals, the lawmaker said "this is not the time to play any blame game and accuse the Islamic ideology of producing terrorism, especially since some liberal extremists allow violence to target European countries." He went on to say those who accuse the Islamic Bloc are aiming to weaken the solidarity of our society, adding "this bloc is a product of patriotism and national spirit." No MP will dare to bargain with the security of his country, Al-Adwah stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
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Iran denied on Monday any involvement with the case of an Egyptian charged with spying for Tehran and preparing the assassination of an unnamed Egyptian figure in return for $50,000. "The trial in Cairo concerns the Egyptian government and an Egyptian citizen, and it does not concern us," Iranian government spokesman, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told reporters. "We are sure that the trial would end in a way that even if the Egyptian citizen was found guilty, the trial would have nothing to do with us," he added.
"Should you, or a member of your group be captured, Mr. Phelps, the Agency will disavow all knowledge..."
On Saturday, the public prosecutor of Egypt's security court Hisham Badawi said Mahmud Aid Dabbus, 31, was recruited by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to set up the killing. He had been praised in a letter from one of the Guards' officials for "the quality of information" he had supplied on his spying mission. The charge sheet said that besides information on Egypt, Dabbus gave Iran details about oil installations at the Saudi port of Yanbu, where six Westerners were killed in a shooting rampage in May that was blamed on Islamist militants.
"Coincidence. Mere coincidence. Besides, we never heard of him!"
Last December, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in a statement denied that an Iranian diplomat, whom he named as Mohammad Reza Doust, was involved. "This scenario has been concocted under the influence of Iran's enemies who serve the interests of the Zionists and are working against the interests of the countries of the region," Asefi said.
"Yeah! Dat's it! It wuz them Zionists!"
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
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ISLAMABAD: Prominent local religious leader of the city, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, on Monday narrowly escaped when unidentified persons made an attempt on his life near Kaghan Road while he was heading towards Jamia Faridia, an islamic seminary, to deliver a sermon, police told Daily Times. According to details, Ghazi was going to the seminary in Sector E-7 after morning prayers at Lal Mosque when an unidentified car, which had been tailing him from Lal Mosque, crept alongside Ghazi's car. The occupants of the other car were reportedly about to open fire when a vehicle coming from the opposite direction drew their attention. Ghazi, who was carrying a weapon himself, opened fire at the assailants, who managed to escape from the scene.
I guess it's a cultural thing. I can't imagine Father McGuire or Rabbi Katz packing heat on the way to give a sermon...
This article starring:
GHAZI ABDUL RASHID
Learned Elders of Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
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#1
...I don't know...Holy Name parish in Cleveland was pretty tough, at the very least I can see them carrying .38s.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/01/2005 7:08
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#2
"Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition"
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 8:21
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#3
Father Marty Hoehn, winner of two Silver Stars in combat while serving as a chaplain.
Turkey warned yesterday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil while a top US envoy sought to ease Ankara's security concerns. In comments published in a newspaper interview, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul renewed concerns that more Kurds than those expelled under Saddam Hussein's rule had settled in Kirkuk, altering the demographic structure of the city which is also home to large numbers of Turkmens, a community of Turkish descent backed by Ankara. "We are observing that the situation has reached dangerous proportions," Gul told the English-language Turkish Daily News newspaper. "Now our fear is the possibility that these gross changes in the demography of Kirkuk could trigger an ethnic confrontation, which has not been seen so far." "If our brothers (Turkmens) are not treated well, if they are subjected to oppression, such developments will hurt us deeply, and in a democratic society administrations cannot remain indifferent, or merely spectators, to such developments," Gul said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2005
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#1
We really do have to get our people out of Incirlik so that we have the absolute freedom of action required to kick the shit out of any Turks that think that they can cross into a country under the protection of the United States of America. These people declared themselves to be our enemies when they wouldn't allow the 4th ID to transit their country. What makes them think that the Stryker Brigade will let them cross the border?
#2
Right. And if you lift a little finger we'll vaporize it, pal. Can't be part of Europe if you continue to engage in hilarious Third World truculence. Good little French toadies, there now. I've always like the Turks so I'll choose just to be entertained by this.
#4
Turkey warned yesterday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil..
So Turkey's lookin' to make another mistake, eh? Tsk tsk, some people never learn.
#5
I have a lengthy theory (under construction, lol) about Muslim behavior patterns. Turkey has submerged itself in the swamp of Islamic contradictions and stupidity, so it applies. In the interest of brevity, lol, I'll summarize it:
Islam has a social construct, inculcated from birth and strongly reinforced, which I call "pain => blame" which it has effectively substituted for the customary rational "cause => effect" mental learning process. The main feature of this substitution is that learning is blocked since the behavior modification of "cause => effect" is lost. Even the average dog employs the "cause => effect" process to learn acceptable behaviors and avoid negative feedback: digging in the trash = a few sharp newspaper shots across the nose. When the association is developed, behavior is modified to eliminate the negative, the pain of being punished. Turkey's Islamic Govt obviously exhibits this unproductive regressive behavior.
I'll add another observation regards Turkey. The only entity that has directly worked against Turk interests is France. They blocked Turkey's NATO request for Patriot missiles, pre-Iraq War, and have suckered them with EU membership promises ever since, apparently demanding, and getting, repeated and concerted anti-US actions in exchange for "support" - which never materializes. Again, there is a clear learning deficit apparent in this self-defeating behavior.
Turkey has repeatedly chosen to be an adversary. It has consistently acted against US interests at every turn since the Muslims took over the Turkish Govt. The Turkish military, empowered by their constitution to prevent Muslim stupidity from harming the country or hijacking their political system, is MIA - and probably DOA. Effectively, Turkey is, at the least, an adversary - at worst, an avowed enemy.
I still ascribe many US deaths in Iraq to them for preventing a two-front war, the classic hammer and anvil, and delaying the 4ID's entrance to the theater in a timely fashion... which made the "island hopping" approach necessary, leaving our supply flanks vulnerable, and left the Sunni Triangle, the source of most post-combat insurgency, utterly "unpacified".
So. Who gives a flying fuck what Turkey thinks, fears, or wants? Not me. Fuck 'em. Twice.
#7
Seafarious, I probably shouldn't say much ("I can say no more!"), but I'm in the Palace complex, working for the US taxpayer. Soon I'll remedy my past failings and hit the tipjar here, something long overdue.
.com, I'm enjoying your rants -- very well done. I have a perverse take on the whole Turkey/4ID thing (I think it was a good way to save several billion $ and had little if any actual effect on the course of events, as the insurgent strategy was pre-cooked and could only have been disrupted by much more aggressive tactics by our forces AFTER the major combat phase), but I love how you're putting major islamic countries on the couch and analyzing their behavior.
I do hope the Kurds manage the Kirkuk thing smoothly, much more for Iraq's sake than Turkey's.
#8
We don't have to kick the shit out of anybody. First, all we have to do is make a phone call to Athens and very publicly ask how they're doing and whether or not there's any combat aircraft or warships they need. With respect to Aris, that's no reflection on Greece, just an acknowledgement of how politics work. Secondly - and with respect to .com - the Turkish military has, as a rule, only acted when there is pretty much no other alternative, and I'm not sure that point has been reached just yet.
On the other hand, if the Turkish military has indeed drunk the kool-aid, that is an exceptionally bad thing for the region. Unlike Iraq and Iran, the Turks have a very long and professional military history along with a highly trained, professional and well equipped service , and they could be a far greater threat than those two countries ever were.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/01/2005 7:18
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#9
Yeap,RWV.Shut down Incerlik and build a big ass base in Kurdistan.
#11
Haha. Mike makes me laugh. I remember hearing the same things about Saddams military pre-Gulf War I. The mighty Turkish war machine! Excuse me as I chuckle. You've obviously never been to turkey. I have, and I've met members of their mighty war machine. Like all muslim militaries, they are great at looking nice in their uniforms and not much else. Jackass.
#13
HV, I think it's pretty straight forward: In many cultures, problems are viewed as tasks warranting solutions, preferably solutions addressing the root causes of the problems so that the tasks will not have to be repeated.
Hence Judeo-Christian-ethic (ethic, not ethnic) Americans took out the Taliban and Saddam and are looking for Osama and are establishing democracy in the Middle East.
The self-oppressed Middle Eastern cultures are Islamic ("Islam" meaning "submission"). They don't DO, they STEW. To them a problem (pain) is typically addressed by complaining, and they try to save face by always blaming others. "It's The Joooos" or any other excuse that is handy.
When they try to "DO", they do it in the Islamic context of submission -- hence beheadings, terrorism, and generally trying to make even their own people submissive. It worked for Mohammed. That can work on small populations (villages, tribes, etc.), but it doesn't work well on the grand scale (as the Taliban, Saddam, and Osama are learning).
The mullahs in Iran are trying to make submission work on a grand scale. They project that all the world's problems are due to The Joooos and The Great Satan. And having seen the Taliban and Saddam go down, they have learned that extending submission globally will require global-scale weapons. But the free people they despise have bigger weapons and are not going to be taken down.
Ultimately the mullahs will have to be crushed and part of the Islamic world that survives and cares will always see that as an insult to Islam and BLAME all their woes on The Joooos and The Great Satan. And the cycle will repeat.
Sadly, I expect that the cycle will repeat endlessly until either the more-secular "Islam is Peace" Muslims overcome the "Islam is submission" Muslims or the rest of the world treats Muslims the way it treated Nazis. Given the Muslim proclivity for submission and pain/blame, I expect that eventually the mosque will share the same fate as the swastica arm band.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 9:59
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#14
Perhaps
1. shame culture=>externalization=>blame
2. guilt culture=>internalized=>brisk shrink biz
#1 is usual mode operandi in islamic cultures
#2 is prevalent in judeo-christian context
Nothing is black'n'white, shades of grey apply.
Fer'nstance, blame externalization is more employed by females within judeo-christian cultural context. (I've been married several times, don't tell me this is a gender stereotyping! LOL)
There is a twist, jewish mothers can successfully externalize guilt, passing it on the offspring.
Question is what is healthier, shame or guilt based culture?
The shame culture has a serious problem in the sense that the blamee has no haven if is the member of the society (external blamees can calmly state FOAD, provided that the blamer is not in the same environ). Morality is not internalized, is is defined by the society (tribe, religion). Conscience does develop only in rudimentary, child-like form. Whatever is not object of shame, is allowed.
The guilt culture is faring a bit better. Bare the cases when guilt is pressurized to a degree that the cooker explodes ouward, the individual is able to cope, sometimes with help of the shrink industry. The conscience is internalized and better developed--moral compas or gyroscope is present in various, often substantial degrees. Paradoxically, the individual from the guilt culture is able to develop better social behavioral patterns, because there is a room for experimental corrective interaction. The culture adheres to more adult type of values, like responsibility for one's actions and self-respect.
As I said there are shades in between, so rarely there is a pure representative of either culture.
There is a type that is somewhere in the middle.
This type is definitely not a golden compromise. Rather, this state it would be present in a confused individual, that would behave erraticaly, having no cultural anchor and prone to moral relativism, cognitive dissonance with utter suspension of logic, immature, hedonistic yet with preference for authoritative social structures as a replacement for missing internalized moral compass. Values self-esteem (reflective assessment based on external interaction), rather than self-respect which is terra incognita. Eternal pubescent.
Is it possible that a representative of the shame culture can become a well adjusted member of the guilt culture? I know people that were able to transverse, with a relatively short period of the moonbatty middle or skipping it at all. A Pre-requisite is that there has been some exposure to the other culture, and/or that the individual's intelligence is above average and a tendency towards individualism is present, else there is little chance that the individual would escape the constrictive cage of the shame based cultural structure. Typical example may be Walid Shoebat or
Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
My father's unit was in line next to the Turks in Korea for a while. He's always spoken highly of them--I guess they were quite proficient at raiding the NorK lines at night, using only knives because it's more fun that way.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/01/2005 13:53
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#18
Who says were that stupid to invade Iraq, we'll teach the insurgents how to fry Johnnies, worked with Chechnya didn't it, prepare for Vietnam2.
Posted by: Murat ||
02/01/2005 14:31
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#19
Blah, blah, blah.
Which Murat are you? Are you the one that STILL owes me the evidence that I'm a Kurd?
Or are you one of his cowardly alter-egos?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/01/2005 14:34
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#20
Murat, I think we're up to Vietnam 4 by now. (Kosovo was #2, Afghanistan was #3). There may have been some others.....I've lost track.
At least Aris is familiar with basic punctuation, and he uses a different alphabet (most of the time)...
Try again with a different rant. I give this one a 2 (minuses - bringing up Vietnam, who the hell is "Johnny" unless you mean "Johnny Reb"...wrong war yet again). Yawn.
#21
No way! Murat?!?!?! Well, I'm ready for Veet Naam 2; this time we'll have unrestricted bombing and unrestricted ground action and we'll win. How does that grab ya?
Posted by: Mark E. ||
02/01/2005 14:47
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#22
Johnny Kerrey.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/01/2005 14:49
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#23
"Johnny" is the short name for the average hillbilly Joe American. The poor Arabs don't know how to fight and the few who do fight, fight like women.
With a little bit warrior tactics they could bring the daily American casualties easily from 2 to 200. Oh wait, they are in deer need of AA missiles, this could become fun.
Posted by: Murat ||
02/01/2005 14:57
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#24
Not our original Murat, I'd wager.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 14:59
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#26
Yeah, I don't think the original Murat would think Johnny is short for "average hillbilly Joe American".
Though I would pay big bucks to see some hillbilly kick this guy's ass....or more likely, his sister kick his ass.
#27
"...worked with Chechnya didn't it..."
The Soviets failed in Afghanistan -- we didn't.
Wanna test your luck, punk?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 15:05
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#28
The real Murat had a much better command of the english language. Plus, I don't think he was using a IP provider in the Netherlands. Assen, to be precise.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 15:13
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#29
Thank you, Steve.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 15:17
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#30
Oh dear, I fear that Turkey's efforts to endear their citizens to fund their dearly inadequate military would be far too dear for them to endure, with dire consequences for their attempts to join the EU, poor dears. Pehaps they would be far better off to contact John Deere, to improve their exports, rather than arming their deer with missles.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/01/2005 15:38
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#32
Verlaine - Glad to hear you made it and, apparently, doing okay. Stay safe, bro, and thanks for the encouragement, lol!
HV - instead of a direct answer, how about this...
And who fucking cares what "murat" - no matter who's playing the role today, has to say. He / They don't get it, so fuck 'em.
**********
I'm just winging it, here, and whacking it out. Be gentle with me, heh heh.
I saw pretty clearly that there was a fundamental difference between what I knew of Western societies and what I was experiencing in Saudi Arabia in 1992. I played with how it could be best described and also tried to add in the generic Asian social model and the Marxist BS. I came up with only Guilt vs Blame vs Face vs Collective as descriptors - no deep underlying theory. I spent my time working and sleeping, mainly, with little time for recording philosophical musings. So that's where it sat for a decade.
Then I ran across this Sharkansky Blog entry via LGF which was a quick translation of an article in Die Zeit - and the author Mordechay Lewy had put it into words better than I had managed in my mere musings. At the time it was published, I was back in Saudi again, though I was preparing to end my second tour (3 yrs that time) and get out permanently.
The article, assuming the translation is clean, does a damned good job of explaining why the Guilt society progresses, changes, improves the behaviors of its individuals... and why the Blame society is stagnant, cast in amber - a Darwinian Box Canyon. If I took the time I could pick out the bits and pieces with which I disagree - but they're minor and actually more the quibbles of an atheist who knows the discussion could easily be couched sans the religious references - it's simple Darwinism in the end: successful strategies survive because they evolve and progress, failed strategies die out - for a myriad collection of reasons.
It used to be a big planet. It took a long time for the technologies to mature which allow for true global conflict to be decisively ended. And, at long last, a champion with the wherewithal to back up its assertions has come along. America. It is the first nation to stand for the progressive liberal society sans the imperialism. It is the current Darwinistic result of Western philosophy. It's not perfect, of course, but it succeeds for precisely those reasons that it is hated by the other Western / modern societies. It allows for diversity of thought, opinion, religion, ideology, and heavily promotes individualism. It evolves - rapidly. Its prime directive is to beg, borrow, steal or, better yet, invent the best good ideas available and meld them into a successful ongoing changing model. It is aggressive in the idea market. It has evolved in tandem with the lethality of weapons - a unique survival strategy. Once, it was isolated and could afford to be isolationist at heart. Technology, much of its own invention, has changed that - so it has evolved its success / survival strategies accordingly. There are fools who fail to grasp the fact that we must synch policy and action with technology. They would love to go back and hug isolationist trees or pretend that we should all kick back and enjoy espressos on the Left Bank and all will be well. They're morons. When they are in control of our government, we are vulnerable and blind. Those who see the connection also see the problem looming: the planet has become dramatically "smaller" due to the technology and there will be no more "glancing blows" when the competing societal models clash. One will begin to die and the other will continue to grow.
I have been rather ostracized for it (quick summary: "fry 'em up"), but I believe that the Islamic flavor of the Blame model, which has been sustained by its uber-aggressive accompanying religio-socio-political ideology, has run its course (soon to die, per Darwinian Laws) by running headlong into the brick wall of the American flavor of the Guilt model: a hardcore scientifically and technologically based Jacksonian / Jeffersonian / Wilsonian version of the Guilt model. It's Them or Us. I pick Us.
Next up, the Collective model. More Science HS vs Golden Dragon HS (the last surviving Collective model of significance).
Well, that's the "quick" and dirty view from Sin City. It took me almost exactly an hour to type this out. I know I'll regret doing it as I'll be sniped for a statement here or there without the whole picture being kept in frame and the fact that it was a quickie. But hell, it's RB. Let the games begin.
Sorry Bizarro Murat, it wouldn't be a Vietnam 2. The weaponry is more lethal, more accurate. WAY more accurate. Finding out firsthand might not be such a good idea...
#35
.com, a note on the (social) darwinian model. *ALL* behaviours that persist have selective value. That is, the behaviour somehow aids the actor in surviving or doesn't place them at a disadvantage. Most social behaviour operate on a social (societal) basis. So how does the abdication of personal responsibility, blame somebody else as found in Islam (and other religions) work. Essentially by shifting responsibility to the Other (Zionists, Crusaders, whatever.). Blame, No responsibility works as a survival strategy as long as enough participate in the someone else is responsible model (it's a level playing field). As soon as enough defect to a personal responsibility strategy, no responsibility no longer works (similar to the prisoners dilemma). Hence the need for all to participate in the blame no-responsibility religious uniformity.
So while I might quibble with the details of your argument, overall I agree with you. Islam will crash and burn when faced with Western individual responsibility becuase it achieves better results faster.
This also neatly explains the affinity between (Islam and Socialism, and Catholicism for that matter).
#36
Turkish participation in the Korean War was a PR move. They sucked, period, over run by half their numbers of Chinee with bugles and whiz bangs. The Pentagon PR machine made a big deal of their pursuit of the NORKS... big deal. They sucked and caved, never, every have a Turkish unit on your flank.
#37
It was a good read, .com. Where would Middle Eastern Islam be today had it not been for the western world and oil? Probably extinct or just a rural oddity -- a 7th century backwater. These countries have gotten the 20th century and 21st century western goods and the oil wealth to buy them by sheer luck. They pretty much either buy or steal technology. And they produce very little of value other than the oil that is actually produced for them in many cases. If you exclude oil, where do these countries fall in a worldwide GDP ranking? You know. Islam needs some protestants and a reformation or it is going to sink itself by sheer ignorance and failure to adapt.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 20:09
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#38
phil_b - Just caught your comments - thanks. I didn't mean to preclude responses, lol, I just assumed most RBers would mumble "fuck you" and pick it apart, lol!
Regards the Other, you've touched upon a main tenet of my broader theory. I believe that mature individuals operate within reality and within the possibilities for future realities. Immature individuals live in something of a bubble. Within it, they have damped the unacceptable aspects of reality, added the fantasy content they need to go on each day, and - most of all - must have a bogeyman, an Other, upon which to either blame the perceived shortcomings in their lives or distract them from the pain of the shortcomings. Obviously these two defense mechanisms commingle and, at times, become fully merged.
We see this clearly in Crown Prince Abdullah's recent remarks blaming Jooos and such. For the Blame societies, the Other is essential, as you point out.
To merge our ideas, you mentioned the Socialists' similarity in this regard. I couldn't agree more. I fully and completely believe that this explains the Bush Derangement Syndrome common across the various "isms".
Just as Palestine is the Other for Islam - mainly promoted by Arab "states" as the distraction to keep their own people emotionally occupied - BDS has become the memed Other for the world's simple-minded fools. Islamic societies are immature - to a man. The Moonbats are our perpetual children, our dependents who wish for things that would consume and destroy them, were it not for the mature individuals.
I hope I've been clear enough to follow - your comments pushed the button, lol! Again, Thx for the feedback!
#39
Tom - You won't be surprised when I tell you that I asked a Saudi when I first went over in '92 about the oil. I was initially asking why they tolerated a "King" - who "owned" everything, then doled out dribbles to his favorites. Wasn't the oil either the property of all Arabs within SA or the property of the individuals who owned the land?
Well he explained that tribes & clans actually "own" the land and it's doled out by the leaders - so to me it was the same question multiplied by the tribes and clans, lol!
Then he hit me with what was a real eye-opener in '92: The oil wealth was their right. It was Allah's gift to them for their faithfulness and deprivation of the centuries as Bedouin. He said it precisely in the manner that a friend had once told me that he deserved to win the lottery. My friend was kidding. This guy was serious.
So there you have it, eh? Lol! They deserve the oil and the power it gives them. It's Allah's payback for centuries of wandering around the deserts.
Iran has employed the eastern Mediterranean for the transport of rockets and missiles to Hizbullah. Israeli officials said Iran has been sending heavy weapons to Hizbullah via the sea. They said Iranian shipments began in Bandar Abbas, through the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and into the Mediterranean. The Iranian weapons ships anchor in Syria where they are unloaded and transported overland to Lebanon, officials said. They said Iran has used the Syrian port of Latakia, a major port of the former Soviet Union. Officials said Israel has urged the United States to stop the Iranian weapons shipments. But they said the U.S. Sixth Fleet has permitted the Iranian ships to arrive in Latakia.
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02/01/2005
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But they said the U.S. Sixth Fleet has permitted the Iranian ships to arrive in Latakia. I do hope there is a plan to put a stop to this, soon. Perhaps in coordination with other efforts...
#2
I'm waiting for "W" to quietly move 3 Carrier Groups to the region in the spring, giving Condi enough time to give the Iranians enough rope to hog tie the N program or hang themselves!
European firms, fearing a loss of their U.S. market, have shied away from signing major contracts with Iran. European industry sources said British, French and German majors have refused the appeals by their governments to negotiate major contracts with Iran as part of an effort to woo Teheran away from the construction of nuclear weapons. The sources said these companies fear loss of their U.S. market upon signing any agreement with Teheran. "The EU has been too late," an industry source said. "The Americans have already warned European majors to keep out of Iran, or else." U.S. officials have confirmed that the Bush administration warned leading European companies of sanctions if they sign major deals with Iran. The officials said the administration wants to ensure a permanent halt in Iranian uranium enrichment and full International Atomic Energy Agency access to suspected nuclear facilities before easing a ban on trade with Teheran.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Win the war by killing all the Bad Guyz and their little dogs, too. That's an exit strategy.
Britain and the United States have agreed that coalition troops would begin a withdrawal from Iraq by 2006. Diplomatic sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisers to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisers would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security. "The agreement is that the first troops would leave in late 2005," a source said. "The number of troops and withdrawal timetable would depend on operational considerations." The agreement was reached during talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on Jan. 24. The London-based Guardian daily said Hoon agreed to recommendations by a retired U.S. general, Gary Luck, on the use of Western advisers to help accelerate Iraqi military and police training.
That's assuming the Bad Guyz are all dead by then, of course, and that Teheran falls on schedule.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Well, it was published in the Guardian, so there's a bit of a validity problem with this.
Till I actually hear Bush or Blair say this, I'd just take this as yet another little piece of the Democrats' "Topic of the Week" strategy.
Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi called on his countrymen to set aside their differences yesterday, a day after Iraqis voted on religious or tribal lines. At a news conference, Allawi called on Iraqis to join together to rebuild a society shattered by decades of war, tyranny, economic sanctions and military occupation. "The terrorists now know that they cannot win," Allawi said. "The whole world is watching us. As we worked together yesterday to finish dictatorship, let us work together toward a bright future — Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims and Christians, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen," he said.
Electoral Commission official Adel Al-Lami said a first phase of vote-counting at the individual polling stations was finished. Local centers are preparing tally sheets and sending them to Baghdad where they will be reviewed and vote totals compiled. He said the process could take up to 10 days.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I think I'd suggest arms cooperation with the U.S., myself. Pakistan's not real good at winning wars.
Iraq seeks defense and military cooperation with Pakistan. Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shalaan held talks with Pakistani leaders in late November in the first effort by a post-Saddam Hussein government to forge defense and military cooperation with Islamabad. On Nov. 23, Shalaan met President Pervez Musharraf and Defense Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal. Shalaan was said to have discussed proposals for defense cooperation between the two Muslim countries.
I'm assuming we're tossing the Paks a bone here.
Pakistani officials said Islamabad has offered to sell weapons and military platforms as well as provide training to the Iraqi military and security forces.
Just as well, I guess. You never know: we might have to fight them again someday.
Pakistan has been a leading military ally of Saudi Arabia, who has offered assistance to Baghdad.
And look at all the wars Soddy Arabia's won!
The officials said Islamabad briefed Shalaan and his delegation on a range of Pakistani platforms. They were said to include Al Khalid main battle tank and the Super Mashak air trainer.
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The article notes that a Pak TV station was attacked after broadcasting an interview with Shimon Peres...here are some details:
Islamic extremists ransacked the offices of a private Pakistani television channel the day after it broadcast an interview with the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister. Police said around 40 men armed with sticks, some of them carrying pistols, barged into the building which also houses the mass circulation daily Jang and the English-language newspaper The News. During the attack, which occured around 2:20 am local time , the men smashed window panes, broke the furniture and torched newspapers' files, witnesses said. Police conveniently arrived at the scene after the mob had fled and no arrests were made. "The attackers were joined by overpowered private security guards and went to the first floor of the multi-storey building where they broke windowpanes and furniture," said police officer Mushtaq Shah. "Outside the building they damaged seven cars owned by the newspaper and TV staffers," he said. Islamist parties in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan have frequently warned the government against establishing any contacts with the Jewish state.
#10
well its time for France to clarfity and expand its contribution to training Iraqi forces. Germany is already training them in UAE. Germany should also expand its commitment.
Most important, when the new Iraqi govt complains about Syrian support for the insurgents, France and Germany should help add to pressure on Syria (im not holding my breath on that one, though)
#13
The French are just adjusting their rhetoric to fit a reality that they never supported. The moment of truth will come when Chirac tries to plant a kiss on one of the new Iraqi co-presidents or prime minister. In a just world, the Iraqi will spin around and moon Chirac just before Chirac's lips make contact.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/01/2005 12:26
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Does GWB honestly care if Chirac's satisfied or not? I'd like to think no.
#15
Once again, Chriac has failed to stay in synch with his American Agents. He's making them look the fools they are. *sniff sniff* Pity poor Teddy 'n Skeery. So sad and forlorn that Iraq isn't a quagmire and there aren't 20,000 dead US soldiers for them to stand upon when they share their sad pathetic personality disorders with the world. *sniff sniff*
Iran was said to have been developing a ballistic missile with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers. The Iranian opposition has asserted that the Teheran regime was developing a surface-to-surface missile that could strike any European capital.
But that's okay. You guys keep on negotiating and selling them technology...
The National Council of Resistance of Iran told a briefing in London that the new Iranian missile would be fitted with weapons of mass destruction payload. The council identified the intermediate-range missiles as Ghadr 101 and Ghadr 110. The missiles were said to be comparable to the advanced Scud E and was being developed at the Hemmat Missile Industries Complex. The Ghadr 101 was said to have a range of 2,500 kilometers, the council said. The Ghadr 110 has planned for a range of 3,000 kilometers.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Talk about stupidity!Iran is cleaning the gun in preperation to loading ammo.What are the Euros going to do when that gun is pointed at thier head?
I can tell you nothing but whine and cry,looking for Uncle Sam to come to the rescue.
Israel has approved in principle the deployment of Egyptian special forces, heavy weapons and armor in eastern Sinai. Israeli officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has agreed to an Egyptian proposal for the deployment of 750 border guard troops in eastern Sinai. They said the troops would be equipped with armored combat vehicles, medium- to heavy weapons and would patrol the Israeli-Egyptian as well as the Egyptian-Gaza border. Under the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Egypt could deploy a limited number of border guards in eastern Sinai. The Egyptian border guards could not be equipped with anything other than light weapons. But officials said Sharon has agreed to a significant increase in Egyptian troops as well as unidentified heavier weapons and armor. They said the expanded Egyptian presence would bolster border security and could stop the flow of weapons from Sinai into the Gaza Strip across the eight-kilometer Philadephia corridor.
Posted by: Fred ||
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If the Egyptian armor boys get to frisky then they can just look around the Sinai at the burned and rusting armored hulks their fathers and grandfathers left about.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/01/2005 10:29
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If Arabs could learn, they'd learned in the last 1400 that they're not in the desert anymore.
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.
The motorcycle bomb went off in a market in Quetta. 
FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw last night savaged anti-war hypocrites now applauding Iraq's spectacular election triumph. He accused them of wanting to leave Saddam in Baghdad, free to carry on crushing his people. And he lashed those who want allied troops to go home and leave Iraqis in the lurch. Mr Straw told MPs: "That would be tantamount to ensuring the new forces of democracy are weakened and the forces of terror are strengthened." He tore into Lib-Dems, telling them: "The consequence of your position was that there would be no democratic elections in Iraq. Saddam Hussein would still be in power and crushing the people."
TERROR mastermind 
AN Egyptian terror suspect, held by Britain for three years without trial because he was said to be the leader of an al-Qaeda linked militant group, has been released from prison, the government said today. The Department for Constitutional Affairs confirmed the decision but could give no further details about the conditions of his release. The detainee, known only as "C", was one of 17 men held by Britain under now discredited anti-terror laws which allowed the indefinite detention of foreigners without trial if they were suspected of being involved in terrorism.
Believe it or not, 
Oil futures traders in London and New York have come up with a catchy term to describe an additional source of uncertainty when it comes to judging potential volatility in supplies: the Chävez premium. There is as yet no established formula that serves to precisely calculate how many dollars should be added to the price of a barrel of oil because of Venezuela's President 
A US federal judge ruled that military tribunals for international terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base are unconstitutional, leaving in doubt the fate of hundreds of detainees at the US-run detention center in Cuba.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has selected former U.S. President Clinton to be the U.N. point man for tsunami relief and reconstruction, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday. Annan wants to appoint a special envoy not only to focus on the cleanup and reconstruction but to try to make progress on resolving conflicts with rebels in the two worst-hit countries — Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Eckhard said. Ironically, the report surfaced as The Associated Press obtained a letter by former Sen. Jesse Helms in which he predicts Clinton will try to become the next U.N. secretary-general.
The county of Los Angeles has finally brought some common sense to the way it handles the problem of illegal immigrants in our jails. Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved a measure under which jail officials will work more closely with federal authorities to determine which inmates are illegal immigrants. That way, when the inmates' sentences are up, they can be deported back to their home country. Although some immigrant-rights groups have protested the measure -- and Supervisors Gloria Molina and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke voted against it -- this reform will benefit all residents of Los Angeles County, native and foreign-born alike. 
Leading relief groups urged the United States to reconsider its strategy to counter Afghanistan's illegal narcotics industry, the world's largest, warning that destroying farmers opium crops could wreck the country's post-Taliban recovery. In an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, more than 20 aid organizations active in Afghanistan said "premature and excessive" crop eradication could create such uproar that planned help for farmers cannot be delivered. "Massive eradication efforts in 2005 could risk destabilizing large areas of the country, thereby undermining critical alternative livelihood and law enforcement initiatives," they said in Monday's letter, which was signed by international aid groups including CARE, Mercy Corps and Oxfam. 
Egypt admitted Thursday to failing to report a "number of research experiments" to the UN atomic energy agency, after diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material. But "Egypt is cooperating with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)" and feels the "research experiments and activities ... most of which took place in the distant past are consistent with the NPT," the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Egyptian embassy said in a statement released in Vienna.
A criminal case has been initiated on the kidnapping of relatives of Chechen separatist leader 
The murder of Mufti Shukhman Madagov of Chechnya's Vedeno district has been solved, the Russian Interior Ministry's local press center told Interfax on Monday. "An investigation revealed that Shukhman Madagov was killed by an active member of illegal armed formations named Bediyev and other militants on August 29. Bediyev confessed to committing this crime," a press center spokesman said. An examination is being made to establish if Bediyev was involved in other crimes.
An attack in Chechnya that killed at least nine pro-Moscow police last week was a suicide bombing, a rebel statement said on Monday in the first such claim of responsibility since the Beslan school siege in September. Local media reports said last Friday's attack was caused by a radio-controlled bomb, but a rebel statement posted on the Internet said a single suicide bomber had attacked a column of local troops in a mined car. "He crashed into the column of cars at full speed, destroying three cars and their crews. The fighter was martyred," said the statement.
Police burst into suspected terrorist hideouts throughout a tranquil suburb, arresting a reputed terror boss and setting off a ferocious gunbattle that killed at least four of his followers and a bystander in Kuwait's worst-ever fight with militants. Monday's raid - the fourth in three weeks - reflected a new sense of urgency in the battle to crush Islamic extremists deeply opposed to the presence of US forces in this oil-rich emirate. Kuwait's prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, called for the "uprooting of this phenomenon and the removal of this cancer before it spreads," Faisal al-Hajji, the acting information minister, told the state-owned Kuwait News Agency on Monday.
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Monday declared that security forces would remain in Sui and Dera Bugti to protect national assets and counter terrorists who posed threats to gas plants and people in the area. Speaking at a press conference at the chief minister's secretariat after attending a meeting on the Sui situation, the minister said the government would strictly deal with saboteurs to ensure continuation of the projects that had been launched to promote economic activity. The provincial governor, chief minister, corps commander, federal railways secretary and officials of law-enforcement agencies attended the meeting. Mr Sherpao said federal security forces were deployed in Sui on the request of the provincial cabinet was the situation became alarming after gas installations had been damaged in rocket attacks on Jan 7.
The world has heard the sound of the African oil boom. So has al-Qaeda. The continent has more than 75.4 billion barrels of proven reserves, edging toward 10 percent of the world's total. Five large producers - Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Angola -top the list of African oil exporting countries. Lesser producers, such as Chad, are also in the mix. Sub-Sahara Africa supplies as much oil to the United States as Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda sees Africa as a prize well worth going after. It is a graveyard of failed states, of corrupt governments whose power seldom goes much beyond capital city shantytowns and of areas of Muslim radicalism. The problems of the region are opportunities for Al-Qaeda.
MANAMA: Bahraini women were yesterday promised a new deal, with stronger legal rights, better financial prospects and a bigger political say. The pledge came from Her Highness Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty King Hamad and chairwoman of the Supreme Council for Women. 
One soldier and two tribesmen were killed in a gun battle in Yemen's eastern oil-rich province of Marib yesterday, security and tribal sources said. The sources said the firefight erupted after soldiers tried to disarm a group of tribesmen from the powerful Al Jalal clan at a military checkpoint. 
SULEIMANIYAH: The main Kurdish alliance is set to win two-thirds of the vote in Iraq's tense northern oil centre of Kirkuk, reports said Tuesday, fanning Turkish fears about Kurdish ambitions for the ethnically divided region. The alliance is also set to take a quarter of the seats in Iraq's new national assembly overall giving the long-oppressed minority a major say in the drafting of a new post-Saddam Hussein constitution, one of its leaders told a Kurdish daily. With just one district still to complete its count of Sunday's vote, the Kurdish alliance has won 68 percent of the vote in Kirkuk, the Kurdish weekly Hawlati (Citizen) reported. If confirmed, the result would give the Kurds 26 of the 41 seats on the provincial council, the paper said.
Five people were killed on Tuesday in a gunbattle between Egyptian police and a group of Bedouin suspected of helping the men who bombed three tourist resorts in Sinai in October, police sources said. Three policeman, one of the suspects and a bystander were killed in the clash, which is still going on near the Sinai town of Ras Sudr, 150 kilometres east of Cairo, they said. Police have sealed off an area in the hills near Ras Sudr after receiving information that two of the four bombers were hiding there, they said. 
Spanish police arrested a family of four on Tuesday suspected of links to the March 11 Madrid train bombings and a militant Islamic group, the Interior Ministry said. Police also issued an international arrest warrant for 
KUWAIT CITY: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently sealed three money exchange offices in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Hassawi for their involvement in money laundering operations, reports Al-Anba daily quoting a reliable government source. The same source said the offices violated the rules and regulations by not informing authorities the names of persons who had transferred KD 3,000 and above to persons outside the country. One of the offices is said to have transferred $3 million to Syria over a three-month period in addition to other transfers worth thousands of Kuwaiti dinars to GCC states, especially to Saudi Arabia. 
A Palestinian man, one of 11 foreign terror suspects held by Britain without trial under now-discredited emergency laws, has been granted bail, the government said yesterday. 
A fierce hourlong battle between police and suspected terrorists holed up in a residential building Sunday left a most-wanted fundamentalist, one policeman and a Bahraini resident dead, the government said. It was the third shootout this month between security forces and suspected militants in Kuwait, a major US ally that has been battling fundamentalists who oppose the presence of the American military here. Four policemen were injured in the shooting and two suspects were arrested, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry and an official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. The official identified the killed suspect as 
Iran denied on Monday any involvement with the case of an Egyptian charged with spying for Tehran and preparing the assassination of an unnamed Egyptian figure in return for $50,000. "The trial in Cairo concerns the Egyptian government and an Egyptian citizen, and it does not concern us," Iranian government spokesman, 
ISLAMABAD: Prominent local religious leader of the city, 
Turkey warned yesterday that it could take action if Kurdish attempts to take control of Kirkuk in northern Iraq plunges the oil-rich city into ethnic turmoil while a top US envoy sought to ease Ankara's security concerns. In comments published in a newspaper interview, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul renewed concerns that more Kurds than those expelled under Saddam Hussein's rule had settled in Kirkuk, altering the demographic structure of the city which is also home to large numbers of Turkmens, a community of Turkish descent backed by Ankara. "We are observing that the situation has reached dangerous proportions," Gul told the English-language Turkish Daily News newspaper. "Now our fear is the possibility that these gross changes in the demography of Kirkuk could trigger an ethnic confrontation, which has not been seen so far." "If our brothers (Turkmens) are not treated well, if they are subjected to oppression, such developments will hurt us deeply, and in a democratic society administrations cannot remain indifferent, or merely spectators, to such developments," Gul said.
Iran has employed the eastern Mediterranean for the transport of rockets and missiles to 
European firms, fearing a loss of their U.S. market, have shied away from signing major contracts with Iran. European industry sources said British, French and German majors have refused the appeals by their governments to negotiate major contracts with Iran as part of an effort to woo Teheran away from the construction of nuclear weapons. The sources said these companies fear loss of their U.S. market upon signing any agreement with Teheran. "The EU has been too late," an industry source said. "The Americans have already warned European majors to keep out of Iran, or else." U.S. officials have confirmed that the Bush administration warned leading European companies of sanctions if they sign major deals with Iran. The officials said the administration wants to ensure a permanent halt in Iranian uranium enrichment and full 
Britain and the United States have agreed that coalition troops would begin a withdrawal from Iraq by 2006. Diplomatic sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisers to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisers would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security. "The agreement is that the first troops would leave in late 2005," a source said. "The number of troops and withdrawal timetable would depend on operational considerations." The agreement was reached during talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and British Defence Secretary 
Iraq's interim Prime Minister 
Iraq seeks defense and military cooperation with Pakistan. Iraqi Defense Minister 
Iran was said to have been developing a ballistic missile with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers. The Iranian opposition has asserted that the Teheran regime was developing a surface-to-surface missile that could strike any European capital.
